franken-polish "Woodland Whispers"

I remember making this polish as if in a dream; a vague, carefree wandering through color, without destination or objective.  The result was thoroughly surprising- a new favorite!  Looking back, I don't know what possessed me to mix teal, orchid pink, violet, and blackened olivine gold together, but I hope it possesses me again because DANG.  Sometimes your brain just needs to get out of the way and let the muse take over.

This polish makes me think of fairies in the forest, wings flickering covertly through leaves while tiny voices reach out to each other and intertwine in the mist.  Secretive.  Elusive.  Ethereal.

 

>>> woodland whispers <<<

 

franken-polish "Pumpkin Juice" {inspired by Harry Potter}

BOO!!!  It's been a while.  A year and a month and a week and a day, or so.  I wasn't actually planning on blogging again, truth be told.  I posted my last post three days before I bought my house, and everything just got wilder from there.  It's been an astonishing year!  A lot of things have changed, but my love of polish and color and wonderment hasn't.  I did discover a different angle on it, though, and that's what brings me back here.

My third Helmer was overflowing (I know, I know), and I had all this drugstore/mainstream/dupes/etc. polish that wasn't getting enough love.  I wondered, could they be upcycled, rediscovered, reborn?  I had long dreamed of creating my own lacquers...  And thus, yet another craftsy obsession ignited my imagination.

The frankening bug has hit me hard these past few weeks since I started.  I've made over forty frankens already... jeepers!  Halloween seems an appropriate occasion to debut my first franken polish monster, so without further ado...

>>> Pumpkin Juice <<<

*First Blogiversary + Birthday Giveaway!!!*

Hello and welcome, goddesses!!  August 13th was officially Tiny Twinklings' first blogiversary, hooray hooray!  I closed out that year with several other big firsts- graduating from college in June, starting my first real career job in August, etc.- and am starting this second one out with a few more... buying my first house, namely among them. (!!!!!  Closing in just a few short days- let the pandemonium ensue!)  And in two weeks I will also be a Birthday Princess, which I take very seriously ;)  Tee hee.

So in celebration of my blog's birthday and mine, I am so pleased to offer you the chance (many many chances, in fact!) to win a couple of my very favorite things: Rainbow Honey Mystery Bags!  They've made many monthly appearances here on Tiny Twinklings, and in fact my very first post ever featured the July Mystery Bag of last year.  I've been saving my double of the August 2014 Mystery Bag and Limited Edition polish all year, and together with this year's August 2015 Mystery Bag and featured Limited Edition polish complete our fabulous prize!

In total, that prize includes:

>> AUGUST 2014 MINI MYSTERY BAG <<

"Modern Hearts" nail polish

"488nm" nail polish

"Royal Fruits" perfume roller ball

"Royal Fruits" cuticle balm

"Royal Fruits" scented topcoat

"Summer Juice" body splash

>> AUGUST 2014 LIMITED EDITION<<

"Crystal" nail polish - full size!

>> AUGUST 2015 MINI MYSTERY BAG <<

"Mr. Saturn" nail polish

"Jelly Red Sandals" nail polish

"Fruit Juice" bath oil

"Fruit Juice" bath tea

"Fruit Juice" perfume roller ball 

"All Your Base" basecoat - full size!

>> AUGUST 2015 LIMITED EDITION <<

"Celestial Hydra" - full size!

The fabulous contents of these mystery bags pictured above are my personal (duplicate) set; yours awaits, brand new and unopened :)

Your prize!!!

This giveaway is open to U.S. addresses only.  The giveaway will be open for two weeks, starting now until Saturday, September 26, 2015 at 11:59PM Mountain Time.  You must be 18 years of age or older to enter, please.

First Blogiversary + Birthday Giveaway!!!

 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ♥️ <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

It has been by far too long since my last post, and I want to convey my sincere gratitude to my darling readers who have stuck through the droughts with me.  I'm looking forward to my life finally settling into place again... I've missed this!!  I've missed you!  Thank you so much for celebrating this crazy, exciting month with me ♥️  

Good luck, and enjoy!

XOXO
Marisa + Sprinklepuff

Rainbow Honey : April 2015 Mystery Bag unboxing & review

Hello, Twinklings!  Secret's out: it's the April Mystery Bag by Rainbow Honey!!  And if I were to take I guess, I would say that this month's bag is all about April showers... and it's glorious.  Make it rain, baby.  Make it rain GLITTER.

Also, darlings, do remember to enter my Springtime Giveaway for some exceptionally spring-y Sephora Formula X and Nails Inc. London polishes!!  I am very, very excited about finally hosting a giveaway, so give it a whirl and who knows, you might just win something!  WHEEEEeee FREE THINGS!!!!
 

