R3 Daily

Reviva Labs Makeup Primer Review

2012-05-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

One of the sponsors of our FL Beauty Bloggers event was Reviva Labs. One of the items they gave us was their makeup primer. I use tinted moisturizer, so I don't tend to really use a makeup primer unless I am going out at night. I have never really seen a big difference when using one. But since we received it for review I thought I would give it a shot.

According to the Reviva Labs website their makeup primer "fills in lines, pores are concealed, excess oil is controlled. Skin so touchable, so silky smooth, you will find it hard to believe." I don't have huge pores, so I can't speak to that, but it did fill in my lines and it kept my face from getting shiny which is impressive. My skin also felt smooth to the touch. When I first put it on, I waited a few minutes before putting on my makeup. I think this is the one of the reasons I don't use primers. I'm always running late, so I avoid products that I need to let soak in before moving on to the next step. But I waited just to test it out for you guys. LOL!

I put my makeup on like I normally do from there and went on my way. I'm not one of those women who looks in the mirror obsessively throughout the day. I will look before taking a picture but that is pretty much it. I was busy packing orders when I tested it out the first day so I never even looked. I was running around working and just completely forgot I was testing it out if I'm being perfectly honest. Then at about 11pm when I was going to wash my face, I realized my makeup looked like I JUST applied it! Normally I have to use a makeup setting spray to get my makeup to last this long. Usually by the end of the day all but my eyeliner and mascara is long gone!

My makeup last night with the wind blowing my hair all over the place! I try to keep my makeup natural looking and wasn't a fan of the closeup face shots, so this is the best one that shows that I am actually wearing makeup.

I tested this again on Monday and on Tuesday I said I was going to test it again, but to be honest, I'm hooked! Yesterday I had a friends birthday dinner and when I came home I was super tired so I just went to bed. I didn't even bother taking my makeup off. I am pretty good about washing my face at night, but sometimes exhaustion just takes over. Last night was one of those nights. I woke up this morning and my hair was sticking up all over the place, I had sheet marks on my cheek, my face was a bit puffy from sleeping, but my makeup was 100% in place! I was NOT expecting that at all! I can't believe that you can get these types of results from a primer without a setting spray! I am completely hooked! Now I want to try more of their products to see if they are equally as amazing!

I wish the lighting was better this morning, but honestly I hadn't had all my coffee yet, so I wasn't about to move! If I wasn't being lazy I would have gone into the sun so you could see that not just was my eyeshadow and blush still intact, even my lipstick was still on! It was matted but still there. I could have gotten up and ready and skipped the makeup this morning!

And for those of you that care, here was my outfit of the day for yesterday. I left my sunglasses in the car, so I ended up squinting in all the pictures! It looks like I'm super posing in the right picture, but my hair was blowing everywhere, so I had no choice! LOL!

Reviva Labs Makeup Primer retails for $19 on their website. Overall this is the best primer I have ever tried and I am hooked! It did fill in my lines, and gave me an overall airbrushed look. It kept my face from getting shiny mid way through the day and it makes my makeup stay in place all day. The only downside is waiting for it to soak in, but that is consistent with every other primer I have tried, so this is normal and I'm just impatient. I highly recommend you give them a try!

All in A Day

2012-05-24T07:11:00.000-07:00

It's been a while hasn't it? I feel like I can breathe again. This last $5 sale was a great big learning experience! I am truly grateful for all of the support and love for our brand. I was overwhelmed in a good way by the response to the sale! I was not prepared. I won't bore you with, but I will say because I was not expecting the sale to go so well, I had a lot of work ahead of me, had I foreseen the amount of love, I would have been better prepared. Lessons learned for our upcoming pre-sale event!

In case you don't receive our emails, The pre-sale event begins this weekend!!

I ended up having fellow Culties Alyssa from Pretty Little Bottles and Kari from Once Bitten blog come over and help get everyone's orders out! I also had a good friend (the face of our Cult Fairy Tale promo above!) come over and help. She was in the middle of moving out of state and had a house to prepare and still took the time to come over an help! How amazing of a friend is that? She is already out of state now, so sad.

The signs getting put on our office doors while we were packing orders.

Anyway so much has been going on, I've definitely been staying busy. I attended our FL Beauty Blogger meet up last weekend which is always fun. But it went by way to fast! Our group is growing with each meet up. We had a great group of sponsors for this even and I can't wait to tell you all about the products that we received to review. I just haven't had an opportunity for pictures yet. But I will say one item we received was Reviva Labs Makeup Primer and OMG - it is the best primer I have ever tried hands down! I am not kidding, I need to get a review of this stuff done this weekend for you guys!

Some of our group. Some were inadvertently left out of this picture. We did have a photographer there, so hopefully we will see her pictures soon and they'll be better than my phone pics!

After our blogger event my family went to Universal to unwind. My mind was on packing orders the entire time, but since the post office was closed, I guess it didn't matter. But I was still wanting to get back to work, but family time has to be just as important. Sometimes we just have to remind ourselves of that.

Ah time to get back to work! I am going to get some more Cult Nails work done this morning and then I'm taking the afternoon off so I can clean my house and do some laundry. My house was sorely let go during the sale. Oh and maybe I can fit groceries in too? It's been 2 weeks since I've done groceries! My poor kids! I just haven't had time! And a friend's birthday dinner tonight too. What? You know how I like to be kept busy! I got this! Hope you all have a great day!

Me being cheesy in front of the door sign. Still a lot more work to do, but driving up and seeing that on the door! WOW!

The Cult Fairy Tale Collection - Pre Sale

2012-05-16T06:31:00.002-07:00

I had the toughest time capturing this collection as it looks in person. I will do my best to describe the differences between what the camera got and what you will see. This collection really tested my camera. I am planning on getting this collection out to a few bloggers I already selected as well as I am bringing the collection to our Beauty Bloggers of Central FL, so you should be seeing some different swatches and opinions popping up soon!

Before showing the pictures, here is the collection info. We will be offering the collection for Pre-sale starting on Saturday May 26th, 2012 through Saturday June 2nd, 2012. The pre-sale event will be for the collection only(they will be available for pre-sale starting June 15th) and it will be at the reduced price of $40 for all 5 colors. It's like getting one color free! WAHOO! All pre-sale orders will be sent out by June 15th and at that time we will post all the new colors available for sale individually on our site. As always if you order during our pre-sale event, you can order other colors as well, but we will ship everything together.

Now on to the swatches.

First up is Princess. This color was made by a friend of mine one night. She came over while I was mixing colors, trying to come up with ideas for this year. She then immediately sent her hubby home to get her polishes. She had so many blues. She proceeded to tell me what she loved/hated with each blue and why she needed to make her own. I think she made 20 bottles of blue before she got the one she wanted! LOL! After all that hard work, how could I not make it a part of the Cult! This is a soft dusty sky blue with a copper shimmer.

This photo showcases the copper shimmer. The shimmer is a bit more pronounced in person, I had a tough time capturing it.

This one showcases the actual blue color, but again in this photo you can't really see the shimmer. It is more pronounced in person.

Next up is Charming. Because every Princess needs a Prince. And since my favorite Prince loves purple, I thought this one was fitting. This is a sheer purple creme with a purple metallic shimmer that can be used for layering or you can use multiple coats for an opaque look. On my index and middle finger I used two normal (for me) coats. On my ring finger I did two thinner coats and on my pinky, I did one thin coat. I know everyone has a different application method so I would say depending on your application style, how long/short your nails are, would depend on how many coats you would need for opacity. I tend to apply in not thin, but not thick coats and achieve full opaqueness in 2 coats.

This is such a beautiful vivid purple color. The shimmer is much more impressive in person. My camera just did not want to capture this one!

This is a horrible quality photo, but it showcases the shimmer and yes that does translate to the nail

Feelin' Froggy is a kelly green with a metallic green shimmer. This one is my favorite color!! When I went to the lab I showed them my favorite green polish and explained how I wanted it changed. I had zero intention of putting a shimmer in this one. I wanted a straight up creme. I wanted it similar to the polish I brought, but I wanted something brighter not so dark a bit more well kelly green. As we were there, my rep recommended that we just TRY adding some shimmer to it. I feel like the cremes with shimmer have somehow become my signature, and wanted to step away and just do some amazing cremes. But then we added the green shimmer and my heart stopped. I can't even tell you, I think I actually stopped breathing for a second, it was so magical! You can see the shimmer in this photo, but it is so much more impressive in person.

I did two normal for me coats on my index and middle finger. Two thin coats on my ring finger and one thin coat on my pinky.

Evil Queen is my all time favorite red polish for summer. I created this one when I created My Kind of Cool Aid and Quench. I was so tossed up between releasing this red or Quench. But when the sample bottle was just about empty I knew this would have to be part of the Cult collection. This is a true red, but with some pink undertones to it. I didn't want a tomato red, I wanted an in your face red that would also be soft at the same time. This is a true creme. This is 2 coats. You see why I want to do more cremes? I love super smooth, shiny cremes! Every time I wear this, I am bombarded to make this a Cult color, so since we all love this, I decided to make it happen!

What more can I say. I just love this color.

