Femme Fatale Lacquer

I've played around with a lot of indie brands.  Many end up feeling like something you've seen over and over again.  Femme Fatale Lacquer it on it's own planet!  How refreshing!  She has an amazing collection that is updated frequently and completely fashion forward.

I have four polishes to explore in this post but she has over 15 polishes of her own creation available.

Lets get right into it!  We'll start with a gorgeous Halloween shade, Night of the Living Fed.

Night of the Living Fed is a black translucent jelly base with medium green hex glitters, small purple and orange hexes an silver bar glitters.  This mani is shown over China Glaze Liquid Leather and topped with Butter Londons Matte top coat.  This is the perfect Halloween nail plish!  Pick this up in time for the 31st.

Here's an even better look at all the glittery goodness but this time glossy.  It looks amazing any way you wear it!

Next up is Razzle Me Dazzled!

This is a gorgeous purple jelly base with purple and blue glitters throughout.  I used three coats alone to create a jelly sandwich look that is perfection!    

Here we have Razzle Me Dazzle over Ruby Wing Fate as an under coat.  I love how it makes the blue glitters stand out!                  

Next I played around to give it a matte effect by topping it with Butter Londons Matte top coat.  I love how matte makes glitter look!

Here we have a macro shot of Razzle Me Dazzled in three coats as a jelly sandwich and also in one coat over Ruby Wing Fate on the right.  So pretty!

Time to put some fruit in your diet! Here is Very Berry-licious!

Very Berry-licious is a red jelly base with small black, seed like glitter and red hex glitters.  Here we have a three coater jelly sandwich.

And here is one coat of Very Berry-licious with Essie Forever Yummy underneath!  Reminds me of delicious strawberries or watermelon on a hot summer day.  This is also the perfect firey mani for a night out on the town.  I got tons of complements!

It is so hard to pick favorites but Twinkle Twinkle Shattered Star was the color I was most looking forward to trying and I am not disappointed!

Here we have three coats alone of Twinkle Twinkle Shattered Star.  It is a very pigmented teal jelly base with shattered yellow glitters, small yellow glitters and white translucent hex glitters.  Absolutely gorgeous and like no polish I have seen before!

A macro shot of Twinkle Twinkle Shattered Star in all its glory!

I would completely recommend any of Femme Fatale Lacquers polishes.  They are high quality, chock full of glitter and very affordable.  She sells minis for for $4 and full size polishes for $8.  Suport this amazing indie brand!  You won't regret it.  I can't wait to see the amazing things she has to come.

This polish was sent for review and is based on my individual, honest opinion!

Essie Winter 2012 Collection

I usually am not a collection girl.  I wait when collections of polishes come out to see the reviews and pick and choose a few favorites from said collections.  However, when I stumbled upon the new winter 2012 collection from Essie in the store last week I couldn't help but buy ALL of them.  I don't know what came over me.

So here for your viewing pleasure are all six shades of the collection!

We'll start of with She's Pampered.

She's Pampered is a scarlet red that is just the slightest bit opaque.  You can just manage to see my visible nail line with two coats.  It applied like a dream and is the perfect holiday red!  Since it's the teeniest bit translucent I'm thinking mayhaps a jelly sandwich with some green glitters? :)

Next up is Butler Please.

Butler Please has a shade of blue that is simply and absolutely gorgeous! I was worried at first because the first coat went on a little streaky but the second coat gave it a lush, deep, cobalt blue that was even and covered the nail perfectly.  In bright light you get this vivid blue as photographed and in false lighting or shade you get a deeper, robust blue.  I am very excited with this shade!  I've gone a little bit gaga for it.

There are two glitters in this collection, each very different.  This is Beyond Cozy.

Beyond Cozy brings to mind the sparks off of a warm, crackling winter fire.  It is a full coverage glitter, shown is two coats.  The glitter is a champagne colored metallic that is very multidimensional.  Finished it has a sandy texture.  This shade reminds me of China Glaze I'm Not Lion from the Safari Collection but actually has lighter undertones and more metallic to it than China Glaze so they do differ.  This would be a perfect new years polish or great any time of year for that mani that needs a glittery accent nail.

