Swatch Time + NOTD with Zoya - Phoebe!

Hey my lovelies!

So today I'm going to show you swatches of the third polish I got in Zoya's 4th of July sale, Phoebe! 

I've actually wanted Phoebe for a long time now, but every time I bought from Zoya, it was sold out. But this time around, I finally got lucky and they had it in stock! :)   

Phoebe is a gooorgeous blue matte shimmer, from Zoya's Mod Matte Summer 2011 Collection. 

I have one of the others from that collection, Mitzi, but they discontinued the third shade, Lolly, so unless someone has it and is wiling to sell it or trade for it, I won't get to own it. It's so pretty too! Matte hot pink! Sad Kate! :(  LOL

They also stopped making Electra from the Ornate Winter 2012 Collection, which I wanted sooo badly, but when I went to buy it in February I was too late. You snooze you lose with Zoya sometimes I guess. LOL :p

But anyways, more about Phoebe!

 3 coats, no top-coat!

Swatch Time!: Zoya PixieDusts!

Hey lovelies!

It's SwatchTime! I have some super pretty swatches for you today, Zoya PixieDusts!  

This past 4th of July (Independence Day here in America!) Zoya had another one of their awesome specials; if you bought the PixieDust shade Liberty, you got any other two shades FREE! :) 

So I did it, and I got Liberty, Stevie, and Phoebe. 

Zoya PixieDust - Liberty 

Zoya PixieDust - Stevie 

Zoya Matte Velvet - Phoebe 

So today I'll show you swatches of the first two, the Liberty and Stevie PixieDusts! 

Pixie Dust is Zoya's line of textured glitter polishes! These are the second textured polishes I've tried, I also tried one of the OPI Liquid Sand polishes. 

I have to say, I like Zoyas formula a lot better! I usually like OPI's formula the best, but Zoya's textured formula is really good! They dry super quick, and I love the way they look and feel. Both of the ones I tried were opaque in 2 coats! :)

What I liked better about the Zoya formula was that you can do more than two coats, and it still dries quickly, but with the OPI ones you can really only do 2 coats, or else it doesn't dry properly. That was really my only problem with the OPI formula though, was the drying time.

This is Liberty, the only one of the three that I paid for! Hehe :p  

Liberty is from the Summer PixieDust Collection.

Liberty is a super pretty dark blue matte textured glitter. It's a deep blue base, with dark and light blue, almost silver micro glitter. 

The only thing I didn't like about this polish, was that it does stain blue a little, especially during removal. I won't lie, I definitely got Smurf fingers when I took it off! LOL!

Other than that though, I have no complaints about this one! :)

This is Stevie! As soon as I saw this one advertised I knew I had to have it, it's soo pretty! :) 

Stevie is also from the Summer PixieDust Collection. 

Stevie is a gooorgeous lavender/pink matte textured glitter. It has a pinkish/lavender base, with silver micro glitter.  

I love these, I'm definitely going to be buying some more PixieDusts in the future, the Fall Collection especially looks really really pretty! :) 

Check back tomorrow for a swatch of Phoebe, the third polish I picked! :) 

Did you guys take advantage of this Zoya deal? Let me know in the comments what colors you picked if you did! :)

Super Mario Bros Nail Art!

Hey lovelies!

So over the weekend, I did my little sisters nails for her. She loves all the Mario games, she's always on her DS playing "Mario Kart," so she asked me if I could do some Super Mario Brothers nail art for her! :) 

So here's the result! 

(Note: it's a little bit messy. Art and cleanup are very difficult on small little child nails LOL! So sorry about that. :p) 

(Late!) Comic-Con Geek Week Day 5, The Last Day!

Hey my lovelies!

So this post, wrapping up Geek Week, was supposed to up on Friday, but as you may know I participated in Mint Manis for Talia Joy on Friday, and I decided that out of respect for Talia I was going to feature that as my only post for the day. 

And then yesterday, I pretty much just had a lazy Saturday and completely forgot to put up this post until it was like, 2am and I was laying in bed falling asleep. Whoops! LOL. We all know I have terrible issues being timely sometimes. xD

But here it is, Day 5 of Geek Week, the final day! 

So the last theme was SPAAAAACE!! Free for all, so it just had to be space themed. 

Mint Manis for Talia Joy <3

Hi lovelies.

Today, I have a very special post, dedicated to a very special little girl. 