"Thistle Tresses" + "Eidolon" // "Delphine" + "Thistle Tresses"

Rainbow Honey: March 2015 Mystery Bag!!

Hello, Twinklings!!  The Rainbow Honey store is open again, and with it comes a new Mystery Bag!!  As you know, I just love my mysteries, (ironically, I am obsessively re-watching Sherlock as I edit these photos) and must apologize for the lack of one last month...  the February mystery bag was fabulous!  (The fragrance Carnival Candy is my new love.)  Alas, time was not on my side :/  But we are back on track this month, and oh, what a great one it is shaping up to be!

Rainbow Honey : "Snow and Lights" & "Your Hand In Mine"

Happy February, loves!  As you most likely already know, Rainbow Honey opened the Vault with the dawn of the new year, and beautiful polishes feared lost forever were reawakened: the sparkling August 2013 limited edition Heisenberg, and some January 2014 limited editions, as we shall see today!!  I have been mooning over these very same, previously unattainable polishes for months, and was so delighted to hear that we would have a chance at them again.

And, as seen in the January 2015 Limited Editions... MACRO HAS LANDED.  For so long I have longed to share with you this intricate loveliness that words simply cannot fathom, and now that I have been so empowered, I am hard pressed to not simply MACRO ALL THE THINGS immediately.  The struggle is real, but then, so is the magic.

"Snow and Lights" + "Your Hand in Mine"

"Your Hand in Mine"

"Snow and Lights"

❄ * ♥ * ❄ * ♥ * ❄

Rainbow Honey : January Limited Edition "Fallen Snow" & "Icelandia"

Happy weekend, Twinklings!!  I have a very special duo to share with you before this month is complete: Rainbow Honey's January Limited Editions!  If you have been twinkling along with Sprinklepuff and I for a while now, I have already impressed upon you that I love love love snow and ice.  My grandma is a Swedish/Norwegian Minnasotan, and she always says that I'm her winter girl, which she proudly declares that I inherited from her and our Scandinavian roots.  Anyways, you can imagine then how I fell over myself to acquire this month's limited edition set, which includes polish/perfume/scented topcoat all named "Fallen Snow".  And that would be good enough, but there is also a heartstopping glitter topcoat, a crystalline confection crowned none other than "Icelandia".

Iceland.

It is my favorite country that I have yet visited, not only for its mystical beauty, but for the ethereal, otherworldly energy which pervades each fiber of its culture, history, language, and landscape.  The Land of Fire and Ice is, indeed, one of fantastical contrasts, but none so evocative in my opinion as the fascinating synergy between modern and ancient Iceland; how one thousand years of history is so tangibly present, even as Iceland surges forth as one of the most socially and technologically progressive countries on earth.

There is so much to be said for the small island country, the northernmost capital in the world with its frigid Atlantic moat.  (Someday, I will have to tell you about Icelandic elves.)  But that will have to wait for another time, because I have other news: MACRO HAS LANDED.  Not in time to capture these polishes in action, unfortunately, but hopefully these bottle shots will help make sense of the shimmering spectacles I have herethereto attempted in futility to illustrate for you in wholly insufficient words.

"Fallen Snow" & "Icelandia", macro style!!

"Icelandia" over "Fallen Snow"

mountains across the fjord: Eyjafjör∂ur

While sifting through memories, this moment en route to the horse stables just outside of Akureyri, Iceland felt eminently resonant with the crystalline triangles and shimmering aquatic quality of this pair. 

❄ * ♥ * ❄ * ♥ * ❄

Rainbow Honey: January 2015 Mystery Bag!

Hello there, fairy friends!  Long time, no nothing, I know.  It has been a busy and wonderful week, exploring Portland and the Oregon Coast with my darling man, but as he returned to Montana so did I return to reality (including the dwindling window of primary relevance for this post, haha).  I now have both a mystery bag subscription and my change-of-address in order, so next month should be much more timely, Twinklings!!  And so, on that harried note, I present the January Mystery Bag (WHEEE)!!

Candy Lacquer "Cupcake Blizzard"

Happy day, darlings!  It is a happy happy day indeed here in Portland, for my boyfriend flies in this afternoon just in time for our anniversary!!!  In the meantime I have been studio-ing it up (I was surprised to realize I was there for 10 hours yesterday... usually my 12-15 hour days don't start until a few weeks out yet), trying to get schome schtuff done to clear out this week for some adventures in Oregon.  I haven't had a studio since I started this blog, and oy, I forgotten how terrible your nails get after hours in the woodshop and studio, building (and sanding!) models.  Right now I'm building my urban context site model, and I have been learning the hard way that if I want to have any shot at posting a manicure, I'm going to have to snap it before leaving the house because it sure won't be picture pretty once I leave the White Stag (our beautiful historical architecture building, on the same block as the Portland Oregon sign!).

