Happy Halloween!

Trick or treat! No candies here, but how about I treat you with my NOTD for halloween instead? Yes? Awesome :D 

I have such mixed feelings about this mani. I love the gradient in the background, but the clean up was such a pain and I couldn't even get them all nice and clean. I used 4 OPI shades for the gradient, Suzi & The 7 Dusseldorfs, Juice Bar Hopping, Where Did Suzi Man-go?, Good Grief!. The plate I used here is Bundle Monster BM-H06, which also happen to be the only halloween plate I have, gifted by Nail Polish Canada. 
I screwed up this mani so many times I almost wanted to just take them off and forget about it! I had to redo the gradient on two nails cause I nicked them with my nail. Then I accidentally stamped the pumpkins on my index when I wanted to do my middle nail.That really threw me off from what I wanted to do, hence the weird looking blue stamping that look like they don't belong there. Lol! But my thumb is awesome, my favorite part of this mani!

Have a spooky halloween! Don't eat too much candy! 

XO
Novi

Girly Bits Vegas LE Exclusive - Swatches

Hey there! Today I have two lovely Girly Bits polishes to show you. They are the two Limited Edition shades created for the 2014 Cosmoprof North America trade show, that's now no longer available for sale (sorry!), but I can still share the pretty swatches, right? 

In my attempt to minimize the clutter on my desk from the untried polishes, I stored these pretty in the drawer before trying them, and then forgot about them! I think I need a designated untried box or drawer so this won't happen again. 

Anyway, swatches.. 

What happens in Vegas...ends up on Facebook, this is a re-release shade from 2013 Cosmoprof event. It's a beautiful dusty purple shimolo with iridescent micro glitters and shimmer. I used 3 thin coats and top coat. 

What happens in Vegas...ends up on Facebook (2014)

What happens in Vegas...ends up on Facebook (2014)

What happens in Vegas...ends up on Facebook (2014)

What happens in Vegas...ends up on Instagram, this was created exclusively for Sparkle & Wine - a blogger/brand/stockist event co-hosted by Girly Bits and KBShimmer at Mandalay Bay while we were attending Cosmoprof North America in Las Vegas this year. It is a bright raspberry shade with scattered holo effect with pink and purple micro glitter. Very sparkly! I used 2 coats and top coat.

What happens in Vegas...ends up on Instagram

What happens in Vegas...ends up on Instagram

What happens in Vegas...ends up on Instagram

As I mentioned earlier, these two shades are no longer available, but you can get the other Girly Bits shades directly from their website (world wide shipping available), or from their distributors (list of distributors can be found in this link).


XO
Novi 

piCture pOlish Sizzle - Swatches & Nail Art w/ Badass

Hi guys! Hope everyone had a relaxing weekend! I went to Fright Nights last night. It was fun, as usual, they had a new haunted house this year that makes a total of 7 haunted houses to go in! I usually go into all of them, but this year I skipped one. It's not that scary really, but at the first part when you enter, they put you in a coffin, individually, and slide it in to the other side. That part creep me out, and I didn't want to put myself in that situation again.

Anyhow, let's get on the pretty polish shall we? I have swatches of piCture pOlish Sizzle, a collaboration shade with Lisa from Cosmetic Sanctuary. There's something about this pink that really clicked with me, I really like it! I'm already thinking of wearing it again, and I haven't even removed it, haha. I used 2 coats with top coat here, though I probably could use a third coat since my nails are pretty stained. Great formula, no issues at all.

piCture pOlish Sizzle

piCture pOlish Sizzle

piCture pOlish Sizzle

Oh, did you notice? I reshaped my nails! It's not 100% of what I wanted, but I'll get to it. I want the tips to be more egg-like round, somewhere in between round and almond I guess. What do you think? It does make some of my regular 'poses' feel off. But I like it, no more scratchy accident!

