Zoya: Storm

Of course I said I was not going to focus completely on nail polish anymore and, alas, it's a nail polish post. What can I say? I am a creature of habit.

This is Zoya's Storm and I checked, it's still available on their website for purchase. I pulled it out on a whim the other day and remembered just how much I love a good holo look.Yes, I know, it's still summer, but I have been craving fall and leaning towards some darker colors these days.

These photos are with two coats, and of course topped with my beloved Seche Vite top coat. I had no issues with application and found it to be nice and opaque. I love the holo glitter on this one.

What do you think of this one? Love it or leave it?

Disclosure: This product was purchased by me, with my own money. I am not paid for this review.  All reviews are 100% honest and done at my discretion. For more information please see my Disclosure Policy. 

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Nicole by OPI: Totally in the Dark

Happy Friday my friends. I hope you all had a good work/school week and are ready for the weekend! I don't have any fun plans this weekend, I am just ready to relax!  Today I want to show you a color I received for consideration from Nicole by OPI a while back. This has been sitting around for a while so apologies for not sharing this one sooner.

This is Totally in the Dark by Nicole by OPI and it's a black with some super fine silver microshimmer throughout. This color is really interesting because that microshimmer is so small that it actually looks like a black polish with black shimmer. It makes the finish appear super interesting, almost stained glass like. I usually like creme colors, as you know, but this is a really cool shimmer. It adds some interest to the typical dark nail color.

Formula is great on this. I only needed two coats for full opacity and I had no issues with streaking or balding. This applied smoothly 

  

Really pretty right? I love this one! Have you tried it? What do you think of it? Do you have something similar? 

What are your weekend plans!?

Disclosure: This product was provided by PR for review purposes. All reviews are 100% honest and done at my discretion. For more information please see my Disclosure Policy. 

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Zoya: Dahlia

Good morning! I hope you all have an amazing day! Today I want to show you another one of Zoya's Pixie Dust polishes. This is Dahlia and it was sent to me by Zoya's PR for consideration. If you've seen my other Pixie Dust reviews you know I am loving this nail polish trend. The finish is a textured matte which feels sandy to the touch. I didn't think I would like that feeling but it's nice!

Dahlia is a black textured matte with a silver sparkle. The shimmer on this one is absolutely stunning. The silver offers a nice contrast against the black base.

I used two coats for the opacity shown and the formula was excellent. I have found all of the Pixie Dust polishes apply perfectly. Since this is matte you do not use a top coat unless you want to have a slick look. These dry quickly between coats.

 Who is loving this trend like I am?

Have you gotten any new polishes lately? I want to know what is sticking out in your mind as the next best thing!

Disclosure: This product was provided by PR for review purposes. All reviews are 100% honest and done at my discretion. For more information please see my Disclosure Policy. 

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Color Club: Beyond

Hi everyone! Are you ready to have your mind blown? Alright, not really, it's just nail polish, but it's pretty beautiful and I am excited about it. This is Beyond  from Color Club. It's an insanely gorgeous deep blue/charcoal/nearly black linear holographic polish. Can you believe your eyes? Stunning. The holographic shimmer is just so beautiful and quite profound in the right lighting. 

This beauty went on perfectly in two coats. I had no issues at all with this formula, in fact it was a pleasure to apply. No balding, streaking or pooling. I barely had to do any cleanup with this, which is pretty awesome given the dark color. 

  

Now at first glance you may think this is the same as Color Club's Revvvolution  but Revvvolution's base is much more grey and  the holo is not as strong. In fact, I called Revvolution's holo "subtle" in my review of it back in 2010. Have a look at my old review of Revvvolution here. 

I don't have much else to say. This is absolutely beautiful. What do you think?

Disclosure: This product was provided by PR for review purposes. All reviews are 100% honest and done at my discretion. For more information please see my Disclosure Policy. 

