Mystic Muse Nail Lacquer: The Autumn Reflections Collection

I just got done swatching this gorgeous Autumn collection by a new Indie brand called Mystic Muse Nail Lacquer. I found them on facebook, and I was thrilled when they chose me to swatch this new collection! It’s called the Autumn Reflections Collection, and it is reminiscent of beautiful fall leaves, Thanksgiving, and yummy food I’d associate with fall. This collection is really gorgeous!!

There is a little bit of everything in this collection. A cream, a metallic, glitter, duo chrome, something for everyone, and I love the variation this collection provides.

*****

First is Fall Foilage, a gorgeous bronzed metallic. I used 2 coats with Mystic Muse top coat. The formula was great and this dried to a metallic finish. This reminds me of fall leaves in the afternoon while the sun is shining.

****

Next is one of my favorites from the Collection, Night. Night is a soft black with a subtle shimmer to it. It reminds me of the fall night sky. I used 2 coats with Mystic Muse top coat.

****

Next is Chestnut, a gorgeous rich, warm chestnut brown. This was a surprise favorite for me. Brown polish is very trendy for the fall season and this is literally perfect. Again I used 2 coats with top coat.

****

Cranberry is a beautiful cranberry crelly. This is gorgeous!! I wore this to work and someone asked if I had gel nails. This obviously is a tribute to cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. One of my favorites. This is 2 coats with a topcoat.

****

Bonfire is a duochrome!! The shift is a fuschia/purple color, to a mauve, light brown color. So pretty!!!! It was hard to capture on camera, but this is a gorgeous color. I used 2 coats with top coat. The last photo is overhead light only.

****

I saved the namesake of this collection for last. Autumn Reflections is very unique. It is a sheer rust colored crelly with holographic glitters dispersed within. It is on the sheer side, but I got good coverage with 2-3 coats.

So there you have it! The formulas on all 6 of these are great, no application issues whatsoever. I wore 2 of the colors for at least a day and they wore very well, no chipping. I’ve been wearing cranberry going on 2 days now and it still looks fabulous. All Mystic Muse nail lacquer is 5 free as well.

Pre-Order this collection now!! Also check out the other polishes that Mystic Muse Nail Lacquer has to offer, they have an older collection that is beautiful as well.

Follow Mystic Muse Nail Lacquer on Facebook for future collections!

Hit Polish: More Swatches for your viewing pleasure

Today I’ve got some more gorgeous Hit Polish Nail Lacquer swatches for you! I did this review on them awhile back, and I was thrilled to be able to do another review! The polish is so unique and fun to wear AND photograph!

Aren’t they pretty?

I’m going to show you the swatches in the order that I swatched them. First up, we have Light Show.

Glitters: fine- large; royal blue, grape purple, orange, turquoise, caymen blue and fuchsia/berry; holographic and metallic finish in hex and square shapes.

I probably could have came up with at least 20 good undies to use for this very versatile glitter, but I went with black and white. I love glitter toppers over black and white. I feel like you just can’t go wrong with either of them with just about any color glitter combo.

Light show over Sinful Wisp

This is such a fun glitter. The glitter is suspended in a clear base, and was very easy to apply. These swatches show 3 coats of glitter over black and white undies. I believe they would look equally as nice with 1-2 coats, but I love a dense glitter look so I used 3 coats. One thing I love about glitter toppers such as this is their versatility! You can spend an entire afternoon playing with them and trying out different undies. I also used a top coat to smooth out the finish and to add some shine.

Next is Sands of Time.

Glitters: ultra fine – small; silver, blue, green, red, copper, gold; holographic and metallic finish in hex shapes.

I didn’t expect this glitter to be so dense, so these swatches show 3 coats over a white undie. After I was done, I totally thought to myself, I could have probably skipped the undie! Also because of the texture of this glitter, I think it would be perfect for nail art using stripping tape, in fact, I have some new stripping tape coming and I will probably try a stripe design with this.

Sands of Time over Sinful Wisp

This one was also gorgeous with no flash.

