Etsy Mania! Aphrodite Lacquers Peacock Earrings and VIP Room

Good morning my lovelies!! 

 Today I have a couple of swatches of some beautiful layering glitters by Aphrodite Lacquers. I really love Aphrodite Lacquers creations. They are all very unique but in terms of collections they are very cohesive. I also love that many of her creations do not require undie colors. These two glitters I'm showing today are meant for layering but they are AMAZING!

Aphrodite Lacquers in Peacock Earrings over Color Club Port-folio

 This combo was pretty much meant to be!! Peacok Earrings is a great blend of Black and Satiny White Squares in varying sizes. There are also small Teal and Silver prismatic hexes suspended in a micro shimmery base. This is just an awesome, fun layering polish. I really like the interesting mix of shapes and colors in this pretty.

Aphrodite Lacuqers VIP Room over Nicole by O.P.I Feeling Grape-ful

  VIP Room is a beautiful mix of opalescent squares and micro opalescent shimmer. This polish is just beautiful, ethereal, angelic? I layered it over many colors, but when I saw it over this medium Purple, I knew this was the combo I would show you guys.

 That will do it for today :D. My nails are finally evened out so I can start swatching again and finally start doing tutorials!! I am SO ready and excited to get going with tutorials for you guys. 

 Don't forget to check out Aphrodite Lacquers shop!! 

(**Some products provided for review**)

Color Club Winter Affair Holiday 2012 Collection Swatches

Hello and happy Monday!! 

  Today I have Color Club's newest collection for the Holidays; Winter Affair. This collection is made up of Five beautiful, jewel toned metallic beauties and one Flake top coat. It is my understanding that this collection is/will be available at Sally Beauty Supply. However, there are some discrepancies with some of the shades between the Sally's Winter Affair set and the set being sent by PR as well and being offered online and everywhere else CC is sold.  

 To see swatches and find out details about the colors just continue reading ♥.

Color Club In True Fashion Fall 2012 Collection Swatches

Good evening!! 

  Are you guys all prepped for Thanksgiving? Well, those of you celebrating tomorrow :). My mom and I are cooking Thankgsgiving dinner this year. I am pretty excited as I love Thanksgiving and all the yummy food! 

 So, I am pretty ashamed it took me this long to get through these swatches of the Color Club In True Fashion collection for Fall 2012. But hey! Better late than never right?! This will be my last post until Sunday, maybe Monday. I want to enjoy the Holiday and maybe even partake in some Black Friday madness... !!! So to those of you celebrating tomorrow; Happy Thanksgiving and good luck to those of you shopping on Black Friday!

To see swatches of these colors just continue reading! 

Sation I Love Miss-Self- Glitter One Collection Swatches

Happy Humpday!! 

  Today I have some UH-MAZING glitters from Sation. I have been looking forward to this day since way back in July. Remember when all the pics of these started popping up from the girls that saw them at Cosmoprof? I certainly do and I was eagerly awaiting to see them in person. 

 Sation really did something special with these glitters. They have an indie vibe, but they don't feel dupe-ish. Every polish you are about to see is entirely unique to me. I have never really seen polishes like these and I loved every second of swtching these. Two of the glitters in this post are from an older collection, they are still flippin awesome. 

To see close-up swatches of these continue reading ♥.

31 Day Challenge 2012! Day 16: Tribal

Hi guys!

  Sorry for the lateness with this challenge. I got so wrapped up in the madness of The Makeup Show that I completely forgot to do my tribal nails yesterday for today's post. Not to mention... A year later, I am still absolutely hating on the tribal print trend. I just do not like it. I tried to make it interesting by trying to freehand a tribal for the first time... Here is my feeble attempt...

 I started with a base of Color Club's Model Behavior, which on its own is a beautiful Fall shade. I used a very fine, fine brush for the details. I used Cult Nails Nevermore for my striping. Nevermore is an amazing Black polish and very much my favorite. It has a perfect formula for many nail art techniques. I accented my crappy lines with some dots in Nevermore and Konad Special White polish because it was really close by haha! Can you tell I REALLY do NOT like tribal? I was considering skipping today all together hahaha. I wouldn't do that to my girls though! I topped it off with some Seche Vite and followed it with Twee & Honey's This is Mattenes top coat.

Now don't forget to stop by my challenge partners Rie and Sam's to see their Tribal looks for day 16! I know they did better than I! 

