Cult Nails Living Water

Aaaaand, it's Friday! I bought Living Water soon after it came out in early 2011 as part of the Cult Nails Inaugural Collection. The first time I tried it, I'll be honest - I didn't like it that much. I was disappointed, and I never got around to taking pictures to post here. I decided to give it another try, and boy, am I glad I did! The picture to the left is a macro of one of my nails. I used two coats of Living Water sandwiched between Duri Rejuvacote (which I'll post about soon) and two coats of Cult Nails Wicked Fast top coat. The second coat of top coat was necessary to make Living Water completely glossy, but it was definitely worth it.

Butter London Henley Regatta

Hello! I don't know how many of you live in the Midwest, but we're getting quite the spring blizzard right now in St. Louis. It's been snowing furiously all day, and we're supposed to get 8-10 inches. (I wrote that yesterday. We did get 8-10 inches. Or more.) I have to say, I'm beginning to get a little confused about what month it is! Anyway, today I tried my first Butter London polish, Henley Regatta. I decided to do an accent manicure, so I chose Zoya Kelly, one of my favorite grays. I used two coats of Kelly and four coats of Henley Regatta (it really only needed three, but I added an extra just because). The first picture is in my light box with artificial light, and the second is in my light box with natural light.

Bad Moon Rising Jelly Sandwich

Hello there! I hope you're all having a lovely Wednesday. I've been having a hectic couple of weeks, with a 6-page paper, two presentations, and a literary review (part of a 20-page paper; the whole thing will be due on my birthday in May) in the past week and a half, so needless to say I haven't had time for much recreational activity, except sleeping. Yes, that is considered a recreational activity now. But I'm taking a brief break today to write a blog post! And by brief break, I mean I just woke up and am not awake to go back to outlining journal articles yet. Either way, I have a jelly sandwich to show today, which is one of my favorite kinds of manicures, even though it's hell to remove. I used Zoya Frida and Lac Attack Bad Moon Rising.

Aren't they gorgeous together! I love Bad Moon Rising, and I think it went perfectly with Frida. This is actually the first time I've used one of the Zoya jellies and not taken it off immediately, because I really don't like them on their own. Now that I've tried (and loved) this combination, though, I might have to try jelly sandwiches with the other two!

P.S. I forgot to mention the fact that the lit review and the 6-page paper are still not done...and due Friday...what am I doing blogging?!

Zoya Wednesday Gradient

Hello there - I just posted yesterday, but here I am again! I'm enjoying the brief respite between last week, when I had a bunch of tests, and finals week, which is in two weeks (starting the day after my birthday! woohoo! </sarcasm>). In the meantime, I'm hoping to be able to do some nail art and other fun stuff when I'm not doing homework...and probably some when I should be doing homework, too, because that's how I do things. Today, I have the sponging gradient I wore on top of Zoya Wednesday. In addition to Wednesday, I used China Glaze For Audrey, Essie Mint Candy Apple, and a tiiiiny bit of Essie As Gold as it Gets.

 natural light

natural light

natural light

Sorry the coloring is a bit weird on the second image - I decided to keep it in the post anyway because it shows the flaky glitter a little better than any of the other pictures. I briefly considered adding a bit of white at the tips before topping it all of with As Gold as it Gets, but I like it perfectly well as it is. The overall effect reminds me of the sky on a bright, but partly cloudy spring or summer afternoon. This can tend to have the effect of making me want to go lie outside and take a nap instead of working, but then again, it doesn't take much to do that. :) Have a great day!

Zoya Surf Swatches and Review

Helllooo there! I'm so glad I finally got these swatched so I can show them off to you all, though I must apologize for the fact that the lighting will be changing throughout the post due to the wildly variant weather we always have in St. Louis during the spring. I should be getting Beach swatched and posted relatively soon, too ... but first, Surf's up! (Sorry. I couldn't resist.)

indoors, with flash

First, we have Carly, a "thalia purple foil metallic." While I don't have the faintest idea what the heck a "thalia purple" is (feel free to inform me in the comments), Carly is certainly a stunner. I wasn't the biggest fan of Carly just looking at the bottle, but I like it a lot better on my nails. I'd almost say it's an amethyst purple, but I think it's a bit too pinkish for that - it does have that lit-from-within glow of a jewel, though. I used two coats in the picture, but the only reason I added a second was because I wanted it to be a bit more vibrant.

indoors, with flash

Second, we have Kimber, what Zoya calls a "magenta pink foil metallic." Zoya, I love your polishes, but I beg to differ. Kimber is not what I think of when I think magenta. If anything, I'd call it a hot pink foil with gold highlights ... or I could just call it gorgeous. Which it is. I used two coats of Kimber, and it was actually the only polish out of Surf that I really needed a second coat on.

indoors, with flash

Rory, a "lotus pink foil metallic," is honestly not my favorite of the collection. I think it's because I tend not to like frosts, and while Rory isn't quiiiite a frost, its lighter shade combined with the foil finish isn't doing it any favors in my opinion. However, that's just my personal taste, and it's quite the pretty pink - ignore the bumpy look it has on my index finger; that's just because I have peeling there that I haven't quite been able to entirely buff out without making my nail as thin as tissue paper. I used one coat of Rory. 

