ALIQUID Lacquer Adopt a Shelter Dog Charity Polish 2016 Swatch & Review

It's October again! Indie brand ALIQUID Lacquer is celebrating Adopt a Shelter Dog Month with creating another limited edition polish to support the ASPCA. Their previous efforts have raised almost $700 over the past two years! This year they are teaming up with TwinkledT to also release some cute vinyls for doggie themed nail art.

Press Sample

Dog Ate My Homework is a berry-tinted jelly with holographic and iridescent microglitter, gold flakies and blue glass flecks. Since it is a jelly it is pretty sheer, but that allows the gorgeous glitz inside to pop and layer to give a complex look. You could build this up on it's own or layer it on top of an opaque base color for a different look. I used three coats here.

The included TwinkledT vinyl sheet comes with 24 decals and 24 stencils in lots of cute designs. These worked really nicely for me, and being a beginner, I think I did pretty well with them! I used my go-to opaque white crème to fill in the heart-paw and dog stencils. I also put on a coat of matte transforming top coat to give the polish another look.

About the cause: About 3.9 million dogs enter U.S. shelters every year, and 1.2 million dogs are euthanized (800,000 of them pit bulls and pit bull mixes like our dog Trudy). Adopt a Shelter Dog Month seeks to call attention to the plight of these animals and to encourage people to adopt dogs rather than going to a breeder. No matter your preferences, you're bound to find a rescue dog that fits perfectly into your home! Click here to read all about pet adoption!

The vision of the ASPCA is "a humane community in which all animals are treated with respect and kindness." Donations to the ASPCA support a variety of causes, including:
•Grants to shelters nationwide
•Spay/neuter and microchipping programs
•Adoption, fostering and relocation programs
•Investigation and seizure of abused animals
•Lobbying for anti-cruelty legislation

This polish will only be available in the month of October from ALIQUID Lacquer's website. You can purchase it for $13 and $6 of that will go to the ASPCA! Since I received this polish for review, I have donated the $6 that would've been given to the ASPCA had I purchased this.

If you are a dog lover, cat enthusiast, or just want to support a great charity for animals, please consider donating or purchasing this awesome polish!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

KBShimmer Winter 2015 Collection Swatches & Review

Hey heeeyy KBShimmer! I have the Winter 2015 collection from them to share with you today. There are 14 polishes in this bunch and they are all great, as usual haha. So let's take a look! I hope you like them as much as I do! :)

Press Sample

Claws And Effect is a midnight blue holographic polish with color shifting blue to pink glass fleck shimmer bits. The shimmer is front and center in lower lights, while the holographic comes out more in bright light. This was a little thin, but not difficult to control. Two coats was all I needed for full opacity.

For Fox Sake is a dusty, red leaning orange crème with the greatest name of any polish ever. This had the typical KBShimmer crème formula, amazing application and opaque in two coats. Almost a one coater though!

Brrr-tiful Dreamer has a creamy greyed out purple base with aqua, silver, purple, and fuchsia glitters. The base on this guy is pretty opaque so I only needed two coats. You'll always want a glossy top coat for these types of polishes to make the finish nice and level.

Owl Miss You is a soft beigey neutral tan filled with shifty gold and green metallic flakes and some warm metallic shimmer. This was thin and a little sheer on the first coat. Not runny though, so it was easy to apply and build up. I used three coats.

Chilly Pepper is another awesome crème, a bright red that's perfect for the holiday season. I had no issues with the application, opaque in two coats.

Smoke Signal is a dusty light grey crelly polish with different sizes of orange, red, and aqua holographic glitters. I absolutely love grey polishes, so I am head over heels with this one. The base was a bit light on this one so I used three coats, but you might only need two.

Kind Of A Big Dill is a deep spruce green jelly loaded with small and mini silver holographic glitters. It was kinda sheer, due to the jelly-ness, and wasn't quite as opaque as I wanted on two coats, so I layered on a third. This is one of my favorite types of polishes KBShimmer comes out with. We saw an awesome blue version from them in the Fall collection, so I hope she keeps adding to this family!

Coal In One is a charcoal grey linear holographic polish. This has a very strong holo rainbow effect, really vibrant. Excellent formula and opaque in two coats.

