Breedlove Hoops

I hope you are all having a wonderful Monday. Today I have a newer indie to share with you. I stumbled across Chloe & Bella a few weeks ago and really liked what I saw. Barbara, the owner of Chloe & Bella allowed me to pick out what shades I wanted to review.

Midnight

Starlight

Stormy

Chloe & Bella have a variety of different shades available all for a very reasonable price. Each bottle is 10mL and retails between $5.95- $6.95 per bottle.

As promised, here's part two of Firecracker Lacquer's Captivating Creatures. The whole collection will be available on Friday, August 8th.

Shark Show

Macaw March

It is once again my pleasure to bring you the next collection by Firecracker Lacquer. This collection consists of five gorgeous holos all inspired by animals. The sixth holo, Penguin Parade will be joining this collection from the Meet Your Maker collection. If you missed that review, you can check it out here. The whole collection will be available on Friday, August 8th.

 In addition to the release of the Captivating Creatures collection, Firecracker Lacquer will be stocking some really cool nail studs priced at $1 each!

Canary Cavalcade

Flamingo Fanfare

Parrot Procession

My first attempt at watermarbling happened shortly before I revived this blog. Last October I attempted a black and orange watermarble with disastrous results. I had polish everywhere, and the polish on my nails was hideous. I took it off within twenty minutes of completing it. I was terrified of watermarbling, and figured that I probably wouldn't attempt it again.

I forgot about the technique for a while until I kept seeing gorgeous watermarbles from Gio of In Jeeb We Trust. I asked her for any advice and tips she could think of.

Gio's Tips:

• Use room temperature water. It's best to leave it out overnight.
• Tape around the sides of your nails with scotch tape for easy clean up
• Use a small circumference cup like a shot glass
• If the polish doesn't spread out when you drop it into the water it won't work for marbling
• Don't have a fan running while you marble!
• Once you take your nail out of the water, make sure you blow on it hard. That will help deal with those pesky bubbles.

It's that time again! I know it seems like a just did a wrap up for June, but that was way later than normal. Here are my top picks for July:

Starting with the upper left we have Emerald & Ash- Snozzberries, Pretty & Polished- The Gamorous Life, Finger Lickin' Lacquer- Dunka Crelly, SuperChic Lacquer- The American Woman Trio, and Finger Lickin' Lacquer- Slimed.

I know you are looking at that photo saying, "Wait! I see more than five lacquers in there." You are right my friend. I couldn't choose just one of the colors from SuperChic Lacquer's American Woman Trio. I figured that they are all a part of the same photo, so we can let it slide this month.

Any thoughts on what you would like to see next month? More glitter? Stamping? Watermarbles? Tutorials? Leave me a comment and I will do my best to make it happen!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I know this is kind of old news, but it took quite a while to be able to review this for you. I purchased this duo from Sweet Heart Polish the day it was released and received it promptly thanks to Cassandra's (SHP) super fast shipping. I wore Hurry Ba-ack! right away and followed up with Welcome, Foolish Mortals.

Hurry Ba-ack!

Hurry Ba-ack is a black jelly packed with neon glitter. Pictured above is three coats with no base color. The formula was a smidge thick, but relatively easy to work with. I did experience a bit of drag with the larger glitter, but I was also applying this during 90+ degree weather. I've noticed that hot weather can really mess with the consistency of jellies. Color-wise I really like the contrast of the neon glitter against the black jelly. It really makes those neons pop!

Polishes used: Sweet Heart Polish- Hurry Ba-ack!, Orly- Bonder, Poshe- Top Coat

Welcome, Foolish Mortals

Welcome, Foolish Mortals is a green crelly with iridescent glitters. Pictured above is three coats with no base color. I had issues with the consistency of Welcome, Foolish Mortals, so I contacted The Lady Varnishes about it. She replied almost immediately and said that the consistency was due to the glow-in-the-dark pigment and the iridescent glitters. I tried thinning it out with polish thinner, but despite my attempts, the formula kept thickening back to its original consistency. Kirsten (TLV) said she would work on the formula and send me a new bottle when it was ready. I emailed her mid last week, and received the bottle shortly after. The new formula is much better than the old one, and super easy to work with. I will note that it took over a month to ship the new formula, and there was no correspondence in between. She was super nice, and got me the polish when asked, but I would have preferred at least one email letting me know that she hadn't forgotten about me.

