October's Museum-Worthy Manis!

Good morning! As promised, I have my favorite nail art from October for you today! Naturally my blog feed was full of Halloween manis last month. I'm not always a fan of holiday-themed art, especially if it's cutesy, but I did find a few gems! Don't forget to check out the original blog posts and give props!

1. Hell God With a Six-Pack by PiggieLuv

Narmai did a lot of amazing Halloween art, so it was hard to choose, but I think this one is just over-the-top awesome. Plus the six-pack is great. And her painting skills are ace as usual.

2. Freehand Butterfly Art by Will Paint Nails For Food

It's not Halloween, but it IS beautiful. This is a more refined version of the butterfly mani you see everywhere (and which I've done before). When I first saw this mani, I was shocked how realistic it looks. I love that Meghan took inspiration from actual photos of butterfly wings.

3. Witch Mona Lisa by Break Rules, Not Nails

This mani is so outside-the-box, I just love it. Who would think to put the Mona Lisa in a Halloween mani? She made a water decal for Mona Lisa herself and painted the rest by hand--I love how creepy the landscape looks.

4. Holo Reciprocal X Round Gradient by Simply Nailogical

I love it when people take gradients to the next level (it's something I'd like to work on). This one almost feels like an optical illusion. And the holo just makes everything cooler!

5. Halloween Circles By Work Play Polish

This is a great understated Halloween mani in my opinion. Not overly cute or gory. I always love dotticures, and I also like the variety of shades of orange she used here. I might have to borrow this idea next year!


Honorable mention: Abstract Floral by Wondrously Polished


That's all for today! I hope my fellow Americans voted yesterday!

October's Gimme That Polish!

Hi all! Sorry for the radio silence the past few days--my in-laws were visiting for the weekend, then yesterday was Mr. ALIQUID's birthday! Being the boring people we are, we celebrated by getting Chinese food and visiting a new grocery store that just opened here. Thrilling!

Anyway, here finally are my top five lemmings from my Pinterest wishlist for October! Lots of beautiful fall and winter shades here. As usual, go visit the original reviews for more photos!

1. Lilypad Lacquer - Envy Me

As I think I've mentioned before, holos with contrasting shimmer are my new favorite thing, and I absolutely love the jewel tone green and purple together here. Lilypad is one of those brands I keep seeing everywhere and want to try every single one of! This polish is exclusive to Hypnotic Polish, a Netherlands-based stockist. (swatch by Very Emily)

2. KBShimmer - Mauve On Over

OK, glitter crellies are my other favorite thing, especially when the color combo is unexpected. This is from KBShimmer's new winter collection, but it doesn't really read winter to me. What do you think? (KBShimmer shop | swatch by The Nail Polish Challenge)

3. Delush Polish - Misty Day

Ahhh, look how much depth this one has! I love the pops of color among all the green. This one reminds me of an enchanted forest. (Delush Polish shop | swatch by The Nail Polish Challenge)

4. Indigo Bananas - Gods & Monsters

In my opinion, Andrea of Indigo Bananas is the queen of multichrome polishes (and one of my polish muses in general). This one is a prime example. She uses the old-school flakies with a super intense color shift, and it just looks like the epitome of fall to me. Droooool. (Indigo Bananas shop | swatch by Polish Hound)

5. A England - Virgin Queen

It feels like a while since we've seen a new A England collection, and this newest one is stunning as always. They do the best scattered holos! The blend of silver and gold here is just uber-classy. (A England shop | swatch by Marine Loves Polish)


Honorable mention: Powder Perfect - The Stars Are Shining Brightly

I'll be back tomorrow with my favorite manis from October!

Today's mani: Gruesome gradient

Happy Hump Day! October is almost over, can you believe it?? I hate how fast time goes by!

Well, you might have noticed that I haven't really gotten into the Halloween spirit as far as my nails go. Halloween just doesn't interest me now that I'm too old to get free candy. Plus, orange doesn't look very good on me. But I figured I should do at least a couple manis before the holiday passes.

Instead of orange, I decided to use a slime green color, which is equally creepy to me! I did a gradient with Essie Shake Your $$ Maker and Revlon Stiletto. When I was done, I decided it needed something more, so I did a little stamp with Winstonia plate W116 and Julep Harley (my go-to stamping silver). What do you think--is it ghastly enough?

