Layering: I Need a Refresh-Mint and KelBel Cosmetics Flora

Today I have a store bought and home made nail polish combo!

I recently purchased Wet n Wild I Need a Refresh-Mint because I had been seeing it everywhere and for $1.99, I felt I HAD to own it. Of course right after I bought it, G from Nouveau Cheap (one of my favorite blogs) made this post comparing Refresh-Mint to China Glaze For Audrey. Apparently, they're dead-on dupes. Despite this, I'm still happy to own both. This is one of my favorite nail polish colors and the more versions of it I own, the better.

Please pardon the smudge on my middle finger. I really need to realize the difference between quick dry and instant dry. Just because I use Seche Vite, does not mean it is immediately dry to the touch after 5 seconds. Luckily I knew I'd be layering over this, so the smudge was no big deal. Overall, I like I Need a Refresh-Mint a lot. The color is beautiful and classic. I didn't have too much of the problem with the new, wider brush. The formula is better on For Audrey, but the formula on Refresh-mint was nice as well.

Next, I layered Flora over Refresh-mint. Flora is actually a color shifting top coat that I made and is now available in my Etsy shop! My shop is called KelBel Cosmetics and you can visit the shop here. All of the polish in the shop is made by me using clear 3 free lacquer base mixed with micas, pigments and glitters. I'll be adding more to the shop and making frequent updates in the next few months.

Flora shifts from pink to gold and has some shades in between depending on what you layer it over. The effect is a lot more subtle over a light color, but I love the combination it makes with Refresh-mint.

These pictures don't really do this combination justice. I love this in person (and not just because I made the top coat). I used two coats of Refresh-mint and two coats of Flora and topped it all off with Seche Vite of course. 

I hope you enjoy this combination. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Pretty & Polished: Galactus and Party on my Yacht

Today I have swatches of the first two polishes from Pretty & Polished! I showed you my haul from Chels' Etsy shop a little while ago. She makes some great creations, so be sure to check out her Etsy shop (linked above).

I wanted a simple, quick mani since things have been busy around here. With that in mind, I figured the perfect combination would be Galactus and Party on my Yacht. No stamping or nail art required.

Mini bottle shots

I decided to do a mani of Galactus, which is a purple polish with very subtle holo shimmer. I love purples and I can safely say this will be added to my list of favorite purples. I used two coats and a top coat of Seche Vite to give it a glossy finish. The application was great, easy to work with and opaque. I would have liked a bit more holo in this one, but maybe it was just my bottle or I didn't shake it enough. 

Then I put three coats of Party on my Yacht on my ring finger as an accent nail. Party on my Yacht is a white creme polish packed with hex and bar glitter in pink, purple, gold, green and blue. It's probably one of my favorites from Pretty & Polished that I own. It actually reminds me a little of Mardi Gras in a bottle. I had a little trouble with the application on the first ring finger, but then I got better with the second nail. I think the trick is waiting a little for the coats to set. 

The last two photos show the holo a little bit more. It was hard to capture since I didn't have sunlight to work with, but it's there. I love this mani (and pardon my short nails) and I'm definitely looking forward to trying out more of Chels' creations. And stay tuned because I should have a savings code for you in upcoming posts!

What do you think of this mani? Do you own any creations from Pretty & Polished? Do you plan on picking some up? 


*The products in this post were provided to me at a discount for consideration. Please see my disclosure page for more details. 

Nail Mail: Pretty & Polished

First, I want to say a great big hello to my new blog followers! Thank you for following my blog and I hope you've enjoyed the posts so far!

I'm going to keep this post pretty short. Today started with me forgetting to set an alarm and waking up a whole 40 minutes late. Me waking up that late has never happened. I was so confused and frazzled trying to get out of the house on time. I skipped my shower and coffee in the morning, and the whole day I just felt so out of it. I still managed to get to work on time though.

And on top of all that, my cold that stopped two day ago decided to come back today. Yay me! 

But that doesn't matter, because the other day I got some nail mail! Chels from Pretty & Polished makes some awesome polishes that she sells through her Etsy shop. She recently provided me with some at a discount for review and they arrived earlier this week!

I don't have swatches just yet, but here are some bottle shots for you to enjoy!

From Left to Right: Nova, Martian Salad, Cryptid, Galactus, and Party on my Yacht.

I can't wait to wear them all! Most of them are holos and Party on My Yacht is a glitter polish with a white base. My reviews and swatches will be coming in the next few weeks! 

Do you own any from Pretty & Polished? Do you plan on picking any up from Etsy? What are your favorite Etsy shops?

*These products were provided to me at a discount by Pretty & Polished for review.