Christmas challenge

Christmas is just around the corner and that means it is time for some holiday nails!  A lovely group of Mani Monday girls have started our own no rules Christmas challenge.  If you would like to join in on Instagram just hash tag #xmasnorules.  If you have a blog and want to participate just leave me your blog in the comments so I can come by and visit.

Day 1 is Red and green!  I used Zoya Elisa Revlon Parfumerie Lime Basil and Sinful colors Holiday Rebel.  Happy polishing!!!

Loaded Lacquer Rubbernecker and Captain Obvious

Hello friends I am behind on blogging again!  Surprised...I didn't think so...hehehehe.  First I should say I am not affiliated with Loaded Lacquer other than I swatched four polishes for her.  These are my honest opinions on these polishes and Heather.  I wanted to posts two Loaded Lacquer Manicures I have done since my order came in on Monday.  Monday!!  I ordered on Friday!  Heather is so committed to customer service.  It is nice to order from someone who not only has a quality product but takes pride in how she treats customers and people in general!  Big thumbs up Heather if you ever were reading! 

Captain Obvious is a beautiful polish.  I thought it was lovely on the website and from swatches but oh my gosh...in person it is so shiny and the combination of colors is perfect!! There is purple, rose, blue and teal in there.  The teal is holographic I believe!   I applied one good coat over a dark blue from Pure Ice called All Night Long.

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Very easy application and I think this polish could even be built up to wear alone.  I really enjoy it over a dark base personally.   

Next we have Rubbernecker which I have wanted since I saw Heathers posts about it on her IG.  It is a very cool polish.  The base is black but the combo of the rose and purple duo chrome glitters really make this polish something to see!  

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This is Rubbernecker on its own in three easy to build coats.  I thought surely this may be a goopy one but not at all.  Heather really does glitter polishes right!  I have 5 more Loaded Lacquer polishes I look forward to bringing you over the next few weeks.  There are 10 more I hope to purchase in the near future, with the Holidays coming its time to slow down buying polish for a bit because I have been buying a lot!  You can check out Loaded Lacquer  here. Thanks for stopping by and Happy polishing!!! xoxo Jaime

Mani Monday Favorite Green!

Happy Mani Monday!  This week the girls from Mani Monday will be showing their favorite green polish.  I don't have to many greens in my collection and most of them are either a strong mint shade or an olive green.  My favorite green is from Sinful Colors and it is called Mint apple.  We had strong storms on Sunday and I was not able to get an outside photo and for the life of me I could not get the color to adjust in the light box.  This picture is not exact color accurate.  I was pretty sure I had my pictures down pat but I have been extremely off my game lately....talk about frustrating!!!

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I darkened this photo a bit to get close to the darker green this polish can be,

Mint apple has a lovely shimmer running through it which sadly did not translate to my photo very well at all.  Working with a Light box has been a challenge for me as I feel some colors just wont photograph the same but with my schedule and our weather it is a must for me to get even close on some days.

My favorite nudeish green is a polish that is no longer available sadly.  It is Caught with my khakis down by Sephora by OPI. I found mine at Marshall's.  If you have a chance to pick this up at a similar store it is a very nice Khaki green.  This photo is very true to color.

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 My current favorite olive green can be seen here in a previous blog post No S-pear Time.  Thanks for stopping by and Happy polishing! xoxo Jaime 

Loaded Lacquer Review

If you have not heard Loaded Lacquer is a new Indie brand started by the lovely Heather.  I have been following Heather on Instagram and Facebook for at least a month and have seen all the posts of previews and short videos of her polishes and I fell in love with what I was seeing right away.  I have been looking for the perfect Indie brand for me for quite awhile and her gorgeous glitter polishes were exactly what I wanted!!  Heather very kindly asked me if I would like to swatch a polish for her.  I was so excited and honored to be one of the first girls to wear a Loaded Lacquer polish!!  She sent me four polishes to swatch.  These are my honest opinions on those polishes.

Loaded Lacquer polishes are 3 free and made in the US by Heather. Lets talk about the fantastic that are Loaded Lacquer labels!!  Very fun and shiny!  They are so appropriate for her line.

The first polish I want to show you is from her Christmas collection.  It is called Christmas bonus.  It is full of green, a yellowy gold and red glitters.  The red glitters also seem to give off a fuchsia flash.  The formula was perfect and it was so easy to work with!

Christmas bonus 

Christmas Bonus

This swatch is three coats alone.  

Christmas Bonus Mani

  I used 3 coats alone on my ring finger and also on middle finger I used 1 coat over Red eye from sinful colors.  Christmas bonus was a dream and very festive and shiny!

Next up we have Moonshine in a jar!  This is the ultimate gold and copper glitter bomb in my opinion.  It is just chalk full of Gold and copper glitter!

Moonshine in a jar

Moonshine in a jar

This swatch is 3 dabbed coats alone

Moonshine in a jar Mani

This photo was awful but the polish is amazing!

I adore this polish.  The formula again was very nice!  I could not believe how easy it was to build up.  For the above mani the pointer finger is 3 coats alone and each of the other fingers are one coat over a black and a gold both from Sinful Colors.  It is so so so beautiful and my pictures do not do it justice.  It is like shiny jewelry on your finger tips!

