Boom Shaka Lacquer is Two Years Old! Giveaway Time!

Oct26

Hello my wonderful and beloved readers! Thank you so much for sticking with me for this past two years. I know that I’m not the most prolific blogger out there but I try to bring you a little piece of the things that make me happy when it comes to nail polish. Plus, I’m always striving to be a little better and to bring you things that I think you will enjoy. As you know I recently joined the Crumpet’s Nail Tarts – 40 Great Nail Art Ideas challenge so you’ll be seeing those posts. I also love the idea of other blogger collaborations so I have a big idea in the works and it’s going to be epic so please stay tuned because I hope you love it as much as I love the idea of it!

To celebrate I decided to do another giveaway. I reached out to maker friends who very generously donated prizes for YOU. Without YOU there is no blog. I’m always blown away by how readily everyone is to help me thank you for being awesome. Without further fuss let’s get onto the sponsors shall we?

Alchemy Lacquers – 1 Bottle of a Custom Polish created just for this Giveaway and my Blogiversary

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer – 2 Bottles of In Stock polish of Winner’s Choice!

Digital Nails – 1 Bottle In-Stock polish of Winner’s Choice!

Firecracker Lacquer – $15 Giftcode for shop!

Gothic Gala Lacquers – Surprise Mystery Prize!

Literary Lacquers – 2 Bottles In-Stock Polish of Winner’s Choice!

Mama Roux Bath and Body – Prize pack including nail and skin care items in Custom Scent created just for this Giveaway and My Blogiversary!

SuperChic Lacquers – 1 Bottle of Monsters In My Closet and 1 Bottle of Lucid LaLa Land from her recent fall collection!

Last but not least from Boom Shaka Lacquer! Surprise Mystery Prize pack including nail care items, polish, and a gift certificate to Color4Nails!

This year the prizes are all limited to US addresses only. You can enter this giveaway by using the rafflecopter widget below. Liking Facebook pages is not required but always appreciated! There you have it readers. I hope you’re as excited about this giveaway as I am to be able to offer it! Here’s to another amazing year for Boom Shaka Lacquer because there is still a lot I want to share with you!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Digital Nails – “The Walking Dad” Trio!

Oct6

Nothing to Disclose

I have such a fun collection for you today readers! We all know my love of Digital Nails, The Walking Dead, and nail polish. What you may not know is that I love a good corny pun/joke as well. There is a well-established internet meme phenomenon wherein Rick from The Walking Dead is featured in meme’s telling an apparently long-suffering “Coral” (seriously listen to the show sometime, when Rick is hollering for Carl it totally sounds like Coral!) some horrible and yet somehow hilarious “dad” jokes.

So, Digital Nails apparently also enjoys these because she released a gorgeous trio of coral (hahaha) polishes based on “The Walking Dad.” When I saw them I knew I had to have them because of all of the reasons above. Plus, they are just downright gorgeous. You ready? Let’s get started!

First up is Ten Tickles:

Digital Nails – Ten Tickles

I know that you know it’s coming, an octopus joke! The name of this polish is the punchline to the following “Walking Dad” joke: “How many tickles does it take to make an octopus laugh, Coral? Ten, Coral! Ten tickles.”

Ten Tickles is a hot coral holographic polish with gorgeous rose-gold microflakies. I am totally in love with this color and I wore it (with some nail art which I will show you later) and it was very well-received by my friends and family!

Digital Nails – Ten Tickles

In this lighting you can see the flakies, so even if the sun isn’t out to play with all the holographic goodness there is still some stuff going on. Plus, you all know that the more interesting and complex the holo, the better I like it!

Digital Nails – Ten Tickles

The formula on this was perfection. It went on very easily without any mishaps or issues whatsoever. This is definitely a must-have for any collection. Pictures show two coats plus topcoat.

Next up is He Doesn’t Carrot All:

Digital Nails – He Doesn’t Carrot All

This polish was originally debuted in an Easter-themed mega box of indies that came out around Easter time this year. The joke for this polish is: “How does emo bunny feel about Easter, Coral? He doesn’t care, Coral. He doesn’t carrot all.”

I’ll admit this one made me giggle but not as much as the next one! He Doesn’t Carrot All is a pale coral creme with a lovely green flash of shimmer.

Digital Nails – He Doesn’t Carrot All

Formula on this one was utterly perfect. I mean it’s everything I would expect from a creme-based polish. No leveling issues, did not drag or streak. Pictures show two coats plus topcoat.

Last but not least is my favorite of this trio. They Can’t Even:

Digital Nails – They Can’t Even

Just…oh.em.gee. This polish is so stunning. It’s my favorite because of the color and the name though! This is more of an orangey-coral base packed to the brim with silver flakies. The joke for this polish is: “Why do teenaged girls walk in groups of three, Coral? Because they can’t even! They can’t even, Coral!” I’m right there with those teenaged girls because I can’t even with this color! I’m telling you this color has moved up into my top echelon of all time favorite polishes.

