Dot Mani

The Beauty Buffs: Texture Inspired

8:00:00 AM


Happy Wednesday!  I'm here posting two days in a row, which means it's time for another post with The Beauty Buffs!  I cannot believe it's been two weeks already since our last postings.  I apologize to the lovely ladies in the group for not commenting on their amazing black and white posts (see the link up at the bottom!).  I loved each and every single one.  I feel awkward going back two weeks and commenting now.  Maybe I will, but still, I feel weird.  Life just got so busy!  I promise I will get better at commenting!  

Today our theme is texture inspired.  I'm a huge fan of my Zoya Pixie Dust polishes.  Personally, I love the original formula Pixie polishes.  Sure, the Magical Pixies are great, but there is just something about the sparkly fine texture of the original formula.

For today's manicure I had many different ideas running through my head.  I wasn't sure if I should do textured nail art like I did for these roses, or a cutout design like my Pixie Dust Stars, or if I should do something with tape like I did for my fun checkerboard Pixie design.  Then I thought though how awesome textured polishes look with creams, especially as an accent or framing the cream design.  

After purchasing China Glaze Capacity to See Beyond and after seeing this manicure, I decided to create what I call a framed accent manicure.  I call it that because I'm framing my nail art with plain nails, which accent the nail art quite nicely.  I tend to do this a lot with cream polishes that are topped with some Northern Lights.  Doing it with a Pixie Dust though added so much more contrast to the manicure which I fell in love with.

Enough of my babbling, I should let you look at the manicure!




Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Liberty
  • Orly - Liquid Vinyl
  • China Glaze - Capacity to See Beyond
  • Cult Cosmetics - El Porto
Isn't it gorgeous?  This has to be one of my all time favorite manicures.  As you know, I am a huge fan of blue, so this color combination was an automatic win in my book.  If I had to sit down tonight and pick my all time favorite cream polish, it would be Capacity to See Beyond.  It's the color I have searched years for and am so happy to finally own.  I need to go grab every possible bottle in existence.

Enough about the cream though, this post is all about the textures.  The original formula Pixies are great for nail art.  As you can see from my ring finger, and my thumb, I used a dotting tool and Liberty to create the flower and the dots.  I love creating dotticures using them.  If you have stayed away from purchasing polishes such as the Pixie dusts because you think that you cannot do nail art with them, click on that Pixie Dust tag at the bottom of this post.  They make nail art pop!



New photo set up.  I'm trying to hold bottles of the polishes I use instead of just my top coat.  Still trying to get a hang of it.  Cult Cosmetics bottles are rather easy due to their shape.  The China Glaze though are a whole different story.  That though is another post!

What do you think?  Loving the look?  Are you a fan of texture polishes?  Clearly due to all my rambling you can tell I am.

Make sure to check out the other Beauty Buffs posts!




Until next time, <3.

Gradient Mani

Happy Valentine's Day! Zoya Pixie Dust Heart Nail Art!

9:00:00 AM

Happy Valentine's Day, lovelies!  Will you all be mine?!  While I dislike Valentine's Day, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to festively paint my nails.  Especially because I had the most amazing idea!!!

That idea, Zoya Pixie Dust Hearts!  That's right, hearts!!  Remember my Zoya Pixie Dust Stars that I loved so much?  The manicure that still to this day is my favorite manicure?  Well at the same time that I purchased my star hole punch, I purchased a heart one.  After the star manicure was such a success, I have been wanting to recreate it with hearts for so long, but never actually did it.  Valentine's Day seemed like the perfect opportunity, so I grabbed my painters tape, hole punch, Pixie Dusts, and got to work!  

What has been created is now my second favorite manicure!  I am beyond in love with the end result.  I was a bit iffy when I was punching out the designs that it was going to work and was thinking of abandoning the idea, but I'm so happy I stuck with it!

Enough babbling, let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • Base
    • OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Wall
  • Purple
    • Zoya - Stevie
    • Zoya - Carter
  • Pink
    • Zoya - Miranda
    • Zoya - Arabella
Ahhh I'm so happy with how they turned out!  Trust me, the look is not that hard to achieve!  I first started off with a base coat of My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  Originally, I was going to do a light pink base, but I decided to stick with the same base as the stars, mainly because I knew it worked out.  Plus, I give myself at least two hours of dry time on the base before I add the design, so I didn't want to have to start all over after waiting for so long if it looked awful.  It probably would have been just as gorgeous.

