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Kiss Your Elbow

Top Polishes of 2012!

December 30, 2012
A-England, Aphrodite Lacquers, China Glaze, Glitter Gal, Jelly, Kiss Your Elbow, Magnetic, Nailpolish, nubar, OPI, piCture pOlish, Revlon, Shimmer Polish, Zoya
6 Comments

Can you believe 2012 is almost over? This year was a big one for me… I started my new job, recently moved to our new home, started blogging and taking my polish and beauty obsession to a whole new level, and along with that, I met some amazing people in this community.

It’s been a little quiet on my blog lately, mainly due to my big move just before Christmas… I thought I would catch up, not only on a blog post or two, but also share some of my top polishes of the year (with links to the original posts).

Hope this is a fun read for you!

In no particular order, here is Aphrodite Lacquers’ It’s My Party topped with The Icing on the Cake. I immediately fell in love with this hot pink jelly (and its glittery topper), and can’t wait to wear this with a little tan!

Aphrodite_IcingOnTheCake

My most popular post, even garnering a shout-out from Suzi Weiss-Fishman, OPI’s Creative Director, on her twitter chat recently (!!), was the Monet jelly sandwich. This was created using OPI’s Funny Bunny with Shimmer Polish Linna, and it turned into one of my favourite manicures.

Shimmer_Linna_jelly_OPI_FunnyBunny2

Oh Zoya Ornate Collection, how I love thee! After patiently waiting for this gorgeous collection to arrive, I created my very first striping tape mani using Zoya Storm and Aurora:

Zoya_Ornate_nailart-2

Another day, another gorgeous Shimmer Polish! Karina, a deep vampy red jelly, is beautiful and glamorous and oh-so-sparkly!

Shimmer_Karina

I loved the sparkle of this mani: a-England’s Dorian Grey topped with Shimmer Polish Vanessa. Look at that sparkle!

Shimmer_Vanessa

And so you can see why I love Dorian Gray, look at this steely pewter:

AEngland_DorianGreyFlash

This year I also tried my very first Nubar polishes, and I fell in love. Look at shiny Nubar Espresso from the Simplicity Meets Elegance Collection:

Nubar_Espresso_Sun

From the same collection, here is Nubar Rouge, another gorgeous pink I fell in love with:

Nubar_Rouge_Sun

Up next, another of my most popular posts comes courtesy of OPI’s first foray into magnetics, from the OPI Skyfall Collection to commemorate 50 years of Bond films: OPI Magnetic Lacquer Is that Silva? I just love the holo magnetic!

OPI-Magnetic-IsThatSilva-

Blue is my favourite colour though I’ve often steered clear of it in my manicures. But Revlon Royal, especially combined with Aphrodite Lacquers’ Doorman, was something spectacular….

Aphrodite_Doorman

Who doesn’t love a sparkly linear holographic polish? The ladies at Glitter Gal have made holos their business, and let me tell you, Glitter Gal Wisteria does not disappoint!! I loved the subtlety of this light hue…

Glitter_Gal_Wisteria_Sun2

I am a fool for sparkles, and Aphrodite Lacquers Peacock Earrings was distracting. Here it is, layered over China Glaze’s Liquid Leather for optimum sparkle and shine:

Aphrodite_Peacock_Earrings

I think by now you know how much I adore jelly sandwiches. (And I should really do more of them!) Another Zoya collection that I was lusting after, Zoya Gloss, is a jelly-lover’s dream come true. Here is Zoya Frida layered with a relatively new indie, Kiss Your Elbow Polish’s A Drop in the Ocean:

Zoya-Frida Drop in Ocean Jelly
This list wouldn’t be complete without Picture Polish and their Mesh shade Tease, a glittery silvery-pink beauty that I received as part of their Blog Fest for 2012:

picturepolish_Tease_Shade

Next is a sparkly vampy black jelly courtesy of Aphrodite Lacquers, Nebula. Though I love vamps, I don’t always wear straight black polishes, unless, of course, they have a little something like Nebula does. Filled with aqua and silver glitters, Nebula has depth and sparkle:

Aphrodite_Nebula1

And last but not least, the one that started my love affair with Aphrodite Lacquers, Grapetini! I think it’s fair to say that AL is one of my favourite indies, having created a number of polishes that I wear again and again… and Grapetini, with its purple squishiness, was part of my very first AL order that was not meant to be. It has the unfortunate distinction of being my first polish to arrive smashed to pieces lol.

