Cult Nails Fetish

It's Thursday, Thursday... 

  I really wish it was Friday, fryday... Today I want to shre the amazing Cult Nails Fetish. This polish was released earlier this year for Cult Nails Second Birthday. Maria did a small release of Three colors and this edgy beauty was one of them. 

 I was so floored when I started seeing sneaks of this wax-finish Black. For the longest time I had been dying for a solid, matte- creme Black. There are a few matte Blacks out there but most have some kind of shimmer, Fetish does not shimmer. But what I really love is that Fetish is BLACK, a lovely opaque Black. I absolutely love the finish on this shade. I was worried that the intensity of the Black would not hold up as the polish dried, but it did. These were some HAWT liquid latex nails! Many matte top coats (when layered over Black) and a few matte "Blacks" will dry to a dark Graphite shade instead of true Black. Fetish is just plain sexy!  

  The best thing about this polish is that fantastic Cult Nails formula we have come to expect. This polish applied very evenly and smoothly. The application of this shade is just like that of Nevermore. If you are in a rush this is an excellent polish because it is practically opaque in one coat... And HELLO that awesome and edgy finish!! It's just so cool that it is not fully matte or fully glossy.. Just perfect! I did Two coats when I wore my Fetish. I was also very impressed with dry time on this shade. It was fully dry and solid in about 30 minutes. I did not top coat this polish because I didn't want to alter the awesome finish it dries to on its own.

  I saw a recent sneak peek of Cult Nails upcoming shades and Maria is planning a Wax- finish Barbie Pink that I am SOOOOO excited about!!! After trying Fetish.... I want a WHOLE line of colors in this finish!! I think a Teal would be AWESOME!!!

What are your thoughts on this Wax finish?

(**CN products provided for review**)

Milani Textured Polish Skittles

Happy Humpday!! 

  A quick update on my whereabouts.... It has been a few bad days for me. I was in the hospital again on Monday after a few days of feeling "off". I was just at the doctors again today and there are a few tests they want to run on me before moving forward with new medications. It has been a rough few weeks for me and I'm finding myself feeling more and more run-down by the day. It kinda sucks pretty hard. I miss getting into my grooves and swatching and arting like a crazy person. 

 So now that you guys are all caught up on the icky stuff, how bout some AWESOME nail polishes? By now I'm sure you guys have seen a few posts featuring these awesome new textured polishes by Milani. I will admit that I was not on board with this textured trend until I tried these! I love the vivid shades and the texture is actually really cool and not as distracting as I thought it would be. 

 I decided to do skittles with my textured polishes because all the colors were so awesome I couldn't pick just one. The ony one not shown is Shady Gray, which is a really chich shade of Concrete Grey. For this skittle look I used (from Thumb to Pinkie): 

Tainted in Red: A bright, neon Red creme with added texture. This shade could have been a one coater. 

Yellow Mark: This shade is an uber saturated shade of Yellow creme with the added texture. This shade had, by far, the most saturated formula. Could have definitely been one coat. 

Aqua Splash: A beautiful shade of vivid, light Teal creme  with added texture. This shade is a little sheer as it goes on but it dries slightly darker that it applies. I used Two easy coats. 

Purple Streak: A true, grape Purple creme with added texture. This shade was slightly patchy in application, but not problematic. I used Two coats. 

Spoiled in Fuchsia: This shade is a bright shade of Fuchsia creme with the added texture. This shade also had a very saturated formula. 

 I was SO impressed with the formula on all of these. They all applied so easily. Most of these also have really saturated formulas that could almost be one coat. I used Two coats for all of my swatches. In the photo above I had waited about 20 minutes before photographing. As you can see there is still a bit of shine but at that point they were pretty much dry and good to go. All in all they took about an hour to reach that neat matte look but they were good to go in about 20 minutes. 

 In the instagram photo below I had already been wearing the polishes for over 24 hours and the texture had fully dried and set. The look of these is SOOO neat!! These do not sparkle at all, they have an almost concrete/ leathery look once they are fully dry. 

