Hit Polish sneak peek swatches

***Products sent for review purposes. All opinions are my own. *** Today I have some great polishes to share with you from one of my favorite shops, Hit Polish. Rachel is a glitter mixing mastermind, she has also branched out into crelly and jelly polishes as well. Her polishes are always so versatile, which I love. The formula on her polishes is great, one of the best I've found. Customer service has always been top notch. I was lucky enough to be sent 2 polishes to review. I have Elusive Blues and Snow Cones & Sprinkles. Elusive Blues is a glitter topcoat that has multiple size blue glitter, crimson red, purple square, pastel green, and white glitters.

Snow Cones & Sprinkles is an amazingly awesome fun polish. It is also a glitter topcoat. It has a great rainbow mix of mini bar glitters. I would maybe even call them hairy glitter. It also has a mix of pink, yellow, and blue hex glitters. This polish is so much fun, I can't help but smile every single time I look at it. Hands down one of my top 3 favorite polishes from Hit Polish!!! Hit Polish also has a new website. You can find it at www.hitpolish.com, I believe it will have a grand opening on the 15th of this month. You will find a few polishes that are exclusive to the new website too. Don't forget to check out their Facebook fan page for updates as well. I apologize for not being able to link straight to the shop and website for you. I only have internet on my phone at the time. I am hoping and praying that my pictures post here, but am having a heck of a time figuring it out. I give these polishes 5 cupcakes! What are your favorite polishes from Hit Polish? Which of these 2 polishes do you prefer? Peace, Love, and Cupcakes!

Northern Star Polish review and swatches

*Products were sent for review purposes, All opinions are my own.*

Today I have one of the polish reviews I had promised you. This is a new to me polish company that has been in business for a little over a year now. I had seen swatches and drooled over some of the polishes. I have no clue why I had never made a purchase, but I know there will be in the future.

Northern Star uses a 4 free base, solvent resistant glitters, and potential products are tested for months before being released. Polishes come in two sizes: Petites are 9ml for $6.00 and Full sizes are 15ml for $9.00. 

I was sent TRUSTNO1, Wuv, Twoo Wuv, and Sunburst to review. 

TRUSTNO1- A purple base with electric blue flakie glitter. It was inspired by the X-Files.

This is a gorgeous polish! I would say it leans toward being a blurple shade and is what I would consider a jelly polish. The electric blue flakies look like they are micro flakies and really make this polish dazzle, especially in sunlight. I love this polish and can't get enough of it, it makes a great summer time polish. I used 2 coats and got full coverage, no streaks, no hassle or fuss with it at all. Hopefully you can see the flakies in the picture above, it is really hard to capture them.This is a new polish to the Northern Star Polish lineup that will be available on June 28th at noon CST.

Wuv, Twoo Wuv is a milky based polish with pink, red, silver and white glitters in different sizes. It was inspired by The Princess Bride.

This is again a no fuss polish, the glitters went on evenly for me. I did have to use 3 coats to get full coverage, you could also use a white coat underneath to keep from having to do so many coats. Above I used 2 coats of  Wuv, Twoo Wuv alone and then I used 1 coat over OPI Big Apple Red and I really liked how it came out.

Last but not least we have Sunburst. Sunburst is a a glitterbomb that is a burst of bling with glitters in gold, holographic gold, orange, neon yellow plus a dash of silver and pink.

 

I would call this a glitter explosion of epicness.There are different sizes of hex glitter, there are micro glitter and bar glitter. Before someone says they hate bar glitter, give this a chance, it isn't alot of it in there at all. This is definitely a bling filled polish that will turn heads. My favorite part of this polish is those micro glitters that sit off in the background, they bring something extra special to this polish. I really like it alone, but when I put it over a black polish O.M.G! I think it was a marriage made in glitter heaven. I recommend dabbing the glitters on with this one, the glitters seemed to have a mind of their own and of course their idea of perfection was different than mine LOL. It is definitely worth the little bit of extra work though.I also had to use 2 coats of Seche Vite to even it out.