Sands of Time in normal overhead lighting, no flash

This is one awesome micro glitter polish. It smoothed over sooo nicely and because it’s a micro glitter, it almost appears to have a silver base color. I also love the way the colored pieces of glitter are so even distributed amongst the micro glitter. It really does resemble shimmering sand! I did use a top coat for some extra shine and to smooth out the top.

Next up is Random Access Memories.

Glitters: utra fine- large; black, gold, silver; holographic finish in hex shapes. All in a black jelly base.

This polish was inspired by Daft Punk’s new album cover, so I couldn’t resist including this GIF. I have a thang for GIFs.

This polish is absolutely stunning! One of my favorites from this lovely bunch. It sort of reminds me of a gorgeous night sky as seen through some kind of funky glasses or prisms.

How gorgeous is this?! This is one of those polishes that is pretty in the bottle, but totally transforms on the nails. When I applied this I think my heart skipped a beat when I got a good look at it. I LOVE LOVE me some scattered holo polishes, and especially ones with black bases. This is perfection. Like all the other Hit Polishes I’ve tried, the formula was great and the polish applied nicely. I used a top coat over 3 coats of Random Access Memories.

Last, but certainly not least (saying that never gets old for some reason) is Instant Crush. This is another one that absolutely transformed on my nails.

Glitters: ultra fine- large; royal blue, orange, green, red, blue, fuchsia, teal, copper and gold ; holographic and metallic finish in hex shapes. All in a dark purple jelly base.

Another Daft Punk inspired polish deserves another GIF. Enjoy.

I was not expecting this to be a jelly based polish until I applied it. Then I was all like “OMG this a jelly, and a purple jelly at that!” and it was pretty much love at first sight.

If you’ve read my blog before, you know I LOVE me some jelly polishes and this one is no exception. It’s awesome!! The dark purple jelly base really sort of “appears” when you make the first brush stroke, it’s not as obvious in the bottle. I used 3 coats of Instant Crush and a top coat in these swatches.

Check out Hit Polish, you won’t be disappointed! Full size bottles retail for only $8.50, while minis go for $3.75. All suspension bases are 3-free and all the polish is cruelty free. Also, spend over $30 from now until July 31st and receive a free Customer Appreciation polish.

Photo courtesy of Hit Polish facebook page.

Visit the Hit Polish Nail Lacquer shop HERE.

Like the Hit Polish Nail Lacquer facebook page HERE.

I’m still here!

I’m very busy moving my blog from wordpress.com to a self-hosted wordpress site. I am very happy with my decision to do so, but it does take some work! I will be active again soon ❤ 

Julep Maven Mashup for July

Yay I made the mashup for July!!

Mint Manis for Talia Joy

Most of you probably know that a beautiful, 13 year old, inspirational young lady named Talia Joy Castellano passed away after a 6 year battle with childhood cancer. Diagnosed at age 7 with neuroblastoma, Talia endured much of her young life in and out of hospitals undergoing treatment and relapsing 4 times. Throughout it all she kept an upbeat and downright inspirational demeanor as evidenced by her lively youtube videos. 

I could write for hours on this topic. I worked for 4 years at St. Jude Children’s Research hospital as a pharmacy student intern. My primary job was to prepare and mix intravenous chemotherapy. Before doing so I had to gown up which included shoe covers, a special gown, a face mask, and gloves. I did my work inside of a special hood in a special room. Granted some of these precautions were to prevent contamination of the chemotherapy so we could ensure that the children were receiving a truly sterile product, but much of the precautions were to protect myself from the poison I was making. I was only preparing the mixtures and the children in the hospital had to have this poison pumped through their bodies. I saw many Talias walking the halls of St. Jude: Laughing, smiling, skipping, squealing with delight. I saw many children cured, able to move on with their lives and try to make up for the childhood they lost, while many others did not. You could tell when a child was nearing the end of their journey, they were pushed in wheelchairs instead of skipping, connected to IV poles instead of using portable pumps for medication, eyes closed instead of open and sparkling. Once rosy smiling lips, now dry and cracked. I once assisted in a “Harvey Team” meaning a child’s heart had stopped and they needed immediate lifesaving assistance. The little boy lay motionless in the lobby while practitioners scrambled to bring him back. I mixed and drew up the life saving medications he needed to jump start his heart. The little boy survived. I will never forget that, nor will I ever forget Talia. Childhood cancer is a raw topic that is hard to talk about. Even writing this brings tears to my eyes. Children aren’t supposed to get cancer! 

