Indulgent Intermission with Kelsie of Kelsie's Nail Files

You know what the best thing about blogging is? I think it's a general consensus when we say it's the wonderful people you meet that make it such a rewarding experience. Finding like-minded souls who understand your insatiable need for shiny things (for me, at least, and nail polish for Carmela) somehow makes you feel less... strange and alone. (I've been called a magpie hamster a few times and while it's not something I'm particularly proud of, I like to take it as a compliment rather than an insult.)

Kelsie from Kelsie's Nail Files might be new to the blogging scene (so are we, until we realized we've already been doing this for over 7 months and thought, where on earth did the time go?) but this hamster knows that this is one nail artist to watch out for; she's going places. And we're not just saying that because she's a fellow Canadian. Her freehand skills are definitely up there and I expect she'll only improve with time! Have you seen her Easter design? It's easily one of our favourites (dots for Carmela and a bunny for me, win-win)! So when she heeded our distress call on Twitter, we were beyond ecstatic to have her over. Take it away, Kelsie!

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First of all I am so honoured to be doing a guest post (my first one nonetheless) at Polished Indulgence! When Carmela sent out a tweet asking if anyone was interested in doing a guest post, I couldn't resist!! I am fairly new to the blogging scene and I pay close attention to the many writing styles and photos of other bloggers. The nail art and swatches at Polished Indulgence are absolutely stunning, but I especially admire Carmela's writing style and Hammie, the mascot, is just the cutest!

Thank you so much Carmela and Hammie for having me on your lovely blog!

I wanted to create something original for my first guest post, and I can safely say that this is something I have not done before. I had vector swirls in mind when I created this, but it turned out quite different than I originally imagined. Regardless, I am very pleased with the end result :)

Base: Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Midnight in NY 

Layers: Orly Shine on Crazy Diamond and Sally Hansen New Lengths Ceramics Urban Chic (thicker sparkles on the tips)

The nail art was freehand using a nail art brush, dotting tool, and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White

And there you have it! My first ever guest post! Again, a big THANK YOU to Carmela and Hammie for giving me this opportunity to showcase my nail art!! :)   

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*blushes* Such kind, glowing words! It was our absolute pleasure to have you, Kelsie! In truth, we're very lucky to have the honour of your first guest post. This vector mani is superb! One thing we love about Kelsie's work is her clean, crisp lines. In our mind, it's what easily sets her apart from the flock. Don't you agree that she's a nail artist to watch for? See more of her work at Kelsie's Nail Files. Oh, and don't forget to say Hammie sent you!

Indulgent Intermission with Marisa of Polish Obsession

Between Carmela and I, a sparkly accent nail or two is something we tend to gravitate towards. Me for the shine (obviously!) and Carmela for the added oomph, as she likes to call it. So we're very pleased to have such a mani to show off today, thanks to the lovely Marisa from Polish Obsession.

We salute Marisa for her everyday posts. Just trying to maintain our MWF schedule is taxing enough for us without adding mommy duties in the mix, but Marisa juggles it all with equanimity. We adore the mix of brands, colors and finishes that she features, as well as covering different price points that are sure to appeal to a wide audience. Indeed, the mark of a nail polish lover! We've been so happy to have gotten to know this sweet lady who leaves us some of the best comments that brighten up our day. :)

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Hi fellow nail polish lovers!! I’m so grateful to Carmela to have this opportunity to share on her blog.  I was truly honored when she asked me. I really love reading her posts and seeing her beautiful nails ;0).

When deciding on what to come up with, I thought, maybe I should try some nail art because Carmela is pretty good at it and posts some every once in a while.  But I was kidding myself; I’m not great at nail art, so I decided to go with one of my favorite polishes, Revlon Lily.  Lily is a beautiful pastel purple from Revlon’s Top Speed line.  While the first coat is streaky, it completely levels out with the second coat.  It’s a very easy pastel to work with.

I love a mani with an accent nail, so I decided to add Elixir Lacquers Supa Sugar Bee to my ring finger and thumb.  Elixir Lacquers is a fairly new indie brand from a fellow nail blogger, Nicole from Nail Polish Wars, and Supa Sugar Bee was a polish released in the first collection.  It is such a beautiful glitter that goes really well with Lily.  

For my mani, I used Essie All in One Base, two coats of Lily, one coat of Supa Sugar Bee (ring and thumb) and Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat.

Artificial Light

Artificial Light

Sunlight

Sunlight

I was really happy with the way this manicure turned out.  It’s very simple and pretty, but the accent nails definitely grab attention.  I hope you all like it as much as I do.

