Windestine Kizuna Swatch & Review!

I finally have some free time to post and today I have the second polish from the Windestine Little Women collection that I was sent to review. Here is Kizuna!

Kizuna's description from the Windestine Etsy page:

Kizuna consists of purple, green, and copper glitter in a brown crelly base. This polish was inspired by the strong family bond that is represented in the book Little Women. Like roots in the ground, each family member supports and helps each other grow. 'Kizuna' means 'bond' in Japanese, which is why I chose this name.

Kizuna is gorgeous! I admit that I'm not a huge fan of brown polishes, but I am loving this one. The green and purple glitter in the brown base makes it a winner in my eyes. It stands out because of it, which is always a good thing to me. I can't recall anything like it. On Windestine's Etsy page, Kizuna is shown at three coats. I however, wanted to layer it. I don't have a true brown polish in my collection. The closest I could find was China Glaze Ingrid, which isn't very dark, but it worked! I used two coats of Ingrid and one coat of Kizuna. It wasn't too thick or thin, and I had no trouble applying it. It didn't dry gritty, so I only needed one coat of my Orly top coat. 

If you didn't already know, I love Kizuna! It's another great polish from the Windestine collection that I fully recommend. Kizuna and the rest of the Little Women collection, along with other beauties from Windestine can be found here.

Windestine Heartbeat Swatch & Review!

Las Vegas was fun, but I'm happy to be back so that I can post. I'm very excited to share this post I have for you today! I was asked about two weeks ago if I wanted to review some polishes from the new Windestine collection inspired by Little Women. I don't remember if I've read the book, but I definitely remember the movie. It was one of my favorites growing up. I had such a big crush on Laurie, played by Christian Bale. Anyway, this marks the first time I've been asked to do a review for an indie brand, or any brand for that matter. I was sent three of the polishes from the collection to review and today I have the first one to show you. Without further ado, here is Heartbeat!

Heartbeat is a purple crelly that has purple, magenta, and copper glitter. According to the description, Heartbeat is inspired by Beth of Little Women. It is so gorgeous!! Purple is one of my favorite colors and this one is fabulous. The shimmer is without a doubt the best part of this polish. It adds a beautiful glow. Unfortunately, I had a hard time capturing just how awesome it is. It's so much better in person. For swatches, I layered one coat of Heartbeat over two coats of China Glaze Grape Pop, which I think makes a great base. I have no doubts that it would look beautiful worn by itself. Formula wise, Heartbeat was fantastic. It wasn't too thick or thin and the application was smooth and trouble free. I topped it off with one coat of my Orly topcoat.

I'm very impressed with Heartbeat! It's such a gorgeous color. The other two I have are just as pretty and I can't wait to show you swatches of them. Head on over to Windestine if you love this color and want to purchase it for yourself!

Guest Post from Thithi of ::pretty::tough::nails::!

As I briefly mentioned in my last post, I'm on vacation in Las Vegas! I left early Thursday morning and won't be back until Sunday. It's a family trip with my mom, grandma, aunt, and my niece. So far it is going great, although it's super hot here (in the 100s!). While I'm here, I also have plans to go to some beauty supply stores to look at some pretty polish. Since I don't have time to post, I have a guest post for you today from Thithi of ::pretty::tough::nails::!

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Hello everybody! I'm Thithi from pretty tough nails and I'm so very honored to be Melissa's guest on her blog. I hope that she's having a fantastic time on her vacation and I can't wait to hear about her trip and see any hauls that she may have(ahem, Island Girl Polish perhaps?).

I wanted to have a fun mani to show you so I decided to go with my favorite color from Maybelline's new Polka Dot collection, called Drops Of Jade. It's a gorgeous shade of jade green that is both bright and creamy, and is jam packed with fun black and white matte glitters in varying sizes. The first coat was very sheer but it built up easily by the third coat. The glitters didn't drag or stick together and spread out evenly on the nail. I do, however, think I would have liked a little bit less glitter because once dry the surface looked really chunky. It also dried to a semi-matte finish and needed a layer of Essence Gel Look Nails followed by a layer of Poshe to even it out.

Don't you love that shade of green? It looks so deliciously squishy, and the glitters add a terrific fun element to the polish. I'm very impressed by Maybelline for putting out a fashion forward milky glitter to the mass market, and I hope to see a lot more from them in the future.  

