a-england Holy Grail

Hello lacquered lovelies! Happy Friday! Any plans for the weekend? Mine are the same as usual... work and homework. *Sigh* I can't wait to see my parents next weekend... time off from as much as possible sounds pretty awesome right about now!

Today I have another a-england beauty for you. I meant to post this on Wednesday but time got away from me... same thing on Thursday... so I apologize for the silence since Monday. It's been a crazy week. Posting might be really sporadic over the next couple of weeks. I've got a ton of stuff due and I'm only just getting the chance to start on it because of work, mostly. I like my job but now I'm all panicky about school... no bueno!

So this is Holy Grail. Usually I hate golds on me but Holy Grail is gorgeous. Perfect in two coats and it's got this interesting shimmer to it that looks green and red depending on the angle... I tried to capture it in the macro shot! Also apologies for the polish on the bottle... I never do that and didn't even notice until I uploaded the pictures! :(

Is it possible to have a crush on a company? Because I have a crush on a-england if it is. This polish is gorgeous... one of the only golds I've ever worn that I think I can sort of pull off!

What do you lovelies think? What are you wearing today? What are your plans for the weekend?

 Thanks for reading! Have a beautiful day!

The product in this post was provided to me for review. For more information, see my disclosure tab above.

The most perfect creme ever: a-england Galahad

Hello lacquered lovelies! Happy Monday! How are you doing today?

Today I have a quick post... hopefully. I've talked about how much I love a-england a few times already but in case you haven't taken the plunge, let me assist you. This is Galahad. Can I just say... you know how I feel about cremes, right? I love how sophisticated they always look on other people but I'm not so great at applying them. So I don't usually mention creme formulas in my posts because I know most people are better with them than me.

If all cremes had Galahad's formula, I'd wear them all the time. It's flawless. Thick without being gooey, easy to control and so so shiny. This was ONE coat and no topcoat. :)

Ahh I loved this. A lot of people asked me about where I got it tehe. I find colours like this always attract attention - they're bold without being over the top and so very shiny. :)

I said in Friday's post that I had some exciting stuff to talk about! First, a-england is almost a year old! YAY! Congratulations, Adina - your babies (furry baby Tristam included!) are beautiful and unique and I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

a-england has definitely been one of my favourite brands this year. I can't even count how many times I've worn Tristam. Brands like OPI and China Glaze will always rank high for us because they come out with so many collections that there's bound to be something for someone, but a-england delivers what I think OPI and China Glaze miss sometimes... quality, a unique vision and a truly passionate mastermind behind the line that is never too busy to pop on and say hi to us, even if it's just for a minute.

As if all this isn't enough, a-england now offers free worldwide shipping. So... what are you waiting for? Happy shopping, loves!

 Thanks for reading! Have a beautiful day!

The product in this post was provided to me for review. For more information, please see my disclosure tab above.

a-england lightning bolt

Hello lacquered lovelies! Happy Friday! Yay! Any plans for the weekend? I'm going into lockdown when I'm not working... so much schoolwork to do. Research and all that. Ugh. Hopefully your weekend will be more fun than mine!

Today I've got something fun to show you. I didn't want to show these out of order but I figured this would be a fun way to end off the week. I have all of these swatched individually but they look so gorgeous together! I spent ages trying to figure out how to wear them all together and then I remembered Jane's awesome tutorial! I will be doing an in-depth review next week for each beauty and I have some fun information to share with you, especially if you haven't tried any of the gorgeous a-england polishes, so stay tuned for that!

I started with one (!!!) coat of a-england Galahad. Waited for it to dry, taped it off, then did two quick coats of a-england Holy Grail. Then I waited for Holy Grail to dry before I added two generous coats of a-england Merlin (which is the most awesome glitter ever, but you'll see why next week!) and finished it all off with topcoat. I love tape manicures. They take ages but they look SO cool!

I love and loathe macro. The glitter was opaque in real life when I was looking at it, but... bleh. Anyway, I loved this one!

What do you lovelies think? Have you attempted a tape manicure yet?

 Thanks for reading! Have a beautiful day!

The products in this post were provided to me for review. For more information, see my disclosure tab above.