The problem with the pink undertones, was it kept photographing like this! But in person is looks like the first picture. Who knew a red could be so hard to photograph!

As you all know ever fairy tale needs a "Happy Ending", so we created that here. This is a multi colored shredded glitter in a clear base. When I went to the lab they had a room with all these colors and mix options and they had bags upon bags of shredded glitter. No one seemed to want to use them in making polishes. So of course, I jumped on the opportunity and mixed one of the bags with multiple colors in it. Of course right after I did this and ordered this, I found out someone else already made a multi colored shredded glitter polish! DOH! I debated on not releasing it, but you know what, I love this one, and I wanted it, so I went ahead with it anyway. It just feels so fun when I wear it.

Happy Ending over Evil Queen, Princess, Feelin' Froggy and Charming

So there you have it, our latest collection! I hope you all love it as much as I do!

Saturday's Sale

2012-05-14T07:20:00.000-07:00

Wow - what a sale on Saturday! We actually sold out of the Iconic we had available for the sale and were really close to selling out a few other colors. I was so not expecting that. But while the sale was an epic one for us, it was also an epic fail in what my standards for customer service are. Now I don't mean responding to questions or anything like that. I don't mind that at all. I actually like the interacting during a sale, good or bad. Call me crazy! LOL! We tried to stay on top of all the questions coming in through Facebook, Twitter and email. What I'm talking about is the check out process.

What we learned was that when you get to the first check out screen it would ask for your coupon code. Like any smart consumer, you entered the coupon code and then proceeded to checkout. This is where the issue came into play. If you selected checkout then you were instructed to enter your address and then you saw the discount right away. If you chose Paypal as a checkout method, then it brought you to the Paypal site and you would not see the coupon entered until the very last screen. Which is about 5 screens in! WTF!! I would have just stopped, if I'm being honest. And I'm sure some of you did.

Unfortunately that is just the way Paypal works with the company that provides our website and servers. But for me that is just not going to work. I was so frustrated because I couldn't change this experience for anyone. We received a lot of emails from individuals saying the code didn't work. And we responded and walked them through the process. But for those who did not email, I assure you it worked. It was just that you had to keep going to the last screen. Which to me is just not cool.

We learned a lot with this sale. and now we are on to packing everyone's orders and we will not have another sale that requires a coupon code until we can change this to a more efficient and easy to use system. (Hopefully that is possible!) I do a lot of online shopping, and I have seen better systems, so I am hoping it isn't something so crazy expensive that we can't afford to offer a better check out experience. In the meantime any sales we have we will just figure out a way to have them without the need for a coupon code. Because frankly I love sales and don't want to stop the sales, but I want to provide an awesome experience all around.

So for those of you who were having trouble with the application of the code, I sincerely apologize! Hopefully that doesn't turn you off of Cult Nails. We will work to make a better experience for all in the future. As for now I better get to packing all the orders.

Sale & Announcement

2012-05-08T18:59:00.002-07:00

How is everyone doing? I had a few cousins come into town for the weekend, and a few that live within a few hours that all came in for a reunion of sorts. One cousin that lives within a few hours of here, I haven't seen since I was a baby, the other it has been at least 25 yrs and two more live out of state. One I actually do see every few months, but it still isn't enough - she lives only an hour away! But we have kids and life tends to get in the way. So since we had two coming in from out of town, a reunion was called for. I can't tell you how fast the weekend went by! Fri, Sat & Sun were so much fun and such a blur. It felt like I blinked and it was over! I miss them all already. But I had such a great time, I didn't work at all the entire weekend! Well I think I may have glanced at FB but that was about it! LOL! It makes me wish I lived near my family though. Not enough to move back to MA, I mean it does snow there after all, but enough to want them to move here to my lovely beach life. :)

Blurry pic, but these are my beautiful cousins! Can you imagine growing up around so many beautiful women? This isn't half of them!

On top of that one daughter had her end of year dance this last weekend and the other went to prom. The other daughter refused to go to the dance. I think it's just so I wouldn't get pictures of her in a pretty dress! LOL!

Anyway, come Monday I knew I had to get my but back to work on the office and checking FB and Twitter and responding to emails. Well I made it as far as responding to emails. I went to the office worked for about 15 minutes and just couldn't hack it. I came home with every intention of taking a nap, but then decided that would be a bad idea because then I would be up all night. Instead I layed there perusing through my Lucky magazine, did my nails, and then layed there some more like a bump on a log. Oh I did get up long enough to get out and do groceries and ended up with a massive headache! See that's what you get for being responsible! LOL!

Today I was on fire! I was running around working on the office, responding to emails this morning and I even did a blog post that is now MIA! What the...!!! So here I sit again after painting for hours on end all achy, wanting to play on Twitter and Facebook with you guys and instead re-writing my post! DOH! (By play I totally mean work if Juan is reading this. I get to say that FB & Twitter is work! Love it!!)

SO here goes post take 2:

The sale will be here on Saturday!! One day only! Saturday! Saturday! Saturday! (I couldn't resist - make sure you read it like the car commercials say it!) So the sale is an chance for you to get 3 of our colors at the amazing price of just $5!! WAHOO! (I think I said 2 last time, but I think we should stick with 3 like last time, don't you?) The only difference is that it is a limited selection of colors that will be on sale for $5. Just the ones that sold out during the last sale that are now back in stock. The colors included in the sale are Cruisin' Nude, Living Water, Let Me Fly, Hypnotize Me and Iconic. I think I'm missing one....Enigmatic! How could I forget! So you can pick any 3 (or less or more) and we will give you $5 off of up to 3 of these colors!

But wait there's more! I planned on bringing Feel Me Up back in November with a Fall collection. Then I accidentally re-ordered it when I re-ordered these colors. You would think that when I received the polish match samples to approve, it would have been a red flag, but nope, I approved it again. Then when I received the pre-ship sample, I approved it yet again! So now I have Feel Me Up on hand! I can't possibly leave it sitting here til November! That just doesn't seem fair, so I will release it on Saturday! WAHOO! And no we are not including it in the $5 sale. (I say that now, but I know you guys are going to brow beat me until I include it in the sale! LOL!) Oh frick, OK fine, I'll include it in the sale, might as well just give you what you want and be ahead of the game! :) For those who don't know, this is a 2 (maybe 3) coat yellow, depending on how you apply polish and how long your nails are. It is a cross between a jelly and a creme. The end result is a creme yellow the color of a buttercup. (Still working on that perfect 1 coat yellow)

Not done yet... We have one more color to add to the mix. Nevermore was supposed to launch with a series of fun top coats. The top coat ingredients have been delayed by the supplier and Nevermore is ready. So I am going to add that too! A one coat true black. I can't tell you how amazing this color is. It is AMAZING! Best black ever if I do say so myself! And yes of course, I will include that in the $5 sale too!

Now the not so fun news. Iconic is a bit different. We had an ingredient go away and had to reformulate it. It is within what the lab calls a 5% visual approval. Which means to the layman there is no difference. But to those of you like me, there is. It still is amazing and beautiful, but the shimmer had to change resulting in a more intense shimmer. So all in all not a bad thing. My friend whose favorite color is Iconic said the new version looks like her original bottle. So perhaps its just me who can see it. But I doubt it. Here is a quick swatch of the two. The original will never come back, but the updated version is still amazing and really within a 5% difference, which isn't much at all. I had to grapple with the decision of just discontinuing it forever or reformulating it. I went with the reformulation option. I have debated on posting about it since the change is so minor, but I would never be able to sleep at night if I didn't mention it. So I am mentioning it. Not only that, but those of you who wanted more shimmer, you will be loving the newer version!

The new version is on the left and the original is on the right. The only change is the ingredient in the shimmer and it is much more noticeable. This is taken inside at night in regular lighting, just to give you an idea.

AND lastly... we have a new collection coming out soon! I will be posting swatches soon and pre-sale information soon, so keep an eye out for that news!

Pop of Color

2012-05-03T06:07:00.000-07:00

I show what I wear everyday on Instagram, but it's been a while since I've done an OOTD post, so I thought I would share one today. I wore this over the weekend. I found this top at TJMaxx and I LOVE it. I wish it was just a tiny bit smaller, but at the same time the effect it gives like this is great. It is bright orange and very drapey. I love the deep opening that doesn't really show much of anything with a tie in the back. It's that subtle sexiness I love.

I also want to thank all of you for the amazing support and comments regarding my hair. As I sat here being bummed, the comments started pouring in. I have to say, the overwhelming support made me realize that hair or no hair, I am so fortunate and lucky to have such amazing and inspiring women around me. You guys really are the best. Every women needs you in their pockets to push them along when they are down! Those of you who shared your own stories of hair drama and issues. WOW! It is great to know I am not alone. Thank you for opening up and sharing with all of us. Still not loving the hair, but I am loving the love and support and that actually has made me feel more confident. So thank you!

Top: Not sure of the brand, but I bought it at TJ Maxx
Earrings: I can't remember, I've had them for years
Pants: Navy Linen blend pants from H&M
Shoes: Vince Camuto scored at TJ Maxx. Similar look here.

