NOTD: Cheery Cherry Nail Art

 The weather has been miserable and I was working on swatching Butter London's Cream Tea (whose review should be coming tomorrow!  review here). I decided I wanted to do some sort of nail art with the lovely off-white color, but couldn't decide on a subject.

The cherry earrings I had sitting on my dresser caught my eye and I thought, "What the heck? Why NOT do a summery cherry pattern in the middle of the winter?" So I bring you my nails of the day featuring cheery cherries.

NOTD: FingerFood's Theme Buffet #4 - Sparkle!

We're down to the end of January, which means it's week 4 of FingerFood's theme buffet!  This week's theme was "sparkle!" and all of our nails are now covered in shimmery, shiny, glitterbomb goodness,

Since I have a surprising lack of glitter toppers in my collection, and as I was working on swatching a really shiny polish yesterday, I figured I would just turn it into my entry for this week!

Swatches and Reviews: Pahlish - Mad Man With a Box

2 coats, no topcoat

A few weeks ago,  I mentioned in a post about how I love supporting independent artists and creators and that the indie nail polish community has really caught my interest.  In that post I mentioned that I was looking at the new offerings Pahlish had put out, and that I'd caved and spent a few of my spare dollars on one of their polishes.

That polish was Mad Man With a Box from part one of a series inspired by Doctor Who. Being a fan, this polish combined so many of my favorite things: Doctor Who, nail polish and BLUE. <3 Care to see some swatches of this beauty?

NOTD: FingerFood's Theme Buffet #3 - Weather

So, here is week 3 of FingerFood's Theme Buffet. It may be Thursday, but I finally got around to posting this! Better late than never, I suppose.

Originally, I had planned on doing a lightning scene, but after seeing so many awesome lightning manicures, I decided to go with rain. Rainbow rain, at that!

Swatches and Reviews: Philly Loves Lacquer Eagles Duo Part 2 - "Go Birds!"

First of all, I want to apologize for the delay in getting this review out. Between birthday celebrations on Monday (33, would you believe it?) and the foot of snow dumped on Philadelphia yesterday, I've been a bit busy.

In any case, today I'm bringing you part 2 of my review of Philly Loves Lacquer's Eagles Duo. You can find part 1 covering "I-G-G-L-E-S!" here.) This time, we're going to take a few minutes to look at "Go Birds,"  a clear glitter topper that's great for both Eagles fans and those who want to add a bit of teal-colored whimsy to their nails.

Swatches and Reviews: Philly Loves Lacquer Eagles Duo Part 1 - "I-G-G-L-E-S!"

Growing up in the Philadelphia area to a sports-loving family, it was practically a requirement that I become a Philadelphia Eagles fan or risk being disowned.  Okay, perhaps that's an exaggeration, but my family HAS had season tickets for 30 years and I've faithfully watched the Eagles over the years - through so many bad seasons and so many good. We were born to bleed green.

I've been eyeing up Philadelphia Loves Lacquer polishes a lot lately. I may have missed out on the gorgeous holos in her "Holo-day on Broad" collection, but imagine my joy at finding that Esther put together a duo in honor of our beloved Birds. The duo consists of I-G-G-L-E-S! - a white crelly with various glitter - and Go Birds!, a clear base with the same assortment of glitter. 

For my own convenience since I'm a bit short of time (today is my birthday!) , I'm going to post the two reviews separate. Expect a second post on "Go Birds!" later this afternoon or early this evening!  (UPDATE: You can find part 2 of this review here).

Indie Nail Polishes and a Look at Things to Come

The mail faeries paid me a visit today with a purchase from local indie nail polish maker Philly Loves Lacquer. I hope to swatch these polishes in the next day or two. The photo to the left is a bit of a preview of things to come!

Which brings me to my question: Do you use indie polishes? Which brands do you recommend? I'm looking for recommendations on new brands to try, and I love the satisfaction that comes along with supporting independent makers and artists. So, please send me your links/recs!

NOTD: FingerFood's Theme Buffet #2 - Geometric

With a new blog and a ton of different nail art options to try, I figured why not try to join a challenge? When I came across FingerFood's Theme Buffet, it seemed perfect! No pressure, No doing your nails every day, no worries <3 The first week had just ended when I found the challenge, so I missed the first theme (animal prints). The second week started with geometric shapes, so I figured "I can do that!"

Swatches and Reviews: Butter London - Hen Party

This past holiday season, I made my first foray into Butter London nail polishes....and fell in love. Having tried them, I can now see where their almost cult following comes from. I've since started a small collection of Butter London polishes - helped in part by the 50% off sale on "Last Orders" just before the New Year.

One of my first purchases was for one of the limited edition Boxing Day Fash Packs put out in December 2013.  The two Fash Packs (not to be confused with the Butter London lacquer by the same name) featured five mini-sized bottles of classic Butter London colors. The pink ombre Fash Pack included the colors Teddy Girl, Fruit Machine, Fairy Lights, Primrose Hill Picnic, and Queen Vic. The neutral one included Hen Party, Yummy Mummy, Champers, Lady Muck and Dodgy Barnett. Being that I'm not much of a pink person, and that neutrals are very much "on trend" for the beginning of 2014, I went with the neutral pack.

