Alanna Renee Horcrux

Hello polish friends.  I have one last Alanna Renee Magical World nail polish to show you and this one is dark and sinister!  If you missed my last couple posts you can see Patronus HERE and Golden Snitch HERE.  Alanna Renee is based in Australia and she opened up shop in January 2013.   The Magical World collection was inspired by Harry Potter and really, who doesn't love Harry Potter?!  Genius to combine the love for HP and nail polish.  This collection does a great job capturing all the polish namesakes.  For all the international buyers (non-Australian residents) Alanna Renee is available through Color4Nails.  You can contact Color4Nails on Facebook, IG (color4nails) or just send Sisi an email with your order inquiry: color4nails21@gmail.com.

Horcrux is a creepy polish.  Not itself but it's inspiration and meaning in the movies.  If you are unfamiliar Alanna explains that a Horcrux is "inspired by the fragment of soul that a dark wizard or witch hides inside a powerful object for the purpose of immortality. A Horcrux gives one the ability to resurrect oneself if the body is destroyed."  When I opened this polish I immediately thought of Harry and Dumbledore in the Horcrux Cave with the black lake - I will tell no more in fear of spoiling the movie fun for anyone who hasn't seen the movies.  Horcrux is a black base with color shifting flakes.  I see grey, green, blue, maybe purple even?  The flakes with the dark base make for a gorgeous effect.  I used 2 coats of Horcrux and the formula was great, easy to apply and no issues to report.  I finished this with 1 layer of topcoat.  

*this polish was provided for my honest opinion and review

Alanna Renee Golden Snitch

Hey there polish friends!  I'm back with another amazing polish from the Alanna Renee Magical World Collection!  If you missed it I posted Patronus yesterday and you can see it HERE.  Alanna Renee is a new indie brand that comes from Australia.  She opened up shop in January 2013 and already has a ton of great polishes.  The Magical World collection is inspired by Harry Potter and I really love all the colors!  For all the international buyers (non-Australian residents) Alanna Renee is available through Color4Nails.  You can contact Color4Nails on Facebook, IG (color4nails) or just send Sisi an email with your order inquiry: color4nails21@gmail.com.
Golden Snitch is a stuning golden glittter bomb.  Guess what, it has gold circle glitters…you had me at hello!  I wanted to give you a description of the Golden Snitch but I am so wordy.  Alanna does an excellent job explaining both the Snitch and the polish so I pulled this directly from her website, "Golden Snitch is inspired by the small walnut sized gold ball with silver wings used in Quidditch.  It flies around the Quidditch field at fast speeds and is nearly impossible to see.  The seeker's job is to catch the snitch before the other team's seeker winning their team 150 points and ending the game.  Golden snitch has a mix gold glitter and silver micro glitter in a clear base."  I was very impressed with Golden Snitch.  It had a great formula and covered opaquely on it's own in 2 coats.   It spread easily and didn't glop up despite the heavy dose of glitter.  Did I mention it had gold circle glitters?  Swoon, my weakness!  If you are looking for an ultra blingy and sparkly polish, Golden Snitch may be what you seek (haha - get it, did you see what I did there?  Seek?  Seeker?  Quiditch?  Ok, I'll be quiet now).  I finished this with 1 layer of topcoat for smooth to the touch nails.  

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*this polish was provided for my honest opinion and review

Alanna Renee Patronus

Hullo polish friends!  Alanna Renee is a new Australian indie brand that already has a plethora of gorgeous polishes under her belt.  I have reviewed Alanna Renee before, if you want to view those post you can see Mardi and Black Cherry HERE.  But this post features the brand new Patronus from the Magical World collection.  The Magical World collection is inspired by the wonderful wizardry world of Harry Potter!  I'm a huge fan of Harry Potter so I was very excited to review polish from this collection.  And as you'll see from the pictures in this post and the next 2, Alanna NAILED it!!  

If you live in a country other than Australia you can purchase Alanna Renee polish from Color4Nails!  Sisi has a Facebook and IG (color4nails) account that she updates frequently with new stock and pre-orders for exciting new brands!  Just send her an email with your order: color4nails21@gmail.com

This lovely polish is Patronus!  Alanna has a great description of what a Patronus is and the polish on her website...here is what she says "Patronus is inspired by the form produced by the Patronus Charm.  A Patronus is a positive energy force which takes the shape of the animal with whom you share the deepest affinity.  A Patronus can be used for defence against Dementors.  Patronus has a mix of white and blue flakies in a shimmery white base. I used three coats in the swatch photo."  Application of Patronus was great and interesting!  It almost appeared that I was putting fibers on my nails.  Rest assured that all the flakies laid down flat (meaning they sure didn't feel like fibers) and were stunning on the nail.  I used 2 coats for full coverage and 1 layer of topcoat.  

(would you look at those gorgeous colors!!)

