Pretty & Polished - Gems n Gellies

Hi Lovelies!!!  This week has been crazy!  I barely know what day it is anymore!  Thursday, right?  LOL Come on weekend...you are so close, but so far away!!

 

Today, I am so excited to review Pretty & Polished Gems n Gellies Collection for you!  They are all stunning!!  Here is a little bit of information about this fantastic collection! 

The Gems n Gellies collection is being released to celebrate the Birthday of Pretty and Polished Owner, Chelsea. She wanted to give some gifts out this year instead of receiving. So with the purchase of this lovely collection you may receive a small key (as pictured in picture 5). If you receive one of these keys email a picture of the key next to a piece of paper with your name and order number on it to be entered in to win one of the following prizes:

• $30 gift code to use at www.shopprettyandpolished.com
• $15 gift code to use at www.shopprettyandpolished.com
• 1 gift box with 3 bath and body goodies
• 1 free custom made nail polish
• 1 free nail polish designed necklace

Keys for giveaway can only be obtained by purchasing the entire set (3 polishes), which you can find HERE for $27.00!! These three polishes will come in a 15 mL bottle and will each include 2 stainless steel bb's to help mix your polish.

You can purchase Pretty & Polished on Etsy or Pretty & Polished on My Shopify. You can also find out more information, upcoming collection information, along with swatches on Pretty & Polished - Facebook, on Twitter @prettynpolish, on Instagram @prettyandpolishd and at http://www.prettynpolish.com/. I highly recommend taking a look around, as Pretty & Polished always has awesome creations and an amazing formula!

 

First up, we have Liberty Bell Ruby.  Can you handle this? I think your ready, for all this jelly. hehe

 

For Liberty Bell Ruby, I used 2 coats along with Clearly on Top by KBShimmer.

Chelsea's description:  Magenta/red jelly with pink glitter is named after the famous Liberty Bell Ruby that was stolen during a large heist in 2011.

Close up!  Love how "juicy" this looks!!!

Next up, Heart of the Ocean.

For Heart of the Ocean, I used 3 coats with no top coat.  Isn't it glossy!??  I do recommend a top coat for prolonged wear though, for any manicure!

Chelsea's description:  Blue jelly with blue glitter is Heart of the Ocean. Named after the fictional blue diamond in the movie Titanic.

Close up!  What a perfect name!  This definitely reminds me of the Blue Diamond falling into the water!

The last of the trio, Tears of Dionysus.

For Tears of Dionysus, I used 3 coats along with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Chelsea's description:  Purple jelly with purple glitter, Tears of Dionysus, is named after an old Greek Story about Amethyst:  The legend of the origin of amethyst comes to us from Greek myth. Dionysius, the god of intoxication, was angered one day by an insult from a human and swore revenge on the next mortal that crossed his path. Violent tigers should carry out his wish. Amethyst, a beautiful young maiden on her way to pay tribute to the goddess Diana was to become the victim. Diana turned Amethyst into a stature of pure crystalline quartz to protect her from the brutal claws. Dionysus wept tears of wine in remorse for his action at the sight of the beautiful statue. The god's tears stained the quartz purple, creating the famous gem.

 

Close up!  My camera freaked out a bit by the purple!  But this is SO beautiful with the darker purple base and the peeks of shiny purple glitters!

All three of these are stunning.  I love the coordinating of glitters to the jelly bases.  And even the collection name of Gems n Gellies is perfect!  I always love a good story behind a polish and these three have it!  Plus, we need to wish Chelsea a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY month!  I believe her birthday is next week, so Chelsea, I hope you can enjoy your day!  We certainly enjoy these beauties you've created!! In case you missed above, you can purchase these two on Pretty & Polished on Etsy or Pretty & Polished on My Shopify. You can also find out more information, upcoming collection information, along with swatches on Pretty & Polished - Facebook, on Twitter @prettynpolish, on Instagram @prettyandpolishd and at http://www.prettynpolish.com/.

 

I hope you enjoyed all this jelly! :-)

 

Have a great day!!!

Much Love,

Crystal

 

 

 

 

 

*These products have been sent to me for review. All thoughts and opinions are that of my own.*

Wonder Beauty Products - Drill Baby Drill

 

Hi Everyone!!  I've had a few people ask if I've tried Wonder Beauty Products.  I found this brand through Etsy a few weeks ago and was curious myself.  Jen, the owner and creator, came up with an idea to have her polish in jars to help reduce the problems that bottles can cause.  Her jar concept was new to me and it seems like a great idea! 

You can find Jen on Facebook HERE.  Also, Jen has lots of information on her Etsy page, which is HERE.  Here are some details she has posted:

About Wonder Nail Lacquer - 100% hand mixed and are 3 Free! - No Toluene, No Formaldehyde, No DBP.  No "pre-made store bought franken mixing" here! All of my polishes are made from scratch and contain less chemicals than any polish on the market.