Bauble Bar Winner

2012-05-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posting the winner. I picked the winner on Monday, and went to post the winner and ended up talking about the upcoming sale instead! Doh!

The winner is Tenerheartr/Rebecca R. WAHOO!! Email me your address and I will get your goodies out to you! My email is maria @ cult nails.com (no spaces)

Congrats girl!

The State of My Hair

2012-05-01T08:11:00.002-07:00

I have been debating on posting about my hair. But it is inevitable, I am posting. So by now you know that I chopped all my hair off. I loved the cut. It was ALMOST everything I wanted. We went a little longer than I wanted just in case I hated it, with the option to come back and go just a little shorter. The stylist did an amazing job, I had seen photos of other similar haircuts she had done, so I was comfortable going in. I hadn't cut my hair short sooner only because I needed to find a decent stylist. How lucky did I get that this stylist posts her work on Facebook!

Well after doing my hair everyday, it became apparent that I could wear my hair down in my face, but not up because it was just a smidge too long. As well when I wore it in my face, it kept poking me in the eyeballs. At the salon I thought I would be able to just push them back, but it was just the right length to keep poking me in the eyes no matter what I did. Then just to keep the fun factor up I started getting crazy amounts of acne on my forward from my hair being down all the time. I started to pin it back, but wasn't digging that look since it felt like I was just growing out a short cut. Which OK I guess eventually I would get there anyway, but I wanted to be able to do a little faux hawk up and have it look done or wear it down when I wanted too. Then the little tail in the back kept bugging me. I felt like I was growing a mullet. It just seemed like two very minor adjustments. Trim the front and back, leave the rest alone.

You can see the back here. I just wanted it trimmed up a bit and the front hanging down. I just wanted that a tiny bit shorter! Not even an inch shorter!

So I went back and showed her pictures of exactly what I wanted to be able to do. This would require just cutting the tail off the back and shaping it and trimming the front to graze just below my eyebrows. No other big changes at all. I told her I wanted to be able to put it up or down. Even more she kept looking at the picture while cutting my hair to make sure it was right. What I ended up with is hacked up hair! Below are the pics I brought her. These are of WhippyCake on Etsy. See how the back is just a bit shorter? See how it can be worn up or down?

The front isn't really shorter on her, but I asked for mine just a tiny bit shorter so it wouldn't keep poking me in the eyes.

I can't even begin to understand what she did. It is purely hacked. I can't wear it down because it isn't even and doesn't even come to my eyebrows. Not even close. Then she cut the sides too, which she was in front of me cutting so I couldn't really see in the mirror what she was doing, so I thought she was maybe just trimming it up. When I did see what she was doing, I told her that it didn't look like the cut I wanted, that is looked too short and that it wasn't going to let me do what I wanted. She insisted it would, that the only reason it looked like that was because she had already put product in my hair. I could tell that this was not the case, but what good would arguing do? It wouldn't make my hair grow back right then and there. I thought OK maybe it's not as bad as I think. Maybe once I get home and play with it, it will look better. Sadly that is not the case. Every time I look in the mirror I want to cry. I feel the anger boiling at the service. I blame her for not doing what I asked. I blame myself for not paying more attention. I just get angry. I have been cranky since getting it cut. I don't want to go anywhere or do anything, that is how upset I am.

This is right after I came home! OMG! I want to cry! I just am so sad when I see this! it looks like I have a square fuzz ball on my head.

The best that I could come up with for doing my hair right now. From the side it's doesn't look as bad as from the front. I hate it from the front!!

Don't I look happy?

I keep telling myself it's just hair. It's just hair. But really we all know that's not true. how many of you would go and chop your hair off? Shave your head? No? Then it isn't just hair. If I hear one more person tell me that, I might just grab the scissors and show them it's just hair myself! I know people are trying to be nice, but look, I'm upset. Nothing they say will make it grow back! Is that supposed to make me feel better? Or they say It doesn't look bad, it's cute! That isn't the point, the point it I hate it. Now I say that, but let me take a moment to add to my irrationality. I have had my hair this short before On purpose at that. I loved the cut when I had it. It's exactly what I wanted. That was over 14 years ago. Today, right now, it is not what I want. I don't look the same way I did 14 years ago. I am not the same person anymore. I don't want that cut anymore! So basically I feel like I am just being a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum over something so insignificant when there are so many more things going on in this world, heck in my own world that this shouldn't really matter! Yet it does. It's so friggin' stupid! I need to get myself in check!

Or maybe I need to see if I can get extensions on this short hair! This is EXACTLY why I grew out my short hair in the first place - because so many stylists can not do short hair! When it's long and they mess it up, it can be hidden, but when it's short? There's nothing you can do! So I plaster a smile on my face along with a lot more makeup than usual and big earrings and pretend I like what I see. Fun huh? This will go on for I'm guessing the next 3 months. My hair grows at a decent pace, so I am hoping it is just 3 months.

In the meantime, I thought of not posting any pictures of myself. Not allowing anyone to take any photos. But then I thought this is so ridiculous of me! I decided I am going to keep posting away. Maybe somewhere along the way, my confidence will return. You can join me through the growing out stage to get it back to where it was. This should be fun right? Well my point is, there is no point in my being angry. There is nothing I can do. I know saying it is not going to stop how I feel, but I am going to force myself to deal with this positively. I hate negativity and I am finding myself in the negative hole. So now you can have the fun of following me along in my journey of taking this bad cut to something cute. Or at least cute enough! But I thought I would share, since I share just about everything else. Why not share the bad along with the good right? I thought writing this out would make me feel better too. So far it's not working. So far just seeing the pics makes me sad again. All this for hair. Wow do I feel vain! But seriously I wonder if I can get extensions with my hair being this short? hmmmm....

Sale - Part 2

2012-04-30T07:40:00.003-07:00

As many of you know we had some SEVERE delays from the facility that fills our polishes for us. Grrr, every time I think of it I get a little cranky, so let's not focus on that. But FINALLY it seems like our polishes will be arriving this week! WAHOO! So it is time to plan part 2 of our sale.

The way this sale will work is those colors that we had on order, that sold out early in the sale will go on sale for $5 for up to 2 polishes per person. I received a lot of emails/questions with the last sale, so I want to make it clear. It is 2 polishes per person. Meaning if there are more than one orders being placed because you have a room mate, daughter, cousin, mother etc living with you, each person needs to place their own order and have it sent to them. We will cancel any orders that we deem are taking advantage of the sale because multiple orders are going through for the same person/address. You can't use your pets name and think we won't catch it. We will. We strive on being number 1 in customer service, but that doesn't mean we want to allow people to take advantage of our generosity. Let's play nice and enjoy the spirit of the sale. So with that out of the way, let's get back to the fun stuff!

The colors that will be on sale are the following colors only: Enigmatic, Hypnotize Me, Cruisin' Nude, Let Me Fly, Iconic and Living Water. It appears that My Kind of Cool Aid will remain sold out for a bit longer. :( We will post a coupon code for $5 off up to any two of these polishes the day before the sale.

The sale will be for one day only on Saturday May 12th and we will change things up a bit and start this sale at 9AM EST and it will run until 8:59AM EST Sunday May 13th.

So if you didn't have a chance to get these colors in the last sale, hold tight, you will have a chance in just under 2 weeks!! WAHOO!!!

Do You Want To Be On Our Wall of Nail Fame?

2012-04-29T09:50:00.001-07:00

As I am getting further and further into the decorating of the office, I am coming up with more and more ideas. We are starting our office out by working on the storage area and the receiving/boutique area. This receiving area will serve a few purposes. We can have blogger events, open houses, local salons, interviews, photography, and of course work from this one multi-purpose space. I have ordered wallpaper for one wall, we have paint samples to try out, some of the furniture has been purchased, other furniture, we know what we want and yet have to plan. But the walls need to be a showcase of sorts. One of the things I want to do is put up pictures of our polish around the office. So we will use photos like these:

We also want to put up some pictures that the lovely Marta from Chit Chat Nails has taken for us. Her photos by far are my favorites! Between her skills at doing her nails, her creativity and that of her husbands and his photography - I'm in love. Yeah I'm a total fan girl of Chit Chat Nails! But look at just some of the photos they have taken!

That last one inspired me! I want pics of my kids playing with bubblegum now! There are also a few other bloggers I want to reach out and ask if we can use the close up hand pictures they have taken. I plan on adding each blog/web address to the bottom of each photo so when people come in they see who the photos are from. I think that adds a nice touch. Anyway, since I put so many things out there all the time, and the searching and emailing seems endless, I thought I would throw it out to all of you! Do you love taking pictures? Do you have a blog? Do you think your photos are good enough to be blown up on our wall? Are you a nail addict and professional photographer? If so email me your pictures, no watermarked photos will be accepted as we will be adding your blog/website/photography studio information to the bottom of the photos ourselves. I like a uniformed look. A little obsessive that way. But please include the information you want us to include for the watermarking in the body of the email so we get it right! And of course I'll do a blog post where I put up the final pic selections with links to your blog and all that fun stuff. And even better if we just love your photos, you can become one of our bloggers that we send product to for reviews in the future!

