Random Nail Art

Hello,

So I saw my mom today and she let me give her a manicure. I wanted to share it really quick:

The main color is Madison by Julep, and the accent color is Oscar by Julep. These are the two colors that come in the intro Bombshell box, and they look stunning together. 

The pointer finger is just a cross made out of rhinestones, and the middle finger is one of the butterfly decals from my September Nail Art Society box. The pinky is a fimo bow. I put Northern Lights Top Coat by Out the Door to give it a little extra sparkle. 

Will probably be posting lots of Halloween related nail art in the near future. 

Peace,

Belle

Ellagee Manicure

Hi guys! Quick post...remember the Ellagee polishes I reviewed? Well I did a mani with two of them. Here it is: 

The base color is Lucerne-Tainly Look Marvelous by OPI. I then used the dabbing method to get the glitters from La Calavera Catrina by Ellagee. 

The accent nail is Shirley Temple, also by Ellagee, over one coat of My Boyfriend Scales Walls by OPI. Now, I used this as an accent color because I assumed it would be hot pink, the color in the bottle. What I did not account for was the fact that I am, indeed, a human, and that my body temperature is 98.6 degrees (F). 

Lesson: if you're going to use thermo polish, you better love the "warm" color, because, unless you live in Alaska, that's what color you're going to be wearing most of the time. I actually think the baby pink with sparkles is really pretty, and I'm sad that it's only an accent nail and not an entire manicure. 

I had the bottle by my computer and this happened. I thought it was pretty cool. 

I can't wait to go to work (...well...yes I can) because I'm constantly walking into freezers, handling ice, etc) so it will be cool to see the color change throughout the day. 

Bye for now,

Belle

Halloween Haul: China Glaze

Hi guys! So I went into Sally's today (there is one literally steps away from where I work, which is REALLY bad for my wallet) to get some more swatchie things (I don't know what they're called, I just call them swatchies), and I couldn't resist picking up a few more Halloween polishes (especially since I'm going on a no buy in October). 

I wandered into the China Glaze section and here is what I found: 

On the left is one of those "fuzzy"

 polishes. I never really saw the appeal to these because I don't know why you would want your nails to look like a fuzzy sweater. I figured if I was going to buy one, I might as well get a Halloween one. This one is called You're a Hoot, and it has black, yellow and orange matte bar glitter. It's from the On the Horizon collection, and I plan on doing some serious Halloween nail art with this. 

All the way to the right is Bump in the Night, and it's a textured polish. Again, I was never a big fan of these, but a few months ago a picked up an orange textured polish in the clearance bin at Sally's. I figured I can use both together for a Halloween mani. Here are swatches of these: 

The one in the middle is called Ghoulish Glow, and it's a glow in the dark top coat. Even though I JUST ordered a glow in the dark top coat in my Julep box, I couldn't help myself. 

This is after charging it near a lightbulb for literally 10 seconds. 

I'm so excited!!

xoxo

Belle

You Polish October Box

Hi guys! So recently I got another box from a cool indie brand called You Polish. 

For $16.99 (U. S., there's also a Canadian version that is slightly more expensive), you got to pick two out of five  full-size polishes from their Halloween collection. That's right, not only do you get to see what's in the box before you get it, but you get to pick from a few options. 

If you bought one of the first 9 boxes, you got a special surprise (I was too late for this and I have yet to find out what the special surprise was). If you bought one of the first 30, you got 3 assorted Halloween fimo canes (I LOVE fimo) which I wasn't actually too late for. Here's what I got:

She threw in a box of candy too...which clearly didn't last long because, as you can see the box is already open and empty :)

These are the two polishes I picked:

Without flash

With flash

The one on the left is called After Midnight, and it is described on the website as a black base with orange, purple, and silver microglitter. Honestly, this color is SO much prettier in person. I could swear there is green glitter as well. I found it a bit impossible to photograph this polish...pictures just don't do it justice. 

No flash

Flash (you have to see the green flecks too!)

