Swatches

The One With a Swatch of Zoya Storm

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world! How are you all doing today?  No nail art since while I'm writing this at midnight, and I'm honestly too lazy to write about nail art.  It's cold, I'm tired, and have a headache. I blame the weather, it's just awful outside.  I'm hoping it gets a tad warmer for Halloween so I can hand out candy to the little trick or treaters!

So, since I'm too lazy to share nail art, I'm going to share the base of tomorrow's Halloween nail art post - Zoya Storm.  Swatch posts = quick and easy.

Let's take a look!


Zoya Storm - a gorgeous black jelly polish with a scattered holo.  If you don't have a bottle of this, or any of other Zoya scattered holos, then you're truly missing out.  This is one of my favorites and I actually need to grab a back up bottle of it.  Two coats, full coverage, and the perfect base for Halloween nails or even a galaxy manicure.  Speaking of galaxy nails, I haven't done those in forever!

What do you think? Fan of Zoya Storm? Have any of the Zoya scattered holos?

Until tomorrow, <3.

FingerPaints

The One With the Random FingerPaints Swatch

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  Happy Sunday to you all!  How are you all doing today?  I hope everyone had a happy and safe Fourth of July.  I meant to have a post up yesterday, but sleep in Saturday became an all day event, and I'm still exhausted.  That tells you how busy my week was.  It was completely thrown off too because of the holiday being right smack dab in the middle of the week.  I felt like I had two Monday's.

Here's to this week though going better, especially since there is only one Monday!!  Still though, why does there even have to be a Monday??  Anyways, I'm getting off topic.  Today I'm sharing with you the base for the manicure I'm going to share with you tomorrow.  I was obsessing over the base, so I felt I needed to dedicate a swatch post to it.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • FingerPaints - Lavender Love
  • FingerPaints - 50 Shades of Ashley
Lavender Love is one of my favorite purple polishes.  Two coats of a beautiful cream lavender which saddens me that I'm getting close to the end because I fear I will never find one just like it.  I've used Lavender Love numerous times before, that's not what I'm here to drool over.

What I'm drooling over is 50 Shades of Ashley which was part of the Ashley Nell Tipton Collection that came out a few years ago.  Why I never used it yet is beyond me.  Maybe because I thought it was just a boring opal looking purple, but on the nail it is so much more!  I used one coat over Lavender Love and it added such a dimension to the polish!!!  I couldn't stop staring at it!

Wait until you see the design I did over it!

What do you think?  Like this swatch?  Do you think I should share more swatches?

Until next time, <3.

Morgan Taylor

Morgan Taylor Beauty and the Beast Collection Swatch and Review Part 2

9:00:00 AM


Hey everyone!!!  Are you ready for Part Two of my Swatch and Review of the Morgan Taylor Beauty and the Beast collection??  The more I thought about this, the more I think I should have broken the posts up different than swatches then top coat.  Oh well.  Lesson learned for next time.

Anyways, one polish that I did not review yesterday was Enchanted Patina.  This polish can be worn alone or added on top of the polishes to create a bronzed antique look.  Now, guys I apologize in advance, I didn't do a plain swatch of the polish, I just did it on top of the swatches from yesterday.

Head on into the post to see the swatches!

Morgan Taylor

Morgan Taylor Beauty and the Beast Collection Swatch and Review Part 1

9:00:00 AM


Okay, attempt number two.  Hello polished world!  How are you all doing today??  I say that this is attempt number two because I wrote this whole post, hit schedule, and it disappeared.  Poof, gone, away.  That's never happened and I'm honestly so confused.

Anyways, today I have a swatch post for you all today!  It's been quite some time since I've shared swatches, and that's honestly because it's kind of a pain in the behind to create them.  Paint, photograph, remove, paint, photograph, remove....it's so monotonous.  The removing part is my least favorite.

When I received the new Morgan Taylor Beauty and the Beast Collection from Preen.Me, I just had to swatch it.  I was all prepped to suck it up, forget my hate of the swatching process, and just go for it.  That was until Sarah from 25 Sweet Peas told me about the Sally Hansen Big Peel Off Base Coat.  Now swatching is something I can see myself doing a lot more of!!!


Enough of my babbling, the Beauty and the Beast collection consists of 6 polishes and 1 top coat.  Let's take a look!

