Mosaic French Tip

I saw My Simple Little Pleasures do this a few weeks ago, and of course had to try it. I haven't done anything rainbow in a while, so I did a rainbow version!

Pretty cool, huh?

I just used creme polishes, and as you can see, I have many more greens, blues, and purples than the warmer tones. So I just did the warm tones on one finger, and did the cool tones on the last three.

Here are the colors starting with the main base color, the bottom triangle and going from top to bottom, index to pinky. Hopefully that makes sense

China Glaze- Dance Baby (Electropop Collection Spring 2012)
Lime Crime- Crema de Limon
Zoya- Wendy (Tickled Collection Summer 2014)
OPI- Where Did Suzi's Mango? (Brazil Collection Summer 2014)

Zoya- Neely (Lovely Collection Spring 2013)
Orly- Green Apple
Illamasqua- Smash
OPI- Jade is the New Black

Color Club- Take Me to Your Chateau (Pardon My French Collection Spring 2010)
Zoya- Wednesday (Beach Collection Summer 2012)
Barry M- Guava (Gelly Hi-Shine Line)
Zoya- Ling (Tickled Collection Summer 2014)

Barry M- Prickly Pear (Gelly Hi-Shine Line)
Illamasqua- Jo'mina
China Glaze- What a Pansy (City Flourish Collection Spring 2014)
Anise- Violet Falls in Love

Simple Swatch + Watermarble

I finally watched all of Breaking Bad, and now I know why everyone was going crazy over it. So when I saw this polish from Dollish Polish's Fandom Part Deux Collection, I knew I had to have it! It also helps that it is a nice polish as well

Dollish Polish- I Am The One Who Knocks

This polish is a white crelly base with bright blue tiny matte micro glitters, along with darker blue medium matte hex glitters. I used two coats here, but probably should have done 3, or at least done two coats over a white base. All in all I really love this polish!

The colors I used for the water marble:
Wet n Wild- White Creme
Zoya- Ling (Tickled Collection Summer 2014)
China Glaze- Man Hunt (On Safari Collection Fall 2012)

Christmas Skittle

Here is a simple Christmas skittle:

Sorry for only one picture. There wasn't much sunlight!

I started out with two coats of China Glaze- Running in Circles (Cirque Du Soleil Collection 2012) on my index and middle finger. I top coated that, applied some Straight Nail Vinyls in various widths apart, and applied a thick coat of Zoya- Nidhi. Nidhi is a much brighter red, but layering it over the green definitely dulls it down quite a bit.

I applied two coats of OPI- My Boyfriend Scales Walls (Spiderman Collection 2012) onto my middle finger, then applied one coat of KB Shimmer- Kringle All the Way on top. An awesome Christmas shade! It is just silver, green, and red circle glitters in all different sizes, and there is a light sprinkle of holographic micro shimmers in there. 

For my pinky, I applied two coats of Emily de Molly- Seeing Red, and was just going to leave that as is, but I thought it looked like I didn't finish it. So I applied a top coat, applied more nail vinyls, and used Colors By Llarowe- Gemini Rising (Summer 2014 Collection), which is the perfect Christmas green shade in my opinion!

Festive Half Moons

Today is officially my first day of my last winter break that I will ever have! I will be out of school for about three weeks, so I will try and do as much nail related stuff as possible! Here are some half moons using some new polishes released for fall:

It has been quite rainy here in Northern California (surprisingly), and this weekend was supposed to be dry and sunny, so I of course wore some holos!

These are holos are both from the Cirque Burlesque Collection released for fall this year. I snagged these during her Black Friday Sale, which I believe was 20% off.... I am trying to do as many festive themed nails as possible, and I think these work well.

The gold/olive green is Cirque- Harlow. I used two coats, although you could easily get one coat if your nails are really short. I top coated that, placed my half moon stickers, and applied a thickish coat of Cirque- Josephine, which is a beautiful deep forest green! I have a lot of holos now, so when I see one in a shade I don't have, I kind of freak out, which is what I kind of did with this whole collection. Although I only got three of the four released.You definitely need these, they are super high quality, come in beautiful packaging, and the formulas are like butter, just like all the other Cirque colors I have tried.

Lastly, the textured polish on my ring finger is Zoya- Chita (Pixiedust Collection Fall 2013). One of the best Pixiedusts out there in my opinion! It is pretty much one coat, even with my nails at this longer length, but I went ahead and did two coats.

