HPB Presents Fall!

***Contains Previous Press Samples from M Polish***

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Metaphorically speaking, of course.  Still getting into the high 90's here.  I feel your pain, Spongebob.

For this month, the lovely group Hobby Polish Bloggers on Facebook has put together another link-up with the theme "Fall."  It was hard for me to figure out what I wanted to do - freehand?  Watermarble?  Stamp?

Ah!  Yes!  Stamp!!  I purchased the Secret Garden plate set from Bundle Monster a while ago, and knew I wanted to use one of those plates.  I also knew which Pahlish I wanted for the base, as it was one of the first colors that popped into my head as a fantastic Fall background - "The White Tree."  And I used 3 M Polish colors, because of course!  They're the best after all ;)

With The White Tree as my base, I stamped the leaf images from the tree onto my nails using a mix of Penny (prototype), I Need A Vacation, and Guilded all dotted over the leaves.  

It created the perfect fall leaf color mix!!  I'm so glad it turned out!!  And it happened to match one of my favorite fall sweatercoats very well ^_^

Here's a macro of each nail

I love this mani!!  I love it so much that I decided to leave this mani on for a few days :D  What?  Crazy!!

Be sure to check out the other beautiful manis from other HPB members through the inlinkz below!!

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An InLinkz Link-up

Seventy Seven Fall Colors-Inspired Mani

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Dunno why, but I still feel this way, every year, around this time in Phoenix.  And every year, I am disappointed.  Thank goodness for our land in Flagstaff (2ish hours north) that experiences all four seasons - my kids WILL know the changing of leaves and they WILL know snow, dammit!!

Anywho, speaking of Fall, it is my *favorite* season!!  So, you know, I was pretty excited to get started on some Fall-inspired manis ^_^  I decided to start with three polishes I received in a polish swap with Seventy Seven Nail Lacquer, and created a gradient!!  The beauties I used are: Harmony, Valentina, and Sand in Low Places.

Sand in Low Places

Valentina

Harmony

Direct Sunlight - Holooooooo!!!

Ho.  Lee.  CRAP.  SO MUCH HOLO!!  You know, I could tell they were pretty when looking at them in the bottle, but once I got them on my nails, WOW!  I did a gradient of Harmony and Valentina, shown in 3 sponged layers over naked nail, and then sponged Sand in Low Places over the tips in one coat.  I *love* how these all look together!!  Definitely reminiscent of Fall colors ^_^

I have so many more Seventy Seven's to show you, too, including a Seahawks duo!!  I only Sportsball when Seahawks are playing - the rest of the year I couldn't care less :P  I'll be coming up with something pretty awesome with those polishes ;)

What do you think of these colors?  Do they say, "Oh yeah, it's Fall!" to you?  Do you own any polish from Seventy Seven Nail Lacquer?

Savvy Naturalista's Mani Mochis

***Press Sample***

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Is this you today?  This is how it feels to me - every day.  Pregnancy is starting to be unkind with symptoms as I approach the 3rd trimester.  Lord help me.

Wonderful pamper-y things like Savvy Naturalista's Mani Mochis help out a LOT on these hard days, let me tell ya!

These Mani Mochis are "exfoliating scrubs made of a thick sugar paste with lots of salt, butters, and gentle cleansers.  It is an alternative to body scrubs that come in jars," as described by the maker herself.

I have had a hard time in the past with scrubs that have very large granules to them as those tend to really hurt my skin, especially if I am pampering my hands after a long day of swatching polish.  The salt and sugar granules in these mani mochis are the perfect size to help exfoliate without feeling like I'm scrubbing off a few layers of skin.  You can definitely feel the butters in it, too, as you continue to work the paste around the skin.

These mochis are for more than just hands - they work well as a body scrub too!  Along with these Mani Mochis are the Mega Mochis, created for use as a full body scrub!  I used one in the shower on my legs (no, you won't get pics of that, you saucy minx!) and they felt really smooth afterwards.  I tend to have dry skin on my knees and that was half gone after using the scrub!

To use these mani mochis is very easy - the directions according to the maker are as follows:

"Cut your mani scrub into 2-3 equally sized pieces and decide which one to use on your hands first.  After you have gotten your hands wet under the running water, gently rub the mochi all over your hands and watch it smear into a wonderful smooth paste.  Once you have exfoliated your hands, rinse well, dry and add a light hand cream."

Here's a "Before" shot of the state of my fingers pre-mochi:

You can see I had a few areas of dry skin on my fingers, as well as around my cuticles. As per the directions, I cut up one of the mochis - the "Cake Batter Face" one - into 4 small pieces (even though 2-3 is recommended, I found four pieces will still yield enough for a good scrub amount).

