Indie Review: Carpe Noctem Cosmetics Man in White

As someone who loves staying up late and having a quiet house to myself, I really appreciate the name of Emily's shop, Carpe Noctem Cosmetics. 

Seize the Night.

Which is what I am doing right now!

Stay with me until the end because Emily has a sale going in her shop and you want to know the details!

I discovered Emily because I decided at the very last minute, that I did, in fact, want a patriotic glitter for the 4th of July. Go figure. Like I was really surprised when I woke up and made that decision.

So, I headed to Etsy and typed in Patriotic Glitters. And there was Star Spangled Kaboom, which you can see HERE in all its glory.

Emily's polishes are quality and affordable. After I received Star Spangled Kaboom, (along with Liberty and Concrete Confetti), I placed another order! 

Today I have the most beautiful purple I have ever ever seen!

Sorry, I'm not sorry for the swatch spam of Man in White!

Shown here is 2 coats of Man in White, over a SH base coat with no top coat. Photo taken in the shade. I left off the top coat for the first 2 pictures, to show how soft of a color this is! The finish was such a soft satin that I almost didn't want to use a top coat!

Man in White is a soft periwinkle base with a pink duochrome shift. 

Are you drooling yet?

The next photos are with top coat. Application was flawless. Smooth as buttah! The first coat was almost full coverage, with a bit of visible nail line peeking through. The 2nd coat made it completely opaque and darkened the color a bit.

The closeup shows the pink shift so perfectly. There are blue undertones that can be seen at just the right angles, but they were hard to capture. Inside, the polish tends to be more pink, but is just as stunning.

<3

There's the blue! There's the sneaky blue on my index finger!

Dry time was a little faster than average. I was thrown a little on the satin finish, since I wasn't expecting it to be so fluffy soft like a kitten that I did wait a little extra time before the second coat.

So here is the thing, this polish is seriously Limited Edition, since one of the components can't be purchased any more. Once this pretty is sold out, it will be gone forever :(

HOARD ALL THE POLISH!

I have to say, this being LE gives me a little anxiety about ever getting to the bottom of the bottle.

::Plans nail polish jewelry making fest::

Emily is currently is offering FREE SHIPPING since she reached 700+ likes on her FB page!

Go like her on Facebook HERE and head to her shop HERE to check out this polish and some of the other pretty pretties she has!

Use code 700FREESHIP for free shipping on orders over $10 until tomorrow (Midnight, July 9th).

Emily offers 3 sizes of polish, Small (holds 6ml--more than most indies mini's) for $3, Mediums (12ml) for $6 and Large bottles (15ml) for $9. Pricing for Spectraflair poli's are a bit more.

Sneak peek of South Haven Sunset!

Tell me what you think of Carpe Noctem Cosmetic polishes!

SH Sparkle Sugar Coat Review & Comparison

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! I sure did. I spent all day at the beach today. My favorite thing about the beach, is the feeling after. Driving home with all the windows down and the music turned up, sticky with salt and sweat. Perfectly sun kissed and just the right balance of sleepy and happy. I love going to bed after a long day at the beach, because I can still hear and feel the waves, which is what I will be doing right after this post!

Tonight I have one of the new Sally Hansen Sugar Coats that is SPARKLY! Wooo!

Please meet SH Treat-Heart.

Treat-Heart is a light pink packed with a sparkle and textured finish.

Shown here is 2 coats, no top coat. This went on a little sheer, and even after 2 coats, I still saw some dragging and balding. Next time, I will wait longer in between coats in order to get the best coverage.

It is a nice finish and does not feel too texture-y.

I had a feeling this was a dupe to the JulieG Gumdrops Crushed Candy. I swatched them side by side for comparison. On my index and ring finger is JulieG Crushed Candy and on my middle and pinky I have Treat-Heart. 

You can see that Crushed Candy is quite a bit darker than Treat-Heart.

Crushed Candy also contains larger hex glitters, that Treat-Heart does not. I like both of these, but I don't think you really need both in your collection, since they are very similar.