Stay tuned for more festive nails

Rainbow Chevrons

I mentioned in this post that I had an awesome idea using these nail vinyls, and I am just now getting around to editing the photos! Better late than never right?

Pretty awesome huh?

I  used the larger chevron stickers from Nailvinyls.

I just painted two coats of the middle color, added a top coat, placed the sticker down the middle of my nail, and painted the other two colors on either side! Here are the colors I used going from left to right:

Index Finger:
OPI- Coco Cola Red (Coco Cola Collection 2014)
Kiko- 357
OPI- Where Did Suzi's Man-Go? (Brazil Collection Spring 2014)

Middle Finger:
OPI- I Just Can't Cope-Acabana (Brazil Collection Spring 2014)
Jessica- Lime Cooler (Gelato Mio Collection Spring 2012)
CK One- 610 Current (LE for Spring 2013)

Ring Finger:
Zoya- Wednesday (Beach Collection Summer 2012)
China Glaze- Exotic Encounters (On Safari Collection Fall 2012)
Zoya- Ling (Tickled Collection Summer 2014)

Pinky Finger:
China Glaze- I Sea The Point (Off Shore Collection Summer 2014)
Illimasqua- Jo'mina 
OPI- Do You Have This Color In Stock-Holm? (Nordic Collection Fall 2014)

Hope you enjoyed! 

Zoya Tickeld and Bubbly Nail Art

Well, almost all of these polishes are from the Summer 2014 collection, except for one. I saw Jen from The PolishAholic post her version of this, and I was like yes yes, I am doing this when I get my picks from this collection. These are actually all the polishes I got from the collections, minus the one.

I accomplished these the same way as usual. I applied the base color, added a fast drying top coat, placed binder paper reinforcement stickers, and painted the glitter on.

The consistency of theses polishes are pretty much the same. The cremes were all 2 coats, although depending how small your nails are, you could get away with one coat with some of them. The glitters were also the same consistency. I applied a semi thick coat just so I could get a good effect

Here are the colors I used from the Bubbly collection going from my thumb to my pinky:
Zoya- Harper
Zoya- Binx
Zoya- Jesy
Zoya- Stassi
Zoya- Muse

Here are the colors I used from the Tickled collection, with the exception of the orange on my middle finger, which I will just specify in this list:
Zoya- Kitridge
Zoya- Wendy
Zoya- Thandie (Stunning Collection Summer 2014)
Zoya- Tilda
Zoya- Ling

Another No sponge Gradient

I decided to try another one of these after my last post because I still had two China Glaze polishes from the same collection that I have not tried.

I couldn't quite decide what glitter to use on top. It looks really good on the pink, not so much the purple. It is Mod Lacquer- Technicolor Noise. One of my favorite glitters! It is a mixture of pink, green, and blue glitters in various shapes and sizes. Get it on Mod Lacquer's Etsy.

The two bases I started out with were both two coats. The purple is Lime Crime- Lavendairy. Seriously, these are some of the best polishes out there. They are a cool pastel, yet almost neon, and all the ones I have tried are nearly one coaters! I did two here just because. And for once they are in stock on Lime Crime's Website! The pink is Zoya- Kitridge (Zoya Tickled Collection Summer 2014). It is just your standard bubble gum pink shade.

The Jellies I used were both from the China Glaze Sunsational Collection from Summer 2013. The pink is China Glaze- Heat Index, and the purple is China Glaze- Are You Jelly? The pink was really easy to work with, but the purple is fairly opaque, so you can actually see my brush strokes on my index and pinky.

All in all I am happy with these. Have you tried the no sponge gradient technique?

Orange Skittle

I have been super into doing skittle nails lately. It comes in handy when you have a lot of untried polishes and just can't decide what to do! Here is what I did:

The awesome glitter is Lush Lacquer/Polish Me Silly- Summer Lovin which is now discontinued. It is a mix of medium white and blue hexagonal glitters, along with some large pink hexagonal glitter, all in a lightly tinted orange base. Since the base is so light, I layered it over two coats of OPI- Where Did Suzi's Mango? (Brazil Collection Spring 2014), which is also one of the colors used in the water marble.

The other two colors used in my water marble are also from the OPI Brazil collection. The yellow is OPI- I Just Can't Cope-Acabana, and the darker orange is OPI- Toucan Do It If You Try.

