Silent Echo: A Siren's Tale

Today I have some nails done in collaboration with author Elisa Freilich!  Elisa's new book Silent Echo: A Siren's Tale just recently released on ebook and will be available in print very soon.

After reading through the book I came up with these pretties.

For these nails I did a blue gradient nails full of floating white feathers and music notes.  The thumb nail is inspired by the text on the books cover art.  Without giving too much away, there is a strong emphasis on singing and birds/wings throughout the book!  

This YA book fits right into the genre of Twilight and The Hunger Games. The story is about a mute teenage girl who's silence is mysteriously broken.  Portia discovers that it isn't a normal voice that she has!

To check out the novel for yourself you can buy it on ebook or a printed copy through Amazon or on iBook for you mac lovers.  At only $4.99 for an ebook copy it's a great deal!

IsaDora Sugar Crush Nail Polish

IsaDora is a Swedish beauty brand that covers everything from nail polish to face makeup to perfume to skincare to brushes!  The lovely Ulrika from IsaDora sent me over some polishes from their Sugar Crush collection, a matte, glittery texture formula.  IsaDora has a huge span of fifteen texture polishes in every color imaginable.  They are an animal cruelty free brand and free from formaldehyde, camphor, toluene and dibutyl phthalate (DBP).  These bottles are smaller than most polishes in the US.  They are 6ml or .2 Fl oz.  I know, I know you're eager to get to the swatches!

Turquoise Crush (110)  Turquoise crush is a light blue base with small silver glitters and larger silver glitters that spread studded throughout.  The coverage was perfect and I only needed a few coats.  The brushes in these polishes are wide and I could cover each of my nails in about two strokes, one on my pinky.  Like most texture polishes these dried quickly with a matte finish that gives a unique look to the glitter.  

Diamond Crush (100) This Sugar Crush polish was very similar to Turquoise Crush.  This silver base is all small glitters and large silver glitters give a little change up to the formula.  This turned out to be more sheer than the others needing three coats.  My nail line is still slightly visible.  

Emerald Crush (112)  This vampy polish consists of a deep base with small blue glitters.  The blue glitters catch a purple hue in low lighting that is really gorgeous.  The dark crush colors have great payoff and are full coverage in one or two coats!  This color is one of my favorites from the six I was sent!  

Ocean Crush (128) Limited Edition  I DREAM in this color.  If someone described my aura, it would be this color.  I want to eat this color.  The damage to my internal organs would be totally worth it.  Ocean Crush is an ocean blue full of yellowish-green opalescent flecks.  The dimension in this polish will blow you away.  There are deep blues that lighten with highlights and the green shimmer shows up only at the brightest spots.  The texture catching the light on multiple facets makes this color complex and utterly crash-your-car-because-you-can't-stop-looking-at-your-nails worthy.  Unfortunately this color is limited edition.  The only solution is to buy twelve bottles so you're set for life.  

Black Crush (118)  This color turned out to be one of my least favorites.  The formula was there and I only needed one or two coats but the dimension that the other shades have compared to this is just lackluster.  The black base absorbs light while the small silver pieces reflect giving a patchy look.  It could be my personal color palette preference though so, if you're into it, definitely look into getting this shade.  

Wine Crush (108) Hello Autumn!  This shade is made for this season.  A deep plum base holds gold and purple/fuchsia glitters.  Playing off each other they create orange and red hues.  It's a fall wonderland!  There is a lot of depth in the colors here that makes this a complex and beautiful shade.  Added bonus, one or two coats was all I needed.

Now for the bad news.  IsaDora products are really only available in Sweden and other surrounding European countries.  I have contacted independent polish carries such as Ninja Polish, Color4Nails and Llarowe to ask that they bring IsaDora to the states and distribute it here!  If you are lucky enough to have a European nail mail buddy they may be able to send you some.  If you want to get your hands on some of these beauties you can contact them and let them know we'd like some IsaDora here in the states and Canada.  With enough requests I think we can bring IsaDora to this side of the world.  Let's make a polish movement! Click here, here and here to request!

If you are a lucky European duck you probably know all about IsaDora.  For you lovelies I suggest picking up your favorite Sugar Crush shades.  My faves were Ocean Crush, Emerald Crush and Wine Crush.  Diamond Crush and Turquoise Crush were also great, the formulas were just a touch thinner than the others.  The only shade I wasn't feeling was Black Crush because of the flatness of the color.  What you do you think of these IsaDora shades?

October Julep Maven 2013

October is my favorite month of the year...mayyyybe it's because my birthday is coming up but something about autumn just makes me happy.  Pumpkins, hoodies, fresh apples, warm pies?  Mmmmm, I'm sold.  And of course candy corn!  Julep was sweet enough to include some in this months October box.

I stuck with my bombshell box because I was very intrigued by Cleopatra, a black latex polish.  Also included was Valerie, a double sided kajal eye liner, an eyeliner sharpener and some candy corn!  Those little saccharine sweet pumpkin candies are my favorites in the fall, candy corn is the next best thing since it's made of the same stuff!

I'm always up for eyeliner.  It is one of my daily items for my makeup routine.  I tend to lean more towards brown for daytime looks and I vamp it up with black for going out.  I have a million sharpeners but this Julep one is a nice treat for those that may not have one.  Getting everything you need is always a plus!

I was very impressed with Juleps Kajal Eye Glider liner.  It was so easy to control!  One swipe left a lot of pigment and it didn't move to smudge easily.  My go to eyeliner is typically Urban Decays 24/7 in zero but I'll be swapping it out for the Kajal for awhile to try it out more.  So far no disappointment here!

My bombshell colors this month are Valerie, a teal irridescent microglitter and Cleopatra, a black latex creme.  

Valerie is a deep teal.  The microshimmer is a beautiful gold with some iridescence to it.  This polish was a little bit thick and pungent to me.  I've occasionally had Juleps like this before.  It was still usable and looks great on the nail.  The microshimmer is very glittery when the light catches it but stays a quieter teal in most lighting.  This is a great office color!

Cleopatra is a really fun and Halloweeny shade. This black dries matte for a latex finish.  Insta bad girl.  This only thing I didn't totally love about this shade was how much the polish clings to imperfections.  My middle nail had a terrible break so I patched it up with a teabag. With the base coat sanded down most polish over the patch looks fine but with Cleopatra, because of the finish, every and wrinkle shows through. (My middle finger is also patched above with Valerie but it is barely noticeable)  If you have ridges on your nails definitely use a ridge filler base before using Celopatra.  This look with some studs is all I can think of wearing for Halloween!

Want a free Julep box of your own? Just click here and take the Julep style quiz.  They will send you a box of Julep polish for free when you use the code FREEBOX at checkout!  You will be getting a great deal.  After that Julep will continue to send you boxes each month for $19.99 or you can just cancel your subscription and keep your free box with no penalty.  Who doesn't love free stuff?