Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Plump & Polished 12 Days of Nail Art Challenge!

Hi everyone!

I wanted to share this with you guys since we're getting to the end of the month this week!

I had been looking for a December nail art challenge for my first December blogging!  I wasn't sure where to even begin looking but clearly the nail polish gods were smiling down on me when I went to catch up on my blog updates that I follow and I found Plump and Polished had posted one!

Looking into it I saw that it was the very first nail art challenge she's hosting which made me even more keen to jump in and do this challenge to support a fellow polish blogger!

What's more, I wanted to share it with all of you so you could try it and  go to her blog and give her your support too!!


So join me in the challenge for Plump & Polished!!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

Om Nom Nom on this Jelly Sandwich I Made!

Hi everyone!!

I promised you all an on trend jelly sandwich yesterday and now its time to deliver! 

Since the first time I ever saw someone do a jelly sandwich....well since the first time I ever say a jelly polish I've been IN LOVE!!

I'd say some of my faves in my stash are my jellies (and it helps that one of the ones from Zoya and I share a name).

So, I'm constantly on the look out for making my jellies even more spectacular with combos and glitter!

A few weeks ago, I visited my local nail supply and came across a GORGEOUS jelly from Orly that I'm sure has been around for a while, simply because I couldn't even find a swatch image online. 

I wanted to use it, but it's a really dark color which makes it hard to see just how pretty it is.  But then I figured it out...JELLY SANDWICH!!

I came up with a combination with an Orly Flash Glam FX glitter I have and voila!

Pretty right?!  I used Orly Naughty, a gorgeous burgundy/oxblood jelly for this and for the glitter I used Orly Watch It Glitter, a copper/rose gold multi-size hex glitter.  I think this combo has a great depth, and jewel-like look to it and is completely on trend for fall with the oxblood and rose gold tones (though that rose gold doesn't come through as much under the jelly).  But I like how this looks because you can see the red tones in Naughty much better than if I had just done a simple manicure of just that color which would look nearly black. 

In the sun, there's something about this manicure that reminds me of rubies, the red glow that reflects from the glitter.

Here's a close up that shows the detail a bit better.

What do you guys think of this manicure? 

Feel free to leave comments, questions, requests, & suggestions as usual!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

Friday, November 23, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Yay for blog spamminess, cause I'm back again (after my post like two minutes ago) to share my Thanksgiving manicure with you all!

Now, some of you who go to my Instagram may have seen it already, but whatever, it's my blog I do what I want!! LOL

So yea, Thanksgiving....

I hope all of you had a great one (and for those who don't recognize thanksgiving on that day, I hope you had a great day in general!)

Now, I live in Texas, the extent of fall here is a few trees (depending on the type) changing colors, or just losing their leaves altogether which is more common, and the occasional cold front dropping the temperature from about 90 to 80.

So for Thanksgiving I wanted to bring a little fall into my life!

Have a look!

For this one I have a base of three coats of Essie A Crewed Interest.  Over that I sponged on (using a makeup sponge) OPI Take The Stage, Warm & Fozzie, and Goldeneye for the "leaves" (which I love how it looks since they're glitter so the look a lot like falling leaves like this).  And then I used a black striper for the trunks and branches!

Here's the close up!





Hope you guys liked this one!

Don't forget to leave your comments, questions, suggestions, and requests!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

Breaking Dawn Part 2...better late than never!

Hi all!

So sorry I've been MIA for a few days, I've been out of town and without access to a personal computer since Thursday and the week leading to that was really busy!

But anyways, I'm here now and I can report to you my Breaking Dawn extravaganza!! 

For the premiere I made it a point to make the trip back to my college town (or as I prefer to call it...home) to go with my best friend, since I've been to all the other premieres with her...it's kind of a tradition now I suppose.

Normally, as part of our movie premiere traditions, we make our own t-shirts and this time was no different!  We decided to try a different technique for this premiere (normally we paint them) but we didn't have that much time, so I managed to find the t-shirt bleaching method online (you can find it through Google if you'd like to try it, it's a lot of fun!)

Anyways, I thought first I'd show you our shirts!

Here's what she decided to make:

Cool right?!