How Corn-y is inspired by Indian corn. It's a muted warm yellow crelly with burgundy, gold, red, and orange glitters. This guy has a ton of glitter in it, so you will have to manipulate it a little to cover your nail the way you want. I had some bunching of glitters, but it wasn't difficult to fix. This is three coats.

Fleece Navidad is soft, silvery light grey polish with holographic sparkle and color shifting blue to purple micro shimmer flakes. I already told you how much I love a good grey, so this is another winner for me. This is easy to apply, no issues. I used three coats for full opacity. Dries slightly dull so use a top coat for shine. Be careful when removing this one as the shimmer migrates and can get all over your skin.

sELFie is a holiday mix of holographic green, red, and silver glitter in a clear base. I layered one coat of this over Kind Of A Big Dill. I was really happy to see how much glitter I was able to get out on one coat with no effort, so you can probably build this up to opacity in three coats. I LOVE this combination! So blingy!

Oh Holo Night is a blingy holographic glitter topper featuring silver and blue holographic hexes and mini stars. I wore one coat of this over Coal In One and I love the result. This is easy to work with and spreads easily with great payoff. The glitter can sink in the bottle so I left mine upside down for a few minutes before I put it on.

Yule Worthy has a warm burgundy purple leaning brown base filled to the brim with metallic microflakes. The glitter in this can shift to looking either silver or gold depending on what lighting you're in, but I'm pretty sure it's silver. Great formula that is very simple to apply. Two coats. This is another one you'll have to be careful in removing because the shimmer migrates.

Toying Around is KBShimmer's 4th annual edition charity polish; $4 from each bottle will be donated to Toys for Tots! So obviously this is inspired by toys, it has a pale rainbow of matte glitters in squares, circles, triangles and hexes in a clear base with a bit of holographic micro glimmer. This is one coat over Chilly Pepper. I had to manipulate and place the glitter pieces a bit because you get a ton on your brush. So cute!

These are all available now on the KBShimmer website for customers in the US. The crèmes are $7.50 and the glitters and holos are $8.75. International customers are able to order from the Harlow & Co. website, based in Canada. Tell me what you think of this collection! My favorites are Yule Worthy, Kind of a Big Dill, sELFie and Claws and Effect. Let me know your picks and we'll see you again soon!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

ALIQUID Lacquer Adopt A Shelter Dog Charity Polish Swatch & Review

Happy October my cookies! This year has totally flown by, I don't know where it has gone! I have a special polish from indie brand ALIQUID Lacquer to show you today, a charity polish that benefits the ASPCA for Adopt a Shelter Dog Month! Below is the press release for the polish they created called See Spot Run.

Press Sample

October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month! This limited edition polish will only be available in October. We will donate $5 from each purchase to the ASPCA! Each order will also include a free magnet featuring our dog Trudy's pawprint (it's the perfect size for your Helmer drawer!). We're aiming to collect $500, but we can only do it with your help!

About 3.9 million dogs enter U.S. shelters every year, and 1.2 million dogs are euthanized (800,000 of them pit bulls and pit bull mixes like Trudy). Adopt a Shelter Dog Month seeks to call attention to the plight of these animals and to encourage people to adopt dogs rather than going to a breeder.

The vision of the ASPCA is "a humane community in which all animals are treated with respect and kindness." Donations to the ASPCA support a variety of causes, including:

• Grants to shelters nationwide
• Spay/neuter and microchipping programs
• Adoption, fostering and relocation programs
• Investigation and seizure of abused animals
• Lobbying for anti-cruelty legislation

See Spot Run has a sapphire blue jelly base with a mix of circle and hex glitters in pink, purple, red, blue and silver with silver holographic microglitter and aqua sparks. This was a little bit sheer due to the jelly-ness, so I built it up in three coats. I love the complex look of the glitters through the base, it reminds me of a pond with flowers peeking out from the depths!

This polish will only be available in the month of October from ALIQUID Lacquer's website. You can purchase it for $11 and $5 of that will go to the ASPCA! I love dogs, and all of my animals have been rescued from shelters, so this cause is near and dear to my heart. Since I received this polish for review, I have donated the $5 that would've been given to the ASPCA had I purchased this.

