Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Indie Spotlight: Pastoral by Cagedbird Nail Lacquer

I have a lovely Spring glitter to show off to you all today.  Let me introduce you to, Pastoral, by Cagedbird Nail Lacquer.  This is a perfect combination of matte mint, white, lavender, and pastel green and silver metallic glitters in a clear base.  I mentioned in a previous post that Sarah, the creator of Cagedbird Nail Lacquer, could have just named this polish 'Hayley'.  I seriously don't think I could have come up with a more perfect combination if I would have customized it myself.


My love affair with Cagedbird started a few months ago when I stumbled on her Facebook page and was in awe at the pastel glitters.  She was extremely close to 500 followers at the time and I was honored to be her number 500.  To my surprise, she sent me a mini bottle of polish to celebrate the milestone.  It was my first (and still only) polish prize!  I was beyond excited.  I mentioned how in love I was with Faerie Carnival and Pastoral and a week later a mini Faerie Carnival showed up as my prize.  How thoughtful was she?!
I immediately bought Pastoral from her Etsy store and I recommend you check out all of her creations!

Pastoral: Outdoors - shade



Indoors

To showcase this glitter, I used two coats of Sinful Colors Mauve with one coat of Pastoral.  I know...I've already used Sinful Colors Mauve before.  I didn't mean for it to happen this way, but it did.  The formula in my bottle is just flawless.  I had a few colors picked out to try with Pastoral and it was a tough decision.  My other contenders were: Sally Hansen CSM Ion, Zoya Neely and Sinful Colors Cool Gray.  I will definitely be using them all with Pastoral at some point, because I think they would all look great.  The only downside to using Mauve was that it made some of the lavender glitter not as noticeable on the nail.  I think Sally Hansen's Ion would be a good choice to show off the seafoamy mints, lavenders and greens.
Just for fun I took this macro shot of the glitter and thought it turned out pretty!

 
Disclaimer: This pretty polish was purchased by me and I will be getting it again and again and again!

Thursday, March 7, 2013

By The Way...'You're Blushing'

I'll be snapping out of these greyed, wintery pastels soon!  Before I do, I wanted to show you this combination of polishes that you can still easily find.  This is Orly's You're Blushing and I topped it with OPI's  Pirouette My Whistle.  We all know I love those greyed lavenders, but I love this one because most of the ones I own are blue undertoned and (to me) this has a red undertone.  I think it results in the polish leaning more to the lavender on me than grey, unlike some of the other lavenders of this type.


You're Blushing was part of Orly's Cool Romance collection in Spring 2012 but recently, after Orly updated their bottles, Sally's Beauty included this in their core line. It applied very easily and the pictures are two coats.  I love the name of it too, because it evokes that first stage of a spring fling when everything is new and you melt over every sweet thing they say.  I'm a romantic...it's not a surprise. 

Pirouette My Whistle was part of OPI's NYC Ballet Collection also in 2012, but is still at Ulta in their core line.  I just love how soft and subtle this glitter is!  I initially got the mini collection and loved Pirouette My Whistle so much I had to have a full size bottle!  The 'larger' glitters are sparse and I had to fish a few out of the mini bottle, so this is two coats also.


  
Thank you for stopping by and for the support so far, it means so much to us!  Have a great day!

Monday, March 4, 2013

Spring Trend: Pretty Pastels

Are you as excited as we are about all the pretty pastels being released for Spring? I know Hayley and I have both talked about loving the subtle washes of purple and mint. Well...when Walgreens had their Sinful Colors on sale for a mere 99¢ I jumped all over their new Sugar Rush collection and bought every color. Yep. I needed them all. So first up is the bright and cheerful teal color called Sweet Nothing.

At first I wasn't sure I really needed this color, but I'm glad I decided to get it. I have a very similar shade that is also from Sinful Colors called Savage. However, Savage dries to a matte finish and is darker on the nail than  Sweet Nothing. I have to say this color cheered me up during the dreary days we've been having. It has a nice shiny finish as well, so I *gasp* skipped the top coat. The photo was taken with flash and unfortunately those taken without turned out too dark. You can really see how shiny this polish dries though.

This is an okay shot of Candy Coated (ring finger) and Sweet Tooth for a preview. I polished my nails last weekend right when my package from Llarowe arrived (I won a giveaway!!) so I had to snap a quick pic to commemorate the occasion!

Look for more swatches of the Sugar Rush collection coming soon. What are your polish picks for Spring?

Friday, March 1, 2013

What We Loved...in February

We thought it appropriate that for the month of love we should share what we loved.  We plan to continue this if you decide you would like to see end of the month product posts.  Please let us know what you think!

Jackie's favorites:

In early February I found myself reaching for bright blue shades of polish - CG's Man Hunt being the main one. I love this color. It looks great under many of the glitters I own and it is also a nice cheerful color on it's own.


I've also been obsessed with Rainbow Honey's Sweet Talk collection this month. Appropriate, no? With it's creamy white and glitter polish, Sweet Talk was the perfect polish for my Cupcake Nails (posted on our Facebook page) while the shimmery Be Mine and blingy XOXO were perfect paired together for a sweet V-Day mani.



It is winter (stating the obvious!) and I've been trying to find the perfect hand cream. I've tried several this month, but the standout products are Neutrogena's Hand Cream and the Josie Maran Argan Balm. I've been putting the balm on my dry and rough spots before bed, including my cuticles, and then adding the Neutrogena on top to kind of seal it all in. It seems to be working so far! I also want to give a shout out to 365 Days of Color because I've been using the hand cream I received in my Valentine's bag off and on as well. While I am in love with the rich formula, the scent I received is not really my thing (I'm REALLY picky because most things give me a headache and/or can lean to a migraine). I will definitely be ordering some in the future though! Note: I ordered a sampler of her balms as well, but have only been using them for a few days. The scents I chose are so yummy that I just know I need them in some hand cream!


Hayley's favorites:

The one polish, of all those I tried, that I found myself looking at again and again was this Love, Charlotte one I posted about at the beginning of the month.  I loved how the color popped when I was wearing a white or cream sweater.


Of course, I grabbed a second one to share the love! :)


With winter (hopefully) winding down, my hands need serious moisture.  I love this cream from J.R. Watkins.  It is absolutely the perfect lemon cream scent!  It's indescribable; not too sweet and not too citrusy...just perfect!  I found this at Ross for just $3.99 but I've seen it at other random stores for around $8.



This next one is a late decision.  I was all set to mention OPI's Pirouette My Whistle (I know I'm late to the party) and how I wanted to use it over everything. 
BUT...on Monday I received the mini bottle of Pastoral I ordered from Cagedbird Nail Lacquer and I died when I saw it in person.  Just look at this polish!!  Matte seafoamy mint, white and lavender w/ pastel green and silver.  This could have just been named 'Hayley'.  Instantly my favorite!  I will be wearing this all Spring I can tell.  You can purchase this polish from her Etsy store.



Lastly, I just adore these little cupcake key caps I received around my birthday.  How can you not smile when you see these on your keys?! 


They were purchased at Forever 21 and I believe you can find them on Amazon as well.

What were your favorite finds in February?