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Sunday 30 September 2012

Pink Glitter Fixes Anything

L to R: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier (strengthener & basecoat), Mrs. P's Nail Potions Pirate's Booty, Essie Luxeffects Shine of the Times, Rainbow Honey A Little Kindness, Essie To Dry For (top coat)
Good afternoon all, today I bring you a manicure that has taken me pretty much all weekend to perfect lol.  As usual I started out with a coat of the China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier which I also use to double as my basecoat.  It makes a gorgeously smooth surface and strengthens my nails at the same time.  As well, when I just do a french manicure or a gradient tip it has a little bit of a pink hue to it to to even out the colour of my nail bed and hide any staining that I have.  I would definitely recommend this product to anyone who is looking for a good strengthener/treatment.  You can see my initial review of this product here.

I then did one coat of one of my original frankens Pirate's Booty.  This went on very nice and smooth and the glitters disbursed very well and with one generous coat I got more than enough coverage.  It was not total opacity but it was very close.

evening, artificial light, no flash
evening, artificial light, no flash
I then wanted to amp it up ever so slightly so I decided to add Essie Shine of the Times.  It was a subtle difference but it definitely added some extra depth and interest to the Pirate's Booty.  Shine of the Times is a glitter top coat from the Essie Luxeffects line.  It is a clear polish packed with shimmery iridescent flakies.  You can't actually see much (if any) of the Shine of the Times in the photos below as it is hard to capture on camera over top of all the glitter there already was with Pirate's Booty but in different angles it gave a mottled copper and green finish to the Pirate's Booty and gave it some much dimension and almost made it glow in a way.

indoors, daylight, no flash
indoors, daylight, no flash
After having this manicure for a whole day I was beginning to feel like Mr. T.  As gorgeous and pretty and glittery as Pirate's Booty is, I'm not a huge yellow gold person and it was feeling very blatantly yellow gold and I actually wasn't liking it a whole lot with my skin tone.  So after testing a few combinations I decided to cut the gold with some pink glitter, and we know pink glitter with improve anything and everything! ;)  I added Rainbow Honey A Little Kindness which is "Rose, white, gold, and soft green glitters floating in a delicate and sheer yellow base with an iridescent pink shimmer" (as described on the Rainbow Honey website).  The application was lovely and it went on very smooth.  I only used one coat as I just wanted to add a little extra to my current mani and just breakup the overall yellow gold feeling that I wasn't entirely digging.  It was the perfect match and did exactly what I was looking for it to do and I love how it turned out.

indoors, sunlight, no flash
indoors, daylight, no flash
I am very pleased with the finish of this manicure finally.  Took a little experimenting to get satisfaction but it was well worth it.  You can find Pirate's Booty in my etsy shop here.  Currently there are only mini bottles available and they are $4.00 CAD each plus shipping.  If you would like another look at Pirate's Booty you can check out my first blog post on it here.

indoors, daylight, no flash
You can purchase Rainbow Honey polishes at http://www.rainbowhoney.com/.  A Little Kindness is part of the Equestria Collection which I purchased the entire mini set of for $35.00 USD plus shipping (8 7 mL bottles of gorgeous glitteriness!).  The Equestria Collection is inspired by My Little Pony :)  You can also check out more about the Equestria Collection and other Rainbow Honey news and products on their Facebook page here.

Thursday 20 September 2012

Fall Colors

L to R: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier, Zoya Lotus, Butter London Knackered, Mrs. P's Nail Potions Blue/Green Shifty, Essie To Dry For
Good morning all :)  Today I will share with you my first fall mani of the year.  With the weather changing and getting cooler and the leaves changing colours etc. I thought I'd opt for a darker look for my nails.  Also, there has been a ton of deals I've seen online and on Instagram for Butter London polishes and it made me revisit my collection (albeit only small) of Butter London polishes.

After swatching and testing combinations I made my final decision on polishes as depicted above.  And as usual I used the China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier as my base coat and Essie's To Dry For as my top coat.  You can see my review of the China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier here.

After completing my base coat, I painted one coat of Zoya Lotus on my pinkie, index fingers and thumbs and one coat of Mrs. P's Nail Potions Blue/Green Shifty on my ring and middle fingers.  Zoya Lotus is a deep purple colour with gorgeous pink micro shimmer.  Unfortunately, my camera did not pick up the shimmer in the bottle in the photo below but trust me it is there and it is fabulous!  The formula is a little runny and if you don't have enough on the brush you get balding/streaking but if you have too much it runs all over the place.  You just need to find the right amount on the brush and it will apply flawlessly in a few strokes and you should only need one coat.


