Indie Review: Spellbound Nails Fall Collection

*Press Sample

*3 Free and Cruelty Free

*Spellbound Nails

Happy Week(end)! We had perfect sunny Fall weather this weekend!

Today I have 6 lovely polishes from Spellbound Nails Fall Collection to show you! You have seen Spellbound Nails around these parts before here and here.

Ashley will be releasing these polishes on September 9th, TOMORROW! Get excited!

First up I have Under the Harvest Moon. 

This one was a surprise favorite for me. The color matched my skin tone perfectly! Under the Harvest Moon is a not-too-bright pinky coral. As summer fades into fall, this is the perfect transition shade. 

This polish is packed with a beautiful holo sparkle punch! Check out that sparkle in the macro above! 

It catches the light beautifully.

Under the Harvest Moon applies smoothly and is opaque in 2 coats. It dries quickly but it is a bit rough to the touch. This is really no problem at all and one coat of NYC top coat smoothed it out nicely.

Using Under the Harvest Moon as a base polish, I applied the glitter goodness of Fall in Love.

I am showing you 2 macro shots so you can really see the holo glitz in this glitter topper.

There is a lot going on here! We have black squares, large red hexes, small holo hexes, small red hexes and itty bitty holo sparkle! My kind of glitter!

I haven't tried many of Spellbound's glitter toppers, but after this collection, I am a believer!

This is just one coat of Fall in Love and I cannot believe the amazing coverage!

I used the glob and spread method and you can see the awesome glitter payoff! I didn't have to place or fish for any glitters and I still got a ton of every size and type of glitter.

This combination here is definitely one of my favorite looks. The red hexes in this glitter is going to make it work for a lot of different holiday seasons! Think Christmas and Valentines Day! 

Next up is Mocha for Two.

Mocha for Two is a gold base with gold holo glitter that shifts between gold, yellow, orange and red shades. There is also red hexes and small green and gold glitter that make up the base of this.

This reminds me of a crisp fall morning after the leaves have started to fall from the trees or Thanksgiving Day! 

Mocha for Two looks a little chunky in these photos but despite the high concentration of glitter it did smooth out after a coat of NYC top coat.

The gold really shines in the sun! 

Next up is Autumn Vixen. 

I am disappointed the pictures don't do this combo justice. I paired Autumn Vixen with my most favorite OPI polish, Vampsterdam.

I love square glitter. Something about it adds so much flare to any glitter topper. This topper has gold squares and hexes, and the same holo glitters that you saw in Mocha for Two that are shifting to an orange here.

Here it is in the shade! You can see the gold glitter a lot better here. Like Fall in Love, it goes on easily and there is perfect glitter coverage in just one coat. I used one coat of NYC top coat.

Next up is definitely my favorite combination! Ashley will be offering these 2 polishes as a duo tomorrow and I am so glad she is! Check out these 2:

First up I have Forever Green.

Forever green is a glitter bomb of forest green and a sprinkling of purple glitter.

The formula was by far one of the best I have ever encountered. It went on so fluidly and built up with amazing opacity.

The first coat goes on a little sheer and while you can get away with 2 coats, I chose to do three to really get this color to stand out.

Next I layered Fall n' Leaves in a glitter gradient.

Fall n' Leaves is the essence of Fall to me! It is packed with small gold circles, large red circles, orange, black and red hexes in 2 different sizes as well as some black squares and large black hexes.

I did get a couple of the large red circles and black hexes out of the bottle, but I put them back since I was really trying to achieve a falling leave look.

Using the glob and spread method, I used only 1 coat to get all this glitter! I sealed it all in with 1 coat of NYC. I ended out wearing this for a couple of days and because of the high concentration of glitter, you can imagine what a beast removal was. I will be using a PVA base when I wear this next!

Overall, I loved this collection with my top choices being the Fall Duo and Under the Harvest Moon.

You can see more swatches from Paint Those Piggies and Varnished Reputation!

These will be available for purchase tomorrow! You can follow Spellbound Nails at the following links:

Facebook | Blog | Etsy

What do you think? Are you ready for Fall? Will you be picking any of these polishes up?

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

Indie Review: Monday Night Football with Glitterfied Nails

*Press Sample

*Cruelty & 3 Free

*Glitterfied Nails

There isn't a game on tonight, but there will be at some point this season, my man friends assure you. As you learned in my post last night, Football bamboozles me. But that definitely doesn't mean I can't rock some Team Spirit glitz on my nails!

Tonight I have 2 polishes from Andrea at Glitterfied Nails.
Both of these polishes are from her extensive Team and School Spirit line.
I am located in New England and we favor the New England Patriots. These polishes are absolutely perfect for Patriots fans! Or for anyone who has blue/white/silver school colors! Let me show you how I wore these awesome glitter toppers.

First up is Punt Return. Shown here as 1 coat over OPI I don't give a Rotterdam.

Punt Return is a perfect mix of dark blue, light blue and white glitters in multiple sized hexes and squares. There are small white hexes and glitter that glint a nice gold, that really adds dimension to this polish. 