The day before I actually painted the design, I created my little templates with painters tape and my hole punch.  I cut ten pieces of tape and stuck them to a piece of parchment paper.  Then I punched at least 12 hearts into the tape (four down the center then four on each side).  I do twelve because sometimes I found myself slipping up and the hearts were too close or too far apart.  Doing 12 and only having about 9 on the nail ends up giving me a bit of wiggle room.

When my base was 100% dry, I peeled the tape off the parchment then stuck a piece on my nail.  You want to make sure your nail is completely dry because it is of the utmost importance that the tape is really secured on the nail with no open areas.  If it's not, then your design will become smeared and muddled.

I then took a make up sponge and painted my pink or purple gradient then dabbed it on the nail.  I did this twice then immediately removed the tape.  I then took a toothpick and cleaned up around my cuticle and made some of the points on the hearts a little clearer.  If your base isn't completely dry, there would be no way to clean up the actual hearts without damaging the base.  





I wanted my hearts to shine so I added some top coat, but you could go without if you want.  Trust me, these Zoya's are just as gorgeous and sparkly without a top coat.  That's what makes the Pixie Dusts so amazing.  I also stuck with the pinks and purples instead of doing the rainbow skittles like I did with the stars since it is Valentine's Day.  These are the perfect Valentine's Day Pixies!

Do you love them?  Which do you prefer, the hearts or the stars?

I hope you all have a great Valentine's Day!  Remember though, we should show our love and appreciation for those in our lives every day and not just today.  :)

Until next time, <3.

**The Zoya Pixie Dust polishes were provided by Zoya for promotional purposes.  I purchased the OPI.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Textured Mani

A Zoya Superbowl Manicure - Go Broncos!

9:00:00 AM

Happy Sunday polished world!!!!!  Who is ready for the Superbowl tonight?!?!  Are your nails all decked out for the occasion?  Of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity to paint my nails for the big day!  I'm not going out to any parties tonight.  Instead, I will be sitting home in my pajamas, painting my nails, watching the game, commercials, and of course Bruno Mars, all while eating some of my Mom's chili.

This was my first time doing a Superbowl manicure so I wasn't sure what I wanted to incorporate.  Days before I actually painted my manicure, I sat down and drew up different ideas.  This piece of paper had at least 5 different field designs, 2 football patterns, and of course different ways to incorporate the Denver Broncos.  After I painted some of the ideas on a nail art wheel, I finally sat down Wednesday night and painted the design.  Since we had the special Twinsie Tuesday post this week, I waited until today to post!

Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • Field
    • Zoya - Josie
    • Zoya - Hunter
    • Orly Instant Artist - White
  • Football
    • Zoya - Louise
    • Orly Instant Artist - White
  • Denver Bronco Nail
    • Zoya - Sunshine
    • Orly Instant Artist - White
    • Zoya - Beatrix
Kind of awesome right?!  I really love how they turned out!!!   I think that the field nails are my favorite because if you look closely, you can see that it actually looks like turf!  Originally, on my wheel, I created this nail using tape and Zoya Chita.  When I sat down to do this manicure, I decided I only wanted one sparkly textured nail and that was going to be my Bronco accent.  Luckily, I created a cream polish field look on my wheel, so I just had to put it on my own nail!

In order to get the look, I started off with a base coat of Zoya Josie which is a lighter green polish from the Summer 2013 Stunning collection.  I have used this polish so much for different "nature" manicures.  It is the perfect leaf green, and just not to mention an awesome green polish on it's own.  When my base was dry, I took Zoya Hunter, the dark green from the 2013 Cashmere collection and painted it on a make up sponge.  I then dabbed it on my nail a couple of times so you could still see the Josie underneath but have a grass look to the nail.  When it was dried, I used my Orly Instant Artist polish and drew on the field markers.  My OCD kicked in and I literally had to re-do the lines a zillion times, but thankfully this Instant Artist is water based so I was able to just wipe it off with some water on a napkin.  Love how they don't ruin my base!

For the football nail, I used Zoya Louise from the Fall 2013 Cashmere collection and my Orly Instant Artist to draw on the lines.  The Broncos nails took a tad bit of time due to drying.  I started off with a base coat of Zoya Sunshine which is the gorgeous navy Pixie Dust from the Fall 2013 collection.  You can get away with one coat of this polish, but I used two.  When it was dried, I took my Instant Artist and created a white line down the middle of the nail.  I let that dry, and with an old striper brush, I dipped it into Beatrix's bottle (the orange from the Summer Pixie Dust collection) and created the orange line.  I added a topcoat because the Instant Artist dries kind of chalky, and well I wanted my accents to be super sparkly!