  These polishes wore like IRON on me. As a matter of fact I am still wearing remains today, Five days later. I am very impressed with every single aspect of these polishes and seriously LOVE them. 

These pretties are available online but will also be in stores soon!! I really can't wait to try my hand at some nail art looks with these as well as that awesome Grey texture!! Do you have any favorites in this bunch? I seriously cannot pick!! I love them all SO much. I had not been this excited about a nail polish innovation since back when Holos came out!

 As of right now I am not sure when I will be posting again. Worry not!! This is not a hiatus or anything!! Along with all the doctors visits and what not I'm also having some work done to my computer, stuff that is really overdue, so that will put me out for a few days (but hopefully not DAYS). 

  But, I know you guys understand that health really does come first. ANNNNDD the sooner I am better and stable the sooner I can get back to producing awesome content for you guys (and myself :). Love you and miss you guys very much!! Your support means SO much to me!

(**Milani products provided for my consideration**)

LTHP Quickies! Milani Ultrafine Liquid Eyeliners Swatches and Looks

Good afternoon darlings!! 

  Today I have another one of my quickies for you guys! This time around I want to RAVE about the new liquid eyeliners by my beloved Milani! They really know how to make fantastic makeup. When I first found out that Milani was doing a new line of liquid liners I was floored! I've yet to be let down by a Milani product so the addition of vivid new liners could only be a fantastic thing! 

 These babies have a very fine and firm felt tip which makes application a breeze. I love the packaging on these. These remind me of high end liners. I love liquid liners that come in this type of packaging because it makes it so easy for me to create crisp, clean lines with no effort.  These have a great application and formulas.
 Below are some quick swatches of these liquid beauties.

Black Vinyl: A shiny, patent leather black liner. Classic and fabulous! This liner has amazing pigmentation. 

Emerald **Glisten: A sparkling, metallic green liner. The formula on this liner is a little sheer but buildable. This shade did stain my arm a little. I'm curious to see how it does on my lid. 

Prismatic Purple: A saturated grape Purple liner with slight Blue shimmer. This shade has a very dense formula and creates heavy lines so a light hand is best. 

Sparkling Turquoise: A gorgeous shimmering metallic, light Blue. This shade also stained my arm a bit. That said, I am SO excited to try this beauty. 

Black Gems: A pretty, sheer black with multicolor shimmer. I really liked that is a bit sheer because it can look like a shimmering Gunmetal or a shimmering Black.

Here is a closeup shot of the Two Black shades.

Here are some quick looks I did with Two of the liners. These two looks featured the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette on my lids (I'm not sure how I lived without this palette, it has become my go-to). I primed my lid with the Too Faced Candlelight eyeshadow insurance.

 This look features Black Gems built up to full opacity. The look below features Prismatic Purple. I am seriously LOVING these and I cannot wait to play with the rest of the shades.

 Did you know Milani has a new shadow primer coming out? And a new jumbo liner? I am SO excited for all these new Milani goodies. If you have not yet tried a Milani product, you should really change that!! Everything about this brand is fabulous!!

What are your thoughts on these new liners?

(**Milani products provided for my consideration**)

Muffin Mon... Er... Tuesday? O.P.I Euro-Marble

Hello lovely people!! 

  So... I'm late with this post :(. Yesterday was not a good day for me. I woke up pretty sick and whatnot so... Needless to say the polishing was not happening. Today I woke up feeling better, but still quite out of it. I'm sorry this post is so late and short. I've really been struggling with my health and energy lately. I would love some consistency right now :-s.

