Lynnderella A Neutral Party Swatch

I know that Lynnderella polish is a touchy subject lately, but I received A Neutral Party in a swap and I think it's really beautiful, so I wanted to share it with you guys. I layered one coat here over Milani Chocolate Sprinkles (totally my new fav brown) and as you can see, it has a shimmery base packed with different shades of brown glitter. I love that there is huge hex glitter in the mix as well (you can see one near the tip of my pinky nail).

 

I'm curious to know what your opinions are on Lynnderella. Do you care about the drama surrounding the polish? I personally only own two Lynnderellas at the moment that I got through swapping, but I'd love to have more!

Dior Riviera Swatch

Hey guys, today I have something really fancy for you, my very first Dior polish! This is Riviera and it's a beautiful bright shade of orangey coral. It's so bright that it really messed with my camera, but I think I got it back to being very close to accurate. This is one of those polishes that can look totally different each time you look at it; it can be pink, coral, orange, or even red at times. Dior polishes have really wide, curved brushes that can just about cover my nail in one swipe, which is awesome! And the formula? Incredible. But would you expect anything less, really?

Dior nail polishes retail at $23 each and can be purchased on the Dior website or at stores like Sephora or Macy's. If you own any Dior polishes, what is your favorite one? If you don't own any, would you ever spend $23 on a nail polish?

Sonnetarium Hong Bao, After the Rain, Sundance, & If We Could Meet By the Sea Swatches

You all know how much of an insane love I have for Sonnetarium polishes, right? Good, let's get started with this next round of shades then!

First up is Hong Bao, which has a red jelly base filled with gold shimmer and gold and black hex glitters. I layered two coats of Hong Bao over Zoya Rehka.

After the Rain is just one incredible polish. It has a shimmery sky blue base filled with rainbow hex glitters and big white glitter that reminds me of clouds. This is three coats of After the Rain on its own.

Sundance is a mix of marigold glitter and gold shimmer in a clear base. I layered two coats of Sundance over Rescue Beauty Lounge Santa Fe Road. I've never seen anything like this yellow glitter before.

And lastly for today is If We Could Meet By the Sea, a mix of dark turquoise and white hex glitters and little mini bar glitter. I used two coats here over Zoya Wednesday. LOVE this one!

As always, Sonnetarium polishes can be purchased through Etsy and you can sign up for an e-mail notification when the shop opens again. Do you own any Sonnetarium polish yet?

*Products in this post were provided for my honest review.*

Butter London Trustafarian, Shag, & Gobsmacked

Hello pretties! I have three shades from the Butter London's upcoming Autumn/Winter 2012 collection to show you today and you guys are going to be thrilled... there are holos!

The first color I have today is Trustafarian, a yellow-green holographic shade. This polish is absolute perfection in a bottle. It's a gorgeous color, it dries super shiny, and it's holographic... how can you top that? You're seeing two coats here.

Shag is a beautiful warm red/brown shimmer. It totally reminds me of fall and crunchy dried leaves on the ground. Two coats here as well with a fantastic formula.

Gobsmacked is an absolutely gorgeous charcoal glitter, but unfortunately had a really terrible formula. It got thick and gloopy really quickly but I'm hoping that this can be remedied with some polish thinner. Two coats here with a thick coat of Seche Vite on top; you might even want to consider using two coats of top coat as well since this is one gritty glitter!

These shades, as well as all the other Butter London shades, can be purchased from a couple different places, including the Butter London website, Ulta (in store and online), and Sephora (in store and online) and retail at $14 each. Which ones are you loving?

*Products in this post were provided for my honest review.*

Illamasqua Lament, Scarab, Baptiste, & Harsh

I have some gorgeous Illamasqua polishes to share with you all today. I've admired Illamasqua from afar for a long time now and have finally gotten my hands on some of their products. The first polish I have to show you is called Lament and it's a beautiful creamy coral shade. I consider Lament a coral but it definitely leans more on the pink side than orange.

