Too Cute-icle Swatches!

Swatch time! :)

I was lucky enough to score all 8 of Too Cute-icles newest collections! Unfortunately, my camera took a dump and I was only able to get decent photos of 3 of them (for now). 

Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

Copperhead, Sleepy Flower, Co-Ed, The Great Barrier

Let me just say that I was really impressed with these. The color combos are fun and funky, and they apply very well. I didn't have to place or dab any of these glitters. They went on smooth the first time around, and I didn't need to do any re-positioning of any of them. 2 Thumbs up!

First up is one of my favorites: Co-ed (2 light coats over Pure Ice 'Home Run' which is a minty, pastel green.) Co-ed is a really delicate blend of blue and rose pink circle glitters, teeny blue squares and  micro pink glitters. If you love the name, you're welcome ;) This is one that I got to name LOL!

 Next up is Sleepy Flower (2 coats, shown over black).  This one was a surprise favorite, I didn't expect to love it quite as much as I do! Sleepy Flower has a grey/black tinted jelly base and is packed full of rosy pink and mossy green circle glitters. small gold hexes, and blue micro glitters. It also has a subtle holo shimmer to it. The photos don't do it any kind of justice, its sooo unique and gorgeous. It reminds me of black hills gold.

Last we have Copperhead (2 coats over Zoya's Codie). Copperhead is a gorgeous blend of brown hexes, teeny copper squares, and a holo micro shimmer. This is where my camera decided it was going to stop taking decent photos, so you only get one shot of it for now. You can check her Etsy shop for additional swatch photos here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/TooCuteicle

The final photo I have for you was taken months ago! Sometime back in October, Jess sent me a prototype of a polish she was creating for another collection and I fell in LOVE with it! It reminded me of autumn in a bottle so I begged her to keep it and release it with the 'Seasons' collection she was planning...and here it is! This is a photo of my 2012 Thanksgiving mani featuring 'Fall'! 

Fall is an absolutely amaaaaaazing combination of orange and green hexes, and teeny tiny orange, green and brown glitters. Its seriously SO pretty and will probably be my Thanksgiving go-to polish forEVAR!

Please excuse the awfulness of this photograph, it was just a quick shot and not originally intended as a 'press' photo.

You can find these pretties in Too Cute-icles Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/TooCuteicle

Full sizes are $8.00, minis are $3.75.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/toocuteicle

Blog: http://toocute-icle.com/
Instagram & Twitter: @TooCuteicle

You can find additional photos of the collection on Facebook at Jen's Nail Files

TL;DR

- New Too Cute-icle release!

- Swatches!

- Pretties!

BONUS: Too Cute-icle and Fox Claws Valentines Day Promo! From now until Valentines Day we will include an exclusive, limited edition, 'love' inspired polish by Too Cute-icle with every rack order! You may get a mini, you may get a full size, but you will NOT get this polish ANYWHERE else! (Promo runs from 1/16/2013-2/14/2013. Not valid on orders placed before 1/16/2013) You can find our Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/FoxClaws

Too Cute-icle Apocalypse Party!

Absolutely ridiculous confession incoming...

When I was in 8th grade (shout out to Crystal Middle School class of 1998!) we watched a video about the ancient Mayans in my history class which ended with THE CALENDAR. While I am not typically a conspiracy theory kind of person, for some reason the date 12/21/2012 stuck with me and I had this odd sense of urgency to accomplish certain things prior to that date...just in case! (LOL yeah laugh at me, I laugh at me too!) IN MY DEFENSE THOUGH, 2012 was also the 'decade' mark from high school graduation so its kind of good timeline marker to reflect on the things I thought I'd have done by now, and the things I've actually done. All in all, I wasn't nervous about the world ending (I don't have a basement full of water and non-perishable food, or a bunker under the backyard patio), just anxious to see how far I've come.

When Jess at Too Cute-icle decided to release a limited edition 12/21/2012 themed polish I knew I had to have! Only 21 bottles were released and I was ecstatic to be able to snag my favorite number, #3!

Apocalypse Party is a gorgeous glitter bomb of blue, gold, and red hex glitters, and teeny tiny green and orange hexes. One of the things I love about this polish is that it is super colorful without being a traditional rainbow (not that I have anything against rainbows, call off the Calvary people!) Another thing I love is that even though its 'busy' with the variety of colors, it still maintains a really nice balance and uniformity because the majority of the glitters are the same size.

I did 2 mani's with this polish because I love it so much! The first is Apocalypse Party over Zoya's Trixie. With the flash you can see that Trixie is a gorgeous silver foil, but in person (and without flash) it looks a bit gold with AP over it. Either way, its super fun! (Click to enlarge any photo)

The 2nd mani is a 'backwards' gradient of Apocalypse Party over ORLY Shockwave.