See how cool the field nails look up close?  You can really tell in this picture how it looks like grass.  You can also see the sparkle on the Bronco nail!  All in all, I think it's a very successful Superbowl manicure.  I'm sorry to the Seahawks fans, since I"m routing for the Broncos, I decided to not include them on my nails.  I guess I could have done a Broncos ring finger and a Seahawks thumb, but I don't think I have any Pixie Dusts that would have matched their team colors.

Can we also take a minute and just look at how awesome Zoya's colors are on this whole manicure?!  Seriously, perfect Superbowl colors right down to the field!  And as always, perfect formulas.  I love them for nail art!

What do you think?  Who are you routing for today??

If any of my followers are going out to Superbowl parties tonight, please be safe!  No stupid drinking and driving please!

Until next time, <3.

**Polishes were provided by Zoya for promotional review.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Flowers

Zoya Pixie Roses

9:00:00 AM

Good morning!!!  Hope everyone is well today!!!  Today's post comes from the drafts folder of The Little Canvas.  Yes, I have plenty of new manicures to show you, but I couldn't go another day not sharing it.  The main reason being, it's a gorgeous manicure done using only Zoya Pixie Dust polishes.  You know, my favorite textured polishes in the whole wide world.

A while back, Casey showed me this manicure by Jess of @miss_prettynails on Instagram because she knows how much I love creating nail art designs with the textured polishes.  I pretty much tripped over myself to take whatever manicure I was wearing off to re-create this gorgeous look.  Seriously, roses + pixies, how could you go wrong?

Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Tomoko, Arabella, Chita
Gorgeous right?  I wish you could have seen how sparkly this manicure truly was!!  You can tell that it kind of made my camera go crazy and not be able to 100% focus on all the shots.  It kept catching the shimmer of the glitter in the polish each time I tried to snap the photo.

Have I mentioned that I love Tomoko?  Next to Stevie, I think it's my favorite Pixie Dust.  Tomoko is an AMAZING color with the perfect amount of glittery goodness.  It reminds me of champagne.  I used three coats in this manicure, but really could have gotten away with two.  Just as I have found with all of my other Pixie Dust polishes, Arabella and Chita were amazing for nail art!  For as fast as they dry on the nail, they don't dry too fast that you can't work with them to draw designs such as these roses.

To get the look, I started with my base coat of Tomoko.  When the base was dry, I use my nail art brush and Arabella to draw on the rose petals.  After that, I used Chita to add the outer green leaves.
What do you think?  Liking the Pixie Dusts?  Loving art done using them?

The Zoya Pixie Dusts that were used in this manicure are all from the Fall 2013 collection and can be purchased on Zoya's website!

Until next time, <3.

**The polishes used in this post were provided by Zoya for Promotional Purposes.  The opinions stated are my own.  Please see my disclosure policy**


Dot Mani

Zoya Pixie Dust Dotticure

9:00:00 AM

Good morning, polished world!  How are you today?   I'm a tired girl, therefor this post is most likely not going to be a rambling one.  Also this post is not the one I was planning.  The plan was to bring you a post I did using all the new Orly Instant Artist polishes that the Nail Art Society sent me, but as I write this post, it is 12:45am.  I want to be 100% awake when writing up that post because it has more photos than normal, and I want to talk about a few different things.  So next post, I promise!  Stay tuned for that!

No worries though, I'm bringing you a pretty manicure today!  I really enjoyed it and was so happy with how my zillions of dots turned out!  Typically when I do a dotticure, I do the dots on an accent nail instead of all 10.  Not really sure my reasoning behind this, but it's just something I've always done.  After seeing this manicure by Fashion Polish, I wanted to attempt it and see if I could possibly, just possibly, do a successful 10 nailed dotticure.  

Sadly, I do not own the gorgeous Picture Polishes' featured in Fashion Polish's post, so I opted for using some pretty Zoya Pixie Dusts.  The end result turned out rather fabulous.  Let's take a look....





Colors Used:

  • OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls
  • Zoya - Arabella, Destiny, and Beatrix
I started off with a base coat of OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  I feel I must repeat myself hear and say that this polish is my favorite white polish.  It's white, but not so white that it takes away from the manicure.  I think that if I never said what the base was, no one would know that this isn't a true white polish.

When that was dry, I followed Fashion Polish's tutorial which is part of the original post above.  I began dotting the darkest color first, which is Arabella.  Arabella is a Pixie from the new Fall Pixie Dust polish collection.  It's a rather gorgeous shade.  I then did the same thing using Destiny and Beatrix, both polishes from the Summer Pixie Dust collection.  When my "main" dots were on, I went back through and filled in the empty spaces with smaller dots.  I added a top coat because I wanted the Pixies to pop, and boy did they.  This was one sparkly manicure!  I loved it!