Scarab is an absolutely STUNNING deep red shimmer than appears to blacken around the edges of my nails. Shades like this are so awesome and this one is so incredibly perfect for the upcoming fall season. You can bet I will be wearing this often.

I've had Baptiste the longest out of all of these shades and it really started my interested in Illamasqua as a brand. Baptiste is a gorgeous deep purple shimmer. You know I love purple and this is no exception. A perfect formula makes in an all around win.

Harsh is a silver glitter that is very dense. I used one coat here over Baptiste. It covered really well in one coat and I could imagine that you could easily get full coverage in two or three coats.

The formula was absolutely perfect on all of these. I used two coats for all the swatches except for Harsh. Illamasqua nail polishes retail for $14 here in the States and can be purchased from Sephora, as well as the actual Illamasqua website, although they are considerably more expensive on the latter page.

Do you own any Illamasqua products? If so, do you love them? If not, which ones would you like to try out?

Bare Minerals Brow Color in Ash Blonde/Pale

Hey guys! As you know if you've been reading the blog lately, I'm trying to branch out and get more comfortable wearing make up again. I've also recently noticed that my eyebrows have a habit of disappearing in photos >.< so I have been filling them in.

The product I've been using is Bare Minerals Brow Color. The shade Ash Blonde/Pale is perfect for my brows and I love the control that using a brush gives me. All I do is tap a little bit of powder into the lid of the container and use my brow brush to apply it. I go lightly at first and then add more if I need to so that I don't over-do it. As you can see in the photos below, the change is slight, but it is very natural and makes a huge difference to me. I recently picked up some brow stencils too so hopefully I can do a follow up post with those to show you the difference!

The Bare Minerals Brow Color can be purchased on the Bare Minerals website; the Essential Brow Kit retails for $32 and includes the brow color of your choice, the brow brush, and finishing gel. The Brow Color itself retails for $11 and comes in seven different shades.

*Product in this post was provided for my honest review.*

Stinky Theives & Back-to-School Update

Hey everybody! There are a couple things that I want to touch on at the moment and I wanted to take a separate blog post to do it rather than adding it onto one of my usual posts.

Firstly, as you may or may not know, last week I was alerted to a blog that was stealing my ENTIRE blog posts and tons of them (over 30!). The blogger even reposted images of my face and acted as if they were her own. I'm sure you can understand how angry and creeped out I was (and still am). I have filed a complaint with Blogger and I know a couple other bloggers did as well, so I'm waiting to see what they can do about it. I know running a blog is not the hardest job ever and I do get enjoyment out of it, but it does take a decent amount of effort and I'm not a fan of people blatantly ripping off my work like that. This is the reason why right-clicking is currently disabled on The Nail Network. I'm sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause my readers, but I had to feel like I was doing something pro-active to stop this copying from happening. I also know that this doesn't prevent copying completely, but again, I wanted to feel like I was doing something. I hope you all can understand the reasoning behind this and look past this small inconvenience for the time being. I want to take some time to calm down and think about this situation before I enable right-clicking again and I hope you can appreciate that.

Secondly, I will be going back down to posting three times a week (Monday/Wednesday/Friday) starting this week. I am starting classes again next Monday and I will be moving out of my house sometime in the next two weeks or so, so I have a lot on my plate and unfortunately blogging has to be put at the end of my priority list. I really enjoyed posting so often this summer and I wish I could continue to do so, but I don't handle stress very well and I don't want to get into a situation where I'm sacrificing my academic effort in order to blog five times a week. I'm sure you all can understand where I'm coming from and I thank you for that.

So that's what is going on with me on this fine Sunday. Thank you to those of you who took the time to read this and I will see you again for tomorrow morning's post! :)

Born Pretty Store Review

Hey all! I have a review for some products I got from the Born Pretty Store for you today. The first thing I got was a set of stamping polishes in red, white, yellow, blue, and black. As you can see, the red polish arrived kinda gunky. I'm not sure why that was the only one affected, but it wasn't a big deal.

