31DC2013 Day 30 - Inspired by a Tutorial

Turns out today is 2 for 1 day because I'm really wanting to finish up the 31 Day Nail Challenge. Day 30 of the challenge calls to create a manicure inspired by a tutorial. I chose to try my hand at a quatrefoil print by Christabell Nails. I first saw her tutorial on Instagram, but she does have an extended version on YouTube as well which is what I would suggest you check out. It is so simple to create this look using just two shades of polish, a dotting tool and a small brush. Who could have imagined...

Fiery Tigress...

A few days ago MoYou London, the makers of some pretty amazing stamping plates, launched a challenge in celebration of reaching 10K followers on Instagram. The challenge is to create manicures using MoYou stamping plates that go along with their daily prompts. At the end of the month winners will be picked to receive some new stamping plates. Life is a bit too hectic right now to take take on the full challenge, but I will try to join in and create a manicure or two when I get a chance...

The prompt for yesterday was Animal Print. I happened to still be wearing the Kiss My Tan, the gorgeous fiery metallic orange by Dazzle Dry so I thought of tigers. Oh my!...

Zoya Irresistible Collection For Summer 2013

I showed you the Zoya Stunning half of the summer collection a few days ago. Today I would like to show you the second have of the collection, the Zoya Irresistible metallic shades. While I love the bright, summery cream shades from the first half, I'm absolutely smitten with these foil metallic ones. They are packed with tiny flecks which somehow magically fuse together to form gorgeous, flawless, irresistible foil metallics. Before I get too carried away gushing, take a look at the swatches...

OPI Skyfall - Part 2

Today I have swatches of the second half of the OPI Skyfall collection to share with you. If you missed the first half, be sure to check it out here. I must say that I'm quite enjoying this holiday collection where nearly half to the polishes refer to life or death in the name. That might be a first for a holiday collection. I hope you'll enjoy these swatches...

Sally Hansen Salon Effect - Batty For You

Today I have some more beautiful Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail polish strips to show you. These are part of the Halloween release for the season and are very appropriately named Batty For You. Another pattern from this collection is How Corny which I showed you a few days ago. I have been wearing these for the past two days and trying to find any reason excuse to keep them on longer...

Pure Ice Year of the Dragon Crackle & Ice Duo

Today I have one more Year of the Dragon manicure to share with you. This one comes courtesy of Bari Cosmetics who kindly sent me these two polishes for review. Unlike my previous manicure, this one is a more traditional color scheme for Chinese New Year. It reminds me of beautiful lanterns with light shining through.

For the manicure I started out with the gold, which sadly does not have a name, only the number (313CP) on the bottom. In all the communication I received it is simply referred to as Gold. I topped the gold off with a layer of Show Stopper, a bright red jelly crackle. I had no problems with application. The crackle was very consistent. I love that it is a jelly and allows the gold to shine through.

When it came to the symbol to stamp, I had a hard time picking one out since there are so many plates with Chinese symbols and I have no idea what they mean. I enlisted the help of a friend to explain the meanings of them until I finally settled on the symbol from Bundle Monster plate BM-221. She translated it to means lucky, fortunate in life and so much more. So here is to a wonderful Year of the Dragon...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Pure Ice Collection: Year of the Dragon 2012, Crackle & Ice Duo Color Name/Number: Show Stopper, 569CP Number of coats: 1 (over 3 coats 313CP) Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP) Contains Camphor

Here are the swatches of the gold on it's own. It is a bright yellow gold foil with some shimmer qualities. Streaking was minimal with careful application and because it is so shiny you can't see any of them in the photos regardless. I used three coats to get full coverage. Photos are with a top coat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Pure Ice Collection: Year of the Dragon 2012, Crackle & Ice Duo Color Name/Number: Bite Me, 313CP Number of coats: 3 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP) Contains Camphor

UPDATE: The gold is named Bite Me

Let me know what you think!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** These polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Sinful Colors - Wish Collection Swatches & Review

I got the chance to review the new Wish holiday collection from Sinful Colors. It consists of five base colors and two nail art polishes. The collection has a nice variety of colors to play around with. Since there are lots and lots of photos, I'll try to make the text sweet and to the point :)

Out of this World is a nice pearly silver color. Application was great with surprisingly good coverage after two coats. I'll admit I was worried this one would never be fully opaque, but I was proven wrong. I hesitate to call this a full foil, but it did apply like one. I think it would look perfect sponged over blue, but that is for another day.

