September Wantable Box - Image Heavy

*All products were sent to me for testing and review, completely complimentary, from Wantable. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Hello everyone! After jealously eyeing all the subscription boxes other bloggers have been posting about recently, I was so excited to be asked to share Wantable and the September Wantable Box with you!!

Fresh Paint Guava - Swatch and Review

Another post?? YES! I've had this polish swatched and the pictures sitting on my computer for forever a few months.

I've gotten really horrible about doing my nails lately, so I'm trying to clear out all my old swatches in an effort to keep the blog going.

I picked up this and a few other Fresh Paint polishes at Five Below a few months ago. While Guava is definitely my favorite of those I bought, being such an amazingly gorgeous color, it was a real pain to work with! It's one of those polishes that streaks and drags, making the first coat a real eye-sore. Still, the really lovely almost neon peachy coral color works really well with my skin tone, in my opinion, bringing out the peachy tones instead of the yellow/green some polishes can bring out. I found the hassle worth it in the end.

You can see here the polish really is practically a neon in the sun.

I just had to see what this polish looked like with a coat of matte! Stunning!!

And I finally got around to trying the glitter topper I picked up at Sephora nearly a year ago!!! This is Chaotic from the Sephora X: The Toppers collection. It's a pretty standard black and white graffiti glitter, and was easy to apply. Still, probably not worth the money I paid for it given that every indie brand under the sun seems to have a black and white topper close to this at half the price ... live and learn, right?

Until next time. xoxo

Spellbound Nails Fall Polishes 2013

Hey everyone! I'm so excited to tell you about 6 new fall polishes being released Monday (that's September 9th!).

This release will include a duo, Falling for You (seen top and bottom in the middle), sold only in mini bottles. The supplies for one of these polishes would have made it either a very limited limited edition or greatly increased the price to sell (to about $10-$12 a bottle + shipping). It was decided pairing it with a less costly to make polish and selling them together would give everyone the best possible price. :)

In addition to the duo you'll find Under the Harvest Moon and Mocha for Two, two very lovely glittery bases. As well as Autumn Vixen and Fall in Love, both sparkly glitter toppers.

Visit Paint Those Piggies to see these beauties in action. Seriously, you don't want to miss this post!!

* Reading her review you will find that Forever Green was too sheer to be used how I wanted and had to be reformulated. I leave you with these two pictures of the since updated polish.

This is 3 coats of Forever Green, with top coat, in the sun. I use thicker coats and could have worn this with 2 coats, but 3 is optimal if you are a weirdo and somehow manage to use thinner coats. ;)

This is 3 coats, with top coat, in my lightbox. If you look closely at this one you can really see the flecks of purple and green shimmery glitter.

Can I just end with how much I hate sun pictures? I have my lightbox and my camera all set up for the perfect skin tone and 'blurring' capabilities ... and the sun hides nothing! :p

Glowing Galaxies - Galaxy Nails

Hello everyone! What's this? A real post you ask? With actual nail art?? YES! I bring you more galaxy nails!! I've been wanting to try doing galaxy nails again (and here too) ever since I saw Very Emily's Galaxy Drips of last September.

I used Petites Night as a base, sponged on a very light coat of China Glaze Blue Year's Eve. Then added some fairly random sponge blobs with Petites Raspberry Ice, Pure Ice Touch Me Softly, and Petites Figi. Since I don't have any plain glitter toppers, I put a scoop of holographic micro-glitter into a drop of base and lightly topped the entire nail with glitter. Lastly, I used a nail art brush and some white polish to create a star on each nail.

I love the pinky nail on this one. Something about the way the light hit it makes it look like a shooting star with the trail of purple streaming behind. :)

I liked the slightly textured look of this mani without top coat, but I couldn't resist adding some Seche Vite. It really made the colors pop.

And the best part? It glows in the dark!! This is one thick coat of a glow polish I'm testing for release ... and I used it over the black - BEFORE I even started sponging. I love that it glows through all the sponged on polishes but gets hidden behind the stars. It created an awesome effect, didn't it?