This past week, the beauty community lost one its most amazing and precious members, Talia Joy Castellano. If you don't know who she was, she was an immensely talented aspiring make-up artist, you may have seen her on YouTube or 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show,' who was battling cancer at just 13 years old. Sadly, she lost that battle and passed away this week. 

I was so heartbroken to hear about her passing. I will never understand why these beautiful innocent children have to go through something as difficult as cancer. No child should ever have to suffer that way. At least now she's in a better place, and her suffering is over,  even though everyone down here on Earth will miss her dearly. 

To honor her life, the wonderful Nicole from Nail Polish Wars has set up a tribute, as a way for all of us in the beauty community to say goodbye and pay our condolences to her family. The last picture she posted on her InstaGram account was a photo of her and her mother's nails, painted with a Mint colored manicure. So to pay tribute, we are posting Mint colored manicures today, with the hashtags #MintManisForTaliaJoy and #TaliasLegacy.  

Comic-Con Geek Week, Day 4!

Hello my lovelies!

Geek Week is almost over, and it's time for Day 4! 

Today's theme is Inspired by a Comic Book! 

I was pretty excited about this one, I got a pretty cool idea for it. 

I was never a huge comic book reader, but I did read some as a kid. I mostly read the Disney Adventures comics, with the Gargoyles comics and all, but I have read a few others. 

If you can't tell, I'm a Marvel girl. And my all-time favorite Marvel comic/character is... Spider-Man! Go figure, since I'm a huge arachnophobe! LOL 

But my favorite Spider-Man comics were always the ones with Venom in them! I love Venom, he's so creepy and kickass and awesome, he's basically the anti-Spider-Man.

So that was my inspiration for today, Spider-Man and Venom comics!  

Comic-Con Geek Week Day 3!

Hey my lovelies! 

It's time for Day 3 of Geek Week! 

Today's theme is Inspired by a Movie! 

So I decided to go with the most awesomely epic movie of last year, (and by far the best Marvel movie yet, in my opinion! ;) ) The Avengers! 

This movie was epic and amazing, unsurprisingly. I think my favorite part is the part during the big fight where Hulk and Thor beat a bunch of the Asgardian villains, and are standing side by side all triumphant for half a second, and then Hulk just side-smashes Thor across the train station. I crack up for about ten minutes straight after that, no matter how many times I watch it LOL. :p 

Now onto the nails! 

I'm not entirely happy with how these came out, but they could be worse i guess. :p 

Left to right starting at the index fingernail, it's Captain America's shield, my sad attempt at Iron man's heart reactor, the Hulk (which, my purple I used for his ripped pants must've been to dark, because my camera decided to pik it up as just black. Oh well) and Nick Fury's eyepatch and battle scars. 

I'm sorry Thor, but I just couldn't figure out how to depict you without it looking like a Lego face. 

Then on the thumb, I made an attempt at the Avengers A logo. (Which, how fun was that little nod at the end of the movie, where the only letter not destroyed on Stark Tower was the A? Fantastic. I see you Marvel, I see you. :p) 

So there's my Day 3! See you tommorow for Comic Day! And as always, make sure to check out all the other movie manis! 

Peace Love Lacquer
Dipped in Lacquer
Galactic Lacquer
Rachos Nail Love
Kate Kreatez
Seriously Swatched
Makeup and Nails not War
Glitter Me This

Comic-Con Geek Week Day 2!

Hey my lovelies!! 

It's time for Day 2 of Geek Week! :D 

So today's theme is Inspired by a TV Show! 

Let me just tell you right now, I didn't need to think about this one for a single millisecond, as soon as I read "TV Show," I knew exactly what I was going to do!

I have been watching this show literally since the night the first episode premiered 8 years ago. This is my ultimate geeky fandom, the one thing I am a huge nerd about! 

Thats's right, SUPERNATURAL! 

Let me forewarn you, it's about to get real geeky up in here! You're about to see my crazy fangirl side! Don't say I didn't warn you! LOL :p

I looove how these came out, so much!! 

I'm geeking out over these big time! 

So for those of you who don't watch Supernatural,(or just those who aren't as hopelessly obsessed with it to point where it's actually kind of sad, like I am LOL) let me explain each nail to you. 

The pinky is a yellow eye, because we all know the whole entire show started because of that yellow-eyed demon Azaezel. 