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Prettily Inspired Polish (Etsy Store) Review

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by the blog today. I have three polishes to show you from an Etsy seller named Chelsea. Chelsea's store is called Prettily Inspired Polish and she hand mixes all of her 3-Free polishes in small batches. She's got an every changing variety of unique and fun, mostly glitter polishes. 

Up first is Kiss me at Midnight. This polish is a gold and blue micro-glitter along with small gold hex glitter and larger gunmetal hex glitter suspended in a sheer dark blue/green base. Boy is that a tough one to describe! It's got a lot going on. 

The jelly base on this one is super sheer but tinted that dark green/blue, almost grey color. You won't be able to build it up to a truly opaque state but it's more of a topper glitter anyway. The jelly base provides a high shine so it will look good over most any color you can think of. I put it on my bare nails for the swatch and over black on my ring finger to show you some variety. 

Next up is Starlet which Chelsea describes as containing "micro gold hex, small matte pink square, matte pink stars, medium red hex, large iridescent clear hex, and ultra-fine iridescent white glitters" in a bight pink jelly base. 

This one is really interesting and has a lot going on. I love the little pink star glitter particles. This is something really fun to throw on for Valentine's Day. This is two coats:

Last, but certianly not least is my favorite of the bunch and to me, the most unique: Lettuce Leaf. Chelsea describes Lettuce Leaf as containing "micro purple, small matte neon yellow hex, matte white square, medium matte neon green hex, and holo green square glitters in a clear base." I actually don't think this base is clear though. It's ever so slightly tinted highlighter yellow/neon green. I think the photo clearly shows that.  This is two coats:

I had no issues applying any of the polishes. Formula was consistent across the board, not too thick, not too thin. I found the larger glitter particles in all three of the polsihes to go on abundantly and evenly. Sometimes larger glitter sinks to the bottom of polishes, that did not happen with any of these three.

Chelsea sells these, and more, in her Etsy shop and a 15ml bottle will run you $9.95 USD which is a pretty standard indie rate. Be sure to stop by her Facebook page for more photos and occasional special offers. I really like all three of these polishes. I can tell Chelsea puts a lot of thought into creating these polishes. It's nice to see something unique on the market and it's fun to support small businesses. 

Disclosure: This product was provided by PR for review purposes. All reviews are 100% honest and done at my discretion. For more information please see my Disclosure Policy. 

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OPI Liquid Sand: Stay the Night

TGIF! What are you all doing this weekend? Steve and I will be rooting for our team, the 49ers this Sunday! Fingers crossed for a win! Can't wait to see the game!!!

Today I have another one of the OPI Liquid Sands colors to show you. This is Stay the Night and it's the prettiest of the Liquid Sand colors in my opinion.

Stay the Night is a stunning black textured polish with blood red glitter/shimmer.  Like with all of the other liquid sands colors this is a textured matte finish and feels like sand on your nails. I thought I would HATE the formula but I actually like it a lot. I am shocked! The texture, paired with the matte, creates something unique and beautiful.

I used two coats for the opacity shown and that's all you will need with this one. These dry nice and fast so you won't miss your top coat. I did wear this one with a top coat as well and liked it but it's much prettier worn matte as intended.

 

Isn't this one lovely? I am a fan. What say you?

Random Thoughts:

• It's Friday!!!
• Can't wait for the super bowl. I am going to make some of my favorite fattening dip. Hormel Chili with no beans, a block of cream cheese topped with shredded chedder. So good! 
• It's finally staying light out longer. Spring is coming soon! I can't wait!!!
• Hope Phil predicts spring tomorrow. 
• Let's go 49ers! 

Disclosure: This product was provided by PR for review purposes. All reviews are 100% honest and done at my discretion. For more information please see my Disclosure Policy. 