The next step was to place my hands in water to get them damp.  I also dipped the mochi piece in the water to moisten it.  I then spread the paste on my hand and concentrated on rubbing it over the worst areas.  I did this for about 5 minutes.

  

After I rinsed off the paste and dried my hands, the difference was quite noticeable!

As you can see, most of the dead skin on my finger on the top left of the above photo was completely gone, and ALL of the dead skin on my finger on the top right was gone!  My cuticles are also noticeably more hydrated.  My hands felt suuuuuuuuuper smooth, too ^_^   I didn't even feel the need to add a hand cream.  I'm really thrilled it took such a small amount of the mochi to get the job done, so now I have more for later!! :D

Overall I'd have to give this product two very big polished thumbs up!!  These products will be launching on October 9th, 2015 at 12:00 AM EST.  However, there will be a pre-order on the 25th of this month at 11:00 AM EST!  I suggest taking advantage of that, as some of the mochi scents are limited edition.

You will be able to purchase the Mani Mochis priced between $1.55 and $1.75, and the Mega Mochis between $5.25 and $5.50 on the Savvy Naturalista website.  You can also follow the brand's Facebook Page, Facebook Group, Instagram, and Twitter for updates on this product and future products!

What do you think??  Are you always on the hunt for a good scrub?  Does this sound like something up your alley?

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Products were sent to me for review purposes.  ALL experiences and opinions are my own and remain 100% honest. 

Beauty Quartet Box + 4 - Part 2!

***Press Sample***

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Hard to believe it's already halfway through September and that Halloween is next month!  The time has flown this year - but that's alright, because I *love* Halloween!!

It was especially exciting for me to have the opportunity to swatch the gorgeous polishes in the Halloween themed Beauty Quartet Box + 4 for October :D

Usually the Beauty Quartet Box features four indie nail polish brands, but for October, four additional brands contributed to the box, making it even MORE amazing!!  I've got the swatches of all the beauties for you, too!  

Warning, it's about to get drool-worthy picture-heavy up in this post.

Let's start with the Smokey Mountain Lacquers contribution "Reborn:"

Reborn is described as a fuschia crelly with a hint of shimmer that is black light reflective.  I am wearing three thin coats in the photos above with a layer of Pahlish's Magic Mirror Topcoat.

Next is the Philly Loves Lacquer contribution "Burning Rain of Death:"

Burning Rain of Death is described as a black jelly base filled with a rainbow of micro glitter and holo sparkles.  I am wearing two coats, and this one dries to a textured finish, so I added a layer of topcoat to smooth it out a bit.

Next is the Rica contribution "Vampire Sangria:"

 Vampire Sangria is described as a burgundy linear holo with a touch of gold holo microflakies.  Shown is two coats with topcoat.

Here is the Dollish Polish contribution "Welcome Foolish Mortals:"

Welcome Foolish Mortals is described as a black jelly with a hint of purple shimmer filled with matte aqua, blue, teal, periwinkle, amethyst, purple, and indigo glitters, with a hint of neon green and orange.  Shown above is two coats and topcoat.

Next is the Girly Bits contribution "Abracapocus:"

Abracapocus is described as a greyish/greenish holo base with green shimmer and orange, green, purple, and black glitters.  Shown above is two coats with topcoat.

Here is the My Indie Polish contribution "Blue Moon:"

Blue Moon is described as a cobalt holo jelly.  Shown above is two coats with topcoat.

Next is the Love, Angeline contribution "Boo!"

Boo! is described as an olive-leaning dark green linear holo with a gold flash.  Shown above is two coats with a topcoat.

And lastly we have the Gothic Gala Lacquers contribution "Sanguine Nocte:"

Sanguine Nocte is described as a burgundy with violet and red shimmer.  Shown above is two coats with topcoat.

So what do I think overall?  I think this is a fan-freakin-tastic box!!  Every polish applied well, and they are all gorgeous and fit perfectly with the Halloween theme.  Two polished thumbs way up!!

And all the art is freehanded by me ^_^  I couldn't help it, these polishes just called for it!!

This box will be available for pre-order tomorrow, September 15th via the Philly Loves Lacquer website and will be open until September 30th (or until all the boxes are sold).  There will be 50 boxes available, priced as follows: $65 shipped to anywhere in the US, $70 shipped to Canada, and $75 shipped everywhere else.  They will be shipped at the beginning of October, so they should arrive at your doorstep in plenty of time for Halloween.  Set your alarms!!!

What do you think of this box?  Do the polishes strike your fancy?  Will you be picking one up?

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This box was sent to me for photography and review purposes.  All experience with the polishes and my opinions are my own, and remain 100% honest.