Time to get a bit out of season with Snap Happy.

I really enjoy this color.  It is a bright creme coral or salmon.  It has pink as well as orange tones to it.  Snap Happy is slightly sheer with two coats and you can see a light visible nail line.  Application was wonderful! I would have loved to sport this in the summer but I can't see myself reaching for this as my first shade choice this winter.  It just doesn't say winter is in the air to me!  

Now for Where's My Chauffeur.

I was very excited about this color!  It is a gorgeous turquoise, tiffany's blue shade that is one of those colors that just looks amazing on everyones skin tone.  It is slightly sheer, the first coat went on streaky and with three coats I would have gotten full coverage but I wasn't quite there with only two.  Amazing shade regardless and definitely a nice icy color for the season.

Finally is Leading Lady, the second glitter in the collection.

This color just has the holidays written all over it! Leading Lady is a deep jelly, cranberry base with bright red glitter winking through.  Coverage was great and it really sparkles and shines!  I'll upload some sunshine shots and macros tomorrow to really show it off because you are not getting the full glitter effect here.

Out of the entire collection I would say you must pick up Leading Lady, Butler Please and Beyond Cozy.  She's Pampered and Where's My Chauffeur are great Essie colors as well but I have seen a few other colors like them around and about.  Snap Happy would be a great color for other seasons but I just can't see many sales of this color for the winter season.

Great job on this collection Essie!

Free Gift Cards with Shopkick!

Want to know how I don't go completely broke buying nail polish?  I do go completely broke!  Just kidding, there are a few techniques I use.

I often enter contests to win free polish by doing nail art, I'll take advantage of coupons and sales and I'll swap polish with friends.  However these all take a lot of effort, one of the easiest ways I've found get get free polish is using Shopkick!

Shopkick is an app for smartphones.  I use my iphone 4s with it.  It's just an app that you download that will display stores near you that have kick points.  You can collect kick points by walking into stores and scanning products in those stores.  You don't have to actually buy anything!  Whenever I head to Target to do some shopping I just open my Shopkick app, get the points for walking in and scan the items they are looking for while I'm completing my shopping list.

You redeem points for totally free giftcards for stores like Target, Starbucks, Macys, CVS and tons of others.  They just added a $300 Tiffany & Co. card!  I'm saving my kick points up for that, who can say no to free Tiffany's jewelry?!  Usually I save up for $10 CVS or Target cards and redeem them for free polish.

You can get 50 free Shopkick points to redeem towards giftcards when you sign up using my link here!
It's awesome, free stuff.  Get shopkick for yourself and try it out! :*

Velvet Nail Tutorial

Velvet nails have been on the rise!  Ciaté has come out with velvet manicure set that retails for $19 to $25 but you can get this look much cheaper at home!

You will need:

Flocking powder

Nail polish in a similar color to your powder.

You can pick up flocking powder from your local craft store in the glitter area or by the scrap booking supplies.  They are usually around $2-$5 for a large container of powder.

1. Paint your nails your base color and let dry.  This will help the flocking powder appear fuller in case there are any bald spots after it's been applied.  Coat one nail with a second coat of polish.

2. While still wet sprinkle flocking powder over the nail.

3. Gently press down on the powder until it is level and smoothed down into the wet polish.

4. To clean up gently push the flocking powder away from the nail bed and skin and onto the nail.  For powder that is on the skin you can brush it away with a small makeup brush or blow it off.  Continue onto the next finger and complete each one at a time.  When finished let the mani dry and you're done!  

Do NOT top with any sort of top coat.  This will cause the texture and look of the velvet to be ruined.  

No worried if this manicure gets wet!  It may be a little damp but will dry after being submerged in water.  This look will last you quite a few days!  It is not as temperamental as a caviar manicure look.