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Happy Halloween with Camo Nails

Hi everyone! Happy Halloween. It's been an interesting few days here in Connecticut due to Hurricane Sandy but my area was not hit too hard and everyone is okay! I can't say the same for friends in New Jersey and New York but at least they are all ok, even if their homes are damaged and they are without power. We got lucky, we only lost power for 2-3 hours on Monday night and nothing was damaged.  Please know all of you who were in the way of Sandy are in my thoughts as you rebuild and recover. 

Happy Halloween nonetheless. Steve and I went to a Halloween party on Saturday night and I was an army chick (lame, I know) so I did some camouflage nail art to match my costume.  I can't take credit for the color ideas, I used the colors DandyNails used in this Youtube Tutorial. Thanks Dandynails! It was super simple.

Here's a list of colors: 

1. Base: OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window

2. Sephora by OPI: Caught with my Khakis Down

3. OPI: Get in The Espresso Lane

4. Rimmel 10 + Minerals:  Black Satin

5. China Glaze: Matte Magic

All I did was paint all nails with OPI's Uh Oh Roll Down the Window then, using a dotting tool I drew in the lines all over with the different colored polishes until I got my desired look. Then I topped it all with China Glaze's Matte Magic because I feel like matte just made way more sense than shiny would. Couldn't be simpler. 

So what do you think of my Halloween costume inspired manicure? I am not good at nail art so this is about as creative as I get. I am trying to get better to keep the blog interesting but I am just not an artist. ;-)

On a semi-related note: I cannot stand how matte nails feel! I don't know what it is but they freak me out! I am such a weirdo!

What are your plans for Halloween? I want to know your Halloween traditions! Halloween in New England is usually amazing but these last two years have been a huge bummer due to weather. I know lots of areas around me have cancelled Halloween for safety reasons in light of Hurricane Sandy. I feel so bad! It's the second year around me that Trick-or-Treating has been cancelled. Last year we had a huge snowstorm  These kids can't catch a break!!!   Whatever you all decide to do have fun and be safe! 

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OPI: Metallic 4 Life

Hi everyone. This polish came out earlier this year with the Nicki Minaj Collection but I never got around to wearing it so never reviewed it here. So why not now!?

This is Metallic 4 Life and it's a high shine black with tons of silver hex and regular glitter. I love this one. I think it's a really nice option for this time of year even though it came out in the spring.  The black is super deep and shiny.

I used two coats for opacity and had no issues with application  I found the glitter to disburse evenly and as long as you were carefully when capping the tips it was pretty low maintenance. The glitter is prominent and doesn't sink into the color at all. 

Did you pick this one up back when it was released? What do you think of it? Hit or miss?

Disclosure: This product was provided by PR for review purposes. All reviews are 100% honest and done at my discretion. For more information please see my Disclosure Policy. 

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Zoya: Storm (Ornate Collection)

Hi everyone! Behold! The most gorgeous color of the season. This.Is.Epic. I got this in the mail today and had to immediately apply, photograph and blog.

This is Zoya's Storm and it's part of Zoya's Ornate Collection for Winter 2012-13. Zoya describes Storm as "a full coverage, holiday black with a high concentration of micro fine diamond holographic glitter. " I am a sucker for anything containing holo-glitter. This is absolutely gorgeous, blingy and shiny and I am in love. 

Sure, I have other blacks with holo-glitter in it but there is something about this one that makes me swoon! Holo-glitter is the master of all glitters. It's rainbow when the light hits it and makes any polish it touches absolutely amazing.

I used two coats for full opacity and this went on like buttah. It's just the perfect polish. I can't say enough.

The entire Ornate Collection is stunning. I am not sure I am going to be able to pick a favorite, I really don't know if I can do it!  Wait until you see the other polishes in this collection. You need them all!  

LOL can you tell this is an exciting release to me? 

What do you think of this one? Is it as amazing as I think it is or do you think I am insane? 

Disclosure: This product was provided by PR for review purposes. Share the Love link used. All reviews are 100% honest and done at my discretion. For more information please see my Disclosure Policy. 

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