Twinsie Tuesday - Black & White Mani

Good morning, friends! I'm back today with another Twinsie Tuesday post. This weeks challenge was a black and white manicure. Seems simple enough, but I spent the better part of the week trying to figure out what to do. I started with three awful coats of Essie Marshmallow and after major denting and chippage had to start over. I decided to keep it simple, and I really ended up loving the outcome.

I'm not sure what to call this, other than random freestyle nail art. I wasn't going to a zebra look, I just wanted lines coming from each side of the nail. I started with two coats of Jordana White (much easier than Essie Marshmallow!) and just went and did a couple of random black stripes with a nail art polish. I'm pretty proud, especially for this being nail art lol.  

Sorry for the dry cuticles. The weather in NY has been pretty cold (with the exception of today, where we hit 62 degrees) and the winter weather wrecks havoc on my skin despite slathering on lotion all day long.

Make sure to check out my twinsies and their black and white manicures:

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Ashley at Art Evolve

Brandi at The Collegiate Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Jenn at All That is Gorgeous...

Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...

Katherine at Haul of Fame

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

Tara at Polishy of Truth

Fly-Ceratops by Two Birds One Store

Good Morning and happy Monday. I hope that everyone had a good weekend. I haven't received nail mail in a few weeks, but I placed an order with Sarah from See Sarah Swatch for some franken minis from her Etsy shop, Two Birds One Store. When she premiered swatches of her Matte About Summer collection in one of her blog posts I knew I had to order. I got the package on Saturday and as soon as I opened the package I thought....OH EM GEE!

I ordered Fly-Ceratops and Summertime Girls from her new collection. I had a hard time deciding which to try first, but I closed my eyes and went with Fly-Ceratops. Fly-Ceratops is made up of three different color and size glitter pieces. We've got tiny yellow, larger blue and even larger black glitter in a clear base. It's made up of square glitter, which I really love. I used three coats, which I found easy to apply. I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite and walked around with this awesomeness Sunday afternoon....

I'm really loving this. The cashier at Sally's even commented on my nails. I tried to explain it was an indie polish from Etsy and she looked at me like I had 10 heads. Come on Sally girls! lol

You can pick this up from Sarah's Etsy store, Two Birds One Store once she gets back. She's out of town until mid-August but is planning a large restock at that time. You can go to Etsy and sign up to be notified once she returns. I'm already trying to decide which I'm going to order next.

Nail-Venturous Humble Bee

Good Morning all! Happy Monday! I hope everyone has a good day today, I know it's hard to transition from weekend to work day. Today I have another indie swatch for you, Humble Bee by Nail-Venturous. Humble Bee was a huge lemming of mine, and when NVL opened shop on Etsy I was beyond excited when I got it in my cart.

Humble Bee has small yellow and black matte glitter pieces in a clear base. I wanted to love this, but it gave me extreme lobster hands in person. As soon as I put it on I could tell it was clashing with my skintone. I'm around NC20/NC25 and have some redness in my hands. Formula was ok, it was a little thick but spreadable. For the swatches below I used three coats of Humble Bee and topped it off with Seche Vite.

Did anyone catch the escapee blue glitter on my ring finger? It was randomly in the polish lol. My mother is constantly saying I have too many polishes, but when she saw this one she instantly said she thought it was neat. Of course she compliments one that doesn't totally work for me, haha.  

Nail-Venturous is currently closed on Etsy for what is described as a long break. You can still purchase this from Ninja Polish though. :)

The Hungry Asian - Sneeze Breeze

Good Morning! I'm sure some of you noticed, but I completely changed my blog again. This is the 4th time in less than a year, but I realized that the background was pretty distracting. I went plain jane but I think it is easier to read. I get bored very easily - I must change the background on my phone at least once a week.

Today I have another indie for you. This one is from Kae at The Hungry Asian. I purchased two of her minis and they are both drop dead gorgeous. Before I get to the polish, can we check out the amazing packaging?

I was so impressed with the amount of time and effort spent on the packaging. I know it's a little thing, but the little things count. This alone made me feel like my purchase was appreciated.

 

Now, onto the polish. Her Etsy store describes Sneeze Breeze as matte black and blue glitter in a clear base. It does have a metallic look to it at times and the blue looks to be two different shades (upon removal, I noticed some of the glitter was silver). Application was easy, but I did let it dry completely during after each coat. I used three coats on it's own for the photos below and topped it off with Seche Vite.

