Happy Halloween!
I hope everyone has had a great Halloween! Ours wasn’t super- it’s been pouring rain and storming all night. But we tried to have fun here at home!
Tonight wraps up Halloween inspired manis 😦 I have a couple to show you tonight!
First up is Lumina Lacquer’s Mickey’s Moonlit Masquerade over Takko Lacquer Kiss the Sky (post coming in a week or so)!
I really love this Micky polish- and it looks so lovely over Kiss the Sky! As with most of my Luminas, I applied using the dabbing method. I didn’t have to fish for any glitters- such a fun variety!
Next up is the pumpkin mani I kept talking about!
Like I said- simple, but festive and fun! I never got a chance to take ‘real’ photos of this one before there was so much chipping I couldn’t save it. But I was able to enjoy it for almost a full week! I got a bunch of compliments!
The base color is Sinful Colors Citrine. I picked it up last summer from the Wow! Pop! display, but I’ve heard that it’s part of *this years* Halloween display! So if you want to grab it- hurry! My phone picture is showing this as more red than it actually is- it is a red orange, but a bit more orange leaning. For the jack o lantern face, I used Nail Thins- SUPER easy to apply, just like a sticker- but it’s incredibly thin, so you can’t see a ridge where it’s applied. I’ll provide links at the end of the post!
Last but not least, is my official Halloween mani for this year!
I finished my nails up last night right as the clouds rolled in, so I wasn’t able to get good photos- and then I smudge my ring finger. Still wearable, but not as pretty to photograph 😉
This is a gradient mani using Different Dimension’s Gnarly, Totally, and Tubular (green, yellow and orange). I did 1 coat of Cult Nails Tempest (white), and then sponged the 3 colors on top. This was a super fast, quick gradient- I think it took me 5 minutes. It’s also very messy, and you can probably see a bit of green still on my fingers. After I was finished I did a TON of cleanup! I knew I was going to add glitter though, so I wasn’t worried about it looking good on it’s own. Then I topped it with 1 coat of Lumina Lacquer’s Desfile de Mickey! Such a fun, bright look to compliment my bright pink and purple monster hat 🙂
Information!
Takko Lacquer: Store , Twitter
Lumina Lacquer: Store, Facebook Page
Nail Thins: Store, Facebook Page
Different Dimension: Store, Facebook Page
Sinful Colors: Available at most drug stores (Walgreens, CVS, Walmart) for $1.99
Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer Discontinued Limited Edition and Lumina Lacquer Mick or Treat
Happy Halloween everyone! I have quite a few posts scheduled for today- hopefully to make up for my couple of missed days 🙂
The first halloween mani of the day features Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer and Lumina Lacquer!
First up is Discontinued Limited Edition- which is a Limited Edition! This polish is part of Julie’s Nail Polish Frights Halloween collection. It’s a beautiful charcoal holographic polish filled with orange sparks and shimmer. A perfect Halloween polish! Application was wonderful- photos show 2 coats with no topcoat.
Then, I topped Discontinued Limited Edition with Lumina Lacquer’s Mick or Treat!
Mick or Treat is a fun glitter bomb that features holographic Mickey Mouse heads, as well as lots of red, orange, yellow, black and holographic glitters. Photos show 1 coat of Mick or Treat- I applied by dabbing. I was able to get 1 Mickey head out naturally, the others I did fish a little bit for- but Lumina Lacquer glitter bombs are so dense you rarely have to fish for long!
Mick or Treat also has big pumpkins in it- but they completely eluded me this time! I think they’re all hiding in the middle 😉
Both of these polish are Limited Edition- while Mick or Treat is sold out (you can check sales groups and blog sales though!), there are still a few bottles left of Discontinued Limited Edition if you hurry!
Here’s the polish brand info:
Lumina Lacquer: Facebook Page and Big Cartel Store
Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer: Facebook Page and Big Cartel Store
Polish Monster’s Big Birthday Blogiversary Giveaway!
Well, it’s unsurprisingly a little later than I planned- but it’s finally here! My giveaway!
My big 3-0 birthday was at the end of August, and my blog turned 1 year old at the end of June. My blog’s birthday sort of snuck past me, and so I decided to celebrate it alongside my birthday!
