ABC Challenge: N is for Nailtini

I've been kind of excited for N, because Nailtini is one of my absolute favorite nail polish brands. Not only is the name just amazing, but they did a collab with Janie Bryant to do a Mad Men collection, and since I'm a little obsessed with the fashion on that show, I was incredibly excited for this collection.

Today I'm featuring Blue Carnation, one of my few favorite pastels.

Not only is it a gorgeous eggshell blue, but it matches my favorite tea mug. I am not even ashamed to admit I was wearing this polish when I saw the mug and bought it just because they matched.

ABC Challenge, M is for Mine

Okay I'm late today because earlier I made the mistake of making my very first holographic nail polish. I love it so much I just don't want to take it off, so I talked to Kimber and she agreed that tears would be shed over its removal.

So I'm very selfishly making this post about my own polish.

First photo is two coats, second photo is one coat. This is my first time making a holo, so I'm really excited about how it looks; the draw back being that now I have to wait until I get back from my trip to get the new bottles I want to sell them in.

ABC Challenge: K is for Keep up the Flame

I'm going to have to seriously go over my entire stash because this is the second week in a row I've been struck with the realization I don't have a fitting letter for the challenge. Lucky me, CVS has a pretty broad selection of brands to choose from, and I picked up Maybelline's "Keep up the Flame", and Nicole by OPI's "Kissed at Midnight" from the Selena Gomez collection.

I had a hard time making the flash work with the gold against the red. It kept turning orange. Once I went outside the issue resolved pretty quickly. 

For being a last minute find, I'm pretty excited about how it turned out. I love Maybelline's color show polishes as base colors. They're inexpensive, they dry quickly, and application is smooth. I'm not the biggest fan of Nicole by OPI in general; for being a branch of OPI, the formula is NOT impressive, and it's still 8 dollars a bottle. Kissed at Midnight, however, was great. I was really happy with the application and the amount of glitter that came out with one coat. It applies evenly and dries super fast. 

I was also kind of stoke that my manicure matches my new lip-liner pencil. I'm easily amused. 

The Once Upon a Time Collection

From left to right, Ruby Red Queen of Hearts, Emma's Blue Fairy, Sno Charming, You've Got me Hooked, Rumbelle, and Regina. 

I was recently inspired to create a polish line based on Once Upon a Time. I normally try to avoid making collections with more than four colors, but this time I had a hard time cutting it down to six! It could have easily been eight or ten, but I am happy with the six that I went with.

What do you guys think? Who's your favorite Once Upon a Time character?

ABC Challenge: J is for Jackson Polish

So, tonight was interesting. When I moved a few months ago, I left behind almost my entire polish collection, so while going through my stash for today's manicure, I suddenly realized I don't have a single J polish. So, of course, I had to run to CVS to find a J. Thank God for late hour drug stores.

While there, I found some polishes from the new Revlon stick colors. I desperately looked through all their Moon Candy polishes for a J but found nothing. (that's okay, because I still bought one for my M post!) Then I went through their other nail art sticks and found "Jackson Polish".

I'm not going to lie, I think the color combination is one of the WORST I've ever seen. I have no idea what possessed them to put those two colors together. I like the individual colors, but they just do not look good together. It doesn't help that I just suck with nail art brushes so even if the colors did go well together, the brush strokes still don't. Haha. I actually removed the manicure and just put the base coat back on and paired it with OPI's Rainbow Connection. It looks a lot better and I'm pleased with the result.

Other than that, though, I loved the formula of this polish. It just took a single coat to receive full coverage, although I used two the second time around just to be sure. It's smooth, not at all streaky, and dries quickly.  I'm super looking forward to trying out their Moon Candy edition of the stick. I think those colors are much better matched. Haha

G is for Gargantuan Green Grape

I feel like I'm so late in posting today just because I'm so used to being awake until 2 in the morning and posting then.

Anyway, today is a bit of a fail manicure, because while Gargantuan Green Grape by OPI is a squishy creme pastel green of awesomeness, I decided to attempt to draw a bunch of grapes on my ring finger when I don't have a dotting tool, and now it looks like picasso did it. On top of that, I had to file down my index and middle finger because of breakage, so it's just not my best nail week overall.

Ah well. I still like the green.

Maybe I've gotten used to indie formula, but this was a lot thinner than I remembered and it actually took me a moment to get used to it again. Nevertheless, it applies smoothly, dries relatively well, and it just looks amazing. Perfect for spring.

I used Orly's Charged Up for the grapes, and as you can see, it's quite the abstract interpretation of grapes. Haha.

Walking Dead Manicure by BG Cosmetics

The Walking Dead finally returned today and I was so excited I had to do my nails with my Walking Dead polish. I don't wear this polish often, but every time I do, it makes me happy inside. To celebrate, use WALKINGDEADRETURNS at our etsy shop to get 20% off all this week!

What do you guys think? Are you fans of The Walking Dead?

ABC Challenge: E is for Essie

Man a week just flies by so fast. This week I'm using Essie's "Beyond Cozy" again. This time mixed with OPI's "Live and Let Die" from the Skyfall collection. It was the only glitter I had that I could make work with my first attempt at a tape mani. 

