Orly Sweet Peacock

Sweet Peacock is a lovely vibrant aqua shade that is part of the Birds of a Feather fall line.  Pigmentation is good and it covers well in one coat.  You might want to use two to even it out though.  Dry time is good and this color really is beautiful.  It dries to what I'd call a semi foil or frost type finish.

Here's what I didn't like tho.  This polish is gritty.  If you enlarge the pictures (you may not even have to enlarge them) you'll see all the little bumpies.  I'm guessing it's supposed to be that way?  I don't even know if the finish would look smooth with a thick topcoat.

Is it a deal breaker?  Nope - I can live with a little grittiness because the color is so spectacular.  You be the judge - what do you think?

Magical, colorful.. Mr Mystery!

Epic Nail Mail Haul!

Hi everyone! I just want to share with you the awesome nail mail I've gotten in the last 2 weeks or so. I'm in heaven!!!

 China Glaze Island Escape Collection

L-to-R: 108 Degrees, Papaya Punch, Electric Pineapple, Cha Cha Cha, Blue Iguana, Senorita Bonita

 I received these for getting runner-up in StyledOn's nail art contest! Don't think summer ending will stop me from wearing these :)

Zoya

L-to-R: Erika, Neeka, Codie, Jo

I got these from Zoya's latest promotion! I've swatched them here.

Funky Fingers

L-to-R: Kingston, 220 Volts, Pop Artist, Riot

L-to-R: Sand and Stilettos, Favorite Girl, Baby Baby Baby

Unnamed Purple Minis (came in a 4-pack)

 Mama picked these up for me in Boston! There's no 5 Below close to us. I've swatched these too -- they'll go up later this week :)

Misc

OPI Pair'em Scare'em (With Zom-Body To Love [it glows in the dark!!] and Black Shatter), Sally Hansen Pumpkin Spice, Bath & Body Works Caramel Apple Hand Soap, and Bones Monster Mint Anti-Bacterial Hand Gel

From the lovely Mary at Body & Soul Beauty! I won these goodies in one of her Friday Follower Freebie giveaways. Mary is so generous! Definitely go check her blog out if you haven't already.

So many new pretties! I'm so excited to play with these and show them to you guys!!

Senorita Bonita + Daisy Nail Art that looks like fried eggs

Hello nail junkies!

I just received the entire China Glaze Island Escape collection for receiving runner up in StyledOn's nail art contest recently! Obviously I'm a little slow on the uptake of these seeing as how summer is almost over...but that won't stop me from wearing these in the middle of winter!

I did want to use one of them today since summer IS almost over though! I decided on Senorita Bonita... I obviously have a thing for purples.

 

This color is REALLY hard to capture. As you can see, I tried to edit the color in Photoshop (the first swatch is closest to what it really looks like) but it destroyed my skin tone.

Then I thought it'd be fun to say goodbye to summer with some little flowers! I did daisies (because the are easiest and I wasn't feeling well today) but.....I feel like they ended up looking like fried eggs...

Hahah. I ended up taking the flowers off and just repainting using SB because I just wasn't feeling them. But now I'm hungry...

Also, random question for you guys: What is your most difficult nail to paint? I ask because I always have such difficulties painting my thumb nail and it baffles me because it's the largest... I feel like it should be the easiest to make look good but I always struggle with getting polish on my skin and making the line at my cuticle even/look good! Maybe Probably it's just me though :)

Retro neon stained glass

I used a base of Zoya Purity for this mani.  Purity is a really well pigmented white creme - it goes on smooth, it covers well and it dries relatively fast.

I took tiny bits of a cellulose sponge and sponged on various neon colors for the stained glass.  The colors I used were Studio M Neon Pink and Neon Greenlight, Sinful Colors Dream On (purple), and China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini and Sun Worshipper (orange). 
When the colors were dry I stamped over the top with Konad Special Black and BM plate 208.

I used a retro 60's style headband for my inspiration.  Groovy baby!

My mother would have referred to this as "loud".  Amanda called it "Fun!"  What do you think?

Poor little guy!

It's not nail polish related, but look what I found in the trash dumpster outside my office on Friday.  Poor little fella, he climbed in (probably looking for food) and he couldn't get back out.  We ended up calling Animal Control and they got him out and released him back in the woods.  Isn't he adorable?  This is the second time we've had to have a raccoon removed from the dumpster!

