KBShimmer spring polishes, swatch & review!

now, i didn't pick up all of KBShimmer's spring polishes, just my favorites.
but i thought i would share all the pastel, glitter goodness! these are some of my favorite indie's ever released.

i'll be showing you Where My Peeps At?, Spring Training & Iris My Case.

this is Where My Peeps At? it is a pastel yellow jelly with blue, yellow, pink & green hex glitter. this is great! this was 3 coats and it applied beautifully. it makes me like yellow. in my opinion this is the better version of Candeo Jellybean. easier to apply, more flattering on my skin tone & funner glitter. perfect for spring!

this is 3 coats of Spring Training. this was a quick favorite. it's a mint green jelly/creme with multicolored hex glitters. mint green with glitter? i am very much in favor of that. and again, it applied beautifully with no problems and the glitter was nice and dense.

and last, but not least, Iris My Case. this is a great lilac jelly/creme with pink, blue, purple & white hex glitters. lilac is a huge weakness of mine, so this was an obvious grab when i saw it. this was also 3 coats for full opacity and again, great formula.

here's a picture showing my obsession with lilac glitter indies. have i gone overboard? maybe. am i ashamed? not even a lil bit.

you can purchase KBShimmer polishes on Harlow & Co for all the international ladies, and you can also purchase them from KBShimmer's Etsy for all American residents.

easter nails!

so these are a tad late, but here are my easter themed nails!
these were super fun to create.

i used Happy Hands Lady Goodman (which is amazing, by the way!) for an extra eyecatching, glittery base. then i painted a bunny on my ring fingers & a chick on my thumb! and of course i couldn't leave my other fingers and went with blue & yellow polka dots. i used Lime Crime polishes for all of the art (with the exception of the white).

aren't these adorable! i really enjoyed wearing these and got tons of compliments on them.
did any of you rock easter nails?

entry to Kayla Shevonne's nail art contest!

so Kayla Shevonne is hosting a nail art contest inspired by indie polish! i have a drawer full of specifically indie polish, so this was a fun one to figure out.
i decided on using my favorite indie of all time, and two of my newest additions!

for this mani i used my first Gloss n Sparkle polishes in Passion Pop and Cookie Dough. for the base on my art nails i used Lime Crime Milky Ways which is my favorite indie AND my favorite polish of all time in general. i'm on my third bottle of it. it's great.

the point of this contest is to make the indies the star. so for one, i wanted to use entirely indies (with the outlining being the only exception), and two, i wanted to do art inspired by their names! so because passion pop is a bright coral with lots of assorted hex glitter, i created lollipops. and with cookie dough (which is a perfect representation featuring a light brown base with dark brown hex glitters) i created cookies!

i hope this lives up to Kayla's expectations of her theme. i am an indie polish fan forever, and will buy them till people stop making them! (which i hope is never)

if you'd like to enter her contest you can click here!

"graveyard" nails

i laughed when one of the girls at my work commented on me wearing a "graveyard" on my nails.

but crosses are all the rage right now! i see them everywhere, on clothes, on nails, jewelry. fashion has definitely picked up some christian inspiration (ha ha).

aren't these cute and trendy? i used Julep Helen as my base, which they describe as a smoky pastel lavendar creme. that's spot on, i love the smokiness especially. it applied very nicely, this was 3 thin coats.
then i did the black crosses quickly and freely to give it a sketched look if you will? and did some neato purple rhinestone crosses on my thumb and ring finger.

would you rock this trend? i am by no means religious so i didn't know how i felt about it at first but it was super fun to wear!

if you'd like to become a Julep Maven you can click here and get your hands on this pretty. mavens get discounts on polish and products and you can get your first box for a cent if you enter in the code PENNY!

a couple of Jindie Nails swatches!

Jindie Nails is a newer indie polish brand to craze the internet. i bought my first polishes last year and since then she's become very popular!
Jen is also very awesome when it comes to customer service. i purchased polish from her around Christmas and the shipping was a little delayed, but because of that she attached an apology letter and a free mini polish! how nice!

here's two of her most popular polishes;

this is Jindie Nails Candy Land! it's an awesome assortment of neon blue, purple, pink, green & yellow hex glitters in a milky white base. it's a little sheer, so i've shown two coats of it here over Lime Crime Milky Ways. it's definitely buildable on it's own, but i preferred using some undies.

i would also suggest using two coats of topcoat over this bad boy, because those big glitters love to stick out. i love the colors in this, and i'm a sucker for a white based glitter!

however, this is my absolute favorite from Jindie ever! this is Swoon, it's large neon green, pink & blue hex glitters with some teal smaller hex glitters in a milky tiffany blue base. this is TO DIE FOR! absolutely beautiful & perfect for spring!

this is 2 coats over Lime Crime Once In A Blue Mousse, as it is a tad sheer as well and i really wanted the blue base to show!

Jindie Nails' Etsy store is currently closed, i think she closes between restocks to catch up on shipping. but you can access it here & it is also sold on llarowe!

vintage polka dots & brooches

if you love all things vintage inspired and polka dots, prepare to lust over these pretties. i was feeling inspired by a color i received in my february Julep Maven box & it just clicked how perfect it would be for something retro.

how simply awesome are these nails! i love the colors, i love the rhinestone accents, everything. and it's amazing how something as polka dots could be so eye catching! i received lots of compliments on these. vintage is the bomb.

