Cult Nails Blog

Get Ready to Dance All Night With Cult Nails Latest Collections!

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:46:00 +0000

Cult Nails releases the Dance All Night Collection on May 9th, 2013 during a Preview sale. The collection includes 3 High Shine Cremes and 3 Glitter Lacquers. The collection will be available during our Preview Event where the entire collection can be purchased at the discounted price of $60 for the set. (Retail $72). The first 250 orders will also automatically receive a bottle of Wax That (Not pictured), our new Wax Finish Top Coat that will allow you to turn any polish into a wax finish polish. Our Preview Event will run from May 9th - 18th 11:59PM EST. All polishes will be available for purchase individually, starting on Sunday May 19th for $12 per bottle (This includes Wax That).

The collection includes the following polishes:

Nakizzle's Shizzle - We made several custom blue polishes for NY Fashion Week's Le Smurfette Show. I brought all the blue's home and when my daughter saw one of the blue lacquers, she grabbed it and exclaimed, "Now that's my Shizzle!" After we had a good laugh and explained what Shizzle stands for, we knew we had to include it as part of the Cult Nails Lacquer line. It is a bright take on a traditional pastel blue. It dries to a high shine creme finish.

Nakizzle Shizzle. Wicked Fast top coat added to all the nails except the index finger.

Nakizzle's Shizzle topped with Wax That wax finish top coat

Faded - We receive numerous requests for a pale almost white grey on a regular basis. I don't know what took us so long, but we think Faded is worth the wait! Faded is a light grey with subtle blue undertones that looks great on all skin tones. It dries to a high shine creme finish.

Faded. Wicked Fast top coat added to all the nails except the index finger.

Faded topped with Wax That wax finish top coat

Love at 1st Sight - It's no secret, I love purple polishes. When someone requested a bright pastel purple, we had to make it happen right away! We made several variations, but this one stood out. It instantly reminded me of the light purple crayon that was my favorite as a child. Love at 1st Sight is a bright pastel influenced purple that dries to a high shine creme finish.

Love at 1st Sight. Wicked Fast top coat added to all the nails except the index finger.

Love at 1st Sight topped with Wax That wax finish top coat.

Dance All Night - Another polish created by request. we added a different spin by adding micro sized glitter in opposing colors and loved the end result! Multi sized blue and green glitter intermixed with a color shifting micro glitter that goes from gold to orange. This polish is set in a clear base, so you can use it layered or over any polish in this collection.

Dance All Night over Nakizzle's Shizzle

Walk of Shame - We wanted a "blingtastic" glitter to make you shine all night long! Walk of Shame features multi sized gold glitter intermixed with micro sized holographic glitter. This polish is set in a clear base, so you can use it layered or over any polish in this collection.

Walk of Shame over Love at 1st Sight

Center of Attention - Since we were making a blue and green glitter, we thought why not try it in pink too! The end result is the "blingiest" pink you've ever seen! Center of Attention features multi sized pink glitter intermixed with a color shifting micro glitter that goes from gold to orange. This polish is set in a clear base, so you can use it layered or over any polish in this collection.

Center of Attention over Faded

In the Garden Collection

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 18:16:00 +0000

Wow that was fast! It's already almost April! This collection was actually supposed to launch in March and it was delayed at the lab. Now it is ready to head to us and we are offering it up on Pre-sale so you can get these beauties in your hand shortly after we receive them! WAHOO! We haven't offered pre-sales in awhile, but since our next collection is due out in early May, we figured, you'd rather two collections a little more spaced out than back to back. We are anticipating these shipping out April 10th. Since it is a pre-sale, all 5 colors during pre-sale pricing will be $40! (Retail for all 5 is $60) So get in while the getting is good, since we aren't planning on having a sale for a few more months after this and these are all limited edition colors! So when they are gone, they are gone! As usual, the colors will be available individually after the pre-sale event at the full retail price.

First up is Let's Get Dirty. This is more of a satin matte finish than a wax finish. I added some shimmer to this one. This is two medium coats. I think this will be easier for most to apply using thin coats, but I am just not a thin coat application person. I just can't, way to impatient for that! LOL! Unfortunately I have crazy ridges on my nails, and to show the true polish, I didn't want to put a smoothing base coat underneath, so you get to see my nail ridges. Sorry. This is a taupey nude with a tiny hint of lavender so that it won't wash out most skin tones. I keep putting this one on. It is just the right color to spice up the neutral look for me. I'm a big sucker for these kinds of colors!

Two coats - no top coat - Inside light


Two coats - no top coat - Natural sun light

I love that with the matte and wax finishes you can add a top coat to shine it up, you can really see the shimmer here! It also hides my ridges, yay!

Added top coat - Inside light

Added top coat - Natural Sun Light

You're My Dandy Lion - OK here you may be wondering what's up with our corny names? You see we pride ourselves on NOT giving our polishes those corny names where we use the color or something describing the color in our names. We use words like Captivated or Enigmatic to describe our polishes. But I've been in a polish rut lately. I think perhaps a polish depression? I made at least 50 colors and nothing was working. I came up with collection after collection and they all felt blah! I had nothing! I needed to inject some life into me. I needed to get out there and get inspired. Because polish creating needs to be done anywhere from 6 months to a year in advance with the labs, it was getting down to the wire and I had nothing! The lab kept showing me what was on trend to inspire my creative juices. But you know me, show me a trend, and I walk in the complete opposite direction when it comes to nails! Everyone wanted something different, pastels, brights, vampy's, more glitters. I was just not feeling it. One night, I was sitting there, deadlines looming and I grabbed all the polishes I created and looked and I realized, OMG! I have some beauties here! What was wrong with me? I love these polishes! And things started to come together. I decided I was going to grab my 5 favorites for this collection. Some may call these off trend, some may call these boring, some may call these safe, I call them getting my polish mojo dusted off and restarted!

What does that have to do with the corny names? Well now that we were in the final hour, we had to name them and fast! (Seriously I think we had an hour! LOL!) I grabbed a drink and we started the process. I texted a good friend who helps get the juices flowing and we started with our typical names, Fascinated, Fascinating, Fantastic, Flourish... You get the picture. By now I was a little tipsy, talking to my fashion girls on FB about a pair of shorts (Yes I really belong to a group, where we talk about something as corny as a pair of shorts!) We were goofing off, I was laughing, John looked at me rolling his eyes, "Hellloooo!! We need names here!!" So I said "How about You Kiss my Rose Bush Dude!" And it all went down hill from there! I gave these polishes names in about 2 minutes, thought I was hilarious and said "There name them that!" and he did! So there you have it, exactly what I said I would never do, I did!

Two coats - no top coat - inside light

OK so now that we got all that out of the way, here is You're My Dandy Lion! This is a soft, but bright butter yellow. Ignore the shimmer in the bottle, it is not visible on the nail. Why is it there you ask? Well because initially I wanted it to be a shimmer polish, but then realized the yellow would have to be a super thin jelly to make it work. But accidentally I realized the shimmer actually made this a smooth two coater! WHAT!?! I know! So I left it alone because of the beautiful application and how I fell in love with the creamy goodness. Sometimes, when you get it, you just have to leave it alone, and this was one of those times. I can't even begin to tell you how much this polish makes me smile! You can't have a bad day wearing this!


Two coats - no top coat - natural sun light

Kiss My Rose Bush - This one reminds me of a barbie pink color. Originally I was going to make a collection of lipstick inspired colors based on a request. In my polish depression, I just couldn't get it together. But two colors were added to my arsenal of favorites that I constantly wanted to wear. This is one of them. It reminds me of the 80's and Pretty in Pink. I love it so much! This is a wax finish to give it a modern edge. But you can instantly be transported back to the 80's with some top coat!

Two coats - no topcoat - inside light

Added top coat - inside light

Two coats - no top coat - outside sun light

Added top coat - outside sunlight

Ay Poppy! Culties kept telling me that they wanted to see me do bright colors, that I was too vampy focused. Really, am I? OK Yeah, they're right, I love vampy colors, what can I say? I kept hearing please make a bright orange. I thought bright orange? How the heck will I even begin? What kind of bright orange? But you ask, I make, so I went to work. One day while driving down the road, the inspiration came, traffic cone orange! If that's not bright or orange, then I don't know what is! This one took two medium coats, no top coat. OMG! Why didn't you guys hit me over the head sooner? This whole brights thing is AWESOME!!! I want more now! And since the beginning I have been wanting a polish named Ay Poppy (Ay Papi - get it?). But since that wasn't our naming strategy, and I didn't have an appropriate color for that, I had to jump at the chance when I had it! Yeah I know, I'm kind of corny like that! LOL!

Two medium coats - no top coat - inside light

Two medium coats - no top coat - natural sun light

The last color is Morning Glory. OK weak naming moment, I know! But hey, it is what it is. At least now it is anyway. This one OMG, Nakizzle made this one in a high shine finish. I fell in love instantly. Proud mom moment! Look at this color! This one almost didn't happen. Long story, but we went round and round with the lab to make this one happen as a wax finish. Because of the coloring it came out a little less matte than the others. In the photo is looks a lot more shiny than it really is. It truly casts a waxy look in person. This one could have probably gone with just one medium coat, but I did two anyway. I think I should have called this collection, Maria's favorite colors! Because this is another one, I think I will be reaching for all summer!

Two coats - no top coat - inside light

Added topcoat - inside light

Two coats - no top coat - outside natural sun light

Added top coat - natural sunlight

I think I just died a little at that last photo! So many reasons! The color is pure perfection and OMG, how good did that pic come out? WOW! I want to go change my mani to this right now! I can't wait for these to arrive so I can send them to bloggers. We have picked some amazing bloggers, new and established, that once they have the polishes in hand, we will let you know who they are so you can check them out! Unfortunately they probably won't have them in hand before our pre-sale ends due to the delay. Grrr!

So there you have it! My ramblings about the collection and some photos! It feels good to be writing again. But really who wants to hear about all my minds inner workings. Anywhooo.... What are you waiting for? Go reserve your set today at www.cultnails.com

Some Pics from our Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:53:00 +0000

As many of you know we went on a weekend cruise last weekend for Nakizzle's 15th Birthday. (A side benefit of living in FL are the cheap cruise prices we can snag!) Nakizzle didn't want to have a traditional Quinceañera party and asked if she could do a cruise instead. While I would have love to have seen her have a traditional celebration, it's her birthday, so we let her have it her way.

Right before we set sail

Nakizzle's decorated room thanks to our room steward

I was feeling so sick this night, added about a pound of makeup, pasted a smile on my face and off I went. I had been looking forward to wearing my Robert Rodriguez Target/Neiman Marcus dress since before the sale even started at Target! I so love this dress, sick or not, nothing was going to keep me from wearing this dress or attending Nakizzle's Birthday dinner!

With Juan

The Dolphin's at Atlantis

We did the dolphin encounter. I was feeling so sick that I just layed in a beach lounger sleeping under a towel. I felt so bad for everyone that I was sick, but I think everyone had a good time. You can see here no makeup vs. the pound of makeup in the picture above. At least the dolphin detracts from how I look! LOL

I woke up early the next morning so I took a walk to the LIDO deck and grabbed some hot tea and watched the sun come up

The sun starts to come up over the Bahamas while we head back to Florida

The sun is finally up as we make our way home

All in all sick or not, it was a nice time and flew by. Of course it would be my luck that I go on a cruise and get sick! LOL Darn sinuses! Fortunately it's just a head cold, but darn if this thing doesn't want to try to keep me down! (Although I am waiting to see if it is strep B since John was sick last week and found out on Monday it was Strep B all along!) I went to the office today and did my work and now I am just looking forward to bed again! I need to kick this in time for a friend's Birthday dinner tomorrow night! But of course my mind keeps working and I'm thinking Cult Cruise next year? Who's with me?

Cult Nails 2nd Anniversary Special Release & Free Gift With Purchase!!

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 02:34:00 +0000

It's official! The new collection is finally here! After weeks and weeks of delays, the collection is now available for purchase! See the press release info below and get your set today!

SHOP CULT NAILS NOW!!!

CULT NAILS ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL RELEASE

It's our 2nd Anniversary!

Grab the new 2nd Anniversary Special Release NOW!

This release includes three new colors; TEMPEST - a pure white, high gloss, creme: BLAZE - a gold and copper glitter: and FETISH - a black polish with a wax look finish!

There's also a FREE GIFTwith purchase, while supplies last! See details below!


		This 2nd Anniversary Special Release collection comes with three colors: Tempest, Blaze, and Fetish. For a limited time (while supplies last) each bottle of Blaze purchased will come with a free gift. The free gift will be either a pair of cubic zirconia earrings, a pair of 1/2 carat genuine diamond earrings (2 pairs will be given away), OR 1 pair of 1 carat genuine diamond earrings (1 pair will be given away). FREE GIFT ONLY AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED TIME, WHILE SUPPLIES LAST! Thank you all, so much, for making this second year absolutely amazing! FREE

Cult Nails

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http://shop.cultnails.com Twitter @CultNails Instagram @CultNails

Preview pricing will be offered with the purchase of the entire collection for $30 from now through Sunday January 27th at 11:59PM EST. That is a savings of more than 15%! As part of our 2 year anniversary celebration, each bottle of Blaze will include a free gift of CZ earrings. As an added surprise three bottles will have an actual pair of real diamond earrings. 2 will be a pair of 1/2 carat diamond earrings valued at about $700 and 1 will be a pair of 1 carat diamond earrings valued at about $1600!!! I'm so excited and can't wait to see who gets a real pair of diamond earrings!! If it's you, please be sure to share the exciting news with us!

