Sponge mani with Zoya

About a month ago, Zoya had a promotion where you pay only $12 for any 3 polishes SHIPPED! I found about the promotion when Refinedandpolished posted a photo on her Instagram and blog with swatches of the new Naturel Collection from Zoya which consists of nudes and mauve-y nudes that I absolutely fell in love with them at first site. My only Zoya polishes that I owned at the time were a couple that I had gotten from my Ipsy glambag. So, when I found out about the $12 promotion, I bit the bullet and purchased three. I bought Chantal, Rue, and Brigitte from the Naturel Collection.

Since it’s been a while since I posted a nail look and actually a while since I’ve done anything besides a coat of color and some glitter, I decides to put these to use.

This is a simple sponge mani that I did. My base color which you can see on my undecorated nails is Rue, a blush toned nude. The medium mauve and cream nude color on my middle and ring fingers are Brigitte and Chantal. The white is just a simple white polish from Wet n Wild.

Wet n Wild Fergie Collection – Going Platinum

When it comes to metallics, I tend to stick to things like golds, rose golds, and champagnes. While browsing some store a few months ago, I came across this lonely bottle of Wet n Wild nail polish. It’s from the Fergie Collection in the color Going Platinum. It caught my eye because 1) someone had placed it in the wrong spot so of course it stuck out like a sore thumb and 2) it was shiny. Looking at the bottle in the store, it just looked like a metallic silver toned polish. I typically don’t buy silver because I think it looks horrible on me but I bought it anyway because I was shopping around for colors for a giveaway and I figured someone out there would like a silver polish. When I got home, I stored it away and it sat untouched for months.

Fast forward to a couple days ago when I unburied this. I figured I might as well keep it and give it a try.

Wow! I was definitely surprised when I applied this polish. These photos are with three coats of Going Platinum. It’s not just silver like I had initially thought. It’s a shiny metallic but what surprised me, and I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before, is that there are actually gold/bronze specks in the polish. They aren’t chunky so it isn’t TOO noticeable but they lay flat with the rest of the polish.

It’s gorgeous. I want to say I paid $2.99 for this polish (more than likely I used a $1 off coupon) and I’m not sure if this is carried in stores anymore. BUT if you happen to come across this polish at your local drugstore, I would highly recommend that you pick it up. It’s a beautiful, unique color with a smooth formula.

Meow Mani

The last time I dressed up for Halloween I think was probably 5-6 years ago. I dressed up for work and that was about it. I don’t know why. I think dressing up is fun, I just don’t do it. The last time I went trick-or-treating was when I was like… 12. Haha, yes I went trick-or-treating when I was in 7th grade. Now that my daughter is 3, can walk, and say, “trick or treat,” I think it’s about time to take her out to collect candy from random people all while wearing a cute costume. When my parents came home from their trip to Germany earlier in the year, they came home with this uber cute dirndl which was a gift from my aunt and uncle to my daughter:

Very well made, straight from Germany, and not one of those cheap, low quality, costume kinds. And it’s just about ready to not fit my daughter. So, she’s wearing this as one of her Halloween costumes this year and I figured since I’m taking her out, why not have a little fun myself? Maybe. I’m thinking of going the cheap, barely dressed up but it still counts as dressing up route… with cat ears, black and animal print, and face makeup hahaha.

And, hey, might as well do my nails to match, right?

Sinful Colors in Black on Black, Sinful Colors in Nirvana, JLB in Gold Dust, and Nina gold holographic topcoat.

It’s been a while since I’ve done any kind of design so I figured I’d give it a try. I’ve created this skittlette which is a term by Marta at ChitChatNails that describes this type of mani. (She is queen of the skittlette so be sure to check out her blog!) I did two nails with plain black, one black and brown animal print design, and one glittery nail. I also did it late at night while watching the Lakers game so, yes, it is half assed. No shame.

It’ll go perfect with my cat “costume” if I do decide to dress up and if not then at least my nails look cute.

Soooo with that, whatever your plans may be for tomorrow, hope you all have a safe and happy Halloween!

Little Mermaid Inspired Mani #1

One month. Wow, has it been that long since I last blogged? A lot has been going on around here for me and my family but everything seems to be slowing down… all the while the holiday season is picking up. Oh boy…

I feel like I haven’t done my nails in ages. With maybe a simple swipe of color every now and then, they’ve basically been feeling naked. While rummaging through my nail polish drawer looking for a foundation stick (because I am just THAT organized…) I stumbled on Anime Day by Darling Diva Polish. I actually bought it from a sale an IGer was having a few months ago but I never got around to actually doing anything with it.

