Zoya "Charla" and Essie "Set in Stones"

Recently, i took advantage of the Zoya new year's sale in which they were giving out two bottles of polish to any one who was willing to pay shipping. If you bought $25 worth of product from the site, you also got free shipping. In the end i got five bottles of Zoya for a total of $25. It was great. Especially since these are my very first Zoya polishes, i was excited.

This mani features Zoya "Charla" and Essie "Set in Stones"

Behold, Zoya Charla. This beautiful glass flecked blue it what i imagine the sky would look like if it was scattered with a million tiny diamonds. The picture on the left is more true to the actual color. Like any stunning polish i found myself endlessly frustrated not being able to capture the true hues and shimmer in the polish. This is three coats in sunlight. I did find a little bit of a transparent quality in this polish, but it seems necessary to get the bottom of the Caribbean sea look. Semi-sheer/semi-opaque i love Zoya Charla.

To the left, you will see the sparkly amazingness that is Essie Set in Stones in direct sunlight. To the right the same stunner in the shade. Essie Set In Stones from the 2011 Luxe Effects collection was released along with such favorites as "Shine of the Times" and "As Gold as it Gets." Set in Stones is a pure silver glitter made up up large circular and even more tiny silver micro glitters. Shown in the photos above is once coat. This polish offers instant glam with an exceptional drying time.

Thanks for reading <3

Hardly Justified

You know those days when you find yourself angry with the world and snappy with your loved ones all because your dumb camera refuses to capture the clearly apparent beauty of your current mani. This was one of those days. I wasn't going to post this, but i'm bored.

For this mani...

Hard Candy "Beetle"

Sally Hansen "Lacy Lilac"

Kleancolor "Metallic Fuchsia"

Color Club "Very Merry Berry"

Pure Ice "Busted"

 Hard Candy "Beetle" was used with two coats as the base. With "Lacy Lilac" i sponged on the light purple to mid nail. The tips were zested up with "Metallic Fuchsia." To mesh together my sponging i used Color Club "Very Merry Berry." To add extra shimmer i topped it all off with Pure Ice "Busted."

Glam Your Guns Feat: Essie "Armed and Ready"

I found a new favorite ugly color, and by ugly color i mean not purple. I came across Essie "Armed and Ready" while gawking at glitters next to the Luxe Effects, and mixed in with what was left of the Go Overboard collection. Honestly, i don't know which collection this belongs to, if either. Regardless of the polish family this gem belongs to, it have moved its way into my heart, and onto my favorites.

For this mani...

Essie "Armed and Ready"

China Glaze "Champagne Bubbles"

Essie "As Gold as it Gets"

Milani Jewel FX "Gold"

Makeup sponge

Look look. ---> Armed and Ready.

Gray, brow, and flecked with gold this worn down army/olive green shade has stolen my heart. Though this is a rather drab color, the hidden gold a copper shimmer saves it from the forgotten pile in my polish cabinet. What makes me love this polish is how unique it is. Tell me, do you own another color like this? The formula is also lovely. This is three coats, because i got nicks in the first two.

I chose to use a yellow gold sponged on the sides to not over power the existing copper shimmer, but add to it. China Glaze "Champagne Bubbles" also has very scattered silver glitters in it for more subtle bling. This particular polish was a part of the recent Holiday 2011 collection along with another favorite of mine, "Snow Globe."

Now most of you have seen "Shine of the Times" for the Luxe Effects collection, but have you seen "As Gold as it Gets." To cough enhance cough my amazing sponging i used this glass fleck gold glitter for one coat all over each nail. Do you want to eat my nails yet? Because i do. Much like the makeup caked on the faces of the notorious Toddlers in Tiaras, this top coat covered all the little mistakes and imperfections i had previous.

