'Zoya Week' Day 4: 'Ivanka'

Hellooooooo!

I'm heading to knoxville for the weekend, HOLLA!

So excited :)))))

So today I have a gorgeous metallic for you, 'Ivanka'!

*shade

* sunlight

Zoya describes 'Ivanka' as "mermaid green sparkling metallic". Depending upon the light, it can look more forest green than grass green. Either way, I love it. It's packed with TONS of sparkle and is just dazzling. I used 2 coats here & application was great.

I wish I'd bought this in time for St. Patty's day because it would have been perfect... but oh well :)

'Zoya Week Day 3: 'Phoebe'!

Happy Friday! :)

I'm really excited about today's post because it's my first matte polish! I'm not usually a fan of matte anything, but this sucker really won me over.

*outside, shade

*outside, direct sunlight.

Zoya describes 'Phoebe' as "bright azure with fine electric blue and violet shimmer with a velvety matte finish".

H YEAH!

It really does look like velvet- so luxe. I used 3 coats here, but 2 achieved opacity.

Not only is matte usually not my thing, but I didn't use to think bright blue was either... but this combo totally works. I absolutely love it! It's a fantastic polish for the season, too. Makes me want to go swimming :D

Whatcha think?!

giveaway ideas & 'Zoya Week' Day 2: 'Gaia'!

hello everyone :)

I want to start this post off by getting some feedback from you... 

My bestie over at GaGa for Nails & myself are thinking of hosting a giveaway,

but aren't sure what to actually give away!

SO, what would YOU guys like to see/have?!

We're obviously not made of money but we're going in on it together, so we're

pretty open to suggestions.

let us know!!

Also, I'm continuing Zoya week with a lovely gem: 'Gaia'
(& my bone dry cuticles)

* shade, no flash

** excuse messed up pointer finger; SV just didn't kick in in time :/

Zoya describes 'Gaia' as "a bright, clean white accented by golden shimmer".

*partial sunlight, no flash

** yes, that IS my thumb that's also messed up now, fml

Here I tried to capture the golden shimmer. My camera didn't do as well as I wanted, but it did the okay.

'Gaia' in direct sunlight, no flash

 It IS a metallic, but it's quite sheer (even though it's rated a 4, wtf). At least 3 coats are needed for opacity... and even then, i'm not sure. It showed every mistake and was hard to get an even coat without and balding... I really love this polish, though. It's sweet, delicate, and spring-y & reminds me of a good polish for a wedding or some other spring formal event. The golden shimmer is really what makes it unique.

Do any of you have this?
What are your thoughts?
:)

lilac look & 'Zoya Week'- Day 1!

hey guys,

two posts in one today!

First off, last night I got the idea (also thanks to Kaki) to maybe try to pair some looks with some mail posts.

SO, this next look was inspired by my last post.

*outside, shade

*inside, with flash

swatches! (all urban decay)

'Ransom', 'Zephyr', & 'Gunmetal'

I didn't have a shade that was the same color as the NOPI, so I decide to make my own. I blended 'Ransom' (a rich, shimmery purple) with 'Zephyr' (white with slight shimmer, mostly matte) and voila! I achieved something along those lines... so it was good enough for me. I then used a bit of 'Ransom' & 'Gunmetal' on the brow bone.

:D

Now on to part 2 of the post...

I realized that I've got quite a few Zoyas from recent promotions that I never got around to swatching... WTF. 

So, i'm dedicating this week to all my little seemingly forgotten Zoya beauties :)))

For day 1 I have 'Kimmy'

*sunlight

Zoya describes 'Kimmy' as "gleaming metallic candy apple red brightened by gold sparkle". This little number really is a fire-engine red that has UBER spark-taculous appeal.  It's fantastic.

Here I tried to capture some of the gold (because there's actually quite a lot of it), but it didn't capture as much as I'd like. The red looks more orange here, too, since it's under a fluorescent light.

This is definitely my favorite red EVER. In any kind of light, it sparkles like crazy & it's so, so gorgeous.

What do you guys think?

What's your favorite red?

Thanks for reading!

new favorite!- 'One Big Happy Fame-ily'

Helloooo everyone.

Just finished re-watching some of Game of Thrones from last season in preparation for the new season starting this sunday!! :e

Anyone else watch it? Or read the books?

Both are amazing. So if you haven't- do it.

OKAY, I'm truly excited about tonight's polish. I bought it on a whim and didn't think much of it, but now it's seriously one of my new favorites. forreal. 

I don't have any other polishes like it, & it just looks amazing.

I give you NOPI's 'One Big Happy Fame-ily'

* outside, no flash

(forgive my bone dry cuticles; working on that. i feel like i'm always saying that...maybe I should switch to a different cream..)