Lastly, the orange textured polish on my middle finger is Zoya- Beatrix (Pixiedust Collection Summer 2013). I used two coats of that.

KB Shimmer Skittle

I lied on the last post. I am going to post my fourth of July nails tomorrow, on the actually holiday. Here is a skittle I did, which I thought was a good idea at the time, not really feelin it:

I think this would have been much better without the grey on my pinky....

The color on my index and middle finger is KB Shimmer- Make My Grey (Spring Collection 2014). I love this polish! It is a light grey crelly base, packed with large, medium, and small coral, navy, and purple hexagonal glitters, and some random purple squares in there. I will never get tired of grey polishes.

The color on my pinky is KB Shimmer- When The Doves Sigh (Spring Collection 2014). This is such a fun mix of glitters, but just didn't go with these other polishes like I thought it would. It is a dark grey base, almost a one coater, with too many glitters to describe.... It is just a variety of purple, pink, and blue glitters in various shapes and sizes, and a light sprinkle of small holographic glitters.

Lastly, the textured polish is Zoya- Nyx. It is a dusty blue shade, but kind of has a little grey in it too, which is why I paired it with these polishes. I used two coats for all the polishes.

Simple Swatch(es)- Hare Polish and Zoya

I did these swatches a while ago, but just haven't gotten around to posting them. It is a simple pink themed manicure:

The awesome glitter texture is Zoya- Cosmo (Magical Pixiedust Spring 2014). It is definitely more textured than the traditional pixiedusts, and a little harder to remove as well. I used 2 coats, and application was very easy.

The pink on my index and middle finger is Hare Polish- Down on the West Coast (Viva Los Angeles Collection Spring/Summer 2014). I died when I first saw swatches of this polish! It is so unique. It is a dusty pink base loaded with purple, orange and gold flakies. I used two coats, and formula was STUNNING.

Lastly, the polish on my pinky is Hare Polish- Flight of the Flamingos (The Tropics are Calling Summer Collection 2013). I have been wanting this for a while now, and finally snagged it when her summer collection released this year. It is kind of an off white crelly base, loaded with large hot pink squares and hexagonal glitters, along with small gold and hot pink hexagonals. Again, amazing Hare polish formula as always! I used 2 coats.

Simple Swatch: Zoya + Jindie Nails

I went camping this past weekend and I was pretty sad face to find out it would be raining. We have been camping in the rain plenty of times, but it is just better when there is no rain, especially in the redwoods! So, I decided to paint my nails super girly and bright to cheer me up:

The super sparkly chunky textured polish is Zoya- Lux (Magical Pixiedust Collection 2014) I really like the look of this polish, but the formula is a little thick, and it chipped super fast unlike the other pixidusts. Maybe it just chipped on me so fast since I was camping. It was two coats. I am really excited for the new Magical Pixiedusts!

The polish on my middle and ring finger is Jindie Nails- Talk Nerdy To Me. LOVE this polish. This had been on my wishlist forever until my nail mail buddy got it for me. It is a slightly crelly pastel pink base, loaded with hot pink and blue microglitters, It was an easy two coats!

Textured Rainbow Halfmoons

I did something similar to this a while ago, only I didn't use textured polishes. You can see it HERE. Let's get to it:

I will just list the colors starting from the thumb to the pinky, starting with the holographics:

Emily de Molly- Seeing Red

Dollish Polish- This Sh*t is Bananas

Nubar- Reclaim

Jade- Mirage

Emily de Molly- Devotion

Each were two coats, amazing formulas. Although the Dollish Polish was on the thick side, kind of hard to work with. But still a really pretty holo!

Onto the textured colors:

OPI- Magazine Cover Mouse (Couture de Minnie Collection 2013)
OPI- Jinx (James Bond Girls Collection 2013)
Kiko- 643 Spring Green (Sugar Mat Collection 2013)
Zoya- Liberty (Summer Pixiedust Collection 2013)
Zoya- Carter ((Fall Pixiedust Collection 2013)

All were just one thick coat

Zoya Pixiedusts

Here is a simple quick manicure I did a few days ago. That is when textured polishes really come in handy, when you don't have enough time to do your nails!

This is actually after two days of wear, too. You can see minimal tip wear, which is impressive since I am kind of rough with my nails at work, and wash my hands like 50 times a day.