The ring finger is a trench coat and blue tie, because DUH, Castiel! (Am I right, Mishamigos?! :D) 

The middle finger is my sad attempt at a Devil's Trap. But c'mon look at that, That would not hold Crowley and I would be so screwed! LOL 

The thumb is the Impala, AKA "Baby"'s license plate number. (Yes, I'm that deep into the fandom that I know that. xD)  and '67 since that gorgeous baby is a 1967 Impala.

And last but certainly not least, the index finger is some cherry pie. Because we all know how Dean feels about his pie. 

(p.s. I made this graphic and yes, you are welcome to steal it as your new wallpaper. ;D) 

So that's my geekery! Anyone reading this who doesn't watch Supernatural probably thinks I'm a completely insane freak, but hopefully those of you who do watch know exactly what I mean. :) 

This show is seriously my favorite. I'm not even going to lie about how emotionally attached I am LOL. This show can make my bawl my eyes out like no other.(I mean c'mon, if all that Bobby stuff the past two seasons didn't emotionally scar you, then I just don't know what to do with you. LOL xD)  

So I hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned for tomorrow's geekery, and make sure to check out all the other awesome geeky manis! 

Peace Love Lacquer
Dipped in Lacquer
Galactic Lacquer
Rachos Nail Love
Kate Kreatez
Seriously Swatched
Makeup and Nails not War
Glitter Me This

And remember, carry on my wayward son! (There'll be peace when yooou are done! Lay your weary head to reeeest! Don't you cry noo mooore! *bumbum badum tsss...[cue electric guitar]* :P)

Comic-Con Geek Week, Day 1!

Hey lovelies!!

So today is the beginning of a super-duper fun week! I'm participating in a nail art challenge! I'm super excited, I have done a challenge in a while, and this one is so awesome and fun! :) 

It's Geek Week!! The Comic-Con themed challenge that's being hosted by the awesome Kelly from Peace Love Lacquer! 

So todays theme was inspired by a book, or a video game. 

We all know I'm a geeky gamer girl, so of course I went with video game! :D 

There were sooo many ideas I had for this one, too many good games too little fingernails LOL! But I decided to go with my absolute favorite game of the moment, the one I'm completely obsessed with and play 24/7/365... 

You guessed it, MINECRAFT!! 

Woooo!! I love these so much it kind of makes me want to cry nerd-tears. 

(In case you didn't know what nerd tears are! ;D)

I'm not a huge fan of how my zombie nail came out, but I'm super proud of Creeper nail and my Steve nail! I don't think my dirt block nail came out too shabby either. LOL! ;D

What do you guys think?! Let me know!!

And of course, don't forget to check out the other ladies awesome geeky manis! 

:) 

Peace Love Lacquer
Dipped in Lacquer
Galactic Lacquer
Rachos Nail Love
Kate Kreatez
Seriously Swatched
Makeup and Nails not War
Glitter Me This

Luxecoat Swatches!

 Fun little Artsy-Fartsy InstaGram pic! xD

Hey lovelies!

I'm sure by now you've heard of the new vegan polish brand Luxecoat, and today I have swatches of three of their pretty polishes to show you! :) 

Remember my zebra-print acrylics? Well, a few weeks ago Luxecoat was having a contest on their InstaGram page, caled the LuxecoatStyle contest, and I entered them in it. And lucky me, I was one of the winners! =D 

So this past Friday, my prize package arrived, with these three beauties inside! 

They sent me Red Hot, Goldie, and Mint Chip! 

(Quick apology for the staining on my cuticles, that was completely my own fault because I've been a tad neglectful to them lately, and I think really any pigmented polish would stain them that way, since they're so dry and cracked. Icky! Tsktsk, myself. LOL)

First up, Red Hot! 

This is probably the perfect red for me, and I usually don't like red polish. But I would describe this as the perfect cherry red color! 

Red Hot is a super bright Cherry Red creme. I was really impressed by the formula, it was thin for a creme, but not too thin. It's opaque in two coats, and dries with a nice shine to it even without top-coat! It also dries so fast! They're not kidding with that "quick drying" label! :)

There was a tiny bit of staining on the drier parts of my nails, but nothing that a little acetone and a good buffing wouldn't take away. I would recommend a base coat for this reason, but really it's nothing unexpected for such a pigmented polish, and I would recommend using a base coat for any red polish anyways. :) 

Next up, Goldie! 