Why the jar? I fell in love with the unique and classy idea of vibrant animated nail colors concentrated in a beautiful cosmetic jar - hence a nail color cosmetic! No store bought "Franken" mixing here! All of my colors are truly made from scratch and will require hand mixing for optimal radiance with each use.

What are the benefits? Easy mix color palette for optimal radiance: Eliminates the frustration and limitation of "shake mixing". Get vibrant color results with every use!

Color and density control: Use as concentrated for quick heavy coverage or add liquid fusion for a more translucent look.

No waste: No more waste like you get when nearing the bottom of traditional bottled nail polishes. The wide mouth, shallow nail polish in a cosmetic jar allows for full use to the very last drop without gumminess or waste.

Lightning speed drying: Super fast, bullet speed drying formula! You're sure to be amazed at how fast my special blend dries literally within seconds!

Super value for the money: Every nail color cosmetic jar is accompanied with a .5 ounce bottle of crystal clear fusing liquid. The fusing liquid may be used as a translucent additive to the concentrated color mixture and is also a vibrant, non-yellowing high gloss top coat. A built-in bonus with every nail color purchase!

I was lucky enough to win an Easter Egg Hunt that Jen had set up through her website!  I was so excited to look through all her listing and find the little egg symbols - just like a little kid!  And I happened to be the first to find them all and won my choice of nail lacquer!  I asked Mr. CC his opinion, and we both agreed on Drill Baby Drill.  It came yesterday, and I was SO excited!  Here is how it came.

 

 

 

The package includes:
1 - Custom Color Palette (full size .5 ounce)
1 - Crystal Clear Fusing Liquid / Top Coat (full size .5 ounce)
with brush applicator for use with both products
1 - Wonder Wand mixing stick
1 - Elegant Organza Pouch (color may vary)
1 - Card With Complete Instructions

 

 

Ok, so I began to look at how I was going to do this.  If you notice I was wearing a dark red polish and just left that on in case this was sheer (and plus I was being lazy!! lol).  I took off the lid and begin to stir polish in the jar using the stick.  I noticed a lot of polish was stuck on the sides, so I pulled from the sides and sort of folded it on top.  It was kind of like how you fold in chocolate chips into the batter?  Well, anyway, the glitter seemed to be heavy, so I did that a few times to try to get it to mix enough for the nails.  I also tried mixing a few times between nails and coats.  You take the brush from the clear fusing liquid and dip it into the jar and paint as you normally would.  I was able to pick up a few large hexagons as you will see below.  I did 2 coats over the red and it was opaque.  I don't see any hint of the red. 

Then I cleaned off my brush, which I did with a cotton ball and acetone, but I noticed it left some of the fibers.  I'm not sure what to use that might help.  Just be careful because really the brush doesn't have to be perfectly clean to be put into the clear fusing liquid, which is what you'll use as the top coat.  Boy is that stuff shiny and slick!  You do not need to load your brush with it, it applies like melted butter!  I thought it would be thicker like Seche Vite, so don't make that same mistake lol  I had it almost dripping on my table!  haha See?  This was today's learning experience - you do learn something new every day.  I did wish that the glitter had come through better though.  Especially when I noticed in taking pictures, how much glitter is in there!  There is way to much to not be on my nails! hehe  Sooo....

 

 

 

I improvised!  I kept the jar upside (closed very tightly) and waited for the glitter to settle towards the top.  I removed the first try and went to try it again!  Now I didn't plan this, so don't think I'm a genius or something (LOL)!!  But what happened ended up working perfectly!  Below is a picture of the lid and as you can see, it's LOADED with glitter.  So what I did was take the clear fusing liquid brush and dip it into the jar to get it loaded up and then dip that onto the lid to pick up some glitter.  This way it was still smooth, but it had a lot more glitter than before.  Below the pictures are two coats (this time without any base color) with the clear fusing liquid as a top coat.   This is exactly what I wanted it to look like!  The glitter is suspended from the layers and it looks so much better!  You can see the teal and gold hexagons with the copper shimmer in the dark base really well in the lid.  This is in a black jelly base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The biggest tip I can give you is to BE CAREFUL!  I don't know about you, but I'm not always the most graceful.  I made sure I had lots of room and that I wasn't going to bump the jar on the floor!  And also move the open clear fusing liquid bottle away from you so that's not in your way.  Be careful opening and closing the jar (especially with wet nails).  The initial opening took a second, but now it goes on and off easier.  And I made sure to close it back up tightly to keep it from getting any air in it!  But the nice thing about this concept, is that you can add some clear fusing liquid directly into the jar if you need.  The polish itself applied just like any other, if not easier because I had control of the glitter and polish with the big opening.  I'm not sure that I'll always use my method because that can get messy, but it seemed to work!  I am going to give it a couple days to make sure it doesn't dry and make it hard to open with the lid being covered in polish.  If so, I will use the stick to put the glitter back in the jar and then wipe it clean with acetone.  I had fun trying something new and really loved the way it turned out.  I also really like that if you find a color you really love, you can use it all the way to the bottom of the jar and not have to worry about being able to reach it!