Aphrodite-Grapetini-3cts

And that, dear readers, is my first top… 16 list! It was meant to be a top-12 but there were simply too many that I adore. There are many more that I love and wanted to share, but in the spirit of keeping this a somewhat shortish blog post, not all the beauties could be included… Perhaps I will share another top-12 list soon.

Hope you enjoyed this post as much as I have enjoyed selecting my favourites. May the New Year bring you and your loved ones much joy and happiness, success and love.

~xo

Kiss Your Elbow…

September 5, 2012
Beauty, Giveaway, Kiss Your Elbow, Nailpolish, OPI
2 Comments

Today I bring you Kiss Your Elbow Nail Polish part 3!

I recently introduced you to these beautiful glittery polishes (here and here) in a Zoya jelly sandwich. I decided to change things up a little (well, only a little) by layering it with another polish, an underrated summery beauty: OPI Big Hair, Big Nails from the Texas Collection. Yes, this is another jelly, albeit a super-bright, colour-dense jelly.

Here is Kiss Your Elbow Autumn Leaves, a clear-base polish with gold, cranberry and orange micro-glitter with larger pink and orange hexes. I love how fitting the name of this polish is – all I think when I see this polish is autumn!

And here it is over 2 coats of OPI Big Hair, Big Nails:

Full sun

I loved this combo!! I loved how bright the base was against the tiny glitter, and how there was just enough difference in colour to allow all the shades of glitter to dance against the backdrop.

But…because I have been on a jelly sandwich roll…

Well, you can guess what I did next:

I added a coat of Big Hair, Big Nails to my index and middle fingers to compare the previous mani to the jelly sandwich, and you know what? I LOVED this! The jelly was just sheer enough to allow complete visibility of the glitter below, yet added more brightness and depth. What a great way to take our summer brights into fall. 🙂

Here it again:

Shade

Kiss Your Elbow’s Autumn Leaves (along with five other glittery stunners) is available on her Etsy site!

So which look do you prefer? And what did you think of this combination?

 

And don’t forget, you can win TWO of your very own Kiss Your Elbow polishes right now on my Facebook page, so head on over to enter!!  Good luck!!

~xo

 

(Some products were provided for consideration and review. All opinions are my own.)

 

 

Zoya Jellies Part 2! (and a Giveaway!)

September 1, 2012
China Glaze, Giveaway, Jelly, Kiss Your Elbow, Nailpolish, Obsessed, Zoya
7 Comments

Yesterday I shared with you my excitement over finally receiving the stunning Zoya Gloss trio, which, let’s face it, contains some of the most beautiful jellies ever released.

Today I continue that obsession with part two of my jelly-fest featuring the beautiful Zoya Paloma, a sheer berry colour, sandwiched with a brand-new indie I introduced you to yesterday!

Let’s start with all four of the gorgeous Kiss Your Elbow Nail Polishes I recently received:

Aren’t they beautiful?

For today’s jelly sandwich, I used Kiss Your Elbow’s Wallflower, a gorgeous glitter polish featuring rose gold hexes and squares with little gold squares dispersed throughout.

