Indie Spotlight: Spellbound Nails Easter Eggs Gone Holo Collection

*Spellbound Nails products provided for honest and unbiased review.  All other products mentioned were purchased by me.*

Hello Readers!  Spring is in the air!  Well...maybe not here in Chicago, but somewhere, somewhere I'm just certain it is!  To that effect, we're starting to see some lovely Spring and Easter themed polish collections from the fabulous indie makers out there.  This means pastel, pastel, pastel and in the case of Spellbound Nails, holo!

Ashely was kind enough to send me a few samples of her Easter Eggs Gone Holo collection to swatch up.  The collection releases this weekend and is very well suited to the season ;)

We'll start out with one of my favorites from the collection, Bunny Bait!  This pastel blue holo has an almost icy feel but that holo keeps things warm for Spring. 
 

Bunny Bait is fairly sheer, but built up nicely in 3 coats which is what I'm showing here.  The formula was great with no dragging or streaking.  While it's subtle, the linear holographic on this polish is so pretty...it almost gives Bunny Bait a pink tone, which offsets the blue very nicely.
 

I'm a sucker for a pretty blue polish...you throw in a holo and I'm done for!  Bunny Bait is definitely a favorite and totally worth nabbing before it's gone!

Carrot Top is the most unique polish in the collection, in my opinion.  I don't think I have anything quite like it in my stash and haven't really seen anything lately that compares.  My photos are showing this a bit more orange than it appeared to me in real life, but my camera was being a pain so we'll just have to wing it!

A coral-ish base with a pink shimmer, Carrot Top is further enhanced by a subtle scattered holographic effect.  I'm showing 3 coats of the buttery smooth formula here with a coat of Seche Vite.  I found that most of this collection dried to a semi-matte finish, so you'll probably want a top coat for shine. 

I'm just drawn to this polish for some reason.  If you're in the market for a unique holo, I don't think you could go wrong with Carrot Top!
 

Easter Grass is somewhere between gold and lime green in color and has a scattered holo effect.  I have to say, I'm loving all these colors that Ashley has come up with!  When I saw this one in the bottle, I really wasn't sure about the color but once I applied it I kind of fell in love.

Another beautiful formula here, opaque in 3 coats and topped with one coat of Seche Vite.  Look at the holo sparkle!
 

I know Easter Grass won't appeal to everyone because of it's greenish tones, but it really is a lovely color!
 

Hands down, Hoppy Feet is my favorite of the collection!  I mean, it's a lavender holo...what's not to love?!  The holo in this one creates that gorgeous glowing aura that you only find in a well-made holo...I wish I could describe it better, but if you've ever seen it, you'll know what I mean.
 

Hoppy Feet is another sheer one, but was mostly opaque in 3 coats and you can always put undies on if you'd like less layers.  The formula was a breeze as expected.
 

If you're like me and love a purple holo, you'll definitely want to grab a bottle of Hoppy Feet!
 

Finally we come to Twitchy Little Noses, which is my favorite name of the collection because of the Buffy reference.  I'm not sure if that's where Ashley was going with it, but every time I see it I think of Anya's bunny solo in Once More With Feeling :)

A delicate blossom pink holo, Twitchy Little Noses just kind of disappears on me lol  The scattered holographic is lovely, but the color is just not my favorite.  It would look lovely on someone with a darker skin tone than mine, I think.  No other complaints though, the formula was spot on and it was mostly opaque in 3 coats.
 

*Spellbound Nails products provided for honest and unbiased review.  All other products mentioned were purchased by me.*
 
I'm not sure of the exact release date for the Easter Eggs Gone Holo collection, but it will be at some point this weekend and will be available on Storenvy and Etsy.  I believe they will be retailing for around $9 for a full size bottle.  You'll also want to follow the Spellbound Nails Facebook page to keep up with new releases and such :)

As always, thank you so much for reading!

ABC Challenge: U is for Unicorns

Hey there!  We've got another tough letter this week for the ABC Challenge with 'U'.  I didn't sweat it too much cuz 'U' really only stands for one thing and that's Unicorns!

Aren't they cute??  I couldn't get a great photo of them because I kept getting a glare no matter which way I moved my hand, but I hope you get a general idea of the adorableness here.  I used this tutorial as inspiration for this manicure, and while my unis aren't perfect, I still think they're pretty darn cute and more than sufficient to meet the letter requirement this week :)

I'm a little sad that I only had time to do one hand completely, so my right hand is unicorn-less, but at least I have five of the little buddies on my left to cheer me up :)  Additionally, I have a crap ton of nail mail coming this week and I may have spent half of my rent budget on sales this weekend.  My local Sally's had China Glaze's Cirque de Soleil collection (including Creative Fantasty and It's a Trap-eze) and the Avant Garden collection (including Fancy Pants and Keep Calm, Paint On) on clearance so you know I had to pick up about 6 of those.  Plus, my Ulta restocked O.P.I.'s My Vampire is Buff AND I Can't Find My Czechbook which I've been missing out on.  All in all, a good polish weekend was had!