The concept of 'studio' is often confusing to those outside architecture or design fields, so allow me to elaborate: studio is the core course form of the architecture education.  It is the class in which we create our major architecture projects (one building per term, in Oregon), and is worth more credits than a normal lecture class but demands infinitely more hours.  These projects are very personal to us, are the building blocks of our portfolios, and so studio essentially owns your soul until final review.  That's the gist of it, anyway :)

So anyways, nail polish: this is one that I've wanted to share with some of its collection fellows but then I keep forgetting to glitter up the undies I had chosen before I remove a manicure, so argghhh fine here it is anyway.  Candy Lacquer released all manner of fun glitter for this holiday, and this is one that I didn't even need to see to love; I heard the name and was like come to me, you little bottle of perfection.

 

❄ * ♥ * ❄ * ♥ * ❄

Rainbow Honey "Gingered!"

 Hello there, Twinklings!!  Rainbow Honey's December limited edition polish hasn't made it onto the interwebs much yet, though I can't for the life of me think why.  I mean look at it; it's almost like sitting cozy by the fireside, wherever you are.

 

"Gingered!" is a tiger lily metallic, a molten copper suffused with fierce orange tones and accented with flakie sparks of gold and peony pink.  Effervescent, hot, and sharply sweet, this polish really captures the keen, delicious burn of candied ginger.  Not to mention, it is scented like gingerbread!!!!  The fragrance perseveres through topcoat, so no worries on that count, and for the most part smells delectably like warm, sweetly spiced gingerbread cookies. 

Rainbow Honey "Frozen Flame" [ "Gingered!" + "Mint Flavor" ]

Before Christmas, Rainbow Honey hosted a winter/holiday mani contest (just a fun, random selection type contest using Rainbow Honey polishes), so this was my entry, and nail look for the Winter Solstice!  For this mani I was inspired by Anna's act of true love in Frozen (!!), which as we know has been a recurring theme here on Tiny Twinklings {Frozen swatch-athon conclusion here in case you missed it}.  I thought "Frozen Flame" in itself was a most perfect representation of the moment when Anna's cursed, frozen heart is thawed, and her copper-haired self glows to life again like an irrepressible flame.

love thaws a frozen heart

Rainbow Honey : December Mystery Bag!

Happy Sunday, darlings!  Another month, another mystery bag!  This is a special month for the mini mysteries, because Rainbow Honey has new mini bottles and they are AWESOME!  The mini polishes used to be 5mL, but they have now upgraded to 7.5mL, though the price is set to remain the same!  I mean, when was the last time that your favorite product experienced a relative price DECREASE?  Fabulous.  Another thing I love about these minis is that the long-handled, regular-sized brush does not compromise polishing comfort or efficacy like many tiny polish bottles out there, cute and fairy-like as they are.

This month's mystery bag was inspired by "fictional characters of Russian literature", which is just brilliant for a holiday set.  It makes me think of the Russian lacquerware you see in Alaska, so deep and intense and fantastical, hand-painted with folkloric scenes of legendary figures riding swans and reindeer-drawn sleighs through gold gilt forests.  I think this mystery bag definitely captures that storytelling spirit of grand, mythological splendor!

Rainbow Honey : Holiday 2014 "Honey Gold" & "Don't Gingersnap At Me!"

Hello, honey bunnies!!  It was a Rainbow Honey nail mail day for me (HOORAY) and all these holiday goodie-inspired pretties are putting me in the mood for baking.  My mom's heritage is solid Scandinavian so around here when the snow begins to fall, sandbakkels are in the making.  Omm nom nom.

You may recognize this "Don't Gingersnap At Me!" from last year's holiday selection, though thankfully for those of us who missed it, those three festive holiday glitters have made a return this season, in complement to this year's holiday offerings, "Honey Gold" & "Gingered!".  This holiday is all about luxurious, spiced metals, and I'm not really sure whether to feel hungry or glamorous so I'm embracing a confused mélange of both.

Rainbow Honey: November Mystery Bag swatches and sniffs

Here it is, darlings!!  This mystery bag is a most perfect ensemble of hue, scent, and product "to get ready to face the colder months!"  I succumbed to the flu this weekend { :( }, and receiving this on the other end felt like a care package curated with get-well vibes!  I also am loving this mystery bag because it reminds me very much of my beloved Copenhagen, which is fitting as it was inspired by "modern life and our planet's natural light show".  Yellow bricks, black lacquer roofs, cozy sweaters, warm tea, the many harbors and canals, the purity of Nordic architecture, and of course, the golden candlelight so emblematic of hygge.  Jeg elsker dig, København.