The champagne color is Zoya- Tomoko (Fall Pixiedust 2013). And the Green is Zoya- Vespa (Fall Pixiedust 2012). Both were two coats. I got both of these when Zoya had their three polishes for "free" promotion. Love them, these will be a go to when I have no time to do my nails but want to switch it up!

Here is a slightly blurry shot so you can see the sparkle more.

Zoya Dupe Alerts!

Sorry these are just pictures of bottles, but I thought this would help some people get their hands on some pretty sought after polishes, and they are cheaper than the originals!

I went into DSW with my mom so she could get some shoes, which meant she would probably get me a pair as well :). I pretty much hate shoe shopping since I am plain and would be content wearing converse and vans the rest of my life. But I love going to DSW since they have Anise nail polish! This is the only place I have seen these polishes available for purchase. I don't even think you can buy from their website...

Here is the first Zoya dupe I got a while ago now:

Zoya- Zuza (Surf Collection Summer 2012)
Anise- Sea Siren

Pretty much the same color in the bottles

Here are the other two I got yesterday, one I own the Zoya to compare next to, but the other I don't.

Zoya- Aurora (Ornate Collection Winter 2012)
Anise- Be Worldly

Again, pretty much spot on in the bottle, the Anise one might be just slightly darker

Lastly here is Anise- Cosmic Forces which  looks a lot like Zoya- Blaze (Ornate Collection Winter 2012). I guess this is the only one I "needed" since I don't own the Zoya one.

Go to DSW and get you these polishes if you missed out on them! They were buy one get one 50% off yesterday, so who knows how long that will be going on. They are $6 compared to a 9$ Zoya. The Zuza dupe was also there! Hopefully one day  I will wear these together to really see how they compare.

Ombre Dots

This is probably my most favorite nail art I have done, or at least one of my top 5. It is very simple, so anyone can do it! You just need a lot of polish...

Cool, huh?

I did something pretty similar before, but it was a rainbow. The Australian tuplets of instagram did it, so I played off that and did my own version.

Here are the colors from my index finger down to my pinky, a total of 12!

Zoya- Neely (Lovely Collection Spring 2013)
Jessica- Lime Cooler (Gelato Mio Collection Spring 2012)
China Glaze- Electric Pineapple (Island Escape Collection Summer 2011) 
China Glaze- Def Defying (Cirque du Soleil Collection Winter 2012)
China Glaze- Gaga For Green (Electropop Collection Spring 2012)
China Glaze- Starboard (Anchors Away Collection Spring 2011) 
OPI- Mermaid Tears (Pirates of the Caribbean Collection Spring 2011)
China Glaze- For Audrey
China Glaze- Electric Beat (Electropop Collection Spring 2012)
China Glaze- Flyin' High 
OPI- Fly (Nikki Minaj Collection 2012)
Color Club- Endless Summer (Fiesta Collection Summer 2013)

I topped it off with Seche Vite so I wouldn't ruin the design with smearing!

Enjoy!

Textured Polka Dots

I saw Squeaky Nails do some polka dots using textured polish, so I thought, hey, I haven't done polka dots in a while, and I still have some textured polishes to use! Here is what I came up with:

I started off with two coats of OPI- Pussy Galore (Bond Girls Collection 2013). I love this pink on my skin tone! I still won't get over the name either.

I started off by making large dots first. The red is OPI- Magazine Cover Mouse (OPI Couture de Minnie Collection 2013). A standard red textured polish with a lot of sparkle in it! And the purple is Zoya- Carter (Pixiedust Collection Fall 2013). This is probably the sheerest of all textured polishes that I have. They tend to be pretty thick, but this one has more of a thin glitter consistency. Still a gorgeous color though.

And just for fun, here is a picture I am submitting in a contest on Instgram:

This is for mcpolish's birthday giveaway. I rarely do giveaways, but the prize is her collab shade with Pipe Dream Polish. It is an amazing thermal that sold out pretty fast, and I am DYING to have it!

French Tips Using Zoya

I am going to keep this short and sweet. Zoya has some of the coolest holographic polishes. They aren't the awesome linear type, but you don't really see any polishes in this type of finish!

Yum!

The blue is Zoya- Dream (Zenith Collection Winter 2013). This is the only polish I got from their holiday collection this year. I have two coats shown here.