The red polish wasn't really useable, so I tested the rest of the colors over Milani Fuchsia Fierce. From top to bottom: yellow, white, black, blue. With the exception of the yellow, these covered fabulously and honestly the yellow covered really well for a yellow. The black dragged just a bit because I didn't wait for it to dry long enough before I applied my top coat.

The other product I got from Born Pretty was a nail art wheel with little dessert-themed clay nail appliques. These are absolutely adorable and while they wouldn't be convenient for everyday nail art, I think they'd be so great for a nail art contest or a themed event.

The Born Pretty Store has really excellent pricing and a lot of variety in their products. I would definitely recommend the stamping polishes since they are totally comparable to the Konad polishes for a much lower cost. Also if you chose to order, please use the code ZR5X31 for 5% off! :)

*Products in this post were provided for my honest review.*

Darling Diva Polish 13th Colony, Resurrection, & Angel of God

Do you guys know how much I flipped out when I found out that Darling Diva Polish had created a collection of nail polish based on my favorite show in the history of television, Battlestar Galactica? She kindly agreed to send me a couple to review and I have three here to show you today (and one on the way that I ordered and you will see as soon as I get it!): 13th Colony, Resurrection, and Angel of God.

From Darling Diva Polish, "this is what I imagine the Galactica saw when she rounded Saturn and got her first look at the 13th Colony." 13th Colony is composed of earthly-colored glitter like green, blue, copper, and white. I layered two coats of 13th Colony over Milani Chocolate Sprinkles.

Resurrection is was created to resemble the fluid that cylons are "re-born" into when they are resurrection. I immediately pictured one of the "re-birth" scenes even before I read the description of this polish. Resurrection is composed of iridescent glitter and a shimmery base. This is two coats over Zoya Shelby.

Angel of God is inspired by Caprica Six and it honestly couldn't be more perfect. This one is composed of gold shimmer and different sizes of red glitter. I layered two coats of Angel of God over Zoya Rehka.

I honestly could go on for HOURS about how fabulous these polishes are. I'm so excited to get the other polish I ordered (Chrome Job!) and am seriously considering breaking down and buying the rest of the shades in this collection. If you love BSG and great polish, definitely pick up at least a couple of these! Darling Diva Polish is sold on Etsy, but is currently closed until August 19th. You can also like the Darling Diva Polish Facebook page to keep updated with new polishes.

*Products in this post were provided for my honest review.*

ATTENTION CLAIRE BELLA FROM NAILTODAY: I KNOW YOU HAVE BEEN STEALING MY POSTS, STAY AWAY FROM MY BLOG! 

Shimmer Polish Sophie, Alice, Karina, Carmen, Caroline & Liana

I just love Shimmer so much... I can't wait for you guys to see these! Let's begin with Sophie, a girly mix of pink and purple glitter. I layered Sophie here over Sation Weed Out the Wimps.

This is Alice over Sation Blue Sky's the Limit. Not only does Alice has a great mix of silver glitter, but it also has silver shimmer in it, which totally adds another dimension.

Karina is a gorgeous mix of deep red, black, and pink glitter. I layered two coats over Sation Ring Around the Horsie.

Carmen, like Alice, has shimmer in its base. This time, however, it's a coppery gold mix instead of silver. It's layered here over Sation Sun Worship-her.

This is Caroline layered over Sation Prairie Fairy. Caroline is a fantastic mixture of purple glitter.

Liana is my favorite of this set, an absolutely stunning mix of midnight blue, silver, black and medium blue glitter. I layered Liana over Sation Rock-a-guy Blue.

The formula on all of these polishes was superb. I used two coats over a base color for all of these swatches. You could easily get more coverage with more layers if you desired. Shimmer polish purchasing information can be found here, as well as product availability and more swatches. Thanks for checking these out! What one is your favorite?  

