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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

I've Got the Winter Blues

  But in a good way.  :)  I absolutely loved this manicure.  I wore it for four days and only took it off because it was time to do Thanksgiving nails... I would have worn it for longer otherwise.

Outdoors, shade
  This manicure starts off with two coats of the lovely Zoya Kristen, from the Feel collection, as the base.  Added to this were darker blue swirls in Nubar Boyfriend Jeans and plate BM201.  Finally, I added delicate little white flowers using Konad Special White and plate m37.

Outdoors, sunlight
  Looking at this manicure just makes me want to wear it again... now.  I am totally in love with this pale blue and love the way the darker blue compliments it.  I should have Zoya Feel collection swatches for you soon!

Monday, November 28, 2011

Can't Resist Temptation

  When I saw the promo pics for the latest OPI DS shades, I knew that Temptation was going to quickly become a favorite of my collection.  I was not wrong.

Outdoors, shade
  As is often the case with purples, these pictures don't quite do this polish justice.  It is a bit more reddish-toned and way more sparkly, but at least this will give you some idea.  This polish is actually a very sheer navy base, completely full of purple, pink, and blue glitter (predominantly purple).  The final effect is simply stunning.

Sunlight
  This polish sparkles no matter what lighting you have it in, and it is so easy to catch yourself staring at it.  And, of course, it is perfect for K-State games (which I have already worn it to once, haha).  Overall an amazing addition to the DS line.  I highly recommend it!  I will review the other new addition, Bold, a bit later.

DISCLOSURE: The polishes featured in this post  were provided to Polishology by OPI for review purposes.  This is an honest and independent review and was in no way influenced by the company

Friday, November 25, 2011

Go Chiefs!

  A few weeks ago I went with my Mom to a Kansas City Chiefs game.  I haven't been to one in quite awhile, and it was a lot of fun, even though it was kind of a terrible game.  I am not very into NFL football (I really only care about my KSU Wildcats, sports-wise), but of course I had to mark the occasion with some special Chiefs nails!

Outdoors, shade
  These nails were done using two of the glitters from the Nicole by OPI Holiday Glitters collection - which I promise I will have reviews of soon for you!  Also, if you want a bit of a heads up.... all four of those glitters will be a prize in an upcoming giveaway, so I hope you like them!  :)  I started off with Orna-ment For Each Other, the red glitter with some gold mixed in, on all nails but the ring finger.  On the ring finger I went with Glitter In My Stocking, a gold glitter with a bit of red glitter mixed throughout.  I then sponged the opposite color onto the tips of each nail.  Since the sponging came on a bit strong, I sponged just a tiny bit of the original color at the top, overlapping the line between the two, to get more of a gradient effect.  We may have played awfully and lost horribly, but at least I had pretty red and gold nails for the team!  :)

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Thanksgiving Water Marble

  Hope you all are having a fabulous Thanksgiving week so far, and have a lot of fun (and food) planned for tomorrow!  I wanted to do a Thanksgiving water marble this year, and although it turned out a bit differently than expected, I am still really pleased with the results.

Indoors, artificial light - right hand
Indoors, artificial light, left hand
See Hidden Treasure Shine!
  I started off with two coats of OPI Take the Stage from last year's Burlesque collection, which is also the polish I used for last year's Thanksgiving Day nails.  After trying a lot of combinations of polish that refused to play nicely with marbling, I settled on OPI Cheyenne Pepper, OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window, and China Glaze Mommy Kissing Santa for water marbling.  This gave a fairly muted effect on some nails, stronger on others, but overall there is a nice fall feeling.  Then I topped with a coat of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, and added Konad using Essie Little Brown Dress and leaves from BM04.

Outdoors, natural light, right hand
Outdoors, natural light, left hand
  As I said, this is not exactly what I was envisioning originally but I do enjoy the final effect.  I love what Hidden Treasure brings to this manicure.  It kind of looks like all of the colors you might see in the leaves this time of the year, and I love that.  A great fall - and Thanksgiving - manicure.

  Hope everyone has a wonderful day tomorrow!  What are your big plans?  We have two different family meals we are going to, so I know I will be completely stuffed by the end of the day.  I am so excited to spend time with everyone though, and then for the Christmas season to officially begin!  :)

Monday, November 21, 2011

Butter London Toff

  This is my very first (and only) Butter London polish, a brand I have been wanting to try for a long time.  This color is very unique - a kind of dusty muddy rose pink?  I love it.

Outdoors, shade
  This is I believe two coats of Butter London Toff.  It applied very nicely, silky smooth and creamy.  I was really pleased with this polish!  I will have to consider getting some more Butter London polish in the future.  Like I said, the color is very unique - I feel like it might be one that you either love or hate, and personally I loved it!  It felt classy and totally perfect for fall.

Outdoors, sun
  So glad I finally tried this brand - I will have to put a few more colors on my wishlist for the future!  :)

Friday, November 18, 2011

Zoya Gems and Jewels - Swatches and Review

  As soon as I saw the press images for this collection, I knew I was going to absolutely love it.  And I was right!  This lovely winter collection features three foils and three fabulous bar glitters.  All foils are shown with two coats, and all glitters are shown one coat over the corresponding foil.  All shown outdoors, shade

Izzy


 A gorgeous raspberry-pink foil.

Kissy


This amazing glitter is full of small pink and holo glitter with large holographic bar glitter.  The holographic effect of the bar glitter is amazing.  This is the star of the collection, in my opinion.  Shown over Izzy.

