Nail Pattern Boldness: Alpha Nail!

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Hello Lovelies! I regret to say that I have a raging migraine today, so posts will be short and sweet. I'm currently sitting in a dark kitchen, wearing sunglasses and praying that my meds kick in sometime soon.  I'm also bummed since all the new growth on my left hand is now gone. I managed to bust 2 nails yesterday while attempting to stop the hatchback on my car from falling onto my head. I'm not sure which is worse, breaking those nails or getting whacked in the head with the hatchback door. That door comes down hard, and hurts pretty something fierce, but honestly I think I may take that over losing every millimeter of growth I had gained back. Meh. Fun stuff!

Today I have a seriously awesome polish to share with you all. And when I say seriously awesome, what I mean is that I really don't even need to write a review.....All I really need to say is "look at this polish and drool. It's perfect in every way, and you NEED this.". It's *that* good.

I'm sure all of you are familiar with Nail Pattern Boldness by now. NPB is a personal fave, and Allison's creations never ever disappoint. Glitter Food and Glitter-A-Peel have changed the way I wear  glitters - and most polish for that matter! I was lucky enough to receive some of her polish to share with you all, and despite already loving the NPB's I have, I've fallen even deeper in love.

Today's polish is Alpha Nail, the first Duochrome from Nail Pattern Boldness, and an Epic Win. Alpha Nail is a gorgeous and jaw dropping blue/purple/fuchsia duochrome topcoat, and is one of the most beautiful polishes I own. This is one of those dangerous polishes, since I was staring at it constantly and had to make a conscious effort not to stare at my nails while driving. But enough of my raving - I'm sure you want to see this pretty, am I right?

This is 2 thin coats of Alpha Nail over A-England Camelot:

Okay, someone needs to shape her nails..... ;) Despite the wonky nail shape that I have just now noticed, Alpha Nail is ZOMGWTFBBQ!!!!!! Look at that color shift, and how vibrant the colors are. Just beautiful. For a first duochrome? Allison has an Epic Win here. *Drool Drool Drool!!*

Alpha Nail's formula was nothing short of perfection. Just thick enough to carry all that duochrome goodness without any risk of flooding or dripping, yet not too thick to work with, with zero thickening during use. Application was stellar with no dragging, balding or glopping. Dry time was fast and Alpha Nail boasts superior shine, even without top coat.

Honestly, if you don't own Alpha Nail, you should. Call me an enabler, but this is truly a must have in my book. I'm already planning when I can wear this beauty next, and cannot wait to see what it looks like over a navy blue, indigo, and purple. $20 says it's freakin' killer!

You can find Nail Pattern Boldness on Etsy, or by visiting Lllarowe. NPB polishes are in high demand, so grab them while you can! Full size bottles run $9.00, save for Glitter Food (which you need if you are a glitter fan!) and Glitter-A-Peel (I can't live without this stuff - no more soaking in acetone to remove glitters or flakies!), which run $8.00. You can follow NPB on Facebook for re-stock info, new releases and swatches, and you can also follow NPB's Blog.

I cannot say it enough: buy this now!

What's your take on Alpha Nail? What's your favorite NPB?

I'll be back in a bit with another ABC Challenge mani so stick around!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber



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ABC Challenge! Late version! "R" is for Really Racy (and sexy! Red! Nail Pattern Boldness: Inner Beauty Is For Amateurs

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Hello lovelies! Happy Thursday! Not quite Friday, but close enough that I'll take it.

I'm feeling much better today! I managed to get some rest yesterday and filled up on calories. It's amazing how the body reacts during times of stress. Mine likes to try and shut down. I'm very happy that I was able to realize what was happening and fix it.

Don't forget that my 500 Follower Giveaway is live! Click here to enter. The BG Cosmetics Holographics Collection is up for grabs!

And, don't miss my Pure Nail Oil™ reveal post! I know alot of you were waiting to see what happened!

