Good evening!
I have some texture swatches to share with you all tonight, in the form of mattes :) I managed to pick up some of my matte lemmings recently, two from OPI and two from Zoya. Let's get started!
First up are the two OPIs, starting with Gargantuan Green Grape Matte. I like this color, but I definitely wouldn't call it grape green. Application was pretty much how most mattes are for me: usually streaky until the third coat, which is how many it needed, three coats.
The second OPI is a Suede, OPI Ink, which I surprisingly don't own the original lol. Two coats for my swatch.
The Zoyas are, in my opinion, very much the same are OPI's Suedes. They have that same velvety feel and muted shimmer and sparkle. The first is Dovima, a true matte black shimmer. You can absolutely tell that this is black and not charcoal grey like Loredana. My swatch was done with 2 coats.
The other Zoya matte I have is Savita. Savita is a gorgeous matte purple shimmer. The color reminds me of a darker, matte version Zoya Danni. Three coats for this swatch.
Good evening!
I hope everyone has enjoyed their last weekend of September :) As we go into the last three months of the year, I both look forward to and dread this time of year. I have a love/hate relationship with- I love going into fall/winter and everything that goes with it. However, the one thing I hate about it is ALL THE GOOD FOOD! It's my undoing :P Sadly, we've already started with fall food in the form of pumpkin lol.
Anyways! Today's Stamping Sunday theme called for ungirly nails, meaning no glitter, no bling, no pink, no Barbies or princesses, nothing like that. The first thing I thought of that was the furthest from girly were dragons. So, dragons it was!
My base color was two coats of OPI's Peace & Love & OPI from their fall collection. This is beautiful duochrome that shifts from purple to green, to grey in some lights. I topped it with Seche and cleaned up the mess I made of the skin around my nails. My stamped images were from Messy Mansion plate MM05 stamped in OPI's Every Month is Oktoberfest. I think maybe I should have used a bolder color, but I kinda like the subtleness of it.
Good morning and happy Saturday!
I've got a few Pixie Dust swatches I want to share with you :) Three are from Zoya's new fall collection of PDs, one is from the first collection released this passed January. So, let's get right to it!
To start it off, is Tomoko from the fall collection. This was the one I was most excited about, and disappointed by. Zoya describes Tomoko as a champagne silver...... Well, it's definitely more champagne than silver. There's really only a tiny bit of silver in it =\ I like it, don't get me wrong, but I would rather have something more silver than gold. My swatch was done with 2 coats. This particular PD is the more foil like formula, meaning it looks like crumbled foil on your nails.
Next up is one whose name really made me scratch my head. It makes no sense, sunshine is yellow. According to Zoya, though, Sunshine is a Van Gogh blue O.o I don't get it lol, but whatever. It's a pretty, kind French (to me) blue. The formula on this one is like earlier PDs, instead foil like. My swatch is two coats. Sunshine is also from the fall collection.
My last swatch from the fall collection is Carter. Carter is a gorgeous, red toned purple with fuschia sparkles in it that were a pain for me to capture. This particular PD has a thinner formula, but I was able to get opacity in two coats. This one also seems to take longer to dry. Otherwise I have no complaints.
My last swatch is Nyx, from the original collection of PDs released this past January. I passed this over at the time of release, favoring, instead, Chyna. I really don't know why, but I did, and I had regretted it since. So, I was determined to get it with my last order :) Nyx is a pretty, lighter, almost Wedgewood blue color with silver sparkles. I didn't write it down, but I'm going to assume I did 3 coats of this one, since I just wore a week or so ago and that's what I needed.
So, yeah, at last count, I have near 20 textured polishes :P I think I have a problem lol.
Good evening!
It's Textured Friday!! I have a new Liquid Sand to show you tonight. It's a limited edition color from OPI, called My Current Crush. I found mine at CosmoProf, but I'm not entirely sure of it's availability in retail settings. This is how it comes packaged, the pic is not mine.
