Zoya Lake and Born Pretty Store Dandelion Water Decals

*decals provided for an honest review*

*polishes were purchased*

Hello my sweet friends!  Today I have some very easy nail art to share from Born Pretty Store and a color I purchased from Zoya's newest transitional collection, Whispers.  I love dandelions in nail art and I'm so excited I get to rock them in the easiest way possible!

Born Pretty Store was nice enough to send me a few items to review, and share my honest thoughts on.  The first item I chose were these adorable water decals in different whispy dandelion patterns.  This was my first ever experience with water decals, and they were so easy to use!  These are the Flying Dandelion design (item 20604) and they're under $2.00!!

For this look I used Lake from the new Zoya collection, Whispers.  I think I preordered this set the day it can out.  All these dusty pastels speak to me and I can't say no to them.  Lake is a very greyed out blue with just a tiny tinge of green to it.  This was 2 coats with a very nice formula.  Once Lake was dry, I used the water decal as an accent and later used OPI Pirouette My Whistle as a pinky accent.

The designs in the Born Pretty decal sheet are very detailed and sharp and I love that you get single designs + whole nail options.
To use them, I cut out the flower design I wanted and dipped it in warm water for about 15 seconds with tweezers.  The design slid right off the backing and I smoothed in place with a damp fingertip.  Let it dry for 1-2 minutes then topcoated it.  Super easy!
I highly recommend these and will definitely be using them in lots of Spring manis!

Shade - Lake leans so pretty in the shade :)

If you want these dandelion designs or any water decals you can use my code HAYH10 for an extra 10% off at BornPrettyStore AND free shipping....(the BEST)!  Let me know what you pick up. :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Hayley ~

Blue Christmas

**Polishes were provided for an honest review**

Today I have a few polishes from KBShimmer's Fall lineup that I have deemed holiday appropriate. This year for me will be very different since I lost my Gram in August this year. The first Christmas without someone you love can be a tough experience and I think some of us are still going through the grieving process. 

I decided that Breaking Blues and Carpe Denim were gorgeous blues for a Blue Christmas mani.

Outside; In natural light

Carpe Denim is a the squishy navy jelly on my pointer and middle fingers. It is packed with holographic silver glitters that make it look like the night sky. It applied easily and I decided to use 3 coats only because I didn't get my edges evenly in the first 2 coats. If I wasn't taking photos, I would have only used 2. The creme on my ring and pinky fingers is Breaking Blues. This is a terrific one coater, though I am wearing 2 coats here for photo purposes. I was really impressed with this one! It leans periwinkle to me and I love it!

Indoors; with flash

This little angel was in the flower arrangement I had made for my Gramma. I keep her on the mantle to remind me that she is always in my heart. I know she is spending Christmas with Jesus this year but that doesn't make me miss her any less. If you are missing a loved one this year know that you are not alone and that I am sending a big hug your way!

xoxo

Jackie

KBShimmer Fall 2015: I've Seen Sweater Days & Soul Deep

 *Provided for review*

Hello my sweet friends!  I have a couple of shades from the newest KBShimmer collection, Give Thanks For Glitter, to share today.  KBShimmer has wonderful quality polishes that are reasonably priced, and is a queen of crellies.  These two polishes coordinate so well together that it seemed a shame to not wear them both.  I'm in awe of the combinations she comes up with, so lets get right to the polishes!

First is I've Seen Sweater Days, a muted aqua crelly. KBShimmer describes it as such: A muted teal crelly, pops of cobalt blue glitter, lime green holo glitters and sliver glitters accent this polish. 3 Coats are recommended for full coverage.

You can see in this shot the holo glitters shine (there is no pink glitter, that's holo).  So gorgeous....I love the muted tone that makes this wearable any time of year.  I've Seen Sweater Days started sheer, but was fully opaque in 3 easy coats.

Soul Deep is the deep inky, indigo cream.  This is definitely a one coater polish!  I used 2 coats in my swatch but only because I didn't know what to expect.  The second coat darkened it to almost black, so I'll stick with 1 from now on.  Very good formula. No staining after a few days either, but I did use a base coat.

Outdoors - shade

I also got to try KBShimmer's quick dry topcoat Clearly On Top which I am loving - so shiny and great consistency!  I have been on the hunt for a new topcoat that was not too thick and this is my new go to.  All swatches have 1 coat of Clearly On Top.

In all the KBShimmer polishes I've tried, I have nothing but good things to say!  They really are a top notch polish and I hear their Mani Shots are amazing!  If you're interested in I've Seen Sweater Days or any of the other colors from KBShimmer's fall collection, you can find them on Amazon and on www.kbshimmer.com 

To keep up with all the new collections from KBShimmer, check their social media sites below. 

