#loveislove

Friday Favourites

This week I have a TON of fvaourites so narrowing it down into something managable to post was a challenge.

Get It Done, by Sam Bennett

 Creative people tend to see the world a little differently than everyone else. But that doesn’t mean they can’t zero in on their goals, get focused, get organized, and not only accomplish what they want to achieve but earn money doing it. In Get It Done, a beloved teacher and successful writer, actor, and comedian helps you get a handle on your own particular — even peculiar — creative process and harness your energies in positive, productive, and income-generating ways. Sam Bennett’s innovative exercises, inspiring true success stories, and bonus online components will shift your thinking and prompt the kind of insights that turn underperforming geniuses into accomplished artists.

I read a lot of books about just about everything.  My Kindle is a ramshackle of interests.  I have yoga books, business books, chemistry guides, history books, biographies, mysteries, herbology, and the odd chic lit.  This is one book that I've read over about twice now, I've found it so helpful as I've been starting out on my own small creative enterprise.

Monthly Mystery Mailings!

I am so excited that so many amazing indies have been starting these!  I just don't know what it is about mystery polishes that I love so much.  Whenever CAP has them I try to get a few because I always know that Alison makes magic.  Now that some of the other indies I adore have started I am super excited to see what shows up in my mail slot!

Sunny's Skin Care Sweet Treats Box

I'm really sorry it's sold out, but it's amazing.  This box contained

TEN items in the following scents:
lip balm: buttercream cupcake: a delicious blend of buttercream frosting and rich vanilla cake!
miracle balm: coconut cream pie: rich, creamy vanilla base with notes of coconut, butter, with a hint of fresh
baked body balm: chocolate churros: wonderful blend of fresh pastry churros with warm notes of creamy dark chocolate and vanilla.
hand butter: homemade cheesecake: base notes of graham crackers and sweet cream butter, middle notes of vanilla, sweetened condensed milk and cream cheese; with a hint of almond as a top note
on the go hand lotion: whipped cream:  deliciously light and creamy scent of fluffy white whipped cream, subtly enhanced with the sweetness of Vanilla
triple thick body lotion: carrot cake: buttery spice blend with hints of peach, coconut, carrots, cinnamon and warm vanilla
 cuticle oil: pistachio pudding pie: powerful aroma of pistachio nuts, almond, honey, heliotrope, and rich, creamy vanilla custard intensive
therapy oil: blueberry cobbler:top notes of butter and juicy blueberries with a background of freshly ground cinnamon bark and warm vanilla.
bath whip: strawberry rhubarb pie: southern baking comes alive! The aroma of sweet fresh strawberries mixed with sour rhubarb marmalade, with a base note of flaky pie crust
sugar hand scrub: banana foster:wonderful blend of sweet, ripened bananas, caramel sauce, butter, brown sugar, banana liquor, vanilla ice cream, and just a touch of dark rum and cinnamon.

The labels on all of Sunny's stuff are always cute but these take the cake.

Never Ending Fairytales!

Amanda from Fairytale Finish recently launched 'Never Ending Fairytales', a monthly mystery mailing.  The price is astoundingly affordable, 16$ a month for TWO full sized polishes or 9$ for one.  That's with shipping included.

This month's theme was Mystical Creatures and it seems next month's will be Jewels and Gems.  I am already very excited.

My first mailing arrived and I tore it open.  I've seen pics on IG about this month's polishes and they are JUST as gorgeous in person.

Unicorn Princess is a baby pink crelly sprinkled with iridescent shimmer and  loaded with neon pink, purple, and gold glitters.

Mermaid Tears is a teal jelly with teal and silver glitters.  Two even layers gives great coverage, it applies nicely and isn't gloopy.  I used three thin layers simply for more depth with the glitter.

I was super impressed with not just the polishes but the excellent presentation!  The polishes arrived in a bag tied with a ribbon along with a personalized thank you!

MotM: July!

July's MotM boxes went out super early this month, it's not even the end of June and mine is blinging like crazy on my desk right now!

Included this month is:

From Heather's Hues

• A Full sized holo polish in Liberty Bell
• A mini polish in Fireworks at Night
• A baggie of Stars and Stripes glitter

From Dream Polish

• A mini Smooth Gem base coat in Melon Baller
• A mini Gem Glam top coat in Melon Baller
• A mini sized cuticle oil in Melon Baller

From Nails Redesigned

• A sheet of wavy vinyls
• Two sheets of mini glittery stars
• A sheet of double star masks
• Some little red gemstones 

From Eclectic Girls (the guest of the month)

• A mini polish in Salute
• Two mini manibombs

Liberty Bell is a great polish.  In fact, I'm really pleased that although this was clearly an Independence Day themed box it wasn't in your face RED WHITE AND BLUE. 