 

i used Julep Sally for the base. it's labeled by Julep as an antique ivory creme. it's a little more warm than an ivory. this is 3 coats i believe, the application was a little patchy and it went on pretty gloopy. however, the color is worth it. i used Julep Otte for the polka dots.

i think the rhinestone accents make this mani so amazing! i loved these so much, i did it in another color later on. so much fun, but not a lot of work!

if you're interested in being a Julep Maven you can click here to buy your first box! enter the code PENNY at the checkout and get your first month for only one cent!!

design re-do & contest entry!

since my first attempt of the "grown up flower" design by mr candiipants did not work too well, i tried it again! and this time was a definite success!

this was also another contest entry in instagram and it was pastel themed. i love pastels, so i pretty much drooled over these until they chipped into nothing.

how cute are these, seriously. also, i am obviously obsessed with Lime Crime and need and intervention. spring is coming and they are bright pastels... so i'm pretty much going to be using them all up. i used Lavendairy for the base and a pink nail art pen for the flowers.

don't really know where my pinky is going in this picture. i also love the stud accents. studs everywhere, all the time, every day. i love them completely.

i have seen lots of recreations of the design online, have any of you taken a shot at it? i'd love to see!
ps. follow me on instagram @ninelions for up to date photos of all the crazy contests i've been entering.

flower pattern that started out cute...

but then got all dragged and blah thanks to a goopy topcoat. i should know better! oh well.

these nails were inspired by mr candiipants. she's great at coming up with cool pattern mixes and color combos. when i saw her tutorial for a "grown up flower print" i had to try it out.

so as you can see, there's some nice red streaks on my pointer finger and some major dragging on my middle finger, but isn't it dang cute!? i put my own twist on the design with some vine-like accents. the flowers were actually easy breezy to create if you have the patience.

i used Lime Crime Milky Ways as my base & some nail art pens for the design.

has dragging ever ruined one of your cool manis? lesson learned, stop trying to use your goopy old top coat to the last drop.

leopard print instagram contest nails!

lately i've been entering in lots of contest on instagram. hundreds of nail art ladies enter these contests and so far i haven't been a winner, but hopefully i will be one day!

in entered these nails in @kellytattoo's blue themed contest! blue is a pretty wide theme so i thought how could i do something funky & fun but simple at the same time?

i started with an extremely messy gradient (haha) because i knew i would cover it up with something. the colors used were Lime Crime Milky Ways, Lime Crime Once In A Blue Mousse and Julep Daphne.

 

then i did some classic leopard print! i used Once In A Blue Mousse for the spots and my trusty black nail art pen for the outlines. then i highlighted and added some accents with white and a blue color. fun fun fun!

have any of you entered an instagram contest before? i love it because i'm gonna put the picture up anyway, why not take an extra picture with a note and enter it for a chance to win some goodies?

since i am wildly inconsistent when it comes to posting here, you can follow me on instagram @ninelions where i post lots of photos of my nails and other random stuff!

robin eggs nails!

i have had this design on my list for a while, so i'm excited to show you guys!
let's get right to it.

i just had Lime Crime Once In A Blue Mousse sitting out and i was thinking, hmm, that looks like a robins egg! this is 2 coats and then just some scattered dots to make the speckled effect! i started with a dotting tool and Julep Otte to make faded looking dots, then did some dark ones with a nail art pen.

these nails make me super happy. i love the idea so much, and it was beyond easy to execute. everyone with a tiffany/robin's blue polish should try this design out!
super excited to show these babies off!

super cute doily nails!

these were fun & also one of the more detailed things i've done in a while!

i was inspired by a nail art account i follow on instagram, who was inspired by her phone case. so i changed it up a little bit and they came out looking like delicate doilies!

this is 2 coats of Barry M Cobalt Blue & some nail art done with a light blue nail art pen. Cobalt Blue looks an awful lot brighter in the bottle, so i was somewhat disappointed with this polish, but it still had a really nice formula and good coverage.

i got a lot of compliments on these nails! people said they also looked like a pysanka (ukranian decorative egg) which is also true!

the only bummer is that i got too impatient and my topcoat dragged the art on my index nail ;( oh well!

baroque pattern (sorta!)

this is definitely something i would've worn during the actual holidays, because the berry color is so Christmas-y!

i received a "mystery wristlet" from Julep and was excited to test out one of the colors, so i came up with this pretty, free-hand design :)

 

this is 2 coats of Julep Sharon. it's a pretty red-berry shimmer polish that is absolutely gorgeous. a red shimmer is a must have in any collection, and this one applied great. 2 coats for full coverage is good with me!

then i free-handed a baroque inspired pattern onto my nails. i did full nails on my ring & thumb nails but only accents on the rest so it wouldn't get overwhelming. 

these were really classic looking and i got tons of compliments! still can't get over the nice color.

gold sparkly tribal

i recently became a julep maven, despite all of the disappointment i've heard about terrible formula & bad service. but i have to say, with the exception of extremely slow shipping to Canada, i love it so far!

this is a mani i did with one of the colors in my introductory box. (this post is a tad picture heavy!)

this is 2 coats of Julep Otte, a coat of Ninja Polish Shattered Star & some line art with a black striper! this mani was extremely fun & easy to do. which is awesome if you ask me. i was inspired by Nailside, where Jane does a mani similar to this, but i could only do the 2 arrow stripes because my nails were shorter. 

shattered star has also become one of my favorite glitters. it's the perfect gold (not too yellow) and has lots of holographic glitter! this was part of Ninja Polish's holiday collection. overall i really liked that such a simple design could be so striking!

here's a swatch of Otte by itself. i wasn't sure about this color on my skin tone, but i still love it. neutrals have me in a hold right now that i cannot describe. and this is a unique color too! like a nice camel/sand creme.