natural light 

While Myrta is described as a "coral orange foil metallic" by Zoya, and while it does look like a coral orange in the color drop, I really didn't see much, if any, coral in the polish when I wore it. Regardless, Myrta is a lovely bright orange with a golden flash, and it was opaque in two easy coats. In fact, I can just picture myself wearing it once warm weather comes around again.

 natural light

I actually completely agree with Zoya's description of Meg, which they call a "mermaid green foil metallic." I wouldn't have gotten to "mermaid" all by myself, but when I saw Meg and read Zoya's description, a mental image of Ariel's tail popped right into my head. *hums Disney songs* I can't quite remember if I used one or two coats of Meg, but I think it was one. Maybe. I should make a note of these things.

natural light

I have to admit, even though I went in the order of how the polishes were in the box, the best (in my opinion) ended up being saved for last. Zuza, an "aquamarine foil metallic," is my absolute favorite of Surf by far. It's not that the others aren't pretty; it's just that Zuza is so, well, Zuza. I even love the name. It's a brilliant turquoise foil that makes me think of going to the pool - or even better, the Greek sea in the summertime. For example:

See where the color starts shifting from green to blue - in the middle, where it's that perfect teal? That's Zuza. I guess the true mark of a good summer color must be that it reminds you of last summer's vacation...at any rate, I'll definitely be wearing Zuza at least a couple more times in the next few months!

Overall, while I'm not always a fan of foils that aren't gold, silver, bronze, or copper (i.e., a metallic color that's actually the color of a metal), I thought Zoya did a good job on Surf, and my three favorites are Zuza (of course), Kimber, and Carly. Which would you pick?

These products were provided to me by the manufacturer for review; however, this will never affect my honest review of a product. For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Teal and Purple Ruffian

Hi! It's been a while...I didn't realize until I thought "Oh, I should probably do a post" and logged on to Blogger that it'd been a week and a half since my last non-PR post. Whoops. I guess I wasn't too motivated to do anything but read and see friends over spring break, which I suppose is understandable. Anyway, today I have my first attempt at a ruffian manicure. I used Orly Purple Pleather and and Viridian Vinyl. I wore Purple Pleather on its own for a couple days, then added Viridian Vinyl and top coat. Unfortunately, I broke my ring nail fairly badly right before I was going to take pictures, so I decided to leave it be and cut it after I took the pictures so you could get a better idea of what it looked like originally.

natural light

I was pretty happy with how I did, especially considering I did the ruffian part of the manicure in an Arby's on my way back to college. Yeah...it happened. I'm also definitely excited to do more ruffian manicures, perhaps including some spring-themed ones, since it is now officially spring. I'm also interested in adding other nail art to ruffians - have any of you experimented with that? I'm not sure if it would look good or be a nail fail, though I suppose it would depend on what design I did. Anyway, happy spring!

Repost: China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise

China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise is not only my first China Glaze polish, but one of the earlier polishes I showed on my blog, as well as my first neon. Though it well deserves all of those "firsts," it definitely deserves a better blog post than I gave it the last time around. I'm not linking to the first one, but you can find it at your own peril - I really had no clue what I was doing back then. I used three coats.

outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Probably because it's a neon, I couldn't get my camera to accurately capture the color of Turned Up Turquoise - it's more of a greenish teal in real life. However, it truly is a gorgeous color, and I love the finish. I only have two neon shimmers for some reason, but I definitely need to get more. After wearing Turned Up Turquoise for a little while, I added a coat of Nubar 2010 and Essie Matte About You. Funnily enough, this actually made the color of Turned Up Turquoise show up a tiny bit more accurately in the photos.

 outdoors, cloudy

outdoors, cloudy

I would definitely do this combination again . . . I love cool colors with warm-colored glitter or flakie top coats. What do you think?

OPI Mermaid's Tears (and a Gradient)

I pulled out OPI Mermaid's Tears today for my grey-free Friday - I didn't initially intend to get it, but when I saw it at Ulta I knew it had to be mine. I have a few similar shades, including Essie Turquoise and Caicos, but the dustiness of Mermaid's Tears made me fall in love. It applied very well and took a perfectly satisfactory two coats for opacity.

indoors, artificial light

Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone - I had to add some glitter! I did a glitter gradient with Sinful Colors Nail Junkie, which in my opinion is the perfect gradient color for Mermaid's Tears. I didn't use a sponge, but once I put top coat on I could hardly see the lines anyway.

indoors, artificial light

I love it! I hope this doesn't chip quickly, because I'd love to wear it through tomorrow. I really can't resist a good gradient, and when it's a glitter gradient? Then I'm really in trouble. 

Tomorrow I'll have some more crackle for you...I hope you're not getting tired of it yet, because I'm still addicted!

