Live Love Polish // Color Club Swatches - Blue Edition

Hi everyone! Oh how I miss this! It’s been a while, but I’m here now :) Sadly I couldn’t finish my RuPaul's Drag Race S7 project, but I had so much fun while it lasted! I may occasionally do some drag related nail art, so I’m not getting rid of that facet of my nail escapades anytime soon :)

But guys! Today's kind of a special day! For those of you who haven't found out yet, I can announce to you that I'm officially a Creative Ambassador for the online nail polish shop Live Love Polish!

YAAAY! What an achievement! I'm so proud to have been chosen to be part of a team of very talented nail artists - to be a face for Live Love Polish! They carry an amazing array of brands including China Glaze, Color Club, Essie, NCLA and Picture Polish, and I feel so incredibly lucky to be able to do this collaboration and represent something that I really love!

Actually I have been listed on the Live Love Polish website since Fall as a Creative Ambassador, but I have not been able to start up on this amazing project until now! Anyhow, it's been so exciting to follow along on the sideline watching Live Love Polish just grow and grow, and gain such immense success!

It's kind of adorable - Live Love Polish was founded by 2 people, actually sister and brother, Michelle and Wayne :) They have a wonderful staff who helps with everything from packing orders, managing inventory and updating social media. I just wanted to share this info with you, because I think it's really nice to know a few things about those from whom you buy things :)

Before going on to the photos, I'd like to clarify some things about the links in my Live Love Polish blog posts. The links leading to the webshop will most likely be affiliate links. This affiliate link thingy will never change my views and opinions of any products. Same goes for every PR sample I ever receive, no matter who it's from. I always say that, but I just want to make sure that you're aware of it. Now FINALLY let's move on to the actual review and photos haha!

Today I'm showing you 3 shades from Color Club called Silver Lake, Trippie Hippie and Williamsburg. Just FYI - I actually took these photos 6 months ago, and added notes in the process. Have a look! :)

Silver Lake is a light grey creme. I used 2 coats here. It has a nice formula, a bit on the thicker side, maybe due to the lightness in color. It leans just very slightly blue, not much, but it's there. So pretty!

Trippie Hippie is a deep blue metallic shade with vivid shimmer. 2 coats. I had to try it on twice to get a decent result - it kept bubbling on me, and maybe it's just a lack of painting skills on my part, or maybe it was just the fairly thick formula, who knows! But seriously, looking at how beautiful it is, I'd say it was definitely worth it!! So I'm actually not complaining (that much).

Williamsburg is a dark navy blue shade with fine blue micro-glitter. This one had the absolute best formula of the three! I used 2 easy coats, and since it contains a little bit of fine glitter, it was also the one to dry the fastest. I'm in love with Williamsburg. Utterly in love. My personal pick out of the 3 :)

Color Club offers vegan, cruelty-free nail polish, made with love in the USA. Check out the full range from Color Club over at Live Love Polish. They retail at $8.50, except the holographic polishes which retail at $10. 

Live Love Polish is based in the USA, and if your order is $20 or more, you'll qualify for free standard US shipping. They also offer worldwide shipping - isn't that amazing?! There is a small shipping fee, with price depending on which country you live in and how fast you want your package to arrive. You know the drill, you'll figure it out :)

As always thanks for reading along! If you'd like you can find me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - all @nailescapades :) I'll talk to you soon!

Stay polished<3

Malene

(Products were sent for review)

RuPaul's Drag Race 7 - Episode 6 // Miss Fame - Blood Drip Nails

Hi guirls! Today it's time for the sixth nail design in my RuPaul's Drag Race season 7 series. I'm truly enjoying this Drag Race nail art challenge ride so far, and I hope with all my heart you are too!

Ru Hollywood Stories was the title of the sixth episode. The main challenge this week once again tested out the queens' acting skills; they were to perform in teams of three telling the story "Whatever Happened to Merle Ginsberg?" from the perspectives of Merle (a previous judge on the show), Michelle Visage and RuPaul. What really caught my attention this episode was the runway theme for the main stage, Death Becomes Her.

I was excited to see if some of the queens would shock the heck out of us, think Sharon Needles, but I wasn't severely traumatized this time. I did however still get a bit frightened when I saw Violet Chachki walk down the runway; her waist was cinched so tight you wouldn't believe it, and I actually almost laughed when I realized she was walking with a portable oxygen tank beside her, because I really didn't expect that! Of course you get it immediately, the story behind her look was that she was wrapped up so tight in her corset that she literally 'couldn't breathe' anymore and died :) I loved it! Max's outfit was stunning as well, and I really felt there was a sad love story behind it. The heart in the glass box gave me major Snow White vibes, and it was beautiful, absolutely stunning.

