Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Spongebob! Born Pretty Stamping Plate Review

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday! Or what is left of it. I have a very fun stamping plate to share with you today. A Spongebob Squarepants themed plate. I will admit; I am twenty-three years old and I love Spongebob. Its a part of my childhood. I was ten years old when it first aired.






I used each of the designs, except for one in the middle. Eleven designs and only ten fingers. As you can see, the designs are adorable and transfer well. The smudging you see on a couple of fingers is from the polish I used to stamp with, not the plate itself. I used Zoya Pippa as my yellow base and Sally Hansen Black Out as my black stamping polish.

If you like Spongebob, this is a definite must have. It makes a fun manicure!

This particular plate (Item ID: 4936) retails for $2.99 on Born Pretty Store, as well as all other single plates this size. They have a lot of fun designs to add some fun to your nails. Shipping is always free worldwide. You can also use my coupon code AHL91 to save 10% on your order.



Disclosure: The product in this post were provided to me for consideration. All opinions are mine and honest.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Ulta Devious with Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter Accent

I hope you are enjoying your Wednesday! I have yet another Ulta brand polish to share with you today.



Ulta Devious is a dark eggplant purple creme. It goes on smooth and creamy like butter, opaque in two coats. I used Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter as an accent over Devious. Pinky Glitter is a light pink jelly filled with holo glitter and shimmer. The glitter really pops over a dark shade.

Ulta polishes retail for $6 at Ulta, in store and online. They frequently go on sale for as inexpensive as $2. Sinful Colors retail for $2 at Walgreens, Walmart, Target, and various other stores (a complete list on their website.)

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Barielle Sweet Treats Collection Swatches & Review

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday! I am very excited to share the new Barielle Sweet Treats Collection with you. It is their Spring collection, consisting of four cremes and one shimmer.





Barielle Green Apple Chew is a bright chartreuse green creme. The name is perfect. The color reminds me of green apple flavored Laffy Taffy. The consistency is a tad thick, but nothing a little thinner cannot fix. The application is good and opaque in two coats.


Barielle Banana Drop is a pastel yellow creme. I swear someone at Barielle has a thing for Laffy Taffy because this one is reminiscent of the banana flavor. The application is perfection and opaque in two coats.



Barielle Lilac Jelly Bean is a gray toned lilac creme. Its pastel with a twist; lilac with a splash of dove gray. The application is perfection and opaque in two coats.




Barielle Blue Cotton Candy is a peacock teal with micro shimmer. My favorite of the collection. The application is wonderful and opaque in just one coat. The last picture is topped with the new Barille Matte-inée. Its a matte base coat that doubles as a satin finish top coat. I will have a review on it soon.


Barielle Orange Parfait is a salmon orange creme. The application is perfection and opaque in two coats.

The entire collection is wonderful. No complaints, other than a thick formula on one, easily fixed with thinner. Lovely pastels and nice Spring colors with a fun twist. I love them all. But for the sake of picking favorites for those who do not buy whole collections, Blue Cotton Candy and Lilac Jelly Bean are my two favorites.

The Sweet Treats Collection will be available starting March 1st. Individual bottles retail for $8, and the entire collection retails in a pack for $25 on Barielle's website.

What do you think of the new collection?

Disclosure: The product in this post were provided to me for consideration. All opinions are mine and honest.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Ulta Boogie Nights and XOXO

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday! Ulta just recently discontinued a few of their nail polishes and released some new ones. I picked up two. I am very happy with my choices.




Ulta Boogie Nights is a clear base filled with multi-size gold glitter, along with multi-size multicolor glitter. The colors include purple, orange, blue, pink, green, and a few silver. The application is perfection for a glitter this dense. It is opaque in three coats. It took two coats of Seche Vite to smooth it out, but the finished look is worth it. The layering is not thick.

XOXO is an orange toned pink jelly containing orange, purple, and pink flakes. The application is smooth and opaque in two coats. These two polishes are so much fun, especially together.

Have you seen the new Ulta colors? If so, are you planning to snatch up any?

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, and I hope you are enjoying your Thursday! I am single on this particular Valentine's Day, and while I usually playfully do anti-Valentine designs, I decided to dive into the hearts.


My backdrop for the stamping is a watercolor marble. I have seen it everywhere, but never attempted it until now. Rebecca Likes Nails has a great tutorial. I started off with one coat of Pure Ice Super Star! as my white base. My watercolors are Barielle Grape Escape, Pink Quartz, and Life of the Party. Finally I stamped on hearts and love with Essence Stamp Me! Black, stamping plate BM02, BM-317, and Essence stamping plate. All plates are listed for designs index to pinky. The Essence plate has no number or label (it was used for the last two designs).

I love the look of the watercolor. And I think the black really pops off the soft color background. What do you think? And did you do anything special for Valentine's Day? 

