Animal Mani

Penguin Nail Art

9:00:00 AM

Good morning polished world!  How are you doing?  I'm feeling much better compared to the beginning of this week!  I do not want to get sick like that again, especially since Christmas is right around the corner!  

I have many Christmas manicures planned!  I originally was going to bring you a Christmas manicure today, but I got kind of lazy and didn't feel like starting with my red and greens so early.  Plus while I am better, I'm still not feeling 100% myself, so I didn't want to be super creative.

So, instead of a Christmas manicure, I'm bringing you these cute winter penguins!!!  They are perfect for this time of the year, and if you want to make them Christmas-y, you could totally add a red and green bowtie on the accent nails :).

Let's take a look!




Colors Used:
  • Jessica - Shiny Black
  • Sinful Colors - Snow Me White
  • Maybelline - Sweet Clementine
I'm not sure if I have used my Jessica Black yet for a base for nail art.  I might have but my mind is blanking right now.  Regardless, I really enjoyed this polish as much as my Orly Liquid Vinyl.  It applied perfectly in one coat, but I used two to make sure that I had no bald spots.  It dried fast too which was nice because I didn't end up dragging any black into the white polish.  Sadly, it did drag a bit when I added top coat, but I think you'll get that with any black polish.

Since these little guys are perfect for winter, I decided to create a tutorial so you too could have these cute little guys on your nails!

How I got the Look:


  1. Paint your nail with your favorite black polish
  2. With your favorite white polish, add the white belly using the polishes brush.  You could also use a nail art brush if you prefer.  I just painted 3/4 of the nail as if I were painting it like my regular nail.
  3. With my larger dotting tool, add two white dots for the eyes.
  4. As the eyes and belly are drying, with a nail art brush, add the beak with your favorite orange polish.  With a small dotting tool, create two little hearts at the bottom of the nail for the webbed feet.
  5. With your small dotting tool, add a black dot, then a white dot, and another black dot for the eyes.  You can just leave it as one black dot if you prefer.

For my first time painting in more than a week, I think I did pretty dang well!  Honestly, I was kind of nervous to paint my nails again.  I kid you not, I had naked nails for a week and took an 11 day break between painting.  I had this fear that I had forgotten how to paint my nails or use my dotting tools.  Silly right, but good thing painting your nails is like riding a bike.

What do you think?  Liking the penguins?  Have you ever done them?

 Please let me know if you have any Christmas manicure ideas for me!!!  Also, if you would like to see a tutorial for anything, let me know as well!!

As always, if you do re-create this manicure, please share with me on my social networks!!!

Until next time, <3.

kitchen sink mani

Inspired by Young, Wild, and Polished

9:00:00 AM

Hey everyone!  Hope you are doing well today!  I'm feeling a bit better, which is always a good thing.  I have yet to paint my nails though in over a week so hopefully tonight I'll get the urge to do something fun with them.

Today I'm bringing you a manicure I did back in September but never got around to sharing.  It was inspired by this manicure by Young, Wild and Polished.  I'm surprised more of my manicures are not inspired by Nicole since there are many nights I look at her Instagram for inspiration.

The grass is super bright in the background....not sure why, but the nails are true to color!  Let's take a look.




Colors Used:
  • Orly - Frolic
  • Orly - Liquid Vinyl
  • OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls
Cute right?  Only difference between my manicure and Nicole's is that she used purple where I used the pinkish color.  At the time that I did this manicure, I had just purchased a bottle of Orly Frolic and was dying to use it.  I'm so happy to have this polish in my collection because it really is gorgeous and has a perfect application.

I realized when I was done that I had taped the wrong nail.  I should have done the middle finger and had my thumb matching my ring finger but I had a mini brain fart.  In the end, I don't think that it made a huge difference or made the manicure look awful.

What do you think?  Liking this kitchen sink manicure?

Wow, short post.....I think this might be the shortest yet!

Until next time, <3.

Press Release

Zoya Naturel Collection 2014 - Press Release

4:16:00 PM

Hi polished world!  I'm very excited to bring you this Press Release from Zoya introducing their new Naturel Collection!  This collection will consist of 6 neutral nudes with pink undertones.  Typically, I wouldn't be excited for a "nude" collection, but if you keep reading, you'll see why I'm really excited!

Let's take a look!
                                                      ________________________________

Zoya Nail Polish Naturel CollectionSometimes less can be so much more...


The natural nail only better... The Zoya Nail Polish Naturel collection masters delicate tone on tone color with six new, full-coverage (opaque) neutral nudes with a pink undertone, that can be worn beautifully alone or stunningly together to create modern tonal accents.

The Look: It’s not about matching - it’s about coordinating colors with slight tonal differences to create interest.



Zoya Naturel Collection
• ZP704 - Chantal: French Vanilla Cream, Full Coverage Formula.
• ZP705 - Taylor: Light Toffee Cream, Full Coverage Formula.
• ZP706 - Rue: Boudoir Blush Cream, Full Coverage Formula.
• ZP707 - Brigitte: Bombshell Mauve Cream, Full Coverage Formula.
• ZP708 - Odette: Sultry Maroon Cream, Full Coverage Formula.
• ZP709 - Normani: Sable Mauve Cream, Full Coverage Formula.



