New Years Nails

Last post of 2011! I wanted to do a mani perfect for New Years and all I could think of was these Technicolor nails by Liz at Liquidjelly. She put up a tutorial and I tried to follow it as best as I could, I think it came out pretty cool, but I should have used smaller pieces of tape on my first couple of nails. I used OPI DS Signature as my base color, added all the little strips of tape, and then did the gradient using China Glaze First Mate, Zoya Charla, Zoya Ivanka, and OPI Simply Smashing. I did these last night so I don't have any pics of it in the sun, but here they are! What does your New Years mani look like?

Happy New Years everyone! Be safe and see you all in 2012 =]

Zoya Gems and Jewels Collection Swatches

I know the holidays are coming to an end, so I'm trying to get all my holiday polishes swatched soon! I would've done them earlier, but school just ended for me a week ago so I'm barely getting around to it. Here is Zoya's Holiday 2011 Gems and Jewels Collection. There are 3 metallic polishes and 3 coordinating glitter polishes.

L to R: Noel, Twila, Izzy, Kissy, Holly, Rina

Noel. 2 coats no topcoat. Light blue metallic.

3 coats of Twila over Noel (shown with topcoat). Blue microglitter with blue bar glitter.  Indoors.

Outdoors.

Izzy. 2 coats no topcoat. Magenta metallic.

3 coats of Kissy over Izzy (shown with topcoat). Red microglitter, magenta & holo bar glitter. This one is my favorite combination! Indoors.

Outdoors.

Kissy has lots of pretty holo bar glitter!

Holly. 2 coats no topcoat. Emerald green metallic.

3 coats of Rina over Holly (shown with topcoat). Green microglitter with green & blue holo bar glitter. Indoors.

Outdoors.

I really liked this Holiday collection from Zoya. The metallic ones were easy to apply, whereas the glitter polishes became a bit thick during use. I'm new to bar glitter, so my only tip would be to be careful when applying to not let any hang over the edge of your nail otherwise they will get caught on your clothes when it dries. I used one coat of topcoat here, but two coats would be ideal. I almost got this collection for the giveaway, but this is seasonal and the Essie Luxeffects can be used all the time so I went with Essie. Thanks for reading! Until next time!

Enter my 300 Follower Giveaway!

Hi my lovelies! I have been meaning to announce this giveaway sooner, but without further ado, here it is! I started this blog in April of this year and I have to say, it's something I love doing. I'm happy to share my nail passion and addiction with people who share the same interest, but I'm even happier that there are people who read it!

I'm giving away all 5 polishes from Essie's Luxeffects Collection! These are all brand new and purchased by me. This giveaway is international! (I was only going to have it open in the U.S., but thanks to my buddy Marco he will be happy to ship this for me so thank you Marco!) It will run for one month so you have until January 26, 2012. To enter fill out the form below. The winner will be contacted via email and will have 48 hours to respond before I pick another winner. Good luck and thanks to all my followers =]

Christmas Colored Double Lightning Bolt

Merry Christmas everyone! I have a pretty cool mani to show you today. I have been scared to try out scotch tape manicures because I've been paranoid of ripping off my base colors, but I got brave and wanted to challenge myself by doing something a little more difficult. I used a tutorial from Jane at Nailside. It's my first one and I'm pretty proud of how it came out =] I used China Glaze Poinsettia, China Glaze Passion, and China Glaze Holly Day. I think I'll be trying out some more scotch tape manis in the near future! Hope everyone has a wonderful day with their loved ones!

My right hand! Haha I think ever since I started my blog I have only posted pics of my right hand TWICE.  

China Glaze Blue Year's Eve and Konad M59

Today I have a winter snowflake mani to show you. I've seen a lot of snowflake designs that look very similar, so I tried to make mine look a little different. I used a base of China Glaze Blue Year's Eve. Then I used some scotch tape to make the V-shape and painted the tips with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep. To make it look shimmery, I added Essie Luxeffects in Pure Pearlfection. Then I stamped with Konad M59 in Konad White. Lastly, I added some blue rhinestones. I was worried I was adding too much, but I ended up really liking the end result =]

Outside

Outside

Inside

Inside

Christmas Water Marble

I wanted to do two Christmas water marble manis, but I only had time for this one. It didn't turn out as well as I wanted it to. I think the gold I used kind of mixed with the other colors a bit, but I still think it looks pretty decent. Does anyone have any suggestions of a gold polish that works well with water marbling? My favorite nail is my index finger, I wish all of my nails turned out that way. I used a base color of China Glaze Passion and to marble I used China Glaze Passion, Sally Hansen  Xtreme Wear in Cherry Red, and Zoya Holly. Anyways, short post today, my nails are drying as I do this post. I have two more really festive Christmas nails to show in the next couple days!

