Fall Fun Series and Color Club

*nothing to disclose*

Hello! I am combining 2 topics into this post to catch up on the Fall Fun Series.  

The first was a fall music highlight. I wanted to highlight a fall polish that went along with the music theme. I chose Color Club We'll Never Be Royals from last year's Oil Slick collection.

This was an untried for me and I LOVE it! It's a multi chrome, so no surprise...but the formula was a winner too! I love the shift between magenta, royal purple, and brick red.
This is 2 coats, no streaks and well......

I have been loving that Mumford and Sons folk-type music. These songs feel pretty fall-like to me! I want to be on a walking through fallen leaves or snuggled up with a latte (oh that's always!). On repeat this week has been:

Mumford and Sons - Wilder Mind album 

Gregory Alan Isakov - Virginia May 

Head and the Heart - Lost in My Mind

Kings of Leon - Waste a Moment

Scents:

- I gave my BBW Leaves candle a go this week. Great throw and not headache inducing. :) Yay!

- I still cannot stop melting my Everyday Luxe Azure Sands leftover wax - I never showed it so this is what it looks like.  I'm going to be seriously sad when it's gone!

- I also tried Phury from Ten Digit Creations. Great scent! Comparable to the scent when you walk into an A&F store. Has a medium throw.  I'm impressed with my first indie wax.

The second post was a fall craft. I have had zero time to be crafty other than this blog, so sadly I had no craft of my own. But my friend Amanda at Thrifty Polished crocheted these adorable pumpkin coffee cup cozies and sent us each one! I was SO excited when I opened my package and saw this since my love for coffee and pumpkin spice knows no bounds.

Her post is linked if you want the tutorial on how to make your own!  Amanda, will you please move to AZ so you can teach me to crochet, we can be BFFs, drink coffee and paint our nails?  :)

Phew! So, that's what I have been up to this week! I purchased the entire Color Club Oil Slick collection when I got We'll Never Be Royals, so now I'm off to try the rest of the shades. Hope you have a great 'officially fall' weekend!

~ Hayley ~

Fall Fun Series: Apples, Sweaters and Denim

Hi there! Today's post will be short and sweet because I don't have a big array of apple things to share....which is sad because I do like apple! I guess I just go full fledged pumpkin this time of year.
Alas, the theme today is apple and I want to give her the full respect she deserved before all the pumpkin spice crazies (me!!) had her take a back seat.

I'm sharing the apple scents that I have been loving, and a quick nail of the day before a proper review of this gorgeous polish.  I grabbed two new candles from Bath and Body Works last week including the one below, Leaves.
Leaves fragrance notes read: crisp red apple, golden nectar, and warm clove spice. It smells like a more mature version of apple cinnamon...without the gimmicky scent that some apple cinnamon candles have. I do smell clove as the spice that accompanies this.  I am excited to see how this one performs!  As you can see I have not tried it yet:

Next is my absolute favorite apple candle to date!  This is by Everyday Luxe, a brand exclusively found in TJMaxx and Marshalls to my knowledge.  I bought 2 of these candles last year and I am down to my last.  The name of this is Farmer's Market, but when I went to find new ones this year the scent is labeled as Harvest (it definitely smells the same) and I didn't see a Farmer's Market to compare.  I opted not to get this year's version because it smelled lighter so I'm hoping they will get a new batch in the coming weeks. I will edit this post on the definitive name because I know they are each different candles. If you're looking, for now go with the one that smells like cider.

They don't put fragrance notes on their candles, unfortunately.  If I had to describe it FM/ Harvest (??) is a warm and delicious apple cider with notes of pear and nectar.  It is very unique to anything in BBW right now and it's just heavenly! 10/10 recommend!
If you have seen Everyday Luxe anywhere else, please holla at ya girl!

Finally, what goes better with a romp in the apple orchard than wearing Sweaters and Denim in festive fall fashion?  I bought Vapid Sweaters and Denim early this year and just now getting around to trying it. This is my first thermal polish and my fist Vapid polish.  I am SO glad I grabbed it!  This is 3 very easy coats and is also a 10/10 recommend!