I'll probably do one more Halloween mani, since I doubt this one will last until Friday (I'm going to be deep-cleaning our apartment for the next few days). See you then, boys and ghouls!

Review: October Lip Monthly bag

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Hi guys! Today I have a review of a subscription bag I just decided to try out for a few months. Lip Monthly sends you a variety of lip products each month, plus one other beauty product. It costs $10 per month, but you can get a discount if you buy multiple months in advance. Here's my referral link if you'd like to try it out!

The one downside to this service compared to other ones I've tried is that it isn't customizable, so they don't take your skin tone or other preferences into account. It's still a fairly new service though, so this might change in the future.

The theme for October's bag was "the nude lip". Alongside a lipstick, they included multiple lip care products, as well as an eyeliner to use for a smoky eye look. Unfortunately the star of the bag didn't really suit me, as you'll see!

1. Starlooks Lip Sugar

This product didn't come with an ingredients list, but it smells and tastes like brown sugar, so I'm assuming that's the main ingredient. It works pretty much as advertised to exfoliate your lips and doesn't feel overly rough. A little goes a long way. Will definitely use again.

2. Noyah Classic Lip Balm

(Yes, it's spelled Noya on the tube but Noyah everywhere else.) This is a very simple, all-natural lip balm that feels really great and moisturizing. It contains only coconut oil, beeswax, olive oil, and stevia for sweetening. It's also kosher, if you're into that. That said, I do think the balms are a bit overpriced ($4) so I'm glad I got this one for less. (Although I have mountains of homemade lip balm here, so I never need to buy lip balm again.)

3. J.cat Fantabulous Lipstick in Honeycrisp

Here is the promised nude lipstick of the bag. I confess, I always thought "nude" lipstick matched the color of your lips, but this one is actually more like flesh-colored (for me anyway). I can see how this could look good with a really bold eye look. Unfortunately, this particular shade is much more yellow than my skintone, so it ended up looking really weird on me.

(Sorry, indoor pic.)

I wasn't too impressed with the formula either--it wasn't very opaque. Definitely won't be wearing this one.

Bottom to top: J.cat Honeycrisp, Look deVine Pinot Noir, L.A. Girl Blue Metallic

4. Look deVine lip shimmer in Pinot Noir

As you can tell from the above swatch, this product adds just a slight tint and shimmer to your lips. I tried photographing it over a lipstick, but you really couldn't see it. I would mainly use this as a lip balm, because it has a ton of natural oils and feels great. It also has a rather strong grape scent. Additionally, it contains resveratrol, which is found in grapes and is supposedly good for you, but there isn't any clear proof of its benefits in humans.

5. L.A. Girl Eyeliner in Blue Metallic

This is the one non-lip product in the bag. It's a standard pencil eyeliner. As you know, I'm not a big fan of eyeliner, but I tried it on and it seemed to work decently. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good photo of it.



OK, so I was happy with 3/5 of my first Lip Monthly bag, and that's decent for a subscription service. I have three more prepaid bags coming, so I'll let you know how they are!

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Review: October Ipsy Glam Bag

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Happy Friday everyone! We've had some super crazy weather here lately--intense wind and rain for two straight days. I guess winter really is coming. :-/

Here are my thoughts on the Ipsy bag I got this month! Ipsy is a beauty subscription service that costs $10 per month. Each bag is somewhat personalized to your preferences. If you'd like to sign up, please use my referral link!

1. Figs & Rouge Hand Cream in Rose Berry

Always happy to try new hand creams since it's starting to get cold here! This cream has a very watery texture, so it absorbs quickly. Normally I don't like watery creams, but this one does actually feel like it's doing something. My hands feel smoother afterward. I wasn't a huge fan of the scent though (surprisingly, since I love almost all scents). This one had a weird kind of savory quality to it, kind of like goat cheese or something? I don't know. But on this website they have a variety of other scents that sound nice, and the creams aren't too expensive!

2. Skyn Iceland Glacial Cleansing Cloths

These are disposable face wipes that also contain a variety of plant extracts and oils that are supposed to be good for your skin. You don't have to use any water with them or rinse off afterwards. They foam up, but surprisingly don't leave any noticeable residue behind. I did feel clean after using them, although I didn't try them with makeup on. The big downside to any product like this is that they seem awfully wasteful to me.