Now for mine:



















(That's the front on the left, back on the right.)

So yea, that's what we made for the premiere, and somehow I managed to have good luck and stumbled across tickets for a 10 PM showing while like everyone else in town waited til midnight.  (Don't ask me how that works, but I can say I'll be looking for that option again haha we got out at like 1 AM rather than like 3!)

Anyway, I know why you're all here, you want to see my nails for said premiere, right?!

Well here we go!

For the look I used three coats of OPI Skull & Glossbones for the base on all my fingers but the ring finger.  Then I used Finger Paints Black Expressionism and a nail brush to do the checkerboard detail.  For my accent nail I have two coats of Black Expressionism for the base and used acrylic paint for the chess pieces.

Here's the close up!
So what do you guys think?!  Leave a comment!

Also, did you see the movie?!  What did you think of that!  Without being spoiler-y I can say I almost had a heart attack! 

Thanks for putting up with my lateness everyone!  Don't forget to leave comments, questions, suggestions, and requests!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

P.S.  If you comment about the movie, make a note and leave room to skip if you have spoilers.  As a person who isn't fond of them I know others may not want to know what happens.  Thanks guys!

Monday, November 19, 2012

Sorry for the hiatus!

Hello everyone!

I wanted to post to apologize for how long I've been away.  Last week was really busy through Thursday, and then I went out of town!  Technically I'm still out of town for Thanksgiving, but I have a computer....

That being said, it's my grandmother's computer and it hates me and won't let me upload any pictures for you!  :(

Saddest thing ever!

But I promise I haven't disappeared and I am taking pictures, unfortunately I probably won't be able to post them until I get back home Friday!

But look on the bright side, once I have my own computer back, you'll have my Breaking Dawn Part 2 post to look forward too as well as the nails I'm going to wear for Thanksgiving!!

Sorry again for being MIA, but I'll be back soon!

Have a wodnerful holiday!  I know I'm thankful for all of you!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

Friday, November 9, 2012

Birds of a Feather

Hello again everyone!

I'm here with another first for you all and I'm pretty excited.  This is my first attempt at a feather manicure!

I first saw this manicure online somewhere and knew right away I wanted to try it at some point, and I finally got the chance.

Though I can think of a few things to change for next time, I'm really proud of the results and I'm excited to share it with you all!

For this manicure I used three coats of Color Club Alias as my main color.  It's kind of hard to tell on the nails, but you can kind of see in the bottle that its a great duo-chrome from violet to an emerald green.  Then for my ring finger (though it's hard to tell I used anything different) I used three coats of Color Club Alter Ego.  For my feathers this time, I used some feather earrings I bought on clearance at Sally's simply because the patterns were pretty.

Here's a close up:


Now for my own future reference, when I try this again, I'll have to remember to make sure the polish under the feather is a contrasting color, just to make the color of the feather pop.  Also, I think I'll look for more colorful and smaller feathers to work with next time.

For tutorials on this manicure you can find things all over Google and YouTube that'll teach you how to complete a feather manicure, but as with anything it's trial and error to find what you like.

I hope you enjoyed my first try and will go out and try yourself!

As always, feel free to leave comments, questions, requests, and suggestions for me!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

NOTD: The Midas Touch

Hello again!

I'm back with a manicure for you all and I'm SO excited about this one!!  Not because its particularly special....its just really pretty. :-D

I wanted to have a little fun with some new purchases of mine and I got inspired for this particular NOTD.

Wandering around my local grocery/drugstore I came across a new display from Essence cosmetics for their Breaking Dawn Part 2 collection (and being a Twilight fan...ok addict...) I had to get the polishes.  Sadly two of the colors were already gone and my area is lame on getting things in a timely manner.  But I did get the other two colors and they're great!

And then, there's the OPI Skyfall Collection, which has been released for the Holiday season.  Now, for me personally a lot of the colors seemed a bit blah (especially the reds) and some that looked like dupes, but there were a few that stood out and I had to make sure and get.

With these new polishes in tow, I realized I had created the perfect storm of sorts and metaphorical lightening struck, resulting in what you're about to see...


