My Favorite Glitter Nail Polishes

Lately I have been obsessed with glitter nail polishes. I bought a few from the Christmas 2013 OPI Collection which are both top coats. Also, CVS is having a sale on a ton of beauty stuff, and I bought a few Selena Gomez Nicole by OPI top coats there. $8 and I they were on sale for $2! I would go check CVS out if your interested. But there are some really great non-top coat glitter polishes too. And I talk about those too. These are my top 10.

 So the how I did this was took old NOTW's and put them in to go with this video. Every single NOTW, you can click on the link and it will take you to the actual blog post with a much better review.

 I didn't mention this on the video but I thought the matte top coat paired with a loose glitter looked really cool.

Essie's A Cut Above

over top Essie's Nothing Else Metals. I love glitters over duo chromes!

A Jelly Sandwich Mani is layered like so: a jelly nail polish, a glitter in the middle, and then over lapped with a jelly nail polish. Sheer nail polishes also give a great effect and that's what I did here. China Glaze Prizm is the glitter and I used Sally Hansen Hard Core Party for the sheer polish which is a sheer baby pink {weird name, right?} 

Another one of my favorite ways to use glitter nail polishes is the pair them with a matte top coat. I've done a few of these NOTW's on my blog. I looks like confetti. My favorite matte top coat is from Hard Candy. It's called Matte-ly in Love and is used in both of these Confetti mani's.

This Confetti NOTW is with Sally Hansen's glitter in Rock Star Pink .

My favorites are the big chunky glitters that come in all shapes and sizes. This is Hard Candy's Party Central

Sally Hansen Strobe Light. Great glitter top coat. Here it is over top of Sally Hansen's No Hard Feelings

When Monkey's Fly from OPI is so strange but so pretty. I bought this last Christmas (2012) but I seen a couple bottles at Ulta a few days ago. I love this pair too. It is over top China Glaze Refresh-mint along with Julep Portia which is a top coat kind of like Strobe Light.

Which one is your favorite?

What about your favorite glitter nail polish of all time?

until next time,

xoxo

Erica

Hard Candy Party Central Glitter NOTW

Seriously, Hard Candy is the first isle I go down to browse in the makeup section at WalMart. They always have eye catching packaging and inventive products. Especially their nail stuff. The only drugstore brand I know of that has a Matte top coat. I like using it over glitters. Like here and here. This spring, they came out with the Candy Sprinkles line, which has a whole range of glitter polishes with pastel, creamy base colors. Remember Cotton Candy Pink?  And again, I don't see any other drugstore brand doing that. When Hard Candy comes out with a glitter polish, *trust* that they are not skimping on the glitter. 

Along with the Candy Sprinkles line, Hard Candy also came out with the Crystal Confetti line. A ton of glitter polishes with all kinds of shapes, sizes, and colors in each bottle. The Crystal Confetti line was where Party Central was born. 

Party Central is suspended in a clear base with round baby glitters, medium sized hexagon glitters, and large hexagon glitters in different jewel tones. Purple, blue, green, gold, and copper. But what sold me on this polish was the white glitters in the polish. The white glitter's don't really sparkle. I think it adds that extra dimension with those glitters being a completely different finish in conjunction with the other jewel toned glitters that actually sparkle in the light. Aside from all of the other sizes I mentioned the pieces of glitter's are, they have an even bigger sized glitter {hexagon shaped} here and there that are no other color then that striking, opaque white. I mean, I can't. Typing out this paragraph a week later makes me want to take off my nail polish and put Party Central back on. But I don't have any nail polish remover. Moving on....

Your looking at 2 coats of Party Central. I told you, they are not skimping on glitter. It is over top a baby pink nail polish with a cream finish. A nail polish by Nailene. Honestly, I got the Nailene polish at WalMart for 50 cents. There is nail polish on the cap of it and had no price tag, so they practically gave it to me. I believe it was in a french manicure kit because it says "French Manicure" on the bottle. It's nice for a french manicure, yes. It is quite sheer because of that. But who really cares about the Nailene polish? 

When it comes to wear, it started chipping after a couple days and that was when I just peeled it off. I do it every time. I need to start wearing a top coat. 

Aside from the said nail polish lines Hard Candy decided to come out with, they also have a couple more. Glitterazzi which basically doesn't even look like there is any base in the bottle, clear or creamy. It just looks like straight up glitter. Itzy Glitzy looks like different duo chrome nail polishes which are also glitters. And another, Crushed Chromes, which looks similar to Itzy Glitzy line if you ask me, but just as gorgeous. 

