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Holiday Nail Art

Some Polishes May Have Been Provided for Review

Why yes readers, I have done some Holiday inspired nail art.  I have rocked a few manis over the past couple of weeks that really got me a lot of attention.  I’d love to share them with you!  Keep in mind that I’m still new to the nail art world so if I can do these manis anyone can!  They just take a little patience and the ability to laugh at your own mistakes!

First up I have a FESTIVE red and white skittle mani

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Isn’t it FUN?  I loved this peppermint inspired manicure so much!  On my index and pinkie fingers I stamped a diagonal candy cane stripe.  On my middle finger I used the end of a paint brush to create the large dots.  Last but not least on my ring finger and thumb I did contrasting glitter gradients over red and white!  This one was really an easy manicure to achieve, you could use a striper to create the stripes if you don’t have the stamps, dots are always easy and the glitter gradient is a really easy technique to master as well.

Polishes Used:  Glisten & Glow – Stuck on Blu; Tip Top Nails – Cherry’s In the Snow; Illamasqua – Scorch; Julep – Joelle; Glisten & Glow – HK Girl

I’m really proud of this next one – let me preface by saying this is the second time I’ve tried water marbling and I am utterly pleased with how this turned out.  I have been following Let Them Have Polish for like three years – long before I dipped a brush into lacquer to paint my own nails.  So I was inspired to do a Merry Pinkmas mani in her honor!

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Water marbling is not really for the faint of heart, it can be messy and you might cry a little the first time, but once you get the hang of it it’s so much fun and the results are AMAZING!  I learned to water marble by watching video after video by My Simple Little Pleasures (unquestionably the water marble queen!)

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I water marbled the pointer, middle, and pinkie fingers and both thumb and ring finger had the fuschia background with the Christmas tree.  Before I added the trees I topped everything off with Big Spoon Lacquers Breaking Atavism to give it a frosty glittery look.  I used tape to block off where I wanted the Christmas tree and then removed the tape while the polish was still wet to give it a clean line.  I then added a pink rhinestone to become the Christmas Tree star!

Polishes Used:  Glisten & Glow – Stuck on Blu; Bondi New York – Fuschia-istic; Tip Top Nails – Meringue Surprise; Big Spoon Lacquers – Breaking Atavism; Big Spoon Lacquers – Christmas Tree in a Bottle; Glisten & Glow – HK Girl

So do ya’ll like the nail art posts?  I kind of like to break the cycle of swatch after swatch!  I rarely just wear a polish plain – I usually do some sort of art or pair it with complementary polishes to create some visual interest!  If you want to see any NOTD pictures I often throw those onto Instagram!

I joined a link party so if you want to join you can as well!

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Big Spoon Lacquers – Holiday Collection

 Provided for Honest Review

Hello my lovelies!  I have three AH-Mazing polishes from Big Spoon Lacquer’s Holiday collection to share with you. I am super excited to show them to you!  Big Spoon Lacquers is a brand new indie polish line and so far I have been uber-delighted with Pauline’s lacquers!  I could not pick a favorite from these three!

I’m going to cut right to the chase and show you these pretty polishes!  First up we have Meet Me Under the Mistletoe!

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe is a delightfully delicate and feminine polish.  It made me feel all kinds of girly!  The polish is a sheer white crelly with a sprinkling of metallic magenta hexes and metallic lime green dots.  It does go on sheer as I mentioned but it does build up nicely or it could be paired with undies.  I do not tend to like using undies for jelly or crelly polishes as it causes them to lose some of their squishiness (which is the reason I love them).

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Picture shows four thin coats with topcoat.  As with the other Big Spoon Lacquers I reviewed here there was no need for glitter food and the glitter spread is very nice and required no manipulation or fishing.

Polishes used in manicure:  Glisten & Glow Stuck on Blu, Big Spoon Lacquers Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, Glisten & Glow HK Girl Quick Dry Topcoat.

Next up we have a BEAUTIFUL jelly based polish.  I have to tell you I knew when I saw the pictures of it that I would need to own it.  Kiss Me at Midnight is a lovely polish that I can see working for the Holidays or all year long!

As with all jelly polishes this one is another sheer polish but it does build up to opacity or it can be paired with undies.  Kiss Me at Midnight is a squishy denim blue jelly polish and it is packed with aqua and magenta micro glitter.  I LOVE it!

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I actually would have done just two coats but there would have been a little more VNL which I would have been ok with but I did three which shows only the tiniest bit of VNL and four coats would have reached full opacity.  It was a dream to apply.

Polishes used in this manicure:  Glisten & Glow Stuck on Blu, Big Spoon Lacquers Kiss Me at Midnight, Glisten & Glow HK Girl Quick Dry Topcoat.

Finally, my favorite of the three that I received.  It is simply to die for.

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This lovely polish is Christmas Tree In a Bottle.  It literally LOOKS like a Christmas Tree in a Bottle.  I was giddy with excitement that I received this polish in my review package.  It is a real stunner of a polish and one that I foresee being one of my all time favorite Holiday polishes.