KBShimmer Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

 

I have to know...what is your favorite KBShimmer crelly?  Let me know in the comments, so I can add to my collection! :)

~ Hayley ~
 

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer & Emerald and Ash Destination Duo

I'm late posting this beautiful duo from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers and Emerald & Ash, so I apologize in advance. I don't think you can find this set anywhere now, but I still needed to share the gorgeous polishes with you. Maybe you'll get lucky and see them in a destash somewhere or the makers will create something similar (perhaps with a bit of persuasion)?

The lovely Julie aka the genius behind BEGL has been teaming up with other equally lovely indie makers to create a monthly Destination Duo. Each duo is created based on a vacation photo from the partner that month. For this duo (which released in July) the destination was Sugar Beach in St. Thomas. First up is Sunset at Sugar Beach from Emerald & Ash.

Emerald & Ash is a new-to-me indie and it didn't disappoint. This aqua-blue creme has shimmers of pink and copper along with brown flakes and just a teensy touch of holo. Application was easy and smooth.

I used 2 thin/medium coats of Sunset at Sugar Beach topped with a glossy topcoat. I didn't notice the VNL as much until I started taking photos, but it doesn't bother me too much. Another thin coat would eliminate the VNL in my opinion.

Macro shot to show the speckled effect created by the flakes.

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer's take for this duo was a lovely bubblegum pink with iridescent rainbow micro-glitters and a strong aqua shimmers.

For the accent nail in the photos above I used 3 thin coats and topped with glossy topcoat. For the others, I used 2 thicker coats. I had no application issues either time.

Macro shot!

  Can a polish be adorable? I think so!

This pink is adorable and dainty with just the right amount of sparkle. I'm not normally a dainty pink polish person, but since my Gramma passed a few weeks ago, I've come to love her favorite color. Maybe I'm holding on to her through my polish, but I don't think that is a problem. I apologize for taking so long to get this up. I've been struggling lately and the passing of my Gramma has made that even more complicated. Luckily Hayley has been more consistent with her posts and I appreciate her for that! (Thanks sis!)

As usual here are links to the makers' sites:
Emerald and Ash Store
BEGL Store
Emerald and Ash on FB
BEGL on FB
BEGLove Group on FB (for those of you who can't get enough BEGL - we'd love it if your joined us!)

Now go hug someone you love because no amount of time is enough when you love someone...

xoxo

Jackie

BEGL Fan Favorites

This post is maybe a little bit rushed, but I wanted to get some swatches up and let you know about the restock tomorrow (July 31 at 3:30 edt) over at Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer! She previously released her Fan Favorite's collect as a pre-order, but tomorrow she will release the collection as a regular restock. I wanted to give you a head's up because this collection contains some of MY favorites as well and therefore I highly recommend you get over there and grab them while you can!

BEGLs for restock on July 31, 2015 Including The Fan Favorites Collection, from L to R: Untrodden Snow, Monster's Tea at Tiffany's, Cherry Blossom, Sordid End, Siren's Birthday Sprinkles, Fierce & Free, Bound to the City Life, Wanna Fall In Love Tonight, I Still Adore, and Fare the Wind - Photo Courtesy of Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer

You might realize you've seen a few Fan Favorites polishes here on Polished at Heart. These include Fare the Wind (easily one of my top 10 polishes of all time). It is described as darker blue-leaning purple linear holographic with a blue to purple shift and red micro-flakies with a slight metallic finish. I would describe it as purple amazingness.

Fare the wind with accent of Lynnderella Blue Rouge on middle nail.

 

 
You can check out more swatches of this gorgeous color here and here.


I hope you remember the awesome teal squishy jelly I feel in love with in January - Bound to the City Life. If you missed it then, it is also coming back with the Fan Favorites Collection. BEGL describes this one as a dark teal jelly with teal, turquoise, purple, and blue holo microglitters. More swatches can be found in my review of the Spark in the Dark collection post here.

Another favorite making a comeback is Sordid End. I took some beach pictures wearing this one last year, but never got time to do a post. Good thing I saved them! This beauty is described as a periwinkle leaning cornflower blue with a teal to blue to purple shift. You can see some of the teal shimmer in this photo. 

And what is a swatch post with "the claw"?

Two polishes from the Fan Favorites Collection that I did not have, so I pre-ordered them, are I Still Adore and Monster's Tea at Tiffany's. First up, Monster's Tea. This color is described as Tiffany blue with green to red shift. I'm not sure if I see the red shift, but I do love the green in this one. It dries to a satin finish and I decided to leave it that way for these photos.

I do love my nails and my flowers....

Anyone care for a cuppa?

