Lazy days and Blue Skies

This weekend was forecasted to be pretty nice. It rained a bit on Saturday, which OF COURSE was the day I decided to trip it down to the beach. 

Typical.

I was channeling blue skies all weekend with some cloud nail art and 

I decided to show you my 2 favorite blues from recent Spring/Summer collections.

First up is Essie Avenue Maintain from the Essie Spring 2013 collection.

Essie Avenue Maintain is a dark sky blue. Surprisingly enough, it is opaque in 1 coat. I used 2 coats here to even it all out. It's almost the same color as the sky in the background!

I don't own very many blues but I really love this one. 

A bonus about this polish? It STAMPS.

Next up is a light sky blue by Wet n' Wild Wild Shine from their Pop Art collection 

called Teal Slowly and See.

As you can see, this is definitely not teal. It is the absolute perfect shade of light sky blue.

Despite the pastelly nature of this color, it was opaque in 2 coats and it really offered full coverage. 

This is definitely a new favorite blue of mine and I am super happy to have it in my collection.

Unfortunately, I really hate the brush on the WnW Wild Shine polishes. It is really thin and long. 

It is one of those brushes you keep having to dip back into the bottle for 

more polish just to paint ONE nail.

Up next, I used Teal Me Slowly in a cloud mani. 

My sister showed me a photo of some cloud nail art on instagram 

awhile ago and I just couldn't get it out of my head! 

This blue worked perfect!

I used an Art Club white striper for the white and by dripping some onto a plate, I used a dotting tool to create the fluffy clouds. 

White clouds on a sky blue background ALWAYS remind me of Toy Story.

::Grins::

Do the clouds remind you Toy Story also? What are you favorite blue polishes?

Back to the grind tomorrow! Hope everyone is ready for Monday!

Indie Review: Carpe Noctem in Concrete Confetti and Bubblegum Blues

*Products purchased by me

*Cruelty and 3 Free

I hate ticks. I just launched myself out of my bed because my kitty, Tinka, dropped a tick on my sheets, which climbed up my arm. 

Guess who isn't sleeping tonight because I keep feeling fictional creepy crawlies on me?! 

THIS GIRL. 

Ok, gunna shake it out and we can get back to this review! 

Photo heavy...

Tonight I have 2 more polishes from Carpe Noctem Cosmetics to show you.

You have already seen the infamous Man in White (no longer available) and South Haven Sunset, both beautiful duochromes. 

Tonight I have another duochrome and a glitter to show you!

First up is Concrete Confetti.

CC is packed with varying sizes of hex glitters in a rainbow of metallic colors and black!

CC went on smooth and had great glitter coverage in one coat. 

Shown here over Color Show Blue Blaze, over a SH Base coat and NYC top coat.

 The base on Emily's glitter polishes is a little on the thick side, but, along with a good shake, I find that this lends to getting a ton of glitter on the brush -- so no fishing for glitters here! 

There appears to be some reflective curling on that gold glitter, but these glitters do lay flat on the nail.

I am really liking the look of this. I wasn't sure about all the black glitters in there but oh my! I don't know about you but this look really reminds me of 

LEOPARD PRINT!

Check out my ring finger! I feel like that could totally be leopard spots without all the hard work of painting or stamping them on!

Shown here over Essie Mod Square and SH Xtreme Wear Perfect Pearing.

Up next we have a duochrome called Bubblegum Blues!

BB is the opposite of MIW. It is a light pink, fuchsia base, with a blue, sometimes periwinkle shift.

Photo taken in direct sun.

The first went on a little sheer, but built up with a second coat. There was still a little bit of a visible nail line (VNL), but the blue shift really helped hide this and it wasn't very apparent. 

Shown here 2 coats, over a SH Base coat and NYC top coat.

Photo taken in the shade.

Ah! I love that blue shift!

Up close you can see some brush strokes, but they aren't noticeable in real life. 

I think this is a perfect summer polish when you're nice and tan!

Overall, I really like these 2 polishes and I don't have any complaints! Concrete Confetti is definitely a new fave glitter of mine! 

You might have noticed that none of Emily's polishes have labels on them! Emily does this, because she thinks it is more important to see the polish, than a giant label. I agree! Makes for some pretty bottle shots! :)

What do you think, Reader?! Do you have any of Emily's polishes yet?

You can check out the rest of Emily's stock in her Etsy shop here! Definitely more swatches to come from me, since I picked up a huge haul! 

You can also follow Emily on facebook to get the latest and greatest! She is always posting sneak peeks of customs she is working on (including 2 for me!).

Emily's polishes come in 3 different sizes, retailing from $3-$9. Every order comes with a mini nail buffer!

Almost Friday! 

Tips On Tuesday: Recycling an Old Trend

Tips on Tuesday woot! Tonight I will be showing you how I brought back an old polish trend!
Remember those Sally Hansen Salon effects nail polish strips? They were pretty popular a little while back and I still happen to own a good handful of them. I like a lot of the designs on them but I just never end out reaching for them when I go to do my nails. 

A couple of weeks ago, I shared the above mani on my facebook page! I am really loving this glitter gradient with Color Shows Polka Dots in Clearly Spotted over Orly La Vida Loca.

Then I remembered my SH Salon Effects nail strips in the black and white flower design. Gahhh! Instead of using the whole package and doing all my nails with the strips, I simply just did an accent nail to go with the mani I had on! I am liking how this came out. Even though the nail strips might not be that popular anymore--I think the black and white design is totally on point for summer!

I thought this design might be a little too loud for all of my nails, so I am pretty happy that I could repurpose it as just an accent nail. 