Once preview pricing ends, each polish will be available individually at the retail price of $12 per bottle. The free gift will continue until they are gone and included with each bottle of Blaze.

We have also added a clearance section on some polishes that are being discontinued. When these polishes are gone, they will be gone! So take a peek at our new clearance section and grab em while you can at an amazingly low price!

And in case that wasn't enough - we are offering free shipping on all orders $50 or more domestic & international from now through January 27th at 11:59pm EST.

Want to see some swatches?

Fetish - You guys have been waiting for this one for so long! This wax look finish has also been likened to a leather finish. It is such a stunning must have black!

Blaze - Think fiery blaze when looking at this one! It is deep copper and gold glitter that seems to dance between each one and a very small dab of silver glitter just to give it that perfect sunny glint. Is it gold? Is it copper? Well it really is both!

Tempest - This is a stunning white glossy creme. It is self leveling and non streaky. When you apply the first coat, you can actually watch it level out before you apply the second coat. Heck you may not even need a second coat! It is very highly pigmented, so medium coats work best with a light touch. This is a must have if you have been looking for a great white that can be used on the nails or for stamping and nail art. I hope you love this one as much as I do.

Review - Relogy Natural Acne Treatment

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:27:00 +0000

In December I received the Relogy Acne Treatment System to try out. I was really looking forward to trying this since it's made using natural ingredients without the drying that some other acne treatments have. It also offers a unique no rinse formula that no other acne system offers. I wanted to give this a thorough review so I used it exclusively for 30 days. Below is a breakdown of each product I used and my thoughts.

Relogy Rinse Free Foam

Ingredients: Rinse-Free Foam Acne Treatment: Water, Salicylic Acid (from Willow Tree Bark), Benzalkonium Chloride, Sodium Laurel Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Decyl Clycoside, Sorbitol, Propylene Glycol, Panthenol, PEG-75, Meadownfoam Oil, Tetrasodium EDTA, Methyl Paraben, Propl Paraben, Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (orange) Extract, FD&C Blue #1.

What they say: Relogy's Rinse-Free Foam penetrates deep into the skin's surface to start clearing acne immediately, while soothing naturals promote a healing, redness reducing, anti-inflammatory effects. Tough on acne bacteria, this product is still gentle, smells great, and feels silky on your skin. And, it's 100% benzoyl-peroxide free!

My thoughts: First off let's discuss the smell. I can't quite place it, but it smells kind of like a cleaning product but not really at the same time. I just can't quite describe it, because the smell isn't offensive in any way and smells clean and nice, but just not MY favorite scent. Of course this is completely subjective, so you may like it.

Relogy states you can use the foam as a cleanser and rinse it away or you can leave it on. I found this an interesting concept, but wasn't sure how I felt about not rinsing away a cleanser. I recently started using Sulfate Free Shampoos, and the 4th ingredient in this is Sodium Laurel Sulfate. This is what makes it foamy. My hair has been so ridiculously healthy since making the switch, it makes me wonder whether I should eliminate this ingredient from all products that touch my skin. So the fact that it is one of the main ingredients in this product AND I can leave it on my skin, made me a little hesitant. But since all my other cleansers to date have SLS as an ingredient, I figured I would use it but just rinse it away. I did this for the first two weeks. And then after a particularly bad break out, I decided to not rinse it away and the results from one day to the next were rather impressive! The acne wasn't completely gone, but pretty darn good. I feel this product definitely reduced the size of the acne and reduced the redness. I am impressed! Smell aside, this is a great product, I plan on keeping on hand.

100% Natural Skin Balancing Lotion

Ingredients: purified water, certified organic coconut oil, certified organic jojoba, emulsifying wax, glycerin, certified organic coconut milk, allantion, phenoxyethanal.

What they say: 100% Natural Skin Balancing Lotion is the ultimate side-effect preventer, keeping your skin soft, with just the right level of hydration for smooth, healthy, glowing skin.

My thoughts: Let's discuss the smell again. Talk about a 360 degree difference! This smells like coconuts! I'm not talking that fake coconut lotion smell (which I also love). I am talking about the real deal, break open a coconut, take a whiff and ahhh smell! So again this is MY personal take on the scent. But OMG! I love how this smells. It makes me hungry and thirsty every time I use it, which could be a downside, but I just love it.

How did it perform? Well I tried the Rinse Free Foam with the lotion and without so I could see if I could tell the difference between each product. I feel that the Rinse Free Foam works great with or without the balancing lotion. My skin needs moisture, so the balancing lotion was perfect. I really like how smooth it makes my skin feel and how it smells. I don't feel it added to the effectiveness of the Rinse Free Foam. It doesn't claim to be a moisturizer, but it feels just like one, so I treated it as such. I believe that everyone should apply moisturizer at least twice a day regardless of age. So this is a great bonus product. On the downside, at 38 I am all about anti aging moisturizers and moisturizers with sun screen. This product has neither benefits to it. I would love them to add a few more products to the line that offer these benefits. But if anti aging is not a concern for you, then this is a great basic moisturizer to use.

Targeted Spot Treatment with Seaweed Extract

Ingredients: Water, Glycereth-18, Glycereth-18 Ethylhexanoate, Ethoxydiglycol, Salicylic Acid, Lactobacillus/Bean Seed Extract/Sodium Glutamate Ferment Filtrate, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Sodium Hyaluronate, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Oil, Chondrus Crispus Extract, Hydrolyzed Chondrus Crispus (seaweed) Extract, Menthol, Bisabolol, Aminomethyl Propanol, Phenoxyethanolm Ethylhexylglycerin

What they say: Targeted Spot Treatment: Uses seaweed extract from the Chondrus Crispus plant, gathered from the icy waters along the rugged coastal regions of the North Atlantic. It is also used as a natural exfoliate to remove dead skin cells, which can block pores. Lactobacillus/Bean Seed Extract is a pro-biotic used for its anti-inflammatory properties. Rosemary Leaf Extract is known to protect skin cells, fight signs of aging and the formation of dark spots. The effect of stress and toxins on skin are lessened by Rosemary Leaf, as it safeguards a protective protein known as HSP70. Tea Tree Leaf Oil offers a natural, skin-friendly way to clear acne due to its antiseptic properties for treating wounds and preventing infections, and Salicylic Acid, made from Willow Tree Bark, provides an extremely effective and targeted treatment for acne spots and can improve the look and feel of the skin.

My thoughts: I loved this. The ingredients are great, and it did exactly what it said it would. I could just apply this to a specific spot and see results the next day. I tried this on it's own without the other products and loved to see how well it worked. I usually dab Tea Tree Oil as a spot treatment, but Juan hates the smell, this has the benefit of Tea Tree Oil with some other great ingredients and is scent free. Combined with the other products, this is amazing. I added this as a final step when using together with the other two products.

I had a particularly bad flare up so I took a quick pic of the before Day 1 and After Day 2 just using the Rinse Free Foam applied at night. I washed my face with the foam and then followed it up with dabbing the foam on the spots where the acne flared up. The second photo is the next day when I woke up.

Before: the photo didn't capture just how bad this is. I have about 5 spots across my forehead between my eyebrows. They were tiny and very very red. I have another on my nose and to the side of my nose. My skin is usually pretty good, so these spots become very noticeable to me.

You can see how the acne shrank and is no longer red in just one night! The acne is still there, but barely visable.

Final Thoughts: I really liked this system. I like that it is made using natural ingredients and it is simple to use. I'm seriously impressed by the Rinse Free Foam. Side note: I recently saw another blogger who has been using the system and will be doing a review soon and I had no idea she was using this product. But she has struggled with acne and has been looking for that magic product. When I saw her, the first thing I noticed was how amazing her skin looked! her acne was clearing up and she was just glowing! I told her how great I thought her skin looked and that's when she told me she was using this product and how much she loved it. She's in her early 20's and not concerned with anti aging in her products just yet, so this is perfect for her. I'll post once her review is up so you can read about her experience.

For me, I would like to see anti aging and sunscreen in this product. I would also like to see an exfoliator. I didn't exfoliate my skin for an entire month using this product and my skin showed it. Granted if I wasn't reviewing this product, I would have exfoliated anyway, but because I wanted to give an honest review of this product, I only used Relogy for a month. I would also like to see them sell each product individually. As much as I love the smell of the Balancing Lotion, I really need something with anti aging benefits and sunscreen.

Where to buy: Relogy is available on their site: http://www.relogynow.com and retails for $49.95 for a 60 day supply of all three products. I have been using this solely for 30 days now and I have a little more than half left of both the Rinse Free Foam and Balancing Skin Lotion. I have only used the spot treatment as needed and it still feels pretty full. I think the price point for this product is great and if you are struggling with acne flare ups, you may want to give this product a shot. I am really impressed with the overall results I have seen with this product.

*Products were sent to me for evaluation and review. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

We're Getting Close Now!!

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:36:00 +0000

Our January release polishes were delayed in filling at the lab. (Is there anything new here?) We plan for delays, but of course even with our planning, they are even more delayed than usual. We were expecting to have them in our hands by mid December, so we could start the photos, sending them to bloggers, getting the marketing materials ready etc... And of course that is already a bit delayed since in the "real" world of marketing these things are done about 3-4 months prior to a release. But we aren't there yet, and the rush is kind of fun. We wanted to do a big bang 2 year anniversary thing, and now our 2 year Cultiversary is here and my polishes are not! GRRR! I should have them next week though. Which means it will be a mad rush to get things done once they arrive! The joy!

So what did we have planned? Well we have a few colors that have been out of stock and should have been completed in November and were also delayed, but will finally here next week. So we wanted to do some kind of 2 year anniversary special and re-introduction on these polishes. But I will keep that under my hat for now. But as soon as we are ready we will announce it!

We are finally releasing our wax finish black lacquer called Fetish. This one was created by Juan over a year ago as a matte black. I was like, yeah yeah whatever! But I grabbed it instead of Nevermore one day and was like what is wrong with my polish? Why is it drying to this waxy looking finish? When Juan explained it was his matte, I was hanging my head for dismissing him months earlier. It was beautiful! I posted on my Facebook page and the response was overwhelming. I even received emails about that black. Finally I had the lab make me a few more and sent them out to some trusted Culties for opinions and again overwhelming response, so we decided to make it part of our line! So it is with great excitement that this one is coming out!

The one color that has been one of the hardest to accomplish is the one coat white every one wants. We are pretty darn close. By "lab standards" it is a one coat white. What that means is it passes all lab tests/requirements to be called a one coat white. (I think the lab hates me now! lol!) For me I would say it is a 1 1/2 coater. By that I mean it is self leveling, so if you paint a coat on and then just leave it while you paint your other nails, don't fuss over it, it self levels out and you actually may not need another coat. I tested this numerous times on my previous dagger length nails and tips and friends and most of the time one coat was fine, sometimes however some nails needed a second coat. My girls love it so much that in a month we are down to less than 1/2 a bottle! We tried a few that had more pigment to be one coat, but then it was just too thick and I just didn't like it. I wanted that buttery smooth consistency our cremes are known for. So I won't claim this is a one coat white, but it is so darn close and I can't tell you just how pleased I am with it! It is just absolutely amazing and I can't wait to unveil Tempest!

The last color is Blaze! It is a combination of gold and copper glitter with a teeny tiny splatter of silver glitter thrown in. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this color. I actually intended on releasing this in December of 2011 and for one reason or another it didn't make the final cut. But like so many other Cult colors, I have been using it repeatedly in mani's and finally just had to release it, since it's one of my favorites.

Then there is the Diamond earrings give away! A friend mentioned putting gemstones like diamonds, emeralds etc inside the polish and making them all fake but one. This was last year WAY before the black diamond polish that has been all over the news! Dang it why didn't I listen to her?! I spun the idea around and around and just couldn't "ruin" a gemstone in polish. I knew I had to do something, but not sure just what. I have been working on this for about 6 months now and finally I decided we are going to do a test run with earrings on a limited edition polish in January. So basically, attached to each bottle of Blaze will be a velvet pouch. Inside the pouch will be a pair of CZ earrings. BUT inside one pouch will be a pair of 1 carat real diamond earrings valued at about $1700!! AND if that wasn't enough, 2 more bottles will have a pair of real 1/2 carat diamond earrings valued at about $700 each! So that is 3 pairs of real earrings! I am so flipping excited to give these away! We will put in the pouch which ones are real, wrap the burritos, mix them all up and who knows who will end up with the winning pairs! How cool is that? If it goes well, then future collections may feature another gem in one limited edition color! We would love to see this as a regular feature. and include more and more real stones as we go!

There will be an official announcement soon with all the details of our 2 year specials and collection announcement, but I am too excited to keep it to myself any longer! So stay tuned for more soon!

Cult Nails 2012 Beauty Favorites

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:25:00 +0000

I discovered a lot of new beauty items in 2012 (or at least new to me) and there have been a handful that I continue to reach for just about every day. So I figured why not do a post on my favorite beauty products of 2012.

Favorite Foundation - MAC Face & Body Foundation

Mac Cosmetics Face & Body Foundation - $27

As many of you know in July I went out to Vegas for CosmoProf. While there I discovered MAC Cosmetics Face & Body Foundation. I used to wear Tinted Moisturizer since I really don't need much coverage. Tinted Moisturizer worked just great, but didn't have lasting power or special ingredients for my skins needs, which meant I still needed to use a specialty moisturizer too. This was before the magic of BB creams here in the states. Can you believe BB Creams have only been around in the last year here! Enter MAC Cosmetics Face & body Foundation. I admittedly was not a big MAC girl. The makeup is just a bit to on the pricey side for my taste. But while in Vegas, I wanted to go by and get some lashes and eyes did and ended up getting my whole face done. The MUA used this on me and it was LOVE at first sight! My skin looked smooth, glowy and my actual skin showed through. It provided a moisturizing benefit since it is water based and set perfectly even with a moisturizer underneath. When I saw my face still looked flawless at 2AM in July Vegas Humidity, I immediately ordered a bottle right from my cell phone. (Yes at 2AM!) I have been loyal ever since. (And have added a few more MAC products to my beauty arsenal too!)