Swatches

The Simple Mani with Zoya Nyx and Stevie

9:00:00 AM



Happy Tuesday polished world!!  How are you all doing today?  I have a quick swatch-ish post for you all.  I meant to have a post up yesterday, then got sidetracked.  Then I wanted to have an art post up today as a pre-Thanksgiving manicure, but in the end I'm going to share that one as my Thanksgiving one.

So today I'm sharing with you a skittle manicure I did using two of the Zoya Pixie Dusts.  As you know, I love the original micro formula of the Pixies and am so happy that Zoya started coming out with new colors.  I don't care what anyone says, the textured look is still in.

Let's take a look!

Colors Used:

  • Zoya - Nyx
  • Zoya - Stevie
Love, love, love Nyx.  I purchased this polish a year or so ago during a Zoya promo.  I didn't have any colors like it in my collection so of course I needed to get it.  Three coats for this one.  I found it to be a little sheer.  It did build up, but it needed the three.  If you did two thicker coats, you can get away with two, but I find that the Pixie's dry funky if you do thick coats.



My beloved Stevie.  My all time favorite Pixie dust.  Two coats.  So happy I have a back up bottle of this beauty, and beyond happy that they didn't change the formula over the years.  I'm sure you all have had a company change a formula of your beloved polish and when you go to re-stock you're highly disappointed.  Thankfully, this Pixie is still the same.

Fan of the skittles?  Do you still use and love the Pixie Dust polishes?

Promise to be back to the nail art in a few days!

Until next time, <3.

FingerPaints

The One With the Skittle Swatches

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today??  It's Saturday, so I'm super thrilled to be sleeping in and spending my day doing absolutely nothing.  Well that's a lie, I have a lot of errands to run and a Pinterest project I want to complete.  I also want to sleep until about 1pm, but I don't see that happening.

So as we all know, I'm taking a tad of a break from the intricate nail art after all the Halloween manicures.  I did do some nail art last night, but unfortunately I'm having an awful time photographing them.  I did get some photographs, but they're going to need some editing for you to be able to see the design.  Sigh.  I hate when that happens.  Maybe I'll just take some cell phone shots outside and call it a day.  

Anyways, today's manicure is a simple swatch skittle which I actually did last month.  I attempted to do a Halloween manicure but couldn't get the nail art to work right, so I just made it a swatch mani.  I ended up wearing it for a few days because I really liked the color combination and how it turned out.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:

  • Zoya - Rooney
  • Zoya - Dahlia
  • FingerPaints - Sterling Sculpture
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
Isn't it pretty?  You guys might be seeing more skittles from me in the future.  I feel like my nails are still fancy even without nail art when I do these manicures.  Plain swatches of one color just bore me and I remove them right away.  When it's a bunch of swatches though, I love it.

Rooney is a gorgeous pink polish.  It sits in the back of my Melmer and never gets used.  Two coats of this beauty.  If you like pinks, then I suggest you purchase it.  I'm happy I purchased Dahlia awhile ago during a Zoya promo.  This polish is absolutely gorgeous and one of my favorite Pixie Dusts.  Two coats and full coverage.  I thought it was going to need three the first time I swatched it when I bought it, but it builds up wonderfully in two coats.

You already all know how much I love FingerPaints Sterling Sculpture and ORLY Liquid Vinyl.  My favorite go to polishes.

What do you think?  Like the skittles?  Think I could get away with doing more??

Until next time, <3.

Jessica Cosmetics

Jessica Cosmetics Into the Wild Collection Swatch and Review

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?  It's Sunday meaning we are beginning yet another new week.  I'm hoping that this week isn't going to be as crazy as last.  I'm way too busy for my own good.

Today I have swatches of the new Into the Wild Collection from Jessica Cosmetics!  This Fall collection contains six gorgeous cream shades.


Let's take a closer look!

Serendipity Polish

Serendipity Polish: Call Me Boss Lady Collection Swatch and Review

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?  I'm trying to cram in some swatches among my nail art, so you're going to see a bit more of me lately than usual.  I try to stick to the every 3 day posting schedule, but I have way too many drafts that it's making me nervous.  Plus some of my drafts are these Fall collections and I really want to get them out to you while they're still new.

