Catherine Arley 803 - Swatches, Review and Stamping!

It's late so I will try to keep this short and sweet! I had been wanting Catherine Arley 803 for its gorgeous green holo-ness (yes, I just made up that word, pretty awesome if I do say so myself LOL) and a very sweet friend just happened to have 2 of them and offered to send me one. How amazing is that?! This polish is discontinued and very hard to come by so this is an amazingly sweet gift. Thank you! ♥ ♥ ♥

The formula was amazing, this is 3 thin coats. I decided to add a little stamping to it and used Color Club Wild at Heart with Bundle Monster BM21. All photos taken outside in direct sunlight.

It was hard to get pictures of the stamping because of all the holo! LOL I hope you enjoyed this post!

My Guest Post at Nails Adored!

I am the guest blogger over at Nails Adored today! Click HERE to check it out!

Guest Post Saturday! Jen's Wonderland with Layla Hologram Effect Jade Groove - Swatches and Review

It's time for another Guest Post Saturday! (If you missed GPS last week you can see that post HERE) Today is my dear friend Jen from Jen's Wonderland. Jen has done a guest post for me once before (you can find it HERE) and today she is back with another AMAZING holo. I have known Jen for almost a year now and have nothing but wonderful things to say about her. If you don't already follow her you should definitely check her out. Now let's get to the stunning post. Thanks so much for the post Jen!! ♥

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Hello everyone!!!!  I was very excited (and honored) when Ash asked me to guest blog again.  Boy, do I have a gorgeous holo to show you!  Layla Hologram Effect "Jade Groove."  The holo effect on this is insane, it makes other holos look kind of weak.  Ones that I did not consider weak!  I will admit I did not use the buffer that is recommended, no base coat either.  I might try the buffer next time to see if it does make a difference.  I applied 3 coats and it definitely required patience, I experienced balding and dragging.  The less brush stokes, the better with this.  The extra effort is worth it though, SO awesome. 
I topped it off with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat.  To me, I didn't notice it weaken the holo effect.  The wear (on me) was great too.  I wore it for 4 days with no tip wear or anything!!! 

Have a great weekend everyone!!  Thanks again Ash for having me!

Xoxo,
Jen

Dandy Nails Come Out and Play - Swatches and Review

What a stunner I have for you today! This is not only my favorite Dandy Nails polish (so far) but it has jumped into the ranks of some of my all-time favorite polishes! I can't stop staring at my nails and I am leaving it on more than one day, that has to tell you something! LOL

Come Out and Play is a GORGEOUS berry/purple/fuchsia color with small white glitter. It is like a jelly sandwich in a bottle EXCEPT it is fully opaque, with no visible nail line, after just 2 coats. I love the look of a jelly sandwich but don't usually have the patience for the MANY layers that it takes. The formula and application was superb and I love the wide brush that she recently switched to.

This is 2 coats with 1 coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast. The glitter was not hungry, it was *almost* perfectly smooth with one coat of top coat. I left it at that but if you want it perfectly smooth one more coat will do it. Please excuse the cuticles, I have been cleaning and while I use lotion like crazy my hands are just naturally very dry. Don't let it distract you from the gorgeous polish!

In direct sunlight...

One in the shade (this is what the color looks like in indoor lighting)...

And because I LOVED the combo with the green shirt I was wearing today, here is a shot of them together...

Isn't this a stunning polish?! I knew I would like it but I didn't expect to love it as much as I do. You can see my other Dandy Nails posts by clicking in the links here:

You Set My Soul Alight

Colorblind

Through Glass

You can purchase Dandy Nails at her Etsy shop HERE. She is currently on vacation so make sure to follow  her Facebook page for updates!

Nubar Prize - Swatches and Review

I have a super quick post for you tonight! Nubar Prize is a stunning rose pink with scattered holo. YUM In some lighting it *almost* looks linear. It is a bit gritty when dry but one coat of top coat took care of that. My photos aren't the greatest but you are probably tired of hearing that by now. LOL

As with all Nubars I have tried application is perfect. This is 2 coats with 1 coat of Nubar Diamont Top Coat.

Snickerdoodle was following me all over the house as I tried to get my camera to capture the right color. 

Nubar can be purchased at bynubar.com, Harlow & Co. and various other online retailers!  

Dior Exquis - Swatches and Review

I will admit that up until a few months ago I had never even thought about Dior nail polish. I don't know why, I guess it just wasn't in my realm of thinking. Then I started seeing them on blogs. Well, more specifically A blog. If you saw my Guest Post Saturday this past Saturday you would have seen my friend Sheila's admission to getting my obsession with Dior polishes started. I have SEVERAL on my wishlist but the one I wanted the most (well one of the ones I wanted the most hehe) was Exquis. I found out it is no longer in stock on the Dior website and went on a mission to find it before it was completely impossible. It is quite a long story but I managed to get my paws on it (where there's a will, there's a way) and I am SO happy I did!

