Pomegranate Nail Lacquer - Curator

This is Pomegranate Nail Lacquer
in Cardigan.

Hi again! Today I have another review for you, and this time it's sort of a mixed bag. I struggled with this for a while, trying to decide how to present this (or if I should present it at all). I decided that I need to be honest with you guys, no matter what. So, take this in the spirit in which it's intended- this was my experience, and I'm sharing the pros and cons with you as I see them.

Recently I was sent two bottles of polish from a new-to-me brand called Pomegranate Nail Lacquer. I was able to choose which colors from their fall collection I wanted to try. I had a hard time choosing, but I finally settled on Cardigan and Curator. Today I'm sharing my experience with Curator.

I found Curator really interesting in the bottle. Pomegranate describes this as a "luxurious black polish ... packed with gold and silver glitter." I think this is a fantastic description, because as you can tell it does look absolutely packed with glitter!

As you can see in this bottle shot, Curator is packed with tiny gold glitter and larger silver glitter. On the nail it's harder (for me, at least) to distinguish between the gold and silver. Instead, it ends up being a homogenous mass of luxurious velvety sparkle. This polish is seriously sparkly, and takes black from what could be dull and flat into something that's perfect for a night out. I can see wearing this for New Year's Eve... it's flashy and extravagant enough for the occasion while still being simple and quick to apply.

Unfortunately, I had a strange issue with this polish that I've never had before. This could be a problem with this particular bottle, or this batch. When I applied this color, though, it behaved very strangely- the polish was stretchy, almost like trying to polish my nails with Silly Putty, or maybe warm taffy.

This was so incredibly frustrating for me. I would brush on the polish only to have it stretch out in peaks from the tip of my nail. Then the polish would clump up and be hard to distribute across my nail. It was downright bizarre to me!

I'm not sure if it's a reaction between the polish and my base coat or just a weird bottle of polish. It might need thinning to loosen up the formula, or it might be something else entirely. All I know is by the time I got my nails finished, I never wanted to use this polish again!

Of course, once everything had dried and I'd smoothed the tips of my nails with an emery board to get rid of the pointy bits I absolutely fell in love with Curator. It really is a velvety-looking polish, and I keep finding myself drawn to it. I love how the glitter peeks up through the sheer black polish, giving it a sense of depth and mystery. I also love that even though the black is sheer, it gives complete coverage in two coats.

And let's not forget wear. This polish has been wearing like a trouper. I've seen no flaking, chipping or peeling, so maybe the weird application issues could be overlooked. Ask me the next time I wear this.

So, overall? I have to give this polish a thumbs-up, even with the weird consistency. It's absolutely gorgeous, even if it did cause me to say quite a few curse words while I was applying it.

Pomegranate Nail Lacquers are available for $9 each on the Pomegranate website. Bottles contain 16.5 milliliters/0.56 fluid ounces. For reference, a bottle of OPI contains 15 milliliters/0.5 fluid ounces.

Polish was provided by Pomegranate for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Dr.'s Remedy Breast Cancer 2012

Get Gorgeous Tips and Give Back During BCA 2012

Pink is the go-to hue this fall as beauty brands tap into every gradation of the standout shade in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Dr.'s REMEDY® leads the way in the fight for the cause by teaming up with Living Beyond Breast Cancer, whose mission is to empower all women affected by breast cancer to live as long as possible with the best quality of life. 

The good-for-you ingredients and lack of toxins in Dr.'s REMEDY® Enriched Nail Polish offers a safer, healthier option for nail care, giving you peace of mind.  And, during the month of October,
Dr.'s REMEDY® is tickled pink to donate 10% of the proceeds from the sales of three pink shades to Living Beyond Breast Cancer, an organization who ensures that women who are newly diagnosed, in treatment, beyond treatment, at high risk or living with metastatic disease are well cared for by providing educational resources and support services relevant to their age at and stage of diagnosis.

Made with organic ingredients, vitamins, wheat protein, tea tree oil, lavender, and garlic bulb extract, Dr.'s REMEDY® 100% Paraben free, vegan nail polish is the #1 podiatrist recommended brand.  So, polish your nails with pride and show your support in the hopes for a better battle with breast cancer with Dr.'s REMEDY® Enriched Nail Polish, the healthier nail polish choice, in three inspiring shades:

HOPEFUL Hot Pink: A Hello Kitty-meets bubble gum shade
NURTURE Nude Pink: A damsel-in-distress, barely there beautiful
PURITY Pink: A ballet slipper, sheer hue

Dr.'s REMEDY® Enriched Nail Polish is available for $17 online at www.remedynails.com or by calling 1-877-323-NAIL.

