NYE Mani

Happy New Year's Eve!

First of all, I want everyone that's going out tonight to be super safe and drink responsibly.  I want you to have fun and I wish you the best in 2013.

Second of all, I'm staying in tonight.  That's what happens when you have to be at work at 5am all week.  You don't even get to see what midnight looks like.  However, I don't like to party or go out.  I'm a definite homebody so I just did my nails instead.

Soooo, I'm not entirely happy with it.  I think it looks a little too much like zebra print, and I hate zebra print. No offense to those that do, it's just not for me.  What it really is is a water marble.  My first water marble in a long, long time.  I guess if I had a 2013 resolution for my blog, it would be for me to bring back Water Marble Wednesday.  I will be participating in The New 31 Day Challenge starting tomorrow, but February looks promising.

WHAT I USED:
Zoya Trixie - base color
UO Silver Holo - holo marble and stamp
Zoya Storm - black marble
Bundle Monster plate bm-209

Have a great night!
D

Maybelline Color Show Green With Envy

Happy Sunday all!

I'm sure I've mentioned at some point in my blog's life that I was always looking for the perfect mint green polish.  I've been recommended different brands, but I was completely unsatisfied with them all.  They just weren't the right shade.  I wanted a mint green that was a little more green than the others I've tried that had a slight hint of blue.  Then one day, I'm at CVS and I spotted this one. 

I know it's nothing crazy beautiful or some awesome high end brand, but it's the best mint for me.  I love the formula too eventhough I'm not crazy about cremes.  I used 2 easy coats for full opacity, and it's self-leveling.  The only thing I wish it had was a better canvas.  My nails were not in the best shape when I tried this, but whatever.  They'll get better.

D

OPI Liquid Sand Collection

Alright so this was the exciting post I've been waiting to show you.  I didn't get to it yesterday like I wanted because I wasn't quite ready, but now I am.  I think I've chosen the best photos of these beauties so you tell me.  Are these good enough to make you drool?  I can't stop staring or touching my nails.

The Impossible is a bright, punchy pink jelly filled with pink glitter.  Unfortunately for this one, I didn't wait until it was completely dry before I took a photo.  It is definitely more matte just like the others.  On a positive note, I love the stars!  Is there another OPI polish with stars in it.  I did have to fish them out, but whatever.  Oh and I really thought this would be my favorite, but it's not.  You'll see which one is.  Here I used 3 coats.

Can't Let Go is one of my favorite shades of purple.  It's a lilac jelly filled with lilac glitter, and I think I actually have a semi-dupe of this one that I got at Forever 21.  HERE is the post.  The only difference is the glitter is larger and it's in a clear base.  Also it finishes shiny and not sandy.  Interesting.  This was a very easy 2 coats.

Get Your Number is amazing.  The color is so bright and the bits of holo glitter really make it special.  If it were just plain blue (or shall I say cerulean) it would be blah.  This is also a jelly formula that covered well in 3 coats.

Ok so if I had to choose, I think Stay the Night would be my favorite of the four.  The photo even shows it with a little shine and that's not how it looked in real life.  It dried super matte and the black actually looks a little grey which I love.  STN is scattered with raspberry colored glitter and the best part about it is that when the polish dries, the only thing that shines and sparkles is the glitter.  I mean it's not something anyone could capture in a photo.  You'd have to see if for yourself.  That means go buy it in case you didn't get the hint.

My honest opinion of these polishes is that they are amazing.  I'm a sucker for nail trends like this.  I fell in love with shatters/crackles (and I still am) and I'm even more in love with these.  I love the colors, the texture, and the removal was a breeze.  I used the foil method, but I am assuming that a glue base coat will work just as well.  These really do feel and look like wet sand and I can't wait to wear them again and again.

I love, love, LOVE this collection and I really hope that OPI comes out with more liquid sand polishes.  I am curious to see what they could come up with.  I am also looking out for the Zoya Pixie Dust collection which looks amazing and won't be released until March 2013 (right?).  If they bump the date up, can someone let me know?  They are much different than the OPIs (color wise) which means that I can have them ALL!!!

Let me know what you think of these.  Have you bought any or can you even stand them?  I look forward to all your comments.

D

China Glaze Creative Fantasy

Sooooo, this was not the original post I wanted to show you today, but the other is not quite ready.  Instead I have one of the new China Glaze polishes for you.  Oh and these photos don't do this polish justice.  Let's just begin.

In real life, the color is super saturated and bright.  I had to use 3 coats for full opacity and still didn't quite get it.  lol  The formula is a toughie too.  It was patchy and I had some dragging.  The bald spots weren't even noticeable until I looked back at the photos.  Anyway, I love the color and in person, it's amazing.