Polish detail
Both of these polishes look amazing in the bottle and on the nail!  The Essence polish, A Piece of Forever (and no the Twilight names don't get less cheesy, at least it's made up for with good polish) in almost true metallic fashion, can look a bit streaky so it takes a steady hand and a really good top coat (mine being Revlon ColorStay Gel Shine Top Coat) to forgive its sins.  It's mostly opaque in two coats, and for being so frosty in finish, it's a lot more reflective than I expected and it dries really quickly.

The OPI Goldeneye (not to be confused with the 18K gold top coat Man With the Golden Gun also from OPI's Skyfall collection) is a gorgeous warm gold glittery foil.  It did really well for the sponge technique for the gradient since its made up of almost little scales of glitter, very easy to fade out.  With most like this, in swatching I found it took at least three coats for best opacity, but it is a gorgeous color that glows and has great shine!

Overall both of these colors came together to make a really pretty gradient effect that I just can't stop staring at!  Very fun for fall.

I hope you all enjoy it too!

I'll be back soon with more of course, but until then, send in your comments, questions, requests, and suggestions!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Julep Maven November It Girl Box! (Photo Spam!)

So I got my November Julep Maven box yesterday!

I always love getting these in the mail.  Why?  Because they're chock full of polish!

If you haven't heard about Julep Maven, let me tell you about it.

Julep is a high end salon polish brand, mostly available online or at Sephora, but they have a subscription service called Julep Maven.  To subscribe, you can go HERE or click one of the spiffy buttons to the left of the screen and take your Julep style quiz!

Once you do that, you can sign up for your subscrition.  You can get the box that matches your style quiz results or pick another one.  It's $19.99 a month (actually you can even get your first box for just a penny with the code COLOR2012) and you can skip and cancel anytime!

I'd say its definitely worth it if you're polish addicted like me.  And as a Maven you can get special deals on Julep polishes!

For this month, the special polishes were their new Matte Suede polishes!  I wanted to make sure and take some pictures of my box this month so I could show you guys!  Be ready for pic spam of the best kind!






Since I have an It Girl box, I typically get three polishes in my box, but the cool thing is that if you get the announcement for that month's box and see another you like better, you can change your box order for the month.

Anyways, if you want to try out the service try the link above or the buttons on the left and sign up for your new polish fun!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat

Friday, November 2, 2012

OPI Warm & Fozzie

Hi everyone!

So you've returned for my first non-Halloween manicure!  For this one I wanted to go for a first review on the site!

I've been digging through my pile of non-tried polishes (which disgracefully is rather large) and I came across a polish I was dying to get my hands on but hadn't gotten to wear yet. 

So, I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and try it on and give my first review (this is kind of an old polish, and one a lot of you may already have or have seen, but indulge me)!

Anyways....here goes!

OPI Warm & Fozzie
OPI's Warm & Fozzie is from The Muppet's Holiday Collection 2011.  It's a kind of gold, bronze, copper color with a shimmery foil/glitter finish. 

I have to say, I loved this color in pictures, which was why I was so desperate to own it, but I love it even more in person!  It's a great fall color and so much fun to look at, especially in the sun!  Unfortunately the photos I took didn't capture the copper tones very well, but they are definitely in there.  If you've ever heard on someone describing a polish as one that glows, this is definitely one of those! 

Formula-wise its nice, it is a foil-glitter so if you let it sit on the brush too long while you're painting your coats it can get a little gloppy, but if you work fast it shouldn't be a problem.  It's fully opaque in three coats.  Clean up around the nail (cause I get sloppy but my handy paint brush and acetone combo keep that my little secret) can get tricky since as glitter is prone to, it sticks around.  But it you get most of it loosened up, the rest will wash off the first time you wash your hands.


When I first saw this polish, I already named it one of my favorites, and I think I predicted well.  I think this will be a nice go to, Fall color for some time. 

I'm a sucker for metallics and foils, what can I say!

So let me know what you guys think of Warm & Fozzie!

Also if you have any requests, suggestions, comments or questions, feel free to leave them!

And if you're wondering, I have my stash listed on one of the tabs at the top of the page.  If you browse through and want to see a swatch &/or review, let me know!

Hugs & Kisses & Great Polishes!

~ Cat