(**Products provided for consideration**)

Etsy Mania! Rockstar Nails Punk Rock Barbie and an Update

Good Afternoon and happy Monday,

  I wanted to take a second to apologize for my unexplained leave of absence, to those of you who may have noticed, I've not posted since Wednesday of last week. This is unusual for me as I like to/pride myself in having a post up everyday.
 Ok, so I think I mentioned this but, not this past Saturday, the one before that I was in the hospital. Well yesterday... I got to spend the day there again. So in the span of 8 days I was in the hospital Twice. I was just starting to feel better from my last fiasco and just like that I was back in the hospital. I really don't want to get into details as to what causes these visits. All I will say is that I would not wish this upon ANYONE, no even my worst enemies. I felt like you guys should know why I disappear randomly. I know you guys will understand and as usual be totally awesome about everything, because after all, my health really does come first. And the sooner I am healthy, the sooner I can get back into my rhythm, not just in blogging, but life in general.
  So now that you guys are all caught up, how about a quick swatch of one of my new favorite layering combinations?

  So this is Rockstar Nails Punk Rock Barbie over Color Club's Into the Limelight. PRB is a great mix of Black and White hexes, bars and squares accented by larger Pink squares suspended in a clear base. LOOOOOVEE this so hard! One of the best things about this polish is how easy it was to work with. I did Two "coats" there was some dabbing used to place some of the pieces. The base color is probably one of my new favorites shades ever. I will go on about the Color Club shade when I review the Color Club Fall 2012 Collection.
 I will also go onto say that this was actually the mani that I was rocking the last Saturday I spent in the hospital and one of the nurses LOVED it. She actually thought they were decals :D. I just LOVE how all the colors pop against my vivid Periwinkle Blue base. They really did look almost fake.

 I'm off to get some more rest now. I want you guys to know that I truly do miss blogging when I am not around. I almost get separation anxiety from my blog (creepy, right?). Point being that every time I have to take an unplanned, unannounced break, I feel terrible! But, I know, I know, health comes first.

Miss you guys so much!!!

Bettina Disco and Color Club Glassfleck Comparisons

Hi and happy hump day!

  This post is really quick! I've had a lot of requests to do some comparisons of the Bettina Disco Collection and the Color Club Take Wing Collection over Black. So here ya go loves!

And there you have it :D. Sorry I messed up when I was painting the wheel lool but you guyes get what is going on right? They are pretty much the same over Black. The trick to the Color Club polishes is to keep a light hand and do a thinner coat (just one) over Black to get the duochrome to come out and play.

Final verdict: You need the Color Club Take Wing Collection whether you were lemming the Bettina Disco Collection or not. The Disco Collection was very LE anyways.... So get your hands on these Color Clubs while they last because they are spectacular!

  Be back later!

Etsy Mania!! All That Glitters Spottie Dottie Light and Dark

Happy Sunday lovely readers!

 Are ya'll sick of my Etsy posts yet? I sure as shiz hope not because I have so much indie coming your way still loool! What can I say? I went on a huge Etsy binge a couple of weeks back and I am still working through all the stuff I purchased. On top of that I also have the never- ending stream of samples that I have to swatch and such.
  So basically, over the past few weeks I've had a huge surge of indies come in from my purchases that I am STILL trying to get to because I can't bring myself to "just swatch" my indies. I actually want to wear them and enjoy them. So.. enough ranting now.... Onto the shop of the day: All that Glitters. This girl is talented and I mean TALENTED! I own Four of her creations and I love them all to BITS! If you have not been to her shop you should seriously head on over and take a peek!

All that Glitter Spottie Dottie- Dark

 Black.Glitter! Spottie Dottie Dark is pretty self explanatory. It is different sized Black hexes and bars suspended in a clear base. The Spottie Dottie series are not SUPER packed with glitter so you do have to do a little bit of fishing and careful application to get a cool effect. This does not bother me one bit because it gives the polish versatility. For this look I layered Spottie Dottie Dark over Color Club Daisy Does It.

All that Glitters Spottie Dottie- Light

 Spottie Dottie Light is the same concept as SD Dark except with White glitters. My version of this polish is a little special due to those awesome big Square glitters. In its regular form SD Light is the same as SD Dark, different sized Hexes and bars. Shop owner Kirsten had actually made an announcement about how this batch would be a little different because her supplier had sent her Large White Squares instead of Hexes and I got a little excited at the prospect of having a "special" Square-y Dottie Light hahahaha! Here it is layered over Color Club Wing Fling.

