Swatch: KBShimmer - Elle

Who's ready for part two of my KBShimmer swatches? I'm really excited for this one! Today I'll be swatching KBShimmer Elle.

Elle is a gray jelly base with varying sizes of pink and gray glitter, small white square glitter, and medium silver and pink square glitter (am I missing anything? I hope not!). The base is a little less opaque than Hex Appeal, but still solid enough to be worn without undies. Application was wonderful, just as with Hex Appeal. And enough with the talk - it's time for the pictures!

So here's Elle in one, two, and three coats, left to right. These are all with no top coats. One coat is definitely not enough, but you might be able to get away with two if you use thick layers. You won't ever need more than three. If you don't want all the coats

The glitter got pretty bumpy on this one, as you can (hopefully) see in the next two pictures.

I'd say this next picture shows the color the most accurately. It's a nice simple gray - not too brown or yellow or anything.

 I ended up using two coats of top coat to smooth everything in, and it's still a tiny bit bumpy in some areas.
The next picture is with flash. Bleck. I don't feel like the gray looks as accurate in this one. But you can see how much the top coat smoothed things out.

And a normal shot. My camera was being grumpy for this one, so I had trouble getting a non-blurry okay-looking photo. Sorry about that... I swear my camera has a mind of its own.

There you have it! What do you guys think of Elle? It can be found at the KBShimmer website for $8.75 a bottle. I'd definitely recommend this one for anyone who loves a good glitter-jelly combo. 

If you'd like to be notified whenever I post, make sure to  follow here, 'like' on Facebook, and follow on Twitter. Thanks for reading! One more post before I start February Nail Art Challenge from Erica's Nails and More - there's one more day to sign up, so hurry on over there if you're interested!

- Muffin

2012 in Review

Hello, wonderful readers! 2012 is over (sad face), but that also marks another year of some wonderful polishes and nail products! It was difficult, but I tried to sum up all of my favorites into a neat little post. Enjoy!

Favorite Nail Buffer:
Tropical Shine Mini 4-Way Buffer Block
Sells for: $4.29 at Sally Beauty

Pretty much my favorite buffer ever. I have loads of various nail buffers laying around the house, but all of them either a) don't make my nail shine at all, b) leave my nail torn up and covered in scratches, or c) add shine, but it wears off after a few minutes. This is the best buffer I've ever found, and it's lasted through many months of constant use with no issues (and as you can see in the pictures, it definitely gets a lot of use).

Favorite Cuticle Cream:
Lush - Lemony Flutter
Sells for: $16.95 at Lush

So up until a couple days ago, Burt's Bees Lemon Cuticle Cream was my favorite cuticle cream. I swore by it to anyone who would listen. But then I discovered Lemony Flutter. It goes for around $17, but you get a whopping amount of cuticle cream in each container. For you ladies with longer nails, you know how hard it is  to remove Burt's Bees cuticle cream from the little container, and the softer consistency of Lemony Flutter makes it loads easier to get some out of the container (without getting half of it stuck under your nails, bleck). There's enough of the cuticle butter to last you for months, the smell is great (it's not *as good* as Burt's Bees, but that one's pretty hard to beat in the smell department), and there's almost no greasy feeling.

Favorite Polish Brand:
China Glaze

This one was pretty hard for me to decide. I'm a huge fan of Essie, too, but China Glaze had to win the top spot for me. I probably own more China Glazes than any other polish brands. The formulas and applications are always wonderful and it takes the cake for this year!

Favorite Indie Polish Brand:
KBShimmer

Pretty much the most awesome Indie brand ever. Loads of jelly polishes packed with glitter - what more could you ask for? There's not much to say about this one. KBShimmer makes the prettiest, glitteriest, amazing-est colors you could ever imagine (if you want proof check my last blog post). They're also just $8.75, which is a pretty fair price compared to some other Indies (*cough Lynderella *cough) and even mainstream brands (yes, Butter London, I'm talking about you).

Favorite Lemming:
Ninja Polish - Floam
Sells for: $9 at Ninja Polish

It was the one polish that I always wanted but I thought I'd never get. And then... one day... I happened to check my computer during a restock. I think I thought I was dreaming for a second! So of course I ordered it, and now Floam is a proud member of my nail polish stash.