We are looking for fun pictures like Chit Chat Nails photos above and traditional swatch photos like you typically see on a nail blog! Who will make our Wall of Nail Fame?

Bauble Bar

2012-04-27T06:18:00.002-07:00

Have you checked out the latest jewelry website Bauble Bar? You guys know I love accessories as much as I love polish, so when I heard about this site I immediately had to check them out. I love just looking around their website, there are so many pretty things to see!

My favorite part of this site is the Buried Bauble on Fridays. If you sign up for a Bauble Bar account, which is just basically registering for the site, you receive an email every Friday with hints about what the buried bauble is. The buried bauble is a piece of jewelry you can score at a discounted price for $10 just by figuring out the hints. It's a fun little way to play and score big. I need to think of something like this for the Cult! I can only imagine the fun we could have! Hmmm....

A few Friday's ago they had this really cool looking necklace on their site as the hidden bauble. Unfortunately I don't see it on their site anymore, so it must have sold out. It is a Flouro Deco Pendant. It came in fluorescent pink, yellow, orange and black. I grabbed one in each color with the exception of pink. But I grabbed 2 yellow. One for me and one for a lucky one of you!

Just leave me a comment below to be entered. Let me know if you wear jewelry, if you have heard of the Bauble Bar and if you are loving these Buried Baubles as much as I am! Simple as that! The contest will run through the weekend and I will pick a winner on Monday! This contest is open to everyone including those internationally. Who knows I may throw in a bottle of polish or two to with your new necklace!

I had my daughter take a quick snapshot of me this morning since I'm wearing the black one today! She loves taking pictures at an almost angle! It looks like I'm about to tip over! LOL! Oh and don't ask about the hair! I'll discuss that in a post once I calm down.

If you want to get in on the buried bauble action just sign up for an account at Bauble Bar and use my invite code if asked: 45859. (Full disclosure: if you sign up using my invite or code and spend $50 I get reward points for future vault purchases.)

In the mean time leave a comment to be entered to win this yellow Flouro necklace! (The necklace was purchased by me. I am not being paid or asked to write about Bauble Bar or to have this give away. I just want to share my excitement about my new find.) I can't wait to see what today's buried bauble will be...

Where Does the Time Go?

2012-04-26T06:49:00.003-07:00

I was feeling a little blah this week, and have been pretty busy as well. When I think of everything I have done and still have to do, it all feels a bit overwhelming, but in a good way. I was just talking to Juan the other day about how when I had a FT job, going into work everyday made me have such a heavy feeling. There were so many things I knew I needed to do and being stuck in an office all day, wasn't cutting it! Now I control my schedule and even when I am slammed busy, I never feel like that! It's great!

Many of you know we are moving Cult Nails into a new (to us) office in just a few short days. Now imagine you are moving into a new home and you have NOTHING to furnish it with. NOTHING! GAH! It is such an awesome yet crazy feeling. I get so happy that I get to pick everything and then I freak out with these random thoughts: "OMG! We have to buy a fridge!" "Do you think we need an area rug?" "How far in advance do I call the cable company for internet?" "Should we go pick the paint for the walls?" "What kind of desk should we get?" "Do you think they will leave the blinds for us?" "We need cleaning products for the office!" "Dang it, that means we need a broom and vacuum too!" You see where I'm going with this? I wish I had an unending wallet so I could just hire someone and give them my vision and then leave for a week on vacation and come back and see this beautiful office! LOL!

I think Ikea is going to be our saving grace and help us stay in budget for some furniture. Lowe's will also become a best friend since we want to build a bar/counter that can function as a nail bar if we have an event there, to being a work station to pack orders, to a place to sit and have lunch. The space is small so it needs to be multifunctional for us. I am wanting an old hollywood, nail bar, boutique feel to the space. Can I mix any more things together? In my mind I can see it. Budget wise, that is a whole 'bother ballgame!

My dream desk! It's the Hollywood Swank by Jane Seymour Collection. Financially, this will stay a dream though. One day...

Gorgeous seating by the Hollywood Swank by Jane Seymour Collection. It swivels! I was sitting on this one last night day dreaming at the store. LOL

I really think this is going to be the seating. This settee comes in a dove gray velvet with rhinestone buttons. Not appropriate for my house, but perfect for the office! This is also from the Hollywood Swank by Jane Seymour collection.

In the photos above you can see the damask wallpaper in the background. I'm thinking one wall accented in this print.

I would love a bar similar to this in there. This would double as my desk and work area. It can serve double duty for me which is cost and space effective.

And of course because my life just wouldn't be my life with out a fully loaded schedule, I have two of my favorite cousins coming into town in just over a week (just days after we get the office keys) and they are staying with us. So we will have a full house for a weekend. I can't wait! We are also planning a mini reunion of sorts, I have a close cousin who lives just over an hour away from me who is also coming down. Then I have 2 cousins that moved to FL that I haven't seen since I was 13 or 14 that are coming down as well so we can all hang out. I can't tell you how excited I am to see them and get to hang with my all my cousins. I think the last time we were all together was when my family briefly lived in PR. So you know we are going to have a lot of fun! Maybe I can put them to work helping get the office ready? NAH! It's just going to be a fun weekend - NO WORK! (Well maybe a little work, I can't help but to always be thinking about the Cult!)

I have all today's orders packed already. I need to get them to the Post Office, get my house cleaned and get ready to go run some more errands. Exciting right? More updates soon!

Nevermore Meets Fashion Star

2012-04-23T18:18:00.002-07:00

Sunday was my wedding anniversary. To celebrate Juan took me out to eat at Bongo's in Orlando and to see Cirque de Soleil's La Nouba. Now since the day we moved here I have said I want to go eat at Bongo's, so almost 4 years later, I finally got to go eat there. Since the day we moved here I have said I want to go see La Nouba, and again, almost 4 years later, we finally went. Does your life ever go like that? So many places to see or go to and you always forget and then wish you did it. That is us sometimes. Life just gets in the way sometimes. It happens. But I can't believe it's been so long and we hadn't done it yet.

Before going, I did a new manicure wearing our upcoming one coat black Nevermore. I can't begin to tell you how much I love this black. One coat, so shiny. LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! I added some rhinestones to my spirit finger. I normally do not ever use my middle finger as an accent nail, but I just kept getting drawn to doing that nail with this design! I love how it came out! I am not sure when we will be releasing this color. It was meant to be part of a collection, so we will have to see. Once I know I will let you guys know of course.

I knew I was going to wear my Fashion Star dress designed by Sarah Parrott and picked up by H&M. I had been saving it for my anniversary dinner. I love that it can be casual and dressy. Left in the original format this dress is super low cut! I actually sewed a button in to bring up the low cut front to a more appropriate for me length. But if I'm being honest, I was subconscious the entire night wishing I went a bit higher. Juan of course thought it looked great. But I always feel selfconscious letting the girls hang out. If I was still in my 20's I probably would have left the dress as originally intended.

I couldn't resist, I just had to to the Jolie leg pose! I had to! How could I not?

The back of this dress does not allow for a bra thanks to the black mesh design. But I had a backless bra from Fashion Forms that worked great. I mean seriously though, I LOVE this dress! I want to go put it back on just looking at these pictures! OK so I'm just a little obsessed with these Fashion Star items!

Of course since it was our anniversary Juan had to indulge me and take a picture with me!

On our way to dinner, Juan stopped at the mall. I really did not want to go into the mall all dressed up. But what girl can turn down the little blue box? This is my first ever item from Tiffany's. Ironically, I have purchased Tiffany's for one of my daughter's already and more than once, but nothing for myself. So this was pretty exciting. I have been eyeing a few necklaces from there, from the "inexpensive" to the ridiculous. Of course we went with one of the reasonable options, but it was exactly what I wanted and now I have a Tiffany's necklace and a Tiffany's diamond! WAHOO!

It is very tiny and delicate. Perfect for everyday use. Of course I did try on the much larger and much more expensive version while I was there, how could I not. But to be honest, this is the one I wanted. I actually was tossed between this one and another one that was a little bigger. But this one was perfect. I haven't taken it off since getting it!

All in all I think the nails, dress and necklace were a perfect match for each other. It was a great dinner, and the show was amazing. I had the best date with the love of my life! How could a girl ask for anything more?

Lipstick Mixtape Review

2012-04-20T10:02:00.001-07:00

Blogging has opened my makeup world to so much more than I could have ever imagined. At our last Central Florida Beauty Bloggers meet up, I had the pleasure of meeting the beautiful Safia from Lipstick Mixtapes. Safia is a local makeup artist in Orlando and she has worked on some major campaigns that include Universal Studios, Disney and Coach Leathers. When I met her, I was so impressed that she had started her lip stick line! I couldn't wait to get home and buy some of her lipsticks to try out.

First off I must say I'm not a huge lipstick fan for day to day wear. I don't usually wear it. More often than not, I wear lip balm every day. But when I go out at night I love a good lipstick! I want something that will last since I'm not fond of touchups. I want something that will not bleed and that will stay on my lips. I don't think that's asking for too much, do you? Lipstick Mixtapes did not disappoint.

I'm reviewing two colors here. Esther and Grind Time.