Today I am sharing with you the new Serendipity Polish Call Me Boss Lady Collection!  Earlier this year I purchased the Beach, Please summer collection was super impressed.  All polishes were one coat creams with super fast dry times, which for a nail artist like myself, I could get a lot of use out of.  On top of that they are gorgeous colors.  When I saw on Serendipity Polish's Instagram page that they introduced a Fall line, I didn't think twice.  I immediately purchased the polishes because I knew I wouldn't be sorry!  Plus with the name "Call Me Boss Lady", I couldn't resist.


Thank you to Sarah from 25 SweetPeas who created this awesome collage for me.  I tried to but it just didn't work out well.  That girl is a guru when it comes to graphics and collages.

Anyways, the Call Me Boss Lady collection consists of four creams and one holographic polish.  Let's take a closer look!

Morgan Taylor

Morgan Taylor Sweetheart Squadron Collection Swatch and Review

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today??  I have another swatch post for you all today!!  I'm super excited to be sharing with you the new Morgan Taylor Sweetheart Squadron collection.  This is my first ever experience with Morgan Taylor polishes.  I've heard read some great reviews in the past, so I've always been curious to try them out!

The Sweetheart Squadron collection is inspired by the courageous female pioneers of the aviation industry.  It consists of five cream polishes and one shimmer polish perfect for Fall.  When I first saw the bottle shot photos on the internet, I wasn't too sure about this collection.  I thought they looked kind of boring and like typical Fall shades.  Then I got my hands on the actual bottles and my opinion quickly changed.

Let's take a look!


OPI

OPI Do You Take Lei-Away? Swatch and Review

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today??  Remember how I told you I'm going to start sharing more swatches?  Well here's yet another!  I think what I want to start doing is sharing the base of my manicures the day before I share the nail art?  Maybe?  It might be a ton of work, but for today that is what we are doing.

Today's swatch is of OPI's Do You Take Lei-Away? from last year's Hawaii collection.  I absolutely love OPI's nude polishes, so whenever I see one that I think will look good on my skin tone, I snag it.  This one I purchased last year from Sally Beauty during a BOGO sale and really am kicking myself that I didn't grab another bottle.

Let's take a look.


It's such a gorgeous nude polish which I think goes well with my skin tone.  Two coats for my swatch and I had full coverage.  It's not patchy and dries super fast unlike My Vampire is Buff.  Weirdly enough despite my complaints about My Vampire is Buff, it is one of my favorites.

What do you think of this shade?  Something you own and rarely use?  Highly suggest you pull it out and re-visit it if you do own it!

Can't wait to show you the nail art I created on top of this swatch!  Actually my next two posts will use this color!!!!  Really think you're going to like them!

Until next time, <3.

Orly

ORLY Breathable Treatment + Color Swatch and Review

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?  I feel like it should be Friday, but alas, it's only Wednesday.  Anyone else's week going super slow?  I think this whole watching, the Olympics nightly is throwing me off.  Maybe?  Or maybe it's the lack of rain and the extreme hot weather.  Sigh.

Today I'm sharing with you swatches of some of the new ORLY Breathable Treatment + Color polishes.  A few weeks ago I posted on the blog a Press Release regarding this new collection which requires no base coat or top coat, just two coats and you're done.  I was very interested to see how they would pan out.  I decided to swatch before using them for nail art because the colors needed to be seen on their own!  Plus, I said I was going to start swatching more and I'm sticking to that!

Let's take a look!


The collection consists of 18 different colors.  I received Give Me a Break, TLC, and Stronger Than Ever.  Originally I received different ones which were equally as gorgeous, but unfortunately were never able to swatch them since FedEx broke them.  Ugh, all my packages have been destroyed lately, but that's a rant for another time.


Give Me A Break is a gorgeous fuchsia polish.  At first I thought it was dupe of Frolic, but side by side the bottles are very different.  As promised, two coats and full coverage.  


TLC, which I'm going to call The Little Canvas, is a gorgeous purple shade.  My favorite of the three I swatched.  Two coats, full coverage.  Love.


Stronger Than Ever is a gorgeous red with gold shimmer.  Wasn't too sure about this one when I saw the bottle, but after one coat I was in love.  It almost has a crelly formula which builds up beautifully.  Hard to capture the true beauty of this polish, this was the best I could do.  

Just like my normal ORLY polishes, these do not disappoint.  Awesome application, and beautiful shine.  Huge plus that you don't have to use a base or top coat.  Honestly, I thought I had put on top coat because of how shiny they all were.

