A Worthwhile Cause

I was checking for updates on the facebook pages of some of my favorite indie brands I saw a post from My Ten Friends that caught my eye. A friend of the owner at My Ten Friends is trying to fund a project to record audio books for the blind. I think this is a great idea, especially since I am an avid reader and when I had my eye surgery a few months ago I turned to audio books for entertainment during my healing process.

So not only do I think this is a great cause, there is also an added bonus if you fund the project. My Ten Friends is going to create two exclusive polishes inspired by 2 of the books to be recorded. These polishes will only be available to backers, but from what I've seen from MTF polishes I know they will be awesome.

For more information on Banned Books For the Blind check out the following link:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1510998570/banned-books-for-the-blind

“Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.” 

― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

“Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.

BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR
per
G.G., CHIEF OF ORDNANCE” 
― Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huck Finn

“For a time I believed that mankind had been swept out of existence, and that I stood there alone, the last man left alive.” 

― H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds


Until next time.
-Andi

Review: "Peonie" from Darling Diva Polish

I received some lovely nail mail from Darling Diva Polish. Inside were my first polishes from this indie brand. Darling Diva Polish is an indie nail polish that is made in liter batches. It is cruelty free, and 3 free. They have such an array of colors that it was hard to choose just a couple to try first, but I narrowed it down to these four. From left to right: Peonie, Zen Pool, Ringer, and Pretender.

I was hard pressed to decide which color to try first, but my eye kept going back to Peonie so I went with it first. The only word I can really come up with for it is "STUNNING" just absolutely stunning. Peonie is a mauve colored polish with holo glitter.

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this color. Grant you purple is one of my favorite colors, but really I just can't stop staring at how gorgeous this polish is. Unfortunately we've only got rainy days ahead so I couldn't get a sunshine shot to show just how sparkly it is, but here is the best shot I could get.

I cannot wait for the rain to clear up so I can see it in the bright sunlight, but for now I'm still joyous over my mani. I would buy this color again in a heartbeat, and can't wait to see what the other polishes will look like once I get them on.

On a side note I realized why I kept getting such crappy mani pictures.I didn't have my camera on macro shots. Grant you for me that's not surprising since me and technology have a love/hate relationship haha. Luckily my photos will be better from now on, and now I just have to work on my mani skills.

Until next time.

-Andi

Review: "Hailing Frequencies Open" from My Ten Friends

After 4 days my Zero-G started to peel off on a couple of fingers. I was sad because Zero-G had such an awesome array of colors, but I was excited too because it gave me an excuse to try out another new nail polish. Some of my nail polish wasn't peeling off as well as the rest of my fingers which made it a pain to take off the nail polish. I may have to try out the foil method to remove my nail polish next time. I'm a little apprehensive about using that method just because the nail polish remover is reeking havoc on my skin. Any suggestions on a more natural or organic nail polish remover would be appreciated.

Anyhoo, on to my new mani. I broke out "Hailing Frequencies Open" from My Ten Friends. Hailing Frequencies Open is a silvery lilac based nail polish with pink, red, purple and holo glitter. This polish is actually a part of My Ten Friends' Valentine's collection. What really drew me to this polish is its silvery lilac base. My eye always goes to purple, green, and blue shades. So this one was no exception.

I did two coats of Hailing Frequencies Open over a clear base color and a clear top coat. I really love this polish. The mix of colors is just beautiful and definitely is an ode to Valentine's Day. However, the silvery lilac base just didn't pop as much as a I hoped it would. So in the future I think I'm going to put this over a color base (probably a lilac color), to bring this polish to the next level.

Nonetheless I continue to fall in love with every My Ten Friends nail polish that I try. I can't wait to try my next one. Within the next couple of weeks I will be receiving more indie nail polishes and will be reviewing those as well. For now I am off to see about some eats, and something to cool me off from this heat.

Until next time.

