Thursday, November 24, 2016

Nail Hoot Christmas Carols Collection!

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Anyone else still as stuffed as last night's turkey?  Just me??

Well let's look at some pretties while we all digest and recover from food comas :D

I've got the gorgeous Christmas Carols collection by Nail Hoot to show you this fine morning, so let's get right to it!

First up: "Angels We Have Heard on High"




Angels We Have Heard on High is a red-toned purple with a gold shimmer, opaque in 2 coats.

Next up: "Away In A Manger"




Away In A Manger is a baby blue with a pink and aqua shimmer, opaque in 2 coats.

Next: "Joy To The World"




Joy To The World is a seafoam/granny apple green with a pink shimmer, opaque in 2-3 coats.

Here we have: "O Come All Ye Faithful"




O Come All Ye Faithful is a light pink/champagne-leaning color with pink and golden highlights, opaque in 2 coats.

And finally: "O Holy Night"





O Holy Night is a deep royal blue that shifts to purple with a subtle holographic effect throughout, opaque in 2 coats.

There are so many beautiful polishes in this collection that it is nearly impossible to choose a favorite!!  I definitely love the pastels of Joy To The World and Away In A Manger, but man, O Holy Night is a STUNNER in person!  Gorgeous, the lot of them!

You can pick these beauties up now!  You can also take advantage of a pretty sweet Black Friday discount on the other polishes available! Here are the details:

Use code BLACKFRIDAY2016 for 15% off your entire purchase*. Spend $30** and get a very special, very limited polish for free (no code needed). $3.50 Talon Tape and Swatch & Peel - no code needed! Spend $50 and get free US shipping!
*Code does not apply to Christmas Carols
**Spend $30 after discounts and shipping

And here are the links you need:

And there you have it!  Run, don't walk!!!  And please do let me know what you think of these polishes by leaving me some love in the comments below <3

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Polish was sent to me by the maker for photography purposes and an honest review.




Octopus Party Nail Lacquer: Ella Ann Exclusives

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I hope you all are enjoying/enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday!  Who all is prepping their fingers for some online Black Friday shopping??

Ella Ann Cosmetics is releasing their four Octopus Party Nail Lacquer polishes for pre-order at 10:00pm EST and it will run till Sunday, November 27th at 10:00pm EST.  I've got the swatches of those pretties to share with you tonight!

First up: Amulet




Amulet is a beautiful gold microflakie and holo glitterbomb, opaque in 2-3 coats (I'm wearing 3).

Next up: Edge of Velveteen




Edge of Velveteen is a lovely berry plink holo, opaque in 2 coats.

Next up: On the Frocks




On the Frocks is a fun blue iridescent glitter topper, shown here in one coat over "You, Me, and Daiquiri" by OPNL and "Cynthia" by Zoya.

And finally we have: Stag Party




Stag Party is a very deep, dark chocolate brown holo, opaque in 2 coats.

These are all so gorgeous!!  Though On The Frocks takes my heart, as the glitters reflect in a way that reminds me of bio-luminescence in the waters of Puget Sound :)

You can get these HERE right now!!  Will you be snagging any of these pretties?

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Polish provided at a blogger discount in exchange for an honest review.

Fiendish Fancies, Feature 14: The Nevermore Collection

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Happiest of Turkey Days to you all!!  Stopping in for a quick post about a new collection by Fiendish Fancies that launched today!!  It is the Nevermore Collection, inspired by the Roger Corman films of Edgar Allen Poe.



The collection is comprised of 6 gorgeous vampy jewel toned polishes - let's dive right in!!

First up: "Abode of the Damned"




Abode of the Damned is a blackened fandango pink, opaque in 2 thin coats. 





Figures of Fine Glass is a blackened royal navy, opaque in 2 coats.

Next, we have: "Forgotten Lore"




Forgotten Lore is a blackened Emerald Green, opaque in 2 coats.

Here we have: "Opium Dreams"




Opium Dreams is a blackened yellow gold, opaque in 2 coats.

Next is: "Shadowy and Vague"




Shadowy and Vague is a blackened indigo violet, opaque in 2 coats.

And lastly we have: "Sleep Eludes Me"




Sleep Eludes Me is a vibrant, cool red, opaque in 2 coats (this one was my favorite - it is the *perfect* red, especially for the holidays!!).

