Share With You Sunday: 11/11/12-11/18/12

Posts I'm Loving:
Dressed Up Nails shows us her nail art using China Glaze On Safari collection and her fall floral nails.
Nails 4 Dummies! shares with us her galaxy nails.
Wacky Laki shows us her splatter stamped nails.
Tips and Topcoat shares with usher Lilo & Stitch nail art.
Amber did it! shows us her World Diabetes Day nail art.
A diary of a nail polish addict shares with us her Golden Unicorn in Ivory Skies nails.
judixo reviews Reviva Labs Hawaiian Seaweed Facial Cleansing Milk.

Posts You're Loving:
Nails and Noms swatches Sephora by OPI It's Real 18k Gold top coat.
Improbable Nails shows us her DIY Spotted top coat.
Addicted to OPI-yum sawtches Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Ruby Sapphire.

You can submit your links for posts on Sundays here. 


Reader Manis of the Week:

Name: Catherine W.
Location: Texas
Manicure Description: I used three coats of the colors (from thumb to pinky). Sinful Colors Aquamarine, Julep Niecy, OPI Green-Wich Village, Orly Au Champagne, and Nina Ultra Pro Tangerine Dream. For the detail on the sugar skull, I used black acrylic paint and some precut fimo flowers from a dial-a-style I got at Sally's.
Favorite Polishes: Nina Ultra Pro Emerald City, OPI Warm & Fozzie, Revlon Top Speed Royal
Blog: catsclawspolish.blogspot.com

Name: Improbable Nails (Francesca)
Location: Sardinia (Italy)
Manicure Description: My manicure is called "Old Metal" and is a very easy and elegant nail art. I started with two coats of Avon "Deluxe Chocolate", then I added Avon "Golden Vision" using a fan brush, and starting to apply it from a side of the nail. I finished with a coat of clear polish (I use it instead of top coat).
Favorite Polishes: Generally, I like dark polishes. My favorite is Avon "Wicked", a very deep brown with a lot of red shimmer, unfortunately out of sales in Italy.
Blog: http://improbablenails.blogspot.it/

 I need more manis for November and December! You can find information on how to submit your manicures for Sunday posts here. 

Happy Sunday!

Imperfectly You: China Glaze Prism

This is my second installment of Imperfectly You. You can check out the first installment here. This will be a monthly/bi-monthly feature where I will feature a nail polish that I find can reflect or inspire a topic that relates to self esteem and empowerment.

Today's topic is inspired by China Glaze Prism.

I chose this polish because a prism is an object that when when it touches the light you can see a spectrum of colors. I feel that we as people are have spectrum of interests, emotions, aspects to our personality and so on. I view myself as a prism. I have many complexities and facets to my personality that make me unique!

My experience:
I used to struggle with the many facets and the spectrum of my personality. There are times in my life I've felt like I don't fit in with others or a part of a group. I've always had a wide array of interests and I never felt like I really clicked with a group of people the way others do. When I was younger I'd try and conform, or force myself to like certain things in desperate attempts to fit in with people. While, it may of worked to some degree, it wasn't real. I felt like a fake, and I was miserable because pretending to like bands or movies I didn't like got old quickly!

It probably took me to about 22 years old to realize that I'm fine just the way I am. I can have a lot of different hobbies, interests, and sides to myself. I don't need to be one type of person to fit one mold I think is expected of me. I think I appear cheerful and fun on my blog, but that's not all of who I am. I'm also introspective and abstract, a lot of which you do not see on my blog, but it's there in other cases! I'm also a big history and art buff. I could talk about the most interesting events in history and my favorite artistic movements for hours. There are a lot of different sides to me, and I can be all of that and still make great friends and be accepted into groups of people. It's nice to know that my spectrum of colors can be embraced by others and myself! It's taken me awhile to realize this, but I'm glad I have.

Would you consider yourself a prism as far as having a spectrum of interests and facets to your personality? 

