Storage Solutions - Storage Options & My First Melmer

So for those of you not familiar with the term melmer, I will explain. Ikea has a piece of furniture named the Helmer. I am not sure who first got it and thought "this would be perfect for my nail polish stash!" but someone did. It spread like dandelions through the polish world and fast became the bloggers number one choice in nail polish storage. Its metal and it has always felt a little........ flimsy is not the right word but just didnt feel right every time I looked at them (which of course meant on trips to Calgary, New York, New Jersey and the like as IKEA does not have a store in my city. YET. One is being built). Maybe its just the aluminium that puts me off.

Someone later got the brilliant idea to use the scrapbooking storage solution from Michaels. I went numerous times to look at this but they were and are ALWAYS sold out here. So I gave up on that option.

The next option I fell in love with was this solution from IKEA. I planned on biding my time until IKEA finally opened (and a few extra months until the NEW factor died down and IKEA was less zoo-ish). Its called the Alex and it seemed almost perfect.  I say almost because if you see the drawers are not all uniform and the smaller drawers are just a little too small for many brands and the larger drawers are just too big for many brands. So while not perfect for me, the aesthetic was certainly me. I also liked that it come sin two different size options.

Anyways, I came home from seeing a movie with a girlfriend last night (a really really BAD movie) and guess what was lying on my bed! A MELMER!!!! Now for those of you debating or looking at this option let me start by saying its NOT CALLED A MELMER!! I had to laugh out loud when I heard that when my parents when to the craft store to buy it they asked for a melmer. It was nicknamed a melmer online for its the Michaels version of the hELMER.

So after failing to convince my father that it was a "daddys job" to put together, I set off to build it myself. There was no way I was waiting even a day to put it together.

There are a LOT of parts that fit in that little box! EEK!!

I am sad to say that an hour later this was all I had done. But I eventually got it finished (think it took an hour and a half) but I am confidant that the next one should take me 20-30 minutes to build! And yes, I think I need 2 more. Though I FOR SURE need one more!

So now that it was built it went to its new home on my dresser. I just took the mirrored tray with my perfumes on it and put it on the unit and I was all ready to go!

The bottom drawer has all my Julep, Nars, Dior and Chanel polishes. Not much room to grow unfortunately.

The middle drawer has all my Le Metier De Beaute nail polishes, Yves Saint Laurent and Deborah Lippmann polishes and box sets from those three brands. I can add one LMDB and 5 Lippmanns and then that drawer is full too. EEK! Oh! And my one and only RGB polish is in there too!

And the top drawer has my koh, MAC, Cult Nails, Nfu-Oh, Illamasqua, Butter London and Tuff Scents polishes.

This is perfect in aesthetic for me, functional, and it can grow with my always growing polish stash. Sadly, this is what does not fit in the unit.

Tuff Scent 4 Ever And Soak Up The Sun Swatches & Review

After posting my excitement about the new Tuff Scent polishes, Tuff Scent contacted me and asked me how I would feel about reviewing one of them. I was thrilled and told them I would love to! They sent me 4Ever and Soak Up The Sun. When I opened up the packages I was in LOVE with both colours. And couldn't wait to try them out! 

4 Ever is a the most glittery, awesome.... glitter bomb of royal blue, turquoise and aqua. The bottle is just gorgeous. Of all the Tuff Scent polishes I own and have tried, this one had the least strong scent. It really didn't linger long and by the next day was completely gone. Usually I can still smell them if I sniff my nails for a day or two. This however is not at all a bad thing since I do not really care for floral scents! So for me that was a win.

Soak Up The Sun is more of a rose gold than the pictures show it. It certainly leans orange, but is more rose gold than anything. It smells like coconut and like I am used to, this one has a scent that lingers a good few days after application!

Now I really wish I could tell you  that these both applied like a dream and were a great formula. I unfortnately am not able to do so. Soak Up The Sun (SUTS from here on out) was fantastic. Application was smooth and even, and it was almost opaque in one coat. 4 Ever was a pain in the you know what. The below picture is after one coat. I tried my best to get it as even as possible but the glitter seems to heavy and the base seems to watery in this one. The glitter just falls off. It was really really hard to get this coat even THIS even.

As you can see, SOTS is basically opaque now. Look at the difference however between the two! Both are one coat.

This below is after two coats. SOTS is opaque and gorgeous. 4Ever is still patchy and a mess.

And here it is after THREE coats. Still patchy and no where near opaque. I wouldn't mind so much and just write it off as a layering polish only except its not even. And the polish kind of rolls off the base of the nail and pools if you dont hold your nails perfectly still. In these swatch pictures you can see it kind of pooling at the bottom of the nail. On my real nail it kind of pools on either side. Basically rolls off.

 And here it is after 4 coats (only 4 for SUTS).

All in all I LOVED the gorgeous colours of both of them, but 4Ever was just too much of a pain for me to recommend. The formula just did not work well. And I really really wanted to love this one the most! SUTS was PERFECT in every way and smells heavenly!

I will give the pretty blue glitter another try on top of a complimentary base (or bright green!) and hope it works better, but it is certainly NOT a stand alone colour!

Tuff Scents can be purchased on their website  http://tuffscent.com/ and are $10 US each.

Secret Easter Bunny Reveal - TAKE ONE!

So I got my first of my two easter bunny RAOKS from the exchange I regularly organize. OMG!! So many wishlist polishes! So many non wishlist polishes that had I seen WOULD have been on my wishlist! I can not begin to say how much of a pick me up this was this week!!

OMG!! Look how pretty and packed this box is! An expert packer for sure!

Everything out of the box (I did dig and dig and dig!!)

The non polish goodies (my mom and dad ate all the lindor chocolates, and I ate all the bunnies already!)

First up, the three carrots!

Nailtini Sugar Rim - a wishlist polish!

Tuff Scents - Mother Nature - Another wishlist polish!!

And yet another wishlist polish!

I will not lie. I opened this box up and screamed like a two year old! Then I stopped what I was doing and painted each hand with one of the two colours. And coated it with Nailtini Sugar Rim! And omg. This is seriously the best magnetic polish I have tried! It was super easy to use and it really really shows the design!!

Next up were the oh so cute eggs!!

Had I ever seen this colour it WOULD have been on my wishlist. OMG!! AWESOME BALLZ!! Thats right. I said it.

This one I mentioned in a blog post ages ago that I was eyeing, but had never put it on my wishlist. How she remembered is beyond me!

Now on to the bags!

No idea what colour this one is called, but its oh so pretty and has INSANE silver shimmer in it!! Cant wait to try it! My first of this brand! The bottles look exactly like nailgirls though. I wonder if they are connected...

Had to stop to show you the wrapping paper she used. Its glitter tissue - and oh my gosh is there now glitter all over me, all over my clothes, all over the living room floor and all over the house! YES!! I've been glitterized!!

Another new to me brand I have never used before! LOVE the cork top to it!

FINALLY!!!!!!!! MANGLAZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The lovely Gore Princess (who can be found here) has had me yearning for these for sooo long! Number one colour on the manglaze wishlist too! Cant wait!

Another brand I have never tried before. This one is sooooo awesome!! Its a bluey purpley shimmery bottle of awesome!

Another wishlist polish of mine! On The Beach! Yahoo!!

And Knackered! Yet ANOTHER wishlist polish! YES!!

Everything all together!!