Polish Alcoholic Autumn 2013

I’ve got a sneak peak sampling of Polish Alcoholic‘s Autumn 2013 collection!  I’m showing you two new shades that just scream AUTUMN!   You’ll be able to find these handmade (3-free) polishes right here at PolishAlcholic Etsy Shop starting October 7, 2013.  Polish Alcoholic ships internationally and the items arrive beautifully wrapped in pink, purple and ribbon! Use code JACQUI10 to get a 10% discount on etsy! 

The first polish up is called Veni, Vidi, Vici. It’s an orange jelly with black and white shredded glitter.  This jelly needed three coats to reach full opacity.  The amount of shredded glitter in here is just perfection.  Look at how effortlessly the shreds spread out over my nails (they lay flat too)!  Shown here is one coat of Orly Ridge Filler, three coats of Veni, Vidi, Vici and one coat of Seche Vite. ↓

I received a lot of compliments on this manicure.  Veni, Vidi, Vici looks so good on me, if I must say so!  I can’t wait to wear it again!  Especially since Halloween is right around the corner…

The next shade is called Cum Non Tum Age, a blue shimmer with gold and orange glitter.  Cum Non Tum Age is a bright blue that leans a little purple.  I love the blue and orange color combo especially since they’re opposites on the color wheel.  The formula of this blue is much thicker than the orange jelly.  Cum Non Tum Age dries to an almost textured semi-satin finish.  It’s not a metallic nail polish, but it almost looks like one since it has so much sheen!  Shown here is one coat of Sally Hansen Maximum Growth as a base coat, two coats of Cum Non Tum Age, and one coat of Seche Vite. ↓

Cum Non Tum Age dries fast!  In fact, both of these polishes do!   Because of this, I had better luck when I painted my nails quickly and with as few strokes as possible as to not drag the drying polish.  I found that the surface was dry to-the-touch within minutes!  I didn’t ding or dent my mani in between coats. 🙂

Here’s another shot of Cum Non Tum Age.  You can see that it has a unique finish to it.  It’s not glossy.  It’s got more of a textured satin finish that glows!  Oh, and this blue did not stain my natural nails!

Did you notice that both of these shades have intriguing Latin names?  The whole collection does and they’ll be available soon on the PolishAlcoholic Etsy shop.  If your tempted to place an order online don’t forget to use my code JACQUI10 to get 10% off (discount good til October 31, 2013).

So what do you think of these autumn glitter polishes?  And have you tried any of Polish Alcoholic’s indies before??

*Both of these polishes were provided to me for my honest review.

Fall French Manicure and Pinterest Changes?

I really wanted to do a galaxy mani for Chalkboard’s nail challenge since that was the theme for today.  Galaxies are so much fun.  But I had a horrid headache tonite after my aerobics class…. so I watched some corny horror movies with my boyfriend and laid on the couch all night.  Ever seen The People Under The Stairs (from 1991) or Child’s Play 2 (it’s one of those Chucky movies)?  Ahhh I just love netflix 🙂  You get to watch super-cheese movies without the embarrassment of having to rent them out in public.  Anywho, I kinda gave up on the idea of doing my nails tonite… but once my ibuprofen kicked in I got my second wind!  Rather than going nuts with a galaxy mani late at nite I figured I’d try a nice simple french mani.  And since fall is coming I reached for my rich evergreen-toned essence polish called Deap Sea, Baby!

For this french mani I tried out my new Essence French Manicure Brush that Viviana sent me.  You may know Viviana as Nail-art Addict!   What a doll she is!  I was ooohing and aaahing over how cool this little brush looked in one of her posts so she kindly sent one my way (all the way from the Netherlands!)  If you haven’t seen the Nail-Art Addict’s blog, you’ll want to check it out.  Her nail art is the bomb but so is her blog design as she’s a webmaster in real life!!  Oh, and to top it off- she blogs in two languages.  Whereas I’m just lucky to manage one! 😀

So, my manicure looks fine but I did have some troubles with this little brush.  Some of my nails seemed too wide for it.  It was the perfect size for my pinkie though LOL!   Despite this, it’s an innovative little thing, isn’t it?

