Zoya 'Thandie'

Hello lovely readers.

I'm back again today.

I finally have almost all my moving done, and one of my summer classes is almost over,

so I have more time now to blog :)

Today I have a gorgeous orange creme for you today.

Here's 2 coats of 'Thandie'.

'Thandie' is a "citrus orange creme" that is vibrant and perfect for summer.

It's from Zoya's 2013 summer collection,

and I'm so glad I scooped it up at ULTA a few weeks ago.

I definitely want to get the rest of the collection.

POLISH INFORMATION

Brand:  Zoya

Type: Creme

Formula: Awesome!

Opacity (1-5): 5

Application: Great!

Price: $8

Get This: here

*GUESTPOST* by NailsLikeLace

Ok guys,

I've been a little busy lately, so i'm on the hunt for people who want to guestpost for me.

(email me at: taylorhelana@gmail.com if you're interested!!)

I'm super stoked to have NailsLikeLace guest post for me today.

I've followed her blog for quite awhile now,

and her nail art (among other things) is FANTASTIC! :)

Hey everyone! 

This is Amber from NailsLikeLace, posting for Taylor, today!

I was playing with some new polishes, trying to come up with an idea for a good guest post, 

and I ended up deciding on Grease inspired nails (if you haven't seen that movie,

you are really missing out!).

On all of my nails, I started with a gorgeous, vibrant, neon pink, ORLY Passion Fruit,

then topped off most of my nails with Sally Hansen Star Burst,

one of the very few crackle polishes I actually kind of like.

On the middle nail, though, I wrote the word 'Grease', loosely based off the logo image,

with black and white acrylic paint.

A final coat of Seche Vite to smooth everything out, and I was good to go!

I love how these turned out, and I hope you do, too!

* July 4th look *

Happy Independence Day!

For those of you from the US :)

In honor of this holiday,

I've recreated a patriotic look from one I found quite some time ago on Pinterest,
so this is by no means my own creation-
I just always thought it looked fun!

'Murica!

The red eyebrows are crazy and fun.

I see Phyrra color her eyebrows all the time and it can look cool,

although red eyebrows is never something I would wear out of my house, personally :)

I had a blast recreating this look.

Reminded me why I love makeup!

And Sugarpill & BFTE couldn't be better cosmetics to work with :D

I used:

Too Faced's Shadow Insurance

Sugarpill's 'Tako'- browbone

BFTE's 'Blueberry' & Sugarpill's 'Afterparty'- crease

MUG's 'Razzleberry' & BFTE's 'Addicted'- lid

BFTE's 'Blue Bayou'- waterline

Covergirl Line Exact liquid eyeliner

L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes

'Razzleberry' over eyebrows

What do you think?

Have a safe & happy holiday!

From the Vault- 'Anita' & 'American Pie'

Happy Wednesday, guys!

I have two throwback polishes from last year for you guys.

Here is Darling Diva Polish's 'Anita' (2 coats)

over Essie's 'Blue Rhapsody', with Milani's Red FX & Pure Ice's 'Strapless' as accent nails.

'Anita' is from DDP last year, and is a clear base with holo microglitter, tiny holo hexes, and medium red, white, & blue hexes. 

You can tell the Milani somehow missed my eye & got totally clumped and gross.

I was super pleased with the Pure ICE polish, though. Reminds me of the Pixie Dust polishes that are big now :)

'Anita' is a nice little topcoat, though a little gloopy.

Still love it over the Essie though.

Next up,

Candy Lacquer's 'American Pie' from last year over Sinful Colors' 'Sugar Rush':

'American Pie' is a clear base with red & white microglitter, medium red, white, & blue hexes, and white & blue bar glitter.

I can't figure out why I've never tried this indie brand again,

because it goes on flawlessly!

(although, it looks an awful lot like the polish form yesterday, doesn't it?)

Welp,

closing the vault back for now.

STAY TUNED for my July 4th makeup in tomorrow's post!

:D

DDP- 'Home of the Brave'

Time for my first July 4th post!

I should have started them at least a week ago,

 but oh well.

Today's post is my newest indie polish purchase-

'Home of the Brave' from Darling Diva Polish!

Pictured here is 2 coats of Sinful Colors' 'Sugar Rush' & CG's 'Icicle' as accent.

'Home of the Brave' is a clear base filled with white, red, blue, & silver holo microglitter, medium red, white, & blue hex glitter, white and blue bar glitter, large white hexes, large blue and red stars, and large white hearts.

This baby is jam packed with tons of different glitters!

I loveeeee it :)

POLISH INFORMATION

Brand:  Darling Diva Polish

Type: Glitter Topcoat

Formula: Awesome!

Opacity (1-5): 1

Application: Fantastic!

Price: $10

Get This: her Etsy site 

What do you guys think of this polish?

'Tropical Punch' remix!

Now that summer's in full swing,

i'm obviously going hard with the summery posts.

Today's look is a recreation of an amazing, bright look from Phyrra

that I saw on her Instagram awhile ago.

