Twinsie Tuesday: Hometown Inspired

Hi there everyone.  My post is late I know but it will all make sense next week, pinky promise.  So for today's TT theme, the idea was to create a manicure inspired by your hometown.  Betcha can't guess where my hometown is :)  

Admittedly I always find it hard when people ask me where my hometown is.  I've moved over 20 times in my life and have lived overseas and all over the states.  Some of the places include Illinois three times, Florida, California, Germany, and Hong Kong.  So I choose to think of my hometown as my place of birth.  That place would be Honolulu, Hawaii!

So for this mani, I knew right away that I wanted to create a sunset gradient.  To create this look, I started with a base of Barielle Banana Drop which is a pretty pastel yellow.  For the gradient I used Wet N Wild Sunny Side Up and Julie G Romeo.  I finished off with an accent nail of OPI Rose of Light.

There you have it!  Does anyone else have trouble identifying their hometown?  I think it's a transient problem ;) although I have lived in my current town for eight years, the second longest would be three years.  I do kind of miss the moving around though!  Have a great day everybody.

OPI Fashion Plate Collection-Swatches and Review

Hi guys, sorry for the weird posting schedule this week.  I promise I will explain it next week and it will all make sense :)   Today I am excited to bring you another brand new collection from OPI.  This collection is a collaboration with the MLB or major league baseball.  I didn't really understand this collaboration but I'll let you know what I think of each polish below.

This collection consists of seven colors, six of which I will be showing you.  Because I wasn't terribly excited about the colors, I ended up getting the mini set of polishes which had six of the colors.  I believe the seventh color is a third blue.

7th Inning Strrretch-This polish is a frosty metallic blue.  This polish leans more metallic to me but I did have to be careful with brushstrokes.  The formula was great and I used two easy coats.

Love Athletes in Cleats-This polish is a strawberry red with silver shimmer.  The shimmer was nice and noticeable on the nail as well as in the bottle.  The formula was fantastic on this one.  I could have used one coat but I ended up using two to deepen the color.

Girls Love Diamonds-This polish is a shimmery silvery white polish.  The shimmer in this polish definitely has a rainbow iridescence to it, although it's hard to tell in the picture.  I thought this would be similar to OPI Ski Slope Sweetie but I found it to be quite a bit different.  This polish was on the sheer side and needed three coats.

Orange You Going To the Game?-Next up is a frosty metallic warm-toned orange.  I thought I would like this one more but it ended up reminding me of a melted orange candy.  This one was very brush-strokey but it had a good formula and only required two coats.

Short-Stop!-Next up is a warm-toned tomatoey red.  It is a little on the dusty side as opposed to being a vibrant red.  The great thing about this polish....it's a legitimate one-coater.  I only used one coat for my pictures below!

Umpires Come Out at Night-Last up is a mid-tone blue, very similar to what we saw in last years Euro Centrale collection.  I liked the color on this one and it had a good formula.  I used two easy coats below.  The one thing I noticed about this one was that it had a really strong skunk smell.  I mean very pungent and gross smelling.

Overall I'm not really impressed with this collection.  The colors have all been seen before and the only redeeming quality for me is that the formulas are all pretty much amazing.  I think the only one I'll be picking up in a full size bottle is the first metallic blue polish, the rest I will pass on.  If you are looking to start your collection, the red Short-Stop! is a great red to begin with.  Did you pick up anything from this collection?

Pink Bubblegum Gradient

Hi guys, happy Saturday.  Hopefully the weekend is treating you well.  Today I have a really fun gradient manicure to show you.  I recently discovered a new product called Liquid Palisade which is basically like a peel off glue to apply to your fingers and nails.  I won it in a giveaway months ago but I wasn't sure how well it would work.  Big mistake, it works amazing.  I applied the glue around my fingers so that when I stamped on the gradient, I was able to peel off all of the extra polish and glue leading to a really easy cleanup.  I've done two gradients this week since I discovered how easy it was. 

To start off this manicure, I used a light pink base of OPI Chic From Ears to Tail.  I used a makeup sponge and sponged on OPI Kiss Me I'm Brazilian and then OPI Strawberry Margarita.  I finished off with topcoat.  When I was all done, I looked down at my nails and thought that they looked exactly like gumballs :)

What do you think of this pink and girly gradient?  I really liked it!  I think I see many more gradients now that I've discovered a super easy cleanup technique. 

Glitter Polish Pairings with the Essie Wedding Collection

Hi there everyone, happy Friday!  Today I have something a little different.  When I swatched the Essie Wedding Collection, I ended up wearing each one for the day and wearing my go-to every day polish, a glitter accent.  Usually, on an every day basis I wear a plain nail, polka dots, or a glitter accent.  I really enjoyed my pairings so I decided to share them with you.

Combination 1: Essie Love Every Minute with Essie Jazzy Jubilent

I really liked this combination.  It was nice and simple but I liked the pop of bling.  It wasn't a matching combination but I liked the contrast of colors.

Combination 2: Essie She Said Yes with Happy Hands Flowers on the Highway

A more classic combination, the white in the Indie polish matched well with the base polish.  I tend to stay away from a full on glitter mani just because they are more difficult to remove but I love the look of a gradient mani.