Favorite Loose Powder - Cara Cosmetics Loose Powder

Cara Cosmetics Loose Powder - $32

I discovered Cara Cosmetics at a local spa. It is a local FL based brand, which I wasn't aware of at the time. I was looking for a loose powder similar to Bare Minerals without the Mica since it tends to irritate my skin. Plus I tend to use it as a setting powder anyway, so didn't want something so full coverage. Cara Cosmetics Loose Powder is a fine and lightweight powder. I don't feel like I'm adding anything to my skin and it doesn't settle into any lines. I sometimes add Makeup Forever's HD Powder into Cara's and use the two together. But only if I know my pics will be taken. I don't like using the HD powder alone since it can cast a white light in photos and since I don't use that daily, it is still a must have in my makeup arsenal.

Favorite Cream Blush - Josie Maran Argon Color Stick in Love

Josie Maran Color Stick - $22

Josie Maran Argon Color Stick is described as an argon oil infused color stick that provides lasting natural looking color to cheeks and lips. I am not a cream blush fan. Or at least I wasn't. And admittedly this is a new favorite from December. I received mine as one of the items in the Refinery 29 Tinseltown Glossybox. Since I received it, I thought I would give it a go. OMG! HOOKED! I can't even tell you! I love how it looks like my cheeks just have the perfect flush to them! It is perfect! I just swipe it across my cheeks and then use my stippling brush to blend it in and viola - perfect cheeks! The downside is that I can't find this color anywhere, so I'm not sure if it was a special color or discontinued or what. :( So when it runs out, I will have to go try out a different color, since I love it so! It can also be used on the lips, but the color is off for my lips, so I just use it on my cheeks.

Favorite Powder Blush - Stila Custom Color Blush in Pink

Stila Custom Color Blush - Pink - $20

Before I discovered the Color Stick, I was obsessed with Stila's Custom Color Blush in Pink. This blush supposedly reacts to your skins PH for a custom color perfect for you. I absolutely love the perfect flushed look I get. I used this alone before finding the color stick, now sometimes I just dust a bit on over the color stick to amp up my look. It is also compact and easy to take with me on the go, so I have a spare in my makeup bag. Plus I just love the hot pink color it appears to be in it's compact! It makes me smile every time I see it. Corny I know, but it makes me happy!

Favorite Eye Shadow Palette - Urban Decay Naked

Urban Decay Naked Palette - $50

OK, does it really surprise anyone that Urban Decay Naked topped my list? This is the perfect palette to have on hand for everyone. It provides you the ability to do multiple eye looks from a light daytime look to an intense smokey eye. You can use it with other shadows for a colorful look. It's long lasting and the deeply pigmented. A little goes a long way. And if you aren't already hooked on the eye shadow primer, it gives you a perfect chance to try it out. And out of 4 girls in my house, all 4 have and love this one! (I loved mine enough to not want to share, so bought one for each of my girls. It's best to avoid fights this way!) This is a must have!

Favorite Eye Shadow - L'oreal HiP Studio Secrets Professional Metallic Shadow Duo in Electrified

L'oreal HiP Studio Secrets Professional Metallic Shadow Duo in Electrified - $8.25 - $8.50

While I don't love the super long name of this shadow, it is hands down my favorite eyeshadow, even if it is a duo. I kept seeing it on my daughter and wondering what magic she was putting on her eyes. I would ask her and she would say, "something from Walgreen's", or "I don't know". It was like pulling teeth to get her to tell me her secret! Turns out all her friends and everywhere she goes, people were asking her about her eyeshadow! She was trying to guard her secret! But I wore her down with a simple "Seriously Nakizzle tell me what it is now or I'm grounding you!" (Worked like a charm!) And it really should be called magic, because as amazing as it looks on her big blues, it works on my browns! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE (did I mention LOVE) this duo! If I can bring nothing else, this set will come with me. It's small and compact and I can do a light day look or a heavier evening look. Oh and did I mention the light color on the left is a dead on dupe for Urban Decay's Verve from the Naked 2 palette? And the color on the right is really close to Busted in the same palette! For the cost and ease of finding, this is a must have! If I'm not wearing something from the Naked palette, odds are I am wearing this alone or combined with something from the Naked palette.

Favorite Lip Balm - Fresh Sugar Rose, Passion or Berry

Fresh Sugar - $22.50

My friend introduced me to Fresh Sugar last year. I'm still mad at her! Who wants to be hooked to a lip balm that costs $22.50? Ugh! But I LOVE it! I always buy a new one when I run out of a previous one. I never have more than one on hand since it is so expensive. But I do tend to skip between three colors. I think Berry is my favorite of the three though. I love how my lips stay soft and moisturized and how it adds a hint of color. I tend to only wear lipstick if I go out at night, but this I wear all the time. I always have it in my purse. I have tried some cheaper alternatives and none are quite right. I am loyal to Fresh now.

Right now these are my must have products, but who knows what 2013 will bring into my life. I don't really have a favorite lipstick or gloss since I wear them so infrequently. I tend to skip around based on my mood with those. I also don't have a favorite mascara. In 2011 I swore by Dior Show Blackout. Last year, I started trying so many different mascara's and I have to say not one has compared! I have received so many free mascara's in 2012, and I still have a bunch more to try out. But I have to say I miss my Dior Show. I may just give up and go back to the one I love. That or back to eyelash extensions!

As for polishes, we all know my favorite brand, (Cult Nails in case you missed the name of this blog) :) but what was the one color I wore more than any other this year? Hmm, I really don't have a favorite, it would be like picking a favorite child. But I think everyone should own a few for a versatile polish stash. So if I had to pick a few it would be Get It On, My Kind of Cool Aid, Devious Nature, Evil Queen, Cruisin Nude, Nevermore and Wicked Fast.

What were your must have beauty items in 2012? I'd love to know what tops your favorites list!

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 15:12:00 +0000

Hey Everyone! Ready or not 2013 is here! Can you believe it? Where did the time go? You may have noticed that I've been a bit scarce these last few weeks. Sorry about that. I had some personal things I was dealing with and left me feeling a bit blah about blogging. It's weird, I know so many people who would throw themselves into work when they are worrying about things, I tend to retract and give myself the personal space I need. Ironic since I tend to over share everything else on here! But for this, I just needed it to be me. Maybe I will share one day, but for now, not so much. It's nothing serious, no need to worry, thousands deal with the same thing everyday. But even when you know others are in the same situation, it's so different when it's you. You know? Anyway, I digress, like I said no worries, I guess I just needed a little break.

Now that I am back, I am hoping 2013 shapes up to be the best year yet! Of course I'm working on polishes and our January colors are of course delayed. GRRR! So look for info on the release of our January colors coming soon! I am also working on some reviews and lots and lots of give aways! WAHOO!

Oh and some MAJOR news! If you follow me on Instagram, you already know, but I cut my nails! I'm sure many of you are sitting there thinking "Thank goodness! I don't have to see those stiletto nails anymore!" But not so fast ladies! I know it's not everyone's favorite shape, and that's fine, but I love that shape, so it probably won't be the last time you see that shape on my nails. Just warning ya now! But for now, they are back to their former shape! Let's see how long it lasts.

I'm wearing one to two coats (depending on the nail) of a grey creme. In person it's more blue leaning grey than pictured. This will be released sometime in 2013, I think. I already pushed it back from 2012, so let's see if 2013 sees this beautiful grey.

Price Increase Effective Jan 1, 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:36:00 +0000

It is with heavy heart that we are increasing the prices of our polishes starting on Jan 1, 2013. I know I have mentioned it before, but we can't put it off anymore. As you know when we started our line it was the beginning of the polish boom. Now with so many new lines out there, existing lines growing and many more new lines coming out every day, supplies are getting more and more expensive. As a small polish line our negotiating power is not what it is for much larger companies. Add to that, we feel very strongly about all our ingredients being sourced in the U.S. and made in the U.S. U.S. made supplies are always a little more expensive. Our costs have already gone up several months ago, but we have been holding off as long as we could. But now we are seeing an even higher spike for polishes with certain ingredients like glitter, or metallic flakes and our base and top coats. The more specialized the ingredient, the higher the cost. SO after much discussion and review, we have made the decision that our prices have to go up if we are to continue our brand. We pride ourselves on being an affordable luxury brand of polish and we hope to continue that. When we started we knew our price point should have been higher, but I really wanted to keep it at the $10 mark. So essentially we are going with the prices that we should have started with, which is still lower than where it is recommended to be, but hey, I am who I am, and I refuse to go higher. I will continue to push where I can.

Effective Jan 1, 2012 all nail lacquers will start at $12. There may be some that go up to $15 based on effect, but not if I can help it. At this point all will be $12. Our treatments will increase to $10. We will continue to offer price breaks for most new collections during a preview pricing week. We will still do occasional sales as we can as well. You know how much I love a good sale! We will navigate through this new increase together and adjust everything else like sales along the way, in a way that can make everyone happy.

We are also looking for distributors in the following areas: Canada, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, UK and Brazil. We hope that this could be an option for our international customers to buy our polishes more locally through other online stores or brick and mortar locations. As we add these options, we will announce it here and on our Facebook page.

And lastly we do have some Limited Edition colors that are running under 200 in availability. When they are gone, they will be gone for good. Those colors are: Seduction, Manipulative, Mind Control and Enigmatic.

I was thinking of doing one last sale before the year ends, but really the only thing we came up with is some amazing deals if the world does in fact end! ;) OK, OK, seriously though, I would love to have one more sale before the New Year, but time is a factor and I have a lot of personal obligations in the next week that will keep me fairly busy, so I'm not sure I can swing a sale just yet. But I think I will figure something out for you guys! Just think, if the world does end, then this whole post is baseless! But let's hope that's not the case!

Thank you all for sticking by us and joining the Cult and we hope you choose to stay with us in 2013! Plus you don't want to miss your chance to win a pair of 1 carat diamond earrings do you? Yup, you heard right, we have a spectacular surprise coming in Jan for Cult Nails 2nd Birthday! More news on that coming soon!

NYC in December

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 16:46:00 +0000

So I have been a bit MIA in the last few weeks. I've been rather busy at the office, and have had a few Culties come and visit, a few personal things going on and of course my recent trip to NYC. I am finally getting back on track, or at least I hope. I have a few product reviews I am working on that I am excited to bring you. I also am working on our biggest give away yet which will take place next month! So many behind the scene things going on, it has been crazy. I am going to be making some changes to the blog as well. I will post featuring different products I love, some fashion and of course nails, but it may not be in the same format as I have been doing it in the past. It's an ever evolving blog.

NYC was amazing. I was able to see my product at the Refinery 29 Tinseltown event! Afterglow and My Kind of Cool Aid were featured with Glossybox. Such an amazing thing! I have never been to a pop up shop event before. But I see news on them all over the internet all the time. NYC seems the place to be for pop up shops! But I have to say, it was a bit of a zoo. I wasn't sure what to expect or what I was expecting, but it was insane in there! I went a few times since of course my product was in the Glossybox and each time there was a crowd of people. So it seems the event was a success! I hope those who grabbed a Glossybox or one of our polishes, loves them and joins the Cult!

Other than that I had the opportunity to take on a meeting and meet up with a few of my favorite bloggers or people. All in all it was a great visit and I'm already looking forward to my next NYC trip. Here are a few pic highlights of my trip.

Can you see Afterglow in the box? I'm paired with some AMAZING products!

I absolutely loved Glossybox's set up! The boxes, the items, the table, everything was beautiful! They did an amazing job showcasing out product!

Refinery 29 Tinseltown Pop Up Store

Required Times Square photo

This might look like a crazy photo, but I have this completely irrational fear of escalators. I can't even believe I'm posting this! I mean I can ride on them no problem, I just have to let a few stairs pass me by so I can see the speed and then get on. Each time it is like the 1st time getting on one. I have this weird sensation that I am going to get stuck in the teeth of the stairs and not able to get off, or tumbling down and my hand getting sucked into the bottom. Totally irrational, I know! But when I saw this old wooden one, I had a tiny internal panic attack that I blew off by taking a photo and getting on that dang thing! LOL!

I have seen this photo online before and it was the very 1st thing I pinned on Pinterest. I know it's a Christmas thing, but just the word alone - BELIEVE any time of the year. It speaks to me. I see it and it is like YES! BELIEVE! So to finally see it in person and just to take a moment to take it in, and Believe. So take moment and Believe in something, anything and will it to happen. Believe in peace on earth, Believe in eternal happiness, Believe in doing amazing at work or school, Believe that your dreams will come true, Believe in yourself, just Believe!

Coco is the ultimate 1 Directioner. I have never seen an obsession quite like it. She LOVES 1D! So when I saw there was a store dedicated to merchandise for this band only, I had to go in and do a little Christmas shopping!

Some of my favorite girls and I in Rockefeller Center! Judy from BeautyJudy, Courtney from Phyrra.net and Claudia from Chromatic Misadventures. Love these girls!

The tree at Rockefeller Center. You can't even imagine the crowds. Complete insanity!

