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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

OPI Save Me and Metallic 4 Life

OPI Save Me - Mr. CC

So I of course have been seeing lots of posts on the new Nicki Minaj collection from OPI. I knew I loved Metallic 4 Life from pictures and actually it's even better in person! My hubby was the one that requested Save Me since he's a huge bar glitter fan!!  Oh and yes!  That is him showing it off above!  I told him how some of the bloggers refer to their husbands as Mr. and their blog name.  He now calls himself Mr. CC, so I'm sure you'll see him spotlighted from time to time!  I personally love it - that he is SO supportive and that he can have fun with it too!

Bear
Here's a picture of my fur baby, Bear. He's helping me as I write this post in bed on my phone. Ok, really he's just wanting to cuddle, but he's cute, so I'll let him. His favorite thing to do is lay directly on top of me, making me his human pillow!! lol ;-)  Ok...on to polish haha


Anyway! Yesterday I wanted to do a Save Me mani! I took A-England Galahad as my base and put Save Me over it. I did have a problem with it flaking off through the day. I have no idea if it was Save Me, Galahad, or the Wicked Fast Cult Nails top coat. Or it was a mixture that caused it? I'm assuming it wasn't the TC since it hasn't given me problems before. I will wear Galahad and Save me individually soon to test it out!  I think it was just the glitter.  I maybe should have thrown some SV on it to make it less brittle.

A-England Galahad


Save Me is a clear base with silver round glitter pieces and holographic bar glitter.  Depending how the light catches it, the bar glitter can either look holographic or a mix of a teal color with some bars a pink color.

Galahad with Save Me



Metallic 4 Life is extra special!! Marisa from Polish Obsession (you can find her here: MarijoNails) and I did an exchange!! I am SO thrilled to have M4L!! It is awesome!! So a big thank you to her!!

Metallic 4 Life over A-England Avalon

Metallic 4 Life is a black jelly with foil, silver glitter. There are larger hexagons, smaller hexagons, and then very tiny little squares. I personally love to layer, so I immediately did some random colors to see how they looked!!  Also, it layers flatter on the nail than Save Me does.  I only used one coat of Wicked Fast by Cult Nails and my nails are pretty smooth!








LtoR: Zoya Kiki, Cult Nails Let Me Fly, Cult Nails In A Trance, and a-England Avalon
Then with Metallic 4 Life over each


I then decided I wanted to do a full mani with A-England Avalon and M4L. I really love the way it turned out!! Unfortunately my pictures turn the color more of a bluish that the true purple that it is!! Sorry!!

A-England Avalon

It's not nearly as blue as this is coming across - much more of a true purple.  It does really glow in person though.  It is a magical color.


This shows the color a smidge better, but please please please ignore my skin color!! ;-)




A-England Avalon with Metallic 4 Life



I personally like 1 coat of M4L, as it keeps it looking somewhat subtle and also let's the bit of color show through. Part of why I like the layering is that it brings each color to a bit of a murkier version. There are so many colors to layer this over!! So versatile!!!


I will touch more on a-England soon!! It's my hubby's favorite brand and I can't wait to show you why!!

Thanks for reading!! Hope you're enjoying so far! ;-)

Much Love,
Crystal

Monday, January 30, 2012

Cult Nails - A Brand to Watch

My Beautiful Collection!!

I came across Cult Nails right after the amazing Unicorn Puke was released!! I started seeing swatches pop up here and there and began to do my research of how to get that beauty!!  Most polish collectors know the joke of Unicorn Pee AKA Clarins 230, so Maria made Unicorn Puke based on that joke. 

Clairvoyant (over piCture pOlish Denim)
It was just a short time later, I found the release of Clairvoyant during a Pre-sale of their Super Powers collection. I have to admit, I only bought it for Clairvoyant. The colors all looked nice, but for someone owning 450-500 polishes, I didn't think I *needed* them.  So glad I was wrong!

Enigmatic

I received my package after they Pre-sale was over and started playing with the new colors. It was then I knew I had stumbled upon a wonderful company. This formula was amazing. And the best part was that they stayed on really well for me! Something I have trouble with!  I think I have oily nails or something.  I know for a while that Seche Vite would cause my polish to peel off in sheets!  I'm so thankful now to have found Wicked Fast top coat by Cult Nails!  It really works and it dries fast!

Mind Control

I began to take notice to the Cult Nails Facebook & Twitter accounts. I loved their energy and started to really connect with this brand. Maria, the owner, was a blogger herself that followed her dream of creating polish. How inspirational! I love those kinds of stories! 

Iconic
Iconic

On Black Friday, Cult Nails offered a great sale, so I was able to order almost the entire collection!! I didn't know until this past weekend how amazing some of those colors are!! I hadn't had a chance to try them all, so unfortunately they've been sitting!  For the ones I've tried before, I fell in love with them all over again.  And for the new ones I tried, I wasn't sure why I hadn't used them yet!