The formula is flawless. The glitter spread very easily and dried smooth. Using the glob and spread method, I got a ton of glitter coverage. I gave the bottle a good shake before I started painting, and I had no trouble getting at least 1 large square out of the bottle. Because the squares were a little larger, I did fish out others to add to my nails.

I really liked this glitter and wanted to try it over a few other colors. I ended out really loving it over the red! Check out a close up! The small white and gold really stands out here!

Polishes used: OPI Red, OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys, Color Club Chelsea Girl. 

Next up is Free Safety. This one is totally for those Patriots Fans out there!

Free Safety is shown here over 2 coats of Orly Boho Bonnet.

Free Safety is jam packed with glitter. There are multiple sizes of red and 2 shades of blue hex glitters, as well as white squares and silver holographic squares and hexes. Holo glitters get me every.time. Love!

Like Punt Return, the formula is perfect. Neither one of these had thick bases, which made for a nice even and smooth finish. I got fantastic glitter coverage in just one coat, using the glob and spread method. For some reason, it was a lot easier to get the squares out of the bottle on this one!

I wanted to try this over a couple colors that I would be picking out next time I head to watch a Patriots game, either at home or a friends!

The red glitter really POPs over Revlon Cobalt blue.

Check out those red glitters!!

Such good glitter coverage here over Layla Soft Touch 01!

Polishes used: OPI Red, OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys, Orly Boho Bonnet, Revlon Chroma Chameleon Cobalt, Layla Soft Touch 01

Overall, I am loving Glitterfied Nails Team Spirit line! I wasn't sure about Free Safety at first, because I thought it would be too reminiscent of 4th of July, but paired with the football accent nail, I am really feeling ready for a Patriots Game! In addition to these 2, Andrea has so much more to offer in her shop!
 This is definitely one Up-and-coming Indie maker to keep your eye on.

You can find Glitterfied Nails by clicking the links below:
Etsy - Facebook

Homecoming is coming up and we are diving into Football Season and I know you want to show off team spirit! Several of her polishes are absolutely perfect for Fall and Halloween! Check out Coin Toss and tell me it isn't perfect for some Halloween Candy Corn nail art?!

What do you think, Reader? Will you be rocking some Team or School Spirit glitter this Fall?

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

The Boys of Fall

Yes, Kenny Chesney reference. I am still basking in the glory that was his concert. 

But, I am slowly coming to the realization, 

that summer is over. 

:sad face:

School is starting and football season is under way.

I don't know anything about football, except there are guys in tight pants. 

It's cool. I like the get together's, drinks and the snacks that come with football season though! 

I love hosting parties eating snacks!

This past Thursday I went to a Preseason Patriots Game vs the Giants. 

We won! 

I am that girl that lightly claps while looking around to make 

sure other Patriots fans are clapping with me.

I bring the snacks and a smile to the party.

This was the mani I wore for the occasion. I used a SH Basecoat and 2 coats of OPI Into the Night.

This was a nice blue, but it was a little sheer and the formula was thin. I used 2 thick coats for opacity here. It chipped after just 2 days though, weird formula on this OPI. I usually get better wear.

For my football accent nail, I used 2 coats of OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys, (My name isn't Suzi, but I sure love me some cowboys) and following this pinterest tutorial, I used a mix of Essie Jazz and SLC to make small dots. I then used an Art Club white striper to make the football laces.

Of course, I wanted to pay tribute to the football players tight striped pants, so I added 2 stripes of a bluish Art Club striper silver on my pointer finger. I added dot sticker gems to my middle and pinky fingers. 

NYC topcoat over all except the football, I used a Sephora OPI matte topcoat.

Yay for a day off tomorrow! Stay tuned for a review of 2 polishes from
Glitterfied Nails Team Spirit line tomorrow for
MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL.
I hope there actually is football on tomorrow.

Do you like going to football games or do you wonder why the lines of 

scrimmage are on the TV but aren't on the field in real life? 

Summer meets Fall

"There are no happy endings. Endings are the saddest part. 

So just give me a happy middle and a very happy start."

-Shel Silverstein

It's the last weekend of the Summer. 

Because we are heading into Fall and I am not ready for summer to be over, 

I decided to do a Summer meets Fall mani. 

Featuring some nail art using one of the Essie Fall 2013 collection polishes paired with leopard print and of course, NEON!

Essie The Lace is On is a gorgeous cool, deep and shimmery fuchsia. Perfectly opaque in 2 stunning coats, this polish seriously radiates from within. I love the depth and shimmer in this! This is my favorite from Essie's Fall collection.

I paired The Lace is On with an accent nail of Layla Soft Touch 01, 2 coats.

Using a dotting tool and Essie The More the Merrier (green) and Fresh Paint Guava (neon peach), I added spots on my index and my ring fingers.

I used a smaller dotting tool and an Art Club black striper to create the circles around the spots. I filled in some empty areas with solid black dots.