NOW GLITTER. This is some mofaxukin serious glitter right here! Milani Jewel FX "Gold." If you don't own this, go buy it before its discontinued. I brushed on some pure glitzy gold along the sides that were previously sponged. This finished of my Glam Your Guns mani featuring Essie "Armed and Ready"

Sally Hansen "Wedding Crasher"

BEHOLD! My new favorite glitter polish, "Wedding Crasher" by Sally Hansen from the recent revamped Diamond Strength line. "Glass Slipper" seemed to steal the show at first form this line, but there are so many more dazzling gems in the collection. It seems every time i'm in a drug store i end up leaving with another part of the collcetion. In these photos i have it over Zoya "Zara" because i muffed up that mani by being to impatient and not letting it dry. In addition to being a perfectly stunning fuchsia glitter, sitting in a perfectly fuchsia jelly base "Wedding Crasher" offers a full coverage glitter mani, with out being a full coverage glitter. Since it sits in a pink jelly base, it covers up the empty spaces a pure glitter would leave. Because of this quality you can use two coats and have full glitter.

Personally, i love this glitter over purple. I started with a purple "Zara" mani and used "Wedding Crasher," one coat over the top. Like my saying "Glitter fixed everything" goes, all the bumps, knicks, and smudged spots were instantly covered with a fantastic fuchsia vale. I highly recommend this polish. It has a WONDERFUL formula and can be obtained at a reasonable price. The Diamond Strength line is one i look forward to owning much more of.

Sparkling Feat: Orly "Oh! Cabana Boy" and Finger Paints "Motley"

Good day! Observe; how long it took me to post this new mani. Please peek at the date on the photo,...and now, the date on the post. I'm slow. But guess what? YOU HERE! And i love and adore each and every one of you for wasting your free time actually READING my blog. I wish i could give you al giant awkward hugs and give you chicken yogurt. 

For this mani!

Orly "Oh! Cabana Boy"

Santee "Emerald"

Sally Hansen "Black Diamonds"

Finger Paints "Motley"

Dotting Tool

Imagine; a tropical island. Warm sun lightly toasting your skin as the UV rays beam down on you and your unprotected flesh. Salted sea water covering your sand sunken toes, lounging under an umbrella right out of a fruity cocktail, and your cabana boy with overly feminine soft hands gently polishing your nails a shocking pink. You cabana boy is also wearing a light pink polo shirt and hot pink short shorts.

"To add some corresponding shimmer to the blue duo-chrome of the pink," Cabana Boy will begin "I am going to used some Santee "Emerald" over the pink." He reaches for new polish then, with his girlish fingers he guides Black Diamonds across the corner tips of your nails, lightly twisting your comparably positively repulsive, calloused, dry, common woman's hands. Delicately, he dots along the corner tips.

Finally, you get to take a picture to capture the Motley flakies Cabana Boy used over Black Diamonds only to find that you have suffered terrifying tip wear from digging for clams to smuggle on the plane home, to pretend like your in paradise when you return home to your cluttered abode in your kitty pool full of sand and you natural light sun bulb for photographing your nails.

OPI "Did It On 'Em" from Nicki Minaj collection 2012

Today i have a quick post for you with some not so great swatches of OPI "Did It On 'Em" from the new Nicki Minaj collection. At first, meaning the press release, i was sooo excited about this collection and i was dead set of getting every piece of the collection. I'm no longer so thrilled. Between the press release and the physical release OPI changed the shades completely. However, walking through the mall i could not possibly pass up Planet Beauty with out checking on the polish racks. Originally, i was only going to get "Save Me," but i got %20 off if i got a second. "Did It On 'Em" caught my eye and i'm kicking myself for not getting "Fly" instead. 

Application: First coat was sheer and looked just like gross moldy lemon. I had to use three solid coats and them some to get the coverage that i did. And of course with multiple coats comes a slow dry time, hence the dent on my ring finger

Formula:Sheer, left bald spots, not a luscious cream. I would expect this coverage quality from a low end or drug store brand, but OPI is up with the top of the pop, and i found it awful and annoying.