Here is the velvet manicure technique I did on the accent finger.  I used China Glaze Liquid Leather for the black base, Essie A Cut Above for the pink glitter and Butter London Matte top coat on top.  For the accent finger I used Ruby Wing Pink Rose and pink flocking powder from Michaels craft store.

Ruby Wing Collection from Birchbox

A huge thank  you to Birchbox and Color Club!  Color Club recently released the Ruby Wing collection which is a color changing collection of polishes.  They react to the UV in sunlight and will change colors outdoors.  There are even some glitters in the collection! And yes, they change colors as well!  I entered a fall nail art contest Birchbox was running on their facebook page last month.

Here's my prize!  All 18 colors from the Ruby Wing collection.

I'll be making my way through these babies so I can review them and show you all the color changing goodness!  So far I've only tried Eclipse and Festival.

Eclipse is a violet creme that photographed a bit bluer than it actually is.  In sunlight it changes from a light periwinkle blue to a deeper indigo.  Festival is a light purple, jelly base with silver holo glitters throughout.  Outdoors the jelly base turns a deep purple, changing the glitters to look darker as well.  

Unfortunately, I haven't had enough sun to get a good picture of this change yet but, I'll have the pics up as soon as I get them!

Watch throughout the month as I review this collection and add more images!

Thank you again Birchbox!

My Panty Box October Review

I got my first subscription package from My Panty Box!

It came from Spain!  I had no idea it shipped from Spain.  The package was small and white and only said Correos on it which was very discrete.  I was alerted that my package shipped October 5th and it arrived on October 11th.

Here is my video review of me opening the package along with my first impressions of what I got.

                           

If you didn't get it from the video, I LOVE what they sent me!  Blue and lace are two of my favorites!  Here are some close up pics.

Pictured is the small white envelope they mailed on the bottom, the undies and the card.

The lace pattern is really gorgeous!

The main fabric is mostly polyester and spandex, very stretchy.  On the base there is a woven blue trim and the black lace band around the top.

I also love the service.  They ship worldwide.  That's right, now you ladies outside of the U.S. don't have to feel excluded.

They carry size XS-4XL so there is something for everybody.

They have three lines; basic, sexy and premier that you can sign up for a three month subscription, a six month or go all the way up to a year. This pair I got is from the basic line.  They're very affordable.

My favorite factor is that this is a great monthly subscription to have as a little sexy pick me up but also something you could totally worm out of your significant other as a gift!  Hey, it benefits them too!

My Panty Box!!!
My Panty Box!!!
My Panty Box!!!

Definitely check them out by clicking above.  Or to let them know I sent you, you can go to this address:  http://www.mypantybox.com?a_aid=505be5ace57e5

ps - don't forget about my awesome blogger extravaganza nail giveaway!  It ends on the 15th so fill out that entry form.

Nail Blog Giveaway Extravaganza!

I've teamed up with some awesome nail blogs to give you some great chances to win some amazing prizes!

I will be giving away the China Glaze Wicked 4 pc. set to one lucky follower of my blog!

This set includes full size bottles of China Glaze Bizarre Blurple, Roughish Red, Glitter Goblin and Ghoulish Glow.  You may recognize China Glaze Ghoulish Glow from my glow in the dark ghost mani I posted a tutorial on earlier!

Each blogger is giving away an equally fantastic prize! Vicki from Nail by Vi will be giving away a nail stamping set complete with scraper and multiple nail plates.

                                            

Samantha from Just One More Bottle will be giving away this China Glaze/Seche Vite Support Awareness set. 

Kari from Finger Glaze will be giving away two Butter Londons in The Old Bill and Pillar Box Red as well as Butter Londons Hardwear Quick Dry Topcoat.

Jill from Glisten and Glow will be giving away an amazing set of her own brand!  In this set you can win a 4oz body wash in Sangria White Peach, an 8oz body butter also in Sangria White Peach, a Glis-tcs Cuticle oil in Chamomile and HK Girls famous top coat!