Carmela, thanks again allowing me to do a guest post.  Hope you’re having fun on your vacation!!

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Marisa, don't sell yourself short! What nail art you've done has been pretty amazing (those little red hearts are a favourite!) and we're more than happy to have you over. This color is right up our alley and truly spring appropriate. I must have Carmela get some of those Elixir Lacquers! The sparkly accent nails are my personal favorite, but can you blame this hamster? It looks wonderfully delicate yet fun, all at once. This is but a taste of what Polish Obsession has to offer, so in the spirit of "Simon Says", Hammie says stop by and show Marisa some love. (Oh, you know you have to do it. Wouldn't you want to?)

Indulgent Intermission with Esther of Fab Fingertips

Blue is our absolute favorite color here at Polished Indulgence. Why then, you might be wondering, is everything purple? Now that was mostly my input. Not to undermine our love affair with blue at all, but because purple has always been associated with royalty and, hence, indulgence. Makes sense, no?  Nonetheless, we love a great blue and along with Esther from Fab Fingertips and her impeccable taste, today's featured polish is no exception.

This one hot momma (and we mean that in the most non-insulting, complimentary and positive way possible) has such an amazing style that we'd love to emulate but instead opt to live vicariously through. Indeed, who else would have the gumption to sport sparkly foil lips (I've read somewhere than an appropriate adjective for these would be 'amazeballs') and teal lipstick? We love the mix of nails and beauty on Esther's fabulous blog, and enjoy ogling her latest nail designs. But our favorite aspect is how she holds her nail polish bottles like a veritable hand model. Love! (P.S. I might be personally biased as this lovely lady is also very generous with the hamster treats, for which I'm very, very grateful. So sue me.)

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Hello everyone, I am Esther from the blog Fab Fingertips, and I want to say a big thank you to Carmela for inviting me to do a guest post for her! I love Carmela’s perfect nails and I feel very privileged to be asked.

I don’t know about you but I’m slightly addicted to feeding Carmela’s blog mascot Hammie! Have you had a try? If you have no idea what I’m on about look to the left of the blog and down a bit!!

On with the post! I am featuring today a different colour from Max Factor. All the hype surrounding Fantasy Fire meant that some equally beautiful polishes from the same range were slightly overlooked. But I’m here to bring you one of them, this is Meteorite, a beautiful blue with silver fleck/shimmer.

Below is the polish under bright sunlight along with a close up photo to see the shimmer!

Below is under warm tone bright spotlight and slightly out of focus to see the shimmer!

This is a truly beautiful polish and was opaque in 2 coats, but I did three for the purpose of photos. The bottles by Max Factor in the Mini Effects are notoriously small and expensive but in my opinion are worth it. Let's face it, if you really like a colour you’ll always buy more of it! Well, knowing what us polish addicts are like.

So I hope you have enjoyed looking at this post and I will be sending dear Carmela a bottle of it to say thank you for letting me guest on her blog! Hope you are also having a fantastic holiday Carmela! :)

Thank you everybody! xxx

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What a gorgeous sparkly blue! How wonderfully generous that Carmela gets to have her own bottle of it! Thank you so much! Generous with the treats *and* with nail polish, too? Seriously, how can you not love Esther? It was such an honor to have you on the blog; indeed, the pleasure was all ours. This is one ecstatic hamster on a sparkle high so before I wax poetic over the merits of visiting Esther over at Fab Fingertips, do us all a favor and just click the link. (You know you want to.)

Indulgent Intermission with Joanne of Northern Nails

Why yes, we're turning dotty here at Polished Indulgence! Oh, goodness me. I hope you didn't think I meant the mad, eccentric sort, but, well, actual dots. With Carmela's new found fondness for polka dots, I'm fairly certain she's ecstatic with Joanne's take on them.

Joanne, whom we fondly call Jo, is someone we feel we'll be eternally grateful for. For starters, she snagged us our first Barry Ms (wahoo!) AND just the most coveted little bottle of polish called Fantasy Fire. Then, she comes to our rescue like a mind reader on a mission with this gorgeous take on the polka dotted design. Coincidence? We think not. Best of all, she's become such a great friend that we're so glad to have met. After seeing what awesomeness she has in store for us, do visit her at Northern Nails as this is only the tip of the iceberg!

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Hi all! Well, the lovely Carmela asked me if I could do a guest post for her while she was on holidays , how could I let a fellow nail polish buddy down? Never! So here we go with what I hope is a good enough mani for you all! Hope you have a fab holiday, Carmela!

