Pink-ish Wednesday! Ombre Fun with Inglot Colour Play Nail Polishes

(**Inglot Press Samples**)

Happy Humpday!!

 It's only been about an Eon since I've done a Pink Wednesday... So, here is a Pink Wednesday post ♥. A few weeks back I received the Inglot  Colour Play pastel range. These babies are perfect for ombre manis, they really take the guess work out of picking your shades. For this look, I also went back to my roots by doing some stamping. I used my Pueen Love Elements nail stamping plate set.

 This look features Inglot Shades, from Thumb to Pinkie: 388, 387, 386, 385 and 384. For the stamping I used Konad Black Special polish and Pueen stamping plates Pueen 32 on my Middle and Ring finger and Thumb. For my Pinkie and Index nails I used Pueen 28. To finish my nails off I did a coat of Seche Vite followed by a light coat of IN Northern Lights. 

 Here are my base colors before stamping and top coating. 388 is a clean, light Lilac purple creme. 387 is an aweome Blue toned bubblegum Pink creme. 386 is a muted Violet- Mauve creme. 385 is a light Pink- toned Mauve creme. 384 is a beautiful muted Coral creme. All of these polishes have a slight flash of smooth complimenting shimmer. You can see the Golden shimmer in the bottle photo above. That said, the shimmer does not really translate to the nails, but it does aid in appication. All of these were really easy to apply and all did well in Three, thin and easy coats.  

 I miss stamping so much. But at the same time, I'm pretty excited because I have all of these awesome Pueen plates that I have not really gotten to play with yet. So I have those to look forward to :D. I have been terrible about keeping up with plates honestly, if you guys know of any sets I may have missed out on, or new brands, share them in the comments!! 

 So, I am LOOOVING these Inglot Colour Play range. I love them so much, they have even earned a spot on my wall racks. These are great for nail art of all kinds and I just love the formulas and beautiful shades.

Thanks for stopping by darlings! 

More about → Pink-ish Wednesday! Ombre Fun with Inglot Colour Play Nail Polishes

Inglot Spring Pastels 2013- Watermarble Nail Art

(**Press Sample**)

Happy Humpday!! 

  I am at such a loss of words today :-S. So much has happened over the last few days that I don't even know where to start. There has been some utter, horrid nonsense going on; Muffin's been sick, I've been sick, husband got laid off.. It was hectic for a few weeks, but hings are settling down now. 

  Among all the madness some really awesome things happened too. If you pick you the latest issue of Nail It! magazine, you will see a picture of a manicure by yours truly featured in the Snapshots section. It is SO cool to see my nails and name on an actual magazine! That had been one of my goals for some time now.

 Anywho, these are my very first Inglot polishes, and I can honestly say I am a fan. They released a range of 10 pastel shades for Spring 2013 Ranging from Yellow-toned Peach, to Aqua Blue; these colors were begging to be played with. I immediately knew I wanted to do a marble-skittle of sorts with these. These Inglot polishes have a great formula for watermarbles, great pigmentation a really good spread in the water. 

 For this look I started with a White base done with Cult Nails Tempest. For the Pinkie and Index marbles I used Inglot 381(Orange toned peach), 390(Vivid Mint Pastel) and 383(Orange toned Coral). For my Ring and Middle nail I used 382(Yellow toned Peach), 387(Soft Lavender-Pink) and 389(Aqua Blue). All of these Inglot polishes have a creamy formula. I'm not sure if it was just me, but I was detecting the slightest hint of shimmer, so barely there it is not really worth mentioning. I think it definitely aids in the application. 

  To finish off my look I top coated my Pinkie an Index nails in my signature sparkling INM Northern Lights, followed by a coat of Cult Nails Wax That, wax finish top coat. To cover some bubbles I got on my Middle and Ring finger I did a light coat of Lynnderella Connect the Dots, followed by Cult Nails Wicked Fast to give the glitter a high shine. 

