N.O.T.D. #1

Nail Of The Day

Hello Ladies,

Just a quick pic for the middle of the week.

 Both Pics: CG "Sun Worshiper and Nina Pro "Orange Flame"

Konad Stamping in Zebra over Orange Flame

Until next time ladies.

Beauty By Mail #3 CurlKit

CurlKit

June

Hello Ladies,

June was a big month for CurlKit, Cream of Nature took over.  The box was very heavy and bursting at the seams.  Julys' box will be my last because I have simply run out of space to store all of the hair products.  I do love curlkit and I think that if you are newly natural or transitioning and want to try out a variety of products they are a great place to start.  However once you figure out what your hair likes cancel that subscription cause product junkie mania can soon follow.
Until next time. :)

Lets Talk Polish #1

Lets Talk: Indie Polish

Hello Ladies,

     I came across this article in Nail-It Mag online about Indie polishes. ( Indie Polish Spotlight: ) What are your thoughts?  Have you ever tried any independent brands of polish or made your own?  If you haven't why not and if you have what brands are your favorite?  I tended to stick to the trusted few when it comes to nail brands but lately I have decided to venture out of my bottle. 
    When it comes to nail polish and design their is so much out there from mix ins and glitters to paints that we're truly only limited by our imagination.  For those of you out there who don't want to invest in the multitude of said glitters and mix-ins yet still want a custom look, Indie polishes could be just what your looking for.
     I've had the pleasure of testing out a brand from Florida called Royal Laquer you can find them on Etsy.  I'll have the swatches below.  The polishes are quick drying, unique and beautiful exactly what I look for in a polish. :)

Red Velvet, This red leans towards the orange and is not a cream or a jelly its a "cremlly", yes I just made that up.  The hexagonal glitters through out create a cool layered effect.  Pictures show two coats.

Laser Blue, Pictures are just not doing this color any justice, its gorgeous.  This is a deep sea blue with tiny colored glitters that remind me of the night sky.  The flex of purple glitters really make it stand out.
     Those are just two of my favs, until next time!

Nail Inspirations: Disney's Maleficent

Trailer and Nail design

This nail look is inspired by the Disney movie Maleficent starring Angelina Jolie in theaters today.  I’m going to see it on Saturday with my Mom, I can’t wait.  Until then I’m posting a preview followed by the nail design.  Enjoy!

Nail Design

OPI: Love Music Angel Baby and 4 In The Morning with custom glitter on top.
Ring finger are her horns and the thumb is M for Maleficent of course.

Found this at Toys R Us and was inspired.

Beauty by Mail

Subscription Boxes

Hello ladies,

I wanted to talk about subscription boxes. Mainly Birchbox, Ipsy, Beauty box 5, Nailette and Curlkit since those are the ones I'm subscribed to.  The cost of these boxes range between $10 and $20 per month.  The beauty boxes consist of samples, the nail box is 2 mini polishes, and Curlkit gives you 2 full size as well as deluxe samples of mainly hair products.

If you spend any time on youtube then you know all about subscription boxes since there are a ton of reviews and unboxing videos out there. What I wanted to know is if some of these mainstream boxes that claim to tailor your box to you really apply to us chocolate sistas.  I'm going to call this series Beauty by Mail, so when you see it as a blog title you know exactly what it's going to be about.  Are any of you ladies subscribed to box of the month clubs?  What do you think of them?  Have a suggestion that falls within my price points?  Leave a comment below and I'll check it out.

Todays Nail look:

China Glaze Gelaze in turned up turquios and Gelish Trends in Are you feeling it?

What's The 411?

What’s The 411? 

My latest buzz kit: Coppertone Clearly Sheer Sunscreen

 Ah the dog days of summer are almost upon us,  don't know about you ladies but when I was young I loved summer it was my favorite season.  Staying outside all day and soaking up the vitamin D was and still is one of my favorite past times. That is until I hit my thirties and gray hairs and crows feet started making an appearance.  Dark spots and discoloration soon followed and I realized I needed to make a change.  Since I’m an avid gardener I knew I couldn't leave the sun hence my relationship with sunscreen was born. 
 I say relationship because it always starts out good, I go to the store pick up a family friendly bottle and use it on my kids consistently however on myself not so much.  It leaves that white residue that makes me look ashy, and ain't nobody got time for that. So when I got the opportunity from buzz agent to try out a new sunscreen I jumped at the chance ,cause lets face it that stuff ain't cheap. 
 My buzz kit arrived last week and inside were 3 small travel size lotions, 2 travel size sprays and a full size bottle of lotion. I thought how perfect because, how many of us always remember the sunscreen once we are in the car?  I know I do, all the time so first I put one of the small lotions in the car, one of the sprays went in my purse and one stayed home with the big lotion.  The other two I will give away.

    After spending a couple of hours in my garden on Friday I did notice a slight tan, however by Saturday morning it was a little less noticeable.  I used the lotion on all exposed skin and on my face I used the spray.  I would like to note that I was in my garden for over 80 mins and reapplied the spray all over once my skin felt hot (who is really going to put a timer on sunscreen).   

Pros:  I love the different  sizes and the convenience of having the spray and the lotion.
I also love not turning into a crispy critter after one morning of gardening, trust me it has happened.

Cons: I tanned, however not by much. I would like to add that no sunscreen is a set it and forget it type of thing. You have to reapply as needed per the instructions on the bottle, that is why I really liked the spray it made it easy to protect my skin from harmful rays.

The next test will be on my two younger kids while in the pool. 2 kids 2 dogs and 1 small kiddie pool on the back patio sounds like blog tittle to me.

Until next time...

About This Blog

Hello and welcome to my blog Chocolate Nails and Beauty Tales.  

I was surfing the web the other day from Pinterest to Youtube and blogs for chocolate ladies who love polish like me. Surprisingly I  found very few, so I decided to start my own blog and that is how Chocolate Nails and Beauty Tales came to be.  I thought it would be nice to see swatches and color combos for women of a darker skin tone.  So If you think so as well then please re-post, tweet, pin, leave comments and join me on this journey of all things Polish, Beautiful and of course Chocolate!

China Glaze Gelaze in For Audrey in natural light.