Noel


Medium blue foil.  Think last year's Crystal, but without the gold flecks.  While I think I prefer Crystal overall due to the gold, this is still a gorgeous color, and perfect for winter.  It just makes me think of snow and icicles.

Twila


Bright blue glitter, with large bar glitter that flashes blue and green.  While this glitter lacks the amazing holo effect of Kissy, it is still very pretty.  Shown over Noel.
Holly


Emerald-green foil.  This is a very pretty green, and very festive - a perfect Christmas green!

Rina


Emerald green glitter with blue-green bar glitter.  Again, amazingly festive.  This looks to me like a wreath.  In fact, you may very well see this in some sort of wreath-like nail art later... haha.  Over Holly.

Overall Thoughts

The foils in these all apply amazing smooth and cover perfectly in two coats.  The glitters are a lot of fun - bar glitter can be a pain but I think it is done very nicely here, and it is unique.  Kissy is the standout of the collection if I had to pick, due to the strong holo effect of the glitter, but all six polishes are really wonderful.  I did not show the glitters alone, but you can wear them on their own and build up to opacity in about 3 coats.  However, like most chunky glitters they can have a tendency to chip like crazy if worn alone, and the bar glitter can make for some nasty overhang if you aren't careful.  I would recommend they be layered over a corresponding color (or a totally different color, for a different look).  Lots of layering possibilities here!  Great formulas on all and beautiful colors get this collection a definitely thumbs-up from me!

DISCLOSURE: The polishes featured in this post was provided to Polishology by Zoya for review purposes.  This is an honest and independent review and was in no way influenced by the company.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Glorious Glitter and Flowers, Take 2

  Last November, I shared with you a manicure that I did using Zoya Gloria and topped with stamping using Zoya Valerie - you can see this post here.  I used this same combination this fall, although with a different stamp, to give the departmental seminar a few weeks ago.

Outdoors, shade
Outdoors, sun
  I really love the combination of these two polishes, I think they work really well together.  This time, the stamp I used was from plate m74.  It looked perfect with my outfit!

  In other news, I just got back from an international conference in San Francisco where I presented a poster on my work, that was a lot of fun!  And the reason I kind of missed out on posted a lot lately.  Also, I am keeping my nails super short and not changing my polish much right now.  I am determined to overcome this peeling nastiness that has gone on ever since I had a total breakdown and chewed them all off.  I am so upset about that still.  However, they are finally starting to get there - another week or two and I am hoping that the peeling will be grown out on all but the worst nail - I picked at one and peeled back to almost halfway up the nail, yikes.  Anyway. I have several collections sitting in queue right now to swatch but I think I need to wait until my nails are a bit stronger, so expect to see collections like OPI Muppets, Nicole by OPI Holiday Glitters and Kardashian Kolors, and Zoya Feel sometime starting in a couple of weeks.  I already swatched Gems and Jewels and that will be up for your enjoyment on Friday! :)

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Boyfriend Jeans

  When the Chanel Les Jeans collection came out, I was drooling over Blue Boy.  I mean, they were all pretty, but something about that color just really called to me.  Unfortunately, Chanel is just a tad bit beyond my price point, heh.  Then, I found the glorious Nubar Jeans collection, and I knew that Boyfriend Jeans would have to become a part of my collection!

Outdoors, shade
  This is two coats of Nubar Boyfriend Jeans, an amazing medium blue, dusty creme.  I am totally in love with this color, it is so gorgeous.  I just want to go put it on again now, just looking at it!  Application was fabulous, as was wear.  If you were lemming after the Les Jeans collection but couldn't bring yourself to spend your life savings on three polishes, then I would seriously check these out!  This one in particular.  I am very glad I got it!  :)

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Elegant Neutral

  Here are some simple and elegant neutral nails that I wore to my Papa's funeral last month.  I still have a hard time believing he is gone, and I dream about him often.  It is difficult, never having lost anyone close before, to experience for the first time.  When I get really sad about it I just try to reflect on all of my happy memories and remember how lucky I am that I got to have all four of my grandparents with me for 25 years!

Outdoors, shade
  Sorry for the slight green tinge to the cuticles, that is leftover from Viridian Vinyl.  This is two coats of Deborah Lippmann Waking Up In Vegas, followed by a simple white design using Konad Special White polish and BM-213.  Simple and elegant, which is what I wanted to go for for the occasion.  This is such a gorgeous color, I really love it!  And Lippmann's apply beautifully.  I think I may need to get me some more.  :)

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Vinyl Nails

  I have had this polish for over a year now, and as gorgeous as it is, I have put off using it due to my general lack of ability in applying mattes nicely.  However, I decided it was finally time to give this pretty a go!

Outdoors, shade
Outdoors, sun
  This is two coats of Orly Viridian Vinyl, a matte turqouise polish.  It is a bit shinier than traditional matte, and really does have a vinyl sort of finish.  I really loved the effect of the finish.  I did get a couple of bumps, most likely due to my inexperience at applying these super-fast drying matte polishes, but overall it was fairly smooth.  I also wore this without topcoat, and although I only wore it for a couple of days, I was pleased with the wear in those days.  I'm glad I finally tried it out, and now I am looking forward to trying a few more mattes I have been saving in my stash.  I also finally ordered a matte top coat, and am really excited to play with that!