  I am loving the contrast of  colors in these marbles, and I really love the completed look. I am also loving what CtD did for my bubbly nails. Overall, I am so happy with how this turned out. I don't marble enough for how much I love the look of the technique. And you know what they say, practice makes perfect. I feel my confidence in my marbling grow with each marble mani I do. They are becoming more fun now that I am getting a good grasp. I think I finally feel comfortable about filming a tutorial about the way I marble. 

 How do you feel about watermarbled nails? Also, would you guys be interested in a tutorial? Let me know in the comments ♥. 

(**Press Sample**)

More about → Inglot Spring Pastels 2013- Watermarble Nail Art

Zoya PixieDust Nyx and Vespa and a PixieDust Recap

(**Press Sample**)

Hi loves and happy Friday!! 

  Today I am showing you my last PixieDust combo as well as recapping the other combinations I wore with these pretties. My final combination was a simple alternating color mani with Nyx and Vespa. Once again I was completely blown away by the wear on these polishes and how beautiful and sparkly they are.

 Zoya Nyx is a lovely Cornflower Blue texture packed with lovely Silver shimmer and glitter. This shade does best in Three easy coats. I also advice waiting a bit between coats to make sure the textured bits do not clump together. Vespa is a really delicate Sage green with that same beautiful Silver Sparkle. Both of these colors are really flattering and easy on the eyes. I wore these babies for about Five days and had very minimal chips.

 Now, Zoya has been, in a way, called out by their fans for going a little photoshop- happy with the Summer PixieDust promo pics. And I kinda get it lolol. I mean they were obviously re-touched with the cute added starry sparkles and whatnot... We know they are sparkly, faeries, there is no need to resort to over photoshopping. That would be like taking a picture of an already beautiful model and trying to shop her to make her "even prettier"... Generally it ends up taking away. So, I took a blurry pic to show just how sparkly these are. And the answer is: INTENSELY sparkly. The best part is that the sparkle seems to float over the textured surface and the "encrusted" sparkles give it this cool precious stone look. But no pic will ever do these true justice.. Just try one out. I promise, it will be LOVE at first try.

I won't go into detail about these combos since they have been previously shown. But I will go ahead and link the original post in case you have any questions. Below are London and Chyna. 

 And here are Dahlia and Godiva. 

 After trying all these, I am very giddy to try the new Summer PixieDusts. Zoya did an amazing job on these colors and the sparkly finish that they chose. I will be honest, I wanted to hate this textured trend... but I don't. I really am loving it a lot and I really like all the different takes from all the different companies. I have to say though, Zoya's are, by far, my favorite! From this group in particular I really adore Chyna, Godiva and  Vespa.
 I know I've said it a lot but the wear on these is AMAZING!!! These are also sheer enough that they can be layered over other colors, or eachother, to create really cool effects. I am really excited to see the vivid Summer shades. These are just AMAZING. They apply like a dream, they dry fast enough and are just beautiful. Textured nails have become my new weekend thing because I know they will always wear like iron and start lots of conversations :D.

 Do you have a favorite shade from this collection? And if so how did you rock your PixieDusts?

(**Press Sample**)

More about → Zoya PixieDust Nyx and Vespa and a PixieDust Recap

Zoya PixieDust in Chyna and London

(**Zoya products provided for review consideration.**)

Good morning and happy humpday!! 

  Today I have my second PixieDust combination. This past weekend I chose to wear Zoya's Chyna and London(Grey) together. I put these on last Friday and wore them until Monday. Much like Godiva and Dahlia, the wear on these was incredible! I had minimal chips on my nails after Four days of rough wear. 

 Both London and Chyna have AMAZING formulas. Chyna is incredibly saturated with color and deep Ruby Red glittery, sparkly goodness. I've seen many girls describe it as a textured Ruby Slippers (pick one lol... there are so many versions) and I completely agree. It is just beautiful, rich and complex. I did Three thin coats of Chyna.
 London is a slightly sheer concrete Grey base, but it builds up easily in Three coats. London is packed with fine Silver sparkle and as it dries the sparkle becomes more obvious. With all of these textured polishes, it is best to wait a few minutes between coats. This picture was taken 45 minutes after application. As you can see they are already, pretty much, dry here. They did continue to harden and become more textured looking.