Goldie is a gorgeous gold shimmer. My camera didn't even fully capture just how shimmery this one is, actually had trouble focusing on it because its so sparkly! :) 

This one took 3 thin coats to be opaque, but the layers dry super fast so it's not a problem. It dries with a nice foil finish, and the formula is really nice. I'm in love with the shimmer in this one! 

Last up is my favorite of the three, Mint Chip! Not gonna lie, I saw this one on their website and was suuuper hoping it would be one of the ones they sent me, and I was so excited when I opened the box and saw it! 

Mint Chip is a beautiful mint blue/green creme. It has the same great formula as Red Hot, not too thick and not too thin. It's opaque in two coats, dries super fast, and dries with that nice shine even minus top-coat. I looove this color, it's absolutely stunning and one of my favorite colors! :)  

Overall, I was super-duper impressed with Luxecoat! The formulas are great, the colors are gorgeous, and they dry in almost no time at all! I love that they're DPB free and vegan too, that always scores extra points with me! I'm officially a big fan now! :)

So thank you so much to Luxecoat for choosing me as a winner, and sending me these beauties! <3 

You can check out Luxecoat's website here! :)

 

(DISCLAIMER: This is not a sponsored post; all the polishes in this post were sent to me as a contest prize, and all opinions are strictly my own.)

OPI Mariah Carey Collection - Pink Yet Lavender Swatch!

Hey lovelies! I have a goooorgeous swatch for you today! :) 

This is from the OPI Mariah Carey Collection, and it's a stunning glitter topper called "Pink Yet Lavender." 

The name is definitely fitting, because that's exactly how I would describe it's color! It sort of reminds me of the color of rose gold. 

Pink Yet Lavender is a gorgeous glitter topper, with a clear base with large "pink, yet lavender" colored hex glitters, and pink/lavender holographic micro glitter!

A bottle-shot to show it's prettiness close up! :) 

You definitely do not have to fish for the glitter at all, even the larger glitter pieces come right out on the brush, and I didn't find myself having to "place" the glitter too much at all either. 

The clear base is a little thick though, so you don't want to do too thick of a coat at once. Instead, I did two thin coats an built it up. Other than that though, I had no problems with this polish! :) 

I did a base color of Sephora by OPI - A True Romantic and then two coats of Pink Yet Lavender, and sealed it off with a coat of Seche Vite. 

I loooove the way this glitter looks! I got this from my sister as a birthday gift, and as soon as I pulled it out of the box and saw it, I was in love! 

I can't wait to try this with other base colors and see how it looks! :) 

More Birthday/Nail Mail!

Hey again lovelies! 

So now I have another post for you showing you another package from my birthday, this one from my sister Chrissy! 

So what was fun about this package, was that the gift wrapping is also a gift! 

My sister always comes up with cool ideas like that. :) 

This is what all the other gifts were in, and it's a super pretty little insulated tote bag! 

This is from Pampered Chef, which my sister sells. (If you're interested in buying anything, you can check her page out here: http://www.pamperedchef.biz/christinamarsden?page=home    ;) ) 

Not only is it super pretty, but the inside is insulated so you can use it to carry food, drinks etc., and keep them cold! :) 

And now for all the fun stuff INSIDE the bag! ;) 

 

First up is this set of Avon shower gel & body lotion, which smell amazing! It in the Cherry Blossom scent, which I love! Cherry Blossom is one of my favorite smells. :) Plus some Clinique eye-makeup remover, which is one of my favorite makeup-up removers, it works so fast! :) 

Next up, these cute little owl-shaped emery boards, pretty little flowery temporary tattoos(which will most likely get used for nail art purposes, tehe ;) ) and a cute little owl-shaped lip-gloss pot! :) 

The lip-gloss inside the little owl guy. :) 

Next up, the Nail Mail portion of the gift!! 

She sent this pretty little Flirt stamping kit, Kiss Nail Art polishes(which came with cute little stencils too!) and two gooooorgeous OPI polishes, Pink Yet Lavender, and Flashbulb Fuchsia! :) 

Flashbulb Fuchsia

Pink Yet Lavender 

Expect swatches of these veeery soon!! ;) 

And last but most certainly not least, this amazingly gorgeous Dragonfly necklace! It's a super pretty silver dragonfly charm, with little silver gems in its wings and a big aqua gem at the bottom! I love it, it's super gorgeous and totally my style. :) 

So thank you Chrissy for all of this fun stuff! I love it all!! :)