Zoya Swatch

Happy Friday everyone!  Today I have another Zoya swatch for you...this time it's Riley, a beautiful plum/magenta.  This definitely needs 2-3 coats but is a great Fall or Winter color.

Here it is with the flash on...

 Without flash...

 Sorry about the quality of these pics...I don't know what happened.

 Then, because I think I'm cool, I tried to turn it into a gradient/galaxy mani and didn't like the turn out (what is wrong with me lately?!).  Anyway I thought I'd still share it...

If anyone has tips on how to successfully do one of these manis I'd greatly appreciate it! I used one of those triangle makeup sponges to dab on the other colors...

 If anyone would like to re-create my look (or at least the look I was trying to go for) here's what I used:

2 coats of Riley by Zoya

Then sponged Fifth Avenue by China Glaze over about 1/2 of my nail

then sponged Pure Ice's Desire You

and added a little bit of Prisma Luminous Color glitter over the ends. 

New Lacquer!

Hey everyone! I'm sorry I've been MIA the last few days, I've been busier than anticipated.  I think I've tried 2 other mani's since my last post but didn't like either one so they didn't make it to my blog :)  Some good news: when I checked the mail I had some new lovelies waiting for me!! Six new bottles of ZOYA!! I promise I'll swatch them for you soon.

 From left to right: Maya, Riley, Lulu, Bevin, Lotus and Gaia.

This is with flash...

 and this is without flash...

I did this mani last night and I don't like it either (I must be on a bad streak or something) but I thought I would at least swatch the color for you.  I used Bevin for this one...

I thought I'd turn it into a cool tape mani but I totally screwed it up.  I don't like it at all and it will definitely be coming off tonight but I thought I should at least show you what she looks like :)  

 It's a very creamy sage-type green. Love it.

My 2nd Attempt at Full Stamping

Happy Friday everyone!  In my last post I swatched Demure by Revlon for you and I just happened to love it so much that I actually left it on for a whopping 2 whole days!  Then today I decided I would go ahead and stamp over it but I had such a hard time deciding what color would look good against this beauty.  I ended  up settling on a Color Club...that has no name! Grrr so annoying.  It came in a collection I got for Christmas this year but none of the bottles were labeled.  Anyway it looked like a dark midnight blue until.....I took it outside and realized that it's actually a purple :)                                     

          Without flash...

 and with flash...

  I used BM plate 223 - you can see I still need some practice with the full stamper..I missed some edges but overall it's not too bad.  These pictures were all taken outside in natural light.

P.S. If anyone owns this Color Club or has any idea what it's called or even what collection it's from please let me know :)
**Side note: My sofa casing came in way earlier than the expected 4-6 weeks...it took only 6 days! For those of you who care ;)

Another Wednesday, Another Pink

Hey everyone! It's Pink Wednesday again :) I have a simple swatch for you today...it's Demure by Revlon. I've had this sitting on my shelf for a few weeks and thought it was time to give her a go. Demure appears mostly pink in the bottle but is actually a muted coral/orange and I absolutely love it! I am such a sucker for corals and this one is just a perfect almost-coral polish.  It was a little difficult for me to capture the exact color on camera (maybe I need to mess with my camera more...I dunno!) but here she is:

These first three pics were taken inside...

These last two were taken outside as the sun was starting to go down... 

Overall I really, really loved this polish.  It was an easy 2 coat application and looks so pretty in different lights.  Unfortunately, none of these pics really captured the teeny tiny micro-glitter flecks but I promise they're there!

Happy Pink Wednesday!

A Simple Monday...

Hey everyone!  Today I have a simple but beautiful color for you...It's China Glaze's Tempest..

It's a bluish-purple with a little shimmer/duo-chrome.  It is a little runny in the bottle and wasn't the easiest application.  First coat was very streaky...I did two coats here but probably could have done 3 for full coverage.

w/o flash

 w/flash

 Then, just because I couldn't leave it alone I added a layer of Essie's Shine of the Times from their recent Luxe Effects Collection as an accent.  The camera just doesn't do this beauty justice...it's perfect in so many ways: application, coverage, color, you name it!