Mrs. P's Nail Potions Blue/Green Shifty part of my Shifties Collection which consists of four colour shifting polishes.  This one shifts from a deep jewel toned blue to a teal, peacock green.  This applied nice and smooth with very minimal brush strokes which can be a problem with metallic-type finishes (not that this polish is a metallic).  Fantastic opaque coverage was achieved also in one coat.  Blue/Green Shifty dried with a somewhat matte finish but that is nothing a good top coat can't fix.


Once the first coats of colour were dry I then layered one coat of Butter London Knackered over the Zoya Lotus.  Unfortunately, although Knackered is sheer, because of its duochrome effect it completely hid and muted the pink shimmer of Lotus.  However it gained a nice deep purple hue and made the Lotus a fantastic duochrome colour that shifts from several shades of purple to several shades of blue/green/teal/turquoise.  And the disappearance of the pink shimmer of Lotus was not really missed as Knackered is full of holographic micro shimmer that sparkles and shines in pretty much any light.  However, as always with holos and duochromes, it is almost impossible to pick up in photos so trust me when I say the photos do not do these nails any justice.  Knackered was one of my first Butter London polish purchases and Butter London was actually the first "luxury" polish I ever purchased.  You can see my very first reviews of Knackered here and here.


I'm very pleased with the final jewel-toned darker look of this mani and it is perfect for moving into the fall season.  I also love the combination of the overall colours and the duochrome, colour shifting and shimmery finishes.

artificial lighting, indoors during evening, no flash 
artificial lighting, indoors during evening, no flash 
indoors in natural lighting during daylight, no flash 
indoors in natural lighting during daylight, no flash
I purchased my bottle of Zoya Lotus from Nail Polish Canada and you can purchase Mrs. P's Nail Potions Blue/Green Shifty from my Etsy shop here.  It comes as part of a three piece mini trio of my Shifties Collection for $13.50 CAD.

Monday 17 September 2012

LIEBSTER AWARD!

Hello all!

I am thrilled!!!  I was nominated for my first blog award by Casey Danton of Saving the World One Nail at a Time who says she loves my Potions!  The Liebster Award is given to up and coming blogs with under 200 followers.

Again I am thrilled and honoured and this is quite an accomplishment to me as I'm just starting out in all of this and don't have a lot of time on my hands to keep up with things right now due to being a new mommy with a baby and a toddler.

Here's how it works:

  1. The recipient must post 11 fun facts about themselves
  2. The recipient must also answer 11 questions created by the award giver
  3. The recipient must give the award to 11 new bloggers with less than 200 followers and post 11 questions for them to answer
  4. These 11 bloggers must be told they have been given the award
  5. They will in turn pass the award to 11 new bloggers of their choice (no tagging back the award giver.

11 Fun Facts About Me:

  1. I never got any of my wisdom teeth
  2. I got married, became a step-mommy and got pregnant all in the same year <3
  3. I wore gel nails for over 10 years and have only been working on my real nails and become a nail polish addict since January of this year 
  4. My first polish that got me hooked was from the OPI Muppet collection and it was "Gone Gonzo" 
  5. I've never broken a bone in my body or had stitches (not counting after childbirth LOL :S)
  6. All the guys I have ever had serious relationships with were always 1 of 3 siblings, always all boys.  No idea why it kept on happening or how I found only guys with no sisters LOL
  7. I have a West Highland White Terrier named Chloe.  Her full registered name is Chloe Kyleah of Dunsbairn 
  8. When I moved in with my husband (then just boyfriend) and his son almost 2 years ago I "acquired" a French Bulldog by the name of Karl LOL 
  9. I've tried my hand at selling both PartyLite and Arbonne all in an attempt to be able to work from home and be my own boss.  Neither worked LOL. 
  10. My first name has the same letters as BEER.  Coincidence?  I think not!  LOL 
  11. My first name is not short for anything.  It is just Bree.  The story goes, my parents were going to name me Breanne (a combination of their names - Brian & Jo-Ann) but figured everyone would just end up calling me Bree anyway so they left it at that.