Jelly sandwich with Tangled in my Web

Hello lacquered lovelies! It's Wednesday! How is your week going so far? I wrote my last midterm last night... and then got an email from one of my professors about our first assignment. NOT HAPPY. I hate that class and hate the professor so I definitely won't be staying an extra two years to finish my minor here. Anyway!

Today I have a manicure that I did without even thinking... and then remembered that it was going to be a bish to photograph. Sure enough, over 200 pictures later, it was. Only my cell phone seemed to be able to handle the neon-ness...

So. I used two coats of a nameless neon pink jelly, then added Wet n' Wild Tangled in My Web, then another coat of the jelly. This was no topcoat.

It went weirdly coral on my camera but my phone picture is closer to the true colour.

That's it! Silly camera fail. What are you wearing today? :) On your nails, perverts! ;)

 Thanks for reading! Have a beautiful day!

FingerPaints Merry & Bright collection press release!

Oooh look at what just popped up in my inbox! These look so fun!

Frosty Night

Winter Sky

Yule Be Merry

Comet's Collar

Santa Kisses

Drummer Boy

Oooh, aren't these gorgeous? I'm going to need Comet's Collar. It looks so pretty! I wonder if Drummer Boy has a coloured base? What do you lovelies think?

China Glaze Let it Snow press release!

This just popped up in my inbox so I had to share!

HO HO HOLIDAY 2011!

Spend the Holiday season with glittering, shimmering, ravishing color in the Let it Snow Collection from China Glaze

Los Angeles, CA – (October 2011): Spend the holidays in style with the new Let It Snow collection from China Glaze! Introducing 12 festive shades sure to get anyone in the holiday sprit this season. Specifically created with the wintery season in mind, Let It Snow will have even the biggest Grinch feeling jolly all winter long. Not only a must-have for a holiday manicure and pedicure, Let It Snow is available in 12 seasonal inspired gift sets perfect for stocking stuffers, Hanukah gifts, Secret Santa, co-workers and Teacher’s gifts. China Glaze Let It Snow collection will be available at fine salons and professional beauty supply stores nationwide!

Shades include:

·        Poinsettia – Ruby red crème inspired by the traditional holiday plant.

·        Ring In The Red – No Holiday season would be exact without this glittering red polish for holiday gatherings.

·        Winter Berry – Creamy, cranberry-red perfect for sipping hot cocoa by the fire.

·        Velvet Bow – Rich red crème color inspired by your favorite red wine.

·        Glittering Garland – A dazzling glittery green to match the holiday greens of pine trees, garland, and mistletoe.

·        Holly-Day – Looking for a bold color without the glitz? Holly-Day is a rich hunter green without the sparkle. 

·        Champagne Bubbles – Sophisticated gold metallic with a golden shimmer.

·        Twinkle Lights – A mix of glittery shades to emblemize twinkling tree lights.

·        Snow Globe – Frosty white polish with flecks of snowy color.

·        Icicle – Smooth silver shimmer with a hint of flash and ice.

·        Tinsel Town – Bold silver, metallic glitter and the perfect match for sparkling night on the town.

·        Blue Year’s Eve – Ring in the New Year with this lustrous, shimmering blue. 

 

The Let It Snow Collection is available in a 12 piece counter display, 24 Piece Lil’ Stuffers Display and a 36 Piece Polish Rack. Gift sets include:

·        Belle Of The Ball: Champagne Bubbles and Tinsel Town with a Festive Ornament.

·        Seasonal Sparkles: Poinsettia, Twinkle Lights and Holly-Day.

·        Meet Me Under the Mistletoe: Ring In The Red, Velvet Bow and Glittering Garland with Lip Lacquer.

·        Santa’s Little Helpers: Ring In The Red, Holly-Day, Twinkle Lights and Velvet Bow.

 

·        Let It Snow: Blue Year’s Eve and Snow Globe with a Mini Snow Globe.

·        Holiday Spirits: Icicle, Champagne Bubbles and Glittering Garland with a Pewter Bottle Stopper.

·        Berry Sweet: Velvet Bow and Ring In The Red with a Holiday Berry Moisturizing Lotion.

