franken-polish "Laughing Aspen"

Happy Fall-Back Day!  No matter how many times it happens, I still find this day so bewildering.  It's such a strange thing to do, really.

I've been very much into the seasonal vibe when I've been frankening so far, and one of my favorite things about autumn are yellow aspen leaves!  We don't have terribly many aspen or birch or poplars right here in Western Montana, but I treasure the golden autumn laughter of each one.  Aspen are my very favorite trees, and I've been stockpiling an improbably long list of polish ideas inspired by their autumnal state alone.  This is my first attempt, guided and inspired by the image below!

"Autumn Gold" by Adam Schallau

>>> Laughing Aspen <<<

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 "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. 

Candy Lacquer "Rudolph's Rum Punch"

Happy Monday, Twinklings!  Three days to Christmas... is everyone ready??  I am patently not; the season has really blazed by for me, and seeing as how I'm currently in Illinois for my grandma's funeral, we can anticipate that Christmas is going to be something of an improvised affair, but while I love traditions I'm surprisingly okay with that.  After all, these blank slate occasions are when new traditions are made.

❄ * ♥ * ❄ * ♥ * ❄

Now that Rudolph is the most popular reindeer, I'm sure he throws simply smashing Christmas parties (responsibly, and after all the toys are delivered to all the girls and boys, of course).  Thankfully, Candy Lacquer has bottled up the holiday spirits (tee hee) so that even those of us who can't conveniently attend North Pole soirées might appreciate the warmth and cheer of a good rum punch ;)

Lucky 13 Lacquer "Some People Are Worth Melting For" {Frozen: Day 7}

"Olaf, you're melting!" - Anna

"Some people are worth melting for.  ❄ *♥* ❄

...Ehhh just maybe not right this second!" - Olaf

Lucky 13 Lacquer "Some People Are Worth Melting For" [Revlon "Northern Lights"]

"...just maybe not right this second!"

"Some People Are Worth Melting For" is a snowman glitterbomb full of black hexes, golden orange triangles, and pearlescent white glitters in squares and hex glitters, large and small.  This composition is pure genius.  I mean, even if you didn't know about the Olaf reference this is the perfect illustration of a melted snowman.  It should be woebegone, but there is something so happy about this mani!!  It makes my fingers want to do a twinkle dance ❄

Lucky 13 Lacquer "Some People Are Worth Melting For" [Revlon "Northern Lights"]

Lucky 13 Lacquer : "An Act of True Love" & "Let It Go" {Frozen: Day 4}

"Let it go, let it go // I am one with the wind and sky // Let it go, let it go // You'll never see me cry

Here I stand // and here I'll stay // Let the storm rage on!"

Lucky 13 Lacquer is a "nerdy, nostalgic, and unique nail polish brand" handmade in Vancouver, Washington- which to me means HOORAY, my orders will arrive INSTANTLY when I'm living in Portland, Oregon for six months starting January!  :)  Lucky 13 Lacquer makes a boatload of amazing lacquers for us nerds, but I about fainted from happiness when Kyoti Jess announced the *Let It Go* collection for winter 2014.

Elsa & Anna

Gloss n' Sparkle "Can't Even Breathe" ... and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRACIE!!!

Today is a very, very special day indeed: the birthday of my best friend for 16 years (!)!!  We used to joke that we'd still have abs if we didn't do a single crunch, because when we're together we tend to spiral into a haze of such silliness that we literally can't even breathe for laughter.  Just being with my Grace is as good as a cocktail (and probably better!) for feeling giddy and invincible.  Twin Vulpixes on the playground in second grade (make that twin everything, everywhere, all through elementary school).  Pizza dough.  Regularly running down the street as "fat ladies" (sorry, Sara, for ruthlessly stretching out your non-fat-lady yoga clothes with pillows.  You are the best).  Countless home videos, including a memorable cooking tutorial in which I, Granny Pudge, capture Grace, space alien, from under the trampoline/UFO for assistance in 1) reheating canned split pea soup, and 2) botching a box-mix chocolate cake.  Meeting halfway.  Randomly finding loose wolf dogs all over the place, and making friends with them (after recovering from terror).  Sleepovers- billions of sleepovers.  Taking pride in being the most aggressive forwards in Y Soccer; no seriously, we were like wild animals.  Accidental early morning mall walking.  Hair crimping.  Bowling like monsters with seizures- has it been twice now that you've managed to get your ball two lanes over??  Unprecedented.  Y dances, and those butch smoking girls that about ended us for our reckless cheek.  Tirelessly trolling CVS for magical serum to make my frizz go away (just ditch the Suave shampoo and you'll be golden).  A certain egg-like person, and the drama that is middle school orchestra.  That one time we watched that terrible bachelor reality show Flavor of Love for six straight hours, and were like, what just happened to us?  Battling through the convoluted mess that is high school.  The Notebook.  Boyfriends.  Foot baths.  Fish bowls.  Matching color obsessions.  Pretending to be grown up... instantly regressing whenever we are reunited.  I love you, girl.  I've given it my best shot, but really... there are no words.