I love how this came out and I definitely think I am capturing the best of both Summer and Fall!

Are you ready for Fall?

Tips On Tuesday: Polish Revival

One thing I am glad about with the cool weather coming is less goopy nail polish! When the weather is nice, I love to paint my toes outside by the pool or on the porch. But the heat always causes my polish to thicken up, which makes it harder to work with. 

Just recently, I bought my first bottle of Poshe Polish Reviver from Ulta to thin one of my polishes that had thickened up. Polish thickens up for a lot of reasons. Sometimes I have a brain fart and leave a bottle of polish slightly uncapped on my desk overnight. It happens. 

Other times, it is a favorite polish for nail art and I am always opening and closing it. Or it is just an older polish that has been sitting for awhile. Whatever the reason, a polish thinner will definitely liven it back up! Don't ever use nail polish remover to 'thin' a polish! It will ruin it!

This is the Poshe Polish Reviver I picked up. I had never thinned a polish before, despite having several that needed it, so I followed the directions on the back!

I grabbed the Poshe Reviver and Essie In the Cab-ana that had gone goopy on me.

All I had to do was uncap the polish, clean the neck of the bottle, and drop 1-2 drops into the bottle. Because this was my first time I started with 1 drop and checked the consistency before adding more drops. I used 2 drops in this polish.

After adding the Reviver, I rolled the polish between my hands. I did give it a couple good shakes to make sure the Reviver was fully distributed in the bottle.

The polish was good as new after and had a much better consistency than before. I have been using this to thin several of my polishes. I even used it on an NYC Top coat that had thickened up as I got down to the bottom of the bottle. It didn't change how fast or clear the top coat dried and worked perfectly to thin it up. I am pretty happy that I picked this up, because I definitely would not want to throw out a polish when I can use a thinner to make it easier to use!

Have you ever used a polish thinner before? Do your polishes tend to goop up on you in the summer?

Happy Tuesday!

No Shoes Nation

I refuse to accept that fall is coming until I attend CountryFest at Gillette Stadium every year.

Kenny Chesney has headlined for the past 3 years, with some pretty great openers. This year Kacey Musgraves, Eli Young Band and Eric Church opened. 

I love Eric Church (those sunglasses!) and he was really amazing live. 

Kenny always puts on an amazing show too!

The tour this year was called No Shoes Nation and the tour flag was a skull and crossbones.

I really liked the tour logo so I wanted to incorporate the skull into my mani somehow, while still keeping it light and little country.

I started with a SH base coat and 2 coats of Julep Eloise. Eloise is a rich deep blue and is one of my favorites. I  will most definitely be using it a lot in the cooler weather.

The skull and crossbones is from an Elegant Touch sticker set I got at Ulta. I thought it was pretty close to the skull on the tour flag!

Not bad, not bad.

I wanted to offset the skull with something dainty and flowers were just the thing.

Using CG White on White and one of my nail art paintbrushes, I painted on long petal flowers. I used Essie Bass Fiddle for the reddish pink centers.

Using a dotting tool I dotted some small dots coming from the flowers using Color Clubs Harp On It. While it wasn't my favorite design, I think it came out pretty cute. I used one coat of NYC topcoat over all to seal in the design. 

I like my index and pinky fingers the best. Side flowers are a lot easier to create!

I had so much fun at CountryFest this year! Maybe too much fun because I spent most of Saturday in bed watching The Newsroom (all 6 episodes of Season 2...).

YOLO?

Until next year, I guess I am just going to have to rock out to country 'concerts' in my car.

What do you have to do before summer can end? Did you attend any concerts this year?

Happy Sunday! 

(Next weekend is a long weekend! Woot!)

Once in a Blue Moon

Once in a blue moon, I skip Tips on Tuesdays. 

Tonight, I am going to replace ToT with a space theme mani because of the 

BLUE MOON that can be seen tonight. 

The moon isn't actually blue, but like the saying, it means that it is a rare occurrence. 

There are usually 3 full moons in every season, but every once in a blue moon awhile there are 4 full moons in a season. The 3rd full moon, out of the 4, is the "blue moon". 

Go see it then come back and read! This type of blue moon won't be around again until at least 2016. 

Galaxy Mani's use quite a few different polishes. But all you need besides polish is a makeup sponge and a paper plate! They are so easy to do, and the design always comes out really cute.

I started with a SH base coat, and 2 coats of Carpe Noctem Cosmetics Pro Amico, a deep purple, with a pink shift, that is almost blue here in these photos.

Dripping polish onto the paper plate, I used a makeup sponge to create a line of Color Club Twiggie (green) on all my nails. Then I sponged a line of Sinful Colors 24/7 (hot pink), and then a line of Layla Soft Touch 01 (silver glitter).

Because of the many layers of polish used in creating this, I waited a little before I added a top coat of my Carpe Noctem custom glitter topper. Then I added one layer of NYC top coat!

Will you be stepping out to get a good look at the blue moon? Have you tried a galaxy mani?

Happy moon viewing! I am off to check that baby out!