Link Love

Happy New Year's Eve! Here are links to some great blog posts from some of my friends. See you in 2013!

• exclusive and stunning new cirque / fashion polish


• ready to party hearty / the nail network 


• beautiful attitude collaboration / very emily


• winter round-up / gotham polish 


• a cake inspired mani / the polished perfectionist 

My 2012 Holiday Manicure

I hope all of you have enjoyed your winter holidays! Here's a peek at my holiday manicure. If you follow my Instagram account you might've seen this already. I used Chanel Diwali for the base color. Diwali is a gorgeous metallic pale gold shimmer. The glitter is Rainbow Honey Glittering Rapture, a blend of red and golds and shimmers in a clear base.

You can buy Chanel lacquers at your local beauty counter or online at www.chanel.com for $30, although I got to try mine from the new rental service Lacquerous.com. (I will most likely be doing a post regarding my experience with them soon in case you are interested.) You can purchase Rainbow Honey lacquers at www.rainbowhoney.com for $10 for a full size bottle or $5 for a mini. What did you wear on your nails for the holidays this year? Are you planning on a fancy mani for New Year's?

Some of these products were provided for review.

Jade - Mystic Gold

Hi everyone! Getting close to the end of the year and Christmas, and yay we made it through the "apocalypse"! Glad to still be here ;) Wanted to show you this unbelievable polish from Brazilian brand Jade. This is called Mystic Gold, an uber holographic gold polish. Best gold holo I have hands down. A nice true gold. Fab formula, this is two coats!

I bought this from Llarowe for $7. La la love!

A Few Polishes from Maya Cosmetics

Hi friends! I have another indie polish brand that is new-to-me to show off today. Maya Cosmetics is a husband and wife team that offers unique, hand-blended nail lacquers made with cosmetic-grade pigments and glitters.

Like a Boss, which is one of my favorite sayings ever, is described as a delicate peachy-pink nude with subtle scattered holo. This is a great band-aid-but-better shade for me, very close to my skin tone with a pretty subdued holo shimmer. This is three coats.

Redemption is from the January collection called the Crescent City Collection and all the polishes are New Orleans-themed. It's for the New Orleans Saints fans out there, and even though I don't follow any sports I can appreciate the color combination the team has as it makes a lovely polish. This is two coats of the glitter polish over a black base. This has black glitter in micro and small sizes, with larger gold hexes and holo white/silver squares and hexes. Very fun and yay for team spirit!

Treme is also from the Crescent City collection, named after a neighborhood in New Orleans that is known for its brass bands and mixed culture. I love this so much, it's really gorgeous in real life. It's base glitter color is a brassy champagne and the rest of the glitters are in varying shades. The "mardi gras" colors of purple, green, and gold are all represented nicely. This is three coats. I again stress how beautiful this is, I am really intrigued by it.

Maya Cosmetics is sold on the website http://www.maya-cosmetics.com/ for $9 each. Like a Boss is available now and the other two were sold in a pre-order last month but will be available for sale in January. What do you think about these polishes? Have you tried anything from Maya yet?

Products provided for review.

BB Couture Holiday 2012

Hey friends :) I hope your holiday season is going well and that you are staying warm! I have some new BB Couture polishes to show you today! Some are revamps of previous holiday colors. This one is called Blue Christmas, a selection from the Men's line. I love this guy, it's really gorgeous. It's a cornflower blue jelly with greeny blue and silver glitter. This is two coats.

This is called Santa's Sak, heh heh. I absolutely love this one too. It's a beautiful yummy candy apple red jelly with holo bar glitter and round silver and gold glitter. Fab "jelly sandwich" look with one polish! Two coats here.

This one is from the ladies line, called Icicle. I'm guessing it's a revamp/makeover from the first version that came out, which was more sheer and frosty. This is a definite upgrade, it's a white jelly with silver glitter. Very classic and wintery. This is three coats.

Plums & Sugar is really sexy and gorgeous! It's also a revamp of the previous version, which was frosty. This is pure rich shimmer. Plummy purple with micro silver glitter and firey pinky red glitter bits. This is super shiny and just luxe. Two coats.

This one is Silver Star, one of the brand new holiday polishes. It's a sheer silver holo glitter. It can be a layering shade or be worn by itself. This is three coats. It's a little thick and can gum up so apply in thin coats for best results.

