Monday, Monday

Hello lovelies!

I have two manicures to share with you today-short and sweet!

This is Blood moon from Stardust Polish. I love the red square glitters in this one! 

This Halloween mani was inspired by one done by my good friend Janie! It is a black to orange gradient topped with OPI's Servin' Up Sparkle and an accent nail with a spooky lil' ghost.

Are ghouls and goblins dancing on your nails this fall? Maybe a ghost, a witch or two?

Until next time!

~Kandy

It's Fall on my fingers!

Hello lovelies!
I've got a few fall manis to share with you all :)

First up is Pumpkin by Fever by Twisted Colors. This is a thermal polish that shifts from orange when warm to a brownish black when cold. It's chock full of orange microglitter that really pops when your nails are cold along with black hex glitter. Pumpkin Fever is pictured here with three coats, no undies.

Next up is Harvest moon by one of my very favorite indie makers, Stardust Polish!  This black polish is full of orange glitter in different sizes. This one was hard to photograph though it was absolutely gorgeous on...especially in the sun!

 For this mani I knew I wanted to do something with Frankenstein and though I dug and searched through many drawers and bins, I could not find the perfect slime green color I had pictured in my head. I used three different greens along with a glow in the dark top coat to get the perfect color. I also used a white base to make the greens really pop! To get this slime concoction I layered two coats each of Island Girl Aloha Color, PolishMeToGo Kiwi Squeeze (a glowy!) and Chromato-4 Limelite(also a glowy). I topped those three off with a coat of China Glaze's Ghoulish Glow. The result?

Frank glows in the dark! I finished this mani late at night like always so I didn't get the glow pic til the second day. It was pretty funny to see my nails glowing in the pitch black room when I woke up, I shocked myself! =P

This is Bugs in My Candy by BellsKandi. This Halloween cutie is a thermal that shifts from green to orange and is full of black glitter along with some shifting microglitter. It came with the cute witch charm and the real kicker? It smells like candy corn after the polish is dry! The first day I had this on I had to kind of keep my nails away from my face because the scent was pretty strong. (I have a sensitive nose and scents trigger migraines for me occasionally.) After the first day though the scent mellowed out a little and it no longer bothered my nose! I had a strange craving for candy the entire time I was wearing it...hmmm.....
  

The last mani I have for you today is what's currently on my nails now! This is Femme Fatale Lacquer's Stingy Jack, pictured here over one coat of Opi Black Onyx. Stingy Jack has a black jelly base and is full of orange, blue, silver and gold glitter in different sizes. I love this polish and it's no surprise since the name has something to do with the Nightmare Before Christmas ;)

Well lovelies, this is all the fall polish goodness I have for you today! I'm sure you can tell by now that I love Halloween themed polishes! I still have a few to swatch for you so I'll have at least one more fall mani post in store for you guys. What's on your nails? Are you still holding on to your bright summer colors or are you embracing the dark, glittery and spooky lacquer that's hauting all your favorite shops?

Til next time!

<3Kandy

Farewell Summer, Hello Fall!!!

Hello Lovelies!
Happy (almost!) October!
Fall is my favorite season and Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday so I have a lot to be excited about! I can imagine a perfect fall afternoon-snuggling on my (imaginary) porch swing in a fluffy sweater, a mug full of pumpkin spice coffee and a good book in hand, pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns on every porch and the smell of freshly crunched leaves underfoot in the air. Aaah, are you there with me? Unfortunately those kinds of days are few and far between in my neck of the woods considering we get maybe three or four days of actual Fall-like weather each year so they are even more special! I'm super excited about Halloween inpsired nail art and polishes but first I'd like to say farewell to a few summer manis! Here are a few of the brightest manis I did this summer.

Now I have to admit I've been going a little crazy buying fall and Halloween inspired polishes lately so I will definitely have plenty of gorgeous polishes to share with you! Now I'm going to officially say "see ya next year!" to the summer months and leave you with a pic to remember it by! 

Until next time! -Kandy

Show Me Your Indies! Featuring Stardust Polish, Part 1

Hello lovelies!
I have been obsessed with indie polishes lately. There are so many different color, glitter, texture and polish type variations in indie polishes than you could ever find in a department store or drugstore. For this post I'll be showing you polishes from one of my favorite indie lines, Stardust Polish.
First up is Razzleberry Rave. It is a gorgeous blue jelly loaded with blue and magenta glitter.

My camera had some difficulty catching all of the gorgeous holo and glitter in this polish. First pic is in sunlight and the following two are indoors. This polish reminds me of a blue raspberry Dum Dum lollipop!

Next up is Eat Me, my first thermal polish! I love the color of this when it is warm and the holo is just incredible! Eat Me transitions to a    when cold. Apparently I'm one of those people that run a little hotter so the color wouldn't transition naturally on my nails. I did try sticking my hand into a glass of ice water but I couldn't stand that very long, haha! I hear you have much better results if you hold an ice pack, so I'll be trying that next time!

