Hi there everyone, happy Halloween. I hope you are having a great Friday. I made it through all my appointments yesterday. I think I'm just a little anxious because I've been in the house for so long haha! I have a busy weekend ahead so it's time to test that stamina, at least it's filled with fun things though :)
For today's Nailstagia post we went with something cheery and bright to warm up this cold, gloomy, and rainy weather. It's funny because I haven't been in the nail community for that long so all of the polishes we do for these posts are usually unknown to me. Today's polish wasn't one I had heard of but it's a really intriguing polish.
Zoya's Happi was originally released in the Spring 2010 Reverie Collection which was advertised as a collection of metallics. People seem to be pretty hit or miss on how they feel on metallics, but I personally love them. Happi is a bubblegum pink metallic with a gold duochrome. How cool and unique is that combination?
I actually thought the formula would be sheer but was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't. I ended up using two coats with topcoat. Sorry for the boo boo on my pointer finger... I of course hit it on my lightbox. So overall, good formula and really interesting color.
For having never heard about Zoya Happi, I was really pleased. I can definitely see this as a great Spring and Summer polish. I has that great bubblegum/cotton candy color to it and the gold duochrome is something cool that I've never seen before. Is Zoya Happi a polish in your collection?
Hi there my spooky polish peeps, one more day until Halloween! I miss Halloween as a kid, the anticipation of dressing up and getting to go trick or treating. It was so fun :) Today is just another Thursday, I just happened to schedule two doctor's appointments this afternoon, yay for me. Other than that I'll be painting my nails for Halloween and chilling out at home. Besides the busy weekend ahead, the nerves are starting to get to me about going back to work next week.
Today I have another Halloween design that I did yesterday. I like to bring chartreuse green into my Halloween colors because I think it looks like slime and monsters. Let's take a look.
I started out with a base of OPI Did It On 'Em, which will show up soon in my next OPI swatch spam. For my accent nail, I used two coats of a black and candy corn colored glitter OPI Where's My Blanket??? For the rest of the nails, I started by taping of a large chevron with striping tape and painting in a black chevron with Zoya Willa. I finished off with candy corn colored dots in three different sizes using China Glaze When In Doubt, Surf It Out (orange), China Glaze Happy Go Lucky (yellow), and OPI Angel with a Leadfoot (white).
There's my take on a candy corn themed mani for this year :) There may or may not be one more Halloween mani in addition to tomorrow's Nailstalgia post as well! Have a great Thursday everyone.
*Press Samples
Hi everyone, happy Hump Day! I hope the week is treating you well. I am trying to be up and moving more, trying to do more around the house. We have so many plans for the weekend, I want to be prepared to do them all.
Today I am really excited to show you the new Zoya Matte Velvet Collection. I was like a giddy kid when I saw the press release for these polishes. I had never tried any matte Zoyas but I had always secretly coveted them. The formula on all six was great and I needed two easy coats for all of the polishes, which just saves me from sounding like a broken record below. Let's get to it!
Zoya Savita-medium violet matte with a hint of red and gold shimmer
Zoya Dovima-smoky charcoal black matte with silver shimmer
Zoya Harlow-rose plum matte with metallic shimmer
Zoya Loredana-medium gunmetal grey matte with silver shimmer
Zoya Veruschka-deep evergreen matte with metallic shimmer
Zoya Posh-medium wine red matte with metallic shimmer
Overall I'm in love with this collection. The formulas were all great and I love the matte finishes and the colors. I know that these are re-releases but for someone who is new to Zoya within the last few years, these really thrill me. My favorites are Posh, Savita, and Harlow. Which one is your favorite?
You can find these polishes here.
*Polishes in this post were received for review in exchange for my honest opinon.
Hi there guys, welcome to Tuesday. Sorry I'm late getting my post up. My sleep schedule and overall life schedule has been so thrown off since my surgery. I tried to get up this morning but couldn't fall asleep until after 3:30am so I just couldn't pull it off. Although it's a little late, I was really excited about today's theme because Halloween is my second favorite holiday.
Today I wanted to do some easy blood drip nails. I've done them before but I wanted to improve on them and this time I'm really happy with how they came out. I started with a base of matte black with a hint of shimmer, Zoya Dovima. For my blood drips I used a small dotting tool and a red crelly, OPI Red Hot Rio. It was that easy :)
I can't wait to see the other spooky manis :) I hope you like my blood drips, I think they came out nice and spooky :)
Hi there polish friends, welcome to Monday. Well it's week 3 of my surgery recovery. I didn't think it would take this long but things are getting better. I did do some more things this weekend and it did feel good to get out of the house. I love how "Fall" it looks outside with all of the leaves changing and the cooler weather. Even though it was really late, I even got out the Halloween decorations last night :)
Today I have a fun Indie polish to share with you that made its way all the way to me from Australia. I mentioned before I got a huge deal on some polishes from a fellow blogger and this was one of the ones that I picked out. Since it is Halloween week, I figured it was the perfect time to show it. I actually wore it weeks ago because I think it's a great Fall time polish.
Gruesome Groom is actually a much more complex of a polish than I originally thought and it's really cool! At its base its a murky olive swampy green. The main glitter in the polish is a bloody red hex glitter in a medium size and a tiny size as well. The surprising dynamic part of this polish is the blue/purple shimmer in the green base.
This polish was really opaque and it covered really easily in two coats. I liked that the green didn't swallow the shimmer or the red glitters and everything was easily seen. I used two easy coats with topcoat below.