I used the brush along with Deep Sea, Baby to paint my tips.  If the brush didn’t reach the edges of my nail I did some touch-ups to get the green where I needed it.  Then I topped it off with one coat of a gold Sephora by OPI glitter called Only Gold For Me.  This glitter is smooth and didn’t require a topcoat (maybe because it’s already labeled as a topcoat right on the bottle) and I think it pairs nicely with the deep green for a nice fall look.  I really enjoy a french mani with a twist from time to time.  I used to be intimidated by french manis, but now I find them relatively simple.  Practice makes perfect I suppose.

I also wanted to mention the new changes to Pinterest.  Pinterest will soon start pinning ads for businesses.  Have you heard of this?  I don’t really know what to think just yet.  I guess I’ll have to see it in action before I can pass any judgements.  (Oh, and if you’d like to follow me on pinterest here’s my link.)  Below is the email notification I received tonite …what do you think??????

Just over a year ago, my wife and I welcomed our son into the world. Since his first day, I’ve been pinning fun things we can do together, right now while he’s still little and later when he gets older. I know many of you do the same. Pinterest is where you keep your wishlists, vacation plans, dream home ideas, and other things you want to do soon and in the future.

That’s why for us, it’s so important that Pinterest is a service that will be here to stay. To help make sure it does, we’re going to start experimenting with promoting certain pins from a select group of businesses.

I know some of you may be thinking, “Oh great…here come the banner ads.” But we’re determined to not let that happen. While we haven’t figured out all the details, I can say that promoted pins will be:

• Tasteful—No flashy banners or pop-up ads.
• Transparent—We’ll always let you know if someone paid for what you see, or where you see it.
• Relevant—These pins should be about stuff you’re actually interested in, like a delicious recipe, or a jacket that’s your style.
• Improved based on your feedback—Keep letting us know what you think, and we’ll keep working to make things better.

For our first test, we’ll promote a few pins in search results and category feeds. For example, a pin for a Darth Vader outfit from a costume shop might be promoted in a search for “halloween.” Nobody’s paying for anything yet—we want to see how things go and, more than anything, hear what you think.

Thanks so much for all your support these first few years, and we hope you’ll keep pinning with us for many years to come!

All the best,
Ben

IDK!  What do you think of all this??

#31DC2013 – Half Moons (in halloween colors)

As part of Chalkboard’s 31 day nail challenge I’ve got a funky halloween halfmoon design for you!

Now that fall is here I’ve been DYING to do some autumnal nail art- especially for halloween!!  Weeeee!!  I love halloween… and my blog is a great way for me to showcase my holiday spirit!  Halloween is all about orange and black, but my fave combo for the holiday is actually green and purple.  This mani is kinda crazy looking and perhaps a little fugly, but I don’t care!  I’ll wear pretty much anything on these nails- and I’ll love it too!  lol

What I’m wearing:

♥ one coat of Nailtiques #2

♥ two coats of Essence lime green called L.O.L.

♥ one coat of seche vite to make the green dry quickly

♥ then I used painters tape to create the crescent/halfmoon line

♥ then I applied one coat of Milani TEXTURE in Purple Streak and then peeled the tape off

This mani was quick and easy!!

Would you wear nails like these, or is the color scheme a little too ‘out there’ for you?

You can view some of the other halfmoon designs for the #31DC2013 right here: 

Nail Art Ideas Linkup- Games and Apps Theme!

The third them of September’s Nail Art Ideas Linkup (NAIL) is Games & Apps.  What a fun theme!  There were a lot of things swirling through my mind: Dance Dance Revolution, Ghost Radar, Zuma Blitz, Scrabble, Angry Birds… the list goes on and on!  But there is one card game that I’ve been playing obsessively lately and it’s a Nook app called Aces Spades made by Concrete Software, Inc.  I’m not dissing Barnes & Noble or the Nook, but most of my Nook apps are a wee bit lame.  But this Spades game is just too fun!  It’s a nice basic version of four-player Spades, it’s glitch-less, and I love the color scheme and ‘feel’ of the app.  It almost looks a little gothic.  Here’s a couple screen shots of the game so you can see what I mean.

