365 Days of Color Horcrux Collection

Today I would like to show you the new 365 Days of Color Horcrux Collection which goes on pre-sale today. I must confess that I have not read any of the Harry Potter books and have only seen the first movie, but that doesn't stop me from drooling over these beautiful polish creations. I had to get schooled in the ways of Harry Potter by my boyfriend and 7 year old nephew. The two of them had quite an intense debate and lost me somewhere along the way, but at least now I know what a Horcrux is and when it comes to polish, it is beautiful...

The Snake
A periodot green jelly with a green glass fleck shimmer. The formula is sheer and I needed four thin coats to build up to this coverage. It applies smoothly with no streaking. I love this color so much! Wore it solo for a day before adding a little something I'll show you soon. These swatches are with a top coat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: 365 Days of Color Collection: Horcrux Color Name/Number: The Snake Number of coats: 4 Top Coat: Yes

The Ring
A gold to green duochrome glass fleck filled lacquer. My camera was intent on capturing the olive gold shift of this polish and refused to capture the green on my nails. Look at the bottle shots here for peeks at the green. Sometimes my camera just refuses to cooperate. This needed three coats go get good coverage on it's own. I think it would look fantastic layered over a black or dark green base. Application of this one was very nice. Swatches are with a top coat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: 365 Days of Color Collection: Horcrux Color Name/Number: The Ring Number of coats: 3 Top Coat: Yes

The Diadem
A clear base with small gold and silver glitter in addition to larger silver circle glitter and small blue glitter sprinkled in. A really fun glitter mix. I used two coats plus a topcoat over The Ring for these swatches. There is plenty of glitter in each brush stroke and it applies evenly to the nail...

Swatch Details
	Brand: 365 Days of Color Collection: Horcrux Color Name/Number: The Diadem Number of coats: 2 (layered over The Ring) Top Coat: Yes

The Locket
An olive green with gold shimmer. This is also fairly sheer and needed three coats for good coverage. Application was smooth and no problems with streaking. I love this color. It is so pretty! Swatches are with a top coat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: 365 Days of Color Collection: Horcrux Color Name/Number: The Locket Number of coats: 3 Top Coat: Yes

The Goblet
A mix of gold and holographic glitter in a clear base. This applies easily with good distribution of glitter in each brush stroke. It would look great over just about any base. I layered two coats over The Locket and used a top coat for these swatches...

Swatch Details
	Brand: 365 Days of Color Collection: Horcrux Color Name/Number: The Goblet Number of coats: 2 (layered over The Locket) Top Coat: Yes

The Diary
A milky base loaded with a mix of various glitter. The photos don't do this justice since it has lots of holographic glitter that is very sparkly in real life even through the milky base. It is sheer so I used four thin coats to get this coverage. I think the sheerness really gives this a nice depth. One of my favorites from this collection. Swatches are with a top coat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: 365 Days of Color Collection: Horcrux Color Name/Number: The Diary Number of coats: 4 Top Coat: Yes

The Boy Who Lived
A mix of teal, green and holographic glitter in a black jelly base. It can reach full opacity on it's own around three coats, but I chose to layer two coats over black to really give the glitter a pop. This is so stunning and sparkly. I'm wearing it as I write this and it keeps distracting me! Application was very easy, lots of glitter in each brush stroke. Swatches are with a top coat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: 365 Days of Color Collection: Horcrux Color Name/Number: The Boy Who Lived Number of coats: 2 (layered over black) Top Coat: Yes

This was my first introduction to 365 Day of Color polishes and I'm very impressed! The colors are gorgeous and there is so much variety in this collection. I can't even begin to pick favorites!

Find out more about 365 Days of Color...
Shop | Facebook | Blog

I would love to know what you think of this collection!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

31DC2013 Day 22 - Inspired by a Song

Today I would like to show you my manicure for Day 22 of the 31 Day Nail Challenge. The challenge today is to be inspired by a song. I decided to go with one of my current favorites, Merry Go 'Round by Kacey Musgraves. If you have not heard this song before, you can listen to it on YouTube. The lyrics of the song really resonate with me. I was so excited that I got the chance to see her in concert this summer...