-Andi

Review: "Zero-G" from My Ten Friends

So after about 5 days my Elsewhen mani started chipping around the tips. It lasted pretty good I think considering I'm pretty rough with my nails (also I'm a little OCD about washing my hands). Anyhoo, I decided to change my nail polish and began to remove the nail polish.

Wow, glitter is a pain to get off. It wasn't until I started removing the nail polish from my other hand that I realized it was actually pretty easy to just peel the majority of it off since I had used a clear base coat and a clear top coat, thus "sandwiching" in the glitter. I think from now on I'm going to use that method for removing heavy glitter polish.

For my next mani I chose "Zero-G" from My Ten Friends. I originally picked this color out because of the rainbow of colors the bottle held. Zero-G is a black nail polish with holo glitter and varioused sizes of silver hex glitter that also reflected a rainbow of colors. In my opinion, it represents outer space very well.

I again used a clear base coat, and then started to add coats of Zero-G. I ended up using 3 coats of Zero-G, but I don't think it needed that many. I think 2 would suffice for the opaque black with rainbow colors. I ended up using 3 because I kept noticing places I missed. I'm still recovering from eye surgery and my detail sight isn't quite back to normal. That is also why I didn't notice the overlap of polish on my cuticles, otherwise I would have cleaned up the edges before the photos.

I tried capturing the glorious rainbow of colors that glitter in the sunshine, but my camera hasn't been cooperating very well when trying to take photos. I think I need a new camera. Nonetheless, I tried and still can't believe how gorgeous the colors are. I smile every time I look at my nails. Definitely another happy customer using MTF polishes.

I will post again when I do my next mani.

Until then.

-Andi

Review: "Elsewhen" from My Ten Friends

I just wanted to touch upon My Ten Friends in general before delving into my current mani. My Ten Friends is an indie nail polish that is made in micro batches (so the colors may differ slightly). It is cruelty free and 3free (free of toluene, formaldehyde and dibutyl phthalate). The MTF collection is inspired by space and each color is full of amazing glitters.

To start off I did a mani of MTF's Elsewhen. This is the first time I've painted my nails in many years so its not very neat but I still can't stop staring at my nails.

The turquoise is just gorgeous! There are a few different shades of turquoise hexes along with an accent of gold hexes. The base wasn't as deep as I thought it would be but a couple coats and the color really pops! Elsewhen is so bright and fun that I can see myself using this one often. I think this one would even be great with a color base for even more of a color pop. I also put a clear top coat on to seal in the lovely glitter.

I can't wait to dip into my other colors but I still want to show off my Elsewhen mani for awhile so I won't be reviewing another till next week (or maybe this weekend if i can't resist). 

Until then.

-Andi

Finding a new love in Indie Nail Polish

I've never been a real girly girl. I was always more of a tomboy (minus any love for sports lol). I was was more into the geek aspect of life; computers (though I have no clue how to build/fix them), anime, manga, fanfiction, and too many fandoms to name. Still... I had a love for things that sparkled but never really indulged in it.

Now, many years later I have found a new sparkle to love. That of the indie nail polish, and that will be the main focus of this blog. Here and there I may post about one of my geek <3 's but it the star will always be indie nail polish.

My new love affair with indie nail polish when my cousin posted a link to My Ten Friends nail polish. I perused the selection and fell head over heels. I knew I just had to get my hands on it. So for my first few posts I will be talking about My Ten Friends. A space themed indie nail polish that is just a glitter explosion.

As my first purchase arrived (a whopping 5 bottles to start). I didn't know which to try first so I swatched each color on a nail to see what spoke to me the most. From left to right you will find Elsewhen, Close Encounters, Zero-G, Hailing Frequencies Open, and Precog.

The colors on my fingers from pinkie to thumb match the line-up of the bottles.

I thought by doing this it would make it easier to choose which polish to start with, but really it didn't do much to help me. So I got a couple of opinions and the consensus was to start with Elsewhen. Unforunately, I could not obtain a good photo of my new glitzy nails so tomorrow I will try again and post a review about it.

Until then.
-Andi