 

I don't have mani tape, so I used scotch tape. I'm still not super happy with the results, but it's my first time so after three botched attempts it became personal and I was determined to make it somewhat passable. Haha. 

 

 

All photos are two coats OPI, one coat Essie, and one coat HK Girl top coat. 

OPI and Essie are both my two top favorite mainstream nail polish brands. OPI is smooth and thick, but not too thick, and Essie has that thin yet opaque glitter that remarkably didn't run or stick through the scotch tape. 

It's another dark mani, but we had a couple cold days here in Texas and that's all the excuse I need to drag out dark colors another week. =D

ABC Challenge: D is for Dark Brown

I've been wearing so much glitter lately, I've completely neglected my more basic colors. So, for D I decided to go with Milani's "Dark Brown". And just because I couldn't give up on the glitter entirely, I decided to jazz up my ring finger with Essie's "Beyond Cozy".

Two coats Milani "Dark Brown", one coat HK Girl Top Coat.

Two coats Milani "Dark Brown", one coat HK Girl Top Coat.

I don't know how much you can tell--maybe I'm just that neurotic--but my index finger is a great deal longer than the rest of my nails. I had a horrific break on my middle finger and a minor one on my ring finger in a freak accident in the kitchen, and I couldn't bring myself to file my nails down. I can't wait for them to be nice and long again. *sigh*

Anyway, back to the polish. For being a "cheap" CVS brand, I adore Milani. Their polish occasionally has a stronger than usual odor, but for the price tag and formula, I can look past that. It always applys on super smooth and shiny; no visible brush strokes. Just one layer of my topcoat and you can see how shiny and glossy they are. Milani dries fast too, which is always a huge bonus for me.

This might be more of a fall/winter manicure, but I just love dark colors, so I'm using what's left of January as an excuse before I move on to more pastels and neons.

Nail Polish Giveaway

My birthday is coming up, so I thought I'd celebrate with EVERYONE by hosting a giveaway.

You can enter below; just see the terms and conditions before you do. The giveaway will include, among other amazing things, a currently unreleased birthday nail polish!

So enter and share and spread the word! Yay!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ABC Challenge: Candy Shop by Deborah Lippmann

I know I'm two shades late in joining the challenge, but I hope this amazing color by Deborah Lippmann makes up for it.

Deborah Lippmann is a special brand to me, as it played a huge role in inspiring my own venture in the world of cosmetics. The price tag is hard to swallow at first, but honestly with the first brush stroke I knew it was worth every dollar.

Candy Shop is one of my favorite opaque glitters of all time. The bubble gum pink base and the literal explosion of red and blue and yellow and green and gold... my eyes can't even take in all the colors at once. There's so much glitter you almost have to play hide-and-go-seek with the base coat.

It's so very hard to find opaque glitter in mainstream polishes, especially ones with quality. The formula is amazing. It has an amazing consistency that isn't goopy or runny; it dries super fast, and I only needed one coat of HK Girl Topcoat (my new favorite topcoat, by the way!) to make it super smooth and shiny. It looks like the gory aftermath of a pinata party rush, and that makes me happy, which is exactly what nail polish should do.

BG Cosmetics Lung Cancer Awareness Collection

Today I'm blogging about a new collection of my brand, BG Cosmetics. I made these two colors for the amazing Kimberly from Kimber's Lacquer Korner.

Unfortunately, her mother has been diagnosed with lung cancer, and she wanted a polish in honor of lung cancer patients and survivors, so I came up with a couple.

The first is June Pearl. June is Kimber's mother's name, and the lung cancer awareness ribbon is pearl colored, so I decided to mix the two together.

June Pearl is an opaque shimmering pearly white creme base, filled with holographic white dust and metallic glitter. 

Courageous Hearts is an opaque metallic slate, filled with metallic silver glitter and red hearts.

As with all my polishes, these are made with diamond dust for added shimmer, chip resistance, and longevity.

These bottles will sell for $10 dollars each. 50% of the proceeds will go to a lung cancer organization; I will announce which one when the donation is made. Due to the special circumstances, these bottles will not be sold in the discounted collection bundle.

You can find our etsy shop here: BG Cosmetics
and you can like us on Facebook if you want all our newest updates as they come: BG Cosmetics

Nailtini: Navy Grog

The first blog is always the most exciting as well as the hardest. Of all the polishes I own, which should I post about first? I decided to start with the brand and color I fall back on when I just can't figure out what to wear. I stumbled across Nailtini in a Duane Reade in midtown Manhattan about a year ago, and I still love it. It's instantly opaque with just one generous coat. It dries almost immediateky, and it's so shiny it almost doesn't need a top coat.

 

One coat of Nailtini's "Navy Grog". No top coat.

 

One coat of Nailtini's "Navy Grog", one coat of Out the Door's top coat, and one coat of "The Living Daylights" from OPI's Skyfall Collection

The formula on this polish is an absolute dream. Perfect consistency; I can cover the nail completely with one generous brushstroke of polish with no streaks, no flooding, and minimal to zero clean up afterward. If I need a last minute manicure for an impromptu dash out, this is the manicure I fall back on.