Have you tried any of these nail polishes from Hard Candy?

xoxo
Erica

Falling Confetti NOTW

Hi! I feel like it has been a minute. Almost a week! That's too long. I had a busy week last week. It was nice out. We went on some walks. Barbeque's. Hanging out outside. One of my good friends got married. I drank way too much. I also already wrote this blog post but somehow it was gone {wtf} I wore this mani this past week for all of those fun things

I just love how it looks. 

It perfect for a night out or a day out. 

I think the matte top coat really adds a little something and what makes it special, for me. 

To wear a matte top coat on top of nothing but a white polish is just too much....can we say White-Off? But when you add a bright fuschia glitter on top of that, ombred, it looks like I took a million years. Or maybe it doesn't, I don't know. It looks like a million bucks, rather. It's just neat.

Here's what I used + How I did it:

Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear Nail Color.  

It is $2 at any drugstore {Dollar General too} and I am telling you, so easy to work with. You get a nice even coat after the 2nd one and I couldn't ask for another great white polish. Once I waited for that to dry completely, I moved onto....

Revlon Top Coat: 

Here's the deal. I painted the tips of nails with this then dragged the rest of whatever clear coat I had on brush down the nail. You don't want to be too exact, just like you wouldn't want to be too exact if this was a  normal glitter ombre mani. This is what is going to hold the glitter on. 

-Wait like 20 seconds for it to dry. You don't it to be too wet or else the glitter will cling to every little part of it and it won't have that trickle down effect. You don't wait it to be too dry or else it won't look ombred. It will just look like glitters here and there

-Have a piece of paper ready on a hard surface underneath your fingers so when you sprinkle the glitter over it, it will catch the remainder of the glitter. I put my loose glitter back in the package or you can just throw it away...

Sally Girl Sparkle Effects.  

It $1 at Sally's Beauty Supply. They have a ton of different colors, I want to collect them all! :) anyhow, I think this is a steal for $1. I mean, honestly. The possibilities are endless using loose glitter. On the nail. In arts + crafts. Yeah, I just said arts + crafts. I know. I'm really cool. But im serious! 

Matte-ly In Love from Hard Candy 

The Matte top coat I used is only a couple bucks and can be found at Wal-Mart. I have been loving Hard Candy nail stuff lately. If you don't have a matte top coat, you must seal it with at least a gloss top coat. If you have no top coat, the glitter will fall off of all your nail's by the end of the day. I just really love the look of it with the matte top coat. It's how you turn glitter into confetti.

It's only been a week, but I swear I feel guilty when I don't blog! I feel as if I am not being creative or something. There has been Instagram though. And I still have been photographing. I signed up for a newsletter on tips for using a DSLR. I think I am going to do a photo-a-day challenge. This one looks really fun.  Anyone else down? Anyway's

I hope your having a great week!

some new blog post's/videos coming up:

Favorite Meal Bars

B+BW Candles

Get Tan {I will need to come up with a much wittier name. I probably won't though}

Curly Hair, Don't Care

OOTD's from the Wedding {maybe even the brides 2 outfits!}

Favorite Nude Pink Lipsticks

The GIVE-AWAY!

xoxo

Erica

New Hard Candy Nail Polish: Candy Sprinkles Nails

This year the trend for nail polish seems to be cream or pastel base's, with different color glitters. Since my 2 favorite nail polishes are glitter and pastels, you know I am in love with this trend. I already own China Glaze's It's a Trap-Eze which is that same concept. Now I own Hard Candy's Cotton Candy Pink.

I had a little bit of trouble choosing between a few of them. They had a couple pastels colors, but pink is always my favorite. When I seen that Cotton Candy Pink had navy blue, and silver glitter pieces in it, I had to buy it! Navy blue and baby pink are my favorite color combo- so pretty! 

Looking on the site now, I see they have an even lighter color pink with the same color glitters called Pixie Pink. That would have looked even better next to my pale skin. Haha!....But seriously.

Your looking at 3 coats there. 

The cream base is a little bit more opaque than I thought it would be, actually. I love how you can see the glitters underneath the last coat from the 1st and 2nd coat. It looks cool! 

Hard Candy also has matte top coat {Matte-ly in Love} that I love putting over It's a Trap-Eze! {Im wearing it today like that!} and I think it would look pretty over top any of the nail polishes from the Candy Sprinkles line, too! Too bad they don't ever run BOGO sales at Wal-Mart! 

