Totally Cool with a touch of Fire

As promised, I have for you a gorgeous combo of polish I adore.  It is Milani Totally Cool, and Max factor Fantasy Fire.  This combination is absolutely stunning and has so much depth, it just shines from within.

Below is 4 coats of Totally Cool(I would suggest undies for this one, perhaps a shimmery deep purple) and 1 coat of Fantasy Fire.

just look at that gorgeous shimmer. I am totally in love with this combo. and of course this has the green that shines at different angles. A total win in my book.

XOX Caitlin

Long awaited return!

Hello all!

It has been so long since I have blogged. Ever since my trip to London, and switching colleges and majors, I have been so busy.  I am now an art major, and one negative about that is I can't wear colored nail polish! Technically I can, but the colored polish can rub off onto my artwork, which I am not too happy with, so I put my blog on the back burner so I could focus on my art.  I am happy to say I survived my first semester with A's and I am so proud of how far I have come as an artist.

With that being said, I plan to resume nail polish blogging in the new year. But it will have a different pace than previously. I will have to do all of my nail painting on the weekends, as I have my art classes during the week, and so I don't ruin my artwork with my polished nails. I hope to have at least 2 posts per week, which is definitely do-able. I have missed blogging, and interacting with my readers, and I am thankful for every single one of you! Stay with my as I transition back into blogging!

As I leave you for today, I will leave some of my artwork I have worked on throughout the semester. And I plan to have a blog post with my nails up later on today!

XOX Caitlin

Digit-al Dozen Music Mani!

Busy busy busy! School work has been taking over my polish time, but today I bring you a dose of the Digit-al Dozen! The theme this week is music.  While music is a very vague topic, and I feature it frequently on my blog, this week I am going to have a different take on it. My 5 posts will be based on music video's that I enjoy watching, whether it be new or old.

First up, This video stuck in my head as soon as I heard music mani's. Mainly because it is so colorful. I chose to do for today's music video Flyleaf's All Around Me. In the video the room is white and as the song progresses paint drips down the walls.

Here's the video for reference:

XOX Caitlin


Don't forget to check out the other lovely ladies in the digit-al Dozen. <3

Kiko 290 Swatch

Look at this gorgeous Kiko polish.

Perfect formula: 2 coats; no topcoat
Perfect color: gorgeous magenta

What else is there to say?

I absolutely love Kiko polishes ever since I bought a ton while in London this past summer. I wish I had a store near me, because I would buy them all up.

XOX Caitlin

Rainbow Honey 20% Cooler

Today I have for you an Indie polish I have had my eye on for some time. I am not big into indie polishes, because I find that I can not afford the majority of them, and I am not a super huge fan of glitter bombs.  I have admired Rainbow Honey's polishes for quite some time, ever since I saw her cute labels and packaging, and I was able to get my hands on a mini in a swap I did a few weeks ago.  Everything about this polish is adorable.

Today's mani is China Glaze Electric Beat from the ElectroPop collection, followed by Rainbow Honey's 20% Cooler.  Electric Beat covered quite well in two coats, and is a gorgeous powder blue.  20% Cooler (on the accent nail) is a mix of rainbow glitter with some blue shimmer in the base. I am totally in love with this polish.  The brush was quite tiny in my mini bottle, which made it quite hard to apply polish, I have to admit.  If I were to order from Rainbow Honey I would definitely want the full size bottles, so that the brush is actually full sized. That's my only complaint. (In general though, I am not a fan of mini bottles, so nothing against Rainbow Honey)

Final thoughts: I would definitely purchase from Rainbow Honey, Her packaging is so cute, and the quality of the polish is very good from what I have tried in this mini bottle.

XOX Caitlin

Dree and Wallis

Today's nails are Zoya Dree with an accent nail of Butter London Wallis. Dree is a great army green and Wallis is a perfect accent!

Dree took two coats for the photo, followed by one coat of topcoat.  Wallis also took 2 coats, but I applied it over 1 coat of Dree.