Favorite Topcoat:

So honestly, I haven't really tried very many top coats. I get one, and I stick with it until it runs out. I don't feel a need to buy a different one until my first one has run out! So that's why I've been using Sally Hansen's strengthening top coat, as opposed to Seche Vite or one of the other more popular ones. It dries my nails quickly and doesn't smudge anything, so as of now it's definitely my favorite top coat! If anyone has suggestions for what to try when this one runs out, let me know in the comments!

Favorite Base Coat: 
Beauty Secrets - Ridge Filler
Sells for: $3.69 at Sally Beauty

So I'm not sure if this actually counts as a base coat or not, but I use it as one, so that's why I'm including it here. I have terrible ridges in my nails, and even if I buff them out they reappear after a while. This makes a nice, even surface for my nail polish to go on top of. You can tell from the picture that it's used often! I couldn't ask of anything more from this base coat.

And that's all I have for you! I hope you all liked hearing about my favorite polish-related stuff. This is been a little bit of a rough week for me, blogging-wise, but we should be back to the normal posting schedule next week. Next week I'll be swatching KBShimmer Elle, so don't forget to follow here, 'like' on Facebook, and follow on Twitter to hear when I post that! 

Thanks for reading, 

- Muffin

Swatch: KBShimmer - Hex Appeal

Hey, wonderful readers!
So Monday this week was supposed to be terrible, right? Everyone's back to work/school after a couple weeks of relaxation. Bleck. But something wonderful happened on Monday to cheer me up from my missing-winter-break-blues: nail mail!
I received my package from KBShimmer! Hooray! And talk about fast shipping - I got the message saying it'd shipped on Wednesday, and it was here the next Monday. Nothing's better than fast shipping!
Anyway, the two colors I ordered were *drumroll* Elle and Hex Appeal. And don't get me wrong, Elle is BEAUTIFUL, but when I picked up Hex Appeal, it was love at first sight (which, yeah, I'll admit, sounds really awkward given the polish's name). It's a dark blue-ish purple packed to the brim with various sizes of silver, blue, and pink hex glitter (with some tiny bar glitter of the same colors mixed in). So. Amazing. And just to prove how amazing this polish is, you all should know that I really don't like glitter polish. At all. You can't really use it in nail art, so what use is it to me? But even this glitter-doubter couldn't hold back a gasp of amazement when she first saw the color.
Not one picture could ever do this polish the justice it deserves, but I tried my best! Enjoy this montage of pretty pictures.

First off, here's a normal shot of how I wore it every day. I've got three coats on each nail, plus a top coat. One or two coats definitely isn't enough, but you can really see the polish build up as you add more coats. Application was great, although I had some trouble getting the glitter to lie flat (the glitter liked to stick up and had to be pushed down by a toothpick/smoothed down with a top coat).

From left to right, here's one, two, and three coats. Three is just the perfect amount, isn't it?

A shot from another angle just to show the glitter from a different side.

And another angle.

Here are a few pictures of the bottle, just to give you an idea of how it looks when it's not on the nail. The third one probably shows the color the most accurately, but the second one really shows how much glitter is in there:

And a blurry picture, just to better show the glittery goodness.

Knowing me, I just couldn't make it too long without some sort of nail art (no matter how pretty the polish) so I added an accent nail. I might do a tutorial on these if someone wants me to, but it's pretty simple - I painted white polish onto a piece of tape, let it dry, cut it into little V shapes, and placed them on my nail. Easy peasy! It looks smoother with a top coat, but I decided to fix some parts of the white with a striper and I was waiting for it to dry before adding a top coat!
Side note: I'd like for everyone to have a moment of silence to mourn the loss of a very close friend of mine - my index finger's nail. The poor baby chipped last night, and I had to pull the plug and cut it off. He was just starting to grow! *sniffle*

Here's the final picture once more, just because.

What do you guys think of this polish? Let me know in the comments! Hex Appeal can be found at KBShimmer's website, along with loads of other wonderful jelly + glitter polishes, which are all sold for $8.75. They also sell soaps, lip balms, and all sorts of yummy-sounding products! The shipping price was great, and the polish arrived in no time. Make sure to check in about a week from now to see my review of KBShimmer's Elle! It's going to be hard for me to remove this one, though - it's been a few days and I still can't help staring at my nails every second I get the chance! 

