Cult Nails NYC Meetup & Swag!

Hey readers! I'm finally motivated to get something posted after a great experience last night! Last night was the NYC meetup event that was hosted by Maria (and family) of Cult Nails. The event was at Bowlmor Lanes in Times Square. After much internal debating, I decided to go and I'm so glad I did!

I had a great time at the event. Not only did I meet Maria, who is the founder/creator of one of my favorite indie nail polish lines, but I also met some other great nail polish enthusiasts. Many were bloggers, other were other nail polish makers and others there to have a great time with people who share the same passion.

I'm sure we all have out moments where we want to squee and tell our everyday friends about some great nail polish find, a particular brand or how it's a bummer that we broke a nail. And we know that sometimes people just don't understand how you can have 50 shades of purple, but they're all different! So it was nice to meet other people that understand nail polish.

Of some of the people there were the creator of Twee & Honey who was sweet enough to make a special batch of polish just for the meetup (more on that later). Also there were Christi who works for Jesse's Girl (and also provided some goodies), Claudia of Chromatic Misadventures, Amy from Gotham Polish, Carly from Lacquered Lover, and many more!

It was a fun night of bowling and polish (I did decent enough at bowling), and I'm very glad I decided to go. Hopefully there will be more events like this in the future, not only with Cult Nails, but with other bloggers in general.

Also, please forgive me that I only took one picture at the event (that I posted to Instagram). I didn't have my camera with me, just my phone. But check out the Cult Nails facebook page for some pictures Maria took!

And finally, onto the swag. I know it's been a big Justin Bieber term lately, but swag also stands for stuff we all get! Maria was so generous in giving everyone a gift bag at the end of the night. I was amazed by all the stuff in the bag and the tote bags are cute by themselves. I got Nevermore, Mazo and Feelin' Froggy! I don't have any of those, which is exciting. I also traded Pryanka Seduction for Iconic. (It was Pyranka's birthday too!) I also now own a Cult Nails glass nail file, which I've also had my eye on for a while.

Christi also gave us some Jesse's Girl goodies! Eye shadow and eye shadow primer, which I am looking forward to using. I've needed to get some new primer, so I'm excited to see how this one works. Thanks Christi! 

And lastly is my Twee & Honey swag! The polish was made specially for the event, the bottle with purple liquid is nail polish remover (so thoughtful!) and those business cards are just adorable!

There's nail polish on the business card!

I'm really looking forward to trying this glitter bomb! It will have a special place in my stash. I can't say enough good things about the lovely people I met last night. Who knew that polish could introduce me to so many new people.

Were you at the Cult Nails event? If you were, how did you like the event? Did any of you go to the MA Cult Nails event? If I got anyone's information or name wrong, please let me know! I'll be adding a bunch of the girls to my blog roll now that I'm pretty sure the blog rolls are safe again. 

Over 3,000! (with Zoya Bevin and a cat)

Hey all! Just a quick post to let you all know that I reached 3,000 page views! This little blog is making it's way in the world. I wanted to let you know that I greatly appreciate every single page view and comment. I love interacting with all of you in the nail world.

To celebrate (I guess), here are some swatches of Zoya Bevin that I actually took a while ago. I love this color and the application was great. I believe this is two coats with top coat.

And just for fun, here's a picture of my cat, Ripley, alseep. (When she's awake she's a crazy raptor.)

 

Late Memorial Day / Happy July 4th!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope my American followers (and our Canadian friends too) are enjoying the day. I love the 4th of July because it means BBQ, fireworks and just an all-around good time with friends and family. Plus, the New Girl episode where they play True American is on right now. Happy 4th!

(PS: Head over to KelBel Cosmetics and check out my 15% off sale! )

I did realize though that I never got around to posting my Memorial Day manicure. So today I'll post that and  soon I'll post my actual July 4th inspired manicure.

