Twinsie Tuesday - Regional Polish (Duri - Mystic Elements)

It's Tuesday again! Today's theme is a regional polish. I picked Duri, since they are a nail polish brand based in Brooklyn, NY. I'm not sure if they are sold in all areas of the US, but I know they are available for an affordable price online. I purchase my Duri polishes from a supply store in Queens, NY for approx $2-$3 each. One of my favorite Duri polishes is Mystic Elements. Mystic Elements is a dark burgundy with red shimmer. It's a gorgeous vampy polish. The formula was fantastic and this was opaque in two coats.

Don't forget to check out out my Twinsies! I'm interested to see what brands everyone picks:

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Ashley at Art Evolve

Brandi at The Collegiate Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Srsly Swatched

Jenn at All That is Gorgeous...

Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...

Katherine at Haul of Fame

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

Tara at Polishy of Truth

Nails Inc Sweets Way

Hey all! I hope everyone had a good weekend. I recently picked up all four of the Sprinkle polishes from Nails Inc. I originally intended to purchase two, but I stalked so many Sephora stores that when someone finally agreed to get them out of the back for me I took all four. I wanted Pudding Lane the most, so I figured I would save the best for last. I was a little unsure about Sweets Way, so I figured I would wear this one first.

Sweets Way turned out to be absolutely amazing once on the nail. If it's not my absolute favorite from the collection, it's definitely the runner up. Sweets Way has a milky white base with light blue, light pink and silver glitter. The formula was so opaque that after the first coat I questioned whether or not I need another. The milky white base became more opaque with the second coat. The formula was easy to work with and the glitter wasn't fussy and needed no extra glitter placement. This did dry with very slight texture. I can't rave about this one enough.

The photos below show 2 coats of Sweets Way and a coat of Seche Vite....

Love love love. This definitely reminded me of cupcake frosting. My boyfriend said it reminded him of babies. I much prefer the cupcake frosting lol

Twinsie Tuesday - Best Deal Polish

Good Morning! This week's theme is our best deal polish. Coincidentally, I went to Walgreens Sunday evening and I picked up ten of the Sinful Colors polishes that are on sale this week for $0.99. How can you beat a polish for $0.99? You can't even get a pack of Trident for that price anymore.

One of the polishes I picked up was Unicorn, a light yellow creme. This one only be worth $0.99 though as I had some issues with application. The first coat was streaky and while the second one seemed to even it out, it began to bubble like crazy. You can see the bubbling in the photos and this wasn't even half as bad as what it turned out to be. I didn't even attempt a third coat. I also found that this particular polish from Sinful isn't self leveling. I have a few other Sinful polishes that had better formula than this.

So while this may not be my "best" polish, it's my best deal polish....

Womp Womp. In an attempt to hide the bubbles I threw a coat of Icing Pre Game over it. An hour into work, this happen...

Not a good quality photo, but you get the idea. By 11am I had lost three entire nails in sheets. It had bubbled so much that the underside of the polish that came off my nails looked like it had been poked about a hundred times.

The Twinsie Tuesday girls do have some exciting news....we have a new Twinsie and she's fab! Welcome Maribeth from Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite! Her blog is awesome and so are her swatches. I'm happy she has joined us.  :)

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Ashley at Art Evolve

Brandi at The Collegiate Nail

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Srsly Swatched

Jenn at All That is Gorgeous...

Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...

Katherine at Haul of Fame

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Meredith at Polish and Charms

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Top Coat It

Sarah at See Sarah Swatch

Tara at Polishy of Truth

 

Bettina # 45 and Icing After Party

Good Morning! Hope everyone had a good weekend. My boyfriend and I took a trip to upstate NY to go walk around Bear Mountain. There was no physical address on Google that was correct, so we ended up driving around for about 2 hours. We actually drove right by it and crossed a bridge, and spent most of the day on the wrong side lol. Lesson learned, when going on our drives we are going somewhere with a physical address. We finally found it after 8pm, but by that time I opted to go to the Woodbury Common Outlets instead.

Quick pic from the wrong side of the water......

Anyway, back to nail polish. My best friend & I made a trip to Sephora one Friday night once their website showed that the Sprinkles collection was in store. Of course, when we got there they were no where to be found and the worker there told us to come back "next Friday" (I ended up getting them at a different Sephora, where the worker went and dug them out of the back for me). Since I anticipated a polish purchase, I didn't want to leave the mall empty handed. We walked down to Icing where I immediately started going through their glitters. I ended up getting 6 bottles for $22, which in my opinion is a steal!

I'm sure you've seen this one before, but here is Icing After Party. This is a party in a bottle. The glitter pieces are different sizes and shapes, from tiny pieces to shards. The colors are gorgeous! The glitter pieces are made up of a lavender purple, light blue, gold and rusty orange in a clear base. I wanted something muted so I chose Bettina 45 as the base coat. Formula was easy to work with. The only thing I would change is the density of the glitter. I felt I needed two coats and there's already a pretty big dent in my bottle.

