MAC Box of Chocolates Giveaway!

Hi all! I have a super sweet giveaway to share with you guys! Myself and 29 other bloggers have teamed up to curate a MAC Pro Pallet of 30 different eyeshadows for you. We each chose a shade and gave a short explanation of why we chose that shade. But you'll have to win to see what they are!

This giveaway is open to US & Canada only and runs from Feb 14th to Feb 28th. Make sure to show all the ladies below some love and thank xoNoelle for hosting!

Enter via the Raffelcopter link below!

Good luck!

Talk to you soon!

Christa

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Indie Review: St Patricks Day with Glitterfied Nails

Well this post took forever to get written up…because of…lemon cake. My sister and my dad decided to whip up some cake and gosh it takes forever to cool down before it can get frosted. But yum!!

Tonight I have 3 polishes to show you from Glitterfied Nails for St. Patrick's day. One you have already seen that I recently showed you in her Valentine's Day set. You can see those again here.

Up first is Golden Glow.

I know, you already saw this one, but just feast your eyeballs on that again, please. Literally looks like there is a fire off to the left there huh? Yes, you need this one. 2 coats shown, perfect opacity.

Next up is Lucky You. I am not 100% sure, but I believe I swatched this over Sinful Colors Nice Stems. (either that or it was Funky Fingers Mrs. Mint - but pretty sure is was the former).

Lucky You is a packed glitter topper made up of small green hexes and squares, as well as medium green and white hexes, large green hexes AND gold circles (GOLD COINS! gahh). I would have loved this polish without the gold dots -- but seriously -- tell me those aren't the whipped cream and cherry on top!

This is just 1 coat. I had a little trouble getting the circles out, but with a good upside down standing and a shake, I was able to fish some out and place them on my nails. As I usually do, I used the glob and spread method for great coverage!

My accent nail is Revlon Posh with white dots.

Here is another photo of Lucky You over the next polish I will show you. I really love how jam packed with glitters Andrea's polishes are. Even with massive amounts of glitter, the formula is always perfect and they dry smooth and even.

Meet the gorgeous Shamrock. This color makes me want to head outside and roll around in the grass!

I absolutely loved the way this dried. Without topcoat, it dried to a nice soft satin finish. It looked so fantastic. You can see what I mean in the above photo. 2 coats.

Because I loved this one so much, I did 2 bits of nail art with it.

First I wanted to do some sort of rainbow action jackson on my accent nail. I was kind of meh on how this came out. I wanted more of a rainbow looking thing but I suppose this will do.

I used about 5 polishes for the water marble.

Then I wanted to do stripes, so those ended up on my pinky.

I liked the stripes on my pinky nail in the first nail art spot, so I decided to settle on this mani since it wasn't so loud. My accent nail is SH Mint Sorbet as the base, with Essie Mojito Madness (bright green stripes), an Art Club white striper and then Shamrock (the dark green).

I think Golden Glow and Shamrock are definite must haves and will be perfect for your St. Patrick's Day festivities!

Last but not least, I have Nola for Mardi Gras!

I used her above in some nail art, but I have better swatches below to show you all the glitter goodness in here!

Nola is made up on small green and yellow hexes, with holo purple hexes, large green and gold hexes and purple squares! I think my favorite part about this little is the little yellow hexes! It really makes it stand out, plus I love yellow glitters!

Here I swatches it over a light lilac. This was really packed with glitter and using the glob and spread method I was able to get great coverage in 1 coat.

Andrea has another Mardi Gras theme glitter for sale in her shop too!

You can find Andrea/Glitterfied Nails here:

Facebook | Etsy | and now on IG

Her polishes retail for $8.75 for a full size bottle and 3 minis for $14. Go check out her Etsy because she has already posted her Spring collection and oh man it looks gorgeous!

Talk to you soon!

Christa

Sweet Valentine's Day Stripes: A Tutorial

Tips on Tuesday is back with an easy Valentine's Day nail art tutorial!

