KBShimmer Fall Collection 2015

Press Sample

Hello Loves!  It's time for KBShimmer's Fall Collection for 2015!  This collection consists of 12 gorgeous new shades.  I have 6 of them to show you today.  I usually have a hard time picking polishes from the new KBShimmer collections, but this time it was excruciatingly painful to choose!  I want them all and will be purchasing the other six as soon as I have a little wiggle room in my budget.  :)  I also have another set of KBShimmer Water Slide Decals to show you.  Ready to see them?

Lets start with the holographic polish in the group, shall we?  Fig-Get About It is a two coat fig toned burgundy.  I have worn this one several times since receiving it for review, and it is fabulous!  Dark and sophisticated with a very strong holographic rainbow.

The next polish I want to show you is called Soul Deep.  Soul Deep is the perfect example of a KBShimmer cream polish.  This dark blurple shade (midnight blue with purple tones) is an absolutely flawless one coat polish.  Trust me, when I can get one coat coverage out of a polish, that's saying something!  Polish still defeats me since I'm so used to gel, but I'm getting better at it and a perfect formula definitely helps. :)

Moving on, I've Seen Sweater Days is a muted teal creally with cobalt blue glitter, lime green holographic glitter, and silver glitter.  This one does require three coats for opacity, but I found it easy to apply with very little glitter placement needed.

Such a Vlad-Ass is a darkened blood red cream.  The formula is great on this one too and it offers full coverage in two coats.  With that said, I completely flubbed my swatch on this one.  I admit, I was rushing a bit too much and let my top coat brush drag.  Of course, I didn't notice it until I was editing the photos and I was already well into a wear test so I couldn't go back and reswatch it.  I did double check it on my toes (no pictures for proof - you can thank me for that later) and it was definitely my error.  Anyway, here she is!

The next two polishes I have to show you are something I rarely encounter - they are so perfect that I can't bring myself to put art on top of them!  I'm not even kidding.  Art would take away from these beauties.

Carpe Denim is a dark navy jelly base that is loaded with silver glitters.  I swatched three coats but I could have gotten away with two.  The third just added more depth and bling.  I seriously don't have the words to describe this polish.  It reminds me of a midnight sky, but prettier.  My pictures do not do her justice.

Finally, Dark and Twisty is the other that I can't bring myself to put art over.  This black jelly base is loaded with multiple colors of fine metallic glitters.  It can be layered over black or worn alone in three coats for opaque coverage.  I swatched three coats here and it builds beautifully.  I am head over heels in love with the dark but colorful effect.  When the light hits it just right, the glitters really pop.

Here's a closeup.  I have a feeling I'm going to wear this one a ton this fall and winter!  Heck, I might even wear it year round.  It's like gems in a murky pool.

So there you have them - six of the new KBShimmer shades for fall.  But wait!  I'm not done yet!  I also have a few nail art looks to show you.  :)

First up is a simple water slide decal mani.  These Silver Floral Water Slide Decals are avaliable from KBShimmer as well.  I love that the decals are a full sheet so I could pick and choose the floral arrangement.  I didn't think to take a picture of the sheet before I started cutting out my pieces, but this shot shows you how much is left after I finished one hand.  You can get a lot of manicures from this sheet!  The flowers look black in the photo, but you can see on my thumb that they are a silver foil effect.

I applied these over a base of Such a Vlad-Ass.  Application was easy as could be.  I simply cut out the floral designs for each nail, popped them into a cup of water for a few seconds, slid the design off of the backing and placed it on my nail.  Then I used a trick that Christy shared on her Periscope a few weeks ago.  This is news to me, so I thought I would share it - you don't have to trim water decals to an exact fit!  Just add your top coat and it will melt the decal into the polish so you can peel the excess away.  Whoa...mind blown!  (Yes, I know.  I'm easily amused.  By the way, this only works with lacquer top coat.  Gel top coat doesn't melt the decal).  These silver foil flowers did lose a little of the foil effect when I added the top coat, though.  As they melted into the polish, they picked up a little texture.  I'll try them with gel polish next time and see if they stay super shiny.  Either way, they're gorgeous!  You can't ask for a quicker or easier nail art option.