This one is called Gold Bells. It's a frosty champagne holo micro glitter. The base is a little more opaque than Silver Star but I think you could probably still layer this one. This is three coats.

Frosted Gingerbread is a perfect name for this polish. It has a frosty nutty brown metallic base with holo glitter. I don't love this one but it's very seasonal and has a great formula. Two coats.

This one is Under the Mistletoe is a spring green jelly with micro holo glitter. This might be my favorite of the new polishes, it's lovely. I can tell you that the photo doesn't do this one justice, it's stunning in real life. The rich yet bright green makes it really unique. Two coats.

You can purchase these from www.bbnailpolish.com and www.overallbeauty.com for $10.95 each. I want to wish everyone a happy holiday season and be sure to stay safe and hug your loved ones!

Products provided for review.

Lynnderella - Undead Red

This is one of my few Lynnderella polishes. I didn't know if I'd ever get to own one of her beauties but she recently started selling her collection polishes at set prices on Ebay, which is nice for us casual buyers. Some of her limited edition polishes go crazy high, like whoa. This is from her Halloween collection this year, Early Halloween Resurrected. UnDead Red is a "complicated mix of metallic and matte reds as well as holographic and iridescent blue glitters in a red base." I knew I had to get this one when I saw the gorgeous blue popping out from inside the red. This is two coats over BB Couture Univited.

Lynnderella polishes are sold on her Ebay store http://stores.ebay.com/lynnderellalynnderella, the set price ones go for $22.50. Mucho dinero for an "indie", but sorry 'bout it haha. I love it. What do you think of this red beauty?

A Few Picks from Nostalgic Lacquer

Nostalgic Lacquer is the brand I will be featuring today, one of my top indie brands. They are a line of 3-free nail lacquers inspired by things from the creator's past, such as: movies, music, cartoons, iconic figures, or even toys from the 80′s. I am in love with taking ideas and aspects of the past and twisting them until you get something new. Here are a few picks from their collection of polishes.

Bitchcraft is part of NL's Halloween collection, a creepy pea-soupy green jelly with various shapes and sizes of glitters in purple, magenta, blue and black. It's hands down the best Halloween polish I've seen this year! I've never seen a glitter with a base this outrageous, I love it. This is three coats. It has a tinge of visible nail line but the glitter and tint of the base distracts enough that you can hardly tell. This is such a bad ass polish!

This is The Basketcase from the Saturday Detention collection of lacquers, inspired by the iconic 80's classic, The Breakfast Club. TBC is one of my absolute all time favorite movies! I am thrilled to see it as a polish collection inspiration. This girl is a mixture of gunmetal, pink, and burgundy glitters suspended in a clear base. I adore this polish, the combo of pink and grey just really works together and the different sizes and shades of the mix create awesome depth. This is two coats over China Glaze Immortal.

Like Lovin' the Dead is another polish from Nostalgic's Halloween offerings. It is a bright yet soft green creme with various shapes and sizes of white, black and green glitters. I really like this shade and it's unlike any other I have. The small darker metallic green glitters accent the soft green of the base and make it pop even more. Very Halloween apropos. This is three coats.

Rayanne is a part of the My So-Called Lacquer collection of jelly based glitter bomb lacquers, inspired by the 90's teen drama, My So-Called Life. She is a purple based jelly with bright purple, lavender, burgundy, gunmetal, and pink glitters in various shapes and sizes. Awesome! I love how it has so many layers and bits to look at. I layered two coats of the glitter over Cult Nails Nevermore.

Nostalgic Lacquer is sold on their website http://nostalgicnaillacquer.bigcartel.com/ and their Etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop/NostalgicLacquer for $9.75 each. Have you tried any of their products? What do you think of these? They have a new "New Wave" collection of 80's song inspired polishes out right now and I just know I'll have to try them! Have a safe and happy weekend, and don't get too cold!

Some of these products were provided for review.

Link Love

So a new thing I am going to do is put a list together of stuff that I like every so often. They might be new blogs I've found, particularly cool nail art, or just something I found to be neat-o. I tend to find new things via others' link lists so thought I might do a few of my own and pay it forward. Enjoy!