The quick picture I snapped of Sweaters and Denim is in its transition state - part a denim indigo color and part peachy copper shimmer. It's still really warm here, so I have to play around a bit to get a cold shot. The sun was setting when I ran outside to grab these pics. I was out picking apples all day after all! :)

I hope you check out my other friends participating in this series.

Amanda at ThriftyPolished

Ashley at The Bohemian Sassenach

Jaybird at The Candle Enthusiast

Jessica at The Meltdown Blog

Julie at The Redolent Mermaid

Lauren at LoloLovesScents

Liz at Furianne

Sandra at Finger Candy

Stephanie at Imperfectly Painted

Sunnee at Our Sunny Life

Vapid will be having a restock and new fall polish release at the end of the month. I imagine Sweaters and Denim will make a return at some point too. What shades and scents are you loving this fall?

~ Hayley ~

Ever After polish: Mermaid Princess

Hello sweet friends!  Many months ago I mentioned I was going to post the other half of this Ever After Polish duo that is the companion polish to Let's Eat Cake! and finally I am!
This pretty blue holo polish is called Mermaid Princess.

Swatches are 2 easy coats of Mermaid Princess. It's an ultramarine blue holo polish with sparse blue microflakes.  The formula was absolutely a dream, I adored how easy this was to work with.  I topped Mermaid Princess with one coat of KBShimmer Clearly On Top.
I loved the other polish in this duo too, so it's hard to pick a favorite but this might have a slight edge.

Aside from all the pretty polishes, I highly recommend their cuticle crelly (it's a cream and oil mashup).  Miranda creates some amazing scents and rotates them all the time. The cuticle crelly soaks in quickly without any greasy feeling and my cuticles feel great!  My personal favorite scent is Pink Champagne....it's amazing!  I have a crelly at home and at work, and a few friends loving them too.  You will not be disappointed if you add one to your polish purchase!

You can find Ever After Polish here:

Ever After Polish Shop

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Ever After has a fan group too, so if you're interested in joining just let me know below.  Thanks for stopping by!

~ Hayley ~

KBShimmer One Night Sand

*Polish provided for an honest review*

Hello again!  I am back with a KBShimmer from the current Summer collection and it is metallic and pop of holo all in one pretty polish!  Meet my One Night Sand ;) 

So, this one will be sticking around for more than one night because it's pretty fabulous!  The full KBShimmer Summer collection is an array of bright and summery creams, shimmer, crellies, and another metallic flakie like this.

The swatches directly above and below are indoors. The holo isn't noticeable so the polish is more subtle but such a lovely shade of rose copper (my camera makes look a bit more gold indoors than it actually is).  Expect a beautiful shiny, sparkly copper foil finish. It catches shimmers the same way as a diamond. It's really pretty!

This is 2 coats of One Night Sand and a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top. You can see it's more copper.
The formula was effortless on One Night Sand, and because of the microflakies is very smooth and not gritty at all.  The topcoat glossed it up, and I always recommend it, but dry time was great even without.

I have been loving how unique rose gold and copper polishes look on the nail.  Unfortunately, photos don't truly do them justice since they tend to get a bit washed out.  One Night Sand is a great addition to any collection and I know I'll be grabbing for this one in the fall and even throughout winter with a cozy cream sweater and boots. I'd love to hear what you think!

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

KBShimmer Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Have a great weekend!
~ Hayley ~

Love, Angeline: Ocean Breeze - Sea Escapes

Hey there! I wanted to share a gorgeous matte shimmer polish from Love, Angeline. This beauty is, Ocean Breeze, a polish from her Sea Escapes collection.  The whole collection is currently available in her shop and all the polishes in this collection are matte with a different contrasting shimmer.  Very unique and gorgeous and now I'm pining for the beach with these!
Anyway, on to Ocean Breeze:

Love this green aqua shimmer!  Here's my thoughts on everything else:
Formula was very easy to work with and gets extra points that it was so easy considering it's a matte (and that AZ is a million degrees right now!)
 
My swatches are 3 coats, no topcoat!  The first coat was pretty sheer but built up really well on the second coat.  I did 3 to be safe, but could probably get away with 2 coats.

