Cool Sunshine

It's been a long time since the last post, but winter break is going on, meaning I have some time to waste on nail polish. I only brought back a few bottles since my collection has grown to the point where it is immobile. My most recent manicure stars Zoya Sunshine, a medium blue PixieDust formula with little bits of silver glitter. I actually got this from an Ulta discount bin haha. I used two coats, although it was quite opaque with one (I just wanted to fix some bald spots). This is my first time ever wearing a textured polish, and it was definitely weird at first. It feels like a layer of sugar crystals. I keep rubbing it with the tips of my fingers lol. Also why is it called Sunshine? If anything, it looks like night time to me.

Close up of the texture

Sally Hansen Blues

It's been soooooo long since my last post. Senior year of college is starting soon, which is just crazy. Tonight, I did a purely Sally Hansen manicure, minus my base coat. I am wearing Sally Hansen Insta-Dri In Prompt Blue, a bright cobalt blue color reminiscent of Nails Inc. Baker Street or Essie Butler Please. I bought this one since it was cheaper than the other two brands (and probably better quality). In Prompt Blue went on smooth and opaque. It could have been a thick one-coater, but I decided to do two thinner coats. The color is a bit darker and a tad more muted in real life. On my ring finger, I have on a coat of Sally Hansen Triple Shine Sparks Fly, a silver glitter with a sheer bluish base. I got it as a birthday gift from my friend! This reminds me of the Essie Luxeffect polish in Set in Stones, which is the same type of silver glitter but in a clear base. The glitter is composed of larger hexagonal pieces with smaller silver bits thrown in. And to top it all off, I used my classic Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Topcoat. Weirdly enough, these two were my first ever Sally Hansen nail colors after 2+ years of collecting nail polish.

The color is coming off really weird on Blogger for some reason

A Nice Basic Taupe: Ulta Smoke and Mirrors

Vivs and I went to Ulta over break (of course), and I picked up a few new polishes (of course). Among them was Ulta Professional Smoke and Mirrors, a cool-toned taupe creme. I'm not quite sure what's different about their "Professional" line versus the regular line with the cylindrical bottles, but it was equally on sale for 2 for $4. Smoke and Mirrors was smooth and problem-free and went on opaque in two coats. The coolness doesn't clash with my yellow skin tone, surprisingly. In fact, in some lights the polish looks like a washed out light purple. Me gusta. Read more after the jump.

Spring Time Equals...Brown?

Over spring break, I went back home and only brought one color with me: an untried discounted Revlon I bought at my local CVS. I thought it'd be a good time to force myself to try out a new color. Revlon Colorstay French Roast is a dark brown with blue and (I think?) orange micro glitters. When I first picked it up, I was intrigued yet sort of repulsed at the same time. To be honest, my first impression was that it looked like shimmery congealed blood hahaha. To my surprise, French Roast was quite flattering on my skin tone! Very classy, bordering vampy. The formula was nice and took two coats to reach opacity. Maybe I'll look more into brown shades in the future.

Excuse the lighting differences. Both are in natural light; the last one is closer to what it looked like in real life.

Adorable Panda Accent Nail with Dots (feat. Sinful Colors Thimbleberry)

This mani is basically a direct copy of an ad I saw while walking in Chicago.  After my interview, my friend and I had gone to Chinatown to devour some delicious cuisine, and then we chanced upon this ad! I just knew I had to recreate it - a panda accent nail? Who could resist?? Certainly not me haha xD Details on how I created this mani after the jump... 

Panda and Polka Dot Nails with Sinful Colors Thimbleberry
(click on photo to zoom in)

New Batch of OPI Gargantuan Green Grape

Today, I have for you a perfect color for spring!  Although spring has been a long time coming.... still hasn't hit us here in Indiana :( Anyways, this is the second batch of OPI Gargantuan Green Grape, if you look at other swatches online you can see a clear difference.  While the previous batch was very clearly a green color, this new batch is a lovely baby blue. There seems to be many mixed reviews, so I would recommend buying this in person to see what color you're getting! 

OPI Gargantuan Green Grape
(click on photo to zoom in)

A Unique Shimmery Taupe: Zoya Jules

Here we have Zoya Jules, a slightly gold-toned shimmery taupe. In some lights, it looks more gray; in others, more like a dirty gold. This is another one of those signature Zoya shimmers, so same deal with the formula. Slightly thin, slightly gritty, and absolutely gorgeous in two coats. From the macro shots, it seems like there are tiny gold sparkles in there. I think Jules is a nice way to spice up a regular neutral color without going overboard. The internet generally loves Jules, so I'm surprised I hadn't heard of it before my Color-Your-World-fueled Zoya research.

Zoya Adina Funkiness

This is Zoya Adina, which I wore about 3 weeks back. It's another one I got with the Color Your World promotion. Adina is a pretty dramatic purple to lime-green duochrome. The formula was nice: slightly thin, but built up to full opacity in 3 coats. I think I would have loved this a year or two ago, but now it's just alright to me. I do have to say that this is a very whimsical color, meaning I think of fairies or elves or, like...fantasy-themed Barbies.

Bubbly Accent Nails

Hello all! Spring is on the way, so here I have for you a bright and bubbly mani!  In all honesty, this is a mani that I did last fall, and am finally getting a chance to post. It's a super easy mani that I'm definitely going to reuse sometime this spring xD details after the jump...