Rainbow Honey November Mystery Bag

Rainbow Honey "Aurora" + "Mint Flavor"

Rainbow Honey : The Yokai Collection : "Kitsune" & "Hebi" swatches

Hello, goddesses!  Many of you have been waaaiiiiting and waaiiiting for the Yokai, and as of this month they have returned, and doubled!  Last fall Rainbow Honey released the first three Yokai, and I'm so happy that you're here to help me welcome Part 2.  In case you were wondering, yokai are "a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore".  The word yokai comes from the kanji for "bewitching, attractive, calamity" and "appartion, mystery, suspicious". (Thanks, Wikipedia.)  The pair I have for you today deliver on all counts (especially attractive)!  I thought they made particularly bewitching couples when paired with some of the polishes from the September Mystery Bag <3

Rainbow Honey : The Yokai + guests from the September Mystery Bag

Rainbow Honey : Keep Believing Collection swatches {October Limited Edition for Breast Cancer Awareness Month}

Happy Monday, mes belles!!  Well into October we may be, but Oregon has no inkling of it.  In fact, the rosebush in front of my house is now blooming!  Look how happy it is, with absolutely no perception that it is, in fact, autumn.  Any rose connoisseurs out there who know the name of this beauty, all dappled in gold?  It is fantastically fragrant; I sniff a lot of roses (I take the phrase super literally) and this one is very strong, and honey sweet.  On Saturday morning I was out front, blissed out, smelling this rose and thinking how I would like a fragrance to capture this exactly.  A fateful thought, that, because only a few hours later my Rainbow Honey package arrived, and tucked in with my mystery bag was the entire Keep Believing Collection... and the Rainbow Honey Lab had already done it.  <3

Rainbow Honey "Keep Believing" Collection - roses and pink and sparkles, oh my!

Rainbow Honey : October Mystery Bag!!! swatches & sniffings

IT'S HERE AT LAST!!  Two weeks of bated breath, and I could've hugged the postman when he finally delivered the Rainbow Honey October Mystery Bag a few hours ago.  I guess it was only two weeks; it felt like an absolute eternity.  I have no patience at all anymore, it seems; and yet I look forward to the Rainbow Honey Mystery Bags so keenly that I can't help it!!  But it's here, and it most assuredly satisfied the anticipation!

Unboxing the Rainbow Honey October Mystery Bag!

...

Rainbow Honey: "Calabaza" September Limited Edition Polish & "Great Pumpkin" Scented Topcoat

Well hello there, Twinklings!!  I hope you've been having a beautiful weekend <3  It's been nothing but glorious sunshine and blue skies here, with a bit of autumn spice in the air.  I think this "Calabaza" mani, scented with "Great Pumpkin", pretty much sums it up.

Rainbow Honey: September Mystery Bag!!

It's here!  IT'S HERE!!  I rode like the wind to get home and see this month's mystery bag, which I've been anxiously anticipating for one whole week (I'm so very impatient about shipping these days, but particularly so for my Rainbow Honey parcels <3 ).  I'm sure I looked ridiculous- that is to say, ridiculously CUTE- pedaling furiously along on my mom's old pink bicycle.  Or vintage, I should say, for the fashionable ones among us; my boyfriend informs me that an object becomes vintage at 25 years of age, and the Flamingo certainly qualifies.  It legitimately predates my existence.  It's faded and a bit tired, and I love it so much.

The Rainbow Honey Lab has churned out a warm welcome for September with autumnal scents and vibrant hues; this mystery bag will put you in the mood for crisp apple cider and lolloping through leaves!  (But just wait until you see this month's limited editions!!)

Rainbow Honey : September Mystery Bag

Rainbow Honey "Asteroid B", "Sugarberries", "Salacia"

Rainbow Honey: "Pink Lemonade" + "Watermelon Fizz"

Today the summer heat flicked off like a light switch, and in the deepening chill I abruptly noticed the reddening leaves, and realized that my baby aspen tree isn't dying after all.  Simply, fall has come.  But I'm not done with this season quite yet... only after my favorite happy summer colors have had their day will I concede to the brooding shadowed tones of autumn.  But for just a second, let's rewind a bit back to sunshine and lawn chairs and sparkling cold drinks, and no cares in the world... :)

Nothing captures the feeling so well as "Pink Lemonade" and "Watermelon Fizz" of Rainbow Honey's Summer Treats collection.  Behold:

Rainbow Honey: Summer Treats Collection