Check out the site {or Wal-Mart} because they have some other new, different, nail polish lines. A duo chrome line {Crushed Chromes}, a neon duo chrome line {Itsy Glitsy}, and 2 other glitter lines that look really cool {Crystal Confetti}+ {Glitteratzi}. 

I should have bought one from each line!...It isn't too late!.

What do you guys think?

Are you into these glitter polishes?

alrite,

c'yah!

♥Erica

Dont forget to vote on the sidebar for the giveaway!

The Things I Loved in January

Hey! Time for my favorite things from January! I have adopted a lot of new techniques this month which you will see. I also have been doing a little something different in terms of my normal blush colors. Lot's of good stuff this month! I hope you enjoy (:

Products Mentioned:

John Frieda -Luxurious Volume- Blow Dry Lotion- Root Booster
2 rules to make this give you really good volume while still making your hair really soft. 1: add to the roots of wet hair. 2: blow dry with a big round brush. I love it (: I didn't add a picture because I feel it was getting a little bit crazy but in the collage above, it's the blue bottle right in the middle (obviously)

YBF Correcting Cream/ Illuminating Cream

 Another new technique I have been using is adding this correcting cream underneath my eyes as a concealer and adding it to the high points of my face. It brightens really well without adding shimmer. This correcting cream is a good one! Creamy, opaque, but still thin enough so it wont settle in my fine lines. Im wearing it in the video.

 Hard Candy Concealer Pencil:

 I have been using this as an eye liner for my water line! It has been working great as a nude liner. Who woulda thought? This actually came with the Glamoflauge Concealer as a little bonus. It doesn't irritate my eyes.

Revlon Colorstay Liquid Liner

Maybelline Bouncy Blush in Fresh Pink

Also wearing this in the video

Elf Studio Blush in Mellow Mauve + Giddy Gold

 Love both of these! Both colors are really different than any other blush I have. The rest are pink, haha! Giddy Gold is my top blush. It is so pretty on my cheeks. They both are a nice change up! Click on the link to go to my full review on a bunch of the ELF Studio Blushes.

Wet n Wild Single Eyeshadow in Creme Brulee

Mally Age Rebel Eyeshadow in Sugar

 Be on the look out for a full review on all of the Mally stuff from Mally's Favorite Things Kit. That includes everything I will be talking about in this video/blog post from Mally.

Mally Volumizing Mascara

Mally Lipgloss in Punch 
Review coming soon on lots of Mally stuff!

ELF Essentials Lipstick in Flirtatious
Perfect with the lip gloss. They are exactly the same color. The Essentials lipsticks are really creamy and pigmented. For $1, it doesn't get any better.

Favorite T.V. Shows

Catfish: 

I have been loving this show! I can't believe all the Catfish they actually found but I am always so happy when they document a true love story...well, as true as your going to get! Something about Nev I love. He is my crush right now.. He looks oddly similar to someone I know who is my boyfriend....hmm. Also, the music they play on that show is so good! 

Family Guy : 

I am not sure if you guys know this about me but I am a huge fan of Family Guy! It just might be my absolute favorite show and has been for years. The new one about "The Giggity Wife" was hilarious! South Park coming up a close second of course. Oh yeah, I can't forget about American Dad! We call Stella "Roger Dog" because she looks like Roger the alien when she sits up. She's so cute!

 Online Favorites:

Twitter:
Has been one of my favorite things! With #HowtobeHappyJanuary and #Jadorelavie hash tags, it has been a lot fun connecting with people, staying on track and staying inspired. I am taking this high, happy, motivated energy well into February! Howboutchu?

Lumosity:
One of my new years resolutions was to stay healthy: healthy mind, body, + soul. That includes the brain! Lumosity has been really fun. It takes a total of 5 minutes a day and it's easy and fun.  You can play 3 different games a day for free- as many times as you want. If you want full access, it's something like $7 a month. I just do the free games. 

Favorite Bloggers:  

Beauty:
Elle Sees:  
This girl is freakin' creative! She always has themed blog post's and things going on over on her blog. Right now is Love Week  

Healthy:
Bess Be Fit:
I just found her a couple of days ago but I am a big fan of hers. She is always making up really good workouts and recipes and how she uses Photoshop {or Gimp} to bring a certain finesse to each one reminds me of how I like to post recipes here. Am I even making sense? Just go check her out and you will see what I mean!