Bubbly Accent Nails (created with dots)
(click on photo to zoom in

Color Show Emerald City: Teal Glitter Polish Review + Reverse French-esque (??) Mani

Hello! Last weekend, while grocery shopping with my roomie, we made a stop by Target. Naturally, this meant I veered off towards the Health & Beauty section, and there I spotted Maybelline's new Color Show collection! I typically find the Color Show collection to be a hit or miss, and this time it was a hit! I instantly fell in love with Emerald City, and picked it up for $2.99. Read the review and see the mani I created with it after the jump!

Maybelline Color Show Emerald City

Leopard Skittlette with the Best Glitter Polish Ever, Nicole by OPI Pick of the Glitter!!

Hello all!  This post is revisiting a favorite of mine, leopard print!  This is a mani I have used over and over and over, all my friends definitely recognize it by now (or at least I think they do xD).  I love the combination of a lovely turquoise, glitter, and leopard print - where could it go wrong?? haha.  Details about this mani and Nicole by OPI Pick of the Glitter polish after the jump!

Leopard Skittlette using Pick of the Glitter (Nicole by OPI)
(click on photo to zoom in)

Finally, a Warm Sheer Pink? Zoya Olivia

New year means new Zoya colors with the Color Your World Promotion. Of course, I was all over that and got 3 new colors even though I didn't actually want anything specific. Since I've been pleased with all my Zoya purchases beforehand, I decided to take the chance and buy one of their sheer pinks. This is Zoya Olivia. I've been looking for the perfect pink for almost a year now. I wanted one that was slightly yellow-toned, light, sheer but buildable to opacity, not streaky, etc. etc. OPI Don't Burst My Bubble was kind of my hope, but that was a bit too cool for what I was aiming for.

OPI Muir Muir on the Wall: COLOR FOUND!

OPI Muir Muir on the Wall is a vampy, purple-brown shimmer from their recent San Francisco collection. There's a hint of gold and greenish duochrome, but it's much more visible in the bottle. Like your typical OPI, this polish went on smoothly and opaquely in two coats.

Story time: two years ago, I tried a beautiful purple-brown color that belonged to one of my college friends. Unfortunately, the color was from a Chinese brand (named B.O. lol) and the bottle has dried up to an irrecoverable brick. Ever since then, I have been searching for the perfect American dupe. And Muir Muir on the Wall is it. Other colors were either too purple or too brown, or they had like red shimmer which isn't what I wanted. When I saw swatches of this online, I had high hopes that my dupe search would be over. OPI did not disappoint! I think this belongs in my faves already; I couldn't stop staring at my hands.

Deborah Lippman Mermaid's Dream

This is probably the most expensive nail polish that's ever graced by fingers. I present Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream, a complex aqua glitter. The base seems to be a mixture of fine foil-like gold and light blue-green glitters, with larger and darker turquoise hex glitters interspersed throughout. The formula was slightly sheer but built up to full opacity in two coats. So...I bought this for one of my friends as a birthday gift, but ended up trying out the sample bottle at Sephora on myself. I stood there in the middle of the store and did a full manicure. No shame. I think all the Deborah Lippmanns are overpriced (like $18 to $21?) for pretty average-looking colors but this one drew my eye.

China Glaze Midnight Kiss

Wowsers, I am super behind with posting. Usually I take pictures of my manicures, but I just haven't felt the urge to blog about it immediately. And then the pictures just pile up on my SD card...

Anyway, this is China Glaze Midnight Kiss, a basic gold foil. It's cooler-toned, almost silvery in some lights. I wore this over winter break! It really is a nice holiday color, as indicated by the name. I've used it as an accent color in a few other manicures (like here and here), but I think this was the first time I wore Midnight Kiss by itself. The formula is good: slightly thin, but opaque in two coats.

Cherry Blossom Nail Art for Chinese New Year

Hello all! For Chinese New Year, I wanted to do some creative nails, but unfortunately there are no cute horse nails >.> So I decided to do something slightly reminiscent of Asia, and while looking around I saw a lot of cherry blossom nails! There was one blogger who had nails I absolutely adored, and I decided to put my own twist on it :D Here goes..

Cherry Blossom Nails
(click on photo to zoom in)

Zoya Kristen

Hello! Today I have Zoya Kristen, which I bought as part of Zoya's Color Your World 2014 promotion.  It's only been on my nails for three days, and I've already gotten tons of compliments!  Definitely a lovely color that I will be reaching for a lot more in the future.  

Zoya Kristen is a lovely grey blue color - the pictures are very representative of how it looks on my nails in slightly different lightings. It has a very classy vibe that I'm loving - sometimes I'll go for a matte top coat to make a mani more classy, but this color does the job all on its own!  In fact, I tried it a with a matte top coat (just seconds before typing this sentence haha) and I definitely prefer it with a shiny finish.  The formula is beautiful - only one coat necessary! But maybe a slightly thicker coat than usual. 

Zoya Kristen

Matte Leopard

Welcome to the first post of the year! Or, more like, the first post in a year.... >.< For 2014, I'm going to try to be much more dedicated in regards to posting manis.  I have tons of manis stockpiled for sharing, hopefully at a relatively consistent pace, so here goes!

Matte Leopard Nails