My favorite part, the brush!!!  These polishes have a wider pro style brush similar to Sally Hansen's Miracle Gel brush and the OPI brush.  Dear ORLY, please make this the brush on all your polishes!!!

What do you think?  Do you have a favorite?  Any nail art suggestions for these beauties??

I'll have nail art up for them hopefully over the next few weeks.  I also decided to swatch because I have so much nail art to share with you that I didn't want these to get lost or put on the back burner.

The ORLY Breathable Polishes are available at ULTA, JCPenney, salons, and ORLYbeauty.com!  

Until next time, <3.

**Polishes provided for review.  All opinions are my own. Please see the disclosure policy**

FingerPaints

FingerPaints Fast Dry Swatch and Review

9:00:00 AM


Happy August everyone!  How are you all doing today?  I'm doing great!  Today I have a swatch post for you all!  That's right, a swatch post....no nail art.  I've toggled with the idea of swatching on here for the longest time.  Over the past few months, a few of my posts have included swatches which have pretty much been the bases for my nail art.  I liked how the pictures turned out, and I got a lot of positive comments, so I thought I would give it a go.

Today I am sharing with you the new FingerPaints Fast Dry collection, which is available now through October at Sally Beauty.  Now, I always thought that my FingerPaints polishes dried fast, but they have nothing on these babies!


The Fast Dry Collection comes with four colors: Pronto Purple, Champagne Gold, Fathom Blue, and Cool Coral.  There also is a Fast Dry Top Coat to seal your color in and add extra shine.  Let's take a look!


First we have Pronto Purple.  Such a gorgeous deep purple with a blue shimmer.  The shimmer was faint in the bottle, so I didn't think that it was going to translate on the nail but I was wrong.  Two coats for full coverage.  Lovely shade.


Next we have Champagne Gold.  This is a gorgeous metallic gold shimmer polish.  One coat.  Yes, you read that right, one coat.  I debated on putting two, but it really did not need it at all.  Very easy to apply.  Sometimes these chrome-like metallic can be streaky, but this has an amazing formula.


This lovely, beautiful, stunning polish is Fathom Blue.   LOVE this one!  You can get full coverage with one coat just like Champagne Gold, but I used two for the swatch above.  The bottle has a slight purple shimmer, but I couldn't pick that up on camera.  What I could pick up was the gorgeous depth that this polish has with the sparkle.


Last but not least, we have Cool Coral.  Lovely coral shade which required two coats.  No way could you get away with one on this, it was kind of watery in comparison to the others.  It built up nicely though with two and didn't streak or pull like others with similar formulas.  I think this might be a good summer pedicure polish.



My favortie from this collection is Fathom Blue, with Champagne Gold coming in a close second.  At first I thought they were going to be similar to other polishes I owned, but they are very unique to my collection.

All polishes did live up to the Fast Dry name.  I start painting my index finger then move to the pinkie.  By the time I got to my pinkie nail, my pointer was completely dry and ready for the second coat.  Quite impressive if you ask me.

What do you think?  Fan of this collection?  Like that I did a swatch post?

The FingerPaints Fast Dry Collection is available online and in store at Sally Beauty Supply from August through October.  Make sure to head over and grab yours today!  You all need to at least have Fathom Blue!

Until next time, <3,


**Products were provided by FingerPaints for review.  All opinions are my own.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Swatches

Twinsie Tuesday: Someone Else Does Your Nails.....kind of

9:00:00 AM




Oh my gosh I'm back and posting for Twinsie Tuesday.  Can you believe that I didn't forget this week?  Or didn't have something else scheduled?  Hopefully now I can get back on track and back to consistently posting with everyone!

This week we are posting manicures which were painted by someone else.  Well, it's been kind of a crazy week and I had zero time to ask one of my friends to do my nails for me.  I then thought about having my mom paint my nails, but she was just as busy.  Sooooo, I really had no one else to paint my nails for me.

Despite this, I was determined to post today.  I decided to twist the theme a little bit and do a "mani orders" post.  In the end, someone else is doing my nails because I'm doing something I wouldn't have done otherwise.  Yeah, that's a huge stretch, but whatever.

So, here is what Amanda from Fashion Footing has told me to do forever and a day....a plain cream polish swatch.