The base coat is pretty much useless for me, since I have that I like, so I basically paid retailed for the Liquid Sand xD
I didn't do a full mani with MCC, I used it as part of a tape mani. My base color was 2 coats of Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not. Now, these two polishes are incredibly similar in color; that's why I chose to use them together. I mean, MCC is really a LS version of LMLMN, aside from some silver sparkles.
Good evening!!
Wow, what a horribly, rainy week we've had here in FL! It's been a rainy summer, but that's actually the norm for us, not this drought crap we've had going on the last several years. We've had so much rain in my area, we had a flood warning yesterday. Nothing like the devastation in Colorado, mind you, but enough pretty much all summer that we saturated lol. I'm not complaining, though, we needed it :)
Surprisingly, I've been rocking the same mani I'm about to post since Monday, with no chips and very little tip wear. Mind = blown lol. I really couldn't be bothered to change it for today, since there was really nothing wrong with it. Plus, I had new TV shows to watch last night and I didn't want to be distracted :P
I did an ombre mani, because I don't remember how long it's been since I last did one, if ever. Most ombres I've seen are usually done in creme finishes. Sadly, I don't own enough in any color range of cremes to do that, but I do in shimmers. Well, at least blue shimmers, the other color ranges are iffy.
All my colors are from Zoya, and, with the exception of Tart, are 2 coats each with a coat of Seche to finish it off. Tart needed three to make me happy. Starting at my thumb, is Tallulah, Tart, Song, Ibiza, and Raven.
Before I go, I ask that you take a look at my purge tab :) I've updated my list and created a Pinterest board for it as well as added prices. I'd like to get them out of here, so if you don't like my prices, make an offer! Also, I have a board for nail polish bottle ornaments I've made. They're not mini bottles of polish, but mini bottles that I've made into ornaments with polish I own or bought for that purpose. All the deets are in that tab!
Good evening!
I know I'm a bit late to the party, showing these particular swatches, but better late than never, right?
When I first saw the press release for Zoya's Satin and Cashmere collection for this fall, I knew right away that I wouldn't be getting but a few. The colors are beautiful, don't get me wrong, but I simply cannot wear all the warm, typically fall colors that both sets have. This made me sad, since I haven't bought a new red in ages :P
I did buy four colors, though; 1 from the Cashmeres, 3 from the Satins. I also bought 3 of the fall Pixie Dusts but I'll be showing them later this week. Right now, it's just the four I mentioned.
First up is Sailor, from the Cashmeres. Sailor is a beautiful, dusty navy blue that's extremely pigmented. It's not too dusty, just enough to make it different from my other dark blues. My swatch is 2 coats of Sailor.
Next is Claudine from the Satins. Claudine is an unusual color in my stash, one that was unexpected when it arrived on my doorstep. When I read Zoya's description (a deep meteorite grey metallic), I pictured something different. None of the swatches I had seen, or reviews on blog I had read, showed or mentioned how gold Claudine truly is. It's not as dark as Zoya's pic is either, so yeah, I was disappointed with it at first. I mean, I go out of my way to avoid gold polish or colors with gold in them; they just don't look good on me. But, I kept it, and swatched it, and got over it. It's a gorgeous color and I have nothing like it.
Claudine applied easily and very well in two coats, even though it could have easily been a one coater.
On to Neve, also from the Satins. Neve is a vibrant, jewel toned blurple. I saw blurple because in the bottle and certain lighting, it looks purple, but in broad daylight, it's definitely blue. I think it's mostly because of its shimmer. Anyways, I love it :) Two coats for this swatch.
Lastly, Giovanna. Giovanna is a bright, jewel tone, blue leaning green shimmer. Totally unique in my stash. Very beautiful and perfect for the holidays. Two coats for my swatch.
Good evening and welcome to the first night of fall!
Fall officially started here in Florida at about quarter to five in the evening :) Now, if only the weather gets the memo about it and acts accordingly, we'll be square lol!
