SquareHue December Box Review & Swatches

This month's SquareHue box was inspired by the Finnish town of Rovaniemi, which is supposedly the hometown of Santa Claus. Not surprisingly, the three shades in this box are Christmas-themed!

Joulupukin Pajakyla is a beautiful ruby red with a stunning red shimmer. Great formula and coverage in two easy coats.

Sampokeskus is a textured straw gold with glitter. It dries more matte than textured, but still very pretty. This first picture is two coats with no top coat and the second is with one coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Revontuli is my favorite color in the trio, but had the worst formula. It dries to a pretty suede finish, but the formula is thick and doesn't even itself out. I like it best with top coat, as seen in the second photo. It has so much dimension when it's shiny! This is two coats.

Are you digging these shades? I have to say that I love them even though the formula was a bit lacking this month.  You can sign up for your own SquareHue box by visiting their website, www.squarehue.com!

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

TDOCNAS: Day 10: Textured Ornament Nail Art

Happy Friday!! I'm so excited for this weekend so I can finish up some wrapping and just relax. The past few weeks have been so crazy and as much as I love the holidays, I can't wait for things to calm down a bit. I wanted to do ornament nails since last year and my initial inspiration was to do them as half moons, but I like how they turned out at the tips!

I started out with a base of China Glaze Cranberry Splash and used a matte top coat over it. I painted the ornaments using OPI Honey Ryder, Zoya Chita, Zoya Sunshine, and OPI Baby Please Come Home. To finish the design, I used a nail art brush to create the ornament tops and string with Zoya Trixie.

What do you think? Did you put up a tree this year? Real or fake? We went to a tree farm and picked out our tree this year and it's so full and wild, I love it!!

OPI Top This! Set Review/Swatches

Today I have one of OPI's holiday gift sets for you, the Top This! set. This gift set contains Matte Top Coat, Top Coat, and Snowflakes in the Air, a gorgeous chunky glitter top coat.

This is two coats of OPI Incognito in Sausalito with one coat of Top Coat.

This is two coats of Incognito in Sausalito with two coats of Snowflakes in the Air over it. Word of warning for Snowflakes in the Air: prop the bottle upside down for a little while before you paint your nails so the glitter is easier to grab.

And finally, this is one coat of Matte Top Coat over two coats of Snowflakes in the Air over Incognito in Sausalito.

This set retails for $27 and can be purchased wherever OPI is sold. Snowflakes in the Air is definitely a stunner!

Products in this post were provided for my honest review.

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.

OPI DS Lapis & Pewter Review/Swatches

Hey everyone! I have swatches of the newest DS shades by OPI for you this morning. They are awesome so consider yourselves warned!!

DS Lapis is a midnight blue matte with silver glitter. It has a great formula and needs two coats for opacity.

This is DS Lapis with top coat. I honestly can't decide which version I like better! They're both so gorgeous.

DS Pewter is a (you guessed it!) pewter shade with a mix of micro and small silver glitter. This also dries to a matte finish and it slightly textured.

Here is DS Pewter with top coat. Again, perfect either way.

These shades are available now online and wherever OPI is sold. Have you picked either of these up yet? You certainly won't regret it!

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

KBShimmer Fall 2013 Collection Review/Swatches

Wakey wakey everyone!! I have the brand spankin' new KBShimmer Fall 2013 collection to share with you this morning! It has been torture keeping these a secret from you but I can finally share today. Let's get right to it!

You Autumn Know is a white-based polish with orange, magenta, and yellow hex and micro bar glitter. This is three coats.

Teal Another Tail is the shining star of this collection: a gorgeous teal green with an almost duo-chrome pink shimmer. This is three thin coats.

Turbulence is a gray polish with a satin matte finish. There is also some silver, blue, and fuchsia shimmer in this one. This is two coats.

This is two coats of Turbulence with one coat of Clearly on Top topcoat. I love how the topcoat brings out the shimmer!

Every Nook & Cranberry is a satin matte polish in a gorgeous cranberry red/pink shade with pink and gold shimmer. This is two coats.

This is two coats of Every Nook & Cranberry with one coat of Clearly on Top. Again, love how the shimmer comes out with topcoat!

You Go Ghoul! is a mix of orange and purple glitter in a black base, perfect for Halloween! This is two coats over a black base.

Excuse Me, I Blurpled is a blue-ish purple shade with blue, purple, and copper glitter. This is two coats.

Vicious Circles is a red jelly with silver circle glitter in two different sizes, as well as silver hex and micro bar glitters. This is three thin coats.

These polishes will be available for purchase on September 1st and retail for $8.75 each from KBShimmer's website. I always get so excited to see what Christy has cooked up for each season and never disappoints me! My picks for this collection are Teal Another Tail, You Autumn Know, and Every Nook & Cranberry. Which ones are you loving?

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

KBShimmer The Grape Beyond & Would Jubilee It? Review/Swatches

For those of you who have never experienced this brand before, KBShimmer is an awesome company headed by Christy, a fantastic lady who makes equally fantastic polishes and other products! KBShimmer is celebrating it's 5th year in business this month and to celebrate, Christy designed this beautiful polish duo. These two shades will be sold separately, but were created to work well together.

The Grape Escape is a medium matte purple polish with turquoise shimmer. The first coat of this polish was a little bit streaky, but the second coat evened out perfectly.

This is two coats of The Grape Escape with topcoat. I love how the topcoat makes the turquoise shimmer really pop! This is definitely one of my favorite color combos!