Michelle from Rain Down on me Beauty will be giving away an elf nail file, Zoya fast dry drops, nail stickers, a jar of nail stars and a Deborah Lippman Tiny Dancer.

Fiorella from Fiorellas Closet will be giving away Orly Buried Alive, Tokidoki Sandy, China Glaze Stone Cold and Orly Mysterious Curse.

And last but definitely not least, Victoria from Punky's Polish will be giving away a mini set of The Bondettes from the new Skyfall 007 collection!  This includes a mini of GoldenEye, The Spy Who Loved Me, The World is Not Enough and Live and Let Die. 

What are you waiting for!  Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below to get as many entries as you'd like to win one of these amazing prizes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Glowing Ghosts

Today I've painted a Halloween design inspired by China Glaze Ghoulish Glow!  I found this polish at my local Sally's Beauty Supply and had to create a fun design with it.  This glowing polish turns a very bright green in the dark!

First paint your nail white for a base.  I used Essie Blanc.  Paint two coats of glow polish over the white.  I used China Glaze Ghoulish Glow. If you don't have access to glow in the dark polish white ghosts will be fine for this design.

Using a thin small nail art or acrylic paint brush draw the outline of your ghost in black.  I used China Glaze Liquid Leather.  

Fill in the outer parts of the nail with black.  I used my small brush for this. 

Using a small dotting tool or the end of a bobby pin, dot two large eyes.  Using a paint brush draw a mouth.  The mouth can be any expression you desire.  For this mouth I did an open smiley :D.

Now for the details!  I used my small brush to dot white pupils and eye shines in the eyes and added a tongue with Essie Off the Shoulder.  I went back over some of the ghosts body with white and then the glow polish to hide some small mistakes.

To bring the details together and create a seamless look seal the look with a top coat.

All done!  You will have cute little white ghosts during the day and green glowing ghouls at night.  

Julep October Box

Nothing like a package to cheer you up on a Monday!  My October Julep Maven box arrived in the mail, just in time for October 1st.  They've been playing with box sizes recently.  This one is square.  I am usually an It Girl but I switched to Bombshell style this month.  I was excited to try their quick dry drops and I wanted a black shatter.

Upon first opening, a bed of festive orange paper cushions the goodies with a Bombshell box summary card on top.

Here are all the cards that were included.  The top is for Juleps Bombshell box on the back is a short tutorial for how to use the polishes included in the box.  There is also a small quote, "Never put your faith in a Prince.  When you require a miracle, trust in a Witch." - Catherynne M. Valente.  Finally they included ingredients and allergy information for candy corn!

                    

I'm very pleased with my extras this month!  There is a black and orange loose glitter with the Julep logo on the cover as well as some candy corn!  The candy corn was delicious.  My polishes and quick dry drops were wrapped up in a black baggie and tied with a white ribbon.

Now for the good stuff!  I received Juleps Quick Dry Polish Drops (I've never tried quick dry drops so I'm very excited to give it a whirl), Julep Ursula and Julep Keira.  Ursula is your basic black shatter polish and Keira is a dusky, deep, creme maroon.   The candy corn was snapped up in a a few minutes and the loose glitter is very versatile.  You could use the glitter on your body, dip wet nail polish in the glitter to give a super awesome shine to a mani or accent finger or even make your own Halloween glitter franken polish by pouring it in a top coat.

If you would like to try a Julep starter box they are running a deal to get your first box for 1 cent!  Just go to this link, take the Julep style quiz to find out what style of Maven you are and add it to your shopping cart.  Upon checkout use the code COLOR2012 or PENNY to get $19.99 removed and only pay 1 cent for the whole box!  If you like the subscription they will send you a new box of polish and accessories for $20 a month.  If you don't like it or just don't feel like having a subscription you can easily cancel at no charge and keep your 1 cent box.  I highly suggest this service.  I look forward to it every month!

Gorgeous glossy Keira!