Guest Post: PMP Pop Up

Hello my lovelies! I bring you exciting news. One of my bestest friends in the whole wide world, Charlie, of Pocket Money Polishes, is a rising star in the UK polish world ... and she's coming to the US. Or rather, her polish is!!

Yes, PMP Glitter Babies will be here soon!!! Stephanie, the brains and muscle behind PMP USA, is here to tell you more.

Born in the USA

Hi Everyone! 

Ashley from Spellbound Nails has given me a great opportunity to introduce myself and what my brand is all about!

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Stephanie Milne. I am from New Jersey. And yes, I have the attitude that comes along with it.  Yes, the Jersey Shore is real. Yes, most girls are orange. We know how to rock a poof and most importantly your born knowing exactly how to "fist pump". And "gorillas" don't just live at the zoo! 

I have my Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Rider University and have my Masters of Business Administration from Florida Institute of Technology. So, you're probably thinking "How in the heck did I get involved with an UK Indie nail polish company?"  Well, it's easy! A very close friend of mine, Charlie Smith, created Pocket Money Polishes. Her business is rapidly growing and has asked me to help her grow the PMP empire.   We have gotten a high response in the UK that we thought it was a good idea to bring PMP to America. This is where I come in! 

Pocket Money Polishes is proud to present Pocket Money Polishes USA! We are an extension of PMP. All of our products are handmade to order with love. Our mission at PMP and PMP USA is to bring our consumers a high quality, unique, one-of-a-kind glitter nail polish at a lower cost than the mainstream brands. Our collection offers a wide variety of colors and shapes to spice up your everyday nail look.

Brown Eyed Girl

In addition to our uniqueness, all of our nail polishes, also known as, Glitter Babies are 3 free, meaning they contain no toluene, formaldehyde, or DBP. They are also cruelty free!   Who doesn't like trying to be green and save the animals? WIN! 

As a PMP ambassador, I will be opening our pop up store for three days only! Our store will open September 13-15 and our supply is very limited. Our purpose of this pop-up store is to see the response we would get if we made PMP USA permanent. Wouldn't that be awesome?! Ummm ... Yes!

Some of the Glitter Babies we are offering at our pop-up store include: Ice Ice Baby, I Want Candy, Brown Eyed Girl, Boogie, Fever, and Starry Starry Night. Charlie has even created an exclusive Glitter Baby just for us called Born in the USA!! We announce a new Glitter Baby to our line each week until the opening of our pop-up store. Please check us out on Facebook for more information.  You can follow us on twitter @pocketmoneyusa or email us: glitterbabiesusa@gmail.com.

On our Facebook page we offer photos of all of our Glitter Babies, reviews from people all over the world including a review from Los Angeles' hottest blogger Melissa Ann and information regarding our store.

School's Out

Each Glitter Baby will be sold for $6.50 each with a standard shipping rate of $3.50. Also, if you spend $30 get FREE shipping!  We are currently holding a contest, for every 100 followers, I will select a random follower to receive a FREE Glitter Baby! Tell your friends about PMP USA! Remember we offer 3 free and cruelty free handmade one-of-a-kind glitter nail polish. Tell your friends to like our page. You might even get a freebie out of it!

To contact PMP USA like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @pocketmoneyusa or email is: glitterbabiesusa@gmail.com

Have a Polished Up day!! 

Spellbound Nails Restock + Discontinued Polishes

Hey everyone! I thought I'd drop in and let you know my Etsy shop, Spellbound Nails, will be restocked tomorrow (9/2). This restock will come with a $0.50 increase in shipping costs. After more than a handful of broken bottles shipping in bubble mailers (complete with fragile stickers) I felt it less costly in the long run to make the switch to shipping in boxes.

The much loved (and often sold out) Watermelon Seeds, Fuchsia-ristic, Jaded for Green, and All of Time and Space will be part of tomorrow's restock, so if you're looking to buy them be there tomorrow! Haven't seen them yet? Check out the pics below.