 

I'm loving this polish! You can visit The Hungry Asian on Etsy, she does have a few left in stock. I'm impressed with her creations and her pricing is fair and affordable. The mini I purchased was $4.50, and the large size bottle is $9.25. Shipping was affordable and fast. Once I'm off my no-buy, I plan on picking up a few others.

 

A England Bridal Veil and my new kitten!

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a good weekend. I picked up my new kitten on Saturday morning, so I spent a good portion of the weekend with him (photos at the bottom, after the polish lol). It's super cold again in NY. The beginning of last week was fantastic with days at almost 60 degrees, and now it's super chilly in the 30s and 40s again. Boo!

Today I have another A England from The Legends collection for you. This one is Bridal Veil. Bridal Veil is a black holographic polish. The holo in this is scattered and very subtle. The holographic effect is present mainly in direct sunlight, otherwise this looks like a shimmer polish. The shimmer at times has a color shift between an olive green and gold, but I was unable to capture that on camera. Formula was very easy to work with, just like every other A England I've ever tried. I'm not going to lie....I was a little disappointed in the holographic effect of this. I was hoping for a black *stong* holo to fill my void, but nonetheless it's still pretty. 

The photos below show 2 coats of A England Bridal Veil and a coat of Seche Vite.

What do you think of Bridal Veil??

Now, on to my new addition <3

Here's my new kitten the first time I met him, around 4 weeks old:

Second from the bottom  (my bestie is wearing A England Tristam....good taste! lol)

At that time and up until Saturday morning, we thought *he* was a *she*. I had spent the last 2 weeks coming up with amazing girl names and now I'm at a loss. I wasn't sure which kitten I would come home with on Saturday, but from the get-go my boyfriend thought this little guy was the cutest.

My new addition this weekend, at 8 weeks old:

He hates the flash  (can't blame him). We also had to take the legs off my boyfriend's couch (orange Ikea couch lol) because my little guy somehow got into the bottom of it and wouldn't come out. It took us about an hour, and we had to remove the lining from the bottom of the couch.

So gorgeous!!!

 

I've never had a cat before and in approximately 30 minutes I was head over heels in love. He's funny and more affectionate than I would have ever imagined. He's SO good too (with the exception of his love for electrical wires, which we spent hours kitty proofing). We left him to go to shopping for about 4 hours, and when we came home he was in the same exact spot we left him. My boyfriend told me 'no' to a kitten for months, and he's even really into this little guy. He won't even give him tap water, he's a Poland Spring kitty lol. I've been with my boyfriend for 8.5 years and I kept saying how the only thing I've ever asked for was pets. I've had some insane requests as far as pets go (a raccoon, beaver, fennec fox, etc) but at 26 years old I don't have the engagement, wedding or baby "itch". I just want some furry friends, so he kindly obliged. He will be living with my boyfriend, since my pomeranian has Addison's disease and I don't want to stress him out and make him sick. I got my new love through my best friend's little sister. Her boyfriend's cat had a litter of 4 and the timing was perfect.

We haven't named him yet, because we aren't 100% sure it's a boy since we originally thought he was a girl. *He* has a vet visit on Tuesday night so we'll find out for sure and pick a name. Naming him has been really hard lol. So far we've come up with Rex, Reggie, Toby, Gus, Tito (which we decided against) and Austin. I'll let everyone know what we decide. I'm completely open to suggestions!!

Also, over the weekend I hit *400* GFC followers. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my blog and comment. I haven't been on as much lately, and I haven't been able to comment on everyone's blog posts as much as I want (I still read posts, but the captcha things make the internet on my phone reset every single time). I'm happy to be here and to have made the friends I have along the way.

I've been battling the idea of a 400 follower giveaway. I have mixed feelings about giveaways. While I think they are great for the people who read my blog, I hate the idea of people joining just to get a chance to get free stuff and never even taking a moment to look at my blog. I hate to sound like an ungrateful bitch, and I hope people understand. I will have a giveaway once I reach 500 followers, as I feel that will be an appropriate milestone for a celebration.