This polish is a liquid metal silver flecked with silver holo and gold glitter.  It's insane.  I love it.  It's nice and opaque in two layers and is an amazing base to stamp on, although it is a little chunky, the top oat smooooths it all out.

Fireworks at Night is a black jelly loaded with tiny glitter sparks.  It looks best with three thin layers to get some depth to the glitter but the formula is great to work with.

Salute is a surprise! It's an interesting crelly mix of glitters.  It's opaque in about three coats and looks really cute on it's own or under stamping.

This month's Dream Polish scent is Melon Baller, which is a crisp and sweet melon menagerie.  It goes realllly nicely with last month's scent, and I'm wearing one as a base and the other as a top coat and it's such a fruity treat.  Gem Glam is the ONLY top coat I use!

Nails Redesigned has been coming up with some really creative combinations!  I feel like I don't mention them enough, I sort of take for granted everyone loves vinyls but these are great to use even if you're a beginner with them, the quality of the actual vinyl as in the stick and release is perfect.  It's very easy to get PERFECT designs.

It'll be a long wait till August's box is here!

#nobuyjuly2015

I tried, I really did, to make it through June without buying anything.  Or much of anything.  I didn't do so well!

Instead, how about No Buy July?

This July I'm organizing a challenge to use up your 'untrieds' before you click another 'purchase' button! Using the list, try to finish as many challenges as possible. 

To participate, first post this to your IG and then complete as many as you can, tagging them with #nobuyjuly2015!  At the end of the month you an post a collage of your hard work and then reward yourself accordingly!!

Who's in?

*Monthly subscriptions, etc etc, do NOT count against your 'no buy', so no worries!!

NWP: Mean Girls Edition

This month's Native War Paint's montly bog featured polish inspired by the movie Mean Girls, which I have actually never seen.

On Wednesday's We Wear Pink (full) -Of course, this is a pink polish. I would say it's more of an dense jelly, full of shimmer.  It was opaque in two even layers and dried mattish.  It shined up lovely with a top coat!

Boo, You Whore (mini) - First, I had to Google to figure out what the name meant!  Boo is a beautiful creamy dusty blue with silvery shimmer.  It was opaque with two even layers.

That is so Fetch! (mini) - This is a gorgeous purple with a beautiful light linear holo and subtle gold shimmer.   I needed about four thin coats to be happy with the coverage, but it's worth it!

Also included was a full sized tube of Word Vomit lip balm in the flavour Snow Cone.  I am a lipbalm junkie, I tend to try a lot because I am really picky about the formula/taste/performance.  I'm really happy with this!  Not too greasy, lingers, not overly sweetened. 

I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes next!

 

Happy World Yoga Day!

I'm a yogi!  I practice twice a day, without fail, morning and evening.  It's my exercise, my calm, and more and more my center.  Through yoga I've been able to find more of myself in the calm and in the practice and it's directly responsible for the new direction I'm aiming myself in life.

Glitter and Gratitude is that direction.  To life with purpose and to be present, to always give kindness (glitter) and to be thankful (gratitude).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday hailed the first International Yoga Day as a "new era of peace", moments before he surprised thousands in New Delhi by taking to a mat himself to celebrate the ancient Indian practice.
Yoga-loving Modi led more than 35,000 people, including bureaucrats, students and soldiers, performing poses such as the half camel and cobra in a 35-minute mass outdoor yoga session beginning at 7:00 am (0130 GMT) on a New Delhi boulevard.
 "Yoga is more than only physical fitness. We are not only celebrating a day but we are training the human mind to begin a new era of peace," Modi told the crowd at Rajpath avenue. He thanked the United Nations and the 177 co-sponsoring countries for adopting his idea for a world Yoga Day.
"This is a programme for human welfare, a tension-free world and a programme to spread the message of love, peace and goodwill," said the premier, wearing a crisp white outfit with a national tricolour scarf.

Modi then surprised the crowds by leaving the stage, removing his glasses, and securing a spot at the front of the massive session to mirror the stretches, breathing, and meditative moves beamed on giant screens along the historic avenue.

~from the AFP

Power Pro

Kiko Cosmetics recently released a Power Pro, a new nail lacquer.  They lacquer boasts a professional quality manicure that will last a week.  It comes in 44 different colours as well as a clear shade that is NOT a topcoat, as I was told.  The shops are running a promotion to purchase three and get one free.  

I picked 06 Apricot, 11 Strawberry, 16 Pale Rose, 18 Iris, 23 Peony, 26 Beige Pink, 32 Lime, and 37 Ocean Blue.

06, 37, 11, 32

18, 23, 16, 26

I had tried to get a rainbow of colours so that I could use them for art and gradients, having already heard they were supposed to be very opaque.  They are VERY popular as the display was sparse, but I'm very happy with the shades I picked.