Nighty night!
D

12 Days of Christmas Giveaway *CLOSED*

Welcome!  Welcome!  Welcome!

Are you excited to get this giveaway started?  Are you anxious to see all the AMAZING prizes?  I'm actually a little jealous that I don't get to keep all these goodies for myself.

First up, the rules!

• MUST be a GFC public follower
• you must provide an email address for contact purposes
• international entrants are welcome (:
• begins today - 12.13.2012
• ends later - 12.24.2012
• winner will be announced on Christmas Day
• winner has 24 hours to claim their prize or I will choose another

Easy enough?

Now for the prizes!

PRIZE #1

Alter Ego Traffic Light Tester, Candy Caner, and Lights the Menorah

These pretties were provided by the lovely Cynthia, the creator of Alter Ego.  You can visit her shop HERE to see all the swatches.  The only one you won't see on the site is Lights the Menorah.  She created this one and only bottle especially for the winner of this giveaway.  It won't be released until later this month. (:

 PRIZE #2

Fever Lacquer White Collar Caffrey, I Blame the Fireworks, and Holly Day

These 3 were hand-picked and provided for you all by the amazing Casandra.  You can visit her shop HERE to see all the swatches.  I think she did an amazing job at picking "holiday appropriate" polishes, don't you?

PRIZE #3

Nail Foil set in Silver Dots

The nail foil set consists of foil adhesive, 5ft of nail foil in Silver Dots (yes, 5ft!), and a bottle of Gelous top coat.  The photo shows my personal bottle of Gelous, but of course you will get a brand spankin' new one.  This is the best top coat to work for these particular foils in my opinion.  I will also send an instruction sheet for the set if you are new to foils, or you can read my How To: Nail Foils post.

PRIZE #4

$10 Sephora Gift Card

Excited yet?

Now for the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!
D

Urban Outfitters Silver Holo

Hello Readers and Happy Wednesday!

This week is half over!  Yea!!  lol  Today I have a super gorgeous holo that has become quite popular lately.  I mean who knew that Urban Outfitters would have such amazing polish.  When I worked there we didn't even have polish.  So yeah, here we go. 

Yeah, I know!  Awesome right?  I only own about 4 holos (not a lot I know), but these are by far my favorite that I've seen.  I used 2 coats for these photos when I really only needed 1 for non-blog wear.

Here's one more for the road.  Your welcome!  ;)

Oh and I wanted to show Green Holo with this one (those are the only two I bought), but my sis borrowed it.  She kept telling me how gorgeous it is (uh duh!) so I told her to take it, but I think I might just buy another bottle and she can keep it.  We'll see.  Have a great night and get ready for an awesome post tomorrow.

D

Merry Christmas!!

Hey Christmas balls!  What are you doing on my nails?!  I didn't want to do the traditional Christmas tree nails (mainly because I couldn't think of anything original) so I came up with this.

I know you all are in the middle of having Christmas with your families so I will make this short and just tell you what I used to make this awesomeness happen.

WHAT I USED:
OPI DS Classic - base color
Zoya Ivanka - lighter green
Zoya Julieanne - purple
Zoya Song - blue
Zoya Kimber - pink
Zoya Veruschka - darker green
striping tape

And on that note, I guess you all thought I forgot about the giveaway winner.  Nah!  I didn't forget, I just thought I'd keep you all waiting.

And the winner is

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OLIVIA GOEHRING!!

Enjoy the rest of your holiday and thanks to all who entered.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

D

Russian Navy x 4

Good Afternoon everyone.  I have been having a crazy swatch party all morning trying to get rid of some untrieds.  Unfortunately for my stash, I brought home yet another polish that would have been left untried if I hadn't been so impressed with the nail wheel swatch.  Also I own the suede version so I wanted to see how they compared.

Here we have the original Russian Navy.  This is my favorite version of all I think.  It was very strange to me how the bottle shot looked very purple, but then I realized that the finish was navy with a gorgeous purple shimmery flash.  This covered very well in one coat, but I did two just for good measure.

Here I just used Hard Candy Mattely In Love to mattify the original Russian Navy, and I hate it. The crazy thing is that when I apply the matte top coat, it looks almost identical to the matte (not suede) version.  It takes the shimmer away almost completely.  There.  Done!  Now I don't have to look at it anymore.

Wow!  I have swatched this before, but I know my photos were pretty crappy, and I guess I just forgot how awesome it is.  This is the suede version of Russian Navy, and I love it.  It dries matte and has super sparkle!  This is 2 coats.