 I really loved these Two together. Chyna is in-your-face beautiful and London is painfully chic and edgy. Once again I am adoring what Zoya has done with the textured polish trend. I don't think I can pick a favorite from this PixieDust collection. They are all so pretty in their own special way.

Do you have a favorite textured polish yet? Or is this trend just not for you?

(**Zoya products provided for review consideration.**)

More about → Zoya PixieDust in Chyna and London

Milani Textured Polish Skittles

Happy Humpday!! 

  A quick update on my whereabouts.... It has been a few bad days for me. I was in the hospital again on Monday after a few days of feeling "off". I was just at the doctors again today and there are a few tests they want to run on me before moving forward with new medications. It has been a rough few weeks for me and I'm finding myself feeling more and more run-down by the day. It kinda sucks pretty hard. I miss getting into my grooves and swatching and arting like a crazy person. 

 So now that you guys are all caught up on the icky stuff, how bout some AWESOME nail polishes? By now I'm sure you guys have seen a few posts featuring these awesome new textured polishes by Milani. I will admit that I was not on board with this textured trend until I tried these! I love the vivid shades and the texture is actually really cool and not as distracting as I thought it would be. 

 I decided to do skittles with my textured polishes because all the colors were so awesome I couldn't pick just one. The ony one not shown is Shady Gray, which is a really chich shade of Concrete Grey. For this skittle look I used (from Thumb to Pinkie): 

Tainted in Red: A bright, neon Red creme with added texture. This shade could have been a one coater. 

Yellow Mark: This shade is an uber saturated shade of Yellow creme with the added texture. This shade had, by far, the most saturated formula. Could have definitely been one coat. 

Aqua Splash: A beautiful shade of vivid, light Teal creme  with added texture. This shade is a little sheer as it goes on but it dries slightly darker that it applies. I used Two easy coats. 

Purple Streak: A true, grape Purple creme with added texture. This shade was slightly patchy in application, but not problematic. I used Two coats. 

Spoiled in Fuchsia: This shade is a bright shade of Fuchsia creme with the added texture. This shade also had a very saturated formula. 

 I was SO impressed with the formula on all of these. They all applied so easily. Most of these also have really saturated formulas that could almost be one coat. I used Two coats for all of my swatches. In the photo above I had waited about 20 minutes before photographing. As you can see there is still a bit of shine but at that point they were pretty much dry and good to go. All in all they took about an hour to reach that neat matte look but they were good to go in about 20 minutes. 

 In the instagram photo below I had already been wearing the polishes for over 24 hours and the texture had fully dried and set. The look of these is SOOO neat!! These do not sparkle at all, they have an almost concrete/ leathery look once they are fully dry. 

  These polishes wore like IRON on me. As a matter of fact I am still wearing remains today, Five days later. I am very impressed with every single aspect of these polishes and seriously LOVE them. 

These pretties are available online but will also be in stores soon!! I really can't wait to try my hand at some nail art looks with these as well as that awesome Grey texture!! Do you have any favorites in this bunch? I seriously cannot pick!! I love them all SO much. I had not been this excited about a nail polish innovation since back when Holos came out!

 As of right now I am not sure when I will be posting again. Worry not!! This is not a hiatus or anything!! Along with all the doctors visits and what not I'm also having some work done to my computer, stuff that is really overdue, so that will put me out for a few days (but hopefully not DAYS). 

  But, I know you guys understand that health really does come first. ANNNNDD the sooner I am better and stable the sooner I can get back to producing awesome content for you guys (and myself :). Love you and miss you guys very much!! Your support means SO much to me!

(**Milani products provided for my consideration**)

More about → Milani Textured Polish Skittles

China Glaze Avant Garden Collection Swatches- Part One

Hello!! 

  Yesterday I held a little "poll" on Facebook to see what you guys wanted to see today and ya'll voted for the China Glaze Avant Garden swatches. This post will focus on Six of the Avant Garden Shades (and yes, I will be sharing the other six shades :). 