As soon as I got home I swatched them on a nail wheel and they were opaque and even in one coat.

The top cap comes off, much like a Butter London or Chanel polish's will.  The handle is them ribbed and easy to hold and the brush is flat and wide and frankly a dream to use.  The formula is smooth and glides on and doesn't get thick or smear off.  With two thin coats I managed a smooth, even, and gorgeous finish.  It's also 5 Free, which I love in a major brand polish.

I really love these and really recommend them if you can find them!

Twos-Day!

Same exact mani, two different color options.  Which do you like best?

Friday Favourites!

It was a very busy week.  I've been studying and doing a lot of research!  Today is Mia's first day of summer vacation so starting Monday I'll be on a whole new schedule working on our 'projects'!

Glory Be Herbals

I've been suffering from ridiculous insomnia for the last few months.  I'm not sure if it's stress or what it is, but I can't figure it out.  Taking sleep aids are not an option because I have to be aware because of Mia and they also tend to cause massive restless limb issues.  I've been studying aromatherapy for myself so I thought it would be a great route to try.  I found Glory Be Herbals on Etsy and placed an order and I've been very very happy with the products I've tried and got an good night's sleep for the first time!  

Bundle Monster

When I first started stamping I ordered a bunch of the little round Bundle Monster plates only to hate them.  I still do, to be fair, I think they are the worst plates to learn to stamp with.  The images are too small and it's too difficult to pick them up and transfer them correctly without getting aggravated and no matter what, they are too small to fit most nails correctly.

Then they released the larger sized plates with the same images set up like a Mo-You plate, larger and arranged easier to use.  NOW we're talking.  They've also recently released several special edition sets including the Polynesian collection, the Time Travel collection, and most recently the World Traveler set featuring some amazing designs.

Orange is the New Black

Season 3 was released on Netflix today.  I can use the break so I'm glad to be able to escape into Litchfield Prison again.

What are you loving this week?

Twos-Day!

The exact same mani, two different colourways!  Which do you like better?

By Hand ・ For Hands

I've been busy the last few days, working on pulling together Glitter and Gratitude, the enterprise.  I've been researching and planning this for a bit now, and while I'm moving forward I'm still months away I would guess.

Glitter and Gratitude, by hand ・for hands, will be my entry into the small business indie market.  I've meet so many amazing people along the way I've been so motivated.  But I've also taken great care to be inspired, but not reliant on them for my ideas.  I plan on launching a line of specialized hand care products (lotions and balms) not focused so much on the cuticles or the nails, but on the hands we all use to do so much.  I plan to address several issues and provide several products that work together to address them such as redness, sensitivity, dryness, and aging.  I've been working with an herbalist and studying aromatherapy to create natural and chemical free products that are effective and still inexpensive.

So while I have several formulas ready to go, I still need to test them and finalize packaging and get that all settled.  I'm also working to be in compliance with local (and international) health and safety regulations.  Add to that the ridiculous heat here that hampers things over the summer and I'm looking forward to launching this September.

I'm also looking forward to hitting 5k on IG!  I already have a massive new #giveaway in the works with several special orders and several special products of my own to offer!

Friday Favourites

It's been a while since I've posted my favourites.  Despite wanting to blog daily I seem to have been slacking!  Today I have a lot!

Lemonade

I have been collecting quite a few lemonade themed polishes this season!  I love them, they are all unique and gorgeous to work with.

This is Pink Lemonade from Noodle Nail polish, Sugared Lemons from Candied Apple Polish, 10 Cents from Drip Drop Nail Paint, and Limonata, a custom from Heather's Hue.

Forest Feast Street Food

A friend of mine sent me a box of just these snacks and I love them.  I love most things spicy and Thai/coconut/curry/chili, etc etc.  The combinations in these snacks are just great and although they're saltier than I'm used to, I can't get enough!

Front Porch Candles

I started getting interested in tart warmers thanks to Anette and her IG account.  One of the companies she linked was Front Porch Candles and after browsing I placed an order.  And then a day or so later, another.  Not only did they combine my orders, but applied a discount and refund shipping overages WITHOUT ME EVEN ASKING.  They just knew it was the right thing and did it!  I will always be a loyal customer with amazing service and honesty like that!

So far my favourite scent from them is Orange Sherbert Bubblegum.  SO GOOD.

What have you been loving this week?

Twos-Day!

Same exact mani, two different colour options. Which do you like best?

• Delush Bitchcraft 
• Drip Drop Nail Paint Yoga Pants 
• Polish Me Silly Just Beet It

• Love Angeline Party's Over, Amuse Bouche, and Cloudy Delights

QotW!