 This look started with a clean White creme base. I did a Blue themed watermarble with some of the new O.P.I Euro-Centrale shades. I used You're such a Budapest, I saw...U saw.. We saw... Warsaw and Can't find my Czechbook. I always foget how much of a pain it it to clean up Blue polish after marbles. Well, for me at least. Once I was done with the cleanup, I was not entirely happy with my marble. So I topped it with my secret weapon, INM Northern Lights. When that didn't save it with for me I did a Konad stamp from plate M63 in Konad Black special polish. I then went back and topped the whole thing off with O.P.I Don't touch my Tutu to give it an "underwater" look. I actually really adore the finished look. I'm glad I stamped and sammiched the whole look.
 
 Muffin is being a princess lately.... And hey!! It's a Truffle photo-bomb!

 Here is the marble before I stamped over it. IDK what it is but I was not really happy with it... :(

That is all for me today. I hope you guys like this mani. I'm so sorry I was late and short. As soon as I am feeling better I will be back up to full speed. In the mean time, if I disappear for a little bit, don't worry! It just means I need a little break and will be back shortly!

(**OPI products provided for my consideration**)

Etsy Mania! Aphrodite Lacquers Birthday Polishes Look

Good afternoon and happy Friday!! 

 Today I have a fun look featuring some Aphrodite Lacquer shades. These polishes are from the B-Day Collection. I really loved this small group of polishes. Right now there is only one of the shades available on the shop. I hope she will be restocking the B-Day polishes because they are SOOO cute and fun. 

  This look features It's my Party, which is a vivid Neon Pink shimmering creme-jelly. I LOVED this shade. It is SO vibrant, but squishy and shimmery. The shade of Pink is the perfect, neon Barbie Pink. Application was great on this shade. I used Three thin coats. The awesome Purple shade is Wrapping, Ribbons, Bows. This shade is a grape Purple jelly packed full of micro electric Purple glitter. The formula on this shade is a little sheer and need build up. It is also best to wait between coats. I used Three thin coats for my base. Both of these shades dry a bit dull and gritty so a good top coat is a must. I really loved wearing these shades. Isn't it funny how sometimes less really is more?

 And here is a swatch of the loveliness that is Make a Wish from the Aphrodite Lacquers B-day Collection. This shade is a lightly shimmering White crelly base packed full of Small Silver hexes. This shade is simply beautiful. The formula was a dream to work with and I only needed Three thin coats. Aphrodite Lacquers are seriously some of my all time favorite Handmade polishes. I love her signature "sammich in a bottle".

 What do you think of these pretties? Aren't they fun? I can't wait to see new goodies from Aphrodite Lacquers. In this mad, polished world of ours there are a LOT of talented ladies making beautiful polishes. It is SO hard to narrow down my favorite indie polish makers. I can safely say that Aphrodite Lacquers are definitely at the top of that list.

 Do you have an indie maker(s) that always blows you away? I have quite a few myself :D.

(**Aph Lacquers provided for my considreation**)

China Glaze Avant Garden Collection Swatches- Part One

Hello!! 

  Yesterday I held a little "poll" on Facebook to see what you guys wanted to see today and ya'll voted for the China Glaze Avant Garden swatches. This post will focus on Six of the Avant Garden Shades (and yes, I will be sharing the other six shades :). 

 China Glaze did a beautiful job with this collection. All the colors are definitely Spring-perfect and they all compliment each other. There is a nice range of shades in this 12 piece collection. 

 To see close ups of these pretties just continue reading ♥.

Pink Wednesday! Milani Color Statement Lipsticks Pinks & Corals

Hello darlings!!! 

  I am in PINK today!! Well, Pink lips anyway. This edition of Pink Wednesday is brought to you by the EPIC WIN that are the new Pink and Coral shades from Milani's new Color Statement Lipstick collection. Last week I showed you guys some quick swatches of the Red and Orange family. Those were some beautiful and classic shades. I really loved the Reds and Oranges... But these Pinks and Corals have my whole heart, body and soul. Not to mention, they are PERFECT for the coming Spring months. 

  There is only ONE shade here that I do not care for. And that is Pink Frost. The rest are made of total and pure WIN. These lippies have the same soft, watermelon scent as the Reds and Oranges. I really don't mind the scent at all as it does not linger.

