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....

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:

Zoya Brown & Green

Wow, I just am not clever enough to come up with good blog titles!  Oh well, let's just get straight to the photos....

This mani was created using Zoya Yara (green with prominent gold shimmer), Zoya Nia (dark dark dark brown creme) and China Glaze Dandy Lyin' Around (gorgeous shimmery white).  I did this a couple months ago, when apparently I was feeling the "fall colors" vibe.  :)  Both Zoyas were a breeze to apply and only needed 2 coats each.

The above photo in full sun is the most accurate representation of the polish colors.  I really liked Yara despite the gold shimmer...which is gorgeous, don't get me wrong...but generally I don't like anything gold, and Yara surprised me in a good way.  I personally feel that it's a somewhat seasonal color, and this is coming from someone who doesn't adhere to the "rules" of seasonal colors.  I'll definitely try to wear it in the spring/summer and see if I change my mind, but I just get the feeling this one looks best in the cooler months of the year.

That China Glaze Dandy Lyin' Around is a little finicky, as are most whites, but the shimmery white is absolutely worth the effort of needing 2-3 coats.  Two coats if you're covering with other colors, like I did, but you'll probably need 3 coats if you wanna wear it alone.

What do you think?  I love comments, don't be shy!

A Christmas Mani!!

Hi all!  (well, I think I only have 2-3 followers -- hi guys! -- but I'm gonna pretend I'm talking to the whole wide world...lol) By some miracle, because I'm always late with stuff, today I have my Christmas-themed mani to show you.  I don't know whether I'll be doing another one for Dec. 25 or not, so I figure I'd post this one to you ahead of time.  I haven't posted my Halloween mani yet, but I'll get around to that eventually....

(I'm sorry for the slightly blurry photos in this post, some days are just harder than others to get a good photo)

I started off with a base of Zoya Seraphina, a really interesting polish from their Zenith collection.  In the photos, it comes across as a white with silver shimmer/glass fleck, but in person it's predominantly silver, toned down with a white base.  It's tough to describe, to be honest!

I loved this far more than I expected to.  I think it's a perfect base for holiday/winter art, and it's quite festive and pretty by itself, too.

More pics after the jump, including the right-hand photo of this mani....

Zoya Monica & Nicole by OPI Shoot for the Maroon

Today's post continues to demonstrate my recent habit of combining 2-3 untried polishes into one mani in an effort to reduce the guilt I feel about the polish pretties that haven't had their time in the limelight.  Lol....okay, so that sounded way more dramatic than it needed to be, but if you're reading nail blogs then you'll understand what I mean. 

The base color here is Zoya Monica, a looooovely dark purple with some grey undertones that applied in typical Zoya form -- easily, quickly, no problems.  (oh hey, look at that bare spot on my index...damn macro photography, lol.....that's user-error courtesy of my penchant for speedy application)  I'm a newbie to the blogging world, but my polish habit started about 18+ months ago and I've since come to the realization that my favorite colors to wear are usually greyed out purples, blues, greens and pinks, and Monica fits the bill quite nicely.  It's a little darker on the nail in lower lighting (though it NEVER looks black), but I like dark anything on my nails so I'm okay with that fact.

For my accent nail, I grabbed my dotting tool and applied some dot flowers in Zoya Purity (white) and Nicole by OPI Shoot for the Maroon (shimmery burgundy/maroon).  I quite like the contrast between Monica and SFTM here, and even though my heart belongs to cremes, I can always go for a little shimmer accent.

More pics below the jump, to include a rare photo of my right hand where I did the opposite color combo in order to swatch that NOPI.....

Zoya Suri and NOPI Kendall On The Katwalk

I have so many polishes in my untried pile that I've recently taken to putting together "skittle" or "skittlette" manis in order to try out more than one polish at a time.  Though as I'm typing this, I realize that's not what I did for today's manicure....whoops.  Oh well, at least it'll explain why I've been posting more manis of this style lately, I guess I'm just in the mood for jazzing up my nails a little more than your basic swatching mani.  I've also been completely inspired by the YouTube video blogger Young Wild and Polished, who does the cutest skittle manis ever, imo.

