Feeling all Warm & Fozzie with OPI

OPI's  Muppets Collection is one I was so excited about and I am not at all disappointed!

This manicure is OPI Warm & Fozzie with accent finger and tips in OPI Nevermore from the Go Goth 2010 Halloween set.

Browns do not work on me but this I can manage.

OPI description is : Warm & Fozzie A feel-good shade of metallic copper.

But it's so much more than that, there are flecks of rose toned copper and bronze and and gold.

If you fear the browns this is really one worth trying

Warm & Fozzie is metallic shades of fallen leaves crammed into a liquid perfect

You can see that the more jewel tone of it does not make my tone look dirty like poo brown does and the royal purple tone of Nevermore just cools it down enough for me to love it

What do you think...giant win?

More Muppet love to come!

Honk if you love OPI - DS Original

Honk if you love OPI is from the Touring America collection

A gorgeous blackened berry

I free handed some sadly misshapen v french tips and my ring finger with DS Origional

I love blackened shades like this where you can easily in any light tell the color but it's so very deep and vampy still

I used 2 coats of Honk if you <3 OPI and one of DS Original

Vampy and holo is a favorite combo for it they just compliment the best parts of each other

I feel silly saying every single time that the formula is great so with OPI I will just let you know if I ever get one that sucks. (^o^)

This is a busy season for me so I'll do my best to post and update as much as possible.

Just remember that I adore you all and miss you much and you can always DM me on Twitter or FaceBook.

*Smooches*

LCN Magnetic Polish fun

I was given the opportunity to try LCN Magnetic polishes and they are so fun!

This is the kit I was sent...

The magnets are great! One is the star and the other stripes

I used Fuschia Attraction and Green Temptation and both magnets

I alternated the magnets because well I like it that way

These polishes are straight one coat colors, no layering needed. I love that!

This was my first try using these so I'm sure I'll get better with them as I play

I have other magnetic polish but these work so much better

The polish is $9.50 a bottle (a bit high but the results are worth it imo)

And the colors are so good and unique. I will be playing a lot more with these!

You can get them Here The entire set is $115 and you get both magnets and all 8 colors so not a bad deal.

What do you think of the magnetic polish?

OPI has got THE Blues

I had the urge for blue the other day so I grabbed

Nicole by OPI It's not me it's Blue and OPI Road house Blues from the Touring America Collection

I was feeling polk a doty so I played with contrasting dots on all my fingers

I just used my smallest dotting tool and got a little random

Hmmmm....My ring finger has dots of It's not me it's blue all the way up the outer side but the lighting makes it hard to tel. :o(

I love how this turned out, it's subtle but fun

Road House Blues is a beautiful deep blue cream and It's not me it's blue looks purple in the bottle but once on the nail you see the blue base with silver and pink metallic shimmer. Both are gorgeous and great formula's

I think these two blues are perfect together.

You can't possibly feel blue wearing these!

P.S. Just a note to say when I removed this I had NO smurf murder hands and not a bit of staining!

*Products in this post were provided by the company/pr for my honest review

Who doesn't love an Emerald Isle

This is another beautiful Best Nail Treatments color

Emerald Isle is a gorgeous Emerald green slightly blackened background with a teal shimmer

In the bottle it looks like a deep teal but on the nail you can see more of the Emerald

This is 2 coats in lightbox lighting

I love the formula, it's so easy to work with and so far non of the colors I've used (including this one) stained my hands or nails. I love that!

I actually wore this for 4 days (I've been so busy) and it wore wonderfully

I'm loving the colors and the sticky base coat is the best I've used.

You can get BNT polish and treatments here

The base coat is $7.99

The Top coat is $8.59

Colors are $5.99

Have you tried any BNT yet? Favorite colors?

**products in this post were provided by the company/pr for my honest review

Vieux Carre OPI - A French Quarter for your thoughts

Vieux Carre  is creole, it means the old quarter (referring to the French Quarter)

Hubby being a NOLA boy reacted to the color with "why is it gray". lol

If you've ever been to New Orleans Louisiana then you know why

he found it odd, all of New Orleans is so full of color it's almost too much, but not.

I think it's intended more to be the beautiful old stone work buildings and the famous cemeteries that

this color is representing. I like it no matter.

French Quarter for your thoughts is a nice granite gray creme from the OPI touring America collection

 

And when I mentioned the French Quarter Hello Kitty insisted on coming along

( the fabulous HK decals were sent to me by my sweetheart Jerlene aka MusicalHouses from a funtabulous Blog- Of Faces and Fingers )

And to compliment HK I took a tiny bit of clear polish in a mixing cup and added a tiny bit of my Beach Party eyeshadow and did the very tips plus my ring finger over FQfyT.

The formula is very nice and smooth with good pigment so it is very nearly opaque on the first coat

I can't say that this is unique but if you are looking for a nice gray I would recommend picking this up because the formula is a bit better than several grays I have.

Thank you Jerlene for the Hello Kitty decals, they are almost as adorable and sweet as you!

Do we have our favorites from this collection yet? I have a couple but I'm not absolute on my must haves yet.

**Products in this post were provided by the company/pr for my honest review

Best Nail Treatment - Review and swatches

I was contacted a while back by Lynn, the lovely owner of  BNT

about trying her line of nail products and after my drooling and wavering due to the beautiful selection of nail colors I finally picked a couple and I have been testing these in a serious way!

You can check out the shades here

Left to right: Air Cure system Base coat, Grape Crush, French Twist and Air Cure System fast dry Top Coat

Now I am going to let you in on a tiny bit of info that prompted my need for thorough testing...