XOX Caitlin

These polishes were purchased by me.

Digit-al Dozen Halloween: Meanie Greenie

 Another Digit-al Dozen Halloween post!

For today's nails I used Jade is New Black from OPI for the base and applied rhinestones to the tips.  I wish that these rhinestones were smaller. I ordered these from china a while back. I think because they are so big it loses the effect. 

XOX Caitlin

Digit-al Dozen - Halloween Week - Riveting Pumpkins

Woo it has been a while since I last posted hasn't it! School has been so busy and I am just now able to catch up on my blogging! So.. I am a little late in this post. It was supposed to be posted yesterday.  It is a part of the Digit-al Dozen posts! This week we are doing Halloween themed nails, and up first I have pumpkins to present to you!

 I used a base of China Glaze Riveting and drew on the pumpkin faces. :)

Here is Riveting by itself. It is a stunner.

 XOX Caitlin

Nubbin Nail Art: In the Clouds on a Safari

Nail Art on my nubbins! I recently completed my On Safari Collection, and I am super happy with them all! In this quick mani I used all On Safari Colors. The base is Adventure Red-y, followed by Man Hunt, and then Exotic Encounters and Kalahari Kiss with the dotting tool! I followed up with Hong Kong Girl Topcoat.

XOX Caitlin

The Friday Collective(on sunday! lol): 9-21-12

 So this week I haven't posted because I have been busy with school work, and playing with my new kitten.  I have some new photos of him, and some photos of my recent hauls. I think I am going to change the name to The Weekend Collective, so that I can post whenever I want on the weekends. I am going to be posting on Sundays until the end of October when the Marching Band goes to State Finals, so I can capture the weeks Marching Band recaps into this post as well. :)

Up first I have two photos of my hauls this week.  I also hauled more on saturday, but I wasn't able to take a photo of those. 

Sally's had their Half Off Clearance Merchandise Sale this weekend and I stocked up on some new polishes! I was able to complete my On Safari Collection this weekend!

I also got these 3 butter London Polishes and Matte Topcoat from Coterie this past week for $11! YES $11 TOTAL!  It was a steal at that price, and I am so glad I got in on the sale, I got Wallis, Bluey and Pillar Box Red.

And Charcoal again! Here are my favorite pictures from this week.

Friday I went to a Continuing Education training that was open to students at my school called Not For Sale. It was aimed at Nursing Students and it is about Human Trafficking and what Nurses and physicians can do to help recognize when someone is a victim of trafficking and the steps to take when they suspect a trafficking victim is in their care. I am not a nursing major, quite far from it actually, I am just interested in Human Trafficking and I wanted to go to be more informed about the current situation. It was very informative and if you are interested in checking it out, you can check out their website: http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/

Also, my Sister is a member of my high school's marching band and they played at 2 competitions this weekend on Saturday.  At the second competition they won Best Hornline and 1st place in 3A. I'm so proud of them! They have a long way to go, but they can definitely do it!

The Friday Collective(on Saturday!) 9-15-12

 I got a Kitten! This is why this post is on Saturday as opposed to Friday like normal.  I am super excited to share with the world my new kitten. Yesterday a friend posted that they found a kitten in their driveway, and as soon as I saw the picture I knew this was my kitten. So I went to pick him up and brought him home. :)

I present to you: Charcoal. Charlie for short. We named him Charcoal because he looks like he has been playing around in my charcoal from art class! lol

He is one of the sweetest, loving kittens I have ever met. He is so cuddly and playful, and has already figured out where his food and litterbox are! He is so smart. He really only meows when I pick him up or he needs something and is trying to communicate.

I love this little boy to death. just look at his gorgeous blue eyes. 

Sleepy kitten. :)

Hungry kitten. :)

And of course there will be more photos to come on my blog of this sweet little baby. :)


Other interesting things that have been happening in my life: School! Yes I have really been enjoying school, especially since I transferred to Lander. I am also an art major, and am really enjoying all of the classes I am taking this semester.