Swatch Details
	Brand: Sinful Colors Collection: Wish (Holiday 2011) Color Name/Number: Out of this Wold, 842 Number of coats: 2 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Midnight Blue is a bright metallic blue. It is a gorgeous color although a bit too much for my skin tone. It came out slightly lighter than bottle color. Application was good with full coverage in two coats. Removal was a pain and resulted in a major case of smurf hands. Make sure to use a good base coat with this to protect your nails and remove very carefully to avoid staining.

Swatch Details
	Brand: Sinful Colors Collection: Wish (Holiday 2011) Color Name/Number: Midnight Blue, 13 Number of coats: 2 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Sugar Sugar is a bright metallic red with a slight shimmer. This one is not new to my collection, but it is one of my favorites. I have swatched it here before. I also used it for a 4th of July manicure and the inspired by a flag challenge from the 31 day challenge. I didn't see the harm in swatching it again though, so here it is :D Application for this is good with two coats for full coverage.

Swatch Details
	Brand: Sinful Colors Collection: Wish (Holiday 2011) Color Name/Number: Sugar Sugar, 839 Number of coats: 2 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Daddy's Girl is a purple jelly with multichrome specks. This is such a gorgeous polish in the bottle. The specks flashed everything from purple to magenta to gold and at the right angle I could see green and blue. Sadly, it came out very sheer and none of those colors showed up on the nail. I applied three coats and a top coat. Otherwise, no bald spots or pulling with this jelly so application was good.

Swatch Details
	Brand: Sinful Colors Collection: Wish (Holiday 2011) Color Name/Number: Daddy's Girl, 841 Number of coats: 3 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Daddy's Girl over Black on Black:
Since Daddy's Girl was so sheer, I decided to try it over Sinful Colors Black on Black. This is one coat of Black on Black with two coats of Daddy's Girl. Ahhh, just look at those flecks. I love it. It did loose some of it's beautiful purple in the process so next time I will try it over a deep purple as a base and see if I can still capture those flakies. :)

You can click to zoom in for more detail...

Last Chance is a deep forest green creme. It came out darker than bottle color for me and in some light looked almost black. I have no complaints though, since I love dark colors. Application was good and it covered completely in two coats. This did stain my nails a bit upon removal, so again I recommend using a nice base coat with this.

Swatch Details
	Brand: Sinful Colors Collection: Wish (Holiday 2011) Color Name/Number: Last Chance, 948 Number of coats: 2 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Now on to the the Nail Art polishes in the collection...

Flower Girl is a gold foil with a nice, easy to work with striping brush. I chose to just draw a few lines and dots over Daddy's Girl (over Black on Black). I didn't want to take this one off. Came out so cute :)
The only problem I had with this is the smell. It is much stronger than any Sinful Colors polish I have tried. I'm not sure the reason behind this as it is also Formaldehyde, Toluene, and DBP free. :(

Fashionista is a silver glitter in a clear base. I tried it over Last Chance for my manicure. This one does not make sense to me in a nail art form as it does not allow for precise drawing. The glitter just goes where it wants, as most glitters do. Just like Flower Girl, this one also had a nasty smell. 

What do you think of this collection? Have you tried any of these colors or nail art polishes?

** These polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Day 29 - Inspired by the Supernatural

Quite honestly I wasn't feeling very inspired by the supernatural for today's challenge. There are lots of ways this could have gone, but I was not in the mood for anything loud and crazy so I decided to keep it simple. Plus, I wanted something that I would be able to wear in public :). I chose to do another take on galaxy nails and throw in a few UFOs for the supernatural effect. Yes, those little silver blips at the top of the nails and one that landed on the tip of my index finger are supposed to be UFOs.

It may not be the best take on the challenge, but I do like the manicure and I hope you do to...

