Happy HAUL-idays Giveaway! Win $100 Giftcard to Ulta or Sephora, Your Choice!

 
Good morning! How would you like an extra $100 to treat yourself to some goodies during the stressful holiday season? Enter below for your chance to win and make sure you check out all the bloggers who are involved in this giveaway (linked below)! Happy Friday!

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Special thanks to the following blogs for sponsoring this giveaway:

Adventures in Polishland

BeautyGnome

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Cosmetic Sanctuary

Glisten and Glow

Love for Lacquer

mandie's manicures

manicurator

Nail A College Drop Out
Pointless Cafe

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The Lacquerologist

The Nail Network

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XO, Noelle

TDOCNAS: Day 1: 365 Days of Color Elf-Tastic Christmas Collection Swatches/Review & Elf Nail Art

Good morning everyone!! Today is the kickoff of my Twelve Day of Christmas nail art series (or TDOCNAS for short). This series will post on Monday/Wednesday/Friday starting today and ending on Christmas day. I couldn't think of a better way to start off the series than with a collection and some nail art inspired by one of my very favorite holiday movies, "Elf"! The Elf-Tastic Christmas collection by 365 Days of Color consists of four gorgeous shades inspired by the movie "Elf". Let's take a look!

SANTA!! OH MY GOD!! is a gorgeous warm pink holographic shade with a great formula. This is three coats.

Code of Elves is a sheer jelly gray polish with a gorgeous mix of gold, white, blue, gold, and black glitter, as well as snowflake glitter! I prefer a more opaque look, so I chose to layer two coats over Zoya Carey.

Cotton-Headed Ninnymuggins was inspired by Buddy's outfit and consists of gold, green, pink, and a random mix of other colors in a clear base. This is two coats over OPI My Vampire's Buff.

Four Main Food Groups is a fantastic mix of mainly red, green, gold, and white glitter in a clear base. This one truly reminds me of candy! This is two coats over Rescue Beauty Lounge Bella.

Since Cotton-Headed Ninnymuggins was inspired by Buddy's outfit in the movie, I decided to do some nail art inspired by his outfit and the poster for the movie. I used a base of OPI My Vampire's Buff and sponged Cotton-Headed Ninnymuggins on all but my index finger.

For Buddy's outfit, I used Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Lightning for the tights, Zoya Hunter for the outline of the jacket, Zoya Apple for the inside of the coat, China Glaze Mingle with Kringle for the belt buckle, and a black liquid eyeliner pen for the belt and shoes. The shoes didn't come out the greatest but overall I think it's adorable!

This collection is available now on 365 Days of Color's online store! ;) I'm so in love with this entire collection! Which is your favorite? Do you love "Elf" as much as I do?? Make sure to come back on Monday for day two of the Twelve Days of Christmas series!!

The products in this post were provided for my honest review.

Happy Thanksgiving Feather Gradient Nail Art!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful day and eat tons of delicious food! I'll be at my parents' house all day doing just that. ;) I love me a good gradient and this autumn-inspired one has me drooling almost as much as the thought of pumpkin pie!

To create the gradient, I dug through my collection and found a light tan, a burnt orange, a red, and a darker berry red (I'm so sorry I don't remember exactly which ones I used!). I painted all my nails with the light tan and then painted stripes of each color onto a sponge and sponged them onto my nails. Once that was all dry, I stamped a feather image onto each nail with white polish and finished with top coat.

What are you wearing on your nails for Thanksgiving? Are you going Black Friday shopping? I hope everyone stays warm and safe out there, I know how nuts it can get!

J & L Creations Autumn Splendor, Mistletoe, & Peppermint Swatches/Review

Good morning all! Are you prepared for Thanksgiving tomorrow? I've got some delicious pumpkin bars to bake tonight and then I'll be all ready! Today I have some beautiful polishes from J & L Creations, plus a yummy bar of soap to review for you!

Autumn Splendor is a mix of orange, white, and yellow glitter in a sheer white base. This is three coats and it had a great formula!

Mistletoe is a unique shade of green with a creme finish. This is two easy coats.

Peppermint is a lovely mix of red, gold, and white glitter in a clear base. This is two coats over Mistletoe. It doesn't get more Christmassy than this!

They were also kind enough to send me a bar of soap to review. I bought some vegan soap at a craft show at the end of the summer and have been utterly obsessed ever since, so I was really excited about this! It smells soooo good and performs just as well. I love it and would definitely recommend!

You can order from J & L Creations on Etsy and also make sure you like their Facebook page to stay updated with them! I would definitely recommend both their soaps and polishes; they both have great formulas and are beautiful!

Products in this post were provided for my honest review.

Different Dimension Happy Holly Days Collection Swatches/Review

Good morning everyone! I have some very pretty polishes from Different Dimension to share with you today. This is the Happy Holly Days collection. There are a lot of fantastic polishes here with a great mix of finishes, so check them out! :)

Mistle-Toad is a pine green linear holographic polish. There is also some shimmer mixed into this one that gives it a beautiful almost duochrome effect. This is two coats.