Zoya’s Crusade against Artificial Nail Products:
Since 1993, Zoya Nail Polish and Treatments has provided quality, long-wearing formulations that are free of potentially toxic ingredients. Here’s how the battle against artificial and toxic products was won…

As owner of the country’s first Natural Nail and Skin Spa and armed with relevant information on potential health hazards, Zoya Reyzis was resolute to create a new line of quality professional products that would meet her exacting specifications. Pregnant at the time, she enlisted the aid of her Chemist Husband, Michael Reyzis, to develop toluene, formaldehyde and dibutyl phthalate free formulations that would provide extended wear on natural nails making Zoya the first to develop a “Big 3 Free” formula of nail polish. In the years since the birth of the brand, the commitment to providing safe and effective products has soldiered on with Zoya once again leading the way with the removal of formaldehyde resins and camphor to create the first “Big 5 Free” nail polish brand.

Find the Zoya Naturel Nail Polish Collection and over 300 stunning BIG5FREE* Zoya colors onwww.zoya.com. Each and every color has a name as unique as the women who inspired it.

*Formula is completely free of formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, dibutyl phthalate, toluene and camphor.

COMING SOON…
The Zoya Naturel Nail Polish Collection available online at Zoya.com January 01, 2014.

ZOYA IS THE NATUREL COLOR OF FASHION!
$9.00 ea. (US)
Available on Zoya.com

_____________________________

See how pretty they are?  I cannot wait to get my hands on them and try the manicures that they have in the swatches above!  

precision lacquer

Precision Lacquer - Shake Your Bon Bon with Zoya Sailor

9:00:00 AM

Hi everyone!  Sorry for being MIA the past few days, but as you may or may not know I have been rather sick.  It all started last Tuesday with a little cough, then by Wednesday afternoon I could barely move.  I have spent way too many hours in bed, but it was much needed as I'm slowly starting to feel better.

Typically, the first post of the month goes to a selected Nail Artist of the Month.  I have a certain artist picked out, but she has gotten sick as well, therefore we are delaying that post for a few more days, weeks, whatever.  It's more important to get healthy than to get that post up in my opinion.

I still have a really pretty manicure to bring you today so have no fear!  I did this manicure a few weeks ago with Zoya Sailor and Precision Lacquer Shake Your Bon Bon.  Both colors I have had for a while now but have yet to use.  I'm kind of kicking myself for delaying because both polishes are beautiful.  When you add them together, it's just amazing.

Let's take a look....




Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Sailor
  • Precision Lacquer - Shake Your Bon Bon
This tape manicure was inspired by this manicure by @_nailsbymeg on Instagram.  I loved the glitter with the cream and the unique tape design that I knew I had to re-create it.  Originally, I was going to re-create this manicure with Zoya Hunter and Precision Lacquer 18 Carat Cake, but I decided to switch the colors up.  Plus, green and gold, not really my thing.  I'm sure I would have loved it, but I definitely gravitate more towards blue.

The taping was kind of a pain in the rear, but totally worth it in the end.  I had to use 10 different pieces of tape in total.  If I had to do this on all my nails, I would have gone insane.  It takes a steady hand and a bit of patience to get the outer triangles to line up with the main criss-cross through the nail.



Zoya Sailor is the perfect navy polish which I am just in love with.  It had an amazing formula which was almost a one coater.  I did two coats just to even out a few bald spots.  The only thing that was weird for me with this polish was that my pointer finger dried shiny, and my pinkie matte.  It made no sense to me, but I knew I wanted a shiny manicure so I just added OTD and it fixed it.

Shake Your Bon Bon by Precision Lacquer is a microglitter I really think everyone should have.  It is part of their Sprinkles Collection alongside 18 Carat Cake and Hazel & Gretal.  For my middle finger, I used three coats to get complete coverage.  If I did two thicker applications, I could have gotten away with two, but I was a tad light.  For my taped finger, you can see how awesome the coverage really was as there really are no bald spots.  Plus, you can kind of tell how sparkly it was.  My camera couldn't focus properly on the whole manicure because of all the sparkle!

What do you think?  Loving the blue manicure?  Did anyone else have the weird matte and shiny drying with Zoya Sailor?

If you want to snag a bottle of Zoya Sailor, it is available as part of the Fall Cashmere collection on Zoya's website for $8.00 per bottle.  This week Zoya is starting their Flash Promos, so who knows maybe you can snag a bottle for free.

Precision Lacquer Shake Your Bon Bon, and the other polishes from the Sprinkle Collection, are available on their website for $3.97 on sale from $5.95.  Not sure how long the sale is going on for since I just noticed it when I was adding the link.

For a sick girl, this post is long winded.  I guess I have missed blogging a lot in my mini absence!!!

Until next time, <3.