Kat Stays Polished | Beauty Blog with a Dash of Life: June 2014

patriotic

Salon Perfect - Paint the Town Red White and Blue | Part 1

Monday, June 30, 2014

blush

Wet n Wild ColorIcon Bronzer & Blush - Summer 2014 + GIVEAWAY

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

nail cones

Nail Cones Review

Sunday, June 22, 2014

gloss 48

Gloss48 Nail Week: Sara M. Lyons Nail Decals

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Hey guys! I've got another Gloss48 special for you all! I LOVE Laura from Gloss48.com and I'm so happy to be working with her again! This time I've got something a little different. These are nail water nail decals but in full nail length! They are made by "Professional Weirdo" Sara M. Lyons! I have 2 packs of full nail decals and 1 pack of small designs like you'd normally see. Today I'll be showing you how the full nail designs work!

Starting NOW on Gloss48.com, there are 3 three new, full nail decal sets in Pizza, Happy Meal and TV Party for $10 each (reg $12). There will also be some nail decal sets at a special discount of 30%. I have the Happy Meals and the TV Party ones on the blog today!

Here are the instructions it comes with. When you buy these, make sure you do read the instructions all the way through. These decals are bright on the backing sheet but they can be pretty sheer on the nail. It is suggested in the instructions to use a white nail polish base or a very light colored one. I decided to try both with a color base and without just to show you the difference.

We just had our housewarming party over the last weekend and you bet we had burgers to serve. It would have been great to have had fries too! Just look at how cute these Happy Meals decals are! So, I cut one out that i thought would fit the width of my nail. Sometimes that's hard to judge, especially with new products. The paper backing is pretty stiff so you may want to bend it a little before applying.

For this first one, I decided not to end it too much. I did try to fold it along the curve of my nail, which helped. Because these are water decals, they are very thin so you definitely want to make sure you position it carefully. At this point, the instructions tell you to submerge your finger in water for 15-20 seconds, kinda like those temporary tattoos.

So, as you can see, the decal is VERY sheer without a base color underneath. I used it as just an accent nail with some bright yellow polish. If I had used a white base, the colors from the decal would definitely have popped more.

Next up we have the TV Party decals! Don't you remember these awesome colored lines on your TV screen? As with the previous set of decals, I chose a decal that matched my nail width but I went a little bigger this time. I also painted 2 coats of a white polish as a base underneath so that these bright colors would show up.

I totally forgot to trim it so that the bottom portion of the decal would show up too but I definitely love the way this turned out. You must make sure your polish is completely dry before applying the decal. I have also not completely perfected the "no bumps" in the decal but I'll get there.

Overall I really like having a full nail water decal to apply. I imagine you could even cut these vertical stripes into individual strips and then place them randomly on the nail to create an abstract design. Shoot, why didn't I think of that before I wrote this? Go buy a set and try it! I bet it's much easier than striping tape!

The last NEW set being featured on Gloss48 is this Pizza set. Seriously, so cute!

So, whatcha think? Let's recap the details again so that you can go grab a few sets for yourself! They are on sale from now, June 19, 11 a.m. EST to June 26,11 a.m. EST. You can find all of the available sets HERE on the Gloss48 website. These 3 new food sets will be on sale for $10 (originally $12).

Here is where you can follow both Gloss48 and Sara M Lyons for more info on all the products these two offer! Enjoy and let me know what you end up buying!

Gloss48:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Sara M Lyons:

Website | Shop | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

*Products were provided for an honest review. All opinions are 100% my own.

cuticle oil

Emerald & Ash Cuticle Oil Review and GIVEAWAY!

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Hey guys! Today I have an exciting post for you! Do you remember a while back when I reviewed an Emerald & Ash polish and cuticle oil from my NailNation3000 prize pack? Well, I get to review some really awesome cuticle oils today!!!

I am so obsessed with this brand. I love their packaging, I love their products, and Ashley is such a sweetheart! So, if you don't already know, Emerald & Ash is an indie brand. This husband and wife team creates fantastic nail polish colors and fabulous cuticle oils. All oils come in a glass bottle with a metal roller ball for easy application. This was one of the first things I fell in love with. I've even used the unscented oil to soothe my eyebrows after tweezing!

Skipping forward to now, Ashley asked if I'd like to review more cuticle oils. Of course I said yes! She told me to pick out 3 new scents I'd like to try...out of 85! Those 85 are just some individual scents. Ask for any combination of scents for an endless amount of possibilities. It took me forever to choose what I wanted to try but I ended up with Coconut Lime Verbena, Dreamsicle, and Fresh Strawberry. The base of all of these cuticle oils include: fractionated coconut oil, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil, meadowfoam seed oil, tea tree oil, vitamin A oil and vitamin E oil. Fragrance and Essential oils can be added to this base for your very own custom oil!

In case you're wondering, you can view all the scents HERE on their website.

Okay, so let me get into talking about each of the scents I got!

Coconut Lime Verbena: I wanted to try this because I was obsessed with the Bath and Body Works scent like this that no longer exists. I am a coconut fan anyway so I definitely had to give this a try. It definitely satisfies my craving for this scent and it's perfect for the summer, especially if you'll be traveling to the beach a lot. Yep, I like to keep cuticle oil with me to re-moisturize my fingers after playing in the sand.

Dreamsicle: Who doesn't love a cold creamy dreamsicle? I will love them forever and if I can get it trapped in a bottle then all the better! When you initially smell it from the bottle, it has a very subtle dreamiscle scent. After you apply it, it build just a little bit. I think it has to mix with your body chemistry to really get the scent to come out. It isn't super strong, which can be a good thing for some people. If you're looking for a sweet scent that isn't too overpowering, definitely go for something like Dreamsicle.

Fresh Strawberry: Lastly...my absolute favorite of the 3. I LOVE THIS FRESH STRAWBERRY CUTICLE OIL! Oh my gosh it makes me want to eat my fingers! This has such a fruity, strawberry smell and it lasts a long time on your fingers. Just LOVE!!! I'm pretty sure I'm going to be ordering this scent in bulk forever!

Okay, so now that we've gone through the nitty gritty...let's get to the giveaway! Emerald & Ash has been generous enough to offer $40 in gift cards to my readers. I'm splitting this in 2 giving 2 people the chance to win!

The oils are VERY affordable. You can choose from a 10mL bottle for $4.25, a 4mL 3-pack for $6.50, or a 7mL bottle for $3.25. They also offer a "Scent of the Month" for $3.75.

Enter through the Rafflecopter below. This will end in 2 weeks so good luck! You definitely want to win because I promise you...you'll fall in LOVE with their products!!