The photos below show two coats of Bettina 45 and two coats of After Party.

The Icing polishes retail for $4.50, but anytime I've ever purchased from Icing they are B1G1Half. I need more of these polishes in my life. I do feel a little silly walking into Icing considering I'm 26 years old, but why should teens have all the good glitter? Glitter is for adults! LOL.

Zoya Zuza

Hey all! I'm here with a late night post. Sorry for being a bad blogger lately. Sometimes I feel like I barely have time to paint my nails at night. I have to get better at my time management so that I can get back on track. I must have at least 30-40 mani pics, to the point I'm getting overwhelmed. I hope to get it all together sooner than later.

Anyway, here are some quick swatches of Zoya Zuza. Zoya's website describes Zuza as "Deep, saturated, oceanic turquoise with gold and silver metallic shimmer and a foil-like finish. A beachy, colorful, foil-like shade with the perfect balance between blue and green."  Everything about this just reminded me of a mermaid. The formula was easy to work with, and the pictures below are 2 coats of Zuza and a coat of Out the Door.

(Sorry for the cuticle flooding -_-   I missed that previously)

I like how this polish has just the slightest hint of yellow to it. I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Essie Island Hopping

Hey all! Happy Wednesday! I'm glad to be half way through the week, and this much closer to the weekend. Today is my 9th Anniversary with my boyfriend, so after work we are headed out to dinner. 8:30-5:30 today will be crunch time at work, I need to get out on time today lol.

Today I have one of my oldest Essie polishes for you, Island Hopping. Essie's website describes Island Hopping as a rich plum mauve. At times this looks purple, then it leans taupe, then a grayish purple. It's pretty unique in my stash. I wish I still had OPI Parlez-Vous OPI to compare this to, but I sold it a few months ago. The formula was a little thinner than usual, but I was able to get this opaque in two coats.

The photos below show 2 coats of Island Hopping, topped off with Seche Vite...

Sorry my middle nail isn't 100% smooth. I bumped it three times during the dry time, and after fixing it 3 times I gave up! I guess I had left some older polish on my nail bed and it didn't dry 100% smooth.

Thanks for stopping by today :)

Twinsie Tuesday - Crackle Polish (OPI Shatter & Milani Dress Maker)

Good Morning! Today's Twinsie Tuesday topic is a crackle polish. I haven't played with my OPI Shatter in months! I've long banned this polish, using the excuse that this trend is over. When forced to pull this out last night I remembered how much I really enjoyed Shatter. I remember going on the wild goose chase to find it and I've easily went through at least 1 of my 3 bottles. The one thing I remember about Shatter is that it's a mani saver for lazy days. My manicure was not fresh in the least, but once layered with Shatter you can't see the imperfections. Perfect! lol

For the photos below I used 3 coats of Milani Dress Maker, 1 coat of Shatter and 1 coat of Seche Vite.

Remember to check out my Twinsies:

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing
Anne at Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley at Art Evolve
Brandi at The Collegiate Nail
Chelsea at Nailed Blog
ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi
Cordia at Srsly Swatched
Jenn at All That is Gorgeous...
Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Meredith at Polish and Charms
Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails
Rachel at Top Coat It
Sarah at See Sarah Swatch
Tara at Polishy of Truth

Wrapping up Blogger Love Week 2

Hey everyone! Sorry for the super late post. If you haven't been following, make sure to head over to Nory's blog Fierce Makeup and Nails and read the final post for Blogger Love Week 2.

Thank you again to Nory who was kind enough to let me participate :)

Zoya Arizona

Good Morning! Super quick post for today. I'm going through some older swatches, which is why my nails look so much longer than yesterday's post (which is current). I'm still trying to find the best length for my nails. I even think they may be a smidge too long here. Thoughts? From the side they look like they are entering the land of duck nails (I will not go there! haha)

Anyway, up for review today is Zoya Arizona. Zoya's website describes Arizona as "Softened bright citrus orange with a muted cream finish. This orange is bright but also very soft, giving it a fun, orange sherbet-like look on the nails."  To me, this looked less like sherbert and more like mac and cheese lol. This was a huuuuge lemming for me. Formula was easy to work with and I used two coats and a coat of Out the Door for the pictures below.

Sorry for the cuticle flooding on the ring finger  :0/

The day I wore this I did think about Kraft Mac & Cheese each time I looked down at my hands. It's super cute and summery.

Twinsie Tuesday - Non-Ring Finger Accent Mani

Morning! This week's Twinsie Tuesday theme is a non-ring finger accent mani. I debated about what finger I wanted to use for about a week and then I finally decided on not one, but two accent fingers. I was hoping it would pull this look together a little better for me.