Colors Used:

  • Zoya - Ling
Gasp!  A post with a plain cream polish on my little nail art blog!  I actually am planning on sharing more swatches with you all in the future.  I figured instead of just sitting and waiting for my base to dry, I might as well snap a few photos of it and include it somewhere in my posts.  Or even do them a day before?  Who knows, I'll figure that all out one of these days.

Anyways, this is Zoya Ling.  A gorgeous blue polish originally released in 2014 as part of the Tickled Collection.  It's such a fun blueberry blue polish.  It applies perfectly in two coats.  You can almost get away with one coat, but I did have a few patchy areas.  Regardless, it's gorgeous.

What do you think?  Like this swatch?  Think I totally failed with this prompt??

Don't forget to check out the other Twinsie's!


Amanda at Fashion Footing
Amber at NailsLikeLace
Claire at Kerruticles
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Sharon at Behind Green Eyes

Stop back tomorrow to see the nail art that I did over the top of this swatch!

Until then, <3.



FingerPaints

The One Inspired by my Childhood for Twinsie Tuesday

9:00:00 AM




Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?  As you can see from the title, I am back with the Twinsies participating in Twinsie Tuesday.  Instead of posting weekly, everyone will be posting bi-weekly since all of our schedules have become kind of hectic.  I'm happy because this works perfectly with my every-three-day posting schedule which I am able to keep up with.

Today we are all sharing manicures inspired by our childhood.  Now I'm sure you're all expecting some sort of major nail art out of me for today's post, especially with this theme, but alas, you'll just have some swatches.  Swatches though of gorgeous purple polishes.

I did this manicure a few weeks ago because I was missing my great-grandmother.  She passed away nearly 8 years ago at the age of 100, which was rather amazing.  When she turned 100, we threw her a huge birthday party and everything was decorated in her favorite color; purple.  She especially loved lavender.

I spent a lot of time with her when I was a child, and even in my adult years.  So today's manicure is inspired by my childhood memories with her; using not only her favorite color...but mine as well.

 Let's take a look!

Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Stevie
  • FingerPaints - Lavender Love
I love both of these polishes so much.  Zoya Stevie was one of the first Pixie Dust polishes I ever used.  When I first received the Pixie Dust collection, I was unsure of it.  The textured look at the time was just kicking off and I really wasn't a fan of it.  I used Stevie for my graduation manicure which was also inspired by my great grandma because the purple reminded me so much of something she would like.  Plus she would have been jumping for joy that I was graduating with a Masters degree.  Growing up, she always started her conversations with "how's school going? I'm praying for you to get good grades."  I know that she helped me for sure get that Masters!

Anyways, Stevie is an awesome polish.  Two coats and you have a sparkly, textured look.  I rarely used this polish because I was scared it was going to run out and I wouldn't have it for the right occasions, but I recently purchased another bottle so I didn't have that fear.  Also, if you hadn't noticed, I fell in love with the textured look shortly after haven't turned back since.



Lavender Love by FingerPaints is such a gorgeous cream polish.  It is part of the Ashley Tipton collection which is on sale now at Sally Beauty.  I might go pick up a back up bottle because I can see myself using a lot of this color.  Plus since it's one of those limited edition collections, I have a feeling that when it's gone, it's going to be gone.  It's another color my great-grandma would have for sure loved!

What do you think?  Fan of the plain swatches?  Think I should do more swatches on the blog?

Don't forget to check out the other Twinsie's Posts!!  (Might be an old link list, I'll update it if it has changed)


Amanda at Amandalandish
Amber at Nails Like Lace
Chelsea at Nailed Blog
Claire at Kerruticles
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les
Savannah at Addicted to Polish
Sharon at Behind Green Eyes


Until next time, <3.


FingerPaints

FingerPaints Gogh With The Flow and Color Me Abstract

9:00:00 AM


Good morning and Happy Sunday!!  How are you all today?  There is nothing really new here to report.  Eat, sleep, work, blog.  That is my life, and well honestly I wouldn't have it any other way!

Today I have a simple manicure to share with you using some new colors that FingerPaints is releasing for 2015!  FingerPaints polishes can be purchased at Sally Beauty Supply, and these new colors will be released in February!

