Autumn's In Full Swing!

Hello dolls!

While the weather in Southern California refuses to accept that it's now Fall, I won't let it keep me down!!  Haha my home is decorated, my candles are burning and I already have my favorite soup recipes lined up and ready to go.  I also have a new favorite polish that sums up this season for me...

 Colors Used: Noodles Nail Polish - Pumpkin Spice And Everything Nice, American Apparel - Manila, Acrylic Paints

I am so in love with this crelly!  A mix of peach, caramel, bronze, and orange hexes in a nude crelly base... this polish just screams warm-fuzzy-goodness!  It applied easily with an even disbursement of glitters.  2 coats is all that's needed to achieve opaqueness.

On my ring finger, I free-handed  a tree branch with some acrylic paints and a thin striping brush.

Come on weather, get it together!  (Ha! That rhymes...)

Natalie (owner of Noodles Nail Polish) put the sweetest note in the package along with my polish which really made my day.  It's the little things like that which keep me buying from indies.  I will definitely be continued customer of this brand :)

Anywhosy, stay tuned for a challenge post later this afternoon :)

Until next time!

Stef <3

* This product was purchased by me for review.  I received no payment or other compensation for the review of this product.  The opinions stated here are completely my own.  The contents of this review are based on my direct experience with this product.

SAFS: An Indie Trifecta!

Hello dolls!

I hope you all are having a very happy Sunday :)  Today's post is another installment of my "Sunday's are for Swatching" segment. 

It's not something I do every Sunday (altho I probably should haha), but it's a great way for me to share some of the polishes in my collection with you without the stress of worrying about what nail art I should do along with it ;)  I have 3 indie polishes to show you for 3 different brands, so let's get started...

 Anonymous Lacquer - Purple Rainbows

Anonymous Lacquer is a new indie brand that I discovered via Instagram.  "Purple Rainbows" is a lovely purple holo that I instantly loved when I saw photos of it.  This polish has been reformulated because  the make felt her original base was too thick.  I purchased the first bottle (original formula) because I ain't no scaredy cat and I really like it.  Even tho the base leans on the thicker side, it's not difficult to apply. Shown is 2 coats with topcoat.  All in all a really lovely holo :)

 Lime Crime - Peaches & Cream

This polish... Oh, this polish!  This has been on my "I've gots to have it" list for a very very long time.  Every time I have visited Lime Crime in the hopes of purchasing a bottle, it's been sold out.  To be honest, I just stopped searching.  Then I saw that Lexi of Painted Polish was having a destash sale and she had a brand new, unused bottle!  It now has a happy home with me hahaha.  As with a lot of nude/peach polishes, it is slightly streaky.  I built up 3 coats and applied topcoat.  It reminds me of Crayola's Mac-n-Cheese crayon; I love it!

 Jolie Polish - Choji

Choji is a white crelly base with a mixture of bright colored hex glitters in multiple sizes.  While I was out shopping last weekend, a sales clerk commented on my nails saying they looked like they were covered in frosting and sprinkles.  I couldn't agree more! Shown is 2 coats with topcoat.  The base is a little stickier/thicker that I would prefer and I definitely had to do the "dab and drag" method with the glittery pieces.  But the result was well worth the effort.  This is a new fave in my collection :)  Jolie Polish also sells the most amazing clean-up brush I have ever owned.  I love them so much that I purchased 3 haha.  Definitely worth checking out!

I have some more indie swatches to share with you, hopefully next Sunday.  Question... do you like seeing a mix of indie swatches in a post or would you prefer seeing one brand at a time?  I personally like the variety but I'm curious to hear your thoughts :)

Until next time!

Stef <3

Guest Post at From Polish, with Love!

Hello dah-lings!

There is a guest post by yours truly up at From Polish, with Love!  My fellow blogger and new friend Dani graciously asked if I would be interested in doing a guest post for her and I decided it had to be all class...

Details on the colors/products used and how I achieved this look can be found in the post.  So... go... now... pretty please?  :P

Until next time!

Stef <3

Emmanuelle & a Franken!

Hello, dolls!

It's been a month since my last SAFS post... yikes!

 Emmanuelle

First up I have my "normy".  A quick explanation for my newer followers... I sing in a televised church choir and while nail polish is encouraged (to look more feminine lol), I am not allowed to wear anything too bright/outlandish.  This includes any form of nail art.  Boring right?  Right!  This is how the SAFS posts were born.  With that being said... I love this beauty!  Super soft and subtle.  This was 3 easy coats with Color Club Clear topcoat :)

 Retail: $14.00  ($11.20 Maven Price)

???

