Sponging with Zoya Blaze and Ziv

  In light of the great 3 free promo that Zoya is having right now, I thought I would take the next couple of posts to highlight a few more Zoya polishes.  Today I'll share with you all a fun sponging manicure I did using two more of the Ornate winter 2012 collection polishes, Zoya Blaze and Zoya Ziv.

Indoors, artificial light

  Zoya Blaze is a cool-toned deep red with holographic glitter.  Like the other holos in the collection, this is a smooth polish, not gritty like some glitters.  The holo in this one is a bit more muted than in Aurora or Storm, but give the polish a really unique depth.  This is one of those polishes that seems to "glow from within," and it is really beautiful.  Two coats for full coverage.

Outdoors, partial sun

  Zoya Ziv is a mid-toned gold metallic foil.  It has a bit more to it than your average gold foil - mixed in are some warmed gold flakes that really give it extra depth.  Applied well in two coats.  For these nails I used Ziv as an accent nail, and then sponged Ziv onto the tips over Blaze.  The two look really nice together!  Here are some shots of the two polishes without sponging.

Outdoors, sun

Indoors, artificial light

Outdoors, shade

  I have been really pleased with the four polishes I got from the Ornate collection - these two as well as Aurora and Storm - and would highly recommend any of them for your promotion choices!  The other two from the collection are gorgeous as well and I am sure you'd be pleased with any of them.

Wintery Christmas - Free Hand Style!

  I finally did it!  I took the plunge and decided to try my luck at free-hand nail art!  I am very proud of this, since I have been shying away from it for so long, assuming it would turn out terrible.  And while it is not totally amazing, it is at least a start - and still fairly cute, in my opinion.  :)

Natural Light

  For these nails, I started off with two coats of OPI What's With the Cattitude? as the light sky blue base.  On all but the ring finger, I stamped snowflakes using Konad White and plate m59.  I also sponged white onto the tips in a fluffy gradient to give the look of snow.  Finally, I painted the reindeer on the ring finger.  I started off with OPI Suzi Loves Cowboys for the dark brown, then OPI San Tan-Tonio for the muzzle and antlers.  I did the eyes with a dotting tool and added the red rhinestone for his nose.  Finally I attempted some mouth-lines with black, but they came out a bit thicker and fuzzier than I had hoped.

  Overall I am very pleased with my first attempt at free-hand nail art.  The reindeer came out looking just a tad bit like some other sort of animal (his face is a bit too round, I realized)... so whether he looks like a reindeer to you, or he looks more like a dog/monkey/walrus/seal/otter with antlers, that is not the point.  The point is that I finally took the plunge, and whatever species he is, he is still pretty cute.  So you can expect to see me playing around with freehand more often on here now, yay!  If you have any ideas or suggestions or anything, let me know! :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

  Finally, a week and a half before Christmas, I have a festive mani for you.  With trying to baby these nails, the busy schedule of work/school, and being sick, I feel like I haven't had time to do half of the holiday nails I wanted to have done by now.  There is still time though!  I would prepare for quite a lot of holiday manicures in the upcoming week and a half.  :)

Natural Light

  For these nails, I started off with OPI DS Bold, followed by a heavy sponging of the tips with Zoya Ivanka.  Finally, I topped it off with silver swirls using Zoya Trixie and Konad plate m64.  The overall effect was very sparkly and festive.  I took this manicure off on Friday... and I haven't painted my nails again yet.  :(  Still sick, but I will paint my nails today - sometime in between studying for my final and sleeping on the couch.

Go Chiefs!

  A few weeks ago I went with my Mom to a Kansas City Chiefs game.  I haven't been to one in quite awhile, and it was a lot of fun, even though it was kind of a terrible game.  I am not very into NFL football (I really only care about my KSU Wildcats, sports-wise), but of course I had to mark the occasion with some special Chiefs nails!

Outdoors, shade

  These nails were done using two of the glitters from the Nicole by OPI Holiday Glitters collection - which I promise I will have reviews of soon for you!  Also, if you want a bit of a heads up.... all four of those glitters will be a prize in an upcoming giveaway, so I hope you like them!  :)  I started off with Orna-ment For Each Other, the red glitter with some gold mixed in, on all nails but the ring finger.  On the ring finger I went with Glitter In My Stocking, a gold glitter with a bit of red glitter mixed throughout.  I then sponged the opposite color onto the tips of each nail.  Since the sponging came on a bit strong, I sponged just a tiny bit of the original color at the top, overlapping the line between the two, to get more of a gradient effect.  We may have played awfully and lost horribly, but at least I had pretty red and gold nails for the team!  :)

Happy Halloween!

  Originally I was going to do a totally different mani for Halloween... but then I received CG It's Alive a bit early and decided I was going to have to use that instead!

Indoors, artificial light

  For this manicure, I started out with two coats of the amazing China Glaze It's Alive, a yellow-green glitter bomb from this year's Haunting Halloween collection.  It is a perfect Halloween green and I am really glad I finally broke down and ordered it.  On top of that, I sponged on a layer of China Glaze Ick-a-Body on the bottom half of the nail, followed by China Glaze Mummy May I? on the tip.  This was gorgeous alone and I wish I would have taken a picture!  For the final touch, I added OPI Black Shatter to all of the nails.

Outdoors, shade

  While this is not the most overtly Halloween mani I have done so far (I think that honor belongs to the orange and black pumpkin mani), I still really like it a lot!  The glitters look amazing together and the shatter is very fun.

  Hope everyone has a fun, safe, and Happy Halloween!  Dan and I will be watching scary movies and answering the door tonight... what are your plans?  :)