 Now for some quick arm swatches. And of course I will be posting lip pictures as well! All of these swatches are just ONE firm swipe of the lipstick. Color me impressed (no pun intended). The pigmentation on all of these is seriously impressive.

Pink Frost: A soft, blushing Pink with a STRONG metallic-frost finish. This is the only shade I'm not loving. Mainly because I'm pretty sure I cannot pull it off. This is a hard color and finish to pull off for me. 

Fruit Punch: A creme finish, bubblegummy Pink with some slight Coral undertones. I LOVE this one. I've already worn it twice! It has a fantastic creamy finish and applies like BUTTAH. This shade was very moisturizing. Fruit Punch is SO flattering! 

Rose Amour: This shade is a light, Blue toned Pink with a great creamy finish. This shade is vivid and lovely. I cannot wait to wear it! 

Rose Hip: Is more on the Magenta side, and once again slightly Blue toned. This shade is also in a cream finish.

Hot Pink Rage: OMG LOVE THIS! Ok, so this shade is a HOT, bright Barbie Pink in a beautiful Matte finish. I LOVE the finish on this shade. Even though it is matte, it has a lot of dimension and feels great on the lips. The staying power on this baby is incredible.

Flamingo Pose: This shade is an amazing shade of vivid Coral. This shade is in a creamy finish. I cannot wait to try this color out as I am a sucker for anything Coral!! I bet this will look good on so many skintones!

Flirty Fuchsia: This one is a deeper, vivid shade of Fuchsia with the slightest Purple shimmer. This shade is described by Milani as a vinyl finish. I am SO excited for this shade, it is so vivid and the shine is beautiful!

Along with the lipsticks Milani also released Two lip liner shades for the Pink and Coral shades. 

  These are amazing! I have only had a chance to use Haute Pink. I used it the day I wore Hot Pink Rage and it was perfection!

 And just for fun I wanted to show you guys a comparison between last year's Red Label and this year's Red Label. They are both fantastic. What is even more incredible is how Milani managed to improve on their, already amazing, formula. I was blown away by last years shades. I didn't think they could get any better. Guess what? They SO do!! Brava Milani!! The new Red Label is much more pigmented, shiny and multi dimensional. The old Red Label is slightly lighter and it does not have that "juicy" quality that the new Red Label has.

 I cannot wait to show you guys lip swatches of these pretties, along with the Reds and Oranges. I also have som new Milani Ultra Fine Liquid eye liners coming your way soon!! 

 What do you think? Any colors jump out at you? I seriously cannot pick a favorite just yet. I love them ALLL (except Pink Frost lol). If you are a Pink lover, you will love these!!! I also can't wait to play around with mixing colors and creating cool looks with these beauties!

(**Milani products provided for my consideration**)

LTHP FAQ's: Which top coats do I use?

Hi loves!!

 This is a quick post to share an updated version of my Top Coat video. This is probably the most frequently asked question by you guys. About time I made an up-to-date version of this!!

 As always, of you guys have any questions, suggestions etc feel free to leave em in the comments or email me! 

Muffin Monday!! Sation Of Corset I'll Call You and Guillotine Grape

Gah it's so late!! 

  Sorry!! Muffin.. Muffin refused to pick me a polish this week lol. So I ended up going with two of the shades she rejected haha. I'm going to keep it short and sweet. It's pretty late and I'm pretty tired. That said, I LOVE this look! 

 My base shades are Sation's Of Corset I'll Call You and Guillotine Grape. For my gradients I used the same Two shades. Doing gradients with Of Corset I'll Call You was fantastic because it is a soft, squishy Pink. I've found that using jelly-like polishes on gradients makes them such a breeze! I topped my gradients with INM Northern Lights.  The stamps were done using China Glaze Passion. The stamp on on my ring finger is from Bundle Monster plate BM202 and the lace-y patterns are from BM323. I finished the whole look off with one final coat of SV.