What do you think?  Have you used the Pixies for dots or nail art yet?  I'm hooked.

Well dear readers, I am off.  Until next time, <3.

**The Zoya Pixie Dusts were provided by Zoya for promotional purposes.  I purchased MBSW.  All opinions expressed are my own.  Please see my disclosure policy**



Animal Print

Fall Zoya Pixie Dust Leopard Print Collaboration

9:00:00 AM

Hello polished world!  I'm so excited for today's post!  Reason being, it is a collaboration with my first ever Nail Artist of the Month, CaseyLane Loves Polish!  Miss Casey is one of the nicest girls out there, and I'm so happy that we have become friends!  Since both of us are slightly obsessed with nail polish, many of our conversations revolve around nail art and new ideas.

This manicure we are about to bring you today in our collaboration post was Casey's idea.  The other day, Casey sent me an e-mail with a photo of her nail art wheel with a gorgeous Zoya Pixie Dust leopard print.  She had yet to see another blogger do a Pixie leopard print, and neither had I.  As soon as I saw the picture, I responded with the idea of a collaboration since I was so in love with the look and I wanted it on my nails too.  Seriously, it's so pretty. 

Originally, we were going to do two colors, but then after I played around with my Fall colors, I suggested that we use all of the Pixies.  I'm LOVING how they turned out.  Let's take a look!




Colors Used:

  • Zoya - Tomoko, Carter, Sunshine, Chita, Arabella, Dhara
  • Orly - Liquid Vinyl
Cute, right?  To get the look, I started off with 2 coats of Tomoko.  When it was dried, I added the colored dots using a dotting tool and the other Zoya polishes.  After that was dried, I outlined the spots with a nail art brush.  In the blank spots, I added the extra dots.  I decided to add a top coat, which was the best decision in my life.  It made the manicure sparkle beyond belief!  I couldn't stop looking at my nails in the sunshine!

Now, let's take a look at Casey's manicure side by side with mine!


Instead of using a cream black polish to outline the dots, Casey used another Pixie Dust.  Head on over to her blog to check out her post!!!!

What do you think?  Loving the Pixie leopard print?

Casey, you were brilliant for coming up with this idea!!  Thank you so much for allowing me to copy it and do a collaborative post!

Until next time, <3.

Gradient Mani

Zoya Pixie Dust Star Nail Art

9:00:00 AM

Hello polished world!  I feel like it's been forever since I posted to my own blog.  First post of the month was dedicated to my amazing Nail Artist of the Month, BecNation Nails, and last post was my guest post over at Tuxarina.  I was kind of here, but not really.  I sat and painted my nails and edited photo after photo, and was itching to post them!  I was really DYING to post this manicure.  I have a back log of manicures at the moment, but this one jumped to the front of the line.  I'm sorry old manicures, I really love you all, but this one is the cherry on top of a delicious ice cream sundae.

I'm pretty sure this is my all time favorite manicure, which is comprised of not only the lovely OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, but my newest favorite polishes, the Zoya Pixie Dusts.  I really thought I was going to hate textured polishes, but after receiving the summer, and now fall collections, I'm addicted to their sparkly, textured polished goodness.  I literally had both the summer and fall Pixies lined up on the top of my Melmer for about a week in a rainbow.  I wanted to gradient them, I just had to.

What better way to gradient them then by using something cool, like I don't know, a star hole punch.  After seeing Chalkboard Nails use the Sally Hansen Sugar Coats and create textured stars on her nails, I was dying to do it myself.  I'm so happy I finally did, and with the Pixies, and with a gradient!  Ahh, enough babbling, let's look!




Colors Used:

  • Base - OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls
  • Thumb
    • Zoya - Tomoko to Solange
  • Pointer 
    • Zoya - Beatrix to Dhara
  • Middle
    • Zoya - Miranda to Arabella
  • Ring
    • Zoya - Stevie to Carter
  • Pinkie
    • Zoya - Liberty to Sunshine
Gorgeous, right?!?!  I did this manicure over a period of 18 hours.  Starting at 10pm one night, I painted on a base coat of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, you know the perfect off white polish that isn't so in your face white that it takes away from your nail art.  I added a top coat of Out the Door, and let the nails completely dry over night.  