·        Baby It’s Cold Outside: Icicle, Blue Year’s Eve and Poinsettia with Fingerless Gloves.

·        Deck The Halls: Glittering Garland and Champagne Bubbles with Limited Edition Holiday Berry Cuticle Oil.

·        Winter Ice: Blue Year’s Eve, Tinsel Town, Icicle and Snow Globe with a Snowflake Charm Necklace. 

·        Holly Bear-y: Holly-Day and Winter Berry with “Holly Bear” Plush.

·        Carry Me Away For The Holidays: Tinsel Town, Poinsettia, Velvet Bow and Icicle with a Manicure Carrying Case with Nail File.

China Glaze is free of DBP, toluene, and added formaldehyde.

China Glaze nail lacquers are available through salons and professional beauty supply stores nationwide. For more information, visit: www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze on Facebook and Twitter: http://twitter.com/ChinaGlaze

China Glaze is a division of American International Industries.

About American International Industries

For nearly 40 years, AII has been the leading manufacturer and worldwide distributor of innovative, quality beauty and skin care products for men and women.  Our product lines include Ardell, Andrea, Body Drench, Bye Bye Blemish, Checi, China Glaze, Clean + Easy, Clubman/Pinaud, Duo, European Secrets, EzFlow, Fright Night, Gena, GiGi, Gypsy Lash, IBD, Jeris-Lustray, No Tweeze/Micro Tweeze, 'N Rage, Prolinc, RAW, Seche, SuperNail, Surgi-Care, Waterworks,  Winning Nails, Woltra, Woody’s, and Youthair. For more information, visit our website: www.aiibeauty.com.

piCture pOlish/Harlow & Co. review!

Hello lacquered lovelies! I'm so excited about today's post for about a billion reasons, but let me leave the exciting part for last. I'll start with the pictures.

I've got two piCture pOlishes to share with you today. These are my first! Cutest bottles ever! I love the little sentences on them. And I love the bottle shape. First up is Antique, which is a gorgeous dusty purple packed with glitter/flecks. It dries with some texture, though I don't mind. I did use topcoat for the pictures! This was two coats.

Gorgeoussss. My camera spazzed out! It's so amazingly sparkly in the sunlight. A must see!

The other polish I've got to show you is Flamingo. In the bottle it looks a bit more dusty than it pulled on me, it turned a lot more peach-tinged when I put it on. I'm not a fan of this on my corpse hands but I love it in the bottle. I bet it would look gorgeous on my mom! And you can't go wrong with pink during Breast Cancer Awareness month! This was two coats. Lovely opaque formula, nice and easy to control. I was a bit shaky though!

I wish I had a bit warmer skintone, I think it would look fab on anyone who isn't ghostly LOL!

I said I was saving the best part for last, right? Well. You know how all of us North Americans are always lusting over Aussie polishes? I know there are American stockists but the shipping still sucks when it's coming to us, right? There is now a Canadian stockist!

The lovely Katie, who is the mastermind behind Harlow & Co., is having her grand opening sale! Starting today, October 17th, and running to October 24th, you can get 10% off all orders on the site using the code GRANDNAILS. The first fifty customers will also get a free vegan lip balm! I'm a lip balm addict so this thrills me. Shipping is also free to Canada and the US for orders over $50! I shop online a lot and the reason I don't really review etailers that often is because shipping costs suck and I feel bad recommending them. But here, it's a win-win, right? And my polishes were packaged so carefully. :) Anyone who has ever suffered the heartbreak of a bottle broken during transit knows exactly how it feels to open a package that you know contains polish and have a brief OMG moment before you realize everything is safe. Yes, that moment.

So. Besides excellent piCture pOlishes, what else can you get from Harlow & Co.? How about Glitter Gal, Nubar, POP Beauty, Scotch Naturals and Spa Therapy Works? Those Spa Therapy Works scrubs look like candy. The Pink Cupcake scrub sounds right up my alley. It says I'll LOVE it if I love vanilla and I do so... *adds to cart* No, I'm totally not shopping as I write this... not at all!

I think my favourite part of the site is something that... well, I might be using often. You can contact Katie to let her know if you think she should be carrying something in her store! I'd love to see her carrying Ozotics some day... they're already expensive and shipping to Canada is an arm and a leg!