The one on the right is called Calaveritas, and it is a glitter bomb with pink, black, grey and white hex, dots and squares, and pink and white skull glitters. I think since I've discovered skull glitter nail polish I've ordered at least 6 different ones. I can safely say I have an obsession. And I'm okay with that. As with any heavy glitters, the bigger ones tend to sink toward the bottom (I had to fish to get the skull in my swatch picture below, but turning the bottle upside down a little while before you want to paint your nails should solve this). 

My 3 fimo sticks were a pumpkin, a black skull with a pink background (LOVE) and a...creepy footprint? I actually already have that fimo and I thought it was supposed to be like a baby's footprint (like for a baby shower manicure??) 

All in all Im in love with this box. It's not a monthly or recurring subscription, so you have to order a new one each time. I love that you can pick out the polishes you're going to get. I have WAY too many polishes now to be getting surprises that I may end up hating. I believe there are some October boxes left, and there is talk of a box for next month. 

Get one at www.youpolish.com!

xoxo,

Belle

Halloween Giveaway by Beyond the Nail

Hi guys! Just wanted to share a quick Halloween giveaway by a brand called Beyond the Nail. The prizes include two very awesome-looking orange polishes and 3 sets of decals including ghosts, skulls and cats! You have 14 more days to enter. Here is a picture of the prizes that i got from the site:

You can enter at 

http://spilledpolish.blogspot.ca/2013/09/giveaway-halloween-edition-beyond-nail.html?m=1

Good luck!

xoxo

Belle

Ipsy bag September 2013

Hi guys! So today I'm going to be doing something a little different, I'm going to review what was in my Ipsy bag this month. I know it doesn't have to deal with nail art per say (especially since I didn't get the Butter London :() but I like doing subscription reviews, and this is my only non-nail subscription. 

I debated whether or not I actually wanted to do this review (because everyone and their mother does these) but I figured it wouldn't hurt. So on to the bag: 

What I received:

1. Star Looks Eyeliner pencil in Obsidian

I use a black eyeliner pencil as one of my staple makeup items...so I was pretty happy about this. It is definitely full sized. It goes on pretty well and it looks even better. Since I've gotten it I've used it every day for work. 

I don't know if I would rather have gotten the liquid eyeliner, because I don't have any and it would have been fun to try. Maybe next time?

2. Pop Beauty Pouty Pop lip crayon in Rose Romance

Ok...so I really wanted to like this. I really tried. I did. But when it goes on, you can literally see every line and crevice in your lips. The color also pretty much washes you out. I tried putting on Chapstick before and I tried lip gloss after and nothing seems to help. There's a slight minty sensation, which I guess is nice, but it's not enough to outweigh the bad. The only time I can see myself using this is on Halloween, if I'm trying to look like a zombie. 

Also, I was really disappointed that I didn't get the Cailyn lip baum instead. Literally every unbagging video I watched on YouTube had one, and I was SO excited to get it. Until I looked in my glam room and found it I wasn't :(. Also, the beauty pop crayons sell like 6 for $25, and the Cailyn are $19 each, which is already double the value of the bag for ONE item. Not that I'm a snob like that, but I would have been much happier with the Cailyn. 

3. It's So Big Volumizing Mascara by Elizabeth Mott:

I only use mascara on special occasions, and I don't have a go-to one just yet. I used this one once, the formula is pretty thin (as in not clumpy) ...when I used it I had misplaced my eyelash curler, so I don't know how it works with one, but it seems promising. This was the only sample sized item in the bag, everything else was full sized. 

4. Chella Hilighter Pencil in Ivory Lace:

Guys, I'm gonna be honest, when I saw this in my glam room I had NO idea what it was for. I don't really know anything about makeup (besides the basics, eyeliner, shadow, mascara)...I only recently stared using BB cream as a foundation (Super 8 Triple Function B B Cream by Skin 79 from South Korea, to be exact). In fact, anything that i do know about makeup I learned from Jessface90 (check her out on YouTube, she's a Beauty guru and she has so many cool looks and product reviews...I've actually bought quite a few things based on her reviews (including that BB cream). 

So I started doing some research and I found a really cute video that shows 10 different things you can do with this pencil. They include using as a concealer, hi lighting cheekbones, eyeshadow primer, using on your water line to make your eyes look bigger (I don't have this problem, my eyes are huge), putting it on the inner corners, covering under-eye circles, etc. I've been using it as a primer and concealer, and it's pretty good. Not exactly something I can't live without, but it's something cool to try that I didn't know about (which is one of the reasons I chose to subscribe to the bag in the first place). 