This is a lovely polish and it is supporting a fabulous cause, so help them beautiful puppies and kitties today and adopt or donate or purchase this polish! Love ya!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Glam Polish Bad Hair Day Limited Edition Alopecia Awareness Shade Swatch & Review

Hi there and hello lovely reader! Today I am here with a new limited edition lacquer from Australian indie brand Glam Polish! They have produced this shade for the month of September to help raise funds and awareness for Alopecia, an autoimmune condition that causes people to lose their hair from all areas of the body, including the scalp, for which there is no known cure.

Press Sample

Image via Glam Polish

Approximately 60% of people diagnosed are under the age of 20, and for children especially, hair loss can have a negative impact on their self-esteem, which in many cases is linked to anxiety, depression, impaired academic performance and lack of social inclusion. To support children affected by the condition, Australia Alopecia Areata Foundation & Variety grants wigs - helping children gain their confidence and feel more comfortable amongst their peers.

* Alopecia (al-oh-PEE-shah) is a HAIRLOSS Condition, that can cause round patches of baldness, or total body hairless.

* There are 3 Main Types of Alopecia: Alopecia Areata - round patches / bald spots, Alopecia Totalis - complete Scalp baldness and Alopecia Universalis - total hair loss from body and scalp.

*Alopecia Areata is a believed to be a AUTOIMMUNE disease: the immune system mistakenly attacks the body (hair follicles) instead of defending it.

*Alopecia Areata affects MEN & WOMEN equally. It can occur at ANY AGE, often begins during childhood or early teen years. It does not discriminate on race.

*Alopecia is NOT Contagious.

Bad Hair Day is a linear holographic medium-deep navy blue with silver, navy and bright blue holographic microglitter. It has an amazing formula, just like all the other Glam Polish shades I've tried. Covers completely in two coats. It does dry a little bit textured with all of the glitter, but a layer of top coat will smooth it out just fine.

The color was named by 13-year-old Natalia Voss, who lives with Alopecia Areata. Some days it can be very hard covering up patches of missing hair or even looking at your hair in the mirror when you have Alopecia Areata so we thought this was the perfect name for our fundraising shade.

Bad Hair Day will be available for purchase starting September 4th at 6 pm EST (US) on www.glampolish.com.au. $7.00 AUD from each bottle sold of this polish goes to the Alopecia Areata Association of Australia Foundation Inc. to help fund wings for children with the condition and aid in educating against bullying. If you would like to help the cause without purchasing the polish, you can donate HERE. Since I was given the opportunity to review this shade for free, I contributed the amount that would have been donated had I purchased it. 

Tell me what you think about this beautiful glittery lacquer! I am head over heels in love with it! It supports a very worthy cause and of course it makes my nails look pretty! I'll be back with some more Glam Polish tomorrow, so stay tuned!

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Elixir Lacquers

I have a few polishes to show you today from Elixir Lacquers. They are an indie brand run by the same gal who has the blog Nail Polish Wars. She has awesome nails btw. This is a new-to-me brand and these are the first shades I've tried.

The first guy is from their holiday selection, called Snowman Suite. This guy has a clear base with smallish satin orange hexes, medium matte white hexes, large matte black circles, and tiny iridescent micro hexes. I wasn't super excited about this in the bottle but I like how it looks on the nail. I'm never going to be a fan of large circle glitters though, haha. This is two coats with topcoat over BB Couture Black Velvet.

Next is Red Nose, which has a clear base loaded with fiery copper orange holographic micro glitter. I was expecting this to be red but it is definitely orange. I had to work to get the glitter to be opaque, but it wasn't as hard as I had anticipated. My swatch shows three coats with topcoat. This is part of Elixir Lacquer's Lov-a-Bully charity bottles, where 10% of each sold will be donated to the Atlanta Bully Rescue, an organization that works to reduce the number of unwanted bully breeds (including pit bulls) in Atlanta and surrounding areas.

Another polish that helps with the above mentioned charity is Happy Tears. This polish has a slightly shimmery royal blue sheer base packed with mini blue squares and medium matte white hexes. I think this would work best for layering but I tried it on its own and I liked it. This is three coats.