I can see myself wearing Apocalypse Party a bunch! It would be perfect for any kind of party, and you can put it over so many different colors and it would still look amazing! While Apocalypse Party is no longer available on her Etsy shop, keep your eyes peeled for some gorgeous new creations coming very soon!

You can find Too Cute-icle here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/toocuteicle
Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/TooCuteicle
Blog: http://toocute-icle.com/
Instagram & Twitter: @TooCuteicle

TL;DR
- PRETTY PICKSHURS
- Too Cute-icles first limited edition!
- I'm adding 'Lived through the apocalypse' on my resume
- Sorry for the delay! Fun stuff coming up!

p.s. RACK PROMO HAPPENING RIGHT NOW! Use GOPACKGO10 for 10% off your rack order from now until the beginning of Saturdays match up in San Francisco (My home team vs. my new home team...EEEK!!) Remember, if the Packers win Jan 12th the discount will increase to 15% off, but if they lose, the code will DIE. For each week they advance, we'll add 5% to the discount, all the way up to 25% if they win the Superbowl! Find our racks here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/FoxClaws

You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch

You're a nasty, wasty skunk.
Your heart is full of unwashed socks
Your soul is full of gunk.
Mr. Grinch.

Fun Fact #1: 'You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch' was not sung by the amazing James Earl Jones (common misconception by 'younger generations' evidently), but instead was performed by Thurl Ravenscroft who is also the original voice of Tony the Tiger.

Fun Fact #2: The original Grinch from the "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" which was published in 1957 (same year mah momma was born) was black and white. He 'became green' in the cartoon adaptation in 1966.

Fun Fact #3: His dog Max is listed as 'a mixed breed' and was voiced by Dallas McKennon who lent his vocal talents to movies such as 101 Dalmatians, Lady and the Tramp, and Mary Poppins (among others). Perhaps my favorite Dallas McKennon 'vocal performance' is the safety spiel at Disney's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (which was out of commission when I last visited the park...GRR)

I LOVED the movie 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas' when I was a little kid. I always felt SO awful for him because he hated Christmas so much, and I loved it. Still love it. So when JindieNails released her holiday collections I saw Grinch and had to have it. Here's how Jen describes Grinch:

This is my interpretation of Dr. Seuss's The Grinch Christmas story, in a bottle. I originally had the polish without the red hearts but after a Facebook poll, I have decided to add just a few red hearts to the batch and ONE single black heart in each bottle. The black heart represents the Grinch's evil heart and the red ones represent the heart he eventually grew.

I will fully admit that it was the single black heart that got me. I vaguely remember sitting on the sofa next to my fiance when I read the description and gleefully squealing "AMIGAD IT HAS ONE. BLACK. HEART. THATS SO COOL!" Thankfully Jen took pity on me and sent me a little baggie with a few extra hearts in it so I didn't have to fish around for the one in the bottle for the next 10 years. You rock girlfriend. Srsly.

This is 2 thin coats of JindieNails Grinch over Sinful Colors Innocent. There were no application issues, no finishing necessary, dab it on, smooth it out. I was unable to fish any of the red hearts out, but there are only a few to begin with so no biggie. I added the black hearts with a toothpick and finished with 2 coats of HK Girl Fast Dry Top Coat. Its a bit more green here than it is in the bottle, but I like it :)

As always you can click to make these larger.

You can find JindieNails and all of her gorgeous creations on Facebook, and in her Etsy store (which is in vacation mode at the time of this posting - sign up to be notified when she comes back). Full sized bottles are $8.00. * Disclaimer: None, I bought this polish with my own money :)

TL;DR

- You're a mean one...if you didn't read this post.

- Santy is bringing you coal for skipping to the TEAL DEER FIRST!

- Because I know you're humming it...You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch

- Thanks for all the LOVE this week guys! It's been one hell of a ride :)

Introducing Too Cute-icle Custom Nail Lacquer

AMIGAD! Awesomeness incoming!

My good friend Jess at Too Cute-icle just launched her very own INDIE LINE! SQUEEEE!! Too Cute-icle Custom Nail Lacquer launched on Sunday 12/2/2012 and has already attracted some big name attention. Her debut line includes a selection of year round pretties with awesome names like Butthurt Banana, Mama's Girl (inspired by her mother) and Pretty Pretty Princess, an Eternal Sonata video game inspired glitterbug called Dolce (which was created by her boyfriend - HI MIKE!), and the ever gorgeous winter-esque dazzlers Aurora Snow, Frosty The Penguin and Frosted Evergreen. I was lucky enough to receive the whole line (minus Mama's Girl), plus a few others that have been reserved for future collections and they are all faaaaareaking AMAZING. I love them. Love. Them. Love them...like this....