I can't wait to see what the creative ladies in the Challenge came up with for this week.  You can check them out via the thumbnails below.  As always, thanks so much for reading!

Polishes used:
China Glaze~Tart-y For the Party & Keep Calm, Paint On
O.P.I.~I Can't Find My Czechbook
Sinful Colors~Unicorn, Into the Blue, & Snow Me White
Barielle~Ballroom Dancer
Nicole By O.P.I.~Top of My World
Wet 'n' Wild~Kaleidoscope 
Milani~510 3D

The Inevitable Easter Manicure

Howdy, everyone!  Today has been kind of bittersweet for me.  It was my last official day working at the pet store.  I'm going to miss all the dogs and their owners a lot, but it was the right move for me.  I'll have a more regular schedule now with weekends off, which is pretty darn exciting.

Anyway, on to the nails!  I've got sort of an Easter skittles thing going on here, I think.  This was tons of fun to do, but it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r!  Hopefully, it was worth it.  What do you think?

I'm in love with the little chicks on my index fingers lol  They turned out so cute I can't stand it!  I'll put a polish list at the end of the post, it's too much to go into here.  My thumb and middle fingers are water marbled, which is what took so long.  I had to redo my left hand about 4 times!   I added some dots on top of the marble with a dotting tool.  I did the bunnies on my ring fingers with the same dotting tool which was also used for the dots on the "egg" (my pinkie nail).  For the zigzag on my pinkie and the edge of the eggshell on my index nail, I used pinking shears to cut pieces of tape.  Then, I placed the tape on my nail, painted over it and pulled it off while the polish was still wet.  

I have to say, I'm pretty proud of this one.  I sent my boyfriend a photo of it last night and his response was "Holy cow!"...if he's impressed, I know I've done a good job lol 

I hope you all have a lovely Easter, if you celebrate it.  If not, have a great Sunday :)  Thanks so much for reading, and don't forget to enter my Sinful Colors Giveaway!

Polishes used:
Base color, bunny face, polka dots~Sinful Colors-Snow Me White
Water marble, bunny nose & ears, polka dots~Sinful Colors-Soul Mate
Water marble, Easter egg base color~Sinful Colors-Orange Cream
Water marble, polka dots~Sinful Colors-Unicorn
Water marble, bunny base color, Easter egg zigzag~Sinful Colors-Sugar Rush
Water marble, polka dots~Sinful Colors-Candy Coated
Chick face~Sinful Colors-Pull Over
Chick beak~NYC-Times Square Tangerine
Chick eyes, bunny eyes~Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine-Black Creme
Chick egg~O.P.I~White Shatter

Pastels, Skittles and Stamps Oh! My!

Howdy, everyone.  I don't know about you, but all this cold weather and snow has made me long for Spring!  I decided to create a light and fun manicure reminiscent of springtime.  I've also decided (after checking out Kimber's amazing skills) that I need to practice my stamping.  You can add so much great detail with stamping and, frustrating as it can be, it's a useful tool.  So, here's what I put together...take a look:

I posted the other day about my Walgreen's haul, and since my untried pile keeps growing, I decided to use some of the new Sinful Colors I purchased for this manicure.  The colors I used are as follows:

Thumb: Starfish-a lovely mauve-y pink creme
Index: Orange Creme-a Dreamsicle orange with a gorgeous (and subtle) peachy/silver shimmer that my camera was unable to capture
Middle: Unicorn-a pale marshmallow-y yellow creme
Ring: Sugar Rush-a beautiful pastel sky blue creme
Pinky: Candy Coated-a pretty lavender creme, again with that super subtle shimmer 

So far, I'm pretty impressed with SC's Sugar Rush collection.  The formulas are really nice and the secret shimmer is a lovely surprise.

After I got done with my skittles, I decided to stamp them with a pretty, delicate flower pattern, perfect for Spring!  I used Wet 'n' Wild's French White Creme for the stamping.  I think it turned out pretty well for my second attempt at stamping ever.  My favorite stamped nails in this manicure are the ones painted with Unicorn.  There's something so pretty about the subtle white on yellow combo.  Again, my camera has failed to capture it properly, but, trust me, it's great!

On a personal note, my Grandpa passed away suddenly this week.  I'm headed back to Kansas this weekend to attend his funeral.  It's been a sad week for my family and it's going to be hard to say good-bye.  He was a wonderful man and he will be missed greatly.  So, if I'm not around as much over the next few days or not as responsive to comments, I hope you'll all understand.  

Thanks so much for reading.