I’ve always loved the movie 13 Going on 30, so for my 30th I decided to run with that as the theme. You’ll notice a few of the prizes are inspired by it!
Enough talking- on to the prizes you could win!
Prize #1 contains the Above the Curve duo Arrivederci and Au Revoir, Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer Floppy. Hoppy. BUNNIES! and a custom Little Lazy called Cutie Beebee!
Prize #2 Contains Above the Curve Darling Diana, Takko Lacquer Muse, Contrary Polish Anniversary Monster, Lucky 13 Lacquer Softening the Bad Things, and Nailz Craze stamping plate NC01!
Prize #3 contains Blue Eyed Girl Lacquer Oh, We’re Not Together, Lucky 13 Lacquer Fight Like a Girl, Takko Lacquer Heads Will Roll, Contrary Polish Gift Wrap, and Peita’s Polish Miss Dixie!
And last but not least- each prize pack gets these! A custom For Goodness Grape lip shimmer in Razzle Red (it’s a red, shimmery lip tint with a razzleberry flavor), and 2 Monster Polishes (that’s what my own polishes are called, for those that didn’t know!) made specifically for these events. Please excuse the lack of labels in the photo- I just ordered some new ones that will arrive before the giveaway ends!
The first is Razzle Red, which I created for my birthday. It’s a glitter topcoat filled with every shape, shade and size of red and pink glitter I had in my glitter tub with a pink shimmer. The second is Monster’s Ball, which I created for my blog’s anniversary. It’s a frosty holographic purple polish filled with color shifting glitters and flakes. Swatches of both of these will be on the blog in the next few days!
And now onto the official stuff.
I will be verifying winning entries, so please don’t lie. I’ve had to throw out winning entries with every giveaway in the past because people have lied about finishing tasks- it makes me sad. Please don’t do it!
If you cannot enter using Rafflecopter, please leave me a comment and/or email with your information and I can enter it manually for you.
Please follow the link RIGHT BELOW THIS to enter!!! And GOOD LUCK!!!
Polish Monster’s Big Birthday Blogiversary Rafflecopter Giveaway
Zoya Arizona and Lumina Lacquer Pinball Wizard
Quick post again! Today I paired up two of my untried polishes- Zoya Arizona and Lumina Lacquer Pinball Wizard!
Zoya Arizona is a bright orange cream polish with a glossy finish. This was part of last year’s summer collection, Beach and Surf (in the Beach portion). I *adore* the Beach and Surf collections- I think I own a majority of them now with a few exceptions. Arizona went on well- this is 2 coats with no topcoat (look at that shine without topcoat!). I did have a few slightly bald areas after 2 coats, but I was rushing my paint job a little bit. I noticed that the dry time even with no topcoat was pretty fast too- it was relatively touch-dry after taking photos.
Next I added Lumina Lacquer’s Pinball Wizard on top. This is a glitter polish in a clear base that is chock FULL of matte glitters in every shape, size and color you can imagine. I used 1 coat on top of Arizona with topcoat.
As I tend to do with most glitter bombs, I used the dabbing method to place a lot of the glitters. I didn’t have to do any fishing for these large shapes and sizes- they came right up with no effort along with all the other glitters!
You can buy Zoya nail polish at ULTA stores as well as their website for $8 a bottle, and you can find Lumina Lacquer at their website for $10 a bottle. You can follow Zoya and Lumina Lacquer on Facebook for more news and updates!
A Rainy Day Duo: Lumina Lacquer Polishes
I am a little behind (I know this is terribly shocking, right?)- but my second part of my Above the Curve review is set and ready to go for this evening. But in the meantime, I thought I’d post a quick mani I wore a few days ago. I’m up late writing this because it’s storming pretty heavily, and these polishes felt appropriate to show off! I chose to pair up I’m Only Happy When It Rains and Purple Rain- LOVE the result!
Also- Lumina Lacquer is restocking tomorrow at 11:oo am PST (2EST/1CST/12MST)- so maybe this can add something to your wish list!