For those of you that regularly follow, you know that I am dedicated to bringing you easy nail art tips, tricks and techniques. Tonight is no different! We will be adding a small flare to a technique I already showed you in this Color Blocking Tape Mani HERE.

We are going to create the look above, similar to the color block I showed you a few months ago, but we are going to use 3 colors, instead of just 2.

Things you will need:

1. 3 Valentine's Day polishes: Think white, pink, red and mint greens! Even yellow will go nicely!

2. Tape (scotch tape or masking tape)

3. Patience

Start off by painting you accent nail with the lightest of the 3 colors you chose. My lightest shade was white, so I painted 1 coat of white onto my accent nail.

While you wait for your accent nail to dry, use one of the other 2 shades to paint 

2 coats onto the rest of your nails.

I used A England Briar Rose, a lovely deep reddish magenta.

Note: You can use 2 coats of white (or your lightest polish) on your accent nail if you want, but I wanted it to dry fast, so I only used 1 coat.

Once your accent nail is completely dry pull out 2 pieces of tape. 

Your nail must be completely dry or the tape will pull the polish up!

I like to stick the tape to the palm of my hand a few times to make it less sticky 

(and less likely to pull your polish)!

Then I covered the bottom bit and the top bit of my nail with the pieces of tape, leaving a single strip of white polish in the center.

Gently press the tape down to your nail so no polish can seep under the tape line.

I then used the second lightest shade of the 2 polishes I chose to paint in the center. I used Zoya Sweet a cute bubblegum pink. I painted onto the tape a bit to make sure I covered the enter center section.

I used just one coat for full coverage. Don't put it on too thick, because you want it to dry in a reasonable amount of time.

After painting on your pink stripe, immediately (but carefully!!) peel back each piece of tape. Do this slowly to create clean, even lines.

Let the pink polish dry completely. I told you you would need some patience! 

Read some articles on this website here while you wait! :)

You are totally welcome to stop after this step, because this is a super cute look!!

You need to wait until the pink is completely dry, because we will be covering that portion with the tape to paint the third stripe. If you feel like your hands are steady enough, feel free to skip this tape step and freehand the last stripe!

I lined up a piece of tape with the very top edge of the pink stripe as shown. Gently press the tape to your nail to seal the edge to create a clean line.

Use the darkest shade of polish you have left to create the last stripe. I used AEngland Briar Rose again for the tip.

I painted just a bit onto the tape to make sure I covered the whole nail tip. 

Slowly peel the tape off.

And Viola! This look definitely takes a little bit more time than you might be used to, because you have to wait before you can tape.

I think the result is really cute festive nails! I bet your date will be impressed! 

Or in my case, my coworkers & friends! ;)

Here is a view of the finished result!

If you like double accent nails (like me) you can add a small stripe onto your pointer or middle finger like I did here:

Just a little something extra!

What do you think of this look? What color combination will you use?

Try this look out and tag me on IG @possiblychrista I want to see your recreations!

Talk to you soon,

Christa

Indie Review: Carpe Noctem Cosmetics

Hello! I am back from vacation and unfortunately - am not tan in the least. I might have been a little tan for about half a minute but non-the-less, I am back to be shades of sad winter. I cannot stop thinking about pudding. I am not sure why. Anyway, lets get right to the polishes!

First up is Calypso. I love purples with bits of pink shift in them, simply because they are reminiscent of the infamous Man in White.

The above swatch shows the pink shift perfectly.

Calypso is a grey purple packed with a linear holo punch and a duo chrome flash of pink from certain angles. I love how muted of a shade this is. It's definitely my top pick for a perfect winter to spring transition shade! Shown here as 2 coats, no top coat.

Next up is Literary Lady.

This is a very sweet subtle shade of red. This one has a very slight linear holo to it, but the duchromatic goodness of this one really gives it its character. Shown here as 2 coats, no top coat.

