Northern Star Polish – Harry Potter Gift Set

Provided for Honest Review

Oh.Em.Gee. Two of my favorite things! Harry Potter and Nail Polish! Really could it get any better? Plus I get to bring you a new brand that I haven’t featured before. Oh happy day! Hold onto your seats, darling readers, because this is going to be awesome!

Yes this is exactly how it comes! How stinking adorable is that? In this beautiful well composed gift set you will receive the following items:

Northern Star Polish – Protego Totalum

Northern Star Cuticle Oil – Butter Brew

(2) Reuseable Owl Charms

Gold Holographic Lightning Glitter

Vial of Red and Gold Glitter Mix with a Deathly Hallows Charm

First and foremost let’s talk about the cuticle oil. I was so excited to try this. The oil soaked in very well and left my cuticles looking supple and healthy! The scent is just heavenly. I wanted to nibble on my fingernails. Please folks, do not nibble on your fingernails or try to eat the cuticle oil I’m sure that it won’t taste as delicious as it smells! It’s a rich butterscotch scent and I can’t get enough!

Now up to the polish. This is a perfect polish for the holidays in my opinion and I’m sure you’ll be seeing it on me again in future nail art posts!

Northern Star Polish – Protego Totalum

‘Tis the season for red polish! Also look at that owl charm! I heart owls so much I literally squealed when I saw them. Protego Totalum is a regal cranberry red linear holographic polish with a golden shimmer (You know red and gold are Gryffindor colors…). It’s absolutely beautiful. The holographic effect is hiding here due to weather but I do have a flash photo to give you an idea a bit later on!

Northern Star Polish – Protego Totalum

The application and formula on this is absolutely lovely. I had no problems applying this and it went on very smoothly without any issue. I think that this is almost a one coat polish. I tend to use somewhat generous coats but even still these pictures show two coats plus topcoat. Just like with ALL red or dark polishes this will cling to dry cuticles. However, I didn’t find the clean up to be all that bad. I recommend using a heavy duty moisturizer (Or, you know, the Butter Brew cuticle oil like I did!) before polishing and wiping JUST the nail plate with acetone to help keep the polish from grabbing onto your skin. It did make the clean up easier. This is not a polish problem it’s just the way deep beautiful pigments are!

Northern Star Polish – Protego Totalum (Flash)

I tried to get some of the holo to come out and play. Even with flash it was very camera-shy. Silly fall dreary weather!

You want one of these adorable gift sets for yourself or a loved one? Well you’re in luck they will be available on Friday November 30, 2015 at Noon CST. The cost of the set is a ridiculously low (in my opinion) $17.50. Seriously, these will make awesome stocking stuffers, Holiday gift swap presents, or personal indulgence! You can order yours at Northern Star Polish’s Store. Be sure to follow Northern Star on Facebook and Instagram!

P.S. Don’t forget that Boom Shaka Lacquer’s Two-Year Blogiversary Giveaway is going on until December 1, 2015 and there are some FANTASTIC prizes. You definitely don’t want to miss out. Click Here to find out more!

40 Great Nail Art Ideas – Halloween

Oct30

Some products may have been provided for earlier review

Twas the night before Halloween and all through lands

Crumpet’s Nail Tarts came together to show off the art on their hands…

Hello my most fabulous readers! Ok, ok so I’m not really a poet of any merit, but, it IS the night before Halloween and yes Crumpet’s Nail Tarts are celebrating this holiday in force! I’m going to show you my Halloween-themed nail art and guess what it wasn’t that hard! Anyone can do it!

40 Great Nail Art Ideas – Halloween

Ooooh yeah! I’m actually having a lot of fun with freehand nail art these days. This is a combination of freehand art and stamped art and I thought it turned out pretty cute! And yes (except for the black and white) it’s all indies!

I started with a base of Pretty & Polished Thyme and Time Again. On my two middle fingers I hand-painted Frankenstein and his bride (I was inspired by a nail art video I saw but it was randomly on my facebook feed and I couldn’t find it again to credit where my inspiration came from). My Frank is a little weird but I’m still fantastically happy with this considering my novice-level skill! I used Octopus Party Nail Lacquer – Universal Loner for the touches of red.

40 Great Nail Art Ideas – Halloween

On the other fingers I added a gradient to the Thyme and Time again base using Pretty & Polished – Amethyst or Am I That? and Bohemian Polish – Long Gone. I then stamped over the gradient nails with an image from Vivid Lacquer – VL041.

All in all I’m calling this a win! Do you like this too? Do you think you might give something like this a shot? I definitely suggest that everyone branch out of their comfort zone now and then, which is why I joined this nail art challenge. I hope ya’ll are enjoying it as much as I have been. Sound off in the comments I love to hear from you.

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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!

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40 Great Nail Art Ideas – Geek Week!

Oct16

Some Products May Have Been Provided for Earlier Review

Yes my dear readers. This is by far and away one of the weeks I was looking forward to the most! We all know where it’s going to go right? I have a love for so many pop culture things but by far and away I like the geeky shows and books the most. Sherlock, The Walking Dead, Firefly, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog, Lord of the Rings, Supernatural, The Hunger Games (books not movies), Harry Potter (books not movies), Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Arrow… Do I really need to continue? I think you get the idea! Anyway I did not mention the one that has the biggest piece of my heart and that’s Doctor Who of COURSE! So today you’ll get to see a homage to the 11th Doctor (I’ve been wanting to do this one for awhile but never had a good time or reason to).

Now, the 11th Doctor (played by Matt Smith) was not necessarily my favorite Doctor. But, I grew to love him despite a rocky beginning. By the end I was just as sad and cried just as hard to see him regenerate as with earlier Doctors. *sniffles* Ah the feels. Ok enough of that! Onto the nail art!

Geek Week – Homage to the 11th Doctor

Bow ties are cool! I knew the minute I saw this stamp that it would become part of an 11th Doctor nail art look! I’m sure that it’s not meant to be bow ties (it comes from a Christmas-themed plate) but it’s so very like the red bow ties that the 11th Doctor wore so well that I could not resist.

Geek Week – Homage to the 11th Doctor

To get this look I started by painting my fore and middle fingernails in a plain white (I used Sinful Colors – Snow Me White, I know I know it’s not indie but I do use mainstream white and a few other plain colors for stamping and such right now). I then painted my ring and pinkie fingernails with A Study in Polish – Not Our Division. I let that dry a bit then I came back in and on the first two fingers I stamped the “bow tie” design from the Cici & Sisi – Christmas 2014 plate using Octopus Party Nail Lacquer – Universal Loner. On the last two I stamped a star design from Bundle Monster – BM20 in silver (Sally Hansen – Silver Sweep, don’t judge!). Of course I couldn’t stop there. I needed to add an awesome 11th Doctor profile and a TARDIS vinyl from YouPolish! Top coat the whole thing and voila, a fitting homage to the 11th if I do say so myself!

I was really happy with how this one turned out. Don’t forget to check out the InLinkz below to see the rest of the amazing nail art that is turning up for Geek Week!

Until next time may your days be filled with Glitter and Flakies!

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