The polishes pictured are Finger Paints in Tiffany Imposter (the writing on that bottle lasted all but a few days), China Glaze Peri-Wink-le, and of course Darling Diva Anime Day.

Anima Day is a slightly pink tinted clear base with what look like teal, light aqua, pink, and white glitter. Due to the pinkish base, it did alter the base color of my nails.

The combination of colors is gorgeous and totally reminds me of “The Little Mermaid” which makes this mani a great candidate to be worn for my daughter’s upcoming birthday party.

AD isn’t as densely packed with glitter as I would have liked it to be but it is still very pretty, I just wish it had come with a clear base. Application-wise, I had no problems with the actual formula and the glitter distributed fairly evenly. The fact that it has white glitter was one of the main reasons why I purchased this polish– I LOVE white glitter!

In the Spotlight

A few months ago, Walgreens had this really great deal on Sinful Colors’ nail polishes for $1.00 a bottle. It was around the time when the Spring 2013 Collections were released. I picked up four from the Sugar Rush Collection which contained all pastel colors. Then there was the Almost Famous Collection which were all glitter packed and, unfortunately, I only bought a couple polishes from the Almost Famous Collection. The one I used today is In the Spotlight which is a sheer green shimmer base with what look like pink, green, yellow, and glitters. Kind of makes me think of Mardi Gras in a way.  When I first bought it I was slightly disappointed by the swatch because it was very sheer and the green tinted base was, well, a little on the ugly side so it sat in my polish drawer for months being untouched. When I was deciding what to do with my nails last night, I wanted to use one that I hadn’t yet used or didn’t use often so this finally came out of hibernation.

This is two coats of OPI’s Thanks a Windmillion from their Spring 2012 Holland Collection along with two coats of In the Spotlight and one coat of Sally Hansen Snowglobe to add a little iridescence.

I’ve learned that with nail polishes, you can’t really decide if you like a color simply on your first impression of it. I hated this polish when I first got it but now seeing it layered with a base color and a little iridescent glitter in the mix, it is B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. The glitter in Snowglobe is very sparse so it doesn’t add too much to the look but the little iridescent glitter that you do see really give this mani that final touch. I’m actually regretting not getting others from the Almost Famous Collection.

Here’s a macro shot of it.

Fourth of July Mani Re-do!

I hope you all enjoyed the 4th of July celebrations! Ours was a success- a bbq at my parents’ home with family followed by fireworks at night? It’s just as good as Christmas. I ended up re-doing my mani for yesterday afterall. The full on glitter mani was too much impact for me so I “toned it down” to a glitter gradient/glitter tip mani.

This is in natural light/outdoor but in the shade. I used a ton more different glitter nail polishes. I used one thin coat of Nailtini’s Frappe that I got from an Ipsy glambag as a base color on all of my nails. Then I used the dabbing method to apply the following glitters (yes, all of them): Sally Hansen’s Big Money, /0/” target=”_blank”>Milani’s Gems, Nicole by OPI’s Inner Sparkle, Wet n Wild’s Flossy Flossy, and Nina gold holographic topcoat.

I absolutely love the result with all of these combined. If I could find ONE nail polish that incorporated all of these gorgeous glitter colors I would be so happy.

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What do you think– full glitter mani or glitter gradient/tips?

Fourth of July Mani

I have never really done a holiday themed manicure. I attempted to do one yesterday with the cliche red, white, and blue for 4th of July but the colors just looked awkward on me so I had to think of something else to do. Mind you this all happened at 9pm last night. I needed something quick and clean up would be easy. Earlier in the day I took a trip to Target and browsed the cosmetics (naturally) looking for a rainbow colored glitter after I wrote that wish list post yesterday. I found two that I liked– one from Milani and another from Nicole by OPI from the Selena Gomez collection. The winner between the two was the Milani glitter called Gems and it won by $4.00. What can I say, I’m cheap thrifty.I figured I could layer a few different glitter polishes that I already have with it if I wanted to get a similar effect. Plus, I have two other glitters coming in that I ordered from Feli’s nail polish sale.

So Milani Gems it was. I thought about doing a glitter gradient but it would have taken too long. I thought of doing a single glitter accent nail and painting the rest a solid color but then I’d have to wait for everything to dry and my experience is that glitter dries faster. Full glitter mani it is!