5. Nyx single eyeshadow in Fantasy: 

I actually really love the nyx brand. I already own an entire set of different colored eye liner pencils, loose pigment eyeshadow, and makeup brushes. 

When I was watching unbagging videos, I saw people getting some really scary colors (yellow and bright blue) and I was nervous. However, the color I got is a pretty, shimmery browny-bronze color. I actually had a color like this in high school that I used to wear every day. I think it goes really well with my eyes. I've also been using this every day for work along with the eyeliner. 

This was my first bag, and there was only one product I really didn't like. I was on the waiting list for like a month, and I was SO upset because the August bag looked AWESOME. I can't wait to see what's in store for October!

Here is a look I did with the eyeliner pencil, eyeshadow and mascara. I entered it on the Ipsy Facebook page for the eyeshadow contest and they put it in the galary. Last time I checked, it had 19 likes! (Which is exciting for me, don't laugh.) 

Peace for now

Belle

Fall leaves mani

Hi guys! Quick post with a fall mani I just did. 

Here's how:

1. One coat of ORLY Bonder

2. 2 thin coats of Tatiana by Julep

3. 1-2 coats of Bobbin' for Apples by Hit Polish

4. One coat of Gelous Advanced Nail Gel Coat

5. One coat of China Glaze No-Chip Top Coat. 

For accent nail: 

2. 2 thin coats of A-Taupe The Space Needle by OPI

3. 1 coat of Tough Coat by Winning Nails...I actually put drops in the spots I was going to put to leaves in rather than doing a flat coat

4. Placed fimo leaves with Mash nail art tweezers one at a time and held each one down for 30 seconds 

5. Another layer of Tough Coat over the whole nail 

6. One coat of Gelous

7. Top coat. 

Happy fall

<3

Belle

New Haul: Ellagee Polish

Hi guys,

So I wanted to share something really cool with you. I recently ordered some awesome polishes from Ellagee, an indie, big 5 free nail polish brand, after seeing them on Facebook (I think from a link from the ifeelpolished page). 

I was so impressed by what I received that I wanted to share it with you!

Everything came in this cute little bag, bubble wrapped of course, with a roll of smarties!

To the polishes:

The main reason I ordered from this company was because of the polish in the middle, La Calavera Catrina. It is part of the Dia De Los Muertos collection, and will only be available until November 2nd, or while supplies last. I definitely want to pick up another one before then if that's the case. This is a clear base with hot pink flower glitters, red heart glitters, white SKULL AND CROSSBONE glitters, and black and while glitters in various shapes and sizes. The inner punk in me cannot pass up the opportunity to buy a nail polish with skull and crossbone glitters. Add hot pink flowers and red hearts? I'm in love. I usually don't like glitters in clear polish...but this is definitely an exception. 

The polish on the left is called Shirley Temple. Not only is this a thermo polish, but it's a thermo polish WITH GLITTER. It is a jelly polish that changes from magenta when cool to pale pink when warm. I've been really into thermo polishes lately, and I will probably be wearing them all winter long (when ill be going from really hot to really cool temperatures often). The website advises to layer it over white polish for the best color-changing effects. 

The mini polish on the right is called Tequila Sunrise, and it is also a thermo polish that goes from light orange to dark orange. The effect isn't as extreme as with Shirley Temple, but orange is my favourite color, and I had to have it. It is very shimmery. The website advises to layer it over pale yellow for the best effect. 

Now for some swatches:

From left to right:

Tequila Sunrise, Shirley Temple, and La Calavera Catrina. 

LCC layered over Julep's Brit. 

I ran the thermos under hot water to see the color changing effects:

You can see the colors turning back already

Cold and hot side by side...pretty big effect and I didn't even layer colors underneath. 

Oh, I almost forgot! I also ordered this adorable keychain (so that everyone who doesn't already know I'm a polish addict can see). It's dried nail polish, so no worries about spillage. It is in the color Party Like Its 1999, and you can get it in whatever color you want! 

