31DC2013 - day 18

20 minutes to go and here is my challenge post for today!
The theme for day 18 is Half Moon Manicure.

I got up today to do nails for a friend (which were BOMB and I need to get a picture of) and I ended up taking a nap... And slept until I had to go to work tonight. HA! So my nails had to wait until I got home at 10:30... And it took me an hour to settle on a design (and make an order from Forever 21...) And here I am!

Half moon glitter! I've always wanted to do a manicure with a gold glitter half moon but I never wanted to take the time to paint the base, let it dry, and add the stickers to do the flawless half moon.
So today I thought, "Hey, let's do a matte base and then I can put the stickers on right away!"

Wrong. Even though I used a matte base the stickers pulled up the polish.
So I fixed my booboo, and decided to add the glitter on freehand. I didn't have time for anything else!
I'm pretty shocked at how I managed to freehand the glitter on so well, and so quick. It only took a couple minutes!

I loveeeee gold lately. All gold everything.
The gold is Milani - Gold Glitz from the One Coat Glitter range.
The matte base is OPI - Gargantuan Green Grape Matte and it sadly needs three coats to be opaque which somewhat defeats the lovely characteristic that mattes have of drying solid super quick. 

Here's how it looked before I added topcoat.

Luv luv. Glad I managed to knock this out in time! 

OPI Liquid Sand - Get Your Number

Happy Sunday!

Have you guys seen the new Liquid Sand polishes from OPI?
I'm sure most of you have already, but in case you aren't familiar with it, I'll tell you about them!
Essentially they are glitter polishes "with a textured, matte finish infused with reflective sparkle."
You don't topcoat them, so they're textured/matte but the holographic glitter still shines! It's pretty cool.

I totally thought I would hate them. Like, really hate them. Gritty nails? On purpose?

Turns out, I was wrong, and they're cool as hell.

OPI - Get Your Number
The Liquid Sand polishes are debuting in the Mariah Carey Collection that is in stores now. There are four of them, and I picked up three. (I would have gotten all four had the purple not been sold out...)

You need just 2 coats to cover the nail completely. There is a blue jelly base so coverage is easy.
They dry pretty quickly - not as quick as a flat matte polish but still faster than regular polish.
Warning, you will be feeling up your nails all day long when you wear these.

I imagined it would be very annoying and snag on your clothes and hair, etc, but it doesn't really.
I will say though, it does snag on your wool while you are crocheting... But not everyone will have that problem! Just me and the grandmas! Hahaha.

I also have to say that this polish has amazing lasting power. I imagined it would chip pretty instantly - like most matte polish, but I have been wearing this for four days now with no chips. None!

I am sorry, OPI, for all the bad things I thought about your Liquid Sand polish. You were right. I was wrong. Please forgive me for not believing in you.

Of course, you can add topcoat to turn these into something totally different!

Adding topcoat gives it a jelly glitter look. Shown here is just one coat of topcoat and you can see it is still bumpy. You're gonna need at least 2 coats for a smooth finish. It eats up the topcoat.

I had to add some stamping to spice up the manicure on the fourth day!

Animal print never fails. I'm totally diggin' this look!

Phew, this was a long post!

What do you guys think of the Liquid Sand finish?
Love it? Hate it? Still not sure?

I definitely think it is something you need to see in person before you make judgement. It won't be for everyone, but I'm a fan! Can't wait to try out my other two shades.

Pure Ice - Touch Me Softly

At first I didn't like matte polishes. Now I can't get enough!
Here's a lovely matte from Pure Ice's recent collection of mattes. I forget what they called it... Velvet? Velour? Something...

Anyway. A lovely friend picked up six of the polishes for me and this one is my favorite, I think!

Pure Ice - Touch Me Softly
As you can see, it's really a suede matte, meaning it's packed with shimmer! Gorgeous.
The formula was wonderful, you just need 2 coats, and it dries almost instantly.
Perfect for when you're in a hurry!

You may remember I wore this under my swatch of Elixiversary from a few days ago.
That'll give you an idea of how it looks when you add topcoat. (Also beautiful.)

I wore this for almost 2 days before it began to chip. That's great for matte polish! I find OPI lasts on me like that, but other mattes like ManGlaze I can't keep on for 2 hours, let alone 2 days.
So I was impressed with the staying power of Pure Ice!
Despite only costing what, 2 bucks, it's great quality.

Ladies in the US, if these are still kicking around at your Walmart, definitely pick them up! You won't be disappointed.
I'm sure I'll be wearing the other colors soon and will have those to show off to you!

I'm off to watch Batman with my dad. Until tomorrow, lovelies!

OPI - Lincoln Park After Dark Matte

Hello all! We are nearing the end of my vacation and my scheduled posts...