Eeeee I'm so excited to share this one with you!  Those of you who follow me on Instagram may have noticed that I did a little bit of a polish purge.  I think I got rid of 50-ish in all?  I shared them with friends in order to make room in my helmer for other beauties.  In the process of the purge I decided to have some fun and made a franken!  It needs a name tho... any suggestions??  I'm thinking something to do with the night sky? 

 I mixed the flakies from a couple of Revlon Moon Candy's,  holo glitters from China Glaze (Fairy Dust) and Kleancolor (Chunky Holo Fuchsia) and a splash of Revlon Royal.  This is 2 coats of my franken over 1 coat of Royal with Color Club Clear as the topcoat.  I love this polish so much that I wore it for 4 days straight... that's like a record or something!  Lol...

I seriously would love any suggestions that you might have on a name for this franken.  I feel like it deserves one :)

Until next time!

Stef <3

SAFS: Mulberry Street & Whipped

Hey dolls!


I've been battling a stomach bug this week and it's left me a little drained.  So this post is going to be short and sweet haha.  Anywhosy, it's that time...

 First up is the "normy"...

 NYC - Mulberry Street

A shimmery champagne polish that  I've had in my collection for quite a while.  It is very sheer, so to speed up the opacity process, I started with 1 coat of a nude polish base and then applied 2 coats of Mulberry Street :)

Retail: $1.99

And now for the good stuff...

 Sinful Colors - Whipped

Whipped is a new polish from SC Leather Luxe collection.  I picked up 3 bottles while out doing domestic shopping this weekend.  I needed a pick me up haha

I'm really loving this polish.  I know a lot of ladies are thinking, "What's the big deal??  Black polishes exist and so do matte toppers."  I was in that same club right along with you.  But this baby is a one coater!  A ONE COATER!!  Which means my nails don't look bulgy/bulbous from mulitple coats of polish.  It also dries incredibly fast.  Overall, this polish is a winner :D

Gah!  I love it!!

Retail: $1.99

Alright ladies, I'm off to do more domestic shtuff haha.

Until next time!

Stef <3

Monsieur, Natasha & Korin!

Good morning, lovelies!

It's that time again...

The "normal" polish I'll be wearing to church this morning is...

 Crystal International - Monsieur

Have I mentioned that I love love love nude polishes?  I went thru a bit of an obsession a few months back and have been refraining from wearing them all the dang time haha.  When I saw that this came in the box of 6 Crystal polishes I recieved, I was stoked!  As with any nude polish I've ever tried, Monsieur is a bit streaky.  This is shown with 3 coats and top coat.

Reatil: N/A

 Julep - Natasha

Natasha is described by Julep as an "intense orange crème".  Now here is where I disagree with them.  Intense... yes!  Crème... absolutely not!!  I was a little disappointed when this polish came in the mail because it was not at all what I was expecting.  It is much more of a jelly/crelly than a Crème.  It is very streaky and required 3 coats.  I still had a visible nail line after 3 coats, altho you cannot see it here and that was a little irritating.  On the plus side... I really like the color lol.

Retail: $14.00 ($11.20 Maven Price)

Julep - Korin

Korin is described by Julep as a "spring green crème".  I'm in total agreement this time!  Very creamy and also very gloopy. And streaky.  It's just been that kind of day haha.  I've had to add a few drop of nail polish thinner to make it manageable.  But I really love the color of this polish, so it was worth the extra effort.  At the time of me writing this, Korin is not available for purchase by itself on Julep's site.  It is paired with Drew in a "Watermelon Wedge" set for $19.99.  This is 3 coats with a top coat.

I'm really loving this Sunday swatching thing!  I hope you all are finding it helpful/useful/entertaining/not boring lol.  I've been tossing around the idea of doing a monthly round up of my favorite products I've used each month.  I know a lot of ladies do it, but there are lots of products I'd love to share :)   Any thoughts?

Until next time!

Stef <3

A Neutral Skittle

Hello, dolls!

I have another subdued-ish manicure to share with you today.  "Two nude mani's in a row??!!", you say... I promise I'm not a pod person ;)  I've been doing so many bright/crazy mani's recently that I decided I needed a "palette cleanser"...

 Colors Used (L to R): Julep - Ginger, Love & Beauty - Beige, OPI - Goldeneye, Love & Beauty - Ginger, Love & Beauty Nude

Man oh man, I cannot wait to get my light tent!  I'm sooo incredible frustrated with how the lighting in these pics turned out... grrrr...

 Anywhosie, these are all 2 coaters except for Goldeneye.  3 cotas for that  one.  I had seen a mani on Pinterest that used different nudes and a glitter to create a skittle and I loved the idea.  I've tried to figure out who originally did the mani, but the pin leads nowhere and I can't really red the watermark :(  It's a great mani tho hahaha...

