Sunday Swatch Spam!!

(**Press Samples**)

 Happy Sunday!!! I was just thinking, not long ago, that it had been a while since I last did a swatch spam post. Then, yesterday, as I was going through some drafts I found all of these. The timing was kind of perfect! More after the jump. 

Getting alll Warm and Fuzzy

Fuzzy-wuzzy? 

  Sure! Why not?! Sally Hansen jumped on the funky texture bandwagon some time ago. I don't remember exactly how many different variations of these micro-bar blends they came up with; I picked up Five. I really adore these funky, fuzzy- feathery looking polishes. They make me crave ice cream with sprinkles SO bad! 

 These are all really densely packed with micro bars in clear bases. They are not necessarily the easiest to work with. They all did require a bit of manipulation to get an even spread of the bars all over the nail. That said, they are easy enough to work with and can look good with just one coat over your selected base color. All swatches are shown with a top coat to smooth the surface and bring out shine. 

Sally Hansen Peach Fuzz over O.P.I A-piers to be Tan

Peach Fuzz is a pretty even blend of light, pastel Yellow bars and pastel Peachy Orange bars in a clear base. I loved this combination to bits! 

Sally Sansen Fuzz-Sea over O.P.I Incognito in Sausalito

Fuzz-Sea is a really fun mix of  vivid Aqua Blue micro bars and vivid pastel Green bars in a clear base. I really loved how the bars looked neon over my base color. 

Sally Hansen Wool Knot over O.P.I Keeping Suzi at Bay

Wool Knot is a blend of micro bars in Sky Blue and White suspended in a clear base. This mix felt very Holiday to me for some reason. Like a neat little snow-fall on my nails.  

 I also picked up Tweedy, which is the Black and White blend and you can see it on [THIS POST]. I also got All Yarned Up which is an adorable mix of pastel Yellow, pastel Peach and pastel Blue micro bars. I am still trying to find a good base color for that one :D. 

Did you guys pick up any of the Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coats? What have been your favorite layering combinations? 

#31DC2013 Day 7: (Not So) Black and White Nails

(**Press Sample**)

Yay for being able to get a post up!! 

  So all my photo editors I like to use decided that they were going to take a little nap over the past few days. I was not able to edit any photos until earlier today. I am one hot little potato haha. I just can't stand when I am held back by things that I cannot control.... Like photobucket deciding to take a crap haha. But.... Here I am, with day Seven of the #31DC2013. Day Seven calls for Black and White nails, I gave it a little twist and added some color too. 

 

 This look features Four shades from the Nicole by O.P.I Tinkerbell collection in gradients over Nicole by O.P.I Am I Making Myself Claire? of the Modern Family Collection. On my Pinky and Middle nails I did gradients in Sweet on Pete, Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary and Tink's in the Pink. On my Ring finger and Index finger I did gradients in Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary, Tink's in the Pink and Half Charming Half Alarming. I then topped off my gradients in my signature coat of INM Northern Lights to give the look some sparkle. To bring in the Black and White factor I topped off all my gradients in a generous coat of Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat in Tweedy. I topped off the whole look with KBShimmer Clearly on top. 

 Below you can see my gradients before I added the fuzzy coat. 

 And for shiggles, here is a swatch pic of Am I Making Myself Claire? of the Modern Family Collection. This shade was perfect to gradient over, it really made the colors pop. I wanted to be bored with this shade, but I quite liked it. It is the perfect shade of violet leaning putty. This pretty has a great, Two coat, formula. Shown with top coat here. 

 Yay for playing catch up haha! I know I am SOO far behind from the rest of the gals that all started together. But I do have quite a few more prompts ready to go so yay for that!! I also have some swatchies coming your way soon. Mama is bustin butt over heah!! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

#31DC2013 Days 4 & 5! Green and Blue Nails

(**Most of these products were provided as press samples**)

Never go to bed angry... 

 And never try to nail art when you are sad... or you might end up with derpy looking cats on your nails lol. Now, lemme remind you of why exactly I don't freehand...

#31DC2013 Day Five- Blue Kitteh Nails 

 The base color for my moon is a custom made shade by Honeybuttons Nail polish. She made a beautiful memorial Periwinkle Blue shade for my Muffin called Muffin Picks Blue... It seemed fitting that I used my kitty inspired shade for my kitty nails. This look is a modified version of the owl nail look I did Two years ago. To give my kitties a fuzzy look I used a bit of Sally Hansen Wool Knot. For the eyes I used Nicole by O.P.I Sweet on Pete, and for the pink noses Barielle Smarty Pants Pink. All the Black details were done with Cult Nails Nevermore. I finished the whole thing off with some KBShimmer Clearly on Top. 

#31DC2013 Day Four: Green Nails 

 I had actually attempted some more freehand over my Green base, but it was a failure... I shall keep trying.... I am determined to produce some blog-worthy freehand looks! So, for my green nails I give you Cirque nail polish in Erda, from the Arcus collection. This color alone is a work of art. This shade of rich Emerald Green is lit from within thanks to all the beautiful and fine microshimmer. I used Three thin coats for this swatch and a top coat to bring out shine. 

 And with that I am official caught up on the challenge prompts! YAY!! Though I am really pondering if I will keep going with the challenge. I was looking at my desk and I am REALLY backed up... Like ridiculously backed up and it is bothering the crapola out of me. We shall see... I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to take this beast on again lool!! I should have known better. 