 China Glaze did a beautiful job with this collection. All the colors are definitely Spring-perfect and they all compliment each other. There is a nice range of shades in this 12 piece collection. 

 To see close ups of these pretties just continue reading ♥.

China Glaze Fade into Hue

Fade into Hue is a dreamy shade of Periwinkle creme. This polish gave me a little bit of trouble with photos. It kept wanting to come off a tad more vibrant in pictures than it is in person. Think of this shade with strong Grey undertones. Like a cloudy Sky Blue. I'm not sure how this compares to Secret Periwinkle but they might be cousins. The formula on this shade was just a little patchy but keeping a light hand remedies that issue. I used Three thin coats for my swatch. 

China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On 

 I was SO sure I was going to loathe this color... It was the complete opposite! This might be one of my very top picks out of this entire collection. Keep Calm, Paint On (LOVE the name) is a lovely minty Seafoam green with a strong Pearly finish. My fear with this shade was that it would look dated, or frosty. SO GLAD it is a beautiful Pearly finish with a perfect application. I had no issues with the formula on this one and only needed Two coats for my swatch. Feeling stressed? Put this on your nails, stare at it while counting to 10... You will feel better!

China Glaze Fancy Pants

 Fancy Pants is this trendy shade of vivid Cobalt Blue with subtle Pink- Copper shimmer. The shimmer is so much more evident in the bottle than on the nail. The Blue creamy base is almost too dense to allow the sparkle to show through when the polish is applied. That was a slight bummer. That said, I still adore this shade and the shimmer is obvious enough to make this polish uniquely beautiful. This color has a great formula and could have almost been one coat for me. I did Two coats for my swatch.

China Glaze Dandy Lyin' Around

 Dandy Lyin Around is the most angelic shade of shimmering White. This shade is so chic, clean and just plain pretty. The shimmer in this is very fine and Silvery- Pink so it has a snowy quality about it. The formula was slightly thick but not problematic. I used Three thin coats for full opacity. It is best to wait between coats with this shade. And yes, I will comp this with Frosty. Though I'm sure they are quite different.  

China Glaze Budding Romance 

Budding Romance was an instant favorite for me. This is an edgy shade of Light Olive Green with strong Yellow undertones. This shade has an AWESOME creamy-jelly formula so the finished look is a ridiculously shiny, squishy shade of fierce Green. I used Three thin coats for my swatch. Make sure you are wearing a base coat under this pretty to avoid stains!

China Glaze Tart-y to for Party 

 How great are these names!? Tart-y for the Party is a beautiful shade of cool toned Lilac creme. I love this shade because it is more vivid than other "pastel" Purples to come out this Season. This shade is classic and still beautiful. The formula on this beauty was buttery smooth. I used Two coats for my swatch.

 China Glaze knows the way to my heart. Amazing cremes in fun and interesting colors, fantastic formulas and quirky names... What more could you want? I can't wait to try out the other half of this collection. I am SO in love with the Six in this post. I'd have to say my top picks are Budding Romance, Dandy Lyin Around and Fancy Pants. Fade into Hue and Tart-y for the Party are a refreshing take on the more classic colors. Keep Calm, Paint On is on a league all it's own... Could it be I've found my favorite color for Spring in this collection?

Do you have any picks from this half?

(**CG products provided for my consideration**)

More about → China Glaze Avant Garden Collection Swatches- Part One

Spring Rolls Jelly Sammiches!

Hello my beauties and happy Friday!! 

  Today I have a quick post for you guys featuring some yummy glitter-jelly sammiches. While I was swatching my China Glaze Bitz 'n' Pieces Collection I figured it would be fun to see them sandwiched as well. 

 I won't be going into huge detail about each look since these are simple jelly sammiches. This is still one of my favorite methods to spice up a plain manicure. I will break down the polishes used from base color to top color to keep things easy haha!

China Glaze Tart-y for the Party, Bling it On- Sammiched with O.P.I Care to Danse?

