Chanel Taboo Le Vernis Nail Colour

Good evening everyone!  Sorry this post is another late one but its been one heck of a day with the princess.  We cleaned early on, then went looking for turkeys (yes, we have wild turkeys here in Staten Island), went for a late lunch together, the park with my sister and niece, came home to cook, then got ready for my mother to swing by and get her hair colored with me, and that's what brings me to this late night post. 

I have the pleasure of being part of a High End polish group where we have just decided to do a traveling box.  I know some groups have done this before but this was my first time and I have to say that it has been a total pleasure!  The administrators of the group picked 11 people to participate in this first round, luckily I was fast enough to make the cut where we each had to donate two bottles of polish from our stash to start the box off.  Fortunately I was number two in the lineup and Saturday the box made its way to me, talk about some EPIC nail mail, right?!  I went through the box very carefully and was in awe of all of these high end beauties, but my jaw really dropped when I removed the last little black box and saw that it was Chanel Taboo!  This polish has been on my ISO for a few months now and I had to catch my breath when I saw that it made its way to me, I mean it was the LAST bottle from the box! 

Chanel Taboo is high end polish at its best! It is a deep, vampy purple with a mix of pink, red and purple iridescence throughout.  We have all seen those bottles of polish that have a great shimmer to them in the bottle, but when you put them on they fall flat or you can only see it glimmer in the right type of lighting, on the right day, at the right time and for a second or two... Not the case here!  The polish went on great for me and is almost a true one-coater, I applied two just for full coverage and my little cleanup brush wasn't needed at all.  It was a smooth application, free of flooding, clumping or streaks.

 

Look at that sparkle and shimmer!  I have to say that I was a bit worried about staining and a possible mess when removing but was relieved when it came off easily and clean, I just needed a little extra work around the cuticle area but nothing to cry over.  I was able to get a full 5 day wear out of this polish without chipping, that includes laundry, diapers, dishes and baths so it speaks volumes.  I think this is a perfect vampy fall color and will definitely wear it again!

 

I hope you're all having a great week and want you to know that I have some awesome reveals coming your way this week that you're not going to want to miss!  Some indie brands have revamped a few of their beauties and I have gorgeous swatches to show you.

 

There's still just a little bit of time to get those extra entries in for my first giveaway so head on over and click, click, click!  I cannot thank you all enough for the love and support you have given me and my new blog, I hope you keep coming back and spreading Mommy's Mani!

 

Goodnight!!!!!!



Goodbye August and THANK YOU!

Hey guys! What a week I've had!! The baby was sick with a virus, which has finally run it's course, the hubby has been working 16 hour days so I haven't had an extra set of hands around the house, and my dopey dog injured his paw. Turns out my 140lb Rottweiler, which sounds so huge and aggressive but he's really a kitten, has allergies which irritated his toes. He wound up licking his knuckle bare to the bone and now has an infection in between his toes! For any of you who have had to take a furry, four legged baby to the vet you know what an expense this can be. What else to do but start selling some polish to raise some puppy funds. Tonight I had to say goodbye to one of my cherished polishes, Enchanted Polish August.

Now, when mentioning Enchanted Polish a lot of different emotions come out of people, I find that they either love it or can't be bothered. I think mainly because of how hard they are to find and then the price gauging on eBay. Personally, I don't think it's anyone's business what someone decides to spend their money on, but I do understand the frustration of not being able to get a polish you'd truly love. I mean we all have lemmings though, right?

I delved into the Enchanted Polish world very recently, just a few months ago and I do find a lot of them to be beautiful, but I have had some that I didn't think we're worth the aggravation of a restock. A few weeks ago I did get my hands on a beauty, August. This polish was amazing to me! It is not as bright as Water For Unicorns, but instead a beautiful deep blue/teal linear holo that is great for the end of summer beginning of fall.  The application was great, not as thick as I have found some other Enchanted's to be, and two coats built up perfectly.

 

August was definitely one of the Enchanted's that I never thought I would part with, but I had to put my big girl panties on and do what needed to be done to help the big boy.  I must give credit to the lovely ladies who are in Enchanted Polish nail groups with me, they rallied together and spread the word that I was parting with my polish.  They helped Guinness and I out, and also helped out girls who were trying to scratch off some polish from their ISO's.  I was truly touched tonight by all the love, help and prayers that I received for my guy, it was overwhelming and truly appreciated!

 

 

I hope you all had a great week, and have an even better weekend!  I will keep you posted on Guinness and again, thank you so much!  If you haven't entered the giveaway you still have a few days left so get those entries in!!!!

