Press Release Alert! Zoya Matte Polish

GET READY… 11.08.2013  
GET BACK IN MATTE!

see the VIDEO here!

SAVE THE DATE: Zoya Nail Polish - 11.08.2013 - PRE-ORDER reissue color!

Get all of the color, none of shine with MATTEVELVET*, Zoya’s exclusive blend of matte base and subtle shimmer results in the most utterly wearable and truly stylish matte nail polish on the market today.

*MATTEVELVET nail color by Zoya is not intended to be worn with a base coat, top coat or speed dryer of any kind. Due to the unique matte formulation, color is not as long-wearing as traditional nail color. A completely clean, dry nail surface yields the best results for matte nail color wear. For best results make sure to always prepare nail with Zoya Remove + (3-in-1 nail polish remover, nail plate cleaner and new color prep.) prior to applying color.

Zoya Nail Polish is BIG5FREE - all formulas are completely free of harmful industrial chemicals such as toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Find over 300 stunning Zoya colors on www.zoya.com. Each and every color has a name as unique as the women who inspired it.

Available at SPECIAL PRE-ORDER PRICING
STARTING 11.08.2013 (TOMORROW) exclusively on ZOYA.COM 

While supplies last.

ZOYA IS THE NEW MATTE COLOR OF FASHION!
Zoya.com

Vivid Lacquer Stamping Plate-Review 3

*Press Sample

Hi everyone, welcome to Thursday!  Today I am really happy to show you my third stamping plate that I received from Vivid Lacquer.  I have loved creating all sorts of different manis for these plates and I am very much back into stamping :)  I have my last plate today, with six different stamped looks.

Butterfly Wings:

First up is my favorite mani of the bunch, I just couldn't save it to the end :)  I started with a base of Zoya Thandie and then Julep Clara on my ring finger.  I just did a simple stamp with a black stamping polish, and that's it!

Next up is a closer look at the plate, number 002.  This plate includes four full-size designs and 8 small designs.  The designs include a half moon, i <3, full-size tetris design, small tetris block, honeycomb, t-rex, butterfly wing, three sets of ballons, full-size stars, and a snail.

Next up is the stamped version.  Any inconsistencies are on my part.  The only design that gave me trouble was the half moon.  My scraper kept scraping too much polish off.  The rest were just fine though.  My tetris does look all wibbly wobbly but that's just because I moved the stamper around too much when I did it.

Mash up Mani:

For this mani I combined the half moons, i <3, snails, and t-rex.  Admittedly I don't heart snails.  I've eaten them but I'm pretty sure that doesn't count :)  I do think dinosaurs are cool though.  I started with a base of OPI Lost on Lombard and dabbed on both OPI In the Cable Car-pool Lane and OPI San Tan-Tonio.  I stamped with Essie No Place Like Chrome.  Like I mentioned, I had a little trouble with the half moon so I ended up filling in the rest with polish. 

Balloons:

For the base of the balloons, I started with OPI Blue My Mind.  I stamped with Essie No Place Like Chrome and then filled in a couple of the balloons with a pink polish.

Honeycomb:

This is another one of my favorites :)  I started with a base of Zoya Sara and stamped the honeycomb with OPI A-Piers to be Tan.  I finished off with an accent nail of Spellbound Nails Autumn Vixen.

Tetris:

Another favorite!  I started with a base of Maybelline Color Show Porcelain Party.  I dabbed a bunch of different colors on with their individual brushes.  I then stamped with a black stamping polish.

Stars:

Last up is the full-size star pattern.  I stuck with something simple for this one and started off with a base of OPI Peace & Love & OPI.  I finished by stamping with Essie No Place Like Chrome.  I wanted this to look a little rustic so I waited a bit to stamp so that not all of the polish would transfer. I liked the effect this created.

I was really happy with this plate.  My favorite images were the t-rex, the honeycomb, and the tetris patterns.  I am also partial to full-size patterns though :)  I am extremely happy with my Vivid Lacquer experience and I can honestly say that these are really cool, quality plates.  

You can find this plate on Etsy here.  Ahhh! I just realized there is a plate with a houndstooth design.  I've been looking for one forever!  Sorry, I get excited over little things haha!  That ones going on the Christmas list :)

*Products in this post were received in exchange for my honest opinion.

Fall Cupcake Nails

Hi everyone, happy Hump Day!  Yesterday was a much better day then Monday, I even managed to get my butt over to spin class.  I kind of dropped the ball on the whole working out thing, but I plan on using the spin class as my new starting off point.  I could come up with a million excuses but I was just stressed and exhausted from work and didn't have the motivation.  How do you keep up motivation in your life?

Today I have a design I was really proud of :)  I have some pjs that have cupcakes on them and I posted a picture on instagram (@paintthosepiggies) and asked if anyone had any nail art ideas.  Someone said to take inspiration from my cupcake pjs.  I hadn't even thought of that!  So that's what I did :)

I started with a base of Julep Winter, which came in my most recent Julep box.  It's a pretty, pale, cool grey.  I then took a bunch of fall colors and did the base of the cupcakes.  I used OPI My Vampire is Buff for the vanilla frosting, OPI First Date at the Golden Gate for the cherries, and repeats of base colors for the sprinkles.  If anyone is interested, here is a list of polishes I used:

OPI Haven't the Foggiest, China Glaze Desert Sun, OPI I Knead Sour-Dough, OPI San Tan-Tonio, OPI Can You Tapas This?, OPI In the Cable Car-pool Lane, and Essie Little Brown Dress.