I have never been so impressed with a polish, it nearly applied itself. The brush is amazing and the formula is PURE PERFECTION. It could have easily been a one-coater but I applied two. These pictures are without topcoat. Perfect taupe with gold shimmer.

All pictures taken in the blazing Arizona sun.Please excuse the cuticles, they did not look that bad until the macro shots. Macro is NOT your friend. LOL

I am DEFINITELY going to need more Dior's. These photos do not do it justice. Do you have any Dior polish? If not, will you be getting any? I highly recommend you do! *wink*

You can purchase Dior polishes at Dior.com but this one is not on the site anymore. I would suggest checking stores, this one was purchased at a Dilliard's.

New Blog Sale Items Added!

I added new items to my blog sale and lowered prices as well! Check it out HERE!

Guest Post Saturday! Pointless Cafe with Dior Plaza - Swatches and Review

I mentioned in my post earlier today that I would be starting Guest Post Saturdays for the next few weeks. I will be doing a series of guests posts from some of my favorite bloggers and women I consider friends. For my very first guest poster I have Sheila from Pointless Cafe. This is one of my favorite blogs, her nails and swatches are stunning. Plus she is Cruelty-Free and a true sweetheart. Well, no need for me to keep going on and on, you will be able to see it for yourself. Thank you so much for the guest post Sheila! ♥

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When Ashley said she was thinking of doing guest posts on some Saturdays, I jumped at the chance! And then I sat there thinking “what on earth am I going to post about?” I was like Horshack from Welcome Back, Kotter! “Oh oh OH! ME!” That’s always the way with me. Speak first and think later. 

I’d just received Dior Plaza and I think I may be at least partially to blame for Ashley’s recent, um...interest? in Dior (Okay, FINE! I’m an enabler) so I thought it would be quite appropriate to post about it. So here she is!

Dior Plaza is part of Dior’s Color Block for Spring 2012 Collection (along with Riviera, Lucky and Incognito) It’s a very saturated, bright hot rosy pink crème that applied in typical Dior fashion – like buttah! Two smooth coats for full opacity. Very creamy formula. Because it’s one of those bright colors, I had a bit of a hard time photographing it.

All photos showing two coats and no top coat.

Gratuitous Twinkie shot. Murphy just wasn’t interested in showing off nail polish. He’s such a boy!

This Dior collection, including Plaza, is currently available in the US at Dior.com and various other retailers such as Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, etc. for $23.00. Dior bottles are .33 ounces.

Dandy Nails You Set My Soul Alight - Swatches and Review (and matte!)

Happy Saturday everyone!! Before I get to the AMAZING polish I have for you today I want to tell you about something new I am starting on Saturdays. For the next few weeks I am going to do "Guest Post Saturday's" (GPS hehehe) and will feature a post from one of my favorite bloggers each Saturday! I have some pretty amazing bloggers on board and I am super excited for this! Okay, now to the lovely polish I have for you today.

I must admit I have not been keeping up with all of the Etsy sellers. I have a few that I have and I like them but I guess I just haven't gotten swept up in the frenzy of it all. I am, however, obsessed with one Etsy seller and that is Dandy Nails. I now have 5 of them (small by Blogger standards, I know LOL) and I can't wait to get more of them! I purchased 3 on this last round and I am in love with all of them. The quality of her polish is amazing. The glitters do not sink like many other Etsy polishes and her formula is fabulous. I really can't say enough good things about Dandy Nails, if you don't have any you need to get some asap.

You Set My Soul Alight is black with multi-colored microglitter scattered throughout. It is so pretty and such a nice way to do black, it seems lit from within! Dandy Nails has recently gotten a new brush for the bottles and I love it. It is wide and flat, it reminds me of OPI's brush except not quite as wide.

I love her labels and the handle of the brush is SLIGHTLY squared at the top to make gripping it easier.

Old brush on the bottom, new brush on the top. I don't mind the old one but I really like the new one.

I used 2 coats of YSMSA for full opacity, no "underwear" required. It dried a bit dull but ONE coat of top coat (I used Cult Nails Wicked Fast) made it completely smooth and shiny. 

First up some sunlight pics (we have more than enough of that here in Arizona LOL)

Inside under artificial lighting...

I had seen one post on YSMSA from Pointless Cafe (you can see her post HERE) where she had put matte top coat on an accent nail and I loved it and decided I needed to see it matte. LOL So I added one coat of Hard Candy's Matte-ly In Love for the last 4 photos.

Isn't it amazing matte?! I can't decide how I like it better. I currently have one hand matte and one shiny. LOL

Sorry about the doggie hair on my index finger. It is way too short to be Snickerdoodle's or Sam's, it must be Sasha's. :) 

Snickerdoodle on the left, Sasha on the right. :)

You can purchase Dandy Nails on her Etsy page and make sure to follow her on Facebook so you can stay up-to-date on when she re-stocks!  Dandy Nails polishes sell for $8 for a full-size 0.5 oz. bottle.