Friday, March 30, 2012

Today's Nails - NerdLacquer It's Just a Flesh Wound

I apologize for the lack of NOTD posts this week.  As I mentioned in my Blogger Round-Up reminder post, it's been a crazy week.  I've had a few merchandising jobs, as well as a sick girl child, so my free time has gone out the window.  In fact, today is the first chance I've had to polish my nails since Monday. I wasn't even gonna bother with it today, but then I got my NerdLacquer purchase in the mail and I had to put the baby on my nails...


This is NerdLacquer It's Just a Flesh Wound.  This polish a deep charcoal, almost black, base with red, silver, black, and gold multi-sized and shaped glitter.  It kind of reminds me of those black with red shimmer polishes (i.e. ChG Lubu Heels, OPI Midnight in Moscow, and RBL Black Russian) that were so popular a few years ago.  I don't own Black Russian, but I know with Lubu Heels and, especially, Midnight in Moscow, the red shimmer in those polishes seems to sink in to the black base and rather than sparkling, it just ends up looking muddy.  However, unlike those polishes, the red (and the gold and the silver) in this polish really stands out.  It did eat top coat a bit, so this does have 2 coats of Nubar Diamont over top.  Also, I wanted to mention, that in my experience, there was a bit of a learning curve in applying this polish.  It's packed with glitter, so if you try to do thicker coats, it will streak and drag on you.  I ended up placing the polish on my nails for these 3 fingers.  That worked fine, though it was a tad thick which caused some shrinkage on my middle finger after I applied the TC.  For the rest of my fingers, I learned to do thinner coats.  Once you have 1-2 thinner coats on the nail you can then do a final thicker coat without drag or shrinkage.  This is 2 coats on these fingers, but on the rest of my hand, I did 3 thinner coats for the same result.  I was easily able to reach opacity without having to apply a base color.  One thing I did want to say is that unlike a lot of other hand-mixed/indie polish glitters, the glitter in this one did not sink to the bottom of the bottle, thus requiring a ton of shaking/rolling.  The glitter was equally distributed throughout the bottle.  You also didn't have to go fishing for glitter.  

Unfortunately, this was the only NerdLacquer I ordered.  :(  I'm going to have to rectify that once they reopen their store.  NerdLacquers are available on Etsy, but also at etailers Ninja Polish and Harlow & Co (with the 2 etailers having a few exclusive colors each).  Currently the Etsy store is closed and the 2 etailers are OOS on all polishes.  Though I'm sure they will be back soon.

I purchased mine from Etsy.  Cost was $10 plus $2.50 shipping.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Blogger Round Up Reminder

Sorry for being MIA this week.  It's been banana-crackers crazy and I really haven't had a chance to think, much less sit down and paint my nails.  Hopefully, things will get less hectic from here.

Anyway, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I planned on posting another Blogger Round Up post tomorrow.  However, as I forgot to create a reminder post, I'm going to postpone it until Friday, 4/6/2012.

So, if you would like to be mentioned in my next Blogger Round Up, and you have yet to respond in a previous post or email me, please reply to this post with your blog URL. 

I will then create a Blogger Round Up post on 4/6/2012 with all of the Round Up requests.  I will also follow those blogs (if you have Google Friend Connect) and I will list you on my Blog Roll.

If you are curious as to what is a Blogger Round Up, it's simply a list that I post once or twice a month to help new bloggers and not-so-new bloggers.  All I ask is that you aren't a spammer and that your blog be a legitimate blog about nail polish and/or beauty products in general.  For more information, please see the "Blogger Round Up" tab above.

Thanks so much!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Today's Nails - HazeGlaze Mystique


Today, I am continuing with my glitter addiction.  This is 2 coats of HazeGlaze Mystique over 1 coat of Barielle Berry Blue.  I also used 2 coats of Nubar to seal it in and make it super shiny.  

Mystique is gold, silver, and blue multi-sized and multi-shaped glitter in a deep blue jelly base.  I applied it over Berry Blue, a deep blue jelly.  I am in love with Mystique.  It is absolutely mesmerizing (plus, I'm an X-Men nerd, so... bonus. LOL).  I was also pleasantly surprised with drying time.  Sometimes, hand-mixed glitters can be a bit slow to dry, even with quick-dry products, but not this one.  Using Diamont and dry drops, it was dry in minutes.

HazeGlaze is a small, indie polish brand that you can find on Etsy.  Price was $8.79 plus $3.50 shipping.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Today's Nails - Barielle Shannon's Attitude

If you follow any of my ramblings on Twitter, you may know that today is my 37th birthday.  :\  

I've been waffling for a few days on what to use for my manicure today.  At first, it was going to be the obvious choice, Lippmann Happy Birthday, but I decided to do something different because 1. I think I did that last year, and 2. I don't like being predictable.  :P  

As luck would have it, I had just received my Barielle order (from their 30% off sale) and figured I'd use one of my new glitters (gnah... it's like crack).  This picture is 2 coats of one of their new shades, Shannon's Attitude (holo bar glitter and small micro-glitter in a clear purple base), over 2 coats of OPI Honk if You Love OPI (a deep, browned plum from OPI's 2011 Fall collection).  I also used 2 coats of Nubar Diamont.
Here's a bottle pic of Shannon's Attitude...

