Simple Grunge Nail Art with Cult Cosmetics

Happy Sunday, everyone! Sundays are my favorite time to relax and be lazy, so today I painted a super easy grungy manicure to show you guys, using some polishes from Cult Cosmetics.

To get this look, I started with a base of Cult Breakwater, a gorgeous medium purple creme. Once that was dry, I wiped most of the polish off of Cult El Porto and Cult DTLA's brushes, and swiped them onto my nail for a grungy effect. I topped it all off with top coat to smooth out the design.

Super easy, right? I love this design because it comes out looking different every time I try it. I think it looks a bit like tweed, doesn't it? This is actually the same technique that I used in my popular grungy flower nail art.

It helps to pick colors that are very opaque, for this technique. I chose all Cult polishes because they're pretty much fully opaque in one coat!

For those of you who are wondering - I know I have been slacking on the nail art front lately! I had to take a break from the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2.0 because there was so much to swatch for fall/winter, but I will be getting back to it this or next week, I promise you! So that's why I made this simple nail art look to hold you guys over until then ;)

Here are the polishes I used for this manicure. You can purchase them from the Cult Cosmetics online shop for $9.99 USD each - don't forget to use the code KELLI for 15% off your entire order!

These polishes were provided for my honest review.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2.0, Day 11: Flowers

I bet you all thought I forgot about the challenge, huh?! Nope, the girls and I decided we needed to take a short break for other blogging duties, but we will be back this week for the rest of the prompts! (Although let me warn you now, mine will probably be late because I have so many exciting new polishes to review for you guys!) Anyway, today is Day 11 which is floral print, and I decided to try something pretty unique, inspired by this stock image, which combines cute cartoony florals with leopard print:

I couldn't decide if I loved this manicure or hated it, but I'm happy to say that it actually looks like the design it was inspired by, which is a big accomplishment to me! Another accomplishment is that I actually used all nail polish for this design, rather than acrylic paint (which I find to be a tad easier to work with), because I loved the color scheme so much and didn't think I could mix the right colors together for it.

Anyway, I did end up using ten (!!) different polishes, which you can see in my bottle photos below, but the base color is Essie Urban Jungle (of course). I used a small nail art brush for the flowers, and an orangewood stick to dot on the leopard print.

I do think that these look super unique and I really like the flower aspect - I might have to recreate these with a different color scheme and try it without the leopard spots, as I think they make the design slightly too busy.

And here is the massive load of polishes I used for this manicure, plus matte top coat:

And the massive amounts of links for review/purchase:
KBShimmer Life Rose On, review here
Cult Cosmetics Belmont Shore, review and nail art here
China Glaze If In Doubt, Surf it Out; China Glaze Sun Upon My Skin; China Glaze Shore Enuff; review here
Essie Urban Jungle, review here, nail art here, here and here
Zoya Ryan, review here
KBShimmer Stonewashed, review here
Essie Truth or Flare, review here
100% Pure Cornflower, purchase here

What do you think of today's floral nail art? Make sure you visit Lindsey and Meghan to see what they came up with for today's challenge!

An InLinkz Link-up

Leopard Print Nail Art Inspired by Very Emily

Hello guys, hope you are having a nice weekend! I decided to recreate one of my favorite nail art looks from the incredible Very Emily today:

To achieve this look, I started with a base of Essie Urban Jungle on my outer two nails, China Glaze Petal to the Metal on my middle nail, and Cult DTLA on my ring finger. I used a striping brush to make the abstract leopard print and the heart.

While I like this pattern a lot, I feel like the outer nails definitely don't look like leopard print! I do love the combination of neon and neutral though, and I really love throwing black polish into the mix as well.

I think overall this was a really simple and cute manicure, so I'm pretty satisfied with it!

Here are the polishes I used. The Cult polish can be purchased here (use the code KELLI for 15% off), and the China Glaze and Essie polishes can be purchased here (use the code POLISHCHALLENGE for 15% off.)

