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! :)

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! :) 

Swatch-Time!: Darling Diva Polish - Denim Mitten!

Hello Lovelies! :) 

So remember a few weeks ago when I mentioned that I entered the Jen's Nail Files nail art contest? Well I was one of the twelve winners! 

So our prize was an exclusive Darling Diva Polish, made just for the Contest!  

So sadly, I don't think you'd be able to buy this beauty, but definitely check out Darling Diva Polish's other polishes! :) 

The cute little care package from Jen, she included two boxes of NERDS candy too! Yum! :) 

Bottle Shot of Denim Mitten! :) 

Look how gorgeous!!  

This is actually my first indie polish, and I love it! :) 

Denim Mitten is a light purple-ish blue shimmer base, totally PACKED with glitter! I spotted dark blue, pink, purple, and silver micro glitters, and large pink round glitters. 

I was really impressed by the formula, the only glitter I needed to "place" was the large pink glitters, but I didn't have to fish for them at all, and all the micro glitters went on with no problem at all. 

It did take four coats to become opaque, but that's to be expected with a glitter polish. The layers dried really quickly though, so it wasn't that much of a problem! 

Overall, I was super-duper surprised and impressed by this polish! :) 

I definitely love this prize!! So thank you Jen for choosing me as a winner, and thank you Darling Diva Polish for making this for us! :) 

OPI Mariah Carey Liquid Sand Swatch & Review!

Hello again lovelies! 

Today I'm reviewing and swatching one of the polishes from the OPI Mariah Carey Liquid Sand collection, "Can't Let Go."

(P.s., my dumb brain forgot to take a bottle shot, so this is a stock photo I found online! Sorry about that! Total brain fart LOL) 

I actually borrowed this from my sister Jess. It is sooooo pretty you guys! 

This was my first time using a sand textured polish, and I have to say, it wasn't as rough as I thought it would it be. Which is a good thing, because even though I obviously wanted to try it, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about having scratchy nails! :p 

But they weren't scratchy at all! It's just like wearing a matte glitter, only like 20x more matte! 

Just look at this beauty! 

"Can't Let Go" is a beautiful violet purple, packed with purple and silver micro-glitters.

The formula is very good, I only had an issue with drying time, but that was my own fault. We all know I'm a little OCD about coverage, so I did three coats to make sure it was completely opaque. The problem with that is, I didn't know that you're only supposed to do two! LOL. I didn't read the bottle beforehand, I just went at it, and about 10 minutes later they still weren't dry all the way. I asked my sister if it took this long for hers to dry, and she asked how many coats I did. Thats when she said, "Oh no, didn't you read the bottle? It says you're only supposed to do two!" OOPS! :P 

It did dry, it was probably about 20-25 minutes before it was all the way dry though. 

But like I said, it was my own fault for being impatient and not reading the instructions! LOL. 

Overall this is a really good polish though! 

It did start to chip after two days, but then again that might just be because I did too many coats. 

Removal was what you expect for a glitter, not fun! LOL. But that's just because its glitter. The "sandy" parts removed pretty easily, it was just the glitter I had to scrub at. But that's glitter for you, removal is always a pain in the acetone! ;)

It's super pretty though, and I couldn't stop staring at my nails the whole time I had it on! I definitely want to try some more sandy textured polishes after this! :) 

 

(Disclaimer: I was not paid for this review, all opinions are my own! :) ) 

Swatch: Zoya - Mitzi!

Hello lovelies!
I have a quick little swatch for you today.
This is Zoya - Mitzi from the Mod Matte Velvet Collection.

I know I've swatched this polish before, but I wanted to re-swatch with my new camera to get a better photo for you guys. :)

You can read my full review of this polish here .

MORE Nail Mail! :D

Hey again lovies! I have even MORE Nail Mail to show you! These came the other day and I love them sooo much!