In the pictures above I used 3 coats of  Wuv, Twoo Wuv, 2 coats of TRUSTNO1 and 1 coat of Sunburst on the ring finger, 2 coats on my thumb. You also get to see my little nubbin nail, it was broken down into the nail bed. OUCH!!! I refuse to chop all the others off to match it better though. I'll probably give in soon and do it. The wear time of this polish was great, I had it on for 3 days before taking it off. I had no chips and no tip wear. The formula was terrific with these polishes. This is a company to keep your eyes on, I can see good things happening for them!!!

You can find the Northern Star Polish shop here.

You can find the fan page here. 

The shop is closed right now while Kristin get all prepared for the launch of her new colors at 12pm CST on June 28th. Ohhhh I almost forgot to tell you about the cuticle oil that was included in my package. This stuff smells so good, it is Tangerine Honeysuckle. I don't believe this is sold in the shop, I think a bottle is included in with every purchase as a thank you. I am having great results while using it. I probably apply it too often, but I love the scent and can't resist. 

I am rating this polish based on packaging, formula, and wear. I can't rate customer service since this was a blogger pack, but Kristin has been a joy to work with. I give Northern Star Polish..... 5 cupcakes. 

Have you tried Northern Star Polish? If so, what are your favorite polishes?

Peace, Love and Cupcakes!

Friday Freakout

Today I have a couple of freak outs to share with you. One is good, the other... not so much. It is actually an update on my order with Evil Shades Cosmetics. 


I am so excited to tell you that I was chosen by 2 indie polish companies to review their polishes. I am so nervous about my pics and, well everything. I just hope that I do a good job for these companies. One is a new to me company, the other is one of my top 3 favorite indie companies. I have already received a package from one of them and will be posting very soon. I think you will fall in love with this company as I have. The other company will be sending a package within the next day or so. Be on the lookout for these upcoming posts. I will also be making a post featuring a polish from Ruby White Tips. I was so excited to open this polish up this afternoon and see the color in person. That post will be coming up real soon too.

I am not so excited to give you this update on my order with Evil Shades Cosmetics. Unfortunately I still have had no response to my message asking for a tracking# or refund if one could not be provided. Within 24 hours of my first post (which you can find here) the Evil Shades site was suspended. This is the explanation that was given via the Evil Shades fan page. "The website is shut down temporarily so I can get all of the orders remaining out and reorganize. I am no longer full time running ES, I am looking for outside work since the move so I need to reduce things to a more manageable size until I can come back to full time at ES." After speaking to a few people I have been told by all I spoke with that you can not suspend your own account with the platform Evil Shades uses. If an account is suspended it is due to either non payment by the company to keep their site going or due to complaints backed up with proof of bad business practices. Now I have to say that I am unsure which reason that the account has been suspended, but the fact remains it is indeed suspended. I have not received my order, no refund, no anything from Evil Shades. I spoke with Paypal concerning my purchase and according to the rep I spoke with, there is nothing they can do to correct the situation. I already knew I wouldn't get a refund because of the 45 day limit they have, but reporting the problems I am having was important I was told by the rep. I was also told to let people know that if they are still able to, they need to file for a refund with them. There is also this post that I think you should read about this situation.

Now how about a cute picture to brighten the mood? This is our Sophie girl checking out my orange mani a few months back. She is such a nosy girl, but we love her!

Peace, Love and Cupcakes!

Buyers Warning- Evil Shades Cosmetics

This is a very hard post for me to write. I have struggled with the decision to do this for several days now, but it is something I feel has to be done. The reason I feel I need to make this post is that I have recommended this company to many people and I can not in good faith do this anymore. This is not a personal attack against the owner, this is a warning and my personal experience with the company. The reason it is so hard, well there are a few reasons. Mainly it is because the owner and I have been very close friends for a few years now, and I don't want to scare people away from indie/handmade products and companies. 