It's super-pretty and more than a little distracting.  LOL.  Unfortunately, when I pulled it out of the box, I was a little disappointed, to be honest.  This is because it looks nothing like the picture on Barielle's website.  I quickly got over my disappointment, and I now really like Shannon's Attitude, and my birthday mani in general, but I just wanted to give you all fair warning that in real life, this is nowhere near the picture on Barielle's site.

Barielle Shannon's Attitude is available on Barielle.com, and it retails for $8, though Barielle has their Shades by Barielle always offered on a "buy one, get one half-off" promotion.

QUICK UPDATE - 3/25/2012 - Shannon's Attitude was a complete hit when I went out for my birthday.  It shines like crazy.  If you love glitter, especially bar glitter, you need this one. 

Shannon's Attitude was purchased by me.  Honk if You Love OPI was provided to me by OPI.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Today's Nails - Zoya Megan

Okay I am sorry for being a broken record, but I'm addicted to glitter tips and I just can't stop.  :) 

This is 3 coats of Zoya Megan topped with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Ice Queen on the tips.   Zoya Megan is a light, opaque grey-ed lavender.  In my house, it's very grey and then when I get it in full sun, that's when the lavender comes out.  Compared to Zoya's previous Megan (which I didn't hate... click here for post), this new Megan is fantastic.  I even pretend that it was named after me.  :P   

I didn't have any application issues, but I did have to use a third coat to reach total opacity, but that's probably because I'm a barbarian and don't use a basecoat.  LOL.  That said, I was completely amazed that this type of color could look so saturated.  Usually, pale colors have a tendency to look washed out or watered down, no matter if they are sheer or not.  

Zoya Megan is from their 2011 Winter Feel collection.  Zoyas are available from zoya.com and from other retailers and online sources.  If you are interested in this grey Megan, be sure that you are purchasing ZP593 rather than the old milky cream Megan which was ZP362.  The older version of Megan is no longer available on Zoya's website, but I have seen bottles floating around eBay.  

Additionally, as I mentioned above, I'm addicted to glittery tips.  I had this bottle of Sally Hansen Ice Queen hanging out on my makeup desk for weeks.  My plan was to use it on a purple, such as Zoya Malia, but either I don't have Malia or it's MIA (I really need to reorganize and create a new spreadsheet).  So while it's not a bright purple, I thought Megan was the perfect base for Ice Queen.  Ice Queen has purple, blue, and silver glitter (of different sizes) in a clear base.  Just for fun, here's a bottle pic...

Isn't she pretty?  And dirt cheap, too.  This bottle was $1.97(!!!).  You do have to work with it a little bit to get the glitter to do what you want it to do, but that's pretty typical for this type of glitter.

Happy Friday and I hope you guys like this one.  FYI... the Blogger Round Up will be next Friday, so be sure to reply in the latest round up post if you are interested.  I will also post a reminder post early next week.  

Candeo Colors Dolce

So apparently, while I was taking my blogging hiatus, the latest trend became hand-mixed glitters.  Right when I came back, the Lynnderella drama was reaching a head, so I kind of avoided this craze.  That was until I found myself bored one night and poking around Etsy.  Before I knew it, I had bought 3.  This baby was the first one I received.


Candeo Colors had several glitters at the time, so I'm not sure what drew me to Dolce, just that it appeared really pretty.  This is a pale pink base loaded with white, pink and holo hex glitter.  There is also pink micro glitter and larger white glitter, as well as half-moons and holo bar glitter.  It's a glitter-explosion.  This is 3 coats of Dolce, and what I love about it as that you can layer the glitter for a deeper effect.  I love the imbedded look of the glitter from the first and second coats.  I also applied 2 coats of TC to even it out, but it honestly wasn't that bumpy without TC.  

I love this indie brand and I am so excited to try some of their new colors (please let me be able to get Jellybean next time.  LOL)
Candeo Colors are available on Etsy.  Their shop is currently open, but they are sold out of Dolce at the moment.  You can also follow them on Twitter at @CandeoColors.  

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Nail Shape

This is a post that I have been writing in my mind for awhile, but I have been avoiding it because, in all honestly, I really hate dealing with negative comments.  My skin is not thick and they make me super sad and I want to close up my blog.  But I also feel this has to be said.

My nails flare out.  I try as much I can to keep the shape of them in check, but there is only so much I can do.  I had a recent comment, that honestly hurt my feelings, that my nails were ugly and I needed to shape them better to be taken as a serious blogger.

I'm sure this commenter, and anyone that feels the same, doesn't realize just how much I agonize over my nail shape.  I file them inward as much as possible.  The issue isn't with my nails, as much as it's with my cuticles and the skin surrounding my nails.  They grow over a good amount of my nail bed.  In the past, I have pushed back my cuticles until it hurt.  I have even cut my cuticle and skin to try and make it look like everyone else's nails.  At some point, I realized that I was hurting myself and I can't change it.  It's just the way I'm made.

