No Miss’s Braden Blackberry is a shimmery brownish wine color. It is a delicious shade that’s perfect for fall. My husband and I went apple picking last weekend. Although it is still warm here, we are supposed to have cooler weather this weekend. For me this color calls to mind the smell of yummy fall baked goods like pie! In fact, my mouth is watering a bit as I type this review

No Miss Braden Blackberry in sunlight

Application was very good. Two coats and a top coat shown.

No Miss Braden Blackberry

I love this time of year! I am not a fan of hot weather at all. I love cool crisp days. The weather has not quite turned yet here in sunny Northern California, but I hope it will soon. Joby’s Nail Stickers come in a variety of fun designs. These Halloween themed stickers, are great for the nail art challenged like me!

Joby Halloween Nail Stickers over Orly's Velvet Rope

The stickers applied very easily. I applied a quick dry top coat over them to ensure that they stayed put.

Joby Halloween Nail Stickers

Overall Beauty currently has these on sale for $1.25 a sheet. These nail decals are a bit of inexpensive and easy Halloween fun

**Please note, these decals were sent to me by Overall Beauty as part of my Glitter Gal giveaway. However, as always I will give you my honest opinion of any product**

A big thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway! I have selected a winner using www.random.org, and the polish and goodies are on the way to @luvmylacquer. Enjoy!

Back to School Giveaway

Garden Jubilee and Blushing Lady are two polishes from Nailtini’s latest collaboration with Janie Bryant (the talent behind Mad Men’s amazing costumes). You can find my review of the first collection here. As with every Nailtini polish I have tried, this collection is named after cocktails.

Garden Jubilee

Garden Jubilee is a fabulous duochrome. It displayed a shimmery coppery pink, golden khaki and light olive green.

Nailtini Garden Jubilee in sunlight

Nailtini Garden Jubilee in sunlight

Application was excellent but pretty sheer. With three coats I had decent coverage. Nailtini suggests that you try “cocktailing” and layer their colors. Garden Jubilee is a perfect candidate for layering. I tried it over Blushing Lady, and the result was similar but more opaque and perhaps a bit more pink (not pictured). I think next time I will try it over a darker base color.

Blushing Lady

Blushing Lady is a pretty bright pastel pink. It reminds me of carnations.

Nailtini Blushing Lady in sunlight

Application was good. A bit sheer and slightly streaky, but was pretty even by the third coat. Three coats and a top coat shown.

Nailtini Garden Jubilee, Admiral Perry, Blue Carnation, Blushing Lady

September means it is time to go back to school! Lots of kids are already back, and my classes start in one and a half weeks. To celebrate I am giving away:

• Glitter Gal’s Marine Blue 3D Holo polish
• Glitter Gal’s Lizard Belly 3D Holo polish
• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat
• Halloween nail decals
• Christmas nail decals
• Glamour Puss nail decals (2 sheets with a variation on the design)
• Overall Beauty Mineral Eye Shadow sample sizes in Night Wisp and Mink

Please note that all products are brand new and in their original packaging (some of the products in this giveaway were kindly furnished by Kim at Overall Beauty and the rest were purchased by me – with the exception of the China Glaze all are available for purchase at Overall Beauty).

Back to School Giveaway

Glitter Gal Marine Blue and Lizard Belly

Joby nail decals in Glamour Puss, Halloween and Christmas designs

To Enter:

There are several ways to enter.

1. Follow me on Twitter and retweet the following: Follow @PlayWithPolish and RT to win Glitter Gal holographic nail polish!  http://tinyurl.com/5rmmxp6

2. Follow my blog using Google Friend Connect

3. Follow my blog using NetworkedBlogs (at the bottom right side)

4. Be a friend on Facebook (Playing W. Polish)

5. Blog about my giveaway, or put in on your blog’s sidebar

6. Put www.PlayingWithPolish on your blogroll

Each counts as one entry, with a total of six possible entries per person. Please comment and tell me which method(s) you used, and the name(s) you follow under. I also need an email address to contact you if you are the winner.

The deadline is September the 21st at 5:00 PM Pacific time.

I will choose one randomly selected winner on September the 22nd and notify them via email. Please respond within 72 hours, or I will select another winner. My contest is open to anyone (except my family of course).

Good luck!

Lizard belly has even more awesome holographic goodness than Marine Blue. Although both are polishes I will reach for again and again Lizard Belly is a very dark green with linear holo. I love this color! It looks like green is going to be big this fall. This stunning green would be the perfect accent to any fall outfit At 9ml Glitter Gal bottles are smaller than standard polish bottles, but they manage to pack a lot of glittery goodness into that small package.

Glitter Gal Lizard Belly in sunlight

Glitter Gal Lizard Belly in sunlight

Application was excellent. Two coats and a top coat shown.

Glitter Gal Marine Blue and Lizard Belly

I will be giving away both Lizard Belly and Marine Blue along with some other fun goodies from Kim at Overall Beauty in my Back to School giveaway (I go back to school in a week and a half ). My giveaway starts tomorrow, so please check back!

Glitter Gal is an Australian brand. Happily Overall Beauty has started carrying them, so you can order them from a US seller and save on shipping (I always order $50+ anyway, so the shipping is free ). Marine Blue 3D Holo is an awesome bright blue with linear holo which even shows up strongly in indoor lighting – pow! I adore sparkles and holo polish, and this beauty really fits the bill! Just looking at my holo-licious nails make me happy. Good stuff! I am going to try Glitter Gal’s Lizard Belly next, but I don’t want to take this one off!

Glitter Gal Marine Blue in sunlight

Glitter Gal Marine Blue and Lizard Belly

First I tried applying this over my usual Poshe basecoat and I had a few application issues (mostly dragging and bald spots). I switched to China Glaze Strong Adhesion basecoat and it applied like a dream A top coat did not seem to dull the holo either. Did I mention that this is good stuff!?! Two coats and a top coat shown.

Recently I had a conversation with a friend about my no longer reviewing certain brands because of animal testing issues. She said she didn’t know that I only purchase cruelty free personal care products. To be honest I was a bit surprised. Pretty much everyone who knows me is aware that I am a big animal lover, and a vegetarian for the past 20 years.  I am not saying I am perfect by any means. I eat dairy and wear leather shoes. To me it is about making informed choices, and doing the best I can. I don’t judge others for making whatever choices work for them. Testing cosmetic products on animals just doesn’t make any sense to me. Animals should not suffer so I can have prettier nails or nicer hair. There are so many awesome alternatives out there, so I will stick to those. It’s cruelty free for me!

Two of my favorite animals - Princess Leia and Samwise

Samwise playing in a fleece jacket

Sam trying to wiggle out of the sleeve