Back in November of 2012 I placed a small order with Evil Shades Cosmetics, up to this day I have not received my order or a refund. I do take part of the blame for the length of time though. I never mentioned it to Andrea due to the fact that we were friends and I knew she would get to it as soon as she could. Well, I started seeing posts on the fan page of others who were not getting their orders, not having messages replied to and my senses started telling me something was not right here. Some of the reasons given were postal thefts, lost packages, email provider issues, cart problems on the sight, and sicknesses. As soon as customers started making waves on the business page the page was set to where nobody could post to the page, only comment on existing posts. Even then there have been numerous unhappy customers comments deleted from posts. 

I can not and will not speak for others, but I do personally know of several others who have placed orders with Evil Shades or have bought products unrelated to the company that have not gotten their orders, other items or refunds. I personally finally messaged Evil Shades on May 17th when it was said that everyone's orders had been taken care of or refunded. I was a tad bit upset that after all this time I hadn't even been acknowledged. The response I got to my message said basically, why didn't you say something sooner it was marked as sent, that it would go out by Monday or Tuesday. Eight days later when I had still received nothing I messaged again. I was past a bit upset, I was being lied to and to top it off the company sent out an email for a Memorial Day sale. Not a cool move in my opinion when so many orders have not been filled or refunds given. So on the 26th the answers I was given were this... the email went out by mistake and the sale was cancelled, refunds not given because a payment had been taken out of the paypal account. I was also told that she was finishing up orders as she got the info or refilling them, that she was closing the cart down that  week while she tried to find all of the in-wait orders and get them out. Though I was told that some of those saying they haven't gotten theirs have already been refunded months ago and a couple have been sent replacements. There was no mention of my order sadly. I checked the site several times and it remained open to orders. I messaged Evil Shades again on the 3rd asking for a tracking number for my order and told them that if one could not be provided that I wanted a refund. The company or one of their page admins read the message within 30 minutes and I have still not gotten a response from them. The cart is still presently open for taking orders.

I urge anyone who has pending orders with Evil Shades to file for a refund if you are within the 45 day time frame. If you are past that time frame you can file a claim with paypal letting them know of the bad business practices. I am obviously past my 45 days to file for a refund with paypal, but tomorrow morning I will be filing a claim with them against Evil Shades Cosmetics. I also encourage you to let others know what is going on with this company so that they don't spend money and get left sitting with nothing to show for it. This kind of business practice is not right and it is not fair to the customers or those who have recommended them to others. I can not and will not support any business who thinks so little of their customers!!! If you or anyone you know want to share your experience of missing orders/no refunds, please feel free to leave a comment below.

I do want to say a few other things concerning indie/handmade companies. I will continue to love and support indie/handmade companies even after this incident. There are still great indies out there for you to try, support and love. I do strongly suggest that you research companies before purchasing from them. Google is your friend, makeup groups are your friend, and watching fan pages is always a good idea. If something seems off to you...ask around. If you place an order with a company and feel you are getting the runaround, file for a refund or cancel your order, don't let that 45 day time limit with paypal pass you by. I myself know this and yes I still let it happen to me. I have a soft heart and try to give friends the benefit of the doubt. I have to now tell myself that once I place an order with a company and have paid that I am a customer. As a customer I deserve the same treatment concerning my order as any other customer. As with any other company, if I am not satisfied with the products or service, I have every right to a refund/replacement and to let others know about my experience. I know that is hard to do for myself and probably many others too though. My sincere hope is that everyone who has pending orders or wanting refunds will have this all made right soon.

Peace, Love and Cupcakes!

Friday Freak Out

*I have nothing to disclose for this post.*

Today my brain is on maximum overdrive. It is bouncing from one thing to another and I can't make it stop, so I thought maybe writing a post with some of my thoughts may help. If not, I guess I'll sit here with my wheels spinning LOL. 

One of the biggest thing on my mind is the question why. Why do good people have to hurt? I know, I know, to question these things is suppose to be wrong. Me being human, I ask anyway. Let me give some examples of the things I am asking why about. 

Why would a young husband and father to three sweet babies have to be diagnosed with Leukemia? Why would that pain and heartache be thrown at him and his family after all they have been through? All the treatments and time away from his babies (which has been alot) for what? Ok I know there is a bigger purpose, a bigger plan for them.... but why? It is not fair! Cancer is stupid, it sucks and yes I HATE IT!!!

