Kanye Meme

I was taking a shower after my workout tonight and got the best idea...I get all my ideas in the shower. ANYWAY.

You guys remember when Kanye West got on stage when Taylor Swift was accepting an award and was all "Yo I'ma let you finish, but Beyonce had the best music video of all time!"

I just made this:

Megan Miller Nail Art

Yesterday I showed you Megan Miller Velvet Lounge. Great eggplant purple, not so great with wear. I tried some 'flashy' (for me, anyway) tape nail art with it using Revlon Gold Coin.

Megan Miller: Velvet Lounge

I love Megan Miller. The nail polish bottles are beyond adorable - she really found out what people love. I have coral bliss and velvet lounge, today I have Velvet Lounge for you.

Velvet Lounge is a gorgeous eggplant purple creme. I bought it because someone said it was a jelly..um, it's not. Not sure why they said that. Coral Bliss is a jelly, though. Anyway. This is two coats of Velvet Lounge, with Out the Door as a top coat.

I love this color, it's the perfect eggplant. It's dark but not so dark you can't tell it's purple. It doesn't lean red at all which I like - because I hate plum colors. The only bummer about the megan miller's I have, are they chip so fast, regardless of what top+base coat I use. I mean, hours after application I have huge chips.

Is it just me or does anyone else have that problem?

China Glaze Stone Cold

Today I have China Glaze Stone Cold for you guys. I bought this before I bought the ManGlaze polishes.

Stone cold is a really nice asphalt gray with tons of toned down sparkle as a matte. When you apply a top coat the polish comes alive (as most mattes do) and just glistens in the sun. Unfortunately, none of my top coat photos turned out so I only have the matte version of this polish to show you today.



If you like China Glaze Stone Cold, click my blog sale link in the tabs at the top of the screen. I'm selling it for $4.00 :)

gradient cheetah print

Last night I was browsing pinterest and came across this tutorial on a sponged gradient manicure. I love gradients, always have. They're just so pretty and sunset like.

I grabbed a make up sponge and went to town. I painted my nails with one coat of Essie's Topless & Barefoot. Then I painted three layers of the sponge with the colors I wanted: China Glaze For Audrey, Zoya Pippa, and some nameless pink Color Club. Then I sponged, reapplied the nail polish and sponged two more times. I should have followed the directions and started with a white base, but I didn't feel like dealing with the mess and patience that a white nail polish requires. White is definitely the way to go, though.

After a few easy sponge applications, I ended up with this:



As gorgeous and awesome as that looks...yeah, not what I was going for. It took me 30 minutes to clean that up, and I ended up with this:



Topped it with Out the Door, and continued on...



I used Spoiled Correction tape for the white and Wet n Wild black creme for the black. I used my dotting tools and topped it all with Seche Vite. I did my right hand as well, but I have a hard time trying to photograph it.



Things I learned:

1. Use tape, just like a water marble.
2. Use white as a base.

OPI DS Extravagance

I didn't know much about the OPI DS line until a few months ago when my interest in holos peaked. I just admired them online, with little interest in buying any.

About a month ago I wandered into this small town jewelry store and saw they sold OPI in the back. They had the Holland collection (not interested) and the Miss Universe collection (oh!), and three shelves of various OPIs. I saw in a row all by themselves DS Reserve, DS Radiance, and DS Extravagance. I bought a few of each and went back to my hotel room, drooling and cackling. DS Extravagance is my favorite (not a fan of the other two, just not my style but gorgeous in their own right!).

DS Extravagance is a beautiful, plum-wine one-coater. It's packed with this..gorgeous holo magic that just radiates out of the bottle. You can't wear this polish on a cloudy day, you'd be doing it a great disservice.

I'll let the photos do the talking:

Later today I will be publishing my blog sale, with DS Reserve and Radiance, along with a few other polishes. I will post on my facebook page when I have it completed. Parting is such sweet sorrow, but I'm in the market for a new tattoo. :)

Nail-Venturous Floam

I saw swatches of Floam by I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous awhile back before it was being sold. I fell in love, entered a giveaway..didn't win. Yadda yadda. Then Ninja Polish comes along and I manage to pick up a bottle after the second restock. I was STOKED. Almost a month later, this baby is finally in my hands:



First off, the name is awesome. It's completely appropriate and a great description of what this nail polish looks like. Floam is filled with this turquoise/aqua and green glitter in a clear base. It can be kind of thick, so it's best to apply, wait for the polish to completely dry, and then do a second layer. If you don't wait for the polish to try it will all bunch up by the top of your nail.

