Aqua Lily

Aqua Lily. So many of you already know what I'm talking about but very few have seen the gorgeousness of this polish in person. Rescue Beauty Lounge completely outdid themselves with this color. If I had to pick one favorite color from their entire line... it would be Aqua Lily.

There has been much discussion on whether or not the pink shimmer shows up on the nail and I am here now to tell you YES! You most definitely see the pink shimmer, easily.

Now lets get to the pics...

Aqua Lily will be available for sale a very limited sale on http://www.rescuebeauty.com/. 

Autism Awareness

Monday, April 2nd is Autism Awareness day so to show my support, I painted my nails blue. This cause was brought to my attention by Pointless Cafe blog. I have a close friend with a son who has Autism so this cause is close to my heart. I would like to ask any of you who can, to paint your nails blue in support as well. Even if your work doesn't allow it, paint your toes! Where there's a will, there's a way! ;)

I decided to use several shades of blue and turn it into a gradient mani. I added the accent nail puzzle piece after thinking it needed that extra touch to take it one step further. Now on to the pics. I added several to show you the process. If you check out my St Paddy's Day mani, I list the steps on how to do a gradient mani.

For this mani I used China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le, A England Order of the Garter, Julep Marisa and Lynnderella Mlle Violette de Bleu.

To apply the gradient, I used a cosmetic sponge and put a small puddle of polish on a paper plate and dipped my sponge in the polish and dabbed it off on the paper plate so I didn't get too much polish. It's much better to add several layers of the same color so it's a subtle shift between the shades of blue.

 A England Order of the Garter...

After sponging on Order of the Garter...

Mlle Violette de Bleu...

After sponging, before clean-up and top coat...

 With the Autism puzzle piece symbol...

For more information on Autism, please visit Autism Speaks.

Ciate Jewel

I admit it. Ever since Adele (LOVE HER!) wore Ciate Jewel on her nails at The Grammy's, I've been obsessed.

From the pictures I could see online, it looked like the queen of all holographic glitter and bar glitter, to boot. I had to have it. While looking around for a US source, I discovered that Sephora will be selling Ciate sometime in the near future. April? May? September?! I couldn't wait, so I went directly to the website online and ordered straight from Ciate in the UK. Shipping took several weeks but when it arrived?! I did a happy dance and rushed home to put it on!

I'm used to having to apply a base coat color under any glitter polish that I wear, so I did the same for Jewel. I discovered after, that it was completely unnecessary. In the future, I will wear Jewel all by her glorious self. The base color I applied was Ciate Sugar Plum.

Sugar Plum is a light lavender creme. A very pretty soft spring color that I instantly fell in love with. The first coat had me worried that I would need 3 coats but it surprised me and was fully opaque in 2 coats.

Next up, my crown Jewel! Eye catching holographic bar glitter in a purple jelly base.

I have to say, I looked at my nails a LOT while I wore this mani. I look forward to Sephora picking up this brand as there are so many colors I love in this line. For those of you who know me well, know I died a little inside when I saw the cutest nail polish bottle on the planet. The only thing that made it even better, was the easy to hold curved bottle and the fabulous brush that made application a dream.

I will be keeping an eagle eye on Sephora, watching for Ciate to finally be readily available on this side of the pond. I promise to shout it from the rooftops when that day arrives! =)

Max Factor Fantasy Fire

I would like to thank my friend Louise, for sending me this gorgeous polish! I had heard about Fantasy Fire for awhile before being able to get it. It isn't available in the US, so you have to have a friend across the pond. I read everywhere that it was a dupe for Clarins 230 aka Unicorn Pee. (VERY hard to get, if not completely impossible if you don't have money to burn.)

I was so excited, I applied this beauty as soon as I got it, and not a minute too soon! The very next day I was doing hair and make-up for the Ice Road Truckers promos and this was the perfect finishing touch for me!

I took pics inside and out in the sun. This polish has an obvious purple base with maroon shimmer. In the sun, it shows a rainbow of color with blues and greens.

Pictures are worth a thousand words...

I applied Pretty&Polished "Midnight Rider" on my ring finger accent nail for the sun pics...

At Home Caviar Manicure

Several of the gals from Polish Exchange were discussing the new Caviar Manicure due to come out from Ciate very soon. One of the gals mentioned she was going to try using some micro beads she has at home and that started the ball rolling for this post. Micro Beads?! I had never heard of them but decided to jet to my local craft store in search of them. I ended up finding them at Michael's. I wanted to try them first so I purchased 3 of the larger sizes to mix, intending to go back for the multi-color 12 pack by Martha Stewart if this attempt was successful.

The beads...

I knew I wanted black just in case this worked but I mainly needed the pink and clear to go along with the polish I was already wearing.

Next, I grabbed a small dish to mix the different colors of beads in that I could easily use to pour the mixed beads onto my nails.

I put in mostly the Passion pink beads along with equal amounts of clear and black beads for contrast. I applied 2 generous coats of Glitter Tamer by Lynnderella. It's a thick top coat but any thick polish will do in whatever color you need. I used clear because my nails were already painted. I held my hand over a paper plate so the beads wouldn't get all over the place and I could save them for future use. Then I patted them flat on my nail to set them in the polish...

Ciate's directions on how to apply.

My results...

I hope you enjoyed this post enough to try this on your own. I would love to see what you come up with! Good luck! =)

Bunny Exchange Reveal

I am a member of a wonderful group of women on Facebook who love polish. We have come together and exchange colors that don't work for us but another member loves or wants to try. It's called Polish Exchange. If you love polish and would like to maybe exchange some of your collection for some new to you colors, look us up and join. We would love to have you. =)


Recently, we decided to do a bunny exchange. We filled out a questionnaire about our favorite colors, brands, likes, dislikes, etc. One member mixed up names and handed them out and off we went!


I have to say, I've paid close attention to my bunny. I wanted to get the perfect polishes for her, the perfect candy, the perfect "extras". Just this morning, I mailed off her box. I am so excited for her to receive it. I know she will love it but I can't help but think "Oh, I should have added..." But, at some point you need to stop, tape it up and mail it. I have to say, I had so much fun shopping for my bunny, I didn't stop to wonder what I might receive. As a matter of fact, I forgot to check my mail for two days and wouldn't you know, my bunny gift was in there both of those days.


I was lucky to have a bunny like me. She really paid attention to what I love and chose polishes for me that I Oooo'd and Aww'd over. She also listened to me when I said I didn't have a few specific stores near me and she bought me polishes from there that I can't get otherwise, even online. I was over the moon happy with her choices! I am so lucky. Thank you, Debbie, from the bottom of my heart. You are amazing! =)


Now, for my bunny reveal...




Chocolate!! This is already awesome...

My favorite pic...

My goodies all unwrapped...

All wrapped up...

YUM!

Spoiled... exactly how I feel! =)

I will wear these first! One on each finger! I love these Claire's  flakey glitters!! <3

Glitter heaven...

I love pink, I don't own any Essie and I have a thing for lip balm...

One of the polishes broke even though it was carefully wrapped in bubble wrap but I was able to salvage most of it by pouring it into an empty OPI bottle I had handy. This was one of my faves so I was glad I could save it. Otherwise I would have bought it online somewhere. It was flakey glittery with pink stars and it was love at first sight. I will be buying another bottle... that's how much I love it.

Debbie... I can't thank you enough for making my very first bunny swap so amazing. THANK YOU! I will treasure each and every item you chose for me. =) <3