Seize the Sparkle

Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats SinfulColors Black on Black 1 Coat SinfulColors Twilight Twinkles* 1 Coat SinfulColors Clear Coat 1 Coat Seche Vite The Holiday season and these "brilliant flakes of gold" were meant to go together! This gold flake glitter topper is a great way to add a whole lot of luxe to your manicure! Twilight Twinkles contains a mix of small gold hex, gold square, and gold flake glitter in a clear base. Just one coat adds a bunch of sparkle!  Compared to Galax-Sea , the glitter flakes in Twilight Twinkles are definitely a little thicker, but you should be okay if you use 2-3 coats of clear before your quick dry top coat. For my photos, I used only 1 coat of clear and 1 coat of Seche, but this is actually the 3rd time I've worn Twilight Twinkles. I got it pretty smoothed out in a jelly glitter sandwich, and in yesterday's mani. (Which, thanks to operator error and a squirrely little Peanut, I ended up

left to right: 1, 2, 3, and 4 coats of SinfulColors Galax-Sea Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats SinfulColors Pink Cream 2 Coats SinfulColors Galax-Sea* 2 Coats SinfulColors Clear Coat 1 Coat Essie Good to Go When I first saw these "magical green flakes," I knew they had to be layered over pink. Think of it as a modern take on this festive time of year. It's a great way to incorporate a little Holiday spirit into your nails without going too over the top. We've got plenty of time for that come December! Galax-Sea contains green hex glitter, green glitter flakes, and irridescent square glitter. I'm not usually drawn to green glitter, or really green polishes in general, but this one is definitely unique. A mix of shard and square glitter? Sold! The base of Galax-Sea is clear, with just a smidge less glitter payoff in one coat than Unwrap Me . That being said, it builds nicely, and 2 coats was definitely enough

left to right: 1, 2, 3, and 4 coats of SinfulColors Unwrap Me Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats SinfulColors Muse 2 Coats SinfulColors Unwrap Me* 1 Coat SinfulColors Clear Coat 1 Coat Seche Vite It's no secret that I'm alllllll about the sparkle and glitter. The more, the better! So, the Holidays are always a fun time for me, because all kinds of new glitter polish = all kinds of new ways to sparkle!!! Unwrap Me contains a glittery mix of metallic red hex glitter and smaller matte black hex glitter. Yep. Matte. Black. Hex. Glitter. It's thee best way to do black glitter in nail polish, hands down. I also love how the difference in glitter finishes gives this polish depth and detail. I was really happy with the formula on Unwrap Me. The glitter payoff was good, a little sparse on one coat for my taste, but definitely good to go at two coats. (And let's be honest, I have above-average glitter tendancies.) This layering

Not gonna lie, today's Fishbowl Friday is more like a Fishbowl Fail, buuuuut in the interest of full disclosure and what not, here are my RUFFIAN nails... Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 4 Coats SinfulColors Ice Blue 1 Coat SinfulColors Clear Coat 1 Coat Essie Good to Go 1 Day of Wear SinfulColors Mesmerize SinfulColors Clear Coat Essie Good to Go The next time I decide to undertake Ruffian nails, please remind me that those binder reinforcement stickers don't really do the job. I think French manicure guide stickers would've worked waaaay better. Sadly, I didn't have any of those on hand, so... This turned into a bit of a failicure. But that's okay! It's the first time I've ever done one of these, and you don't always knock it out of the park on your first try. I will definitely try this again, because I really do like the way it looks! That being said, it will have to wait until the No Buy is over, o

Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 4 Coats SinfulColors Ice Blue* 1 Coat SinfulColors Clear Coat 1 Coat Essie Good to Go Blue is definitely showing up all over the place this season! And we're not talking your typical Fall navy or icy Winter blue. We've got cerulean, cobalt, azure blue, and in the case of Ice Blue from SinfulColors... "soft indigo exploding with silver sparkle." And then some! Ice Blue isn't a duochrome, but it definitely evokes that feeling on the nail, thanks to the unique blend of sparkles and shimmer. The base is a really sheer purple leaning blue. Add in shimmery turquoise, indigo, purple, and silver sparkles, and Ice Blue packs quite the glittery punch! Application was super easy. Honestly, I've come to prefer the SinfulColors brush. I always seem to get better lines with minimal cleanup afterward. The formula on Ice Blue was the same quality I've come to know and expect from SinfulColors.

