Crumpets Nail Tarts: Geeks

This week's theme was actually pretty easy for me to figure a design for, because there are two things I geek-out about: Doctor Who, and The Little Mermaid (anything mermaid, really :D )

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I knew exactly what I wanted to do to combine the two, and it's based off this amazing t-shirt I *really* need to buy someday from Teefury:

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Before I show you my nails, I need to tell you - they're nubs :(  Earlier in the week, my cat decided to wake me up 40 minutes before my alarm by meowling at the bedroom door, because she wanted out.  My husband was already up with the kids, so I rolled my 7 month pregnant butt out of bed to let her out.  What does she do?  She darts into the bathroom as soon as I stand up - so I chase her to the bathroom, where she decides to then dart through my legs, tripping me and causing me to fall, landing in such a way that my pointer finger completely broke off down to the skin.  

Damn cat.

So I had to cut them all down.  And I had to figure out this design around short nails.  I didn't let myself get angry though.  I adopted a very passive attitude towards the whole ordeal after realizing plenty of women wear nubs fantastically, and I could very well be one of them.

So, without further ado, here are my nails:

Yes, that *is* the ninth Doctor's sonic ;)

I wish the hand peeking out from the Tardis had shown up better from a front-looking stance.  The Tardis ended up a bit bigger on my nail than I anticipated, but even without fully seeing it, the image still makes sense :)  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - only took me about 2 hours to complete (I was half distracted binge-watching Bones on Netflix).  

I hope you enjoy the design!!  Be sure to check out the other absolutely fantastic Geek-themed designs through the inlinkz below!!

Oh, and here's one more Geek meme for you, because it made me LOL pretty hard :D

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An InLinkz Link-up

Gothic Gala Lacquers Autumn Leaves Collection

***Press Sample***

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When I lived in states that new how to Autumn, like Washington and Pennsylvania, the worst chore I had was picking up the dog poop, because it was always hidden under the damn leaves.  And if I missed any, and started raking - well, it got pretty gross.  We don't have this problem in Phoenix - one of the very few perks of the lack of Fall here :P

Speaking of Fall, I have a brand new collection by Gothic Gala Lacquers to show you today!  It is called the Autumn Leaves collection and consists of 5 gorgeous polishes - swatch time!!

Note: All polishes are shown with a topcoat of KBShimmer's "Clearly On Top" and are shot in natural light indoors.

Let's start with "Maine:"

 Maine is a rusty orange/brown with red flakies.  Opaque in 2 coats, it dries to a shiny finish in under five minutes.

Next up is "New Hampshire:"

New Hampshire is a beautiful light brown/burnt orange (different lighting affects the color) with a subtle gold and red shimmer.  Opaque in 2 coats and dries to a shiny finish in under 5 minutes.

Here we have "Pennsylvania:"

Pennsylvania is a deep chocolate brown with a subtle purple flash (seen in the macro brush shot).  Also opaque in 2 coats, this polish dries to a shiny finish in under 5 minutes.

Next is "Vermont:"

Vermont is a lovely warm orange with gold flakies and shimmer throughout.  Opaque in 2-3 coats (depending on how thick you layer it), this polish dries to a shiny finish in under 5 minutes.  It is a bit thicker than the other polishes, but not unmanageable at all :)

And lastly is the glitter topper "Autumn Leaves:"

Autumn Leaves is packed with various sized red, brown, orange, and holo gold glitters, as well as a copper shimmer throughout.  Show above is one coat over each of the other polishes in this collection.

The Autumn Leaves collection is available now!!  You can purchase the whole collection HERE (10ml full size for $27, 7ml mini size for $20) and receive the "Autumn Leaves" glitter topper for free!  Individual colors can be purchased through their links above.  Here are some social links for you where you can follow and keep up to date with Gothic Gala Lacquers:

Shop

Facebook

Instagram

Facebook Fan Group

Twitter

What do you think of this collection?  Do these colors scream FALL! to you? :D

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Polish sent to me by the maker for photography purposes.  All experiences with the polish and opinions in this post are my own and remain 100% honest.

OPNL Fall Collection, Part 1 and Giveaway!!

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An Octopus Party Nail Lacquer giveaway?!?

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On October 10th, 11 AM EST, Octopus Party Nail Lacquer is releasing Part 1 of the new Fall collection, and I'll be giving away a mini sized set!!  Before we get to that, let me show you some swatch photos of the goods!

First up in the collection is "But Not In Vein:"

But Not In Vein is a gorgeous deep blood red with a red shimmer that is almost impossible to capture on film (a common lament amongst all swatching this polish).  Shown above is two coats with no topcoat (it dried super shiny all on its own!).  This red also did NOT stain, as you can see around the cuticles, which I always *love* in a red.