If you don't like my nail shape, and you think they are ugly and look like duck nails, clamshells, etc... please don't read my blog.  I'm not saying that in a "if you don't like me then get the hell out" kind of way.  I'm being 100% serious.  There are hundreds of nail blogs out there, so I am sure you can find something that suits your fancy.  Believe me, I do understand where you are coming from.  Years ago, when I was active on MUA, there was a poster whose nail shape I didn't like, and I did have a negative reaction to her pictures.  To solve the problem, I avoided her posts.

That said, with my latest post, I started to swatch on my nails a bit differently (with Zoya Carly and Zoya Myrta specifically), so they don't appear to flare as much, but I'm sure someone will not like that part of my natural nail is showing.  LOL.  Can't win for losing.  :)


Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Zoya Surf Collection Review

Earlier today, I posted my review of Zoya's summer 2012 Beach collection.  I now bring you the companion collection to Beach, Zoya's other summer collection, Surf.  This is a collection of foil metallics, and it, like Beach, is absolutely fabulous...

Carly - deep purple metallic.  Of all the polishes in this collection, this is the one with the most variation in the shimmer.  Rather than being simply silver or gold, the shimmer in this one is pink and blue.  It's almost like a foil-y, lighter version of OPI Ink.  This one had perfect formula and was almost a one-coater.  It was also had the glossiest finish of the six polishes in this collection. 2 coats.  
Kimber - bright, strawberry red-pink with golden shimmer.  The shimmer in this one is golden, rather than silver, and it reminds me of a foil-y version of China Glaze Strawberry Fields.  I loved this one on my nails and I can't wait to wear it as a manicure.

Meg - lime green foil.  This one, like Tracie from Beach, had me struggling a little for a color descriptor.  It's a little darker than what I consider a lime green, but it's very close.  However, it's not as bright as Zoya Apple from last year's Sunshine collection.  Zoya describes it as a "mermaid green", but in my mind, that means it has a good amount of blue in it, and this one has no blue.  This one had a satiny finish due to the amount of foil.  2 coats.  

Myrta - red-orange metallic.  This one gave me the most problems in trying to describe it.  It's not a true orange, and it's not a true red, and it's not a true pink, though it has elements of all 3.  It kind of reminded me of OPI The Show Must Go On from the 2010 Burlesque collection, though Myrta is more orange-y and brighter.  Like Kimber, this one had golden shimmer, though it is much more subdued in this polish.  3 coats, but it was fine at 2.

Rory - light pink foil.  If Glinda the Good Witch had her own Zoya polish, this one would be it.  This one had so much silver in the finish.  The pink is light and very girly.  I think this one would look fantastic in the summer.  Like Meg, this one dried to a satin finish, because of the amount of foil in the polish.  3 coats.

Zuza - aquamarine metallic foil with faint golden shimmer.  I think Zuza my second favorite in this collection, behind Carly.  This one had a silvery foil finish and like Rory and Meg, it was also very satiny.  The formula on this one was fantastic.  2 coats.  


All in all, like with Beach, I am in love with this collection.  Perhaps, I love it even more than beach.    I stated that Carly and Zuza are my favorites, but honestly, there isn't a single color in this collection that I was "meh" about.

Zoya polishes are available at zoya.com and retail for $8 each.  This collection, with Beach, should be available starting 4/1/2012.

To view my post on Zoya Beach, please click here.


These were sent to me for review

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Zoya Beach Collection Review

A few days ago, Zoya introduced us to their latest collection for Summer 2012, Beach and Surf.  Today, I have for your the Beach half of the collection, which is mostly a collection of high-pigmented cremes, with one exception...

Arizona - bright, sherbet orange creme.  Okay, so someone at Zoya is a Grey's Anatomy fan.  LOL.  Arizona is a bright orange creme, though it's not traffic cone orange.  It's definitely in the sherbet family, though darker and brighter than say, a creamsicle.  This one is a perfect summer shade.  Normally, I find that the formula on orange cremes can kind of be hit or miss, but I had no issues with this one.  I did use 3 coats to make sure I had covered any thin spots, but if you used a sticky base coat, you would probably be able to do 2 coats.

Lara - cherry pink creme.  This is such a pretty color and another one that is perfect for warmer weather.  I love bright pinks in summer and this baby is gonna be no exception.  Actually, all 3 of the pinks in this half of the collection are fantastic.  2 coats.

Reagan- bright, magenta creme.  As there are 3 pinks in this collection, you can think of them as sisters. Lara would be the middle child and Reagan would be the big sister.  It is more purple than Lara and is deeper in tone, but they are definitely related.  2 coats.  

Shelby - strawberry pink creme.  So if Reagan is the big sister and Lara is the middle child, then Shelby would be the baby, but she is no "baby pink", by any means.  I am absolutely smitten with Shelby.  The color is beautiful, and reminds me of Jelly Belly Strawberry Daiquiri jelly beans (my favorite).  I love that it's a light pink, but it's by no means sheer or pale.  I think this one is tied for my favorite of the Beach polishes.  3 coats.

Tracie - light green foil.  Tracie is the odd duck in the collection and she was also my problem child.  When I first saw the bottle, I thought it may be a more pigmented version of Zoya Gemma, but it's not.  What appears to be silver shimmer  in the bottle, is actually a slightly foil-y metallic finish, though it's not like the foils in Beach's companion collection, Surf.  The color is a bit hard to describe.  In my picture, it looks almost like a light lime green, but IRL, it's a little more murky and olive-leaning, and it did give me a slight case of red-hands.  I did have some issues with the formula, but nothing that makes me say this is a no-go.  3 coats.