I find these nail strips a lot on markdown at Ocean State Job lot, for as little as $2 for a 2 pack sometimes. They aren't very tricky to apply and do last a couple of days. I used NYC top coat over all my nails to seal in the glitter and the nail strip.

I am wondering if I can cut some of my leftover strips into strips and do some funky designs...hmm...

Do you have any of these polish strips laying around? Have you ever used them just as an accent nail?

Happy Tuesday!

Sunflower Sunday

I guess the heat wave is over because it has actually been a little cold here. And rainy. Definitely very rainy. I keep seeing sneak peeks of all the upcoming Fall collections--and while I don't even want to think about summer being almost over--I decided to pull out an autumn color today.

I used Julep Faye from the California Coast collection box as a base for some sunflower nail art. You can see a full review on the Julep Cali Coast Collection HERE.

I used 2 coats of Faye over a SH base coat.

The flower that inspired me! :)

I impressed myself with the sunflower detail because I really had no idea how this would end out turning out. I used a small nail art brush variety of colors for the flowers and I will list them below.

Polishes used: Sinful Colors Anchors Away (orange), Color Club Almost Famous (yellow), Art Club striper in white, Color Show Onyx Rush (black), and Orly Mint Mojito (green).

Paisley Stamping

Hello! Super quick post this evening because I am dancing out the door to see Taylor Swift at Gillette Stadium! Woo!

These are the nails I decided to wear to the concert! I wanted to do something colorful and on trend!

I used 2 coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff as a base. And using a Red Angel stamping plate, I stamped Essie Watermelon (pink), Essie Avenue Maintain (blue) and Zoya Thandie (orange) over the white.

Ignore the green pinky--haha, I tried to stamp Essie the More the Merrier and it didn't turn out how I hoped.

I put a thin coat of Essie Pure Pearlfection over the design for some sparkle and used Out The Door as a topcoat. I am trying Out the Door for the first time and so far so good!

Happy Friday loveys!

Indie Review: The Lady Varnishes

*Polishes provided at a discount for review

*3-Free and Cruelty Free

Hiya! How about tomorrow, instead of Tips on Tuesday--We have a giveaway? Sound good? :) All you lucky blog followers are the first to know!

Tonight I have 2 more polishes from The Lady Varnishes to show you! Last night I showed you my favorite, A Tree's Love with some cute tree nail art! You can check it out HERE.

First up, I have A Real Magician. Gosh I love that name for this blue! And check out that cute little star charm! I know, such an original idea--and every bottle comes with one!

A Real Magician is a deep blue with shimmer flecks and large teal and turquoise holo hexes! No fake magicians in these parts!

Here is a close up of one of my swatch. Shown here with 2 coats and a coat of NYC topcoat. I really like how all of The Lady Varnishes polishes appear squishy--without being too much of a jelly polish.

I do store my indie polishes upside down, and as such, I had no trouble getting any of the larger glitters out of the bottle. Even if I didn't get too many glitters with the first coat, I was able to layer some on with the second coat. 

Bottle shot! I think this shade of blue is really popular right now, and Kirsten's take on this classic color is awesome! It is the perfect shade of ocean water in the summer, but this is definitely a knockout fall and winter shade too. A must have in my book!

I was really channeling the darker colors when I order from Kirsten, as you can tell! Up next I have The Secret Keeper (Mr. Rochester). 

Now this is a vampy purple. My Kind Of Color!

My Rochester has a sprinkling of silver shimmer with 2 sizes of silver holo hexes. Beautiful. Shown here is 2 coats with one coat of NYC topcoat. 

This color reminds me of OPI Vampsterdam, one of my all time favorites! 

Here we are in the shade! I am really loving these polishes and Kirsten certainly has polishes for every day, time, or season of the year! She has SO much to choose from, I would be surprised if you couldn't find one you loved! You can ever choose to have your polishes scented!

You can check out The Lady Varnishes' shop HERE and head over to like her on Facebook! She is always posting swatches of new collections that are sure to create some lemmings!

Indie Review: The Lady Varnishes A Tree's Love & Nail Art

*Polishes provided at a discount for review

So...I have been very bad. A reader posted this tutorial to my wall by the Lacquerologist on how to make tree nail art. A lightbulb went on in my head and I thought that no other polish except A Tree's Love by The Lady Varnishes would be acceptable. Then my heart sank as I realized I never posted these swatches after I received these polishes weeks ago. 

So many apologies to Kirsten!

First up is A Tree's Love, a bright grape purple with large shimmer flecks, holo microglitter and various sized perwinkle, fuchsi (!) and violet hexes. My kind of color!

Gah, I love this color. This is definitely my favorite out of the 3 I picked up. Each one of The Lady Varnishes polishes, come with a cute dangling bottle charm!

A Tree's Love went on a little patchy with the first coat, but it evened out nicely with the second. I stored this polish upside down and I gave it a good shake and roll before swatching. I didn't have any trouble getting a good amount of glitter on the nail.

I wanted to do the Tree nail art I mentioned above, so I followed The Lacquerologists tutorial here. I started with a base of Revlon Sheer Cotton, and sponged Essie The More the Merrier and Confetti Moonstruck onto the base to start my tree. Using a striping polish, I created the base. I used Layla Ceramic Effect 44 for the pink dots. I love how this came out!

A Tree's love in the shade. Here the polish looks a little vampy. I love vampy purples -- which is probably why I love this shade so much!

Bottle shot! 

o.O check out those fuchsia hexes.

You can find The Lady Varnishes on facebook HERE and her Etsy shop HERE. She has dozens of polishes for every single one of your moods and I would be surprised if you couldn't find a color you'll love! You can also choose to have your polishes scented!!

**Disclosure: The product(s) in this post were provided to me at a discount by their manufacturer for my unbiased review. Please see my Disclaimer page for more info**