Christmas... Unicorns?

*** Some of the items in this post were provided free of charge for honest review ***

Unicorns are Christmas-y, right?

Ah, who cares. Unicorns are good any time of year.

Pardon my funny coloured hands, I have circulation problems and it gets cold in Casa de Painted Claws!

2013 & 2014

Hey everyone, sorry for yet another bout of silence on the blog lately but I've been up to my eyeballs in a new (and possibly slightly crazy) project.

I present to you all - R&R Lacquers...

Rachael of Racho's Nail Love and I have decided to try and start our own range of handmade polishes, and thus we have spent the last 4 weekends covered in glitter and pigment and surrounded by many many prototypes. My living room now looks like it hosts a weekly meeting of fairies. So glitter, many sparkle!

We've finally pared them down in to a six polish collection we'll be releasing at the end of the month (ish) so stay tuned for more info. or alternatively visit our Instagram, Facebook or Twitter for more information and sneaky peeks!

2013 has been an experience - this time last year I think I had maybe 8 nail polishes and no nail art brushes or anything. I don't really know what started me off, although mostly I credit Rachael because she was the one who pushed on in to blogging about it (Thank you Rach!).

I've managed to amass quite the stash of polish and try loads of delightful manis this year, and hopefully 2014 will just mean more and more!

I don't make New Years Resolutions, except to continue existing for another year which I always seem to be rather good at (after all, I've made it this far!), but there are a few things I want to do this year in terms of the blog. These mainly consist of blogging more consistently and trying to better my photography.

One more thing - Is there anything you guys would like to see? You're the ones that read the blog after all, so its only fair to ask what you'd like.

Tara's Talons & Pocket Money Polishes Snow White Duos

I picked up these gorgeous pairs of polishes from two of my favourite indie makers - Tara of Tara's Talons and Charlie of Pocket Money Polishes when they released their limited edition Snow White duos a while back. Originally I only intended to get one, but in the end I was paralysed by choice and bought the two I couldn't decide between, which was the best option I could have gone for.

Swatched - Tara's Talons Becca's Polish

I am so in love with this polish its not even funny.

Rachael (of Racho's Nail Love) commissioned Tara (delightful maker of indie polish brand Tara's Talons) to make me a customer polish for my birthday at the end of August. I knew Rach was up to something as she kept asking me what I'd put in a polish if I could make one for myself, but I really didn't expect the end result to be this fantastic.

The polish base is a slightly jelly grass green, and is loaded with gold and green hexes that just float on the nail and give such awesome depth.

Birthday Polish Haul

I turned 27 last wednesday, and I got some amazing polish-based presents from  Mr Painted Claws and from my bestie and Chief Enabler Rachael (of Racho's Nail Love).

Just to warn everyone in advance, this is gonna be a fairly pic heavy post - and these are just the bottle shots! I haven't even gotten time to think about swatching the lot!

Review - Nelly Polish - Looe

*** Sample Provided for Review ***

My first review sample! Thanks so much to Hilary of Nelly Polish for sending me this and another bottle (Mena) to have a nice play with.

I have to admit that I've photographed Mena twice and the light just would not behave, so sadly I've only got Looe to show you today.

Swatched - Ellagee's Grand and Miraculous Spaceship

Wednesday is swatch day! Got a absolutely beautiful indie here from the lovely Ellagee - this is Grand and Miraculous Spaceship, from the World of Laughter collection.

I've been after this polish since I first spotted it on the Ellagee Facebook page before its release and I really was not disappointed when I finally got it.

New Brand - Elevation Polish

I'm slowly but surely managing to break in to the joyous world of indie polishes, a world filled with delightful concoctions handmade by lovely ladies around the globe. I've already shown swatches of my very first indies - KB Shimmer's Where my Peeps at and Lottie Dottie - but now I've managed to branch out in to another brand.

Elevation Polish is made in the US by hand, and are mostly named after mountains due to the creator's love of climbing. As a result I can spell but not say most of the polish names properly!

ER31DC Week 9 - Rainbow

Apologies for the lateness on this - I've not had the energy to peel myself off the sofa, never mind write out this post.

I really enjoyed this week's challenge, I even kept it on my nails for work this week.