And then I applied a top coat to the suede version of Russian Navy, and it certainly raises the wow factor.  I'm really in love with this one.  I think if it were this color with a holo sparkle, it would be even more AAAHHH-mazing!

I feel like I'm pretty good at not buying dupes and/or polishes that are way too similar to one another so I'm glad I get to keep both of these since the finishes are so completely different.

I also want to tell you all that you have just over 24 hours to enter my 12 Days of Christmas giveaway so do that if you want to win some awesome prizes including Fever Lacquers, a Sephora gift card, and a special one of a kind Alter Ego polish.

Thanks for stopping by and happy blogging.
D

Pure Ice Pardon My French (pic heavy)

OMG!  I feel like I have been gone for so long.  I had so much to do since the weekend, and it's only Wednesday.  Let's see.  What's new with me?  I dyed my hair on Sunday so no more blinding, fiery red.  Now it's a plum kind of color.  It was an accidental blessing for sure.  Monday I went to see Marina and the Diamonds for the third time, but it just gets better and better each time.  If you are into "electro-pop," you need to see her.  She's my fave and amazing!  I even have a tattoo for her.  Yesterday, I went to my Paw Paw's house to decorate for Christmas.  He hasn't decorated in 8 years since his wife died, so I was so happy that I could do this for him, and then we had a lovely dinner of salad and frozen pizza.  lol.  Today I had to do last minute Christmas shopping, and now I am all yours.  Well my nails are anyway.

I knew that whatever I had for you today had to be good since I've been MIA, so I came up with Pure Ice Pardon My French. 

So after rifling through the 50+ photos of this beauty, I settled on these three.  I think they show off how amazing it is the best.  Pardon My French is a black base with rose gold glitter in two different sizes: tiny and hex.  The glitter is saturated throughout that I didn't have to fish anything out of the bottle and it covered in 2 coats.  The formula is a little on the thick side but completely manageable.  I am so happy I didn't pass this up.  I told myself at Walmart to just put it back, but I knew I didn't have anything like it, AND it was the very last bottle.  No mistakes made here!  So then I decided to just play around with stamping and go crazy so here ya go.

Here is just used Wet 'n' Wild French White Creme and my Konad m13 plate to stamp (very crooked but) adorable little skulls on each nail.

Holy Cow!  Yeah!  Here I used my brand spankin' new Urban Outfitters Silver Holo and Bundle Monster plate bm11.  I mean enough said, right?!  I know that it's crooked and a little sloppy since I was just having fun, but man.  That holo is blinding and AMAZING!

Oh and I'll leave you with a video of Marina and the Diamonds.  Why?  Just for the hell of it, and because I'm still in the "after glow" from Monday's show.  lol

I want you all to have a great night and sleep well!
D

Nails for Newtown

Today's post is a short one, but an important one nonetheless.  The nail blogger community has banded together and will be wearing white nails in lieu of the recent situation in Newtown, Connecticut.

Please join us all by attaching this badge to your blog post and honoring those lives that were lost.  If you don't have a blog you can still upload your white nails to the inlinkz code below to show your support.  Now on to the mani.

Yes, I know.  It's not full on white, but there is white in it, and the point of the post is to show support and sympathy. I thought a double stamp of a purple and a white rose was a nice design.

WHAT I USED:

Layla Holo Coral Glam - pink holo base

Wet 'n' Wild French White Creme - white rose

Zoya Dannii - purple rose

Konad stamp plate m13

My heart and my best wishes go out to all those affected by this tragedy.  If this is the only way I can show support, I'm glad I am participating.  Thank you for reading.

D

More Skittles

Yep!  More skittles!  I just loved my blue mani so much that I wanted to do it again, but this time with pink and purple.

This is my right hand and I chose to do a v-french mani with pink rhinestones on my pinky and ring finger, grey stamping on my middle and thumb (seen in the photo below), and then heart-shaped glitter on my pointer.  Is it all over the place?  Yes!  Am I happy with it?  Yes!

 On my left hand I chose a different combo which I am much happier with.  So, uh, you wanna know what I used?

WHAT I USED:
purple - Zoya Zara (another amazing purple from Zoya)
silver - OPI Designer...de Better!
grey - Julep Meryl (my fave grey polish right now)
heart glitter - Nicole by OPI Step to the Beat of MY ♥ (stupid Justin Beiber)
pink - Color Club Blushing Rose (not the best formula - patchy)
stamp - Bundle Monster plate BM-225

I think this is out of my system now, so I promise, no skittles tomorrow.  lol.  Have a wonderful night!
D