Anyway, here is a skittlette mani I did a couple weeks ago:

The purple gorgeousness is Zoya Suri, a polish I picked up in one of their more recent sales, though it wasn't one of the post-Thanksgiving flash sales.  Zoya basically has all of my money from the past couple months, they've been running AWESOME sales leading up to Christmas.  I resisted getting this color for a while, I have TONS of purples (many of which are Zoyas, which is known for creating awesome purples) so I felt that Suri was one I could pass up.  Then, a sale and my weak self-control hit at the same time, and I tossed Suri into my cart.  I'm glad I did though...it's such a gorgeous, royal, glowy purple once on the nail, about 100x better than what you see in the bottle.

The glitter is Nicole by OPI Kendall on the Katwalk, one of the few glitter bombs I love.  It's the perfect size glitter (ie. micro) in blue and purple that really packs a punch.  From using this in the past, I would have expected to say that the formula is good and easy to work with for a glitter, but either the cap was loose on mine or it's just been too long since I used it, because it was gloopy and a real pain to apply this time.  I added what seemed like way too much thinner after I did this mani and it didn't seem to make much difference.  I'll check it again soon to see if it's better or worse, and in the meantime I'll be keeping an eye out for another bottle....THAT is how much I love this glitter polish.  :)

More pics after the jump:

Why choose? Duo Mani with Elevation Echinops and Sally Hansen Satin Glam Taffeta

I returned home from a few days at Disney to find two packages containing pretty new polishes (haul photo below), and I couldn't wait to try 'em out!  But on the drive home, while thinking about what I'd be putting on my nails that evening, I couldn't stop thinking about a recently purchased Sally Hansen polish....one of the new colors in their Satin Glam line, Taffeta.  So what does any polish enthusiast do when they can't decide what color to wear?  Wear 'em both!

That gorgeous lighter blue/lavender is Elevation Polish "Echinops".  The shimmery particles are holo, but it's a very subtle holo and there wasn't even a little chance that I'd capture it in photos so you'll have to take my word for it.  :)  The purple/orchid color is Sally Hansen Satin Glam in Taffeta, which dries semi-matte without a topcoat, but I top coat everything usually, and to be honest, I preferred Taffeta with the topcoat.  It's pretty as a matte, but a top coat brings out all of these beautiful tiny blue and pink shimmers in the orchid base and I just love it!

Oh yeah, here's the haul photo of my new Elevation and KB Shimmer pretties:

I run a jewelry shop on Etsy and recently sold some pieces that gave me a bit of "mad money" so I immediately ordered these polishes that have been on my lemming list for a while:  ELEVATION - Echinops (blue), Rapa Nui (teal) and Khongoyn Els (brown), and KB SHIMMER - Turbulence (grey) and Plum Tuckered Out (purple), and I also got a some KB Shimmer cuticle oil to try out.

As much as I like the two-color mani, it was kinda screaming for a little art, so I dug out the brushes and a dotting tool and did this:

Despite being less than skilled at freehand nail art, I still enjoy doing it and I don't think this is TOO bad for it being my first attempt at snowflakes.  I used Essie No Place Like Chrome for the silver.

More pics after the jump, should you be interested!

Christmas Wrapping Paper!

I was in the mood to play around with my striping brushes the other night and decided to make some simple nail art involving traditional holiday colors in foil/heavily shimmered polishes.  Here is the result:

For what I imagined in my head, those stripes would be little thinner (and certainly with cleaner edges), but overall I was happy with the outcome.  I think these nails ended up looking like Christmas wrapping paper...?

I started out with a base of Zoya Shay, which....HELLOOOOO mannequin hands!  Goodness, I think I've inadvertently found the closest match to my skin tone that exists.  Shay is lovely, easy formula, and has a silvery shimmer that keeps it from looking flat...but I have to admit that I didn't keep this mani on for long since it was just a little too creepy to look at my nails and see virtually no distinction between them and my skin.  :)

More pics after the jump, if you're interested....

Ulta Femme Fatale + stamping

It's taken a few days for me to put this post together, and I'm not entirely sure why it took so long since I loved the mani (wore it a few weeks ago) and was all kinds of pleased with my stamping efforts.  I mean sure, it's not perfect or anything, but for a novice stamper I thought it turned out pretty well.

I'm thinking that my pics aren't all that great on this one.  Ulta Femme Fatale is the base color and in real life it's a very pretty dark burgundy/maroon that I really liked a lot.  I love deep, dark vampy colors with my pale skin and (relatively) short nails and this was no exception.  Easy formula and application, a bit glowy due to the shimmer that's a few shades lighter than the base....but I have to admit that my photos don't show the polish's true beauty. 