 

Goodnight!!!!

OPI Designer Series: Illuminate vs Classic

Happy Saturday everyone.  I first want to thank all of the new subscribers that have joined within the last few days, you rock!  I hope you're all having a better weekend than I am, we woke up this morning to little Gigi running a fever of 103.4.  Turns out the little lady has a virus, which you can't do much for, and has been spiking a fever every four hours.  It is definitely going to be a long night, but she is fast asleep for now and I wanted to take this time to show you all a comparison of two lovely OPI Designer Series that I got my hands on.

I was fortunate enough to get two very similar Designer Series polishes and couldn't help but notice how similar they are.  OPI DS Illuminate and Classic are bronze and golden holo's that are perfect for this time of year. I know that they have been out for a while but I still get excited when I see them. 

The first polish that I put on was Illuminate, which is a brownish-bronze scattered holo duochrome which shifts green.  It is hard to see the green in these pictures, but I promise it is there.

 

After wearing Illuminate I couldn't wait to try out Classic.  OPI DS Classic is lighter than Illuminate and has a golden tone to it.  It is also a scattered holo not linear, which I prefer sometimes.  This polish is a great neutral and I may actually leave it on for more than a day, which is saying a lot!

 

 

Both of these pretties were perfect to work with.  I applied two coats with each and a nice thick top coat of Essie Good To Go, I needed these babies to dry quick in case my girl woke up.  I didn't need to clean anything up, didn't have a problem with brush strokes or clumpiness and was able to build up the coats perfectly.

 

Just a reminder, there is still plenty of time to enter my giveaway if you haven't already.  I added an extra prize, so now there is a total of SIX bottles of polish going to one lucky winner!  Get those entries in and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

 

Goodnight!!!!







Literary Lacquers Strawberry Ice Cream Soma... Literally Gorgeous!

Hey, hey hey!!!  Well it's the weekend, finally, and that means tons of errands, running around, dance school, gymnastics, all that good stuff (can you sense the sarcasm?).  With all of this going on, at least I have a beautiful polish on my nails to stare at while I wait for Gigi to get out of ballet and tap.

Tonight I bring to you Literary Lacquers Strawberry Ice Cream Soma.  I received this polish in a swap and I am thrilled that I was able to get rid of a dust collector for this beautiful holo!!!  Strawberry Ice Cream Soma is one of six from the Literary Liquors collection, and in my opinion the most beautiful!  The creator of this beauty pulls her inspiration from books, hence the name Literary Lacquers, and this polish was created with the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley in mind.  I must admit I have never heard of it, let alone read it, so no judging.

When I first applied this polish I noticed that it is a sort of jelly and crème mix.  The formula is perfect to work with, I didn't have a single complaint with the application.  I was pretty satisfied with two coats but decided to push it one more and use three, it built up perfectly!  Strawberry Ice Cream Soma is a warm pink linear holo that shifts to dark rose, almost purple at times and in the sun you get a total rainbow holo effect.

Here is two coats of Strawberry Ice Cream Soma.  Look at that beautiful sparkle and holo rainbow!

 

Three coats built up perfectly!  The formula isn't clumpy or thick so you can apply three coats easily.

 

I couldn't wait to capture this beauty in the sunlight!

 

I promise this is blurry on purpose! I wanted to show off how although this polish is a bright pink, it still has a warm effect to it.

 

 

This was my first experience with Literary Lacquers and I must say that I'm now a huge fan.  Sometimes, I feel like it can be hit or miss when trying a new indie brand, you never know if it is really as great as you hear or all hype.  This brand definitely can back up the hype, and I cannot wait to add more to my collection.  There are six beauties in the Literary Liquors collection and they can be purchased at the Literary Lacquers Etsy shop.  If you would like more information, including swatches, release dates and upcoming lines you can also become a fan at the Facebook page.

 

I hope you all have a great weekend and if you haven't entered my giveaway you still have plenty of time.  Don't miss out on this great prize package!!

 

Goodnight!

 

 

 

It's GIVEAWAY time!

Good evening guys! This post is baby free I promise :)  As you know my blog is relatively new, and as a thank you to all of you who come and read my rants, view my swatches and empathize with my mommy issues I think it is only fair I have my first giveaway!

This giveaway is really great! I will be making a goody bag for one lucky winner that consists of 6, yup SIX, bottles of polish! The prizes include one OPI, Essie, Sinful Colors Sinful Shine, China Glaze, Zoya and one indie brand! It's simple to get entries and the more you visit, the more you get!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

Mommy's 5 Shades of Gray

Good evening!!!!  I am so sorry that this post is coming at such a late hour, Gia has been having a hard time going to sleep lately.  She has been throwing tantrums, screaming and crying, asking to come downstairs and paint nails with me.  As cute as that sounds, it's heartbreaking to listen to and harder to put my foot down and get her to sleep.  They don't lie when they call it the Terrible Two's!