*Product(s) in this post were provided for my honest review.*

Milani Shadow Eyez 12 Hour Pencils

Hi everybody! I have some Milani swatches of a different variety for you this afternoon. These are the Milani Shadow Eyez eye shadow pencils and they are awesome! The full range of colors is swatched below and for this look, I used four of the six. I started out applying Champagne Toast to the inner section of my lid and then blended that as best I could with Brown Deluxe on the outer section. These aren't the easiest to blend together, but if you work quickly it is possible. I used Winter White as a highlight under my eye brow and Aquatic Style as a pop of color on my lower water line.

These are the six shades that the Shadow Eyez pencils are offered in swatched over primer (from left to right): Winter White, Champagne Toast, Brown Deluxe, Green Safari, Aquatic Style, and Royal Purple. I really, really love eye shadow in pencil form. It's so quick and easy to apply and control and these last a really long time over primer. I rubbed my arm really hard with my thumb after swatching these to see if they would smudge and they didn't budge one bit! All of these colors have a metallic finish with the exception of Royal Purple, which actually is kind of matte.

The Milani Shadow Eyez pencils can be purchase on the Milani website or in most drugstores that carry Milani. If you have tried these pencils, what did you think? If you haven't, would you want to?

*Products in this post were provided for my honest review.*

Milani Swatches: Part Two

Hi all! Here is the second half of the Milani nail polish swatches that I have for you, starting with Just Grayt, a nice gray shade that kind of reminds me of wet concrete.

Teddy Brown is a dirty, dusty shade of taupe. I love this type of shade for fall.
 

Natural Touch is a dirty rose pink/beige shade. Very grandma-esque.

Morning Coffee is a unique reddish brown shade. I don't own anything like this and I'm really glad to have all these browns to add to my stash.

Dark Coffee is a deep, dark brown, exactly like black coffee. Only without the nasty aftertaste. :P

Chocolate Sprinkles is my favorite out of this second set of colors. This is the most sparkly, warm, and gorgeous shade of brown that I've ever seen.

Milani polishes can be purchased at most drugstores and on their website.What do you think about browns and neutrals for fall? Are you on board?

*Product(s) in this post were provided for my honest review.*

Milani Swatches: Part One

Hola everyone! I have a bunch of Milani swatches for you, so I'm going to split them up into two different posts. There will be six more colors tomorrow as well.

Fuchsia Fierce is a fantastic bright shade of pink. What you're looking at here is two coats, but this very easily could have been a one-coater. Color me impressed.

A Rose MyLady is a shimmery pale pink. I used two coats for this swatch and did experience a bit of streaking, so make sure you let your coats dry in between.

Signature Gold is a warm gold metallic. I'm not crazy about it against my skin by itself, but I have a feeling it will be great for stamping. I used two coats here.

Pink Slippers is a sheer warm pink with some pearly shimmer mixed in. I used three coats and I was still able to see my VNL in some places.

Hipster Plum is awesome! The name cracks me up and the color is perfect. Two easy coats were all that was needed for this juicy deep purple creme.

Deep Thoughts is a gorgeous purple-blue shimmer. I love shades like this and this one really is great to have. Two easy coats here.

Milani polishes can be purchased at most drugstores and on their website. What do you think of these shades? Are you excited to see what I have for you tomorrow? :)

*Product(s) in this post were provided for my honest review.*

Essie Stroke of Brilliance & RBL Bella Glitter Sandwich

Soooo I finally got around to trying a glitter sandwich and guess what? I totally regret not trying this sooner! This is three coats of RBL Bella, one coat of the new Essie Luxeffect polish Stroke of Brilliance, and one last coat of Bella to top it off. Stroke of Brilliance is an awesome periwinkle blue shade with multiple sizes of glitter.

And here's a swatch of three coats of Rescue Beauty Lounge Bella. This is such a gorgeous and simple color. Just another RBL that I'm absolutely in love with, no big deal...

*Essie Stroke of Brilliance was received as a perk from Klout.com*

Buxom Full-Bodied Lip Gloss in Yoo-Hoo, Hey Baby, & Hot Mama

I'm back with some more lip swatches for you today. These are a couple of the Full-Bodied lip glosses from Buxom. They are made to plump your lips like the other Buxom glosses, but they are formulated without the tingly sensation for those who aren't so fond of it. They have a flat, foamy paddle-like applicator that takes a bit of getting used to, but holds just enough gloss to make applying super quick and easy.