If you want to make sure you see next week's swatch of Elle, make sure to follow here, 'like' on Facebook, and follow on Twitter. Thanks to everyone for reading!

- Muffin

Glitter Gradient + Happy New Year!

It's 2013! We survived another entire year. Hooray! So happy new year to everyone, and I hope 2013 has been good to you so far.

On a different note, you wouldn't believe the trouble I had coming up with a tutorial for today. I had a serious case of writer's nail painter's block. After trying out (well, almost) a bazillion different things, I finally settled on a glitter gradient. It's not the most original, I know, but it's perfect for celebrating the new year.

You'll need:
- Base coat
- purple polish
- pink glitter polish
- top coat
- matte top coat (optional)

Start off by painting your nails purple. Today I learned that my camera hates purple- I must have taken loads of pictures before I got one that was acceptable. This was the best I could get, folks! Sorry! I'm in love with this purple though. It's really lighter in person than the camera makes it appear.

Zoya - Monica

Now you're going to start on the glitter! I know you might have been told to *dab* glitter, not brush on like normal polish, but listen to me on this one. You want a very thin layer, so you're going to wipe off most of the glitter on the side of the bottle before applying, and brush on carefully. Cover about 2/3 of the nail.
*Side note: Look at the little smudgie on the top of my first finger... I don't know how it happened, but I accidentally scraped it with a nail on my right hand and dented it. It's not too bad in terms of smudges, I suppose, so I won't complain too much!

Essie - A Cut Above

Time for the second layer of glitter. Brush (again, not dab!) the glitter onto 2/3 of the already glitter-ified part of the nail.

Last round of glitter (aww). Now you get to dab on the glitter! Hooray! Dab it onto the tips of your nails, about 1/3 of the entire length of the glitter.

The only step left is to add a top coat to smooth out the glitter. Or you could...

... add a matte top coat! I've been hunting for one for a while (I know it's easy to find them online, but shipping is awful these days, and it's really difficult to find them in stores!) and I FINALLY found one, so I had to try it out. Here's the result! I still can't decide if I like it better than the regular shiny version. But you can't complain about mattified glitter, I guess!

That's all, folks! Along with this tutorial, I'll be posting a list of my favorite nail-related stuff from 2012 and the Liebster award post that I kind of maybe forgot about (woops). To make sure to see these when I post them, make sure to follow here, 'like' on Facebook, and follow on Twitter! Thanks for being the best followers in the world, and I hope you all have a wonderful 2013!

Reindeer

Merry Christmas eve, everyone! And to those who aren't celebrating Christmas, happy late-December! This is my last Holiday themed post (aww) but I tried to make it a good one. I present to you: Reindeer nails!

You will need:

- Base coat

- White polish

- Light brown polish

- Black striper

- Dotting tool

- Dark brown polish

- Red polish

- Black polish

 Start off with a base coat, and then paint each of your nails white.

Sally Hansen - Hard to Get

 Add little circles to the bottom half of each nail using the light brown polish.

China Glaze - Foie Gras

With the black striper, start with two stripes on each nail to create the antlers.

Art Deco striper - Black

 Draw a few lines coming out from each antler to complete the look.

With the dark brown polish and dotting tool, add little brown noses to each reindeer but the accent nail.

Essie - Little Brown Dress

 For the accent, use the red polish and dotting tool to create Rudolph's nose.

Rimmel - Blood Red

 Using the white polish and dotting tool, start the eyes.

Add a small black dot within each eye using the dotting tool once more.

Sally Hansen - Black Heart

At the last second, I decided to add some little ears to each reindeer. You can do this with a toothpick, small dotting tool, or just the polish brush.

There you have it! You can go ahead and add a top coat, but my camera decided to die on me before I had time to add one myself, and I was too lazy to take pictures afterwards (hehe, sorry!). But these nails are extremely easy, and they're great conversation starters. 

To stay tuned for my upcoming tutorials don't forget to follow here, 'like' on Facebook, and follow on Twitter. Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful holiday!

- Muffin

Santa Nails

So Christmas is quickly approaching, and you have NO idea how you're going to paint your nails for the big day! You need something quick, easy, and sure to spread holiday joy - Santa Claus!