The order also came pretty fast. I ordered it on the 12th and it got here today, on the 17th (that's fast, especially the way my nail mail has been shipping lately. 

I think that Ellagee is coming out with a holographic collection soon...so be on the lookout! This is definitely a brand to keep your eye on!

xoxo,

Belle

Subscription Review: GlitterDaze Daze of the Month September 2013

Hi guys! I just got my first Glitterdaze Daze of the Month box. 

The way it works is you choose from one of three levels ($13 to $25 per month)

Level One - Super Daze: One limited edition polish - $13

Level Two: Mega Daze: The LE polish, plus a mini polish and a hand care item - $19 

Level Three: Ultra Daze: The LE polish, the mini polish, two extras, and a $3 charitable donation to the charity of the month. 

These prices are new and have been changed recently, so if you see a discrepancy somewhere else, that's probably why. 

You fill out a questionnaire before your box ships based in your preferences, and it's pretty detailed. 

I, of course, had to get the Ultra box, and this is what I received: 

First of all, everything is wrapped up ADORABLY in pink tissue paper with white bows (not pictured). 

Secondly, you get a card explaining exactly what each item is. I love this, because I'm not a nail polish expert (yet), and I don't know how to tell the difference between jellys and crellys and that type of thing. 

Here was my full sized limited edition polish: 

Oddly enough, it's called Neon Lights, which is the exact same name my 'monthly me' polish from Glitter Guilty was for this month (although, they are two TOTALLY different polishes). 

According to the description, Neon lights is a neon glitter-bomb with black and white multiglitter in every shape and size in a pastel lavender base. There aren't just black and white glitter pieces though, there are all different colors. Some of the shapes include stars and hearts, which I didn't know until I swatched it. 

Another thing I really like about this is that the base is colored. I'm not really a fan of glitter bombs in clear nail polish, because I feel like there are going to be so many layers of polish (base coat, two regular coats, 1 to 2 glitter coats, top coat, and I like to add a coat of Gelous). A lot of times, clear glitter bombs come on thick, and the thicker/more layers of nail polish you have on, the more likely chipping/peeling is occur. It does indicate, however, on the card that this is supposed to be layered on top of white polish. 

Something I found when I was swatching this was that you don't have to go fishing for glitters and shapes, they come out easily each time you take the brush out of the bottle. 

...also...as if this polish wasn't already awesome enough, did I mention that it GLOWS IN THE DARK?!?! That's right, it glows purple in the dark. Just hold it up to the light for 10-30 seconds. It really works. This is so cool because I've been really into special effects polishes (thermo, light changing, etc) and I wanted a glow in the dark polish without having to wear that neon green/yellow color (that doesn't look so good during the day). 

Moving on...

On the right is the mini for this month, called Evermore. It's a really pretty red crelly with silver, pink and white glitters in different sizes, and some shimmer. You don't really need to put anything under it, and it becomes opaque in 2-3 coats. 

On the left is a mini super smooth base coat. The description states that it is base-strengthening, ridge filling, neutralising, and long lasting. I really wish I had this when I tried to wear Essie's No Place Like Chrome, because that polish showed every bump in my nails. It wasn't pretty. 

My two extras are a "hand fizzy" and "super holo heart cabochon- you can use it as a keychain (key ring included) or a necklace.

I looked up what a hand fizzy was (because I had no idea) and apparently you put it in warm water and soak your nails in it (the part when you're giving yourself a manicure, after you file/buff your nails). The description says that this is raspberry violet scented, flower shaped, and almost twice the size of their regular ones. I plan on breaking it into pieces so that I can use it for multiple future manicures. 

And the heart key chain...I absolutely love it. It's so me and my style. I just hope I don't break it... I have bad luck with key chains. 

Some swatches: 

I didn't layer white under like the card suggested for NL, because I wanted to see what it looked like on its own. 

Final verdict: I REALLY like this subscription so far. I think I might change my level to Mega down the line, because I don't NEED two hand care items or extras, but it makes me feel a little better knowing that my nail polish addiction is helping someone out somewhere (because of the charitable donation.) 

Technically I got 3 extras instead of two, which is also often. I am liking this a bit better than Glitter Guilty right now (which I will probably cancel after next month-I really want to see Halloween stuff!)

