New 31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Days 4 & 5!

Hey there!

 Today I have another day of the challenge, and I've decided to combine days 4 and 5, which are pink and purple! Details on the polishes I used at the end of the post!

Base color: OPI You're Such a Budapest

Stamp color: China Glaze Designer Satin

Stamp: Cheeky CH26

Dots: China Glaze Dance Baby and Zoya Aurora

Top coats: Seche Vite & INM Northern Lights 

I'm a little bit behind from where I was expecting to be with the challenge right now, so you may get a few extra posts this weekend! Stay tuned!

XOX

Jess

Zoya Spring 2013 Lovely Collection

Good morning!

Today I get to share with you my 3 picks from Zoya's new spring collection. It makes me excited just to say spring, because it had just been way too cold lately! These colors definitely put you in a good mood and get you ready for the warm days ahead!

I decided to buy two cremes and one shimmer from the collection, and I am SO happy with my choices! These are definitely what I'd call Easter colors, and I love them. I did not use a top coat in any of the photos below.

 Blu

Blu is a soft baby blue creme. I can't get over how pretty and delicate it is, it reminds me of Cinderella! The formula was only the tiniest bit runny, but evened out nicely after two coats. 

 Neely

Neely is the perfect springtime green, which unfortunately my camera had trouble picking up. This is not a color I would normally gravitate towards, but there was just something about it that drew me in. This creme applied perfectly in two coats.

Julie

And last but certainly not least, my absolute favorite from this collection, Julie. A perfect lilac with the most beautiful shimmer. I can't begin to tell you how much I'm in love with this color! The formula was only slightly sheer and opaque at two coats, but I used three for this photo just to even it all out. I can't wait to wear this again!

I picked these up at my local beauty supply, you can also get them at zoya.com and Ulta for $8 each!

Do you have any of the Lovely polishes? Which do you like best?

XOX,

Jess

Zoya Ornate Winter 2012 Collection!

Hello hello!! I am beyond excited to share this collection today! I ordered this right after it was released as a special birthday gift to myself :)

There are six amazing colors in this collection. I am blown away by almost all of them! Let's get to the pictures!

Aurora

Aurora is an absolutely gorgeous purple with scattered holographic glitter. WOW! I had to give you a blurry shot to show off the holo. The day I wore this was super sunny, and I was getting distracted while driving because of all the wonderful that was happening on my nails!

 Blaze

Blaze is a deep cranberry red, and also has scattered holographic glitter.  So pretty!

Electra

 Electra is a bar holographic glitter in a clear base. As you can see in my pictures, the glitter gives off a rainbow of color! The glitter seemed a bit "hairy" to me - not sure if that will make sense to anyone else! I did 1 to 4 coats on my index to pinky fingers.

Logan

Logan is the prettiest green I've ever seen! This will be a perfect Christmas color. 

 Storm

 Storm is black with scattered holographic glitter. I first wore this to my cousin's sweet 16, and I completely fell in love with it. You can check out that manicure here.

 Ziv

Ziv is gold, gold, gold! It kinda reminds me of champagne, and New Years Eve! 

For all of my pictures I used 2 coats, except for Aurora, where I used 3. The formula is really good on all of them, which is generally typical of all Zoya polishes.

Out of the 6, my top 2 picks are Aurora and Storm. To be completely honest, I didn't care much for Electra, but it's still nice to have. Random note: while swatching, I had Logan and Ziv sitting next to each other, and let me just say now that they are going to be great together come St. Patrick's Day! A perfect green and gold combo.

I ordered my Ornate collection at zoya.com for $48. Not a lot of stores around me sell Zoya except Ulta, which doesn't have a very big selection, so I knew my best chance to snag these were to order online. Well, aren't I glad I did! With this set I got another polish, and since that brought my order to over $50, I got a whole bunch of freebies with my purchase! A whole bunch of color spoons, a 2oz. bottle of remover+, and a sugar scrub! I'll definitely be ordering from them again, especially whenever they have their next sale - I've been keeping a little wishlist :)

OPI : Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not

Hello there! I am going to spam you with a few posts in a row tonight, and hopefully within the next few days I'll be up and running with a scheduled daily post!

Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not

I really love this color! I don't have many dark purples in my stash, I definitely need more! In person you can see tiny flecks of pink. I used two coats here - the first was streaky, but evened out on the second. Please don't mind the smudge on the tip of my ring finger :)

OPI Skyfall Part 2!

Hello Friday! I am particularly excited about today, I took off work, and my birthday is tomorrow! Yay :D

So in my last post I previewed the OPI Skyfall collection and showed you Goldeneye. Today I have another polish from that line, and it is beautiful!!!