First up is I’m Only Happy When It Rains, a beautiful light gray with a gorgeous blue-green sparkle. Sadly, this one isn’t being restocked today and may not return. (You definitely have to grab Lumina Lacquers you love when you can- there’s never a guarantee they’ll be back!) This polish began as a custom for a friend, and I’m so glad Tatiana opted to make a larger batch for all of us to enjoy!
I’m Only Happy When It Rains has great coverage- this is 2 coats. The shimmer is really obvious in person! It’s such a delicate, pretty gray color- and I’m definitely a sucker for gray polish!
Then I added 1 coat of Purple Rain on top! Yes, ya’ll- that’s just 1 coat.
This is one tightly packed glitter bomb- which is what Lumina Lacquer does best in my opinion! You’ll find just about every type of purple glitter in this polish- large, small, shapes, holos, even shards- all in there. There’s even some beautiful iridescent glitters that peek through in the sun!
I used the dabbing method to apply the glitters- if you’re wondering how to do that, you can follow this link to an amazing video by More Nail Polish showing exactly how! It’s a great way to apply glitter bombs like this one.
Remember, Lumina Lacquer restocks tomorrow at 11am PST! You can visit her Big Cartel store to see the polishes being sold- Purple Rain is included, along with a lot of other amazing colors! And be sure to follow on Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date on new colors and restocks!
Smitten Polish Gooseberry Gumdrop and Elevation Polish Haba Xueshan
This mani is what I wore this weekend to my sister in law’s bridal shower- my outfit had a mint green shirt with black slacks and a black 3/4 sleeve jacket, and this added a bit of fun all while matching perfectly!
I was the incredibly lucky winner of Smitten Polish’s Spring Giveaway- I haven’t won many giveaways, let alone such an AMAZING huge prize! I won all of the Berrydrop and Speck-tacular colors- and they are all are so very, very beautiful. This is one of the Berrydrop colors- Gooseberry Gumdrop.
For the Berrydrop collection, think of Illamasqua Raindrops in a rainbow of colors. All of the colors in this collection are very soft, muted pastels filled with fine white flakes. This particular color is a beautiful mint green. I used 3 thin coats- 2 coats may have been enough but there was just a hint of visible nail line. 2 thicker coats would be sufficient coverage.
Then I topped Gooseberry Gumdrop off with one of my other latest additions, Elevation Polish’s Haba Xueshan. This polish was just released in March in the View From The Top Collection. It’s similar to many other black and white polishes- various shapes and sizes of black and white glitter in a clear base. What makes Haba Xueshan unique is the addition of small and large ice blue/green circle glitter. I love it! This is just 1 coat of Haba Xueshan. I had to fish a tiny bit for the circles- they weren’t difficult to find, but I wanted to have many on each nail!
You can find Smitten Polish on Facebook for news and information, and purchase polishes on Etsy for $9.
Elevation Polish can be found on Big Cartel (various prices, $8-$10), and you can follow Lulu’s blog for updates.
I’m Back! Above the Curve Caty Perrywinkle and Lynnderella Blue Rouge Gradient
Hi guys! I never really updated officially on the blog, but I’m sure you were able to guess that I took an extended break from blogging. I still update on my Facebook page occasionally- which I think most people follow- but I apologize for never explaining that here as well. But I’m back now! I’ve missed blogging more than I thought I would. I actually planned to return almost a month ago, but my camera cord went missing- so the pictures in this post are about a month old now!
I’m planning on taking things slow initially- I’m going to make an effort to post regularly to keep myself on track, but I won’t be posting daily like many bloggers are able to do. I have a few reviews I’ve been incredibly late about posting (not polish, but polish/beauty related), so I’m going to do those this week, and then try and jump back in! Let me know what you’d like to see- right now my plan is to mainly do small, quick posts on whatever I’m wearing, but I’m open to suggestions and requests for sure!
This mani uses 2 of my very favorite polishes, Above the Curve Caty Perrywinkle and Lynnderella Blue Rouge. Even though both are recent purchases, they’re towards the top of my favorite list. I happened to have them sitting on my desk together and realized how perfect they would look as a pairing!
