Habit Cosmetics - Winter 2014 Collection: Swatches, Review & Nail Art

Press Sample

Hello all! Happy Veteran's Day (and a big thank you to those who are/have served our country)! I have polishes from one of my all time favorite brands to share with you today, Habit Cosmetics! My first experience with Habit was over a year ago with a few of Aja's original shades and she has since released a dozen or so more beautiful polishes that will make anyone drool. The three I have today are apart of this year's Winter collection which is inspired by the ocean...so naturally it is absolutely stunning.

For those who don't know, Habit polishes are all natural and use Myrrh extract to help naturally strengthen the nail. It is vegan friendly, cruelty free, gluten free and 5-free and in my opinion they have some of the most unique, chic and beautiful bottles around. Read through to see what I think of these and let me know your favorites!

Immortal Edge - Nail Art, Swatches & Review

Press Sample 

Hello, all! I've got swatches and some nail art with polishes from a brand new polish brand called Immortal Edge! Lynette has aimed for creating polish that is edgy yet classy for women of all ages and I love what she's come up with so far. 

Geometric Gradient Nail Art

Nothing to Disclose

Happy Saturday, all! I have family visiting this weekend (plus it's my younger sister's 21st birthday ~ wish use luck!) so I really wanted to do something bright and fun to get me through the weekend.

The Digital Dozen does Black & White - Day 3: Taped Reciprocal Gradient

Ah yes! Today's mani marks the halfway point of this week's challenge. I never realized how difficult it would be to come up with 5 different looks all around the same basic theme. I feel like there is SO much you can do with black and white, yet my brain struggles to realize them. 

Gradient Nail Tutorial for Lulu*s!

Happy Monday, all! Just a quick post for right now - wanted to share my latest collaboration with the Lulu*s Blog! It's a super simple but fun gradient mani to go with their back-to-school week! Be sure to check out the blog post for the how-to on these :) 

Happy Polishing! :)

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 10: Gradient Nails

If you've been in the nail art world long enough, you might notice there are some discrepancies between the terms "gradient" and "ombre." Personally, when I first got into nail art, I learned that a gradient is when the color transition happens on each individual nail and an ombre is when the color transitions over a series of nails from a lighter shade of a single color to a darker shade off that same color (one color per nail). There are some who swear ombre is what I think of as a gradient and vice versa. There are others who think the terms are interchangeable. If the nail art world can have an up in arms debate about something, it would be the difference between the two terms.

As an homage to this classic nail art argument, I decided to do a gradient look that also ombres - meaning, each nail has two colors that transition AND each nail color will go from light to dark - that way I can appease everyone's opinions! What can I say, I'm a people pleaser ;) 

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Day 6: Violet Nails

Oh boy, it is late! I'm a few hours past the Tuesday "deadline" for today's challenge, but I think it's worth the wait! I must say, I'm pretty proud of Meghan and I for keeping up with this so far...even if we've been a few hours late with some posts. 3 weeks into this adventure, and I am really enjoying this experience. Meghan is so talented so I doubt anyone can complain about having to look at her work :)

After trying out a completely different design and scratching it around 11 PM (3 hours ago!), a friend of my suggested a violet gradient with lace on top and I knew immediately I was going to do it. I feel like I say that a lot, but there is something that happens when you love a design - it just FEELS right. ;)

Lulu*s Beach Bonfire Tutorial

Happy Monday! How did everyone's day go? I started my first day at my new job today and so far everyone has been really nice and supportive. Aside from accidentally locking my keys in my car right after I got out of my car at 8 am, it was a pretty good day ;) But boy oh boy! It has been such an emotional roller coaster for me the past few weeks. I feel so emotionally drained and I'm so exhausted! 

Today I have my latest tutorial for the Lulu*s Blog! The theme for this week was Beach Bonfire and to me, bonfires mean sunsets on the beach! I did a simple gradient and added some silhouettes of palm trees to pull this look together. Once again, be sure to check out the Lulu*s blog for my quick how to of a gradient nail :) 

Happy Polishing! :)

Gradient and some free hand stripes!