Obviously I missed the letter R challenge last week, and Q the week before due to everything that I have going on. I know that I need to be here for my mom right now, but that doesn't mean that I won't get those posts in, right? Right!

Today's post is my late letter R post. I have been in the mood to wear Red forever, however I detest photographing reds, so I always find myself holding off. This time, I had a polish in mind that just culd not wait, so I took the plunge.

Nail Pattern Boldness has fast become a fave Indie Brand of mine. Allison's color combinations are just brilliant, and NPB's formula and application is always perfection. When I first laid eyes on her newest red, Inner Beauty Is For Amateurs (fab name, right?), I immediately fell in love. Inner Beauty (since typing out that name is bound to give me carpal tunnel!) is the most amazing blend of glowy blue and iridescent glitters suspended in a racy red jelly base.  This girl is utterly breathtaking!

Needless to say, I had an incredibly hard time capturing just how amazing this polish is. IRL the glitters are much more vibrant and the irridescent pinks are much more visible. My camera really wanted to overexpose and wash out those glitters.

This is 3 thin coats of Inner Beauty Is For Amateurs topped with Glitter Food and HK Girl Top Coat:

*Swoon*!! Even though I couldn't manage to capture the irridescent glitters all that well, this polish is still just incredible IRL. The macro shot, although not colro accurate as far as base color, shows the glitters a little better. It's a crazy beautiful combination, and my favorite twist on red to date!

Inner Beauty's formula was absolutely flawless, with not thickening or issues with glitter. Application was a dream, gliding onto the nail smoothly with no dragging or balding. Dry time was wonderfully fast, although this girl does dry a bit matte, so top coat is a must for that crazy jelly shine. Inner Beauty does not dry very textured, but since there was some slight texture I added a coat of Glitter Food to keep things nice and smooth.

I was so very excited to wear this polish and let me tell you, she did not disappoint! My ONLY issue was the photographing this baby was tough. If you love reds, you absolutely need this polish!

You can grab your very own bottle of Inner Beauty Is For Amateurs by visiting Nail Pattern Boldness on Etsy, or by heading over to Llarowe. Full size bottles retail for $9.00, and while you're there you can grab a bottle of the amazing Glitter-A-Peel! I use GAP with every glitter manicure now and I never have to use a single drop of acetone after peeling off my polish! Woohoo!! Don't forget to follow Nail Pattern Boldness on Facebook to stay up to date on re-stock information, new releases, and swatches.

I have some more awesomness from NPB coming up this week, as well as some goodness from Fuse Nail Polish, Polish Addict, Candied Lustre and more!

This is normally where I woud link to my awesome polish sistah's and their R manicures, but I'm so late posting this mani that submissions are closed. :( I hope you didn't miss them!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

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Comparison! PVA Peel-Off Base Coat vs Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter-A-Peel!

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Hello Lovelies! Happy Caturday! Miss Charlie declined to make an appearance today, choosing to burrow into my laundry hamper instead. Last time I saw her she was halfway down into the hamper, kneading on one of my husband's shirts and drooling.

Don't forget that my giveaway ends in just 3 days, so get those entries in! Up for grabs is the entire 10 bottle set of Daring Digits 80's Hits Collection. There will be 2 winners, one of them could be you! I'll also be starting a brand new giveaway on the first, so be sure to watch for it!

Today I have a comparison for you. Remember awhile back when Essence relased their Peel Off Base Coat and a few bloggers realized that you could make your own? All you needed was an empty bottle, some PVA Glue (craft glue or plain old Elmer's School Glue, and a dash of water (optional). This was a serious game changer for those of us that love glitter. No more scrubbing for hours, or using the foil method - all we had to do was use this as a base, and peel off our mani when we were ready to remove.

I am a firm believer in the peel off base coat. I use a peel off base with a good 95% of my manicures. It hasn't damaged my nails (I manage to do that all on my own, as evidenced by my middle finger in these pics. Stupid DIY Plumbing!), and I managed to get some good wear out of my manis. But, it does have its drawbacks....