First is 2 coats of Above the Curve’s Caty Perrywinkle alone. Periwinkle is one of my favorite colors, so I was SUPER excited when Shaun and Angel debuted this gorgeous polish a few months ago. Caty Perrywinkle is a holographic periwinkle polish. It applied wonderfully, and outside in the sun it was much more holographic than my picture is showing. It’s definitely not an in-your-face holo, but it adds a gorgeous sparkle to a beautiful color.
Lynnderella’s Blue Rouge is actually a lot more opaque than people realize- you can have full coverage in 2 coats easily. Because of this I opted to do a glitter gradiant with Caty Perrywinkle, so that it wouldn’t be completely covered. I dabbed Blue Rouge around the cuticle area of my nails towards the middle, and then added a second coat and drug a tiny bit downward on each side. This is one of my very favorite Lynnderella polishes ever- it’s absolutely worth the splurge! It filled with smaller periwinkle and lilac glitters, and very fine pink glitter. Gorgeous!
I highly recommend both of these beauties! Here’s where you can find both:
Above the Curve: Follow their Facebook Page for updates, and purchase via their Etsy Store or Big Cartel Store– $9 (right now Caty Perrywinkle is only available via Big Cartel)
Lynnderella: Follow the Love Lynnderella Facebook page for polish updates, and buy via Lynnderella’s Ebay Store– $20
I’m excited to be back! I hope you guys liked my first return post as much as I did- I STILL love this mani! ❤
Too Cute-icle: Swatches and Review!
Woo look at me, 3 days in a row! Maybe I’m finally back in my groove?
Tonight I have some fun polishes to show off from a new indie line launching this weekend! My sweet friend Jess of the blog Too Cute-icle is venturing into the land of polish making. I was sent Frosty the Penguin and Pretty Pretty Princess to review, and they’re both so pretty!
First up is Frosty the Penguin!
This pretty glitter topcoat was named for an adorable mani Jess did with this polish- originally called Frostbite- that featured a cute penguin! This is a fun mixture of iridescent, blue and white glitters. Perfect for winter!
For these first 2 photos, I layered 1 coat of Frosty the Penguin over 3 coats of OPI’s My Boyfriend Scales Walls. I opted to use a bit of dabbing to get the glitter exactly where I wanted it, but it went on fairly smoothly and evenly without it
In this photo, I layered 1 coat of Frosty the Penguin over 2 coats of Girly Bits Arctic Sunrise. What a gorgeous combo! I’ll have pictures of Arctic Sunrise this weekend (though I’ve featured it briefly here).
The second polish I got to try out was Pretty Pretty Princess!
Pretty Pretty Princess is a girly glitter mix of various shades of pinks, purples, and blues. It’s super sparkly and pretty!
In the first 2 photos, I layered 1 coat of Pretty Pretty Princess over 2 coats of Sinful Colors Flutter. I did a bit of dabbing to ensure things were photo ready, but for the most part the glitter went on nice and evenly!
This is 2 coats of Pretty Pretty Princess over Sinful Colors Flutter. Almost full coverage! My nails were SUPER sparkly, I love it!
Too Cute-icle is opening shop on December 2nd. You’ll be able to find these polishes and others at her Etsy store! You can also follow her on Facebook, as well as her blog. Be sure to keep an eye out!
*These polishes were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own*
Model City Polish: Christmas Collection swatches and review!
Well, today was sunny and beautiful, so I had great sunshine for photos! As promised, I have some fun Christmas polishes to show you (sometimes I use a lightbox, but these didn’t want to cooperate inside). We’re in the process of putting up our tree and decorating here- I adore this time of year!
Tonight I have some of the colors from Model City Polishes Christmas Collection: O Christmas Tree, Silver and Gold, and You’re A Mean One.
First up, I have O Christmas Tree!
This is a fun polish, filled with green shards, gold stars, silver bar glitter, and a variety of multi colored hex glitter! Everything you’d imagine on a Christmas tree 🙂 This polish applied well- I chose to use the dabbing method to apply it exactly where I wanted it. I layered 1 coat of O Christmas Tree over 2 coats of OPI Just Spotted The Lizard.
Next up is the Silver and Gold duo! I’ll start off with Silver.