11 Questions for me:
  1. What is your all time, hands down, favorite nail polish? I love a fabulous glitter but also a glitter that is versatile and yet unique.  It's got to be Essie's Shine of the Times from their Luxeffects collection.  It's multicolored flakes so not just your typical glitter and it can be worn over top of any polish to give it a different look and it looks different over every polish.
  2. What is your earliest nail polish memory?  Trying to remove that "Gone Gonzo" before I knew about the acetone and tin foil trick LOL.  It was three coats and fully opaque.  It had stayed on for weeks but I gave up with the conventional polish remover and cotton balls (after quite a mess of cotton shreds and not much removal of the glitter itself) and ended up filing and picking most of it off!  Totally wretched my nails and wouldn't touch glitter for a long time until I learned about the acetone and tin foil trick. 
  3. In all honesty it would be my Grammy Helen's.  I've done her nails many times before and miss doing them.  But she always lets me do whatever I want and doesn't just limit herself to the typical "older lady" colors.  And it's always a fantastic conversation and afternoon of tea/coffee and "girl talk" <3 
  4. I've been into nails and nail art for longer than I can actually remember but majority of my nail experiences have been with getting gel nails done.  I always had stickers applied or designs painted on depending on where I would go and always had different colored tips done.  It's only been since January of this year that I've been into doing the nail thing myself and had my natural nails.  But since January of this year my natural nails have never been stronger or better looking and I'm thrilled.  I got into gel nails in the first place cuz I loved having long nails but my natural nails were ugly and super weak no matter what I did.
  5. If zombie apocalypse began right now, would you take any nail supplies?  Which?  Definitely!!  I'd take my China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier (that's what I attribute my now super strong natural nails to), a quick dry top coat, my glass nail file and my entire portable drawer set of all my polishes.  If I'm running away from hoards of zombies I won't have time to decide which polishes to take so why not do the quick and easy thing and take the hole drawer unit?!?! (then I'd also have more polishes LOL)
  6. Have you ever used nail polish for a non-paint-your-nails activity? Actually yes, and it was before I was into polish.  It was in Jr. High School.  I used a glitter polish of some description (probably Sally Hansen) to paint my locker lock to make it all nice and sparkly LOL 
  7. Which bottle of polish is most sentimental to you and why?  I don't really have a sentimental polish.  Although, if I had to choose one I would probably say my bottle of "Gone Gonzo".  It was the first polish I actually purchased when getting into the nail polish thing and I bought it because I fell in love with it after getting it done on my toes during the best pedicure of my life at the Rimrock Hotel and Resort in Banff, AB when I was there last December between Xmas and New Year's for my honeymoon with my husband.  It makes me think of my honeymoon and being with my husband :) <3  
  8. How do you store all of your nail polish? I have a plastic drawer storage container.  It's got three drawers and I have my polishes organized by drawer into the categories of: Glitter, Shimmer/Metallic, Other. 
  9. Who is the person you end up doing your nails around the most? My baby boy LOL.  I do it when he is napping so I have his chair or swing near my desk so I can keep an eye on him and I do my manis as fast as I can.  Sometimes I'm lucky and able to finish a whole mani in one nap.  But most times it takes a few naps or even a few days to finish the whole thing :) 
  10. What brand do you own the most of? I can't say for absolute certain without counting bottles right now but I'm pretty sure it's China Glaze.
  11. What is your favorite non polish but, nail related product? My glass nail file.  Works like a charm and can be sanitized.  And it's PINK! LOL :)

11 Questions for my chosen blogs:
  1. What got you interested in blogging and got you started on your own blog?
  2. What is your go-to nail product?
  3. What is your all-time favorite manicure you've done?
  4. What brand of nail polish do you own the most of?
  5. Describe the workplace where you do your nails and blogging.
  6. What is your absolute favorite nail polish?
  7. Who are your nail inspirations?
  8. What is your biggest nail-related pet peeve?
  9. Are your nails acrylic, gel or natural and why?
  10. What was the first nail polish you ever bought?
  11. Where do you get the majority of your nail polish products from?

Sunday 16 September 2012

Mrs. P's Nail Potions is now on Twitter


That's right, Mrs. P's Nail Potions has joined the world of Twitter.

Come follow me at:

@MrsPNailPotions

Friday 14 September 2012

Pretty as a Peacock

Good afternoon all.  Happy Friday!!!  Hope you have all been enjoying your Fridays so far.  We actually have fairly nice weather here today and I spent majority of my morning at Starbucks with my two little guys.  After all, Friday is "Muffin Day" and where better to have "Muffin Day" than Starbucks ;)  Even my toddler thinks so:

Me: Do you know what day today is?
Daniel: Muffin day!
Me: That's right and what day is Muffin Day?
Daniel: Friday
Me: That's right and do you know where we are going to go for Muffin Day today?
Daniel: Starbucks!! (throwing his hands in the air and cheering)

What an awesome kid <3 :)

Anywho, I wanted to give you all a closer look at one of my newest Potions, Pretty as a Peacock.

mini bottle
close up bottle shot, unfortunately not the greatest lighting, it is brighter and more gold in real life
The inspiration for this Potion was the colors of the gorgeous peacock.  Peacock feathers are one of my favorite things and in fact was the theme/color inspiration for my wedding last year.  This Potion is a concentrated glitter polish in a clear base.  There are superfine gold flakies, fine rainbow purple and turquoise glitter and medium blue holo hexes.  Altogether they are a shimmering gorgeous combination.

