Above the Curve Merry & Bright over Nyx Bloody Mary!

Hey everyone! Today I have a swatch and review of the lovely Above the Curve Merry & Bright to share!

I'm finally completely (or just about) over my flu, so today's the day that I'll get back into Pilates! I'm pretty scared to do so because Monday's are the crazy cardio and HIIT workouts which I struggle with quite a bit! Cardio is not my strong suit because I have almost no stamina and it's hard for me to find enough motivation for crazy cardio stuff!

School-wise I have a midterm this week and most weeks for the foreseeable future, so I'm not ecstatic about that! I also have this crazy class with tons of write-ups, assignments, quizzes and even a 12-15 page term paper, plus four midterms in total. Like, what? It's a second year genetics course and it's not so bad so far because the material is incredibly simple!

Onto the nails at hand (get it? :P)! I started with two coats of Nyx Bloody Mary, a bright red jelly polish. Two coats wasn't quite enough for opacity, but I knew I was going to cover it in a bunch of glitter! I then dabbed on two easy coats of Merry & Bright and finished with two coats of top coat!

Merry & Bright is packed with every finish of circle glitter (matte, metallic and holographic) in varying sizes and colours, plus some silver micro glitter! The glitters were super easy to spread out evenly on the nail!

Thank you so much for reading everyone! I'd love to know what you think of this mani or glitter topper in the comments! Happy Monday!

Essie Lots of Luxe Swatch and Review!

Hey everyone! Today I have a quick swatch and review of a lovely new Essie textured polish called Lots of Lux!

I've had a rough week filled with the flu, some tragedies and now possibly a cold, so this will be a short post. I also have constant homework, studying and labs to do so I should probably work on those soon! On a happier note, I'll have swatches of Above the Curve's Valentine's Day Collection for you guys soon! They asked me if I'd like to do some reviews for them and of course I said yes; I absolutely love their polishes! I'm so excited!

Essie Lots of Lux is a blue metallic texture polish with black/dark blue particles, and purple and light green tiny glitters! The formula was perfect and it dried pretty quickly, and this is just one coat!

Since I've been pretty down and I haven't been up to writing this post, I actually can talk about the staying power of this polish. I've been wearing it since Wednesday night I believe, so two and a half days, and I only have the slightest tip wear near the middle of some of my tips. I also took these pictures almost twenty-four hours after I put it on and I can't see any tip wear!

Here's a picture of these with my lamps but without my light box to show off the shimmer!

Thanks so much for reading everyone, happy Saturday!

Born Pretty Store Nail Sticker Review!

Hey everyone! Today I have some Born Pretty Store nail stickers to share!

I'm sorry this post is a day late guys (I like to post every two or three days) but I either have a mild flu or it's just coming on and it's going to get worse! I feel like a jerk coming to school and possibly infecting other people, but I have a lab due and a lab tonight that I can't really miss. I've hardly been eating and I've been sore all over and feverish so it really hasn't been fun! Yesterday I could hardly open the bathroom door at school because it was too heavy!

I was going to have this post ready for you lovely people earlier, but when I picked one of these stickers off of the white paper they came on, I realized they were see-through and not white-based. I didn't have time to do a white base first that night and then I forgot I had these for a while because my nail stuff storage area is a mess. That's why I've included a couple of pictures of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls; the base I started with for this look. This is just two coats and a coat of top coat!

I'm actually not overly keen on MBSW's formula, but I bought two when they came out so maybe this one is a bad bottle and the other will be fine! Mine is pretty thick (I could just add thinner) and it's as if the brush is too stiff because the bristles can leave bare spots from touching the nail. It also doesn't level out and dry smooth for me and you can't go over the same place a few times without some major balding action! Do any of you guys own this polish? Do you think I got a bad bottle?