That's just about everything! I have some food favorites as I have been back to eating healthy but this would be way too long if I added those too! Thank you for reading!

xoxo
Erica

Glitter + Matte = Confetti

So lately, I have been adding my Hard Candy Matte Top Coat on top of every single polish I own. I have tried it over cream finishes (nice), duo chrome finishes (really cool), white polishes (don't recommend it unless your going for that white-out look) & my favorite would probably be glitter polishes. I was inspired to buy it from all of my favorite nail bloggers. They always use glitter underneath a top coat and it always looks so freaking cool. It looks like confetti. It still has a little bit of a shine to it, but you can see the colors in the glitter more vibrantly as opposed to seeing the sparkle. I have had people ask me "how did you do that?!" Of course I will always love my glitter polishes with a normal top coat, but if your like me and you have lots of different nail polishes with limited amount of finishes (cream, duo chrome, cream w/flex of glitter, and glitter) the matte top coat is really a fun way to mix it up. And by the way, my nails aren't in the best shape, but I just had to share this!

The glitter is called Rockstar Pink and it has bright pink glitter, with purple glitter, blue glitters with some golden glitters it looks like. You can see for yourself:

I have tried the matte top coat over every single glitter I own. The one's the matte top coat look the best over is the glitter with at least 2-3 different colors in it, and the glitter with the tiny glitters as opposed to some tiny glitters and some chunky glitter. Like I mentioned, it just looks like confetti that way. Either way, the matte top coat looks great over any glitter polish for something different. If your not into the matte polishes, this would be a great way to try to get into it because it's not a matte finish per say. More of a confetti finish. using it with cream polishes is so-so but it brings the glitter polishes to a whole new level! Im in love!

Do you guys like the matte polish trend?

Whats your favorite way to use a matte top coat?

thank you for reading!

all the best,

Erica

♥Wal-Mart Shopping Trip♥

Hey!

I have been doing some shopping here and there for the past couple weeks! I seriously love shopping! Shopping for clothes, makeup, books, & pointless things I probably don't need. I love shopping online. I love fake shopping online. Putting stuff in my cart and not buying it...yah no, just in case! I even love grocery shopping! I am the 1 that does the grocery shopping. Looking at different ads, calculating it all out, & finding inspiration from foodie blogs is my specialty! (: I think it would be fun to do a grocery shopping haul & maybe I will one day, but for now let me show you what I got at Wal-Mart!

1. Suave Mousse
I cannot tell you how many times I have re-purchased this. I have been using it on my hair since the 8th grade! First off, it smells amazing and you + other people could smell it throughout the day. It creates volume when added to the roots. I have wavy hair and what I have always used it for was for the days I wanted my hair to hold my natural curls and waves and didn't feel like straightening it or using a curling iron. I scrunch this into my hair, while my damp head of hair is flipped upside down (this and a couple other great curling products) and blow dry. The wetter the hair, the better to control frizz and give you natural curls. It's not going to make your hair look wet, or crunchy if you know what I mean. It is such a staple, I don't think I have ever even mentioned it here!

2. Hard Candy Matte Polish (Matte-ly in love):

I have wanted this for weeks! I have seen a nail blog or 2 put it over shimmery polishes, glitter polishes, & duo-chromes and have really wanted to give it a go. Right now I am wearing it over Blue It! from Sally Hansen. It's so pretty! If your on my main page & have a chance to scroll down, then you already know there will be at NOTW or 2 feat. Matte-ly in Love! As you can see I have been a little obsessive with nail polishes and nail art!

3. Hard Candy "Glow Away" Bronzer and Highlighting Duo:
It doesn't look like you get very much of either colors, but I have been looking for a nice bronze highlight. We will see if it works out. The bronze color has an orange undertone which I happen to like because I am pretty light. Orange undertones make me look more natural for the most part. Some other bronzers make me look muddy if it's too deep or leaning too much toward a brown undertone. For reference, I have cool undertones in my skin so that could be why too.

4. Dog Harness
I can't say this is really exiting (unless you are a proud new owner of your baby puppy!) but Stella needed another one badly. She chewed hers up and now the buckle will come off when she pulls hard enough on her old one. We were at the park and she was barking and pulling away to go see some other doggie's, and she got off of her leash because her old harness was busted. I was afraid she was gunna run over and either bark/bite/be mean/jump and play. You never know with her! She's wound up! When she got to the other doggie's, she stopped dead in her tracks, not barking or anything. She just wanted to sniff & sniff them! Good dog! She usually loves other doggies & kitties! It's people she is weary of! Smart puppy! LOL

I am positive I will mention these things even more in depth (besides the dog harness!) after I have used them to give you a proper review! I heart Wal-Mart.