Lynn worked for the original Poshe company and was a part of the creation of the beloved Poshe top coat that so many love. Unfortunately the company was sold to a competitor (which I'd bet is why Poshe TC formula changed) Lynn opened Best Nail Treatments using her own formulas. So BNT is a Woman owned company that has an environment conscience. Read more about them here. I personally am impressed and love the mission statement.

(Day 1)

This is 2 coats of Grape Crush with one coat of French twist on the tips of index and ring fingers and over entire nail on middle and pinky, because I can do it like that! :o)

(Day 3)

Grape Crush is a beautiful neon fuchsia purple jelly...but it's so well pigmented that there is (as you can see) no visible nail line with 2 coats. How wonderful is that!

(Day 5)

French twist is along the lines of the cnd effects in that it is a sheer pink sparkling shimmer intended for layering.

I did notice that (at least for me) this applied much more evenly and stronger than my cnd's

(Day 5)

Super Macro shows the gorgeous sparkle of French Twist and the opacity yet jelly squish of Grape Crush

Now the full review-

Base coat- Dries very fast slightly sticky finish (for adhesion), application was very nice, not runny or goopy.

Colors- Very nice formula, the brush is the normal round fan brush, spreads well, very even coverage, great pigmentation, smooth and very easy to work with.

Top Coat- This was the big test with me as I have 2 bottles of the old (original good) Poshe top coat and 1 bottle of the sucktastick newer formula and one of what Poshe said was their return to the old formula. Personally the 2 later formulas, to me, are about the same. I do not like them, they don't dry fast at all!

So I tested the BNT Top coat against the original Poshe top coat. Application is about the same, both apply smoothly and evenly, the brushes are identical for all I can tell. Now here is I was surprised and rather pleased the BNT Top Coat was dry...I mean I can go wash my hair, fold laundry dry in 5 minutes flat....I tested this 6 times on different brands of polish! Original Poshe was dry to the touch in about 6 minutes but not "solid" dry for another 7-10 minutes which is still fast but not as fast. So this prompted me to test it against my forever beloved Seche Vite.....needless to say Seche it's been a lovely many years but I'm leaving you for a new love! I have broken up with Seche and Best Nail Treatments is my new HG fast dry top coat!

I kid you not!

Now the last part I'm not sure which to credit but the above manicure, note the "day" notes below each picture...see anything unusual? 5 days of perfect no budge wear, not a chip, no tip wear....as perfect on day 5 as on day 1! I washed dishes, mixed colors, filled orders, labeled, packed orders, cleaned house, showered, did laundry, went swimming 4 times, took 3 bubble baths, worked out and chased 3 kids.

Color me impressed, very impressed! I'm not sure if it's due to the adhesion of the base coat, the quality of the colored polish or the strength of the top coat or all of the above, but whatever the magic is....I need more!

I have another color from Best that I will show you later but it is so pretty, you will love it too!

*Products in this post were provided by the company/pr for my review

All opinions are my own, based on my experience and personal knowledge.

Fotolia stock picture fun

I had the opportunity to try fotolia and I wanted to share my thoughts with you.

At first I thought I really wouldn't use "stock photos" but figured I would

go look around and at least see what it was all about. Now call me hooked!

Now for BNP&LG I obviously use my own pictures and the same for Evil Shades, but after checking out

fotolia I found a great use that I hadn't thought of....Banners, Header, Backgrounds and buttons!

Here is the first use I made of a stock photo from the site

I used a stock picture (the background with the picture frame) and added the wording,

pictures of some of their jewelry and some tweaks in Gimp and made a fancy banner for Whimsy Beading to add to my sidebar. (You can see it on the left sidebar)

I think it turned out very nice for my being far from a pro & just starting to

figure out Gimp. I will definitely be using more from fotolia for a new header here and maybe a link button.

I have a few 2 week free trial codes if anyone wants to give it a whirl, just email me and I'll send you one.

(First come first served on the codes, I will add a note when they are gone)

There are so many pictures and useful backgrounds etc that I think I will have to become a paying member!

China Glaze Metallic Crackle Glaze Skittles

I thought crackle skittles would be fun on my new mini nails

The China Glaze Metallic Crackles are such fun colors

Right to left, top to bottom: Latticed Lilac, Haute Metal (My favorite), Cracked medallion, Platinum Pieces and Tarnished gold

Tarnished gold up close

I did this a little thicker to get wider cracks

These give a lighter application so you can do a subtle crackle finish or apply thicker for serious crackle

I really like these, they are more versatile than most crackles since they are sheer if you apply lightly.

I did Haute Metal over a baby pink on my youngest and it gave a nice subtle crackle...of coarse she then picked at it until I couldn't get a picture. (She's 3 so not the best model choice)

Overall, Application is very nice, dry time is excellent and formula is awesome.

The crackle trend is being beaten to death but if you haven't tried any I think the metallics are my top pick!

*Products in this post were provided by the company/pr for my honest review

China Glaze Metallic Crackle glaze- Oxidized Aqua

China Glaze new Metallic Crackle collection is 6 shades of metallic crackle fun!

Oxidized Aqua is well, a metallic aqua. :o)

The metallic look of this crackle gives it cool effect....aged almost

It dries quickly and you can make a finer cracked look by using a thin coat or wider, heavier cracks by using a thicker coat

I like it without top coat but if you want a smoother shiny finish top oat works great over it

I think I might do crackle skittles! :o)

**Products in this post were provided by the company/pr for my honest review