Claudia took us to this pizza place that used to be a church. It's called John's Pizza. It's near Rockefeller Center and a must go to if you are in the area. The pizza was as great as the atmosphere! It is a converted church. So it is as close to pizza heaven as you are going to get!

We discovered Little Italy while we were there. OMG! Where has Little Italy been all my life!?! I would live here if I could. I had to stop for dessert every night! OK so maybe I would need to live a few miles away so I could walk off the desserts I would constantly want to eat!

I'm sure by now, you all know my obsession with accessories and my love of Bauble Bar, so I had to go and pick up a few Baubles while I was there!

There were Santa's everywhere on Saturday. Aparently it was SantaCon 2012. Basically everyone gets totally smashed dressed as Santa. Sound fun? Um not really! You couldn't get in anywhere because so many young people getting trashed were everywhere. I never got into that whole get so trashed you can't walk or talk thing. I just don't get it, but it was a cool sight to see if nothing else.

I actually spent Saturday night Nowhere. Not a bad place to be to get away from all the crazy Santa's! This is in the East Village and it is a cool little bar. Love the atmosphere here.

I got to see another one of my favorite people, James Vincent while at Nowhere. Love this man!

I took Courtney to Ellen's Stardust Diner, which is a must see when you are doing the whole touristy thing. The wait staff is comprised of aspiring singers, broadway actors, actors and the like. They sing while they serve you. I tried to get a photo of Courtney with our waiter, but that girl does not put her phone down! That's what happens when two people who blog get together! LOL!

It was a cold and rainy day on Sunday, look how dark it was at 11AM!

Spent Sunday with Christine who is the daughter of the brand Jesse's Girl and an amazing person! I met her through Jesse's Girl, and not only am I in love with their makeup line, but I gained a friend! Win, Win! She is the sweetest girl, funny and introduced me to the world of Tokidoki Blind Boxes. uh oh!

With Claudia and Courtney. Look how tall I look! (I was only wearing 4 inch heels!)

Save the Date! Live Blogger Hangout with Prizes!!

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Are you planning on joining us for our Google+ Hangout tonight? It's going to be a fun night where you get to hangout with us as we discuss Cruelty Free beauty gift ideas that would be perfect for your BFF, Sister, Mom or any other beauty lover in your life! There's no pressure for you to be on camera, you can chat along or just watch it happen live! So if you haven't RSVP'd yet, make sure you do and I hope to chat with you tonight!!

Save the Date – LIVE Blogger Hangout with Prizes!

(via My Beauty Bunny)

You’re invited to hang out with your favorite beauty bloggers as they discuss cruelty free beauty gift ideas for your friends and family! Monday, December 10th at 5 pm PST / 8 pm EST Stay tuned because after the show, we will give you a link to win some of the gifts from the show!

Featuring:

Jen from My Beauty Bunny

Courtney from Phyrra.net

Christine from 15 Minute Beauty Fanatic

Christina from The Makeup Blogger

and Me!

You can view the Hangout on Air on the My Beauty Bunny Google + Page, YouTube or Twitter.

RSVP for the Hangout here!

See you there!

FLASH SALE!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:25:00 +0000

FLASH SALE ANNOUNCEMENT!! 48 hours only! For every $50 you spend on www.cultnails.com between 12/4/12 12pm EST - 12/6/12 you will receive a SURPRISE Grab Bag valued at least $20!! The grab bags will include polishes, nail files and/or nail art supplies. Each one is different! Some of the items are discontinued, limited edition or sold out. Some of the nail art supplies are not yet available for sale! A handful of bags will be valued at $50!! Some may have Toxic Seaweed! And 1 lucky Cultie will receive a bottle of Clairvoyant that I am taking from my personal stash! No coupon code needed! Just place a $50 or more order before shipping an handling and you will receive a grab bag! For every $50 you spend, you will receive a SURPRISE Grab Bag. Spend $100 and you receive 2, spend $150 and you receive 3, etc.. But hurry there are only 100 of these special bags! I will make an announcement once they are gone.

CFDA Collaborates with Target and Neiman Marcus

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 02:49:00 +0000

What the heck is the CFDA and why are they collaborating with Target and Neiman Marcus? If you aren't obssesed with fashion, you may have no clue what the CFDA is, it is actually the Council of Fashion Designers of America. CFDA is an invitation only trade association for America's top designers. Typically when a store like Target works to produce a collaboration with a designer, they are working with a CFDA designer. For this collection, they would be working with 24 CFDA designers and the products would be higher end, mid priced items that would be geared to both the Target and Neiman Marcus customer.

The concept was great, and before I knew what the items would be, I was freaking out with excitement. I know it is just fashion, but I LOVE perusing runway collections, and high end fashion blogs to see clothes I can never afford. It may sound like torture to some, but for me, a wannabe fashionista, it is fun. So to see some of these designers collaborating with my favorite store (Target), I am all over it. I love Neiman's too, but I definitely am living the Target life!

Once the collection lookbook was released, I have to say I was disappointed that many of these fashion designers were designing items that had nothing to do with clothes. Most of the items were household accessory items. Tory Burch lunchbox? Brian Atwood Sunglasses? Um no thanks! But then I learned this collection was never intended to be a Fashion Collaboration like they have done in the past, but more of a Holiday collection, which included a few clothing items suitable for holiday gatherings or gifting and accessory design items suitable for gifting (or for yourself). Of course right away I noticed the Robert Rodriguez lace dress, and knew it would be mine! There were many beautiful items in this collection, but none that I really NEEDED to make me spend that kind of money on. Then I went to the store! Oh why does it always go this way?

Here are some of the items I tried on from the clothing items and some of the other accessory items I am seriously lusting after. Actually let's start with the items I'm lusting after.

First are these three items from Altuzarra. I have to admit, I have no clue who Altuzarra is. But if his clothes is as divine as this set, I am probably better off not knowing! I saw this picture, and my first thought was, oh that's pretty. Then I looked and realized that the glasses, shaker and tray are all separate items and all quite pricey. $180 for all three pieces! WOW! They aren't THAT nice! Then I saw them in stores, each item is well made, and gorgeous and I really started wanting them, but still I just didn't feel the price is justified here. Then a little more research and it turns out the gold lattice design on the glasses and shaker are hand painted with 18K gold and the shaker lid is gold plated. I'm not sure about the tray it says golden plated. So either it is just plated in a gold color or it is a misprint. But the tray is mahogany. Now I get it! The more I see them online designed in people's homes, I get this weird pang of jealousy tinged with anger that they got what I wanted. So not becoming of me! But OMG, I want, I want, I want! I can just picture this on the buffet in my dining area. But to spend $180 on something that looks good and will never be used, just seems so impractical. I mean I suppose they "could" be used, but I would be so scared that someone would break it. So this stays on the lust list.

Altuzarra: Set of 4 Old Fashioned Glasses - $49.99, Shaker - $49.99, and Tray $79.99

Jason Wu Ornaments. The details on the gold top and bottom are beyond. And these are rather substantial feeling as well. They are so pretty. But at $49.99 for all three, this is definitely a gift item. This is for that friend who you know absolutely loves the holidays, and would cherish these ornaments. Or this would be perfect if you know someone having a holiday wedding. Talk about a keepsake gift that can be passed down! But it is just too much of an extravagance to buy for yourself. Well for me anyway. But soo pretty, I'll keep lusting unless someone deems me worthy.

Jason Wu Ornaments - $49.99 for the set of three

Tracy Reese dessert plates $29.99 for the set of 4. I am seriously having trouble with the logic here. 4 glasses with 18K gold trim = $49.99, 3 ornaments = $49.99 and 4 plates with 18K gold trim are $29.99? Really? I had no desire for these until I saw them in use. These are SOO nice! I would need two sets of these, but they completely clash with my table setting and I already have dessert plates, so there is really no place for these. Not to mention they are sold out at my Target, so no point in even thinking of it. But if you are in the market, check these out, they are selling out fast, but if you can score them, go for it!

Tracy Reese Dessert Plates - $29.99 for a set of 4

There are other items as well, (more than 50 in total), but beyond those, above, I really had no desire for anything besides the lace dress. But since I know, and you know that I would be reviewing the clothing items here, I grabbed a few items to try on. There are more clothing items, but I really had no desire to try them on like I normally would. I was still getting over my sinusy eye situation and was exhausted, so my goal was to go get the lace dress and get out of Target and come home and go back to bed.

Items I grabbed to try on.

The first item I tried on was the Faux Fur vest created by Skaist Taylor. At this point I had no clue who Skaist Taylor is, turns out they are the creators of Juicy Couture with a new line. I am not the faux (or real) fur wearing person. I love how it looks on others, but on me, well it just doesn't fit my style. I thought I would be posting a funny, snarky comment with this picture. Then I fell in love! OMG I fell hard too! I didn't want to take it off! This was coming home with me! Yikes am I really spending $79.99 on a vest at Target? Yup, yup I am! Merry Christmas to me! (What is up with my claw looking hand taking pictures?)

Skaist Taylor Faux Fur Vest - $79.99

This is the Rag and Bone mens sweater. There have been rumblings that women were going to go crazy over this cozy sweater. This was soo comfy, I can totally see why ladies are clamoring for it. Instantly you want to wrap yourself in this and sit by a fire. Not something I was planning on buying, just wanted to try it on. There is also a boys version that is $20 cheaper.

Rag and Bone Sweater - $69.99

Lela Rose dress. I was feeling meh about this dress since I saw it in the lookbook. It just isn't something I would wear. But it was beautiful, so I wanted to try it on. Well I was right, this dress is meh! Well on me anyway. I think this will look better on a taller woman. I am way to short to pull this off. I also don't like the bulk the middle knot causes. Then there is the seam directly under the bust, with a belt inches below that. It just seemed awkward to me. It is also way too long for me. I'm 5'3" and this is easily a foot too long. I've seen pictures on taller women and it looks much better on them! If you see this on the model on the Target website, it comes above her knees! How the hell tall is that model? That is such a misrepresentation unless that model is over 6'3"!

Lela Rose Dress - $99.99

Robert Rodriguez Lace Dress. The dress I went for! LOVE! It is exactly what I thought it would be! I heard it ran small, so I grabbed it in a 4 and it was just a little too big. So I went back out and grabbed a 2. I was too lazy to take my jeans off this go round. The 2 is on the left in the picture below and the 4 is on the right. the downside is that there is a zipper issue with this dress. There is so much material between all the dress layers, lace and waist ribbon that in that one spot all that material on either side of the zipper pulls it to the sides making it hard to impossible to zip. You need to try several different dresses to find one with a good zipper. I am also hearing there is sizing discrepancy with this piece, one size 2 can fit perfectly and the next be too small or too big. So you may need to grab a few to try on if you really want this dress. This is so dressy and definitely needs a special occasion. But it is classic and definitely showcases Robert Rodriguez's design esthetic. He actually has another dress with an almost identical top in his black label line and does several other lace pieces. I love that it has his influence in the design of this dress. I am planning on a perfect occasion for this dress, or at least the cruise we are going on in January for Nakizzle's Quinceañera. If I wasn't already married to Juan, I would marry him in this dress!

Robert Rodriguez Lace Dress - $99.99

Robert Rodriguez Ribbon Shirt. I saw this shirt in the lookbook and my first thought was that it has about 6 too many rows of lacey ribbon down the front! No thank you! But then when I saw it on the hanger, I couldn't not try it on. Juan agreed. Then I put it on. Oh my! It buttons in the front all the way up to the neck. No thanks! I really like it open like this. Add a leather jacket to this outfit and I'm good to go! I sent Juan a text of this pic and his response was "Heck Yeah!" Done!

Robert Rodriguez Ruffle Shirt - $79.99

While I was having fun in the fitting room, Juan decided to try on the Rag and Bone sweater and he loved it. And I thought he looked quite sexy in it too, he had to have it! He was tired and not wanting to pose, but I made him! :)

I loved the fur vest so much I wore it out that night! I could live in this vest!

Overall I think the collab is great, however a bit on the pricey side for Target. I'm not sure it is going to be as big of a hit with the high price point of the items. Some items seemed overpriced, while others seemed OK, but I just think that when I go to Target, I go there to get cute items at the Target price. I get that this is Target and Neiman Marcus coming together and the prices are in between each stores normal price points, but I still feel that for Target, it may be a miss. I am not looking for necessarily long term items when I shop at Target. If I buy a picture frame I want to have it for a few years until I redecorate. A dress? Perhaps a few seasons before I move on. I feel like Target may be alienating their customer base with the price points in this collection. But I wanted that Robert Rodriguez dress so bad, the store didn't matter, it was the dress I was after. Clearly for a little while I forgot I was at Target when trying these items on. So either Target is spot on with this collaboration and I am wrong about the price points, or I am a Target shopper anomaly and this will only be purchased by weirdos like me.

Did you go and check out the collection? Did you get anything? What did you think?

A Few Quick Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:56:00 +0000

So I woke up this morning with a super puffed up face and puffy eye. The eye has been giving me issues since Sunday. I think I got something in it while cleaning my closet. But yesterday my sinuses had me in a fog while I worked. I couldn't breathe at all. I actually wore a Breathe Right strip most of the day because I couldn't breathe otherwise! Since calling in to work isn't an option, I had to do what I had to do to make it through the day. I got home around 7pm and took some sinus medicine that had me in an induced fog, but at least I was feeling a bit better. Today not so much, so I give in and am going to the doctors. There is definitely a blocked tear duct or something and it hurts! I cry uncle!