Have you bought anything good from Wal-Mart or Hand Candy Lately?

Thank you for reading!

xoxo
Erica

Hard Candy Fox in a Box in Truth or Dare

I have always seen Hard Candy and bought a lipgloss that I loved from them a few years back but haven't really gave them another look.

Fox in a Box in Truth or Dare: ($6) This box really caught my eye, out of the whole row of cosmetics. I have been having a love affair with all things blush oriented and my love for pale/bubblegum pink blushes (or just color in general) made me wanna try this out. I also loved how the other side was a bronzer. Another plus is that the bronzer only has just the slightest bit of shimmer - I actually thought it was matte at first look. I love the idea of taking a blush brush, flat top, angled brush (what ever my preference for the day), swiping it across both colors, paying attention not to mix them too much, then applying both my contour (bronzer) and blush at the same time. Another option you have with this is to mix both the color together and use it that way: all over powder, blush, or bronzer. I had to have this baby!

I think Hard Candy was going for a Benefit type of feel with these boxes and this particular box reminds me of Benefit's "10" box, although they are not dupes by any means. I don't have Benefit's "10" powder, but they are clearly very different. Totally different colors. 10 has more of a highlight/bronzer thing going on. With Hard Candy's Fox in a Box line, the pan doesn't reach the bottom of the box, which is fine with me. There is 0.20 oz for $6, which is fair.

Bronzer Side: Even though this powder cannot really compare to a high end bronzer simply because it doesn't blend as easy as my Laura Gellar one does for example. I apply both of them the same way, my Laura Gellar Baked Blush in Brighten in Honey Dipped and the darker side of my Fox in a Box Truth or Dare, swirling brush into powder and then tapping off the excess. When I go to apply Honey Dipped, I do notice that it doesn't take much blending to get the color exactly where I want it. I like my contour color to kind of fade into my natural skin color eventually and with Honey Dipped there is no blending required. When I apply Truth or Dare, I find that the powder kinda just stays where ever your brush lands first (which for me would be at the top of my "fishy face"). It does take a few strokes to pull it down my face and blend it out. I do sometimes like to go back in with a clean brush just to do the trick.

As for the blush side, there really isnt much blending to do. There is some, but not as much as the bronzer side. When I apply blush, once I see the color on my face, I stop application. I don't do this with bronzer because I would want it to be a little bit more visible to create a shadow. What I like about the blush is that I really do not need a light hand, it doesn't pack on the color making me borderline clown status. Some of you may consider this a negative point, chalking it up to not having enough pigment. For me, this is perfect. Have I mentioned it makes for a really pretty color on my cheekies? it does! I love the color of it.

For $6 I do think this was a really great powder as it kills 2 birds with one stone. So 2 different powders, at $3 a piece. I can even go a step further and say it kills 3 birds with one stone making it $2 a piece for each color you can achieve. Can I even go a step further and include the brush it comes with as an investment.....not quite. I am not a brush snob, I always give them a go when they come with products. I personally like the velour puff most powders come with over any brush I have but with this blush brush, it just isn't the case. I find I get better application's when I use my Sigma F40 which is an angled brush. Even my Mark. Flat Top Kabuki brush will fit right into the box, so fear not if you purchase this box powder...as long as you have another good brush of course. I do leave the brush in it's elastic band in the box because it looks so cute sitting there. It is just there for decoration though. I wouldn't count on it.

Overall: I really like the powder and I find myself using it a lot. That could be because I just bought it like a month ago but I really do think it will be in a few favorites posts in the future. It is a beautiful powder. I am giving it a  

4 out of 5. 

The reason I am not giving it a 5

a.) The bronzer side isn't as blendable as I would prefer although it isn't impossible 

b.) the brush it comes with sucks, but it is cute.

Good Points:

a.) price $6

b.)the fact you are getting 3 different options with one powder, a contour, a blush, & the mixture of the 2
 c.) the blush side is beautiful and looks really nice on

d.) the packaging is so adorable I like to keep it out of the drawer.

You can grab this at Wal-Mart and that is the only place I have seen Hard Candy stuff.. Looking back on this review I seriously cannot believe I had that much to say about a freaking blush! haha! I guess I am just a beauty blogger at heart! I hope all of this info gave you guys some incite on it if you were on the fence about buying it.

Has anybody tried this? Whatcha think? Have you tried anything else Hard Candy? If so, What is your absolute favorite Hand Candy product?

As always, thank you so much for reading! If you made it through this thing, haha! 

xoxo,

Erica J