3. ECRU New York Acacia Protein BB Cream for Hair

Oh joy, another hair product. As I'm sure you've heard me whine before, I have ultrafine hair, so most leave-in products make it feel grimy and heavy. This particular cream is supposed to improve texture, volume, moisture and shine. "Perfect for all hair types." Yeah, we'll see.

So the tube didn't specify whether to put the product on the entire length of your hair, but I went for it. Go big or go home. This cream is water-based, so it didn't leave behind as much residue as I was expecting. It did weigh down my roots though. In terms of benefits, I saw marginal improvement in texture/smoothness, but as soon as I went outside in the wind, my hair frizzed up like a sheepdog again (as you can see in the pic below). So, overall, not impressed.

4. City Color Be Matte Lipstick in Cappuccino

(Sorry for the indoor pics--again, crazy weather!)

OK, this lipstick has some downsides but I can't help liking it. It has the feel and smell of a crayon, as in Crayola. (I guess that's not a downside if you have some crayon-related nostalgia.) It doesn't spread very smoothly at all. BUT it has great pigmentation and I really love the color! I don't care if it smells like a crayon, I'm going to wear this one. (Swatch on top in pic below.)

5. Jesse's Girl Mineralized Baked Shadow Powder in Graphite Frost

(Swatch on bottom in above pic.) This eyeshadow is meh, just OK. I'm not a huge fan of the color, as I normally go for more natural-looking eyeshadows. Pigmentation is mediocre.

Here's me doing my best "smoky eye" with Graphite Frost in the crease and a little below my lower lid. The lipstick is NYX Ceto, one of my favorite nude shades. (And check out that frizzy hair!)

Welp, another month, another Ipsy bag. I haven't gotten a nail polish from Ipsy in a long time, but I know other people are getting them! Grrr!

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

He Picks My Polish: Grandma's couch

Hey all! I'm really happy to join in with He Picks My Polish for this month! In case you don't know how this works, you have a guy in your life pick three polishes from your stash, and you have to do a mani with them. You can't add any other polishes besides neutrals. It's fun and potentially hilarity-inducing. (Feel free to join in this month!)

If you've seen my previous installments, you know that my husband likes to pick colors that match his favorite fictional ladies. I was expecting a similar thing this time, but he surprised me by going a different route. The polishes he chose were L'Oreal L'Orange (orange, of course), Nails Inc. Bruton Mews (a dark green), and OPI You're So Vain-illa (off-white). After I gave up trying to guess, he informed me that the colors represented one of his favorite foods: orange chicken. (The green stands for broccoli.) Yes, he's a weird dude.

With orange and green, I at first naturally thought of doing a pumpkin design, but changed my mind and went for a floral pattern. It turned out kinda vintage-couch, don't you think? It still looks very fall-like to me.

Check out the other manis for this month!

An InLinkz Link-up

Today's mani: Sunset gradient

Hi all! Boy, I've been a bad blogger lately, haven't I? The truth is, I've barely done my nails at all lately. I sometimes feel like it's not worth it, because my mani will be ruined by either 1) making nail polish or 2) packing up orders. Yesterday I decided I had to do something because I had a tutoring job to go to. So I threw something together which I'm not 100% happy with.

First I did a gradient using Picture Polish Citrus, L'Oreal Orange You Jealous?, Revlon Passionate Pink and Zoya Audrina. I can't remember the last time I did a 4-color gradient (have I ever??) and it turned out nicely. I just keep forgetting that orange looks better in the bottle than on me!

The stamp is what really annoys me. I first wanted to do a cloud stamp, but after I finished the gradient I realized the stamp I picked wasn't going to work (it stamps the sky, not the clouds themselves). So I switched to this sun stamp (Winstonia plate W111), and of course I didn't manage to center it properly. Bleh. Plus I have shrinkage on my tips.

Today I've been grouchy too (lip balm making is giving me trouble, plus the endless stress of trying to find a job). But I'm going to try to perk up and do my nails more regularly. He Picks My Polish is coming up in a few days, and Mr. ALIQUID already knows what colors he wants!