Dry time was great and I didn't need any other matte topcoat but was tempted to put a glossy one over it to see how the shimmer popped with it.  I will next time!  I was happy that the shimmer translated so well on the nail.  You see it in any lighting - indoors and outside.

If you've been interested in Love, Angeline this would be a great collection to try as minis or full size.  I also recommend her Topped With Love topcoat.  Lighting fast dry time and so shiny.  Would love to know your thoughts as always!  I linked her shop here too for your enablement. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

~ Hayley ~ 

Summer shades with Pahlish and SpaRitual

* Polishes purchased by me *

Hello, hello!  I haven't been wearing anything super interesting lately and mostly just posting them over on Instagram.  These are 2 shades I have been loving for summer so I wanted to share!
This first shade by Pahlish was a limited edition mystery shade, so unfortunately is not available.  This beauty is Test Batch: Wild Roses and gives you an idea about the spectacular polishes you can find on her site though!  This was a test batch, so they get named and sometimes they are prototypes for later releases. Fingers crossed!

If memory serves this was just 2 coats and of course I'm in love with the flakies in this one!  It reminds me of an older Pahlish, Sarey's Berry, and I wish I had that one to compare the two. 

Next is a mainstream that is still available.  Now that textures are making a comeback for summer, I had to pull this one out because I adore the color.  This is Wilderness by SpaRitual - a pinky melon texture with a microfine gold shimmer.  This was 2 coats of Wilderness and is a go to polish because it dries so quickly without a topcoat.  My perfect summer pinky coral! (It looks orange on their site, but mine definitely has pink in it).

Shades like these are what I have been loving lately.  What are your go-to summer shades or colors you tend to reach for time and time again lately?  Thanks for stopping by!

~ Hayley ~ 

Pahlish Imprinted Upon Your Stars

*nothing to disclose*

Hello sweet friends!  If this blog has taught us anything (it hasn't), we know the never-ending love I hold for Pahlish.  I was sure I had posted this one, but sadly it seems I haven't.  I'm late to the punch because this was a group custom (the first) for Pahlish Lovers that's not available anymore.
The good news?  There are more customs for the above Facebook group, so I suggest joining and you'll get to see more beauties like Imprinted Upon Your Stars:

If you asked me about holos a few years ago, I would have said I can take them or leave for a good flakie polish.  But if you combine a periwinkle with such a delicate, ethereal holo and pink shimmer, I'll buy all of them!  All of them!  So lovely!

This is 2 coats of Imprinted Upon Your Stars.  I don't have much else to say, but it's a 10 out of 10 in my opinion for the formula (effortless), the scattered holo and the color!  I promise other Pahlish creations will not disappoint either!

Pahlish restocks and releases every Sunday and there are is a new collection of gorgeous new pastel shimmers available right now.  To enable make it easy for you, you can check out Pahlish here.  Be sure to join the Facebook group I mentioned above too!  

Thanks so much for stopping by! :)

~ Hayley ~

Happy Easter! Whimsical Ideas by Pam Hatched

Hello sweet friends!  Every year I wear this polish, and finally decided this would be the year I would blog it!  This is an oldie but such a goodie...Hatched from Whimsical Ideas by Pam.  This is still to date my only Whimsy but she makes so many adorable polishes that I don't know why that is.

Sadly, Hatched was from a few years and is now discontinued.  In an effort to conserve my bottle I just used 1 coat of Hatched over 2 coats of Revlon Buttercup, a pale Springy yellow.
Because matting makes this one even better, that's how I wore it but did snap a pic below before putting the matte topper on.

Hatched (on its own) is a pale yellow glitter crelly of about this same color base. You need about 3 coats on its own to build to opacity.  It reminds me of a Peeps yellow and the glitters are perfect pops of color.

If you're interested in checking out the fun and very unique Whimsical nail polishes, I linked them for your viewing pleasure!  Whimsical Ideas by Pam sells through their Facebook page here.  

I hope you have a very Happy Easter or, if you don't celebrate, a great day of college basketball watching.  I'm excited for both!  Easter is my very favorite! :)  Thanks for stopping by!