I love the colour combo in this polish…

My mani consisted of 2 coats of Zoya Paloma over a base coat (China Glaze), followed by a coat of Wallflower, and finished up with another coat of Paloma. Paloma was a dream to work with. It applied really well for a jelly, with no streaks (you do need to be more generous with it than you would a non-jelly), and dried to a super-high-gloss shine. I could have totally skipped the top coat but used it mainly to quickly dry my mani (I used China Glaze’s Fast Forward).

in the shade

This jelly sandwich turned out amazing, literally glowing from within! The rose gold looks really coppery within Paloma, giving it such depth!

love the amber colouring of this sunset pic

And finally, a macro shot:

I love this combo so much that I refuse to remove it! I can’t wait to try my third and final Zoya Gloss, the enigmatic Katherine…. Look out for part 3 of my Jelly Sandwich posts!
You can purchase any of the Zoya Gloss polishes individually or as a set from Zoya if you’re in the US, or Nail Polish Canada! Kiss Your Elbow is on Facebook and don’t forget to check out her Etsy shop!

And now… for the best part:

THE GIVEAWAY!!!

Cassidy of Kiss Your Elbow has sponsored a giveaway for my readers!! Head on over to my Facebook page where you can enter to win TWO bottles of your choice from Kiss Your Elbow!

Happy long Labour Day Weekend!!!

xo

(Some products were provided for consideration and review.)

Double Whammy! (Zoya included!)

August 31, 2012
Jelly, Kiss Your Elbow, Soulstice Nail Colour, Zoya
10 Comments

I finally, finally, FINALLY got my hands on the BEAUTIFUL Zoya Gloss Trio. I mean, can you tell just how excited I am?? Jellies were made for ME!!!!

Not only that, but admire my bottle shot above!!! 6 Zoyas in all!! Don’t worry, I’ll bring you some more pictures of all the others soon. 🙂 And I’m also thrilled to try my very first bottle of Soulstice, but more on all that later!

I practically tore open the Zoya Gloss package in order to get my hands on these jellies! The very first one I tried is here:

That’s only 2 coats of Zoya Frida, a teal jelly beauty that layers amazingly well. For some reason, this Gloss collection has not received the best reviews, but I wonder if that’s because some people just don’t love jellies. I find them to be a very special breed of polish… I compare them to lipgloss – for the nails. It’s not for everybody, but those that love it, LOVE it. And I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect jelly! This was one of the best jelly polishes I have tried, by far! The consistency was a little thicker – almost gelatin-like, and you have to work quickly and evenly. But by the time I had applied the first coat, I was able to go back and apply the second without any more wait. And no bubbling!

If I was wearing this alone, I would have applied a third coat for sure. The Gloss collection is so glossy, it does not even need a top coat. See the picture above? No top coat and the polish is dry!

But I had other things in mind.

Let me show you:

A beautiful, perfect jelly sandwich!!!!

Allow me to introduce you to a new polish line called Kiss Your Elbow Nail Polish, whose gorgeous A Drop in the Ocean I layered between my Zoya Frida.

Cassidy, the super-sweet creator behind this brand, recently launched her inaugural line of 6 polishes, and she asked if I would swatch some for her. I keep pretending I don’t like blues and greens when it comes to polishes, but who am I kidding. Blue is actually my favourite colour, and water (especially the ocean) is my very favourite thing. So naturally I always gravitate towards these beauties, and A Drop in the Ocean was no different. And the moment I saw the bottle, I knew I had to layer it with Frida!

Let’s let the pictures do the talking!

Look at a polish macro:

And more jelly sandwiches!

And how about a macro shot? (Click the pic for full size!)

Let’s show Kiss Your Elbow some love on her Facebook page or by checking out A Drop in the Ocean in her Etsy shop! And there may just be a little something happening on my Facebook page soon… maybe a giveaway…?

I’ll have more Kiss Your Elbow polish for you again soon!

The Zoya Gloss Trio is available directly from Zoya if you’re in the US, or Nail Polish Canada, and I’m not sure just how long they’ll be there!

What did you think of Frida? And of A Drop in the Ocean?

xo

(Some products were provided for consideration and review.)

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