The first color I have to show you is called Yoo-Hoo and it's a nude gloss. I'm not quite sure how I feel about nude lip shades yet. This one wasn't bad once I dabbed off a bit of the gloss so it wasn't settled down in the lines of my lips so much.

Hey Baby is a bright and shimmery fuchsia. This one applies pretty bold, but you could easily dab some of the gloss off to tone the color down a bit. I really enjoyed this color though, brightness and all!

This is Hot Mama, a bright scarlet gloss. I was really interested to see what this shade would look like on me and to tell you the truth, I really like it!

Buxom products can be purchased at Sephora stores or online at Sephora.com. The Full-Bodied glosses retail for $19 and come in a variety of shades, which can be seen here. So what do you guys think? Are you enjoying these posts? I am!

*Product(s) in this post were provided for my honest review.*

Beauty Blog Coalition Roundup: 8/11

Hi everybody! Please enjoy this week's Beauty Blog Coalition Roundup!

• Enter Mai's first Birthday Giveaway to win the Limited Edition Sugarpill Cosmetics @#$%! Eyeshadow .
• It doesn't matter old you are, Hello Kitty is for the young at heart."Kitty's" created a fragrance, and it arrives in truly cute kitty fashion. The Advice Sisters gives you the scoop on this adorable (and wearable) fragrance.
• Retrodiva's Beauty has decided on her look for the fall - and it's very unusual for her. It's all neutrals with a retro twist. Check out Anastasia of Beverly Hills' She Wears It Well palette and all the looks Retrodiva was able to re-create.
• If you love high quality multitasking products that are gorgeous and a joy to use- then behold Le Métier de Beauté's Créme Fresh Tint for Lip and Cheek in Poppy & Mystique! Lola's Secret Beauty Blog LOVES these!
• This week on Emily Hudspeth, hair design and makeup artist's blog, its been all about nails. We are wrapping up the week with a give away from Julep, the nail polish sample box. Enter to win a sample box from Julep!
• Need summer hairstyle ideas? TheFabZilla shows you this quick and fun hairstyle called "The Spiral".
• Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom spotlights some of the gorgeous polishes from various Layla Cosmetics collections.
• Phyrra is giving away a $100 Too Faced Gift Card!
• Midnight Manicures brings you a dazzling baby girl nail art manicure using It's So Easy Nail Art products.
• Can't get enough of neutral palettes? Check out the new Anastasia Beverly Hills She Wears It Well eyeshadow palette over at BeautyTidbits.
• The Nail Network shares swatches of the stunning new OPI DS shades for fall, Luxuious and Indulgence!
• Wait until you hear about the new nail polish brand, LACC, La Couleur Couture, that Polarbelle found at Cosmoprof 2012!!
• NYX Cosmetics has introduced a new approach to eyeliner - ergonomics! Check out BeautyJudy's review and swatches of The Curve Liner.
• Ashley from Peek & Ponder shares her review of the She Wears It Well eye shadow palette by Anastasia.
• Laura from My Newest Addiction Beauty Blog has fallen in love with another taupe, NARS Lhasa!
• Oh So Lacquered falls head over heels for Orly Preamp.
• Connie from Mimi's Mani's shares some eyeshadows with anti-aging ingredients for her aging eyes!
• Stephanie Louise- All Things Beautiful is ready for fall nail colors! Here is Zoya's Diva Collection. I promise you'll want AT LEAST one!
• Beauty Info Zone has two giveaways this week. Come see what goodies you can win.
• REVIEW: Salon Grafix Conditioning Cleanser. Shades Of Beauty, Inc blog asks, do I need to spend the money on WEN by Chez Dean?
• Sheila from Painted Ladies shares three simple steps to smooth, callus-free feet in the latest Breaking Down Beauty.
• Check out Miss L´s from Beauty by Miss L eye makeup look done using only blue from MAC Dynamic Duo 2 and Blackout from Urban Decay Naked 2 palette.
• Making Up the Midwest gets a little messy with her spilled paint nail tutorial!
• Summer may be drawing to a close, but beauty trends are still heating up. Check out The Lacquered Lady'smust-have summer beauty products.
• Short nails can be cute nails! Check out this easy dotting tool manicure at Cosmetics Aficionado.
• Sarah from Scottish Beauty Blog finds out how to get flawless makeup with Laura Mercier's national makeup artist, Chris Howells.
• BB Cream is a huge beauty trend these days, and Christina from Curls N Pearls decided to give the Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream a try. Was she sold on it? Check out the review here!
• Pammy Blogs Beauty is Too Faced's "Beauty Blogger of the Month" (Level 3) for August 2012! Come check out the announcement post and a $25.00 Too Faced Gift Card Giveaway!!!
• Head to Spontaneous Chick to find out why she loves Cristophe hair products and findout if they're right for you.
• Get golden eyes this Summer!
• Don't let becoming a sweaty mess keep you from getting your workout done! Mama Fashionista shares some beauty essentials that will help you keep it together!
• Need a lift? Check out GG Gatsby's Over-the-top Root Lift Spray!
• Are you an AVEENO Active Natural? Hello Dollface wants you to learn more about it and enter to win some cool gardening tools!
• Olympians aren't the only ones sporting gold right now. Check out Blushing Basics for tips on what golds are available for you.
• Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim 2013 continues to steam up the beauty scenes with innovative hairstyles and thanks to TRESemme's Matthew Curtis, from the UK -- Elite Socialistas grants you access to these sexy hair trends -- haute off the runway!
• Brooke from BlushingNoir dives into the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale and surfaces with an exclusive Chanel Quad! See how to apply a neutral, smoky eye with Rives!