My Memorial Day manicure was a polish that I was working on for KelBel Cosmetics over two coats of Brucci Snow White. I didn't name the polish, but it's basically red and blue hearts in a white base. It was difficult to get the hearts out though. The manicure itself came out a bit thick since I had quite a few layers of polish on. 

Overall, I did like this combination and I thought it was very holiday-appropriate, but this polish needs tweaking before I add it to the shop (if ever). I still really like the concept of this polish. Glitter is just a pain to work with when mixing polish. I give other indies who do glitter polish well A LOT of credit, it's not easy at all!

What do you think of my late-Memorial Day / 4th of July manicure? What do you think of this nail polish attempt? What was your 4th of July manicure? Let me know in the comments section!

a england Ascalon

Happy Friday! I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer so far and Fridays during the summer are by far the best kind. Especially when your job has summer Fridays like mine does. I get out at 1:30 pm, which is awesome! This weekend I'm going to see "Magic Mike". *blush* I can't help it, I've been looking forward to this movie since I first heard about it months ago. Can't wait!

The polish I have for you today is a england Ascalon. I received my first a englands a while ago and this swatch has been patiently waiting in my Picasa albums to be posted.

Ascalon is part of The Legend collection. Adina is so poetic and has such a strong vision with her whole nail polish line. On her website, Adina describes Ascalon as, "Forged by magic and guided by our hero's sainted hand, the steely grey of his spire is alive with a swirling heart of lavender fire." See? I doubt I could do any better than that.

Multi-dimensional or multi-hued polishes are by far my favorite and Ascalon is that. It's grey with a hint of lavender and holograpic shimmer. It is absolutely gorgeous in the sunlight and I couldn't stop staring at my hands the whole time I had it on. 

I actually don't remember how many coats I used since these swatches were taken over a month ago. But I didn't have any major issues with application or coverage. This polish is pretty much perfect in my book.

What do you think of Ascalon? What's your favorite part of Adina's a england? And last but not least, are you going to see "Magic Mike" this weekend? 

We Are Family! KelBel Cosmetics Ava and Amanda

I'm baacckkkk! May was just not my month for blogging. I had one post the whole month. ONE! That's so sad. As always, life gets in the way or there are just times when I just don't want to sit down and edit photos. It is probably my least favorite part of nail blogging. I'm considering just getting rid of the watermark all together to make it easier. People out there seem to just crop out watermarks anyway if they really want to steal photos.

But aside from that, life is good. I just spent the weekend at my annual family reunion in the New York Catskills. We've been going to the same resort for 29 years and I've been there every year of my life except for two years for my high school graduation and for my brother's. My mom went when she was pregnant with me, so I count that "in the womb" year, haha. Basically, I think of it as the greatest place on earth. I'd rather go to Sunny Hill (the resort where we hold the reunion) than Disney World! I love my family and we always have such a great time.

The reason for the story is that it inspired today's post. My older brother and his family moved to Atlanta, GA about two years ago. Luckily, they haven't missed a Sunny Hill reunion since! In April is my niece Amanda's birthday and this year (she just turned 5) as part of her present, I created two nail polish colors and named them after Amanda and her sister, Ava. I love my nieces and miss them a lot now that they live so far away. I was able to see them this weekend and I'm always thankful for that.

Here are the bottle shots of the colors I created. I didn't swatch them since they were gifts. I have a feeling I'll recreate the colors though so I can wear them myself.

Since Amanda is only 5 years old, I went with an age-appropriate color, light pink. Once she gets older she can wear any crazy color she wants, like her Aunt. But for now, I thought it was best to stick to a classic. Plus, Amanda is a girly girl that loves anything princess related. It's the perfect color for her namesake.

My niece Ava is the big sister. I wanted something a little older, yet still fun. The color is a blurple and in real life has a subtle duo-chrome effect. I think it also matches Ava's personality. 

I had a lot of fun creating these colors as gifts for my nieces! I can't wait until I see them next. 

Have you created any custom colors for people you know as gifts? Does your family have an annual reunion?