China Glaze Poinsettia, China Glaze Ring In the Red, and Konad M65

I wanted to do a candy cane theme for my first Christmas mani. My first idea didn't work out, but I still succeeded! My first idea was to have a red glitter base and water marble with white and clear. The reason I wanted to marble with white and clear was so the red and white wouldn't mix together and look pink, but unfortunately the clear polishes I tried using didn't work for me. I think I should've just tried marbling using white and red. Oh well. I still wanted a candy cane look so I used China Glaze Poinsettia and China Glaze Ring In the Red for a base and then stamped using Konad M65 in Konad White. Still looks candy cane like right...right? Lol.

OPI Nicki Minaj Collection Swatches

Hey everyone! I'm officially on my winter break and I'm so excited to get back to blogging. I took my final yesterday and it just so happens yesterday was also the day nail polish heaven got this collection! Lucky me since this collection is actually due out in early January. I'm going to have to go back to nail polish heaven soon because they will be receiving China Glaze magnetic polishes any day now (also due out in early January)! Hope these swatches will be of help to those who are interested in getting this collection.

L to R: Did It On 'Em, Fly, Pink Friday, Metallic 4 Life, Save Me, Super Bass Shatter

Did It On 'Em. Lime green creme. 3 coats no topcoat. Formula got a little thick on my 2nd and 3rd coats, but not a problem.

This reminds me of Reptar from the Rugrats for some reason =P 

Fly. Turquoise creme. 2 coats no topcoat. This one stained a bit, but it was minimal.

Pink Friday. Bubblegum Pink. 2 coats no topcoat. 

Metallic 4 Life. Black jelly base with silver hex, round, and micro glitter. 3 coats no topcoat. So much depth, love this one!

Not sure about this combo because both polishes are dark and it's hard to distinguish between the two, but I  still like it.

Save Me. Clear base with holo bar glitter and silver micro glitter. 3 coats no topcoat. Don't think I'll be wearing this one alone, but it's gorgeous and I love the added effect from the holo bar glitter.

No flash. Love this combo because all the glitter underneath really shines through!

Flash

I have to say I truly love this collection. I'm big on bright colors, cremes, holos, glitters, and shatter and this collection has it all. I was really pleased with the Super Bass Shatter because I own a purple crackle polish from Sally Hansen and it was super sheer, but this one from OPI is opaque. I added topcoat to all the swatches with shatter and it really brought out the shimmer inside the shatter. My favorite to wear alone has to be Metallic 4 Life because it is so unique and my favorite combination was Save Me with the Super Bass Shatter. Well that's it for OPI's Nicki Minaj Collection. I'll be doing some holiday manis in the next few posts so stay tuned!

Gold Leopard Gradient

This is another one of my few manis that is actually inspired by a clothing article I own. My shirt had a lot of different shades of brown with a leopard print so I decided to use several shades of gold for my nails. I used China Glaze Passion, OPI Bling Dynasty, and OPI DS Glow for the gradient. I stamped using BM 221 in Konad Black. Lastly, I used a dotting tool to add China Glaze Cleopatra inside the leopard spots. I wonder if I used enough gold =]

OPI Your Royal Shine-ness and OPI Black Onyx Half Moonicure

This mani is from about a month ago, but I wasn't loving how it turned out and the pics are pretty dark because of the ugly weather, but I've finally decided to post it lol. I know it's not my best, but at least I tried something new! I used binder paper hole reinforcements. The only ones at the store were the plastic ones and I do NOT recommend using them because they really don't want to conform to your nail shape. Anyways here it is! Sorry for the tip wear, I decided to take the pics 5 days after wearing it =P Oh yea, I used a matte topcoat on these right before I took it off and it looked much nicer, but I unfortunately didn't take pics of it.

OPI Rainbow Connection

Hi my lovelies! Today I reached 300 followers! It has been a wonderful 7 months blogging. I wish I was able to update my blog a little more often, but it's been really difficult with school. When I'm on my winter break next month I will definitely be updating it a lot more! I thank each and every one of you who take the time to stop by my blog and check out my nail art. It's nice to be able to share my obsession with all of you =] I will be having a giveaway (a new bottle of this polish will be included!) within the next few weeks so keep an eye out. Anyways, here's the first polish I used from OPI The Muppets Collection called Rainbow Connection. Application was a little difficult because the glitter is so chunky and the glitter would clump on other glitter, but the end result is worth the little extra effort! I used 2 layers of topcoat to smooth it out. Believe it or not, removal was really easy because my polish came off in whole chunks and I just kind of picked it off =P