I actually for a second almost Instagramed a pic of my face. But since the terms and conditions of Instagram say to post what makes you look awesome, (I paraphrase) I decided not to. Then Kat strolled into my bathroom while I was hard at work trying to disguise my Sloth looking face. (Goonies reference anyone?) Kat had a cheer accident last night and while last night she felt fine, this morning she had a nice puffy eye (seriously!) and hers is a nice shade of Chanel Vamp! Not kidding it would be a perfect match! So I had to work on helping her disguise that. Oh the fun we have at the Morrison house sometimes! Reality show anyone?

Let's not even talk about the International Shipping drama I started last night! I thank the meds for that one! So let me just say International customers - please no need to panic. Worst case scenario I hope is just a temporary suspension while we work to meet new regs. I believe it just has to do with labeling, but we will learn more in the coming weeks. I won't say more because I am not the source of education when it comes to International shipping. We do our best to follow the regulations, and that is our goal to continue to do so. We speak only for our company.

The question was asked why can large companies distribute overseas when we can't. There are so many potential answers and I don't want to even try to insinuate what other companies are doing, because there are sooo many options out there, we just can't afford them! Maybe one day! I will say that if we were using a distibutor, we could get large shipments sent via vessal using a freight forwarder. This would mean heavy freight charges and customs fees and import taxes to the distributor, which would mean a higher cost for International customers, such as there are with larger brands. We are looking for distributors, but that also could mean big changes as well. In the meantime it is business as usual, and if we have to suspend international shipping while we mine through all the changes, we will let you know. We just didn't want to announce it as it happens because I think that would just be more drama. So in the mean time, no need to panic, just hang in there and know we will keep you informed.

As for orders placed over the weekend, we have been working hard on getting orders out. After taking a few days off with the family, I came back to a lot of work, so I've been busy. LOVE being busy! But please hang in there while I get caught up and get orders out!

Lastly did you see we are in the Refinery 29 Tinseltown Glossybox? Heck yeah! If you haven't checked it out, do it now! A full size bottle of After Glow is in the box!

Budget Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 14:40:00 +0000

First I have to say you guys are the funniest, coolest, smartest people out there. I know I say this all the time, but I absolutely LOVE reading the comments on your orders. I get everything from hello's, to trivia, to jokes, to real special instructions! And Claudia, if you're reading this - when Coco read your comment, she went "Hey it's Claudia from NY!" smiling with pride because she knows you! So cool! (Because I actually was like "aw it's Claudia! I love her!" when I read it.) Anyway sorry for the Claudia segway, but she is amazing! She is the brains behind Chromatic Misadventures and I swear when I met her it was like meeting a long lost best friend. We instantly clicked. So when we went to NYC in July she spent the day with my fam and John's parents. Amazing to think we met through blogging!

Anyway, back to what I was talking about! Ha! I actually got a lot of comments on budgets with this collection. Hey as you read last week, we all need a budget exception once in a while right?! LOL! For those of you who budgeted for the collection, teach me your secrets! For those of you who broke your budget, welcome to the club! I have a built in exception coming up for the Target/Neiman Marcus collection coming out in a few weeks, so I hear ya! But is it really an exception if I am planning for it? Hmmm more of a budget bump for that week, right?

This week I kicked my budget's ass! WAHOO! I needed hairspray, but other than that, I mostly didn't need or want anything. Although I need some makeup wipes now.

I almost made it the entire week just spending $3.50 on hairspray! (Tresseme #4 Firm Hold for anyone that cares.) But then a little surprise popped in there! Isn't there always something? I belong to a Target Collab group - You know me and fashion! We all pretty much help each other out in trying stuff on, so you get to see it on different body types and help each other track down wanted items, especially when they go on clearance.

I have this dress from Target and I love it! LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I keep trying to make up excuses to wear it, and unfortunately so far I have only found one so far. But no worries, there will be more!

Well Target also has a solid blue and black trim one? So pretty! I had trouble deciding between the bright flowers or the blue one. Once I decided on the floral one, I had no intention of picking up the blue, but someone in the group found the blue one on super clearance. I mean SUPER clearance! Including shipping to me it was $15.32! So of course I had to grab it, she found it in my size and on super clearance, how could I refuse? Both dresses are actually on clearance on the Target site too for $34.98 right now. So even with that, I got an AWESOME deal! I can't wait to get it!

So I ended the week with a fab dress and some hairspray and I didn't even spend $20! WAHOO! Success! Although I really was excited to have only spent $3.50 until this last minute pop up. But overall budget of $37.50 for the week and I spent $18.82. Not too shabby! I hope I have more weeks like this!

Has anyone else made a budget with me? How is yours going?

In other news, our Behind Closed Doors Collection is our best selling collection yet! WOW! I am beyond floored by the support and success. I think those who ordered are going to love this collection as much as I do! I have been waiting to release this one for months, it is hands down my favorite (besides Coco's) of the year! With that being said, please have some patience while I continue to get polishes ready for shipping and get orders out. It is going to take us a little longer than our normal quick shipping, but rest assured, we are working on processing all orders! The down side is my kids have more dentist appts today (Yay braces!) and a friend is having her Birthday party tonight, so my work day is littered with must do things, but I will work between it all and again tomorrow. I am determined to be fully caught up quickly for you guys while balancing my family life and friends all at the same time! Hope you all have an amazing weekend!

Sale Update & Other News

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:33:00 +0000

Fingers crossed I have Internet today! Yesterday we had no Internet at the office. I came home since I can download invoices and prepare shipping labels from home and then I could head back to the office and pack those orders. But no sooner do I walk in the door, than AT&T assures me it is not an area outage and I needed to head back to the office and wait for a tech. So back I went, figuring I could pack orders in the evening in between Cheer and Tumbling classes for the girls. It might be a little tough, but not undoable! A few hours and phone calls to AT&T later turns out it's an outage! GRRR! I spent my entire day there waiting!

Last night Juan & I ended up focusing on some other Cult Nails items since it turns out our home Internet was also having an issue. That one seems to have been fixed now and I received a call about 30 minutes ago from AT&T letting me know the outage is over. So once I get the kids to school, I'll be working at warp speed to get orders out! So if you placed an order and are waiting patiently, this is why you are waiting. Thought you guys might want to know since normally our shipping is much faster than this! Add the fact that Monday was a Holiday here, so I really feel behind!

I've always been honest with you all, so let's keep it that way and let you know the good news along with the not so good news.

first up, I have some exciting news, we have been picked up by a store in San Marco Jacksonville, FL! WAHOO! The store Reve located in Jacksonville came by our booth at The Makeup Show and now will be carrying our polishes at her store! I am sooo excited and hope to make a trip to her store to see how things are going and to get a picture with my polishes in a retail setting! Super excited! Their website is www.revegirls.com, but our polishes will be sold in the store only from what I understand. I would love to see our polishes in some more boutiques across the world, so if you know of a good fit, please let us know!

Photo courtesy of Reve in San Marco Jacksonville, FL

Some middle of the road news. We had some of this collection set aside for an event coming up which I can't really discuss yet. As soon as I am given the go ahead, I will definitely let you all know, because it's pretty cool! But that means there is less of this collection to go around. No worries, I think there is still plenty. We never put 100% of the collection on the preview pricing event. We want to make sure that those who only want one bottle have an opportunity without the worry of a sell out. So no need to panic if you didn't order the whole collection during the sale, there will still be polishes available individually starting on Friday. We are however, down to less than 200 of the collection at Preview Pricing left though, so if you do want the entire set at the sale price, now is definitely the time, since the last day of the sale is tomorrow.

As well some of our Limited Edition colors are on the verge of selling out. :( So sad. I didn't realize that it would hurt a little to lose these colors, but I am suffering a little emotional loss. So crazy! Seduction is at less than 200, Living Water is even lower. There are maybe a few others that Juan told me about, but admittedly I was only half listening since I was doing something else at the time.

Let Me Fly is extremely low as well, but that one will be back hopefully in January, so no need to worry about that one! We already have Let Me Fly, Iconic, Quench and I think one other being worked on, so if all goes well those will either be back in January or the current inventory should last us until January. I know Quench already sold out, but if you have your heart set on Let Me Fly or Iconic for the holidays, you may want to act now.

W wicked old pic of Let Me Fly! I can't believe I don't have a newer one! Makes me want to change my mani!

Now for the not so great news. Everyone is asking about a Black Friday Sale. The simple answer is, we are not going to have one. :( BUT we will be adding our new mini files and having a holiday special that will start on Small Business Saturday. (The day after Black Friday or Nov 24th) It's not going to be a sale like we normally have done, but we are looking at making little gift options at special prices. The reason is two fold. One financially with so many colors to re-order and increased costs of making nail polish, we are not in a position as a small business to have a big sale. Truth be told, we have been trying to hold off on a $2 per bottle price increase. We had originally planned on the price increase to be effective Nov 1, 2012. But we are trying to cut corners where we can and do what we can to keep our prices where they are. Unfortunately since we are not a large conglomerate, we have little pull with companies to lower our prices, but that doesn't mean I am giving up. So in lieu of a sale we can't afford, or a price increase nobody wants, my goal is to keep the prices where they are through the end of the year and hope that come January, we can keep things going as is even longer. So stick with us, we'll have fun things coming, just no major sale. :( You all know how much I love a sale, so if I can figure something out, we will do something, I just don't see it happening for Black Friday.

Let me know what you all think. If you come up with a cool sale idea, let us know. We have some ideas going, and you know how much we value your input, so let us know what you would like to see, whether it's a color or any other idea, we are all ears!

Every Budget Has Exceptions

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 17:02:00 +0000

I didn't post a budget update last week since I was telling you all about The Makeup Show, so I have two weeks to catch up on.

Week 2: Oct 26 - Nov 1

This week wasn't too bad, but I did go over. :( It started out well enough. I got my Buried Bauble email from Bauble Bar. If you aren't familiar, Bauble Bar is an accessory website. They have awesome accessories and decent prices for most items. Too add to the temptation, most Tuesdays they do a Buried Platinum Bauble which is where they mark down 1 item that retails for about $40 - $50 down to $20 for the day and on Friday's they do the Buried Bauble where they mark down an item that retails for $24 - $28 down to $10. I typically buy the Buried Bauble's only, but once in a great while I may pick something else up along the way. On Friday Oct 27th, the Buried Bauble came out and they had some pretty cool earrings to choose from, so I picked ones I thought would be versatile for $10.

The earrings I chose from the Buried Bauble

Shipping is free, so it makes it an even sweeter deal.(How do they do that?) If you aren't a member of Bauble Bar you can sign up under another person (like me), you get $10 your first purchase and then I get money to spend on the site too. Unfortunately you can't use your $10 on a Buried Bauble. :( But it's the best way to get a discount on your 1st purchase. If you want to sign up and haven't you can sign up here: http://www.baublebar.com/index.php/rewardsref/index/refer/id/45859/

So $10 down and the budget week just started. Oh no! Then Wed happened. The girls had a 1/2 day off school. I use the 1/2 days to take one of the girls out of school for the day if they are getting A's & B's and we do a mother/daughter day. I take them to the Mall to update their wardrobe, we do lunch, just have a chill day. It was Coco's turn. Things were going well. We went to the outlets and Coco grabbed a few things for herself. I stayed strong in Forever 21, especially in the accessory section, which clearly we have already discovered is one of my many weaknesses. We left the outlets and I hadn't spent a dime out of my remaining budget! Who rocks? I do!

Then we went to the FL Mall and while we are sitting there eating lunch and I'm feeling quite proud of myself I get a text from Express with a coupon $30 off $75. Um are they watching me? Did they know I was in the Mall? Darn them. I succumbed and walked into Express. I left with 2 shirts and a pair of earrings for $47.80.

The down side, I got home to find out the T-Shirt had a hole in it! So frustrated by this crap. This is the 2nd shirt in a few months that has a tiny hole in it that I only notice after I get home. The holes are so small & I check out what I am buying before I leave, but somehow I missed it. I shouldn't have to check a shirt I buy to make sure it is hole free before buying it. Not to mention that Express is an hour away, so now it has to wait until I am back that way to return it. Maybe that is my sign that I shouldn't have bought anything. Grrr.

So the budget for the week was $37.50 and I spent $57.80. $20.30 over budget. The week before I came in $4 something under budget so technically I am about $15 in the budget hole.

Week 3 - Nov 2 - 8

This week can be known as the Week of Exceptions! First up was The Makeup Show. I knew before planning the budget that this would be a big spend weekend. We are talking getting 30 - 60% off or more on some of your favorite makeup brands. I knew going in I would spend about $150. And boy did I! Yup it was one of those cringe worthy weekends! Imagine buying yourself makeup and what you spend and now multiply that by 4 because you have 3 teenage daughters! UGH!

My goal was to buy a few more shadow brushes. I find that there are times when I am doing my makeup and then the kids come in and want me to do theirs, or friends come over and want me to do theirs. Well if I am doing a complex eye, I can use about 3 brushes for one look. Add the need to clean the brushes in between uses/colors, you really need to have about 2 sets. For me that seems to be 3 sets. I had 1. Crown Brush was there so I used the opportunity to stock up on some decent brushes for $2-4 a piece. I grabbed 8 brushes and an 88 color shadow palette for a total of $32. The shadow palette is similar to those that Coastal Scents carries with a variety of bright colors. I don't use bright shadow often, so this is just a great palette to have all the colors in one place when I do want to break out a bright look. I was hoping there would be something like this at the show.

I then went and added a few more brushes. James Vincent had some brushes for the Makeup Show specifically. One is a mini fan brush which he likes to use to apply mascara with. I was curious. Applying mascara with a fan brush? really? YUP REALLY! Not for everyday, but I will definitely go with this way for special occasions. (I'll do a review showing the difference soon.) His set was $26 for 4 brushes. This was not a planned purchase. Oh the dangers lurking about the makeup show!