But hey, let's enjoy the mani anyway.  :)  More pics/thoughts after the jump:

Purple Skittles/Skittlettes....a decidedly non-Thanksgiving post on Thanksgiving Day

Here are the reasons I'm not posting a Thanksgiving mani on Thanksgiving Day:

 - I'm always behind on everything.  I'm a planner by nature, but only when it comes to real-life priority things.  Don't get me wrong, painting my nails is definitely a real-life priority for me, but photographing/uploading/editing and planning blog posts with those manis tends to take a backseat to all of the other obligations in my life (especially now as we work on transitioning to civilian life and relocate).

- I'm totally in a purple mood lately, as you'll soon see below...

- I currently live in FL, where seasonal colors aren't necessarily prompted by weather changes.  So while I've done a couple "fall" colored manis, for the most part I'm still jonesing on the brighter colors for my nails.

I'm sure there are more reasons, but my brain is more fried than usual so I'll just start posting the pics!

Let's start with what I'm wearing today, a mani inspired by polishes I recently picked up during our house-hunting trip, to a region of the country that has Rite Aid!!  The pretty matte silver, Layla Softouch 01, was obtained in the bargain bin at Ulta a few weeks back but the rest of the polishes are from Rite Aid:  Dark purple is Sinful Colors Mesmerize, the pale periwinkle is Sinful Colors Candy Coated, and that soooooo pretty glittery textured purple is JulieG Sugar Plum Fairy.  Other than it being a little thicker than I prefer, JulieG once again nailed the right way to do texture!

More pics of this mani and two others after the jump:

Fall(ish) Mani with Julie G, Milani & China Glaze

I'm originally from Ohio where the seasons are typically "hot as blazes with 90% humidity" for about 2-3 months, and then it's "grey dreary and dark" for the rest of the year.  Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating just a little, and to be fair it's been 15 years since I lived there so perhaps I'm just remembering incorrectly.  I love Ohio and I do enjoy getting back there often to see friends and family as often as possible.  But, I married a Marine and we've since lived in many wonderful places...NC (twice), MD, VA, CA and we currently live in FL though not for much longer...next stop DELAWARE!

Anyway, this is my wordy way of saying that living in FL, we don't really get traditional weather seasons.  Which means that I'm often a little conflicted about my polish mood...my FL self says "you still have the A/C running, put on some bright blue/aqua!!" while my OH-raised soul says "it's November, it's time for something dark and earthy and reminiscent of fall".  Don't worry, I'm Gemini, we often have these sorts of internal debates.  :)

Anyway AGAIN, here is a mani where the OH in me won out:

I'm not much for red, orange, yellow tones, so this was a more subtle version of what I'd consider fall colors.  The neutral taupe is Julie G Stiletto, the shimmery brown is Milani Chocolate Sprinkles and the silver foil accent is China Glaze Gossip Over Gimlets.  The pattern itself?  I think I was originally going for trees, but my freehand skills aren't the best and I think it came out looking more like ferns...?

More pics after the jump....

Layla Ceramic Effect 39 - Southern Light

So recently Danielle over at Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll. posted about Layla Ceramic Effect 39 and I remembered that I'd recently tried out that color as well, but hadn't gotten a chance to post about it.  What I love about Danielle's photos is that she was able to capture the purple awesomeness of the polish, a feat that I was completely unable to do with my photos.  For me, this polish totally reads dark grey with the occasional flash of purple, most often when out in the sun (not that you can see any purple AT ALL in these photos): 

What's great about Danielle's blog post is that she said she couldn't capture the grey-with-pink-shimmer nature of this polish, so I offered to post my photos and we'll link to each other.  Because again - I could NOT get the purple of the polish to show up at all!  Lol.  Seriously people, do YOU see any purple here?.... now go look at Danielle's pretty purrrrrple pics....

More of my (grey) photos after the jump:

Essie Smokin' Hot + Zoya Kristen & Hazel

Hi, and welcome to my most favoritest (hush, I know that's not a real word, but it should be) mani in ages:

I love this so much that I'm wearing it for an unprecedented 3rd day.  As someone who changes her nails every 1-2 days, this is high praise indeed. I think I'm actually going to be a little sad when it's time to remove this one.  Not a lot sad, because you know....it's just polish....but it'll be a little bit of a bummer.  I may pick a different color combo and do just the freehand swipes (on my thumb) as a full mani....

 

More pics 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....