In a Trance


In a Trance with Hypnotize Me over

It's been a couple of months now and I just pre-ordered their next collection.  You can too here: Let's Get Nekkid Collection.  Toxic Seaweed is a limited edition.  If you have any interest, I would jump on it!  I know the colors will be released individually, but not sure exactly when.  I would check on the Cult Nails Facebook site for more details when they will be on the site. 

My Kind of Cool Aid

Unfortunately, Clairvoyant is out of stock and not able to be made at this time.  More information can be found here: Cali Trip.  Maria explains that the ingredient is not available, but she is looking for alternative materials.
My Kind of Cool Aid with Clairvoyant over ring finger

I am thrilled to support Cult Nails, because they truly offer a quality product along with passion for polish. Some of the bigger companies just produce shade after shade, sometimes almost exact to what they've released before. It's really nice to step back and find a company that puts a lot of effort into creating a nail polish collection.  I personally loved to learn more about their new collection, with the stories of each color.  You can read that here: Coming Soon - Let's Get Nekkid Collection
Layering Fun! My Kind of Cool Aid with Clairvoyant and Hypnotize Me on ring finger.
This I will definitely do as a full mani - isn't it gorgeous!?

Over the next year, we can look forward to many new collections coming our way. Maria will keep us on our toes, with even a spotlight collection from her daughter, Coco! I'd say this is a brand to watch, because they will offer amazing products this year, and hopefully many years to come!

If you would like to find these lovely polishes for yourself (instead of drooling at all these pictures! hehe)  Here is their website: Cult Nails.  I'm just a huge fan and want to make sure no one misses out on this company!  It is a top favorite of mine as you can tell from my post!

Also, I mentioned on my Twitter and Facebook about working on my spare bedroom to transform it to my beauty room!  I can't wait to share pictures with you soon!  I'm hoping to have it done by next week sometime!

Much Love,
Crystal

*Edited to add*  Each polish lists for $10 on their site.  They do have glass files (they are amazing - $12) and treatments (base - $8, top coat - $8 or both together for $15).  There are a few collections listed for a discounted price as well.  So please check it out if you are interested!

Also, as a bonus, Maria will be offering all in stock colors for $5 for a day when she reaches 5,000 fans on Facebook!  So if you haven't "liked" them yet, please do!!  :-) Cult Nails Facebook Page here: Cult Nails Facebook

Friday, January 27, 2012

Lynnderella - I Can Afford It!



The name says it all really…Oh wait!  That says “can”? I could have sworn it said “can’t”.  But with this beauty, we’ll all find a way to afford it!  Well, that was part of the joke why I bought it. I have been on a spree lately.  Ok, who am I kidding, it’s more like a marathon!  I can’t get enough of all this polish!  And the worst part is-- they keep making more!!!  But who can resist a Lynnderella?  Well my hubby, Mr. CC, for one.  He thinks the glitters are too chunky, but it’s just not his style.  I, on the other hand, drool at the sight of them!  And although I almost passed on this one, I’m glad I was weak to the peer pressure (of all those gorgeous swatches out there)!  I was seriously missing out, as this mani is one of my favorites.



Now to the polish!  First I notice the large and medium green hexagons. The medium hexagons appear to shift from a regular green to a glowing one with help from when the light bounces off of it.  It reminds me of a holographic glow, but based more in the green family.  A few green squares peek through, but finding them is a rare treat!  Scattered through the mix are purple and orange/copper pieces of glitter in squares, hexagons of both large and small sizes.  The other colors are not so bold, but a subtle change to the mix.  As you travel to the next layer, there are tiny round green glitters speckled all across the nail.  Even further down, you see micro glitter that delicately flecks blues and oranges with just the right lighting.  The multi-dimensional layers that go into this polish are breath-taking!  I never expected to love this polish as much as I do.  It’s a pure work of art and I truly appreciate the creativity that is Lynnderella.





Color Club Kiss Me Mistletoe



Paired with Color Club Kiss Me Mistletoe, the reflective foil helps the Lynnderella glow even more in my opinion.  At only one coat of each, it was a quick and easy mani with great results!  I’m all about layering, and with a Lynnderella, you get so much interesting packed into one bottle, there is no need to add anything else.  I put on my go to Cult Nails Wicked Fast top coat with another coat of Seche Vite to smooth out any glitter.



As a side note, I used to only use Seche Vite, but noticed a lot of tipwear from shrinkage!  I mostly use Cult Nails Wicked Fast and make sure to really wrap my tips.  It helps a lot if I’m going to be using SV too.

Overcast

In the sun

I will wrap this up, as it's getting rather long.  But this is a trial post.  I had huge inspiration while looking at my nails and wanted to get this up and running.  I will spend more time with this blog as I am just recently becoming familiar with the idea of all this.  Suggestions are appreciated and thank you so much for taking the time to read my new blog.

Much Love,
Crystal