* XOXO *

Gloss n' Sparkle "Can't Even Breathe"

Rocky Horror Reprise: Picture Polish "Rocky" & Sally Hansen "Lava"

Let's do the Time Warp again!  And again!  And while we're at it, let's do Rocky nails, again!  Just about a week ago, I posted my first Rocky Horror inspired mani with Picture Polish "Rocky" and M.A.C. "Formidable!".  Only, it was all a decoy!  At the end, I give a shoutout to my boyfriend and wish him luck as Rocky that evening, regretful that I would miss yet another of his performances... which he thought was so cute, yet little did he know that I was already on my way!!  SURPRISE!  It's an 11 hour drive so this does not happen during the semester; not once, in four years of college... until now.  I just couldn't miss this.  I almost managed to pull off the surprise, too ;)  The man anticipates everything, I tell you.  It's unfathomable.  But for the most part he was not expecting that I would show up at his door after his first performance, ticket in hand for the second, and with lots of long awaited lovies :)

In my previous post I bleat piteously of my chagrin at missing the M.A.C. Rocky Horror polishes, namely "Bad Fairy", because it is so similar to one of Kellen's favorite polishes: Sally Hansen "Lava".  However, Jen of The Polishaholic assures us that "Lava" is just as good, if not better, than "Bad Fairy", so I got over it and proceeded to paint one of my favorite glitter manicures ever.  Pictures do it no justice whatsoever (in part because I was a bit in a hurry, getting back to Montana and all ;) ).  The molten pink-orange duochrome shift, the elemental gold and silver glitters, the sizzle and sparks... oohlala, it was a sexy thing.  You know, like Rocky.

Picture Polish "Rocky" + Sally Hansen "Lava"

Picture Polish "Rocky" + Sally Hansen "Lava"

Purrrrrr, smokin' hot, just like suntanned muscles and golden hotpants.  Admittedly, it's not always easy being the girlfriend of a fantasy, the icon of masculine perfection; but he was unbelievable, and not just because he was gorgeous.  I always assumed he was good at the whole acting thing, but I had no concept of just how good... finally seeing it left me breathless (no seriously, I actually hyperventilated).  The singing, the dancing, that silly Rocky innocence, the flexing... honey, you really were magnificent.  I am so, so proud <3

Well so anyways, you can pick up this "Rocky" perfection at Picture Polish or Llarowe, and "Lava" has been going on clearance everywhere Sally Hansen is sold for a while now...  but naturally you can always track it down on Amazon or wherever :)

Oh, and because I know you're already panting for more... here's that "Rocky" and "Formidable!" fierceness, mattified, no less!

Picture Polish "Rocky" + M.A.C. "Formidable!"

And, as ever, Twinklings: don't dream it, be it.

XOXO
Marisa + Sprinklepuff

Candy Lacquer : Halloween 2014 "Bloody Unicorn" swatches

Happy Funday, Twinklings!  Just a few days now to Halloween; that in itself is kinda scary!  How time flies.  Now seems a fine time to look at some more spooky polishes, don't you think??  You might remember "Pumpkin Fairy" from back in September, and "Bloody Unicorn" is part of the same Halloween collection!

Candy Lacquer "Bloody Unicorn"

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 : 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!

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Different Dimension : "Ghostbusters" Halloween 2014 swatches

Boo!!  Are you getting excited for Halloween yet??!  Today's polish is more glitzy than ghoulish, but it still fits the bill for the season and occasion.  It's my first time wearing Different Dimension, an indie that I have been drooling after since 2012, and I have FALL-en in love!  Teehee,  the punniness :)

Different Dimension "Ghostbusters"

Candy Lacquer : Halloween 2014 : "Pumpkin Fairy"

Hello, lovelies!!  In the spirit of the deepening autumn, I have a darling polish for you today from Candy Lacquer's 2014 Halloween collection.  Happy news: they are glow-in-the-dark for extra spooky fabulousness!  Naturally, my immediate favorite of the bunch was "Pumpkin Fairy".  I just love the idea of a pumpkin fairy.  I imagine her plump and motherly, and never without muffins or pies or warm creamy soup for anyone who wanders by her quaint thatched cottage nestled in the autumn woods.  I think she would knit cozy things with thick plooshy wool, and have a fat little Welsh corgi.  Her garden patch would always have at least one glossy, fat pumpkin at the ready, just in case some damsel in distress should need a carriage for the royal ball.  And she would never be seen without this polish on her nails!