On to the photos...






Enlarge the photos for a micro glitter awesome fest. This polish is a summer-time beast. From a distance it just looks like an amazing aquamarine but when you get up close you see the glitter and just..AHH. Try not to poke your eye, okay?

Here is what it all looks like on the brush:



Aaaaand removal. What a pain in the butt! Naturally, this polish is so gorgeous you won't want to remove it, but when the times comes..yikes. Here's what my cotton ball looked like:



Pretty.

If you're interested in buying Floam, click on the Ninja Polish link in at the top of the post. I'm not sure if it's in stock or not. I believe NV is starting her own etsy store but I'm not 100% certain on that.

Edit: Thanks to Missy in the comments! here is the Etsy store..hopefully you catch it at a stocked moment :)

Sally Hansen Barracuda

Here I have one my favorite polishes of all time: Sally Hansen Complete Manicure in Barracuda. This came out last year, I believe, and I didn't buy it. I quickly regretted it and always came up empty handed when I searched for it. I went to a Walgreen's I never go to and they had TWO. I only bought one..I think I should've purchased the second one.

Here's a quick and dirty swatch on a cloudy day. It's actually the perfect cloudy day polish. Such a beautiful pastel, baby blue creme. Love it. I used three coats+Seche Vite.




A few happy notes today:

1. I fit into a favorite shirt of mine from before I became pregnant.
2. My FLOAM arrived.
3. I'm just awesome.

I will do a "what's in my bag" post later. I'm planning on going to the park with the kiddo to get some Floam swatches. I have a few other polishes in my bag just in case I get an opportunity to swatch and snap photos while she plays.

Mail Round up :D

MY BAG! I've been in need of a good, structured bag for a long time.  I bought this at http://www.macys.com The actual bag is here. If you decide to go and buy it (or another bag) check out www.retailmenot.com and look for coupon codes first. I used a 10/75 coupon which brought my bag down to $85.13...not bad considering it's usually $160.  Now that I finally have my super-amazing bag I can do my "what's in my bag" post and tag some other bloggers..to be...nosy. ;)

When I ordered my bag, it was cheaper for me to buy something else with it than it was to buy just the bag. Isn't that awesome? So I bought my first MAC lipstick: See Sheer. It's a beauty. (nail polish on thumb is ManGlaze lesbihonest)

I received China Glaze Stone Cold ( on the left) in a swap, and the lovely woman threw in a mini Ruby Pumps. I LOVE MINIS (except OPI minis). If anyone finds any China Glaze minis, let me know. I want them. More specifically, I'd love a luxe and lush mini!

Zoya Elodie

Today I have my favorite pink shade, and a color in my top 5 Zoyas. Zoya Elodie. Elodie is a beautiful bright pink-coral creme. It's just gorgeous for summer and very easy to apply. Two coats and you're done.

The photo is really color accurate. Elodie is kind of bright - not overwhelmingly so, but she's definitely brighter than I anticipated. If you do not have Elodie, you need her! You can buy her here (it is my share the love link).

This photo was taken with flash, indoors. It's been dreadfully cloudy and raining this entire week so taking photos outside hasn't been an option. Hopefully the weather shapes up and realizes I have some swatching to do, so I need a little sun! How can I possibly show you DS Extravagance...indoors?

Before I applied Elodie for my manicure, I did a pedicure..it wasn't until a few days later that I realized the color I chose for my pedicure is almost a dead dupe for Zoya's Elodie, and I bought it on sale for 1.50! So now I have Elodie, her Zoya dupe Heidi, and this polish. More on that later. (:

Julep Maven Box

After seeing the April Julep Maven box preview here at Polish Jinx, I was inspired to make this "meme":

Zoya Sneak Peak, again!

Zoya is at it again! They posted a third sneak peek of the new Beach & Surf collection here.



Reagan on the left, Carly on the right.

Thoughts so far?

Zoya Nidhi

I received Zoya Nidhi in the Valentine's Day promo they had. I fell in love with the swatches I saw. The bottle is even more beautiful in person.