Here's a pic of what my nails look like after using my PVA Peel off base coat:

WARNING!  UNCLEAN NAKED NUBBINS AND iPHONE PICS AHEAD!


First, let's take a lot at what comes off the nail:

Those are the "peelings" of my NPB Tin Man Manicure. Notice how they're kind of shredded and there are bits of polish in there.

And this is what my nails looked like after removal:





Notice how I have a good amount of leftover polish. That still has to be scrubbed off. I could attempt to peel it, but that would damage the nail plate. The damage to my middle nail is from whacking it with a wrench while dealing with a plumbing issue, not from the base coat.  And I still don't know how I managed to get polish under my pinky....

With the PVA Base Coat I have to be careful where I apply it. If I get too close to the edges of my nail or the cuticle, it turns to a gooey, nasty mess during clean up. It also tends to lift within hours if I get to close to the edges. So I had to apply it strictly in the center of my nail, getting close to the edges but not too close! Wear time was around 24 hours (48 on a very good day) with this method. At that one day mark I would end up with some minor lifting, which meant that I would end up with a good sized chip, which I cannot tolerate.  Still a better alternative to soaking in acetone or scrubbing for hours! Not to mention the cost: A full size bottle of the DIY PVA base coat averaged out to around maybe 10 cents a bottle. Elmer's is cheap! One of the biggest drawbacks to the PVA base is dry time. It takes a good while to dry, and I usually end up browing Instagram or Facebook while waiting for my base to dry. It also does not dry evenly, and self leveling is out of the question. Removal is fairly easy, although if I don't have any lifting starting the peel process can be a bit difficult.

So when Nail Pattern Boldness release Glitter-A-Peel, I knew I had to try it. The PVA base was working alright, but I really wanted something better.  I was lucky enough to receive a bottle of Glitter-A-Peel for review, and tried it out right away. Here's what I found:

Since Glitter-A-Peel is not glue based (it is made using solvents), I was able to apply it all over the nail and clean-up as usual. No gooey mess, no being ultra careful to avoid the sides and cuticle area. Dry time was MUCH faster. I was able to start polishing (or in my case, add my second base coat) by the time I was finished with the pinky on my opposite hand. Wear time is amazing! I have had zero lifting with Glitter-A-Peel, even with serious tip wear (I don't wrap my tips with my peel off base).

But what about removal? Removal is easy-peasy. I use an orange stick and start at the base of the nail, a little to the side. Glitter-A-Peel lifted easily and peeled off quickly and completely every time (whereas the PVA can be hard to peel and comes off in bits and pieces).

Here's what removal looked like with Glitter-A-Peel. First the peelings, then my nails. I apologize for the totally not color accurate photos here. These were taken with my iPhone since my Rebel doesn't come out when my son is running amok!

These were taken during removal of Wingdust's Cody Cat. Although I still have cuticle balm on my nails and cuticles, the polish peeled of entirely. After washing my hands (cause with kids I tend to get some messy hands), I didn't have to use a single drop of remover! I was thrilled!

These next shots were taken after removing Revlon Moon Candy in Satellite. Flakies are notoriously awful to remove!

Again, all polish (save for the staining left behind by the base color) peeled off without any left behind! How awesome is that?? Definitely a painless way to remove glitters and flakies, which we all know I wear regularly. I swear I sweat glitter.

In my opinion, Glitter-A-Peel wins. Granted, it is more expensive than the DIY PVA base coat (Glitter-A-Peel sells for $8/bottle), but I feel that its worth the extra money to avoid the hassle. Plus, my cuticles and skin are so very sensitive that if I can avoid dunking them in acetone, I will. In fact, as soon as I can, I'll  be ordering another bottle to ensure I don't run out anytime soon. GAP is now my Holy Grail base coat (along with another base that I use as a treatment), and if you're a fan of glitters and flakies, then this is a must have.