Outside of that, I wanted to snag some Makeup Forever shadow colors, Smashbox eyeliner and glosses and maybe O-glow, Inglot shadows and OCC lip tar. Not all these, but maybe one or two from the list. The problem was that I planned on creating a wishlist with retail pricing before the show. So I could go in with a plan. Since we ended up having a booth at the last minute, I didn't have time to do this. As I looked at the booths with my limited time, I felt overwhelmed knowing I didn't really have time to shop and of course those booths were busy, so I passed on all of the above.

But to my surprise Stila was there. I love Stila! How did I not know they would be there?! I knew I had to grab a Smudge Stick in black. I already had a green, purple and grey one, so it was time for the black! I grabbed one for $10! 1/2 off! WAHOO! I meant to buy a smudge pot too and forgot. Darn it! While there I saw a small case loaded with $450 of Stila's best sellers. They sell it for $250 and for the show it was $150! Aw man! I wanted that so bad! It had a smudge stick, which a back up of the one I just bought would be nice, I love the custom color blush, the cream blush and lip paint. Their glosses are always great items to keep in the purse, I was interested in their BB Cream, and their smudge shadows, so it was definitely something worth getting at the right price! I told Juan if that goes for $100 or less it is mine! MINE!!!

Drool!

So Smudgestick in hand I went back to work, and then I went over to the AJ Crimson booth. They had offered bloggers a free sample of AJ's not yet released cream foundation and they had already given us a small sample of their Kissable Couture lip gloss. I tried the lipgloss in the morning and knew I had to get another. So while there I got matched and turns out the free foundation sample was a full size! WOW! I ended up buying 2 glosses. Tyler and Fantasy. Tyler is a purple color that I am IN LOVE with and Fantasy is a red that I am dying to try but admittedly a bit scared. The Kissable Couture lip glosses retail for $20 and I got both for $20. I'm not sure how much the foundation will retail for, I need to email them for more info so I can do a review for you guys. But after seeing AJ do a demo using a few shades of the foundation for perfectly flawless photo ready skin and after seeing all my pictures from the show with me looking makeup less and tired, I was sold and bought one more color for $20.

So now I spent a total of $108. Put a fork in me - I'm done! No more spending! THEN it happened! Stila Man walked around with the kit for $100 in the last hour of the last day of the show! I'm not proud, but I am happy! I snagged a pic and the kit! they let me swap out the shadow palette for the one I wanted and between the girls and I we split up the items in the kit. So technically I didn't spend all $100 on me, since they are on a different budget, but still. Ramen noodles for dinner anyone?

In case you missed him both times I posted him! LOL

So even though this was a planned exception, even then I went over my planned $150! Darn it! It was Stila's fault! (I really should figure out how much of that is the kid's. HA!)

Then I found out about Narciso Rodriquez for Kohl's. WHY? Why did I have to find out about this now? But then, my daughter's friend gave me the money for a weekend cruise we are taking in January. (Cruises are so rediculously cheap out of FL if you are a resident. It's crazy! Not only that you don't have to pay for cruises all at once. if you plan early, you put a deposit down of 20% or $100 which ever is more and then pay over the course of time as long as it's paid 2 months before you sail. So it is like vacation lay-a-way. Perfect for those on a tight budget. I didn't know this til we moved to FL, so I am sharing the knowledge.) Anyway I already paid for my daughter's friend to come with us, and she was paying me back. So here I had a check for $200 and it was already "spent" so I spent $86 on the Narciso Rodriquez for Kohl's sale and put the rest in the bank. So does that count against my budget? I didn't count it against it. But I probably should have. But I didn't. (You can see my post on this collection here.)

On the upside I didn't spend my $37.50 for the week! OK that is not an upside with all the spending. But let's see, I planned on $150 for the Makeup Show, plus $37.50 for the week and the check for $203 that I already spent. So that's $390.50 "available" and I spent a total $294. (Ugh can we not focus on the total! I think I just threw up a little.) But I added $96.50 to my account still. But see that $203 was going towards spending money on the cruise, so now I have effectively impacted my cruise budget. No bueno! Who spends that kind of money in a week? I am kind of ashamed. But I will make myself feel better knowing with all that I still spent less all week than one friend spent on one item at the show. (Although it is a drool worthy item!)

With that being said it is a new week with no planned exceptions, so time to get back to reality. Although that reality is probably that I not spend my $37.50 at all. Right? I got this!

I have to say putting my spending out there like this is very nerve wracking. I spent in a week more than what I used to get paid in two weeks 10 years ago! I have friends who work their asses off to make that in a week to live and I spent that on makeup and clothes. It's kind of disgusting. Granted I don't make a regular habit of that, nor a rare habit for that matter. But yuck. It really puts it into perspective when you put it all out there!

Narciso Rodriquez for Kohl's

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 17:20:00 +0000

Yesterday the Narciso Rodriquez for Kohl's collection was quietly launched. This has to be the least hyped up collaboration to date. I mean I try to stay in the know of these collaborations and I almost missed this one! I literally found out about it last week! Usually collaborations are hyped up for months prior to the collection releasing. Prabal Gurung for Target in Feb is already in my calendar! Not sure what happened with this one, was it me hiding under a rock? Or did Kohl's miss the advertising on this one?

Narciso Rodriquez is an American designer based out of New York, who was the designer of Carolyn Bessett's wedding dress and Michelle Obama chose to wear one of his dresses in 2009 to celebrate Barack's presidential victory. For me Narciso is the designer of an amazing ready to wear collection that I could never afford. I love his clean lines, and modern yet classic take on fashion. So when I heard a collection was coming to Kohl's I was very excited.

Unfortunately all the items I just HAD to try on were not available at my local Kohl's. I mean not one item! But they did have a great selection, so I just grabbed one of almost everything to try one. Judy from Beauty Judy got to see the madness of me grabbing each item to try them all on. I think she was a bit more reserved (read: normal) and only selected a handful of items to try on. A friend of mine came with us and tried on several items as well and she took almost all the photos for me and while they looked good on my slowly dying phone's screen, when I got home and downloaded them more than half were blurry. Grrr. I really am going to throw this phone at a wall soon! (The problem is that everything looks a little blurry on my screen right now, but usually once I download them, they look perfectly fine, my screen is just weird right now so I never know 100% anymore.) So here are the salvageable pics we took last night.

This dress looked fab on everyone! I think Judy went home with this one. For me here in FL, a long sleeved dress makes it only wearable on the coldest of days, so both my friend and I passed on this one.

I LOVED this dress. Everything about it is amazing, I may need to wear Spanx to even everything out underneath, but this dress is worth it! (I always wear form wear under any fitted dress.) But I have many dresses and so this one was left behind. :(

Same dress, different color. Ironically wasn't liking this color as much on me.

Did I mention the amazing zipper in the back. You can zip it up or down. HOTNESS! Oh I so want the green one!

Judy is trying on the leggings and top. Both were too big on her, but all three of us LOVED the leggings. They didn't photograph well at all. They are dark grey with a tuxedo stripe in black down the side. The ponte material is thick and disguises any perceived flaws. As for the shirt - the shape was great, the design on the shirt - meh. Although in person I thought it was fab until I saw the pics later.

Ha! Ha! I'm in the middle of speaking here. I did not think this would work for me. While I may not have the biggest chest, I have a decent size chest and I did not see it fitting in the small red chest area of this dress. Once I put it on however, I fell in love! This dress while not all red, is the perfect Cult Nails event dress! I can wear it with or without a jacket. I can wear tights or bare legs, heels or boots or even slim lined booties. Many options here. I had a tough time deciding between the green dress above and this one. I chose this one.

I liked absolutely nothing about this dress - This is the loser of the collection. It screamed CHEAP to me. I am not a fan of ruching to begin with. It seems like the designer took the easy way out of actually fitting a piece. Then the material was this thin cheap spandex type of material that showed EVERY single bump. But even if it didn't, the material is just blah to me. I couldn't wait to get this one off! You can't win them all.

A close up of the leggings. These were so thick and warm and dresses up the legging quite a bit. I ended up buying these, but I have nothing to wear with them, so I think these are going back. If I have to buy a shirt to go with them, they do not fit the budget. But I really don't want to return them! What to do?

I really liked this top. It would look cute with jeans or pants or a skirt. But I didn't love it or like it enough to buy it. If I was still working in an office, I probably would have got this one. But since I'm all alone at work most days, there really is no need for this one.

This dress is so beautiful, but it isn't my style, so my friend tried it on. OMG - AMAZING on her! Isn't it funny how we all migrate towards different fashion and know what works with our own personality as well as body? I thought this one was a must have for my friend, but she picked a different one. You'll see her choice below.

WOW! When Judy came out in this dress, I was like hubba! hubba! This dress is so hot on her! She felt it was a bit too low cut for work, so she passed on this one. I think she needs to go back and get it! Plus if she gets it and I get it, we can be dress twinsies from far away. LOL So everyone get on her Instagram and find the pic she posted wearing this and tell her to buy it! Seriously!

Not the best photo. Darn it. This shirt has a removable cami underneath. I hate the whole shirt within a shirt thing, it always becomes a tangled mess. Well Narciso & Kohl's thought about that. The outer shirt has a small thread and button that holds the cami in place but allows you to put them on separately. This is a small detail that makes a huge difference. As for the pants, these are amazing. They have a shiny tuxedo stripe down the side, but still stay work appropriate. They are not skinny nor are they a typical trouser. They are almost a skinny slouchy look. These can be dressed up for work or for a night out. I thought I would be indifferent about a pair of black slacks, but I have been obsessed with this fit lately, so I was so happy with the fit. I wanted to buy 3 pairs!

This pic is a bit blurry, but too funny not to share. I gave this shirt 2 thumbs down! LOL! It is a very straight fit. It fit perfect on the shoulders, tight around the chest, loose around the waist and then super tight at the hips, I couldn't get it any lower on the hips. This shirt is not made for any type of curve. If you have a slender straight body, this shirt will probably be great for you. Not so much on someone with curves.

Beautiful idea on the pencil skirt. BUT the material was thin and the skirt is also made for someone with a totally straight figure. In the picture below you can kind of see the gap around the waist. In person that gap was HUGE! I easily could have taken 4 inches off the waist of this skirt. yet in the photo above you can see it does not fit around my bum. It is seriously pulling and I can't get it lower. If I sized up the bum fit, but the waist was enormous! The thin material showed cellulite I didn't know I had! Spanx anyone? But if you have a little booty, this will probably look great on you. For the curvy girl, this is a miss.

You can see just how thin the material is by the tucked in shirt showing everywhere! Yuck! This would be better if it has a lining.

There were 3 jackets at our local Kohl's you can see one hanging on the left. I tried both on, but the pics came out super blurry. Neither was anything great though, so no big loss. Well I lie, the one on the left is cute, but I already have a similar tweed style jacket. I bought mine 13 years ago! So if you don't have one like it, I highly suggest checking it out, since it is a timeless jacket that always finds its way back in style. I digress, I am wearing the fuchsia trench here. The material of this trench was a bit on the thick side, but in a good way. Not overly thick, but enough to keep you a little warm in a cold rain. It is actually the perfect winter coat for FL. But I have plenty of jackets and regardless of how perfect it is, it stayed at Kohl's.

I am not a fan of this dress on me at all. On the hanger it had so much promise. But in reality you need to have no chest or a large chest to pull it off. My in between chest did not work for this dress. I came out of the dressing room and my friend said "Oh no! Take it off!" It just did nothing for my shape. I think a taller person would probably look stunning in this (I'm 5'3").

I really wanted to love this shirt. But I'm not really into shirts that tie around the waist. Why do designers think we want shirts that tie around the waist? I hate it! But it looked so pretty on the hanger. In reality it is sheer so you'd have to wear a tank underneath it, which would only add bulk to the already bulky flared bottom. Not a fan. I'm wearing it with the dark grey leggings shown above. Isn't it crazy how they look black here?

Remember when I told you that my friend bought a different dress than pictured above? This is the one she bought! The green on her skin tone would have washed her out, but this fuchsia and orange was perfection on her. You can see it is a bit baggy on her, so she had to size down on this dress. But dang she looks good! I think this dress is figure flattering on everyone! We all rocked it, if I do say so myself! You just have to figure out which color suits your skin tone best. This dress made me want to marry Narciso! ha!

OK so these shoes are Simply Vera by Vera Wang. LOVE THEM! I so want them. But alas they are not in the budget. I'll post about the budget tomorrow, but I just had to post these beautiful shoes!

I hope you enjoyed our fitting room fun. There are a lot more items to this collection, but this is what our store had. I hope I can find the other items I wanted to try in different Kohl's stores, but it's probably for the best that I don't. (financially anyway) HA! The good thing is that the collection is 30% off through today and there is a 15% off coupon (use code gratitude) floating around online. It is an in store and online coupon. I didn't have the coupon with me, but they let me use it anyway! WAHOO! If you have a Kohl's card there are 20% and 30% off coupons too. So you can really score some of these items at a steal! You can check out the entire collection on the Kohl's website. I urge you to not assume these will not look good on you. As you can see from the photos above, many of these pieces work for many body types. I always say even if you don't think it will work, keep an open mind and try the clothes on, you may be surprised! What doesn't work on me, may work for you. Overall I give this collection a B+. I think they kept the Kohl's shopper in mind, but Narciso Rodriquez also kept his design aesthetic in mind when making this collection. It seems to be heavily influenced by his Spring 2013 Ready to Wear Collection. I love when a designer can mesh the store customer, price point and their design aesthetics so perfectly. This is a strong collection and had my wallet weeping. This collection is great if you want to stay looking stylish at work or have an event that you want to be a bit dressed up for coming up or even a hot date night. This collab may not be for the teeny bopper or young 20 something if they don't work in a more professional environment. But those of us in our 30's or older who want to stay fashionable without looking like we're trying to be 20, this is right up our alley!