And here's a little nail art I did using Stiching Nail Vinyls from Beyond The Nail and piCture pOlish Badass for my Fright Night trip! (Not that anyone can see it but me :p)

XO
Novi

HPB Oct. Halloween Mani Link-Up (feat. Glam Polish)

Happy Saturday! Today's post is another halloween themed, and there's also a link-up with a bunch of other bloggers from Hobby Polish Bloggers group on Facebook. The group is mainly for bloggers who blog for fun (hence the name), but there are also experienced bloggers involved in the group, sharing advice, tips & trick with newbies like me.

Anyway, I wanted to swatch the Halloween Limited Edition from Glam Polish, so this is perfect. 2 birds 1 stone! This is my first time buying a halloween themed polish, I'm usually not a fan of the palette. But after seeing all the gorgeous swatches of Frankenslime, I just had to have it! I bought the glitter because it was a Snoopy inspired polish, but ended up loving it just as much. I did a little bit of (fail) nail art for both the polishes. I used Glisten & Glow HK Girl top coat for the nail art and piCture pOlish Gloss on Top! for the swatches.

Frankenslime 2014, a green crelly holo with tiny neon green and metallic purple glitter. This one dries gritty and need a good top coat to smooth out the surface. I used 3 thin coats and top coat.

Frankenslime 2014

Frankenslime 2014

Frankenslime 2014

And here my frankenmonster! I think he doesn't like the haircut I gave him here. The purple slime is Glam Polish I'm Through With Love. Frank was painted with KBShimmer Eclipse and Butter London Cotton Buds.

Frankenslime 2014

Snoopy The Witch, a clear based glitter topper with of orange, black, white, and purple, hex, square, circle and mini star glitter. I layered it over KBShimmer Honeydew List, and used a one-ish dabbed coat. The glitter were easy to get out, I didn't get too much glitter on the brush, just enough to use on one nail which is nice. 
I free handed Snoopy The Witch on my middle nail. KBShimmer Hugs & Wishes is the base, Snoopy was painted with KBShimmer Eclipse, Stonewashed, Pansy-Monium, Butter London Cotton Buds, piCture pOlish Citrus, and Totes. I placed the glitter all around Snoopy as accent. I really like it! Even though he looks a bit deformed :p

Snoopy The Witch

Snoopy The Witch

Snoopy The Witch

Snoopy The Witch

This Halloween LE polishes can be purchased from www.glampolish.com.au with shipping to Australia & USA shipping rates to USA are $7.95 for the first polish and an extra $1.00 for each additional polish. You can also check out their international stockists for availability.
Lastly, don't forget to check out the other posts from the link up below and have a great weekend!!


XO
Novi

An InLinkz Link-up

Killer Clown

Okay, I finally started on my halloween themed nail art! I usually tend to like a not-too-scary borderline cute halloween nails. But this year thought I'll step out of my comfort zone and actually try something scary. Nothing too gory like ripped nails or bleeding cuticles, lol. I am actually painting my fear onto my nails. Clowns, anything in costumes really, just make me feel uneasy, I just don't why or when that started. That doesn't stop me from wanting to go to Fright Night every year though.

So here it is.. My Killer Clown!

My base for this mani is Butter London Cotton Buds, for that creepy super white clown face. All the clown details were painted with a nail art brush. Colours used are: KBShimmer Eclipse, OPI Vodka & Caviar, KBShimmer Stonewashed and How You Dune? for the eyes details, three shades of orange from OPI for the hair: Juice Bar Hopping, Call me Gwen-ever, Where Did Suzi Man-go?. 
I dotted my pinkie and thumb with two of the orange, mimicking a clown suit. For the last touch of creepiness, I splattered the red polish all over the nails. There's a big blob of red on the thumb, but I think I like the randomness. Besides, do you think a killer clown would care about a big blob of blood on him? I don't think so!

I'm also entering this to Nail Polish Canada Halloween Nail Art Challenge. SO, vote for me if you like it :) Or enter your gruesome manicure! You can do either of them in this link.