Grind Time is on the top and Esther is on the bottom

First up is Esther. Esther is what I would classify as a creme finish lipstick. It is very light feeling and is not quite sheer, but not opaque either. It is buildable to an opaque finish though. I had a tough time telling if I had this one on at first it is so close to my natural color. This is perfect if you like to wear a natural looking color for day.

I love how soft and delicate this looks. Almost like I'm not even wearing lipstick at all.

Grind Time is a vibrant hot pink highly saturated lipstick. On it's own it is very bright. I am seeing bright pink lipsticks like this everywhere. They are very eye-catching. I must admit though on it's own like this I can't pull this off. Grind Time is a creme lipstick that wears like a matte.

While swatting this I realized it looks similar to Cult Nails Bad Devious Nature - turns out they are an exact match to each other! Sorry for the crappy picture, I took it really quick once I noticed they are a perfect match.

On my lips it took on an almost magenta look once it interacted with my natural lip color.

The first day these arrived I was playing around and put on Esther and then Grind Time on top and then a little more Esther. LOVE! This is something I can wear! As a matter of fact, I have been wearing it quite a bit! It has become my go to color for nights out and I think it is the perfect contrast for my normally natural makeup look. As for wear, it lasts several hours, easily. I wore it the other night for a friends birthday dinner and when I went to the bathroom after dinner and drinks, I found that it had faded a bit, but still looked great. It looked almost like a pink stain, the creme look was gone. But all in all for being close to midnight, I was pretty impressed and skipped the re-application.

I think Safia is putting together a great product and I can't wait to see what colors she comes up with next. Her experience as a makeup artist shines through in her lipstick. It is clear that she knows what people want in a lipstick and has done a great job here. Her lipsticks retail for $12.00 each, but her most popular colors are on sale for 20% off until April 28th and happily Esther is one of them! You can purchase LipStick Mixtapes directly from Safia on her website: http://lipstickmixtapes.com/store

*The products in this review were purchased by me for my personal use. The opinions expressed in the review are my own.

Launch Pics & Nail Art & Updates Oh My!

2012-04-19T12:24:00.000-07:00

What a week! I can't believe it's already almost over already! It feels like just days ago that I was posting that I was leaving my job to focus on Cult Nails full time. Now here I am working from home and well, it didn't last long, I'll be heading to an office everyday again real soon. But this time it's going to be Cult Nails office! WAHOO! Juan has been telling me for months that we need an office. I kept saying we have a warehouse space, I can totally work from home, why would I go to an office if I can work from home and store everything in a warehouse? I mean seriously. Well yet again Juan was right. Polish has taken over my house. While I love that, I hate it at the same time. I want my dining room back. So we found a tiny space that we can call home and it's just down the street from the house, so it's perfect! But this week was crazy while we were trying to finalize everything, I actually go sign the lease in just a few hours! Eek! We won't have access for a few more weeks, but as soon as we do I'll take pictures and post them. But I'm sure you all assumed that already!

We also just had a launch party on Tuesday for the Divas & Drama collection. I think I am going to try to do these for each collection. I'm undecided, but we will see. Maybe I can coordinate something with one of our blogger meet ups for an upcoming collection. Let's see.

Yummy cookies from Cultie RandomLanda on Twitter

Two of my lovely friends, they are the ones who put this amazing night together.

Giving the logo pose. LOL

I also received boxes full of rhinestones and studs for nail art. We also received the gold flakes a few weeks ago. This will be the start of some nail art supplies on our website. We will add more depending on how this goes. I tried to get different things than what you normally see. I got some square and rectangular rhinestones, some pretty multi color gemlike "stones", square, octagonal, circle and other various shape studs. Just some cool looking stuff. They won't be available for sale for a few weeks though. First they all need to be photographed and named and then the site needs to be updated. It'll be crazy. Juan wants to introduce a handful at a time because otherwise it will take him forever to update the site. So while we work on this, we have a job for some of you!

Looks so pretty here, but I had to inventory thousands of these! Bleh!

We are looking for individuals who may be interested in using some of these items along with our polishes for some nail art photos that we can use on our website. You don't have to be a blogger, but if you are, you are free to post about the products your receive. You just have to be able to follow through and meet the deadline, and send us hi-res photos for use on our site. Simple! :) If you are interested just send us an email with a sample nail art photo and we will let you know if we select you! You can email me at maria @ cultnails.com (no spaces)

My nail art using Bad Devious Nature and the square studs. Keeping it simple!

That's the latest update for this week. For those who have been following since the beginning, can you believe I'm getting an office! AAHHH! It's tiny and not at all fancy or anything, just a little space to call Cult Nails, but still! AAAHH! I'm afraid to pinch myself, I don't want to wake up yet!

My Fashion Star Inspired Weekend

2012-04-16T17:51:00.003-07:00

I haven't blogged in over a week now. Have you missed me? LOL! This post is so long over due. It was so hectic last week with packing orders, that there was just no way I was going to stop to write a post. Although, somehow over the last few years it has become a sort of cathartic process for me, so I have been dying to get back on here. As things grow and change so hasn't my blog and I see it is evolving yet again. I hope to be able to continue to post at least three times a week though.

For now I am just recapping my weekend in photos. I have a few reviews coming up and other exciting things, so this is just my Instagram weekend in review.

Juan is finally able to grow a stache and it comes in grey! LOL!

First off, how many of you watch the show Fashion Star on NBC? No? Good don't! I say that selfishly so I don't have to compete with more people to get my fashion fix as soon as the show is over! LOL! Actually the reality is the show kind of sucks. The editing is poor at best. The concept is awesome, the way it is put together - not so much. For those who don't watch the basis is this. Up and coming designers are competing to get their clothes in stores. Each Tuesday night they compete by showing an item. The items are presented to buyers from H&M, Macy's and Saks Fifth Ave. The have an option to buy an item or bid against each other to have the item at their stores. Immediately after the show you can go online and buy the items that got picked up. But the bad part is that any items picked up by H&M pretty much sell out in 5 - 10 minutes and if you are not lucky enough to have an H&M by you(like me), then you are not going to get the item. So I stalk the H&M site waiting and I belong to a Fashion Collab group where we help each other out and I have been able to get almost all the items I have wanted. But really it is kind of a pain. Talk about commitment! At the end of the season, one winner will get selected and get a 6 million dollar deal with all three stores carrying their items. I can't wait for that, because compared to these small $50K - $100K orders, it seems like it will be easier to find the items.

Feel Me Up... butter cup.... (OK so only some of you may get this, but still!)

So while the show isn't set up the best, for fashion lovers like me, we get to find new designers we may otherwise never have heard of. The best part is you can watch the dream happening!

I have two designers that are my absolute favorites. Orly Shani who has a line called Tuc and Wes and Sarah Parrott. I tell you each week I see their designs and I completely love everything they do. There are a few more designers that I am liking, but these two design as if they are making clothes specifically for me. Orly designs more street inspired clothing, while Sarah designs more classy yet edgy clothing.

Since each Tuesday has me shopping on Fashion Star items, this weekend ended up being a Fashion Star inspired weekend.

Friday night I went to a small Ladies Night In at a friends house. She had a friend of ours who has a brow studio there doing eyebrows, another friend who sells Roden & Fields products doing mini facials, a Paraffin Dip station, loads of wine and sangria and snacks and of course, Cult Nails! We all got to hang out (and meet new people) and spend some girl time getting pampered. It was a great time. I wore my newly acquired Fashion Star by Sarah Parrott jacket that I got at H&M with my outfit.

Can I just say I had the beginning of a migraine when I took this picture! I took some meds but they just weren't working enough. But I persevered puffy eyes and a ton of makeup and all! LOL!

Saturday was another day busy packing orders and responding to emails and other Cult Nails housecleaning items. Saturday night I took a break and went and checked out small office space and ran some errands. Juan has been bugging me since January to get a small space beyond the warehouse space we have and take care of Cult business there. I have been dragging my feet. But since I work from home, it has been way to easy to work 14 hour days and not have a separation of work/home life. So off we went to look at some spaces. I wore a Tuc and Wes dress/jumper I bought. While it's not a Fashion Star item, it is from one of the designers on the show. Unfortunately timing being what it is, I got crappy pictures. I plan on doing a full review on this outfit though since the dress converts into jumper!

Sunday I went up to Orlando to check out Artisan Beauty's Pucker event. They do custom lipsticks and lip glosses. Another item I will be doing a full review on soon. I wore the Fashion star by Ross Bennett shorts that I got at Macy's to this event.

Today I didn't wear any Fashion Star items, but tomorrow for our Divas & Drama launch party, I am wearing a red dress by Sarah Parrott for Fashion Star. Since my logo girl wears a red dress, I think it will be the perfect outfit! Now if only I could get a pair of Loubie's to go with it! LOL!

See you all soon!

I'm On a Roll...

2012-04-09T09:04:00.002-07:00

Polish burrito rolling that is! Many of you know that we wrap each bottle of polish we ship in 100% recycled packing paper that is also 100% recyclable. They have been dubbed polish burritos.

Polish burritos! Yum!

