KillerQueenVarnish Swatches & Review

Hi folks! Today I wanted to show you a few polishes from a new-to-me indie brand called KillerQueenVarnish. I followed a gal on instagram that I thought had pretty nails and then she contacted me to see if I wanted to try some of her lacquers out. I am always willing to try new brands so I said yes. She sent me three polishes for review so let's check them out!

Press Sample

First is Lip Service, a medium bright pink jelly crème with small matte black hex glitters. This is a nice and unique polish to my collection. I do have a red with black glitters, but not a pink. This applied very easily and I got good coverage in two coats.

This is Flowers on the Wall, a goldish peachy shimmer with a slight duochrome of green at the edges. This is slightly similar to a polish I showed you the other day, Picture Polish Majesty, but this is more peach than gold. This differs in the finish too, it's edging on frosty. I like this but I don't know if I'm in love with it. Two coats.

And last is Midnight at the Oasis, a black jelly crème polish with gold shimmer, gold hex glitters, and gold square glitters. A lot of the glitter got stuck on the edge of the bottle, so you might want to swirl a toothpick around to mix them up a bit. The polish went on very opaque and smooth but I didn't get a whole lot of glitter on the brush without dipping and swirling a few times. This is two coats. Dries a bit matte so use a top coat for shine.

You can buy KillerQueenVarnish on Etsy for $8.75 per bottle. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and formulas of her polishes and would purchase more in the future. What do you think of these colors? Have you checked out KQV before or is this the first you're hearing of them? Talk to you soon friends :)

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

OPI Pink of Hearts 2014 Duo Swatches & Review

Hello there! Today I wanted to show you the new OPI Pink of Hearts duo they have out for Breast Cancer Awareness. This is the eighth year they have put out this promotion to raise awareness!

Press Sample

The first polish in the duo is stark pastel pink Mod About You. This is a classic shade that was originally released in 2006. Unfortunately my bottle leaked a little during shipping so I lost a bit, but that's better than it being broken *phew*! It was a little streaky on the second coat, though mostly opaque, so I used three here.

This is The Power of Pink, a pale pink crelly with confetti-like hex glitters in dark pink and white. This is a little thick but pretty easy to manipulate on the nail. It's still a bit see-through at two coats but I love the squishy effect!

I decided to see how the two polishes look layered over one another so here is one coat of The Power of Pink over Mod About You. This is a more opaque look for sure.

The pack also came with a little pink glitter nail file with a breast cancer ribbon charm. Pink of Hearts 2014 will be available September and October 2014 at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, beautybrands.com, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, ULTA and ulta.com for $16.95 ($21.50 CAN) suggested retail. What do you think of the Pink of Hearts duo this year? I quite enjoy it.

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Picture Polish - Majesty

Happy Sunday! Today I wanted to show off a polish that I have had for a while but I haven't worn until this week. And I love it. LOVE! It is Majesty by Picture Polish, a metallic nude goldy coppery shade with scattered holographic "sparks". This type of color is really attractive to me because I feel like it would look good on absolutely everyone, which is actually the inspiration for the color! It is a collaboration polish created by beauty blogger Sahrish Adeel, and I have to say great job girl!

I used two coats. It looks like you can see a lot of visible nail line in these photos, but it looks quite opaque in lower lights. I have really pink nail beds and that gives the color a bit of a purple tone in the photos but it's not as apparent in real life. There is also a bit of teal green duochrome to the glitter which gives it a cool dimensional effect. It's just fabulous. I can't believe it's taken me so long to wear this.

Picture Polish shades are $AU 12.00 a bottle on their website, or from Llarowe, which is where I purchased this, they are $14.50. What do you think of this blingy nude? Do you think this would look good on you? Talk to you soon!

❤ Kellie

Nail Art with Megan - Simple Steampunk

Today I have a real treat for you, some nail art! I have never been able to make nail art work for me, I end up getting frustrated and wiping all of it off every time I attempt something. However, my older sister Megan is a fellow nail polish lover but her ambition with it has always been nail art and she is quite good at it! So to fill the nail art void on my blog, she will be guest posting every so often with a nail art manicure, yay! Here is her first post, I hope you love it!

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First off, I'm really excited to be a guest on my sister's blog. I love reading her posts and feel very special. :) This blog is actually what inspired me to start doing nail art, with access to so many of her pretty polishes, who couldn't help but let their imagination run wild?