Monster's Tea had a slightly different application feel from other BEGLs I have used. However, take that with a grain of salt since I polished with this during some extreme heat and humidity with my windows open as my air conditioning was broken at the time. I noticed that the polish wanted to get tacky, like it was drying, very quickly and this led to a little streaking/patchiness. I want to try this one again now that my house is back to normal, livable temps. I would bet it would apply with no problems like my other BEGLs, but as always I wanted to let you know my honest experience. The photos also show three coats.

I Still Adore is an orchid pink holo with gold to pink shift. It applied nicely and was perfectly opaque in just two coats. Here are two photos of I Still Adore taken in full sun. See how she sparkles on my ring and pinky fingers?

 

I have two other Fan Favorites that I haven't taken photos of (yet) and they are Untrodden Snow (white with gorgeous blue shimmers) and Wanna Fall in Love Tonight (red-leaning purple with red shimmer). And after seeing some gorgeous manis I would love to grab up Cherry Blossom and Fierce & Free as well! I'm also loving this months latest Siren - more on her below. The polishes in the Fan Favorites Collection will be sold individually or as a set: individually - full size bottles $8.50-$12 | mini bottles $5-$6; as a set - full size bottles $102.50 | mini bottles $55.

A few other polishes will be listed tomorrow as well. They are the latest limited edition Siren, Siren Channels the 80's and the July Destination Duo, the Gulf Coast Sunset Duo. This month BEGL teamed up with Literary Lacquers! The duo consists of Gulf Coast Twilight by Literary Lacquers, a soft dusky twilight purple linear holo with iridescent gold flakies and a touch of orange shimmer; Happy Hour at the Blue Parrot by Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer, a juicy orange jelly with purple and copper shimmers; and 10 beachy cocktail water slide decals. Siren Channels the 80's is a totally rad neon green jelly packed with silver holo, gold holo, lime holo, and rainbow iridescent microglitters. Both photos below are courtesy Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers.

The Gulf Sunset Duo with Literary Lacquers

LE Siren Channels the 80's

Hmmm...looking at that Siren again, I think I definitely need her. I can say with confidence that I have nothing like her in my hoard collection. 

Siren Channels the 80's will be available in full size only for $8.50 and limited to one bottle per household. The Destination Duo box will be $25 shipped domestically, or $22 plus shipping fee for international customers. The Duo can be purchased at both the Literary Lacquers and the BEGL shops. 

Restock is tomorrow, July 31st at 3:30 edt - don't forget! I have a feeling some of these will go fast and they will be gone for a while (if not forever). 

For your stalking convenience:
BEGL Shop
BEGL Facebook
BEGL Fan Page BEGLove
BEGL Instagram



Do you think you'll be grabbing any of the Fan Favorites? Or do you already have them all? How about that neon Siren? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo
Jackie 


* DISCLOSURE * All Polishes were purchased by me except Bound to the City Life which was provided for review in January 2015. All opinions are my own.

I'm wearing a holo? This is Surreal...

But, really it is....

This is a Sephora (Formula X) oldie and the name is Surreal.  :)  This was a polish I happened on last year at Big Lots for $2.99.  It simply looked like a light aqua chrome in the bottle. No trace of holo.  Then I tried it, and bam!

This was my first official holo, and I had no idea I even had it in my possession. This formula is superb, it didn't really show brushstrokes for being a chrome in shade and indoor light.  In the sun it's a lovely aqua holo.  This was 2 very easy coats, no top coat, and very fast dry time.

I know you can still find this on eBay and other places online, but I believe Sephora discontinued this line of 'hologram chromes.'  It's not super unique but it's very pretty with both properties playing off of each other.
Below is a photo in the shade and one more in the sun, so you can see the difference!

Indoors

Shade

It goes to show the surprises you probably already have in your collection...so go through some untried polishes! :)

~ Hayley ~

Getting My "Doctor" On with BEGL

**All Polishes Were Purchased**

Hello lovelies! I've got a quick post for you today of a fun mani I did using three of my beauties from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer!

This is BEGL Innuendo Squad, 2000 Years, and Just Admiring Your Skills, Sweetie from her "It Got Away From Me, Yeah..." collection.

Blurred a bit to show that sparkle!

My parents got me some flowers and I just had to use them as props for this one since they were so pretty!

With flash, to make my paleness ever paler

This combo kind of snuck up on me. I was looking at my BEGL collection and moved a few bottles around and thought "Hey, those 3 might go well together" and I decided to give it a whirl. I originally only had 2000 Years (the glitter) on my middle finger, but I wanted to show how fun these colors were together, so I added it over the other 2 colors.

If these colors strike you, you can head over to the BEGL site here and grab them up!