Why do people have to suffer with mental illnesses? I myself try to cope daily with depression and anxiety. I am one of the lucky people who is able to seek medical help, not everyone is as lucky. 
"We are taken through hard times to test us." 
"Hard things happen to us to make us stronger." 
"God never gives us more than we can handle." 
"There are people out there with bigger problems than this." 
Those are some of the nice things I have heard said to myself or other with mental illnesses. Let me just speak for myself here and respond to each of those quotes. 
*Exactly what kind of test is this? Is it a strength test? A mental test? A test to see how much I can take before I break? Just how long is this test? I'm not saying I've had a horrible life, but I have had to fight my way out of many bad situations/relationships/depression/finances. You name it, I've probably fought through it in some way or another. Can I please have a pass on this test and be done? I think I have proven myself more than enough times here.
*Just how strong do I have to be? I am tired of being strong, sometimes I want to be weak. If hard times make us stronger then I should have the strength of Hercules at this point. I don't mind hard times...most of the time, but do they all have to happen back to back, with no breaks? Yeah I know I shouldn't complain. I have a home, food, clothes, and all the essentials. I am not super woman here life, give me a break already!
*Never more than I can handle huh? Well I think I may have failed that one 8 or 9 months ago. I am not handling depression well, I am not handling anxiety well. Again I am not super woman, I'm glad God has all this faith in me because right now I have none left for myself.
* Yes there are people who have bigger problems than mine. That doesn't make my problems any less important. It doesn't make my problems disappear. It doesn't make my problems any easier for me to cope with. Who are you anyway? The problem sizer upper police? What makes you so great that you get to decide that my problem isn't big enough?
Please don't dismiss our problems and our mental illness as if we don't matter. You don't live our life so don't try to tell us how big or small our problems are compared to others. We are not crazy, we are not broken, we have an illness that we did not choose to have.

Those are the big why's in my mind right now. I'll share some of the more uhhhh comical(?) why's with you, just because I think you need a laugh at my expense.

*Why were we born with feet instead of wheels? We could get places so much faster if we had wheels!

*Why don't big buildings make elevators that go from side to side and not just up and down? What would they be called since they wouldn't technically be elevators?

*Why do they call the mirrors at carnivals fun house mirriors? I don't see anything funny about me looking like I am 2 foot tall and 5 foot wide.

*Why is it that when you go to the doctor or have a repair man come the first question they ask is what is wrong? Duhhhhh if we knew what was wrong we wouldn't need you now would we?

Well that is my Friday freak out for today. I hope you have an amazing weekend! 

If you will, please keep the Hebert family in your thoughts as the doctors have told them Ray doesn't have much time left with them. His family is trying to get him to see the ocean, one of the things he wants to do before he is too sick to make it there.

Peace, Love and Cupcakes!

Long overdue review of Parnevu hair products

*These items were sent by Parnevu for me to review. I am not being compensated in any way and all opinions are my own.*

***Edited 5/16/2013 to finally add pictures to this review.***

 

This review is LOOOOONG overdue, and I apologize to Parnevu for the delay in my posting. Hannah and I were sent 3 products to use and review. We got to pick from a list of haircare products so that we could find something that best suited to our needs. Which I loved, because who knows our hair better than us?

I was first told about Parnevu by a friend and fellow blogger Harajuku Girl, you should check out her review.
I have to say I am not disappointed in the products that we tried even though one of them wasn't the best choice for us. I'm just going to focus on the other two products, one of which is now a must have for our home.

My hair is naturally curly, the amount of frizz and poof depends on the humidity. Here in Missouri, humidity is something you can't get away from. It is like a creepy stalker just waiting for the opportunity to attack the hair of innocent people. My hair is also damaged from bleaching it so I could have awesome fun colored hair. Hannah is biracial, her hair is course, frizzy, dry, poofy, and she has ALOT of hair to try to manage. When her hair is managed it is a gorgeous combo of banana curls and spirally curls.



Hannah's hair before using Parnevu products.




Hannah's hair before using Parnevu products.