I do need to emphasizase that Glitter-A-Peel is not glue based. It contains solvents and plasticisers that are contained in all nail polish, including Toluene. It is not 3-free, but is cruelty free. The amount of toluene you're being exposed to is so minimal that it's not a concern for me. But I want to be 100% honest about the contents.

You can grab your very own bottle of Glitter-A-Peel (as well as NPB's awesome polishes!) by visiting Nail Pattern Boldness on Etsy, or by heading over to Llarowe. You can follow Nail Pattern Boldness on Facebook here to keep up to date on restocks and new releases.

I have some amazing Nail Pattern Boldness polishes coming up so be sure to check back!

Are you a fan of peel off base coats? WIll be you giving Glitter-A-Peel a try?

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber




 *Product(s) Featured provided for review. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information** 

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Flakie Friday! Nail Pattern Boldness Tin Man

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 *Product(s) Featured purchased by KLK. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information** 

 Hello Lovelies! My internet connection is back up and running so I'll be doing a little catch up today. I'll have my letter "O" post for the ABC Challenge later today, but I regret that I will not have the Daring Digits swatches that I was working on, since those were lost with my original letter O pics and I'll have to re-swatch it. 

Today I have one of my favorite flakies to share with you. For awhile there Gold leaf flakies were HUGE. Everyone was putting out a gold flakie topcoat. I love the effect of thsoe gold leaf topcoats, but I'm not a huge gold fan and tend to lean toward Silver when I can.  I stumbled across Nail Pattern Boldness while browing Llarowe one day, and found Tin Man. Woohoo! A Silver flakie top coat! You can bet that I snatched that polish up right away!

Tin Man, or Silver Flake depending on where you shop, is a mass of different size and shapes of silver flake in a clear base. It is NOT real silver, so you won't have to spend a small fortune. I love how this looks over blue, so I chose Maybelline Color Show in Blast of Blue as my base color and layered one thin coat of Tin Man over the top. In hindsight, I should've gone thicker with Tin Man, since the silver flakes are very heavy and textured, and since my base color was not 100% dry I did have some wrinkling of my base polish due to the movement of the flakes on the surface. A thicker coat would've helped avoid that mishap, but since it's not noticable IRL I'm not all that bummer. I do want to make a point that what you see there is operator error and not the polish itself. 

This is 1 coat of Tin Man over Color Show Blast of Blue, topped with Glitter Food and HK Girl Top Coat:

   
  Gorgeous! The different sizes of flakie really do it for me. And silver! This flakie would look good over pretty much any polish. 

Tin Man was a bit tricky to apply, if only because the flakes are textured and a touch heavy. As I mentioned before, I used very thin coats, which cause the flakes to grab onto my base polish and create some wrinkles. I recommend using thicker coats to avoid that little snafu. Thankfully I know about that little snag for next time since I can see myself wearing this often.  Tin Man also dries very textured, so I added a generous coat of Glitter Food before topcoating to smooth things out and protect my mani. 

I have some brand new and totally incredible creations from NPB coming up soon as well, including NPB's Glitter-A-Peel! You can find Nail Pattern Boldness on Etsy, as well as Llarowe. Full size bottles retail for $9.00, and Glitter-A-Peel and Glitter Food both run $8.00 per bottle.  Glitter-A-Peel is available on the etsy shop now, so grab it before it sells out! Be sure to follow Nail Pattern Boldness on Facebook for updates, new releases and restock info!

Don't forget to head on over to The Subtle Shimmer to check out Susan's Flakie Friday nails! We don't always post weekly, but she has a ton of Flakie Friday posts to check out. Be careful though - those posts have created a whole list of lemming for me. Susan's blog is dangerous that way!

What do you think of Tin Man? Do you prefer Gold or Silver flake top coats? 

Be sure to check back later for my letter "o" post, and I have some beauties from Daring Digits, BG Cosmetics and Wingdust coming up!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber 



 *Product(s) Featured purchased by KLK. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information**

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