That's all for now!

xoxo,

Belle

Subscription Review: Glitter Guilty Pleasures Box September 2013

Hi guys!

Today I'm going to review what was in my Glitter guilty pleasures box this month. If you didn't already know, GGP Is a subscription service where, for 15.99 a month (you can also do 3 or 6 month plans) you get a full sized polish, based on your specific preferences (you fill out a questionnaire where you list polishes you like and don't like, including colors and finishes. You can be as specific as you like. You also get a mini polish, that each subscriber gets, as well as a piece of artisan chocolate (or something else during the summer). Each chocolate or other item is from an independent company, and proceeds from the boxes go to supporting small businesses. 

So here was my box this month: 

My full sized polish, based on my preferences, is a glitter bomb with iridescent microglitters and neon hex glitters in green, blue, pink, and orange, called Neon Lights. This is definitely the only polish I have like this. I don't know how I feel about glitter bombs, because I'd rather have glitter in a base color (so that there are fewer layers and less chance of peeling/chipping) but this is pretty cool. It's very similar to Party Hearty, which is listed in the site, except Neon lights has orange instead of purple. 

I definitely like this color a lot better than the one I got in my previous box. That one was a light pink creme with orange holographic microglitters, white bar glitters and magenta and silver circle glitters. I put maroon and magenta in my dislike section, so I was a little disappointed when I saw them in the bottle. It's still pretty though, and the formula is really good. 

Moving on, the monthly mini polish is called Tight End, and it's a crelly with a blue base, dark blue microglitters, and blue and white circle glitters. This one I'm kind of eh about, since last month's mini was also blue (much lighter though). It was based off of the creator's football team's colors. This is a cute idea, even if you dont really follow football. Now for some swatches:

All the way to the left is Tight End over two coats of Frost bite by China Glaze. The third to the left is 3 coats of Tight End by itself. I think it looks MUCH better with a solid color under it. Second to the left is Neon Lights over two coats of White by Kleancolor. Second to the right is NL by itself, and all the way to the right is NL over two coats of Black by Kleancolor. I don't know if I like it over white or black better, I might do a mani where every nail has a different base color. 

The last thing in the box is a cute little bottle-top magnet that says "keep calm and paint your nails."  I love this, it's adorable, i only wish it was a keychain or something so I could carry it around with me! 

This is my second box, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with for Halloween. It should be noted that Jessica, the creator, has excellent customer service. I didn't get my box by a certain day, and I emailed her (on a Saturday.) She emailed me back promptly giving me the tracking number, some information about the shipment, and told me she would call the shipping company if I didn't receive my box in the next few days. She obviously puts a lot of time and care into her products. 

That's all for now...so keep calm and paint your nails!

Update:

Here is a manicure I used with Neon Lights as a Top Coat. Underneath is My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Black Onyx by OPI. I alSo used Orly Instant Artist in Platinum to make the stripes (which you can't really see...but I used them to separate the black and white). 

xoxo,

belle

Nautical Nonsense

Hi! Just wanted to post a quick summer-is-basically-over mani: 

The base color is Julep's Dianna, that I got in the Big Picnic Mystery Box. It's a really pretty mint green, and it goes on so nicely. I love Julep polish because they're some of the only ones I've tried that don't leave bubbles on my nails. 

The thumb is a freehand attempt to draw a...boat steering wheel? (It probably has a different name). I used a nail striping brush. I did it in gold first, but it came out terribly, so I did silver over it. The effect wound up looking pretty cool by accident. Also used a striper for the pointer finger. I've seen stripe designs like this on Pintrest, and I love how it came out. 

Middle finger is from one of the Mash image plates #32. I used China Glaze Elephant Walk to stamp with. The circle around the compass is supposed to be really thin, but it kept not coming out, so I  just went over it with a striper brush. 

For the ring finger I looked up pictures of anchors and copied it. Before each rhinestone I put a coat of Tough Coat (clear nail art polish), and I used Mash nail art tweezers. 

The pinky is white nail tape. 

This is probably the second favourite manicure I've done (next to the Egyptian one). 