My manicure is inspired by this lovely glittery mani by Jennie Shaw.  Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • FingerPaints - Gogh With The Flow
  • FingerPaints - Color Me Abstract
  • FingerPaints - Paper Mache
  • China Glaze - Make a Spectacle
I love these FingerPaints glitters so much!  Gogh With The Flow is a dark purple microglitter with slightly larger glitter flecks throughout.  It is so beyond sparkly in person.  This polish most certainly can be a one coater, but I used two for extra sparkle.  I can't wait to use this polish again!

Color Me Abstract is the magenta sister to Gogh With the Flow.  It's not as dense, but still has huge glitter payoff.  I had to use two coats to get full coverage.  What I loved about it was that it had the dark purple flecks that made it a perfect pair with Gogh With The Flow.



The white glitter flecks are actually from another new FingerPaints polish called Th-Ink Outside the Box.  It is a black and white matte glitter which I will be using very very soon!  You know how much I love black and white glitters!  Cannot wait to see how this one works!

What do you think?  Liking this manicure?

 As I said, the FingerPaints polishes will be available in February at Sally Beauty Supply stores.  Who knows, they might already be appearing now that they have that new fancy Nail Bar!

Until next time, <3.

Swatches

The Beauty Buffs: Holiday!

9:00:00 AM


Happy Wednesday everyone!  How are you all today?  I'm starting to get out of my nail art funk!  I may or may not have shared this on here, but I had naked nails for three days last week, and every manicure I tried turned into a disaster.  Last night I had a similar experience when creating this post, so I opted for a plain swatch as a refresher.  Plus, Amanda from Fashion Footing keeps yelling at me to do a plain manicure.  Okay, maybe it's supposed to be a plain cream manicure, but sparkle is better, am I right??

Today is Wednesday, so that means it's time to post with The Beauty Buffs!  Today we are posting all about the holidays.  Some of us are sharing fashion posts, and others are sharing manicures.  My plan for today's post was to do a winter sweater inspired manicure and share different looks that would go along with the manicure.  After that didn't work out, I became frustrated and switched up my whole idea and decided to pick out my favorite holiday looking polish and share a swatch of it!

For my manicure, I picked Zoya Tomoko.  This polish is one of the original formula Pixie Dusts.  I'm a huge fan of the original formula, and really not that big of a fan of the Magical Pixies.  They are a great concept, but a pain to remove and just too chunky for my liking.  That's another post though.  Let's take a look at this Pixie gorgeousness.



Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Tomoko
Look at Tomoko in all it's gorgeous textured beauty.  Tomoko leans between silver and gold, maybe it can be best described as a champagne color?  Is that a color you can describe things as?  Regardless, in two coats you have full coverage.  The polish dries matte with plenty of sparkle since it is textured.



This is a shot of Tomoko with a top coat.  Kind of blurry due to my camera needing to be charged.  I have found that when you add top coat, the polish still remains textured and gets ten times more sparkly!  I think that top coat makes the polish last longer as well.  Not like Pixies need any help with that.  I have found that all my original formulas stick on my nail like super glue and do not chip for at least 5 days.

I picked this polish for a Holiday post because A. it's sparkly B. the color is perfect this time of year, and C. it would be a great polish to pair with a simple nail art accent!

Last year I created this nail art wheel with many holiday designs!  Many of them would work great alongside Tomoko!


I'm really thinking Rudolph or Santa would look amazing on the ring finger!

If you have Chita or Chyna from the original Pixies, then those also would be perfect around the holiday!  I still am kicking myself that I don't have a bottle of Chyna.  I missed the clearance of it at my local beauty supply store and I haven't fully recovered.  OHHH Idea!  If you have those polishes along with Tomoko, you could put a holly on the ring finger!

What do you think?  Fan of Tomoko?  Do you prefer the original formula Pixies or new formula?  Going to try any of these Christmas designs?  Should I do a new Nail Art Wheel???

Make sure to check out the other Beauty Buffs Posts!




An InLinkz Link-up

Until next time, <3.

China Glaze

Twinsie Tuesday: Classic

9:00:00 AM

Happy Tuesday polished world!  How are you all today?  It is time for yet another Twinsie Tuesday!  Our theme this week is "classic".  When I saw that this was our theme, the first thing that  came to mind were french tip manicures.  That to me is the most classic form of nail art.

