Stella Chroma Core Shades; Just and Loyal, Northern Lights & A Dragon Is Not A Slave

Morning nail polish loving friends!  Happy Hump Day.  Today I have some core shades available at Stella Chroma for you to check out.  Stella Chroma is a fabulous brand, so many awesome polishes to choose from as well as fabulous sugar scrubs and cuticle oils.  Stella Chroma also donates a portion of her proceeds each quarter to a foundation that promotes women in STEM careers!  This quarter she is donating to Girls Who Code, an organization who's mission is to close the gender gap in technology.  How cool is that?  This post features Just and Loyal, Northern Lights and A Dragon Is Not A Slave.  You an pick these all up now and save 15% using my code MNPO.  Let's jump in!

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Stella Chroma: Shop, Facebook, Stella Chromatics Facebook Fan Group, Instagram 

Alter Ego, Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra; August 2017 Polish Pick Up

Afternoon all!  It's not as hot of a day today, thankfully.  Sitting in the sun during swim lessons has been wearing me out!  Today we are headed to the local farm team baseball game!  Woot, go San Jose Giants!  I also get today was a good day to start sharing the Polish Pick Up shades I have!  The August Polish Pick Up theme is Old Hollywood!  I've been perusing pics of the polishes and they are all amazing!  Alter Ego provided a polish this month and it's inspired by Elizabeth Taylor's portrayal of Cleopatra.  Super glamorous and opulent!  The starlets these days could take notes on class and glamour from these old school Hollywood sirens.  But I digress...Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra is gorgeous shade that'll be available from 8/4-8/7.  Check out my pictures below!

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Polish Pick Up:  Shop, Facebook

Atter Ego: Shop, Facebook, Instagram

Color Club Frost Bite Collection; Partial Review

Good morning dears!  My posting will be a bit infrequent and irregular for the next week (month actually) as I am preparing for a 2 week long vacation and will be busy packing, cleaning and setting up guest posts!  YAY for guest posts!  But when I have a chance here and there I'll throw up a few pictures for you to peruse.  This morning I have a few metallic shades and a glitter from the Color Club Winter collection called Frost Bite.  The 7 piece Frost Bite collection is available on the website now and each shade is $8.50.  It looks like they are all metallic finish, metal type shades.  The only thing I will mention about this is that you will get brushstrokes with this type of finish.  My suggestion is to sponge on the second layer and you'll completely reduce that brushstrokey look.  I also have a feeling these will be great for stamping!  So let's jump in and see the 3 polishes I have to share!

*press sample*

Color Club: Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Literary Lacquers Something That Has No Name

Good morning!  I'm back with another Literary Lacquer to share with you!  This holo beauty was imagined by a lovely lady in the Literary Lacquer fan group and after voting and it was the winning polish for the newest group custom.  Sadly you know what that means, it's not available to the public.  Sorry again, I know, I am really mean.  Especially if you love orange like I do.  Anyways, there are certainly a ton of other great polishes in the shop and chances are you'll see something that tickles your fancy.  So let's jump in and enjoy some polish!

*nothing to disclose*

Literary Lacquers: Shop, Facebook, Instagram

Ok ok, so this is Something That Has No Name.  I honestly can't remember the book reference but I do know that I am totally in lust with this sun-burnt orange soft linear holo.  Just look at those charcoal/black glitters and holo and pink glitters!  Trust me, you can really see the pink glitters, especially in the shade pictures.  This is going to be a perfect color for Summer and Fall days!  The formula and application were fabulous.  I used 2 coats of Something That Has No Name and 1 layer of topcoat.  