Check out my sexy partner Julian played by the computer!

I really like this blue, gold and purple color scheme.

For this nail art I’m wearing:

♠ OPI Unfor-greta-bly Blue with some black sponged on top

♠ the yellow accents are Sinful Colors Pull Over with some Julie G Metallic Heels mixed in

♠ the purple accents were made with a magnetic polish called Houses of Parliament by Nails Inc.

I kinda love the trio of colors here!  And I’ve never used magnetic polish for an accent nail before.  I’m really happy with the result!  I’ll definitely have to try that again, especially since my big stash of magnetics are all sitting in a box unused!  So what do you think of my Spades nail art?  Did I capture the essence of this app at all? 

View the other Games & Apps themed nails right here … or enter your own design up until September 22, 2013:

Who was voted NAIL GENIUS of the week?

September’s Nail Art Ideas Linkup (NAIL) is full-swing and the third theme of the month opens up tomorrow- GAMES & APPS!  Brijit Digit’s, Eeeek! Nail Polish! and Craftynail would love for you to join in !
After each week’s theme closes up you can click the inlinkz to cast your three votes for your favorite nail design.  The nail art diva with the most votes gets anointed NAIL GENIUS OF THE WEEK!   Let’s take a moment and review our recent geniuses!!

A GREAT READ (BOOK) Theme-

The genius award goes to Victoria from Vic & Her Nails for her lovely Sherlock Holmes nail art!  Congrats to Vic!  Victoria was voted GENIUS three weeks in a row- so she’s really on a roll!  She’s also simultaneously doing the Chalkboard Nails 31 Day Challenge.  Kudos to Vic for her hard work and dedication to her blog!  Here’s a NAIL GENIUS badge just for you!

BACK TO SCHOOL Theme-

And the NAIL GENIUS BADGE goes to….  Rajani from Perfecting the Imperfections!  This was Rajani’s first NAIL entry and her school-themed nail design racked up a whopping 63 votes!  Great job Rajani!  Here’s your NAIL GENIUS badge- you can post it on your blog if you’d like!

Voting opens up very soon for the SPORTS theme!  Here’s the link so you can pick your fave NAIL Genius:

Sports:

#31DC2013 Flowers Nail Art

Day 14 of Chalkboard Nails’ Challenge is FLOWERS and I’ve got some brown cherry blossom nails for ya!  I’ll be honest with you… I don’t really like how these nails came out.  I don’t like to be negative… but it is what it is.  And I realized that when I don’t like one of my designs I usually only post one pic.  So here it is….

I’m wearing two coats of a cream brown called Nirvana by Sinful Colors.  A few months back you may remember me whining about how I didn’t have any basic brown polishes… well, now I have one!  I think Nirvana should come in handy for nail art this fall and winter. 🙂    For my floral design I painted some branches using Orly Nite Owl.  I wish I used a dark polish for the branches.  (On this old AriZona Green Tea mani I made the branches black and they looked amazing!) The pink flowers are China Glaze Dance Baby and Orly Kiss the Bride.  I used a toothpick to make black dots in the middle of the blossoms, but the dots came out much bigger than expected (oopsy)!  I topped it off with seche vite and there you go!  These aren’t that fantastical, but they were quick to do, so that’s a bonus.  😀

See some of the other flower nails from #31DC2013 right here:

#31DC2013 – Polka Dots

Polka dot nails.  The french manicure nail guide stickers pulled some of my peach basecoat off.  How annoying !  I put topcoat over it and that helped smooth it out a bit.  Here they are………..

FYI-This is my 2nd attempt at polka dot nails tonight.  My first design got messed up too!  That’s all I’ve got to say about that.

signed, crabby in NY