In other news, be prepared for a bunch of subscription reviews and multi-chrome polish swatches (I bought like 10 multichrome polishes and subscribed to a few more nail polish boxes [my bank account is crying]). That's all for now!

xoxo,

Belle

Labor Day Nails!

Hey guys! Today I just have a quick post of a couple of patriotic manis for Labor Day. I used these for the 4th of July, but you can pretty much use them any time you're feeling patriotic. Onward!

For the thumb I used Mash image plate # 49, pointer finger is dark blue rhinestones, middle finger is star-shaped rhinestones, ring finger is blue and red nail tape over while nail polish, and the pinky is an acrylic bow. I don't own nail glue, instead I used Tough Coat by Winning Nails (got it at Sallys). It just looks like a clear top coat and its for bonding and sealing nail art. Believe it or not, the bows actually stayed on for about a week (one of them I had to remove manually). 

With this one I used the sponge technique, the same that people use to do ombré effects. You start with a base coat, then paint the nails the lightest of the three colors (in this case, it was white). Make a line of each color polish, right on top of each other, and then sponge it onto your nail. I would look on YouTube for sponging techniques if it is your first time (Laynie Fingers has a good one). I did not, and it took me like 2 hours, because I did it wrong (I rolled it on my nail, like you do with a nail stamper) and you're actually supposed to sort of tap it on. 

On top I used Kleancolor in Silver Star, which is a clear base with holographic stars, which I had to kind of pick out with the brush. I topped THAT with China Glaze Fairy Dust, and put a top coat over that. Because I had so many layers, the nails peeled off within a couple of days. I would probably go with 3D star decals

or something like that next time. Even though this mani didn't last that long, it got like 50 re-pins on Pintrest (which is a lot for me). 

Hope everyone has a relaxing and safe holiday (I know I'll be spending mine at work :-/)

xoxo

Belle

Subscription review: Julep Maven September box!

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to get my Julep September box. I was ecstatic. Unfortunately, I had to wait until today to open up my Box-O-Goods. I purchased the 'It Girl' box this month and I can't help myself to a few extras every time. After all was said and done I have six new polishes. So exciting!!!

One reason why Julep is my favorite of all subscription boxes that I have found is the array of colors you can get. In a store I might overlook these colors, but the smaller sizes, coupled with an amazing consistency for each leaves me always wishing I had more.(It gets me to try new colors I wouldn't think of before.)

Short and sweet descriptions of each, with swatches to follow further down.

 

I named the polishes on the bottles, for your convenience, but in reality, the polishes look a bit darker.  

1. Padma is a purple with the tiniest matching purple sparkles. It comes out really dark on my nails, but I bet in the sun this will look divine. (In the jersey area it's rather cloudy for the past few days.)

2. Karmen  is a wonderful cherry red with tiny golden/orangy sparkles in it.  In the bottle it looks dark, but comes out very vibrant. The affect of the sparkles mixed with the color reminds me of flames for an odd yet inspiring reason.

3. Tatiana  is a wonderful glitter copper color, and glides on so smooth, it's like butter.

 

 

 4. Catrina is an amazing canary yellow color. Simple, classy and eye popping. I never had a yellow before in my collection. I worry about t clashing with skin tone and possibly being too bright and after trying this color on, It left me wondering what have I been waiting for?

5. Candace is a glitter based polish in the brass/bronze family. This was not an add on, but it was the defining color that helped me choose my box this month. I love it more in person. I can't wait to do something special with this color.

6. Josephine is a blue/gray color. The creamy consistency glides on smooth and it looks perfect. Spot on to the color in the bottle. 

Another fun thing about Julep polish, it comes with this cute sticker on the top of most bottles, so you can swatch the color.  I am not sure why but I love this little extra.

I painted each nail a different color not only to test them all, but to limit the amount of polish that I would have to take off/ Waste. (Since these polishes are only 8ml, you can run though a bottle fairly quickly.)

 

I picked the purple to do a full manicure with and pictures will come. In all i love every color, and can't wait to try them all out fully. What do you think about these colors? 


Update- here are my nails painted up with Padma. 
I used  Out the 
Door  Northern 
Lights as a top coat just for my ring finger. Just to not have a strictly one color mani.