Then I took it one step further and mattified it.  I think I prefer this one matte to glossy, which is quite unusual for me!  Which version do you like better?

Overall I was quite pleased with this mani!  It makes me want to do other seasonal cupcake designs.  I already have ideas for winter in my head :)  Have a great day everyone!

Minnie Mouse Mani

*Press Sample

Hi everyone, happy Tuesday!  Yesterday was one heck of a day for me, dealing with work drama and stress.  This post was supposed to go up yesterday but like a dork, I forgot to put the photos in blogger before I left for work.  Today is a new day and it has to be better than yesterday!  

Today I have a review of a nail art accessory that I received from Born Pretty Store.  When I saw these black and white bows, I immediately thought of Minnie Mouse, so that's the direction that I took this mani.

I started with a base of OPI The Spy Who Loved Me.  I took my dotting tool, also from Born Pretty, and created dots with Maybelline Color Show Porcelain Party.  I did the smaller black dots with the same dotting tool, just lighter pressure, and with Essie Licorice.  I finished off with my accent nail of Porcelain Party, OPI Minnie Style, and my Born Pretty bow.  When I was all finished with my mani, I used a little bit of topcoat to stick the bow on.  Nice and easy!

The bow is a black and white resin 3D accessory.  It is item #6415.  You pick out one pattern and receive 10 charms for $1.55.  So if you were feeling adventurous, you could wear one on each nail :)  Also something that makes me happy....they have tiny 3D donuts :)  These bows can be found here.

I was very happy with the final mani and loved the cutesy pop that the bow gave it.  These bows can be found here.

Don't forget that you can also receive an additional 10% off using my coupon code below!

 

 

Born Pretty Link

*Some of the products in this post were received in exchange for my honest opinion.

Purple Galaxy Nails

Hi everyone, I hope you are enjoying this fall Sunday.  It feels super early since we "fell back" last night but it's nice to gain that extra hour :)  Today I have a pretty chill day planned, just bumming around the house and getting various blog, etsy, and cleaning stuff done.  

Today I have a mani that I wore last week.  I wasn't even planning on doing it but I had painted my nails with OPI Plugged-in Plum and felt like doing some nail art.  The list of polishes used is very long and I'll include what I used a little farther down.

Polishes used include: OPI Plugged-in Plum, Maybelline Color Show Green with Envy (mint), OPI Haven't the Foggiest, OPI In the Cable Car-pool Lane, Zoya Storm, China Glaze Fairy Dust, and Maybelline Color Show Porcelain Party.

I started with my base color and then layered on all the above colors with a makeup sponge, gradually building up the color.  I used a dotting tool, nail art brush, and a q-tip for the white stars and then finished off with strokes of Fairy Dust.

I loved the final look and definitely plan on trying different colors of galaxy nails.  I think red would look really cool!  What do you think?

OPI Midnight in Moscow

Hi everyone, happy Saturday!  I am feeling great today because I finally got my report done for work yesterday.  Today the hubby and I are heading to a giant craft fair in town.  It always gets me in the holiday spirit for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Today I have some swatches of a pretty OPI shade that my hubby surprised me with recently.  I have yet to meet an OPI shade that I didn't like, but I really love the vampy shades that OPI comes out with.  Midnight is Moscow originally came out as part of the Russian Collection in 2007 but I believe it is part of their core line now.  The base is deep and dark but the star is the red shimmer.

The formula was great on this one.  I used two easy coats with topcoat for my swatches.  This polish is definitely a winner in my book.  If you like dark, vampy shades, I would highly recommend it :)

What do you think of this polish?  Do you own it?

Spiked Stripes Mani

Hi everyone, TGIF!  I love Fridays, especially this one.  My work project that was thrown on me that I had no time for will finally be in review today after two months of agonizing work on it.  Also, I haven't been home for the weekend in about a month so I am really looking forward to sitting back and relaxing.  I'll be working on some fall designs and reviews for the blog and going out to dinner and a craft fair with the hubby tonight.  Do you have any fun weekend plans?

Today I have a design that I made up on the fly, but really ended up loving.  I've never really been an overly girly person so I liked the edge that this mani had.  I named this the "Spiked Strikes" mani :)  I started with a base of OPI Sprung.  Although this came out in the Spring, I think it makes a great Fall color.  I took one of my all-time favorite blues, OPI Blue My Mind, and created a thick stripe down the center.  I repeated this with OPI Sprung and then created the smallest stripe with Essie Licorice.  When the black polish was still wet, I took a pointy nail art brush and did brush strokes from the center and swiping out.  I did one side of the stripe and then alternated the opposite side.

In the end, I quite liked this punk-y mani.  What do you think?  Would this be something you would try?