Today, many ladies in the nail polish and beauty community are participating in Mint Manis For Talia Joy. Talia’s last instagram photo was of her gorgeous mint mani. 

Talia’s last Instagram photo.

To show support of a lovely young lady who is gone way too soon, I did this mint mani. 

 

I used Star Decals from AlexCole Designs, Skylark by Elle and Blair polish in the color Sea Glass with China Glaze Fairy dust over the index and ring fingers. 

Thanks to Nail Polish Wars for coming up with this great idea. I’ve seen some gorgeous mint manis today. 

Rest in Peace beautiful, sweet girl, and thank you. 

• Picture borrowed from RIP Talia Joy facebook page. 

Post-Dental procedure vlog aka I hate having a numb face

The numbness isn’t going anywhere it seems. I haven’t even gotten that tingling feeling you get when the numbness starts to wear off. On the plus side the dentist thought I was much younger than I am. That’s always a compliment! Either that or he was trying to butter me up for the monstrous things he was about to do to my tooth. :b

$7 for Total Beauty Collection 4-Piece Makeup Set – Revlon Edition – Shipping Included ($30 Value)

$7 for Total Beauty Collection 4-Piece Makeup Set – Revlon Edition – Shipping Included ($30 Value).

I wanted to share this amazing deals ladies!!! With coupon code:

REFER-WLJYC

Save additional 10% for total of $6.30 with shipping!! The coupon is only good for today though so hurry 😦

Julep Maven July Box: Modern Beauty and Add-ons with swatches

I did something for July in regards to my Julep maven box that I never thought I’d do. I chose the Modern beauty box. If you don’t know, the Modern beauty box is usually whatever non-nail polish items that Julep is offering for the month and no nail polish. The featured beauty items for June were dry body oil and sea salt hair texturing spray and I could not resist them. So I chose modern beauty and added on the nail colors I liked and I’m very happy with my decision.

July Modern beauty box with add ons

I received the dry body oil, sea salt texturizing spray, and my add ons were Tracy, Cassie, and Fireworks. Julep’s extra this month were green tea facial blotting papers.

I have heard great things about this spray, unfortunately I haven’t been able to get it to work on my hair. I tried it on wet hair and let it air dry and my hair was HUGE. I have a lot of hair and it was too much volume for my taste. I tried it on blow dried hair and it didn’t really do anything. I want to try it on 2nd day air dried hair and see how that works. If anyone has a good idea on how I can use this I’d love to hear! I also have to use a TON of it which is kind of a bummer. This is my hair before and then after. You can see it didn’t do much and I already had used a bunch of the product. Maybe it’s just not for me or maybe I’m doing something wrong which is completely possible. *sad face*

The dry oil, on the other hand, is actually really awesome! It sprays very evenly and nicely and smells really nice. It absorbs quickly into my skin and leaves it feeling soft and smelling nice. I really like this.

The nail polish this go round was equally amazing.

Cassie (classic with a twist)-Soft coral sheer. I really really liked this!! Applied extremely well and looks gorgeous. These photos are with no top coat because it dried really shiny.  And I kid you not, it smells like apples.

Fireworks (classic with a twist)-Red, white and blue multi-dimensional glitter top coat. This was fun. It applied evenly and looked really cool. I did a patriotic pedi for July 4th and I used fireworks and got a lot of compliments. It’s really pretty! I also like that it’s pretty different than Julep’s other patriotic polish.

Tracy (it girl)– Sparkly ocean blue sea salt. This was my favorite of the 3 and I’m so so glad I decided to get it. It applied like a dream and looked absolutely gorgeous on! I am in love. Swatches are with no top coat, but you could add a top coat for shine and dimension.

There you have it! Very happy with my Julep Maven box this month. Julep Maven boxes are $19.99/month and the add ons vary in price. You can get your first box for free using the code FREEMAVEN. 