The Makeup Show Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 17:13:00 +0000

I am going to try to make this a super quick post since I have a million things to do today, one being is put everything back in the office and clean it up because.... BEAUTYJUDY is coming to the compound tomorrow!!! How exciting is that? And my FL Beauty Blogger buddies LIBBYSPINKVANITY and ONCEBITTEN are coming to join her! It's going to be a fun day! Although I may have them help roll some polish burritos for the upcoming collection while they're there! LOL!

Our booth at 1st, it changed a lot over the course of the weekend.

The Makeup Show was friggin' amazing! I was originally planning on attending as a blogger. Going booth to booth and talking to the different companies there, and taking pics and all that fun stuff. But on Tuesday I had an opportunity to meet James Vincent and Orlando Santiago and I fell in love! LOL! I instantly bonded with James though, seriously. He instantly felt like my big brother. Have you ever had an immediate connection with someone like that? He is just the sweetest person and so when he asked if Cult Nails would consider putting a booth at the show, I instantly said yes, knowing that financially things would be tight. (You have to pay for booths at trade shows.) It being a Makeup Show, I wasn't sure how nail polish would go over. I mean just because you love makeup doesn't mean you love polish, and as a mostly unknown brand, it could go either way. But sometimes life is all about taking chances and the exposure could be worth it.

With Steph from Imperfectly Painted, Cristina from Let Them Have Polish and Alyssa from Pretty Little Bottles

I was so nervous on Saturday. It didn't look like we would even break even as far as costs would go. But I met so many amazing people! There were so many more I didn't get to meet, I wish I could have a few more days! In the end we did break even as far as costs to attend the show, and the people I met was more than worth every cent! Even if I didn't sell one single polish, I had the best experience and learned so much for the next show! (OH yes I will do this again!)

Alyssa from Pretty Little Bottles offered polish changes to anyone who wanted one

The best part for me was my blog sisters! They all banded together around me and helped at our booth. They helped spread the word about Cult Nails and just kept me going when my nerves got the better of me! They came up with ideas I didn't think about for the booth and helped set it up and take it down. I could go on and on, but I am just so thankful for all their help! It was like a dream to have these women take time out of their day to meet with brands and expose their blogs to work the Cult Nails booth! What an amazing community of woman (& a few spouses) supporting and lifting each other up! So I want to list each of their blogs (in no particular order) and if you don't follow them, please do! (I hope I'm not missing anyone here.)

Pretty Little Bottles
Phyrra
Brikasia
Clumps of Mascara
Let Them Have Polish
Judi XO
Once Bitten
Libby's Pink Vanity
Mina Slater
A Big Bit of Everything
Beauty Lit From Within
Imperfectly Painted

And even the Krystal the owner of BFtE Cosmetics who only just met me on Saturday and spent her birthday weekend sharing her knowledge and experience, taking pictures and even working the Cult Nails booth! WOW! She gave me a few samples of her shadows, LOVE! She has probably THE largest selection of loose pigment eyeshadows! She has over 500 shades to choose from!

Krystal from BFtE Cosmetics!!

Lashon Evans who is a friend and amazing nail tech in Orlando was at The Makeup Show for other reasons, but while I was watching AJ Crimson's keynote, she noticed Juan needed help and so when I came out of the keynote, she was there working the booth! How friggin' awesome is that?! So if you are in Orlando or coming to Orlando and want the best mani/pedi around, please check her out at The Flaunt Beauty Bar located inside Avi Salon!

Brianna from Brikasia and Lashon from Flaunt Beauty Bar

And lastly but certainly not least, my friend Steph who is starting a blog soon, but has an awesome Beauty page on Facebook and my friend Pam who came out looking fabulous as usual to help out!

My girl Steph, James Vincent and Me

We definitely had more people than we needed, but it helped keep things fun and the fact that everyone was coming out to help was beyond anything I could have ever dreamed of or ask for!

My girl Pam's mani - Enticing layered with Seduction

You see what I mean? Amazing support! In a time when many big bloggers get paid to attend shows, these bloggers came out and helped me! I mean seriously! It just brings tears to my eyes thinking of their kindness and generosity and I don't know how I can ever come close to expressing how thankful I am!

Having fun with Nidia from Beauty Lit From Within

OK OK, I seriously could on about these amazing ladies, but I have orders to pack, so I am going to TRY to keep the rest short! (I'm sure I'll fail!)

with James Vincent

I do also want to thank James Vincent though, without him, our success at the show would not have been possible! He is just amazing! He is so motivational and his desire to help others succeed is just awesome! Pretty Little Bottles, our resident nail painter at the show had the opportunity to paint his nails at the show. Everyone was then coming to the booth asking for the products used in his mani! (Nevermore & Wicked Fast). Talk about a celebrity endorsement! (He is a celebrity in the makeup community and I can see why!)

Alyssa from Pretty Little Bottles painting James Vincent's nails

James loved his mani and Alyssa!

I got to meet Roy Wooley and Laura Tyler, both recent contestants on the show Face Off, which I am obsessed with!

With Roy Wooley

With Laura Tyler

I had an opportunity to hear AJ Crimson speak and I got to meet him! He is amazing! I am just loving his new cream foundation that will be available on his site AJ Crimson soon and his (and Keisha Whitaker's) line of lip glosses, Kissable Couture! I will be doing a review on both soon, but Tyler is a must have lip gloss, don't wait for the review on that one, go check it out now!

With AJ Crimson and his team

I even met the owner of Cara Cosmetics, Leslie Christin. Have you ever thought about the person behind the brand of the makeup you wear? I really never did before, but when I met Leslie the first words out of my mouth were OMG I'm wearing your loose powder right now! (Which was true!) Just a cool moment and she even came by our booth later to check it out! GAH! (Oh and my lucky daughter Kat got to take her class and a class by Orlando Santiago! How totally jealous am I? Yup not afraid to admit it! Totally jealous! LOL)

Sara!!!

I got to meet Cultie Sara (as well as a few others)! Sara and I have a bit of a bond though, her daughter is a bit younger than Coco and is a lot like her too! So when Coco grew out of her clothes we sent them to Sara and now her mini is making use of the clothes! I have to send her some more, Coco is growing like a weed! I was so excited to finally meet her in person! And I think we could totally be friends, it just felt like we already were friends, so we may have to meet in Orlando with our mini's one of these days!

Blogger panel! I wish I could have stayed to watch! :(

Oh and before I forget - I met Elessa from Pursebuzz in person! She is the sweetest and cutest person! When she came by our booth all the bloggers there held their breath and started whispering "OMG that's Pursebuzz!!" and they even took pictures of me showing her our products and of her after her purchase! (You know what is even cooler? Phyrra, Clumps of Mascara and Let Them Have Polish all spoke on a panel with Elessa and Koren of Enkore Makeup!! - How lucky were they!!) I bought one of Elessa's new brush sets for Kat since she needed a set of brushes for her classes, and then loved them so much to get another set the next day for myself, and Nakizzle took those! Grrrr, so now I am (im)patiently waiting for them to go up for sale on her site so I can get my own set.

with Elessa from Pursebuzz

I didn't get to officially meet Koren from Enkore Makeup, but I did buy his brush tote bag for Coco. All profits from the sale of those bags are going to help with Hurricane Sandy relief. He also has a cool new app for iPhones and iPads called Face Chart that I can't wait to play with!

Elessa from Pursebuzz

So as you can see there was sooo much going on and I met some amazing people and confirmed what I already knew about the Beauty Bloggers of Central Florida - that they are as beautiful and amazing on the inside as they are online! Now I better go pack orders and respond to emails before my customer service goes by the wayside! Thanks to everyone for all your encouragement throughout the whole weekend and following along!

OOTD outtakes! These girls are hilarious! In the front in Toni from Toniizbeauty.

another OOTD outtake!

One more OOTD outtake!

There are so many more pics, I will try and get them all posted on Facebook today! I looked horrible in all the pics, combine little sleep, nerves, excitement with horrible lighting and the fact that I forgot my real camera and forget it! I look like I wasn't wearing makeup and I had a ton on! I need to remember to bring my real camera, or perhaps to get rid of my sucky phone! Oh well, it is what it is!

Cult Nails sets up at The Makeup Show!!

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 14:26:00 +0000

So you have been hearing me talk about attending The Makeup Show as a blogger and how excited I am, but there has been a HUGE change of events! As you know I had the opportunity to meet Celebrity Makeup Artist, James Vincent and he loves what Cult Nails stands for! So much so he helped me secure a booth at the absolute final hour so that we can showcase our products at The Makeup Show! OMG talk about a whirlwind! I am super nervous! I am so thankful to James for his encouragement and help!

Have you ever been to a trade show before? The elaborate booths and signage? I have NONE of that! I have a table cloth and a tabletop sign. That's it! I have no idea where we will be located, or that anyone will stop by such an unassuming booth, so it has me completely nervous because if I don't sell a few hundred bottles, I end up losing money in this venture. And let me tell you with our business size, that is extremely nerve wracking! But I could not pass up the opportunity to let more people know about Cult Nails and what an amazing community we are on top of being one of the best nail polish brands out there!

I am so super excited/nervous everything! So I will be busy packing up polishes and working on inventory and coming up with an amazing price for our polishes. The Makeup Show is for insiders in the fashion and beauty industry, so it will be great to gain some exposure in that area! The pricing is typically 30 - 60% off for products at The Makeup Show. I think we will only be able to swing a 30% discount, but that is still $7 a bottle!

Another upside, the Beauty Bloggers of Central Florida have stepped up to the plate and have offered to help work our booth by talking to people about our polishes! So I want to give a special shout out to those who have signed up to help already, because these women have just completely amazed me with their generosity and willingness to give up their personal time to help me out! You can't even begin to understand how good that feels. I am so overwhelmed by their kindness! So please check out these lovely ladies if you don't already follow them, so you can fall in love with them too! Brianna from Brikasia, Kimberly from Libby's Pink Vanity, Courtney from Phyrra, Steph from Imperfectly Painted, Alyssa from Pretty Little Bottles, and Brittany from Clumps of Mascara. There may be a few blogger additions as well, so I will keep you all posted.

My table top sign. The polish featured on our sign is Seduction! It took about 4 bottles of seduction to take a large high quality image to use for marketing materials!

In case you forgot, you can attend The Makeup Show just because you follow my blog! Even if you are not a beauty insider! So if you are in the Orlando, FL area and want to come to the show and take advantage of the amazing sales, meet the founders of amazing companies, or even come by and get a steal of a deal on Cult Nails polishes, buy a ticket for the show and select "other" for how you heard of the show and then put the name Cult Nails follower for your credentials and you are in! The show costs $35 for one day or $50 to go both days if you purchase them online! Get your tickets here! As an added bonus, anyone who attends and puts any of the Beauty Bloggers that are attending the show (like me!) you get entered to win a beauty bag full of fun beauty items from the brands attending the show! WAHOO!

If you swing by our booth, you will have the opportunity to meet some of the amazing bloggers listed above! If there is a particular blogger you would like to meet, just let me know, so I can tell you when they will be at our booth once we have a final list available. Also if you do come and swing by our booth, please let me know, I would love to get pictures with any Culties I get to meet. I get so excited meeting everyone, I know it might sound corny, but for me meeting you guys is like meeting a celeb, because you guys have changed my life and I owe it all to you. I love having the pics on my office wall, so I can see them everyday. And I don't know what it is, but meeting in person is so different, I end up usually becoming friends with many of the people I meet, and I love that! So OK that sounds totally corny, but I'm kind of corny like that. LOL!

And the Winner of the Cultoberfest Blog Giveaway is...

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 12:47:00 +0000

We have picked the winners! WAHOO! Sorry I didn't post the winners yesterday, but the day got away from me!

The winner of $100 worth of Cult Nails polishes is Laura! There was no last name given, but I am emailing her, so if your name is Laura and your email has the word angel in it, check your email!!

The winner of $50 worth of Cult Nails polishes is Chanett Klaussen! Check your email!

Congrats to our two winners and that closes out our Cultoberfest! It has been a crazy month of giveaways and wasn't always easy keeping up with it. But it was so much fun! Each time I packed a box up for a winner was just so cool! I hope you all enjoyed Cultoberfest as much as I did! Thank you everyone for participating!

Cult Nails Announces the Behind Closed Doors Collection

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:57:00 +0000

Our last collection of 2012 will release with Preview Pricing on Friday November 9th - Thursday November 15th, 2012. Preview pricing allows you to purchase the entire collection at a reduced price of $40 for all 5 colors. The polishes will be available individually starting on Nov 16th for $10 per bottle.

Behind Closed Doors - features 5 colors; After Glow - a copper infused with a subtle pink shimmer; Bitten - a raspberry glass flecked polish; Disciplined - a sheer but buildable soft grey with purple, pink and blue shimmer; Flushed - a true Blurple (blue/purple) buildable sheer with an intense purple/pink shimmer effect that appears to glow through the polish and Coveted - a jelly deep green with metallic green flakes and subtle green shimmer.