* inside, fluorescent light

This polish is a gorgeous lilac packed with tons of silver shimmer. It's part of the Kardashian Kolor collection & sold exclusively at CVS. 

I wasn't sure how I would like this shade on my hands,

but it really surprised me. I love me a good shimmer, so that just did everything in :)

Easter look #1

Hey guys :)

So after doing my Easter nails last night it really got me in the mood to do a look with Easter colors. This could go any number of directions, but I decided to go the delicate route with this first one.

* inside, with flash

* close up, fluorescent light

I'd never played with this color combo before, but i LOVE it. Its so girly and fun. I wasn't sure exactly how this was going to turn out, so I'm glad it resulted in something like this.

Swatches (from L to R):

'metallic white' from Ulta's metallic palette

'metallic yellow' " "

 Urban Decay's 'Sphynx' 

UD's 'Fishnet'

The first two colors are pretty self explanatory. Though it's hard to tell in the pictures, 'Sphynx' is a gorgeous, light, and shimmery pink with tiny pieces of holographic glitter. 'Fishnet' is a rich, shimmery magenta shade with a purple tint to it.

I barely used any pencil or liquid eyeliner because I really wanted the 'softness' of the shades to stand out, & was afraid by using eyeliner like I usually do, it would look much too heavy.

I feel as thought I could have done a bit better job blending, but oh well.

Next time I might also use a bit more of 'Fishnets', just to make it slightly more dramatic.

Kardashian chick-lettes :p

Wooooooooo for it being Friday!

So I'm getting so stoked seeing all these Easter manis that I figured it was time to do one of my own. I love pastel colors (which are, of course, associated as Easter colors) so this time of year shall be quite fun for me as a blogger :p

Ok, for tonight's inspiration I used a bit of personal history mixed with some classic Easter manis. When my mom was little, her Grandfather (who owned a farm) would always give her & her siblings baby chicks dyed different colors for Easter. They'd keep them for a little bit, then take them back as they got older.

I've also seen some people do some really cute Easter nails using baby chicks doing various things, so I thought I'd follow that line of thought.

First I want to brag about the fantastic base polish I used:

'Ladies in the Limelight' by NOPI's Kardashian Kolor collection.

This is a lovely pastel yellow creme that's sold (I think) exclusively at CVS stores. I bought this just a couple days ago thinking that it would be a great polish for the upcoming holiday... and I was right. I'm usually not a fan of yellow on my nails, but this one is awesome!

Alright, moving on to the chicks...

(messed up my middle finger's eyes last minute & didn't feel like fixing it)

Granted, this is a pre-clean up shot because I was just SURE my daughter was going to wake up & i'd mess them up, (she did) so I took this as soon as I finished.

Anyway, what do you think?!

I love these little guys.

Again, nothing new but it was still fun to do.

I used:

'Ladies in the Limelight' as base (3 coats)

China Glaze's 'Alpine Snow' and a striper/regular brush for the egg shells

black Konad special polish & a dotting tool for the eyes

Sally Hansen's 'Sun Kissed' & dotting tool for the 'beak'

I wish I had been able to clean the mu & get a shot before they got messed up,

but oh well :/

Next time, I suppose.

Whatchya think?

Let me know :)

Have a great rest of the night!

xD

a polish you could really take home to mom

HEYgirlHEY!

Hope everyone has had a fantastic week.

I'm super pumped tomorrow is friday.

Ok so tonight's post is featuring my first of the 6 Zoyas I got in their recent promotion.

:)

Without further ado, 'Kylie'

* yes, the cuticle on my pointer finger is atrocious atm

* as you can see, I brushed my thumb against my shirt as it was drying :/ but I was too lazy to redo it.

* fluorescent light

Zoya describes 'Kylie' as " medium dusty pink with a touch of mauve and frosty silver shimmer."  They've put it in the metallics family... though I believe it barely fits the category. It IS a it sheer, but (though I did 2 coats here) 3 coats should suffice for opacity. 'Kylie' is a lovely, delicate pink that actually shows up on my nails much better than I thought it would.

I titled this post what I did because, for whatever reason, this polish reminds me of just a good, classic, never-can-go-wrong-with-it kind of polish that is toned down enough that it's totally acceptable to pretty much anyone :) I love the crazy colors as much as the next person, but this shade is a great go-to, work appropriate shade that can really be worn anywhere with anything.

I tried in my pictures to capture the pretty little shimmer it has to it, but I don't think it did a very good job :/ Sigh, oh well.

Anyway, that's all for tonight!

an earthy look

hey everyoneeeeeeee.

