NOTD: China Glaze Tree Hugger

Hello lovelies!

Hope you are having a great Saturday so far! It's wet and rainy here in Washington (duh) so I figured this was a great time to blog!

This post is bittersweet. Here is my last green mani for March! Not to say I won't be posting any more green manis, but it will probably be a while! I do have lots of other minty and sea foamy greens that I can't wait to wear and I am so ready for some corals! But for now here is China Glaze Tree Hugger! I really like this polish! It's a tad runny so I had to keep very little on the brush to avoid drowning my cuticles. It really is pretty though! There is a subtle bluish shimmer that is hard to see in photos. 

Bathroom lighting

Under a bright light - you can see the shimmer here

Natural light

There was a teeny bit of VNL that was practically invisible in person

Now I just have to decide what to wear next! My options are more open now that I'm not limited to green! Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Oh yeah I almost forgot to mention, I will be posting my 300 follower giveaway within the next couple of days! Be on the look out! In the meantime checkout my 200 follower giveaway, don't forget you can share once a day for an extra entry! :)

Enjoy the rest of your day, I'll be back soon!

Brittany Raquel

March Haul: Birthday Nail Mail Part 1!

Hello loves!

I have something pretty fun to show you tonight! Myself and 11 other nail polish lovers created a birthday exchange group on Facebook. We each have our own month, and when it is your month each girl sends you a birthday gift. We just started in March, which just happens to be my birthday month! Although I have not received all my gifts yet, I figured I could split it up into a couple of posts anyways! So here is the first half! Enjoy!

Julep Portia and OPI DS Sapphire (and eos lip balm! Love those!)

Sally Hansen Silver Sweep, Pronto Purple & Lickity Split and Jesse's Girl Confetti (and my first stamping supplies! And did you see those cute magnets?!)

Top Row: Sinful Colors Exotic Green & Orly Green With Envy

Bottom Row (L-R): Funky Fingers Teal Scales, Paparazzi, Flashing Lights and Sold Out Arena
(And of course, chocolate! And a cute bracelet!)

Clockwise from left: Sinful Colors Zeus, Deborah Lippmann Almost Paradise, Sinful Colors Island Coral and mini Orly Nailtrition (and more chocolate! Also some makeup samples and an adorable nail file!)

Top: Funky Fingers Sand & Stilettos and Mrs. Mint

Middle: Spoiled Lox-y Lady and Shrimp On The Barbie

Bottom: Pet My Peacock and Trust Fund Baby

(and MORE chocolate! And OPI hand lotion!)

So there you have it! There is part of the reason I have limited my actual purchases this month! It's nice having other people spoil me! I am excited to start sending out gifts monthly too, I have already done all my shopping for the April birthday girl!

Do you participate in any nail polish groups or forums? I would love to hear about ones that you like!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Brittany Raquel

NOTD: butter LONDON Wallis

What do you get when you paint your nails a beautiful color (in this case, Butter London Wallis), forget to wrap the tips, and wait a couple days before you take pics? Take a look for yourself!

My left hand making it's first appearance! (It was in better shape than my right)

Natural light 

With flash

I really love this color! For reference here is the description from BL: A tarnished, metallic olive gold, as mysterious and regal as its namesake...Sounds spot on to me! ;)

I have 1 more green NOTD post lined up to show you! But before I share that I have a fun haul post that you will see first! Kind of weird to see regular posts from me, huh? I'm trying!

Hope you are all having a good Thursday, the weekend is almost here!

Brittany Raquel

NOTD: Nerd Lacquer Purely Logical

Hello my dears!

Hope you are all having a great day so far! I just have a quick NOTD post for you today! Sadly this will be one of my last green manis of the month! Just a couple more on the way! This one is a good one though. . .Nerd Lacquer Purely Logical! Here is Amanda's description: Where No Lacquer Has Gone Before series - "Purely Logical" is a brilliant shimmering acid green packed with silver, copper, iridescent, and turquoise glitter, plus copper and turquoise medium hexagonal glitter. Opaque in two coats, or great as a top coat over your favorite green or turquoise lacquer.