Now, tonight I asked on Facebook what you would all like to see and the majority of you asked for my favorite shades of gray.  If you know me then you know I have a love of gray nail polish!  No matter if it is crème, matte, glitter, jelly, I just love gray nail polish.  I feel like it can be worn anytime of the year but it looks extra cozy and very sharp in the fall, if you ask me.

I have chosen my top five favorite gray nail polish and I made sure to include drug-store brand, main stream and indie for you all.  Having a beautiful gray polish shouldn't be limited to super expensive or hard to find brands, but there are a lot of grays out there that are pretty crumby too.  So lets get started with number five:

Maybelline Impeccable Greys is a very dark gray with a subtle bluish tone to it.  It can almost look navy or black in the right lighting, but it is a true gray.  I made sure to use three coats here because there was a bit of a transparency issue with it, not in a jelly type of way but just in a thinner formula way.  I think its absolutely beautiful and it had to make the top five!

Number four on my list is Nicole by OPI My Empire...My Rules.  This polish is a gray but it does have a brownish-green tint to it.  The formula is excellent and I love the way the color looks different indoors and then in sunlight.  Two coats was the perfect amount and I didn't have a single problem with the application.



Number three on the countdown is Essie Power Clutch, this one is an oldie but definitely a goodie!  It is a cool, neutral toned gray that can be worn any time of year.  The formula is almost a one coater but I played it safe and applied two.  I absolutely love how beautiful it looks and when I think of dark gray polish this is what comes to mind.

Number two is a new brand added to my collection this week, Chick Polish Gr8 Gray Owl.  When I was offered it in a swap I had to snag it because it is a brand I have been wanting to try.  This shade is a much cooler gray, I think due to the subtle light blue undertones in it, and a very creamy polish as well.  It too was almost a one coater but again I applied two just to make sure the application was nice and even.  I was very impressed with the formula and will be buying more Chick Polish in the future.

The moment you have all been scrolling for, my number one gray polish is... OPI French Quarter For Your Thoughts!!!  To me, this polish sums up all of the other great shades I have chosen.  It is a polish that can be viewed as a beautiful deep gray, or even as a neutral.  I feel it is a polish that is appropriate for all occasions and also any time of the year.  The formula was perfect to work with, not too thin or thick, no flooding, no clumping, there aren't any visible brush strokes and you have a perfect full creamy coverage with two coats.  There aren't any blue, green or brown undertones in this polish at all, it is entirely GRAY!

If you're able to get your hands on any of these definitely grab them, they'll be worth the money because you will get plenty of use out of them.  I think I like gray so much because it can be worn any time of the year, unlike a bright neon pink or dark brown, and it can be worn for any occasion and look stunning.

 

I hope you all enjoyed my top five shades of gray and thank you to those who chose this for tonight's blog post, I had a ball!

 

Goodnight!!!




One of My New Favorite Indies! Ruby White Tips

Good evening everyone!!!  I know I haven't posted in about a week but the little princess has been keeping me on my toes.  We started dance and gymnastics this week, plus had our first sleepover party with my 3 year old niece, so it was a little hectic and I didn't have much time to swatch or review.  To make up for it I have a beauty for you....

I received my very first Ruby White Tips and I am now a loyal customer!  I know a lot of you are fans of the show Breaking Bad, but I have to admit I've never seen it.  I do however have one of the polishes from the Breaking Bad collection, Hell Yeah Science!  When I received the pretty bottle, with its beautiful rhinestones on the cap, I couldn't wait to tear it open and put the polish on.

Hell Yeah Science! is a beautiful pinky, rose, mauvish, light linear holo.  I will be honest and say that you have to be careful with your application because you will see some brush marks if you don't polish nice and slowly.  It is worth the effort though!  This polish looks beautiful in the sunlight, unfortunately the weather in Staten Island wasn't cooperating with me so I don't have pictures to show you, but trust me its just lovely!

 

The formula was very easy to work with, it didn't run, stain, flood and wasn't thick or clumpy.  I used two coats and it was more than enough for full coverage.  I received this polish in a swap but I will definitely be purchasing more!  If you would like to check out Ruby White Tips you can visit her Etsy Shop to view the entire collection.  

I hope you all have a great week and I'll be back soon with my favorite shade for the fall.

Goodnight!