*this polish was provided for my honest opinion and review

Naomi Gets a Helmer

This was too cute not to share.  Naomi loves to play in my helmer.  She's always shuffling around in my drawers pulling out polish to oooh and aaah over.  Shockingly she hasn't broken any (I sheepishly take the blame for the handful that have broken in the last year). Well her little stash has grown by leaps and bounds and it was time to got her a better storage system.  The hand me down Clinique makeup bag wasn't cutting it anymore.  So I took her to Rite Aid and found a plastic "helmer."  2 drawers and a top lid that flips open.  

We filled the bottom drawer with all the mini polish bottles I've accumulated, mostly indies.  The top drawer is full of little girl brands that you find in drug stores, candy shops, etc: Bonne Bell, Hello Kitty, Crayola, Peeps, etc...  And the flip top lid has nail stickers, soy based polish remover, her new SOPI Cinderella set (which I forgot to put in for the pictures) and some chapstick.  She is very happy to have a place for her polish and to play around with her own polish now.    

Flip top lid

Top drawer

Bottom drawer 

Showing me how her drawers open

Assessing her stash

Giving a couple bottles a good shake

Happy little polish girl

Happy "helmer" owner

ellagee Dude!

Morning polish friends!  Today I bring you another ellagee neon color from the 1985 collection.  This collection is pretty awesome, it's a rainbow of bright colors that reminded Laura of the "awesome fun and insanity that was the 80s."  Laura recently revamped a few of the formulas to provide her customers with the best quality.  While she was at it she added a few more colors to the collection!  I reviewed Way Orange a short time ago, if you want to read that post you can see it HERE.  

Dude is a "a yellow neon with a bright glow in UV light glammed up with soft white shimmer."  It's a really great neon with a pretty finish.  I wish I had a UV light so I could try out the glow in the dark feature but I don't, so you will have to check her Facebook page or store website for pictures of that.  Dude definitely falls into the neon category.  I love this shade of yellow - it's eye searing and makes me look tan (more so than I already am).  It's not as sheer as Way Orange was so I don't think starting with a white base is a necessity.  I used 3 coats to ensure full coverage and you can see a very faint nail line.  The formula on Dude was totally awesome (haha)!  It went on perfectly smooth and even.  No issues to report on either the formula or the application.  I didn't use topcoat so you could see the slight satin-matte finish.  And check out that silvery-white shimmer!  Gorgeous!  

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Here are a couple pictures comparing the old formula of Dude to the new formula.  New on top, old on bottom.  The older version was a tad hard to work with.  If you were a novice painter you would probably be frustrated.  Old Dude was chalky streaky and not smooth what so ever.  You can see that the opacity and color match between the two version is almost identical.  Laura did a great job of improving her formula and not sacrificing any of the great qualities of the color.

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And finally, just to give you good measure - here is Dude over white.  I used 1 coat of OPI Alpine Snow and 1 coat of Dude.  It's thisclose to being the same as Dude on it's own.  The biggest difference is that the visible nail line is completely gone.  So it's easy to wear both ways and looks amazing both ways.  It's up to you as the wearer to decide how you want to sport Dude!  

*this polish was provided for my honest opinion and review

What's In My Bag

A few of my blogger friends are participating in a "What's In My Bag" group post. I too like to see posts that are about things other than nail polish and thought it would be fun to join in. Of course my post isn't as glamorous. And my bag isn't as lovely as some of the others. Don't be mistaken, I have plenty of nice bags but I don't use them as often as I'd like. I'm a mom of 3 littles. 7, 4 and almost 2. I carry around a ton of useless crap. I typically have used tissues and spare clothes, toys, half eaten granola bars and crumbs galore in my bag. So I use a diaper bag because I don't care how trashed or worn out it gets. That's it's job, used and abused.  I'll save my nice bags for adult nights out.  Maybe next time I'll share one with you!  

This is my Betsy Johnson Betseyville bag. I can't remember but it's possible I've had this bag since my oldest was born. I guess that makes it 7 years old?  Jeez, buy a new diaper bag Jen!  Anyways, I've always loved it. Cute and fun flower pattern embroidered on the front, big and roomy, tons of pockets!  Perfect for what it's made for. Look at the cute pattern inside!!

I love Domo.  My friend Gina sent him to me and he happily escorts me on all outings.  And what diaper bag is complete without hand sanitizer.  It's a necessity for sticky, dirty little hands and diaper changing moms on the go. 

Now the embarrassing inside. So much junk. So much unneeded stuff. Diapers, wipes, boogie wipes, wet wipes, lipgloss assortment, pens, lotions, glasses, etc. The random Lone Ranger buttons and masks are from our trip to Disneyland last weekend where they had a red carpet event for the world premiere.  I shook Johnny Depp's hand, are you jealous?

Does anyone need this much lipgloss in their bag?  Yes I do. At all times I need this big (or bigger) of a selection. 

Anyways, that's it!  Thanks for looking in my bag!  Take a look in some other bloggers bags!