I hope you enjoyed my little recreation from Very Emily. She actually recreated one of my old manis today too - you can see her post here. And if you don't already, you absolutely must follow her! Emily is not only a talented nail artist, but she does amazing swatches as well. 

What do you think of my simple skittle nail art?

31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2.0, Day 6: Monochromatic! featuring Cult Cosmetics

Hey guys! I know it's sort of late, but I am still on time for Day 6 of the challenge! Today's prompt is "monochromatic", and I was really stumped, so I decided to go with a simple abstract French tip manicure using some pink polishes from Cult Cosmetics. I fell in love with these polishes, so I just had to swatch them, too - read on for a 15% off coupon to Cult!

So, I know this look might not seem monochromatic, because I included the metallic accent, but this polish actually has a definite pink tone to it (you'll see in my swatch!). Anyway, I started off by painting on two easy coats of Cult Cosmetics Belmont Shore, and then, with a striping brush, I freehanded on Cult Cosmetics Los Feliz and Cult Cosmetics Abbot Kinney. I topped it all off with top coat.

I'm totally loving these colors together, even though this design is really simple. It was nice to see that I am capable of making straight lines without tape, though!

Anyway, I used all Cult Cosmetics polishes for this look, and they all had an incredible formula, so I decided to swatch them as well:

Belmont Shore is a bright, slightly cool toned Barbie pink cream. This one is almost a one coater! I love how smooth and glossy this formula is as well - I definitely didn't need top coat for this one because it was so shiny, but I ended up adding it out of habit. Shown above is two coats with top coat.

Abbot Kinney is a gorgeous metallic foil with a pink tinge to it. I didn't expect to love this one as much as I do, but I think it looks fantastic on my nails, and I think it's a great foil for autumn. Shown above is two easy coats with top coat.

Loz Feliz is a gorgeous maroon cream. Again, what a perfect color for fall! I can't get enough of these dark colors for the colder weather, and I will definitely be reaching for this one a lot this season. Shown above is two coats plus top coat.

I love the formula on all of these polishes, and I am glad that the caps can be pulled off for easy application. I can't wait to try out more Cult Cosmetics polishes. All of these colors can be purchased from Cult Cosmetics for $9.99 USD each, and you can use the code KELLI at checkout for 15% off your entire order!

Make sure you check out what the other talented ladies created for Day 6 of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2.0!

Sweet Addictions Subscription Box: August Swatches and Nail Art

Hi all, I've got the August Sweet Addictions subscription box to show you today - you'll remember my review of the July box last month - which features two lovely, limited edition polishes and some nail vinyls!

As I mentioned last month, the Sweet Addictions subscription box is curated by the creator of Cupcake Polish, and each month she will be releasing a box that contains two polishes and a limited edition product, and each one will have it's own theme! August's theme is "Circus". Let's take a look at the polishes first:

Topsy Turvy is the contribution from Cupcake Polish, a beautiful turquoise holo filled with a faint gold shimmer. While not exactly circus-y, I find that this polish is just gorgeous! The holographic pigment is especially lovely in the sunlight. Shown above is two coats with top coat.

The other polish in this box is contributed by Philly Loves Lacquer, and it's called Trilby. It's a dark blurple jelly packed to the brim with various glitters, including most prominently large lavender hexes, copper metallic squares, and pink diamonds, as well as a few sparse black stars, and a ton of blue hexes. I love the color combination here! No fishing was required for the application of this polish - quite the contrary actually, as this polish was very glitter packed. I did find that the square glitters experienced curling, so you might want to add a second coat of top coat, or avoid them entirely. Shown above is two coats, with two coats of top coat to smooth out the polish.
*EDIT: I would like to mention that upon removal of this polish, I had some minor staining. The red pigment in this polish stuck onto my nails and left them very pink. It was easily fixed with a good scrub, though!