Wednesday - aqua blue creme.  This one reminded me of the color of sea glass, so it's a perfect fit in this collection.  It's also tied with Shelby as my favorite of the collection.  This is an amazing aqua blue.  I did have a slight problem with it not wanting to level out, but this color is so perfect that I can deal with a small formula issue.  If you love aquas and turquoises, you need this one.  3 coats, though I mainly just applied the third one to see if I could level it out a bit.


All in all, I love this collection.   I know Zoya does some gorgeous glass-flecked shimmers and foils, but if there is something they do amazingly right, it's cremes, and this collection has 5 fantastic cremes.  Tracie is a beautiful color and would great as a summer pedicure, but the stars of this show are the cremes, with the stand-outs for me being Wednesday and Shelby.

Zoya polishes are available at Zoya.com and retail for $8.  The press release states that Beach will be available on 4/1/2012.

To view my post on Zoya Surf, click here.  


These were sent to me for review

Monday, March 19, 2012

Press Release - Zoya Beach & Surf

I received this release a couple of days ago, and though it's already made the rounds, I thought I would also share it with you.




































Dive into the creamy shades of the Zoya Beach Collection or the shimmering sea foils of the Zoya Surf Collection. The choice is yours – this color palette is sure to be a splash!
Zoya BEACH Collection
  • Reagan (ZP614) - deep cerise pink cream
  • Lara (ZP615) - vivid cerise pink cream
  • Shelby (ZP616) - soft pinky pink cream
  • Arizona (ZP617) - soft coral orange cream
  • Tracie (ZP618) - sea grass metallic
  • Wednesday (ZP619) - soft aqua cream
Zoya SURF Collection
  • Rory (ZP620) - lotus pink foil metallic
  • Carly (ZP621) - thalia purple foil metallic
  • Kimber (ZP622) - magenta pink foil metallic
  • Myrta (ZP623) - coral orange foil metallic
  • Meg (ZP624) - mermaid green foil metallic
  • Zuza (ZP625) - aquamarine foil metallic
Zoya is the new color of fashion... 
The Zoya BEACH and SURF collection was designed and inspired by resort runways and tropical get-a-ways.
Ultra long-wearing, glossy nail lacquers by Zoya are free of harmful industrial chemicals like toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, resin, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.
Find Zoya BEACH and SURF as well as over 300 other ultra high-fashion Zoya shades at http://www.zoya.com/. As always, each and every Zoya color is made for women so we name them after women.
BEACH and SURF by Zoya Nail Polish - 12 new colors:
Available April 1, 2012 (USA)

www.zoya.com
Sug. Retail $8.00 per 0.5 fl.oz. bottle (US).


---
I am really intrigued by this collection.  First off, there's a Meg.  I'm sure by now, you all know my name is Megan, though my sister and various members of the family call me "Meg".  In fact, my personal email is megw...@... So, I love the fact there is a Meg named polish.

I also think that Shelby is gorgeous.  In fact, there are several gorgeous colors in this collection, and there are 2-3 already on my wishlist.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

So, as I was thinking of manicures to do for today, I went back and forth about what to do.  It seems like the big trend this year is water marbling.  Water marbling terrifies me.  I'm such a total spazz that I would end up covered in nail polish.  It would also be all over my table and my sink.  LOL.  

I thought about a konad, because I do have a shamrock stamp, but then I realized I don't have all the supplies to konad anymore and I didn't feel like going to Sally's to pick them up.  Then I saw a tutorial on Julep's FB page on how to create a shamrock.  I thought that would be easy-peasy and perfect for today.  Then I realized that painted-on shamrocks did not need to be green, and the perfect idea was born.

However, I greatly over-estimated my freehand shamrock-painting abilities because what started out as painting shamrocks all over my nails quickly evolved in to plan B.  That said, I really like plan B...


Okay, so it's not a conventional Saint Patrick's Day manicure, but think the pink and green work really well together, and I like my non-green, though slightly-wonky shamrock.  Here's what I used...

1. China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint (mint green) - on all nails except for ring fingers and thumbs - 3 coats
2. OPI Sparrow Me the Drama (light tea rose pink) - on ring fingers and thumbs - 3 coats
3. OPI Dim Sum Plum (bright purple/pink) - for freehand shamrock
4. OPI Divine Swine (red-based purple and silver glitter in a clear base) - over Sparrow Me the Drama
5. OPI Fresh Frog of Bel-Air (green and silver glitter in a clean base) - over Re-Fresh Mint

I feel like I practically forced this manicure in to existence, as I had to remove it once and then apply it again.  I almost gave up and applied a boring green creme and let that be that, but I was stubborn and wanted (most of) the idea in my head to end up on my nails, as that seems to be a bit of a problem lately.  LOL.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Friday Blogger Round Up for 3/16/2012

So, this is week later than I planned, but here is the latest edition in my Blogger Round Ups and the first since I recently restarted the post series.  Be sure to check out these fantastic blogs!