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Polish TBH #WorkBitch

Good morning, or afternoon depending on where you are.  With my boys back in school I've had some time to catch up on things around the house and really focus on planning Naomi's 3rd birthday party!  Frozen themed of course - so original.  But I've also had time to get some swatching done and catch up a little on my blogging!  Today I have a brand I haven't tried before, but I have met the maker Christian,a few times.  She's super sweet and super cute to boot!  So I'm happy that now I have tried Polish TBH because this glitter topper is really fabulous.  It also made me eager to see her Fall collection that I just saw a sneak peek of on Facebook!  So let's jump in and see this beauty and make sure you are following Polish TBH on Facebook and Instagram so you don't miss out on any updates about her newest collections!  I also received a sample of the Moisturizing Bath Truffle and Harvest Apple Cuticle Oil, keep an eye out for a review of those products soon.

*PRES SAMPLE*

Polish TBH: Shop, Facebook, Instagram

This is #WorkBitch.  Yes it's named after the Britney Spears song Work B**ch.  Great song...great polish!  #WorkBitch is a blend of "gold & black glitters sparkle in a sea of a turquoise holo glitter."  It's pretty but not in your face blingy.  I love how the gold circle glitters really stand out against the darker black and turquoise glitters.  #WorkBitch is a glitter packed polish and I had great payoff in 2 coats.  The glitters came out of the bottle easily and spread nicely on my nails.  I imagine you can wear this over a variety of base colors but I went with something a little matchy and used Colors by Llarowe Julia Roberts 1967.  I finished with 1 layer of topcoat and all was smooth and shiny.

Halloween Eyes Mani

I always feel like...somebody's watching meeeeee!  In this case my acent nails are watching me...and I have no privacy, ooooooh!  Here's my second Halloween mani!  I am actually wearing this one today.  Yes, it's juvenile and I smeared an eyeball...but I'm pretty horrible at art and it was my first time trying to make eyeballs.  So I like how it turned out anyways.  It was sparkly and fun! 

Here's what I have on!  Thumb, index and middle all got 2 coats of LA Girl Electric Coral.  Am orange scattered holo with a jelly like finish.  Really beautiful color that is much more orange than my pictures are showing.  The formula was beautiful and so easy to use.  I drew black stripes on my index with Orly Liquid Vinyl (yeah shaky hands, but I was tired, it was late and I didn't feel like digging around for my tape).  On my ring and pinky nails I have 2 coats of Nerd Lacquer HOCCHHH KSSSHHHHH (named after the sound Darth Vader makes when he breathes).  HK is a super pretty black glitter polish that is so full of glitter you don't even need a base for it.  Holo hexs, super fine microglitter, black glitters...it built up great!  It actually has a textured type feel to it, thought I know that's not what it's meant to be.  Use a thick layer or 2 of topcoat or Gelous to smooth it out.  I then used a dotting tool to make eyeballs on my ring finger.  Done!  Easy, cute, and even y 2 year old daughter looked at my nails and knew they were "Halloween!"

*shade

Darling Diva Polish Slutty Pumpkin, My Coven Has Cookies & Flash

Good morning dears!  I have a trio of lovely holos from Darling Diva Polish to share with you today.  I am a big fan of Darling Diva Polish!  Carrie has some beautiful polish; glitter, shimmer and holos in abundance and they are all great.  I've loved every DDP that I have tried.  2 of the polishes I have to show you today are limited so if you want either you'd better act fast before they are gone.  You can purchase Darling Diva Polish at the Big Cartel and Etsy shop.  You can follow Darling Diva Polish on Facebook for promotions, previews, stock update and giveaways!  Let's look at polish shall we?  

Let's start with Slutty Pumpkin.  This is one of my favorite Halloween polishes!  I reviewed it last year, if you want to see that post (and my progress as a blogger and photographer) take a look HERE.  My post today is closer to the actual color which Carrie describes as a "burnt orange metallic linear holo polish with a scattering of black glitters." The holo is special and extra sparkly as well because both coarse grade and find grade holo powder are used with a fine grade holo glitter (paraphrased from DDP on Etsy).  Now that my friends is alot of holo goodness.  Slutty Pumpkin has a great formula and applied so well.  It flowed easily and smoothly on my nails and the glitter laid flat.  I really do like the addition of the black glitter to add some interest and contrast to the orange holo.  I used 3 coats and 1 layer of topcoat.  Slutty Pumpkin was brought back in limited supply for Halloween.  If you want it, if you love it, get it now! 