Thank you again, to my 400 polish obsessed readers!  :0)

~Katherine @ HaulofFame

* * * Kitty update as of 2/29 - turns out my little boy is now a little girl again, so she is still without a name lol * * *

HITS - No Olimpo collection, Zeus

Every once in a while a polish comes in to your life, and you wonder what the hell you were doing without it. That's exactly what happen with Zeus from the No Olimpo collection from HITS. I received this as a Christmas gift from my best friend, who (on top of Zeus) gifted me the most amazing polishes. After we exchanged gifts, I had to nubbinize my nails and I really wanted to wait to wear this, but I figured dark colors look good on nubs so what the hell. I planned on wearing this for 1-2 days and then starting my NYE mani. That's not what happened.....
I wore Zeus for a record S-I-X full days. The last time I wore a mani that long I had OPI Axxium on my nails. I change my polish approx 5 times a week. For the most part, the only mani that lasts longer than a day is my weekend mani (and that's just because I run out of time). I can't begin to explain how much I love this polish. Formula was excellent. It went on smoothly and was opaque in 2 coats. I completely forgot to take photos the first day, so the photos shown are from day #4. On day #4, I only had slight tip wear. On day #6, I still had only tip wear and no chips. Zeus, when not in direct sunlight or light is honestly a little bland. It looks like a dark gray polish, and the shimmer is only slightly apparent. It really comes alive in the sun. For that reason, I included photos of the polish inside, with no flash. I think these are a decent representation of what the polish looks like indoors (although I need to invest in a better lighting system lol). I wish I would have taken outdoor photos. I will remember to take some the next time I wear this polish.

The photos below show 2 coats of Zeus, and a coat of Seche Vite (which did not lessen the holo, in my opinion). I couldn't narrow down the photos, each looked a little different so I decided to upload the best of the photos I took  :0)
Just a reminder, you can purchase HITS from Llarowe.

China Glaze Fortune Teller

Hello! Happy Monday all. Today I finally have my Halloween mani up for post. Halloween feels like it was ages ago! I sported China Glaze Fortune Teller on Halloween. This was a long time lemming that my friend picked up for me. As far as I know you can't get it on nail supply websites, but it's still available on Ebay.

Fortune Teller is small round and large hex orange glitter in a black base. The base was a little sheer, but built up in three coats. The formula was easy to work with and the glitter didn't drag.

The photos below show three coats of Fortune Teller and a coat of Seche Vite.

Lynnderella The Glittering Crowd

Today I have another Lynnderella polish for you. As I'm sure most of you know, you can pick up Lynnderella's polishes here when she opens the shop. If you want these you have to act FAST, because the shop is only open for a few minutes...and by few I mean somewhere around 5.

I first found the Lynnderella polishes on MUA, and kept falling in love with them. Per Lynnderella, The Glittering Crowd features over 100 different multi-colored hexagon, square and bar glitters. It's really gorgeous and easy to work with. Of all my multi-color glitters, this is my favorite.

The photos below are two coats of The Glittering Crowd over WnW Ebony Hates Chris, all topped with a coat of Seche Vite. The second coat of TGC was not necessary, because this was jam packed with glitter on the first coat.

NYX Girls Dorothy

Helllllooooo there :)  Today I have only 1 swatch for you, but I'm not happy with the photos I have so I'm just going to share the only one I'm happy with. It's NYX Girls Dorothy, which is said to be a dupe of Deborah Lippmann's Ruby Red Slippers. There's nothing more that I love then finding a dupe for an expensive polish.

NYX Girls Dorothy has small round and larger hex red glitter in a charcoal/black polish. I needed three coats to get the base to the deep base shown here. The formula was tricky, but nothing terrible.

The swatch below is three coats of Dorothy and one coat of Seche Vite.

Ozotic Elytra 528 (over black)

Good Morning! Here is Ozotic Elytra 528 over Wet N Wild Ebony Hates Chris. I didn't realize I didn't take more photos of this so this post is lacking in the photo department. As I mentioned in the last 528 post, I prefer this over black than blue. The purple has more of a chance to stand out and you can see the little random golden yellow flecks (as seen in photo # 2). I know this won't be the last of my Ozotic Elytra 528 manis, so expect more photos in the future!

Glitter Gal Lizard Belly

Good Morning! Today I have another Glitter Gal polish for you, Lizard Belly! I absolutely love the name of this polish. This is another polish I got off of http://www.shop.llarowe.com/. By the way, they also have SUPER fast shipping! I was amazed at how quickly I got this. I'm definitely ordering from them again (once I get off my 'no buy' that I keep breaking lol)

Lizard Belly is a dark green polish with holographic glitter. This is so dark it's almost black, I'd say it's pretty close to OPI's Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow. It's more holographic than my camera shows but definitely less holographic than Glitter Gal Green. Formula was good and easy to work with.

The photos below are three coats of Glitter Gal Lizard Belly.