Since seeing it, the colors just kept sticking out to me,

and it's given me a great chance to try out my other new Sleek palette.

Here's my version of Phyrra's 'Tropical Punch'!

I used (all shadows from Sleek):

Too Faced's Shadow Insurance

'Bammi'- inner corners

'Strike' & 'Pout'- lid

'Pucker' & 'Sugarlite'- crease

'Cricket', 'Chill', & 'Bolt'- waterline

Covergirl Line Exact eyeliner

L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes mascara

I LOVE the bright colors Phyrra used in this look,

and I recreated it as closely as I could using different products.

This was my first time using this particular Sleek palette,

and I was nothing less than impressed!

They blended wonderfully & were super pigmented.

Couldn't be much happier with this look!

(minus the atrocious eyebrows, which have since been plucked)

:D

What do you think?

'Tropical Kisses'

Hey guys :)

I have my fourth & last Lush Lacquer mini from a set of neons I bought a couple months ago.

I've saved this one for longer into summer time.

Here's 2 coats of 'Tropical Kisses' over 2 coats of Essie's 'The More the Merrier'!

'Tropical Kisses' is a clear base with neon green microglitter, and medium yellow-gold, orange, red, and pink hex glitter.
This bad boy went on BEAUTIFULLY. I really love it over 'The More the Merrier' :)

POLISH INFORMATION

Brand:  Lush Lacquer

Type: Crelly?

Formula: Awesome!

Opacity (1-5): 2

Application: Fantastic!

Price: $9

Get This: their Etsy site

What do you guys think?
I really loved this polish :)

Newest SYN Cosmetics shadows!!

So if you've followed my blog for the past several months,

you'll know i'm a big fan of indie makeup brand SYN Cosmetics.

Though their shop has been closed lately,

they are now back open for business and better than ever :)

Thus, I finally received my most recent purchase:

These are some super beautiful spring/summery shades that I can't wait to play with!

:)

Swatches!

(NOTE: these picture aren't modified in ANY way- only by adding my watermark.

The shadows really are this lovely!)

*seen here over Too Faced's Shadow Insurance

ahhhh, love 'em.

What do you guys think?

Also, head on over to SYN Cosmetics.com and check out their awesome products!

Zoya Mickey

Today I have a lovely pink from Zoya's new summer collection.

I've had my eye one this collection for months,

but money is tight right now, so i've just now been able to get some.

My nails are FINALLY starting to look better,

so here is 3 coats of 'Mickey'!

'Mickey' is described as a coral creme, but it looks MUCH more pink than coral to me.

Not sure about that one, Zoya.

Either way, I think it's just lovely.

I'm a big fan of pinks/reds/corals, 

and this one is no exception.

It's hard to see, but it has a beautiful subtle shimmer, too :)

POLISH INFORMATION

Brand:  Zoya

Type: Creme

Formula: Awesome!

Opacity (1-5): 5

Application: Great! 

Price: $8

Get This: Zoya.com

What have you tried from Zoya's new collection?

'

Cocktail Makeup Series- Global Warmer

Hey evrry body. 

Sorry for the mini hiatus,

my life has been crazy the past week or two.

Things are starting to stabilize now,

just in time for another look in my cocktail makeup series!

Today's look is based off of a Global Warmer:

Seeing how hot it's been lately, I figured this drink was appropriate :P

And here's the look I came up with!

...

I used:

Too Faced's Shadow Insurance

(ALL BFTE shadows):

'Wacky' & 'Tangerine'- lid

'Lemon', 'Envy', & 'Green Apple'- waterline

Covergirl Line Exact liquid eyeliner

L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes

This look is super simple,

but I liked playing around with the color combo.

If you haven't tried any BFTE cosmetics yet,

you are missing out!

They're UH MAZING.

What do you guys think?

DDP- 'Zen Pool'

Hey guys,

I have a lovely Darling Diva Polish for you guys today.

I haven't really used this brand in over a year,

and I'm so glad I revisited it!

Here's 3 coats of 'Zen Pool' over Sinful Colors' 'Sweet Nothing'.

'Zen Pool' is a shimmery teal crelly with medium and large pink circle glitters, medium white hexes, huge white matte hexes, and variously sized teal holo glitter.

It's indeed calming, but also reminds me of summer :)

POLISH INFORMATION

Brand:  Darling Diva Polish

Type: Crelly

Formula: Awesome!

Opacity (1-5): 2

Application: Great! Had to do a litttttle digging, but not much!

Price: $9

Get This: her Etsy site

I really liked this polish.

The formula was spectacular,

and I love the colors and hint of holo :)

What do you guys think?

Jindie Nails- 'Rave'

So FINALLY I have a Jindie polish in my possession.

I've been in love with 'Rave' ever since I saw it,

and today's a perfect day for it.

I apologize in advance for my nubs :(

'Rave' is a milky white base filled with neon large blue hex glitter, large neon pink circle glitter, smaller neon greenm, blue, & yellow hex glitter, and blue microglitter.