Beauty Box 5 Review

I recently become really obsessed with finding monthly subscription beauty boxes and Beauty Box 5 was one of the first ones I found that sparked my interest. Beauty Box 5 subscriptions cost $12 a month, but you also have the opportunity to subscribe quarterly and yearly to get a better deal! The boxes contain four or five beauty samples each month. You can get more info and see the brands that could end up in your box on their website: www.beautybox5.com/. The lovely folks over at BB5 were kind enough to send me a sample box, so I have the review of that for you all today.

These were the four product samples that were included in my box, from left to right, Curls Gel-les'c, Spongeables Pedi-Scrub Foot Buffer, Blinc mascara, and Bodyography Makeup Primer.

1. Curls Gel-les'c - This is a gel that is meant to help keep curly hair in check. It supposedly helps to reduce frizz, make your hair shinier, and keep your curls in place. My hair is naturally wavy, not curly, so this product didn't really do much for me. The full size of this gel retails at $25.

2. Spongeables Pedi-Scrub Foot Buffer - This is an interesting little product. I don't generally use buffers on my feet, but I tried this one out and really liked it. It made my feet nice and soft and wasn't painful at all. And at $2.99, I would definitely purchase these!

3. Blinc Mascara - I've heard of these "tubing" mascaras before but never had the chance to try any previous to getting this sample in my BB5 box. I LOVE IT. If you are looking for a waterproof and flake free mascara, look no further. I experienced absolutely no smudging or flaking at all after wearing this mascara for at least a week. The best part? All you have to do to remove the tubes is wet your fingers with warm water and pull them off! The full size tube retails at $26, which I know is kind of steep, but it is truly worth it in my opinion.

4. Bodyography Makeup Primer - I'm having a really hard time deciding if this or the mascara was my favorite product in this box... this primer is like silk on your face. I literally went "ooooh" when I first applied it and I have definitely noticed a difference in the wear-time of my make up since I started using this. The Bodyography primer is oil-free and helps reduce the look of fine lines. This one retails at $30, but again, totally worth it.

So in conclusion, I'd say three out of four ain't bad! I'm very, very excited about this box and so glad that I got the chance to review it. Thank you BB5!

*Product(s) in this post were provided for my honest review.*