BB Couture Reds Part 2

Hi everyone! I hope your Wednesday is looking fabulous, I'm doing pretty well. I wanted to show you some more beautiful BB Couture nail polishes that I am photographing for the website www.bbnailpolish.com. You can see some of the other reds I reviewed in this post.

Fuchsia Fusion is a pinky red with a slight blue-pink glimmer flash. Bright and cheery and opaque in two coats.

Fairy Tale Romance didn't look like a stunner in the bottle, but on the nails it really comes to fruition, I love it! It's a mauvey dark pink metallic shade with a hint of silver.

Cranberry Crush is a pretty standard shimmery blue-undertoned red, but this baby really glimmers and covers in two coats.

This is Lindsey's Spell, a jelly crème red that reminds me of a cherry sundae :) Three coats here. Check out that shine!

Autumn Sunset is on the cusp of red and orange, very true to its name I think. I think frosts like this get a bad rap, but honestly they were intended to look brush-strokey, that's the metallic pigment and it's not there by mistake. I just hate when people are like, "ew frosts", without even trying something and when there are plenty of gorgeous ones like this out there. But hey, to each their own ;)

Maraschino Passion reminds me of one of my favorite OPIs I'm Not Really a Waitress. It's more metallic which makes it have amazing depth. Two coats.

I hope you all have a fantastic day! xo

Products provided for review.

Illamasqua Theatre of the Nameless: Sneak Peek!

Illamasqua will announce their highly-anticipated AW11 Theatre of the Nameless collection this Friday, September 2 and in the mean time, they have a sneak preview for you, and a fantastic competition to celebrate!

Be the first to win the new Nail Varnish shades of the collection with a unique, rubberised finish by entering at www.illamasqua.com/kinkynails 

Taking a lead from the colour-coded specialities of the Wittenberg Platz’s domineering Boot Girls, Illamasqua introduces confident new shades, in a brazen display of utter indulgence. The Theatre of the Nameless proudly parades a kinky new waxy “rubber-look” finish to Illamasqua’s hardwearing, chip-resistant

 Nail Varnish …

Taint – Stone Brown, Kink – Bottle Green, Vice – Deep Cerise, Faux Pas – Blue Violet

To enter, go to Illamasqua.com/kinkynails – the internationally open competition opens on Friday 26th August and runs until Sunday 4th September – all T&Cs on the website.

Omg, I am so looking forward to these! The Illamasqua "rubber" finish is really cool, I still regret not grabbing Scorn earlier. Their imagery is astounding too, they always have such beautiful photographs!

Images courtesy of the manufacturer.

Wet n' Wild Fast Dry Nail Polish: Review & Swatches

Wet n' Wild has a new line of polishes out called Fast Dry, well new since around last Fall. I got the opportunity to test a bunch of them out. I tried swatching on nail wheels for the first time, since there were so many of them and this was a few weeks ago when my nails were still pretty traumatized, so please forgive me this.

I really enjoyed these polishes, more than I expected because I've never tried these and I wasn't especially ecstatic about the shades. And the names of the polishes are really, really dorky. However, they are all of great quality and dry relatively quickly, I wouldn't necessarily call them "fast" compared to other polishes out there but they weren't slow by any means. *shrug* The shimmers were really lovely, and who doesn't adore holo glitter?

I like these polishes because they are "normal" colors but Wet n' Wild uses interesting finishes, not just all cremes, not all shimmers, not all glitters, etc. There are a little bit of everything, hence, something for everyone.

I find it hard to get past how awful the names of these are, and the bottle design (slightly triangle and round?!) baffles me, but honestly the fine quality, the price, and availability definitely make up for their shortcomings. You can find these in most drugstores for about $1.99 each.

Products provided for review.

China Glaze - Fly

This is my manicure with China Glaze's Fly, from the 2009 Kicks collection. I really love this collection and even though I got into polish after it came out, I was able to track all 12 of them down pretty easy.

Fly is a purple with microshimmer. It basically looks like a fuchsia with a dash of purple thrown in. I expected this to be more purple from other photos I've seen :P but what can ya do? It is pretty but not what I had hoped. This is two coats on my shorty short nails.

Any colors you have gotten lately that are not exactly what you counted on them being?

OPI Glam Slam! U.S. Open: Review & Swatches

I'm baaaaccckkk! Thank you again to all my friends for their contributions to my guest post series. I might have one or two every once in a while, just cause they were so fun! I wanted to come back with something special, so here is the last Serena Williams Glam Slam! duo, this time for the U.S. Open which is in a few days.

Love is a Racket is a glowy sparkly almost neon candy apple red glass fleck with magenta pink sparkles. I really love this color, however it's not my favorite with my skin tone. Oh well, I'll probably wear it anyway ;) It's a little hard to capture its brilliance in a photo, this is one you'll have to see in person to get the total feel. It's really bright outdoors but kind of fluorescent dark (if that makes any sense) indoors. It's even a little more coral indoors too. This is two coats, it's extremely pigmented. It reminds me a little of OPI Red Hot Glam, a limited edition polish exclusive to Beauty Brands store, darker and without the glass fleck.