Color/Finish: I do enjoy this color. Untrue to the horrid artificial lit photo, "Did It On 'Em" is a unique color in between green and yellow. Typically what most people would call chartreuse. I did not have a shade similar.If you can achieve even full coverage with this polish you will have a lovely cream, one of my favorite finishes but when used in a proper formula.

This has been my personal experience with this particular polish, if you had a better, similar, or worse experience i'd love to hear about it in the comments below.

New Year's Day Feat: Orly "Le Chateau"

Hi hi. I'm excited to show off this mani. I actually kept it on for quite a few days. There is just something about "Snow Globe" that sucks me in no matter what.

For this look you'll need...

Orly "Le Chateau"

Orly "Stone Cold"

China Glaze "Icicle"

China Glaze "Snow Globe"

Sponge

I started out with two solid coats of Orly's "Le Chateau." Had this polish not been on sale i would have never taken it past the display. The Holiday Soiree collection from Orly this year had brought us many not drab colors and few i can not help but stare at. Something deep inside me loves this deep blue green jelly polish with a passion that burns like a smouldering coal under a rock at the base of a sea side volcano. You heard me.

Sponge sponge sponge.

With my makeup sponge i dabbed a tid bit of the beautiful "Stone Cold" from Orly's "Mineral FX" collection. I brought this down in a descending concentration to a tad past mid nail.

Again with the sponging i used China Glaze "Icicle" near the tips. I have recently discovered that i am some sort of awful at gradients. I'm still trying different techniques to better my blending and what now. but for now i dab a drag and it works to my satisfaction.

No, this isn't the same picture as before. Again with "Stone Cold" i used the tiniest bit near the edge where i used "Icicle." This helped the silver not take over so much since i wanted more blue in this. More blue brought out the blue in the base to make it appear less black.

At this time my fingers where covered in excess polish so it was about time to put on my glitter before i got to messy. "Snow Globe" a re-release form China Glaze for the Holiday 2011 collection. One coat was enough to cover up my sloppy gradient with out covering all my work.

New Year's Nails Feat: Milani "Purple Gleam"

Happy New Year's every one! I'm so excited for 2012. I have big plans for this year and i can't wait to get it started. Also, my birthday is this month! Only nine teen, but still, another year older; another year wiser. I started off  2012 with this glitter bomb mani. Purple glitter with holo glitter and gold glitter and freeking rhinestone accents! Let's get to it. As alway, messy cuticles. For 2012 i'm going to do my best to step up my blog quality. Which means you should be seeing better pictures, cleaner cuticles, and more creativity. 

 

For this mani i pulled out some of my oldies. If you want to try this look you will need the following, or similar products.

Polish

Milani One Coat Glitter "Purple Gleam"

Kleancolor "Chunky Holo Teal"

Milani Jewel FX "Gold"

Quick Dry top coat

Tools

Tweezers

Assorted colors of rhinestones

 I began with two coats of Milani's "Purple Gleam." Though this is a "one coat glitter" i still had a few bald spots after the first coat. The second coat was more of a touch up then a solid layer. I am going to be using some thick polish so I did not want to many layers just to avoid long drying time.

To add a new dimension of glitter that wasn't going to steal the show, i used Kleancolor's "Chunky Holo Teal." This coat not only added a holo shine, but also evened out my previous layer of glitter.

I used Milani Jewel FX "Gold," one coat on each of my nails, hold the ring finger. The Jewel FX polishes though rarely used, are some of my favorites. They have a quality of thickness, sheen, shine, and glamour. It's like having jewels on your finger. Now the ring finger, that's havinf jewels on your nails.

On both my ring fingers i used a total of fifteen rhinestones. No particular colors in no particular order besides keeping the same colors in the same lines. To adhere these i used small amounts of top coat as glue to apply the stones one row at a time. I was careful not to overload my nail with too much top coats to avoid floating stones. I also added a small amount of "Gold" on the tips to fill on the spot where another row of stones would not fit. I finished with a layer of thick top coat over all nails.