Ok, one more nail art design and I'm done.  I took the opportunity to cash in on free shipping and added some of the KBShimmer Chevron Vinyls with Guides to my order.  I love the looks you can get with chevron vinyls, but I absolutely HATE trying to place the individual strips.  So these connected chevrons are perfect for me.  I tried to get a photo of the sheet before I used them, but it didn't really show the designs very well.  So here's a shot that shows where I removed several of the guides from the sheet.  The full sheet includes 32 Chevrons with Guides.  (Note, there are three individual chevrons left after you peel off the guided piece that can be placed one by one, so it's like a double sheet.) 

I admit, this mani almost killed me.  I wore it for a week and wanted to share it sooooo bad but couldn't because the polishes hadn't been released yet.  I started with a base of Fig-Get About It.  Then I used the Guided Chevron vinyls, alternating the direction of the chevrons on each nail.  I added one coat of Soul Deep over each vinyl and peeled them off for perfectly spaced chevrons.  Whoo Hoo!

I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as too much purple, so I kept going.  I added a few freehand roses with my Wildflowers Nail Art Paints and tied it all together with some holographic purple studs.  It's a purple overload, but I adore the final result!

I adore it so much that I couldn't stop taking pictures.  Here's a closeup.  The peek-a-boo holographic effect makes my heart smile.  And y'all know how much I love floral nail art.  So yeah...this one made me very happy.

One more shot and I'll wrap this up.  ;)

Be sure to check out the other 6 polishes in the Fall 2015 Collection.  One of them glows in the dark!  And while you're at it, take a peek at the other Water Slide Decal offerings and Nail Vinyl offerings.  KBShimmer has some gorgeous designs to choose from, including this blue floral water slide decal I reviewed previously.

The KBShimmer Fall 2015 Collection is available now as a full set with a free Clearly On Top topcoat.  The individual polishes will be available for purchase tomorrow (September 15, 2015).  If you look today, you'll notice the individual colors say "Sold Out."  No worries - they have plenty of stock and those "Sold Out" labels will disappear when the individual polishes are open for sale.  :)  Be sure to look, though!  Christy has loaded blogger swatches so you can window shop the other colors now too if you don't want the full set. For my international readers, the KBShimmer Fall Collection will be available via Harlow & Co.

~Michelle

*The KBShimmer Nail Polishes and Water Slide Decals featured in this post were provided by KBShimmer Bath and Body for my honest review.  The Chevron with Guides Nail Vinyls were purchased by me.  All links within this post are courtesy links and do not benefit ManicTalons.com. 

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Mini Manicure with KBShimmer

Press Sample

Hello Loves!  I removed a set of enhancements tonight, so I decided my hands needed a bit of pampering.  What better time to try out the Mani Shot and Water Slide Decals that KBShimmer sent me to review.  Of course, I couldn't resist purchasing the matching KBShimmer lotion, so I used it too.

I chose the Southern Belle fragrance.  I mean, I am a GA Peach, after all.  Southern Belle is described on the KBShimmer website as "A fresh blend of ginger, peach, mango, clove, citrus, the body of  this sweet fragrance combines orange blossom, rose, and jasmine. Rounding out  the blend is a slight hint of musk and woods, the perfect blend for any women  wanting to feel sweet and lovely."  Yeah, I don't smell all that.  To me, it smells fresh with a light peach fragrance.  I love it!  I really need a cuticle oil in this fragrance too (hint hint, Christy! lol).

Ok, so let's start with the Southern Belle Mani Shot.  This was my first mani shot (or mani bomb) experience, and it is so cool!  As soon as you drop the shot into warm water, it starts rolling like a mini-Jacuzzi.  Just look at the motion in the water!

After a few seconds, my cup was all kind of foamy fun.  I could feel the bubbles tickling my fingers as I soaked.  And the fragrance...yum!  The Mani Shot has Jojoba Oil, Olive Oil, Cocoa Butter and Shea Butter to leave your skin feeling super soft.  My cuticles feel much better after the soak.

After a five minute soak, I dried my hands and applied my CND Cuticle Away (it was time...I've neglected this step for the past few weeks).  I used my new Rainbow Cuticle Pusher (also from KBShimmer) to push back my cuticles.  As you can imagine, I own a few pushers.  Ok, maybe more than a few.  I find that I have a really hard time finding one that I like.  They are either too wide or too flat for my c-curves.  I'm happy to say that this one is a perfect fit!  And it doesn't hurt that it's super pretty.  KBShimmer also has nippers and tweezers to match.  :)

Here's a better look.  One one end, you have the spoon pusher with the perfect curve.  On the other is a curved pick that is great for carefully cleaning under the free edge of the nail.