• glitter nail polish removal with no fuss? / nails by kayla shevonne


• color shifting nail polish oh yeah / chrissyai


• winter tights inspired nail art / coewless polish


• purp ombre like whoa / the nailasaurus


• cartoon inspired polish collection / chalkboard nails


• my favorite kind of salute / a polish addict


• the boy wizard lives / glitta gloves

BB Couture Ladies Formal Collection

BB Couture has a new ladies collection out! Hooray! I know I am on the edge of my seat all the time wondering when their next bunch of lacquers will come out and of course it's my joy to be able to share them with you! This collection is called the Ladies Formal collection. These are all matte/satin finish polishes.

First up is Black Velvet, ooh luxe! This is more of a deep charcoal rather than a straight black. It's much softer and wearable than a true matte. It also goes on easily and levels well. I wore this under an Elixir glitter in my previous post. Three coats.

This guy is called Chocolate Souffle which sounds just heavenly right? A color I don't know I would've chosen on my own but I ended up really fancy it. It's a rich reddish brown that looks nice and vampy on the nail. This one is more on the matte side, but it's still softer than the chalky mattes of yesteryear. Three coats here.

This one might be my absolute favorite matte polish ever. It's called Daring Debutant and it's a shade of purple that is reddish but also has a flash of blue in there which I can't figure out how they did, but it's awesome. It has a bit of a shimmer speckle in there that reminds me of stone. It's probably the smoothest satin matte I've ever used too. Ga-ga-gorgeous! Three coats.

This is called Ruby Red High Heels. It's a pinky kind of ruby red, with a soft sort of speckle that's just barely noticeable. I am just really impressed with all these, they're so nice to paint with! Three coats.

Here is Tiny Cocktail Dress, a lovely chic dark brown. I actually own way more brown polishes than I thought I did, so I must like them haha. I really like this one, it's amazing how sophisticated the espresso color looks huh! Three coats.

And rounding out the collection is the fierce Uninvited. I totally love this, it's a fabulous matte red and really flatters on the nail. It dries a tad darker than the color in the bottle, like most of these. I used this one under a new glitter polish I just bout and it really enhanced it (post on that one to come soon). Three coats on this gal too.

These are all real standouts in my collection, as mattes go they are incredibly easy application-wise, which is a HUGE accomplishment in my book. Bravo BB Couture! You can get these on their website www.bbnailpolish.com for $10.95 each. What are your thoughts on these?

Products provided for review.

Elixir Lacquers

I have a few polishes to show you today from Elixir Lacquers. They are an indie brand run by the same gal who has the blog Nail Polish Wars. She has awesome nails btw. This is a new-to-me brand and these are the first shades I've tried.

The first guy is from their holiday selection, called Snowman Suite. This guy has a clear base with smallish satin orange hexes, medium matte white hexes, large matte black circles, and tiny iridescent micro hexes. I wasn't super excited about this in the bottle but I like how it looks on the nail. I'm never going to be a fan of large circle glitters though, haha. This is two coats with topcoat over BB Couture Black Velvet.

Next is Red Nose, which has a clear base loaded with fiery copper orange holographic micro glitter. I was expecting this to be red but it is definitely orange. I had to work to get the glitter to be opaque, but it wasn't as hard as I had anticipated. My swatch shows three coats with topcoat. This is part of Elixir Lacquer's Lov-a-Bully charity bottles, where 10% of each sold will be donated to the Atlanta Bully Rescue, an organization that works to reduce the number of unwanted bully breeds (including pit bulls) in Atlanta and surrounding areas.

Another polish that helps with the above mentioned charity is Happy Tears. This polish has a slightly shimmery royal blue sheer base packed with mini blue squares and medium matte white hexes. I think this would work best for layering but I tried it on its own and I liked it. This is three coats.

Smokey Coat is another Lov-a-Bully polish. A fun part of these is they are all named after and inspired by a sweet pit bull doggy that was rescued by the foundation being supported! This polish is a deep charcoal grey with a dash of silver holographic bits. This one went on like butter, very nice. Two coats here.

Here is Forever Home over Smokey Coat. This polish, also one who benefits the Atlanta Bully Rescue, is named so in accordance with a rescued pets' home that will be theirs forever! It has a clear base with large red hearts, mini blue squares, and medium black & white hexes. I really love this one and it might be my favorite of Elixir's so far. I wish the hearts were a little easier to grab in the bottle but larger glitter is always a challenge. This is two coats.

You can get these and other polishes at their website http://www.elixirlacquers.com/. The full size bottles are $10. It doesn't appear as if they are selling minis right now. What do you think of these? I think it's such a great thing that here Lov-a-Bully polishes benefit such a worthwhile cause, I am such a dog lover! Have you tried Elixir yet?