From some angles you can see a yellow-orange shift, while from others you see the beautiful pink you can see in the swatches above.

This was a surprise favorite for me. I tend not to like orange-y polishes very much, and while I saw a lot of the orange shift in the bottle, it didn't translate onto the nail as much. The pink and red shifts were way more prominent.

Next up I have Venus in Love. These swatches simply don't do this polish justice. It is filled with some of the most beautiful sparkle I have ever seen. There are bits of purple, pink, black and red with a very fine micro sparkle throughout the lilac base. There are also red hearts, black hexes and squares, iridescent squares and holographic and pink dots suspended in this lovely lilac base.

I swatched 1 to 1 and a half coats over 1 coat of the custom Lilac Pastilles that Emily created for me. However, this would be opaque on its own in 2-3 coats. It was very difficult for me to get out the dots, but letting the polish sit upside down for a little and using the dab and spread method, I was able to get plenty of hearts out!

Last but not least was the most interesting polish out of the bunch - Chromatic Drake. Emily created this polish for Ashley from Potions in Motion and holy smokes! It is such a neat polish. I can definitely say I do not own another one even remotely similar.

This polish is a chocolate brown base, which you can see perfectly in the swatch just above. But what makes this most unique, is the red and beetle green shifts. In the first photo and the one below you can really see the beetle shift. It was tougher to capture the red, but you can see it on my tips in the photo above.

This was a really funky polish. I loved that it gave an otherwise boring neutral brown some fantastic flare.

Currently Emily is having a 25% off sale in her shop and her shop will be closing while she recovers from her surgery so you better go grab what you want now otherwise you will be pining for some of these for a few weeks!

Use code RECOVERY25 to claim the 25% off!

Will you be grabbing any of these in Emily's sale?

Facebook | Etsy

Talk to ya later!

Christa

**Disclosure: The products in this post were provided to me by their manufacturer for my unbiased review. Please see my Disclaimer page for more info**

Indie Review: Glitterfied Nails

Hello! Sunday. Again. 

They always sneak up on me! I actually got a lot done this weekend and even completed packing for my vacation coming up on Thursday. I am usually a pack the night before kind of girl. And when I say 'the night before', what I really mean is 3 hours before my flight leaves the morning of. 

It makes me a little sad that I am all packed but am not leaving for 3 days still. :(

I was recently sent an AWESOME nail mail package from Andrea at Glitterfied Nails. Since she sent me so many for several different holidays I am going to be breaking the review up into a few pieces.

First up, I have the Valentine's Day polishes she sent with some others mixed in!

First up is Majestic Magenta which you may have already seen on my IG account if you follow @possiblychrista.

I layered it over Revlon Extravagant on my ring finger and did a glitter gradient over Revlon Naughty on the rest of my fingers. I loved this combo!

To show the color of the glitters better, I layered it over Carpe Noctem Under the Cover of Light and on my ring finger, I layered it over OPI Suzis Hungary Again. 

This polish was seriously packed with glitters as most of Andrea's polishes are! It has large and small magenta hex glitters with some awesome holo ones thrown in. This was a really beautiful glitter on and packed some serious sparkle!

Next up is Golden Glow. This one is part of her St. Patrick's day collection, but it went so well with pink I just had to wear it as a V Day mani!

Golden Glow is a seemingly sheer white-gold polish with bits of holo glitters. I used 2 coats and a top coat for this photo. Believe it or not, this built up to perfect opacity in just 2 coats.

I wanted to use this in a V Day mani, so I started with 2 coats of Revlon Extravagant and used Golden Glow as an accent.

Then I stamped using a Bundle Monster plate and SH Pink Satin.

This came out so cute and Golden Glow really complimented this shade of pink!

Next up I have another polish from Andrea's Valentine's Day line, Fuchsia Fantasy.

This one is packed with ultra fine iridescent and fuchsia glitters. It built up perfect in 2 coats (as shown) and was a lovely bright pink, perfect for Valentine's Day!

