Orly-Paris Promedade

YOU GUYSSSS.  I am so sorry I've been completely MIA for the last week.  Ugh, I feel gross about myself.  But I was up to my eyeballs with stuff to do.  Thursday was my birthday/I had an exam/I had to work, and it just went from there.  I had family visiting and couldn't do my nails or blog :(  But I'm back!!  And today I have Orly's Paris Promenade on guest fingers!!  My mom, Betty, was kind enough to loan me her nails :)  She wanted a bloody color for her halloween costume, and this is what she picked off of my wheels:

Paris Promendade is a medium to dark red creme that is slightly on the sheer side.  Application was pretty good, as with all of my old Orly's, but you can see some slight pulling on her middle finger in the second photo.  Overall, I liked how it turned out on her against her skin tone (more olive than my own).

Thanks for sticking with me, ladies!

<3

Zoya-Meadow

Initially, I thought that Meadow was going to be a really close dupe to Essie's Your Hut or Mine?, but as it turns out, I like this one better.  I think that this is what I wished YHOM? was.  This is a more pale, true pink with gold shimmer while YHOM? is a tad more coral-y and a bit brighter.  I love you, Meadow, I really do!  Application was alright.  The formula is a tad thick and gloopy, so I had to thin it.  Very opaque, though, almost a one-coater :)

Prettyyyy.  I think I need to thin it more the next time I wear it, though.  I've only seen Meadow around the blogosphere a couple of times...I don't think she gets the credit she deserves!!

Thanks for reading!
<3

Zoya-Faye

Faye has been one of the polishes I have wanted for a really long time.  I finally got my hands on it :)  I love colors like these that have a ton of gold shimmer to them and this one really shines!  This was two coats and no topcoat:

Lovely, yes?  I want to do a comparison post soon with Faye vs. Orly's Rock the World.  They look super similar to me in the bottle :)  Let me know if you ladies want the comparison!

Thanks for reading!
<3

And the winner is...

Sarah of Chalkboard Nails!!

That's her entry, isn't it gorgeous!

She won with 35% of the overall votes :)  I'll be contacting her shortly.  If I don't hear from her in 24 hours, I will choose the 2nd place entry as the winner.

Congrats Sarah!  

Nina Ultra Pro-Glamrock

Ladies, if you love glitter, than I have the polish for you.  It's Glamrock by Nina Ultra Pro.  When I first saw this polish in the bottle, I was skeptical because glitters typically are not very opaque.  This polish is the opposite!  Two coats was all I needed for complete opacity.  The rich black base helps with this without eating up all the pretty chunky silver glitter.  I can see this polish being a go-to for me when I'm in the mood for glitter :)

This polish dried with quite a gritty texture, so I topped it with a coat of Gelous before adding SV.  This made for a super shiny finish that I loved :)  Removal was a pain in my butt, but I was expecting that.  I used the foil method, and still had quite a bit of work to do...oh well!  I'll put up with the annoying removal if it means wearing pure bling on my nails.  Speaking of wear, it wore amazingly!!  These pics were taken after three days of wear.  During those three days I worked three full shifts using my hands a lot, and I only had one tiny chip on my right hand.  I was really impressed!

Thanks for stopping by!
<3

Zoya-Edyta

Edyta is an amazing shimmery/glittery olive green with gold glitters.  It is beyond beautiful for fall and it reminds me of the leaves changing from green to gold.  Application is gorgeous and opaque with two coats.  I found this unusual with this type of finish because these types of polish usually take at least three coats.  Pictures!

Isn't she a beaut?  Love it.
Stay tuned for the announcement of who won my contest later on today!!

Thanks for stopping by!
<3

Zoya-Adina

So a couple of weeks ago, I took advantage of a bogo sale at Zoya!  I figured it was the perfect opportunity to get my hands on some Zoya and try it out for the first time.  I got Adina, Faye, Meadow, and Edyta and I love every one of them!  This one is Adina, a gorgeous purple/green duochrome with a slightly frosty finish.  I don't mind the finish so much because the color is breathtaking :)  These photos were taken after three coats of Adina and no topcoat:

I couldn't pick just one or two photos!  Each one shows different little nuances to Adina.  Oh, Adina, never leave me!  I can't picture my life without you! Ha.