In the shade:



In the sun:



Nidhi is a beautiful, bright red with flecks of, I believe, silver. It's a beautiful red metallic. Stunning. I don't own anything like it in my nail polish collection, and I own quite a few reds so it's hard to surprise me when it comes to that color family.

I put Seche Vite on top because it isn't dry very shiny, probably because of the glitter. However, with a top coat this polish absolutely shines! It's like glass. I love it.

Modnique Sale on Megan Miller

Flash sale site modnique.com is having a sale on Megan Miller nail polish. You can buy a bottle for $10 (instead of $12) or a set of three for $25. Shipping is free. You can click here to sign up through my link and click here to be taken directly to the sale.



Happy Shopping!

*both site links are my referral links.

Another first look from Zoya!

Zoya posted THIS first look at the Beach & Surf collection.

Lara on the left, Kimber on the right.

Zoya First Look!

Zoya posted this first look at the new Beach & Surf collection! I want Zuza so bad! What do you guys think?

Beauty Post: Sockbun Curls

If you frequent youtube "beauty guru" videos at all, you've probably noticed how popular the sock bun is recently..and in conjunction with that, the sockbun curl. When you put your damp hair in a sockbun, you wake up the next morning with easy, heat free curls.

Yesterday morning I put my hair in a braid and no pieces fell out. Usually a huge chunk falls out to the right side because my hair was really layered and I'm slowly growing it out. Then I realized, if my hair is long enough to side braid, it might be long enough to try the sock bun!

Here is the sock bun. You can see I have a few pieces sticking out because my hair is just BARELY long enough to pull up like this.




AND YOWZA. DO I need a dye job. Nothing like an oddly angled picture to show you the ugly truth. Yikes. I had my hair bleached and dyed pink/blue and clearly I need a second try at covering that up. Here's a picture of my awesome pink hair from about a month ago:



Anyway.

I spritzed my pony tail with Aussie Scrunch Spray and then dampened it again with a bit of water before bed..just for some extra insurance. I woke up, took the bun+pony tail out and here are my curls:




My hair has never had this much body before. Once I took the pony tail out, I ran my fingers through my hair with a leave-in conditioner from Herbal Essences called "long term relationship" (red pump bottle). I pinned back my over grown bangs because they were matted down and bam! Sexy, voluminous hair with NO heat - no blow dryer, no curling iron, no hot rollers! Just a sock and a pony tail.

There are a ton of "how to sock bun" videos on youtube, just type in "sock bun" and you'll get over a thousand different hits.

If you try the sock bun curls, let me know on the facebook page how it went for you! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find my left over box of brown hair dye. Yeesh, orange is not a good look for me. I had no idea...that just shows you how little I ever look in the mirror LOL.

Essie: Clambake

I've been eying Essie's clambake for a solid year. Something about it just jumped at me, but I didn't buy it until a week ago. I'm so glad I did. It's another beautiful, bright red. It has a slight orange base to it. I just love it. Bright reds are my favorite.

Dollish Polish

Today I have "Fat Guy in a Little Coat by Dollish Polish. I bought this because I like the name. I love Tommy Boy.
 

Fat Guy in a Little coat is in a tan,shimmery base with blue and green micro glitter and large blue and green hexagons. In this photo, I layered two coats over Essie Sand Tropez.

I found the base in Fat Guy in a Little Coat to be a little sticky. Other than that, it's a unique polish and a fun name. I don't like the shimmer in it. I don't usually like shimmer. It gave my end result a slight frosty look which is unflattering on me. The shimmer also makes it a little difficult to layer the glitter without the end product look a bit milky. If you enlarge the photo you can see what it ends up looking like.

I also about Millenium Falcon - because I love Star Wars.



Look at that adorable mini! I will be showing you MF later in the week with other silvers I have.

Glitter

Here is LA Girl Glitter "Purge" over Midori. It's a fun, really opaque glitter. Three coats and I think you would have full coverage.

And this is OPI Don't Mess with OPI. A very beautiful sage-green creme. No application problems, it's a beautiful, must have green!

Green Ombre

Here is a green ombre mani I did this morning.

Pointer:Revlon Jaded
Middle: Essie Navigate Her
Ring: China Glaze GaGa for Green
Pinky: OPI don't mess with OPI

All topped with Seche Vite

Zoya Midori

Here is Zoya Midori. It's a beautiful apple-green-gold. It's perfect in two coats. I didn't think this shade would work well with my skin tone. I actually bought it with pedicure intent. It doesn't look half bad!

