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......

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....

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!

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.....

NY Giants!

We're a football family...my dad played and coached and scouted for years, my uncle played and coached for years, my cousins played in college (and one is coaching now), and while we all like other sports well enough, the number one sport we loooooove is football. 

Then I went and married a NY Giants FANATIC, and I do mean that in every sense of the word.  Our house would be decorated entirely in Giants colors and decor if I allowed it.  We have to make sure the windows are closed during games so our neighbors don't get a lesson in creative (and loud) swearing.  It's taken my husband the better part of five years to learn how to tone himself down during games in order not to scare or worry or wake up our young son.  I enter each game on our family calendar so we can make weekend plans around each game time. Stumped for a gift idea to the hubby?  Get him anything that has the NY symbol on it, and he's thrilled. (our grill AND its propane tank have Giants covers on them...I kid you not)  The man is a FANAAAATIC.

I love the Giants as well, and fully support his temporary insanity on Sundays.  Which is why I did a NY Giants manicure last week for the season opening game:

More pics and info on the colors I used after the jump....