Have you always been confident about this or did you ever hold back parts of yourself? 

Please share your thoughts on this topic in the comments below!

Maya Cosmetics Polishes

I have some polishes from Maya Cosmetics to share with you today. Kat from Maya Cosmetics kindly asked me to review some of polishes, and I happily agreed. When I opened up my package I was welcomed by these beautiful polishes.

L-R:

Nefarious Aquarius, Redemption, and Treme

Nefarious Aquarius

This is available starting today, November 15th. It will be $9. 

Nefarious Aquarius is dusty teal scattered holo.

Nefarious Aquarius, what a great name. This is a neat color for a scattered holographic polish. It is a beautiful muted teal which is not something I've seen paired with a holo before. The formula on this was amazing! I was really surprised. I'm used to scattered holos being kind of sheer and to have an uneven application. This was not like that at all, it was a 2 coater, smooth, and had even coverage. 

Redemption & Treme

Redemption and Treme will be part of an upcoming collection in January called the Crescent City Collection.  This collection is inspired by New Orleans, a city filled with mixed culture and brass bands. Both of these polishes will be available for preorder starting today, November 15th- November 25th. They will ship on or before December 5th. After the preorder dates, they will not be available to purchase again until January. Hurry up and pick up these two during the preorder. They will make excellent holiday polishes! These will be $8 each. 

Redemption over Cult Nails Nevermore

One coat of Redemption on its own

Redemption is a mixture of varying sized black black glitters, white holo hexes, gold holo hexes, white squares, gold hexes, and a prominent golden shimmer in a clear base.

This is a polished inspired by the New Orleans Saints. This is meant to be layered. I wanted to show you a swatch of it alone so you could see what I meant. This is gorgeous. This is a beautiful combination of colors and glitters. I love the addition of the shimmer in this polish, it really makes it so special. I like when indie makers add that extra special shimmer into their glitter polishes. I used 2 coats here, but you could easily be satisfied with one. I love sparkle, so 2 coats made it that much better! The formula was easy to work with. I didn't have to fish for glitters which is a plus.

Treme 

Treme over Cult Nails Nevermore

Treme is champagne-golden full coverage glitter speckled with purple, blue, green, and red glitters.

Treme is inspired by a neighborhood in New Orleans influenced by brass bands. This is a full coverage glitter. You will get opaque coverage 2-3 coats depending on if you use thin coats or thick coats. The formula on this was smooth, and easy to work with it. I did not find it thick or tricky like some other glitter bomb polishes. I love the other colored glitters added to the gold glitter base, they really make this polish pop! You could wear this on its own, but if you want to have some added depth you can layer it. I have one coat layered over black above so yo could see how amazing it is layered too! 

I really enjoyed these polishes. They are thoughtfully made. The colors are unique and inspired. The formula is top notch. My experience with Maya Cosmetics was a great one, and I'm very impressed! 

These polishes can be purchased on Maya Cosmetics' website. You can also follow Maya Cosmetics' Facebook and Blog. 

* I received these polishes to review honestly by Maya Cosmetics.

Happy Thursday!

Nicole by OPI A Gold Winter's Night- Two Ways

It was one of those trips to Target, where I'm nearing the checkout near the cosmetics, and I spot a pretty polish. This time it was Nicole by OPI A Gold Winter's Night which is part of the Kardashian Holiday collection. As I got closer I realized this was a bar glitter. I'm not really a bar glitter fan at all, unless it's those teeny tiny ones that are mixed in glitter bombs. This was so sparkly and pretty though that I could resist. I know I can hear the bar glitter haters screams of horror already, but I actually like this one! 

A Gold Winter's Night over Cult Nails Nevermore

A Gold Winter's Night is a mixture of a micro rose glitter, blue iridescent bar glitters, and gold bar glitters in a clear base.

