Monday, January 30, 2017

Pahlish Raggedy Man, Goodnight and Lady of Raynham Hall

*Purchased by Me*

Hi everyone! Today I have two recent purchases from Pahlish to share with you. Both of these are oldies that have recently made a comeback to the Pahlish shop, so if you missed them the first time around, now is your chance to grab them! 

Sunday, January 29, 2017

New CrowsToes Multichrome Finishes!

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! CrowsToes has released a collection of multichromes including some brand new ones and some old favorites. Altogether, there are 6 multichrome shifts (4 brand new, 2 oldie favorites) with 4 finishes of each shift including the original finish, a sparked finish, a linear holo finish, and a bleached holo finish. Lauri has a little something for everyone's taste here, so you can pick your favorites! Today, I have two of the multichrome shifts to show you, Damned If You Don't and one of my old favorites, Huginn & Muninn. All of these new multichrome finishes are available now in the CrowsToes Shop for pre-order until tomorrow night at 8 PM Eastern time.


Saturday, January 21, 2017

Pahlish The Life Aquatic Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I also have the Pahlish The Life Aquatic Collection to share with you. This is something we haven't seen from Pahlish in awhile, a whole foil flake collection! Per Shannon, this collection was inspired by The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions featuring Seu Jorge, which is a collection of David Bowie songs that Jorge covered in Portuguese for The Life Aquatic Soundtrack. The Life Aquatic Collection launches tomorrow (January 22nd) at 7 PM Central time in the Pahlish shop.


Dreamland Lacquer Power Ballads Collection for Valentine's 2016

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have a brand new Valentine's 2017 Collection from Dreamland Lacquer called the Power Ballads Collection. This collection is inspired by some 80's power ballads (that I have been singing in my head the entire time I've been editing pics and writing this post). These beauties release today at 2 PM central time for a 48 hour pre-order window in the Dreamland Lacquer shop.


Thursday, January 19, 2017

TBT: OPI DS Original

*Nothing to Disclose*

Hi everyone! Today I have an oldie but a goodie to share with you! I know I have posted it on the blog before (along with some of my other OPI Designer Series (DS) stash and my fun stories about acquiring them), but it is one of my favorite polishes ever so I have to bust it out every now and again. OPI DS Original is the polish that got me into polish back in 2011 when I saw it on Chloe's Nails. It was hard to find even then (and going for >$40 on eBay) and I never thought I would get my hands on it. Luckily, my pal Jen found a whole stash of OPI DS polishes at a cosmetic wholesaler she happened to stop by and she was able to snag one for me, so I got it for retail!


Sunday, January 15, 2017

Polish Con Exclusive: Great Lakes Lacquer Blue Skies From Pain

*Press Sample*

Hi everyone! Today I have a Polish Con Spring 2017 Exclusive to share with you guys from Great Lakes Lacquer. This time around, the makers are doing some events leading up to Polish Con and they are taking turns releasing their exclusive polishes ahead of time for those who will be unable to attend. This week, Great Lakes Lacquer and Different Dimension are releasing two exclusives, and I have the GLL to share with you today. This exclusive will be available from January 15-January 21st in the Polish Con shop. Polish Con will be taking place on April 29, 2017 in NYC (see more event details here).


Thursday, January 12, 2017

TBT: Contrary Polish Sky

*Nothing to Disclose*

Hi everyone! This week for TBT, I'm sharing one of my older Contrary Polishes. Carrie is known for her amazing shimmer polishes, and Contrary Polish Sky is a prime example of that! Let's check it out!

 

Thursday, January 5, 2017

TBT: Layla Flash Black

*Nothing to Disclose*

I know that it's nothing too special or unique, but I'm going to again attempt to do Throwback Thursdays (TBT). Since I have so many older polishes that are unloved in lieu of shiny new pretties, I need some encouragement to pull them out and wear them. Don't get me wrong, they are amazing polishes...just often forgotten since they aren't right in front of me. Hopefully this will be the push I need to pull them out!