Today's nail art though is based on another fierce queen - Miss Fame! I was living when I saw this beautiful kinda flapper girl look she rocked this episode! It was a fabulous mix of glamour and death; sparkly red blod drips on this perfectly shaped dress, and a giant knife covered in crystals right through her head! YAAAS! As soon as I saw those glittery beautiful blood spatters I knew I had to recreate 'em on my nails. Yes I sound creepy and absolutely mental when I say blood is beautiful, I KNOW, but so be it! :)

Tutorial is after the photos! :)

▲ How to do this ▲

1. Apply a layer of your favorite base coat to your nails and let dry.
2. Now put on a good coat of your best matte top coat and let it dry too.
3. Load up the brush that came with the sparkly red polish of your choice, and start painting random droplets between the tips and middle of your nails.
4. Connect the droplets to the tips, and fill in between 'em with your red polish. Remember to cap the free edge with the polish as well.
5. If you feel like you can still see part of your nail line, carefully add a bit of polish where needed.
6. Doesn't it look awesome so far? Anyway, when the polish is dry, I recommend applying a thin glossy top coat like Chanel's own, but only to the red drippy parts - or else we won't have that 3D-ish effect and really cool contrast between the matte natural nail and the wet-looking "blood" ;)
7. Clean up around your nails with a flat nail art brush or a q-tip dipped in acetone or remover. You might have spots on your skin from your polish, and sure it'll look gory and fit the theme, but we're going for a more glam version of gore today lol.
8. Feel really cool with blood dripping down your nails and just go scare someone! :D

Before I round off the blog post, I'm showing you some of my favorite visuals from this episode - some gifs I found here and there! :)

BTW! If you've already watched episode 7 and 8...and 9 of RuPaul's Drag Race season 7, then which looks did you like the most? Tell me here in the comments, on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter - all at @nailescapades :) Maybe they're my faves too!

Stay polished<3
Malene

RuPaul's Drag Race 7 - Episode 5 // Violet Chachki Holo Gradient

Hi everyone! Today it's time for the fifth nail design in my RuPaul's Drag Race season 7 series. I'm still behind schedule, but I'm trying my best to keep up with the time I have on hand :) The important thing in this case is to have fun with it and just enjoy doing a quite different and actually very challenging series on my blog. I know it's not for everyone, and that's also why I'm so happy you're still sticking with me! :)

The DESPY Awards was the title of the fifth episode. The gurls were grouped into pairs of 2 this time, and the winners of the mini-challenge, Katya and Mrs. Kasha Davis, received the honors of being the hosts of the made-up award show The DESPY Awards which the queens were challenged to put together. They got to anonymously nominate each other in selected categories during the preparations, and at the grand show the "winners" were called upon the stage to receive their award! Sexy, Sexy Drag Queen went to Miss Fame! Most Busted Queen - Jaidynn Diore Fierce. Shadiest Queen - the stunning Violet Chachki! Meatiest Tuck - Katya! :) The theme for the main stage event this week was of course Award Show Eleganza!

My top pick from this episode is Violet Chachki! FINALLY right!? :) Her look gave me so much life I can still not even deal, I completely swooned! The gradient holographic sparkliness was just breathtaking, and it instantly made me want to wear my nails that way! I noticed she didn't wear nails because the sleeves covered her hands like gloves, and it looked so classy and elegant. For my design today, I tried playing with the idea of extending the gradient pattern all the way to the nails.

▲ How to do this ▲

To make the design more versatile and possibly fit everyone no matter how big or small nails you have, I took the decision of using silver holographic glitter instead of red holographic rhinestones. My nails are tiny and I need the smallest of the smallest stones if they're going to fit me. Glitter is way easier in my situation - and they'll be locked in tight no matter how many death drops you're doing all over town! :) Just pick up your tweezers and apply the glitter while your base color is still tacky; depending on the drying time you might need to speed up a bit, because you will be placing the glitter individually if you're a perfectionist like me. Be sure to finish off by putting on a good thick fast drying top coat (I love Poshé!) - you can even do a second coat if you're really on a roll, and that's all! I cleaned up any mess I made around the cuticles, especially at the bottom of my nails - quoting Michelle Visage: I don't like messy bottoms lol. Now onto the photos! :)

The black base color is again Black Satin #219 from Chanel! I know I'm addicted, it's just so good! One coat and you're done! Love it; it's like a holy grail nail polish :) Anyway, I got the holographic glitter from Born Pretty Store :) I previously did a design with these sparkly thingies as they were sent to me for review back then. It's really great quality for the buck and I definitely want to buy more colors myself so I can do even more awesome and cool nail art!

I have a 10% off discount code for you to use on Born Pretty Store if you'd like - it's LSJ61 :)

Anyway, it's time for some of my favorite gifs from this episode :) Enjoy!

I couldn't stop smiling throughout Miss Fame's explanation of her love of chickens! It actually made sense later after all!!! :) Gotta love this chick...get it!?????!?!? Here's a Vine of her talking like a chicken!<3 You're welcome! ;)

If you've already watched episode 6 and 7...and 8 of RuPaul's Drag Race season 7, then which looks did you like the most? Tell me here in the comments, on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter - all at @nailescapades :) Maybe they're my faves too!

Stay polished<3
Malene