I'll warn you now, I took a lot of pictures. And didn't want to narrow them down. So I am going to skip all the words and just let the photos do the talking. ;)



 

I absolutely love it! Has anyone else been lucky enough to snag any Nerd Lacquers yet? Don't forget, you can sign to be notified by email when the Etsy shop reopens!

Happy Hump Day to you all!

Brittany Raquel

The Nail Polish Guru 200 Follower Giveaway

Hey lovies!

Have I told you lately that I love you? My little corner of the world is a little brighter every time I see more followers. Nail polish is what I love and I am so happy I'm not alone! Thank you all for making me feel sane, haha! I truly appreciate each and every one of you for being here! I love reading your comments and look forward to hearing what you think every time I publish a new post! Ok before I get too sappy, onto the good stuff. . .my giveaway to celebrate 200 followers!

Yes I realize I am now at 300+ followers. But I intend to have a giveaway every 100 followers. So that means you can expect to see a 300 follower giveaway posted later this week! It's a pretty good one too! But first, check out these babies that will be going to the winner of my 200 follower giveaway!

 

These are hands down my favorite Pure Ice Polishes! They may look simple in the bottle but their secret is revealed once layered over a darker color. Ready for some swatches of their magic?! (The winner will get brand new bottles, swatches were from my own stash!)

 In natural light (1 coat over black)

With flash (2 coats over black)

Pretty awesome, right? I'm excited to be able to giveaway a set to one lucky winner! Here are the rest of the details. . .

Earn 2 entries by following me via GFC, 2 for liking my Facebook page and 1 per day for sharing my giveaway. International followers welcome. You have until April 9th to enter. (12:01AM EST) My 300 follower giveaway will be posted soon and that one will be open for a little longer. :)

Did Someone Say Winners?

That's right, it's finally time to announce the winners of my 100 follower giveaway! Are you as excited as I am?! I hope that you enjoy my giveaways, I love being able to share some love with my fellow nail polish lovers! I truly appreciate each and every one of you for being here and will continue to do what I can to show it! Now let's find out who is.....

Drum roll please. . . . .

March Mini Haul: Swaps!

Hi loves!

Now you get to see the polishes I have added to my collection thanks to some swaps! I love how swapping allows me to get new polish without really spending any money, other than the cost to ship. And my unwanted polish also goes to a good home! In some cases it also gives me the opportunity to try brands that I don't have access to!

 Another fun little pile!

I have been so excited for March to get here, just so I could get my hands on this Sinful Colors flakie! A nice gal in one of my Facebook groups sent it to me a long with the OPI. I was too impatient to wait for it to be available at my local Walgreens...

OPI Tasmanian Devil Made Me Do It and Green Ocean

 

I saw the Ludurana on a swap list and was excited to add a few others too! Can you tell I like purples? Almost as much as greens!

 Jade Metal, Supremo, Totally Cool, Wild Orchid

 

The Nail Files reached out for a swap, I was happy to find these 3 on her trade list! I wasn't immediately drawn to any of the colors from the Electropop Collectoin (except Gaga For Green) but I'm glad I finally picked these up! And the Barielle has been on my wish list!

Falling Star, Gothic Lolita and Aquadelic 

I had an international blogger reach out to me from Germany! This was my first international swap, I knew I wanted the Catrice but the other 2 were a surprise! I am definitely looking forward to more swaps in the future! (You can check out her awesome blog here)

Genius In The Bottle, Glorious Aquarius and Choose Me! 

 

I swapped for the Zoya from Jill, the lovely owner of Glisten & Glow! (If you love bath and body products or nail polish be sure to check out her site here!) And thanks to another international swap from a rad lady in the UK I got my hands on Fantasy Fire! I may have even got a backup bottle for a future giveaway. . . (;

Tallulah and Fantasy Fire

 

I'm pretty happy with all of these colors! The only one I decided not to keep is Jade Metal, only because I ended up with a dupe. I plan on doing more swapping vs buying, it saves me money and makes sure that I don't run out of storage space! Have you participated in any good swaps lately?