On Sunday I had a friend tell me that they would love to see pink and blue together in nail art so I decided to create a gradient using the two colors! Well, if you'll remember your kindergarden lessons of how colors work, when you blend red (or in my case pink) and blue together, you get purple! Oh Lindsey, sometimes your brain doesn't work, does it? 

Despite my gradient turning more into a pink to purple gradient, I like how these turned out. As a friend put it, they are FIERCE! ;) I added a matte top coat for good measure as well. 

March Nail Art Challenge - Day 4 & 5! (I'm cheating...)

Alright, alright. Yes, I am cheating a bit with this one. I was supposed to do Color Blocking for the 4th day of the March Nail Art Challenge but I fell behind :/ Well, I've decided to combine the 4th theme with today's new theme of Luck! As it is March and everyone's mind is on St. Paddy's Day coming up in less than a week, I decided do a color blocking with a four leaf clover! Luck and color blocking. There, I've met both themes in one mani ;) 

I've also added a touch of gold for some good luck as well :)

These are pretty simple to create. I used Julep's Courtney, Hoch, and Fiona, along with China Glaze's Running in Circles to create the initial squares. Then, using my dotting tool, I create small hearts in each corner of the boxes. The rest of my fingers are Courtney and Essie's Good as Gold in a simple gradient. 

March Nail Art Challenge - Day 3: Gradient

Okay, so I suck at keeping to a schedule. But I think I have a worthy excuse! I have been so busy studying for a big engineering test every weekend all day long on top of working all week. No days off makes for little time for nail art. 

I finally got around do doing the 3rd installment of the March Nail Art Challenge (though, I was supposed to start the 4th one today...oops!). The theme was gradient and I wanted to use two more of my new Julep Polishes to create the look. I ended up pairing Georgia, a pretty peach micro shimmer, with Susie, a muted mint green creme. These were colors I wasn't 100% sure would look nice together in a gradient, but I'm really happy with them! A happy surprise :)

A gradient and a fun pattern!

Good news! I finally ordered a new battery charger for my camera and I'm so excited to hopefully have my baby up and running again. 

While I'm waiting, I've been nail painting! I have been itching to do a "real" gradient for awhile now but for whatever reason never got around to it. The gradients I have done have all used glitter, with no real worry about how well the two colors transition. I took a look at this fabulous tutorial by the amazing Sammy at The Nailasaurus in order to create my gradient and while I there is definitely room for improvement, I really like how everything turned out :)

Sparkle Gradient with BL, CG and SOPI

Today's nail art challenge is Sparkles! I'm really loving this look and it's super simple to create. The base color is Butter LONDON's Royal Navy and the gradient is made with China Glaze's I Herd that and the chunky glitter is Sephora by OPI's Only Gold for Me top coat.

Essie Beyond Cozy Gradient

It's winter! And after Thanksgiving it finally feels like it! Yay! My favorite! 

Err...well it doesn't snow in my part of California, but a girl can dream, right? I am pretty envious of the those in the cold snowy weather because all I want to do is get bundled up and go play in the snow all day long!

I suppose painting my nails wintery-ish will have to suffice for now, though. So! I present, another gradient look (this time done following proper technique!). I used Ulta's Smoke Screen and Essie's Beyond Cozy for my gradient colors (with a foundation of white).

Happy Polishing.

Gradient? Err...sort of

I really like the look of gradient nails and had always been curious if I too, could hop on that bandwagon. Well, I sort of did? My attempt isn't the traditional smooth look that so many have been sporting, but I like it nonetheless. 

I used Essie's Turquoise & Caicos as my base color and let it dry for as long as my impatient brain would allow for before beginning the gradient. I suppose I should have researched a bit more into how most people do a gradient, but I had heard that THE thing to use is a makeup sponge. I had several lying around and gave it a shot! (without watching any tutorial on the "proper" method of application...oops!). Anyway, instead of painting both colors on the sponge and rolling it over your nail a few times as is now convention, I painted just my gradient color (Sally Hansen's Gray by Gray) onto the sponge and dabbed away!

While my "gradient" isn't necessarily a smooth transition between the two colors, I am still in love with the look I've created. It's understated but with a little bit of a surprise ;)

They remind me a bit of watermelon or candy or I don't know...magic? Anyway, next time I shall attempt using the proper method, but for now, I am in love. 

Happy Polishing.