China Glaze Don't Let the Dead Bite Swatch & Review

Happy Halloween! I took this photo a while ago when my nails were nice and long, I recently broke one on my swatching hand down to the quick :( and I'm OCD about the length so I had to chop them all off. My nails haven't been so short in a long time! Anyway, this is a totally appropriate Halloween polish, China Glaze Don't Let the Dead Bite from their Apocalypse of Color collection. I heard this polish is supposed to look like blood splatter on skin, yikes haha!

Purchased by Me

It has a pale fleshy pink crelly base with red glitters in multisized hexes and bars. Really excellent and so creepy! One of my absolute favorite Halloween polishes of all time. I used two coats of this. The photo above is with shiny top coat and the photo below is with matte top coat.

What did you spend your Halloween doing? I had the day off because Nevada Day happens to fall on Oct. 31 so lucky me! I'll have the entire China Glaze Apocalypse of Color collection to show you soon, I didn't receive press samples of them until a few days ago. I bought this one a while ago at Sally Beauty Supply.

See ya soon and don't let the dead bite tonight!

❤ Kellie

The product mentioned was purchased by me.

KBShimmer Winter 2014 Collection Swatches & Review

Yay more KBShimmer! They have a massive collection for Winter 2014; they're bringing back 5 fan favorite shades, and are adding 11 new ones! They also have four new cuticle oil scents and a new sheet of holiday vinyl nail decals. These all come out on 11/1/14, so you won't have to wait long to be able to pick these up. Long post ahead, fyi!

Press Sample

First I'll show you the 5 returning shades :) Kringle All the Way is a glitter topper in a clear base, with holographic circle glitters of green, red, and silver plus little holo bits. This is a total holiday polish! Reminds me of bulbs on a tree. I put one coat over a white crème. I had to do a little dabbing and placing.

$200 Sephora Gift Card Giveaway

Hey friends! I've been out of town and a little under the weather for a few days now so sorry for my absence. I have an awesome giveaway to bring you today though, brought to you by The Beauty Blogazons. One lucky winner will receive a $200 gift card to Sephora! The giveaway is open to residents of USA and Canada, and it runs from 10/27/14 to 11/03/14. Please enter via the Rafflecopter widget below. The options are mainly instagram follows, but you can earn an entry for commenting on this blog post answering the question: What would you buy if you won this gift card??

**CLOSED**
The winner has been chosen and emailed! :) Thank you everyone for entering!
Remember to read all terms and conditions before entering and good luck!!

❤ Kellie

My Picks from the China Glaze Fall 2014 All Aboard Collection Swatches & Review

Helllooooo! This year China Glaze put out a Fall collection inspired by "vintage railway travel" called All Aboard. It's a collection of 12 colors with rich autumn hues in crèmes, shimmers, and glitters. I purchased three of them that looked the most interesting to me so here they are! :)

First is my favorite, Choo-Choo Choose You, a smokey purple with gold shimmer that also has a green/brown duochrome. Seriously. Stunning. It's sheer on the first coat but builds to be opaque in only two. It's a way weird polish because it also looks kinda blue in the bottle! It looks mostly shimmery dusty purple with gold shimmer in the sun, but in lower lights the duochrome is super apparent. I loved wearing this, I didn't take it off for almost a week!

I tried to capture the duochrome with this shade photo, but I couldn't do it justice. My friend Krystal over at Polish Galore has some great shots showing the awesome green tilt to it.

Next is Lug Your Designer Baggage, a medium/dark brown with tons of pale goldish flakies. Some flakies reflect rainbow but these don't, they're solid. This polish reminds me of Louis Vuitton luggage, so chic! The formula on this was a bit watery, but quite opaque and easy to apply. It also dries very shiny. I used two coats here.

And last is Mind the Gap, a golden olive brownish shimmer with light green and gold flecks. The shimmer is great in this, it has bits that sparkle out at you like twinkle lights! I love "ugly pretty" colors like this, totally my style. The formula is very watery and pretty sheer on the first coat, but becomes almost opaque in two. I used three here for good measure.

So those are my picks from the All Aboard collection this year! I liked a lot more of the shades, but figured I had similar colors for most of them. I'm really happy with these three though and would highly recommend them to anyone looking for something unique this Fall. These should be available at Sally Beauty and Ulta now, I purchased mine online. What do you think of these? Did you pick up anything from the All Aboard collection?