Now I realize that my enthusiasm can be taken into question given that Jess and I are close friends, but trust me when I say that I could not in good conscious support her releasing a sub-par product with her name on it. She has done her homework, shes got a great eye for creativity, and shes meticulous (to the point of borderline OCD - teehee) about quality. This girl is going places, and I could not possibly be more proud of her. And when you see these babies there will be no question about their awesomeness. I have tested all of her polishes (though I don't have swatches of most of them ready just yet), and I truly can't pick a favorite but this one is close....Back story...

Pretty Pretty Princess by Too Cute-icle

Last week a cray-mazing (crazy amazing, get it? Yeah I'm lame...) woman named Donna posted a photo of a stamping mani she did with snowflakes and I loved it! So much so that I immediately hit ebay and purchased a Konad plate with snowflakes on it. On Sunday I set about creating my own 'Donna inspired snowflake mani' and thought what better way to champion Jess' new line than to use Pretty Pretty Princess as the base for my snowflakes. Thus the 'matte snowflake mani' was born.

Because I was going to be stamping over the glitter I wanted it to be kind of sparse which I found to be quite difficult (LOL). Pretty Pretty Princess is PACKED with glitter. Please forgive the horrendous cuticles btw. This is one light coat of PPP over black with and without the matte top coat:

 

Because I was planning to stamp, I tried to leave some empty-ish space so that the snowflakes would show up a bit better. I failed. Pretty Pretty Princess was just too pretty to not want it everywhere. I used Konad plates m59 and m20, and Pure Ice Silver Mercedes to stamp (no, not water decal....LOL!) the snowflakes on.

 

And...If you liked it then you shoulda put some bling on it...LOL!

 

Taadaa! Okay I admit, even I am smitten by this combination. Its stunning! I was SO excited by how gorgeous it turned out that I immediately posted a bunch of shots to my Facebook page without any brand/water markings on it...OOPS! It was shared over 30 times from my page alone! I was so over the moon that so many people liked it enough to share! Thank you! Some people even liked it so much that they uploaded it to their page claimed it as their own. But nail world banded together and brought that to an end. Hopefully...

So again, thank you all who sent messages of support and requests for credit to 'Pinkys Nail Bar' in Stirling, Scotland. I'm sorry that you were all banned and blocked from their page because of it, but I think they got the hint. At least I hope they did. Next time perhaps they'll think twice about stealing someones photo and not giving proper credit...its not like its hard to do. At least get the products and method right!  Water decals....Models Own...*hmpfh* I didn't want them to take the photo down, I just wanted credit. I didn't think that was too much to ask.

WHEW! This was a long one. I hope you're still with me LOL! You can find Pretty Pretty Princess (along with all of Too Cute-icles polishes) at her Etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/TooCuteicle Full sizes are $7, Minis's are $3. Remember, this is her indie debut so if you want a shot at being one of the first to own her creations, check it out ASAP!

For photos and reviews of her polishes, check out these lovely ladies:

Cosmetic Sanctuary

Polish Monster

Cupcakes & Polish

Manicured Mamas

Jen’s Nail Files

Adventures and Mishaps In The Land of Nail Polish

TL;DR

- Too Cute-icles indie debut! WOO!

- Did you actually READ the post or did you just skip to the TL;DR...KYOTI!

- Fun Fact #1: At the time of this posting I am one of only 4 people who own Pretty Pretty Princess...IN THE WHOLE WORLD.

- Fun Fact #2: I created her labels!

- Stealing is bad. Lying and stealing is worse.

- Don't steal kthxbai!

JindieNails - Review Part 2

For part 2 of my JindieNails review (you can find part one, here) I present to you Oh, U Fancy, Huh? and Water 4 Elephants.