Onto the stickers (link here, number YB-Q105)! On the package it says to put a coat of top coat on top of these babies for a better result (which I did here for these photos) but I found that made the stickers pull up around the cuticle which made them get caught on everything. I have a lot of hair and I brush it with my fingers a lot so after about thirty minutes of wearing these I had to take them off. I didn't notice any catching or lifting of these stickers before I top coated them so I would suggest not using top coat! Also, if you have long nails never fear! I only used around half of each nail sticker and my nails are decently long at the moment!

A few of my nails didn't fit any of the 14 stickers it came with very well (i.e. my thumb and pinky nails) so that can be an issue if you have oddly-shaped or small nails like me! I actually put the thumb ones on upside down so I had the more square end along my cuticle but even that wasn't square enough for my thumbs. I used the smallest sticker it came with on my index fingernails so there weren't any small enough for my pinky nails. I'd suggest cutting the stickers to size before applying them because they don't dissolve with acetone and I couldn't cut them at the cuticle with nail clippers or scissors after I applied them.

These stickers were really easy to apply and to take off and reposition if you didn't get them in the right place the first time! They were kind of stretchy so they were easy to pull on to make them lie flat (something I didn't have the hang of yet when I did my index finger nail :P). These stickers had a clear border around them so if they are a little too big for your nails you can see that border and it kind of wrinkles on the edge of your nail (see my ring finger nail). Taking these off was a bit of a struggle because acetone doesn't dissolve them or the glue on the backs of them. I soaked my nails in warm water like it said and scratched them off bit by bit which took quite a while. Keep in mind some of the issues I had could have been solely due to the fact that I've never used nail stickers before and this was my first try at it!

Thank you so much for reading everyone! What do you think of these stickers? I think they're really pretty and I love the tiny glitters they're covered in! Be sure to check out Born Pretty Store for any of your nail art needs, they have so many nail art supplies! Here's my code for 10% off!

Above the Curve Friday the 13th Swatch and Review!

Hey guys! Today I have a swatch and review of a lovely Above the Curve polish to share!

I'm going to start right off by saying this polish currently sold out, but it's coming back on Friday, June 13th! I know that is quite a ways away, but I'm too in love with this to not share! This baby is called Friday the 13th and it's easily one of my favourite polishes already! I also picked up another polish when I ordered this one, so soon I can show you one that is available now, Merry & Bright!

Yesterday was arms and abs day on the Blogilates calendar and dang, my arms are weak. I think it was a pretty bad decision on my part to do the arm video before the four abs ones, seeing as the ab videos involved planks and other arm-dependant exercises. It was a real struggle getting through the ab videos and I had to take a lot of breaks. I should probably do some arm videos or exercises everyday so I can work my other weakest part, my abs.

Now, onto the polish! Friday the 13th is a dark brown creme stuffed with linear holographic pigment. I seriously love brown polishes, especially gorgeous indie ones like this! I included four pictures that I took outside of the light box, but I'm going to go ahead and insert an Instagram video to really show the holo goodness!

Gorgeous right? I could seriously wear this polish everyday, except I'd feel bad not touching any of my other three hundred or so polishes!

The formula on this polish was insanely good. This is ONE coat of this polish and not even a thick one! It's crazy how holographic this polish is considering how opaque it is!

Can you tell how blown away I am with this polish? This brand is one of my favourites already just because of this beauty. They have tons of other awesome holos so definitely check those out if you love this one like I do!

Here are a few pictures with my lamps but without the light box to show off the holographic effect! I guess it's either not quite a linear holo polish or it also contains scattered holo pieces, meaning it looks amazing in any light!

It looks like the most beautiful holographic liquid chocolate, I almost want to eat it! It definitely makes me crave some chocolate!

What do you guys think of this polish or post? Too many pictures? Let me know in the comments!

Thank you so much for reading everyone! How was your week? I've been doing assignments and labs as I get them, so for once I'm a little ahead of the game and not procrastinating! I hope you're all doing well and having a relaxing Sunday, I'll talk to you soon!