Watermelon Seeds

Fuchsia-ristic

Jaded for Green

All of Time and Space

Now for the other part of my news. These polishes will be discontinued October 1st. That should give you enough time to buy them if you want them.

Fairy Wings, the Spring Collection

As well as the individual listings for this collection ...

A Little Sp-Wing in your Step

Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust

Happy Thoughts

Bibbidi Bobbidi Blue

Also retiring are these polishes:

Orange Sherbet

Jasmine

Mint to Be

Cucumber Melon

Strawberry Mousse

Pink Lemonade

Galactic Glitter

That's all for now, folks. I hope to see you at the restock. :)

Vacation Custom Hoodie REVIEW

We all love taking home a souvenir of our vacation, right?? I know it's not just my family or there wouldn't be so many nick-knack shops along the boardwalk!

While the kids go for key-chains and shark teeth necklaces the adults of my family usually pick up a t-shirt or a hoodie to take home.

After walking past a shop and seeing a paint splatter t-shirt on one of our first walks I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted a Virginia Beach paint splatter hoodie to take home ... and it had to be a zip-up! I always feel like I'm choking when I wear a regular hoodie. Sounds hard to find, right?

Yep, it was impossible! (Unless I wanted to pay almost $100 at one place) We walked the boardwalk going into every single clothing store until about 20th street. Our hotel was on 2nd street; that's a lot of walking! Everyone else came out with their souvenirs, and I thought it was a lost cause for me. I was sure I was going to come home disappointed. Then one of my nieces just had to pick up one last souvenir. Some friendship bracelets. They couldn't be just any friendship bracelets either. They had to be the ones she saw the other day at one specific store ... even though the ones found in other stores were identical!

Enter my saving grace!!

Image from Google Maps

If you've been to Virginia Beach and walked the boardwalk you've likely either passed this little shop by or gone in and browsed. If you're planning a trip to Virginia Beach Ocean Style must be a stop!

Like I said, it's just a little shop and it's about midway between 9th and 10th streets. It has a small selection of clothing and nick-knacks to browse through but along the wall you'll find custom printing. This is the true gem of this store! I saw exactly the image I wanted on my hoodie hanging there, printed on a t-shirt.

Sadly, a browse through their zip-ups showed only one black hoodie in an XXL. Yes, it had to be black and no, I don't wear an XXL! So I asked about picking up a hoodie elsewhere and bringing it back for custom printing. No problem!

Great, now where to pick up a zip-up that was un-printed in a town where everything is emblazoned with Virginia Beach logos ... and on our last day too?? A trip to Walmart or Kmart just wasn't possible. Thankfully, a shop on this street had one they were willing to sell un-printed for a good price.

By this point it was our very last day, nighttime, and pouring down rain. However, I didn't care! I was finally getting what I wanted and I could go home happy.

Except, I couldn't get what I wanted. I take back what I said, the girl behind the counter might actually have been the true gem of this shop. I'm sad to say I never got her name, but she was an absolute sweetheart! She explained what I wanted wasn't possible, even going so far as to print a shirt to show me.

A little tweaking of my idea and I finally had something I didn't know I wanted but was so beyond happy with!!

Instead of getting this image on the front like I wanted, but would have looked horrible, I got it printed on the back. It sits just under where the hood lays and looks amazing!!

Virginia Beach is printed down one sleeve in this really cool scratched up print. It did go on slightly more purple than the bright pink it first looked, but still matches well so I don't mind at all!

And paint splatter on the front! I specifically asked for this but thought I was likely to get turned down but ... the girl (absolute sweetheart!) helping me handed over another of the Life's A Beach images and a pair of scissors and told me to cut out the splatter I wanted.

And then to top it all off she didn't charge me anything and refused the tip I tried giving her! She just wanted to see it on me she said. She did accept the hug I just had to give her though!

All told, I paid less than $20 for this gorgeous custom hoodie, and I really couldn't love it more!!