Oh, U Fancy, Huh? is a gorgeous, glitter packed clear base with neon pink and purple matte hexes, teal shiny hexes, and teal squares. It was another one of those surprise loves! I tried it over white, pink, purple, and black, and while I think it looked fabulous over pretty much anything (seriously, do a quick google search, everyone who has tried this polish has a different color combination and they all rock!), I loved it the most over black. The matte glitters tones it down from being an all out bling fest, but the shiny hexes glam it up and make it pop. It applied very well, and with a topcoat over it, was not gritty at all. Zero placement necessary and great coverage! This is two light coats over black. (Click to enlarge)

Water 4 Elephants is really unique and gorgeous. It was inspired by the book and movie starring Robert Pattinson and whats her name...uhhh...LOL. (Just kidding, totally not a RPatz fan girl...I'm team Jacob.) Jen describes it as "multiple shapes and sizes of blue and green [glitter] along with iridescent glitter and color shifting glitter and color shifting sparkle pigment all in a gray creme/jelly base." I played around with this all on its own, but there was VNL after 3 thin coats so I decided to use undies.This is 2 thin coats over Sally Hansen's Wet Cement.  Prepare for compliments on your nails, ladies! Photos don't do it justice.  (Click to enlarge)
Note: I wasn't able to get a natural light/sun photo of this because I swatched it during a week that Wisconsin saw NO sun. *sigh* I love this polish though so I will reach for it again, hopefully during a time when the sun decides it wants to come out and play. I'll be working on a light box soon to avoid crappy, inconsistent photos. The actual color is most closely represented in the flash photos.

 

My overall experience with JindieNails, both on a customer service level AND with her polishes has been incredibly positive.  The variety, quality and artistry in her polishes makes shopping her Etsy store like swimming in a pool full of fun sized chocolate Halloween candy; no matter which direction you go, you're going to find something you like.

Jen is rolling out her new WINTER CHIC collection on November 18, 2012 but there are already some holiday inspired polishes in her shop right NOW! Seriously...you are going to NEED Grinch, and Just Elfing Around is GORGEOUS. AND if you are a holo lover, Mrs. Claws and Blue Blue X-mas are going to be on your wish list in a heartbeat. Check out her Etsy store here.

TL;DR
- If you don't own a single indie, Jindie is a GREAT place to start.
- Breaking Dawn Part 2 Count Down from RIGHT now: 5 days. It better be epic.
- Added Just Elfing Around to my Wish List *hint hint*
- Prediction: Burrrberry is going to be a MUST have when Winter Chic launches
- Don't forget to enter our giveaway! 15 prizes! link below!

Santa's Secret Stash Holiday Giveaway!

WOOOO GIVEAWAY TIME!

I am SUPER excited to be able to participate in this awesome multi-blogger giveaway, not only because the prizes are killer, but because I have gotten to know each one of these amazing ladies and they are true class acts!

Since this is a holiday giveaway we wanted to keep most of the prizes a secret but I can tell you there will be lots of indies, HTF's, customs, candy and other glittery goodies that are sure to knock your stockings off.

Here is a TINY peek at a couple of the prizes:

Different Dimension 2012 Santa Baby Mini Set

China Glaze Holiday Charms Mini Set

More Goodies From:

Tomboy Nails

Fox Claws

Too Cute-icle

Cosmetic Sanctuary

Different Dimension

Mani Curiously

Mentality Polish

The Polished Pixie

Pinked Polish

Cupcakes and Polish

Finger Painting Fingers

Above the Curve Nail Polish

Kyoti's Nails & Lucky 13 Lacquer

Adventures and Mishaps in the Land of Nail Polish

Now for the boring stuff - i.e. The rules

- US only please (Sorry international ladies)

- Giveaway begins at 12:01am 11/8/2012 and ends at 12:01am on 12/1/2012.

- There will be 14 winners! Winners will be chosen by Rafflecopter.

- Winners will be contacted at the e-mail address they provided on Rafflecopter and will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is chosen. You can only win ONE prize. Duplicate winners will be redrawn.

- Please don't cheat. All entries will be verified. Fraudulent entries will be disqualified.

Good Luck! Have fun!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

No HATE - Just LOVE

NO HATE

Bullying is not funny. It is not cool. It is not right. And more importantly, it is not okay.
Most of us are, thankfully, residents of countries that support tolerance and many of our families have settled in these places simply for that reason. Generations later, it is our responsibility to perpetuate that message of tolerance across our new social platforms, including the internet.

As members of the nail polish blogging community, we all share a love of beauty, color, and lacquer. Other than that, we are remarkably different: from our race to our religion to our hair color...even to our polish application techniques. To marginalize anyone because of those differences is completely unacceptable and today I take a stand against that. I refuse to allow other people's view of "normal" dictate how I behave, believe, and blog.

In solidarity with a multitude of bloggers linked below, my purple manicure represents my proud commitment to the No Hate movement. Today, November 8, I dedicate my post to ending bullying of any kind and to encouraging diversity and imperfection among our colorful community.

Thank you to Amanda of amandalandish.com for the wonderful write up.

I am wearing Chirality's Apollonia for NO H8!