The purple is Zoya- Aurora (Ornate Collection Winter 2012), two coats shown here.

Lastly, the black used for the french tips is Zoya- Storm (Ornate Collection Winter 2012), one thick coat.

I am in love with these polishes! I really hope they keep making these polishes every winter, if not, every other collection they have!

Christmas Glitta!

I am finally almost caught up with my blog posts and editing my photos! Today is finally the start of my Christmas nails. I tried doing the same last year, too, and I think I was pretty successful. You can only really pull of red and green glitter around one time of year, and I am of course showcasing the number one red and green glitter of all time today:

Again, another very difficult manicure to photograph. I am wondering if I try to just use one coat of top coat instead of using Gelous first, if the less shinyness will photograph better with these glitters...

Here are some photos more in the shade:

I used mostly China Glaze for this. China Glaze does glitters the best!! More reason they are my favorite brand.

The colors from my thumb to pinky are:  
China Glaze- Ray-diant (Prismatics Collection Spring 2013)
China Glaze- Mistletoe Kisses (Tis The Season To Be Naughty And Nice Collection Winter 2010)
China Glaze- This is Tree-Mendous (Holiglaze Collection Winter 2013)
China Glaze- Winter Holly (Holiday Joy Collection Winter 2012)
Zoya- Chita (Pixiedust Collection Fall 2013)

And last but not least, the glitter used for the gradient is China Glaze- Party Hearty (Tis The Season To Be Naughty And Nice Collection Winter 2010). Unfortunately this polish is kind of hard to get now :(. I used mine a ton, but my nail supply store all of a sudden had like 20 on their shelves and I bought my first ever back up polish! Everyone needs this polish, but fortunately Sinful Colors came out with one this year that looks a lot like it. Theirs is just green and red, but Party Hearty is green, red, and silver in all sizes of hexagonal glitters!

I did a pretty similar look to this last year, I even have a macro shot in there!

Long time no see...AGAIN

I really just have the same excuse for not posting, school.....I am wrapping up finals this week, then I am going to try and do as many Christmas nails as possible! I am definitely going to recreate my South park nails too! I will actually have some more time to do my nails next quarter anyways since this quarter of my program is the "lightest" one. We will see...

Anyways, here are two manicures I did a long time ago. I have more photos to edit, so the next posts won't be too Christmasy, but the ones to follow will be! I am already rocking some awesome Christmas glitters as we speak.

Nubar- Lime Green Glitter

Yes, that is actually the name. I have been eying this polish for so long, but since my nail supply always had it, I just kept putting it off. My boyfriend took me to my nail shop to go shopping for my birthday, so I took that as an opportunity to get all the polishes I have been wanting for while. This polish is so freakin amazing! It is two coats of just straight up lime green glitter. I got it to be super shiny by using Gelous base coat first, then adding my Poshe fast drying top coat. My only complaint is that it is a pain in the but to photograph. I really need to invest in a tripod so my pictures don't come out so blurry, or my camera just can't handle awesome glitters like this....

Onto the next:

Total opposite from the pictures I just showed you.

I got two of these polishes from my nail mail buddy on Instagram, and she hooked it up with the entire China Glaze Halloween collection, plus this amazing nude! The nude shade on my two middle fingers is Zoya- Kennedy (Feel Collection Winter 2011). I used two coats, seriously a flawless polish. Zoya does cremes like no other. The grey color on my index and pinky is OPI- Berlin There Done That (Germany Collection Fall 2012). Two coats of another amazing creme.

Then I added China Glaze- Boo-gie Down (Monster's Ball Collection Halloween 2013). Another indie-esque polish from a mainstream brand! They made up for that one black and white polish they released with their Cirque de Soilel Collection....This is one coat of awesome glitter bomb heaven!

That is all I have for today...I will probably edit my photos and post on Friday since that is my last final!

Pixiedust Half Moons

If i had to choose to do only one nail art technique for the rest of my life, it would be half moons! I especially love them with textured polishes. Here is what I came up with:

I started off with two coats of OPI- Don't Pretzel My Buttons (Germany Collection Fall 2012). Then after applying a fast drying top coat, I used my binder paper reinforcement stickers to make the half moon shape as always.

I used one thick coat of Zoya- London (Pixiedust collection Fall 2013). I don't know what happened on the edge of my nail....I also had some shrinking on my tips! Not my best half moons....