The polishes used for this manicure:
- Borghese - Mezzanotte Blue (base)
- LA Colors - No name metallic blue
- Rimmel - Violet Metal
- Essie - Braziliant
- Wet 'n Wild - Silvivor

I'd love to know what you think. Are you sick of galaxy nails yet or still loving them?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Day 9 - Rainbow Nails with Striping Tape

For the rainbow manicure of the challenge I decide to put the striping tape that I got from ebay to use. Unfortunately the tape set didn't have any orange, but I'm still so excited about how this manicure it turned out. This is definitely one I will be wearing again. I started out with one coat of Wet n Wild Black Cream and then added the striping tape. I don't have much more to say about it, so I'll just let the pictures do the talking :D

UPDATE: Tutorial for this manicure available here!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Day 8 - Metallic - Nicole by OPI The Next CEO

Last weekend some friends came over for yummy barbecue. After way too much food, my friend and I relaxed by painting our nails while the boys sat around and talked. My friend happened to bring a Nicole by OPI The Next CEO polish with her, as she has been trying to find the perfect gold. I decided to use it as well, since it was perfect for challenge day 8 (metallic).

The polish is a combination of very fine gold and silver glitter which creates a much softer gold than the standard yellow. Application was great, no streaks and opaque in two coats. Texture was a bit rough, but it smoothed over well with a topcoat. Cuticle clean-up was also less than fun as the glitter just spread everywhere instead of coming off. This made me worry about removing it a few days later, however, complete removal of this polish was not a problem at all.

I must say, I really enjoyed the metallic foil look on my nails. I might have to get a polish or two of the sort. This is two coats plus a top coat...

T

And just for fun, my little shorties next to my friend's gorgeous long nails :P

Brand: Nicole by OPI Collection: Liquid Metals Color Name/Number: The Next CEO, NI 347 Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene and Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Day 1 - Red - Zoya Isla

Picking out the perfect red to start off the challenge was easy. I have been meaning to find an excuse to wear Zoya Isla. It is a gorgeous deep metallic red that has been in my untried pile for way too long. I had ideas for accenting it with nail art, but it begged to be left alone so I did. Formula on this one was great. I applied two coats plus a top coat for my manicure...

Try as I might, I could not get accurate color photos in the light box so I will just leave you with these two sunshine photos which are the true color (at least on my computer)...

Are there any colors you save for special occasions?

Brand: Zoya Collection: Truth Color Name/Number: Isla, ZP495 Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP) and Camphor free Vegan friendly

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Sally Hansen Shimmering Lilac...

I was feeling really uninspired when choosing what polish to wear this morning so I settled on pink for Pink Wednesday. If you are not familiar with this, it is a group of nail polish bloggers that decided that each Wednesday they will paint their nails pink. I'm not commited enough to do this every week, but sometimes I play along anyways.

Today I chose my last unswatched Sally Hansen (does that mean I need to get more?). It is from the Hard as Nails collection and called Shimmering Lilac. I see the "shimmering" part of the name, but the lilac part I'm completely missing. It is a pretty metallic pink, no lilac in sight. I applied two coats for full coverage and topped it off with a clear coat. It needs a really light hand because it does get streaky...

Actually sunny for a few minutes (in between the clouds) so I could capture the shimmer outside...

A really pretty color, but I'm still not sure what I think about this one. I used to love colors like this... somehow not feeling it now...

Brand: Sally Hansen Collection: Hard as Nails Color Name/Number: 40 Shimmering Lilac

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Sinful Colors Sugar Sugar

Not much to say on this polish other than I love it. Sinful Colors Sugar Sugar is a bright metallic red with a red micro glitter/shimmer. I can't stop starring at it. It took two coats to be completely opaque and even. Application was great with this one. I topped it off with a top coat.

Luckily it was a gorgeous sunny day outside so I got to enjoy the shimmer!!!

If I get a chance this weekend I will turn this into a 4th of July manicure. Wish me luck :)

Brand: Sinful Colors Collection: Wild About Color Color Name/Number: Sugar Sugar, 839 Toluene, Formaldehyde, and DBP free.

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)