Luck of the Not So Irish?

Nothing to DisclosePress Sample

Happy belated St Patrick's Day! I posted this manicure on my Instagram (Are you following me yet?! :-P) yesterday and, as promised, I'm posting them here on the blog! I know that I've been horrid about posting lately, but I'm working very hard to get stuff posted and collections swatched for you!! :-D

So about the nails, I usually hate stuff affixed to my nails, but I knew that the gold studs from the Sally Hansen I ♥ Nail Art stud set would be perfect for gold coins left by a mischievous little leprechaun on my nail! I actually like the ring finger nail a lot, and since the studs are so close together, I won't pick them off like I usually do. I used a bunch of polishes for this manicure, so see below for the details!

You can sort of see the beautiful shift of Ninja Polish Shillelagh best in the second photo; from one angle it is a beautiful emerald, and from another it's a golden green, and sometimes I feel like I can even see a rusty orange. I love it!

Side note: These pictures were unfortunately taken after a shift at work, so there is some slight tip wear...oops!

I used:

Thumb: 

Green: Sephora by OPI I Come in Peas

Green/Gold Shimmer: Ninja Polish Shillelagh

Index:

White: Milani White on the Spot

Red: Zoya Tamsen

Orange: Butter LONDON Silly Billy

Yellow: Wet 'n' Wild Get Lucky

Green: Sephora by OPI I Come in Peas

Blue: Essie Butler Please

Purple: Seche Nails Clever & Confident 

Middle: 

China Glaze Mingle With Kringle

Ring Finger:

Green: Sephora by OPI I Come in Peas

Studs: Sally Hansen I ♥ Nail Art Studs set

Pinky: 

Green/Gold Shimmer: Ninja Polish Shillelagh

Basecoat: Sephora Formula X base coat

Topcoat: Seche Vite top coat


What did you do for your St Patrick's Day Manicure? Tell me in the comments below! 

Disclosure: Some products in this post were provided for review by the manufacturer. However, many of them were purchased by me. See the legal page disclosure for more information. 

Read More

shamROCK OUT!

Get your pinching fingers ready, it's that time of year again–St. Patrick's Day! Time to put your drinkin' shoes on, and don your best green attire, because it's time to do it up right! I'm not Irish, but with the pale skin, red hair, and freckles, I definitely look the part. Here's hoping that this St. Paddy's Day, my 'Irish' looks bring me a few extra tips at work tonight! :D

I totally HAD to use my Zoya Gilty for this manicure, I mean, how much more appropriate can you get than St. Patrick's Day? :D  Michigan winters and being a server have not been kind to my nails/cuticles, my nails break every 2 minutes it seems like (hence the super nubs), and I'm pretty sure I could wear gloves made of Lemony Flutter and my cuticles would still be unhappy.

Anyway, Happy St. Paddy's Day! :)

I used:

White: Cult Nails Tempest
Red: American Apparel Downtown L.A.
Orange: CND Electric Orange
Yellow: American Apparel Manila
Green: CND Green Scene
Turquoise: Zoya Robyn
Blue: Pure Ice French Kiss
Purple: Funky Fingers Riot
Gold Flake: Zoya Gilty
Basecoat: Cult Nails Get it On
Topcoat: Cult Nails Wicked Fast

Read More

What's YOUR Gilty Pleasure?

Who doesn't love a way to make a manicure look a little more rich in a little amount of time? Love the look of nail art, but want something a little easier? Sounds like Zoya has you covered with their new Gilty Pleasures velvet gift box set, which features Zoya Gilty, a limited-edition 18K Real Gold Flake topcoat, Zoya Raven, a great jet black, and Zoya Purity, a lovely white. 

Due to the scarcity and extreme demand of the gold used in the topcoat, they're asking everyone to pre-order the trio in advance. This means that after the pre-order is sold out, there will be no more available.  If you're a polish hoarder collector like I am, you definitely won't want to miss out on this!

The PRE-ORDER is open today HERE!

Official ship date for the Gilty Pleasures Trio is October 15, 2012, and you will not be charged until it actually ships.

ZOYA IS THE NEW COLOR OF FASHION!

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

Find over 300 other Zoya shades at www.zoya.com. Each and every name has a color as unique as the women who inspired it.