You can use this in one coat over a base color of your choosing.  I have not tried that out yet but I imagine this would look gorge over a purple or teal basecoat.  Or you can do several coats for nothing but glitter all the way which is what I have done on the swatches below.  This was two generous coats on the nail wheel.
indoors, no flash
indoors, no flash, slightly blurred to show some of the sparkle
Here is the full manicure I did with Pretty as a peacock in two generous coats with a top coat of Essie's To Dry For (in the sunlight or bright light there was still a very faint visible nail line with just 2 coats).

indoors, no flash
indoors, no flash
outdoors, direct sunlight

outdoors, direct sunlight
outdoors, direct sunlight, closer and slightly blurred to show all the phenomenal sparkle
You can purchase Pretty as a Peacock on my Etsy shop here.  Currently (as of the date of this post) I only have mini bottles (5 mL) of Pretty as a Peacock available.  There will be full-sized (15 mL) bottles available in the future.  "Like" and keep an eye on my Facebook page here to stay updated on the status of larger bottles of this and other Potions.  Mini bottles of Pretty as a Peacock are $4.00 each plus shipping.

Thursday 13 September 2012

Color shift and glitter MATCH!

Good afternoon all. I have an under the weather tiny little man today who's been sleeping lots so I was able to finish a mani I've had in my mind for days. Here's what I used:

L to R: (base/strengthener) China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier, (1st coat) Mrs. P's Nail Potions "Pink/Blue Shifty", (2nd coat) butter LONDON "Disco Biscuit", (top coat) Essie "To Dry For"

As a refresher to see what Pink/Blue Shifty looks like alone you can check out the photo album on my Facebook page here.  Pink/Blue Shifty is a hot pink/magenta that shifts to a bright glowy blue.  Happens to be pretty much the same blue as the glitter in the hot pink jelly base of Disco Biscuit.  The pink bases to both polishes are slightly different as Pink/Blue Shifty is more purple and Disco Biscuit is a true hot pink but because of Disco Biscuit's sheer jelly base I didn't think it would completely mast the base color and color shift of Pink/Blue Shifty.

Here is the resulting mani in direct sunlight:




It was difficult to capture the glitter of Disco Biscuit on camera today.  For a better look at Disco Biscuit you can always google swatches or you can check out a previous blog post of mine here.  You can still see a slight color shift through Disco Biscuit (better in person, color shifts are always difficult to capture on camera) and Pink/Blue Shifty gives a more purple hue to the otherwise very hot pink Disco Biscuit.  And again, the bright blue glitter in Disco Biscuit matches the blue shift of Pink/Blue Shifty pretty much perfectly.  I'm very pleased with how this turned out.

For a closer look at butter LONDON polishes and to purchase, you can check out there website at http://www.butterlondon.ca/.  If you are located in Canada, like myself, you can also purchase their polishes from Nail Polish Canada.  Their website is http://www.nailpolishcanada.com/.

For more information and to purchase Mrs. P's Nail Potions Pink/Blue Shifty, you can check out my Etsy shop here.  Currently (as of the date of this blog post) Pink/Blue Shifty can be purchased as part of a mini trio from my Shifty Collection which includes Green/Gold Shifty and Blue/Green Shifty.  The trio is $13.50 CAD.

Tuesday 11 September 2012

Etsy Shop Restocked!


62 new mini bottles of Mrs. P's Nail Potions have been stocked in the shop!  You can find my etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MrsPsNailPotions?ref=si_shop

This restock includes 3 of the Shifty Collection, Pirate's Booty, It's My Party!, Plenty of Fish in the Sea, Spring Fling, No Boys Allowed and No Girls Allowed.  It also includes 5 brand new Potions never offered before:

Spectraflair Topcoat - holographic topcoat
Polish of a Different Color - 5 way color shift
Pretty as a Peacock - gold super fine flakes, fine rainbow purple and turquoise glitter and medium blue holo glitter
Shattered - black and white shredded glitter

Follow the Rainbow - fine holo glitter and matte rainbow medium hex glitter
Stop by to take a look and spread the word to any fellow polish lovers you might know :)  Thanx for all the love and support and happy shopping!!!