St. Patty's Day Nails!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!  Wearing your green??  My green cannot be missed, it's so bright!!  For today's mani I used China Glaze's Kiwi Cool-Ada from their Poolside Collection.  Although it doesn't look like it this is a very bright neon and, like most neons, it dries matte.

I added the four-leaf clover from BM plate 03 onto my index finger and decided to keep them all matte.

Not my favorite but it'll do for one day :)

Ombre Mani & an update on my big FAIL

Hey everybody, hope you're having a great Friday! So in my last post I told you guys about my massive fail when my bottle of SV decided to crash land on my new sofa.  Well we have a warranty but when I called them yesterday they said they wont cover it!!! Apparently the warranty only cover food/drinks so to replace my cushion cover will cost us about $60...man was I pissed!  I was so frustrated I called my husband in tears, but like the good husband he is, he calmed me down and reminded me that everything was going to be alright :)  In the end it was a BIG lesson learned: no more tossing nail polishes in the house!   In case you guys are wondering how bad the damage is...here you go:

 I know I know...we're all thinking the same thing I'm sure.  I have to look at this for the next 4-6 weeks until the new casing comes.

 Anyway, let's get on to what's really important... lacquered nails!  So here is what I used for this Ombre: Sally Hansen's Sheerly Peach (weird name since it's really WHITE), Zoya's Dove, Pure Ice Kiss Me Here, China Glaze Concrete Catwalk and lastly I used Pure Ice Black Rage.

 Both pics are in natural light and I used 2 coats on all...Isn't Dove (ring finger) a beauty??

Pink Wednesday Water Marble and BIG Fail :(

Hey everyone! Man did I have some trouble with this mani :(  Let me share how it all started...I was on the phone when I grabbed a bottle of Essie and my Seche Vite, I tossed them on my couch to come back for them later.  Well they ended up landing right on top of each other and completely shattered the bottle of SV (which was practically full). It was a huge mess, and we've not even had our couches for a full year yet!  I was sooo mad at myself.  Luckily, we purchased a 5-year warranty so they should replace the cushion.  Anyway, after that party I wasn't really in the mood to polish but I did anyway and messed up and had to re-do again.  It was just not my night.  So let me apologize in advance for half-assed nails but I did my best under the circumstances ;)
I used Essie French Affair for the base and for the marbling I used Pure Ice Kiss Me Here and Flirt Alert.

 I then marbled just on an accent...

 I used 2 coats and all these pics were taken indoors since it was already dark out.

Zoya Promo!!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to quickly share something with you all...Zoya is doing a special buy 3 get 3 free promotion! Check it out here http://zoyanailpolish.blogspot.com/2012/03/spring-into-season-with-blooming-color.html
Zoya is one of the best vegan polishes I have tried, the application is perfect everytime! 

Early St. Patty's Day Mani

Hey everyone! So I did my nails today and then realized I posted a very similar look just last week...sorry.  I did use a totally different shade of green this time but still used the same flakie overlay.  I used China Glaze's Westside Warrior and Fingerpaint's Motley.

 Westside Warrior is from China Glaze's Metro Collection and is a deep olive green creme polish...I love it!  2 coats here but could easily be a one coater which is always a plus ;)

 and here I layered it with 2 coats of Motley's flakies.

Mreow!

Hello, hello! So since my husband bought me all those Bundle Monster plates you know I had to have some fun with them today ;)  This is only my 2nd time stamping with a full image plate so you can see that I missed a little on some of the edges of my nails but I will keep practicing and perfect it...So far I'm really happy with how easy these transferred, both to the stamp and my nail.  I did notice that the stamping is a little too light for my liking but oh well! Ok on to the mani...I used Sally Hansen's Mint Sorbet and Orly's Wild Wisteria BM plate 221 (leopard).

Indoors...

 Outside...