Blue Lagoon is a bright blue shimmer that also glows in the dark!

The two polishes used for this mani are Blackbeard's Delight, a gorgeous black holo, and I'm Seeing Red, a squishy red jelly glitter. I fell in love with both of these polishes as soon as they went on my nails <3 !

Alright lovelies! That does it for post 1 of Show Me Your Indies feat. Stardust Polish! There will be a Post 2 as I have a few more of Drema's lovely creations to show you! If you'd like to check Stardust Polish out for yourself, maybe take a few home with you (you know you'll want to!) you can find them here: Stardust Polish! 

Do you own any of these lovelies yourself? What are your favorite indie brands? 

Until next time, xoKandy

Happy Fourth!

Hello lovelies!

Happy Fourth of July to those of you in the US, and happy Thursday to everyone else!

Can you guess what made up my mani today? Fireworks and glitter! On my pointer and pinky finger I have Rocket's Red Glare by Laquerlicious Unity. I love this gorgeous red glitter! Shown here in three coats. For my thumb, middle and ring fingers I used OPI's I saw... U Saw...We Saw...Warsaw(2 coats) , topped with Essie's matte top coat. To make the fireworks, I applied the glue with a thin tipped brush, then used a small spoon to sprinkle the glitter onto the glue. I used a softer brush to clear away the excess glitter...though I will admit I did blow some of the glitter into the air. It's oh so sparkly! :P 

I hope everyone has had a great day! I'm off to see some of those pretty lights in the sky!

~Kandy

May Madness

Hello lovelies!

I can't believe it's the last day of May-it's gone by so fast! I have a lot to catch up on so let's get started with the pics, shall we? =)

First up is the orange mani i did for Animal Cruelty awareness month (April). I used four different orange OPI and Essie lacquers for the water marbling, a no name Color Club for the silver glitter accent nail and a glow in the dark PopCulture polish (from my amazing friend Janie) for the pawprint on my index finger.

 Next up-Essie"s Mint Candy Apple as the undies for my fun star nails. This mani was inspired  by one of my favorite crafty nail lady's tutoriasl on Instagram using craft paper punches. I used glow in the dark polishes from JENsations (indie), Popculture Cosmetics (indie) and China Glaze. The blue glitter stars are also made from a CG polish.

 Here is the glow pic of the star mani-so fun!

This mani was for a May nail art challenge on Instagram. The category was flowers so I chose to do purple Pansies.

 This black lacquer is one of my all-time favorite black polishes. Black Onyx by OPI has the greatest vinyl-like finish. It's usually the first polish I go to when I want to wear black. It usually only takes me one coat to achieve total opacity. Swatch pictured with two coats of Black Onyx.

Teal is proving itself to be my favorite color as of late...especially. I got a good deal on a pair of teal Converse last week and I am in looove! (I'm also guilty of having an ever-growing collection of Converse ;] ) China Glaze Watermelon Rind as the main color. I love this color, especially on toes! This was the mani I did before I went on vacation. I wore this mani on the beach, digging in sand for shells at least three times, and in the water. It lasted for seven days straight with minimal tip wear and no chipping! What was the magic topcoat? Not a topcoat at all! I used two coats of JENsations Lighting glow polish because it gave this sparkly mani a great matte and textured finish. I never expected it to give such staying

power!

 Do you see a pattern emerging? I seem to have used Mint Candy Apple a lot in the last month! This mani is topped with a squashed lemming- Picture Polish Ariel's Tale. I love love love this Picture Polish <3 . It is my first and it definitely won't be my last! Thanks to Lacquer Vixen for this awesome mermaid glitter!!!

My last May-mani turned out to be my absolute favorite! I never really buy neon polish for myself. I'm always drawn to the blues and greens and glitters so cremes and neons are usually just a blur as I dive for my favorites. This color really opened my eyes and I have a new love for neons! This gorgeous neon, China Glaze Surfin' for Boys, was sent to me by my awesome friend Janie. The white crelly glitter goodness you see on my ring finger is Femme Fatale's Lucky Ducky. Lacquer Vixen squashed this and another FF lemming with our last nail mail! I loved this mani so much, it actually stayed on my nails all week!

What lacquers are you loving now? What polish finish do you find yourself reaching for more often than not?

Liebster Blog Award

Hello lovelies!
A gigantic thank you to the lovely PolishJunkie over at http://polishjunkie8.blogspot.com/ and to the lovely C over at http://onebrushbeauty.blogspot.com/ for nominating me for the Liebster Blog Award! You ladies are awesome!!!!! <3
(warning: I've got two sets of questions to answer here so this may be a long post =D )

I have seen other blogs I follow get nominated for the Liebster Awards and it is a great way to find new blogs you may never have been exposed to! It's an amazing idea an I'm honored to be nominated!

 Here are the rules:
1. Link back to the person who nominated you.
2. Write 11 facts about yourself once nominated.
3. Answer the questions from the person that nominated you.
4. Nominate blogs with 200 or less followers.
5. Create 11 questions for those bloggers to answer.