My favorite, perhaps of all the Glam Slam! polishes, is Pros & Bronze. I have to say that I was not the least bit excited about this polish when I saw promo images. I was like, ugh really? I don't know why though, because it reminds me of another favorite of mine, OPI DS Glow. Anyway, once I saw it in person at CosmoProf I realized how wrong I was. It is just fascinating! It is made up of really gorgeous glitter in a metallic bronze and a metallic rose red. Both combine to make a complex and deep looking sexy orangey gold foil. This is three coats of ga ga gorgeousness!

Hope you liked these swatches and hope you are glad to see me again ;)

Products provided for review.

OPI Muppets Holiday Collection: Sneak Peek!

OPI Introduces Disney's "The Muppets" Inspired Holiday Collection

OPI's celebrates America's favorite Muppet friends as their new movie hits theaters this holiday season. 12 limited edition colors paying homage to our favorite puppet friends will come out beginning this November in Professional Salons. The film features Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Kermit, Miss Piggy and the rest of the Muppet crew, premiering in theaters on November 23.

This collection has six shimmery reds and neutrals as well as six glitter-packed blingy shades.

Top: 

Wocka Wocka! - The popular deep berry makes everything fun and merry!

Designer, de Better! - And this light metallic bronze is ready for the runway!

Meep-Meep-Meep - Missing out on this fuchsia would make you weep, weep, weep!

Warm & Fozzie - A feel-good shade of metallic copper.

Pepe's Purple Passion - This deep, decadent shade is the best purple ever, okay!

Animalistic - This wild bright red cannot be tamed!

Bottom:

Rainbow Connection - The rainbow glitter of your dreams.

Excuse Moi! - Ahem! This pink glitter has something to say!

Gone Gonzo! - The aqua-blue glitter is taking over the world!

Fresh Frog of Bel Air - A glitter that prefers the greener things in life.

Divine Swine - The finest, most fabulous magenta glitter ever.

Gettin' Miss Piggy With It! - Red glittery fun for everyone!

The lacquers are chock full of micas and sparkle, giving them a 3-D look, almost appearing like jewelry on the nails! These are definitely going to be the perfect accessory for the holiday season. All the lacquers will feature OPI's exclusive ProWide™ Brush and as with all OPI polishes, they contain no DBP, Toluene, or Formaldehyde.

Check out www.opi.com and follow OPI on Twitter and become a Facebook fan!

I'm stoked on this collection! I saw them in person at CosmoProf North America last month and they are seriously as cool in person as you'd expect. I also LOVE the Muppets and can't wait for the new movie! And you KNOW I'm going cray-cray over the "Gone Gonzo!" lacquer, woooooooooo!

Images provided by the manufacturer.

Glitter Gal Sale and Giveaway

Please enjoy this contest and sale information from Leah Ann via shop.llarowe.com.

The helicopter crash in Afghanistan killed soldiers, fathers, husbands, sons and friends. The members of the military and their families make extraordinary sacrifices for our freedom and deserve our support. Being from a military family I know first hand the sacrifices that these families endure with selfless service to our country.

I will be giving away a set of the Glitter Gal Red, Light As A Feather (white) and Marine Blue to honor these fallen soldiers and their families. This will be a random drawing to be held on September 11, 2011. On the same day, as a tribute to these fallen soldiers and their families, 50% of all sales of Glitter Gal Red, Marine Blue and Light As A Feather on shop.llarowe.com or my Ebay site llarowe, will be donated to the following organization to benefit the families of these soldiers:

http://nswfoundation.org/

Thank you so much for your support and God bless our soldiers and their families for their sacrifices for our freedom!

Wall Photos

https://contestmachine.com/hosted/promotion/Y0ZFWUT1C2

Guest Post by Mental for Polish: French Tip Roses

Please enjoy this guest post by my friend Shona from Mental for Polish!

Hello everyone! ;) This is my first guest post and I am pretty nervous and beyond ecstatic about sharing this on Also Known As...! I'd like to thank Kellie for giving me this great opportunity!

Today, I'll be doing a step-by-step tutorial for a french tip roses nail design so shall we get started? :P

1. So the first step for every manicure is to apply your favourite base coat and 2 coats of your preferred white/nude/pink colour. I chose a pink-ish nude, OPI Step Right Up!  for the base colour. I'd suggest choosing white, nude or slight pinkish colours so that the roses will be able to stand out against the base colour.

2. Use your preferred colour for your roses and paint it heart-shaped at the tips. I am using OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender. Stay away from darker colours for your roses because we are going to draw them with black acrylic paint. You don't have to worry about being perfect about this one because its all going to be covered up in the next step! :D

3. Take a thin detailed nail/art brush and start lining your roses! It is pretty easy actually, start with 2 curved lines not touching each other and work your way sideways! The last few strokes for the roses will be at the outline of the heart-shaped that you did in the previous step. I hope this isn't too confusing, lol.

