Let's Get Star-ted

  Good morning all!  Hope you all had a great weekend and are ready for the week ahead.  The last two weeks I only had to work 3 days a week because of all of the snow, so I've gotten sort of lazy, haha.  Time to buckle down and learn some neurology.  But for now, a fun design inspired by a beautiful KBShimmer creation!

  This look started out with three coats of KBShimmer Let's Get Star-ted, a sheer milky white base with medium and large black hex, medium and large blue hex, small and large purple hex and black star glitter.  While I love the polish on it's own, the colors were calling to me to add something else, and I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Blue Streak and Zoya Mira to add the swoopy tips, and Zoya Raven to outline the purple.  On the ring finger I added star rhinestomes from a Cheeky nail wheel.

  Let's Get Star-ted applied fairly smoothly for a glitter, and I was very impressed that I didn't have to hunt around much at all for the stars.  Placement was also fairly easy and I only moved around a glitter once, for the most part it spread out really well.  I think I am going to have to invest in a few more of these fabulous glitters, I am really impressed!

Lady of the Lake

  Hello all!  Quick post today as I am focusing my week on studying - psychiatry shelf is on Friday and I am soo not ready.  While I have shown this polish a few times as layered, I have not given it the proper solo post it deserves.

Outdoors, sunlight

  a England Lady of the Lake is a deep purple scattered holographic.  The application is pretty near flawless, and while one coat is almost sufficient two is perfect.  I absolutely love my a England polishes!  This is sort of a medium holo - not super subtle but not totally in your face, either.  It is pretty amazing.

Outdoors, sun

Indoors, light box

  If you haven't tried a England polishes yet I highly recommend them!  I only have a few in my collection but I love them all and hope to add more over time.  Have a great weekend, and I will have the winner of the giveaway for you soon!

Mardi Gras!

  Happy Mardi Gras!  While I don't have any fun celebration plans for the day (I mostly plan to go to work, come home, and study), I of course had to plan out a fun Mardi Gras manicure.

Indoors, light box

  For these nails, I used three coats of China Glaze Glitter All The Way, a multi-colored glitter made up of gold, green, purple, and red glitters in a clear base.  As soon as I saw this color in the Holiday Joy collection, I just knew I would be wearing it for Mardi Gras!  On the ring finger, I tried out my very first fishtail pattern using Zoya Ziv, Tru, and Holly.  It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be and I really love the look!  I will definitely have to use this technique again soon.  Hope you all have a great day!

Indoors, light box

Triangles with Shimmer Tammy

  I have recently joined Pinterest (you can find me here!) and it is a great place for finding awesome nail art ideas!  I'm not sure where this idea originated, but I have seen it several times and had to give it a go.  It is super easy - all it requires is some tape!  I used blue painter's tape but several different types can work.  Just don't use anything too sticky (like duct tape) or it will ruin the manicure.

  For this look, I started out with two coats of Nicole by OPI I'm a Belieber, a deep dark purple shimmer.  Then I blocked off triangles using tape on all but the ring finger (and thumb), and added one coat of Shimmer Tammy.  Tammy is an amazing mix of purple, silver, black and gold glitters in a variety of shapes and sizes.  There are hex as well as bar glitters, and some of the silver glitters are also holographic!  As always, I was very impressed with both the application on this glitter as well as its complexity.  There is always so much going on in these Shimmers, but it is never too overwhelming.

 I really love the look of the glitter triangle!  It makes the already gorgeous glitter manicure just a bit more interesting, and really gives it a classy look.  I will definitely have to use this technique again, it was very simple to execute and I love the finished product!  If you have an easy way that you jazz up your glitter manicures, I'd love to hear about it!

Outdoors, overcast

The polishes featured in this post  were provided to Polishology for review purposes and represents my honest and unbiased opinion.

Purple Valentine with Zoya Julie

  I know, I know... it's not even February yet!  What can I say, I was feeling in the mood for a Valentine's-themed manicure.  I decided to go with some slightly less traditional colors on this one - don't worry, there will be plenty of red and pink over the next couple of weeks.

  For these nails, I started off with two coats of Zoya Julie, a pale, blue-toned lavender shimmer from the new Lovely collection.  The shimmer in this is gorgeous and it applied fairly well in three coats.  After that I used Zoya Neeka to stamp dark purple swirls using Konad plate m63.  Then I used Konad Special White and Bundle Monster plates BM-311 and BM-303 to add the heart designs to the top.  I added little white pearls from a Cheeky nail wheel to the circles on the hearts.  Finally, since I clearly didn't have enough going on yet, I added a coat of OPI Pirouette My Whistle.  It's a bit busy, but I love how it turned out.