Would Jubilee It? is a glitter topper created with all of Christy's favorite glitter (which happen to be a lot of mine, too!). This clear base is packed with fuchsia, aqua, and silver circle glitter, as well as a mix of other glitter. This is two coats over The Grape Escape.

This duo will be launching on August 8th on KBShimmer's website. As always, keep updated with them on Facebook for all the first looks at new shades! Will you be picking up one or both of these shades? You know that I totally recommend that you do!

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

SoFlaJo My Sign's Aquarium Swatch/Review

Hello! Today I have a new beauty from SoFlaJo's Wet Dreams collection to share with you. My Sign's Aquarium is a cool shade of aqua that dries with a satin finish. It's not quite as green as it looks in my photos, but it was a little difficult to capture correctly. This first photo shows two coats alone so you can see the satin finish.

This second photo has two coats of My Sign's Aquarium with topcoat. The topcoat really brings out the glitter!

This polish, as well as the others in the collection, are available for purchase now from SoFlaJo's website. Do you like satin/matte finishes or do you prefer your manis with topcoat?

This products was sent to me by SoFlaJo in exchange for an honest review.

KBShimmer Summer 2013 Collection Swatches/Review

Hello! I have swatches of the amazing summer collection from KBShimmer to share with you guys today. More info will be at the bottom of this post, but I'm going to get right to the pictures!

Don't Pink Twice is a matte neon pink with some subtle blue shimmer. This is three coats.

Grayscale is easily the best black and white glitter topper ever created. It has black and white glitter, as well as gray in a bunch of different shapes and sizes. AND THERE IS LARGE BLACK ROUND GLITTER. This is two coats over Don't Pink Twice.

24 Carrot Bold is the orange counterpart to Don't Pink Twice: red-orange with gold shimmer. This is three coats.

What's Your Damage? is a white-based polish with neon pink, neon green, and black glitter. This is two coats over a white base.

Pimp My Pride is another white-based polish, but with red and blue glitter mixed in.  This is three coats with no white base.

Totally Tubular is far and away my favorite of this collection (and my current pedi color). This turquoise stunner is packed full of aqua, blue, and magenta glitter, including round glitter! I used three coats for maximum glitter and color payoff.

The Dancing Green is a shamrock-green crelly (cream/jelly) finish with purple, green, and blue glitter. This is three coats.

Blinded by the Bright is a neon yellow filled with a rainbow of glitter. This is three coats by itself. Being a neon, it didn't photograph quite right and is actually more highlighter yellow than it appears in my photo.

It's Razz-ical has silver, magenta, and pink glitter in a raspberry colored jelly base. This is three coats.

All of these swatches are topped off with one coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top (my new fav topcoat!). These polishes are available for purchase right now HERE and retail for $8.75. My top picks are Totally Tubular and Grayscale. Which ones are you picking up?

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

Fandom Series: 'Bad Wolf' Doctor Who Nail Art

Good morning! I hope everyone had a lovely weekend! I have a second design in my Fandom Series to share with you today and it is Doctor Who themed! Very fitting since I believe a new episode aired over the weekend. It sucks not having BBC America!

Also, happy birthday to the greatest fiancé in the world! Love you! :*

In honor of one of my favorite companion, Rose, I chose to do Bad Wolf nails instead of the typical TARDIS-inspired art. I started out with two coats of ManGlaze Matte is Murder and then hand painted the words using a plain white polish.

Do you watch Doctor Who? Who was your favorite companion?

MASH Stamping Plate & Matte Polish Review

Happy Friday everyone! I have a review of some products that were sent to me by MASH for you guys today. I got a set of their stamping plates and some matte polish. You can find the stamping plates at this link and the matte polish here.

The first stamping mani I did was with China Glaze Harvest Moon over Zoya Jacqueline. I'm not the best at centering the full nail stamps, but the designs did stamp pretty well regardless. I also like shimmer of Harvest Moon for the stamp instead of a solid, plain color.

This second mani turned out okay, but not great. I had a bit of a problem with this image bleeding out at the edges, even though I tried not to press too hard when I stamped it. This is China Glaze 2NITE stamped over Milani Rapid Orchid.

Last but not least, this is one coat of the MASH Matte Polish over Black Cat Lacquer She's In Parties. This isn't the most mattifying top coat out there, but it does work very well! I love it over glitter like this!

Do any of you guys own these plates or the matte top coat? I am such a big fan of stamping; it's such a great way to create really complex looking nail art in a short amount of time. Are you going to pick either of these products up?

These products were provided by the company for my honest review.

New for 2013: Nicole by OPI Swatches/Review

Hola amigos! Today I have some swatches of four new shades that Nicole by OPI is releasing for 2013. The first color I have to show you is called Please Red-cycle and is a juicy tomato red creme with a slight orange-y tinge. I needed two coats.

Still Into Pink is a super bright, barbie pink. It dried matte; I'm not sure if this is the intended finish or not, but I really like it! This is two coats left to dry by itself.

 And this is two coats of Still Into Pink with one coat of topcoat.

Plum to Your Senses is a deep, shimmery plum purple. I used two coats here as well.

Totally in the Dark is a very pretty black polish with silver shimmer. This is a great one to wear if you want to wear black polish but don't want it to look quite so harsh. Two coats for opacity.

From Nicole by OPI: "Nicole by OPI Nail Lacquers and Nail Treatments contain no DBP, Toluene, or Formaldehyde. These will be available in stores beginning January 2013 for $7.99 each at retailers including select Walmart, Target, CVS, Rite Aid, Kmart, Kroger, ULTA, H-E-B, Meijer and Duane Reade locations."

Products provided for review