If you’d like to join Julep, I’d really appreciate if you used my referral link. I have not been disappointed yet! http://www.julep.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/113382/

Here is my unboxing video if you are interested.

Nail Art: AlexCole nail decals *Bows*

Happy Monday everyone!! This will be the first of a few different posts I will make about AlexCole nail decals. I found AlexCole on Etsy and I was intrigued by all the different nail decals they have listed in their store. I have a great desire to be good at nail art, but I’m just not there quite yet. Nail decals help me create gorgeous nail art that looks like a spent a lot of time creating. The first design I tried were these adorable bows. 

So girly and cute! The decals come on a sheet. I used flat head tweezers to very gently pull the decal from the paper and applied to dry nail polish. Once the decal was in the desired location on my nail, I smoothed it out a bit more. I then used 1 coat of topcoat over the decals to seal the design. It was so easy! 

Once I did that I got a bit brave. I decided to try something just a tad harder, but still not hard at all! I found a coordinating glitter polish and used a dotting tool to put a dot in the middle of the bows. I removed the bow from my accent nail and used glitter all over that nail. I really liked the result!! 

How cute is that? Looks much harder than it actually was. The decals really completed this easy nail design. The decals were easy to use and they are also super affordable at $3.99. I can’t wait to show you some more decal designs! 

Find AlexCole Designs at the following locations:

AlexCole Website HERE

AlexCole Etsy store HERE

AlexCole facebook page HERE

*Disclaimer-I received these decals free to review, but my opinions are 100% honest and reflect my personal experience with the product. 

Unique Eyelashes: kkCenterHk Review

Hey everyone!! This post will be a bit different because I will be showcasing 2 really cool pairs of false eyelashes from KKCenterHk. I have a fascination and love for unique eyelashes. I use them mostly for photography and makeup play, but occasionally I will wear them out. 🙂

The first pair of lashes I tried are called Diamond Black Handmade lashes. I chose these because I have never seen any like them before. They also come in the colors blue, red and yellow.

I removed these lashes from the plastic protector and found they didn’t require any trimming. I have large eyes, so I rarely have to cut lashes. I used duo lash adhesive, and after applying to the lash, let it set for about 30 seconds until it was tacky. These lashes are sturdy and a bit stiff, so I didn’t have to use my lash tool thingy, I just held them at the ends with the tips of my fingers and placed them. I thought they looked really neat on! What do you think?

These felt fine on, like any other falsies I’ve worn.

The other pair I tried were Butterfly Paper Lashes. If you know me at all, you know I’m a huge Hunger Games fanatic, and these lashes were worn by Effie Trinket. I was giddy thrilled to get them. They feature a unique butterfly and antler design.

Really cool right? Check out this ad.

I loosely based my makeup on this look. And by loosely I mean I (very quickly) tried the lip look with a light purple lipliner and threw my hair up in a topknot. The lashes were also stiff, and I did trim a bit off both ends. These lashes are actually made of paper, but it’s hard to explain how they feel. I’m not sure what I expected, but it was different than that. In a good way. I applied them the same way I applied the first lashes and the results were pretty cool!! I love this look. When I get some free time, I want to try to copy Effie Trinket’s look even more closely and take lots of pics! I also want to collect all the different paper lashes available on the KKCenterHk site because I truly love these!

And just for fun, my heart lips, which I actually like a lot!!

Overall I loved these lashes. They felt different on at first, but I got used to them quickly, and they didn’t cause me any discomfort. I can’t wait to try to replicate Effie’s look. They were easy to apply (I do have some experience with false lashes). I recommend duo lash adhesive which can be found at drug stores, since these lashes do not come with glue.

Would you wear these for fun or out?

The Lashes:

http://www.kkcenterhk.com/p5410/ES-Diamond-Black-HandMade-Lashes-1/product_info.html

http://www.kkcenterhk.com/p10592/ES-The-Secret-Of-The-Black-Butterfly-Paper-Eyelashes/product_info.html

Please Visit KKCenterHk at any of the following places:

website: http://www.kkcenterhk.com
Blog: http://kkcenterhk.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kkcenterhkcom

*Disclaimer: I received these lashes free to review. My opinions are 100% honest and based on my personal experience with the product.