  

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This pretty holo is My Coven Has Cookies.  In anticipation of American Horror Story: The Coven she created a few new Halloween polishes.  This is one of the inspired by colors!  My Coven Has Cookies is a  silvery-blue holo with charcoal holo glitters.  I swear I also see blue and silver holo glitters in there too!  I love this polish.  It's so pretty and a nice breath of different color for the Fall and Halloween (IE not orange, purple or green).  Formula and application on MCHC was really lovely.  So much holo glitter came out to play and the base was nice and creamy.  This did dry a bit gritty due to all the glitter so be sure to use a thick layer of topcoat or Gelous (or similar type of topcoat).  I finished with 1 layer of topcoat.

*shade

Finally we have Flash…aaaaaa-aaaaaaaah savior of the universe!  Sorry, I couldn't help myself.  And now I'm thinking of Ted.  And now I'm thinking of Marky Mark.  And now I'm thinking of Donnie.  Oh you know I love those Wahlberg men.  LOL.  Oops sorry my mind wandered.  Flash is one of the LE polishes from the Queen collection that Carrie recently released.  I reviewed all the non LE ones HERE.  Flash is really special.  I think it's claimed the throne as my favorite of the Queen super multichrome holos.  I saw so many colors here, a maroon red, golden pink, a little charcoal.  So pretty and shifty!  The holo is really linear and doesn't take much sunshine to show off it's beauty.  Indoors and shaded lighting shows the multichrome much better.  The formula and application were really a dream to work with.  I used 3 coats for full coverage but 2 would have been absolutely fine.  I used 1 layer of topcoat and the holo was (clearly) not effected.  This is the other polish that is available in limited supply.  If you want it do not hesitate!  

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*indoors

*indoors

OPI Wonderous Star & Emotions from the Mariah Carey Holiday/Winter 2013 Collection

Good afternoon dears!  I hope the day is going well for you.  Yesterday I had the new liquid sand Make Him Mine to share and today I have more from the Mariah Carey Holiday/Winter 2013 collection!  So exciting!  This time I mixed a sand and a glitter and I love how it turned out.  I'm actually stunned with how much I liked one in particular...keep reading to find out which of these 2 polishes knocked my socks off!

Let's start with Wonderous Star!  OPI described it as "gold-flecked shimmer" but I'd say it is more of a heavy gold microglitter with black hexs sparsely mixed in.  It has a very pretty and classy look to it.  This polish makes you feel dressed up without being over the top.  The gold glitters also make it feel very "holiday-esque" and I personally think this would be an awesome polish for New Years Eve because is so sparkly and shiny!  I used Wonderous Star alone and the pictures below show 4 coats.  I didn't mind so many coats because the polish isn't heavy or thick and it applied very easily.  But if you have an aversion to more than a couple coats you should start with a base color.  I used 1 layer of topcoat on the nails with Wonderous Star.  

I then used the new black liquid sand from the collection called Emotions.  I wasn't so sure about this polish.  It looked pretty boring in the bottle and I didn't think it really fit in with a holiday collection.  Well I was wrong on 1 of those counts.  Dead wrong.  Emotions is stunning!  It's fabulously perfect, vampy and sexy.  It's a pure black matte texture polish with sparkly black glitters mixed it.  OPI says it's a "dramatic sparkling coal."  Perfect description.  The only problem I see is that I still don't know how it fits in with the holiday theme.  I purchased it because I think it will ROCK with Halloween polish next month.  The formula was wonderful, true to the liquid sand form that I love so much.  Easy application with no problems to report.  Be sure to let it dry completely though!  Dry time is a tad longer than regular polish.  I used 2 coats for full coverage and no topcoat.  

*shade