 How cute are these polishes? I also love that I can layer over each other to make up my own mix of Black and White glitter. Head on over to All that Glitters on Etsy to see more of K's goodies!

Happy Sunday!

Dollish Polish Random Dancing over Color Club Fly with Me

Happy Thursday!!!

  Today I have another indie buy. This pretty comes to us from Dollish Polish. I first found out about this paticular glitter when I got my Random Dancing necklace from Beads Ink. I loved the pendant so much that I made it my mission to get my hands on this polish (this polish on my hands?). Dollish Polish is another one of those very elusive indie brands. They are hard to get but so worth the frustration!

For this look I wanted to create a super fun and funky look. Fly with Me by Color Club seemed like the perfect choice. And guess what? It was! How awesome is this combo? While Random Dancing is inspired by the TV show iCarly this look reminds me more of Rugrats (Oh 90's Nick how I miss thee) for some reason. Random Dancing is a mix of Large Square glitters in Blue, Purple, Red and Green. Smaller Yellow-Golden Squares and smaller Purple glitters that make up "the base". I flippin love the "randomness" of this polish and how every nail looks entirely different. I just kinda dabbed on this polish to achieve an effect I liked.

Here is a neat-o macro. I'm getting better at these :D!

Doesn't Random Dancing make you wanna do some random dancing of your own? I did!

Color Club Take Wing and Bettina Disco Collection Comparisons

Hello (again)!

  This will be a QUICK second post with some promised comps between the Bettina Disco Collection and Color Club's Take Wing Collection.

  I won't go into full detail about where they differ (because they don't much) but if you were lemming the Bettina Disco Collection- Color Club's Take Wing will cure that right up! I could not compare Groovie to Wing Fling because I swapped out my Groovie but it is pretty safe to say they would have been dupes or "close enough". The biggest difference is that Take Wing has a Sunny Yellow in place of Bettina's Purple glassfleck, Boogie. Another difference is that the sparkle in the Disco Collection is more fine that that in Take Wing. The colors in Take Wing are slightly sparklier than those in Disco. I compared Daisy Does It to China Glaze Lighthouse. Lighthouse is far more "Golden". The Color Club polishes are slightly more saturated with color.

SOOO! Long story short: If you were lemming Bettina's Disco Collection RUN out and get yourself Color Club's Take Wing Collection, you will not regret it!

Color Club Take Wing Collection Swatches

Happy Sunday!!

  Today I have swatches of an amazing Summer collection that Color Club has put together for us. I've been looking forward to this collection since the very first Press Releases started making their way onto the interwebs. This is redemption at it's finest for Color Club after a Spring collection that left me a little sad. Now THIS is what I am talking about!! Six amazing, vibrant and super sparkly glassflecky shimmers that will make you wish you were on a cruise ship sipping on Margaritas!

Color Club Daisy Does It

 This is amazing and you need it... End of story... Nah hahah, just kidding. Daisy Does It is like Sunshine in a bottle. It is a very vibrant shade of Yellow glassfleck shimmer. I love that it is not really a Golden Yellow but a True Yellow shimmer. This is my favorite from the collection, shockingly enough. This pretty did best in Three thin coats.

Color Club Sparkle and Soar

 Sparkle and Soar is a juicy shade of Tangerine glassfleck shimmer with a slight Golden duocrhome. I do love that when on the nail it leans FAR more orange than Gold though. It is a very vibrant glassfleck and also packed very densely so you get really good color payoff and sparkle. This shade did great in Two coats.

 To see the rest of the collection just continue reading after the jump :D!

Jordana Blue Bash

Oh Glittah!

  BLUE glittah!!! I love Blue... I love Glitter.. I love Blue glitter and Jordana made and epic win of a Blue glitter.... Shall I just get on with it?

 My base color is Color Club Sweetpea. Jordana's Blue Bash is a mix of different sized Royal Blue Hex glitters in an almost clear base. The base has the slightest tinge of Blue, barely there. This glitter is very dense and it could probably be worn on it's own but I've been on a glittering layering kick lately.

I am seriously loving all these Jordana Glitters but I am just about ready to be done swatching them lol. Swatching glitters is the hardest, biggest pain in the butt ever! We all know how much fun glitters are to remove...

Thanks for stopping by!

(**Products sent for review**)

Color Club Blossoming Collection Swatches

Good Morning loves!!