Next up is "Fenrir:"

Fenrir is a beautiful silver micro glitter polish with a slight lavender shimmer.  This one can be built to opacity in 3 coats (shown on my middle and ring fingers) or as a topper (shown in 1 coat over But Not In Vein on my pointer and pinky).  This one is a definite stunner in the sunlight!  It did not dry to a texture, as I've found lots of micro glitters tend to do, but it did need a topcoat to bring out the sparkle a bit more.

Next is "Indikon:"

C'mon, you didn't think Dave would forget adding holos to his collection, did you?!  Indikon is a fantastic deep royal blue linear holo - and I am wearing it in ONE COAT in these photos!!  Ohhhh the gloriousness of it <3  No staining, smooth application (though it can get streaky, so be mindful of that), dried to a semi-shiny finish, so I added a topcoat in the photos above.  

(If you're looking for a comparison of Indikon to Go Deep, Nichole over at Bedlam Beauty did a great write-up about them here!)

And lastly is "Metaphysics:"

You know I always save what I think are the most stunning for last :D  Metaphysics is a very light lavender purple linear holographic with a silver shimmer.  Holy crap, guys, this one is a STUNNER!!!  While it could probably be a one-coater, I did two, because it applied like a dream and I used thinner coats.  Dried to a semi shiny finish, so I added a shiny topcoat to make it pop even more in the photos.

I am in looooooove with this part of the collection, and cannot WAIT for the second!!  Dave did a smashing job with these!  The official opening for pre-order is this Saturday at 11AM EST at the OPNL Etsy Shop.

Or...you can try to win a mini-sized set!!

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I've attached the Rafflecopter widget below.  The giveaway will be open for 1 week and will end next week on the 14th.  The only RULE is that you cannot use giveaway accounts - and yes, I do check, every time.

Good luck!!!

***Polish was purchased at a blogger discount for photography purposes.  All opinions and experiences with the polish are my own and remain 100% honest.

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Crumpet's Nail Tarts: Hobbies

It's that time of year again - the time for nail art challenges!!  I know, there are nail art challenges year-round, but it just seems like Fall starts a good chunk of them, and is the start of a lot of really fun ones :D

This year I'm participating in the Crumpet's Nail Tarts 52 week challenge!  I'm doing the every-other week challenge that is "themed," and the first theme is "Hobbies."

I have a ton of hobbies, most of which have fallen to the wayside as I've been a stay at home mom and really have little to no time to dedicate to them (other than my nails).  One of my favorite ones, though, that I still manage to sneak in doing here and there, is painting <3

I loooooooove painting, not just on my tiny nail canvases, but on - well, everything!  I paint on canvas, I've painted pottery, metal work, all sorts of things!!  It's a very calming and relaxing hobby for me, which is pretty nice to have when you watch kids all day, and when you're in your third trimester of pregnancy ;)

This nail art design is meant to portray how I see the world.  It's basically black and white, but looks completely different to everyone - it's unique.  I try to paint what I see, the vibrancy of colors I see in real life, the detail (or lack thereof) in things I see, etc.

I hope you enjoy this design, and please be sure to visit the others through the inlinkz below - there are some ridiculously talented ladies in this group that put my little art piece to shame!!

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An InLinkz Link-up

Bellaluna Cosmetics: October Birthstone "Fauxpal"

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It's still hot, FYI.  We'll just leave it at that, I feel like I'm beating a dead horse.

Today I've got the October birthstone polish by Bellaluna Cosmetics to show you!  It's called "Fauxpal" and it's based off the Opal birthstone.

Fauxpal is a sheer white packed with large solid white flakies and tons and tons of rainbow shimmer - it very much resembles an opal!  Despite the larger flakes, this still applied quite smoothly and evened out with each layer.  I am wearing three coats in the photos above with a topcoat for added shine and to really make that rainbow shimmer pop!  Because the formula is a tad thicker in order to keep the flakies suspended and not falling to the bottom, this did take a little longer to dry, and also dried to a very light texture.  However, a quick-dry topcoat (in this case, Pahlish's Magic Mirror) smoothed everything out, and I was able to do normal things with no damage to the polish after 10 minutes of dry time.

You can get this beauty at Bellaluna's new shop HERE.  You can also follow the Facebook Page and Instagram for updates on current and upcoming releases.

What do you think of this polish?  Are you an October baby, or a fan of opals?

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Polish was sent to me by the maker for photos and a review.  Any and all experiences with the polish are my own and my opinions remain 100% honest.

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