Well, what are you waiting for? Happy shopping, loves! Exclamation points everywhere. Can you tell that I'm excited?

 Thanks for reading! Have a beautiful day!

The products in this post were provided to me in exchange for an honest review. For more information, see my disclosure tab above. 

Review: Revlon cuticle remover

Hello lacquered lovelies! Happy Saturday! Just a quick post today.

I mentioned in my first cuticle remover post that I would try to review as many cuticle removers as I could. I lost my Essie one shortly after that post (le sad!) so I figured it was a sign to get a new one. I was wandering around a drugstore and settled on the Revlon one. It had a "new!" sticker on it but so do 90% of the Revlon products at drugstores here so I don't actually know if it's new or not.

Image from here

I picked that one because it had French and English on it. How Canadian of me, right? Anyway, you use it basically the same way as the Essie one, but it comes with the normal Revlon nail brush instead of a weird kind of tip like the Essie did.

I dip the brush in and scrape one side clean, then use the other side to apply the remover. I have found that I need to use more of this one than I do of the Essie one. I'm not sure if you're supposed to just let this one sit or if you should massage it in - I've tried both ways and it works about the same either way.

Gotta say though, I prefer Essie Disappearing Trick. The Revlon one has a bit of a strange scent to it... I'm not sure exactly what it is but it smells a tiny bit like eucalyptus and then... something else. Almost like plastic. Strange. I also find it needs more cleaning up than the Essie one - when I use the Essie, it's like all that skin just melts away. The Revlon is a bit more work.

All that being said, though, the Revlon will give you the same result (with a bit more work, granted), and there's a fair bit of price difference, or at least here in Canada. Revlon retails for usually $5.99, that's what I paid for the remover. Essie Disappearing Trick retails from $9.99 and up. So that's $4, which is enough for two extra large coffees from Tim Horton's. And yes, that's how I'm thinking of amounts right now. I'm running on caffeine and feeling like a superhero when I realize how long I've been awake now. Midterm week!

So that's it for today - I know it's a lot less pictures but what's the point? You've already seen how icky my cuticles can look (I'm so sorry) and they've been looking okay in my pictures lately. What's that expression? The proof is in the pudding? I'm shit with cliches. Anyway!

Which cuticle remover would you like me to try next? :)

 Thanks for reading! Have a beautiful day!

Franken + flakies

Hello lacquered lovelies! Happy Wednesday! Just a quick post that happens to combine with a pink Wednesday!

This is how I got another day of wear out of my franken. I added a coat of Nubar 2010, then mattified it, so it looked like this...

It was just "meh" for me mattified so I tried leaving it glossy and ended up liking it way more!

Short and sweet! What do you think? Which dyou prefer? I love using flakies to get a little more wear out of a manicure!

 Thanks for reading! Have a beautiful day!

Billie Cosmetics Jovile

Hello lacquered lovelies! Happy Tuesday? I swear, I am the crappiest blogger lately. It's part exhaustion and part "I freaking hate my nails right now". I keep digging into vault photos to write posts and I feel like I'm lying or something LOL. My nails are in rough shape lately. :( I love them square but it makes a break really crappy, especially when it's a partial break - I suffered (I love saying "suffered" when talking about a broken nail) a chipped off corner on my left index finger. I rarely break nails but a week and a half ago seemed to be the time for it, because I broke my right thumbnail almost halfway down. Worst break of my lifeeeeeee. That would have been the perfect time to start a nail growth treatment review but I couldn't bear to take pictures of it and imagine subjecting you guys to that kind of break... it was hideous. The break on my index finger really isn't noticeable in real life but it's like OMFG THAT'S SO UGLY in pictures... and I already have issues looking at my pictures without thinking "eww my _____ look so ugly"!

Today I have a pretty polish with a baffling name. Billie Cosmetics Jovile. Does anyone know what the eff jovile means? In my head I keep calling this "jovial" but I checked the label and it's definitely jovile. And then I was like "maybe it's French?" since I'm pretty sure it's a Canadian company but no... so I'm left wondering if they really actually spelled "jovial" wrong. Which makes me die inside.