About Dr.'s REMEDY®

Dr.'s REMEDY® is a line of doctor-inspired cosmetics that is dedicated to using clean, hypo-allergenic ingredients. The brainchild of two New York-based podiatrists, Dr. Adam Cirlincione and Dr. William Spielfogel, Dr.'s REMEDY® proves quintessentially-perfect for any person looking to better the condition of her skin and nails. Their Enriched Nail Polish is the first-ever nail polish on the market created by doctors and approved by the American Podiatric Medical Association.  Made with organic ingredients, vitamins, wheat protein, tea tree oil, lavender, and garlic bulb extract, Dr.'s REMEDY® vegan nail polish is the #1 podiatrist recommended brand.  Dr.'s REMEDY® is sold online at www.remedynails.com or by calling 1-877-323-NAIL.

About Living Beyond Breast Cancer

For twenty years, Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) has been empowering women to live as long as possible with the best quality of life regardless of educational background, social support or financial means. Founded in 1991, LBBC has been committed to providing national educational programs and services that include a website, lbbc.org; a toll-free Survivors' Helpline, (888) 753-LBBC (5222); national conferences; free teleconferences; networking programs; quarterly newsletters; publications for medically underserved women; healthcare-provider trainings; recordings and the Paula A. Seidman Library and Resource Center.

Image was provided by Dr.'s Remedy..

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Zoya Diva Collection Gradient

This month's pain doc appointment came around and I was feeling the urge to break into the fall colors. I decided to go with the Zoya Diva collection, a collection of metallic polishes that absolutely sing to me. I chose three colors: Elisa (red), Suri (purple), and Song (blue). I had a feeling these would be absolutely gorgeous together, and they really were.
However, I had a small problem. I didn't take my own advice and either tape around my nails or use a cuticle cream before stamping on the gradient. This left me with a lot of heavily pigmented color around my nails, and oh my gosh, was that ever annoying!

I cleaned around my cuticles, I swear I did. In fact, I cleaned around my cuticles for 75 minutes with acetone. No wimpy polish remover would work for this, and I was prepared. I went in with the big guns, and the big guns failed. After 75 minutes of cleanup, I finally gave up and said to heck with it, what I had was good enough.

This was very, very depressing. It didn't look quite this bad in person, but you could still see that I had pretty screwed-up cuticles. So, learn from my mistakes:  if you do a gradient like this, please use tape or something. This is just no fun to clean up!

... it sure was pretty, though. :D

Polishes were provided by Zoya for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Let's Get Bronzed- Jessica Pumpkin Delight topped with Jordana Bronze Fest

Jessica Pumpkin Dreams in the bottle

You know how sometimes you get a new nail polish and you're almost obsessed with it? I have to be honest here- Jessica's new Pumpkin Delight (from their Fall 2012 Spicy Dreams collection) is one of those polishes for me. I've worn it twice, and I am absolutely in love with it!

This really is my sort of polish. It's a shimmery metallic bronzey golden duochrome that has flashes of red and gold and copper that's almost impossible to photograph. I finally managed a couple of decent photos, after taking probably 50 or more bottle shots alone!

Jessica Pumpkin Dreams in the bottle

This bottle shot gives you a slight idea of the complexity of this color. At the top of the bottle you can see reddish coppery tones with sparkles of red and green, while at the bottom of the bottle there are golden-greenish shades. If you never enlarge any other photo here, enlarge this bottle shot to the right. You'll be amazed at the flashes of color, and how stunningly beautiful this polish is!

Ah well, enough babbling about Pumpkin Delight. I love it, and it's obvious. Hopefully it's obvious why as well! But now I have to explain the next step I took. It was a rather odd one, but I think it worked out nicely...

If you've been a reader for very long, you probably know I have a thing for glitter. Big glitter, small glitter, holographic glitter... I love it all. So when I got the Jordana collection of special glitters I sort of lost my mind a bit. They're amazing, and I'm having problems picking a favorite. Heck, I don't think I can even pick five favorites... they're just that awesome!

Jordana Bronze Fest in the bottle

Enter Jordana Bronze Fest. Can you see that amazing collection of coppery, bronze, and gold glitters? There are large hexes and tiny microglitter, and flashes of so many shades... It's definitely one of my favorites.

As I was looking through the box I got to thinking... what if I did a gradient from Pumpkin Delight to Bronze Fest? They're very similar in tone, and I liked the idea of going from small shimmer to large glitter. Why not, right?

People? Let me just tell you that I fell in absolute LOVE. They aren't quite as close in color on the nail, but they look fantastic together. It's definitely a magpie heaven! Unfortunately, no matter how much I tried to photograph this, it just didn't work. I tried natural light, I tried flash, I tried in shade and full sun. I finally gave up and shot a video. Hopefully this can convey a bit of this polish combination's amazingness!