Here's a better shot of the pick.  My camera really didn't want to focus on it, so I apologize if it isn't very clear.

I finished with my Southern Belle lotion.  It looks like this one is currently out of stock on KBShimmer's website, but I'm sure it will be back soon.  This was my first KBShimmer lotion experience as well, and I'm impressed.  I've actually been using the lotion several times a day for the past week.  As y'all know, I constantly battle with dry skin.  Ah, my personal curse.  So I know a little bit about lotion.  lol  The KBShimmer lotion is thick and creamy but not heavy.  How creamy?  Well, see for yourself.  ;)

I found that it absorbs quickly and leaves a light fragrance.  That's a HUGE plus for me.  I can't stand a lotion that leaves my skin feeling heavy or greasy.  I also don't like anything with a super heavy fragrance.  Yeah, so I'm pretty smitten with this lotion.  I don't know if the other scents are light like this one, but Southern Belle definitely tickles my fancy.

After the pampering, I couldn't resist a quick mani.  I know gel polish is my norm, but as you can tell from the bottle shot below, I love my KBShimmer Low and Be Bold.  I don't have this shade in gel polish, so I use the polish version quite a lot.  It sees the most love of my polishes.  For this mani, I used two coats of Low and Be Bold as my primary color.  I then used two coats of KBShimmer Eyes White Open as the base for my accent nails.  The flowers are these super cute KBShimmer Blue Floral Water Slide Decals.

The Blue Floral Water Slide Decals I used in this mani are really cool because they come on a full sheet instead of individual cutouts.  I love that it allows me to pick and choose the designs for each nail so they aren't as matchy-matchy.  Of course, that means I had to cut them to fit.  Thankfully, I have the nail template from Empower Nail Art that I reviewed previously here.  It came in really handy with these decals!

If you aren't familiar with water slide decals, they're really simple to use.

1. Apply your base colors and let them dry.  I used Out The Door topcoat to speed it along.  
2. Cut the decal to shape.
3. Drop the entire cut out decal into a cup of water.  
4. After the water soaks through the paper backing, slide the decal off of the paper.  
5. Use a pair of tweezers to position it on the nail and then press it smooth.  
6. If needed, use a nail file to trim any excess length.  
7. Finally, once the decals have dried, top them with a coat of top coat and you have gorgeous nail art with little effort.  :)

I'm kind of smitten with this one.  It reminds me of the popular blue and white china.  Here's another shot.

If you're interested in any of the products I showed you today, you can find them on KBShimmer's website here.  I linked to each product when I first mentioned them above, so feel free to scroll back up for direct links.

Now that my hands have been pampered and my nails are polished, I'm headed off to love on my sick little boy.  I swear, the first few weeks of school are a guarantee for germs and colds.  But hey, at least my nails are fabulous!

~Michelle

*The products featured in this post were provided by KBShimmer Bath and Body for my honest review.  The KBShimmer Southern Belle Lotion was purchased by me to compliment the other products shown.  CND Cuticle Away was also purchased by me and not available via KBShimmer.  All links within this post are courtesy links and do not benefit ManicTalons.com.  
 

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Weekly Mani: Racking up the Mommy Points with TMNT

After my son's reaction to my manicure last week, I made the mistake of telling him he could pick the theme for this week.  I should have known better.  He is absolutely, 110% obsessed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  But I am a Mom of my word, so this week's mani is TMNT themed.

I tried a few different designs and quickly realized I do not have the talent necessary to free hand Ninja Turtles on my own nails.  So I cheated.  I found these awesome, old school Ninja Turtle water slide decals from RLR Creations.  This was my first attempt at using this type of decal, and I wish I had chosen a lighter colored base, but I'm overall pleased with how it turned out. 

 

Base: Orly Gel FX Mirror Mirror topped with IBD Just Gel Pretty in Pewter

Stamping Color: Color Club Halo Hues Beyond

Stamping Image: MJ XX

Decals: RLR Creations

Here's a quick swatch of Orly GelFX Mirror Mirror.  

I then added a coat of IBD Just Gel Pretty in Pewter to add depth and shimmer, but completely forgot to take a picture before stamping and adding the decals.  I'll swatch that one on its own soon.  It's gorgeous!

~Michelle

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