Overall I am completely in love with this collection!!  I'm not only a big Edgar Allen Poe fan, I am also a big jewel-tone polish fan.  Sleep Eludes Me and Figures of Fine Glass are to die for, and my absolute favorites in the whole collection <3

This and SEVERAL other polishes will be available tonight at 12:01 EST!!  Here are more details on their release and the Black Friday sale Fiendish Fancies is holding:

Beginning November 24 at 12:01 EST, the shop will re-open with amazing deals. Up to 50% off!
Closeout specials on limited stock items - priced at $6.66 and $9.99. No coupon code necessary.
Flat rate shipping of $5 on all sale items. Free shipping on all orders to Canada/US of $40 or more using code FREESHIPCA.
PLUS! The Nevermore collection will be launching tonight as well.
All prices are in Canadian Funds. So for our US customers, you're saving 30% off the listed price with the exchange rate.
Sale ends November 28, 2016

So be sure to set your alarms!!!!  Here are the links you need to shop and to follow this awesome brand:

Will you be picking any of these beauties up??  Let me know in the comments! <3

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Polish provided at blogger discount in exchange for an honest review.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Simply Earth's November Box!

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Hello, my dears!

I hope you all had a very Happy Turkey Day, and a very safe Black Friday (if that's your thing - I'm more of a Cyber Monday kind of gal, I just don't do crowds)!  I've got a different kind of post for you today than my usual - I'm reviewing a super sweet essential oils sub box I received from Simply Earth! :D

You may have caught my unboxing video I posted a bit ago.  If not, the link is HERE to give you a rundown of what is contained in November's sub box!

I've been spending my spare moments over the last few weeks diving in and using these fun products and their recipes :)  I find the Happy Oil to be most pleasing to my senses, and the Christmas Blend is making me long for the holiday even more!!  I have to say, though, that the most fun recipe was for scented ornaments, and I enlisted the help of my two oldest munchkins for it :D

First, we made the dough.  Ethan (my oldest) helped me measure out all the ingredients, and I stirred it all together.  Now, this recipe is for scented ornaments, but since it isn't quite Christmas season in my house yet (we have a firm No-Christmas-Till-After-Thanksgiving rule), we opted to make scented aquatic life decorations instead!


After making the dough, I rolled it out and had them help me cut out shapes!  We wore gloves because I wasn't sure if the oil would have an adverse effect on our skin.  It's always a good idea to play it safe, folks!



After cutting out the ornaments, I used a straw to cut out circles towards the top so we could use string to hang them.  And then we baked them!



After baking them, they smelled awesome!! But as is usually the case with my kids (and admittedly, me), we couldn't leave them plain white.  My boys decided they wanted theirs to be red, so they painted one side using acrylic paint (which doesn't have a scent, really, and by only painting one side, we were able to smell the frankincense still).



Once that was dry, they picked ribbon to string through and decided they wanted their animals displayed in the school room :)



It smelled pleasantly in there for a few days!  Which was a welcome change from the usual little boy stink that sits in there after a long day of school and play :P

A few things I noticed about this ornament recipe:

1. As you're stirring your liquid ingredients, even over the heat level suggested on the recipe card, the dough forms VERY quickly, so be mindful of that!

2.  The dough is easy to work with, but when I used a silicone mold, anything with small sections (like branches on a Christmas tree) did not release the dough to me - so I had a Christmas Cyprus tree in the end O_o

3.  The scent is strong, but does dissipate after about 2 days, so if you're looking for something long-term, you won't find it with this recipe.

Other than the above mentioned things, this was a really fun recipe!  I wasn't sure what to expect with the dough, so it was a nice surprise that it was so malleable and easy to work with without crumbling apart after too much handling.  And I had already gone into it assuming the scent wouldn't stick around too much - most "scented" stuff I've made doesn't last a long time, just the nature of the beast.  I had a lot of fun making these with my boys, and would definitely make them again as Christmas gifts :D

And...well, most of my long-time readers know how much I love nail polish, so...

I painted mine in nail polish ^_^  OF COURSE I DID, c'mon now :P  They look *amazing* and holo and blingy :D  Aw yiss.


I decided to make "snowflakes" the theme for the other recipes I used from this box, and give them as a Thank-You gift to my sister in law for hosting Thanksgiving this year!  Here are my creations from the recipes included in November's box:

A Christmas Scented Air Freshener using essential oils and baking soda

Two different Christmas Blends to use in a diffuser

Holiday Home Scent Spray to spritz throughout the house

I cannot do bows, y'all.  They always look so sad.

I'm so pleased with this box, it was so much fun to dive into and experiment with everything!  I admit I have never personally seen something so innovative, using essential oils in such creative ways other than just in a diffuser, so this was quite a delightful experience :D

The November box is still available at the following link - if you use the code mommrsfreedif at check out, you'll receive a FREE diffuser with your order! (In order to get the free diffuser, you need to go HERE and add the one you want to your cart - then when you check out, after putting in my special code, it should remove the charge for it :D ).


And here are some social links for you where you can follow Simply Earth:


I would love to know what you think of this box!  Please let me know your thoughts in the comments!

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The November sub box was sent to me by Simply Earth in exchange for an honest review.