Can We Carol On is a gorgeous silvery lavender holographic with shimmer. This is so perfect and wintery! I used two coats here.

Load of Baubles is a baby pink shade with tons of blue shimmer that dries to a matte finish. This is three coats without top coat.

This is three coats of Load of Baubles with one coat of top coat.

Why Am I Such a Misfit? is a great mix of neon glitter in a white jelly base. I don't really dig the jelly finish, so I layered two coats over Zoya Kennedy. I did have a bit of an issue getting the bigger glitters out of the bottle.

This is Not Fir is a green jelly polish with green and silver glitter. I chose to layer two coats of this over Zoya Hunter. I had issue getting the larger glitter out of this one too.

I Only Have Ice for You is a stunning silver top coat packed with silver glitter and a holographic finish. This is one coat over Zoya Monica. Absolute perfection!

You're Not Making Any Frankincense is a mix of gold and silver glitter in a clear base. This is two coats over China Glaze Red-y and Willing.

Christmahanakwanzika is a mix of colors from the three most popular winter holidays: Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. There are red, green, yellow, blue, and black glitters in this clear base. This is two coats over Zoya Neely.

Don't Be the Santa of Everything is a mix of green, gold, and red glitter in a clear base. This is two coats over OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons. I love these Christmassy glitter top coats!

That's Snow Joke is a mix of blue, white, and silver glitter in a shimmery base. I layered two coats here over OPI My Vampire's Buff. I love how frosty this looks!

Tinselitis is a mix of silver round glitter and shimmer in a clear base. This is one coat over Zoya Sailor.

This collection is available right now for purchase on Different Dimension's Etsy page. My top three picks are Mistle-Toad, Can We Carol On, and I Only Have Ice for You. Which ones catch your eye?

Products in this post were provided for my honest review.

OPI Taylor Blue Review/Swatch

Good morning everyone! Today I have a very special polish to show you called OPI Taylor Blue. Taylor Blue is made for the Taylor's Gift Foundation, which works to increase the amount of people who are registered organ donors. The foundation is named after Taylor Paige Storch, who died at the age of thirteen, but saved or improved the lives of five different people because she was an organ donor.

The color is a fantastic shade of creamy turquoise and was perfect in two coats. The cost for each bottle of polish is a $10 donation to the Taylor's Gift Foundation. You can also choose to contribute more to the foundation or purchase a holiday gift pack, which includes a Taylor's Gift book and two Taylor's Gift bracelets.

This is a cause that I feel very strongly about and I think it's great that Taylor's Gift was able to team up with OPI to offer this polish! I know I'll be wearing this gorgeous shade often, especially in the summer months. To purchase Taylor Blue, please visit the Taylor's Gift store. I'm an organ donor, are you?

Products in this post were provided for my honest review.

How to Make Your Own Nail Polish Ornaments!

Good morning everyone! A couple of days ago I went Christmas shopping and picked up some clear glass ornaments with the intention of using them to make some ornaments for my tree. I have a bunch of different ideas for them, but the one I was most excited about was nail polish ornaments! There was a lot of interest in them when I posted about them on Instagram, so I thought I would make up a tutorial post with step by step instructions on how to make them! :)

These are a really great craft because you don't need many supplies and what you do need is pretty cheap! You'll need a bottle of nail polish (which I'm sure you all have bunches of!), a clear glass ornament (you can find these at any craft store, I think mine were $4.99 for a pack of 12), and a small jar with a paper towel in the bottom of it. I used China Glaze Santa Red My List for this one.

Remove the little silver cap from the ornament (duh). They pop out really easily, you just have to pull a little.

Dump a whole bunch of polish into that sucker. You'll be dumping most of the excess back into the nail polish bottle so don't be afraid to pour a lot in. It'll make your life easier!

Swirl the ornament around to completely coat the inside with the polish. Do it slowly to avoid bubbles. This can get time consuming if you are using a slightly thicker polish. I made some ornaments using textured polish and they took a while to coat and I had to keep adding more because the polish didn't flow as smoothly, BUT they turned out amazing, so it was totally worth it.

Once your ornament is thoroughly coated, pour the extra polish back into the bottle.

Once you get most of the polish back in the bottle (or you get tired of holding it), place the ornament upside down on top of your jar. The paper towels will catch the leftover polish and your ornament has a safe place to dry. Once it's dry (I left mine overnight), pop the ornament top back on and go put that beauty on your tree!

I used about 1/5 to 1/4 of a bottle of polish for each ornament. Pretty much any polish will work for these, but glitters/heavy shimmers/holographics will have the most stunning results. From left to right here I have:
Row 1: KBShimmer Don't Pink Twice, Teal Another Tail, Will Yule Marry Me?
Row 2: OPI DS Pewter, OPI Silent Stars Go By, Zoya Chita
Row 3: China Glaze Santa Red My List 

And here is my beauty Will Yule Marry Me? on display. These little ornament hooks are a great way to show off your favorite polish ornament!