This mani is a favourite one with me, as I am pretty poor at freehand art, so I rely a lot on stamping or dotticures. Without further ado,here is my springtime dotticure.

For this mani I used:
Base: Power Basecoat
Base Colour: Two coats of Cutex, Sweet pea
Dots: Collection 2000, White
Topcoat: Rimmel Super Dry

I love this shade of green (actually I am a sucker for any green) but this muted pea green is yummy; it applied opaque in two coats with no streaking.

Next, I used the Collection 2000, white to dot random dots on my nails and topped off with a topcoat, I really like how this turned out and reminds me of some kind of mushroom, maybe one you might find Tinkerbell sitting on, then I remembered a Tinkerbell that I have what do you think?

Hope you all enjoyed my springtime Mani!

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This is lovely, Jo! That military-esque green reminds me a bit of Fingerpaints Military Green but a whole lot richer and more vibrant. Doing the dots in white certainly led to a spring-time feel! Now while this humble lady freely admits that her freehand work *might* need more practice, her stamping skills are pretty topnotch! Trust this hamster when he says you need to check out her other designs over at Northern Nails!

Indulgent Intermission with Marta of Chit Chat Nails

Hello there! Hammie checking in. You see, Carmela was getting run down by all the little errands and things on the to-do list before the trip that she had me take over writing some of the posts. Now, as strange as it might seem to you, hamsters are pretty busy themselves! Between exercising with my wheel to keep fit and hobnobbing at the Hampstons to keep the folks happy, I don't usually have a lot of down time, myself. But I was determined to help (a hamster does not go back on his word!) and I was a hamster with a plan. Okay, so it wasn't originally *my* plan but it worked!

The ever-so-gracious-with-the-hamster-treats Marta from Chit Chat Nails suggested culling together some guest posts to take the load off some. My, what a genius idea! I'm honestly surprised Carmela didn't think to do it sooner, but knowing her penchant for taking on a lot all at once, she probably realized too late that it was all just too much to do with the time frame she had. Luckily, we've had a few amazingly talented and kind-hearted ladies come to our rescue!

As she provided us with our eureka moment, it seemed only appropriate that Marta gets to fire the opening salvo. What more can I say that hasn't already been said about this Nail Artist Extraordinaire? I gravitate towards her design aesthetic that always has that touch of elegance, no matter how simple or intricate the design is. Now that, my friends, is a feat in itself as elegance is something I believe to be an innate quality that can neither be learned nor acquired. Apart from that is a sense of whimsy, that coupled with elegance, brings forth wonderful color and design combinations that speak volumes of Marta's lovely personality. Oh, and have I mentioned she's very generous with treats?

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Hello Lovely Ladies:
I am so glad to be here while Carmela is away on a much needed vacation.  I hope she is resting up and having a wonderful time!!!  In the meantime, I am super honored to be here!

I'm Marta and I run a little Canadian blog, ChitChat Nails.  I'm so happy Hammie was willing to step down and allow me to put together this Guest Post ;).

I think very highly of Carmela; she is intelligent and I really enjoy her kind spirit and spunk for life!  A while back I did a polkadot accent-nail manicure and Carmela mentioned that she is on a big "polkadot kick".  Armed with this 'knowledge' I have come up with what I hope is a fun and sophisticated polka dot design.  I hoped to channel Carmela's personality, the way I perceive it.  I'll let you be the judge. ;)   Onto the manicure:

I started by painting my nails with one coat of OPI Planks a Lot followed by two coats of OPI The Colour to Watch (I applied the cream first because I know that The Colour to Watch is VERY sheer).

I then used a BornPrettyStore dupe plate, m79, and Sally Hansen Whirlwind White.  The accent nail is two coats of China Glaze Marry a Millionaire.

I liked how this turned out, but I felt the itch to pull out my matte topcoat, and so I did ;) using the Joe Fresh brand:

Here are all of the shades that I used to achieve this look:

I hope you enjoyed this look.  Shortly after I turned 30, I started to question my manicures for "age appropriateness" and the polkadot look is something that I keep going back and fourth on: is it cute and age appropriate, or is it too cute and too young for me?  What do you think? Do you have a polkadot guideline that you think should be followed?

THANK YOU FOR READING!

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Now, isn't this just sublime? Elegance with that sparkly accent nail and subdued purple. Whimsy with the white polka dots. If Carmela were here, she'd be squealing about how she absolutely adores the polka dot look. Thanks to Marta, I'm starting to understand why. And if that doesn't give you the itch to check out her blog, Chit Chat Nails, I honestly wonder if there's something wrong with you. No, really, get yourself checked; it might be something serious.