I loves it :D

POLISH INFORMATION

Brand:  Jindie Nails

Type: Crelly

Formula: Good!

Opacity (1-5): 3

Application: Good!

Price: $9 on Jindie Nails.com and $11 on llarowe

Get This: Jindie Nails' website or llarowe, but it's unfortunately unavailable at both sites right now :(

What do you guys think of this polish?

Were my nails longer & beautiful,

you could REALLY see the awesomeness of this polish.

Can't wait to grow them out & swatch it again.

Skyrim Makeup Series- 'Dunmer' (Dark Elf)

I have another installment in my Skyrim makeup series for you today.

Apparently I unknowingly have a theme (other than the obvious one) going...

I've unintentionally chosen to do all the elven races first!

Whoops :P

So today's look is the Dunmer, or Dark Elves.

They are characterized by their dark skin and red eyes.

I wish I had some sweet red contacts I could have used for this look :/

In lieu of that, I decided to translate this race into the look a little differently.

I used:

Too Faced's Shadow Insurance

unnamed warm beige from Sephora palette, UD's 'Chase' & 'Muse'- lid

UD's 'Cobra' & Sugarpill's 'Love+' crease

Covergirl Line Exact liquid mascara

L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes mascara

unnamed neutral from Sephora palette- brow bone

Obviously this look had to be dark and somewhat mysterious,

as the Dark Elves are.

Though I didn't have legit red eyes, I did try to pull that in softly in the crease.

After all was said and done,

I actually really liked this look!

Would even wear it out for a nighttime event :)

What do you guys think?

Nail Mail & Essie Naughty Nautical Summer Collection 2013 swatches

Hey everyone.

I recently got some lovely new polishes for summer.

I've been really drawn to both Zoya & Essie's summer collections this year,

so I purchased a few from both brands.

First up,

some from Essie's Naughty Nautical collection!

'Naughty Nautical', besides bearing the name of the collection, is a teal-y, "brilliant blue-green'" with a slight shimmer. I attempted to capture it here, but my camera just isn't quite good enough I don't think. 

This is 3 coats.

* Rather than do my chart for each polish, 

I've done one at the end of this post for all of them

by averaging their results.*

'Sunday Funday' is a lovely coral polish with slight shimmer. 

I really loved this little number. Great for summer :)

This is 2 coats.

'Full Steam Ahead' is a pale lilac with a slight pearlescent shimmer.

Some of my favorite lavenders/lilacs are from Essie,

and this one is no different!

Seen here is 3 coats.

'The More the Merrier' is a described as a "juicy lime" glossy creme.

This was my LEAST favorite of the bunch.

It looks like an exact dupe of one from the Nicki Minaj collection from OPI,

and was super streaky ://

Seen here is 3 coats.

POLISH INFORMATION

Brand:  Essie

Type: Microshimmers/ Cremes

Formula: Okay

Opacity (1-5): 3-5

Application: Okay for most, eh for some.

Price: $8

Get This: local drugstores or large retailers like Walmart

Overall, I'm not sure I'm glad to have spent the money to buy these,

but it's too late now.

Based on my first impressions,

the quality is 'eh' & most look to be exact dupes of other polishes I have-

and my collection is much smaller than most of yours.

Regarding that,

I'll have a dupe comparison of these bad boys soon.

What are your thoughts on them?

What has your experience been with them,

if you already have them?

Let me know!

Sleek acid raver's look & nails!

Happy Monday!

So one thing i LOVE about summer is all the neons.

I bought Sleek's Acid Palette not that long ago,

and have been itching to use it.

Also, i love going to shows (be they raves, dnb, edm, what have you- i'm actually seeing FLux Pavilion, Skism, & Ana Sia this weekend :DDD)

and often times neon is everywhere there.

Keeping both these things in mind,

here's the look I created using Sleek's Acid Palette.

I used:

Too Faced's Shadow Insurance

 unnamed neon yellow, orange, pink, & green from Sleek Acid Palette

Covergirl Line Exact liquid eyeliner

L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes

You can see I had some issues with fallout that I just couldn't get cleaned up properly,

but i'll get it next time.

I was VERY impressed with these shadows.

When I initially swatched them,

I wasn't sure how pigmented they would actually be...

but they blew me away.

Super pigmented & were easy to work with, even for mattes.

Also, (despite the primer) their staying power was amazing.

Next up,

some neon nails with crappy stamping!

Yes, those are aviators.

I attempted to stamp them in a slanty pattern but that went bust.

Though the stamping sucks,

I liked being fun in painting each nail a different neon.

ORLY 'Melt Your Popsicle'- pointer

CG's 'Yellow Polka Dot Bikini'- middle

CG's 'Pink Voltage'- ring

CG's 'In the Limelight'- pinky

Winstonia plate W109  w/ black Konad stamping polish

What are your thoughts on this look & the crappy stamping mani?! 

:)