 Have you seen many awesome Green and Blue looks? I'm off to stalk the interwebs for some Purple inspiration. ♥. 

Truffle Tuesday!! LVX Celeste Swatch and Look

(**Press Samples**)

Happy Truffle Tuesday!! 

  For this week's pick Truffle went with another shade of Blue!! What is it with my kitties and Blue? Miss Muffin was very fond of picking me Blue shades as well. I find it adorable that Truffle has kind of carried on that trend with her last Two picks. For this week she went with a soft, dreamy shade of baby Blue by LVX called Celeste. 

 This color inspired me to go for something that looked sweet, like candies or something. I don't know why that was... But this is what I ended up with, and I LOVED em!! 

 For this look I started with Two easy coats of LVX Celeste. Once my base was dry, I taped off my stripes and painted over with LVX Viridian. I really loved the look of my nails at that point but they did not feel done, so I added a black "drip" with Cult Nail Nevermore. To give the final look a really "sweet" finish I added some of Sally Hansen's Wool Knot from their fuzzy coat collection to the drips. I wanted it to look like sprinkles over hot fudge. I finished the whole look with some KBShimmer Clearly on top to add shine and smooth out the nail art. 

LVX Celeste is a wonderful, white based baby Blue creme. The formula on this shade was so unbelievable! I only needed Two easy, effortless coats of color for my base. I expect color like this to have difficult formulas, but this one was the complete opposite. Here are two coats + top coat. 

 Thank you all for stopping by! Now, I must go find some ice cream. Because looking at these nails over and over have really made me hungry for some cake and ice cream haha. I know I must not be the only one this happens to ♥! 

Thanks for stopping by today!! Much love from Truffle! 

Zoya Week! Ray Goes to Hogwarts

Happy Caturday! 

  Just one more look to go! This Zoya look features the uniquely fierce Ray. When I first saw this beautiful shade of deep Green I knew immediately that I had to do some Slytherin inspired nails. The shade of Green is just about a perfect match for the Slytherin house colors. I went for a glammed out snakeskin stamped manicure to keep with the theme. 

 For this look I started with a base of Ray. I wanted to give the look some depth so I did a double stamp for this manicure. The first round of stamping was done with Zoya Meg. The second round was done in the Second Slytherin House color with Sally Hansen Silver Sweep. For the snakeskin print I used Bundle Monster plate BM215. I was pretty much amazed at how great the Silver stamp came out!

 Leave it to me to glam-out a Harry Potter themed mani lol... 

Sooooo, I can't hear the word Slytherin without thinking of this... I have Tosh.0 to thank for that one...

Now that that's out of the way...

Have a lovely day darlings ;-)!!

(**Zoya products provided for consideration**)

A Quick Swatch and a Huge Thanks

Hi lovely readers,

  When I was typing up yesterday's post I never expected to get the reaction I did from you guys. I want to tell you all from the very bottom of my heart how much your kind words mean to me. Your support and your stories really touched me. I received so many emails from so many of you with the nicest comments ever and I could not help but to feel better. How could I not? To know so many people care in your own way is an overwhelming feeling. You all remind me why I stay strong and why I fight every day. Yesterday's feedback reminded me why it is that I do what I do for this blog. All the hard work that sometimes feels like too much is really worth it.
  Yesterday was a particularly rough day and I felt like it was finally time for you guys to know me as I really am and not just my nails (and now eyes). I feel like by opening up to my readers about my struggles it actually took so much pressure off my shoulders. As silly as it may sound blogging about nail polish really does make me feel good about myself. I take a lot of pride in my blog. So many of you told me that coming here brings a little bit of joy to your day. Who am I to take that away from you guys? A lot of you shared your very own struggles to let me know I am not alone and I could not appreciate that more. We all know we are not alone but it can really feel that way when you are struggling with depression. You all have my deepest most heartfelt gratitude for being so supportive. To me... A total stranger. You guys may not realize it but your words really do mean so much to me. I urge any and all of my readers who are struggling with depression and anxiety to please talk to someone about it. A friend, a relative, your doctor.... Your entire blog following... Someone! Please don't hold anything in because IT DOES NOT HELP!

  With that in mind I've decided to show you guys a swatch of a recent CVS purchase. Green is the color of depression awareness, it only seemed fitting that I post this beautiful polish today.

 This is Sally Hansen Electric Emerald. This color comes from SH's magnetic polish line. This is probably my most beautiful magnetic polish. I have ICING's Green magnetic but that one leans much more Golden. I love this one because it is a true Emerald Green. The magnetic effect creates waves in a lighter Green. For this manicure I applied one coat of color and on the Second pass I used the magnet. This color has a great formula and it pretty much applies itself. Big win for me.

  Thank you all so much! Tomorrow is Mr. LTHP's B-day so we will be out and about celebrating and having a good time. Repti-Con is in Tampa this weekend and we love to see all the awesome reptiles they bring to these shows. I decided I will be taking a little break but I will be doing some scheduled posts since I have SO MUCH material to show you guys. It will be a little mental vacation. I will be seeing my doctor soon and start incorporating some form of exercise into my daily routine. I have a lot to stay well for...

  So again I say.. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for your kindness and your advice and your loving words. I don't think I will ever be able to communicate to you all how much this all means to me.