 We tried using the Parnevu T-Tree shampoo on Hannah first. She has a problem with a dry flaky scalp and I thought it might help with that for her. Here is the listing for the shampoo from the site. The shampoo didn't smell  like what I thought it would since it has tea tree oil in it. I expected the medicinal scent typical of tea tree oil, I was happily surprised that it had a nice smell to it. You could smell the tea tree oils, but it wasn't overpowering at all. After 3 washes using the shampoo she suggested that we use it on me and not her. It seemed to dry the ends of her hair more than it had been and she said that her head itched more. I can tell you that her hair was softer and had more shine to it after using the shampoo. I then used the shampoo and really liked it, but then my mom took what was left from me. Mom tends to have oily hair if it isn't washed every day and she is always complaining of itchy scalp. She has used it a few times and reports that she REALLY likes the shampoo and that I am not getting it back!

The next product that we tried and am absolutely in love with is the T-Tree leave in conditioner. This is a product that I see us using for a long time. Here is the site listing for it. It smells so good! The price is awesome for the big bottle that you get, plus a little goes a long way. You can use it on dry or wet hair too. Hannah and I both use this daily on our hair. After a shower we rub a small blob of it in our hands and then apply it to our wet hair, then comb through. It doesn't leave your hair feeling sticky or heavy like alot of other brands that we have used, and the scent stays all day. In the mornings I apply a small amount to our hair the same way I do when it is wet. The brush goes right through our hair and the leave in conditioner helps to manage the frizziness!!! Another plus I have found with it is... my hands are not as dry or my cuticles either. Our curls are much more defined, our hair is so shiny and soft, and the frizz monster stays away most of the day. I really wish Blogger would let me show you pics of her hair, it is amazing the difference. I am so happy with this product and HIGHLY recommend it to anyone no matter their hair type or ethnicity. 

After using Parnevu maybe 3 times!



After using Parnevu maybe 3 times!




Look at how defined her curls are! Notice that the amount of frizziness has greatly improved. This is only after a few times of using Parnevu products.

 The last product we tried was the Extra Dry Oil Replenisher, you can see the listing here.I am sure this product would work well for someone else, it just wasn't for us. Had I read the description better I would have known that. It smells wonderful though. I have passed this on to my niece to try out on her hair since she uses heated stylers on her hair. Her hair is also a different texture than Hannah's, so I'm sure that it will work great for her.

I want to address something that I am sure some readers will be asking. "This product seems to be more for African Americans or biracial hair types, will it work for me?" Absolutely it could! Most of the ingredients are the same as you will find in other brands, just different formulas. I suggest that you take your time and read the descriptions of the products to find a good fit for your hair type and needs. My mom and  are both white women with 2 completely different hair types and needs and the shampoo worked great for both of us. Hannah is biracial and we both use the leave in conditioner, and it is a holy grail for both of us. There is also a toll free number you can call with any questions. 

I am looking froward to placing an order soon to try the 3-Step Power Pack, T-Tree Scalp Oil, and Hannah wants to try the T-Tree Relaxer - Regular strength.

You can find the Parnevu site by clicking here.
You can find their fan page by clicking here.
You can find their Twitter by clicking here.

I had great service from Panevu for all of my questions, prices are very affordable, and I found a holy grail product for us. So I give Parnevu..... 5 cupcakes!

Peace, Love and Cupcakes!

Boston, you are in my thoughts!

I am not going to make a post other than this today due to the tragic events in Boston today. 

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone who is affected in anyway by the bombings. Please take a few minutes to send up prayers, good thoughts, or however you personally choose to acknowledge all those injured, who have died, those who are helping the victims, their families, friends, and those who are reading and watching the aftermath. Tragedies like this affect so many people in so many different ways!

May all of you find peace and comfort in knowing that there are millions of people all over the world who are thinking and praying for you. May this terrible event bring people closer together instead of ripping them apart. For those helping, police, fireman, bystanders, doctors, nurses, clergy, friends and family find the strength they need, the comfort they will need now and in the days to come, the steady hands while giving medical attention, and the wisdom to make clear decisions. Let their selfless actions show others that with love we can make a difference.

Peace, Love and Cupcakes!