I hope you enjoyed my post and please feel free to ask me any questions!  I know this is new, so I will try to help you in any way I can!  Please check out Jen's Etsy store, as she has some gorgeous other colors available!

Have a great weekend!!

Much Love,

Crystal 

Cult Nails - A Brand to Watch

My Beautiful Collection!!

I came across Cult Nails right after the amazing Unicorn Puke was released!! I started seeing swatches pop up here and there and began to do my research of how to get that beauty!!  Most polish collectors know the joke of Unicorn Pee AKA Clarins 230, so Maria made Unicorn Puke based on that joke. 

Clairvoyant (over piCture pOlish Denim)

It was just a short time later, I found the release of Clairvoyant during a Pre-sale of their Super Powers collection. I have to admit, I only bought it for Clairvoyant. The colors all looked nice, but for someone owning 450-500 polishes, I didn't think I *needed* them.  So glad I was wrong!

Enigmatic

I received my package after they Pre-sale was over and started playing with the new colors. It was then I knew I had stumbled upon a wonderful company. This formula was amazing. And the best part was that they stayed on really well for me! Something I have trouble with!  I think I have oily nails or something.  I know for a while that Seche Vite would cause my polish to peel off in sheets!  I'm so thankful now to have found Wicked Fast top coat by Cult Nails!  It really works and it dries fast!

Mind Control

I began to take notice to the Cult Nails Facebook & Twitter accounts. I loved their energy and started to really connect with this brand. Maria, the owner, was a blogger herself that followed her dream of creating polish. How inspirational! I love those kinds of stories! 

Iconic

Iconic

On Black Friday, Cult Nails offered a great sale, so I was able to order almost the entire collection!! I didn't know until this past weekend how amazing some of those colors are!! I hadn't had a chance to try them all, so unfortunately they've been sitting!  For the ones I've tried before, I fell in love with them all over again.  And for the new ones I tried, I wasn't sure why I hadn't used them yet!

In a Trance

In a Trance with Hypnotize Me over

It's been a couple of months now and I just pre-ordered their next collection.  You can too here: Let's Get Nekkid Collection.  Toxic Seaweed is a limited edition.  If you have any interest, I would jump on it!  I know the colors will be released individually, but not sure exactly when.  I would check on the Cult Nails Facebook site for more details when they will be on the site. 

My Kind of Cool Aid

Unfortunately, Clairvoyant is out of stock and not able to be made at this time.  More information can be found here: Cali Trip.  Maria explains that the ingredient is not available, but she is looking for alternative materials.

My Kind of Cool Aid with Clairvoyant over ring finger

I am thrilled to support Cult Nails, because they truly offer a quality product along with passion for polish. Some of the bigger companies just produce shade after shade, sometimes almost exact to what they've released before. It's really nice to step back and find a company that puts a lot of effort into creating a nail polish collection.  I personally loved to learn more about their new collection, with the stories of each color.  You can read that here: Coming Soon - Let's Get Nekkid Collection. 

Layering Fun! My Kind of Cool Aid with Clairvoyant and Hypnotize Me on ring finger.
This I will definitely do as a full mani - isn't it gorgeous!?

Over the next year, we can look forward to many new collections coming our way. Maria will keep us on our toes, with even a spotlight collection from her daughter, Coco! I'd say this is a brand to watch, because they will offer amazing products this year, and hopefully many years to come!

If you would like to find these lovely polishes for yourself (instead of drooling at all these pictures! hehe)  Here is their website: Cult Nails.  I'm just a huge fan and want to make sure no one misses out on this company!  It is a top favorite of mine as you can tell from my post!

Also, I mentioned on my Twitter and Facebook about working on my spare bedroom to transform it to my beauty room!  I can't wait to share pictures with you soon!  I'm hoping to have it done by next week sometime!

Much Love,

Crystal

*Edited to add*  Each polish lists for $10 on their site.  They do have glass files (they are amazing - $12) and treatments (base - $8, top coat - $8 or both together for $15).  There are a few collections listed for a discounted price as well.  So please check it out if you are interested!

Also, as a bonus, Maria will be offering all in stock colors for $5 for a day when she reaches 5,000 fans on Facebook!  So if you haven't "liked" them yet, please do!!  :-) Cult Nails Facebook Page here: Cult Nails Facebook