This is my first experience with Pretty Serious and I am very pleased. I loved the quality and opaqueness of the polish and this was such a unique polish, especially for Fall and Halloween! What are your thoughts on this polish? Do you have a favorite from this brand, leave me a comment down below! This polish can be found here.
*Press Sample
Hi there polish friends, welcome to Sunday. How has the weekend been treating you? Yesterday was the first day I ventured out for a longer length of time. The hubby took me to TJMaxx, Kohls, and then we finished with lunch at Chipotle. After that my friend came over for a movie. Needless to say I was exhausted by the end of the day, although it was a really good day :) I still won't be returning to work tomorrow but I'm still figuring out if that will be the middle of the week or next Monday.
Today I have a really cool product to share with you. Nail polish remover is something I rarely talk about but today I have some cool removers for several reasons. Katarina Naturals is a small company in East Lansing, MI that make all-natural nail polish removers from sustainable products like corn, instead of traditional products like petroleum. So not only are they a local American company, they use environmentally friendly products! They offer both acetone and non-acetone removers, let's take a look!
Acetone-based-
*Before I start, for this post I used one remover on one hand and the other remover on the other hand. I also used a really dark staining red that would be an extra pain to remove!
First up, the acetone-based remover. I normally use pure acetone on my nails but it is very drying and usually leaves a white area where it was used because it's so drying. Below are my naked nails right after using the acetone-based remover, no moisturizer, no cuticle oil, nothing. As you can see, the remover took off all of the red polish and it didn't dry out my nails or skin.
I included a bunch of pictures of my bare nails right after using the remover because I was so astonished that there was absolutely no dryness whatsoever. Obviously I have some hang nail issues but that has nothing to do with the remover. It removed the red with no problems and left none of the red stains behind.
So overall the performance of this remover was great. It removed fast and it was effective and the best part was that it didn't dry out my nails or skin. The only problem I had with this remover was the scent. On the bottle it says "fresh fruity scent" but I found the scent odd and really strong. It also lingered for quite some time so if you are sensitive to smells, this is something to note.
Non-acetone-
Next up, the non-acetone remover. I typically don't use non-actone remover, but some people prefer this as their remover of choice. Like the other remover, this remover took off all of the red polish and left none of the red stains on my nails. It does take longer to remove the polish, but that's true for any non-acetone remover.
I also included pictures right after using the non-acetone remover and there were no dryness issues. I have naturally peel-y nails, so that's normal for me and not a result of the remover. Below is a picture right after removal.
Overall, I had great results with this remover as well, I just prefer to use my acetone-based ones for time reasons. Unlike the first remover, this one has a mint scent to it and I really responded well to it. If I could have all my removers with this mint scent, I would :)
Overall I was pleased with both products. Both worked well for me, especially with such a dark staining red. I was also surprised as how non-drying both removers were and they left my nails and skin in really good shape afterwards. The only negative I have is the fruity scent of the acetone remover, I just didn't care for that. I am very impressed by this brand though.
Katarina Naturals can be found on their website here and on Amazon.
*Products in this post were received for review in exchange for my honest opinion.
Hello my polish friends, welcome to Friday. I hope this week went well for you. Yesterday was my two week surgery follow-up. It went well, I got all of my bandages removed. Based on how bad my gallbladder was, the surgeon said he knew I was going to have a rough recovery...I didn't know that though. I won't be going back to work Monday, I'll at least need another half a week to a week of recovery. I kind of figured that though. Anyways, back to the polish, let's get to the swatch spam!
OPI Italian Love Affair-
This polish is a recent TJMaxx find at one up in Chicago. This polish originally comes from the Spring 2001 Italian Collection and I would consider it a cotton candy pink with a pearly quality to it. I don't see this pearly quality very often but I liked it with the pink because it was fun and girly.
The formula was surprisingly opaque and not at all sheer like I thought it was going to be. Even though it was opaque, it was a little but streaky but if you're careful, you can get away with two coats. Below is two coats with topcoat.
OPI Meet Me on the Star Ferry-
Another recent polish buy, I ordered this one from Ulta because the OPIs were buy two get one free (right now until the 25th). I ended up picking up six polishes for myself and I was really happy with this one. This polish comes from the Spring 2010 Hong Kong Collection which I am slowly trying to acquire because I have personally lived in Hong Kong!
This polish is very unique and very beautiful. It's a shimmery warm mauvy purple that's also very metallic. I didn't have any formula issues, it applied smooth and buttery. Two coats with topcoat below.
OPI Berlin There Done That-
This one was also with that recent Ulta purchase during the OPI sale. This polish comes from the Fall 2012 Germany Collection and it's a medium taupe cream. The formula on this one was great and I had no issues at all. I used two coats with topcoat below.
OPI Lincoln Park After Dark-
You guessed it, another Ulta polish. I actually went this long without having this polish in my collection. I actually think I have this as a mini, an unlabeled mini, that I've had for many years but I just couldn't be sure the color.
Lincoln Park After Dark is originally from the Fall/Winter 2005 Chicago Collection but it is now part of the core collection. It's a deep dark purple and it pretty much looks black in all lights. It's deep and vampy and I'm in love with it. It's got a great formula and it's perfect in two coats. Two coats with topcoat below.
OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous-
Last but not least is a monthly swap polish that I had yet to use. This polish comes from the Fall 2010 Swiss Collection and is a dark smoky silver metallic foil. This one does start out a little bit sheer so it does need three coats to be opaque. I used three coats with topcoat below.
Do you have any of these shades in your collection? What do you think of them?