Today's post is a bit of a sad one because I'm just showing you a kinda sad swatch on some super short sad nails. Heh.

This is OPI - Lincoln Park After Dark Matte.
I really wanted to get all the OPI Mattes after falling in love with the suedes, but they just aren't the same without that shimmer!
This also took 3 coats to even out fully which was a bummer.
It just didn't give me that nice, smooth look I wanted. I do adore the color though.

Lesson learned, I definitely like shimmery suede better than flat matte.

Some day I'll have to post all the Lincoln Park polishes at once!
Lincoln Park After Dark, Lincoln Park After Dark Matte, Lincoln Park After Dark Suede, Lincoln Part At Midnight...

31dc2012 - day 30

Okay, I'm late again. Later than before. I've gotta hurry this post up!

The theme for today is Inspired By A Tutorial.

I decided to copy from my friend Laurie @ Dressed Up Digits, and recreate the same mani she did today. I saw it and I just loved it!

Tada! Herringbone print!
It looks ultra complicated, right? But it actually isn't, because it's just a stamp plus a few added lines.

This look comes from Miss 80 Million on YouTube. Click here for the tutorial.

You start by using the chevron stamp from Bundle Monster BM-201, and then using a striper, you add the vertical lines.

I used OPI - Gargantuan Green Grape - Matte as my base color.

I really like the color of this polish, but I'm still not sure how I feel about flat matte polishes.
This is a bit brighter than the original Gargantuan Green Grape and it's practically a matte-dupe for Color Club's Twiggie.

I used Konad Special Black for the stamping and an It's So Easy Stripe Rite for the striping.

I noticed that my striper polish dried matte as well, and stamping usually turns out mostly matte, so I decided to just skip the topcoat and leave this one matte!
(Plus I'm sure I would have smeared the hell out of it! Haha!)

I'll probably add topcoat tomorrow before I take it off just to see what it looks like.

Tomorrow is the LAST DAY! It's good that it is ending now because I am really burned out. As you can tell by the three last-minute posts I did this week. Haha! I'm just too busy for changing my nails every day now.
I can't wait to enjoy a manicure for a few days!

OPI - Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow Suede

Hey guys!

I was going to do a long post today with some layering but I decided to cut it down to show off this polish on its own. It's one of my favorites and it deserves its own post!

OPI - Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow Suede
Finally, I have completed my collection of the OPI Suede polishes! This was the last one I needed and it proved semi-difficult to find, but here it is!

The formula of the OPI Suede polishes is just wonderful. They cover in two very smooth coats and dry lightning fast. Whenever I need to do a manicure and be out the door in 2 minutes, I go for a suede.

Not everyone is into the matte look, but I love it when the polishes have the suede texture. Flat matte, I don't love. But shimmery matte? Yes!

Love love. So happy to have this. If you don't have any OPI Suedes, what are you waiting for?! Go find some!

Tomorrow, I'm going to continue this post and show you what I layered on top.
It created a beautiful manicure... And a horrible aftermath. Stay tuned.

Zoya Savita gets laced up with Born Pretty stickers!

Hey guys! Tonight I'm going to be showing you some cool nail stickers from Born Pretty Store.

I was lucky enough to receive a bunch of different stickers/nail decals to try out!
There are Hello Kitty stickers, Angry Birds, some bows, lace, and flowers!
I'll be trying out most of these but to start out, I have a manicure to show you using these pretty white lace ones.

I was worried that they might be really obvious and thick on the nail but they are actually awesome!

The stickers don't really look like stickers once you have them on the nail. They are thin, and blend into the polish. There's no obvious bumps. I'm very impressed!

You don't have to be extremely careful because once you lay it on your nail, you can move it around if it isn't perfect. When you get it in the right place, smooth it down and get out any wrinkles.
Once you seal them with topcoat, they stay on well! I wore this for 24 hours before removing it and did not experience any lifting.

I used the same sticker to do the four matching nails. I used cuticle nippers to closely cut the edges to match my nails. And then for the index finger, I used one piece of a sticker that I clipped off.
I found it really easy to clip them with the nippers.

The base polish I used here is Zoya - Savita, a beautiful purple matte polish with an amazing formula! It takes 2 coats and of course, it dries super fast because it is a matte.
It really comes alive with topcoat, as you can see in this next photo!

Such a gorgeous purple!
And I love these stickers. The lace designs are really cool because there is no way I could paint that on so perfectly!
I have the same stickers in black as well and I am imagining them over nude polish! I'll have to try that out soon.

Overall, these stickers really impressed me! Thumbs up for sure.
You can buy these specific ones right here, but check out all their sticker selection because holy cow, there is a lot!