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Barielle Myrza's Meadow

I hope you are enjoying your Wednesday!



Barielle Myrza's Meadow is a chartreuse green jelly like creme with small scattered holographic glitter. This polish is perfection. Definitely one of my favorite Barielle Shades. The application is perfection and opaque in three coats. The glitter catches the light nicely and adds a delicate sparkle to this lovely spring green.

Barielle retails for $8 on their website.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Ulta After Party over black

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday! I have yet another Ulta brand polish to share with you today.




Ulta After Party is a clear base with micro red/orange, mauve, and silver glitter. On its own its very light; it really pops over black. The glitter disperses evenly and dense in just one coat. It can easily be layered on its own to be opaque.

Ulta nail polish retails for $6 at Ulta, in store and online. They always have a sale, so you never have to pay full price. I got this shade (along with several others) during their recent $2 sale.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Ulta My Two Cents

I hope you are enjoying your Monday! 



Ulta My Two Cents is a brown jelly base full of small copper glitter. The application is good, little uneven at the tips. However, until you take macro nail photos, its nearly impossible to notice. It takes two coats to be opaque. This polish simply screams Autumn. I've had my eye on it for months and finally caved during the last sale.

Ulta nail polish retails for $6 at Ulta, in store and online. They always have a sale, so you never have to pay full price. I got this shade (along with several others) during their recent $2 sale.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Ulta Vintage Violet

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday!


Ulta Vintage Violet is dusty pastel lavender creme with pink undertones. The color is fantastic and makes me anxious for Spring. The application is perfection. It goes on smooth and glossy, opaque in two coats.

Ulta nail polish retails for $6 at Ulta, in store and online. They always have a sale, so you never have to pay full price. I got this shade (along with several others) during their recent $2 sale.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Kleancolor Holo Pink

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday! I'm a little behind on posting my voted on swatch. The new poll is up; please check it out.



Kleancolor Holo Pink is a pink jelly filled with holo micro glitter. The application requires some patience. The first time I tried this (a couple of weeks ago), I gave up because it was thick and would not layer evenly. I was more patient this time around and let the coats dry properly. The result was great. There is a bit of visible nail line after three coats, but nothing so noticeable that you would want more coats.

Kleancolor retails for $2-4 on various online sites.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Flocking Powder Nails

I hope you are enjoying your Thursday! I've been wanting to try this particular nail art trend for awhile. The idea of fuzzy nails sounded odd in the beginning, but curiosity took over. So I went in search of flocking powder. The only kind I could find in my city was the Martha Stewart set. Twelve glitter filled for $20. Not exactly what I wanted. So I did a little searching online and found a great deal. Nine colors for about $10, including shipping.




This is a mixture of gray flocking powder with little holographic glitters. The glitter is hard to capture; you can see some of them on my thumb. It was easy to apply. I painted each nail with a gray creme then did another coat one nail at a time. I dipped my nail into the flocking powder, pressed it down gently, then cleaned off the excess with a fan brush.

The texture is not nearly as distracting as I expected. The velvety feel was interesting to wear for a day. It stayed on relatively well through hand washing and whatnot. The flocking powder dries quickly. Definitely pick a base polish that is close to the flocking powder. If any comes off, it makes the bald spots much less noticeable and blend in really well.

I ordered all of my flocking powder from Kandies Faux Candy Charms on Etsy. Her shop is on vacation right now, but should be up shortly. The powder costs $1 for a 2x3 inch bag and comes in a variety of colors. Some with glitter, some without.

I might try a few other flocking powder manicures in different colors before the leftovers become part of my craft supplies. What do you think of the fuzzy trend?

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Neon Flowers

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday! 



Nothing says the warm weather is coming like a bright neon manicure. Claire's Flashy and Milani Fresh Teal go together nicely, especially with the dried flower accent I added. Fresh Teal matches the flower perfectly. I used two coats of each polish. I love these smooth creamy neons, no white needed underneath.

Claire's nail polish retails for $5 at in store and online. Milani retails for $3-5 at various stores (a list can be found on their website) and sites. The dried flowers retail for $6.08 (for a set) at Born Pretty Store, and they offer free shipping worldwide. Use the code AHL91 to receive 5% off your Born Pretty purchase.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Polish by Franken Femme

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday! Today I have a gorgeous polish to show you. 








This beauty was made by Becca of Franken Femme. She makes amazing frankens, all featured on her blog. This particular lovely is a blue jelly base with matte lime green, matte turquoise, and matte lavender hex glitter. I was in love from the moment I unwrapped it. The application is perfection and opaque in three coats. The glitter spreads out evenly and the jelly base lets the layers of glitter show through adding depth.

Check out her blog Franken Femme for more awesome frankens.