This box also contains a few sets of nail vinyls from indie brand Love, Angeline - three sheets of diamond star vinyls, and a small sheet of elephant decals. They can be worn on the nail, with top coat, as a sticker, but I chose to use them as stencils for my nail art look:

I started with a base coat of Cult Laguna on all nails except for my ring finger, which was painted with Cult El Porto. Then, I placed the nail vinyls on my nails and painted on El Porto for the diamond stars, and attempted to sponge on a gradient over the elephant decal with Laguna and Cult Los Feliz. I was pleased to find that the vinyls worked with both painting over them, and sponging polish over them, and the edges stayed nice and crisp! I topped this manicure with matte top coat.

Here is a visual of the polishes I used for my nail art look. You can purchase Cult Cosmetics polishes on their website, and use the code "KELLI" at checkout for 15% off your entire order.

Overall, I think the August subscription box is pretty nice - the polishes look great, and the nail vinyls work very well. You can purchase the Sweet Addictions box from the Cupcake Polish shop for $30 USD starting tomorrow, July 27th.

These products will only be available in the subscription box, and there is a limited number of boxes for sale.

Are you thinking of purchasing this one? Which product/polish is your favorite?

These products were provided for my honest review.

Cult Cosmetics Blackbox Subscription: Purple, Please! Review and Nail Art

Anyone who has a love for nail polish like mine is always searching for something new and exciting in the nail world, so when I stumbled across this new subscription box by Cult Cosmetics, I just knew I had to try it! Subscription boxes are such a great deal - getting new products sent to your door every month? Sign me up!

So anyway, I stumbled across this "blackbox" subscription by Cult Cosmetics and I fell in love! Basically, for $19.99 per month, you get two full sized nail polishes and a full sized beauty product sent to your door every month. You get to pick your first box, and they have tons of great deals for your first box (you can get one for just $0.01!), and you can buy any of these boxes for a great discount after you've subscribed as well. Just like most subscription boxes, you can skip a month or send it to a friend, if you would like. And, you can purchase discounted products on their website! (More information here.)

Today I'm going to show you a box called "Purple, Please!" which features two polishes, a full sized mascara, and two adorable yoga hair ties. This post is going to be pretty photo heavy, sorry in advance!

Here are the two polishes in the Purple, Please! box. All Cult Cosmetics polishes are 5-free, vegan, and animal friendly.

Cult Dogtown is a stunning cool-toned rich purple shimmer. I could wear this polish all day! Formula was fabulous, you're looking at two easy coats with top coat. The brush that came with this polish was a bit wonky, so I ended up using a clean brush I had to apply this, but the results were worth the effort!

Cult El Porto is a perfect white cream. It's not too gloopy, as white polishes tend to be, and it's opaque and smooth in two coats. It was opaque in just one coat, but there were some small patches, so I added a second (a more careful application could probably make this polish a one coater!) I imagine this white will be great for stamping - I will let you all know when I try it out. Shown above is two coats with top coat.

Could I resist immediately doing some nail art with these polishes? No, I couldn't! I started with a base of Cult El Porto, and with a small paintbrush, I painted on little drips with Cult Dogtown. This was my first time trying a paint drip design, so it's a bit sloppy, but shouldn't paint drips be sloppy anyway? Haha!

I really love how the two finishes come together in this manicure! And look how gorgeous Dogtown looks in the bottle in this photo. Wow!

I also really like the bottles that Cult polishes come in! They fit together nicely for storage, which is always a plus.

This box also came with these adorable purple hair ties:

Aren't they so cute? I almost want to wear them as bracelets, haha!

And of course, the full sized beauty product in this box is a volumizing mascara by bh cosmetics called "Loveable Lash Mascara" in "True Black":

I didn't get a chance to try out this mascara yet, but it looks nice and not clumpy, and it smells great (am I the only one who LOVES the smell of mascara?)

Overall, I think this subscription is a great deal for those of you who love nail polish and beauty products! It's a great mixture of both worlds, and there's nothing better than getting exclusive new products in the mail, right?

You can get the Purple, Please! box for $9.99 USD with a subscription to the Cult Cosmetics blackbox program. Or, you can purchase the polishes without a subscription for $12 USD each on the Cult Cosmetics website.

What do you think of this new sub box? Are you going to try it out?

Products provided for my honest review.