 And here is a fun collage of Muffin's indecision haha!

Have a good night my darlings!! I will be back sometime tomorrow!!

(**Sation products provided for my consideration**)

Spring Rolls Jelly Sammiches!

Hello my beauties and happy Friday!! 

  Today I have a quick post for you guys featuring some yummy glitter-jelly sammiches. While I was swatching my China Glaze Bitz 'n' Pieces Collection I figured it would be fun to see them sandwiched as well. 

 I won't be going into huge detail about each look since these are simple jelly sammiches. This is still one of my favorite methods to spice up a plain manicure. I will break down the polishes used from base color to top color to keep things easy haha!

China Glaze Tart-y for the Party, Bling it On- Sammiched with O.P.I Care to Danse?

China Glaze Dandy Lyin' Around, Mosaic Madness- Sammiched with O.P.I Don't touch my Tutu

China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On, Graffiti Glitter- Sammiched with O.P.I Don't touch my Tutu

China Glaze Fade into Hue, Glitz 'n'n PIeces- Sammiched with O.P.I My Pointe Exactly

 If you are a lover of the jelly sandwich look you will definitely love the Bitz 'n ' Pieces Collection by China Glaze! Also, I really want O.P.I (or anyone) to release more jellies a'la O.P.I NYC Ballet Collection. Those were, and still are, some of my favorite polishes ever.

  For some strange reason I am SO very reado for the weekend to start!! Maybe I should rock a jelly sammich to get it started right!!

(**Products provided for my consideration**)

China Glaze Bitz 'n' Pieces Collection Swatches

Good afternoon loves!! 

  Today I am sharing my swatchies of the new China Glaze Bitz 'n' Pieces collection. I'm pretty happy to see all these mainstream companies jumping on the "quirky, chunky glitter" bandwagon. This collection is made up of Six glittery toppers which are heavily accented by Black "bits and pieces". I know many of us have been spoiled by the indie polish makers but these really are fun, cute and HEAVILY packed with sparkly goodness.

 To see swatches of these babies just continue reading ♥.

Lovely Looks with the Zoya Lovely Spring 2013 Collection

Happy Humpday!! 

  Today I have some looks featuring the shades in Zoya's new Spring Collection. The Lovely Collection is made up of Three gorgeous cremes, and Three beautiful shimmering pastels. The second I saw these shades I knew I would be doing some looks with them. I couldn't bring myself to just swatch them, I had to play with them :D. Zoya's Lovely is definitely Lovely!!   

 For my first look I went with a cute half-moon look. I might be a *tad* obsessed with half-moon manis. This simple, but eye-catching, look started with a base of Zoya Blu. Blu is the most perfect shade of light, light Blue creme. I wanted to do something with interesting contrast and a bit of an edge so for my accent color I went with Zoya Piaf. Piaf is one of those shades that are so ugly they are pretty. Piaf is a neat, light Mustard- Chartreuse Yellow with complimenting shimmer. I was pretty sure Piaf would not look good on my skintone but combining it with Blu really made it work for me. I love this combination.

 How could I NOT do a cloud mani with these babies?! For this look I started with a base of Jacqueline. Jacqueline is a pretty, light shade of creamy Ivory. There is a very slight, barely there shimmer in Jacqueline. For my clouds I used Zoya Julie and Neely. The finished look is really subtle, but so perfect for Spring!

 For my final look I wanted to do something striped and simple. I started with a base of Neely. Neely is a gorgeous, light Seafoam creme. For the color accents I used Zoya Julie and GeiGei. I used fine striping tape to create the color-blocked look. On my index and Pinkie I filled in the taped gaps with fine brushes. I really like the end result. These remind me of the girly notebooks I used to carry in High School.

 Here are quick swatches of my base shades. From left to right: Neely, Blu and Jacqueline. These were all two coats and I ran into no issues with the formulas.