Stephanie Louise All Things Beautiful

Sabrina's Nail Blog

Polish Pauper

Fashion Footing

Polished Palace

Absolutely Cee

Polish Fetish

My Life in Polish

Nail Newbie

4 Nails

Imagination in Colour

Shades of Beauty

Spooky Nails

Whale's Nails

Gnarly Gnails

Impoverished by Polish

Nails for Sanity

Football and Fingernails

Paillette: a little nail polish journal

Yaşasın Renkli Ojelerim!

cookieluversblog

glamonthecheap

Kimber's Lacquer Korner

A Polish Playground


If I have listed in you this Round-Up, please note that I have followed your blog, as well as listed you in my blog roll.

If you would like to be in the next Blogger Round-Up, please reply to this post.

Thanks!

Today's Nails - Glitter Layering

As you all probably know by now, I am currently in a glitter-obsessed phase.  I can't seem to wear anything on my nails that isn't covered in glitter in one way or another.  Today's manicure is no exception.  If you are anything like me, you may think about possible manicure ideas before going to sleep.  Sad, but I guess that's goes with the territory.  Well, this idea came to me last night, as I was falling asleep.

This is actually a combination of 5 polishes, but it's not as involved as you'd think.  Here are the polishes I used...

1. Color Club Bewitching (my go-to black creme)
2. OPI Your Royal Shineness (a bright silver)
3. OPI Paris Couture for Sure (a holo top coat) - this is the bottle pic
4. OPI Crown Me Already! (a silver glitter top coat with large, mirror-finish hex glitter)
5. OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It (a mostly red glitter top coat with a little bit of silver glitter in the mix)

I started with a base coat of Bewitching.  I then added a thin coat of Your Royal Shineness and a thin coat of Paris Couture for Sure.  I then added another thin layer of Your Royal Shineness and Paris Couture for Sure.  So there are 2 coats of each but they are layered.  I then added a coat of Crown Me Already! and Gettin' Miss Piggy With It, and sealed the whole thing in with Diamont.  Sounds like a ton of coats, right?  Well all in all, it was 8 including topcoat, but being that I used extremely thin coats of each one, with the exception of Bewitching, which was just a normal coat, they were almost like half-coats.  I used dry drops so it was dry within minutes.  It only took me about 30 minutes, too.    

Maybe tomorrow, I should step away from the glitter.  

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Today's Nails - Zoya Lolly


This manicure was inspired by a comment in one of my recent posts.  Diana suggested topping a hot pink with gold glitter.  I thought that was a perfect idea, though, just like all my ideas of late, it didn't work out exactly as planned.

I applied a version of this manicure last night using Illamasqua Collide and Lippmann Boom Boom Pow.  Unfortunately, my bad luck with Collide continues and I could not get it to set.  It was still wet when I was ready to go to sleep, so rather than deal with sheet marks, I removed it.

Today, I wanted to reapply the look, but I was still wary of Collide.  I tried to find another hot pink, Julep Samantha, but it seems to be missing at the moment, so I went with Zoya Lolly, from their 2011 Mod Matte collection.  But the base color alone didn't quite work for me (it's not as neon as Collide), so I added 2 thin coats of Klean Color Chunky Candy Holo (bottle pic).  Chunky Candy Holo is such a unique glitter top coat.    It is small mutli-chrome glitter that shift from pink to orange to gold in a bright pink sheer base.  I then added a coat of my favorite glitter top coat, Lippmann Boom Boom Pow and topped the whole thing with Nubar Diamont.

Zoya Lolly is available from Zoya.com (and currently they have a B3G3 promotion with code SPRING3).

Monday, March 12, 2012

Blog Maintenance Update

Hi everyone,

I just finished cleaning up the blog roll.  Any blog that had not been updated in 6 months or was no longer an active site has been removed.  I will be adding the new blogs listed in my previous post to my blog roll.  I will also create a Blogger Round Up post within the next few days.  If you would like to be included in the Round Up post and you didn't respond in the previous post, please list your URL in this post and I will be sure to follow your blog, list you in my blog roll, and add you the Round Up post.

Thanks!

Friday, March 9, 2012

Tie-Dyed Nails





















So, the concept of this manicure was to sponge rainbow colors on white nails using a makeup sponge.  It was a cool idea in my head.  Unfortunately, I didn't account for the colors becoming all muddled up.  So, it does look more "tie-dyed" than anything.  I used Zoya Sooki, OPI A Good Man-Darin is Hard to Find, ChG Happy Go Lucky, ChG Starboard, Zoya Robyn, and OPI Funky Dunkey over OPI Alpine Snow Matte.  I then topped it with 2 coats of Nubar Diamont. 

I think was a fail, but it's oddly fascinating, no?

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Yesterday's Nails - Zoya Robyn with OPI Gone Gonzo!

Yes, I realize I just did a "glitter tips" NOTD a couple of days ago, but I'm telling you guys... I am obsessed with glitter right now, so this might be a common occurrence.  LOL.  

Anyway, this is 3 coats of Zoya Robyn topped with one coat of OPI Gone Gonzo!  Robyn is from Zoya's Summer 2010 collection and Gone Gonzo! is from OPI's Holiday Muppets collection from last year. 