Smokey Coat is another Lov-a-Bully polish. A fun part of these is they are all named after and inspired by a sweet pit bull doggy that was rescued by the foundation being supported! This polish is a deep charcoal grey with a dash of silver holographic bits. This one went on like butter, very nice. Two coats here.

Here is Forever Home over Smokey Coat. This polish, also one who benefits the Atlanta Bully Rescue, is named so in accordance with a rescued pets' home that will be theirs forever! It has a clear base with large red hearts, mini blue squares, and medium black & white hexes. I really love this one and it might be my favorite of Elixir's so far. I wish the hearts were a little easier to grab in the bottle but larger glitter is always a challenge. This is two coats.

You can get these and other polishes at their website http://www.elixirlacquers.com/. The full size bottles are $10. It doesn't appear as if they are selling minis right now. What do you think of these? I think it's such a great thing that here Lov-a-Bully polishes benefit such a worthwhile cause, I am such a dog lover! Have you tried Elixir yet?

Products provided for review.

Glitter Gal Sale and Giveaway

Please enjoy this contest and sale information from Leah Ann via shop.llarowe.com.

The helicopter crash in Afghanistan killed soldiers, fathers, husbands, sons and friends. The members of the military and their families make extraordinary sacrifices for our freedom and deserve our support. Being from a military family I know first hand the sacrifices that these families endure with selfless service to our country.

I will be giving away a set of the Glitter Gal Red, Light As A Feather (white) and Marine Blue to honor these fallen soldiers and their families. This will be a random drawing to be held on September 11, 2011. On the same day, as a tribute to these fallen soldiers and their families, 50% of all sales of Glitter Gal Red, Marine Blue and Light As A Feather on shop.llarowe.com or my Ebay site llarowe, will be donated to the following organization to benefit the families of these soldiers:

http://nswfoundation.org/

Thank you so much for your support and God bless our soldiers and their families for their sacrifices for our freedom!

Wall Photos

https://contestmachine.com/hosted/promotion/Y0ZFWUT1C2

Julep Summer Collection: Swatches & Review

Hello everyone! I am sorry for the lack of writing, but I'm back home in Utah and hopefully back in the swing of blogging. I mean, I don't have a job right now, what else am I going to do (h'yuk yuk yuk).

I was introduced to Julep nail polish from reading NailPro magazine. They interviewed the owner/creator Jane Park about her salon, which started five years ago. Her salon atmosphere is all about comfort and cleanliness. She wanted to create a salon where women can go and get a quality service and have an enjoyable time. I was wishing I had somewhere like that to go in my area! Too many salons have sanitation issues, rush folks in and out, there are language barriers a lot of the time, and there isn't enough room to make it a conversation friendly atmosphere. After reading about her passion, I knew that I needed to check out the nail polish brand she created. Especially after I heard that $1 from every polish sold goes to organizations that support women.

I have the new Julep nail colors for Summer 2011 to show you today, they are so bright and fun. Niecy, named for television's Niecy Nash, is a gorgeous bold pink that wears perfectly on the toes or nails. The formula is like butter and it was very nicely opaque in two coats. Three of Niecy Nash's favorite charities, Define Your Pretty, Dress for Success, and Girls Inc. are being supported right now by the Julep brand.

Blake is a pretty and happy yellow crème. I am not sure why yellow is coming into such "vogue" lately but it is and Blake is right on trend. Yellows are notoriously streaky, but this one was only a tad bit so. This is three coats.

Jamie is a dark turquoise crème that is super chic and ultra-saturated. I couldn't believe how opaque this was. It's almost a one-coater, but I used two for consistency.

You can visit their Facebook profile to vote on which organizations they should support through their "Powered by Girlfriends" program. And you can get Julep polishes from their website www.julep.com for $14 each.

AND extra special for my readers, Jane is going to let the first 100 followers that enter "KELLIE" at checkout on julep.com receive $15 off any first online order of $30 or more. Isn't that totally amazing?! So hurry quick to take advantage of this generous offer. I have about four more colors from Julep to review soon, so stay tuned!

Products provided for review.