So. The colour is gorgeous. A purple-tinged wine with that awesome glitter - check out the bottle in the first pic. Sadly, it suffers a bit from weird jelly syndrome. It's not super opaque so it has this way of making your nail look almost split up into three sections - the nail bed, then the bit just before your free edge, then your free edge. So it looks like my nails are, like, dirty underneath or something, but I assure you that they aren't. I looked at the pictures while I was swatching and was very confused, went back and made sure under my nails was clean, and this still happened. I don't think the direct sunlight helped. Like its blue sister Anxiety, this dried matte. I believe I used four coats - I'd definitely layer this one next time. Apologies for the greasy fingers, I was smothering them in cuticle oil between swatches.

Meh. I like Anxiety more. I really don't get the names of these polishes LOL.

What do you lovelies think? I promise to post soon... tomorrow! I'll show you the way that I updated my franken mani when I didn't have time to change it! :)

 Thanks for reading! Have a beautiful day!

Icing Orchid

Hello lacquered lovelies! Happy Thursday! I'm sorry I didn't post yesterday... weirdly, I have a few manis that I could have shown you... I just wasn't feeling all that pink. My apologies. My apologies also to my dear dear friend Marty... I'm the biggest asshole ever and completely forgot about his birthday. My head has been all over the place lately and it's turning me into such a douche. :( I'm sorry, kidlet. I love you mucho and hope you had a wonderful day... even if it was without my well wishes. ;)

So today I have a pretty polish. Nothing too spectacular or unique but that's how it is sometimes, right? I think I'm only posting this because it's a purple my camera actually captured pretty well. I'm pretty sure my mind was blown by it when I actually uploaded the pictures. This was two coats. Nice coverage, I like the shimmer (it's ALMOST like little flakies!) and this tone of purple suits my skintone, I think. I hate the brush in the Icing polishes though, and I hate that the bottles are basically a China Glaze rip off lol.

This is obviously pre-chop length. I always hate them when I have them and then I chop them and look back on the pictures and feel so incredibly sad that I cut my nails off. I'm feeling that right now LOL. Thankfully my nails grow fast so it won't be long, I'm sure. I'm also finally doing a review of a growth treatment! Yay! Hopefully I'll have that posted soon...

Anyway, that's it from me today :) What dyou think, loves? Do you ever like a polish a lot even though you know it's not unique and you probably have a few polishes similar to it? That's how I feel about this polish. I want to wear it again just looking at the pictures, even though there's nothing ground-breaking about it. :)

 Thanks for reading! Have a beautiful day!

Nicole by OPI Canadian Star

Hello lacquered lovelies! Happy Monday! I apologize for my erratic posting last week. It went with my erratic... you know, life. Last week was insane. Friday especially. I had gone to help set up another store (the chain I work for is opening another store in another mall) and was supposed to be out by noon, so I was going to post once I got home. Due to some drama at my own store, I didn't end up coming home until almost 6. I was somewhat displeased. I wish I could be a boss like Jen and schedule like a million posts but I'm lazy. I'm writing this post right now to avoid doing homework!

So today I have a polish that is pretty much every nail blogger's nightmare to try and photograph. You know how so many of us complain about photographing purples? And how our cameras usually turn them more blue? Yeaaaaaaaaah. Nicole by OPI Canadian Star is a gorgeous purple-blue duochrome. WHAT? It's the most gorgeous thing ever on but oh my god photographing it was an exercise in frustration. I spent three hours doing this. I'm not even kidding. I apologize for the weird angles but these are the only ones I could get even a bit of the purple to show. This was four coats - maybe five - it's sheer, so I'd probably layer it next time, but it's so worth it that I really don't mind. It's gorgeous.

My hands look so weird and red in these pictures. Jacking up the ISO settings on my camera does that but because I was in the shade (and inside in one of the pictures) I couldn't get my camera to focus as well. :( I'm sorry!

So yeah. Sometimes Canadian exclusives suck, but this one kicks ass. Swap for it if you can. It's amazing and so worth it. What do you lovelies think? :)

 Thanks for reading! Have a beautiful day!