 

Will you be making some of these? What polish are you dying to see an ornament made from?

Serum No. 5 Review/Swatches

Good morning! I have swatches of some random Serum No. 5 shades for you all today.

Lei Down the Law is a beautiful mixture of blue, lime, pink, white, and black matte glitter in a clear base. This is two coats over Seche Happy, As Is.

As a Matte'a Fact is a shimmery silver top coat that dries to a satin matte finish. This is two coats over Seche Intuition.

Burning Orchid is a gorgeous shimmery purple top coat. This is one coat over Seche Clever and Confident. 

Twilight Sparks is a super shimmery green with bits of gold. This is two coats.

Eternal Sunshine is a shimmery golden yellow that needed three coats for opacity. 

Serum No. 5 polishes can be purchased from their online store. You can also keep up with them on Facebook!

The products in this post were provided for my honest review.

PopSugar Must Have November Box Review/Photos

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. I have a review of my November PopSugar box for you today. I was really happy with this box and am even more excited for December's box! I'm hoping for an explosion of holiday-themed goodness.

The first thing I saw when I opened my box was this bag of caramel covered Apple Chips from Barefruit (~$3.50). These are delicious! I've been on the look out for relatively healthy snacks and these are perfect. I guess sea salt caramel is really popular right now and it works so well with the apple chips.

I was really excited to see the Absolute! Nail Polish Remover Pads ($2.99) in here. They are acetone free and perfect for keeping in your purse. They don't work as well as my beloved Zoya Remove+, but they are excellent to have around in a mani emergency.

The Maison de Monaco Strawberry & Blackcurrent Cream Preserves (~$6) tastes so incredible. I made peanut butter toast and put this on top and it was like I died and went to heaven. So tasty!

I also received a gift card to CanvasPop.com ($30) to use toward a canvas photo print. This is something that seems perfectly chosen for me, as I love photography and I've been wanting to get a nice canvas print made for a while. Now I just have to decide which photo to use!

Are you still with me? Because the best is yet to come! There was a CANDLE in this box!! Do you know how much I love (re: hoard) candles!? This Naughty candle from Illume ($15.75) smells like a yummy man to me, but more specifically like exotic spice, precious woods, and white musk (Illume's description). A definite winner.

But it gets even better! I've been obsessed with handmade, vegan bar soaps for the past few months and there happened to be a bar in this box! The Soap & Paper Factory makes this amazing Roland Pine Shea Butter soap ($8). The shea butter left my skin feeling so soft and the scent is absolutely perfect. It has a fabulous pine scent without being fake or overwhelming.

The tan and red piece in the back is a canvas wine tote from Land's End ($14.50). I've just recently cultivated an appreciation for wine and will love bringing this to parties and even to wine festivals to easily carry around a purchased bottle. Land's End also makes up to a six bottle tote if you're a bigger wine aficionado! ;) 

Last, but most certainly not least, is this gorgeous Folk Art scarf/wrap from Michael Stars ($42). It's so big that you could wear it as a shawl or wrap, but I prefer it in the form of a scarf. It's so cozy and bold!

The overall value of this box is approximately $120! I absolutely love these PopSugar boxes; getting these boxes is like getting a little box of birthday or Christmas presents every month! And I know I said it in the beginning of this post, but I'm so excited to see what is in December's box! What did you like the most from this box? I'm torn between the candle and the soap! Do you hoard candles like I do?

If you are interested in signing up for the PopSugar Must Have box, pretty please use my referral link: http://popsu.gr/hWxB. :) The monthly price has increased to $39.95, but I believe you can still use code REFER5 to get $5 off your first box and there are also discounted rates for signing up for multiple months at a time.

Zoya Zenith Collection Review/Swatches

Goooood morning! Today I have the Zoya Zenith collection that I'm excited to share with you. This collection is amazing; Zoya really knows how to deliver!

Cassedy is a beautiful pewter metallic that leans slightly green. This is two easy coats.

Seraphina is the most delicate pale silver shimmer to ever grace my nails. This is three thin coats.

Belinda is a deep, juicy purple that radiates blue shimmer when the light hits just right. This is two coats.

Payton is a warm deep maroon shade with flecks of holographic glitter. Gorgeous color and great formula; this is two coats.

Dream has the same finish as Payton, but is a rich royal blue shade instead. Same great formula and coverage: two coats here.

Mosheen is a distractingly pretty top coat consisting of iridescent bar and round glitter in shades of turquoise. This is two coats over Sailor from Zoya's Cashmere collection.

The Zenith collection is available now on www.zoya.com and each polish retails for $8. You can also purchase the set packaged together for $48. I'm curious what you guys think of Zoya's take on holographic polishes. Do you love them or wish they were more holographic?

Products in this post were provided for my honest review.