I paired this with Sinful Colors Mint apple and an Art Club white striper on my accent nail.

Last but not least is the cute Teal me you Fantasy!

This one I purchased because I loved the combination of teal and pink glitters with some iridescent glitters mixed in and just had to have it. This is completely unique in my collection!

I layered this over one of my favorite polishes ever, Revlon Not So Blueberry.

I used 1 coat of glitter over each nail. On my accent nail I used a pale pink Revlon polish and a CoverGirl for the waterfall look.

What do you think about these new polishes? 

Andrea makes some of the best glitters around and you have to head over to her page and check out some of the other pinks for Valentines Day!

I bet Pink Carnation is another gorgeous one!

All of these polishes are available for purchase in Andrea's shop now, follow the links below to find out more!

Facebook | Etsy

See you later!

Christa

**Disclosure: The products in this post were provided to me by their manufacturer for my unbiased review. Please see my Disclaimer page for more info**

Indie Review: Carpe Noctem Swatch Spam

Hello there! Happy Monday! In just 10 days I am jetting off to the Bahamas, so I can't even complain that it's Monday because I am a day closer to being reunited with my oldest friend. 

Tonight I bring you some swatch spam of Raspberry Beret, that you have seen before with a little nail art and Don't Panic!

First up is Don't Panic!

Shown here is 2 coats. I can't remember if I used a topcoat or not. I love how awesome the holo is on this one! Don't Panic is black base, but has a bit of a plummy shift too it.

The holo really seemed to lighten this polish up and despite the black base I didn't find that it was too dark for my skin tone. 

Next up is the lovely Raspberry Beret from Emily's most recent Jelly holo line.

I just loved this one and couldn't resist wearing it again with some nail art. I got the inspiration for this look from this pin HERE.

I used Zoya Thandie and Sinful Colors Mint Apple for the dots.

See you later!

Christa

Indie Review: Carpe Noctem the Jelly Holo Collection!

Well, these would have been up a lot sooner, but I gave my little brother my wi-fi password and now, I don't know anything about these things, but I have an inkling his Xbox game 

playing is sucking up all my wi-fi. 

Tonight I have a new collection from Emily over at Carpe Noctem Cosmetics.

She created a fantastic 3 polish set of JELLY HOLO's! When I unwrapped these, I was so excited, because the set is a perfect trio of Blue, Green and Red!

First up is Diva D in Diamonds, a bright, yet subtle ice blue.

This is 2 coats. This built up perfectly and despite being a jelly, was completely opaque. I was impressed with how shiny they were on their own, but I did add a top coat for these photos.

The holo was a bit of a scattered linear and unfortunately the sun wouldn't show their true potential. You can see in the bottle shots, that these are all JAM PACKED with holo though!

Next up is Moss Agate.

Moss Agate is a nice leafy green.

This one probably needed 3 coats as it is the lightest shade of the trio. However, 2 coats built up reasonably well and there is minimal VNL.

The sun is still hibernating, but you can see hints of the rainbow in the bottle shot!

Last but not least, was my favorite of the bunch Raspberry Beret.

Oh god, the perfect berry shade that I love so much. This was a deep raspberry that just made me want to lick jam off my fingers. This is 2 coats and you can see this one built up to be the most opaque. Shown with 1 coat of topcoat.

The sun obviously showed its sunny face for this one. I was able to capture a bit of the holo. You can see it most on my ring and middle fingers. A subtle, scattered linear. You can see from the bottle shots, that the holo is much stronger in real life.

I will definitely be picking up Raspberry Beret again for a sweet Valentine's Day mani since it is the perfect shade for that holiday!

Overall, I think Emily hit it out of the park with these holos. All too often it is hard to get Jelly polishes to build up to opacity and these did well with just 2 coats!

You can find Emily on

Facebook | Etsy | IG (NEW!)

**Disclosure: The products in this post were provided to me by their manufacturer for my unbiased review. Please see my Disclaimer page for more info**