So 'im kind of disappointed about tonight's post. I really wish I had a better camera... because, though I love the one I have, it just doesn't always cut it.

The look I did today used some great earthy shades, but they came off as 2 shades in the pictures and look dull as all get out.

:(

hmph.

Regardless of that, I decided to post them anyway.

Here's what's SUPPOSED to be a nice, earthy, nighttime look.

*outside light- shade

*inside, with flash

okay so, does this look like I just used gold & black to you?....

I thought so.

:/

Here's the swatches of what I used:

(all Urban Decay form BoS 2)

*From L to R: 'Midnight Cowboy', 'Baked', 'Cobra', & 'Bender'

(sorry this is blurry; couldn't get a steady pic of them for the life of me today)

I feel like 'Midnight Cowboy' is clearly visible, but 'Baked' less so... though in the second picture I feel like you can see it then.

I was really disappointed with how 'Cobra' & 'Bender ' looked. Granted, I used very little of the latter, but 'Cobra' definitely should not appear black since it's a dark green/brown with gold shimmer.

so WTF.

I guess the fact that 'Bender' didn't show up better is on me since I used so little... I'll just have to use more next time :)

This was my first time using 'Cobra' & 'Bender' so I wasn't too sure what to expect.

I'm excited to use 'Bender' again soon since it's practically invisible here.

purple & gold :)

Hey guys :)

First off, just wanted to say hello and 'thank you!' to my new (& existing!!) followers. This whole blogging thing is still very new to me, but it's nice to get affirmation that i'm not posting to myself, haha.

so welcome!

Okay so, tonight's post is my first post with my new palette & i'm pretty happy with what I came up with...

(trying to get different angles)

Voila!

I can't remember ever wearing gold or purple together, so I thought I'd give it a go!

I used Urban Decay's 'Midnight Cowboy' on the inner portions of my lid and 'Gravity' on the outer. It's been a hot minute since I've gotten to use 'Midnight Cowboy' because I used up what I had a lonnnng time ago, so i'd forgotten how awesome it is! It's a fantastic vanilla shade with some light glitter.

'Gravity' is a plum-y purple with a wonderful glittery, shimmer to it. I have several of UD's purples & figured I'd pretty much seen it all from them (so stupid of me), but 'Gravity' surprised me yet again! It's gorgeous and different than any of the others.

So there you have it.

What do you think?!

I follow tons of bloggers who are crazy good/amazing/phenomenal with make up & do some miraculous things... and though I'd love to know how to do that, I like that fact that (at least to me) most of the looks I do are something any of you could do. I don't use 245235 products and (at the most) they take me 10 minutes to do. I pride myself on that just mayyyyyybe I'm a bit more relatable :)

Thanks for reading, guys!!

nail mail & new palette!

hey hey hey!

yayayayayayayayay,

my Zoya's finally came in,

along with my newest addition to my Urban Decay palette family.

let's goooo! :)

So as most of you know, Zoya's most recent promotion was buy 3 polishes, get 3 free.

eeek! 

I got:

* From L to R: 'Jinx', 'Ivanka', & 'Gilda'

* From L to R: Phoebe', 'Akyra', & 'Kylie'

WOO!

Can't wait to try & post about all these :D

Next up, 

Urban Decay's Book of Shadows Vol. 2

* messed up 'Zephyr' as I was getting it out :x

Now this palette is nothing new, BUT it was on eBay for $25... and there are a few shades in here that i've never tried so I figured, what could it hurt? :p

Really excited to try some new looks with these as well,

and get those on here!

Thanks for reading,

& have a good night! :)

spring-y clouds :)

Hey everyone :)

Anyone else as bummed as I am that the weekend's over?

hmph.

Anyway, the past few days here have been GORGEOUS and so hot and springy/summery that it inspired me to do something in light of that.

Nothing too creative, but the sky has been such a pretty blue lately that I wanted it (or something like it) on my nails.

Sorry for the messed up middle finger; cuticles are really causing me some problems there.

So... it basically came off as a bright blue cow instead of clouds,

but whatever :$

I used 2 coats of CG's 'Sky High-Top' as the base. This was the first time i've used this and the slight shimmer it had to it (pleasantly) surprised me.

I used CG's 'Alpine Snow' and a dotting tool for the 'clouds'.

Anywho, cow or clouds- there you have it.

It makes me feel happy inside, regardless :)

my final (& favorite) St. Patty's day polish!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, ya'll!

Hope everyone had fun immersing themselves in beer, green attire, & what have you :P

So tonight's little gal is the other polish i bought (along with this one) from GlitterFest.

There's not really much of an introduction necessary; the polish speaks for itself!

Behold, 'Free Bird' !