I am really liking blues right now, and this turquoise blue is no exception.  One thing I will say... it reminds me of my prom dress, and that's not a good thing.  I went to prom in 1993 when the dresses were glittery, shoulder pads were thick and hair was a mile high.  Anyway, my dress was just a tad darker than this shade, and had lace, pearls, and... sequins going down the lace sleeves.  It was god-awful and in fact, my best friend wore it as part of her Halloween costume a few years later.  It was that bad.

Jessica Heavy Petal Collection Review

A couple of weeks ago, Jessica Cosmetics posted this collection on their Facebook page.  Maybe I was in a Spring-y mood or maybe I was intrigued by all the pink and purple, but I thought it looked so pretty.  As luck would have it, when my doorbell rang a few hours later, it was my UPS man bringing these little goodies.




















Born 2 Pansy - pale lavender with iridescent shimmer.  The shimmer in this one was so pretty.  Along with it's sister, Rolling Rose, I thought these 2 were the prettiest in the bottle.  I was a little scared that it was going to be super-sheer, but it the formula on it was very nice.  It was opaque in 3 coats.  

Dazed Dahlia - Berry pink.  This one is the only creme in the collection, and while it's not unique, it is a pretty color with a great formula.  I also liked it very much with my skintone.  It was opaque in 2 coats, though it was almost a one-coater.  

Geranium Gypsy - light, silvery purple frost.  Le sigh (and not in a good way.  LOL).  When I saw this one in the bottle, I was really hoping that it was a foil and not a frost.  Sadly, I was wrong.  The color is so pretty, and I think it may be dupish for Lippmann Purple Rain (another frosty mess that I blog-sold, so I can't compare).  I really wanted to like it.  I love the color and if it wasn't so brushstokey, it wouldn't be so bad, because the frost does have a foily finish to it.  But, as hard as I tried, I couldn't combat the strokes.  3 coats.

Hotter than Hibiscus - bright, Barbie pink frost.  Like her sister, Geranium Gypsy, I was hoping in my heart of hearts that this wouldn't be a frosty mess, but no dice.  Again, the color is nice, but the finish just isn't good.  While Hotter than Hibiscus is less frosty than Geranium Gypsy, it doesn't have a foily-ish finish like Geranium Gypsy.  3 coats.  

Rolling Rose - pale pink with iridescent shimmer.  This one is practically identical to Born 2 Pansy, only it's a pale pink and not a lavender.  I was very happy with this one because an opaque, shimmery, pale pink is one of those colors that I am still trying to find my perfect shade.  This one comes very close.  The formula was great.  3 coats.  

Witchy Wisteria - purple with copper shimmer.  In the bottle this one is so pretty, and on the nail, it didn't disappoint.  I've heard that this one is dupey to Zoya Tru, but I don't have that one to compare.  That said, in my collection, it is pretty unique.  To my eye, this one has a faint smokiness as well.  The formula was great.  2 coats.  

Now that I've had a chance to review them in person, I am both impressed and unimpressed with this collection.  The shimmers, Born 2 Pansy, Rolling Rose, and Witchy Wisteria are made of win.  Each one is fantastic and each one is unique (unless of course you have Zoya Tru, then Witchy Wisteria isn't unique).  Dazed Dahlia is a great color and if you are looking for a pink-based berry red, then you couldn't go wrong with this one because the formula is perfect.  The frosts, Geranium Gypsy and Hotter than Hibiscus, are where the collection falls short.  I was hoping for foils and instead, they are frosts.  I just don't think frosts really work on anyone, so I would say pass on these two (though now I'm wondering about how they'd work with a Konad).

This collection is available on Jessica Cosmetics' website and they retail for $7.50 a bottle.

These were sent to me for review

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Yesterday's Nails - Zoya Ki



Okay, so calling this one "Yesterday's Nails" is a bit of a misnomer, as it only lasted about 30 minutes, but I wanted to show it to you nonetheless.  In some regards, Zoya is one of the most tempermental formulas, IMO.  I love the colors, but you have to really know what base/top coats work with Zoya and your body chemistry and Nubar Diamont, Zoya Ki, and my chemistry did not play nice with this one.  It was still gooey after 30 minutes, so I gave up and took it off. 

Again, I'm trying to use some older polishes in my NOTDs, and I've had this one for awhile.  IMO, it is quite similar, IMO, to Zoya Adina, and I have to say that I think I actually prefer Adina.  However, that said, it is a fabulous color.  One that I would like to try again with the right combination of basecoat and topcoat.  It is a beautiful smoky purple shimmer that shifts to green.  The color shift was hard to get with my camera, but you can somewhat see it on the second picture.  Normally, green-shifting polishes don't look all that great on me, but this one looked better than most. 
The formula is thin and I had to use 3 coats to reach full opacity. 

Hope you all don't mind the watermark on my photos.  I know I've never used a watermark before, but I had to edit out a cut on my cuticle (trust me, you didn't want to see that), so I figured I'd play around with a watermark.  I actually like it. 


"The Revolution" Casting for Women with Nail Health Questions

Yesterday, I received an email from a Production Assistant on the ABC Daytime talkshow, The Revolution.  They are looking for women in the New York City area that have questions regarding their nail health. 