Again, thank you Melissa for hosting me on your blog today. I really enjoy reading posts and I can't wait to see more posts from you once you get back from your trip!

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Thank you Thithi for doing a guest post for me! It's such an awesome one. That polish sure is gorgeous. It kind of makes me think of mint chip ice cream. Go follow Thithi if you haven't already!

All That Glitters I'm Sprung

Sorry that I haven't posted all that much. Aside from being busy with work and other summer plans, up until a week ago, I hadn't been able to use my laptop. My charger almost caught on fire and was destroyed in the aftermath, but I finally have my new one so I can go back to posting. Actually, I'm going on vacation in Las Vegas from Thursday to Sunday, so I'll go back to regularly posting after that. Anyway, I have a ton of indies that I've bought in the last few months, so today I have a beautiful one for you. It is All That Glitters I'm Sprung, the first of three polishes that I ordered from the brand.

I'm Sprung is from All That Glitters most recent collection, Spring It On, which consists of 8 spring themed polishes. It is a grey creme with pink glitter in different shades, shapes, and sizes. There's circle glitter, both small and large, silver bar glitter, and iridescent glitter which flashes blue/green. The first polish that I ever wore with pink and grey was KBShimmer Elle and ever since, it has quickly become my new favorite color combination. I had to get I'm Sprung for that reason alone. It sure didn't disappoint, it's gorgeous! I love everything about it, especially the circle glitter, which this polish introduced me to and it's pretty awesome. I'm also crazy about the blue flash from the iridescent glitter.

The formula was kind of thick, but easy to work with. I felt like wearing it by itself. It was sheer on the first coat but it built up by the third. I will probably layer it over a grey creme next time. Because of all the glitter, it dried gritty, so top coat was a definite must. I used three coats of it, which sounds like a lot, but I really only used the third because some random pieces of bar glitter were sticking up a little and it was bugging me.

Here it is in the sun:

I'm very impressed with my first polish from All That Glitters! If you love pink and grey together, plus lots of glitter, then I'm Sprung is for you. I have two others that I can't wait to wear and show you. All That Glitters are available on Etsy.

Guest Post At ::pretty::tough::nails::!

Hey everyone! Today I have my first guest post for Thithi over at ::pretty::tough nails::. If you don't already follow her, you totally should! She has pretty amazing swatches and very pretty nails too! Here is a one of the pictures of my manicure that I wore for the guest post.

Isn't she a beauty? Read the post if you want to know more about it!

Well, I hope you're all having a great day! I'm finally off work for a few days, so I'm going to enjoy it while I can. I'm thinking about hitting up the beach again!

Sephora by OPI It's Real 18K Gold Top Coat

Today I have the mani that I actually wore on 4th of July, but like my previous post, it's not themed at all. It just happened to be what I was wearing. I had been dying to wear the Sephora by OPI It's Real 18K Gold Top Coat ever since buying it last week during their sale. So here it is!

This is one coat layered over Sephora by OPI I'm With Brad. It was my first experience with a gold flake top coat and I loved it! It added a really beautiful effect to the polish. I liked that it was more than noticeable but not too blingy. It was really easy to work with too. No need for fishing or dabbing. I could have probably used more flakes on my index and pinky nail though. My coats were a little thick, so drying time was kind of slow.

I really don't think I would have paid $30 for it, because at the end of the day, it's still just a bottle of nail polish, but for a crazy sale price, I'm more than happy to have it! I can't wait to layer it over a bunch of colors.

Sephora by OPI I'm With Brad

Happy 4th of July! I had a busy but a fun day yesterday. I went to the Santa Barbara Zoo with my niece, mom, and some family friends, and afterward we all went to Carpinteria beach for the day. At the beach, I swam in the water which I normally don't do because I'm so terrified of sharks. I found a whole sand dollar while doing so, and it was awesome! Before I say anything else, my nails are sadly back to nubs. I've been dealing with peeling, which seems to always happen to me once my nails get to a certain length and I hate it! My nail middle nail broke because of it and I'm ashamed to say that I had a relapse in nail biting. I'm hating how short they are. Anyway, onto the nail polish. I actually don't have anything 4th of July themed for today, sorry. I have been wanting to paint my nails with one of my new colors, so I finally settled on one. It's not exactly meant for summer, more like fall and winter, but it's beautiful. It also happens to be on sale at Sephora this very moment. Without further ado, here is Sephora by OPI I'm With Brad.

