namesake polish mani: Marina

that's right...today is the day! i have been waiting for Zoya in Marina since i heard about it's release...probably over a month ago now. and here it is! i had to buy 2 bottles, of course (a backup just in case), and the color is beautiful. it's like wearing a comfortable sweatshirt, with a lot of glam and sophistication. Marina is a smokey blue-gray shimmer. it was opaque on coat 1 and with super easy application. i used 2 coats just because. although this is not my first Zoya polish, this is my first application of a Zoya. after all of the research and reading i've done on their polishes, i decided against using a base coat. i also decided against a top coat, which is rare for me, but the polish was shiny enough on its own.

namesake polish!

Zoya describes Marina "Zoya Nail Polish in Marina can be best described as: A strongly blue-toned smoky silver-grey with a dusty metallic finish. A blue smoke shade to give a dreamy artistic look to the nails."

2 coats Zoya in Marina...no base or top coat needed

raspberry race-ing!

i couldn't resist adding a coat of OPI Teenage Dream

good evening, everyone! this Sunday i enjoyed some beautiful weather and a bbq. finally a breezy day where we could go outside and relish the sunshine. today i have a nice, summery mani for you. i started with China Glaze Strong Adhesion base coat. recently i found a Sally Hansen Insta-Dri color, Raspberry Race, that's a cross between a creme and a jelly. and i'm hooked. the application (1 medium coat) was smooth and dreamy! i'm a little starry eyed.

1 coat Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Raspberry Race

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Raspberry Race with Teenage Dream OPI topcoat

matte! Give Me a Hint

good morning lovelies! i'm really becoming more and more of a morning person lately. i don't know what it is...i used to hate them! today's post is my first ever experience with a matte top coat. after i used ColorClub in Chelsea Girl and it dried matte...i've been very curious as to what matte polishes and top coats actually look like and feel like on the nail. i used 2 coats ColorClub Give Me a Hint from the Alter Ego collection...which dried glossy as you will be able to see in the pictures. on 3 of my nails i also added 1 thin coat Amethyst Mist from Cover Girl Boundless Color collection. i used Hard Candy Matte Top Coat to mattify the look...and it's fantastic.

glossy, pre-matte Give Me a Hint

2 coats ColorClub Give Me a Hint

the matte look! using 1 coat Hard Candy Matte Top Coat

i'm the Evil Queen

hello, good morning! welcome! this morning i have an unusual (for me) color for you! Claire's nail polish in Evil Queen. when i bought this polish, i was thinking of it's similarity (or so i thought) to Cult Nails Living Water. i was drooling over Living Water and hadn't ordered it yet. so i picked up the Claire's polish for $2.50 and haven't tried it 'til now. in reality, they are not very similar. anyways! here i have on 2 medium coats of Claire's nail polish in Evil Queen. the formula was a little tricky. it was fairly streaky and the brush is very small. i used China Glaze Strong Adhesion base coat, 2 coats Evil Queen, and ColorClub 0-60 Speedy Top Coat.

comparison: OPI Fiercely Fiona and ChinaGlaze Electric Pineapple

good morning! while i was looking through my vast collection of polishes today, i noticed i have two very similar colors. OPI (Shrek Collection) in Fiercely Fiona and China Glaze (Island Escape Collection) in Electric Pineapple. i decided to do a comparison swatching. i used 2 coats each Fiercely Fiona and Electric Pineapple on every other finger. the shades are very similar, however, Fiercely Fiona is much yellower upon closer examination. Electric Pineapple is very green. my camera had some difficulties...but i tried my best! take a look:

inside lighting

in the sunshine-you can definitely tell the color differences

i decided to add yellow polka dots to help my camera recognize the difference in the colors

the polka dots are OPI in Lemonade Stand By Your Man

bottle of Lemonade Stand By Your Man

Finger Paints Fall 2011 Press Release

here it is! one of my favorite polishes...Finger Paints with their Fall Fashionista Collection for Fall 2011. i cannot wait to try these, they look gorgeous. i'll have to stalk my Sally's for them.

hats off to the TOP COAT!

so i've been using China Glaze Fast Forward top coat and i just wasn't thrilled about it. it has almost ruined a couple of my very favorite leopard manicures and it has been known to give me some bubbles from time to time. and i don't know where they got the name Fast Forward from, because it happens to be on the slow side, in my opinion. anywho-hats off to ColorClub 0-60 Speedy TopCoat. it's my new favorite topper. with an easy, smooth application, non-horrible smell, and super fast dry time, ColorClub rocks my world as of late. also, i've just started using another of their top coats, Vivid color intensifying top coat, and it performs as promised...you can see in my 'feeling blue' post.

so the next top coat i'm going to try is probably the Revlon Quick Dry top coat...it's available in drugstores and i've read on quite a few other blogs that it is out of this world for the price.

until then-

ColorClub 0-60 Speedy TopCoat

feeling blue

today i broke open the ColorClub Poptastic Collection and got inspired by Chelsea Girl. Chelsea Girl is a rich, creme royal blue. it reminds me of a perfect ocean. this was my first ColorClub colored lacquer! and i loved it. it was easy to apply and dried within five minutes. this polish was also my first matte drying nail polish EVER! i didn't quite know what to do. for this mani, i applied 2 coats (opaque) ColorClub in Chelsea Girl and on my ring finger, i applied 1 coat Nicole by OPI in Nicole...Spotted! over the top of Chelsea Girl. i used ColorClub Vivid Top Coat over the whole thing and fell in love. the top coat really does intensify the colors in the nail lacquer, and also provided me with a deep shine! (matte problem=solved).

2 coats ColorClub Chelsea Girl (no top coat )

designer series obsession

so i think it is safe to say that i've got a bit of an OPI DS obsession going on right now. and i'm willing to accept that. this manicure ended up being a layering mani, so first i'll show you the DS polish that started it all. OPI DS (Designer Series) in Signature. this polish is a semi-sheer holographic ultra micro glitter concoction. and i love it! the DS series has a different brush, and i absolutely love it. i started with 2 coats (opaque) of Signature and then used China Glaze Crackle Glaze in Broken Hearted. then i used 1 coat of Essie in Streamers (as if i didn't have enough glitter going on already) to complete the look. i topped the manicure with my new favorite top coat, ColorClub 0-60.

2 coats OPI DS in Signature

my camera had such a hard time focusing-but this gives a good glimpse of the holographic-ness

this is really the only shot where you can get an idea of the crackle