I will have my first installment of the May TPC up tomorrow.... that's all of the new news I've got for ya :P

Until next time!

Stef <3

I'm Ready For Fall!

Good morning, darlings :)

I don't know about the rest of you but I am soooooo ready for the season to change!  I love Autumn.  The cool temperatures, changing leaves, peacoats... I love it all.  It's just now starting to cool off in Southern California but the mani that I have to share with you today is one I did when it was 107 degrees (Fahrenheit) outside.  I was miserable... and very angry lol.  So I made a plea to the Fall god's and came up with this...

 

 Colors Used (L to R): Julep Gwyneth (base), Revlon - Tuscan Sun, Love & Beauty - Nude, O.P.I. - The "It" Color, E.L.F. - Party Peach, Sinful Colors - Nirvana, Julep - Felicity.

 I started with 2 coats of Gwyneth, a super sheer pink polish.  Then, with my striping brush, I added streaks of Autumn colors...

When it was all said and done, it came out looking more like Thanksgiving than just Fall... but I'll take it!  Hahaha ;)

The weather is finally starting to cool and I can feel Fall coming around the corner. I'm a happy Girl!

With the holidays coming up, I've been brainstorming some nail ideas and I can't wait to see what my fellow bloggers come up with :D  I haven't forgotten about my promised giveaway (2 more posts to go!).  I will have more details for you soon-ish.  This might be my last post until after the wedding (October 6th) :'(  With that being said...

Until next time!

Stef <3

Church Mani: Semi-Braided

Hello lovelies!!  Gahh I've been gone for far too long *sigh*

I'm taking a break from packing (we're moving in 5 days!!!) and I've decided to share my church mani from this past Sunday.  I got inspired my nail art I saw here...

 Colors Used: Sally Hansen - White On, Love & Beauty - Beige, Julep - Meryl

I haven't really had any time the last couple of weeks to do my nails, which is pretty tragic.  I've slapped some polish on and ran out the door but the nail art has been pretty non-existent.  So, while this mani is simple, it's a small step towards getting back into my routine :)

All of the polishes I used are fairly thick, I used one coat of each (one thick coat).

 

 I was bumming around in my favorite Target sweats all day Saturday haha...

 

 So these you have it... yay nails!!

I suppose that's all for now.  Love to you all <3

Until next time!

Stef <3

Dots and Stripes!

Yoohoo!  Remember me?  It's alright if you don't, I barely remember how to blog!  Lol.  It has been far too long ladies and I truly have missed you.

The mani I have to share with you today may be a little lack-luster after my long absence but... I am out of prectice with my nail art because I haven't had any free time to myself in weeks.  It's pretty pathetic at this point.  I cannot wait to be moved-in and married so I can get back to life as-it-should-be with my honey *sigh*...

 Colors Used: Klean Color - Mocha, Rimmel - Black Satin

So, this is a mani that I did a couple of weeks ago.  I don't really have much to say about it lol.  The Mocha is a really pretty dusty rose kind of color, 2 coats for opacity.  I've raved about Black Satin in the past and it's still my favorite black polish to date :)

Although stripes and polka dots aren't all that new and exciting, they can still be fun.  I enjoyed rockin' these pretties :)

Only 3 more weeks to go until I'm back, Jack!  Hahaha  I miss polishing a lot and I'm trying to stay in the know with new trends and products.  If there's anything new that you'd like to share with me, please do!!  I would love you forever :D

Until next time!

Stef <3

Julep + Trina Turk: A Match Made in Heaven

Good morning all :)  I'm pretty excited about my Julep purchases this month so I'm just going to jump right in!

For the month of September Julep has teamed up with fashion designer Trina Turk and come up with some awesome colors for the Fall.  I am the proud owner of 5 polishes out of this collection :)

L to R: Delaunay, Alma, Otte, Hoch and Annie

I'm still waiting for Gunta to come in the mail, it's a pretty royal blue :)  These polishes are cremes that all apply like a dream!  Alma is my favorite yellow that Julep has produced thus far.  Here are a couple of mani's I did using these polishes...

These two pics are of Alma and Annie combined with Revlon Calla Lilly

 3 coats Calla Lilly, 2 coats Alma and Annie...

 

 These next 2 pics are of Delaunay and Otted combined with Felicity, a gold that I received in Julep's August Maven Box :)

 Again, 2 coats of Delaunay and Otte...

Julep also added a mascara to this month's Maven boxes...

My eyelashes are quite wimpy/non-existent on there own.  This volumizing mascara worked wonders!

 Love it!

All in all I'm really pleased with this months Julep collection :)

Until next time!

Stef <3