Jawbreaker Mani

Jawbreaker Mani using Essie and Daring Digits

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I am only a few days away from finishing my big report...a little ray of hope for me :)  Today's mani I am calling a Jawbreaker mani after the off-white multi-colored candy.   I recently won this Daring Digits polish in a giveaway and felt like trying it a few nights ago.  I used three coats of Essie Absolutely Shore (a pain of a polish but worth it for the color) and used one coat of Daring Digits Mix My Matte Up.  The polish is a really cool mix of multi-colored glitter, some which have pattern on them.  I used one coat of Mix My Matte Up and then a coat of Seche Vite.  I loved the result, I think it looks just like a jawbreaker!

Watercolor Nails: Pastels

Watercolor Nails In Pastels

Hi everyone!  Happy Monday to you :)  Today I have my very first attempt at a watercolor mani.  I have to say that this mani was super easy to execute and the effect was awesome.  For those who don't know what the watercolor technique is, it involves painting your nails a base color, letting it dry, and essentially blobbing dots of various colors on the nail.  I then took a cut up plastic ziploc baggie and squished the polish dots so it created the pattern.  I did find that the most important thing was to use a topcoat in between the base color and the watercolor colors.  Without the topcoat, the base coat can come off with the plastic.

For the base coat I used two coats of Zoya Jacqueline and the watercolors are Essie Go Ginza, China Glaze Glaze Happy Go Lucky, Essie Mint Candy Apple, Essie Go Ginza, and for some gold sparkle, Zoya Kerry.

What do you think?  Would you try this technique?

Swatch Saturday: Happy Hands

Swatch Saturday: Happy Hands Flowers on the Highway

Hi everyone, I hope you all are enjoying your Saturday!  I am stuck working but I wanted to do a quick post.  Also, this morning I tried watercolor nails for the first time and will have these babies up next week.  I have to say I loved the technique...it was super easy and the results were fantastic.

For today's mani I used two coats of China Glaze Mimosa's Before Mani's and topped it with my first official indie polish....Happy Hands Flowers on the Highway.  I saw one swatch of this glitter and fell in love with it.  It is an eclectic mix of glitters to represent wildflowers and it does just that.  Glitter colors include white, lavender, yellow, black, green, and pink.  It is seriously stunning.  My favorite combination was over black which I wore a while back, but like an idiot, I accidentally took it off before I took pictures.

Take a look at this beauty....

Happy Hands Flowers on the Highway sells for $10 and you can find it here on etsy.

Simple Stamping

Simple Stamping

Happy Friday everyone!  Hopefully I will be getting back into regular length posts next week but here's another one from the archives.  I started with two coats of Nicole by OPI Am I Making Myself Claire? and then stamped with Essie Little Brown Dress.

Blue and Purple Chevron (plus a cat!)

Bright Spring Chevron

Happy Thursday everyone!  Just a short post for me today :)  I can't stand the thought of not putting up a blog post but as I'm writing this my brain is fried from work.  So to make up for this....I included a cute cat pic haha

I created this blue and purple chevron a while ago and absolutely loved it!  I started with a blue polish, Julep Robin and then stamped with OPI Plugged-in Plum.

And as promised....a picture of my cat Immie....in a duvet.  She put herself in there like that :)

Essie Go Ginza: Swatches and Nail Art

Essie Go Ginza: A Review

Wednesday...half way through the week.  In my case, I want it to slow down so I have more time to work.  Hopefully everyone is doing well.  Essie Go Ginza is from the Spring 2013 Madison Ave-Hue collection.  Originally I picked up the blues in this collection but I needed to exchange an Essie polish at Ulta so I chose Go Ginza.  Boy am I glad I did!  

Essie Go Ginza is described as a soft cherry blossom pink.  I find this color to be more of a pale lilac color.  The formula was good and I used two easy coats for the photos below.  I didn't use a top or base coat.  I am obsessed with this color.  I love lilacs and this is like getting to wear them on my fingers.  I just couldn't stop staring at it.  The picture on the left is a little bit bluer (this one was hard to photograph, and the color on the right is more accurate).

I wore the color plain for a day and then couldn't help but add some tiny flowers to it with Hard Candy Crush on Lava and Essie Nothing Else Metals.

Zoya Summer 2013 Nail Art

Zoya Nail Art featuring Pixiedust, Stunning, and Irresistible Collections

Hi all, happy Tuesday!  Today's post will be short of words but not short on summer color :)  I've been obsessed with these three collections since I received them from Zoya and I keep creating easy nail art with them.  Here are a few of the looks I've created.

 

Sprinkle Nails:

I found this look on pinterest and knew that I needed to recreate it.  I loved it!  I started with two easy coats of Zoya Rocky, used a bobby pin for the long sprinkles with Zoya Darcy, Josie, Yana, and Thandie.  I also used the bobby pin and OPI My Boyfriend Scales walls for the white circular sprinkles.

 

Diagonal Mani:

 

This mani was subtle but oh so girly!  I started with two coats of Zoya Tinsley and used painters tape to create a diagonal stripe with Zoya Miranda.  

 

Foil Mani:

 

I started with two coats of Zoya Rocky and dabbed the brushes on top with the following polishes...Zoya Amy, Kerry, Bobbi, and Hazel.  This was so easy to do but I think the outcome was really flashy and pretty.

 

Striped Mani:

This last mani was another easy one.  I love the contrast between the cream polishes and the pixiedust.  I used two coats of Zoya Yana, and layered one stripe of Zoya Miranda and one stripe of Zoya Liberty.

Will you be picking up any of Zoya's new polishes?  I think they are so versatile.

*Disclaimer: Polishes sent for review*