Well, since I'm not a fan of the french tip on my own nails, I decided to go the classic of classic routes.  In my mind that was a swatch.  The first ever manicure wasn't crazy nail art, it was just a swatch....right?  Maybe?

The idea sounded good in my head at the time.  To make my swatch post less boring, I'm including two swatches of my current favorite polishes.

Let's start with China Glaze - Capacity to See Beyond.  I apologize for the crappy photos.  My lightbox is currently being repaired and these photos were taken in my room using a pillow case as a back drop and my lamp as the light.



Capacity to See Beyond is a brilliant blue polish which applies smoothly in two coats.  This is the polish I have been searching ages for and now am so happy to finally own.  I haven't been impressed with China Glaze in the longest time, but this polish really has put them back on my radar, especially because of the awesome formula.  I love it.

The next polish is Orly Frolic.  Again, crappy photos, I apologize.



I've had Frolic on my toes for two weeks now without a single chip.  This polish is just amazing.  Swatched above is two perfectly smooth coats.  My favorite purple pink polish I own.  I have some nail art coming up with this one later this week or early next.  Not sure yet since it's involved with my Bestie Twin Nails with Fashion Footing again.

What do you think of my swatches?  I probably should have picked a classic red.....

Don't forget to check out the other Twinsie's posts!  I can't wait to see how they interpreted the theme!


Amanda at Amandalandish
Amber at Nails Like Lace
Bridget at A Painted Nail
Chelsea at Nailed Blog
Cordia at Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth at Did My Nails
Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer
Kelly at Tuxarina
Lakeisha at Refined and Polished
​Marisa at Polish Obsession
Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les
Stephanie at A Little Polish
Tiffany at Polished To Precision​
Traci at Drinkcitra

Until next time, <3.


Swatches

Twinsie Tuesday: Skittles

9:00:00 AM

Happy Twinsie Tuesday my polished friends!  How are you all today?  We're supposed to get some nasty storms later today, so I'm not looking forward to the afternoon.  I absolutely hate storms....just hate them.  Here's hoping that I get out of work before they start and can hide in my bed while they're going on!  I have a lot posts to work on!

Today for Twinsie Tuesday we are sharing skittle manicures!  Now, I had the greatest of great plans for this week.  I was going to share a skittle base today, and tomorrow share the nail art I added to the top of the skittles.  So I went ahead and painted my festive skittle base, photographed it, then went and attempted to add the art.  Oh boy was the art awful.  So tomorrow I'll have a totally different manicure for you with some of the same colors, so it kind of works, but it really did not go as planned.

Since the 4th of July is Friday, I wanted to do a red, white, and blue skittle design for today!!!  Now that I'm looking at my non-disasticured design, I'm kind of happy the art failed on these skittles.  

These skittles are kinda awesome and are the perfect way to get your nails looking festive without any art!  Let's take a look! I tried some new set up with the photos, so forgive them for looking a little wonky.  I didn't include my signature whole hand photo because, well the thumb is white and that's boring.



Colors Used:
  • Finger Paints - Paper Mache
  • Zoya - Ling
  • Sally Hansen - Red My Lips
  • INM - Northern Lights Silver
 I love every polish that I used in this post.  Paper Mache by FingerPaints is my new favorite white.  I jump around from Sinful Color to Ulta white polishes, but I have to say, after using this a few, it's going to be my new go-to!  It applies perfectly in two coats and is so shiny without a top coat!  I really love it!

Sally Hansen Red My Lips is from the Complete Salon Manicure line.  Now, this polish isn't mine...I snatched it from my mother who bought it for her toes since it contains a Base and Top coat in one.  She was tired of using my different concoctions of bases and toppers when giving herself pedicures and figured this would be a great alternative.  After using it one my nails, I can say it's going to be an awesome pedicure polish for her.  It applied evenly in two coats, and without a top coat it was beyond shiny and gorgeous.  It seems to be more like a crelly, which I like in my reds.

Then we have Zoya Ling....the gorgeous, beautiful blueberry blue Ling.  I love the color of this polish!  It's so saturated and gorgeous and applies evenly in two coats.  I think I left the cap open on it too long when I tried to do blueberry nails so mine is kind of thick.  It wasn't this thick when I first got the Tickled collection and used it earlier this year.  Nothing a little thinner can't fix though.  I really love it and I think I need to get another bottle!