  Above is Julie alone.  Aside from not playing well with the chip at the end of my ring finger it applied very well.  That shimmer is really gorgeous, and makes it unique among my light purples.  Looking at this now, I sort of feel like I need to get the other shimmers from the collection... I guess I know what I will be getting with the next Zoya promo!  :)

Purple Sands - OPI Can't Let Go

  Hello all!  Today I want to share with you one of the OPI Liquid Sand shades from the Mariah Carey collection.  When I first saw the photos of these polishes I honestly wasn't too sure about this finish, but it's kind of growing on me!  We'll see how the trend continues throughout the year...

Without top coat

  OPI Can't Let Go is a deep, blue-toned purple full of purple microglitter as well as purple medium hex glitters.  The liquid sand shades are meant to be worn without topcoat, and dry to a matte, rough finish.  It is bumpy to the touch but not quite as gritty as I thought it would be.  The look is kind of cool, and it really does look somewhat like purple sand on your nails.  That said, I had to try it out with top coat!

With topcoat

  I liked this polish matte, but I love it with top coat!  It changes the color to a deeper and more vibrant purple and really makes that glitter shine.  I feel like this means that I am missing the point of the liquid sand somehow... but it is still super pretty, and that is all that matters!  It applied fairly well in two coats and the formula was not all that thick, which I thought it might be.  As is to be expected, it eats topcoat like crazy, so be prepared!  I am pretty excited now to try out the rest of the liquid sands (and the Zoya PixieDust collection).  I'm interested to hear what you all think of this trend?  Are you loving it or do you think it will pass quickly?  Let me know what you think!

Snowball Fight!

  This year for Christmas, one of my gifts from my sister Becky was a totally gorgeous glitter topcoat from Darling Diva Polish, with snowflake glitter in it!  How awesome is that?

Indoors, artificial light

  For this manicure, I started out with a purple base color (It was just two days before the Fiesta Bowl), a England Lady of the Lake.  This medium purple holo is of course great on its own, but also made a perfect base for Darling Diva Snowball.  This polish is a glitter-fest in a clear base; it contains white glitters in bar, large and small hex, and snowflakes shapes, as well as silver hex and various sizes of blue-green, incandescent glitters.  While the glitter did end up making the polish look a bit more blue than purple, I still love the finished look.

Indoors, artificial light

  The snowflakes were sort of a pain to get out of the bottle, but in the end it was worth it.  I put on about three or four layers of topcoat and still couldn't get them to lay completely flat, but I didn't have much of a problem with them snagging for several days (I started to pick at them, so that's my fault).  Lovely polish and perfect for a snowy winter day.

Original

  Sorry for my absence last week.  I've been dealing with some big life decisions lately and my blog (and my nails) kind of got left behind for the past week or so.  I will try to get back on track with posting.  Today I want to share an absolutely stunning polish that my sister Becky was kind enough to let me borrow.

Outdoors, sun

OPI DS Original, three coats.  This stunning holographic light purple puts every single holo I own to shame.  I might steal it from Becky (watch out, B).  Not much more to say about this beauty; here are a few more pictures.

Outdoors, sun

Outdoors, sun

Outdoors, shade

Turquoise and Purple

  I have been rather on the busy side lately and haven't been able to swatch the new lovely summer collections from Zoya yet - I like to do collections (or at least halves of collections) all at once and preferably on a nice sunny day, to get consistent photos.  However, this has not stopped be from wearing them!  I have worn probably half of them by now either alone or with some design - they are actually the only thing I have worn since I got them last week (other than my Easter mani).  Here is a fun design using two of the "Surf" colors!

Outdoors, shade

  This is two coats of Zoya Zuza topped with stamping in Zoya Carly using Red Angel  plate RA-105.  I added a purple rhinestone to the center of one of the circles on the ring finger.  I love these colors together - such a fun and playful combination!

Outdoors, sunlight

  I am hoping to be able to swatch the entire collection no later than this weekend, so you should be seeing these here soon - although you will get to see some more fun nail art before that, so check back! :)

K-S-U Wildcats! Holographic Water Marble

  Here is a water marble that I wore a few weeks back to a home basketball game of my Wildcats!  Unfortunately, it didn't help us win that game... but I am hoping posting it now will help us out as we continue on in the NCAA Tournament!  I have to admit, I may be a bit too optimistic - I have them winning the whole thing in my bracket, haha.  But our family bracket pool is just for fun, so why not?  :)

Outdoors, sun

  For this water marble, I used China Glaze OMG and China Glaze LOL.  I started out with two coats of OMG as the base, then added the water marbling with both OMG and LOL.  I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite.

