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Digital Nails Pulsar & My Darling Curios Party People

Indie Polish January 13, 2016

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Hare Polish Cotton Candy Crush

Indie Polish January 12, 2016

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Holy Snails Shark Sauce Review or How I Put Strange Ingredients On My Face for Skincare

Skincare January 07, 2016

I'm all about disclosure, but I wouldn't normally disclose a product that was gifted to me unless it was gifted from a company or interested party. In this case, Shark Sauce and Snowbang were gifted from Chel of Holy Snails. They were meant to be a gift, and not a product for review. With that said, I love both products, and wanted to shout it out to the world.

What are these products? The simple answer is that they are artisan made Asian beauty products. If you want a run down of a full Asian beauty routine google the term, or check out this /r/AsianBeauty 101 Post. For now I'm just going to focus on each product, and why I like them.

Shark Sauce

I'm going to start off by clarifying that this contains zero shark. Shark Sauce is a hydrating serum that blows other products out of the water. With 5% Niacinamide, and 3% N-Acetyl Glucosamine hyperpigmentation doesn't stand a chance.

I've been using Shark Sauce twice a day for the last four months. Over the four months my acne has been tamed for the most part, and some freckles have faded. I was all geared up to take my after photo, but I'm currently trying to get over a stress induced breakout. There are a ton of other before and after photos on the internet, so be sure to check those out. I'm not a believer in miracle products, but Shark Sauce is my holy grail serum right now.

Snowbang

The name is a play on hanbang or rather herbal Chinese medicine and skincare. It's more like the "granola" side of skincare. What I love about hanbang is that it uses tried and true herbal ingredients that have been used for ages. Snowbang is a featherlight essence packed with ceramides and hydrolyzed oats for a smooth finish.

Snowbang didn't do anything visually drastic to my face like Shark Sauce, but it did pick up the slack when I need more moisture. I find that it's especially helpful on the days when I use my BHA.

Conclusion

I'm much happier with the results I've seen from Chel's products than some comparable Asian beauty products on the market. The products available aren't bad by any means, but I feel like Chel took products what worked and made them exponentially better.

Shark Sauce and Snowbang can be difficult to purchase based on the level of demand. If you join the Holy Snails group on Facebook you can get updates on upcoming restocks and sneak peeks of upcoming products.

| Storehttps://www.holysnailsshop.com/ | Facebook | Instagram |

How involved is your skincare routine? Do you splash your face with water and call it good, or are you someone with a multi-step program?

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Rica Polish Twin Mani with Jennifer of Peer Pressure Polish

Indie Polish January 06, 2016

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Twin Paw Print Nail Art with Nichole of Bedlam Beauty

Indie Polish January 05, 2016

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New Years Eve Nail Art and A Year in Review

Indie Polish December 31, 2015

I have a lot of things going through my head right now, but I want to share my New Years Eve nail art with you first. I probably wouldn't have bothered with a NYE mani, but the @clairestelle8challenge on Instagram called for it. I kind of like it, but I wish the fireworks would have turned out differently.

New Years Eve nail art Darling Diva Polish Firecracker Lacquer Sinful Colors

I started with a base of Darling Diva Polish Forced Family Fun. I applied a matte top coat to the middle two fingers, and Firecracker Lacquer Drop the Ball on the other two. From there I painted on white in a gestural fashion. Once that was dry I used the remaining Firecracker Lacquer colors to create fireworks.

Products used

Darling Diva Polish- Forced Family Fun
Firecracker Lacquer- Drop the Ball, Potassium + Strontium Love, Strontium + Copper 4ever
Sinful Colors- Snow Me White
Essie- Matte About You
Bohemian Polish- Flash Dry

A Year In Review- Blog Stuff

So much has happened over the last year that it would be difficult to sum it up properly. Do I divulge personal info, or should I keep it strictly blog related? Let's start off by reading "The Bully" on Polished Pathology. My situation was much more private than Jenne's, but I was bullied by that same person. The Bully and I were friends at one point. I hate to admit that, but it was true. The turning point happened when she berated me for contacting an indie maker to resolve minor issues. In so many words she told me that I was being disloyal to my readers because I wouldn't put said maker on blast. As someone with a customer service background, I wanted to give that maker every opportunity to make things right before I spoke with you guys. This is someone's business, and quite possibly their only source of income. Who am I to ruin their business over a simple mistake.

To sum up the damage The Bully created would be to neglect the broad scope of what happened. I am only going to do it for the sake of brevity. I lost friends, missed swatch opportunities, and was not allowed into Facebook groups this person managed. With the exception of the loss of friends, the rest sounds petty and small. Oh boo, poor Courtney couldn't get into Facebook groups. Normally it wouldn't be an issue, but in this case we are talking about 8+ groups for indie makers I truly loved purchasing from and working with. Suddenly my hobby became work because I was trying to defend myself as a good person. It was extremely tiresome, and not something I ever want to deal with again.

Not all of my experience in the polish world has been negative. I want to make that entirely clear before I move on to my personal life. I met some wonderful friends in person (finally!) and got to spend time getting to know them more. I am extremely grateful for all of the friendships that have been created thanks to blogging, and the nail world.

A Year In Review- The Personal Side

Remember how I got engaged back in May 2014? We took a quiet trip to the courthouse that November. The idea was to legally get married, and then have a ceremony with friends and family later. After doing extensive research and attempting to plan a small wedding, it never panned out. Weddings are expensive (on average $26,444 according to Google), and not something we were willing to shell out at the time. After three months of planning a budget wedding, I finally realized that my heart wasn't in it. I wanted to have a nice wedding like everyone else, but the thought of draining our bank accounts for one day gave me anxiety. At that point we had been legally married for three months and absolutely nobody knew about it. I had to make the dreaded phone calls to both parents to let them know that I had tied the knot. That phone call was met with anger from one parent and some minor disappointment from the other. It was supposed to be a happy time, but it definitely took an emotional toll if I'm being completely honest. Despite everything, I'm happy with our decision, but I still wish it could have gone differently.

Aside from post-wedding drama this year has been decent. I've done a great deal of hiking, went on my first vacation of my adult life, and managed to rehab my weightlifting injury.

2016

I'm not a resolution kind of person, but I do have some things I would like to work on over the next year. Here's my list improvements:

Polish- I want to focus less on basic swatches, and more on composition. I love swatching, but I want to challenge myself to do more.
Weightlifting- I want to continue my weightlifting rehab, and build on the strength I've regained. In the past I've set actual weightlifting goals ie: I want to deadlift "x". This year it's simply going to be about doing more. It doesn't matter if it's one more rep, or 5 more pounds. As long as I'm making healthy progress, I'm happy.
Mobility- This played a huge roll in why I was injured in the first place. I am going to spend more time stretching, and working on myofascial release.
Knitting- I'm going to learn how to use dpns or a magic circle this year. I'm sick of putting off great projects because I fear the circle.
Friends & Family- I want to spend more, uninterrupted time with the people I care about. I'm going to put my phone down and separate family time from screen time. I may pull my phone out for a photo or two, but I want it to stop interfering with the things that matter the most.

My Top Manis of 2015

I wanted to reflect on the manis that I really enjoyed this year. As you can see, most of them are nail art based, but a few are simple swatches. I know I said I wanted to do more nail art next year, but your input is important to me. What would you like to see from me in 2016? Leave me a comment, and I will do my very best to accommodate it.

Lastly, I want to thank all of you who read and comment. This blog wouldn't have been nearly as fun without you guys!

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