Combination 3: Essie Got Engaged! with China Glaze Too Yacht to Handle and Shimmer Polish Jennifer

Obviously the most over the top combo of the bunch, I decided to combine my love of polka dots and my love of glitter.  Here I started with my Essie base, which was just a pink polish, and transformed with with neon polka dots and a glitter accent.

Combination 4: Essie Meet the Parents with Milani Sugar High

This combination was one of my favorites, and an easy way to wear glitter without having to remove too much of it.  I liked the small glitter particles and how they looked in a reverse gradient from the cuticle.

So this is how I normally wear my glitter!  I think it's an easier way to wear glitter on an every day basis without having to remove an entire glitter mani and these ended up being pretty easy to remove.  Do you like wearing glitter polish?  Which combination is your favorite?

Trend Alert: Speckled Polish (5 polishes)

Hi guys, welcome to Thursday.  I feel like we are very rapidly approaching warmer weather here.  It's been pretty consistently on the warmer side here and I think that's really exciting.  I really want to have just an awesome summer.  I feel like work has just taken over for at least the past six months and I really want to put that all behind me and start enjoying things again.

So I have a serious question for you guys.  Do you guys actually like my new YouTube channel or would you rather see it go away?  I have been losing followers and I wasn't sure if that was the reason.  Leave me a comment to let me know what you think.  I did have a slow period of posts recently but life gets in the way sometimes.  Maybe that's it?  

Anyways, all of that aside, I wanted to bring you my most favorite trend right now.  Speckled polish!  Ever since I saw swatches of the Models Own collection of speckled polish, I've been obsessed with these pastel polishes with black glitters.  There's actually quite a variety out there and I wanted to share swatches of some recent additions to my polish collection.

First up is Julep Felicia.  I'm not gonna lie, I bought my Julep box last month just so I could add this on :/  It's true though, I even texted my husband a picture saying look at this mint chocolate chip polish, I must have it :)  This polish had a really good formula and I used two coats for my swatches.

Next up is L'oreal Spot Me, which is a new polish that I saw in stores.  It's a dusty pale blue base with different sizes of black glitters.  I used three thin coats for this one and I need to note that it is a pain to remove.  Pretty color though.

Next up is Emily de Molly Speckled Pig.  I couldn't believe it when I found a speckled Indie and I ordered it right away.  This polish has a pink base with small black glitters.  I really loved wearing this one and it built up nicely in two coats.  And the name...come on ;)

Next up is another Julep polish, Julep Kimberly.  This polish was from April's mystery box and I had to get it.  I had never ordered a mystery box from Julep (I'll have a video soon) but I was very pleased.  This polish is a purple version of Felicia.  It had a good formula and needed two coats.

Last up is a polish I've already shown, but I couldn't not include it.  This is L'oreal Le Pastille, which is a cookies and cream looking polish.  I did need three coats and it was difficult to remove.  I still love it though and have used it countless times since I bought it a few weeks ago.

I'm really in love with this trend right now.  I felt like we saw a little of it last year but that it has really taken off this year.  I'm still on the hunt for other colors, perhaps a yellow or a pale mint.  What do you think of this trend?  Do you own any speckled polish?

Swatches and Video: My Top Zoya Polish Picks! (huge post)

Hi guys, happy Hump Day.  No the camel commercial doesn't get old, sorry.  Today I am excited to bring you my top Zoya polish picks.  I wanted to get this post and video out before the Zoya Earth Day sale ends.  It is happening right now until April 28th.  It's a good deal they do every Earth Day where polishes are 50% off.  It's pretty much the only time of year when I stock up on Zoya polishes.  I mentioned yesterday that I ordered 8 polishes, and right after that I found two more :)  Guess there's always next year....you have to order a minimum of 6 polishes by the way.

In my video, I did my top 10 Zoyas.  As I was pulling the polishes out of my Helmer to photograph outside, I wanted to include a bonus five extras just because I really liked them as well.  As always for these types of posts, swatches vary in their quality just based on how old the swatches are :)

Polishes 1-5:

L to R: Yana, Channing, Rue, Mason, and Blu

Yana-Gorgeous red cream, reminds me of a red Starburst, fantastic formula

Channing-Fall in a bottle, shimmery metallic copper orange, fantastic formula

 

Rue-pale mauvy nude cream

 

Mason-warm-toned metallic purple

Blu-My first Zoya!  Pale baby blue cream

 Polishes 5-10

L to R: Rocky, Dillon, Josie, Giovanna, and Storm

Rocky-dusted muted turquoise cream

Dillon-shimmery mint green

 

Josie-medium grassy green cream

Giovanna-metallic emerald green

Storm-black base with holo particles

Polishes 11-15 (Honorable Mentions)

L to R: Tinsely, Thandie, Lux, Kelly, and Peyton

Tinsely-rose gold shimmer

Thandie-melon-y orange cream

Lux-textured pale sparkle rose

Kelly-dusty blue purple cream

Peyton-cranberry holographic

There you have it!  My top 15 favorite Zoya polishes.  What are your favorite Zoyas?  Will you be ordering from the Earth Day sale.  You can also check out my top Zoya video below!