Outdoors, sun

Right hand - sun

Indoors, artificial light

Outdoors, shade

  My favorite fingers are definitely the index and the ring fingers on my left hand, but they all turned out pretty fun.  I love water marbling with holographics - it combines two of my favorite things in polish!  Here's to hoping that my Wildcats continue to do well in the tournament!  We are going to need all of the help we can get against Syracuse... :)

  Who do you have winning it all in your NCAA bracket?

Happy First Birthday, Nova!

  Nova turned one on Monday!  It has been a bit of a crazy year, raising a puppy - kind of like a practice-baby, haha.  For someone who has never had a dog before, it was frustrating at times, but she has grown into a (mostly) very well behaved little pooch and we are so glad we added her to our family!  :D

Nova and her Birthday cake!

We let her sniff at the whole thing a bit before we cut her off a chunk to eat

  I thought that a great way to honor my cute little puppy for her birthday would be to wear her namesake polish, Zoya Nova!

Outdoors, shade

   I borrowed this pinkish-purple glitterbomb from Becky, and somehow after sitting around for several months is has turned totally watery - which is interesting, since normally the glitters I have get thicker over time, not thinner.  Any thoughts on that one?  Because of this I actually layered Zoya Nova over Zoya Rihana, a pretty perfectly matching shade.  Then I used Zoya Trixie and Red Angel plate RA 101 to add the tips.  Finally, I used Butter London The Black Knight to add cute little paw prints on my ring finger and thumb using a dotting tool.

Outdoors, sun

  Nova is a gorgeous color - while the glitter is a silvery light pink, the base is a sheer fuchsia, and when layered the glitter takes on many different colors, giving the polish a lot of depth.  A great polish with an equally great name!  Happy Birthday to my sweet puppy - it has been a great first year and I look forward to many more years to come!

Tired after a birthday run with her Daddy :)

Fowl Play

  I am sure most of you know this polish well by now, as it has been out for quite awhile and received a lot of hype a few months ago for being a close-but-not-quite-dupe to OPI Merry Midnight.  However, I was finally able to get my hands on it and now it is time to add my own pictures to the collective, haha.  Besides, it is hard to see too much of this one, in my opinion.  :)  This is one of those polishes I definitely recommend giving a click on the pictures to see up close!

Outdoors, natural light

  Orly Fowl Play is from their Birds of a Feather Fall 2011 collection.  It is a sheer deep purple base full of all kinds of goodies - silvery and bright blue microglitter as well as red flakies with a gorgeous green-gold flash.  There is so much going on in this polish, it is just stunning!  This was three thin coats and it had really nice application.  Below you can see a bit more of the flash in the flakies.

Outdoors, natural light

Indoors, artificial light

  I had been lemming OPI Merry Midnight for a long time, but this took care of that problem for me - even if it is not a dead-on dupe it is really darned close.  I am really glad I finally was able to add this one to my collection!

Tangled Inspired Nails

  I did these nails awhile ago, and I kind of forgot about them - I never got around to taking actual good pictures, so unfortunately all I have for you is a somewhat questionable iPhone pic in bad lighting.  But I thought the nails were fun so I decided to go ahead and share.

  These nails were inspired by the Disney movie Tangled, which has become one of my very favorite Disney movies.  I used the gold and purple colors of the kingdom in the movie as well as the sun motif.  I started off with Sally Hansen Xtreme Golden Child for the goldenrod color, with Zoya Dannii on the ring finger.  I put the (sort-of) sun on my ring finger using Golden Child as well.  For the stamping, I used Color Club Wild at Heart and BM214 for the intricate design on all but the ring finger, and BM01 for the purple sun on the ring finger.  Finally, tips were added using m19.  I thought the BM214 image looked very.. imperial.. perfect for this princess-inspired mani.  I love Tangled!  I want to go watch it again now.  Rapunzel is my new favorite Disney princess.  :)

Let's Go Bowling!

  Today my Wildcats play in the Cottonbowl in Dallas - and I am lucky enough to get to go!  Dan and I are heading down as we speak with my parents and my sister.  My older sister, brother-in-law, and the adorable baby are already there (they live there) and we are all headed to the game tonight.  I am not sure what the outcome will be.. but I will be cheering on the cats!  To pump up my K-State spirit, I decided to do some Wildcat nails - freehand style.  :)

  For these nails I started out with OPI Funky Dunky as a base on all but the index finger, which is Sally Hansen Xtreme White On.  For the base of the Willie the Wildcat head I was going to use Zoya Kelly, but it was a bit dark - so it is a mix of Zoya Kelly and Zoya Casey.  The lighter fur is Zoya Casey.  The eyes were done with a dotting tool.  The "KSU" on the index was done with Casey and Funky Dunky, and the football with OPI Cheyenne Pepper.  Stamping done with Konad plate m57, Konad white, and Zoya Casey to fill in some spots.