Thanks for reading!!
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Color Club-Cold Metal

Oooh my first Color Club post!  Cold Metal is from the Foiled collection (6 foils) and I love it.  It is a super true royal blue foil that sparkles like crazy!!  I found the whole Foiled collection as well as half of Back to Boho at my local Ross for only $7.99 per pack.  I couldn't believe my eyes!  If you have time, stop by your local Ross and see if you can't pick these up :)

Isn't that color just stunning?  Application was a breeze as well.  Didn't even have to worry about brush strokes or anything!!  I'm in love :)  And with winter headed this way, a name like Cold Metal is perfect!!

Thanks for reading!
<3

Keep the votes coming!!

Hey all!  I'm going to close my voting poll on Monday at 9PM GMT so make sure to get in those last minute votes!!!

Click HERE to go to the voting page!!

Thanks for supporting my contest yall :)
<3

X&D Nail Stickers Review

Recently I received some X&D Nail Stickers from a company called KKcenterHK that was nice enough to reach out to me to do a review for them.  I was really excited to try them out thinking that they were going to be similar to the Sally Hansen Salon Effects.  To my surprise, upon receiving them, I found that X&D Nail Stickers are actually not stickers at all!!  They are water decals, actually.  I was pretty excited about it anyway, since I had never tried water decals before.  I got them in a super cute tulip/floral pattern on a white background (#14 on the website under X&D). 

Let me start off by saying that the people at KKcenterHK are very friendly and customer service was great.  They let me pick out the pattern I wanted and everything.  Shipping was really fast considering they are an overseas company.  Anyway, onto the review!!

*Please keep in mind that this was my first experience with water decals, and I may have made a few mistakes/done something differently than you would have.*

Application (forgot to take pics, oops!)

1. Started with clean, dry nails

2. I cut out all the decals and fitted them to my nails as best as I could

3. Let them soak one at a time on the water surface for about 30 seconds/until the decal peeled up

4. I took tweezers and positioned the decal on my nail and moved it around until it was in a position I was happy with

5. I took a cotton round and pressed down firmly until it stuck to my nail

6. I used the cotton round to smooth out any wrinkles until the decal was completely smooth on my nail

7. I lightly filed away the excess 

8. I added topcoat and I was finished

Here's the final result right after application:

Left Hand

Right Hand

Adding topcoat was a huge mistake, in my opinion.  This is what happened when I fussed with the topcoat application too much:

Right Thumb

It basically started crumbling.  I tried not applying topcoat at all, but the decal started peeling up right away.
By applying topcoat very sparingly and with only a few strokes, this is what happened:

Left Thumb

Much better, yes?

Immediately after applying these, I was really pleased with the outcome.  Considering I was a first-timer, I thought it came out pretty good and I was OK with the application process being difficult because they looked pretty nice.  As you can see, my nails are pretty short and the whole design didn't show up on my nail.  I expected this going in, though.  Like I said, topcoat presented an issue for me.  The decals started to crackle and fall apart as I was applying it.  I resolved this by applying topcoat very quickly and sparingly.  Now, I thought that these were going to last a long time, but I was very shocked at how little they held up.  They lasted for less than 24 hours.  I applied them yesterday evening, and this morning after my shower, they started popping off.  They came off all in one piece.  I think I probably should have used a base coat??  I tried to watch some tutorials on applying water decals, but none of them were consistent on procedure.  I feel like they would have stuck on better if I would have used base coat :/

Here's my list of pros and cons for you to consider:

Pros

There are a ton of patterns and designs available

They look great while freshly applied

They were the perfect shape for my nails.  I only had fitting problems with 2 nails

They are very affordable at only $4.74 per set

KKcenterHK customer service is very friendly and efficient

Cons

Lasting power is very poor

Application was difficult and time consuming

Not topcoat friendly, I tried three different ones

Too bad it couldn't have stayed like this, right??

*The product in this post was sent to me for review.  All opinions are completely honest and have not been influenced whatsoever.