A Gold Winter's Night over Zoya Kennedy

What I like about this A Gold Winter's Night is it's not your stereotypical holiday polish. Honestly, as much I love Christmas colors, I do not want to wear them all the time in December. This is glitzy, sparkly, and totally reads holiday season without it being the obligatory red and green. It's really girly too, which I would expect coming from a Kardashian collection. I love this combination of colors. Blue, gold, and pink is definitely unexpected but work well together!  I used 2 coats over the base polishes here. I personally do not find glitters like this wearable on their own. While, it can build up, since there are varying sizes of glitter you will not get 100% coverage. There will be bald spots, so I recommend layering. The formula was easy to work with, but I'm not a fan of the wide brush. 

I'm scared to ask but...

Pretty or cringe-worthy? 

*Can I just add how much I hate NOPI bottles. They are are impossible to hold properly. As you can see my pinkys are unfocused because of the stupid bottle shape.  Grawr. 

Happy Wednesday! 

Cult Nails Behind Closed Doors Collection

I have the newest Cult Nails Behind Closed Doors Collection to share with you today. Maria kindly gave the Central Florida Beauty Bloggers her newest collection review last weekend. As usual, this collection has a great variety of colors and finishes. I think there is something for everyone in this collection. I will be using Cult Nails's descriptions for these polishes.

 L-R:
Afterglow, Disciplined, Flushed, Bitten, and Coveted.

Afterglow

Afterglow is a copper infused with a subtle pink shimmer. 

If copper and bronze had a baby it would be Afterglow. This is not a color I would typically gravitate towards, because I find warmer metallic shades to not work well with my skin tone. This was completely flattering. I think what makes this is the pink shimmer. It adds a unique twist that really compliments the base color. This was 3 coats. It goes on sheer, but builds up nicely.

Disciplined

Disciplined is a sheer but buildable soft grey with purple, pink and blue shimmer.

This color reminds me of mist. You know how mist looks in the mountains in the distance or the misty weather you get on a cold morning just before the sun comes up? This is what this color is to me. It is really unusual and different. The base color has a touch of murkiness to it that keeps it from being your standard grey. The addition of the colorful shimmer is unexpected and a great touch. This was 3 coats. 

Flushed

Flushed is a true Blurple (blue/purple) buildable sheer with an intense purple/pink shimmer effect.

We have a winner! This is my standout favorite. Just look at it? How could you not love it. It's a beautiful purple with a fiery pop in your face pink shimmer. You can't lose. You need this. Get it now. This was 2 coats. The end.

Bitten

Bitten is a raspberry glass flecked polish.

This is significantly more sparkly than my camera picked up. I'd call this a jelly in my book. I think this would be an awesome layering polish too over darker colors. This was on the sheer side, and I used 3 coats here. I feel like while the formula on this was smooth and easy to apply, it was hard to get even coverage as far as the color with this one. This one would probably benefit from a more careful application. I'd suggest using thin coats while waiting for it to dry in between.

Coveted

Coveted is a jelly deep green with metallic green flakes and subtle green shimmer.

This is a beautiful emerald green shade. It is deep and rich. Greens can be tricky with my skin tone, but I think with a shade as deep as this, it will be flattering on most. The shimmer in this is gorgeous. The flakes are a cool addition. Personally, while I'm never one to turn down flakes, the shimmer in this could of held its own in this polish because it is simply that stunning. This has the best of all those deep jelly and glittery green polishes that have become classics among nail polish addicts in one polish.

------

This is a beautiful collection. I love the range in Cult Nails' collections. They have more subtle shades, fun shades, and some completely new to me original shades in all of the collections. The formula on these polishes were superb. Excellent formula has always been my experience with Cult Nails, and this did not disappoint. If you had me choose favorites, I'd go with Flushed and Disciplined.

You can purchase this entire collection on the Cult Nails site for the preview release sale price of $40 until Thursday November 15th. Starting November 16th, you will be able to purchase these polishes individually for $10 each.

*I received these polishes to review honestly by Cult Nails.

Happy Tuesday!