2013 Review Rainbow!

Hey everyone! Today I have a quick compilation of my favourite nail art from 2013!

I've gained quite a few followers on many different social platforms lately (thank you so much!!) and considering the month we're in, I decided it was a great idea to show you guys some stuff you might have missed! Looking back I realized that I actually managed to do some nail art that I still love today early last year, despite the fact that I was fairly new to the whole nails and nail art game! It's also interesting to look at all of the different lightings I've used, some of which make my skin look completely the wrong colour!

I decided to pick one manicure from each colour/shade that I liked the best for this post. I included which month each mani was done in and I also linked the corresponding post below each picture!

Red:

Red Nails with Rhinestones and Random Shapes! - June 2013

Orange:

Essie Dry Brush Mani :) - May 2013

Yellow:

OPI's Honey Ryder and Flower Stamping! - July 2013

Green:

Sinful Colors Mint Apple with Diamond Holographic Glitter! - July 2013

Blue:

Born Pretty Store Flower Water Decal Review and a Gradient! - December 2013

Purple:

More Simple Floral Nail Art! - September 2013

Pink:

Holographic Glitter Gradient over Pink and Grey! - June 2013

White:

Black and White Random Designs! - September 2013

Black:

Color Club Halo Hues Swatches: Over The Moon and Beyond =) - June 2013

Brown:

Bird Nail Art To Match My Scarf! :) - July 2013

Multicoloured:

Mosaic Tile Nail Art! - September 2013

Thank you so much for reading everyone! Which of these are your favourites? I'd love to know! Mine are the bird scarf ones and the mosaic tile ones! :)

Yume Lacquer Swatches and Review: Submerged Siren, Sunken Treasure, Queen Of The Ring and Photographic Evidence!

Hey everyone! Today I have a quick swatch and review of four Yume Lacquer polishes* to share!

Today was my first day back at school and as I expected, it was totally fine. I think I was just being a baby and enjoying my break so I really didn't want to go back haha! I already like all of my teachers and one of them is really funny! Anyways, let's make this quick and to the point because I just did pilates (sort of, there were bits I couldn't do) and I'm crashing. I swear she makes the Monday workouts the hardest of the week as if Mondays don't suck enough already! :P

First up is Submerged Siren, a shimmery and slightly duochromatic blue polish inspired by Sailor Neptune!

The formula was a breeze to work with as I've come to expect with Yume Lacquer polishes! I felt like there were a few clumps of unmixed pigment in mine (see my middle finger and thumb nail) but a coat of top coat would smooth that right out!

The fact that you can still see those bumps shows that these pictures are without top coat, and they're also just two coats of the polish!

Next we have Sunken Treasure, a charcoal grey polish with shimmer and different-sized glitters, inspired by Final Fantasy 5!

The formula on this one was slightly thick than the others but still entirely manageable! It's also pretty bumpy due to all of the glitters so I'd suggest a thick coat of top coat or two!

Like almost all Yume Lacquer polishes this baby was easily a two-coater, and I also slapped a coat of top coat on top to combat the bumpiness caused by all that glitter!

Next up we have Queen Of The Ring, a dark green crelly polish with long black bar glitter, inspired by Persona 2!

This polish was a little hard to apply, only because I was trying to avoid having a bar glitter stick out onto my cuticle or not lay completely on the nail!

What you see here is two coats plus two coats of top coat for maximum squishiness!

Lastly we have Photographic Evidence, a grey crelly base with tiny gold glitters throughout! I think my bottle wasn't fully mixed because as you can see, there were a lot of pigment clumps throughout the bottle.

The formula on this one was lovely as well, easy to control due to a slight thickness!

This is the only three-coater I received from Yume Lacquer and that's amazing for indie polishes! I didn't apply top coat over this polish so this is just three coats and no top coat!

Thanks so much for reading everyone, I hope you're all having a lovely time coming back to reality haha! Let me know which one of these is your favourite in the comments!

*These polishes were sent for swatches and an honest review.