Talk to you soon dears :)

❤ Kellie

FingerPaints Film Noir Collection Swatches & Review

FingerPaints is Sally Beauty's in-house brand of nail polish and I used to buy them all the time when I used to live by the stores. But since I've moved to a much smaller town, where the most exciting store is CVS :( , I haven't bought as many as I used to. So when I got the chance to try some of their recent collections for review, I was quite happy! This collection came out during the middle/end of the summer so they might still be in stores. It's called the Film Noir collection and it's made up of four polishes that all dry to a matte finish.

Press Sample

First is Petal Obsession, a pale baby pink. This had a quite finicky formula, it dries very quickly so it was hard to apply without big streaks. On the first coat, some areas even shrunk up like crackle polish does! After three coats though I was able to make it look even and nice looking. It dried very matte, not satiny.

Next is Beautiful Mystery, a pale baby blue. Same formula as the pink above, this is also three coats. I love this color!

This is Film Noir, a deep burgundy purple. It dries a few shades darker than it looks in the bottle. Same formula, maybe dried a tad slower than the others, so application was a little easier. Three coats.

And this is Hollywood Decadence, a pale milky base with a glitter mix of washed out blue, pink and gold hexes. Application was fairly easy, the glitter is quite dense. I don't really like the look of this and I have similar polishes that are prettier imho. After I did these swatches I saw some people used Hollywood over the other colors in the collection, and that looked much better than it did on its own. I used two thick coats here.

I like the look of matte polish but the application usually turns me off to buying them. I'd rather use regular polish and just apply a matte top coat. That said, there are some pretty colors in this collection if you don't mind the matte formula. Look for FingerPaints in your local Sally Beauty stores or online, they are around $5.50 per bottle. What do you think of this polish quartet? Would you wear any of them? How do you feel about mattes?

See ya next time :)

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Foxy Paws Starring Role and Diamandis Swatches & Review

Happy Friday friends! Today I wanted to show off two awesome indie polishes I recently got as a gift from my friend rijaH! She is also a blogger and lives in Denmark. We've been buddies since forever and I just love her! (Be sure to check out her blog!) A while ago she sent me some gorgeous polishes as a gift from a new-to-me indie brand from Denmark called Foxy Paws! I really adore them so I had to share!

Received as Gift

First is Starring Role, a medium royal purple holographic shade. It has a linear holo base and also holographic flakes. It's from their Diamond collection, named for the band Marina and The Diamonds, who I love too! I used two coats here with top coat as it dries a bit matte.

And this guy is Diamandis, a silver glitter bomb! It's got tons of different holographic glitters in it. It was more dense than I expected it to be, you'd probably be able to get it opaque on it's own easily. It dries kind of textured so use a top coat if that bothers you. I put one coat over Starring Role. I really love this combo!

You can purchase Foxy Paws polish from their website Foxy Fingertips. They are based in Denmark, so be aware of shipping charges if you're not in Europe. What do you think of this pretty duo? Have you tried Foxy Paws?

Thanks for stopping by today!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were given to me as a gift.

Illamasqua Facet and Melange Swatches & Review

Hi friends! Today I have a real treat for the eyes, two gorgeous Illamasqua polishes! I had to get creative to get my hands on these, as Illamasqua recently stopped being sold at Sephora. :( They are sold on their UK based website, but they would've cost mucho bucks with the included shipping. But lucky me, my lovely friend in Singapore offered to pick them up in her local stores and send them to me, so the price went down significantly! I am so happy I was able to purchase them, as these are two super stunning lacquers.

Facet is from the Sacred Hour collection from last year. I must've been snoozing when it came out because I had no idea I needed it until it popped up on Vampy Varnish's blog not too long ago. It's a grey taupey brown with gallons of gold and copper sparkle and shimmer. This had a great formula, creamy and smooth with great shimmer distribution. Opaque in two coats and dried shiny.

Melange came out most recently in the Once... collection for this fall. It's a stunning "dirty" green teal with bronzey copper and gold flecks and gold sparkle. I was scared that there wouldn't be that much sparkle pay off when I put it on, because a lot of the gold was stuck to the sides of the bottle when it arrived. I needn't have worried though because there was no shortage of shimmer! Applied effortlessly. Two coats here, but it was opaque in one! I love this color!

Also, I have to tell you that I had virtually no clean up on these swatches because the Illamasqua brush is SO GOOD! I don't know if I just haven't noticed until now, but it's fab. These are both so smooth and so self-leveling that I didn't even use top coat in these swatches! The folks over at Illamasqua say that Melange should dry matte, but honestly I didn't think it did for me, maybe a bit of a satin?