Last Wednesday evening the Divas & Drama collection finally arrived! That meant we had to inventory and roll all those polish bottles and get them ready for shipping. With the $5 sale just days away at that point, I knew if I wanted to keep my head above water I would need to get all the pre-sales out by Saturday. Typically with Pre-sales we give ourselves a week to get all the orders out and this last pre-sale reached a bigger audience, which meant we had even more packages to wrap and fast!

In the middle of all this, I had an event in Orlando on Thursday evening, so I took the opportunity to get my hair cut! WAHOO - I did it!

Side view of the hair cut

I had so much fun at the event that took place at The Millennia Nails & Day Spa in Orlando. I am a huge germaphobe an getting my nails done in a salon is just petrifying to me. But this salon is top notch! They are so clean and after talking to the owners about their salon and of course Cult Nails, I was so glad I went to the event! The owners really care about the salon and the quality of the work they do. They are into doing amazing looking nails, nail art and polish! While I was there to network with the amazing ladies that attended the event, I was glad I had time to talk to the owners. I ended up getting the most amazing pedicure and now have one more place to add to my list of places I have to go to when I'm in Orlando. One of the owners showed me some nail art she did and I can't get the design out of my head, so one day soon I am going to try to recreate it for you. Otherwise I'll need to go to Orlando again so she can do my nails!

Sporting my new cut at a Ladies Polish Night Out Networking Event

On top of meeting the owners of the salon, I gave them some Cult Nails polishes to raffle off and the winner was the owner of another salon! What are the odds! Spreading the Cult love to salons! WAHOO! And of course I met some amazing ladies. Pictured above from left to right is Michelle, the co-owner of Boldly Unique hair fasteners. I must have been under a rock, because I have never heard of hair fasteners and now I'm obsessed! I want one so bad! But even more I can't stop thinking of how these can be used in some Cult Nails marketing photos! Next to Michelle is Safia owner of LipstickMixtapes Lipstick. Safia is not only an amazing makeup artist, but she has her own lipstick line. Her lipsticks last all day! Safia got me into wearing pink lipstick too! Once I have a bit more time I am doing a review of her lipstick. I'll hopefully have it up later this week. Safia is the one who invited me to the event. So thankful that she did! The last girl pictured with me here is Michelle of Beauty & The Beat Blog. She belongs to our Central Florida Beauty Bloggers group and she not only has an amazing blog and is amazingly beautiful, her style is flawless! I had so much fun with these inspiring ladies!

Friday I spent the day getting back to work. I finished rolling all the burritos for the Divas & Drama collection and started packing the pre-sale orders. Saturday Juan & I worked our butts off and got all the pre-sales to the post office!

Two of these bins were filled with pre-sales

Saturday night I went to a friends b-day party. Which I will post some pics tomorrow as an Outfit of the Day post. The $5 sale also started on Saturday. I can't believe what a success it was. Each time we have a pre-sale or sale, I always wonder, will anyone show up? I can't help it. Well not only did you girls show up, the sale was our biggest yet! We received just under 1,000 orders! WOW! So this means that we had well over 3,000 polish burritos that needed to be rolled. I spent all day yesterday rolling polish burritos. No kidding, from 10AM to about 10PM with mini food breaks, rolling polish burritos! Juan spent the day responding the the remaining emails from the sale and getting everything else ready so I could hopefully start packing orders today. The kids and their friends spent about 10 hours each between Saturday and Sunday helping us roll polish burritos too! Here I sit taking a mini break for a blog post, with about 500 - 600 burritos left to roll. My hands hurt, my wrists hurt, but I am determined to get these all done today and *fingers crossed* start getting some of these orders out. My goal is to have all the orders out by Saturday! It is what I will be working on all week!

Thank you all for your amazing support! I hope everyone was able to enjoy the sale and get what they want. The colors that sold out are already on order and we will have a second mini sale for just those colors once they arrive. It may be another month, but once we know for sure, we will let you guys know. In the meantime, I better get back to the polish rolling so you guys can get our polish on your fingers!

$5 Sale is Almost Here! April 7th!

2012-04-03T06:16:00.000-07:00

Do you have your calendars marked yet? Saturday marks the big day!! WAHOO!! I have to admit I'm a bit nervous. If all goes well the Divas & Drama collection arrives on Friday. That means that I will be wrapping polish burritos all night Friday night well until the wee hours of the morning. From there it is packaging orders and trying to get them all out the door so we can begin packing orders from the $5 sale. I was hoping the Divas & Drama collection would make it to me early so that I could work on packaging the $5 sale starting on Saturday. And if that isn't enough, Saturday is one of my BFF's b-day. Tonight the girls are all going out for pre-birthday drinks with the ladies group we belong to, then Saturday a few of us are taking her out to celebrate. So in the middle of the sale, I have to leave to celebrate a birthday! YIKES! It should be fun answering any Tweets or FB questions while still being present at the dinner! Oh no - I just realized I haven't bought her gift yet! What do you get a girl who loves to dress up like you, but has WAY more clothes and shoes and accessories than you? *hits head on desk* I need to find her something fantabulous!

OK back to the sale. The sale will start at midnight EST on April 7th. It will go on until 11:59PM EST on April 7th. The $5 can be used toward regular in stock polishes and treatments. (Limited Edition polishes will not be included - Toxic Seaweed & Seduction).

Based on poll results the majority wanted us to either delay the sale or allow backorders. We went with neither of these options. We came up with an entirely new option. We will hold a separate 1 day only $5 sale for the items we have on back order when the new stock arrives. Because the delay could be several weeks, we didn't want to get into a backorder situation. We will limit that sale to 2 polishes as well. So theoretically between the two sales you could end up with 4 polishes for $5! Wahoo! To make it worth your while, first you need to know which polishes are on re-order status.

Hypnotize Me actually sold out last weekend and we have already re-ordered that. So that will be included in the 2nd sale. Enigmatic, Iconic, Living Water, Let Me Fly, In a Trance and Get it On are all also scheduled for our re-order. They each have less than 200 currently available in stock right now.

We also have low stock on a few other colors, that came out of no where. We had a strong stock available when we re-ordered colors and then all the sudden sales increased and bam! now they are low stock! So a heads up if these are on your list. Awakening, My Kind of Cool Aid and Quench all have less than 200 available in stock now. We have to re-order them, but have not done it yet. Once they sell out, they could be unavailable for about 3-4 months, because unfortunately that is how long it takes with verifying the colors and formula of the new batch matches the original and all that fun stuff.

The rest should be good. I think, I hope... I think this covers all the questions. But feel free to leave any that I am not thinking of in the comments, via Twitter or on our FaceBook wall. Hope you all enjoy the sale and thank you again for all your amazing support of our small brand!

To Cut or Not To Cut

2012-04-02T07:37:00.001-07:00

I have been wanting to chop my hair off for a few months now. But at the same time I love my long hair. I love extremes I guess. But last week I went to trim my hair as many of you know by now and I accidentally cut off more than I originally intended. This has left me with hair right at just longer than shoulder length and I have to admit, I am just not feeling it. So as I sit here with this hair, I am debating on making the cut. I have spent some time pinning some short hairstyle on my Pinterest and now I just need to decide how short do I want to go?

My former long hair - and this is in a ponytail!

My new shorter length

So while I want to chop it all of into a cute updated pixie cut (and believe it or not I used to have a pixie cut and I loved it, just didn't love the need for a haircut every 6 weeks. I am just not that high maintenance!) So I was thinking maybe I should go a bit shorter to start out and if I'm feeling up to taking on the maintenance then I go go shorter from there. Plus it won't be this sudden drastic change. Which in my 20's I was all for, it's just hair after all, it'll grow back. But now the whole drastic change thing just isn't for me. Here are some shorter styles I pinned. (you can see more on my Pinterest here if you're interested.

this one is my favorite

This one looks a little too "done" for my personal taste, but it's an idea.

Now if I were to do what I really want, I would just chop it off. If drastic changes or fear of "OMG - I change my mind, I want my long hair back - what did I do!!!" setting in scare me, I may need to hold off a bit. But I am telling you, for months I have been looking at hair like this and I want my hair short again sooo bad!

This one seems a little "done" for my taste, but I absolutely love it.

If I really had the nerve, I would do this! But I am not quite that adventurous.

My old cut was a little shorter than this. Well by maybe another 2 inches LOL. But I think this would be a modern take on that pixie cut of the late 90's.

My other issue. Many times I go out with little to no makeup on. I clearly remember to this day that not wearing makeup just was not an option for me then. I just didn't feel comfortable without a full face on when I had short hair. The other thing is I grew up in the 80's. This meant most moms had the Princess Di cut. I associated getting older with cutting all your hair off. When I was in my 20's and cut it all off I knew I still had years of long hair still ahead of me if I chose. Now that I will be 38 this year a little voice in the back of my mind thinks, OK this is it, get ready to go from this to short white curly hair. I know it is completely ridiculous, but maybe that just means I'm not as ready as I think to take the plunge. The reality is I think my current length is the new mom length. That length between long and short. So what's holding me back? And why do I care so much of whether it is "mom" hair or not. I am a mom after all!