$30.00 US. Shipping October 15, 2012.
Order Zoya Gilty Pleasure at Zoya.com today!

Read More

Falling For Fall

Well, August is swiftly approaching its end, and the warm days of summer will be long behind us (well, you) soon. The cool, crisp mornings of fall are on their way, and I have to say that I'm completely jealous of those of you lucky enough to enjoy it. Fall is my absolute favorite season, and since I moved to Vegas, and then India, I haven't really gotten to enjoy it. I miss the warm scent of burning leaves in the air, the tartness of warm apple cider on my tongue, and the crisp blue skies of autumn. I know it's a month or so away, but it's already on my mind, especially seeing all the fall nail collections coming out. Growing up in the woods in Michigan, there was no shortage of Autumn experience, from the greenery-lined gravel roads of summer becoming ablaze with the flame of fall leaves, all red and orange and yellow, to the chill that forced a sweater over your shivering shoulders at night. I loved it all, still do.

Today's nail art is to bring a little autumn to my humidity-filled existence. :)

I used:

White: American Apparel Cotton
Dark Brown: Barielle Unraveled Rust
Medium Brown: China Glaze Mahogany Magic
Burgundy: CND Bloodline
Mustard: Barielle Aura Angora
Camel: American Apparel Trenchcoat
Yellow: American Apparel Manila
Bright Orange: CND Electric Orange
Medium Orange: Jesse's Girl Beauty Guru
Red-Orange: American Apparel Lopez Canyon
Copper: China Glaze Harvest Moon
Metallic Gold: ORLY Solid Gold
Topcoat: Seche Vite

What's your favorite season?

Read More

HP BDay!

To further cement my status in the nerd community, I've chosen to do nail art to celebrate a very important birthday today. SUPER Important. Like kill-Voldemort-and-save-the-world important. Yes, really. It's that time of year again, July 31 (or 31 July, if you're anywhere but America), which means that it's the birthday of a beloved magical character...Harry James Potter.

If you've been reading the blog for a while, you know that I'm a bit of a fan. By bit, I mean HUGE, wait in line at midnight screenings, midnight book releases, and know the stupid books practically by heart huge. No, as I've stated before, I don't dress up. (I did screen print my own Harry-themed t-shirts for the 8th movie though) I'm not embarrassed of my Harry Potter devotion, because HP is awesome, and I think most of you will say the same.

So what would you give Harry as a birthday present? Some chocolate frogs? A broomstick maintenance kit? Socks? I'd make him a levitating cake...to say, I'd make him a cake and have Hermione levitate it. *Wingardium Leviosa!* BAM!

Anyway, my HP Bday nails...

I used:

Gold: China Glaze 2030
Maroon: CND Bloodline
Flesh: Zoya Avery
Black: American Apparel Hassid
Brown: OPI Suzi Likes Cowboys & some American Apparel Hassid
Pink: Zoya Avery and CND Bloodline combined
Light Blue: American Apparel American Denim
Darker Blue (For Frosting Shading): Aldo Sea You in Ibiza
White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On
Orange: CND Electric Orange
Yellow: American Apparel Manila
Red: China Glaze Hey Sailor
Topcoat: Seche Vite

Nox.

Read More

Richly Indian

So yeah, not sure if you've heard...but I currently live in India. (you know, that country you call for tech support?) I know that I haven't done a lot of India-inspired nail art, so I decided to do today's design for you! I'll admit, I first did this design on my friend Ruby, the most adorable girl that used to work in my office (I'm so sad she doesn't anymore). She's 24 years old, but looks about 14, and unbelievably to me has 2 kids!! She would always joke with me and say things were supaaah. (super). She's honestly one of my favorite people in India, she cracks me up! (and I'm not the only one- everyone likes Ruby!). She was going to her 'native' (this is how people here refer to their hometown) for her birthday, and wanted me to paint her nails, so I did! This was the design that I did for her, and I liked it so much, I decided to do it on myself.

I used:

Brown: OPI Suzi Likes Cowboys
Gold: China Glaze 2030
Coral/Orange: Lotus Herbals Orange Alert
Topcoat: Seche Vite

Read More