Next we have Fluffy Macaroon.  This polish is so pretty.  It is packed with blue purple white yellow and also iridescent glitter in a clear base.

Fluffy Macaroon

Fluffy Macaroon

This swatch is one coat over a cream base

Fluffy Macaroon

 This is a very delicate looking glitter topper.  The name is perfect.  Fluffy Macaroon is very sweet and pretty!  The formula was so good.  No fishing for the bigger pieces!  For the above Mani above I used one coat over each nail and just did a little accent nail with waves and a fimo heart!

The last polish I have for you today is Steampunked.  I can not even begin to describe everything that is in this little bottle of awesome!  It is a heavily packed metal glitter polish in a clear base.  Just take a look at all the different metallic glitters in here. There are also black glitters.

Steampunked

Steampunked

This swatch is three dabbed coats over a dark gray base

Steampunked

Not a great picture.  The metallic shine was again overwhelming for my current set up. This is two and then three dabbed coats over black and dark gray.

Steampunked Mani

The pink mani is one coat over Revlon's Ginger Melon.  I also fished out three of the silver glitters to use on the polka dot nail.  Steampunked is very edgy in my opinion and can be used in many different ways to add some sauciness to your manicures.  The formula on this is tricky only because it is so loaded with all that glitter goodness but it is still a good formula if that makes sense! It is very easy to manipulate the polish once you dab it on your nail.  I love it and an very happy to have it!!

Overall Loaded Lacquer gets a big thumbs up from me.  The polishes are amazing and Heather is such a sweet person and has fantastic people skills.  She knows her stuff when it comes to glitter polishes.  There are several other polishes in her line!  Her website launches at 9 am central time TODAY!!!  I will be ordering some more from her this morning and I do recommend Loaded Lacquer if you are a glitter lover like me!!!!!!  You can find Loaded Lacquer on Instagram, Facebook and at loadedlacquer.com once the site launches this morning.  Happy polishing!!  xoxo Jaime

Mani Monday Textured

Happy Mani Monday everyone! This week the theme is textured. I have not always cared for textured polishes but I am getting hooked on them more and more every time I try one out! I have 5 untried textured polishes and wanted to use something from those 5. I went with 2 of the newest from L'oreal. I don't own very many L'oreal polishes. I have 6 in total 3 of which are new and textured. L'Oreal Colour Riche Gold Dust Textured Nail Color Collection just came to CVS near me and I was so excited to find them!!!

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This is Hidden Gems and Pop the Bubbles. I liked these both in the bottle so much I just had to use them both and I think they look nice together. They both were pretty easy to use and this is two coats. I really like how my nails turned out and I have been wearing this since Saturday night. My thumbs match the ring fingers.

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Out door in the shade

The sun was just to bright and all the sunny photos were very harsh

I decided to try and get some close ups to show off how much texture and dimension these polishes have. So this may get pic heavy. 

Outdoors

There is a deep teal flash in Hidden Gem I just could not capture well.

Outdoors

Pop the Bubbles

Indoors

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Lastly I tried to take a picture that really showed off the texture. I am including it but not sure if it will help at all or not. :)

I really enjoy these and plan to get the rest of the collection. I am not sure if these are limited edition or not. I did not see it on the display. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed this post even there are so many photos. Happy Mani Monday and Happy polishing. xoxo Jaime

Mani wrap up

I am still trying to get better at blogging each Mani.  I only have two that did not make it to the blog this week.  The first one I did not even plan on putting on Instagram because it really is not for Fall or even upcoming Winter but it looked so pretty on my nails So I just snapped one picture on the way to check the mail.  Broadway nails in Aquarius really makes you feel like you are going to a beach somewhere! I am not even a beach person but this really makes you feel warm and tropical!  I love the color.

Outside

My next pictures were from just playing around with another of the Bling in the New Year polishes from Sally Hansen.  I don't really wear just black nail polish but I do wear it with lots of glitter on top!!  This is Midnight Glitz over just a generic black polish I had on the shelf.

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I love love love this glitter!  It is very pretty and has all kinds of pretty bits in there.  It was so shiny that all of my outdoor photos I had taken had lots of glare.  I could not capture the holo goodness in here very well at all.  When I spin the bottle in the sunlight I see lots of green, blue. yellow and orange specks and of course the lovely gold flecks.  Happy Sunday and Happy polishing!!!

Nail of the day

Happy Thursday!  I have a nail of the day post for you today.  I recently saw the Sally Hansen Bling in the New Year collection and bought some of the polishes.  I only bought the glitters because I am pretty sure all the other colors are re promotes because I already own and love Jungle Gem, which is in the new display.  So I used Jungle Gem and one of the glitters I purchased called Twinkle Toes-ty.  This is a very pretty glitter polish.  Lots of sparkle and some holo action in there as well.

I added some gold studs just to kinda tie all the fingers together.  