I'm going to start off with a polish from a few years ago, Layla Flash Black



Tuesday, January 3, 2017

My Favorite Nail Art of 2016

*Some Press Samples Included*

Hi everyone! Today I'm sharing my favorite nail art of 2016! I was disappointed in myself when I looked through my blog that I did so little nail art in 2016, but I'm definitely going to push myself to do more in 2017. I did start the 31 Day Challenge, but unfortunately I never completed it (I even have some manis I did for future prompts that I never even put on the blog!). Of the nail art looks that I did, these were my top picks for 2016.


Monday, January 2, 2017

My 2016 in Review and My Favorite Polishes of 2016

*Some Press Samples Included*

Hi everyone! Today I have a wrap up of my favorite polishes of 2016 to share, but first I wanted to give a little synopsis of my year so that I can lead into where my blog is going from here. 2016 was not a good year for me blogging-wise, even to the point that I considered quitting at the end of the year. My personal life has been a bit chaotic and I really let that affect how I viewed blogging. Not only that, I started to have feelings that I was just old news (this blog is almost 5 years old y'all!) and that newer, flashier bloggers and swatchers with impossible glamour shots were all the rage now so I was just fading into oblivion. 

I got a surprise promotion at the beginning of 2016 after my boss passed away suddenly and it came with a ton of responsibilities that I had to adjust to and a LOT of work I had to do to get our department up to date which took almost the entire year. In the midst of that, my husband lost his job and has been unable to find another one, so that added even more stress. I was very mentally drained, stressed, and depressed, so when it came to blogging I could barely make myself go. For those of you who have never struggled with depression, it affects people differently. In my case, I wasn't sad all the time, but instead it was a major task for me to do ANYTHING. I could function fine at work, but at home it was a task to make myself get out of my chair. It took me a long time to even realize that I was depressed and seek help. I stopped blogging for fun and did only what I had to do and it became like a "job", which isn't what I got into blogging for. I got behind on a lot of my commitments and then things snowballed and I had SO MUCH STUFF TO DO, I just wanted to throw in the towel. 

Going into 2017, I have a handle on my new job, things are running smoothly now and I'm actually enjoying it! My stress level is back to normal and I'm feeling like my old self again, so I'm going to put my focus back on blogging for fun again. I'm still going to review things of course, but I'm also going to make time for me. I want to explore my collection (which has to be at around 3000 bottles now, with lots of cool older stuff) and share that with you guys. I want to do more nail art because that is one of the things that I find the most fun about nail polish...playing with it! Heck I even want to do some features on layering which was my original form of "art" when I started this blog almost 5 years ago (hence the name!). I want to blog about my purchases, because I have bought from some cool new or new to me brands this past year that I haven't gotten to feature on my blog. All in all, I'm going to try to bring the focus back to what I love in 2017 and make blogging fun again. 

Anyway, just wanted to "explain myself" I guess for how things have been on the blog this past year, because I felt like getting it out there would hopefully help me move past it in the coming year. It's sometimes embarrassing to admit your shortcomings and it's just easier to act like everything is normal and okay, but it's also very cathartic to get it all out there on the table! New year, fresh start! 


So now, how about we check out my favorite polishes of 2016 now? After looking at a few "favorites" posts from other bloggers, I can tell that I have so many amazing polishes in my untrieds that very well would have made the list if I had had time to wear them (the number of untrieds I have is epic at this point!). I realized when I started making this list that there were also a few of my favorites that I neglected to take photos of, so I did a mini swatch session to prepare for this post (on my fresh baby nubs even)! There are a few things that really stand out about my picks this year: orange, green, blue, and purple. SHOCKER! Also flakes...all the ultra chrome flakes. And complex holo finishes really dominated the list as well, especially those involving my favorite holo shards/bits that finally became widely available this year!