The Hungry Asian's Originals: Charity Trio

My wonderfully talented friend Kae from The Hungry Asian blog recently started selling some franken polishes she mixes up herself. She decided to give the proceeds from the profits of her mini sets to Red Cross Japan to help rebuild after the devastation earlier this year. The mini sets all include her two most popular polishes, Strawberry and Cookies n' Cream plus another polish. There are currently three or four different mini sets to choose from on sale now I believe. I got the one that included Watermelon.

Strawberry is a red crème with a black glitter speckles. The exact thing I think of when I hear Strawberry in the context of a nail polish. This is two coats.

Cookies n' Cream is a super awesome white crème polish with black glitter speckles. Totally reminds me of the ice cream, yummmm :) This is three coats.

Watermelon is a juicy pink jelly crème with tons of icy green crystal micro glitter pieces. This is so pretty and fun and perfect for summer, I love this! Two coats.

You can buy this set from The Hungry Asian blog shop for $15, and remember all proceeds from the mini sets go to Red Cross Japan :D

Lex Cosmetics

Lex Cosmetics is run by Lex a twenty-something make-up lover who wanted a particular color of nail polish she couldn't quite find. So she made her own! Lex wanted women to be involved in the creation process with her nail polish company so all the colors that are produced come from an idea by a consumer. Uhh, could this be the best idea ever?! We all go crazy over custom colors, like Rescue Beauty Lounge's recent fan collection and lots of us "franken" our own polish colors when we can't find exactly what we're looking for.

Lex Cosmetics also lets the polish designer choose a charity foundation to donate a $1 of the proceeds to, which is amazing. I love reading the "color stories" of the polish colors Lex has on her site, they're interesting and inspiring. Every so often she has a vote to determine what the next color she makes will be, you can see the polish ideas that are in the running on her website.

Toast is a creamy pale nude jelly crème, one of the best I've ever used. Almost perfect in two coats, but I used three. The color story behind Toast by fan Kate is,

"I chose the name because it reminds me of what you're wearing when hanging in on a weekend with your boyfriend, watching movies and making breakfast in bed... hence 'Toast'!

I like it too because its casually elegant - perfect for everything from a job interview to a first date and it's great to compliment bright spring colors because it's neutral." - $1 from each purchase of Toast goes to Habitat for Humanity.

Sassy Pants is a pinky fuchsia crème, wonderfully pigmented in two coats and super shiny. Bri, the creator of this polish says,

"Sassy Pants is the color to get a girl up and moving. I hope it inspires women to let their sassy selves out." - $1 from each Sassy Pants purchase is donated to Girls on the Run.

I got these to review but will definitely be purchasing some colors from Lex Cosmetics soon. I really love the charity aspect of this company, it makes me feel great helping people and getting a quality nail polish at the same time is a win-win. You can get Lex polishes from www.LexCosmetics.com for $10 each.

Products provided for review.

discover the journey with across the universe

i know i've told y'all about this before, but wanted to remind you in case you haven't sent in your photos yet.



if you can, please send a photo of yourself wearing Across the Universe to universe@lippmanncollection.com and be sure to include your name and location.  for every picture sent in, they will donate to Discover the Journey, a charity that is designed to "SPEAK UP for children in-crisis by exposing injustices affecting children around the world through story, media and art, and to ENSURE JUSTICE for children in-crisis by advocating for intervention across cultures in Love."  thank you!

xoxo,
kelliegonzo

finger paints and breast cancer awareness

if you know about nail polish and are in the US, you probably know about Sally Beauty supply. they carry tons of awesome brands of everything you could ever want, makeup, nail polish, hair care, and salon supplies. they exclusively carry a brand of nail polish called Finger Paints, that i've shown a few times before. in october, in honor of breast cancer awareness month, Sally Beauty will make a $65,000 donation to Cancer Support Community. they are committed to helping ensure that all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action, and sustained by community.

images courtesy of finger paints' pr

Finger Paints is putting out two pink colors starting October 1, 2010 (in stores and online) to help bring awareness to the cause, I'm A Survivor and I Pink I Can.

this is a cause that is close to my heart as i, and i'm sure a lot of you, have loved ones that have been afflicted and affected with this disease.

xoxo,
kelliegonzo