Around 11pm, when they were dried, I started punching out my star patterns on painters tape.  I cut out pieces of parchment paper and stuck finger sized pieces all over.  On each piece, I punched out nine stars.  I then annoyingly stuck all the pieces of tape to the edge of my end table and went to sleep.

The next day, I got back to work when I knew the nails were 100% dry.  I put painters tape on all my nails so that there was one star exactly in the middle.  I made sure the tape was really on there tight and pushed down all corners and edges so none of the polish would sneak under and the stars would come out perfect.  On a make up sponge, I painted on my two color gradients and began sponging on over the tape.  I did this twice so the colors really came through and were super sparkly and textured.  When I was done, I quickly removed the tape and looked in awe at my pretty, pretty nail.

After all ten nails were done, I decided I wanted my design to last a long while and sometimes my Pixies wear away at the tips, I put on a thick coat of INM Out the Door.  I was kind of sad I was losing the matte look, but soooooooooooooo happy I did because it made the stars so unbelievably sparkly.  Since the Pixies weren't 100% mattified either when I added my top coat, they remained very textured despite the topper.

What do you think?  Love, hate?  Fan of the Pixies?

As stated, I am in LOVE with these polishes and do not have a single complaint.  I can't wait to play around with them more, especially some of the new colors.  They're great nail art polishes, and now that I have learned I can gradient with them, watch out! Lol.  Zoya really hit a home run with Pixie Dust line.  I hope they make a winter collection!

Until next time, <3

**The Zoya Pixie Dusts were provided to me by Zoya for Promotional Purposes.  Opinions expressed are my own.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Tape Mani

Zoya Carter, Tomoko, and Liberty Tape Manicure

9:00:00 AM

Hello there!  How are you all on this fine day??  I'm enjoying the cooler weather we're having.  Seriously, last week it was literally 95 and now this week we're in the 70s.  I wish the weather weren't so bipolar around here this year.  It's sunny one second, then the next it's hailing.  It makes no sense.

Since the weather is a tad cooler, I thought I'd share a manicure I did using two of the Fall Zoya Pixie Dust polishes, and well one of the summer Pixies.  I received the new Pixie's in the mail last week, and sat in the 90 degree weather taking photos of them in the front yard.  After a half hour of staring at the sparkly goodness and nearly dying of heat stroke, it was time to add the beauties to my stash and start thinking of nail art ideas with them!

I knew right away, the first polish I wanted to use was Carter, the gorgeous dark purple one.  I took out all my Pixies and tried to figure out which colors looked best with it.  Originally, I was going to use Carter and Sunshine together in a manicure, but to me it didn't look right, and I will explain why after the photos.  Let's take a look!




Colors Used:

  • Zoya - Carter, Liberty, and Tomoko
Kind of amazing, right?  So, reason I used the polishes I did.  Carter is a gorgeous purple polish with purple glitters.  When on the nail, it's literally a purple bomb.  I had swatched Sunshine on the middle finger and didn't think that these two really went together, reason being, Sunshine has silver glitters set in a blue base.  It just wasn't matching, at all.  Then it hit me, Liberty and Miranda!  Both of these Pixies have matching glitters to their bases, Liberty being blue with blue, and Miranda pink with pink.  Since I was itching to have blue with the purple, I grabbed Liberty.  For the accent nail, part of me debated on using a cream polish and then taping a checkerboard pattern with the Pixies on top of that, but crazy ol' me decided to put the Pixies on top of another matching base/glitter one!  That one being Tomoko!

As I have stated in the past in regards to the Pixie dust polishes, they are great for nail art.  I have used them in the past for polka dots, and I have never had an application issue.  With this manicure, I had one slight issue, and that was getting the tape to adhere to Tomoko, most likely because of the texture itself.  I made sure the Pixie was completely dry and really pushed the tape on there to ensure hat none of the other colors got under the tape.  In the end, it was well worth the little extra effort.

I loveeee how all these colors came together.  The dark purple, next to the striking blue, then on top of the gorgeous subtle silver/gold of Tomoko.  Zoya really did a great job with these polishes!  I do have one complaint about Carter, which you all may think is impossible.  I wore this manicure for three days.  After showering once, Carter went from a gorgeous purple, to a purple with many blank splotches, kind of like the glitters washed a way a bit.  The brightness of the purple dulled out and it looked kind of ashy.  It was quickly fixed by adding another quick coat.  These photos were actually taken after adding a third coat on the second day.

I can't wait to use Tomoko again!  It's such a perfect shade and with the texture it ends up giving a little extra umph to the manicure!  It reminds me of I'm Not Lion by China Glaze minus the holo glitter and, well with texture.