The only reason I haven't posted until now, is because these literally came on the same day that all the crazy crap was happening with my iPod LOL, so now I'm finally getting caught up posting it all! :)

So I ordered these last weekend. I had been in the market for some nice quality, affordable nail art brushes for awhile now (all my previous nail art had been done the ghetto-fabulous way with make-up brushes, bobby pins, cuticle sticks, pins, whatever I could find LOL) so I was very excited to find out about these.
Quite a few other nail bloggers have blogged about this particular set recommending it, and all of the reviews on it on Amazon were great, and the price was a steeaaal so I bought it! :)

(I just wanna say right now, I'm not at all endorsed by this company, or amazon, I wasn't paid for this review at all, I'm just a very happy customer!! :D)

This is the MASH 15 piece nail art brush kit, it's soo amazing!! You get 15 brushes which includes 2 different sized fan brushes, a dotting tool, an angled brush (there's an important disclaimer on the sales page that is bent because its angled, it is NOT broken), plus all different sized striping brushes, etc. All the brushes come packaged with protective plastic caps so they won't be damaged, and best of all, it comes in this super nice black fold-up case!
All the brushes are very good quality, something that I really love about them is that not only do they vary in sizes, but also in softness. Which is really great because for certain designs its better to have a soft brush, while for others its better to have a firmer brush. I really loved that, I love them so much, I've only used them about three times now but I'm already in love!! xD

I got this for $10.99 plus $5.00 shipping, so it was only about $17 with tax! Such a great deal, and I definitely recommend this if you are in the market for some good quality, affordable brushes. This is the link to the page I bought it from: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005BG02BU?ie=UTF8&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links

As I said, I wasn't endorsed by anyone or paid for this review, I'm just a very satisfied customer, and I definitely recommend this to my fellow nail polish addicts! :)

Seche Vite top-coat!

Hello lovies!! Today, I'm sharing with you this amaaaazing present I got! :)
My sister Jess actually got me this for Valentine's Day, and I love it so much!!

Obviously, I've heard about Seche Vite before. I've heard all the hype and rave about how it's the best top-coat and so worth the extra money, and sorry, but this post won't be any different! ;)

It definitely lives up to all that hype, I've used it on three manis now, and it's soo good! It seals amazingly, it dries everything soo fast, and the shine and look it gives the polish is gorgeous.
I've been wearing it with a mani for three days now, and it's still just as shiny as when I first applied it, no chipping at all, and only a very very small amount of tip-wear!

I think I've found my new favorite top-coat here! So thank you to my sister!! :D <3

Zoya - Opal Swatch!

Hello Lovelies! So today I'm sharing another Zoya beauty with you, this is Opal.

Opal is from the fleck effect top-coat collection, it's a clear jelly base with a green tint, and all different sized blue-green duo-chrome flecks throughout it!
My one and only complaint about this polish is that it's terrible to photograph, pictures don't do it justice! In person it's soo beautiful, the effect is definitely unique.

The first shot is Opal swatched all by itself, this swatch is three coats.

The second is two coats of Opal over Zoya - Happi.

The third is Zoya - Mitzi with one coat of Opal on the accent ring.

I can't wait to play with this and experiment with it over other polishes!! :)

Zoya - Happi Swatch!

Hello lovelies!
So when I did the Zoya "Try 3 Free" promo, this was the second one I got! :)

Happi is an absolutely gorgeous, almost duo-chrome, sheer polish. It's so pretty, and has a really good formula. It's opaque in 2 coats, (though I did 3, because I'm OCD about coverage LOL) normal drying time, no streaking at all, and has a really nice, shiny finish. :)

The color is a beautiful coral/pink, and what I didn't realize just from the bottle is that in certain lighting, it has a bit of green in the shimmer! Pink + Green is one of my favorite color combos so I looved discovering that!

Below the swatch of this beauty, I added Zoya - Opal on top of it. I reeeeaaaaallllly love this polish combo! Not only does it make them sparkly, but the blue-green color of opal really brings out the green shimmer of Happi! :)

Love this polish by itself, and paired with opal! Perfect for warm weather! (Which needs to hurry up and get here already! :p)

Zoya - Mitzi Swatch!

Swatch Time!
So this Zoya - Mitzi!
Mitzi is a matte lime green polish from the Matte Velvet Collection, and it's sooo pretty!