  Today I have swatches of Color Club's Blossoming Collection for Spring 2012. This collection is made up of Six creamy shades and one "Shard- Like" glitter. I was pretty excited about this collection when I first saw promo shots but in person I was left a little underwhelmed. The colors are not ugly, they are pretty. But they are just that, pretty. There is nothing special or unique about these colors and that is kind of a bummer. Overall I was left with a feeling of overall "meh-ness". 

 To see close up swatches read on after the jump.

Color Club Blossoming Spring 2012 Preview

Introducing The New Blossoming Collection from Color Club

Rich Color Has Bloomed & Everything is Coming up Couture

October 2011 - New York, New York - Color Club, the New York based nail color company announced today the debut of Blossoming a new nail polish collection for Spring. With the beautiful budding flowers of the season as an inspiration, rich color has bloomed! Add Diamond Drops topcoat for a “morning rain-kissed” effect. Blossoming features six nail polishes -- from Hydrangea Kiss, Sweetpea and Blue-ming to Blushing Rose and Lavendarling. This new vegan, formaldehyde, toluene and DBP-free collection is sure to signal spring is in the air... or blossoming.

The Blooming Collection includes:

Hydrangea Kiss: Dusty blue-purple crème

Sweetpea: Rosy Pink crème

Blue-ming: Bright blue-green crème

Blushing Rose: Baby pink crème

Lavendarling: Dusty purple crème

Diamond Drops: Silver ice flake polish

Color Club’s Blossoming Collection will be available in February 2012. All Color Club products are made in the USA and are not tested on animals. Products are available at shopcolorclub.com.

About Color Club

A favorite of celebrity manicurists and nail color fans worldwide, Color Club is renowned for its high performance rich shades and exceptionally safe products. From the brightest neons, to glitter and French, all nail colors are vegan, formaldehyde, toluene, and DBP -free – and made in New York, NY with the best raw materials. Products are available at shopcolorclub.com.

These look so pretty and Spring-perfect!

LTHP's Favorite Nail Polishes of 2011- Honorable Mentions

Hello and good evening!!

  The year is coming to an end it is that time to pick our faves!! I've been all about these posts because I love seeing everyone's picks as their faves for the year. I didn't get to do this last year because I had just started blogging and I didn't really have much to choose from. I originally intended to only do a "Top 10" but the task of narrowing my list down from 57colors on my short list (LOOOL) down to just Ten was just impossible. So I'm doing things a little different for my 2011 Faves...

  I've decided to break my picks down into different categories. I will be showing you guys my Top 10 International/ Indie brands in one post, my top Ten mainstream brand picks in one post and I have chosen Five "honorable mentions" as well. These will all be colors from 2011. Tonight I will be showing you guys my Five honorable mentions. These are colors that I absolutely fell in love with but they didn't  seem to get that much recognition from blogland. These are in no particular order. Let's get to it shall we?!

Zoya Kendall: Feel Collection/ Winter 2011

 

This shade is just dreamy. It's a soft neutral and a great go-to color. This shade came out very late in the year for Winter and it's a stand out because it is such a soft neutral shade. When I think of winter I think of sparkles and vamps and this color really detoxified me.

Color Club Nomadic in Nude: Back to Boho/ Fall 2011Collection

I remember when I first received this collection for review I started with this color because I thought it was the most boring... I ended up wearing it for Four days and not wanting to take it off. I later found out that this was a dupe of Deborah Lippmann's Waking up in Vegas which kinda explained my strange attraction to this rather unusual Greige.

 O.P.I On Stranger Tides: Pirates of the Caribbean Collection/Summer Brights 2011

When this collection came out I hated it.. And then I received them.. And swatched them and I was immediately drawn to this shade. A lot of people were going mad about Mermaid's Tears and Silver Shatter but this shade really stood out to me. I love the "dirty minty Green" quality about it.

China Glaze Pelican Grey: Anchors Away/ Spring 2011 Collection

  I love Grey. Plain and simple. Even though I own about 68 different shades of Grey this one is really special due to the awesome Pearly shimmer that seems to float on the surface. 

Zoya Mitzi: Mod Mattes/ Summer 2011 Collection 

Matte? Check. Bright? Check. Awesome Formula? Check. This unusual Tennis Ball Yellow- Green really made my Summer vibrant. I love Zoya's mattes and this was is absolutely a must have for you ladies that enjoy some BRIGHT nails.

  That is is for my honorable mentions. These are colors that while I loved them very much they came just a little short of my Top Picks but still needed to be recognized. These may be a little plain or boring to some I find them so pretty and refreshing. Tomorrow I will be showing you guys my Top 10 Indie/ International Brand picks. That is where things really get exciting!