Candy Lacquer "Pumpkin Fairy"

KBShimmer : Fall 2014 : Rust No One, Flannel Surfing, & How Do You Dune?

Happy Fall Equinox / first (official) day of autumn, Twinklings!!!  I hope it was as beautiful for you as it was here.  For me, autumn is the season most saturated with sensations, wonders, and delights.  There is nothing like crisp mountain air, color-soaked leaves, and pumpkin-spiced scents to make you feel alive.  I can't think of a better way to celebrate than with some of KBShimmer's utterly beautiful and unique new nail polishes for fall!

KBShimmer Fall 2014

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SpaRitual : Explore Collection [nail art]

SpaRitual's Explore Collection was inspired by adventures in the great North American forests, and by "bright flashes of color that punctuate the rich, earth colors of a well-worn hiking trail".  I love hiking my Montana mountains, and while this color palette is completely unexpected, it also completely makes sense.  Rather than a record of the literal hues of a forest, this collection is a powerful abstraction of the emotional experience of exploration.  For SpaRitual to communicate a feeling without relying on an image association indicates true color mastery, and with that I really cannot give higher praise to their creative team.

SpaRitual Explore Collection

While this collection was released for Spring 2014, there are two reasons I bring it up now; first, because *right now* is absolutely the best time to hike Glacier National Park, the crown jewel of this country's great parks.  And I think the Explore Collection is perfect for the occasion; and anyways, I feel the vibrancy of this collection is perfectly suited for the transition from late summer to early autumn.  The second reason is that these are HALF OFF on the Ulta website!!  Wheee!!  So in my mind, now is the time if ever to pick these up :)

SpaRitual Explore Collection [nail art]

Icing: Liquid Sugars

Happy September, lovelies!!  I didn't even think about it at the time but I guess it's fitting start to the month that for Labor Day the famdamily, the boyfriend and I went sapphire mining.  It's my birthday month (!!) and therefore my gemstone, so I was delighted with all the little sapphires we found!   I don't know that there are any cuttable stones amongst our tiny treasures but it was still a good time.

I randomly went in to Icing the other day, lured in by a $2 sign on the nail polishes (and you know I can resist neither a sale nor a closer look at a lacquer), and left with more than a few goodies... some of which I'll share with you today!  Icing seems to have revamped their entire polish offering in packaging and formula.  They have two lines that make kind of lame attempts to mimick the stylings of Butter London and Essie; honestly, a more sophisticated typeface would probably do the trick.  But that's neither here nor there.  I am immensely relieved that the noxious chemical fumes of a few years ago are gone, I could feel my braincells face-planting every time I opened a bottle from back then.  I didn't feel like I could expect much from a two dollar bottle of nail polish, but I was pleasantly surprised.

...

Pixie Dust, Gumdrops, Liquid Sand, Sugar Coat, Liquid Sugar, Liquid Pixie, Sandy Gumdrops... whatever works anymore.  The texture real estate was quite flooded for a while there and yet these manage to be unique.  The pearlescent base twinkling with tiny shimmers and iridescent glitters are factors that I haven't seen before from a texture collection, and the look does have a sweet, confectionery effect.  They are also scented, which is an interesting feature; though based on the names you would think the scent would be predictable, yet I was surprised each time.  I used four coats for all the swatches, as these do go one quite sheer, though the brush is nice and wide so application was quick.  Watch out for denting, though!  Best not to be too impatient with these four-coaters. 

Icing Liquid Sugar [Peppermint, Lollipop, Dreamsicle]

Rainbow Honey: Sea Star

Hello, sunshines!! What's on your nails this fabulous Labor Day weekend? It's summer's last big hurrah, though personally I'll be holding out right up until the autumn equinox September 23. I do love fall, but fall means school, and school means Oregon, and Oregon is great but it's not Montana. So in keeping with the spirit of summer I went for beachy and bright with Rainbow Honey's June Limited Edition, "Sea Star". The sun has been flighty the past couple days so when the mountain lit up at 7:30pm I made like Eep Crood and ran then climbed to catch the sunshine :)

Rainbow Honey "Sea Star" on Mt. Sentinel

Rainbow Honey "Sea Star"