Products provided for review.

Pretty & Polished Holiday Picks

Hi friends :) My girl Chels who makes Pretty & Polished lacquers and accessories has some new polishes out for the holiday season, here are two of them.

Love Always, Candy Cain is a glitter topper in red and white, 'natch considering the name. Anyone who knows me knows I'm obsessed with peppermint and this time of year it's friggen everywhere and I love it. This polish has small round white and red matte glitter, large red and white heart glitter, medium & large red hexes and large white hexes in a clear base. I used three coats over Cult Nails Nevermore.

This is called Island of Misfit Toys, which I get is a cartoon reference but I just watched Perks of Being a Wallflower (unbelievable film, btw) and they mentioned it in there so it was fresh in my mind when I picked these out. This glitter is a mega hodgepodge of colors shapes and sizes, but it really works. I was surprised at how much I like this. Three coats over Wet n' Wild white.

You can buy Pretty & Polished nail lacquer at their Etsy store www.etsy.com/shop/prettyandpolished. Minis are $4.75 and full size bottles go for $7. I haven't been disappointed by any P&P polishes, and these are no exception. Go check out the rest of her holiday selection on her blog www.prettynpolish.com.

P.S. I know my nails are SUUUUPER long in these picks, cray cray right?! I just cut them but you might see another few posts with them this long. I credit Duri's Rejuvacote.

Illamasqua Generation Q Nail Lacquers

I have had these Illamasqua Generation Q collection nail lacquers for a while now and it's high time I post my swatches. I flippen LOVE these two polishes, like really love them. The Generation Q collection is "a clear message to everybody, everywhere that beauty is not young, old, black, white, male or female, but anything, everything and everyone" which honestly is super awesome.

Charisma is described as a raspberry and I concur, though they say it's a pink and I would say it's more on the red side. A berry red shimmer. Really beautiful, amazing formula. Two coats.

Creator is a-MAH-zing. Illamasqua calls it a "magical black", and it really is. It's a dense small but substantial silver glitter in a black base. This has got to be hands down my favorite black/silver polish. Really great formula, easy to apply and not a glitter you have to "place" on the nail. I love how the glitter is standout, because in some similar shades I have the glitter tends to get lost. I commented on their facebook page suggesting they create this in a navy blue, which would make the perfect starry night polish! Lets hope they will :D Two coats.

You can get Illamasqua nail polish on their website www.illamasqua.com for £13.50 or at www.sephora.com for $14. I can't say enough about these! How do you like them?

Products provided for review.

Cult Nails - The Deceptive Collection

Cult Nails, run by my beautiful and extremely talented blogger buddy Maria, has put out my absolutely favorite top coat ever (Wicked Fast 4 LYFE!), and now has put out my absolute favorite black polish ever. Nevermore is a rich luxe pitch black crème that is opaque in one buttery coat. Amazing.

I used Nevermore as the base for the Deceptive Collection, Cult Nails' limited edition collection of color shifting top coats. The collection is made up of five shimmery sheers that enhance the base color they're layered over.

Image via http://www.cultnailsblog.com/

Thumb - Two Timer, Index - Alter Ego, Middle - Charlatan , Ring - Doppelganger, Pinky - Deception

Two Timer appears to be liquid gossamer gold in the bottle but over black we see a beautiful iridescent emerald green. Alter Ego looks like an angel pink opal-like lacquer in the bottle but on the nail it turns to antique gold! Olive gold shimmer comes out over the black. Charlatan is a cheeky show off, it has large shimmer particles that look hot pink in the bottle but show up as a blue/pink/purple multichrome on the nail. Doppelganger is an interesting shade, it's got a creamy white base with multicolored microshimmer bits. I am not 100% sold on this as a layering shade, at least not over dark colors, the base is sheer but not enough. However, I have made two kickass frankens with it! And last is Deception, which appears soft pinky orange in the bottle but shows up as a purple and magenta shimmer on the nail. Each of the nails shows one coat of Nevermore and two of the layering shade.

What do you think of these guys? I am super into the hotness of these, and I can see myself using them over lots of colors even though I'm not usually a layering type of girl. You can get these while they last on http://www.cultnails.com/ for $10 each. Nevermore is a core color so you can grab that whenever you need it, which is nice. Did I mention it's my go-to black? Did I?! Well it is :)

Products provided for review.