Before I start a new design, I do a ton of searches on Google and YouTube for inspiration. My favorite channels are Young Wild and Polished and SimpleNailArtDesigns. Tip: don't try to duplicate another's design exactly, you'll just end up frustrated. Take their look and tweak it into your own cute style!

For this post I decided to go with a steampunk design, I'm obsessed with the fashion and it's a goal of mine to be able to rock that style on a daily basis! I started with two coats of Petites Bronze Baby, then used a small disposable eyeshadow sponge to dab on Petites Blackberry in alternating corners on each nail. Most tutorials advise using a makeup sponge for the gradient look, but I've found the eyeshadow sponge gives me more control. For the wheels and cogs I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Pumping Iron and Milani Good Morning Sunshine. I use a small bristled paintbrush and a mini dotting tool for the designs. The top coat I used is KBShimmer Clearly On Top.

I must confess that with all my designs, I always manage to mess up on at least one nail and have to redo it from scratch. Don't get discouraged if this happens to you, trust me it's always worth taking the extra time! I'm so happy I got to do this, please leave lots of positive comments so my super sister will let me do more! ;) Big thanks and lots of love!

Megan

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Let us know what you think about this awesome steampunk mani! Do you like the steampunk style? Would you rock these nails? Thanks for coming by and have a great rest of your weekend!

❤ Kellie

Zoya Naturel Deux (2) Collection Swatches & Review

Hellooooo there! Today I have Zoya's new Naturel Deux (2) collection. This is the follow up to their first Naturel collection that came out last year with lighter neutral shades. There are six crèmes, three in brown tones and three in mauve tones. Let's take a look!

Press Sample

First is Aubrey, a mid-tone mauve crème. This went on smooth and buttery in two coats. I really like this color, I'm surprised how flattering it is on me.

Next is Chanelle, a toasty warm milky brown. This one is another very flattering shade for me. Great formula, two coats.

Madeline is a soft rose crème. Some might refer to this as a "grandma" color but I don't think of rose colors like that. I think it's classic and feminine and I adore it. This is also two coats.

Here is Emilia, a dark chocolate brown. This one dries a tad darker than it looks in the bottle, but I love it. This seems to be a really trendy color for this fall and I am enjoying it. This is two coats.

This is Marnie, a warm plummy mauve. I like this a lot too, this is just a really good collection! Two coats.

And last is Spencer, a beigey camel crème. I was prepared to dislike this one but it turned out so nice with my skin tone. Almost a "mannequin hands" shade for me. Perfect opacity in two coats.

You can purchase these from Zoya's website for $9 each or in some Ulta retail stores. What do you think of this collection? I'm glad they came out with some darker neutral shades for the folks with darker skin tones. I actually liked these a lot more than I expected to, I felt like they were all really flattering. Aubrey and Spencer are my favorites of the collection. Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you next time!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Wet n' Wild - Here Comes Trouble

Yay a drugstore polish! I don't buy Wet n' Wild polish that often, mostly because I feel like I already have every color they put out. I just don't get excited when I see Wet n' Wild. Not that they're bad or anything, just more...basic. I've said before, I'm probably unconsciously being snobby toward the budget brands, I'm working on it haha.

This polish is called Here Comes Trouble, from the Street Art collection that came out in the spring. Of course my CVS just got the display in, ugh. My town is the worst for getting limited edition stuff in late, if at all. My eye was drawn to this because I immediately thought of Essie's Strut Your Stuff from their Haute in the Heat collection for this summer. I haven't loved Essie formulas for the last year or so, so I was resisting buying it. Then I spotted this guy and my problem was solved as it's basically a perfect dupe!

It's a bright aqua blue crème. It was opaque in two coats, not super self-leveling but top coat saved it. It did stain my nails though, which is always a bummer. Oh well, my craving for this color is satisfied and I only spent $0.99 on it instead of $8.50! What do you think of this color? Do you like Wet n' Wild polishes? I need to pay attention to them more.

❤ Kellie

P.S. I updated my blog layout, what do you think?

KBShimmer 6th Anniversary Collection Swatches & Review

Howdy! Today I have to show you this awesome trio from KBShimmer that they put out for their 6th Anniversary as a company. A very impressive milestone and they deserve all the success they can get!

Press Sample

First is Beach Please which is a fabulous name and a fabulous polish. This baby is as close as you can possibly get to a neon without quite being one. It's a stunning vibrant pink crème with a purple undertone. Absolutely perfect formula, opaque in two coats.