XO
Novi

OPI Peanuts Collection - Swatches & Review

Hi guys! Are you excited to start off the week? The humid weather and constant rain make me want to just curl up under the cover. But of course I fought the urge, got up, and try to have a productive day.
My fully enabling bf came home with Chatters bag a week ago, filled with 4 OPI. I squealed a bit when I saw they were the Peanuts collection. I've been waiting to get these! This is  a small collection released for Halloween, consists of 2 cremes and 2 glitter toppers. After swatching them, I have mixed feelings about this collection. Let's see pics and my thoughts on these!

I used OPI top coat for all the swatches here.

Who Are You Calling Bossy?!? is a black crelly (creme & jelly), it's not too thin but runny enough that if I wasn't careful I could flood my cuticles. It is also still a little streaky. I needed 3 thin coats for this. 

OPI Who Are You Calling Bossy?!?

OPI Who Are You Calling Bossy?!?

Good Grief!, the name of this polish is really fitting to how I felt when I put it on. Ok, maybe it's not *that* bad, but it's definitely not the best yellow creme I've tried. I also needed 3 thin coats for this.

OPI Good Grief!

OPI Good Grief!

To Be or Not To Beagle is a mix of blue, red, yellow, peach, pink, black hexes glitter and some black bar glitter in a clear base. I really like the colours mix in this, I can totally see all Peanuts characters in it. I layered it over Good Grief!, the glitter payoff is pretty great. I only used one 'dab & swipe' coat for this.

OPI To Be or Not To Beagle

OPI To Be or Not To Beagle

OPI To Be or Not To Beagle

Where's My Blanket???, also a glitter topper in a clear base. This one only has a mix of yellow, peach, and black glitter. Great glitter payoff too, sometimes I even had a bit too much on the brush, as you can see it's a bit overloaded on my pinky. I layered it over OPI Sorry I'm Fizzy Today, reminds me Sally Brown's top.

OPI Where's My Blanket???

OPI Where's My Blanket???

OPI Where's My Blanket???

So my overall thoughts are divided between how much I liked the glitters in this collection, I think OPI has improved in their glitter variety and formula. To Be or Not To Beagle is my favourite! Even with the bar glitter. On the other hand, I think they can do better with the cremes the put in this collection, instead of the obvious Charlie Brown shades. 
Do you have this collection? Which one(s) is your must have? :)

In Canada, this collection can be purchased from your local Chatters Salon (for BC ladies), or from Nail Polish Canada.


XO,
Novi

Glam Polish Incurably Romantic & Messy Mansion 20

Happy Saturday! First off, I want to thank everyone for the positive responses on my last post. It was not an easy decision for me to do the post, but I'm glad I did.

Now lets get on the fun stuff! Today I'm showing you one of the new addition in my Glam Polish stash, Incurably Romantic, this is part of Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend collection (I have swatches of a couple others here). I stamped two nails with a rose image from Messy Mansion #20 using Mundo de Unas Black. I sponged Glam Polish Bewitched (see swatches here) on the tips of my index and pinkie, and just leave my thumb plain. I sealed the design with one coat of HK Girl top coat.

Here's some swatches of Incurably Romantic on its own. I used two coats, top coat is definitely needed for this as the glitter gives a slightly textured finish.

Glam Polish Incurably Romantic

Glam Polish Incurably Romantic

Glam Polish Incurably Romantic

Glam Polish Incurably Romantic

This Glam Polish is still available to purchase either directly from Glam Polish website or their distributors such as Harlow & Co., Mei Mei's Signatures, or Ella Ann Cosmetics.

XO
Novi

When Customer Service Fails..

Hi guys! Today's post is different than usual. No pretty polish or nail art. Instead, I would like to share my worst experience with you. I took some time to think whether or not I want to post this, then I thought, if I could (and I have) share my good and wonderful experience then I should do the same with the opposite. 

I often see the slogan 'support indies' used in instagram posts, and other social network, when someone posting their manicures using an indie polish. I have to admit, I am picky when it comes to choosing which indie brands to buy, and I only have a small handful of indie brands in my collection. I usually observe the brand for quite some time before I decided to try it, mainly because I have limited amount of fund to spend on polish and indie is quite expensive compared to mainstream brands. So when I decided to spend on something, I want to be sure that I get my money's worth, in quality and customer service. 