Time out for the d'awwwwww response! 

halp.

Zoya Jem

Zoya is one of my all time favorite polish brands.  Their product is excellent quality and a pleasure to work with.  So I'm a little sad that I did have some minor application issues with this one. 

Zoya Jem is a chameleon - in the bottle a deep gemstone plum color with lots of sparkle and some gold flash.  On the nails in bright light it takes on a sparkly reddish eggplant color.  In low light appears more brown - almost a raisin. 

My bottle was a little on the thick side; which I think is why I had some issues with drag.  This polish is extremely well pigmented and you can get away with one coat (I did two just for density) but it doesn't like to be overworked, so load up your brush and keep your strokes to a minimum.  It dries fast to a glossy finish, but I used Revlon Quick Dry just for some added shine and protection.

It's a lovely vampy fall shade.  I had a bit of a mishap with my index finger and dinged it a little on the side.  As it was getting too late to redo the entire nail, I just thinned out the bump with a little acetone and reapplied.  I did end up with a little imperfection on the tip of the nail, tho it's not visible to the untrained eye :)

How freaking GORGEOUS is THAT?!?!? OMG it's EYEGASM in a BOTTLE!  Pic spam coming up!



How do you like Jem?  I'm a little reluctant to start wearing fall colors - I don't want summer to be over yet!

Here's a bit of a post script.  On Day 2, I added some gold stamping.  I used a BM filigree pattern and a Sally Hansen gold foil polish pen.  My stamping was - meh - but I did like how it came out.

Sexy Red Half Moons

Hello all!

Today I wanted to do something simple, but pretty at the same time. What's a sexier color than red? Umm NOTHING! And what's sexier than sparkly glitter goodness? Again...NOTHING!!

I used clear binder reinforcement circles for the half moon guides and one coat of Milani Red Sparkle. Yes, one coat! They really ARE only one coat glitter polishes. Awesome.

Short post for today, but there's not much more to say! It's sexy yet simple me thinks.

Have a good one!

-Amanda

Sinful Colors Easy Going

Sinful Colors Easy Going is part of their Adventure Island collection.  When I picked it up, I thought it was a pretty shade of light, pale pink; but when I got it on my nails - OMG Wow.  I loved this shade of pink!  It's the palest softest pink I've ever seen - it looks almost white in some lights.  I thought it might be a dupe for OPI Play the Peonies but PtP has a bit of a shimmer in it, whereas Easy Going is a creme.  It also reminds me a lot of the pink in Nubar's Spring collection.   So soft.  So girly.  So fresh and clean.  This has become one of my favorite pink shades EVAH, I am loving it so much!

SC are hit or miss with formula but this one was very smooth, well pigmented (this is two coats) and dry time was, unfortunately, longer than average.  I have found that if I don't let SC dry thoroughly between coats, I always end up with bubbles.  I actually had some bubbling with this that the top coat mostly obscures, but you might still be able to see it in enlarged pictures.

It's like cotton candy on my nails NOM NOM NOM!

How do you like this shade?  Would you buy it?  Happy Pink Wednesday!

Colorful Explosions

Hi all! Today I have a super fun mani to show you guys! I wanted to try nailside's Explosion mani again since last time I tried I sort of failed. I wanted to do something colorful so I did skittles nails with a sort of gradient.

 

If you haven't already, check out Jane's tutorial. She can explain it much better than I can!!

Here are the colors I used... take a deep breath...

(from base to tips)
Pinky: Sally Hansen Pink Blink, Sally Hansen I Pink I Can, OPI Let Me Entertain You
Ring: China Glaze Refresh-Mint, Zoya Tangy, Orly Here Comes Trouble
Middle: Essie Nice is Nice, Sinful Verbena, Milani Purple Gleam
Pointer: China Glaze For Audrey, Sally Hansen Fairy Teal, Milani Blue Flash

Enlarge to see sparkley goodness

*pant pant* That's all of em! What do you think? I think this is so fun and colorful and sparkley but I don't think I'd ever be able to get it to look the same on my other hand :( It was definitely time consuming, but worth it!

Have a lovely day!