Christmas Tree In a Bottle is lovely green jelly based polish with tiny matte yellow and medium sized matte blue hexes, tiny metallic magenta hexes, teensie tiny holographic dots, and holographic gold bars.  It catches the light so beautifully and just sparkles and glitters like crazy!

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It is a jelly based polish but builds up to opacity in  TWO coats – all of the squishiness that you could dream of in a jelly based polish and as with all of Pauline’s glitter polishes is it packed to the brim with all kinds of glittery goodness, no fishing, digging, manipulating, or otherwise messing around just easy breezy application!

Polishes used in this manicure:  Glisten & Glow Stuck on Blu, Big Spoon Lacquers Christmas Tree In a Bottle, Glisten & Glow HK Girl Quick Dry Topcoat.

Now, Big Spoon Lacquers is having a PRE-Black Friday sale so that you can get amazing prices without having to schedule it in with all of your other Black Friday shopping!  The sale starts TOMORROW November 22, 2013 at 6PM EST.

Here are the sale details:  All polishes are $5.50 alone or priced at $5 if they are bought in a set.  It’s site wide.  There will be grab bags of 3 minis for $6.  And any orders of $15 or more will receive a free mini of a shade that is only available through this offer which is a dark green with light green and darker green shimmers throughout called Shop Til You Drop.   Also, 20% of all sales (not just profit) will be donated to a former SEAL whose dog was hit by a car yesterday to help pay for vet costs that are estimated to reach upwards of $10,000.

You can find out all about this and other news about Big Spoon Lacquers on their facebook page and you can pick up all of your favorite lacquers at their shop!

 

Big Spoon Lacquers – Norway Collection

Provided for Honest Review

Hello all you lovelies out there!  I have something super exciting to share with you!  It is no secret that I love indie nail polish.  In fact I would say I probably hit you over the head with that fact on a right regular basis.  Don’t worry there will be no actual hitting!  Instead, today I’m bringing you the first of two posts featuring a brand new indie polish brand, Big Spoon Lacquers!

So in this first post I’m going to share two of the polishes from the Norway Collection.  This is Pauline’s inaugural collection that includes some really amazing glitter polishes!  All of the polishes in this collection are based on “the natural beauty that can be found in Norway.”  Let me just say that I’ve never been to Norway but I could imagine any of the 5 polishes in the collections being very representative of that country!

Let’s get it started!

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Up first I have Geirangerfjord (Go ahead try to say that five times fast, I dare you!  No?  Alright carry on.)  This is a stunner of a polish even though I was slightly apprehensive about the yellow glitters!  Yellow and I are not the best of friends.  I needn’t have been apprehensive AT ALL.  I loved this polish far more than I expected to!

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Geirangerfjord has a yellowy-green tinted base is and is PACKED to the brim with a multitude of glitters:  tiny metallic green hexes, tiny matte yellow hexes, teensie weensie little green bar glitters, and metallic gold dots.  Even though this baby is packed to the brim with glitter they all lay nice and flat to the nail, the spread was lovely and even without any manipulation, and pictures show three coats plus topcoat – NO Glitter Food was necessary to smooth it out!

Polishes used in this manicure:  Glisten and Glow Stuck on Blu Basecoat, Big Spoon Lacquers Geirangerfjord, Glisten and Glow HK Girl Topcoat.

Next up is my favorite of the two I’m reviewing today, Trollveggan.  Trollveggan is so flipping amazing that I almost couldn’t contain myself when I put it on!  It’s just lovely!  It makes me think of icy seas and cold cloudy days when I look at it!

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I don’t really know where to start.  I loved every single thing about this polish! It is absolutely beautiful. Trollveggan has a pearly gray base that is packed to the brim with glitters, just like Geirangerfjord.  There is metallic aqua microglitter, medium sized metallic aqua hexes, small matte silver dots, and tiny holographic gold bar glitters.  It’s utterly stunning and pictures do not do it justice in the least!

I will say that the aqua hexes do have a slight reflective curl but it does not translate to the glitter itself and everything spread out and laid on the nail perfectly flat without any issues at all.  Neither of these two polishes required any special fishing and manipulation to come up with a good glitter payoff!

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The picture shows 3 coats plus topcoat, I personally would have stopped at 2 however there was a slight VNL at two coats that would not have bothered me in the least but I know that some people don’t care for it so I pushed it to three for the pictures to show you can reach opacity easily.  Again, no Glitter Food was necessary to achieve a smooth glassy finish!

Polishes used in this manicure:  Glisten and Glow Stuck on Blu Basecoat, Big Spoon Lacquers Trollveggan, Glisten and Glow HK Girl Topcoat.

I was extremely delighted with these polishes.  Too often I play hunt and fish for glitters or I have to manipulate the glitters on the nail once I get them there.  I didn’t have to do that with these polishes.  They are sheer but they build up very nicely to opacity without any hassle or problems.  I foresee many Big Spoon Lacquers in my future!  You can keep up to date on all the happenings with Big Spoon Lacquers at their facebook page and instagram and you can purchase them in their online shop!