You can purchase these from the Illamasqua website or if you have a Bloomingdales near you they might be in stores *EDITED* I have just heard that Bloomingdales stopped selling the brand as well. I think Illamasqua is a really underrated polish brand and I'm sad they are not as readily available as they used to be. What do you think of these? Aren't they just heavenly? Let me know :)

❤ Kellie

Orly Hot Tropics Swatch & Review

Hey folks :) Today I wanted to show you a dope a$$ polish from Orly called Hot Tropics. It came out in their summer collection called Baked. I got this in the Nailbox Pre-Fall 2014 Trendbox. It contains four polishes, a matte top coat and a set of nail wraps, all curated by Chalkboard Nails! I won the box participating in a #NailGlossip chat on Twitter not too long ago.

Received as Prize

Hot Tropics is a slightly pinky fuchsia purple almost neon with lots of flecky silverish gold shimmer. This is a seriously fabulous polish, really lovely on any skin tone and just fun. I love it for summer but it's a great transition shade too, as it's not super neon but still has a touch of that radiance. Two easy, dreamy coats.

You might still be able to pick this up at Sally Beauty or Ulta stores, or you can get it on Orly's website. It's also still available in the Trendbox I mentioned above. What do you think of this beauty? Is it your cup of tea? I'll see you soon darlings :)

❤ Kellie

The product mentioned was given to me as a prize from a giveaway.

Rescue Beauty Lounge: Sale + Free Shipping

Hi pals & gals! I wanted to give you a little heads up about a sale that Rescue Beauty Lounge will be having soon! They will be doing a "Buy 2 Get 1 Free" promotion along with free worldwide shipping! This sale goes from Wednesday Oct. 15 through Friday Oct. 17 until noon EST *EDITED* Friday Oct. 17 through Monday Oct. 20 until noon EST. The two newest collections, #KDrama and Italian Summer, will not be included in the sale.

They have a very reliable webmaster, but just in case, they recommend using secure WiFi and to avoid ordering from smart phones and tablets to prevent any issues. RBL doesn't have very many sales, so if you have any polishes you've got your eye on, *cough* Kellie Gonzo *cough*, this sale would be a great time to pick some up! Especially with the holidays coming soon.

You can see all the polishes that are available on their website. I've put up a few photos of polishes that will be available during the sale that I have posted about previously...after the jump!

Zoya Fall 2014 Ultra PixieDust Collection Swatches & Review

Greetings! Today I wanted to show you the third Fall collection from Zoya, this one is a trio called the Ultra PixieDusts! They are texture polishes that are sort of a mix between their regular PixieDust texture and their Magical PixieDusts. They have that fine textured micro glitter that regular PixieDusts have and small, medium, and large matte hex glitters. All of these swatches are done with no base or top coat, as directed.

Press Sample

Oswin is a rich ruby red that dries down completely matte. This reminds me of Dorothy's ruby slippers! So pretty. I found the formula very easy to use. I painted on three thin coats, waiting for each layer to completely dry in between.

Noir has a dark plum base with red magenta glitters. This one stayed very jelly-like though, and I waited quite a lot of time for it to dry in between coats. It almost doesn't look like theres any of the super micro texture beads in this one. Hmm, I think I would like it more if it had a completely matte finish. Thinner than Oswin, three coats.

Arianna is a slightly darker, cooler wine red than Oswin. This one also dried semi-jelly and not matte, but not as gummy looking as Noir. I like this color but I think it's almost too similar to Oswin to be released in the same collection. This had a thinner formula as well, I used three coats here.

So I have heard that the consumer bought versions of these all dry down totally matte, so the two non-mattes might've been part of a problem batch. I'm not positive on that, of course I can't say for sure. I just know that I followed the exact application method that Zoya recommends and two of them didn't dry the way I'm assuming they were meant to. Either way, I think you'll either be into these Ultra PixieDusts or you won't. I think I prefer the Magical PixieDusts the best, but I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority haha.

You can purchase these now from the Zoya website for $10 each. What do you think of these? If you have them, did yours dry totally matte? If you only could pick one of the three, which shade would you pick? Thanks for stopping by :)

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Picture Polish Imperial Swatch & Review

Hi there and hello! I wanted to show you my newest addition to my Picture Polish stash, Imperial. Picture Polish is an Australian boutique brand that sometimes collaborates with bloggers to create new shades which is super cool. This one was created with my friend Jeanette, The Swatchaholic.