For my main polish I used Bettina 187, which is not color accurate in these photos. In person it's a shade darker and leans more purple/maroon than what it looks here. I couldn't find my other camera, so this was the best I could do. I then used 1 coat of China Glaze Dollhouse for the accent glitter on my ring and pinky fingers. On my ring finger I carefully dotted the glitter, but due to the dim lighting in my room I wasn't as successful with my pinky nail.

I didn't love this, mainly due to the clumped glitter on my pinky nail. So I started over using Bettina 187 and Bettina Flip Flop....

Still not 100% in love. What I am in love with is Bettina Flip Flop, but I won't get into that because I have an entire blog post coming up for it. It definitely deserves it.

Don't forget to check out my twinsies and Blogger Love Week 2!! Blogger Love Week 2 is featured on Nory's blog here....

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing
Anne at Grape Fizz Nails
Ashley at Art Evolve
Brandi at The Collegiate Nail
Chelsea at Nailed Blog
ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi
Cordia at Srsly Swatched
Jenn at All That is Gorgeous...
Jenna at I'm Still Thinking...
Marisa at Polish Obsession
Meredith at Polish and Charms
Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails
Rachel at Top Coat It
Sarah at See Sarah Swatch
Tara at Polishy of Truth



Blogger Love Week 2 over at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Hey everyone! Today was the start of Blogger Love Week 2 over at Fierce Makeup and Nails. I remember when Nory originally did the first week, I returned every day to read everyone's responses. I was extremely excited when she extended the offer to me for this run. The questions and answers are fun and we have some amazing girls, so be sure to head over here and check it out each day this week! Q&A's will be up at 1pm daily.    :)

Fly-Ceratops by Two Birds One Store

Good Morning and happy Monday. I hope that everyone had a good weekend. I haven't received nail mail in a few weeks, but I placed an order with Sarah from See Sarah Swatch for some franken minis from her Etsy shop, Two Birds One Store. When she premiered swatches of her Matte About Summer collection in one of her blog posts I knew I had to order. I got the package on Saturday and as soon as I opened the package I thought....OH EM GEE!

I ordered Fly-Ceratops and Summertime Girls from her new collection. I had a hard time deciding which to try first, but I closed my eyes and went with Fly-Ceratops. Fly-Ceratops is made up of three different color and size glitter pieces. We've got tiny yellow, larger blue and even larger black glitter in a clear base. It's made up of square glitter, which I really love. I used three coats, which I found easy to apply. I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite and walked around with this awesomeness Sunday afternoon....

I'm really loving this. The cashier at Sally's even commented on my nails. I tried to explain it was an indie polish from Etsy and she looked at me like I had 10 heads. Come on Sally girls! lol

You can pick this up from Sarah's Etsy store, Two Birds One Store once she gets back. She's out of town until mid-August but is planning a large restock at that time. You can go to Etsy and sign up to be notified once she returns. I'm already trying to decide which I'm going to order next.

Essie Stroke of Brilliance Swatches

Happy Independence Day to all of my fellow Americans! And a very special thank you to all of the men and women who serve our country. I hope everyone has a safe holiday today.

Today I have swatches of the brand new Stroke of Brilliance polish from Essie's Luxeffects line. In observance of the holiday, my job let us out an hour early yesterday which was just enough time for me to get to the beauty supply store I frequent. I'm on a strict no-buy, but I needed more Seche Vite (which I don't count as polish, but a necessity). At the check out counter this bottle caught my eye from way down at the other end.

Essie's website describes Stroke of Brilliance as 'platinum sparks' and states that it serves as a multi-dimensional top coat. The glitter in Stroke of Brilliance is blue, and I would describe it as a steel blue/dark periwinkle. It's made up of round micro glitter and medium hex glitter in a clear base. The formula was easy to work with and I found it to be dense enough where I only needed one coat to achieve the look I wanted.

For the swatches below I used two coats of Essie Smooth Sailing, one coat of Stroke of Brilliance and topped it with a coat of Seche Vite. Smooth Sailing did not photograph color accurate once I added the glitter top coat (aka my camera hates me lol). In person Smooth Sailing looks more blue and less purple.

I'm beyond impressed with Stroke of Brilliance. I also used my swatch sticks to come up with some layering combinations to see how this would work. I wasn't sure about a few of the combos I picked, but I loved each and every one of them in the end. For the swatch sticks I used white (Jordana White), black (Sinful black), a blue with gray undertones (China Glaze Sea Spray), yellow (China Glaze Lemon Fizz) and a pink (China Glaze Shocking Pink).

All swatch sticks show 2 coats of the base color and 1 coat of Stroke of Brilliance (no top coat)

If you are a glitter fan I would say this is a must have. The color is gorgeous and the formula is easy to work with. Personally, I'm a huge fan of the Essie bottle shape and I find their brush to be the perfect size.

Is anyone planning on picking this up??