You can see my full review of the JulieG Gumdrop Crushed Candy HERE.

Back to the grind tomorrow! Night readers! <3

4th of July Festivities

Eek! Better late than ever huh? I was enjoying fireworks, food, friends, family and lots of fun yesterday! Good thing the 4th of July festivities are continuing into the weekend for me AND I have today off work! :D

This is the mani I ended out wearing for the actual 4th holiday.

I used a couple of branded polishes here and 2 indies from Carpe Noctem Cosmetics. I have some more polishes from Emily on their way to me as we read and I will do a more in depth review then!

I used 2 coats of Zoya Carmen on my middle and pinky fingers and used a base of Layla 6123 on my index and ring finger. I used 1 coat of Star Spangled Kaboom from Carpe Noctem Cosmetics over the silver. Ahhh! I got so many compliments on this even though it was such an easy manicure and wasn't anything super fancy.

Star Spangled Kaboom has Red, Silver and Blue hex glitters with White and Black matte hexes mixed in. I loved that there were black glitters in there and that there were all different sizes. It dried super fast,  which was awesome!

I am so happy I found this glitter topper from Emily! I was looking for a good glitter topper that was relatively inexpensive for the 4th, since, well, I was really only going to wear it for this holiday. I was on Etsy and just search for Patriotic Glitters when I came across her shop, Carpe Noctem Cosmetics.

Emily's small polish bottles hold 6ml of polish AND they are only 3$! Here is a close up of the glitter!

I just love this glitter.

I also ordered another holiday polish from Emily called Liberty. This one has medium flakes in red, green, silver, purple, blue and gold with holographic glitters in there too!

I wore Liberty as a glitter topper over Essie Avenue Maintain. This is only one coat!

o.O

This is so pretty and it doesn't have to just be for the holiday! I can't wait to wear this over a pink or a teal...I am brainstorming manis using this for the TSwift concert I am going to soon...

I sealed the whole thing in with 1 coat of NYC.

Head over and check out some of the other lovelys Emily has in her shop and make sure to like her on facebook!!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th! I had a lovely time and now I am off to enjoy more 4th Festivities!

Tips on Tuesday: A 4th of July Tutorial

It's almost 4th of July!! I wanted to do a tutorial on an easy Patriotic look, in case you weren't sure what to wear this holiday or needed an idea!

Using a Red, White and Blue polish, I created a simple patriotic dotticure!

I used Zoya Carmen, CG in White out (or something or other) and Revlon Indigo Nights. Any Red or blue polish will work! If you don't have white, a nice silver or glitter polish will go perfectly!

I started my mani with a SH Basecoat and 2 coats of blue on my thumb and pointer finger and alternating red and white on my middle, ring and pinky fingers.

Let it dry. Patience, patience. 

Then I made some dots on the blue! 

Not sure how to make dots? 

I promise it is so easy and all you need is a bobby pin! 

Head over to my Buttoned Up Tutorial HERE.

Following my Buttoned Up Tutorial I made 3 dots in a row on the side of my nail. Then I made 4 dots down the center, finished with 3 more dots on the other side.

It is ok if you have short nails, just make less dots! And it even looked cute when I just did one line of dots, if you don't want to make more or can't fit too many.

I also made dots on the blue polish on my thumb. I used lines of 3 dots across my whole thumb, putting the dots in between the previous line as I went along.

You can put some pretty glitter or sparkles on the white accent nail to dress it up.

At the last minute, I decided to dab on some red dots.

Once it dries, seal it in with a top coat and you are so firework ready!

Share your creations to my facebook wall! I love to see your nail art and it tickles me pink to see you all try my tutorials!

Don't forget, I am part of an epic Multi Blogger & Indie Maker giveaway going on at

My Boyfriend Hates Makeup! Head over to enter!

Happy Tuesday!!