And of course lastly my opinion is any stylist can cut long hair. Take my hair for example, I am not even a stylist and I just you tube cutting my hair and have been cutting it myself for the last 4 years. OK so I don't have this AMAZING head of hair, but it doesn't look half bad. My point is, it's really hard to screw up long hair and much easier to hide when you do. With short hair, even a bob, it takes a stylist who is experienced and current with the latest techniques in cutting short hair. With short hair it is very easy to end up with a dated hairstyle if you do not go to an experienced stylist. And where do you find such a stylist? When you see someone with the short hair you want? Sounds easy enough, but I live in a beach town where everyone seems to be blonde with perfect long beachy hair. No one has the style I am looking for, because believe me for months I have been looking at every one's hair around me to see. Although with the Beauty Bloggers of Central Florida - a few of the girls have cute bobs, but that would mean I would have to go to Orlando to get my hair cut. And lets be honest, I already go to Orlando at least once a month, so I guess that wouldn't really be all that bad. I guess I just need to get off my duff and make a decision. Cut or Don't cut. I think I could decide to get a tattoo easier than this! LOL!

It's Friday!

2012-03-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

I can't believe this week is already almost over! It went by so fast! The kids are on Spring break this week, so I have been trying to do stuff with them, while they have been rebelling and wanting to hang out with their friends. Teenagers! We settled on a mix 50% of the time they did stuff with us and the other 50% they got to hang out with their friends. I think that's a good mix!

On Friday's I'm going to just post some of my Instagram pics from the week. What do you think? I heard that Instagram is going to be releasing a Droid app soon! How cool is that? So all you on the droid market can join us on the Instagram fun! WAHOO! I can't wait because I love seeing everyone's pics! As you know I mainly use Instagram for my Outfit of the Day photos, rather than bore you here on the blog everyday. But now you get to see them all on Friday's! If you have an iPhone download the Instagram app - I'm CultNails on there.

I love this lace detail shirt! I bought this at Express and I want to wear it all the time, I have to restrain myself. LOL! During the day I wore it with bright coral shorts and then I swapped the shorts for black jeans at night.

My favorite bird shirt! LOL! I went to H&M this week and they have different shirt options and even a dress with this print. I had to mess with the kids a bit and tell them I was going to buy all the bird shirts and the dress. They begged me not to! They hate this shirt. They call it my grandma shirt. LOL - aww look at my hair! I miss it so!

I used to be into nail art big time, and then my life got so busy, I just didn't have time for it, then it went out of style for a while there and I forgot all about it. Now it's back, and my skills are weak. I'm trying to work my way back up there. These are rectangle rhinestones that I was trying out. I think we are going to start selling some nail art supplies on our site. Let's see.

I found this skirt on Ebay. It was dirt cheap like $10 or something. It came and it's adorable and I suppose I could have made it fit because of the elastic waist, but alas it looked better on Coco who is also a fellow fashionista. So I gave it to her. She wore it with her leather knee high converse and a pretty bow in her hair. Love the pairing!

Monday we took the kids to Dave & Busters. It was about 80 degrees out, but I'm always cold inside, so I wore a sheer sweater. We stopped at the mall on our way home since we don't have any of my favorite stores near me. Ah Zara's - if only my budget was unlimited - that bag would be way bigger! LOL! Coco gave me this magic colors fun dip - I haven't had fun dip in years, so I decided to try it out. Thanks for the green tongue Coco!

One of the military benefits here is that you can rent a small boat for the day at a pretty reasonable price. Tuesday we rented a boat and took the kids tubing. Unfortunately the water was loaded with jellyfish and so the tubing didn't last long. But we road around on the boat for the day and it was a nice relaxing time. I wore this sheer knit sweater that is part of the Rory Becca for Forever 21 line. It was perfect since out on the water I was a bit chilly without it. I then threw on a swimsuit I bought at Kohl's last year and some board shorts from Target. Easy and comfy! You will never see me at the beach or on a boat without my board shorts! LOL!

Wednesday I wore the shirt I bought from Zara. It says You Really Are The Best Thing I'll Never Have. I thought it said EVER have, not NEVER have. This makes it kind of sad. But for whatever reason I really like this shirt and I'm not one to wear shirts with stuff on the front like this. I threw on my coral orange shorts again with this one. See I do wear things more than once!

My current mani. 2 coats of Devious Nature with one thin coat of Captivated on the top. I then added a few rhinestones on one nail as an accent. I saw this somewhere. I can't remember if it was on someone's blog, doing a google search or on Instagram. I tried to find it again and of course I couldn't. So unfortunately I don't know who to credit for the idea of glitter nails with rhinestones on one. I put my own spin on it, but I love giving credit for others ideas. If you know who it was, please let me know!

Yesterday's Outfit of the Day. My new short hair. Yuck! I meant to just trim my hair, next thing you know I lopped off 4 inches! OW! The bright side is I started using Sauve Keratin Infusion shampoo after spending $20 on Shampoo and even more on conditioner for years. And I really like it. I don't know if I will in the long run, but 2 shampoos in and it has made my hair look amazing!

After we went out for some Redberry last night, we stopped at the base gas station. They have these funky yellow orange lights there. It makes everything look like Sepia in person. Not so impressive in a photo since you can make any photo look like this, but every time I'm there at night it amazes me. Everything and everyone looks like this. I take pictures while I'm there every time. I can't help it! LOL!

That's my week in photos. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Milani Haute Flash Full Coverage Shimmer Lipgloss Review

2012-03-28T06:23:00.000-07:00

When I went to the Beauty Bloggers of Central Florida meet up earlier this month, I was one of the lucky ones to receive a makeup bag full of Milani products. I couldn't believe how many products I get to try and share on here with you all. I chose three of the Milani Haute Flash Full Coverage Shimmer Lipglosses to start my reviews.

Milani describes the Haute Flash Full Color Lipgloss as:

"Full coverage, electrifying pigmented color · Extra glossy shimmer finish · Non-tacky, anti-feathering formula · Flexible soft sponge applicator for easy application."

If I had to describe these lip glosses I would say that they are definitely full coverage and electrifyingly pigmented. There is no question there. They each provided extra glossy shimmer finish as stated as well. As for a non-tacky finish, well I'm not one to wear gloss often because they tend to be tacky and to me this one was what I would consider somewhat tacky but not heavy. Meaning that for me if my hair sticks to it, then it's still tacky, but it feels light on my lips, which makes it wearable. The sponge applicator is amazing. It is somewhat flat and bendable which makes application easy. It also has a very subtle but sweet and pleasant smell. It made me want to taste the lipgloss. Hey it smelled that good! LOL! It doesn't have a taste, so that was a plus.

Overall if I were to grade these lip glosses I would give them a B+. The reason I didn't grade them an A is because they describe it as non-tacky and for me, the lip glosses are still somewhat tacky. I also felt the colors are almost too vivid. I rarely see women wearing lip glosses this bright, so I think they could turn some women off. But because I can tone it down, I would still wear them. I didn't grade them down for this as they say full coverage, electrifying pigmented color. They definitely deliver on that promise. As for wear, I wore one for a few hours and it lasted the 3 hours I left it on. I would have needed to re-apply if I intended on keeping it on and it left lipgloss on the straw of the drink I was having. Of course since it's lipgloss I fully expected this, so again I didn't grade it down for this.

Top view of the applicator

Side view of applicator - it's flat for easier application.

NOW ON TO THE SWATCHES

First up, I swatched Hot Flash. This is a vibrant red that is loaded with pink and gold shimmer. This one was so bright in person. On the lips it didn't photograph quite as vividly as it looked in person. But if you see the swatch picture on my arm below you can see just how vivid it really is. It was just as vivid on my lips! A bit more than what I would be able to handle personally. But I used a tissue to blot it and neutralize the color and it was perfect. I love how it flashed the pink and gold shimmer in person on the lip. I think this would be a great night out color to really spice up my looks. I will definitely wear this one again.

The swatch above is color accurate.

On the left is my natural lip and on the right is Hot Flash.

Next up, In A Flash. This is a vivid purple with pink and blue shimmer. The bottle pic below photographed pink, but believe me in person it's purple. The pink and blue shimmer transferred onto the lips as well. I have to say this one was my favorite of the bunch. Again I had to blot it down to make it wearable for me, but I loved how the purple contrasted with the shimmer in this one!

Tis swatch is extremely color accurate. LOVE!

On the left is my natural lip on the right In A Flash

The last lipgloss I tried was Flashy. And believe me this one was appropriately named! It is very flashy! It is what I would call Barbie pink. This is the color my Barbie's had on their lips when I was a kid back in the 80's. I wanted to try this one so bad, event though I doubted I would ever actually wear it out. It is bright pink with pink shimmer. The shimmer is less noticeable in this one, but it is still there. And while I thought I would never wear this one, this is the one I actually blotted to tone down and then wore out to lunch. So turns out I would actually wear it. But of the three, I think this is the one I would wear the least in the future.

My natural lip on the left and Flashy on the right.

Milani cosmetics are available at CVS pharmacies and on their website www.milanicosmetics.com. (They ship in the U.S. and Canada) The Haute Flash Full Coverage Shimmer Lipglosses retail for $7.49 each.