Now before I get into what I want to share with you, let me stress that I am sharing my personal experience as a customer, not a blogger. 

I had a custom polish made last year by one of a new indie brand (at that time), Colors by Llarowe, late last year. It's gorgeous, and I loved it so much. So did many of my friends. I decided that I want to share my beautiful polish with my friends, and one bottle is not enough to share with 4-5 people. Fill line drives me nuts, so decanting the polish is not an option. So here goes what happened..

======================================================================================================

Feb 4, 2014. I contacted the maker and asked if she could make extra bottles of my custom.

Feb 10, 2014. I received a positive response, yes! But I have to sent a decant so she can recreate it, since she doesn't keep recipes for custom polishes.

There was a back and forth convo before we agreed on price and she gave me the address on Feb 12, I told her that I will mail the decant the following Monday.

Feb 17, 2014. I shipped the decant.

March 5, 2014. After a little over two weeks has passed, I sent an email asking if she has received my decant. I didn't get a reply.

March 11, 2014. By this date i hadn't received a response, so I tagged her directly in a fan group for the brand. She then responded saying that she did receive the decant.

March 13, 2014. I emailed her again to let her know how many bottles I want her to make. It wasn't discussed in the initial convo, and she also didn't ask about it when she received the decant. 

May 3, 2014. I sent another email asking if she's still going to recreate my custom. There were no communication since she confirmed she has my decant.

June 13, 2014. I forwarded my email convo about the custom to Customer Support's email I found on the website, asking the CS to pass along my request to cancel the custom recreation. My reasons, other than because there were no communication, I found another polish(es) from the brand that looked very similar with my custom there's no point in having back up bottles, I just told my friends to get that polish if they liked my custom.

June 27, 2014. Found a different email address for Customer Support, didn't get a reply from the last one, so I forwarded the email convo again. Got a reply on the same day saying that she will pass along the message. 

July 22, 2014. I emailed CS again asking about what happened to the decant I sent. Since it was cancelled, I assumed that I will be getting it back, but no one contacted me about it.

Aug 8, 2014. I didn't get a reply on my last email sent. So I emailed an asked again.

Aug 12, 2014. Received a reply from CS, apologizing for the delay in replying since they had just recently moved. Confirmed that the maker does have my decant and will take care in sending it back to  me.

Sept 10, 2014. I didn't get my decant back, nor did anyone contacted me to confirm my return address or give me a tracking number. I emailed CS again and asked about it. I still haven't gotten a reply to this as this post is written.

Oct 6, 2014. Since I was getting nowhere in emails, I posted on their business page on Facebook. Basically asking the same thing, where is my decant? This post was ignored, though another post right above mine was replied.

Oct 8, 2014. I re-posted it again, really just copy/paste the whole thing, and added that I will keep posting until I get an answer. I finally get a reply saying that she has sent back my decant several months ago and she couldn't get the tracking info right away because the 'shipping computer' has closed for the day. She also apologized that CS didn't reply to me and offered to make me a sample if my decant 'got lost in the mail'.
I followed up the next day, but once again, I was ignored. 
=======================================================================================================

So there you go. At this point I am certain that I will never get my decant back, nor do I care for it anymore. I was hoping that at the very least I will get an explanation that make sense or a sincere apology. 

I realize that indie makers are a small business with very few employees, but it doesn't mean it's ok to completely ignore a customer when you haven't completed your end of the deal. Even a short reply would make a lot of difference on how I feel about the situation, and I'm not talking about reply from CS, that's not who I was communicating with in the first place.

Another odd thing that caught my attention, if they indeed have sent back the decant as they claimed, it struck me as weird that a business would send something out without any notification or tracking number given to the recipient. Especially with the no follow up after saying that she will find out about the tracking.

