Twinsie Tuesday - Inspired by Another Blogger

Good Morning! Today's post was a tricky one.....inspired by another blogger. There were SO many people that came to mind that I didn't know how to narrow the choices down. After thinking about it for a few days I went to my helmer to pick a polish and it clicked. Before I started blogging I was pretty much obsessed with LetThemHavePolish. So much so that when she posted her Bettina swatches I took the first opportunity to purchase them when an email address was provided for a contact at Bettina. I picked out a bunch of polish, all which turned out to be amazing. For today's polish I chose Bettina Starfish, a bright orange crème that seemed just right for the 90 degree weather we had the last few days in NY. The formula on Starfish is almost a one coater. Two coats really pulled everything together.

 

Be sure to check out my Twinsie's posts. I'm excited to see who everyone picked:

 

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Katherine at Haul of Fame

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

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

Traci at DrinkCitra

Twinsie Tuesday - Polish Roulette (China Glaze Bare it All and Mango Madness)

Good Morning! It's Tuesday, so we know what that means  :)  The theme for today was polish roulette, where we picked two random polishes from our stash and make them work together. I headed over to my Helmer and decided to dive into my China Glaze drawer since I haven't shown them much love lately. I picked out Bare it All. When I went back in for a second dip, I may have looked just ever so quickly before reaching down and grabbed Mango Madness. I don't consider it cheating, my eyes were closed when I reached down lol. I attempted to do a gradient, which turned out to be a little more uneven than expected. I used three coats of Bare it All and a coat of Mango Madness. Sorry for the cruddy photo. I dropped my camera when the zoom was open last week and now it's broken  :*(

Check out my Twinsie sisters here:

Amanda at Amandalandish

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Ashley at Art Evolve

Brandi at The Beaulieu Review

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Jamie at Polish, Please!

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

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 - Funky French

Today we have another Twinsie Tuesday post. This week the theme was funky french. I spent a little while on Sunday trying to put together a real 'funky' mani in my head. I looked down at my traffic cone orange nails and decided I might as well work with the amazing orange I already had, which I'm sure is funky to some of you lol. Before I begin, I don't like this mani one bit. It's pretty much atrocious. I dislike this so much that you are only going to get one single photo. I kept my previous mani of Zoya Paz (two coats) and on my tips I picked up a few of my glitters from the Burlesque collection by OPI. From left to right, I did two coats as 'tips' of the following:

Pointer: Glow Up Already

Middle: Extra-va-vaganza

Ring: Sparkle-icious

Pinky: Bring on the Bling

 

I ended up with this hot mess.....

 

I apologize for the unclear photo. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I had a hard time getting Zoya Paz to photograph accurate, and under my indoor lighting this looks like a mess.

Don't forget to go check out what my Twinsies are sporting for today's theme!

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

Thanks for stopping by! :)

 

Zoya Paz......Orange Perfection!

Good Morning! Happy Monday! How many of us feel like this this morning?

LOL! This is one of my favorite photos, ever! I've had this saved on about three phones now and I've taken it with me to about three different jobs over the years. It makes a bad day better haha.

Anyhow, I got my package from the Zoya Earth Day promo last week. I ended up getting 14 polishes in order to qualify for free shipping, the Zoya Remove + and the Qtica grapefruit scrub. I picked up Arizona, Zuza, Meg, Heidi, Lianne, Ali, Renee, Wednesday, Paz, Elodie, Shelby, Rory, Kimber and Myrta. I was definitely in a bright coral/orange/pink mood when I ordered. When I got my package and unpacked them Zoya Paz jumped out at me. I have found my perfect orange.

Zoya Paz is a bright orange. It's exactly traffic cone orange. On top of being a great color the formula is perfection! The Zoya website calls this a creme but during application it feels so much like a jelly. It's so buttery smooth and it flows off the brush onto the nail with such ease. It's opaque in two coats but dries with a dull finish, looking almost rubberized. I topped this with a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri and it's amazing!

This polish gave my camera and the three other cameras in my household a hard time! I was finally able to get a color accurate photo outdoors with my cell camera (go Android!). For whatever reason, the top coat reflects strangely in these photos. I didn't realize it until after I removed this polish and came indoors.

Enough rambling....on to greatness!

I feel like I can swap all of my other oranges now. I have found my go to orange. I love this so much, how could I ever use another orange? lol

Does anyone else own Paz?

Lynnderella Cauldron Drippings

I'm back today with the layering mani I spoke about yesterday. I started with two coats of OPI A Roll in The Hague and topped it off with two coats of Lynnderella's Cauldron Drippings. I can't say enough about this mani, so I'm just going to get straight to the photos....

I'm in love. There's so much going on, but it all falls together just perfectly.

I know not everyone loves Lynnderella polishes or the drama surrounding them. While I don't enjoy the drama that was created (mainly through Facebook, IMO) I really do love these polishes. What is your opinion on Lynnderella polishes?

OPI A Roll in The Hague

Hiya! Super quick post today. I have a pretty cool layering combination using OPI A Roll in The Hague, but I wanted to give ARiTH it's own post due to the fact that once I threw something extra over this, I was unable to photograph it's true color.

OPI A Roll in The Hague is from the Holland Collection. The photos below show two coats of OPI A Roll in The Hague topped with a coat of Seche Vite. Formula was easy to work with and it was opaque in two coats.

Sorry for the dry cuticles. This NY weather is freaking out my skin and nothing seems to help! It was over 80 degrees yesterday and they are forecasting a high of 62 for today.  I caught a quick photo of the sun through my sunroof on my lunch break yesterday....

If April showers bring May flowers and we haven't had any showers....what the hell is May going to be like? I'm not a big fan of the heat. If I have to live somewhere where it's hot I rather be in Florida where the water is at least clear and blue!

I'll be back tomorrow :)



Nail-Venturous Orange You Unique?

Happy Friday!! I have another indie polish for today's post. I purchased Nail-Venturous Orange You Unique when I bought Floam from Ninja Polish. I had seen a few swatches on this and I really liked just how unique it really is. Unfortunately, this didn't really work for my skin tone.

Orange You Unique has tiny matte yellow, white and blue glitter in a sheer orange base. I hesitate to call the base orange, because against my skin tone this came off as more peach than anything. I saw the clashing when I was putting down the first coat, so I stopped at the second. From a distance the orange/peach base blends into my skin. I am cool toned but I do have some red in my hands.

Thoughts and opinions? I know this isn't the absolute worst, but I feel I can't really pull it off. This would probably look great on someone with a tan.

What is everyone wearing for the weekend? I'm rocking Lynnderella Forget You Not. I have to remember to take photos before it chips lol.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!! :)

Icing Tigers Blood

Good morning everyone, happy President's Day! I hope those of you that are off today enjoy your day. To those of you that are working, I feel your pain LOL. Super quick post for today, because I'm writing this up on Sunday night and I'm having the worst nail day. I broke another nail on my good swatching hand (my other is beat up, haha), I swatched a blue polish that caused major staining, and I'm now on my third mani since 10pm and it's only midnight. I hated the blue polish I swatched, tried to use my new magnetic polish but my brush was completely wonky and connected at the bottom bristles, and I just smudged my thumb on my third mani. Does anyone else hate days like this??  :::throws in the towel:::  Sorry for the rant.

Anyways, super quick post tonight on Icing's Tiger's Blood. I picked this one up due to the fact that it's a dupe for Cult Nails Captivated. I missed out on Captivated and was beyond thrilled when I found out this was a dupe. It's super pretty in person, but leans a little more orange than I expected. The formula was decent, but as you can tell I could have used another coat. I used 2 coats and it looked good IRL, but once under my lighting and in the photos you can see bald spots.  :0(

 

I hope everyone enjoys their day and I'll be back tomorrow for another Twinsie Tuesday post!

The Face Shop RD301

Haaaaappy Friday! Does anyone have any good plans for this weekend? On Saturdays, my boyfriend and I usually go take a drive; but this week I have to watch my dogs since my parents are going to visit my aunt out of state. I'm so spoiled with being able to get up and run because my dad is retired and here to watch my dog. Here is a photo of one of my furry children:

That's my little devil pomeranian! At least he's cute, right? lol. My other dog is a golden retriever, and they are completely in love with each other. It's so adorable.

Today's post features a polish from an Asian retailer, The Face Shop. I originally saw the swatch here and fell head over heels in love. I was ecstatic to find out they had a store in Queens, so I headed over there thinking I would find all three holos. The only one they had was RD301, which is a muted red holo. In the bottle it looks like a red/salmon pink shade, with a subtle holographic effect. That's so not the case on my nail!

On my nails it pulls completely orange with my skin tone (FYI I'm pretty fair, usually 1 or 2 shades up from the lightest in all  face foundations). The only time it looked anywhere near red/pink was in dark indoor lighting. The holo effect looks much more subtle out of the bottle and on the nail. While it's nice, it's not something I'm in love with. It definitely glows more than it gives off any rainbow of holographic glitter.  :0/

While the shade isn't what I expected, the formula was flippin fantastic! It was completely opaque in one easy and smooth coat. I did an extra coat just to be safe and topped it off with Seche Vite. I still want to try and hunt down the other two shades, but the sales associates weren't sure what they would be getting. The photos below are all outdoor photos, with the exception of the very last image which was taken indoors with a camera.

Thoughts? Am I crazy or is this completely orange? I even started to doubt that it was the same polish shown on Spaz&Squee's blog. I wonder if the shade/formula is a little different in the bottles they sell in the US. Oh well.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! Thanks for stopping by!  :0)

China Glaze Fortune Teller

Hello! Happy Monday all. Today I finally have my Halloween mani up for post. Halloween feels like it was ages ago! I sported China Glaze Fortune Teller on Halloween. This was a long time lemming that my friend picked up for me. As far as I know you can't get it on nail supply websites, but it's still available on Ebay.

Fortune Teller is small round and large hex orange glitter in a black base. The base was a little sheer, but built up in three coats. The formula was easy to work with and the glitter didn't drag.

The photos below show three coats of Fortune Teller and a coat of Seche Vite.

Happy Halloween!

Good Morning! Happy Halloween! I hope everyone is safe today, no matter what you do. I have no plans besides going to work and maybe a trip to the mall after. Today I have my first and probably last nail art post. I'm not very good at nail art, as you will see. I'm pretty artistic but it doesn't transfer to my nails, and I'm too lazy to practice lol. I took this off right after I did it, and my NOTD for Halloween is China Glaze Fortune Teller, which I will post about in a few days.
Evil Skeleton Pumpkin nails:

OPI Tangerini Bikini

Good Morning! Happy Friday! As mentioned in yesterday's post, today I'm reviewing OPI Tangerini Bikini from their Summer Splash collection in 2004. This is another one I thought I was going to hate. I don't necessarily love the color, but it's not terrible. I think I would like this one more as a pedi color.

Tangerini Bikini is a bright orange polish with subtle shimmer. Like Cabana Banana, this polish is very sheer and the formula is runny. After 3 coats you can still see my VNL.

The photos below are 3 coats of Tangerini Bikini and no top coat.
(FYI - Tangerini Bikini and Cabana Banana are still available on AveYou.com)

OPI Coral Reef

Good Morning! Today I have OPI Coral Reef from their It's Summer For Shore collection in 2003. I wish I had better photos for you, the weather in NY has been less than sunny lately. I wore this polish for two days hoping for sun and it never happen. I got two quick sunlight pictures and then my camera batteries died.

Coral Reef is (obviously) a coral polish with holographic shimmer. In my opinion it leans orange as well. The holographic shimmer in this is subtle yet strong enough to stand out. Formula was great and easy to work with. Because this polish is black label, this is before the OPI Pro-wide brush days (Yay!)

The photos below are three coats of Coral Reef and one coat of Seche Vite (I don't feel that SV killed the holo in this at all). I still have 2 bottles of Coral Reef available for sale under the blog sale page :)

OPI 'To Eros is Human'

Hello! Today's post features OPI's 'To Eros is Human' from their Greek Isles collection in 2004. I picked this up at a supply store when I saw it was black label. I had seen it a few times before but in the bottle it looks a little blah so I never purchased it. It almost looks like a duochrome in the bottle due to the fact that it has some strange tones running through it.

'To Eros is Human' glows on the nail. It doesn't show the duochrome effect seen in the bottle though, which is a little bit of a let down. The formula is on the sheer side but builds with the second coat. 'To Eros is Human' wouldn't photograph 100% true to color. It comes off a little more berry/pink than orange IRL. It has a shimmer finish and applied nicely. It is a bright polish, but that's my nail style so I really like it.

The photos below are two coats of 'To Eros is Human' with no top coat.

Thanks for stopping by!

OPI 'Orange You From New York?'

Good morning! Today I have OPI"s 'Orange You From New York' from their New York City collection released fall of 2000. I can't believe that 11 years later I found this on the shelves of a beauty store. It's pretty crazy. I had one hell of a time trying to get it open but the formula is fantastic still. The store put this one on clearance so they crossed out the label, but I can still read it! There is also build up from another polish that must have leaked on it.

'Orange You From New York?' is a reddish orange that also has a little brown in it? It's kind of hard to decide what color it really is. It reminds me of rust and it's totally a fall color. I wasn't sure if I liked it and only really picked it up because 1.  I knew it was a HTF 2. I'm from New York lol.  Once on my nails I fell in love with it.

I looked this up on Ebay out of curiousty to see if anyone would be able to find it and there are a few on there right now. The price on this is pretty high, $23-$30. I don't think I could spend that on 1 polish.

The formula was great! It is somewhat squishy like a jelly but really opaque and super easy to work with. It dried quickly and with great shine.

The photos below are two coats of 'Orange You From New York?' with no top coat.

Sally Hansen 'Pumpkin Spice'

Here's another one I couldn't wait to get my hands on. I stalked my local Walgreens & CVS for a few weeks after seeing this on www.Scrangie.com. It's 'Pumpkin Spice' from the new collection by Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear line.

I was hoping this would be a dead on dupe for China Glaze 'Fortune Teller' but it's not exact. I don't have both to do a comparison shot....I wish I did because 'Fortune Teller' is a serious lemming of mine.

Formula is decent. It starts off sheer and builds to the brownish base you see. The glitter is an orange/rusty color. This is three coats of 'Pumpkin Spice' with no top coat.