You will need:
- Base coat
- Green polish (or base color of your choice)
- Tan/skin tone polish
- Red polish
- White polish
- Dotting tool
- Top coat

Start off with a base coat, as usual! Then paint down a layer or two of your base color. I chose green because I thought it would look very Christmas-y with Santa's red hat, but you could really do anything. Since most of the base color will be covered up by the end, it doesn't need to be perfect, but make sure that it's solid. (Don't skimp on the extra coats!)

Sinful Colors - Envy

Now for Santa's head. Using a skin-toned polish, paint a nice little circle/semi-circle around the tips of the nails. The circle should go about halfway up each nail.

Essie - Sand Trapez

Next, it's time for the hat. Using a red polish, paint a hat-shaped triangle on the top of each Santa head. The point and the base don't have to be perfect; they'll be covered up with white polish later.

Kiss Colors - True Red

Using your dotting tool, add a dot of white to the top of the hat and across the base of the hat.

Sally Hansen - Hard to Get

 Now add the beard, using the white polish and dotting tool again. I had to try a couple different things before I was truly satisfied with how the beards looked, so I'd suggest testing them on a note card before painting them onto your nails.

Using the dotting tool and black polish, dot on two eyes. Make sure they're not too big, like they were on my pinkie nail- I got a bit carried away with the dotting tool! Try to aim more for what the eyes look like on my ring finger.

Sally Hansen - Black Heart

Using the red polish again, dot on little noses for each Santa. Add a top coat and you're good to go!

Although Christmas is two weeks away, spread some holiday cheer early with these festive Santa nails. If you don't celebrate Christmas, you could easily turn these into cute gnomes by switching up the colors (although, I'll admit, gnomes don't really go with the season, but if you really wanted to...). 

If you'd like to see my upcoming Holiday-themed tutorials, make sure to  follow here, 'like' on Facebook, and follow on Twitter.

Thanks for reading! Happy holidays!

- Muffin

Candy Cane Gradient

Hey, fellow nail polish addicts! Happy December. My part of Illinois has had 40-70 degree weather for the past three or so days, and it feels nothing like winter here, but I still needed a nail design to suit the season! Behold, candy cane gradients!

My inspiration for these was actually pretty random. Has anyone seen that one blogger background with the gradient stripes? I saw that on another blog and thought, "hey. I'm going to recreate that on my nails." I was also determined to do a candy cane-themed manicure some time during winter, but didn't want to do the typical red and white stripes, so my brain just put two and two together and came up with candy cane gradient. Here's my tutorial!

You will need:

- Base coat

- Red polish

- White polish

- Scotch tape or striping tape

- Makeup sponge

- Top coat



 Start of with a base coat- you know the drill! Then add your red polish. This one is Gogo Girl from Sinful Colors. I'm not a huge SC fan by any means, but this red is the perfect Christmas color. It's also a jelly, so bonus points there!
And before I get any farther I'd like to apologize for the ugly shape of my first finger. It broke but was still attached by some threads, and I tried to glue it together, but it came off completely after a day or two *sigh* and I just couldn't bring myself to cut all of my nails down to even nubbins, so we're going to have to put up with seeing my sad broken nail for a while.

Sinful Colors - Gogo Girl

 Cut scotch tape into little thin strips and place them onto the nail, like in the picture below.

I wasn't able to photograph this complete step, because it was necessary to remove the tape quickly to prevent nail polish smudges, but I hope it's pretty easy to figure out. I put some of the white polish onto the makeup sponge, sponged a gradient on the nail with the tape, and peeled the tape off. And bingo, you have yourself a candy cane gradient!

Sally Hansen - Hard to Get

That's all there is to it! You can repeat this on all of your nails or leave it on your ring finger as an accent. If you're prone to getting polish on your skin when you do gradients (AKA me), just use a small paint brush dipped into nail polish remover to clean it all up. Don't forget your top coat!

And there you have it! This one can be a little time consuming if you have to cut up the scotch tape and place it on each nail, so I'd recommend setting aside an hour to do this manicure, unless you have striping tape available. Show off your winter spirit with these bright candy canes, and make sure to eat some real ones while you're at it!

To see what tutorials I have in store for the rest of the holiday season, don't forget to follow here, 'like' on Facebook, and follow on Twitter.

Thanks for reading!

- Muffin