Polishes were provided by the brands for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Magic the Gathering Celebration 2012

Years ago, my husband and I played a card game called Magic the Gathering. Our son grew up watching us play, and he started playing once he was old enough to understand it and keep up. It's something we do together, and it's lots of fun.

Recently, a gaming shop opened in our area, so we've been going to play Magic there. This past Saturday, there was a Magic Celebration, and let me tell you this much- if you ever have the opportunity to attend one of these (and you play), then by all means GO!!

My husband, our son and I spent all afternoon at the game shop, playing in a tournament and laughing. We met new people, and played with people we already knew. The best part of the day was how the tournament was set up, though.

The typical setup runs something like this: you pay a fee to join the tournament, and then you play in different rounds to see who wins. So for example, 16 people will play in pairs, then the 8 winners will pair off again, then the 4 winners, etc until there's a single winner. That winner then gets packs of cards as a prize.

Magic Cards With Googly Eyes is awesome!

Saturday's tournament was different. Instead of paying to join, the tournament was free. Also, instead of using our existing decks, we were given a pack to start with. Then, we could get up to 3 more packs of cards by winning each of our match ups! We wound up with a ton of cards, and it didn't cost us a penny!!

So yea... lots of fun, laughter, and free Magic cards? It was a wonderful day!

And since I'm talking about Magic cards, let me just share this link I found earlier. When I found Magic Cards with Googly Eyes I had quite a giggle. I hope you have the same!

Til next time!

Family games are awesome!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

6:44 am already?? New goodies at Redbubble!

This is available as a sticker or as a shirt, it's your choice!

Have you ever had one of those days where suddenly, you're inspired to do stuff? Yea, this has been one of those. Well, yesterday was, I suppose. Last night around 7pm I had an idea- I could work on a few things to put into my husband's RedBubble store! I'd done an image years ago that I used as an icon on LiveJournal that I fell in love with, so I figured I'd start with that.

I didn't stop. It took me a good hour and a half of hunting through fonts, more fonts than I could even keep track of. I was hoping to find the font I'd used 10 years ago and somehow lost track of...

Would you believe I actually found it? I could barely believe it, but I was VERY happy! Then it was a matter of tweaking and kerning and fiddling, changing the letter shape for the one letter I didn't like the look of. I'm a bit neurotic when it comes to text. :D

Then I started thinking about nails, and how they could translate to RedBubble. I've got the start of some fun stuff to share.  First is a sticker that I think would go well lots of places. It comes in black or in rainbow, because let's be honest- this is me we're talking about!

EDIT: Stickers are down for the moment til I tweak them to be exactly the way I want them. Too much white space as it is right now!

I fussed with this for probably entirely too long, including tweaking the tail of the Q in lacquerhead to face the opposite direction. What can I say, when I want something to look a certain way, I want it to look just the way I want it. I'm neurotic, and I own that. :D

You can also get that rainbow lacquerhead on a shirt or a hoodie in your choice of about a bazillion colors (or like, 12 or something... )! I won't lie, I'm itching to get one of these for myself. Soon!

So yea, I've been buried in design for the last... erm, 12 hours. I think I should go to sleep now. But go look, and if you like them, share the links with your friends!

Sometimes inspiration isn't a good thing!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Post-Isaac update

Good news- Hurricane Isaac was mostly a non-event for us! Although my dad's house regained power a couple of days after the storm, we didn't our power fixed until a couple of hours ago. Whee, hurricanes. The good news is, we only had a few branches down from the storm, and our houses took no major damage. :D

Now we get to do fun things like clean up the yard and clean up the refrigerator that's been without power for a week. Boy, we're looking forward to that. I expect to wipe out a burgeoning ecosystem when we get to the fridge.

Click this to see it full-sized. It's worth it!

The best part about being at dad's this week has been the wildlife. Dad's got 20 acres, so we're surrounded by lots of nature! We got awful pictures of deer, and no picture of the bunnies or the foxes. My husband spent a lot of time outside by the hummingbird feeder, and got some amazing shots like these!

He also got some amazing video that I'm hoping to upload to YouTube. It was like having the nature channel on my camera!! :D

How amazing is that photo? You can see the little feathers on its feet, and the separation of its beak! They're such tiny little animals, around the size of my thumb. I love watching them, and at times there would be 8 or 10 birds around one feeder. So crazy, and so amazing!

So, we're off home this evening once the house cools off, and hopefully I'll stop flaring once I'm home. I'd hoped to get so much accomplished this week, but about all I could manage was lying in bed reading and hoping I would stop hurting.

Ah well. Spoons, right?

Hummingbirds are amazing. :D

See my disclosure statement for more information.