This is actually my first actual matte polish, I've had matte top-coat before and I've had polishes that dry with a matte-like finish, but never a real true matte! So I'm excited about it! :)

The color is soo pretty, the formula is fantastic, it dries almost INSTANTLY (seriously, it's literally dry the touch in under a minute) it does take a few coats, but all the other aspects of it make up for that. There is a little bit of streaking, but that's to be expected with a matte formula, and the final coat pretty much covers it all up anyways. :)

And for an accent nail on my ring finger, I added Zoya - Opal. This took away the matte texture on that nail sadly, but they look cool together! I tried to get the Opal fleck effect on camera, but it's really hard! That's why the lighting is so weird and the color is so off. The first swatch is much more true to color. I did my best! :P LOL

LOVE this polish!! :)

Sephora by OPI Tinseltown Swatches: Day 5, The Final Day!

Hello my lovelies! Well, today is the last day of the Sephora by OPI Swatch-a-palooza!

Today I show you the final polish in the collection, and that is the full size bottle of
"The Only Gold Top-Coat For Me!"

The name: Perfect. And True. This might just be my favorite gold top coat I've ever tried! It's so pretty, it's a clear base with a mix of all different sized circle glitter, all ranging in different shades of gold. It's so sparkly and so beautiful!
The formula is very good, no fishing or placement whatsoever, GREAT coverage, and a pretty good drying time for such a packed glitter!
I definitely can't wait to experiment with this some more over different polishes! So far I've only tried it over gold for the bubbles in my NYE Challenge Champagne mani.

So that's that for this collection!
This was so fun to swatch, I love giant collections like this! :)

I have some more swatches and such coming up soon (*cough*ZOYA*coughcough*) so make sure to check back soon for those! :)

Swatch Time! - Sephora by OPI Tinseltown Collection

So today is the first of a 5-day swatch series I'm going to be doing this week to swatch the Sephora by OPI Tinseltown Collection. Why so long, you ask? Well because there are soo many polishes in this collection! 17 altogether to be exact! I'll be doing 4 each day, with the big reveal of the full-sized polish swatch on the last day.

I'll also be starting off the posts with a collage of the whole collection, and I got that wonderful idea from awesome Jillian over at http://www.jilltasticnaildesign.com

My sister got me the entire collection of minis for Christmas, and I love it sooo much! So thank you Jess! :)

Now, without further ado, here are the first four of the collection!

The first is a gooorgeous coral color that i am absolutely in love with called "I'm Wired." The name fits me so well too.(hello, insomniac/coffee addict here. I'm always wired in one way or another :p)
It's soo pretty! It's more of a creme than anything else, but I think it just crosses the line over to a crelly(creme/jelly) with its formula. It takes quite a few coats to get completely opaque, but it dries very quickly and is well worth it for the beautiful color you end up with.

Next up is "Already Famous." A gorgeous gold shimmer/foil. It's packed with shimmer, so not only are you sparkling in gold, but shimmering too! I'd describe the color as a Champagne, I actually used this in my New Years Eve Challenge Champagne Mani!

Next is "A True Romantic." And can I just say, I've been searching for a color like this for soooo long! It's the perfect nude/lightest light pink I've ever come across. Like "I'm Wired," it does take quite a few coats for true opaqueness, and has a little bit of a jelly consistency to the formula, but I would still describe it overall as a sheer. It doesn't dry quite a fast as the others in this collection, but no longer than some of the other OPI polishes of the same type of formula. And again, it's well worth the wait time, the results are fantastic! Once my mini runs dry, I will definitely being looking for this one in a full-size if they make it! :)

And finally, "What Aura Gonna Wear?" Is a beautiful, true hot pink. I like the name because it reminds me of Aurora, A.K.A. sleeping Beauty, and this pink is pretty much the perfect representation of her pink dress from the Disney movie! :D I'm a geek, sorry, but I couldn't help but notice. :p
Anyways, geekiness aside, this polish is beautiful, has a great formula, opaque within 3 coats, and a great drying time.
And what girl/polish addict can resist that perfect, princess Barbie pink?! ;)

So that's the first four from the collection! Check back tomorrow for the next four! :)