This is Hexy Bikini. If you only own one KBShimmer polish in your life, this should be it. And that's saying something because KBShimmer polishes rock. It's a textured silver glitter with holo, teal and dark pink bits. Really easy to use for a texture, this is two coats without top coat. You can put top coat on to make it smooth but I prefer it as a texture. This is seriously CRAZY blingy and you need it.

And to round out the trio here is Shore Thing, an aqua mint bluish green shade that just POPS off the nail and slaps you in the face! Another almost almost neon crème with a great formula. I used two coats. Dries just slightly matte so use a top coat.

You can purchase these from the KBShimmer website or on Harlow & Co. The crèmes are $7.50 each and the glitter is $8.75, or if you buy all three together you can save some bucks and get them for $21 (as of right now, price may be subject to change). So do these polishes just scream SUMMER to you or what? Tell me what you think about them in the comments. I want to go lay on the beach now please, we'll see ya later!

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Product samples were provided for consideration.

Pretty Serious - Crystal Lake

Hi there! Today I have a review of another Pretty Serious nail polish! This one is from one of their Halloween collections. I'm a huge horror film fanatic and am into all things spooky and scary, so I always swoon over Halloween polishes.

Press Sample

This is Crystal Lake, from the Killer Fangirls collection which came out for Halloween 2013. This is a pretty unique polish, it has shards of foily blue shimmer, mega metallic blue hex glitters, greenish square glitters, and larger iridescent pale yellowish-greenish iridescent hexes. The glitter in this melds together into a foily sheet of bling, crazy beautiful. This is three coats. You could also layer this glitter for a more subtle look but I chose to make it opaque.

It looks so different in the sun than it does in low light, I had to show you a shade picture so you could see how cool the iridescent hex glitters look in the blue base.

Each polish from the Killer Fangirls collection comes with a signed art card* from the artist who does the Pretty Serious artwork, Leigh Young. The card shows a pinup girl for each horror series the polish is based on, so dope! This one is of course based on the Friday the 13th movie. *While supplies last!

Image via Pretty Serious website

Another thing I just LOVE about this is that the Halloween polishes come in different boxes than regular PS polishes, designed to match the theme. The green box is for the Halloween polishes and the purple is for their regular shades. How freaking cute is that???

I'm excited to see what Pretty Serious comes out with for Halloween this year! You can purchase their lacquers on their website for $9.50 each with international shipping available (they are based in Australia). They are a vegan and cruelty free brand. What do you think of this pretty glitter shade? Do you like Halloween and scary stuff as much as I do?

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Product samples were provided for consideration.

My Guest Post on Polished to Precision

Hi there! I wanted to tell you about an awesome blog that I'm guest posting on today! Tiffany from Polished to Precision asked me to do a post for her blog while she's on vacation and I happily accepted. I reviewed a polish from Pretty Serious Cosmetics called Viscous Vampire for the post be sure to check it out!

This black and white photo is just a teaser, please visit the post HERE to see it in full glory :)  Her blog is really great and if you aren't subscribed to her posts you totally should be! Thanks for stopping by today and we'll see you again soon!

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Rescue Beauty Lounge Italian Summer Collection Swatches & Review

Hey folks, today I have another collection from Rescue Beauty Lounge! It's exciting to have another one so quickly, her releases are usually further apart but I don't mind at all because you know how I adore my RBLs! This collection is called Italian Summer.

Press Sample

The whiff of cool ocean breezes tickling your hair and the gleaming sun kissing and embracing your skin as you deeply breathe in the fragrances of flowers in full bloom, this, to me, had always symbolized summer. - Ji Baek, Italian Summer Press Release

First up is Gelato Al Cioccolato, of course inspired by chocolate gelato, a delicious Italian treat. I love taupe and I actually really enjoy brown polishes so this color is just perfect for me. In the sun it almost looks like it has a hint of purple which is cool. It was nice and buttery and was perfectly opaque in two coats. Mmm I can almost taste the chocolate just looking at this one!

Bicicletta is inspired by a young girl's pale pink sparkly bike Ji saw while in Italy. This is a gorgeous soft pale pink with lavender undertones. It's filled with the tiniest micro glitters ever, in silver and pink. This went on very smooth, great opacity in two coats. Reminds me of sugar, yum!

This is sexy. Gondoliere is a hot little number. It's named for the men who steer the gondolas floating in the canals around Venice. It's an orange based red, more so than previous RBL Bangin (which I sadly don't own). Almost a perfect one coat wonder, but I used two. It has that great thin but crazy pigmented and smooth crème formula that I love. If I was more of a red kinda girl, this would be on my digits on the reg. It's that good.