What do you think?  Love or hate?  Any ideas for future Pixie Dust nail art manicures?

Until next time, <3

 **The Zoya Pixie Dusts were provided by Zoya for Promotional Purposes.  The opinions expressed in this post are my own.  Please see my disclosure policy**

4th of July

Happy Fourth of July!!!

9:00:00 AM

Happy Fourth of July to my American followers!!!!  How will you all be spending your holiday?  For me, I'm still not quite sure.  I'm guessing we will end up grilling some food and then possibly going to see fireworks later on in the night.  That is, depending on how exhausted I am.  I'm working more house than I typically do, and I wasn't sure if I was going to have time to paint, photograph, edit, and create a special Fourth of July post.  Lucky, I found the time two nights ago to paint this manicure, photograph it after work and before going to a movie, then come home and edit and write all in time for it to post on the Fourth.  Go me!

Sadly though, it's not the manicure I had in mind.  If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I purchased a Star and Heart Hand punch to create easy nail art designs.  I've attempted freehand stars in the past, and well it's failed miserably, so when I saw on Chalkboard Nails that you can use a hand punch, I ran to Michael's and purchased one as soon as possible.  It wasn't that the hand punch didn't work, it worked great, but I globbered on polish onto my other nails which would have never dried and I was getting really sleepy and needed to head to bed.

So, after two disasticures, I went simple and copied a manicure I did a while back.  I'm happy with it, but not super ecstatic since it wasn't want I wanted.  And of course, now looking at the photo, I see one spot which could have used an extra red dot and it's driving me insane that I didn't see this last night when doing the manicure.  Oh well, let's take a look....




Colors Used:

  • Ulta - Snow White
  • Sally Hansen - Red Carpet
  • Zoya - Liberty
Look at that glittery Zoya Pixie Dust in Liberty.  Stevie is my favorite Zoya Pixie, but Liberty is a close second.  Just look at that blue and all the glitter!  Now, okay, for this photo I top coated it, I really wanted the glitter to sparkle extra since it is a Fourth of July manicure.  It sparkled just fine as a matte textured, but crazy Alaina wanted that little extra umph.

I originally had on a cream red of Ulta Let the Flames Begin, but I wanted my red to sparkle also.  So, on top of a base of Let the Flames Begin, I put on one coat of Red Carpet which gave the nails a subtle sparkle.  You can see it more in person than in the photos.  If we weren't getting the storm from hell, then I could have taken outdoor photos, but no, everything had to flood and be scary so I was stuck with the light box.

With the two polishes, on the white nail I just did some diagonal dots.  This tied the manicure all in. 

I would talk about what I wanted to do, but it will just depress me, so I'm going to stop this post here....lol

What do you think?  Liking this simple fourth of July manicure?

Well, until next time, <3

**Zoya Liberty was provide by Zoya for Promotional Purposes.  All other polishes in this post were purchased by myself.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Gradient Mani

Zoya Pixie Dust Fire Gradient Nails

9:00:00 AM

Well hello there everyone!  I was asked to post this manicure a few days ago, but Arrested Development was released, and the lilacs were in bloom, so they got put on the back burner.  After looking at the pictures, I'm not too happy with the post, but I'm sure many of you will not see it that way.

Two weeks ago, I wore my business casual red dress to one of my jobs.  It's the perfect spring/summer dress which I always wear a pair of white flats with.  I wanted to match my nails to my dress, so I took to Pinterest and started searching.  I came across this manicure by Fashion Polish.  It was a fire gradient done using the Zoya Pixie polishes.  Of course, Fashion Polish's manicure came out better looking than mine since she is a manicure and manicure photography genius, but I'm still going to share.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:

  • Zoya - Destiny, Beatrix, and Solange
What was awesome about this gradient was that I did not have to use a make up sponge!  How I got the look was first by painting on two thin coats of Destiny.  Destiny is a coral- red, textured polish.  It's actually quite gorgeous on it's own.  When that was dried, I took my bottle of Beatrix and wiped the brush off on the edge of the bottle so that there was barely any polish left on the brush.  I went a little bit down from the cuticle and painted down towards the tip of my nail.  I did this with two very thin coats of Beatrix.  I then did the same thing towards the bottom of the nail with Solange.  

Since all of these polishes are glittery, the color pigments get stuck into the texture and create a gradient look.  I have heard that you can do this same technique with shimmer polishes, so I might try them with my Zoya Irresistible polishes.  I may revisit the Pixie Dust gradient with the make up sponge to compare how the two manicures look.

What do you think?  Enjoy this look?  Enjoying the textures?