Now god knows what really happened to that decant, but lets say that they misplaced it.. Would I be upset? Yes, probably, and disappointed. But I know I would get over it and valued their honesty for owning up that they screwed up. Would I feel the need to bring up the matter here? Most definitely not. 

People love supporting indies not only because of the creativity of each individual, but often I hear/read that when they do support a brand, it's because they love the customer support or the interaction the brands have with their customers. Like I said at the beginning, I was picky when it comes to choosing indie brands, but I have supported this brand since their first launch. So it is such a disappointment to have experienced this. I can only hope that I'm just the only unlucky one to have had this experience, and that no one else shared a similar experience. 

I'm not writing this post out of spite or because I'm expecting to get some kind of compensation for this. I only want to share with you that this unfortunate and unacceptable thing happened. Yes, I was upset, and had I chose to write this a month ago or even a week ago the tone would have been different. I want people, my readers, to know that while it is a great thing supporting small businesses, but they are still in fact a business, and as customers, you deserved to be treated with respect. That's all I hoped for and didn't get. And for that, they have lost one customer.

If you have read this far, thank you for taking your time! I will be back posting pretty polishes :)

XO
Novi

piCture pOlish Geode

Hi loves! Happy hump day! I haven't been doing any nail art lately, I have ideas flowing in my head but completely zero motivation to start on it. So meanwhile I'm gathering my nail art mojo back, let me entertain you with my swatches and NoTD posts, mm-kay?

I wore piCture pOlish Geode (a collaboration shade with Every Sensory blog) to a thanksgiving dinner last Sunday. I surprisingly liked this a lot more than I thought I would, had it on for two days before I get bored and need to see something else on my nails.
Formula and application was okay, I got it opaque in 3 thin coats. I did, however, have to shake the bottle several times during application. The glitter settled to the bottom pretty quick, but shaking fixed it, no biggie. 
Oh, another thing, I usually take pics for my blog right after I finished the mani. These pics here were taken right before removal. So it's a 2 days old manicure. I mentioned this because I was testing piCture pOlish new top coat, Gloss on Top!. Though this is not my official review, I just want to mention that after 2 days, there are no chips or even tip wear, as you can see in the pics. 

piCture pOlish Geode

piCture pOlish Geode

piCture pOlish Geode

piCture pOlish Geode

Just a random thought.. my nails look really long here! Time to clip them short again? or grow them longer and try a different shape? hmm..


XO
Novi

Glam Polish Gruesome Movie Duo - Mei Mei's Signatures Exclusive

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian reader! Hope your tummy is filled with delicious turkey and pies. I know mine is.. ;)
I didn't do any thanksgiving mani, I'm kinda terrible in doing themed mani on time. I'll probably just skip it entirely. Instead, I have something better for you. Well, better in a way that it's nicer to look at than if I did a turkey mani :p, on the other hand.. these are no longer available to purchase. Sorry for about that! Though you might have some luck finding them in secondary market (FB Group, blog sales) if you're interested. 

The set I'm showing you is Gruesome Movie Duo exclusively created by Glam Polish for Mei Mei's Signatures, only 60 set were made and like I said before, they are now sold out. BUT, they still have another LE halloween duo that's just as gorgeous! Only 140 set were made, and you can get them here. (Hurry!)

Carrie, a gorgeous vampy red (or should I say blood red?) linear holo with pink & gold flashes and foil like glow. Super pretty! I don't think Carrie would be that upset if the blood was sparkly and glowy like this :p This is 3 thin coats and top coat.

Glam Polish Carrie

Glam Polish Carrie

Glam Polish Carrie

Glam Polish Carrie

Tales From The Darkside, a gorrrr-geous deep purple holo! It has the same glowy look as Carrie, but with pink/violet and blue flashes. This looks much prettied in person! My pics don't do this polish justice. I used 2 coats and top coat.

Glam Polish Tales From The Darkside

Glam Polish Tales From The Darkside

Glam Polish Tales From The Darkside

Glam Polish Tales From The Darkside

XO
Novi