Digital Nails – They Can’t Even

It just gets prettier and prettier every time I look at it! I had no problems with application at all. The only thing I will say is that those gorgeous flakies are very tenacious if they get on your cuticles so you’ll want to apply carefully to avoid too much clean up. Pictures show two coats plus topcoat.

Digital Nails – They Can’t Even

Seriously, look at that! I can’t even. I just can’t even!

OH I promised nail art didn’t I…well ok!

Digital Nails – Ten Tickles with He Doesn’t Carrot All accents

I started with Ten Tickles then did a little reverse stamping. I used MoYou London – Pro 13 for the image and filled in the flowers with He Doesn’t Carrot All.

Digital Nails – They Can’t Even

This is just simply They Can’t Even stamped with a cute swirly image from the Cici & Sisi Christmas 2015 plate.

There you have it a gorgeous collection! You can check out Digital Nails at the links below. I highly recommend following them on Facebook and Instagram.

Store – Facebook – Instagram

40 Great Nail Art Ideas – Hobbies

Oct2

Nothing to Disclose

Hello my lovely readers. I have something a bit new for you today! I have joined the Crumpet’s Nail Tarts and have committed to a nail art challenge that is going to span the whole year! This is how it’s going to work. Every other Friday you will see a nail art post from me (as I get better at doing these nail art posts maybe I’ll include some tutorials and things like that) based on that week’s theme! This is the first week of the challenge and I have been just so excited to share this with you. I decided I wanted to do this for a couple of reasons: 1. I want to improve my nail art game and I hope to see a definitive difference from my posts early this year and later on, 2. I want to incorporate some more variety in the blog, 3. I hope ya’ll will like it!

So here’s how it works: Crumpet’s Nail Tarts are getting together to show you (our wonderful readers) 40 Great Nail Art Ideas. At the bottom of each post will be an InLinkz so that you can easily check out everyone’s nail art looks. Without further ado:

This week’s theme is Hobbies. I was pretty excited about this one. I thought and thought about it. Should I do something that involves the jelly and jam-making that I love doing, should I do nail art inspired by nail art (this was a definite contender!), or should I do something that involves my longest love and passion. I finally landed on my longest-loved hobby – Reading!

Crumpet’s Nail Tarts – 40 Great Nail Art Ideas

Now, I know it’s not perfect, I totally bumped my ring finger before my topcoat was fully dry but I didn’t notice until the picture was taken. Ah, well. I’m new to this posting nail art game so a few snags here and there at the beginning is ok with me.

Crumpet’s Nail Tarts – 40 Great Nail Art Ideas

The thing about this is, this is all hand-painted by me. I do not do a lot of freehand nail art because, well, I don’t feel like I have the chops. So I was really proud of this one. I did not trust myself to paint directly on my nails so I made my own decals and hand-painted them and then applied them as I would any decal, whether it be reverse stamping, or a dry water-marble decal. This epitomizes my love of books and my desire to see everyone read more. Oh and if these colors look familiar? They should I just reviewed the Creme a la mode box a few days ago here and then used them all in this nail art look!

I hope that you like this new nail art adventure. Don’t forget to check out all the awesome blogs below to see more great nail art ideas!

[inlinkz_linkup id=555971 mode=1]

Creme a la mode collaboration box – Swatches and Review

Sep27

Nothing to Disclose

Alright my dearest readers! I have another exciting bunch of creme polishes to show you today. Recently four makers (three of them already long-time favorites of mine and one I’ve been dying to try) got together to start a collaboration box. Each quarter a new box will be released of fashion-forward, seasonal, on-trend colored creme polishes. Their first box was a quartet of fall colors. Of course the instant the pre-order was opened I snagged my box…I definitely wasn’t going to miss out on this!

Creme a la mode Box

This is how the Creme a la mode box works: Every quarter Digital Nails, Literary Lacquers, Indigo Bananas, and Octopus Party Nail Lacquer are going to release four on-trend creme colors. These will first be offered in the Creme a la mode box which is a pre-order at an amazing discounted price (under $30 – can’t beat that!). Once the Creme a la mode box has made its way into the eagerly awaiting hands of the customers the individual brands will release their own individual color in their shops, at the normal price. So that means if some random shenanigans keeps you from ordering the box, never fear, you can still get the colors later but they will be priced higher. So, each of the polishes I show you today will be, if they aren’t already, available through each brand’s website.

Whew! That’s a lot to get through I know! But it’s so worth it because these polishes are the… creme de la creme (HA! See what I did there??!!) and definitely live up to the hype!