All polishes with INM Northern Lights on top are pure perfection.  It truly adds a new dimension to these plain cream polishes.  It was my first time using this over white and I really liked the outcome!



I can honestly say that I could have worn this manicure plain for days if it weren't for the disasticure.  Even though there was no nail art, the colors together with the added glitter made the manicure not just a simple cream based manicure.  It was different and refreshing for me!  I bet you'll be seeing more skittles like this from me in the future!

What do you think?  Liking the simple skittles?  Think I should share more manicures like this and lay off the nail art from time to time?

Don't forget to check out the other Twinsie's posts!  I can't wait to see everyone's skittles!  I wonder if anyone else did a patriotic one!


Amanda at Amandalandish
Amber at Nails Like Lace
Bridget at A Painted Nail
Chelsea at Nailed Blog
Cordia at Seriously Swatched
Elizabeth at Did My Nails
Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer
Kelly at Tuxarina
Lakeisha at Refined and Polished
​Marisa at Polish Obsession
Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les
Stephanie at A Little Polish
Tiffany at Polished To Precision​

Until next time! <3

**Some products used in this post were provided for review.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Swatches

My Christmas Manicure - Zoya Seraphina and Sinful Colors Holiday Rebel

9:00:00 AM

Well hello polished world!  Hope you all had a very blessed Christmas!!!  Today I am bringing you the manicure that I wore Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

I woke up the morning of Christmas Eve and realized that I had not used my bottle of Holiday Rebel by Sinful Colors yet.  I was kind of upset because when I purchased it, I had so many ideas as to how I could integrate this new red, green, and silver holo glitter polish with some really neat Christmas nail art designs.  Since I ended up getting sick, then later purchased nail art wheels, this polish slipped my mind and was lost in my Melmer.

I'm so happy though that I remembered it because I was able to create a simple, yet festive manicure that I completely enjoyed!  For the life of me, I cannot figure out why I don't do more manicures like this.

Let's take a look!




Colors Used
  • Zoya - Seraphina
  • Sinful Colors - Holiday Rebel
  • INM - Northern Lights
To get the look, I started off with a base coat of Sinful Colors Seraphina.  I used this polish once before in a simple manicure back when I received the Zenith Collection.  I liked the polish then, but I'm loving it more now.  It's more gorgeous than I remember.  It's really neat because it's a metallic polish that doesn't dry with that awful streaky foil finish like some metallic polishes do.  It's softer, and still gives you that pop of effect like you're used to with normal metallics.

I really wanted these nails to sparkle, so I added a thin coat of INM Northern Lights before the Sinful Colors polish.  This made the nails have a little extra dimension and shine.

Then I added Holiday Rebel, the gorgeous perfect Christmas glitter!  I have searched everywhere for a polish like this and am so happy to own it!  It has multi sized red and green glitters with larger silver holo pieces.  What I loved about this polish is the even coverage of the glitter.  I literally only went over my nail once with a decent amount of polish on the brush.  I didn't have to place any glitters either, they just all fell perfectly into place.



Look how pretty!  I wish I could capture how sparkly they really are.  You can kind of see on the pointer finger in the picture above how the silver piece catches the light and gives you the holo effect.  I remember when I purchased the bottle wishing that there were more of these silver pieces, but after applying the polish, I believe it had the perfect amount.

What do you think?  Suitable Christmas Eve and Day Manicure?

 Now I am off to think of some New Years Eve nails!  I'm thinking more glitter?  Hmmmm.

Until next time, <3.

**I purchased Sinful Colors Holiday Rebel.  Zoya provided Seraphina for Promotional Purposes.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Review

Shimmer Polish Review!

9:00:00 AM

Hello there!  How are you all on this fine day??  I'm doing well and am super excited to share with you my first ever swatch post!!!  At the end of September, Shimmer Polish contacted me asking to review some of her amazing glitter polishes.  I could NOT say no to this incredible opportunity.  

A few days later, 5 bottles of gorgeous, shimmery glitters arrived in the mail.  Sadly, while swatching, I had a horrible accident and broke one of the bottles.  Poor Jovie, it didn't stand a chance against the floor.  Such a pretty pink glitter also.  Sigh.  

Despite the tragedy, I'm able to bring you these four gorgeous glitters today!!!  Bear with my photos as this is my first ever swatching post and it was really capturing a polish versus capturing nail art.  Literally a whole new experience!