Polishes used: The Lady Varnishes- Welcome, Foolish Mortals, Orly- Bonder, Poshe- Top Coat

These colors were available for limited release, but you can find other lovely colors from these makers here:

I don't do very many reviews on here that aren't nail polish related. I like all beauty products, but I don't feel as though I am an "expert" with many of them. The one thing I am confident I know is lip balm. I've tried just about every mainstream lip balm you could think of. I want to step out of the box a little bit today and introduce you to a new-to-me indie balm company called Delight Naturals.



Delight Naturals carries a variety of different balms, but their main focus is on lip balm. There are about a million different scents to choose from. Of all of the scents I wanted to try I picked Dr. Whooves' Juicy Pear, Blackberry, Creamy Coffee, and Apple Jack's Apple Cider.

What is the first thing you do when you buy something scented? You smell it of course! I excitedly ripped open my package and inhaled the sweet aroma coming from inside. Blackberry, Creamy Coffee, and Apple Jack's Apple Cider were all very fragrant. Dr. Whooves' Juicy Pear was hard to smell until I applied it. It's a wonderful scent, but it's much more subtle than the other three. All of the scents smell exactly as you would expect them to.

I've been using these over the last week to get a good feel for the formula. The closest thing I can compare these to are EOS lip balms. Delight Naturals (regardless of the flavor used) retain moisture for as long as (if not longer than) EOS lip balms. The longevity of the scent is about equal to EOS as well. The only one that didn't last as long was Dr. Wooves' Juicy Pear. That was to be expected considering that it wasn't as fragrant from the start.

I am really impressed with all of the Delight Naturals lip balms I've tried so far, and look forward to trying other scents in the future.

Please take a moment to visit Delight Naturals across the internet:

I've been hanging on to these swatches for a long time now. I'm not entirely sure why I didn't post them before, but they have been hanging out since mid April according to my folder.

With my recent obsession with finding the perfect nude polish I thought that Essie Ladylike was going to be a huge home run. It was gorgeous in the bottle and it looked like it would go really well with my skintone. As many of you know, pasty white doesn't always play well with nudes, oranges and yellows.

I picked up a Fitbit One a few weeks ago, and have been addicted to all of the metrics they provide. I've always enjoyed charts and quantitative info on things, so I figured it would be a good step. Because of  this article, I decided to convert my desk into a standing desk in order to burn a few more calories while testing the physical impact of of a standing desk. I'm not going to keep track of my time standing vs sitting, but anytime I need to use the computer it will be done while I am standing.

I'm about four hours into this whole standing desk thing, and my back and feet are starting to hurt. It's not major, but I definitely notice it. I guess it doesn't help that I'm barefoot, and that my computer may not be at the correct height. I've adjusted the height a few times, but there's only so much you can do with textbooks and miscellaneous household items. I will say that it has increased my productivity. I have more motivation to spend less time on the computer because I have to stand when I use it. I'm notoriously bad about wasting time on Reddit and Facebook.

My calories burned on day one weren't all that impressive. The Fitbit does not account for extra calories burned while standing, but I thought I would keep an eye on my step count anyway.



The plus side of a standing desk? Aside from burning more calories, I get to have dance parties while I'm trying to work through tasks. It's much easier to dance standing up. Mood-wise, I'm ok. I was rather happy when I was dancing around, but now that I am standing here typing this in silence I am rather indifferent.

I will check back in a few days with another update.

As promised, here's part two of the Guardians of the Galaxy Collection.

The Gamorous Life

Draximum Security

Draximum Security is a medium blue jelly packed with various sizes of blue and red glitter. I found the formula to be easy to work with, but you definitely need to be aware of your glitter placement. This is so glitter packed that it's common to end up with a piece of glitter hanging over your nail. A simple nudge of the brush is all it took to put it back in place. I decided to go with two coats for these swatches, but if you desire even more of a layered look a third layer would be your best bet.

Polishes used: Pretty & Polished- Draximum Security, Revlon- Top Coat

In the Black Holes of Sirius Major

Hey guys! I have a fun collection to share with you over the next two days. Pretty & Polished just released a collection inspired by Guardians of the Galaxy. Whether you are a fan of the comic, the movie, or both, I think you will be really pleased with the collection.

Something Good, Something Bad... A Bit of Both

Plant We All Just Get Along?