Here is a photo from my History of Photography class. We took a pinhole camera outside to take a photo and then went into the dark room to develop it. It is a cool process, and we are going to go more indepth and make our own pinhole camera in class next week!

By the way, my teacher is really awesome. His name is Jon Holloway and he is an amazing photographer. 

Here is an outfit that i wore recently. I love my brogues, and this dress with the peter pan collar. <3

I have been listening to classical music alot, especially since I started back college, and am taking 2 studio art classes. This is one of my favorite songs from the movie Pride and Prejudice(2005) titled A Postcard to Henry Purcell.




These are my thoughts for the week. I hope you have had a great week as well!

XOX Caitlin

Digit-al Dozen Blue Week: Model's Own

I have a good excuse why this is late! I promise! You shall find out in my next post. ;)

Here is my final Digit-al Dozen Blue Week post. Who doesn't love Model's Own Indian Ocean? It is a gorgeous polish that is sheer, with a pinky-gold shimmer in an aqua base. It is so gorgeous, and in these photos I layered it over Model's Own Beths Blue.

Bottle Shot:

Here is Model's Own Beth's Blue topped with Indian Ocean.

My Indian Ocean has some random dark glitter in it, which I don't think is supposed to be there. you can see it on a few of my nails in the following pics.

XOX Caitlin

Digit-al Dozen Blue Week: Foil

For today's installment of blue week, I have a foil for you. To me, foils are a gorgeous way to have a super shimmery metallic on your nails or a holographic effect you can't achieve any other way.  The only problem is they don't last very long and they don't like any topcoat I have tried. :(

For these nails I used OPI Dating a Royal as the base, and then I used the foil Opal Glitter from Dollar Nail Art.  Having Opal Glitter on top of this gorgeous royal blue, I was really happy with.

AND THEN....

All of the "glitter" part of the Opal Glitter foil went away when I applied topcoat. :(

This is how I feel.

I have tried every single topcoat I own, and all of them still dull the effect. They actually cause the foil to crinkle and that is what takes away the effect.

Anywho, I actually like how the nails turned out, they look as if they are frozen. What are your thoughts?

XOX Caitlin

The other Lovely Digit-al Dozen ladies!

Ditit-al Dozen Blue Week: Turquoise and gold

Blue Week Day 3!

So a few weeks ago all over nail boards and groups there was a technique called "Saran Wrap" or "Cling Wrap" mani.  There are two variations of the Saran Wrap mani, and I have one for you today.

I used Kiko 344 as the base of these nails, followed by Orly Glitz for the gold accent on top using Saran Wrap.

The way I achieved these nails, was by painting the gold onto a piece of paper and balling up my saran wrap and dabbling it onto the polish and then dabbling it onto my nails. 

The other variation you paint a base color and then paint the second color and use saran wrap to remove the top layer so the bottom layer comes through, instead of using the saran wrap to apply the polish. That is the main difference. I may do a variation of that soon on my blog. We shall see. :)

XOX Caitlin

Check out the other lovely ladies in the Digit-al Dozen!

Digit-al Dozen Blue Week: Baker Street vs Kiko 336!

Today's Digit-al Dozen blue post I have a comparison for you guys!

Blue is one of my obsessions, as you can tell from this blue comparison post i did a while ago, and while I was on my trip to London, I picked up a ton of Kiko polishes.  For the duration of the trip I had Baker Street on, and when I was in the Kiko store, this blue popped out at me as being very similar to what I was wearing! I really wanted a backup bottle of Baker Street, and I am definitely happy with my purchase!

I present to you: Kiko 336 vs Nails Inc Baker Street!