I call this “The Grand Finale.” At the end of a fireworks show, they shoot up the last of the fireworks in an amazing display of cluttered, colorful, shininess into the air. And you get this (minus all the smoke):

This is one thin layer of Sally Hansen Big Money from the Gem Crush collection, two coats of Milani Gems, and one thin coat of a teal glitter from Forever 21. I fell asleep before I could add on a topcoat.

I may either add another layer of Gems to build the glitter up more or just take it all off and use it for a glitter gradient like Marta did here. Ugh, see how GORGEOUS piCture pOlish’s Blogger is?! I will get my hands on that nail polish. But in the meantime, here is a macro shot of my nail for fun:

Anyway, to all my readers that will be celebrating our Independence Day tomorrow, I hope you all have a fun time but also be safe and enjoy!

Nail Polish Wish List

About half of the accounts I follow on my public profile on Instagram are nail accounts. Of those, half of them post swatches of indie polishes on a regular basis. I never knew there were so many indie nail polish brands until I joined Instagram. I fall into like with most of them, then there’s a small handful that I fall madly in love with.

I decided to finally create a nail polish wishlist to keep track of the ones that I’m lusting over (and also to keep my eye out for possible dupes). These are in no particular order:

– Blogger by piCture pOlish. Picture Polish is based in Australia. The first thing I noticed about the brand is their creative packaging, each of the bottles contains a short sentence that ties into the nail polish name. I also love the font they used– what can I say, I have a thing for serif fonts. Of all Picture Polish’s beautiful colors, Blogger stands out the most to me. There’s something about this colorful, densely packed, glitter bomb of a polish that I fall in love with every single time I see a swatch of it. There are a few rainbow glitters out there but none that are more captivating, partly because Blogger isn’t limited to your primary and secondary colors and partly because it contains different sizes of glitter.

This list will be edited from time to time. I’m always on the lookout for new brands so if you know of any or if you own one, please don’t hesitate to leave a link in the comments!

Monday Mani – Saran Wrap mani

Saran Wrap manis, if done well, can be so pretty. The first one that I fell in love with was done by Shay8815 on Instagram. It was a Saran Wrap mani done to resemble jade. It was gorgeous.

This is my second mani done using the method. It turned out OK. Originally, I had planned for it to be much more colorful but I applied the nail polish colors in layers and, well, the first few colors got covered up.

I used two coats of a white nail polish for a base color. You can’t see them anymore but there WAS Tiffany Imposter and Golden-I underneath. Basically all you’re seeing now is Sally Hansen Hardcore Party and Maybelliene Green With Envy.

This mani only lasted me a couple days. The next time around, I’ll definitely be using more vibrant colors and perhaps dropping all my nail polish at the same time and sponging using the Saran Wrap to hopefully get more of the color to show.

Friday Mani – Oh, You Fancy

It’s been a while since I’ve done a rhinestone encrusted mani. Buuuut today is my daughter’s end of year school recital and rather than mommy showing up with nails covered in glitter, I’m showing up with nails covered in rhinestones. I didn’t want to be too showy or go TOO overboard with the sparkle, so I opted for a nude nail color and did one full rhinestone nail with two other simple accent nails.

For my nail color, I used FingerPaints in Don’t Make a Scene. It’s a gorgeous cream nude color that has a really smooth formula (the bubbles you see on my middle finger are from my topcoat -_-). I bought this polish when I was looking for a dupe of OPI’s Don’t Pretzel My Buttons from the Germany Collection. I’d never seen that color in person so I only had online swatches to go by. Whether or not it is an actual dupe doesn’t matter to me because I looooove the FingerPaints polish and I got it for half price.

The rhinestones I used were from my stash of crystals that I’d accumulated during the time that I was into decoden. The teal/blue color and opal rhinestones are acrylic, all the other ones I used are glass. I also used some microbeads I bought from Michaels a while ago around the rhinestones and to fill in the spaces. If you’re into nail art and are looking for microbeads or “caviar beads,” seriously, go to Michaels. I bought a large container (I think it’s 90grams?) for less than $3.00. Regular price it’s $3.99 but they usually have a 40% off coupon floating around. It’s SO much cheaper than buying the caviar beads that nail or beauty shops sell.

Here’s a close-up outdoor shot (darn those air bubbles!).

BTW, I got a sample of Essie’s apricot cuticle oil in the mail that I’m going to give a try on my next mani. I’m excited to try it. Have any of you use it or do you use it? What do you think?