Here is the information direct from the email...

ABC DAYTIME TALK SHOW SEEKS WOMEN WITH NAIL HEALTH QUESTIONS
DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE HEALTH OF YOUR NAILS? ARE YOUR NAILS YELLOW OR BROWN IN COLOR? DO THEY HAVE BLACK STRIPES? DO YOU HAVE HORIZONTAL BANDS OF DISCOLORATION ON YOUR FINGERNAILS? ARE YOUR NAILS EXTREMELY LONG (MORE THAN 10 INCHES)? OR ARE YOU JUST CURIOUS ABOUT YOUR NAIL HEALTH AND WHAT IT MEANS? ABC THE REVOLUTION WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU! PLEASE YOUR NAME, CONTACT INFORMATION AND PICTURE TO CASTING@THE-REVOLUTION.COM AND THE SUBJECT LINE "NAIL HEALTH."

If you are in the NYC area, this would be a good opportunity.  I would love to ask them why my nails keep ridging no matter how much I moisturize.  :)

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Yesterday's Nails - BB Couture for Nails Adios MoFo

Adios MoFo is from BB Couture's 2010 Cantina Nights collection, of which, I had the priviledge of reviewing.  However, as this blog is always a learning process, my review and pictures weren't that great.  Click here and you'll see what I mean.  LOL.  So, in my quest to dig older polishes out of my storage and use them as my NOTD, I figured I'd give this one another go, and I am so happy I did.

Adios MoFo is a beautiful light blue.  It leans a little aqua, so it almost looks like a Tiffany blue, IMO.  It's not exact, but for me, it's a Tiffany blue that works with my skintone, as most polishes in that shade family (i.e. China Glaze For Audrey), give me a major case of lobster hands.  This one also has a faint shimmer finish.  It was opaque in 2 coats.

I then topped it with one coat of OPI Spark de Triomphe from OPI's Serena Williams collection on the tips of my nails.  I love this.  It's sparkly and beautiful and reminds of jewelry. 

Monday, March 5, 2012

The New Black Ombre Shades - Rover Review

When ombre manicures first started trending a couple years ago, I didn't like the look.  It seemed like skittles, only a lot more work.  Then it started to grow on me.  Unfortunately, creating a good ombre manicure does take a bit of skill in selecting your colors.  You have to have the right mix of colors, and textures to create the perfect look, and that's a skill I just don't have.  Thankfully, The New Black takes the stress out of creating an ombre look.  They have put together several ombre shade kits.  I received 4 of them for you and today, I have for the pink kit, that they call "Rover".

I apologize for the awkward "claw" hand pose.  I haven't taken a full hand picture in forever, and I felt like I was contorting my hand in a thousand different poses to show each of the 5 colors.  I also couldn't hold one of the bottles and take a picture of my entire hand, they are just a bit too little for my mannish hands.  :P

Anyway, on to the polish...  Again, The New Black's individual colors do not have names.  From my thumb to my pinky, they are in order, a deep burgundy, a pink-red jelly, a pink-red shimmer, a bright pink shimmer, and a pale pink with fine silver and pale pink shimmer. 

Individually, the colors aren't unique, but I do want to say that the pale pink in this set is the best of the bunch.  It's exactly what I wanted Zoya Gigi to be.  It's completely opaque in 3 coats.  Whereas, with Gigi, I struggled with 4 coats and I could still see my nails as if I only had on a topcoat.  

I really like this look.  I think it is so cool how they tie 5 seemingly different colors together.  They are all different, except for being pink, but they work so well together tonally.  No, like I mentioned above, the colors aren't incredibly unique, and if you have a large collection, you probably have dupes in your stash, so you could probably duplicate this look.  That said, I know if I tried, I would drive myself batty trying to find colors that worked so well together.  They have taken all the guesswork out of ombre manicures, and that is the best thing about these little kits.  

The New Black Ombre kits are at $22 for 5 mini bottles and you can find them through various retailers such as HSN, Nordstroms, and Drugstore.com.  

These were sent to me for review

Yesterday's Nails: Crazy Navy

I wanted to preface this by saying that I am not normally one to show a gazillion pictures of the same manicure, but for this one, I felt that several pictures were necessary to show just how pretty this was.  This is 2 coats of OPI Russian Navy and 1 coat of Klean Color Chunky Holo Bluebell...



















I had been wanting to dig Russian Navy out of the depths of my storage container for a few days.  Russian Navy is one of those colors that it took me several uses to like it.  When I first got it, right after the OPI Russia collection came out, I loved it in the bottle, but hated it on the nail.  At the time, I had acrylics, and I thought it just was too much on the long nails.  However, once I tried it on shorter nails, I liked it much more.  Unfortunately, right after I applied my manicure, I got tip wear (grrr), so I decided to apply something over top.  My first thought was to do glitter tips and then I saw Klean Color Chunky Holo Bluebell in my glitter/holo drawer.  I adore these Klean Color Chunky Holos.  Bluebell is a slightly blue base with random-sized multi-chrome (green, gold, red) glitter.  I think this is a fabulous combo.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Makeup.com 5 Tips for a Long-Lasting, Marathon Manicure

Recently, I was contacted by a beauty editor for Makeup.com to submit a tip for a long-lasting manicure.  My tip was to properly prep your nails by using a dehydrant, as well as a sticky base coat.  I am so happy that they used my tip, that I wanted to share it with you.  Please click here to go the article on makeup.com.