Silver and Gold is made up of 2 polishes- a silver glitter topcoat, and a gold glitter topcoat. Both are filled up with multiple sizes of hexes and bar glitter. Again, I chose to dab to apply where I wanted. This one was a bit tricky to work with, but it didn’t take long to have everything where I wanted it. I layered 1 coat of Silver over 2 coats of China Glaze For Audrey.
And now for the gold part of the duo!
Like Silver, Gold is made up of multiple sizes of metallic gold hexes and bar glitter. This one was the most tricky of the bunch- the bar glitter has a bit of a curve to it (though topcoat helps smooth it down), and I definitely had to dab to place everything just so. Out in the sun, this was very stunning! I love wearing gold on my nails. It was a beautiful counterpart to my base color- 365 Day’s of Color’s Mrs. Claus (which will be shown off all on its own in a few days!).
Last but not least, we have my favorite- You’re A Mean One!
This is a fun glitter topcoat filled with green squares, silver hexes and bright red hearts. Again, I dabbed the glitter on for placement. What I loved about this one was that I never once had to fish for hearts- what you see is what came out! I think I had to put a few BACK one time! This is 1 coat of You’re A Mean One over 2 coats of OPI Just Spotted the Lizard (which makes for a great undie coat for these Christmas colors!).
Overall, I really like this collection. The glitters can definitely be a bit tricky with placement and things of that nature, so these are better suited for us ladies (or guys!) that love glitter and are used to dealing with the challenges they can sometimes come with- though it doesn’t take much longer using the dabbing method, just a bit more patience! And I really encourage everyone to check out the store- there are some other AMAZING colors in this collection! I just adore Spearmint and Sugar Plum, and Cookies and Milk is such fun!
You can find Model City polish on Facebook here, and you can buy all of the Christmas collection and more here at the Etsy store!
*These products were sent to me for review, all opinions are my own*
Go Pink Wednesday: Zoya Lara and Lynnderella Boy-Girl Party
Hi guys! It’s time for another Go Pink Wendesday!
Today I started off with 1 coat of Zoya Lara, one of my very favorite pink creams, and added 1 coat of Lynnderella’s Boy-Girl Party on top.
Now, those of you familiar with Lynnderella colors may be questioning my sanity about now- since Boy-Girl Party is a mix of primarily pink and blue glitter. But no, I haven’t lost my mind, this was intentional. Aside from just being very pretty, I decided to add the touch of blue this week as a reminder that not just women are affected by breast cancer. Yes, it predominately affects women- but it’s easy to forget men do suffer from this as well. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2012 just over 2,000 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and 400 will die from it.
So while we’re surrounded by pink this month, this is my nod to all the men affected by this terrible disease as well as women.
Both polishes applied wonderfully. I ADORE Zoya’s polishes, especially their creams- they’re almost always 1 coat and apply like a dream. Boy-Girl Party is a little tricky- it’s a very thick, full glitter, so I used a bit of the dabbing method for placement.
1 coat Zoya Lara, 1 coat Lynnderella Boy-Girl Party, topped with 1 coat Gelous.
You can find Zoya at ULTA as well as on their website at http://www.zoya.com. Lynnderella can be found on Ebay at http://myworld.ebay.com/lynnderella-lynnderella.
Interested in a free Zoya? If you haven’t signed up for their Share the Love program yet, you can use my referral link here– once you sign up, you’ll get a coupon code (in your ‘My Promotion Codes’ section of your account page) for a free polish! Just pay shipping! If you add 2 more polishes to your order with this coupon, you’ll get free shipping (so 3 Zoyas for $16 even). Not bad!
Tomorrow I’ll be showing off a few colors by Pams & Kin, so be sure to check back!
Want to see the other lovely manis for Go Pink Wednesday! Look no further! Click the link below!
Jindie Nails: Part 1!
As promised on Saturday, I have a lot of colors from Jindie Nails to show you all! Rather than spam you with a ton of colors, I’m dividing this up into 2 posts- I’ll be posting the second on Wednesday. On Tuesday and Thursday, I’ll be showing off a few photos of the ‘underwear’ colors I wore with all of these- lots of drugstore polish love!
Today, I’ll be showing off Water 4 Elephants, Neonderthal, and Strung Out on Compliments.
First up, we have Neonderthal!