My angle was a little off and I am not crazy about this picture but did not realize I did not get a great picture until I had already removed my polish this morning to do some swatches.  Some days I do put together three or four nail looks so I can wear something I really love for a few days and still have things to post.  I am going to be doing a few swatches for an Indie company soon so I have been trying different lighting and angles.  Please bear with me through my trial are error of lighting and settings.  :) Happy Polishing!

Beaming Blue

Hi friends! Happy Wednesday!  There have been so many new collections coming out lately that even for a drug store junkie, it can sure add up.  I decided to be a little more picky about which collections I hunt.  I was not really wanting to get the Maybelline Color Show Brocades.  Pictures I had see on Instagram of the bottles just didn't make me want them.  I ran across this collection in my local Meijer Monday evening.  I am not sure how wide spread Meijer is but it is like a Walmart sort of.  They have general merchandise as well as a grocery department and beauty department.  I took a look at the display and decided to pick up Beaming Blue.  They are only a little over three bucks so if I did not like it, no big deal...cheap.  

Well let me say oh my I love it!!!!  I do think you have to work these a little bit, not bad at all though.  I have heard these are sheer so I treated it as I do a white or neon.  I apply one thin coat and let that dry completely and then add another thicker coat to top it off.  I did do a ve,ry thin third coat on two of my nails on each hand. I could still see my nail smile line peeping through just a little.  The result was stunning in my opinion.  I can get almost any shade of blue to work for me and this one is so shiny and sparkly.

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As you can see Beaming Blue is very bright and shiny.  Happy nails as I like to call them. :)  I feel like the little patience I took applying this really is worth it once you have this beauty on your nails!!  I think I will be picking up two more from this collection and hope to bring your pictures very soon.  Thanks for reading and happy polishing!!!  xoxo Jaime

Zoya Sunshine

I know that Zoya polishes are not new to most of my blog readers but they are new to me.  I have been debating and debating which Salon brand I wanted to dive into.  I will always be a drug store brand junkie, because I think you can find really great polishes at the drug store but I wanted to find something that felt like a treat for myself.  I was pretty sure I had decided that Zoya was the one for me and they had a promotion code for their spirit trios, so I took the plunge.  So far I am in love with Sunshine, which is a Pixie Dust.

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It is showing up a bit brighter in this picture but on the nail it is a navy blue with fantastic shimmer throughout.  What is not to love about this polish.  The bottle shape I find adorable personally.  Pixie dust polishes are textured and are meant to be worn without a topcoat.  It went on so nice, it was a dream to apply, the dry time is not bad at all.  I do not test wear time of polishes...I just change polish to often and in warmer months it would not be fair to any polish due to my activities.

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Outdoors full sun

I really enjoyed my first Zoya and I have 5 more to try out soon.  Two more are pixie dusts.  I think I made a good decision going with Zoya and I think I have found the perfect Indie brand for me as well, more on that later!  Thanks for reading and Happy polishing!!  xoxo Jaime

Mani Mondays Metallic

 Happy Mani Monday Friends!  This week the theme is Metallic!  I personally love metallic polishes.  I really prefer them to have a foiled metallic finish because it that cuts out the need to worry about streaky nails.  I think the reason I enjoy them so much is they are shiny and happy.   

I chose to use a lovely polish that was gifted to me by Marianne, PolishSleuth in our little swap and I love it!!  It is from Avon and I believe it is called Lilac Quartz and it is part of their Brushed Metals collection.

There is a slight texture to this polish but I don't

think it is considered textured.

One thing I like about these foiled Metallic polishes is I can control them really well without making a mess around my cuticles.  I am still learning and my bare clean up line at the cuticle can be kind of wide at times.  With these types of polishes I can go right next to my cuticles and I think it makes my nail beds look really long. :)  How do you feel about metallic nails? As Always thank you for reading and Happy polishing!

Revlon Cayenne

Update on this blog post.....After wearing all day this polish is not for me and will be passed on to maybe a lighter skin tone.  I am not sure what tone this is best for?!?

Happy Friday!  Today I wanted to try out one of my untried Fall polishes.  I have had this polish in my collection for a few months but never have worn it.  This is from the Revlon Colorstay line and it is called Cayenne.  It is a nice rusty Orange color in my opinion..  I am not sure that this polish is right for my skin tone.  I am very undecided if this is for me or if I will be passing it along.  I wear cooler colors much better I think.  The polish itself is nice and smooth to apply, as I find most polishes from Revlon are.  It was just a tad sheer to me but I was being extra careful not to get any at all in the cuticle. 

 My two coats were extremely light.  I still have an issue when it comes to red/orange tones if I get them in the cuticle.  Even after clean up it always looks to messy in the cuticle with these colors no matter what the brand is!  I have also noticed that my set up is not exactly great when it comes to photographing reds/oranges.  They tend to be off just a bit in color and appear  jelly looking on the nail.  I am looking into changing up my lighting some to see if this improves.  

I am planning on trying to be more consistent with blogging each manicure. That may not always happen because I do lots of nails of the day on Instagram.  I may end up tying to do a weekly round up post if I miss to many.  Hopefully I will not always be as chatty.  That one will be hard for me as I am an expressive person by nature and also detail orientated.   :) Happy polishing and happy weekend! xoxo Jaime