First up Indigo Bananas – The Dark Side of Maroon:

Indigo Bananas – The Dark Side of Maroon

Oh yes, The Dark Side of Maroon almost made me swoon (rhyming for the win!). The color is an absolutely beautiful deep wine color. Perfect for fall. Honestly, if you are more into vampy dark colors, it’s perfect for any season!

Indigo Bananas – The Dark Side of Maroon

Excuse me…I was just drooling a bit over here. In fact I’m pretty sure I need to go put this back on again right now. The formula was very good. The polish goes on a bit sheer in the first coat but is fully opaque in two coats, which I think is perfectly acceptable. It self-levels beautifully and dries to a high-shine finish. I had no problems with application on this polish and found it very easy to work with. It is highly pigmented so you’ll want to keep clean up to a minimum if possible because it can be a touch tricky, but no more so than any highly-pigmented dark or red color.

Indigo Bananas – The Dark Side of Maroon

Pictures show two coats, sans topcoat.

Next up Literary Lacquers – Bluestocking Romance:

Literary Lacquers – Bluestocking Romance

Hubba freaking hubba. Yeah I said it. We already know my well-documented love of navy blue polish. This polish is utter perfection color-wise. It is a deep rich navy blue without leaning teal or being so dark that it appears black. It’s just stunning.

Literary Lacquers – Bluestocking Romance

Can I get a round of applause? Holy cow these pictures make me want to wear them all again! This polish could have been a one-coater. For the interest of pictures and consistency I did two coats. Again another fantastic formula, self-leveled, dried to a high shine. This one was very easy to apply and I had no problems with snags, drags, or streaks. Like the Indigo Bananas, it is highly pigmented so you’ll want to keep clean up to a minimum if possible because it can be a touch tricky, but no more so than any highly-pigmented dark blue polish.

Literary Lacquers – Bluestocking Romance

Pictures show two coats, sans topcoat.

Next up a new to me brand, Octopus Party Nail Lacquer – Universal Loner:

Octopus Party Nail Lacquer – Universal Loner

Holy freaking crap! This is a true red creme polish. Fun fact, I did not own a true red creme. I know, I know, no need to hyperventilate! I’m aware that it’s nail polish sacrilege not to own a true red creme but, I didn’t. So, yeah, needless to say I was all about this one. I didn’t even want to take the swatch off so I kept it on for like two days. You can’t more classic than a true red creme polish and this one is beautiful.

Octopus Party Nail Lacquer – Universal Loner

Ditto my reaction to Bluestocking Romance. Hubba freaking hubba AGAIN! Like The Dark Side of Maroon the first coat on this is a bit sheer but builds to perfect opacity in two easy breezy coats. Highly recommend careful application, because, this is a highly pigmented polish and like a lot of reds, dark blues, and dark purples they can be a little bit tricky to clean up. The good news is that it had a very easy to control formula and it made careful application not only possible but delightful. Dried to a high-shine.

Octopus Party Nail Lacquer – Universal Loner

Pictures show two coats, sans topcoat.

Last but certainly not least…Digital Nails – Tauping Mechanism:

Digital Nails – Tauping Mechanism

Oh.My.GLOB. EVERYTHING. This polish is EV-ER-Ything to me! I spend so much time trying to find perfect neutral polishes and I always gravitate to grey. This is a beautiful putty or “greige” color. The perfect balance of beige and grey. I am so in love with this color I can’t stand it. I just know it will be the base of much nail art and be layered under glitters galore.

Digital Nails – Tauping Mechanism

I have come to expect, and receive, perfection from Digital Nails’ polishes. I should have known that a creme polish would be the same. This one is very opaque and was easily opaque in two coats and some people may be able to get by with just one. I looooove the brush in this polish (something I rarely mention because, well, nail polish brushes are all pretty ok for me mostly) it’s round and fluffy but doesn’t lose any of the control that you would expect from a polish brush. Self-levels, check. High Shine, check. Great formula, check! This one was the easiest to clean up but that’s to be expected as this is a much lighter color.

Digital Nails – Tauping Mechanism

Pictures show two coats, sans topcoat.

There you have it. I have broken down the inaugural Creme a la mode box. I loved every one of these polishes. I’m delighted to finally add an Octopus Party Nail Lacquer to my collection (and I know it won’t be the last). Trust me, next quarter grab the box when it’s up for pre-order. You won’t be sorry.

Make sure to follow all the makers on their social media and check out their shops if you missed the Creme a la mode box this time.

Creme a la Mode

Facebook – Instagram – Shop

Digital Nails

Facebook – Instagram – Shop

Indigo Bananas

Facebook – Instagram – Shop

Literary Lacquers

Facebook – Instagram – Shop

Octopus Party Nail Lacquer

Facebook – Instagram – Shop