My 100 follower giveaway ended yesterday, I will be going through the entries this weekend and will announce a winner by Monday at the latest! I will also be posting my 200+ follower giveaway! (Um how am I already almost to 300?! 296?! What?!)

Have a great Saturday!

Brittany Raquel

March Mini Haul: Part 1!

Hello my dears!

I have a quick little haul post for you tonight. . .these are the only polishes that I have bought all month. (I do have an order or two in the mail that will be posted later) But I should mention that I have accumulated other polishes via swaps and a birthday group that I am in. I will feature those in separate haul posts as well. :)

Tiny little pile! 3 weeks worth?! Can you believe it?!

Although I did not preorder the Divas & Drama Collection from Cult Nails, I could not pass up Captivated. I am always looking for that perfect black polish so I also bought Blackout. (Although I am wondering if I got a bad bottle, this is definitely not black and does not look like the swatches here) EDIT: There is nothing wrong with the bottle, the color in the swatches is not Blackout.  Per Maria: Black Out is actually a slate gray. Kind of the hazy color you experience in a black out. Never More is a true opaque black that comes out soon.

 Blackout & Captivated

I happened to catch the opening of Ninja Polish before everything was sold out! I did miss out on a couple of colors that I really wanted, but that's probably a good thing! (And yes, Cover Band Sticks & Stones is freaking amazing! I love it more than the original!)

 Sticks & Stones and Beijo na Boca

Llarowe finally stocked the Hits Glitter Forte and UP Colors! I wanted to buy these from Ninja Polish because it would have been a little bit cheaper, but impatience got the best of me and I decided the extra cost was worth it to get them now! ;)

 Power Pop, Balada, Carnival and Banho de Mar

When I saw this new Dollish Polish color I could not pass it up. I love Chris Farley! I also picked up a mystery box from Julep. There were a couple other colors in my box and a few other little goodies that I did not photograph because they were duplicates. But I really wanted Sofia so it made it worth it, especially since I paid less than $5 for my box! (Thanks to a Julep voucher I had saved!)

Sofia and Fat Guy In A Little Coat

That's all! Are you as shocked as I am? I am proud of myself for being good and not overspending! :) What do you think of my haul? I am excited to show you the polishes I got in swaps, I will post those soon!

Hope you all have a happy Friday and a great weekend!

Brittany Raquel

Blog Sale Update!

I just added a ton of stuff to my blog sale! Lots of Zoya, Julep, SOPI, frankens and more! Check it out here! :)

St. Patty's NOTD: Sinful Colors Happy Ending & Orly Here Comes Trouble

Hi lovelies!

Sorry I disappeared again for a few days! I had a pretty good weekend and I can't believe the week is already half over too! I meant to post this mani on Sunday, but better late than never! Although I have no Irish in my ethnicity, my bf does. His dad comes from a very Irish background but his mom is actually from the Philippines. I love that she cooks up an Irish dinner anyways every St. Patrick's Day. She does a traditional New England broil-corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, carrots. . .I don't get why some people think it is gross! If cooked right corned beef is delicious, and cabbage is one of my favorite vegetables! Oh and Irish soda bread? Pretty darn good too. And did I mention the Irish whiskey? :D

Anyways, to celebrate I knew I would need some extra glittery green nails. So I started with a base of Sinful Colors Happy Ending and topped it with Orly Here Comes Trouble. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. It was quick though so cleanup and photos aren't amazing.

I love

 me some

Glitter!

What do you think? What did you wear for St. Patty's day?

Before I go, I want to give a shout out to all of you-my lovely followers! I must be getting some love thanks to some sharing of my giveaway. . .somehow I passed 200 and am over 240 in less than a week! I am in shock right now so forgive me if I am a bit speechless! Now that my audience is growing I don't want to feel any pressure to meet certain expectations, but I do want to make sure that I keep my own voice and opinions while still creating something worth your time. So please, if there is ever any feedback you would like to provide, do so! I just ask that you do it in a respectful way. :)

Thank you all for being here, I hope you stick around! And not just because I will have a 200+ follower giveaway coming soon! ;)

Brittany Raquel

Green NOTD Galore!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I was almost caught up, and then this week got pretty busy and I fell behind again! Ugh. But I am going to make it easy and post all of the other green manis I have done so far that have not been posted. A lot of the greens I used were difficult to photograph anyways, so I didn't get tons of pictures of each one to show you separately. And green spam is perfect for today anyways! :) (I apologize in advance for my lack of cropping!)



