China Glaze The Heat Is On

Press Sample

Yay for Saturday! How are you enjoying the series so far? When it came time for me to pick my China Glaze (because you know I had to use a China Glaze!)... let's just say I had way too many reds and pinks to choose from. I mean yes, China Glaze does have a good rainbow of color but holy cow... so many reds! Today is The Heat Is On from the Summer 2015 Desert Escape collection. This was that weird collection that was only available in open stock at a website called Lock And Mane, nail kits were going to be at Sally's and Ulta was like "Nope, we aren't doing anything with this." 

I used a base of Duri Rejuvacote, 2 coats of polish and finished with Glisten & Glow H K Girl top coat. 

So The Heat Is On is this tomato red almost jelly like polish. I was really surprised by it at first. The formula was super thin and runny - I gave in and just flooded my cuticles so I could clean up later. Not my favorite formula, but when I really like a color, I'll deal with more time in clean up.

You can see a bit of visible nail line on my middle finger so I may have needed 3 coats. Also my ring finger cuticle needs some serious attention. Right now I have oil on and I'm going to try and see my manicurist before the weekend's over because hey - we have another week of Valentine's to go through!

But back to the polish. this is pretty but the formula makes me mad. I prefer more of a thick creme that can be applied in 2 thin coats versus a runny thin formula that needs 2-3 coats. This red also has a lot of orange in it, which isn't my favorite but it's still doable.

China Glaze [Website] [Facebook] [Twitter] [Instagramcan be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe BeautySally's Beauty Supply as well as TransDesign.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

Morgan Taylor Ruby Two-Shoes

Press Sample

TGIF seriously. This has been a hard, emotional week for me. I felt good ending my week with Morgan Taylor - a brand that has some pretty flawless formulas, a great wide brush, and they have some pretty interesting colors available too! Today I have Ruby Two-Shoes from the Holiday 2015 collection "Gifted With Style".

I used a base of Duri Rejuvacote, 2 coats of polish and finished with Glisten & Glow H K Girl Top Coat. The formula was flawless. I probably could have gotten away with one coat but I prefer two thin coats anyway. So believe it or not, this polish has shimmer to it. You honestly can't see it unless you're 2 inches away, but it's there.


So here it is. You can't tell there's shimmer but it's there and gives it a bit of depth. Maybe? I didn't have any staining but I seriously need to get my cuticles in shape. This polish is a good staple but it's nothing super special.

Morgan Taylor [Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | YouTube] is available at CosmoProf for $8.50 a bottle. Online, non-professionals can purchase Morgan Taylor at Ulta Beauty

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.



Barielle Take Me Shopping

Press Sample

I hope you're enjoying this journey into pinks and red that I'm going through. I still have many more polishes to use but today we are going into the world of Barielle. This happy coral is called Take Me Shopping and it's from the Vibrants collection that came out in Spring 2014.

I used a base of Duri Rejuvacote, 2 coats of polish and finished with Glisten & Glow H K Girl top coat. The formula on this polish is thin and watery so use thin coats. Two coats covered well without visible nail line but I did have to clean up a little - it didn't flood my cuticles but I ended up getting it on my sidewalls.


Okay, so this looks a little tomato-ey but it's really a little melon like in person? Does this make sense? It doesn't look as neon in person but it's definitely vibrant and was shiny without top coat. If the formula was a tad thicker, I'd probably wear this more often. I won't get rid of it but I will have to be very careful when applying.


Barielle retails for $8/bottle on their website. Join the conversation by liking them on Facebook, follow on Twitter, follow on Instagram, and follow on Pinterest.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

Valentine's Day Blog Hop Giveaway

I'm interrupting my 14 Days of Valentine's posts to have a fun giveaway! So first I'm having my OWN giveaway (open internationally!) and then below that you will find THIRTY SEVENhe more bloggers giving away prizes... and THEN if you enter into all those giveaways, you can enter into our BIG $400 Giveaway! Whew.

So let's talk about my giveaway. This morning, I showed you a great polish from ILNP. Well, it was only natural that I wanted to give away a $25 gift card to ILNP.com! Heck yeah! The only mandatory entry is to put in your preferred email address (in case you win!) and then you can earn extra entries by following the other prompts.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Now for the Blog Hop!

For this super-awesome Valentine's-themed blog hop, 38 fabulous bloggers have teamed up to give away some epic prizes, all beauty-related, of course! If you've been wanting to splurge on some fun items for yourself...you're in the right place!



Here’s How it Works: Each of the blogs participating are giving away their own prize on their blog. Yes, you heard that right — this blog hop has 38 separate giveaways that you have a chance to win! So after you’ve entered my giveaway, make sure you hop to all the other blogs (linked below) for more beauty products that you could win! 

GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY: Because we like to spice it up a bit, we didn't stop at 38 giveaways...we wanted to make it a nice, round 40 with an epic grand prize that you could win! So, if you go around the blog hop and enter all the giveaways, you’re eligible to enter to win a $400 eGiftcard to Sephora or Ulta (winners choice!). If you live in a country that Sephora or Ulta doesn’t ship to, no worries! You’ll be given the money via PayPal to use at whatever beauty store you have nearby! 

International Readers: There are some blogs who do not have their giveaway open worldwide, but you can still enter to win the grand prize giveaway! Here's how that will work -- for all the blogs in this hop that do not have their giveaway open worldwide, all you have to do is check out their giveaway, complete the ONE required entry, and leave them a comment on their giveaway post letting them know you’re international but still did the required entry so that you can have a chance to win the grand prize! Then click the link below that will take you directly to where you can fill out the form to enter the grand prize giveaway.

You got all that? Any questions, just ask below! Let’s get into this hop!

In the event that you get an ERROR message when clicking on any of the links below, try clicking on the HOME page of that blog. Or come back later and try again. There are often hiccups that happen in the beginning of a pre-scheduled blog hop such as this. Thank you for your patience!


ILNP Cherry Luxe

Nothing To Disclose

I am absolutely obsessed with the indie line ILNP or "I Love Nail Polish". Barbra, the creator, has really pushed the limits on being unique, consistent, branded and just awesome. When she had to make the move from her original logo in round bottles to the new ILNP in square bottles, I didn't even mind THAT much because I love the brand. Today, in keeping with my 14 Days of Valentine's, I have ILNP Cherry Luxe from the Holiday 2015 collection. This is a really interesting red. So I have daylight light bulbs in my house and in my light box, but all I can really see in this photo is a cheery cherry red with some silver flakies. Sounds cool. This is from their "Ultra Metallics" line.

I used a base coat of Duri Rejuvacote, 2 coats of polish, and finished with Glisten & Glow H K Girl top coat. The polish dries smooth even though it looks like it would be gritty glitter - it's not. This is what I'm talking about when I say that ILNP is pushing the limits. 


This is from my light box. It almost reminds me of a candy cane - the red with silver metallic flakes. I love it and can definitely see myself wearing it around a lot.

BUT THEN as I was about to take it off, I saw a flash of holo. YES HOLO! So I ran outside and sure enough, there is holographic magic in this bottle.


So much goodness that my camera couldn't handle it. This photo was taken with my daylight light bulb desk lamp. You could have knocked me down with a feather. I'm so happy with this polish! The photos never do ILNP justice... as I was looking back on the website, there aren't many photos that really push the holo goodness - it's all about the metallic flakes. 

You can purchase ILNP on their website. For more on ILNP, be sure to following their various social media platforms: Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook.