Birthday Nail Art....

I know you guys have seen this hundreds of times... but I couldn't come up with anything else on short notice.  My birthday is right after New Year's Day so I didn't have much time to dwell on it... but cute it came out, I think.  :)

I did two coats of Kimber by Zoya and drew on the proverbial celebratory cupcake on my accent nail.  My 6-year old told me to.  LOL  And again, one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust on the pinky.  *shrugs*  Why not. 

 

 

 

 

Happy Polishing!

New Nail Polish Collection for Spring 2014: Zoya Awaken

Just as Spring emerges from a natural Winter slumber, Zoya Awakens to a fresh season of BIG5FREE* color...

Open your mind to the beauty of color discovery; the new, the unexplored, the excitement! Awaken by Zoya - Six new, full-coverage, dew-drenched creams and gold-kissed metallic nail polish colors for Spring 2014. Full of pure pigment, intense color and modern complexity that will take you far beyond the hazy, barely there hues of seasons past into a new world of chromatic joy.

ZOYA AWAKEN - 2014 SPRING

• ZP723 - Dillon: Green Mint Shimmer Metallic Full Coverage Formula.
• ZP724 - Rebel: Blue Sky Shimmer Metallic, Full Coverage Formula.
• ZP722 - Hudson: Purple Orchid Shimmer Metallic, Full Coverage Formula (Yes, it's a Radiant Orchid!)
• ZP720 - Dot: Pink Petal Cream, Full Coverage Formula
  (originally created for fashion designer Zang Toi’s SS14 collection).
• ZP721 - Cole: Peach Whisper Cream, Full Coverage Formula
  (originally created for fashion designer Peter Som’s SS14 collection).
• ZP725 - Brooklyn: White-Gold Shimmer Metallic, Full Coverage Formula.

 

$9.00 ea. (US)

PLUS, A SPECIAL EDITION TOPPER
Create a nail color masterpiece. The multi-colored, holographic flakes of Zoya Monet lend an impressionistic color change option to existing color palettes. Never boring, this artistic topper can be applied as an accent or used as an overall color changer.

• ZP726 - Monet: Multi-Color, Cellophane Holographic Topper.
$10.00 ea. (US)

*BIG5FREE: Zoya Nail Polish and Treatment Formulas are free of formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, dibutyl phthalate, toluene and camphor.

Find over 300 long-wearing, beautiful Zoya colors on www.zoya.com. Each and every color has a name as unique as the women who inspired it.

ZOYA IS THE COLOR OF FASHION!
Available on Zoya.com

Happy New Year!!! My not-so fancy nails....

I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year!  I ended up going to my best friend's and hanging out... nothing fancy.  Just good friends and good laughs. 

My nails for the occasion?  Just two coats of China Glaze Gossip over Gimlets and one coat of Fairy Dust for subtle extra sparkle, which you can see in the blurry pic below. 

 

 

 

Happy Polishing!

Halloween Mani No. 1

Add caption

This is October mani No. 1.  LOL

 

October... seriously being one of my favorite months of the year.... the weather, Halloween, like, what's not to like?  Oh, and Walking Dead returns.  :)

 

Anyway.  I digress.  Here I used two coats of Kelly by Zoya, a slight glitter gradient using Some Like it Haute by China Glaze and then using Winstonia plate W116 stamped a few of the images using Konad Special Black.  I started off simple, no?

 

Happy Polishing!

 

 

Make a Minty Spectacle

Oh, how I love greens.... and I've been lucky that most of them don't give me lobster hands. Here we have two coats of Zoya's Neely from their new LOVELY Collection. It's such a pretty, creamy color. After it dries, it's not so minty and more-so a light jade. Very nice and slightly muted. I covered two of my nails with Make a Spectacle by China Glaze (two coats). What do you think?

Happy Polishing!

And for Halloween, I did....

I love Halloween and this is what I came up with for this year.  Subtle but cute and luckily I work in an office where my boss doesn't care WHAT'S on my nail.  :)  One coat of Liquid Leather, one coat of Mummy May I and Millennium for stamping.  All China Glaze.  Cute, huh?  I used plates Mash 38 and Bundle Monster 225 for the images.  Tell me what you think.

Happy Polishing!

Glitter Puke...

Hey Ladies!

So I bought OPI DS Temptation a few weeks ago (before my self-imposed ban). I didn't realize what it was until I got home and opened the bottle. I regretted this purchase as soon as I saw the swatch I made on paper. Stupid me for not searching the polish before purchasing it (or so I thought). I was disappointed with the sheerness of the base color. I didn't want to apply a million coats to get full coverage. But I decided to give it a chance before shunning it to the back of a drawer. I started by applying 2 coats of China Glaze's Liquid Leather as a base. Liquid Leather is a simple leathery black. 2 generous coats should usually be enough for full coverage. Then I applied 2 coats of Temptation. Temptation is a sheer purple base with a megaton of purple and blue glitter in different sizes. I think it also has small silver and pinkish glitter. Application was good. You can imagine that this dries very textured because of the amount of glitter in it. So I applied a generous amount of Seche Vite topcoat to try and smooth it out. For the most part, it worked. So now you know: One generous coat of Seche or two regular coats so you can get back to a smooth looking nail.

The only issue I have with this polish is that its one of those colors that is such a pain in the butt to capture accurately on camera. It ends up looking more blue no matter what I do. I played with camera settings and lighting. Its actually insanely purple. Whatever. I googled the color and see a lot of other people had the same issue while photographing this.

So my final thought on this polish: Gorgeous! I'm glad I tried it and I learned my lesson.

Zoya in my Snow Globe

I love nothing more than to take Snow Globe from China Glaze and to throw it over a pretty pastel.  I've tried it over darks and it's just not the same.  Look at it in the bottle!  It's just the cutest shade of everything fairyesque and shimmery.  Adorable.  It looks absolutely great over any shade of pastel you guys have.  This is no exception.  I used two coats of Zoya's Marley, a super light lavender with even lighter lavender microshimmer and I topped the whole thing with a coat of Snow Globe.  Sooooooooo cute, no?  Just makes me think of pastel skittles with a coat of snow globe for Easter?  I just might!

Happy Polishing!

Sparkly Green...

This is me just being festive again. I can't help it during this season. Everything surrounding you is red or green, gold and silver, bright and lit up with lights. Why not?

Anyway, this was unplanned and just grab and go. No thought went into it whatsoever, which probably shows.  I wanted to stamp but Lissi has confiscated our plate binder and held it hostage.  I'm planning an abduction soon.  This is just two coats of Sinful Color's Show me the Way - a nice olive shimmery green; with one coat of China Glaze's Emerald Sparkle (we all know that one).   Simple, but festive.  <3.

Happy Polishing!

China Glaze Holiday 2010 - Review

Hey Ladies!

Today I have for you the Holiday Collection from China Glaze! I was finally able to swatch these for you (while listening to audio recordings of my class and preparing outlines for my final exams)... LOL! I know there are already several posts out there with this collection. However, it is totally worth posting again!

All of the following are without a base coat and without topcoat. All of the following are just 2 coats of the color and then 2 coats with Party Hearty.

Jolly Holly - Little Drummer Boy - Midnight Kiss - Jingle Bells

Jolly Holly - An amazing bright dark forest green. Yes, it's bright and dark at the same time.

Little Drummer Boy - A midnight/navy blue shimmer.

Midnight Kiss - A gold shimmer/foil (I can't decide which).

Jingle Bells - A champagne/copper/bronze type of shimmer. Yes, take a pot and toss in equal parts of champagne, copper, & bronze and you'll come out with this color. No?

w/ Party Hearty

Party Hearty - A clear topcoat that is jam-packed with glitter! It has small silver glitter, medium green glitter, and huge red glitter. Perfect for the holiday season! Obviously, the more coats you put the more glitter you get.

Ruby Deer - Phat Santa - Mommy Kissing Santa - Sugar Plums

Ruby Deer - A super bright red. Kinda reminds me of a jelly but I'm not sure if you could call it a jelly.

Phat Santa - A gorgeous red. Not as bright as Ruby Deer. Can't decide if its a creme or jelly... or both...

Mommy Kissing Santa - A deep red shimmer.

Sugar Plums - A plumish red color with amazing multicolor shimmer.

w/ Party Hearty

Snow - Frosty - Cheers To You - Naughty And Nice

Snow - A pure white creme. Not chalky at all! In my opinion it almost could be opaque in 1 coat if you apply it properly. Of course I couldn't so I did 2 coats.

Frosty - Just like the name... A white/milky frosty color with shimmer. I'm sure you can get this fully opaque with more coats but I like the way it looks with just 2 coats.

Cheers To You - A silver foil. Reminds me of aluminum foil.