After Glow

Bitten

Disciplined

Flushed

Coveted

Now for the collection story and swatches! You know there is always a story behind each collection, so for those of you who like to hear the back story here it is. I receive requests from friends, family, strangers and Culties all the time with what polish they would like to see make its way into a Cult Nails collection. Unfortunately it isn't as easy as someone would think to make a polish, and collections are worked on about a year in advance and things always come into play that can change things up throughout the year. Well these colors all originated from the requests of someone else, that didn't turn out exactly how they wanted. Well one didn't start as a request by someone else, but there's a story there too. I'll share the story of each color with the swatches below. The swatches are provided by Pretty Little Bottles, who kindly came over and let me take pictures of here sporting each color. I am in the process of growing my nails back to the stilleto nail shape and since it's not the "desired commercial shape" I opted to use Alyssa's nails. I'll work on swatches too, just not for the official release. :)

After Glow - A friend of mine is always asking me for a copper colored polish. Actually I have 3 friends who always ask for a copper polish now that I think of it. But what could I add to copper to make it different? Glitter? These are not glitter girls (OK one is a glitter girl). They are more traditional. So that meant something a bit more commercial. So I added pink glass fleck to the copper. Talk about frustrating, the copper kept eating the pink and making it disappear, or the pink would take over and make the copper disappear. Finally, we got it just right. The pink makes a nice soft appearance in the polish. LOVE!

Bitten - Ah Bitten! I made this polish for release last December. But then I thought it was just way to simple. I didn't think anyone would want this one. But it was one of those haunting colors, I always wanted to wear it. So I decided I would release it and had the lab work on an updated sample for me. Then it arrived and I thought this is just not what people want. So I planned on putting it aside again, then Kari from Once Bitten Blog walked into the office, spotted it and exclaimed That's Bitten, my namesake polish! Instantly it became hers and how could I not release it! (Little fact - Kari actually helped name this entire collection that day!)

Disciplined - In talking to someone on Twitter one night I received a request for a grey jelly with purple and blue shimmer and green flakes. I'm totally going to butcher this, but there are these rocks in Scotland maybe, that are a grey color that lean purple/blue depending on the light and have green moss. Well I had to nix the green flakes, it just wouldn't work out. And unfortunately I lost touch with her and I can't remember who it is. I feel like such a jerk, but it was last year! I'm hoping she'll know when she sees the polish. In the end the sheer grey with shimmer was too nice to add flakes that ruined the effect.

Flushed - I met DM on Makeup Alley way before Cult Nails was even an idea. We bonded over our love over another polish brand. We were both huge fans. We became friends on Facebook and still to this day talk over there. I haven't shown her this yet, but I hope she flips when she sees it. See one day in the mail, I received 3 little frankens from DM. I knew I had to make one a Cult Nails color. I chose one and started frankening and accidently came out with Flushed. It is close to what she sent, but there was no glowing effect like this. But since our polish tastes are so close, I know she's going to love this!

Coveted - Another request from a Twitter chat. I can't remember who asked for this one either. But she wanted a green version of Iconic. I opted for a green shimmer vs gold, to keep it a green on green on green polish. Now if I could just come up with something to make me remember who wanted this color along with Disciplined.

So what do you think? Are you loving it as much as I am?

Want to Come to the Makeup Show With Me?

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 16:02:00 +0000

Sometimes being a blogger pays off in a big way. Who knew a simple lunch meeting some other polish addicts would one day turn into a Beauty Collaborative between some of the best Central FL beauty and polish bloggers! Thanks to our joining forces together and some hard work (Specifically Brittany of Clumps of Mascara who put this opportunity together for us), we have been invited to The Makeup Show in Orlando. This is the first time The Makeup Show is coming to Orlando. It is a big industry must attend event for anyone who is a makeup artist, hair stylist, face/body painter, photographer, model, stylist, beauty, fashion or hair students, and anyone else in the beauty or fashion industry. The goal is for continued education and the opportunity to meet some of the top makeup artists, stylists and brand founders and representatives. There is also opportunity to purchase some amazing makeup at a deeply discounted price. It is an industry only event. I am honored to be able to attend and bring you all a first hand look at what I learn. I am most looking forward to the opportunity to check out and meet with Makeup Forever, OCC and Inglot.

L to Right: Alyssa from Pretty Little Bottles, Safia Makeup Artist and founder of Lipstick Mixtapes, Kimberly from Libby's Pink Vanity, Courtney from Phyrra and me(Check out those shiny leggings!)

Last night I was invited to dinner along with my fellow Beauty Bloggers of Central Florida and meet celebrity makeup artists James Vincent and Orlando Santiago. If you are not in the industry, you may not know who these men are. I admit, until recently I did not know them either. I have heard of James from a friend before, but I guess as an amateur makeup enthusiast, I wasn't really in the know. Thanks to this blog and Cult Nails, I am learning more and more about the industry and the amazing people in it.

With Su Laing, Founder of Chronicle Stones and Nail Veils

James Vincent is not just a celebrity makeup artist, he is also the Director of Artistry for The Makeup Show. I left dinner last night wanting to be a Makeup Artist, that is how inspiring he was. He has a list of accolades that you can read about on his website. (Be warned it plays music, so turn down your volume if you're not into that.) He spoke so highly of the community of artists he has had the pleasure to work with, and I loved hearing that there is no room for negativity or rudeness in his life. It is a philosophy I believe in and to hear it echoed by someone so entrenched in the industry is great to hear. He was so open about his passion. You can't help but be impressed and inspired upon meeting such a legend. He is also very humble and funny. What is not to love!

With James Vincent

Orlando Santiago, makeup artist extraordinaire, firmly believes in continued education for makeup artists and from what I understand is the master when it comes to contouring with makeup. He splits his time between NYC and FL and will be holding some education sessions during The Makeup Show. I want to attend his contouring class so bad! According to James, Orlando is the one to go to for education.

With Orlando Santiago

I had a great time last night and can't wait to see them both again on Sunday at The Makeup Show. And if you are in the Orlando area, you too have a chance to meet these amazing men and attend The Makeup Show! For the 1st time ever, since it is The Makeup Shows 1st time in Orlando, they are going to allow industry outsiders to attend the show on ONE CONDITION! You must buy your ticket in advance online AND for your credentials, where it asks how you heard of the event click "OTHER" and you must state your are a follower of one of the Beauty Bloggers of Central Florida and list which blog. So you can put Cult Nails down and you are in! The show will be this Sunday November One day admission is $35 and both days is $50. If that isn't enough, every one who purchases a ticket to attend the show and puts one of the Beauty Bloggers of Central Florida as how they heard about the show will be entered to win a Makeup Show Gift Bag with a selective set from The Makeup Show limited edition brush line! I am so excited that I can share this event with you guys and hope to see some of you there! If you buy a ticket to attend, please make sure to let me know so we can try to meet up too! Hope to see you there, but if not, I will be live Instagraming and Tweeting from the show, so you can feel like you're there!

With Safia Pullman, Makeup Artist and founder of Lipstick Mixtapes

*A special thank you to Courtney of Phyrra for all the photos. Her new Samsung note 2 has me swooning with it's picture capabilities! you can check out her review of the phone here.

Weekly Budget Update

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:55:00 +0000

So far so good on the budget. Well sort of. It is all I can think of while I am violently assaulted by sale texts and emails! OMG did every one of my favorite stores and brands hear about my new budget and decide to tempt me with amazing sales? Where were these sales when I wasn't budget planning?

Just some of the mail and text sale offers. You don't even want to know how many more and emails I received!

But staying strong. Well sort of. There was the dress fun, that so many of you got into on FB! That made my night to see everyone weighing in! LOVE IT! In the end we decided that the Bow and Drape dresses would not count against my budget since it is technically a donation with a gift of dresses, and since I am getting dresses for Cult Nails events even though there would be a cost difference, since this whole thing was supposed to happen before the budget and it is for work only events, we made an exception. Yikes, one week in and already with exceptions! But besides the NM/Target fun there are no more exceptions. I did build in the NM/Target as an exception from the start and I am planning on buying one item and one item only. But it actually may end up going in the budget after all. Let's see.

If you haven't been following on FB and all that made no sense to you, real quick recap here: I donated to Bow and Drape via Kickstarter since I really believe in the business they are trying to build. I want to see them succeed. As a gift for donating I received a credit to their store once it launched and so of course I went to work on spending my credit as I have a Cult Nails event in November and one of the dresses will be perfect for it! I was deciding between 4 dresses and the varying additional costs or loss associated with each. If you are in the market for a new dress and they are in your budget, I urge you to support this small independent company who wants to bring the business of clothes making back to the U.S.

As for the dresses, it turns out that the peplum is a removable belt! What? Whoa - now that makes all the difference in the world! So I ordered the one with the peplum, so it's like getting two dresses in one! SWEET!

I also ordered the long sleeve mini dress, which I think will be perfect for the November event. I can't wait to receive the dresses, but it will be mid November before I see them. Since each dress is custom made upon order. So it's not like when you normally order something and it arrives a few days later.

Now I get to anxiously await my dresses! WAHOO!

So now on to the real budget. $150 a month. So roughly $37.50 each week. I'm thinking I should have made the budget $50 each week, but I'm going to try to make this work and then if it just isn't going to work, then I will re-assess.

First purchase was two bottles of L'Oreal Ever Creme Cleansing Conditioner. It is a Sulfate Free hair cleaning and conditioner in one. I have never tried it before, but CVS had beauty bucks buy 2 get a $5 CVS Buck. Well I was pretty sure there was a coupon sitting in my house for L'Oreal hair care, but frankly my hair was dirty, and I was out of shampoo. I need to plan better next time. On top of that I bought 2 of a shampoo I never tried. So scared it would suck! I did a Insta Review on Instagram. (Is that even a thing? Who knows but I like the Insta Reviews, so I think I will do more.) Basically what it boiled down to is that Sulfate Free is better for your hair and also suds free. I was not a fan of the suds free wash. I always think of myself as a person open to change, but here I found myself thinking, I want suds damn it! But I bought it, so I needed to give it a go. So even though it felt like I was washing my hair with oily conditioner and I already have an oily scalp, I pushed forward and washed my hair with it. It smells amazing! I think it is hands down my favorite smelling hair care product in a long time. It is kind of coconuty but not really. Maybe like a hint of coconut? I can't really place the smell, it is warm and inviting and kind of sexy. It lingers well but it isn't perfumey or strong. I just absolutely love it. (Coco on the other hand who has hair down to her waist decided she was not a fan of the smell because she likes fruity girly smells and would not go with a shampoo that offered no suds, so she gave up mid shampoo and grabbed her Herbal Essence and re-washed her hair.) Once I finished washing my hair, I blow dried it and it came out amazing. I have had nothing but good hair days with little to no product on SHORT HAIR since! I'm sold! I will use up my to bottles. Budget impact: $14.82 and I scored $5 in CVS bucks for a later purchase.

The next purchase was two sports bras at Old Navy. I have been needing some new sports bras, and I was in Old Navy picking up flip flops for the girls and they had them on sale for 2 or more for $10 each. I had a 20% off text coupon, but the local Old Navy FB page had a 30% off sale that I missed by a day, but they gave it to me! When does that ever happen at Old Navy? I was seriously stoked she gave it to me! So with tax the budget impact was $14.84

The last item I bought was a NYX lipstick. I have a few NYX items and I LOVE them all. The price is amazing on their products and the ones I have tried are as good as high end makeup I have purchased. My only issue with NYX is that everyone else seems to know this too and there is hardly a good stock at my ULTA whenever I go. I had to go to ULTA to pick up some makeup and polishes for a Cultie in Singapore and was checking out the NYX display and sure enough the choices were seriously limited due to sell out. The ULTA rep did tell me they were expecting a restock in that afternoon, unfortunately it wasn't my local ULTA, so I wouldn't be able to go back. :( That meant no NYX for my Singapore friend since they really only had a good selection of lip products and she's not a fan of lip products. Anyway, I have been wanting to try the burgundy lip trend, but a bit lighter. I'm not quite ready to go back to the dark lips I loved so much as a teenager in the 90's. (Revlon Black Cherry anyone?) I found NYX Violet Ray, which I will be posting an Insta Review on soon. I had an Ulta coupon for 20% off my purchase, so my budget impact was $2.87!! Seriously!

Total spend for week one was: $32.53! Talk about cutting it close! That means I came in $4.97 under budget for the week. Which means I get $4.97 more for next week! LOL!

As I sat here typing this post I received two more text sale alerts. Man they really want me to go shopping! I am staying strong, I will not break! But it could be because purchases I made online prior to doing this are arriving this week. So it's still like getting new stuff. What will happen now? On to week 2. Wish me luck!

Cultoberfest Continues - Instagram Contest!

noreply@blogger.com (Maria Morrison) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 18:47:00 +0000

Wow this month is flying by! I can't believe we're already on the last Give away of the month!

We still have our blog give away going on, so if you haven't entered, do it now! You can enter to win one of two prizes! 1st prize is $100 worth of Cult Nails products and the second prize is $50 worth of Cult Nails products! You can enter here.

Now on to the Instagram contest! If you're on Instagram then here is your chance! To enter, Instagram a picture using Cult Nails polishes for a mani or nail art or create a meme and post that. Make sure you tag us by using @Cultnails in your comments and the hashtag #jointhecult. You can enter starting now all the way through Sunday October 28th and I will pick a winner on Monday! I'm Cult Nails on Instagram.

And while that is going on, check out Fashion Polish's blog! She is getting in on the action and hosting our last blogger give away! Her pictures are divine! I want to buy everything she posts! So go enter over there for a shot at $50 worth of Cult Nails products! WAHOO!