The first color I have to show you is China Glaze Four Leaf Clover. I absolutely fell in love with the formula on this baby! It applied so beautifully and the color is gorgeous! I love these kinds of greens! Normally I would add something to it later to jazz it up, but not with this!

So smooth and shiny!

This is pretty color accurate, just a touch more green in real life

 

Next up is Cult Nails Always Winning. I was lucky to snag this one in a swap recently! I have to admit though, I was hoping for so much more from this polish! Yes, it is beautiful. But something about the grittiness really turns me off. Next time I will try another layer of topcoat and see if that helps. (I did have to use 3 layers and and there was still a tiny bit of VNL in certain lighting)

I really love this shade of green with the gold glitter! Just wish it wasn't so gritty!

The holo glitter is a nice touch!
 

And now another green China Glaze! Kiwi Cool-Ada is such a lovely bright neon green. Before top coat it dries matte, which I like but I really think this one looks better with a top coat. My only gripe is how sheer it was. This was 3 coats and there was still visible nail line. I would have liked to leave this one be but that VNL really drives me crazy. So I decided to add a layer of LA Girl Crowd Surfer from the Rock Star collection. I love the green shimmer and flakies in this polish! Once again, it was difficult to photograph how lovely this truly was in person! (lots of pics on this one, could have used it's own post. . .oh well!)

Holy VNL!

 But really such a wonderful color!

This layering definitely helped cover up the VNL!

Trying to capture the flakies, they sure to like to hide!

I see some flakies on those tips!

And finally my current mani! Another Etsy purchase, from windestine. This beauty is called Rainforest. I love the micro glitter that makes up this polish. The base is sheer though so layering is definitely recommended, I used a base coat of Sinful Colors Show Me The Way which was a perfect match. (Sorry for the quick cleanup too!)

Ignore my funny looking index finger 

 See the hint of blue glitter mixed in with the green and gold? Gorgeous!

I plan on repainting my nails in the morning (Yes I am a bit of a night owl, it is after 2!) so my St. Patty's Day mani will be featured in post later this weekend. I also will have some haul posts coming up too! Oh and there is only about 1 more week to enter in my 100 follower giveaway! (And I'm only 5 peeps away from 200!!!)


Hope you all have a great weekend, and have a fun (but safe!) St. Patty's Day!

Brittany Raquel

NOTD: Nerd Lacquer Quasar

Hello lovelies!


I hope you are all enjoying your weekend so far! I am so excited to show you this mani, I absolutely fell in love! Quasar is one of the first Nerd Lacquer polishes that caught my eye. There is so much going on in this bottle! Here is the description straight from Amanda: a blackened pine green with holly green and silver glitter, olive and chartreuse microglitter, small and medium emerald hexagonal glitter, and generously spiked with fine and ultrafine holographic sparkles.  I love the dense yet not too chunky glitter! This is 2 coats, with my usual Cult Nails Get It On and Wicked Fast base/top coats.

So gorgeous!

 With flash

See the holo glitter?! 

One more picture for good measure ;)

Pretty awesome, right? I have to admit I am pretty proud of myself for how much better I am getting at clean up. I recently started using a small eyeliner brush and acetone to clean around my cuticles. It has taken some practice and I'm still not perfect but I love how clean and professional it looks! Now I just need to take care of my cuticles regularly. Oh and another new thing-I started using cut up squares of white felt for removal vs cotton balls. It works so much better and no cotton strings getting stuck to my hands/nails! This glitter still tore up the felt quite a bit but a layer of cheap top coat softened things up and made the job easier. Do you have any tips that you swear by?


Before I go just wanted to remind everyone about my 100 follower giveaway! There is still time to enter so be sure to do so if you haven't already! :)

xoxo

Brittany Raquel