KelBel Cosmetics Labor Day Sale!

Hey everyone! Since it is Labor Day weekend, I will holding a sale in my Etsy shop. From September 1st until 11:59 pm September 2nd there will be free shipping on all orders! So take advantage of this great offer! Click the picture below to be taken to the Etsy shop. Happy Labor Day!

Mani-cure Monday: America! Eff yeah!

Happy Monday all! I've decided to start a new weekly schedule that will hopefully make me more productive. Not just in blogging, but overall. So part of the new schedule is blogging weekly on Mondays. I'm calling it "Mani-cure Monday". Most of us get the Monday Blues and according to the Bangles, it's just another Manic Monday. So what better way to cure the Monday Blues than with an awesome mani?!

Ok it may have taken me a while to explain it, but there you have it! This week I have a patriotic manicure of sorts. This was actually my July 4th mani, so you can tell how far behind I am in posting. I figured though that I can tie this old manicure in with recent events. As I'm sure you're all aware, the Olympics ended last night. For the last two weeks I've been glued to the television to watch as much coverage as I could. I really enjoyed the Olympics this year, especially all of the gymnastics and volleyball coverage. I also enjoyed last night's closing ceremonies, even though NBC cut some performers *ahem: Muse*. But I guess the Spice Girls performing kind of made up for that.

So to show my pride for the old U.S.A, here is my red, white and blue manicure.

I did love this combination of red, white and blue. The red is Pretty & Polished Nova, which may just be one of my favorite reds ever. There's even a bit of subtle holo in there. The white is Snow White from Brucci. I really do need a new white polish, preferably one that covers well in 1-2 coats. Any suggestions? Over the white I layered Essie's Stroke of Brilliance, the latest polish to be added to the Luxeffects line. Essie refers to Stroke of Brilliance on it's website as "platinum sparks", but the glitter is actually more blue in tone than silver. 

Lastly is a england Order of the Garter, which is a beyond gorgeous royal blue. It was a dream to work with and covered in two coats. 

Did this manicure help to cure your Monday Blues? I hope you enjoyed my new post! What is your favorite white polish? Were you addicted to the Olympics like I was? And who felt like they were back in middle school when the Spice Girls performed? 

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!