Halfway through the week so far! Am I the only one who just wishes it were Friday, already? I didn't think so... :) For this week, I'm lumping in my Holiday No Buy update here... sometimes, you just have to kill two birds with one stone, and this is definitely one of those weeks! HNB2014: Week 5... Old Balance: $50.22 Transferred: $10.00 New Balance: $60.22 I pulled the prompt for Fishbowl Friday numbero five and got RUFFIAN . Not gonna lie, kind of excited to try one, because I've never done one! So... stay tuned for that on Friday, when I, along with the rest of the world, let out a collective sigh and rejoice because the weekend will finally be here. It's been crazy around Chez Sparkle lately. Note how I haven't mentioned anything about NaNoWriMo lately? Well... that's because I made it to a whopping 4,000ish words, and LIFE . What is it about November? Could we get a petition going to the Office of Letters and Light that November does nawt

Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats SinfulColors Ruby Mine 2 Coats SinfulColors Clear Coat 1 Coat Essie Good to Go The longer I wear this polish, the less I want to take it off. It's sparkly, cranberry deliciousness in a bottle. I can't believe it's taken me this long to wear it. It's thee perfect Fall/Winter/Holiday shade. Originally, Ruby Mine was part of the SinfulColors Crystal Crushes Collection from Fall 2013. I managed to pick up Treasure Chest and Emerald Envy when last year's No Buy was over, but for the most part, I missed out on the sparkly awesomeness of the Crystal Crushes. Booooooo. But then I saw Ruby Mine this summer during a Walgreens run and gave it a permanent home... aaaaaaand forgot about it. Until I sorted through the sparklestash and created a bin especially for my untried polish. (Soooo much red.) Ruby Mine is a textured slightly pink-leaning red polish with fine pink and gold sparkles. To be

The weather is getting chillier, and that means my nails are getting darker! Because, who doesn't think cold, Winter weather and rich, vampy polish shades were just meant to go together? Especially with a nice mug of steaming, hot coffee... YUM! Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats SinfulShine Mirror, Mirror 1 Coat SinfulColors Clear Coat 1 Coat Essie Good to Go I know that it's still officially more than a month away, but it feels like Winter came early this year. Our forecasted high tomorrow is 27... for the high ! Guaranteed Sarah-cicle weather... BUT thanks to Mirror, Mirror... I'm feeling the chill just a little bit less. A warm scarf and riding boots don't hurt either!  Mirror, Mirror is one of those shades of red that just feels right this time of year. I normally pass on shades like this, and then regret that decision when I'm in a crisp/salted caramel/cranberry-all-the-things kind of mood. Sooooooo, yay! This

Happy, Happy Friday... Happy Friday to you! I don't know about you, but I'm really glad that the weekend is finally here! This week's prompt is another obtuse one, and quite honestly left me wondering... why did I make that a prompt?!? But it is what it is, and this week's nails are FUN ... Polishes Used: 1 Coat Beauty Secrets Ridge Filler 3 Coats Sinful Colors Smokin' 3 Coats Sinful Colors Blue Crushin' China Glaze Tarnished Gold Essence Choose Me! Essence Miss Universe Hard Candy Beetle Hard Candy Mr. Wrong Pure Ice Oh Baby!  SOPI The Golden Age Franken Gray Jelly 2 Coat Sinful Colors Clear Coat 1 Coat Essie Good to Go The base of this manicure started out simply enough. Sinful Colors Smokin' for the base on my left pinky, ring, pointer, thumb, and right thumb, middle, and ring fingers. Then, my left ring, right pointer and pinky got a base of Blue Crushin', also from Sinful Colors. I pulled out a couple of glitters and

My daughter loves Elmo. Most 2 year olds do. So, when it came time for Christmas ideas this year, Elmo definitely made the cut. But which Elmo to pick? Peanut already has 2 small stuffed Elmo dolls, plus Lullaby and Goodnight Elmo. I was thinking about picking up Let's Imagine Elmo, but Mr. Sparkle beat me to it, ordering one that was " almost as big as she is ." So, when the Amazon box came and it was a little smaller than what I was expecting, I figured that Elmo hadn't made this trip. I was wrong. I was sooooooo very wrong.  Elmo made it all right. You've really got to hand it to the employees in Amazon's fulfillment warehouse. Their packing game is totally on point. They've created a whole new level of efficiency*... (*post-it a la moi) I haven't laughed so hard in a very, very , very long time. I'm almost ashamed to admit that. Almost . Also, I've gotta say, I'm really glad that Peanut didn't get to see him in

This past week wasn't too bad in terms of the No Buy. I've been so busy that I haven't really been thinking too much about what I can/can't should/shouldn't buy! I can't really complain about it, because I added a decent amount to my 12 Treats Fund... Old Balance: $31.47 Transferred: $18.75 New Balance: $50.22 On t o the THANKFULS ... 4 - Democracy 5 - iPhone 6 - Coffee. All The Coffee. 7 - Lush 8 - Peanut's Sense of Humor 9 - Burt's Bees Cuticle Cream 10 - The Peanut Effect 11 - Veterans I apologize... I've really been suffering from a lack of creativity lately, and a feeling that I have soooooo much to do, yet I don't seem to be accomplishing anything. Do you ever feel like that? Please tell me I'm not the only one! I'm working on it, I promise!