oooh, "shiny"!

today i have a pretty simple post for you - two coats of "shiny" by nerdlacquer. i know there's been a lot of "drama" surrounding nerdlacquer lately, but i still love her polishes and hope everything is alright with her and her life. now, on to the polish!

two coats was sufficient for good coverage, though i'm sure you could layer it over a light blue polish if you wanted! it's glittery and unique and awesome - even my boyfriend said he liked the color!

365 days of color "old time movie" + opi "la-pazitively hot".

i recently won a giveaway from 365 days of color and received two of her handmade polishes, "old time movie" and "explosion". i'll be sharing the first one with you today!

 OTM is a clear base with black and white shredded pieces in it. they aren't glittery; i guess i would describe them as more of a foil. these pictures are with only one coat, so coverage is GREAT.

OTM is really unique and i really, really love it. i feel like it looks best over a colored polish, so that the the pieces really jump out at you. also, removal was really simple and only took one cotton ball. so it's not super stubborn like some cool top coats can be!

365 days of color can be found on facebook, and will be opening her shop on the morning of may 16th :].

cult nails "my kind of cool-aid" ft windestine's "carbon copy".

MKOCA is a beautiful color from cult nails. it's a dusty, gray-tinted purple with a subtle shimmer. I LOVE IT. but i recently won a bottle of carbon copy from a giveaway windestine hosted, so i wanted to see what it would look like when paired with MKOCA.
conclusion: it looks GORGEOUS!

carbon copy is such a unique polish, i love it. it's great as just an accent nail, or over a whole mani.

you can buy cult nails polishes here for ten dollars, and you can like them on facebook here. windestine polishes are available on etsy, though she isn't expecting to restock until late this month or early in june. i suggest following her on facebook so you know what's going on!

julep nail parlor "it girl" box for may!

yay! i started as a bombshell but have switched it up every month. for may i wanted to go for the it girl 'cause there were three polishes xD.

such pretty packaging, as usual!

pedi cream sample, ashley, magnet + kylie magnetic polish, and nessa!

are you a julep maven? would you like to sign up? use this link and the code COLOR2012 to get your first month [which includes at least 40 bucks of polish and other goodies] for one penny! hoorah!

not-so-epic fail [ft zoya "myrta" and "kimber".

this manicure is like one of those mornings after you get really drunk and remember everything you did and go "ughhhh, whyyyy?!" even though it was awesome when you were doing it. anyway, when i was doing this mani last night i was in my dimly-lit living room and thought it looked SO COOL, when in reality you can barely tell i did anything but paint my nails one color. oh well, live and learn!

the base is myrta and the dots are kimber. like i said in my last post, orange and pink is my favorite color combo but i don't think particular conglomeration worked. i think it would have been better if i did a single accent nail. meh!

all the pictures of my cat on this blog are of him and this chair. he does spend time elsewhere, but particularly likes this chair because it by the big french doors!

essie "camera" + zoya "arizona".

not much to say about this one. pink and orange has been one of my favorite color combinations for as long as i can remember!

three coats of each. "camera" still shows some VNL, dunno if another coat of two would remedy that issue.

these pics aren't color accurate for "camera" at all, but even the ones i took inside stunk. it is much more like the bottle - a nice, hot pink.

sexy mustard nails [nerdlacquer's "gorammit"]

last night when i was painting my nails, my boyfriend [who was sitting next to me] said "that looks like mustard. like you're putting mustard on your hands." of course i immediately gave him The Look [come on ladies, you know what i'm talking about] and he stuttered something like "uhh...sexy mustard. sexy, sparkly mustard!" >.> it's the thought that counts, i guess?

the following pictures show three coats of bypass. the formula was great and is packed with square red glitter, large and small goldish hex glitter, and tiny black glitters. it is an incredibly unique color and i love it! sorry that my photos suck, but i've got a nasty cold [also thanks to my boyfriend] and didn't want to go outside, lol.

nerdlacquer is available on etsy, though the shop is currently closed. you can sign up for email alerts and be notified when she reopens!

giveaway winner!

amy reason, congrats! you have won the 100 blog follower giveaway! you have until 3 pm tomorrow to email me at bk_bishop@hotmail.com and claim your prize :]. thanks to everyone who entered, and don't worry - i'll have another giveaway up soon!

surprise!

we've made it suuuuper duper close to 100 blog followers, so i wanted to reward all of my awesome followers/facebook fans that i decided to put up a giveaway!

up for grabs are one brand new bottle of candy shop by claire's, a dupe for the deborah lippmann polish of the same name. the wet 'n' wild polish also has some purple circle glitters in it that didn't pick up in the photo. also brand new and never used!

fill out the rafflecopter widget and good luck :D!

rainbow fish nails!

i know i'm a bit younger than most of the polish bloggers i have encountered, but i feel like everyone has seen the rainbow fish books. they were some of my favorite to read as a youngin' - i've liked shiny, sparkly things my whole life!

