Dotticures - Part II

Hi y'all, I'm back with part II of my dotticure "series", though I hesitate to call it a series since this is pretty much it for the time being.  Mmhhh, now I'm rethinking the meaning of the word "series".  But I digress....

Starting out with a fun all-Zoya mani I did over the summer while on vacation:

Zoya Purity - white
Zoya Breezi - blue creme
Zoya Muse - blue shimmer/glitter

I wasn't all that interested in the Zoya Bubbly collection when it was released, most of the colors were just a smidge too bright for this dark and vampy loving girl.  But it is a rare thing when I can resist a blue color, so Muse came home with me in a moment of weakness.  I was pleasantly surprised that she covered in two coats (I'd read on some blogs that Muse was a little sheer), and was a nice complement to Breezi, a gorgeous summery blue creme that I picked up during one of Zoya's many (awesome) promos.

A few more manis after the jump!

Dotticures - Part I

Hi again, hope you're enjoying a nice weekend wherever you are!  Our weather has finally started turning to cooler temps, which makes this humidity-hating girl very happy. 

In my ongoing quest to empty out my poor computer's vault of nail polish photos, today I'm posting "part I" of dotticures I've done over the last year or so.  I was not quite as vigilant in noting what polishes I used in older manis, so I apologize for the ones where I don't recall which polishes were used. This post is picture-heavy so I didn't use my usual preference for photo size.  Therefore, be sure to click on the pics if you want to see more detail. 

And so we begin...

Dotticures are such a quick and simple way for a high-impact mani, in my opinion.  It's what I tend to do when I want something more than a plain color but don't have time for anything too involved.  This one, comprised of Sinful Colors Beatnick (lighter color) and Julie G Tokyo Nights (navy blue), was what I wore for a 3-day weekend trip to celebrate my cousin's high school graduation. That green of Beatnick is so cute for adding a bright pop of color, and the formula was about as easy as can be.  Tokyo Nights was also great, no complaints, and is a super-dark navy blue...not quite black-looking, but still DARK.  I loved both polishes!

More after the jump!

I may have taken a break from blogging....

...but I didn't take a break from polishing my nails and photographing them!  So without further ado, here is some more swatch spam for your viewing pleasure.  :)


First up is Finger Paints Itsy Bitsy Spider, a very pretty purple with bright bright bright (almost neon) blue shimmer that is so prevalent, it makes the polish lean more blue in certain lights.

Now, I swatched this a long time ago and I can't remember if I did 2 or 3 coats.  The purple base is somewhat jelly-like so I might have done 3 coats.  But then again, I could have done 2 since I rarely have the patience for a 3rd coat of any polish.  My apologies for not taking better notes! 

More swatches after the jump!

I'm here, I'm here....and completely random Swatch Spam

Well, how's THAT for a bit of a blogging break?....a few months....maybe a bit longer than that....ooops. :)  Time to get back into the swing of things now that school has started back up and we're adapting to a more regular schedule, one that will hopefully allow me to get back into blogging about my ever-expanding polish collection.  I seriously need to be on a no-buy, but that's pretty impossible right now with all of the fall collections coming out.  Don't get me started on what happened when Zoya announced their Entice and Ignite collections!  But I digress, more on that later....

It is time to work on clearing out some older swatches sitting on the ol' computer, so sit back and prepare for some completely random swatch spam!

First up is Nicole by OPI Back to Reality...TV.  I'm in total love with this polish, a gorgeous periwinkle blue with a prominent pink shimmer.  Or maybe it's a grey blue with pink shimmer?  Honestly, it could go either way, but this polish is a stunner no matter how you see it.  Easy formula, too.  In fact, after editing the pics for this polish, I think I'm going to have to wear it again very soon.  Two coats here.

A polish I've been lemming for a while is Sinful Colors Zeus, and some internet sleuthing has indicated that this polish might be a pretty good dupe for it.  I still want Zeus, of course, but this may lessen the urge for it enough to make it lower on the hunt list.  :)

 Click on through the jump to see the other polishes I'm featuring today:

Zoya Skittle!

'Tis one of my favorite times of the year....Zoya's Earth Day exchange promo!  Money is a little tight these days, so I'm not sure if I'll partake in the promo, but it's almost too good to pass up so maybe we'll just have a lot of grilled-cheese-and-soup dinners for a while in order to support my endless love of all things Zoya?  :)

To honor what I feel is one of the best polish companies on the planet (bold words considering I've yet to try probably about 90% of the world's polishes), here is a mani I did a while back using only Zoya polishes:

Polishes used:
Mason - shimmery deep pink
Bevin - dusty green creme
Cassedy - shimmery greenish/gunmetalish (yes, that's what I said)
Purity - white creme

More after the jump......

Well....ummmmm......HI!  I'm back, kinda.  After moving north in early-ish January and trying to get settled in with hubs and kiddo and kitties...throw in a few road trips and THE WORST WINTER TO MOVE NORTH after not living in any sort of snowy area for 15+ years, I'm finally...slowly....starting to find my new routine.  Sorta.  A little bit.  We still have loads of boxes to unpack, but guess what got unpacked and organized fairly quickly?  Yep, my polish stash.  Though I haven't been blogging, I've still been polishing regularly, as it seems to be one of the few things keeping me sane in this time of "the unknown" and upheaval.  Have I ever mentioned that I don't cope well with change and lack of a routine???

So anyway, what have I chosen to share with you today as my comeback post? Let's do a couple of green skittle manis, both featuring Zoya Chita....

Details and more pics after the jump....

NYC Empire State Blue (+ some stamping)

We are in the final countdown of our last days here in Florida, soon to be moving to the northern Delaware area...which is currently being walloped with snow as I type this.  So in the spirit of moving into the snowbelt(ish) area of the country, I did the following mani during the week of Christmas.  I doubt it's going to prepare me for the cold, wind, snow, ice, more cold, etc. but at least my fingernails looked cute!  :)

I started off with a couple coats of NYC Empire State Blue, which is a really pretty medium blue with an extremely fine shimmer of super-light green.  Very sort of Caribbean ocean-ish color, imo.  Since I was planning to stamp a winter theme, I topped Empire State Blue with a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust:

Full-sun photo to show off that gorgeous holo of CG Fairy Dust!  Since I'm not that adept at stamping, I waited until the next day to do my little design of snowflakes and a snowman, using Zoya Purity and Winstonia plate W120.

Please be kind, remember I mentioned I'm not all that skilled at stamping, lol.  I liked my little wintery snow scene and had fun putting it together!

More pics after the jump....