Sinful Colors-Dancing Nails

Dancing Nails is a really neat pinky red metallic color.  It makes me feel so fierce!!  Haha :)  Application, as always with SC, was pretty good.  Care is needed with brushstrokes because of the nature of the foil finish.

Isn't she pretty!?  This color always makes me think of Christmas when I see it :)

Don't forget to keep voting on my contest entries.  You'll be able to find a link in the top right of my sidebar :)

Thanks for reading :)
<3

Essie-Power Clutch

This is Power Clutch, fom Essie's fall 2011 collection.  She's a gorgeous medium grey creme with a bit of an unusual greenish tinge to it.  I didn't like this one at first, but it grew on me the more I looked at the bottle and when I put it on my nails, I loved it! Formula is awesome, this was only one coat topped with SV:

And don't forget to keep voting on my contest entries here!

Thanks for reading!
<3

Let the contest voting begin!!! (CLOSED)

Hello everyone!!  So my contest has closed and here are all of the entries!! Participants were asked to create a nail design based on one of the themes I listed.  These themes were music, animals, a cause that you believe in, or your heritage/orientation/something you're proud of.  I am now opening these entries up for public vote! You will find a form at the bottom of this post where you can select the mani that you think best deserves to win!  Please tell everyone!  I want to get as many votes as possible so that everyone has a fair shot :)

In no particular order:

Entry 1: inspired by music

Entry 2: inspired by animals

Entry 3: inspired by animals

Entry 4: inspired by animals

Entry 5: inspired by a song/music

Entry 6: inspired by animals

Entry 7: inspired by heritage/orientation/etc.

Please use the form below to vote!!  This part of the contest will be open until there are at least 30 votes, so that I can get a good estimate of a clear winner!!

*If you entered and do not see your photo here, it is because you were either not a public follower, did not fill out the entry form, or did not send me a picture.  If you entered and do not fit one of these categories and still do not see your photo, please contact me asap so we can work it out :)

ELF-Dark Navy

Today I have for you the last of my ELF polishes.  This one is Dark Navy, and, as you can imagine, it is a dark navy!  It has lots of beautiful blue shimmer in it, as well.  Formula on this one, as with all my ELFs, is good and is completely smooth and opaque after two coats.

And don't forget that my contest is closing tonight!!  Be sure to get any last minute entries in before it's too late!

Thanks for reading!
<3

Video Game Nails: Minecraft

Minecraft is my new guilty pleasure obsession.  I can't stop playing!!  This mani is inspired by one of the bad guys in the game: the creeper.  Creepers are basically big green things that like to find you and blow up next to you and take you down.  They always have sad faces D:  Here's the mani!

I know I'm not the best at freehanding yet, but I liked how it came out :)  Do any of you play Minecraft?  What are your favorite video games if you don't?

Thanks for reading :)
<3

ELF-Coral

Coral is my second favorite of all of my ELF polishes.  It's a gorgeous coral base with beautiful gold shimmer running throughout.  When I first got this one, the brush was really jacked up.  I've never had problems with the ELF brushes before, so this one was just a dud.  I had to remove all the polish from the brush and re-shape it carefully with scissors for it to apply polish properly.  Anyway, it was worth it for me because the formula is good and the color is gorgeous!  This one dries to a satin-ish finish so topcoat is a must for me.  Especially since it brings out the shimmer so awesomely!

Puuurrrty.  I really dig it.

Don't forget!  There are only a few days left to enter my contest :)

ELF-Champagne and contest update

Champagne is a very classy and elegant nude with subtle shimmer.  This is one of my go-to nudes and is perfect for wearing something understated on the nails.  The formula is the tiniest bit sheer after two coats, but I didn't mind with the color.  It made it look a bit more natural.  Two coats is what is shown in the pictures and application is smooth.  No topcoat.

The first picture is the most color accurate.  For some reason, the sun makes this one photograph a little on the orangey-red side of the spectrum.  Hm...

UPDATE: Also, don't forget to stop by my contest!  It ends soon, so hurry!!  I also wanted to say that because of the lack of eligible entries, I may be limiting this contest to one prize (the Zoyas).  Please keep entering if you want there to be more prizes :)

Thanks for reading!!