My tip is #5, and there is also some great information in there from 4 other bloggers, as well as Essie Weingarten, so be sure to check it out.

By the way, the picture at the top of the article is of my nails and I am wearing OPI Designer Series Desire.

Blog Roll Maintenance and Blogger Round Ups



A few days ago, I looked at my blog roll and realized that many of the blogs on there are no longer live or haven't been updated in awhile.  Now, I realize I'm the last person to say something about someone not updating a blog and I completely realize that life gets in the way, but I still wanted to take some time to clean up my blog roll.  I want to delete older, inactive blogs and list newer blogs that never made it to my list before my hiatus.  Over the next week, I will be checking all of the blogs listed in my blog roll and any blog that hasn't been updated in 6 months will be taken off my blog roll.

I am mentioning this because I think it gives me the perfect opportunity to list some of the new blogs.  If you have a blog or a blog that is not currently on my blog roll, and you would like to be listed in my blog roll, please reply to this post and I will be more than happy to list your blog when I am in the process of cleaning up the list.

Also, I wanted to mention that I will be planning on restarting the Blogger Round Ups.  There are so many new blogs out there that I want to do these again to help as many new bloggers as I can.  For now, if you would like to be in the Blogger Round Up, simply reply to this post.  When I add you to my blog roll, I will also create a Blogger Round Up post.  The next Round Up post will be on Friday, 3/9/2012.

Going forward, I will reopen my Blogger Round Up form.  Once I start the round ups, I will begin using information gathered from that form for any new participant.

Before I slacked off on the blog, I know several of you filled out my Blogger Round Up form, and I never listed your blog.  If you have previously filled out the Blogger Round Up form, please let me know by replying to this post and I will find your information and add you to my blog roll, follow your blog, and list you in the Blogger Round Up.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Yesterday's Nails: Sunnyside Up!

I am trying to start a new post series called "Yesterday's Nails".  This will basically be my manicure from the day before.  It's so easy to get caught up in reviews, and I want to start posting more picture of my daily looks.  This also makes me keep polish on my nails.  

This look is 3 coats of China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, from their Spring 2010 collection, with 2 coats of Nubar Black Polka Dot.  I am in love with this yellow.  Can't say enough about it, and if you want to try yellow, I would 100% recommend this one.  No, it's not a pale yellow, but it's super fun and I find it to be very wearable.  Like a typical yellow polish, it does take 3 coats to reach full opacity, but the formula is good, so it's not a big issue.  And because I'm now obsessed with it, I added Black Polka Dot.  If I did this NOTD again, I would probably use white as an accent nail on my ring finger, but by the time I thought of that, I was almost done.  LOL.    

Also, I added one coat of Nubar Diamont, and I have to say that this is now my new favorite top coat.  It applies super easy and is dry in minutes.  It also makes your nails super shiny.  Dear Nubar, please don't change it again.  

Nubar Polka Dots Collection Review

I adore glitter topcoats, especially those with multi-shaped and hex glitter.  So when I saw this little collection of 2 glitter topcoats, I was so excited to try it.  I reviewing this, I decided to follow Nubar's own PR information and swatch the black dots on white and the white dots on black.  For the white and the black base coats, I used OPI Alpine Snow Matte and Color Club Bewitched, respectively.















 Black Polka Dot (over white) - black, multi-shaped glitter in a clear base.  I love this one and it's my favorite of the two.  I love the look of it over white, but I think this would look fabulous on just about any lighter shade (imagine this over pale pink or mint green).  This is 3 coats of Black Polka Dot because I wanted to make sure I had the right amount of little glitter and hex glitter, but you can use as much or as little of this as you like.  Application was great, and I had no glumpyness or glitter drag.  3 coats.

White Polka Dot (over black)- silvery-white multi-shaped glitter in a clear base.  On the nail, this one comes across to me as being more of a silver than a white, but in the bottle, it definitely looks more white.  While I did prefer Black Polka Dot, I loved this one as well, and think this would look amazing over navy.  Also, I wanted to add that when I wore this out in the sun later on in the day, the smaller glitters looked blue and green, so I'm not sure if it was meant to do that or if was maybe something to do with the base color, but I did not see any blue or green in the bottle.  Application was just as great as it's sister.  3 coats.

Also, while I don't have a picture of it, you also get a bottle of Nubar Diamont with this little collection.  Normally, I don't use a topcoat when I swatch, but in this case, I did, because I wanted to see how Diamont performed.  I know in the past, people have had issues with Diamont, because at some point, there was a formula change.  However, with this bottle, I had no issues, so they must have changed their formula back to the original formulation, because this one went on smoothly and was dry in minutes (I may actually LOVE Diamont now).  I used Diamont over both of the swatches above.

All in all, I really like these 2 glitter topcoats.  They are so versatile, that I can't wait to see what I can layer them over.  You can purchase these at Nubar's website.  Price is $20 for the set which includes the 2 glitters, as well as a bottle of Diamont.  

These were sent to me for review