China Glaze Dandy Lyin' Around, Mosaic Madness- Sammiched with O.P.I Don't touch my Tutu

China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On, Graffiti Glitter- Sammiched with O.P.I Don't touch my Tutu

China Glaze Fade into Hue, Glitz 'n'n PIeces- Sammiched with O.P.I My Pointe Exactly

 If you are a lover of the jelly sandwich look you will definitely love the Bitz 'n ' Pieces Collection by China Glaze! Also, I really want O.P.I (or anyone) to release more jellies a'la O.P.I NYC Ballet Collection. Those were, and still are, some of my favorite polishes ever.

  For some strange reason I am SO very reado for the weekend to start!! Maybe I should rock a jelly sammich to get it started right!!

(**Products provided for my consideration**)

More about → Spring Rolls Jelly Sammiches!

China Glaze Bitz 'n' Pieces Collection Swatches

Good afternoon loves!! 

  Today I am sharing my swatchies of the new China Glaze Bitz 'n' Pieces collection. I'm pretty happy to see all these mainstream companies jumping on the "quirky, chunky glitter" bandwagon. This collection is made up of Six glittery toppers which are heavily accented by Black "bits and pieces". I know many of us have been spoiled by the indie polish makers but these really are fun, cute and HEAVILY packed with sparkly goodness.

 To see swatches of these babies just continue reading ♥.

  All of these swatches are shown with a top coat of Seche Vite. These glitters don't dry gritty, but they do dry a bit dull. A good top coat will bring out shine and smooth the surface out completely. 

China Glaze Bling it On over China Glaze Tart-y for the Party

  Bling it On is a mix of "Burple" Hexes in varying sizes, and Black hexes and Bars in varying sizes suspended in a clear base. This glitter has a nice spread and there is no fishing required. I used one "coat" of Bling it On over my base color.  

China Glaze Scattered and Tattered over China Glaze Fancy Pants 

 Scattered and Tattered is a clear-based blend of Rusty Red hexes in varying sizes, and Black Hexes and Bars in varying sizes. My bottle of Scattered and Tattered was a little thick, which made application a bit tricky. I might need to add a bit of thinner to my bottle. I used one coat of SaT for my swatch. Lemme just get this out of my system.. I LOVE THIS COMBINATION!!! 

China Glaze Razzle Me, Dazzle over China Glaze Budding Romance 

 Razzle me, Dazzle is a clear-based mix of light, Warm Gold hexes in varying sizes, and Black hexes and bars in varying sizes. I also ran into a thick bottle with this glitter. If you do as well, please, for the love of all that is good and great DO NOT PUT ACETONE IN YOUR POLISH. That will just ruin your pretty polishes. Invest in some polish thinner. 

China Glaze Graffiti Glitter over China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On 

Graffiti Glitter is a clear-based mix of Emerald Green hexes in varying sizes, and Black bars and hexes in varying sizes. My bottle of GG has a great consistency and great spread of glitter. I really love the edgy look of the Green and Black mix. 

China Glaze Mosaic Madness over China Glaze Dandy Lyin' Around 

Mosaic Madness is a clear-based mix of Sapphire Blue hexes in varying sizes, and Black bars and hexes in varying sizes. My bottle of MM has a great consistency and the glitter spread was great. 

China Glaze Glitz 'n' Pieces over China Glaze Fade into Hue

 Glitz 'n Pieces is a clear based Silver and Black blend. This is the most "normal" of the toppers. Glitz 'n' Pieces is a great addition to the collection of any "glitter- sammi" lover as the combination of glitters allows for endless sammi combos. 

 That will do it for me today. Have you picked any of the Bitz 'n Pieces glitters yet? I can't really pick but I really loved Scattered and Tattered, Grafitti Glitter and Bling it On. Which are your faves? 

More about → China Glaze Bitz 'n' Pieces Collection Swatches

Lovely Looks with the Zoya Lovely Spring 2013 Collection

Happy Humpday!! 