In honor of the occasion, today's Stamping Sunday challenge was, simply, fall themed. Fall in Florida is actually pretty much the same as the rest of the year >.< So, I chose to do what comes to mind when I think of fall- warm colors and crunchy leaves.
My base was 2 coats of China Glaze's Dandy Lyin' Around followed by a coat of Seche. This left my base a streaky mess but that was okay since it was going to be covered. While it dried, I cut up pieces of Saran Wrap for the second phase.
I balled up and used like a sponge the pieces of Saran Wrap to apply first OPI's The "It" Color, followed by Flit a Bit. The technique I used is called the Saran Wrap technique, you can find it on YouTube I'm sure :) I didn't apply another coat of Seche, since those two colors went on thin. I just let them dry before stamping.
My stamped images came from Winstonia W119, Red Angel RA-121, and Bundle Monster BM-208. The colors were Maybelline Bold Gold, Pure Ice Magic, and Color Club Rebel Spirit. Seche followed the stamping. The stamping isn't as bold as I wanted, but all in all, I'm really happy with this mani :)
Good evening!
Yay for me posting my themed mani on the correct day!! :D For once, I'm not too exhausted or lazy to not post lol, although I'm about ready to hit the sack. It's been a long week and I'm soooo glad it over.
So, today's textured mani features the one and only textured polish that I've picked up from Nicole from OPI, from the Gumdrop collection. One of the colors that I've not that hasn't been done much is black (and green, a nice green! That annoys me to no end.), at least sparkly ones like I prefer. I can name two, Zoya Dahlia and this one, A-Nise Treat.
A-Nise Treat is a black base with silver glitter in it. It dries to, as the collex name implies, to a gumdroppy finish. Formula is nice, I only need two coats for opacity, and like my other textured polishes, wear very well. I've got no chips as of this post, and I did this mani last night.
Now, if I could only find a green textured polish that I absolutely have to have..... *sigh*
Good evening!
So, yeah, life's been getting in the way the last week and a half. My husband's been sick, and I've just had things going on, like jury duty, which sucked >.<
I have several manis, though, that I want to show, from last week to today, including two stamped manis :) Let's get started!
The first mani is one of the stamped one, using both new plates and new polishes. The base was a gradient using Zoya Kristen, Natty, and Sailor, which are all dusty blues. This is one mani where I should have stopped at the base, because it was beautiful. I wish I had a pic to show you. I topped it with Seche before I stamped it using my new plates from both Vivid Lacquer and MoYou. I made them comic book themed. I think I used Sinful Colors Black on Black, Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Quick Brick, and Wet 'N Wild French White, all topped again with Seche.
The next mani happens to be the other stamped mani. When I saw this particular plate, I knew it would be mine. It's nothing but butterflies! It's from MoYou. My mani turned out more spring like, but I loved. The base is Zoya Gie Gie and the stamped color is, I think, Sinful Colors Ardroise, topped with Seche. I did all ten fingers with different images. This plate was made for me :)
Friday's textured mani was two of my new Zoya Pixie Dusts, Nyx and Sunshine. I had originally passed on Nyx but regretted that, since all the swatches I saw were gorgeous. Sunshine is part of the new fall collection of Pixie Dusts. I would never have named this beautiful blue Sunshine, I really don't know what the Zoya fairies were thinking lol.
Monday, I wore another new to me polish, which is also the first of the brand to me, a england Ascalon. It's a subtle holo with a bit of duochromeness.
And, finally, today's mani! Over the weekend, I managed to find a brand new, not so thick and goopy bottle of OPI's Last Friday. Now, I've tried thinning my bottle, but can't seem to get it thin enough to use easily =\ So I grabbed this new bottle and ran lol. Just need to find a new bottle of Teenage Dream!
This mani started with 2 coats of OPI's Roadhouse Blues, followed by a coat of Last Friday Night, then Seche. Ring fingers were matted using OPI's Matte Topcoat.
So, there you have it!