I'm With Brad is a dark reddish brown shimmer that makes me think of chocolate/coffee. Sephora describes it as "opaque metallic wine over dark coffee." It is absolutely gorgeous! I love that it's dark but it's not black or near black. The shimmer is my favorite part, especially when the light hits it. It glows. I'm happy to say that the formula was really good. It was thinner and a little more watery than I was expecting, but I didn't mind those things. One coat had decent coverage, and it was almost opaque at two, but a third one was needed for the few bald spots remaining.

All of the Sephora by OPI polishes are on sale for $4.50, so if you've been wanting I'm With Brad, now is your chance to get yourself a bottle! I have a couple of others that I bought, one of which I'll be showing you very soon! I hope you all enjoy the fireworks tonight! I sadly won't be able to watch them since I will be working until after 9:00.

TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Burlington Coat Factory, Sephora, and indie haul!

I mentioned on Thursday that I went shopping and bought 19 polishes. I went to TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Burlington Coat Factory, and Sephora. I went back to Sephora the next day and came home with six new polishes. I also received an order from Pretty & Polished and Smitten polish about a week ago and a KBShimmer order on Friday. I figured it was no better time than to do a haul post!

TJ Maxx:

Barielle 5 pack with Swizzle Stick, Falling Star, Snow Day, Jordana's Skinny Jeans, and Out-Grey-Geous- $7.99. My huge lemming for Falling Star has officially been killed! I was incredibly excited to find it.

OPI 2 Pack with Stranger Tides and Skull and Glossbones- $7.99. Big lemmings killed with this pack!

Marshall's:

Orly Perfect Pair Pack with Go Deeper and Monster Mash- $6.99. There were so many awesome Orly packs to choose from but it was perfect that this one has the two FX glitters that I have been wanting the most.

Sation Nail Lacquer in Lollipop! Goes The Princess, Love Is In The Heir, and Chocolate Chip Resistant- $2.99 each. These are my first polishes from Sation, so I'm excited to try them.

OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener and an OPI bangle bracelet- $6.00. I saw this on my previous trip to Marshall's but I couldn't pass it up this time as it was on clearance and it was the last set. The bracelet it comes with is super cute! 

Burlington Coat Factory:

Color Club Halo Hues in Blue Heaven, Cloud Nine, Angel Kiss, and Cherubic- $3.98 each. I almost didn't go to Burlington but was so happy that I did. I was going to get these no matter the price but was shocked to find out that they were so cheap.

Sephora:

Sephora by OPI Looks Like Rain Dear, Mauve-ie Star In The Making, Traffic Stopper Copper, I'm With Brad, Just A Little Dangerous (totally forgot to get a picture of this one, sorry!), and It's Real 18k Gold Top Coat (x3)- $4.50 each. This brand is being discontinued, so I have been taking full advantage of it. These all come from three different Sephora's, at two different malls. One of the stores was in JCPenney's. Like I mentioned in my previous post, the It's Real 18k Gold Top Coat were also $4.50, originally $30.


Pretty & Polished:

Punk'd Up Betty, Boy Bleu, and Sand Art- $7.00 each, plus shipping. I've been wanting these polishes for the longest time and when I found out that they were going to be discontinued from the brand once sold out, I finally got them for myself. As of right now Sand Art and Boy Bleu are still in stock.

Smitten Polish:

Candy Kisses-9.00, plus shipping. This polish is so cute! I didn't think Noelie was creating this one anymore, so I had to get it when I saw it listed in her shop.


KBShimmer:

Proud Peacock and Sugar Plum Faerie- $8.75 each and The Peach Pit and Field of Greens- $5.00 each, plus shipping. Sugar Plum Faerie and Proud Peacock are core colors, but The Peach Pit and Field of Greens are from the recently released super special edition Misfits collection. They're actually sold out and won't be produced again.

So that's it for now! I don't feel incredibly guilty for these purchases, because most everything I bought was for a deal and in a way, I feel like it justifies my spending. I usually don't post prices in my haul, but I wanted to share my awesome deals with you! I have decided that I'm not going to be putting myself on a no buy, because it clearly does not work.