Texture Polishes - Zoya Carter, Zoya Sunshine and Loreal Too Dimensional?

Ahhhh texture polish....either you enjoy it or you don't....and in my case, I enjoy it but I have discovered that I have to be in a very specific mood to wear it.  My favorite textures are the Zoya PixieDusts, JulieG Gumdrops and Nicole by OPI textures.  There are a couple of the OPI Liquid Sands that I like as well, but most of my texture polish collection falls into the former 3 brands.  Today I thought I'd show you three of my more recent nail of the day (NOTD) textures....

Recently I picked up a polish from the new Loreal Gold Dust line of textured polishes to give it a go:

This is Too Dimensional?, a medium blue with a subtle on-the-nail shift to green courtesy of some gorgeous shimmer.  I was happy to discover that Loreal did a great job in hopping on the texture bandwagon and I've been eyeing other colors in the collection ever since.  Still haven't bought more, but I know it's inevitable that I will.  :)

Next are two Zoyas that I couldn't wait to get my hands on, and they sure didn't disappoint:

Ahhhhh Carter, you beautiful thing you.  Everything you've read about Carter is true...a stunning dark purple with lighter pink/purple glitter that is unlike anything else out there in the polish world (at least, imo).  I'd read that Carter is a bit sheer and requires 3 coats for opacity, so I was a bit heavy-handed with my application and got away with 2 coats.  SUCH a gorgeous color, well done Zoya!

Not to be outdone, here is Zoya Sunshine, a beautiful deep navy texture that looks lighter in photos than it does in real life.  I wanted pics in full sun because of the pretty sparkle in this polish.  I bought the brighter/lighter Zoya Liberty when it came out last year and liked it well enough, but the deeper navy blue of Sunshine appeals more to my conservative side and I love it.  The sparkle isn't quite as prominent in this polish as in other PixieDusts, but I like that about it!

More photos of all three polishes after the jump:

Summer Canadian

Life is about to ramp up here soon, gotta go north next week to find a new place to live and check out schools for the kiddo.  We literally have only 3 days to get these goals accomplished, so wish me luck!

A good way to de-stress is to think of my "happy place", which happens to be Lake Duborne in northern Ontario.  My family has had a cabin there since the '50s and a little over 10 years ago my Dad and stepmom built another cottage on the same lake.  The entire extended family tries to be there at the same time, and during the busiest week we probably cram 20-some people on the porch of the original cabin for dinner each evening.  This place is our family's version of heaven on earth and we all work hard the entire rest of the year in order to get our vacation up north, enjoying quality time with each other and our Canadian friends and nature.  My D&J usually get about 3-4 months at their cottage, and my son and I are fortunate to spend about 4 weeks there.  It's primarily about family time, but it's also about learning to respect and value nature, replenish the soul, and enjoy a quality of life that we don't get "back home".

Annnnd, as the pic above attests, there is the occasional (okay, more like often) enjoyment of Canadian beer.  Along with pretty nails!  :-)

The hubby can usually snag a week off work to come north as well, which involves a 2+ hour drive back to the States to pick him up at a regional airport, and I always try to stop in at various big box retailers (on the Canadian side of the border, gotta support their economy too!) that we don't have anywhere near the lake to stock up on supplies.  Which of course means a quick gander at nail polish displays...duh!  This past summer I lucked out and stumbled on the gorgeous Nicole by OPI "Cinna-man of My Dreams", one of the textured polishes from their Gumdrops line.

GAH!  I love this polish, so so so much!  In fact, now I'm gonna have to throw it into the gotta-wear-soon queue after editing these photos and being reminded of how pretty it is.  Though I do have to admit, my pics aren't that great since they were taken in full sun and at the worst possible time of day to do sun photos, so the colors aren't entirely accurate.  But take my word for it...this polish is gorgeous and unique and absolutely worth seeking out to add to your stash!

Couple more photos of nails, and maybe a few bonus lake pics, after the jump....

Blue Green Texture Skittle

I recently swatched my polish collection onto nail wheels and in the course of organizing the wheels, I was struck with inspiration when some of the texture polishes in blues and greens ended up next to/near each other.  As much as I enjoy texture polishes, I don't love them and have to be in the right kind of mood to wear them.  Although I have to say, OPI Alcatraz...Rocks and several of the Zoya PixieDust shades do their best to tempt me into wearing them more often.

Anyway, here is my fun little blue and green skittle mani:

Fun, right?  The sign of a good mani for me is if I want to wear it longer than 24 hours (have I mentioned that I have a LOT of untrieds?), and I definitely kept this one on for longer than a day.  On the second day I experimented with top-coating by putting on a layer of Gelous and then a layer of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri.  I didn't get any photos of that, though....sorry!

More after the jump:

Cult Flushed...plus a few others

Behold the pretty pretty....my very first Cult Nails polish called Flushed.  I know I can achieve opacity with it in 2-3 coats, but I had an untried purple creme in the form of Spoiled 2 Weeks Sober and decided to layer one coat of Flushed over one heavy coat of 2 Weeks Sober.  Both polishes were super easy to work with, though I'll definitely do two coats when I wear 2 Weeks Sober on its own.

On the second day I had some tip wear (most likely NOT due to the polish, I'm super tough on my hands/fingers), so I decided to play with some tape and two of my Julie G textured polishes.  I love the result:

 

Be sure to check out more photos after the jump, including ones of this mani before the nail art was added...

Nicole by OPI That's What I Mint + SH Scarab

Green polish and I don't always get along, but in the case of today's polishes....I don't care.  I nabbed Nicole by OPI's "That's What I Mint" (part of their Gumdrops textured line) from CVS recently and waited for a green mood to strike.  Considering the size of my untrieds pile, I thought it best to try to find something to go along with it, and grabbed Sally Hansen Lustre Shine in Scarab.  Holy awesome Batman, what a great pairing!  Lookie, lookie:

I loved this so much that I immediately texted a photo of it to a friend and insisted she buy it, arm-twisting at its technological best.

I don't see a whole lot of mint, and this pulled way more "green" on my skin tone than "teal", but otherwise I'm now obsessed with this polish and will be wearing it a LOT this fall/winter. 

More pics/details after the jump:

OPI Alcatraz...Rocks

Oooooooo, shiny, pretty, textured, lovely, gorgeous purple-y blue OPI Alcatraz...Rocks.  And rocks it does:

  

This polish from OPI's San Francisco collection (out now) is just incredible.  If you love purple or blue or just a plain old STUNNING polish, you must buy this.  'Nuff said.

More pics after the jump....