11 Random Facts About Myself
1. I am from the South...I live close to the Mississippi River! 
2. I refuse to match the polish on my nails to the polish on my toes!
3. I've always wanted to be a writer and still aspire to being published one day!
4. I don't have a favorite color...I can't choose! =P
5. I love glitter...I believe I've even been quoted as saying, "You can never have enough glitter." haha!
6. I was a vegetarian from the ages of 11 or 12 to about 18 or 19. I still barely eat any meat products!
7. One of my favorite things to do is curl up with my dogs and a good book.
8. I try to use only cruelty-free nail and beauty products!
9. I love vintage and classic cars.
10. I can fold anything...even a fitted sheet!
11. I am terrified of airplanes!

Answers to PulishJunkie's Questions
1. Would you rather have matte or shiny nails?
I love to mix them up...use a matte nail as an accent or a shiny nail as an accent for a matte mani.

2. Glitters or Cremes?
Glitters.

3. What's your favorite brand of polish?
My favorite domestic brand would have to be OPI or China Glaze. 

4. If you could only wear ONE polish for the rest of your life, what would it be?
OPI's Mad as a Hatter. I LOVE this glitter! I bought 3 bottles when the Alice in Wonderland collection was released. I'm down to 2 bottles now and will be forever sad when I run out!

5. What's the brand of polish you own the most of?
OPI

6. Do you like doing your own nails or other's better?
I don't get a chance to do other's nails much so I would have to say my own.

7. How often do you paint your nails?
At least twice a week.

8. Have you seen my blog before I nominated you to this? If so, what is your opinion on it?
I had not seen PolishJunkie's blog until she nominated me for this. But now that I've had a chance to look around I'm super impressed! She does some beautiful nail art!

9. What is a polish you really want but don't have?
Picture Polish's Blogger.

10. What is your favorite blog? (doesn't have to be a Blogger blog!)
I would have to say http://www.kandeej.com/. She's such an inspiration!

11. Do you use Instagram? If so, what is your username?
Yes! You can find me on Instagram under cinnamonkandy =D

Answers to C's Questions
1. What made you start blogging?
I've always loved to write...I used to write some long blogs back in the Myspace days!  

2. What's your guilty pleasure?
Oh man, I have to pick one?!It's a three-way tie: Tempura Cheesecake from Sekisui, Cherry Garcia from Ben & Jerry's and my mom's deviled eggs!

3. What brand could you not live without?
Urban Decay. 

4. If you were an animal, what would you be and why?
If I were an animal I would be a bird. Though I'm not a fan of heights as a human I think I would love the feeling of the wind under my wings as a bird =)

5. If you could only carry 3 makeup items in your bag, what would they be and why?
Black eyeliner-I never leave home without it!
Some form of lipbalm-my lips stay dry so this is a must! I'm loving EOS Tangerine right now.
Urban Decay Midnight Cowboy lipstick-I love this nude shimmer...I'm so sad they don't have it anymore! I'll be buying some off of Ebay or Amazon soon =(

6. Liquid or pencil liner?
Both! I use pencil liner for my waterline and to start off my winged liner. I use liquid liner on top of the pencil for my wings.

7. Is there anywhere that you would really love to travel to?
I would love to go to England, Ireland, and Japan.

8. Favorite book and why?
I simply love too many to choose a favorite! Some of my favorite authors are Dean Koontz, Anne Rice, J.K. Rowling, Jane Green and Laurell K. Hamilton. 

9. What is your classic look?
You will rarely ever see me without black winged liner on my eyes. As far as clothes go I'm a jeans, t-shirt and converse kinda girl.

10. High-end or budget products and why?
When it comes to anything I put on my skin or hair I tend to stick to high end products. I haven't found too many budget products that are cruelty-free. If you know of any, please share! =)

11. Every cloud has a silver lining, true or false?
I would have to say true. You gotta find the good in life, people!

My Nominees
Sarah at http://askthebeautyeditor.blogspot.com/
Mili at http://milimanicure.blogspot.com/
http://pagingdoctorpretty.blogspot.com/
Lisa at http://lacquervixen.blogspot.com/
Tammy at http://ohmygoshpolish.blogspot.com/
http://weloveswatches.blogspot.com/
http://addictedtoopi.blogspot.com/


My Questions for my Nominees!
1. What is your go-to beauty product?

2. What is your favorite dessert?

3. If you could only wear one shade of polish for the rest of your life, what would it be?

4. What is your favorite Indie polish brand?

5. If you could have been born in another era, what era would you pick and why?

6. Do you have any pets?

7. Coffee or tea?

8. Do you drive? If so, what kind of vehicle?

9. If you could wear a wacky or outrageous look for a day, what would it be? (Crazy haircolor, fashion, etc.)

10. What is your favorite flower?

11. Do you have any tattoos? If so, what are they?

Have fun, ladies! I look forward to reading your posts!
<3Kandy