Have a good nite loves! Thought?
♥ Cristina

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Collection Swatches

Hello lovely people!!

  Moar Glitter!!!!! Today's post is Color Clubs pretty Holiday Collection. This group consists of Six awesome glitter polishes that bring on the bling. It took me a while to get these swatches out because as I was trying them on I kept wanting to wear them as full manis. You will see why :D!

Holiday Splendor. This is an amazing polish. This baby is made up of small Green, Holo and Holo-y Green glitters along with some micro glitter all suspended in a Green jelly base. I love that this particular shade has a colored base. It actually made me wish all the glitters in this collection had a colored base. This is like a much Greener China Glaze Atlantis. Very beautiful! Two effortless coats.

Jingle Jangle. This pretty is made up of Icy Blue and Icy Purple glitter suspended in a clear base. I absolutely loved this one as well. I really like the mix of colors in this one. This is the only glitter that does not have holographic sparkles but it is still lovely. Three coats of glitter.

Sugarplum Fairy. This pretty is Lavender Glitter and Holographic glitter all suspended in a clear base. This one is super dense and only takes Two coats for opacity. I really really LOVED this one because the Holo sparkle is very noticeable.

Beyond the Mistletoe. This one is Sky Blue glitter and Holo glitter all suspended in a Clear base. This reminds me of O.P.I Simmer and Shimmer  but with a thorough sprinkling of Holographic glitter for good measure. Three coats. 

Candy Cane. Pretty Pink, Soft Pink adnd Holo sparkle suspended in a clear base. Awesome Holiday glitter. Three coats.

Gingerbread. This one is so awesome. From what I can gather with my naked eye it is a mix of Gold, Copper, Gold Holo and Silver Holo glitters all mixed in a clear base. This one is soo freaking AWESOME! I love that there is a mix of different Gold toned glitters that give this color such awesome dimension.

  I love all of these because I am a sucker for glitter. Removal of these was not terrible at all which is always nice. These all dry a bit dull and gritty so a good top coat is a must. These are seriously awesome and I love that while they are blingy and glittery they are not your traditional Holiday shades. I could not pick faves because I heart them all!!! 

Which are your faves?

♥ Cristina

(**Product sent for review**)

Color Club Backstage Pass Collection Swatches

Hai!!

  Today I have the Backstage Pass collection from Color Club. This collection is made up of Six edgy layering glitters. I was super excited about this collection when I started seeing Cosmo Prof pictures and promo pictures. I will say that while I really like most of these some are... Questionable at best.

Wish Upon a Rockstar. This is one of those ever popular confetti style glitters. It's made up of small Red, Silver, Blue, Green and Gold glitter and larger Pink hex glitters. This was one of the easier ones to work with and the glitter spread pretty nicely. Here I have one coat of Wish upon a Rockstar over New Bohemian.

This is Platinum Record. This one is made up of Three different sized Hex Silver glitters in a clear base.  This one was pretty easy to work with but you really have to wait between coats or the large glitters will drag to the tips. Here it is layered over Blue Topia.

 Take the Stage. Small Gold hex glitter and Holographic glass-shard like flakes in a clear base. This is really cool looking and is the easiest to apply. Probably my favorite from the collection. Here it is layered over Nomadic in Nude.

Backstage Pass. Large Silver, Graphite, Purple and Lavender hex glitter with random small graphite glitters in a clear base. This is a pain to work with and the large glitters are curved so they will not lay flat on the nail. While it creates a cool 3D effect it is not fun to work with. This has to be dabbed onto the nail very carefully. I think this polish will be best for nail art. Layered over Jackie Oh!.

It's a Hit. Large Lavender hex glitters in a clear base. Once again, hard to work with and a little disappointing. While I really like this combo I just plain did not have a good time applying the hex. Once again I think this will really work well for nail art.

Fame and Fortune. This one is a Magenta jelly base packed full of glass shard like holographic flakes. I don't know how I feel about the jagged bits yet but I do like this combo. For this I layered it over Hot like Lava.

 I'm on the fence about this collection. I really like some of them but I'm really let down by some of them. I'm sure you guys can figure out which ones are which. But I can't be totally mad at glitter because I know I will find great uses for the large Hex bits that are so hard to work with. Overall, they are O.K. Def not what I was expecting but not terrible.

Thoughts?
♥ Cristina

(**Product sent for Review**)