It came out last fall and I'm so glad I finally picked it up. It's a neon purple with holo sparks, blue and pink glass fleck shimmer and pale gold medium hex glitters. Seriously stunning. The application was a little streaky/patchy, due to the neon pigment I'm guessing, but it looks perfect after three coats. Also, make sure to shake it up well because the glitters tend to sink. It dries matte so you need a top coat for shine.

It also is a bit difficult to photograph the color correctly, I would say it's a little more red toned in real life than I could capture here. Haha it kinda sounds like I'm complaining about this polish, but I really do love it! Problem child or not, I love it.

You can purchase this on the Picture Polish website or from any of their stockists, I bought this from Llarowe for $14.50. What do you think of this color? If you could create your own collaboration shade, what kind would you make? See ya next time!

❤ Kellie

Zoya Fall 2014 Ignite Collection Swatches & Review

Hello gorgeous! I have the second Fall collection from Zoya to show you today, this one is called Ignite. This is the sparkly half of their fall offering, while the Entice collection gave us crèmes. There are six stunning shades in this bunch with "liquid metal" shimmer. Let's take a look at them!

Press Sample

First is Autumn, which is the perfect name for this polish, a metallic orange coppery shade with gold glittery shimmer. I really like how this looked with my skin tone. I used two coats here and got lovely coverage.

Next we have Sansa, a sexy eggplant purple with gold and purple glittery shimmer. I liked this way more than I expected to! Two coats were all I needed for this one, fab formula.

This is Teigen, a yummy metallic raspberry shade with gold glittery shimmer. I used three coats here, only because I thought I could still see my nail line through two, but it was probably not really necessary. The third coat deepened the color a lot. Oh well, I like it either way!

Remy is super gorgeous. A dark oceany blue with brighter turquoisey green shimmer and some of that gold glittery shimmer like the others. This is two coats. I did have some mild staining on my cuticles after clean up.

And this stunner is India, a polish I wasn't super excited for in the bottle but really blew me away when I put it on my nails. It is a deep red burgundy that has red, blue, purple and gold shimmer! Vampy and ga ga gorgeous. Two coats.

Last we have Yuna, another pleasant surprise for me, a dark blueish greenish grey with a hefty dose of gold flecks and glittery shimmer. Super pretty! Really great formula as well, two coats.

This is a real winner of a collection, I liked all the polishes and even loved some of them. You can get these on Zoya's website for $9 each. Did you pick up anything from this collection? If not, which ones are you lusting after? Do you prefer this sparkly half of their Fall collections, or were the crèmes more your style? Have a great day!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Zoya Fall 2014 Entice Collection Swatches & Review

What's up kittens? I have another Fall collection to show you today! Zoya put out two sister collections, the first of which is called Entice. It offers six rich, deep crèmes that will serve you well during this upcoming season.

Press Sample

First up is Claire, a dark burgundy crème. This is almost on the brown side but it's definitely a red tone, quite deep and warm. Reminds me a little of dried blood, ooooh. Pretty great formula, two coats. I am surprised at how much I liked this on me, not my usual type of color.

Next is Genevieve, a blue grey with a slight pearl type shimmer. The shimmer is pretty much only perceptible in bright light though so it looks like a crème in most lighting to me. Applied a bit draggy. Two coats.

Margo is a red plummy crème. I love this color, it's so yummy and perfect for those who still like brightness on their nails but want to be fall "appropriate". Shiny and smooth. Two coats.

This one is Nyssa, a warm yellowy toned milky brown. When I applied it, it looked like it went on a lot darker than it appeared in the bottle but outside in the sun they look the same, which I thought was interesting. This is two coats.

And here is Ryan, another deep fall blue. Dark enough that in low lights it might appear to be black, but in bright lights it's quite a nice true navy. This one applied a little thick for me, I ended up with a lot on my cuticles and it is a bit of a pain to clean up. I could see this one being a stainer. Two coats.

Last is Veronica, a deep berry red shade. I tend to really like how these shades look on me, but don't wear them too often, which is silly haha. Very creamy and shiny. Two coats.

You can purchase Zoya nail polish from their website or Ulta stores for $9 per bottle. What do you think of these lush crèmes for Fall? I would pick Margo and Claire as my favorites out of these guys. Stay tuned to see my swatches of the Zoya Ignite collection, coming soon!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.