 I have a few more looks planned for these pretties. Zoya's Spring Collections are always just gorgeous and inspiring to me. As always, the formulas are a joy to work with. These shades all compliment each other and it makes wearing just one at a time impossible for me!

Did you pick up any of Zoya's new Spring shades?

(**Zoya products provided for review**)

Picture Polish Kryptonite and Monroe

Hello and happy Tuesday!! 

  

  Today I have Two stunning polishes by Aussie brand Picture Polish. I will be keeping this post a little short as it is an AWESOME day out today and I really want to take advantage of this Sunlight!! 

Picture Polish Kryptonite by Cathy of More Nail Polish. 

 Every so often Picture Polish teams up with bloggers and some of their e-tailers to create custom colors. This particular beauty was created by Cathy of Aussie nail polish blog More Nail Polish. There is a cute story as to how I came to have this pretty. If you watched my "Origins Video", you may know that Cathy's was the first nail blogs I ever read. Well, turns out Cathy had seen my video and she contacted me to let me know how flattered and touched she was to find out that she was one of my muses (I was just plain amazed that she even knew about my blog, or who I was). Once we were done fangirling over each other Cathy said that she wanted to send me a bottle of Kryptonite and of course I said YES! She surprised me with an AWESOME Aussie care package and I will be showing you the rest of the beauties later on (Hello, Lynn CtD, Layla Flash Back, Ulta3!!).
 So, back to Kryptonite. It is the most beautiful shade of deep Emerald Jelly packed full of Holographic glassflecks. The formula on this pretty is amazing and does well in Three thin coats.

Picture Polish Monroe

Monroe is a delicious shade of Raspberry jelly packed full of Holographic glassflecks and "dust". This is a similar finish to Kryptonite. However, the sparkle in Monroe is much finer. I love this sparkly twist on a classic shade. The formula on this pretty is really easy to work with, and does well in Three thin coats.

 That is all for me today. I'm tempted to put on my bikini and lay out in my back yard!! It is seriously stunning outside today! AND I need to work on building a base tan as I am haunting this house with my paleness....  But! Back to polish!! Aren't these so pretty!! I can't ever get tired of jelly based holos. They are just plain yummy!!

 Do you have any Pictures Polishes? Which are your faves?

(**PP products provided for my consideration**)

Muffin Monday!! Julie G Dream in Pretty

Hello my lovelies and happy Muffin Monday!! 

  Sorry about today's post being so late. Muffin mad her pick yesterday. Muffin picked like a boss this week. I set up and Mr. LTHP lured her to the room and she made her pick on the first try. She went for an adorable color from the Julie G line by Jesse's Girl called Dream in Pretty. 

 For some reason I was feeling tropical so this is the look I came up with for Muffin's pretty pick.

 I started with a base of Two easy coats of Dream in Pretty. On my Middle and Ring fingernails I did some Sunset inspired gradients with Julie's Fave and Dream in Pretty. I topped my gradients off with Seche Vite followed by a thin, sparkly coat of INM Northern Lights. For the all the stamps I used a plate I got in a swap with a Dutch friend and Konad Black Special Polish. I do not know the brand of the plate but it was number SdP-71. I then went back and free-handed the Black ground under my Palm trees with Cult Nails Nevermore. I ended up really loving this look... And kinda wishing I was on a beach with a Corona in my hand...

 Here is a look at Muffin's pick, and my base color, Dream in Pretty. This is one of those pretty Lilac- Pink creme shades that I cannot get enough of. The formula on this shade was SO amazing. It has just the right amount of pigmentation and it is very self-leveling. I used Two coats for full opacity.

 The Julie G line by Jesse's Girl recently had an expansion of 27 colors and I kinda wish I had access to them.. Silly Florida not having Rite Aids :(... BUT, I keep hearing that the more we request on Ulta's FB that they carry Jesse's Girl the sooner they might do so!! So lets all go over to the Ulta FB page and ask for Jesse's Girl cosmetics at their stores!

Thanks for stopping by!!

(**Julie G nail color provided for my consideration**)