These were both taken with flash. I usually don't like using flash in my photos. It causes a bit of glare (though in this case it helps you see the yellow-gold in Midori) and can make for a visually unpleasant photo on top of washing everything out. However, it's very cloudy today and I couldn't manage a photo without flash.

By the way, Midori stained my nails yellow. Double up on your basecoat.

I have a few more green photos I will post throughout the day!

Zoya Summer 2012 Collection

There's been a little bit of buzz about the new summer collection from Zoya. The name leaked about a week ago but Zoya did a great job of putting that fire out. I don't think anyone heard about it.

Here it is, Zoya Beach & Surf! Surprisingly? No neutrals! With a name like Beach & Surf it's very easy to throw a few neutrals in there and call it a day. I think these colors are gorgeous. Metallic foils?! I'm excited! Here's the information about each color from Zoya themselves:

Summer 2012 is going to be a super stylish season for nails with the latest offering of nail polish collections, Beach and Surf, from the new color of fashion, Zoya! This new splash of color, designed by the Zoya color experts, is kissed by sea and sand translating beautifully onto the nail in the famous, full-coverage Zoya formula.

Dive into the creamy shades of the Zoya Beach Collection or the shimmering sea foils of the Zoya Surf Collection. The choice is yours – this color palette is sure to be a splash!

Zoya BEACH Collection

• Reagan (ZP614) - deep cerise pink cream
• Lara (ZP615) - vivid cerise pink cream
• Shelby (ZP616) - soft pinky pink cream
• Arizona (ZP617) - soft coral orange cream
• Tracie (ZP618) - sea grass metallic
• Wednesday (ZP619) - soft aqua cream

Zoya SURF Collection

• Rory (ZP620) - lotus pink foil metallic
• Carly (ZP621) - thalia purple foil metallic
• Kimber (ZP622) - magenta pink foil metallic
• Myrta (ZP623) - coral orange foil metallic
• Meg (ZP624) - mermaid green foil metallic
• Zuza (ZP625) - aquamarine foil metallic

Zoya is the new color of fashion... 

The Zoya BEACH and SURF collection was designed and inspired by resort runways and tropical get-a-ways.

Ultra long-wearing, glossy nail lacquers by Zoya are free of harmful industrial chemicals like toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, resin, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Find Zoya BEACH and SURF as well as over 300 other ultra high-fashion Zoya shades at www.zoya.com. As always, each and every Zoya color is made for women so we name them after women.

BEACH and SURF by Zoya Nail Polish - 12 new colors:
Available April 1, 2012 (USA)
www.zoya.com

Sug. Retail $8.00 per 0.5 fl.oz. bottle (US).

Personally, I want: Shelby, Zuza, Arizona, and Kimber. I have a feeling Zuza is going to be my new favorite color.

What do you guys think?

Nail Polish Jewelry

When I received Fantasy Fire, I did half a mani..realized she wasn't for me, and took her off. But I wanted something to remember her beauty by before I sent her on way to a new owner, and decided I would try my hand at nail polish jewelry. I'm really happy with the results and am very eager to make more. I'm thinking China Glaze Riveting and OPI rainbow connection will make fun jewelry.

First, I painted two coats of fantasy fire on the cabochon. Once those coats dried, I painted 3 coats of zoya raven. Here are the photos of fantasy fire:

  

I also did a necklace with Sinful Colors Nail Junkie. I painted 3 coats of Nail Junkie on the cabochon and then did 2 coats of Wet n Wild Black Creme:

     


There are many tutorials on how to make nail polish jewlery. It's actually really self explanatory. I think most people are curious as to where to buy the cabochons and pendents. I bought mine here: http://www.sunandmooncraftkits.com/

Sun and Moon Crafts is FAST. I ordered Sunday night, was emailed an invoice Monday morning, Monday afternoon had a shipment notice and tracking info, and my items arrived Wednesday! I'm happy with the quality as well. I'm not quite sure the pendent is metal, but it isn't exactly plastic, either. Maybe it's just high quality plastic? I'm not sure, either way - great prices, fast shipping, good product.

When you order, remember to go and buy the chains for your necklaces you're making. You need to buy those separately. I almost forgot. :)