Oh how I wish my photos weren't sucky.  Well, next post I promise they wont be.  Until then, <3.

**The Zoya Pixie Dust polishes in this post were provided to me by Zoya for review.  All opinions express are my own.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Textured Mani

Zoya Stevie Curly-Q Nail Art :)

9:00:00 AM

Happy Tuesday, polished world!  How are you today? I just want to start this post off by saying that my thoughts and prayers are with all of those in Oklahoma whose lives were turned upside down from these awful tornadoes.  Also, this post is kind of short and may not make much sense since I'm writing it at 1am.

As I stated in my last post, I graduated from college!!!!  I can breath again!!!  Of course, the night before my graduation, I had no idea what to do with my nails.  I sat for hours planning, debating, and swatching out nail art ideas.  My dress was black with white polka dots, and my gown was navy blue.  I was thinking of wearing one of those colors, or at least doing black nails with white dots, but I wasn't really feeling that.

On Facebook, I posted that I wanted to do purple in remembrance of my great grandmother, especially because my graduation fell on her birthday.  I can clearly hear her now asking me how my classes are like she always used to when I was just starting college.  I know she proudly was smiling down on me from above watching me cross that stage :).

Let's take a look at my purple graduation manicure!!!!




Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Stevie (Summer 2013 Pixie Dust)
  • OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls
I've stated in my last few posts where I have utilized Stevie how much I love it.  It is such a gorgeous lavender, and with the glitter flecks, it gives the polish a whole new dimension.  Then, you add the texture look, and it's even more amazing.  I did my curly-q design using it also, and this polish is so easy to work with when doing nail art.  Love it.

Everyone has also been pressuring me to purchase My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and after months I finally caved.  I always thought "oh it's an off white polish, I'll just use white, I have no use for this."  After two coats on my thumb, I quickly was wrong about this polish.   It's just such a gorgeous white.  With the hint of grey, it mutes it so it isn't as stark white and the PERFECT base for nail art.  I can't wait to use this for polka dot manicures or floral ones.

How I Got the Look (Yes, another tutorial):


  1. Start off with a base coat of white (or whatever color you like).
  2. With the color you want to do the Curly-Q with, using a nail art brush, trace on two main curls.  These will be the base for your next curls
  3. Still, using the nail art brush, swirl off from the main curls creating a look like a fountain.
  4. On every "rounded" corner of the curl, keep adding little curls in opposite directions from the main one.  You can do as many or as little as you like .  For this tutorial, I kind of went crazy, but you can see on the nail I didn't do as many.
What do you think?  Lover of the Pixies?  Lover of My Boyfriend Scales Walls?  Lover of the Curly-Q?  Does anyone remember drawing these on paper in school and making them go on forever and ever?  Lol

Well, I am off, I hope you enjoyed my graduation nails.  I have a few posts I need to get working on, I've been slacking lately at editing photos.  I have some pretty lilacs and other blooming flower nails.  Then there are fire burst nails.  Ahhhh so many posts, so little time!!!! Must concentrate on the blog!!!!

Until next time, <3.

**Zoya Stevie was provided by Zoya for Promotional Purposes.  I purchased OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.  The opinions expressed are my own, please view my disclosure policy**

Accent Nail

Simple Zoya Dot-icure

9:00:00 AM

Ever have a manicure that you just are head over heels with.  You know, one that you can't stop looking at no matter what you're doing.  Yeah, this is that manicure for me.  It's so simple, but so pretty that I cannot even take it.  As stated in my previous Pixie Dust post, I'm in love with these textured polishes.  I also said that for a few weeks I might be doing some simple manicures featuring these gorgeous beauties.  

Since purple is my favorite color, I automatically was drawn to use Stevie.  It was a no brainer.  When I received the Pixie Dust polishes, I also received Zoya's Stunning and Irresistible collection.  While all the colors are beyond gorgeous, Zoya Rocky has been screaming my name since I opened the box.  I put the two bottles together, and it was fate.  They were destined to be paired together.

Let's take a look at the manicure.




Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Rocky
  • Zoya - Stevie
  • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
So simple, yet so gorgeous.  As I stated in my previous Pixie Dust post, these polishes are AMAZING to work with when it comes to nail art.  I thought since they dried matte, and with the speed they dry at, I thought that they would be impossible to dot onto a nail and get a round perfect circle.  I quickly found that I was mistaken and wanted to dot all my nails with a Pixie Dust.  So glittery and perfect.  Since you add top coat to it also, it ends up looking like a super glittery polish, which how can you go wrong?