Crazy for Coupons: June 30th thru July 6th

I know, I know. I missed coupons last week! But I am back! And tomorrow, I have a 4th of July themed tutorial for you! :D

CVS

SH Complete Salon Manicure, InstaDri or Salon Effects nail strips are Buy 1 get $2 back in Extrabucks

Maybelline Cosmetics are spend $10 get $3 in Extrabucks

Revlon is Spend $10 get $4 in Extrabucks

This was a really short ad, so I am guessing there will be another sometime this week with special 4th of July sales...

Walgreens

Rimmel, Revlon and Covergirl are Buy One Get One 50% off (BOGO50)

RiteAid

Rimmel Cosmetics are BOGO40% off

SH Cosmetics are BOGO50 AND if you Spend $15 you get $5 back in +UP Rewards

CoverGirl and Neutrogena Cosmetics are BOGO50%

Ulta

Loreal is BOGO50%

Ulta Lip, Eye, Nail and Cosmetic brushes are Buy one get one FREE

China Glaze polishes are 2 for $12

I am not seeing anything that is making me want to rush out to the store, but when I was in Ulta yesterday they had a ton of marked down items that might be worth checking out!

July Julep: California Coast Edition

This is my very first post at my new desk! So exciting! 

Today I have a review of my Julep July box: The California Coast Collection, 

brought to you by this East Coast girl. 

I usually skip my Julep box every month, because honestly, I find that the swatches they post online are...just a little misleading and the colors don't always strike me as particularly unique (to my extensive collection). However, what spurred the purchase this month, was the Beach Tonic. 

WIN.

I love it.

It smells SO good, leaves my skin soft and it isn't greasy at all. 

Good thing we got a full size bottle, because at $23.00 I will definitely not be purchasing it. 

I'm cheap. Maybe I will ask for it for Christmas.

Boots No7 and Organix both have a Dry Body oil for less than $10.

On to the polish!

I went with the Boho Glam collection.

First up is Faye, which ended out being my favorite of the bunch.

Faye is described as a liquid bronze shimmer. It went on perfectly in 2 coats, no top coat shown here. There was sort of a military green/mossy undertone to it, but I just loved this color. I think it is going to be awesome in the Fall, but somehow, it is so totally summer too. I don't have any color like this.

There is the military green undertone.

In direct sunlight. 

Next up is Karen.

Karen is described as a Peach Bellini frost. I wanted to like this one, but I don't think it went that great with my skin tone. This is 2 coats, no top coat.

It is a peachy shade, but I think my skin brings out some weird yellow/tangerine undertones that aren't my favorite. Application was flawless, and the frost was quite nice.

I ended out adding on Fireworks to my box this month, because after all, I do live in RI and we love the 4th of July.

I swatched Fireworks over (L-R), OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Essie Avenue Maintain, Layla 6123 and Zoya Carmen.

I think Fireworks looked the best over Layla! The glitter did lay flat on the nail, despite reflective curling you see.

Overall, I am happy with this months box, even though Karen was a dud for me.

Did you get your box? What did you think of the Beach Tonic? Any recommendations for another brand of Dry Body Oil?

Tips on Tuesday: Business Basics Formal Wear

Wah! So the absence of posts this week is due to me working the CVS Charity Classic. I was a superstar handing out free samples of stuff to everyone who came to watch the pros play! Unfortunately, the tearing and ripping open of boxes has taken a toll on my poor cuticles and well....they look like they used to look when I was a nail biter. 

I also went to the RI Charity Gala this week, and as such, needed a nice neutral polish for the formal occasion.

I choose OPI Melon of Troy. This was one of my very first OPI polishes and is almost half gone I've used it so much!

Melon of Troy is a light peachy with a nice subtle sheen. I guess this is kind of an "old lady" color if you know what I mean. But, for such a formal work event, I wanted an appropriate color.

The first coat was a little streaky, but it leveled nicely with a second coat.

Train played at the Gala, and they were so great live! All of their old music is really good, so overall it was a fun event and we raised a ton of money for local Rhode Island charities.

This is a continuation of my Business Basics Series.

You can find my post on nude polishes HERE and Zoya Godiva HERE.

Happy Tuesday!