Kiko 336 is a tad bit darker and is not as dusty as Baker Street, so I can definitely justify having them both in my stash. ;)  The Kiko polishes are .37 fl oz and were on sale for £1.50 (approx. $2.41)  wheras when I purchased Nails Inc Baker Street at Sephora it was $9.50 for .33 fl oz of product. So I think you definitely get more bang for your buck with the Kiko! The only problem is that they are mostly available in Europe(I believe, I'm not sure exactly where their stores are located, as I purchased mine in Westfield London in Shepherd's Bush) but if you have a swapping buddy who can easily access kiko polishes, go for it!

XOX Caitlin

And the other lovely members of the Digit-al Dozen!

Digit-al Dozen - Kick Off Blue Week

Digit-al Dozen Blue Week! About a month ago, I was approached by Debbie over at The Crumpet to join a small group of 12 that participates in a challenge once a month for five days based on a theme the group chooses. This week is Blue!

To start this week off, I am bringing you a really cool glitter sandwich to kick off Blue Week.

I started this mani off with China Glaze Ride the Waves, which is a very sheer blue jelly polish.  Because it is so sheer it is perfect for jelly sandwiches.  Then I added a layer of China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara. Lorelei's Tiara is a silver micro glitter with larger blue glitter.

This looks amazing, if I do say so myself. The blue China Glaze is very sheer, and perfect for jelly sandwiches.

And a macro to show the detail of the glitter sandwich. 

XOX Caitlin

The Inlinkz tool for the Digital Dozen! XOX

Every Month is Oktoberfest with Fantasy Fire

OPI's Every Month is Oktoberfest is my new favorite color for fall.  Of all of the Germany collection photos now, this one spoke to me the most.  It is really hard to even describe this color, because it looks like a purpley-red shimmer in the bottle, and when you apply the first coat it is in a purple jelly base, which is interesting. And when you apply two coats it becomes this amazing deep red purple, and the purple jelly base turns black.  It has a rich deep shimmer that I am in love with.

 Because this is such an interesting color, I thought i would layer MaxFactor Fantasy Fire over it, and it is gorgeous!

The purpley-red shimmer is the perfect base for Fantasy Fire. 

I love this color, and the color shift of Fantasy Fire. I think that this is a great combination, and I wish I had better photos to show the color of Oktoberfest and Fantasy Fire.

XOX Caitlin

The Friday Collective 9/7/12

I haven't posted in about a week on my blog, but that is going to change in the next couple of weeks.

I just started school again on monday, and changed my major to Visual Arts.  With this major there are many requirements, and spending more time drawing outside of the classroom are required, so there will be a lot less time for me to paint my nails. I will still get it done, I am just going to have my blog set to automatically post manis for the week ahead of time, and on the weekend catch up on my polishing. :) 

I am also going to start something on Fridays called the Friday Collective, which will include how my week has been going, photos of my manis that i haven't posted, pictures from instagram that I took throughout the week, the song that has been on my ipod on repeat or I have been listening to alot, and just my thoughts in general, to make my blog more personal. (I may even share some drawings I do in class if I feel like they are blog-worthy. lol)

To start it off, I have my back to school mani! I wore these on the first day of classes, and they matched my new dress. :)

And a close up Instagram photo of them. I used all kiko polishes for these nails.

Ever since I left England, I have been craving crumpets, and the only place I could find them is called Trader Joes. Well, I drove an hour and a half to get some crumpets, and i have to say that they are delicious.

My silly puppy rolling around on my feet.  He was happy to see me.

My friend Briana has 3 pet rats.  This is one of them, named Luda. She was a sweetheart, and it made me want a rat! Before I held them and they sat on my shoulder, I had a different opinion of them, but just holding them and seeing how sweet they are has totally changed my mind.

Another polish photo I took on instagram of some OPI bottles back lit with my computer. I thought they looked really cool, so I wanted to include them in the collective. :) 

To wrap it all up I will leave you with a song that has been playing on the radio a lot, and I have heard it multiple times a day, It is by Flo Rida and it is called Whistle. It is so catchy, I just find myself singing it.

Anywho, I hope to get back to regular posting on my blog again. This upcoming week I have a week full of polishes to share, and I am excited to bring you those. :)

XOX Caitlin