Tomorrow Never Dies is a gorgeous purple. There is a wonderful, very subtle shimmer going on, and I swear when I was applying it, there were teeny tiny blue shimmer bits hidden in there. I used two thin coats for these pics - the first one went on a bit streaky, but it evened out great on the second. My pics make the color seem more blue than it really is, but trust me... this is one of the prettiest purples I own.

 I wanted a really eye-catching accent nail, and I dug this great Five Below find out of my Helmer. Funky Fingers Mermaid Lagoon has three different types of glitter in it - tiny blue, slightly bigger magenta, and then these absolutely fantastic medium sized hex glitters that are... you guessed it... holo! 

I'm totally obsessed with anything holo right now, since I am a *new* collector of polish, the only holo stuff I have is glitter, I am anxiously patiently awaiting the arrival of the China Glaze collection due out next year! For now, here are a few blurry pics of Mermaid Lagoon... enjoy its glittery goodness :) :)

My First "Dotticure!"

Hi there! I finally got the chance to mess around with my new dotting tools, and I'm so happy I bought them! They were so much easier to use than I was anticipating. I'm really happy with the results, so I give you my first dotticure!!

These are the tools I used. I bought them at a local beauty supply for less than $4, I believe the brand is Debra Lynn. I've also seen them for sale online for about the same price.

And finally, here are the colors I used. Far left is my base, the rest for dots.

(left to right)

Revlon Charming, Sinful Colors Purple Diamond, China Glaze Coconut Kiss, 

Zoya Suri, Sinful Colors Let's Talk

OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest and Barielle Purple Hearts

Happy Saturday! My plans for the day have been postponed because of some crazy storms in my area, there is actually a tornado watch! I was going to sit outside and do a crazy swatch-fest, but that will just have to wait :(

Today's manicure I saw first on Scrangie, and I had to copy it, I loved it so much! This is Barielle Purple Hearts layered over OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest. I used two coats of each, but I'm wishing I only used one coat of Purple Hearts. I love me some sparkles, but I would've rather it was more subtle. Sorry for the mess on my middle and ring fingers, I did this in a rush before work and could not for the life of me get my cuticles free of glitter!

Here is the rest of my Barielle haul! I got everything on transdesign.com:

(left to right)

Out-GreyGeous, U-Concrete-Me, Swizzle Stix, Falling Star, Snow Day, 

Purple Hearts, Buddha-ful, Elle's Spell, Shannon's Attitude

*the first 5 polishes came in the Moody Blues pack (only $13.50!)

And of course, I also had to go to Walgreen's this morning since today is the last day of the 99 cents Sinful Colors sale! 

(left to right) Unicorn, All About You, Rise and Shine, Precious Metal, You Just Wait, Fig

Earlier this week I picked up a whole bunch of SC polishes, I forgot to take a pic, but here is what I got: Ciao Bella, Gorgeous, Forget Now, Frenzy, Queen of Beauty, Innocent, and Call You Later.

Tomorrow is Sunday Sales Day, stay tuned!

Sinful Colors Let's Talk and Funky Fingers Sand & Stilettos

Today's manicure was inspired by yesterday's post! I'm a bit purple obsessed at the moment, and I think this might be the first time ever that I have the same polish on both my fingers and toes! 

First of all I have to forewarn you and say how disappointed I am by the pictures! For some reason it kept coming out more blue than purple.

 The base is two coats of Sinful Colors Let's Talk. I really like this brand, usually if you use a nice thick coat you can get away with just one, but since I tend to do thinner coats I used two. And bonus, they are less than $2 a bottle! (This week they're on sale at Walgreens for 99 cents!)

The sparkles are a great holographic glitter from Funky Fingers called Sand & Stiletto. The only place I've ever seen Funky Fingers is Five Below, and they're 3 for $5. 

If you don't have a Five Below near you, this glitter polish is an exact dupe of Color Club Sugarplum Fairy:

(left to right)

Color Club Sugarplum Fairy, Pure Ice Spitfire, Funky Fingers Sand & Stilettos

Purple Polish Panic!

Hello again! Today's post is going to be a short one, but I need help because I have a very serious dilemma!

After going through my stash this weekend, I realized I'm suffering a very serious purple problem! The lack of them I own compared to other colors is shocking, and just embarrassing!

I really need some recommendations, and I am officially on the search for the perfect lavender. Please let me know what your favorites are!

An  awful past manicure, the only purple I can find a picture of right now.

I can't remember the name of the sparkles I layered over this Sally Hansen, but I think it was from the Wet N Wild Spoiled collection at CVS ($1.99). The Sally Hansen was bought at Five Below, 3 for $5! I got this along with the pink and blue HD polishes.

My sad little pile of purples, compared to....

All my pinks and reds!