NOTD: Essie Going Incognito + bm14

Another Christmas mani on the subtle side ... I had the "Silver Bells" song in my head the whole time this was on my nails LOL.  Base color is Essie Going Incognito, stamping done with China Glaze Millennium & Bundle Monster image plate bm14 :

 

Spent more time digging out that doing my nails this past weekend LOL but I'm still going to get in a few more tutorials.  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Snow ... Again =(

We are off to the snowiest start of winter since 1991 - which most who live in MN will recall was the Halloween blizzard.  I can vividly recall trick-or-treating through almost 3 feet of snow.  This weekend's storm takes the record for the most snow in a single day in December ... 17 inches in my neck of the woods.  Some of these were taken last night (the darker ones obviously LOL) some this morning.  It was really windy so there was a lot of duning & weird swirly things:

This is the alley after the plow went by ... still pretty shitty.  You can't tell, but that's a little  downward hill behind my car, lots of nice packed-in snow leveling it off =(

Snow piled high as my car after I got done shovelling it free - barely LOL, I should be able to get it out but I wasn't trying to do any extra.  And this is only one of the piles!

& the coolest swirly bit:

Yeah.  We could be done with snow now as far as I'm concerned, really.  Running out of places to put it!  But seems like usually when we get a lot of snow, it's just setting up for even MORE snow the rest of the winter.  To top it all off it's also super-cold now, so even if I were included to play in it, it's really too cold for that - the high today is 7, with wind chill at about -20.  I was out shovelling for a couple hours so I think I am inside for the day now.  I'll try to actually get a few things taken care of instead of just napping with a warm blanked =)

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Review: Kelier Nail Crack Polish

I was recently contact to do some reviews for Born Pretty - you can check out their shop at http://www.bornprettystore.com/ and they sell a variety of both cosmetics, nail polish & nail art supplies.  They sent me a variety of fun things to play with & the first thing I'm going to review is the Crack Polish.

 

A lot of you probably remember cracking polish from back in the day, and it recently has been making a comeback.  Jessica from Born Pretty sent me 2 colors, black & blue:

 

 

And I decided to give them a try over a variety of colors - I started out with each over red, green metallic & silver chrome:

 

I love the cracking effect, both with the big chunks & the one silver where I got a really fine crackle.  It seems to depend both on the application & the underlying polish - I gave it another try over gold & purple (although the purple looks pink in the pic) - the left nail of each had a pretty thin layer of the Crack Polish, the right nail had a slightly thicker coating:

 

 

So you can see, I would say the thinner the better.  Definitely would take a little bit of practice to get an even coat on all your nails, so that the whole manicure had a uniform level of cracking & not one nail with big chunks & the next with little bitty ones - unless that's a look you were going for.  Born Pretty has Crack polish in a variety of colors that you can check out HERE.

 

Only downside was when I tried to just apply over my existing mani, when it cracked it started to totally flake off before I could put a top coat on.  I think maybe my nails weren't quite clean enough?  Next time I try that I would make sure they're squeaky clean with alcohol or vinegar beforehand.

 

I also received some rhinestones & some stamping plates, so stay tuned for those reviews!  Thanks for reading =)

 

~Colette

 

(These products were sent to me for review)

NOTD: Essie Smokin' Hot + bm14

Smokin' Hot is from Essie's Winter collection (too lazy to name your collections Essie?)  I almost didn't get it, picked it up, put it down, picked it back up again ... it was buy 2 get 1 free, and what kind of finally decided me is that it was the only color with only one bottle left.  I'm happy that I got it, this is a very warm grey with just a hint of purple to it.  Stamping is done with Konad Special Polish in Red & Green, and Bundle Monster plate bm14:

I like how the stamping turned out, although it was a little hard to see against the dark base in some lights.  The image is holly berries - a lot of people thought it was mistletoe & I had to explain to them that holly has red berries, mistletoe actually has more rounded leaves & white berries.  Still holiday, just not totally in your face Christmas =)  Although I've got a few more of those planned too!  Would you like to have Santa hats on your nails?  I've got what I think is a good idea, we'll see how the execution goes LOL.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Barielle Elle's Spell (+ Matte Magic)

Elle's Spell is from Barielle's Holiday Hustle collection and is indeed perfect for the holiday - red, flaky, blingtastic goodness all over my nails ... even though it did take 4 coats to make it happen:

The Holiday Hustle collection also comes in a fun mini-set although I'll confess those normally turn me off because they don't have all the colors & are rarely the colors I would pick myself if I were choosing only 4 - but Elle's Spell is included in this one, so that's a plus.  They also have a holiday sale going on right now, so the more you spend the higher percentage you save - I don't think you even have to use a code =)

Here's a look at this awesome polish in motion:

 

I did matte-ify it for the 2nd day & it got, if possible, more awesome.  Matte just does such wonderful things to flakies:

What do you guys think of this color, are you as in love as I am?

Thanks for reading.

~Colette