"Mary Mary quite contrary,

We get bored so we get married

And just like dust we settle in this town.

On this broken merry go 'round and 'round and 'round we go,

Where it stops nobody knows...

And it ain't slowin' down, this merry go 'round..."

We are all on this crazy merry go round of life and it really doesn't slow down. A simple fact of life that truly freaks me out...

For this manicure I started out with a base of Pipe Dream Polish Pink Elephants and Lemonade. I then added self made decals, painted the tips using Maybelline Bold Gold (70) and added dots of acrylic paint to match each unicorn.

For the decals I first stamped the horse from Mash plate Mash-42 using Essence Stamp Me! White. I then added the details using Maybelline Bold Gold and acrylic paints...

I am so excited for how this manicure turned out. It is just as I pictured it in my head...

Pink Elephants and Lemonade is a teal crelly base with pink and yellow glitter. This polish is just so gorgeous. I love the combination of colors. It applies easily with nice distribution of glitter. A lot of the larger hex glitter seems to have settled on one side of the bottle so I will be storing it upside down for a while to bring that back up for next time. I used three coats for these swatches although it was opaque at just two coats. Swatches are with a top coat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Pipe Dream Polish Collection: core Color Name/Number: Pink Elephants and Lemonade Number of coats: 3 Top Coat: Yes Big3Free - Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Find out more about Pipe Dream Polish:
Etsy shop | Facebook | Instagram

P.S. I'd love to know what you think of this manicure! :)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

31DC2013 Day 17 - Glitter

For day 17 of the 31 Day Nail Challenge, a glitter manicure, I knew I wanted to play with some of my loose glitter. I got this hex glitter a while ago and thought it would be fun for nail art when I wanted something different from the standard hex glitter. For some reason it has stood unused... until now that is...

For this manicure I started out with a base of Dazzle Dry Glam'matazz, a gorgeous shimmery blue that I'll show you swatches of very soon! When it was dry, I taped off the sides and painted the center strip using Dazzle Dry Mythic Teal. Working as quickly as I could, I added diamond shaped glitter. This is seriously the one time that I wish a top coat would dry just a little bit slower, but the Dazzle Dry top coat is super fast drying!...

I got this holographic diamond glitter from The Born Pretty Store. For some reason it was very clumpy and difficult to separate. I had to struggle to isolate individual pieces of glitter, which really drove me nuts, but in the end it was worth the effort...

This shows the gorgeous holographic effect a bit better. Still doesn't quite capture how sparkly and bling-y this manicure really is...

I'd love to know what you think of this manicure!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

PCOS Awareness with Shimmer Strength!

September is PCOS Awareness Month and I could think of no better polish to create a manicure with than Shimmer Strength. Donations are made to support PCOS with the sale of each Shimmer Strength polish. The beautiful teal glitter coordinates perfectly with the ribbon supporting PCOS awareness. I just love the the motto of "Fight Like a Girl!"...

For the manicure I used Barielle Ocean Breeze as my base. I topped the whole thing with Shimmer Strength and then stamped the ribbon pattern using Essence Stamp Me! White and Bundle Monster plate BM-321...

Shimmer Strength is a mix of small teal, silver and holo glitter as well as some larger silver hex and even a few hearts. Since there are so few hearts, I did have to 'fish' it out for the manicure, but personally I like that it is not overflowing with the heart glitter. I prefer the smaller glitter that I can just brush on and I'm willing to 'fish' for the larger pieces to place as accents. The silver hex and hearts do seem to have an ever so slight curl to them. The glitter is easy to apply and as most Shimmer polishes it is loaded with glitter in each brush stroke. This is just one coat plus top coat over my base...

As you can see it has lots of micro glitter. Although I have not tried it on a full manicure yet, I think you can reach full opacity with using Strength alone in about 3 coats.

Swatch Details
	Brand: Shimmer Collection: core Color Name/Number: Strength Number of coats: 1 (layered over Barielle Ocean Breeze) Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

For more information on this and other Shimmer Polishes visit the Shimmer Polish Etsy store or Facebook page.

And remember to Fight Like a Girl!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

* PCOS Awareness logo found online at multiple sources via Google search...

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **