Twinsie Tuesday - New Years Inspired Mani (China Glaze - For Audrey)

Happy New Year to each and every one of you! I hope everyone has a fantastic 2013 filled with nothing but the absolute best (nail polish and cosmetics included). This week's TT theme is a New Years inspired mani. I'm cheating on this one and using a polish I wore a little over a week ago. Shh - don't tell anyone ;)

Pictured below is two coats of the famous For Audrey by China Glaze. The perfect Tiffany blue creme with pretty great formula. Application was easy but I did have quite a few chips within the 24-48 hour mark.

For my actual NYE mani I have on one of the new colors from the Zoya Lovely collection. I haven't finished swatching them all and testing the wear so I didn't want to show that one off just yet.

Make sure to check out what my Twinsies are starting out 2013 with....

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 Seriously Swatched

Jamie at Polish, Please!

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

Shimmer Polish - Mary

Good morning! Happy Monday! Sorry for not posting in a few days, I've been fighting a bit of a bug. Everyone at work is sick with the flu and I woke up on Wednesday congested and with a sore throat, which is still hanging around but thankfully it never turned into anything more. Does anyone have any plans for New Years Eve? I have work today, but I'm hoping that they will close my office at least a *little* early. Other than that my boyfriend and I are just making dinner at his place and then probably coming back to my house to watch the ball drop with my parents. I'm off tomorrow and we may take a drive, since the weather here on Saturday kept us on the island. Enough rambling....

Today I have a super awesome polish for you, Mary by Shimmer Polish. Mary has a tinted base, which I would consider a raspberry red. There are different size glitters in a mix of red, purple, black and silver. There is an amazing purple glitter that looks blue at times, depending on the way the light hits it. The formula was easy to work with and not goopy in the least. I found the dry time to be quick and I rocked this mani for almost three days before I removed it. All of the glitter pieces laid flat and I topped this off with a coat of Seche Vite.

 

You can purchase Shimmer Polish on Etsy, here. You can also check out all of the polishes offered by Shimmer Polish on her website, www.ShimmyShimmer.com. They are full size bottles that retail for $12.00 each.

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year. See you in 2013 ;)

The polish in this post was provided for my honest review.

Twinsie Tuesday - Christmas Inspired Mani (China Glaze Glittering Garland)

Good morning and a very Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate Christmas!! I hope everyone gets a few good things, enjoys their time with their family and that everyone stays safe. Today's Twinsie Tuesday theme is a Christmas inspired mani. Sadly, I've only worn two holiday polishes this entire season. My favorite Christmas polish is China Glaze Glittering Garland, so I decided to feature it in this post. Glittering Garland is a medium green packed with glass flecks. The formula is great and opaque in two coats. This may be one of the most stunning polishes I own....

In addition to todays post, we have a very special announcement. Jamie from Polish, Please will be joining the Twinsie Tuesday girls starting today. Make sure you check her out her blog and give her a warm welcome!!

Click the links below to see all of the Christmas inspired manicures  ;)

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 Seriously Swatched

Jamie at Polish, Please!

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

Again, a very Merry Christmas to all of you!

Zoya Lovely - Spring 2013 Nail Polish Collection (Press Release and Pics)

Hey all! I have some super exciting information and press release photos to share with you tonight....

 

Zoya Lovely
Beauty is a lovely state of mind

Lovely, just LOVELY!

Spring is awash in six soft and lovely new Zoya shades including three dewy metallics and three fresh blooms of cream. Poetic in nature, this collection is sure to capture the beauty of the season like no other....

 

 

 

Zoya Lovely – spRING 2013

Piaf (ZP652) - Fresh Forsythia Yellow Metallic - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Fashion Designer Zang Toi)

GeiGei (ZP651) - Blushing Cherry Blossom Pink Metallic - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Zang Toi/SS13).

Julie (ZP650) - Soft Wisteria Purple Metallic - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Zang Toi/SS13).

Blu (ZP653) - Lucky Hyacinth Blue Cream - Full Coverage

Neely (ZP655) - Earliest Spring Green Cream - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Peter Som/SS13).

Jacqueline (ZP654) - Perfect Magnolia Nude Cream - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Peter Som/SS13)

 

 

Ultra long-wearing, nail lacquers by Zoya are BIG5FREE - all formulas are completely free of harmful industrialchemicals such as toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and dibutyl phthalate (DBP)that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Zoya Lovely$8 (US)

 

Follow theZoya Nail Polish and Treatments Blog and stay tuned on Twitter (@Zoyanailpolish) andFacebook for release date updates.

Hashtags: #ZoyaLovely and #nailpolish.

 

Thoughts? I'm beyond excited for each of these new shades!! They all look so soft.

Twinsie Tuesday - Birthstone Color (Essie Cascade Cool)

Good Morning, ladies! This week the theme for Twinsie Tuesdays is our birthstone color. Since I'm an October baby, my birthstone is pink tourmaline. I went through a few of my polishes and picked Essie Cascade Cool for my mani. It turned out to be a pretty good match.

I used two easy coats of Essie Cascade Cool for the photos above. The formula is easy to work with and completely opaque in two coats. I topped it off with Seche Vite. 

Remember to check out my Twinsies and their birthstone colors! :)

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 Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

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

China Glaze - Cowgirl Up

Good morning! Happy Friday to each of you. 5:30pm today will begin my four day weekend...woohoo! I expected to have to go into work on Monday, but instead of a Christmas party my job gave us off on Christmas Eve which totally works for me!

Today I have a polish that I'm not too crazy about. It's Cowgirl Up, from the Rodeo Collection by China Glaze. I thought this looked stunning in the bottle, but once on the nail I wasn't very impressed. It's a very dark magenta/purple. The color is very me, but I'm not a fan of the finish which is frosty. When in direct sunlight and bright lighting, there are little blue flecks which you can  almost see in the photos below. These flecks aren't apparent in normal lighting, and the polish looks much more frosty. The formula was good and I only needed two coats to get it opaque. I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite.

I apologize in advance for the funky ring finger. I have a break that is very far up and I tried to patch it - which you can tell is a complete fail. I also have a bit of tip wear, I haven't been good about taking my photos right away lately....

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!!

Twinsie Tuesday - Chanukah Inspired Mani

Good morning, everyone! Today's Twinsie Tuesday theme is a Chanukah inspired mani. I started with Nails Inc Baker Street as a base, which is a vibrant blue creme polish. I topped it off with OPI Pirouette My Whistle, which is light silver glitter in a clear base. I did two coats of Bakers Street, and one coat of Pirouette My Whistle (which I dabbed on in spots for better coverage). I apologize in advance for the camera phone pictures, Bakers Street is extremely difficult to photograph and my regular camera couldn't capture it accurately.

 

I really liked this combo. I rocked this mani last week, and my co-worker at first said it reminded her of snow and then proceeded to call it a Chanukah mani. Score! Mission accomplished!  ;)

 

Again, Happy Chanukah to all of my Jewish readers!

 

Remember to check out my Twinsies and the Chanukah inspiration they have on their nails:

 

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 Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

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

 



Essie - Sew Psyched

Good morning, all! I hope everyone had a good weekend, and Happy Chanukah to any Jewish readers! I've been digging through my Essie stash non-stop lately and falling back in love with some of my all time favorites. I wasn't feeling the bright or the dark shades last week so I picked out Essie's Sew Psyched. This is one of my favorite Essie polishes ever. I like to call this dusty army green, and I'm slightly obsessed with it. The Essie website calls this cashmere-soft sage pewter, but dusty army green just seems so bad ass in my opinion. It is fully opaque in two coats and the formula is easy to work with. I used Seche Vite in the photos below....

I hope everyone has a good Monday  :)

Twinsie Tuesday - Black & White Mani

Good morning, friends! I'm back today with another Twinsie Tuesday post. This weeks challenge was a black and white manicure. Seems simple enough, but I spent the better part of the week trying to figure out what to do. I started with three awful coats of Essie Marshmallow and after major denting and chippage had to start over. I decided to keep it simple, and I really ended up loving the outcome.

I'm not sure what to call this, other than random freestyle nail art. I wasn't going to a zebra look, I just wanted lines coming from each side of the nail. I started with two coats of Jordana White (much easier than Essie Marshmallow!) and just went and did a couple of random black stripes with a nail art polish. I'm pretty proud, especially for this being nail art lol.  

Sorry for the dry cuticles. The weather in NY has been pretty cold (with the exception of today, where we hit 62 degrees) and the winter weather wrecks havoc on my skin despite slathering on lotion all day long.

Make sure to check out my twinsies and their black and white manicures:

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 Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

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

Twinsie Tuesday - Our First Polish (OPI Espresso Your Style)

Good Morning! Today's Twinsie Tuesday post topic was an interesting one, our first nail polish. I know I had a lot of drugstore polishes that I misplaced or threw away (I'm talking about you, Sally Hansen Nail Prisms) so I decided to go with my first OPI. The first OPI I ever purchased was OPI Espresso Your Style from the Deliciously Dark collection (2008, I think?). I picked this up from the JcPenney salon, and with the price tag still attached I can confirm I paid $7.50 for this baby. Espresso Your Style is a dark brown with a bit of a burgundy undertone. The burgundy is very apparent in the first coat, but is much more subtle with the second. There is a small hint of shimmer that appears depending on the lighting. The formula was still great even after all of these years, even without thinner. I used two coats for the photos below...

 

On my nails this reminded me of Hershey Kisses or hot cocoa...

 

Don't forget to check out my Twinsies. I'm interested to see where everyone started their polish obsession:

 

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 Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

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

The Last Few Weeks....

Hey all! Long time no post. Sorry for falling off the map. The entire month of November has been a mess for me. I lost both of my dogs this month, so I've been less than inspired to post a blog post or even polish my nails.

I lost my dog Milo, to Immune Mediated Thrombocytopenia on the 16th. Even though he had a five day emergency animal hospital stay which included blood transfusions and a chemotherapy drug, he wasn't strong enough to pull through. He was only five years old. We lost our second dog Ben, this morning. He had become immobile within a week's time due to arthritis in his back and an x-ray at the vet's office showed a mass in his stomach, which they suspected to be cancerous. They confirmed he was in immense pain and we had to let him go. They stated even if we bought him more time with additional pain medicine, they weren't sure how long he would make it and it wouldn't be fair to him. He was nine years old.

I basically just wanted to say that I'll be back, I just need a little time to get my thoughts and feelings together. I have a post scheduled for this morning, but I don't want to say I will be posting regularly until I know for sure.

Thanks for sticking around.

Milo & Ben

Milo & Ben

Milo & Ben

Essie - Coat Azure

Good Morning ladies. Happy Friday! Super quick post today. Today I have Essie Coat Azure up for talk :)  Coat Azure is a medium blue with subtle shimmer. The shimmer in this one gets a bit lost on the nail but it's still pretty. I've worn this three times in the past two months, so that says something in itself. Shown below are two coats of Coat Azure topped off with a coat of Seche Vite...

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Twinsie Tuesday - Canadian's Choice (Team Anne)

Good Morning! Today's Twinsie Tuesday post is going to split all of us girls into two teams. We let our Canadian girls, Ash and Anne come up with 'secret' themes. I'm team Anne :)  I accidentally dropped my phone in water yesterday and I had a screen shot of the original email saved, so I don't remember the exact name it was given but I know it was nature themed. I Googled pictures of Canada and came across a lot of pine trees so that is the route I picked....because of course, pine trees are the simplest nail art option I could come across lol

I'm super excited to see what the other ladies came up with, and what team Ash was given as a theme. Check them out 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 Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

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

Hare Polish - Dog Day Dream

Hey all! Sorry for falling off the grid. I lost power last Monday with Hurricane Sandy, but I was one of the very lucky ones and it was back on by Wednesday.  There are some local towns (and of course neighboring states) who have really been devastated by the hurricane, so I'm really lucky where I live. On top of that, we are dealing with a gas shortage. My boyfriend woke me up Saturday morning to let me know one of the local stations had gotten a delivery, so I met him there and while on line his car almost ran out of gas and he had to park it. I waited about 2 hours to fill up my car and a gas canister so that we could put enough in his car so he could get back in line. In total it we waited more than 3 hours on Saturday just for gas. My friend and I had attempted to get gas at 4am on Saturday morning to find that people were camping outside of closed gas stations in hopes that they would be able to fill up in the morning. Do any of you live on the east coast? I hope everyone is ok.

I have some back logged swatches, one of them being Hare Polish Dog Day Dream. Dog Day Dream (love the name) is orange, magenta and purple glitter in a raspberry base. The formula was good and it was opaque in two coats. It does look a little sheer in the direct sunlight photos below, but in person it was more opaque. I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite.

You can get Hare Polish from Nikole's Etsy site when she restocks or from Llarowe. Personally, I would order from the Etsy shop. I had an issue with a bottle of Magic Mist not being color accurate and it took 6 weeks to get a replacement from a Llarowe. I was told that I would receive a replacement, two weeks later she sent me an email to confirm I received it, ignored my follow up emails for three weeks and then finally responded in 3-4 hours when I emailed through Facebook. I was told that the replacement shipments were lost due to staffer error. Even after all of that I never received a follow up email with tracking information for the replacements, they just finally showed up. So lesson learned (for me)....cut out the middle man if you can. I didn't want to rant but I don't want to refer anyone somewhere without disclosing a less than stellar personal experience.

I hope everyone has a good day today :)