So, let's take a look at the first color: Hen Party!

Swatches and Reviews: China Glaze "Charmed, I'm Sure"

Welcome to the first (sorta) swatch and review of the blog. This was originally intended to be a proper swatch and review post, complete with well-shot photos, shots in different lighting and everything.

The problem is that I'm not one of those bloggers who will sit and try on a nail polish just to shoot swatches, then take it off right away and do another set.  I want to actually DO something with my nails.

My intention was to put on the polish - in this case, "Charmed, I'm Sure" by China Glaze - take photos of the plain, unadorned nails, THEN do the nail art.

Guess what I forgot to do.

So, I present to you China Glaze "Charmed, I'm Sure" with bonus nail art! I promise better pre-art pictures in the future!

Fledgling Nails has a Logo!

Fledgling Nails Logo

I'm trying to work on customizing this blog, redesigning it and eventually creating a new template. (This is what I normally do as a job - or at least DID and hopefully will again sometime soon).

The first thing that I decided I needed was a logo, so I spent the afternoon slaving away in Illustrator to create the graphic you see to the left.

I used the term "fledgling" in this blog's name to denote my relative inexperience in the nail world. It shows that I'm in no way a professional.  In designing the logo, I took the literal meaning for fledgling - a young bird who has just learned to fly - and made a playful graphic.

I'm usually not much of a pastel person - particularly pink - but I like the way it turned out. I'll probablly go for more of a creamy brown when the header design goes live

Indie Spotlight - Pahlish

Credit: Pahlish

I love supporting independent businesses, artists and individuals. This isn't necessarily in opposition to monolithic corporate culture, but rather that I appreciate the work, effort and ingenuity born of indies.

The one thing that we can be grateful for in this age is how the Internet allows for visibility. Without a network of blogs or through word spread across social media, I would have never known about the various independent nail polish creators that existed out there. Through sites such as Etsy, through blogs and through word-of-mouth, independent nail polish creators have found their niche in the nail art community.

Some of the craziest glitters and most innovative formulas can be found among indies. Mainstream polishes like Maybelline's Color Show Street Art  and Polka Dot collections  owe a lot to products and an aesthetic nurtured by indies.

This isn't to say that indie formulas are perfect - just that they offer an alternative. It doesn't matter whether these indie shops are made of a single person hunched over tiny bottles, painstakingly pouring each batch by hand, or whether they send their formulas off to be manufactured; each bottle is a work of art

As I unfortunately remain unemployed, I'm unable to support these small businesses with my wallet, but I love to explore the offerings they have. (Okay, full disclosure: I may be amassing a wish list for the day that I am once again gainfully employed and can thus afford to shovel my money over to these indies).

Pahlish is one of those companies whose polishes have captured my heart, thus why I'll take a look at it first. Founded in 2012, they are indepently owned and operated and polish makers based in Jonesboro, Arkansas (or so says their facebook page).

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Trying to put myself out there and gather more readers, so....

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Zoya Color Your World 2014 Promo

Image: Zoya 

As we start the new year, why not try a new polish?

Starting today and running through 1/13/14 at 11:59pm, Zoya is running their Color Your World campaign in which you can get ANY 3 polishes for free, plus a shipping and handling fee of $12.

The wording on the campaign page is a bit confusing, but if you buy 25 additional dollars worth of products, then you receive free shipping and the nail polishes are COMPLETELY free - you only pay for your additional items, no $12 S&H fee. All-in-all, it's an ingenious marketing strategy by the company and I applaud them for it.

To get in on this deal, enter the promo code "COLOR2014" at the time of purchase between 1/17/14 at 12pm EST and 1/13/14 at 11:59 EST. For full terms and conditions, see Zoya's page here.

I've read lots of good things about Zoya and am really looking forward to trying out these polishes. Once I get them, I'll have to let you know how they go.

Learn more about my selections:

Julep's Warehouse Sale loot

So, Julep just finished up their end-of-year Warehouse Sale. I was lucky enough to be browsing their site fairly soon after it started and took advantage of the deals. I don't think Julep polishes are worth the full price, but the warehouse price puts them about on par with drug-store prices, per volume, which I think is pretty fair.

I just got my stuff - which took AGES to get here, compared to my Maven intro box. They accidentally sent me the Fall Fancy set, rather than the Fall Foliage set. The rest of the order was fine. I'm debating whether or not to just keep the set or get in touch with them to send it back. I WAS really looking forward to trying Claudette - a warm, brown-toned red - and Fiore - a purple-hued brown. But, while I DO prefer Julep's cremes so far, I am kinda liking Lacey, a shimmery blue. The Fall Fancy set DOES give me a second bottle of Blakely, though, which I just got as an add-on with my Maven intro box.

Hmm, what should I do?