~ Hayley ~

Pahlish Bad Wolf

* Purchased by me *

Hello!  I've mentioned before that Palish is one of my favorite indies.  A few years ago, before I knew about them, I was at Jackie's house playing around with her polishes and tried Bad Wolf.  I loved it so much but it was not available to purchase, so I did what any other nail polish fiend does...bought a bunch of other polishes to fill the void (it didn't work) and added it to my DISO list.

Luckily Pahlish has a fantastic Facebook group called Pahlish Lovers and the ladies in it are so great.  I found someone who was willing to sell her bottle of Bad Wolf, and here we are!

Back in November, Shannon (the creator of Pahlish) actually found a batch of the shimmer she used and re-released Bad Wolf, so of course I picked up another bottle.
These swatches are from the original bottle of Bad Wolf.

Bad Wolf is a greyed taupe with an intense pink shimmer.  It's a neutral, but once it's on your nails it is so special that you kind of forget that.  This is 2 coats with topcoat in natural sunlight.

Swatch above is in the shade

Pahlish releases new polishes every Sunday (including small, limited release batches called Bespoke batches)  There are some beauties on there now, so go check it out!  If there are some older Pahlishes you are in search of I definitely recommend joining the Pahlish Lovers group on Facebook!

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Hayley ~

Ever After polish: Let's Eat Cake!

* I won this! *

Hello!  I wanted to share my first impressions of an indie brand that was new to me.  Ever After Polish has been around for awhile now, but it was just in the last few months that I found out about them.  Today I have Let's Eat Cake that I wore as a birthday mani this month.

Let's Eat Cake is a light purple polish with ucc blue/green flakies, shimmer and holo.  The two above photos were indoors...once you get her out in the sun, the holo pops! All photos are three coats and topcoat.

Let's Eat Cake is half of a birthday duo called Rachel's Birthday Duo.  Rachel and Miranda are the creators behind Ever After, so Miranda has a birthday duo as well.  Let's Eat Cake is currently in stock in their shop along with its companion polish.

The other polish in this duo, Mermaid Princess, is also still available in their shop.  It's a pretty coordinating lapis blue holo with turquoise flakies and shimmer. I have that one too so I will share swatches in a future post.

This is a perfect time to get to know Ever After better, if you don't!  They have so many polishes and bath and body products to pick from and some of the things I have seen coming for Spring are just gorgeous!  I am officially hooked!
I have since ordered twice after getting this duo.  If you have any Ever After favorites I'd love to know.

You can find Ever After Polish here:

Ever After Polish Shop

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~ Hayley ~

Pahlish Drops of Fire (Bespoke Batch)

*Purchased*

Hello!  I hope that everyone's week is off to a good start.  The weather here finally feels like fall, and so happy I can wear my boots, scarves and not sweat while drinking a hot PSL or Chestnut Praline latte! 
Today I have gorgeous indie brand, Pahlish, to share with you!  I've been wearing this type of color on my nails a lot lately,   but this one is probably my favorite of that deep red family.  Drops of Fire is a deep brick red/sometimes raspberry jelly with flakes and shimmer.  It also has an occasional flash of blue that makes it really unique when you catch it.  This was released in March 2015 and I totally passed it by, but so happy I ended up with it months later (I'll explain how).

Drops of Fire is almost a one coater....yes a jelly one coater!  The formula was impeccable and my swatches show 2 coats which deepened the color and was opaque.

When Pahlish releases new collections, colors, and bespoke batches (small limited 1-2 release batches) - they also offer mystery polishes.  Seasonally, they will also do clearance mystery sales where you could end up with prototypes, sample batches, a normal released Pahlish, or a Bespoke.  During the summer clearance mystery sale I grabbed 2 bottles (they were only $5 each!)  Drops of Fire was one of the 2 I received and the other was equally as gorgeous (Sample batch: Tiptoe Through the Tulips).

Pahlish releases and restocks happen on Sundays, if you are new to this brand.  If you don't own any yet, I highly recommend taking the plunge! The quality is fantastic and her polishes are a work of art!

If you do own some, I would LOVE to know your favorite Pahlish or top few in the comments!  Thanks for stopping by!

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