Naughty And Nice - It looks black but its now. It's a great vampy wine color. Reminds me of Essie's Wicked. It looks black but has that gorgeous vampy color when the light hits it.

w/ Party Hearty

Overall Conclusion: AMAZING! I think this collection has a great variety of colors that make it great for the holiday season. I encountered no application problems. Each polish applied like a dream. I didn't notice any staining while swatching. Party Hearty is also a great addition to the collection that helps spice up any manicure. I highly recommend this collection to everyone.

I love all the names and think they compliment the colors. I also find some of them to be humorous. And boy do I love humorous nail polish!

My favorite polishes from this collection (for those who care): Frosty, Party Hearty, Phat Santa, Little Drummer Boy, and Naughty And Nice.

Please read our Disclosure Policy! We received these polishes from China Glaze for review. The opinions expressed on this post are my own.

Simply GINORMOUS....

At a dusty the other day, I stumbled upon a rack of polish for Eternal. A brand I recall my mother wearing when I was a teenager. First of all, these bottles hold a FULL OUNCE of polish. This thing is HUGE! And get this... it was a $1.49. That's the full price. No sale going on. Just $1.49. I can't imagine what the sale price would be. Seriously?

Anyway, this was a very good, two coat application of creamy goodness. This color is just numbered 27. Very nice mint. Super opaque (which I love). Then, just for a little flare, some China Glaze Snow Globe on my ring finger. *shrugs*

Happy Polishing!

And yes, I'll be going back for more...

annnnnnnnnnnd more Purple....

For whatever reason, I wanted to change my manicure yesterday and I was in the mood for glitter, once again. I seem to think that it's the quickest way to just add a little "pop" to any color you've got on. So why not purple? It's my favorite shade anyway.

This is two coats of China Glaze's Grape Pop (which we finally caved and purchased since it was haunting me everywhere) followed by one coat of Snow Globe, also by China Glaze. Inside the bottle, it actually does resemble a snow globe with glitter in pink, blue, green and gold (or is it very light orange?)... hexagon-shaped in different sizes. I prefer Snow Globe on pastels... but not bad here. See for yourselves.

Happy Polishing!

Sparkly, Sparkly...

It's kinda like staring into a swimming pool... no? lol

This is two coats of China Glaze Caribbean Blue which is a glass flecked sky blue. I topped it with one coat of Sinful Color's Nail Junkie. A clear teal jelly base with multi-sized hexagon shaped glitter in gold, green and light blue. Did all that make sense?

Happy Polishing!

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd I'm back!

Well, sorta. You guys tell me.

Back in April after my move and the SIX broken nails that culminated from it, I took all of you lovely ladies' advice and avoided picking at my peeling nails. OMG! I've never struggled with something so much. Actually, I lie. Screaming toddler's are worse, but the peels were pretty bad. As it is, they're STILL peeling. I'm just covering the whole thing with coats of polish so it makes ignoring the peels easier. I'm hoping they grow out enough that I just file passed the peel but they might be growing with the peel already (know what I mean? Like two layers just growing in unison?) Ugh.

So.... Lissi was over on Sunday for our usual nail day and this is what I came up with. I lifted her bottle of Blue's Brother from Catrice, which is a gorgeous dusty blue with like a golden teal flashy shimmer to it and then I topped it with Medallion from China Glaze, which is one of my favorite toppers. All it's glittery, multi-dimensional, odd-sized specks of golden goodness. I swear, that topper just transforms any plain mani into something cool and sparkly.

The precise shade is kinda hard to capture (note the "comments" on the pictures themselves), but I promise you it's pretty cool looking.

*sigh* It's good to be back.....Happy Polishing!

Chanel Summer Collection, Orient Extreme

Le Vernis ($25.00)

• Black Velvet, 430, Matte Black
• Gold Lamé, 440, Golden Copper
• Illusion D’or, 450, Clear with Fine Multicolored Gold Glitter

Played Hooky and Came up with This...

After hanging out at home, a good lunch at Flanigan's, a few visits to the drugstore (*cough, cough*) and some swatching I decided on this look. I cant get the pic to do the color any justice. It's actually pretty turqoisy aquaish mermaidy. I'm sure a lot of you out there understand E-X-A-C-T-L-Y what I meant by that. This is two coats of China Glaze's Sexy in the City and one of Sinful Color's Nail Junkie. Now I'm going to go watch LOST and be more confused than ever!!! *sigh*