4. Next, I mixed green and yellow acrylic paint and drew 'bunny ears' for the leaves.

5. Outline the leaves with black acrylic paint and you're done!!

6. But since I couldn't resist on adding a few rhinestones, I did an accent nail with rhinestones on my ring finger for extra sparkly glam and shine :)

7. Add on a layer of fast drying topcoat and you're done! Make sure to do 2 layers of topcoats for your accent nail for some extra adhesive and hold for your rhinestones.

I hope this tutorial was helpful to you guys and I'd love to see your designs if you're trying this out! Once again, thank you Kellie ♥

Shona is always wowing me with her awesome nail art, it's very tasteful and elegant so I am definitely a fan. We all know how nail art can get a little, ahem, tacky sometimes ;) Thanks so much for sharing this fun and easy tutorial with my readers girl!

The Sophie Lancaster Foundation

I wanted to write a quick post today to bring to your attention a new video made by Illamasqua to mark the anniversary of Sophie Lancaster's passing, 4 years ago today.

This film explains the background of the charity, and the work that they do. To date, Illamasqua have raised thousands of pounds for the charity and they are more determined than ever to ensure that Sophie's legacy lives on.

Click here to watch the film: http://www.illamasqua.com/about/sophie/

Cult Nails - Nail File Review

Hey folks! I wanted to let you know that my nails are almost healed and back to normal. I am just raring to go with posting, I have literally hundreds of polishes to show you still! It has been lovely having a break and showcasing the talent of my fellow bloggers that I admire and aspire to be like, but I am ready to get back on my game :) I have a few more guest posts to go but then I'll be back.

I wanted to write a quick review on my friend Maria's brand Cult Nails' nail files. I was recently privileged to meet her at CosmoProf in Las Vegas a few weeks ago and she graciously gifted me with one of her nail files that she sells from Cult Nails. It is a 5 1/2" double sided glass file with her brand name, either red or black, on the end. I love this file for several reasons, one - it is "sharper" or has a little bit more grit than most glass files I've used which makes it easier to file with and not so time consuming. Two - it is double sided, as most glass files I've used are only one sided. This increases its longevity as you don't wear it out as fast or it doesn't matter what angle you're filing from. Three - it's glass which is definitely more gentle on your nails, it is better for peeling or sensitive nails. And four - it comes with a velvet case to store it so you don't reach into your cup of tools and snag a nail on it by mistake (this happens to me with regular files all the time :P).

Image courtesy of Body and Soul Beauty

You can get these from www.shop.cultnails.com for $10 $12 each. I think I've paid that much or more for any glass file I've gotten in the past so I think it's incredibly reasonable for the best one (in my opinion) ever. Toodles kittens!

Product received as a gift.

Guest Post by The Polished Perfectionist: The Devil Wears Chunky Sarah

Please enjoy this guest post by my friend Amy Grace from The Polished Perfectionist!

Being asked to write a guest post is always an honour. I had so much fun preparing this, but I have to admit I was a bit nervous too. After all, this post appears on one of my favourite nail blogs. ♥ Dear Kellie, you have no idea how great it felt when you asked me to make a guest post for your fabulous blog. Thank you so much, I hope you and your readers will enjoy it!

Needless to say I wanted to come up with something no less than awesome on my nails. First I applied three coats of Catrice - The Devil Wears Red, one of my favourite vampy nail polishes (my bottle is almost empty, eek!). Then I grabbed a kitchen sponge, dipped a corner of it into a drop of Sarah from Zoya and sponged it on my nails. Sponging with nail polishes like Sarah will never fail, the finish is perfect for this! I didn't cover the whole nail, 'cause I love a sparkly accent just on the tip of the nail. Doesn't it look like I dipped my nails in raspberry jam? *licks fingers* For some extra pops of colour I also sponged a bit of Kleancolor - Chunky Holo Fuchsia on the tips. A nice layer of top coat over it and voilà... beautiful, super festive nails!

My jaw literally dropped when Amy sent me her guest post, can you believe the gorgeousness?! I cannot, she's amazing and unbelievable and everything in between! I can only hope to be as dope as she is one day :) She truly is a perfectionist in her polish skills, right?!

Guest Post by Crystaliciousss: Essie - Power Clutch

Please enjoy this guest post by my friend Crystal from Crystaliciousss!

Power Clutch from Essie's Fall collection is the star of this classy and sophisticated collection. No loud shades here, just very chic and elegant hues for an upscale manicure. Power Clutch is a "greyn" creme wich has lovely formula and is opaque in 2 coats. This is what you get when you mix a smokey dark grey with a cool dark green.

It is much darker than Essie's Sew Psyched, I wanted to do a comparison on my nails but the nail on my ringfinger broke at the skin (auch...) so I guess I will have to wait untill all grows back into a better length :( So for now I did a bottle comparison, hope that helps.

Have a lovely day and thanks Kellie for having me on your blog :)

I really like Miss Crystal, she's so nice and good-natured! I read equal amounts of foreign blogs and American blogs about polish so I can get the scoop from all over the world. It's the only way ;)