  This is my second attempt at freehand, and I think it turns out pretty well.  The animal (hopefully) looks a bit more like what I was initially intending - a wildcat - and not an otter.  One thing I have learned from my experience with freehand nail art is that I am definitely not ambidextrous.  For now I will spare you the small sad kitty and deflated football on my right hand, haha.  Hopefully I will get better in time.  I am so impressed by all of you ladies who are so good at freehand, it is tough!  I am having fun learning though.

Go Cats!

Polka Dots and Bows

  Here is a cute and girly mani I put together using polka dots and bows.  Becky's comment was "This is really cute.  I should be wearing it, not you."  Hm... thanks Becky. :P  Surprisingly, this was not done for a K-State event, haha.. although it would have been good!

Natural light

   I started off with Zoya Kendal from the Feel collection on all but the ring finger, and Sally Hansen Xtreme White On for the ring finger.  I then used Zoya Mira for the polka dots (Kendal for the dots on the ring finger) using plate BM-211.  Finally, bows were added in Konad White (Malia for the ring finger) using plate m59.  I like the design a lot, I will have to remember it for the future perhaps with some different colors as well.  The big bows are cute.  :)

Can't Resist Temptation

  When I saw the promo pics for the latest OPI DS shades, I knew that Temptation was going to quickly become a favorite of my collection.  I was not wrong.

Outdoors, shade

  As is often the case with purples, these pictures don't quite do this polish justice.  It is a bit more reddish-toned and way more sparkly, but at least this will give you some idea.  This polish is actually a very sheer navy base, completely full of purple, pink, and blue glitter (predominantly purple).  The final effect is simply stunning.

Sunlight

  This polish sparkles no matter what lighting you have it in, and it is so easy to catch yourself staring at it.  And, of course, it is perfect for K-State games (which I have already worn it to once, haha).  Overall an amazing addition to the DS line.  I highly recommend it!  I will review the other new addition, Bold, a bit later.

DISCLOSURE: The polishes featured in this post  were provided to Polishology by OPI for review purposes.  This is an honest and independent review and was in no way influenced by the company

Halloween Marbling/Go CATS!!

  Today is two days before Halloween.  It also happens to be Homecoming at K-State, and I am lucky enough to get to go to the game!  That's right, I am talking about my #10 ranked, undefeated K-State Wildcats!  So what to do, Halloween nails, or KSU nails....?  How about I just combine a bit of both for the ultimate mani?

Shade

  Purple and white in honor of my Cats, and orange and black in honor of Halloween.  I started this off with two coats of OPI Funky Donkey on all nails but ring finger, and three coats of Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers Creepy Pumpkin on the ring finger.  Then I did water marbling with SH Xtreme Black Out and OPI Funky Donkey on all nails, including on the tip of the ring finger (using a tip guide).  I then added cute little skulls from BM-225 (index finger) and BM-211 using Konad Special White.

Early Morning Sun

  I love how this came out!  It is a bit different than I originally planned - in my original thoughts for this mani, I was not going to have an entirely orange accent nail.  But then I found Creepy Pumpkin and I had to do it.  It is a gorgeous, squishy jelly orange full of microglitter.  It was a bit of a pain to apply but I love the final look.  And the bottle is completely adorable!

Bottle Shot!

   Have a great weekend-before-Halloween!  I am off to root for my Cats now... it is going to be a tough game for them (we are playing #11 Oklahoma) but I think we can pull it off.  :)

Multi-Chrome Goodness

  Some of you might remember a few months ago, when I shared with you the polish that started it all, OPI Movin' Out.  There I wore the polish alone, but I promised to show you the beauty of this one layered as well.  Here it is!  Please excuse the tipwear, this was several days after I put it on and I use my hands a lot in lab.  I really meant to get pictures earlier, but... that didn't happen so much.

Shade

Shade

  This is two coats of OPI I Brake for Manicures, plus one coat of OPI Movin' Out.  On the ring finger I also added one coat of Nfu Oh 51 for a somewhat subtle accent.  Movin' Out has some serious multi-chrome action when layered - about you can see the predominant pinkish-purple, as well as some of the gold and green colors.  In addition, it has this amazing microshimmer that makes it just glow from within.  It is SO pretty!

Sunlight - pinks, purples, and reds

Sunlight - dark purple

Sunlight - Bronze and gold

Sunlight - greens and blues

  Above are several pictures in the sunlight at various angles to try and show just a bit of the possible range of colors you see in this polish - purples, reds, browns, golds, greens... it is crazy!  I often caught myself staring at my hands, moving them around to try to see more colors.  People probably thought I was crazy.  But I don't really care... it is pretty!  I love this polish layered, and will definitely be wearing it like this again sometime soon.  I may try out a different base color and see what happens!