Now this color is more my normal style, Oliveto is an olive green that "reflects the flash of rainbow and purple and periwinkle shimmers". This is inspired by olive groves and the rustling olive branches in the sun. This was way more shimmery than I first expected looking at the bottle and I love it. Was a little thicker than the others. This is two coats.

When I first saw Motorini, I was like, Aqua Lily? Is that you? Nope, it's not, but that's alright, it really stands on its own. Inspired by Ji's perfect scooter color, this is a darker and more blue version of Aqua Lily. I think it's a cross between it and Faraway. The shimmer is a purple toned pink which flashes in the light. It just glides on your nails, ahhh. Perfect in two thin coats.

A shade inspired by cats? I'm in heaven ;) Meow Meow comes from seeing the bright green eyes of cats flash in the dark during late night strolls in Italy. This glitter is really something, the bright springy hunter green is mixed with black which really makes the color pop. In the sun it almost has a navy look, but it's definitely black. This was harder to apply but not too difficult. I spread it like normal polish on the first coat, then kind of dabbed and pushed the glitter around on the second coat and it's pretty much totally opaque. It dries matte so top coat is necessary for a smooth look.

Melanzane is the last shade of the collection, inspired by eggplants. I have actually never tasted an eggplant, but they are pretty to look at. This is the same formula as Meow Meow, but with different sizes of glitter. The bigger pieces are in two shades of purple, a bluer one and a straight violet. The micro glitters are green which gives a ton of depth to the shade. This was easier to make look completely opaque. Two coats with top coat, as this also dries matte. Fabulous!

Please take a look at Ji's inspiration video and her press release to learn more about this collection. Also, please check out the other RBL reviewers: Scrangie, NailsandNoms, Polish Police, Fashion Polish, Peachy Polish, Makeup Withdrawal, Manicurator and Warm Vanilla Sugar. Refined and Polished will have hers up at a later date.

These will go on pre-order for 48 hours on Monday, August 11, 2014. You can only get the link to the pre-sale emailed to you if you sign up for the RBL email list on their website beforehand. They will be available for purchase like normal at a later date if you cannot participate in the pre-sale. Each bottle is $20.

I really enjoyed this collection. The formulas of the non-glitters were so on point and easy to use. The glitters were just so lovely and unexpected, and their formulas were workable, so I'm not complaining at all. My favorites are probably Motorini and Meow Meow but I really like them all :) What do you think of these Italian beauties?

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Product samples were provided for consideration.

Pretty Serious Stop! Collaborate and Listen Collection Swatches & Review

The collection I have to show you today is from Australian brand Pretty Serious called Stop! Collaborate and Listen!, three polishes they created with three awesome bloggers! I am an avid follower of all three of these ladies in the blog-o-sphere so it's exciting to see what awesome shades they came up with.

Press Sample

image via Pretty Serious Cosmetics

First in the collection is Swatch and Learn, a collaboration with Mary from the blog Swatch and Learn. It is a swampy green jelly with iridescent shifting rainbow glass fleck and copper & gold flakes. It's crazy awesome to see all the flakes shifting, you definitely need to see it in real life! It's a bit thick but not unworkable. This is three coats.

Next is Undercover Mermaid, a collaboration with Michelle from Lab Muffin. She wanted to create a work appropriate color with a secret bit of flash. This is a lilac taupe jelly with iridescent green flakies and subtle glass fleck shimmer that bounces out at you when you look up close. A tad sheer but it reached opacity for me with two coats.

And finally we have Stuck In the Middle, a collaboration with Kristy from The Polish Haven. It is a a bright fuchsia jelly with tons of iridescent glass fleck sparkle. This is really beautiful, a fabulous color with a great formula. Two coats here.

I was also able to try out one of Pretty Serious' new treatments, Crystal Coat quick dry top coat. I'm pretty picky when it comes to my top coats so this got a thorough testing. It dried pretty quickly to the touch but I was still able to scrunch up my polish if I pushed on it softly after 10 minutes. Also the brush made drag marks in my polish if I put it on while the polish was still very wet. I liked that it didn't shrink my polish at all, it dried very shiny, and it didn't have an offensive scent. I would use this when I have a little longer to wait for my polish to dry.

You can buy these from Pretty Serious for $9.95 each, or if you buy all three of the blogger colors at the same time you can get a 10% discount. The top coat is $8.95. What do you think of these blogger created shades? I think they're all super fun, and as a blogger who got to see my dream color come true, I totally relate to the awesomeness they must be feeling to see their shade come to life!

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Product samples were provided for consideration.