-Amanda

Nina Ultra Pro Mossy Britches nubbins

Ok, so as I mentioned a few days ago I broke a nail last week in Boston, so I just trimmed them all off when I got home.  I was starting to have some splitting anyway, so this will be a fresh start for me.  You'll have to bear with me for a couple weeks while I grow my nubbins out.  Now, on to the review!

I blame Scrangie for creating this lemming of mine.  I saw it on her blog and fell in love with this color.  So when I stopped in at Sally Beauty Supply yesterday I picked it up, along with a couple other shades.

I've never purchased this brand before, so this was a new experience for me - and it did not disappoint.  Mossy Britches is an olive hued gold polish that applied like an absolute dream.  This color has been compared to China Glaze Peace on Earth and Chanel Peridot.  I don't have either of those polishes, so I couldn't comment on - that but I can tell you that I *LOVE* this shade.  It's well pigmented, it flowed very well and covered in one single coat.  As the finish leans a bit toward a frost or foil, you can see some brush strokes, which seem to disappear with a top coat (I used SV).

What do you think of my Mossy Britches?

Mega Haul!

I really need to have a no-buy month.  These are my purchases from the last 3 weeks.

I picked 4 colors from the OPI Touring America collection.  As you may or may not know, OPI is my favorite salon brand!  This is French Quarter for your Thoughts, Get in the Expresso Lane, Uh-oh Roll Down the Window, and A-Taupe the Space Needle.

I mentioned in a previous post that I spent some vacation time in Boston.  I picked up most of the Sinful Colors Adventure Island collection there, but could not get my hands on the elusive Starfish.  Since I have returned to Indiana, super awesome boyfriend has even stalked a third Rite-Aid store to try to get his hands on Starfish.  Alas, no luck.  Here are Easy Going, Adventure Island, Open Seas, Beautiful Girl, and Seaweed.

Zoya recently had a Buy One Get Two Free promotion.  Zoya polishes have never failed to amaze me, their quality is superb.  Here are Verushka (squashed that lemming I've had for MONTHS!), Jem, Purity, and Codie

And last but not least the 3 Nina Ultra Pro polishes I picked up.  I've already used Mossy Britches and loved it.  I'm anxious to try the other two.  Pictured are Molten Copper (a gold/pink/olive shifting duochrome) and Molten Gold (a rose/gold shifting duochrome).



Fairy Zebra!

Hello lovelies!

I started with two coats of Sally Hansen Delphinium. The polish was pretty sheer on the first coat but after another thick coat was opaque. It's a really pretty dusty lavender.

 

Then I stamped over it with plate BM223 and Konad special polish in white. I think I like this zebra print more than the Konad one. Topped with two coats of China Glaze Fairy Dust and a coat of Seche Vite.

Very subtle but pretty! I'm digging this one :)

Zoya Swatchy Spam - Codie, Neeka, Erika & Jo

Hi all! Today I want to show you the polishes I got as part of Zoya's most recent promo. The polishes I received yesterday are Codie, Neeka, Erika and Jo.

First up, Codie from the Smoke part of Zoya's Smoke and Mirrors collection. Codie is a dark dark brown creme with an olive tint to it. Honestly, kind of reminds me of baby poop in the bottle...but I do like it on my nails! Yes...you were right mama ;) I couldn't get many good pics of this one -- it was quite difficult to photograph in artificial light. Two coats.

 Neeka from the Mirrors part of Zoya's Smoke and Mirrors collection. Like I even have to say anything about this one. I'm sure you guys have seen zillions of swatches of this one by now because it sure is a beaut! Greyish purple with little gold flecks. Really pretty. Two coats.

Erika. I think this is a core color -- not sure why I always order core colors during promos, but whatever. Erika is a BEAUTIFUL baby pink/golden duochrome. So dainty and delicate! This was three coats -- this polish is pretty sheer but builds up nicely. I think it would look great layered as well.

Last but not least, Jo. Jo is a medium toned blue with a very subtle shimmer in it. Applied nicely (I get tired of saying that Zoyas apply well...isn't that obvious by now?) -- this is two coats.

I love ALL of these polishes! I'm especially pleased with Erika and Neeka. They will definitely be making more appearances. What colors did you all pick up from Zoya's promotion?

-Amanda