  Today I have some looks featuring the shades in Zoya's new Spring Collection. The Lovely Collection is made up of Three gorgeous cremes, and Three beautiful shimmering pastels. The second I saw these shades I knew I would be doing some looks with them. I couldn't bring myself to just swatch them, I had to play with them :D. Zoya's Lovely is definitely Lovely!!   

 For my first look I went with a cute half-moon look. I might be a *tad* obsessed with half-moon manis. This simple, but eye-catching, look started with a base of Zoya Blu. Blu is the most perfect shade of light, light Blue creme. I wanted to do something with interesting contrast and a bit of an edge so for my accent color I went with Zoya Piaf. Piaf is one of those shades that are so ugly they are pretty. Piaf is a neat, light Mustard- Chartreuse Yellow with complimenting shimmer. I was pretty sure Piaf would not look good on my skintone but combining it with Blu really made it work for me. I love this combination.

 How could I NOT do a cloud mani with these babies?! For this look I started with a base of Jacqueline. Jacqueline is a pretty, light shade of creamy Ivory. There is a very slight, barely there shimmer in Jacqueline. For my clouds I used Zoya Julie and Neely. The finished look is really subtle, but so perfect for Spring!

 For my final look I wanted to do something striped and simple. I started with a base of Neely. Neely is a gorgeous, light Seafoam creme. For the color accents I used Zoya Julie and GeiGei. I used fine striping tape to create the color-blocked look. On my index and Pinkie I filled in the taped gaps with fine brushes. I really like the end result. These remind me of the girly notebooks I used to carry in High School.

 Here are quick swatches of my base shades. From left to right: Neely, Blu and Jacqueline. These were all two coats and I ran into no issues with the formulas.

 I have a few more looks planned for these pretties. Zoya's Spring Collections are always just gorgeous and inspiring to me. As always, the formulas are a joy to work with. These shades all compliment each other and it makes wearing just one at a time impossible for me!

Did you pick up any of Zoya's new Spring shades?

(**Zoya products provided for review**)

More about → Lovely Looks with the Zoya Lovely Spring 2013 Collection

@LCNUSA Blossom Sorbet Collection- Spring Nail Art Look

Good morning and happy Thursday! 

  A few weeks ago I received this, extremely adorable, Spring nail polish set by LCN. This cute little collection of Four is called Blossom Sorbet.  The Blossom Sorbet set is made of Four adorable pastel shades, right on trend for Spring 2013. The second I unpacked these cuties I knew I HAD to do something fun with them. 

 The formula on these polishes was great and easy to work with. I really enjoyed the creamy texture and  perfect pigmentation of these polishes. Oh! They also have a really nice, fluffy brush that fans out perfectly for flawless application. 

 This look started with a base of Soft Daisy. From index to pinkie for the moons: I Love Mint, Vintage Rose and Lilac Blossom. I then went back and added little dot accents above the moons in Soft Daisy. I gave the dots a minute to set and then went back with a very small dotting tool and dotted the centers with corresponding colors.
 For the stripes I used a long, fine striping brush and patience. I'm pretty proud of my stripes. I had never really attempted this technique. I found it surprisingly simple to do, as long as you are not in a rush. I topped my stripes off with INM Northern Lights to hide the little imperfections. After giving my dots some time to dry I topped all my nails off with some Seche Vite and called it a night :D.
  I must say that I absolutely LOVE these shades. They are just adorable and they compliment each other so well. I love when I look at polishes and I actually feel inspired by the colors alone. The Blossom Sorbet set did just that.

 Here is a swatch of my base color, Soft Daisy. This pretty pastel Yellow has the most subtle shimmer that makes the formula a dream to work with. Soft Daisy has a very smooth, even and just plain awesome formula. I used Three coats for my swatch.

 I'm loving the Spring pastels! I had so much fun with this adorable little set. LCN is pretty new to me but so far I am a happy camper!! I hope they keep this up!

**EDIT**- Here is a tutorial on how to achieve this look**

 What are your thoughts on this look? Are you liking the Spring pastels?

(**LCN products provided for my consideration**)

More about → @LCNUSA Blossom Sorbet Collection- Spring Nail Art Look