Are you a lipgloss fan? Would you wear a full coverage lipgloss like these? What did you think of my review? Would you have liked to see anything differently?

*These products were given to me for review.

Quick Nail Post

2012-03-27T07:28:00.002-07:00

Just a quick post for today. I can't get enough of this coral color I made. I added one nail of Cruisin' Nude and an accent half moon on it. I think it came out pretty good. I really am loving this color. I need to finish playing around and make a collection around this color for next year.

We are trying to do some stuff with the kids today while they are on Spring Break before turning them loose to their friends, so just a quick post today. Hope you have a great day!

Spring Break is Off to a Slamming Start!

2012-03-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

The kids are on Spring break this week. They want to spend time with their friends, I want to use the opportunity to spend time with the family. We thought we could maybe take a few days and go someplace and rent jet ski's or try zip lining or something equally fun and adventurous. You know something that would keep 3 teenagers interest. Our kids have other ideas. One would love to try zip lining, the other two are not into it. Two would love to go Jet Skiing, the other one is too scared. So in the end we decided we would stay home and do a few small things throughout the week, while allowing them time to spend with their friends. So we rented a boat for today so the kids could go tubing in the cold river water.

Well last night as I lay in bed, I just couldn't sleep. Juan was lying next to me snoring like he was getting paid for it, and I was left laying there punching him every few seconds. Dang it I had to be at the gym at 7:30 this morning and here it is midnight and I am still awake thanks to him! I was about to get up and go sleep on the couch, but I refuse to not sleep in my bed! Well finally sometime later I fell asleep, but then I heard a slamming noise. Like someone let the front door screen go. I sat upright and Juan who had been snoring soundly seconds ago was silent and he just whispered "What?" I said "Did you hear that?" Now mind you I hear weird noises all the time. I have even had whispers in my ear saying "Ma" just like my kids say it. I always think they are messing with me and I always am left with no one else in the room but me & Juan. I freak out every time. I always wake Juan up and ask if he hears the noises or whispers and his response is always no. He thinks it's me dreaming and perhaps he is right. But not last night. Last night, he said "Yup I heard that!" OK now I am REALLY freaked out! As Juan gets up looking for a weapon before heading downstairs I grab the phone in case I need to call 911. At this moment I am thinking hmm maybe we do need a gun in the house, since the only thing close enough to weapon upstairs is a pair of stilettos. With no weapon to be found, Juan just throws on the light and runs downstairs. I am upstairs, my heart beating like a bird is trying to fly out of my chest, listening for any signs of something being wrong. Juan came back upstairs probably less than a minute later, but it felt much longer than that. There was nothing, all the doors were locked, nothing outside or inside. Just a weird noise!

Now I am laying there and snuggled into Juan as close as I can get, totally freaked out and Juan is already snoring! UGH!!! At this point I knew I was not going to get any sleep and with us getting a boat for today, I needed to be with it, not tired! I looked at the clock and realized there was going to be no way I was going to the gym in 5 hours with no sleep. Now I am up and feeling guilty for not hitting the gym. I bet if I forced myself to get up, I would have been able to do it. I'll have to do some at home workout today to make up for it. But at least I get to get out there and have some fun in the sun with the family today and the noise was nothing! PHEW!

ANYWAY, what does any of that have to do with today's post? Nothing really. Just thought I would share my little crazy night last night since I can't seem to get it out of my mind still.

Anyway on Saturday night the entire family left me for their friends. I was home alone and so I took the time to relax and did my nails. I'm trying to be a bit more bold with my nails and so I put three rectangular rhinestones in varying colors down the center of my nails. I'm wearing Mind Control as the base of my nails. Check it out and let me know what you think.

I hope you all have a great week and just wanted to remind you that there are just a few days left to vote for me. :) http://brad.bookperk.com/engine/Details.aspx?p=V&c=52618&s=18069147&i=1

What I Wore Last Night & TMI

2012-03-23T08:55:00.001-07:00

Last night I went to a friends birthday dinner. We were going out to eat sushi and then a local beach bar. These two things scream two totally different outfits to me. Going out for sushi to me screams a fun city chic outfit, going to a beach bar screams casual beach fun attire. I know most people probably don't think in these terms, but for me everything is an opportunity to play dress up. Even if I am home cleaning the house, I still find myself thinking of the right outfit for that but usually in that case it is something that I wouldn't be horribly embarrassed if someone knocked on the door, but I don't really care if it gets ruined with bleach or some other cleaning product. I can't be the only one who thinks like this, but sometimes I feel like I am. I think some of my friends must think I am vain, but really it has more to do with my love of pretty things than my looks. Pretty things make me feel pretty, it's that simple. Just the same way many of us buy polish because it looks so pretty in the bottle even though we know we will most likely never wear it. It makes you feel good. That is me with clothes and accessories. If I couldn't do Cult Nails, my dream job would be to be the host of What Not to Wear or How Do I Look, I love making other people find the appreciation in pretty clothes and how it can make you feel. Plus I think, while I love these shows, they make everyone look so cookie cutter, and I think you can express yourself in many different ways without being so cookie cutter.

Anyway, that was a tangent wasn't it? Hey I'm working from home now, there's no one here to talk to. It's so quiet. So now I am just blurting it out here. You're Welcome! (Or maybe not! LOL)

SO as I was saying, back to the dinner and drinks scenario. I needed an outfit that would go from sushi to beach bar. It was in the back of my mind all day. I had no idea what to wear. I stood in my closet and nothing felt right, but I kept coming back to the Toulouse Stripe Cap Sleeve T-shirt dress from French Connection that I found at TJMaxx. When I saw this dress there I thought it would be the perfect outfit to wear around town. In my mind I thought Farmer's Market and walking around a historic district antique shopping and sitting outside a chic coffee bar having coffee while people watching. Sounds so ideallic - except, I NEVER do any of these things, but I had to get it, because I would love to do these things, so in case the opportunity comes up, I'd be ready! Right? (Yes that is how my crazy mind works when it comes to clothes - I picture where I am going to wear it and the idea of it makes me buy it. so sad.)

WOW - OK another tangent. ANYWAY, so I saw this cute French Connection dress at TJMaxx and it was only $19.99 if I remember correctly and it retails for $78 at French Connection - SCORE!

This is a picture of the dress from the French Connection website. This is how this dress is supposed to fit. See where I got the image of the whole Farmer's Market/Historic District/Coffee thing? Totally fits right?

Yeah except, I'm a bit on the curvy side. OK, OK, I totally have an hourglass shape. Now don't get me wrong when I say that, because I LOVE my body shape. I wouldn't want any other shape. Granted you won't see me out there in a bikini or anything (Thanks to kids & stretch marks) but clothed it's still pretty banging' if I do say so myself. (How conceited does that sound? Yuck! But hey, it's about embracing what you have and loving it and knowing how to voice it. If I sat here telling you all the things I wished I could change about my body, you'd probably be like, hey girl get it together and focus on the positive. So that is what I am doing here. don't judge - join!)

I think this post is going to go down as the longest ranting post ever! Why stop now! ha!ha! Oh all right, so anyway, I put the dress on with some wedge sandals and it was like - Bangarang! (Yes that is a little Skrillex reference, so what!) Needless to say, I had to take the wedge sandals off, it was just a little too much HEY LOOK AT ME! And believe it or not, while I love showing you all my outfits, in real life, I hate being looked at. I know, it makes zero sense at all. But I prefer to just meld in with the crowd and be a little hidden in the real world. So I definitely had to take the outfit down a notch and so I switched to flat sandals. And yes believe it or not, shoes can make that much of a difference in changing a look! Try it out yourself and see!

So now that we went through ALL THAT to get to this, here is what I wore last night.

Horrible pic - but Instagram fixes everything and makes it look so artsy. :)

The accessories are from H&M and the shoes are from Payless Shoes last summer. So there you have it, what I wore last night. Aren't you glad you read all this? Hope you have a great weekend!

Ring Inspired Nail Art

2012-03-22T11:20:00.001-07:00

Last night while looking through some pictures on my phone, I came across this picture I took earlier in the week.

I actually have a very subtle nail art design going on here. I planned on posting it this week, but it may be more like next week now.

The design on this ring is so cool looking I wanted to try to recreate some of it on my nails. The problem is that I'm not the most artistically abled person. Drawing and painting are skills I just do not possess and much less so on my nails! But this seemed simple enough, so I thought I would give it a try.

It came out OK, but I just wasn't feeling it on my nails. After taking the polish off and trying about 3 times, I just decided to finish it up and move along. Apparently not only do I not have any artistic ability, I also lack patience. Well I actually already knew that. So with little patience to sit here and get it right, I just decided to hurry up and cut my losses. It came out OK, but while I was really feeling this last night, today I am not feeling it at all! Ah to be a fickle woman. My mood changes so fast! All I am feeling is wearing a bright color and some glitter! So even though I was just working on this manicure today, it is already off my nails while I contemplate on the next manicure.

It's almost like staring in your closet full of clothes and not having a single thing to wear. That is how I'm feeling about my nails right now. Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever finished a manicure and known it isn't what you wanted and taken it right off? Hopefully it's not just me!

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