Zoya Rocky is from the new Summer Stunning collection, and well this polish is just that; Stunning.  It is a known fact that I am a sucker for a blue polish, and ever since Zoya posted a sneak peek of this polish on their site, it became a must have.  Zoya describes Rocky as a "serene blue cream."  It is a gorgeous blue which reminds me of a blue summer sky.  What was amazing about this polish, and others from the Stunning collection, was that I had full coverage in one coat.  I did apply two coats to all the nails because I wanted the color to be extra bright.  It's nice not having to put two to three coats on to fill in bald spots. which with some of my Sinful Colors blue in this color I have had to.  Overall: great formula and great color.

What do you think?  Do you have any of these Pixie Dust polishes or Stunning polishes?  Fan of the simple manicure?

Until next post, <3.

**The 2013 Zoya Pixie Dust Polish and Stunning Polish were provided by Zoya for Promotional Purposes.  I purchased Sinful Colors Snow Me White.  The opinions expressed are my own, please view my disclosure policy**

Color Block Mani

Zoya Pixie Dust Tape Manicure!

9:00:00 AM

Good Morning, polished ones!  How are you today?  I'm kind of mad because the photos for this manicure seriously do not do it justice.  I'm so upset about this because I was trying to photograph the worlds most perfect polishes ever.  Those polishes being the new 2013 Zoya Summer Pixie Dust polishes.  Holy crow, I'm in LOVE with all of them.  I debated on doing swatches, but have seen millions online, so I decided to attempt some nail art with them.  As a person who primarily does nail art, my top polish concern is "Will this work well in a design?"  I have resisted buying any form of textured polish because I was convinced they would just not work for nail art.  Boy, was I wrong.  I am in LOVE with these polishes for art!  They are slowly bringing my creative side back.  

For this manicure, I wanted to use all of the Zoya Pixie Dusts to get acquainted to this new polish, the new colors, and how they would work with art/without top coat/etc.  Therefore, I decided on a nail art skittle tape manicure.  Let's take a look.  Sigh, again, forgive me about the pictures.




Colors Used:

  • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
  • INM - Northern Lights
  • Zoya - Solange - gold metal sparkle
  • Zoya - Beatrix - tangerine metal sparkle 
  • Zoya - Destiny - coral metal sparkle
  • Zoya - Miranda - rose sparkle
  • Zoya - Stevie - violet sparkle
  • Zoya - Liberty - blue sparkle
I'm loving this manicure, despite it not photographing well.  It came out exactly as I pictured it in my mind.  I wanted Solange to be paired with Beatrix, then Beatrix with Destiny, then Destiny with Miranda, then Miranda with Stevie, and finally Stevie with Liberty.  That way, people could see the colors next to each other and I could have a super fun manicure.  To get the look, I started with a base coat of white and added a top coat of Northern Lights.  I wanted my base to be sparkly just like the gorgeous pixies.  When dried, I added the checkerboard pattern with nail art tape.  I then with a dotting tool I filled in the empty squares.  After a few seconds, I removed the tape and let the manicure dry.  It was so weird not adding a top coat, but so neat in the end!

These polishes worked so well with the dotting tool.  Some polishes can be tricky on the dotting tool and just not transfer correctly onto the nail.  I really was worried that these, especially with the effect they produce, would not be able to transfer.  In their wet polish stage, they apply like a jelly polish.  They are fast drying, but aren't so fast drying that you can't work with them.

I'm impressed with the colors also.  In the next few weeks I'm planning on using them in other manicures as accents so you'll probably hear my opinion of them over and over.  I really thought I was going to dislike Solange since I hate gold polishes, but it was just so gorgeous!  Maybe it's that special pigment that is only available in this polish.  My favorite from the collection has to be Stevie since I am a lover of purple polishes.  This one was more opaque than the others.  Miranda and Liberty seemed to have a more jelly consistency to me, but still all dried like Stevie.  I'm excited to work more with Beatrix and Destiny, both were colors that I was expecting to just be "eh" about but again while working with them I was amazed by the bright hues.

For nail art, these polishes are a win, and even for a plain manicure they're amazing.  You might start to see some simple plain manicures from me utilizing them because they're literally nail art in a bottle!

What do you think?  Lover of the Pixie Dusts?  Lover of the textured look?  Have you used them for nail art?

Until next time, <3

**The 2013 Zoya Pixie Dust Polishes were provided by Zoya for Promotional Purposes.  I purchased INM Northern Lights and Sinful Colors Snow Me White.  The opinions expressed are my own, please view my disclosure policy**