Neonderthal is a pretty glitter topcoat full of white, blue, green, and purple matte glitter and just the hint of sparkle here and there. The photos are shown with 1 coat over Spoiled’s Are Mermaids Real?.
The application on this was fine- no painting issues and the glitter was fairly evenly distrubuted in just 1 coat. You could get much heavier coverage with 1-2 more coats, but I think this is a ton of fun just with 1 coat!
Next we have Strung Out On Compliments!
Strung Out on Compliments is a mix of ultrafine black, green and blue matte glitter. I LOVE matte glitter polishes!
This one is denser than Neonderthal, so it could easily be worn on it’s own in a few coats. My index finger (top of the photo) shows 2 quick coats, while the rest of the nails are sporting 1 thin (believe it or not) coat over Sinful Color’s Sweet Dreams.
And finally, we have my very favorite: Water 4 Elephants!
This color is a beautiful brownish grey filled with various sizes of blue, green, and color shifting glitter!
This polish was incredibly easy to apply- though not perfect, I didn’t have to do any cleanup for these photos. The photos show 2 coats of Water 4 Elephants on it’s own- no undercoat. The first coat was a little thin, but the second coat filled it out beautifully!
You can find Jindie Nails on Facebook, Instagram, and on Etsy! Full size bottles cost $7.75. Be sure to check them out! Jennifer (the awesome lady behind Jindie Nails) offers a TON of polishes, and if you like matte glitter or neon you’ll fall in love with her creations! (Though if you don’t like either of those, she has goodies for you as well!)
Be sure to check back on Wednesday for the second half of this review!
*These polishes were provided to me for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own*
The Circus! plus Milani Gems
The following is what runs through my head now every single time someone mentions the circus. We just saw this movie a few days ago- the kids loved it! Don’t watch the clip if you’re easily annoyed though! 🙂
Almost 2 months ago now, my husband and I took the kiddos to the circus when it came to town. I haven’t been to the circus since I was 8 years old, so I think I enjoyed it just as much as the kids. A larger chunk of the acts were performed by people than I realized- but I know there’s a lot of controversy with the circus in terms of animal rights. Though not amazing, these are a few of the pictures I was able to take during the performance before my camera battery died (note to self: stop going to events with a non-charged camera battery).
Like any other nail nut, I had to have an appropriate mani for the occasion! I had great plans for what to do… but true to form, I put it off until a few hours before we had to leave the house. So in a pinch, I went to one of my very favorite polishes- Milani Gems!
Milani Gems is part of their Jewel FX line, and in my opinion it’s the prettiest of the bunch! I’ve used Milani Gems on it’s own before and it looked wonderful, but for this mani I used O.P.I.’s DS Radiance as underwear. Since you can’t see it well, Radiance is a beautiful 1-coat silver. I then added 2 coats of Milani Gems on top. Gems is a dupe of Deborah Lippmann’s beautiful Happy Birthday, though as far as I can tell Gems is a bit thicker with more glitter per coat. Without underwear, 3 coats is plenty to give complete coverage. I didn’t need to dab the polish to place glitters, I was able to just brush it on. I have noticed the polish seems to be thickening with time, but it’s nothing a bit of thinner won’t fix.
If you notice my cuticles look a little off, its because I did do some rushed editing in Photoshop. I wanted to be able to use the photos but my poor cuticles looked TERRIBLE! So for the sake of everyone’s eyes, I cleaned them up a little after the fact. I didn’t touch the polish, though 🙂 I was wearing acrylics at the time- which are the cause of my itty bitty weak stub nails I’m currently sporting (and everyone will see soon). I don’t think I’ve ever had this much trouble recovering from acrylics- my poor nails must have been filed down thinner than I realized at the time, because they have absolutely no strength and chip and break even when short. Luckily, the damaged area is almost grown out, so I can focus on growing them again!
This polish is definitely perfect for a party, the circus, or anything in between! I got quite a few compliments while we were at the circus on my mani, so I know I’m not the only person that loves a good glitter bomb!
And to finish off, here’s a picture of me and my biggest monster at the circus! The littlest monster did NOT want to cooperate for pictures.
Until next time!
~Diana, The Polish Monster
Polish Monster 