Happy Hump Day Fanatics!  My nails were dying for a break and in need of some major TLC so while I am apologizing for the delay in posts my nails aren’t. I made the switch to non-acetone remover a few months ago to help prevent drying and I obsessively apply cuticle oil but sometimes my little buddies just need a rest. btw, Nubar’s Cucumber remover is the business.

So getting back to my untrieds, we’re on Day #119 and I’m digging into my Nails Inc stash. I wanted something bright and fun but I was also curious about the 3D Glitters so I paired the creamy Warwick Way with Special Effects Sloane Square. Let’s see how it turned out.

Untried Day #117: I’m already declaring magnetic nail polish to be the new crackle and with LCN being the first out of the gate in the US, I’m sure it will put them on the map with consumers in the States.

I met with the owners of LCN USA at Cosmoprof and I had no clue that the brand has been in the US for 20 years. What’s funny about that is I placed an order with a German e-tailer years ago and picked up a LCN polish not knowing it was available here. I didn’t even swatch or blog about it at the time because I know how hard it can be to get nail polishes from overseas outside of swapping.

So now that I know that this color is accessible to both my US and European Fanatics, I figured it was time to crack it open. That brings us to today’s untried, LCN Blue Laguna.

I only own one bottle of L’Oreal Paris nail polish and it didn’t come in to my collection until this past spring. Why is that? For starters, their core lineup of colors are so the opposite of me (pinks, reds, neutrals) that I never give it a second glance. Second, when I do happen to see some more fun colors, they usually resemble something I’ve seen somewhere else. I’m looking at you Passport to Paradise, aka Essie North Fork dupes.

However, L’Oreal Blue Marine caught my eye on the seasonal makeup display shelf because of the duo-chrome promise made by a flash of blue-violet in the bottle. Let’s see if it delivered on that promise, shall we?

Ah, where to begin. I’m not really one to overshare the details of my life that include other people but I’ve been kind of a mess the past of couple days. I came home Thursday from Put-In-Bay to find out that my dad went to the emergency room, thinking he had a heart attack.

As an only child with very little extended family, my parents are my whole world and my father is my rock. He may tease me like he’s the older brother I never had and he may be more stubborn than me (which is a feat) but he’s funny, smart, caring and, most importantly, always there when I need him.

So needless to say, I’ve pretty much been a crying mess ever since. Even now as I wait to see if he will be released, I’m crying just typing this. While I have every belief that he will be okay, if you could send a positive thought his way, it would mean the world to me.

As you can imagine, talking about polish is about the last thing I care about right now so I’m not even going to apologize for effing up my 365. Some things are just more important than polish.

Needing a little cheering up, I put on Barielle A Bouquet For Ava which came out with the Barielle Wildflower Collection last year and was created to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. There’s even a group that raises awareness for the disease through nail polish called Teal Toes.

I first learned of Cult Nails from my friend and fellow Ohioan, Styrch from Pretty In Dayton. The brand intrigued me but being that I didn’t know the founder, Maria from R3Daily, I was a bit skeptical. As we’ve learned, some brands rely on private label companies to throw together a nail polish line using stock colors that can be easily found at a much lower cost.

What convinced me to give Cult Nails a try is Maria herself. Learning about her passion for nails and desire to cultivate the brand by building slowly with custom colors is truly inspiring. I was thrilled to put her formula and colors to the test and I’m starting with Cult Nails Living Water.