GlitterFest describes 'Free Bird' as "a gorgeous emerald green with gold flakes throughout". It's a light green base with SO many different kinds of glitter- it's nuts. Just with the naked eye, you can see that 'Free Bird' has loads of teeeeeeeny dark green glitter, along with large hexagonal & square pieces of green glitter, large square and triangular gold glitter, and large holographic golden diamond glitter (whew- mouthful).

!!!!

So neat, and different from any other polishes I have.

* one coat over China Glaze's 'Re-Fresh Mint'

* 2 coats, with SV

H YEAH!

So rich and lustrous it's ridiculous. I thought about just using 1 coat & using the polish as a topcoat, but I liked the effect I got with 2 coats, so I went with that instead. I don't have another polish that's this shade of green, and I really like it.

All in all, I'm totally pleased with 'Free Bird', and GlitterFest in general. As I've stated before, each of their polish is about $4 (because it's in a smaller bottle, but that's ok with me :)) and you can get them off their Etsy website. I know that I, for one, am definitely going to be getting some more. Shipping was super fast & they came seriously like 2 days later. 

Anyway, hope everyone had a lovely St. Pat's!

I've got my Zoyas from their recent promotion and a new palette coming in the mail... so I'm super excited about upcoming posts!

:D

a weird & a minimalist st. patty's day mani

HAYSUP everyone.

I'm pretty bummed at the moment,

because I was so excited to sit down & blog with a nice glass of wine...

but alas, it appears that I have drank it all >.<

Anyway, I wanted to try a few more festive manis for the upcoming holiday,

but I'm not that pleased with what I came up with; I took them both off almost immediately.

Nevertheless, I figured I'd share them.

First up,

...

yeah, I have no idea what I was trying to do here.

Something, obviously, buttttt...  o_O

I used 2 coats of China Glaze's 'Four Leaf Clover' as the base & did the stripes with China Glaze's 'Re-Fresh Mint'. The clovers are stamped with white Konad stamping polish and plate BM03. That didn't come off well, either, but screw it.

This one I like a bit better since it's more simple. I used CG's 'Re-Fresh Mint' again as the base, then some tiny green hearts from my basic Cina nail art kit. This is the first time I've used any nail art like this, & it was actually pretty fun.

Anyway, there's that.

I scored UD's Book of Shadows 4 off eBay for $25 (holllla!) & hope it gets here soon so I can do some looks with some new shades :)

That's my specialty, anyway- though I know most of you are nail guru's & much prefer to see nail stuff :$

a jam packed Field Day

Happy mid-week everyone!

Fairly exciting post tonight for you.

I bought my first GlitterFest polishes the other day,

& this is the first of the two.

'Field Day' is a clear base with OVER 30 different types of glitter!!! So nuts. The most prominent color is gold, but there are definitely obvious hints of light blue, lavender, and a light pink in there as well (among others), PLUS a nice touch of holographic glitter to much of that. Most of it is small, medium, & large hexagonal glitter with some (holographic) gold bars, too.

* fluorescent light

* sunlight

Here I used 2 coats of 'Field Day' over 2 coats of Sinful Color's 'What's Your Name' because I really found it to look it's best over a super dark color... though I (oddly enough) don't have a plain, solid black- which would be ideal for this polish.

I really loved this little guy. I found new colors/shades in each different kind of light I was in throughout the day. You can get GlitterFest polishes on Etsy for about $4 a piece (yay!), though that's mainly because they're in what looks like old Bon Bon bottles, but that's ok. They shipped super quick, also :)

first Elixir Lacquers polish!

Woo!

Really excited for tonight's post because it's something a little different & a new favorite of mine (I feel like I say that about almost everything, but it really is :p).

I was browsing around Etsy and discovered the amazing talent of Elixir Lacquers!
I just bought one polish initially to see if I was even going to like them,
but i'm definitely going back for more.

I give you 'With a K'

Elixir Lacquers describes it as "Silver and electric violet holographic micro glitter with violet prismatic hexagon glitter, suspended in a violet jelly base"

YAY!

I really, really love this polish. I'm not usually a jelly fan because I find them to be super gloopy and blah, but this was the exact opposite. I don't know if it had to do with the concentration of glitter or what, but it applied like a dream.

I used 2 coats here with one coat of SV, & the latter really is needed in order to get that glossy finish- otherwise it looks gritty and messy.

The dimensions in this polish are dazzling. I just KNOW it's going to look amazing in the sunlight, but I couldn't wait until morning and daylight to post this :X

Purchasing from Elixir Lacquers was super easy & it shipped almost immediately. No waiting around forever here :)

What do ya'll think? Do any of the rest of you have any of their polishes?

What are your thoughts??