And don't forget, they ship free worldwide, and you can use my coupon code for 10% off your entire purchase.

Have a great evening everyone!
And check out my Zoya giveaway if you haven't yet!

go french with OPI We'll Always Have Paris Suede

Good morning lovelies!
Today I'll be showing off another OPI Suede polish and the resulting mani that I wore with it!

OPI - We'll Always Have Paris Suede
I seriously dig these suedes. I never liked matte finishes until I tried these out! They apply so nicely, dry in seconds, and just look really cool!

I wore this polish for 2 days before it started to wear away at the tips, which is great for a matte finish polish with no topcoat.
I wasn't ready to take it off, so it was time for some art to cover the tipwear!
(You may remember I did the same thing with Russian Navy Suede in this post.)

I went for a cool french mani! And man, I seriously enjoyed it. My nails looked so... vampy. I don't know. They were badass but still elegant. If that's possible.

To add on the V-shaped french, I used Essence - Black Is Back and just used the polish brush to quickly paint it on. It's not perfect, but it's hard to see the imperfections.

Et voilà!  A sexy french mani in Paris. Suede.

my first ruffian mani

Hey everyone - before I start this post I am going to do some major whining! Justified whining though. I need an outlet!

I just found out that the blink-182 concert I was supposed to see next week is CANCELLED.
Because the drummer just had his tonsils out. TONSILS! Blink is my favorite band and has been for about 10 years. This was going to be my third time flying away to see them. I love them so much that I can't be mad at them but... tonsils? Drummer? He played with a broken foot before but... tonsils?! AH!

I spent close to $500 on plane tickets to go to Quebec City and now I don't know what to do. Go anyway? Spend another $150 to turn my tickets into a voucher? Ugh. It's not even the money that really bums me out but the fact that I won't be seeing blink this year. And I'm sure the stars won't all align in exactly the right ways for me to see them next year, the way they did this year. I'm so sad. :(

Anyway... depressing news aside... here is a mani I wore a few weeks ago.

I like ruffian manis but I'm not sure if I chose the right colors for my first one!

This mani started out with two coats of OPI - Russian Navy Suede.
I was wearing this for 3 days before adding the silver, I was surprised it lasted that long before chipping! Matte/suede polishes usually chip super fast but color me impressed.
I love this polish a lot, the suede effect is cool! I've got 6/7 of the suedes they released and I'd like to get the last one, too! I stupidly didn't buy it when I had the chance. (Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow Suede is the one I am missing.

So, when the chips happened, I wasn't ready to remove the color so I decided to do a ruffian mani!
A ruffian is a very chic look and can cover up your chips in a flash.

To do the look, you add a second color but you don't go all the way to the cuticle. It can be a bit tricky to get the spacing the same (notice my middle finger is different from the others) but with practice it is no problem.

The silver is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Silver Sweep. This mani was so darn reflective, it was hard to get good pictures.

I'm gonna try more ruffians this summer... but with neons!!

Now before I go, allow me to remind you that today is another day to vote for me in the Bundle Monster contest! Yes, I'm shameless.
If you've got Facebook, click HERE to go to my entry!
If you don't have Facebook, click HERE to go to my entry!

Thanks :)

i have a chevron problem

Morning everyone!

Today I'm gonna take a break from showing European polishes and I'm gonna show you a nice OPI from their most recent collection, and the nail art that I did when I wore it.

I'll pre-warn you - I had the cold from hell when I wore this mani and I think it screwed up my camera talent. Haha! My skin is totally washed out in some of them and in another I've got serious tipwear. They're still nice but I'm just picky.

OPI - I Have A Herring ProblemSo far I've only picked up 2 polishes from the Holland Collection and this is one of 'em! I love this dusty blue with the awesome silver shimmer.

This kind of shimmer is my fave. It's more textured looking than other kinds of shimmer and I think the effect is really cool.

When I was wearing this polish, I decided I wanted to try out a chevron mani, like this one from Jane of Nailside.

I loved how chic this looked!
The trick to getting the perfect lines is using scotch tape to create the triangles.
I used the same 2 pieces of tape on all nails to make sure the angle of the chevron was exactly the same. (You just have to wipe the tape off between uses!)

The first color I used was OPI - Suzi Skiis In The Pyrenees Suede, a lovely shimmery gray matte/suede polish. I then used a small brush to freehand the black pieces with Wet N Wild - Black Creme. You could use tape for the third color but I didn't want to risk ruining it, so I just did it freehand.
I added topcoat to make the whole thing shiny and there you have it!

I only got one good picture of this manicure before ruining it at my job, and I needed more than one picture so here is my tipwear. Haha! It's not so bad.
I really wanna try this again with bright colors!

That's all for today ladies (and gents?)!