China Glaze Atlantis

Very very quick post today, as I have to be off to school in about two minutes. Believe me, I'd much rather stay at home and blog all day, but I do want to graduate. :P Anyway, today I'm showing you China Glaze Atlantis.T he sun wasn't out when I wore it by itself, and my camera refused to take accurate pictures indoors, but I'm showing it to you anyway. Atlantis is a teal jelly with silver and holo glitter suspended in it. I used four coats - it didn't really need four, but I added an extra coat because I wanted lots of depth and sparkle. I took one picture in focus and one blurry picture so you could see the holo better.

indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

Okay, that's all! Have a great Monday!

Atlantic Zebra

I wore China Glaze Atlantis for a couple days this past week, and after the first day I decided I wanted to add something. I settled on zebra stripes, so I freehanded some with a black Kiss striper. I'd never done zebra stripes before, and using Nail Polish Art Addiction's zebra stripe post as a guide, I think I managed to do pretty well.

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

I did mess up on a couple of nails, but since I already had two coats of Seche Vite over Atlantis before I added the stripes, it was easy to remove the stripes without removing the glitter. This wasn't as easy for me to do as leopard spots, but it wasn't quite as hard as I thought it might be. I'll definitely be trying zebra print again in the future!

Finally, here's a new nail blog I've discovered this week - Claire is a nail tech in England and she does some impressive nail art.

Top Twenty Nails

P.S. I will be showing you Atlantis on its own soon, but I was so excited about this that I wanted to post it first!

China Glaze Emerald Sparkle + Simpli Glitter

Re: the scholarship...I got an email from my admissions counselor yesterday saying that she hadn't heard anything from the scholarship committee...so I know nothing. This is the second time they've postponed the announcement, so the waiting is killing me! Thanks for all your good luck wishes. On to the polish!

After wearing China Glaze Emerald Sparkle on its own, I decided to try adding some more glitter to it. I used an unnamed teal glitter from Simpli. The teal glitter has a little bit of holographic glitter in it, but it's not visible most of the time. I used two (I think) coats of the Simpli over two coats of Emerald Sparkled and put Seche Vite on top.

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

Isn't it gorrrgeous? I love the extra depth and sparkle the Simpli glitter adds to Emerald Sparkle...not that Emerald Sparkle isn't gorgeous on its own, but you can always add some more glitter. That's my motto, anyway.

Franken Week Day 2: Siren Song

Monday's franken is something I made after RBL chose their top eleven fan submissions and I wasn't one of them. While this wasn't my submission, the whole thing got me thinking and I came up with Siren Song, a teal/purple duochrome with orange, blue, purple, green microglitter/shimmer and flakies. To make it, I used Rimmel Night Before, Sally Hansen Laser, Sally Hansen DVD, Sally Hansen Blue It, Hard Candy Beetle, Sally Hansen Marine Scene, Pure Ice No Means No, Twinkle Toes green shimmer(it's hoof polish for horses...I got it as a joke), Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, and probably something else that I forgot. It's definitely my franken with the most ingredients so far.

Unfortunately, Siren Song photographed horribly. It was rainy when I took the pictures, and all the lighting in my house made it look really blah, which it doesn't in real life. It's much sparklier and duochrome-ier and generally much prettier than in the pictures, but I figured I'd show it anyway. WARNING: the pictures ahead are realllllly bad.

 indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

The color of the first picture is closer to accurate, but the second picture kind of shows the flakies and sparkles, which the first doesn't do at all. Sorry for the terrible pictures - this is definitely on my reblogging list.

American Apparel Peacock

I'm afraid I won't have sunny pictures on weekdays any more for a while...now that it's getting dark earlier, I just don't get home in time. My pictures will also probably be a bit messier because I'm so busy that I rarely have time to clean up my fingers after polishing. And finally, my cuticles are very, very dry. I feel bad for them. Now if you aren't completely turned off by all that...then here are two coats of American Apparel Peacock:

 indoors, artificial light

 indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

As you can see, I added a little something on the thumbnail. I got a little container of these flakies at Sally Beauty Supply yesterday, and I couldn't wait to try them out. I applied them with tweezers on wet polish (I added a coat of base coat after Peacock was all dry) and then finished with some top coat. I really like the effect - it reminds me of broken tile or glass. 

But more importantly, let me extol the many virtues of Peacock: 1) It doesn't smell. Really. I mean, it does have a slight scent, but it does not smell like nail polish. Even my mother, who groans every time I open my bottle of non-acetone remover, didn't notice when I was painting my nails with this. 2) It dries superhumanly (superpolishly?) fast. Seriously. I painted my nails and when I got into bed ten minutes later, my nails were dry. I didn't put on top coat last night (though I did this morning)...and I didn't have any sheet prints. I'm very impressed. 3) It's very easy to apply, and is completely opaque in two coats. 4) The color is gorgeous. It's a medium-deep, slightly dusty, blue-leaning teal. And I love it. I love it, I love it, I love it. Did I mention that I love it?

....And guess what? Tomorrow's Friday! Woohoo!