i received this polish from nailventerous a few weeks after i placed my original order - my bottle of "peacock gone wild" was a little wonky [but still perfectly usable and gorgeous!] she sent it out for free, isn't that so sweet? great customer service!
for these photos i put two coats of "rainbow fish" over two coats of "kristen" by zoya. i LOVE the results!

i think it looks EXACTLY like the fish in the books!

also, another shot of my kitty. if you're a friend on facebook, you know i've been having some problems with him lately - i've had to take him to the vet twice this past week. waaay too much money and a whole bunch of stress later, he's on his way to recovery. thanks so much to everyone who kept him in their thoughts!

if you use this link to set up a zoya account, you can get one bottle of polish for FREE! then if you add two more bottles to your cart, your shipping is free :]. so that's three bottles of long-lasting, vegan polish for 16 bucks!

if you're interested in nailventerous polishes, i suggest liking her on facebook to find out when she is going to restock her etsy shop!

essie "ole caliente" + cult nails "captivated".

just a quick post for you all this evening. i did this mani last night right before my kitty got ill and had to be taken to the emergency vet, so they are NOT super great. but i thought the combo was really awesome and i wanted to share with you all :D. i have swatched ole caliente before, you can see that post here. but this is my first cult nails polish - i bought this and two others when they had their five dollar sale a few weeks ago!

two coats of OC with one coat of captivated. for some reason it makes me think of salsa...

so pretty! i love this combo and can't wait to try out my other cult nails polishes. you can buy them here!

pretty and polished - "jawbreaker".

i am loving all the white polishes with intense glitters that have been coming out lately. jawbreaker seems to be the most popular; selling out mere moments after p&p restocks. i was quick enough to snag one the last time she opened, and i'm so glad i did! anyway, the polish is obviously based on the candy of the same name:

do you see the resemblance? there's lots of red, blue, and yellow glitters!

this is three coats of jawbreaker. two coats was most definitely enough, but i liked applying it so much that i put on a third :D.

so pretty!

what do you think? do you like it? pretty & polished has an etsy store, but i recommend following her on facebook so you can find out when she's restocking!

365 days of color - "funfetti".

i am really really happy to be able to review this polish. sanaz of 365 days of color is just a really great lady, and has been working hard on these polishes for a while. anyway, enough of my blabber and on to the polish!

first, the name. it's named after the funfetti cake mix by pillsbury. if you've never had funfetti cake, i am going to need you to close your browser, drive to your nearest grocery store, pick up a box and all the other things like eggs, make the cake, and then eat it. okay, you got that down? you eat the cake? good. next time, make the cookie recipe on the side of the box. funfetti cookies made me a lot of friends in high school, i used to bring them in every few weeks!

now to the funfetti polish...

see how similar it is?! how delicious it looks?!

this is three coats of funfetti. LOOK AT ALL THAT GLITTER.

close up of my thumb. holy glitter, batman.

consensus: i freaking love this polish. the formula is great and super unique. when she starts making full sized bottles i will most certainly be buying one! EVERYONE BUY THIS POLISH NOW. but seriously, follow 365 days of color on facebook to get the inside scoop about ordering her polishes :].

gradient mani ft essie's "she's picture perfect" and "no more film", plus zoya's "mimi"

i think gradient manicures always look really cool and seemed relatively easy, so i figured i'd give it a shot. i was impressed! it's hard for me to make things look "natural" or "messy" 'cause i am a very ordered person in everyday life, so some nails turned out a little less gradual and a little more...stripey. regardless, i like the finished product and think it looks rad!

the polishes are lined up the way i did them on my nails. first was two coats of "she's picture perfect", then after that dried i dabbed on some mimi, then after that dried, "no more film" was last!

this is the makeup sponge i used to dab on the polish. most tutorials say to use the big triangle ones, BUT i didn't have any and didn't want to waste one of the round ones i use to actually apply makeup, so i took this [the connection between four round ones, if that makes sense!] and used it. it worked really well, though it was a little small.

ta-da! pretty neat. 

once this blogs gets to 100 followers [only 24 away!] i will be hosting another giveaway. so spread the word and follow :D!

dun dun dun...water marbling!

i see other bloggers post pictures of their beautiful water marbles all the time. after months and months, i decided i finally needed to take the plunge and do it. i watched a video and read a blog post by the fabulous cosmetic sanctuary and set to work. the colors i used are: niecy by julep, and yummy and tobey by zoya. my base color was "you just wait" by sinful colors.

i hesitate to call this bad, since it was my first time. i think the swirls are pretty rad! i feel my main mistake was using such a sheer color for the base. i feel if i had used something more substantial, it would have ended up popping more and looking a lot cooler. still, i only did my swatching hand and will take it off before easter lunch tomorrow.

for everyone thinking about marbling - i think you should do it! it's time consuming, yeah, but the results are worth it!