Simple Mani Monday

Hello, readers! 

So I've been slacking a bit. I haven't swatched my Zoya Earth Day Exchange yet, and I've been pretty busy so I haven't had the chance to do any crazy nail art. Luckily, Nail Vinyls make simple manicures look like I put in a lot of effort ;) 

This week I did a lightning bolt manicure using two colors from Orly's Summer 2015 "Adrenaline Rush" collection. 

Orly in "On the Edge" and "Thrill Seeker"

Full disclosure, I actually only kept this mani for blog post photos. After that, I removed the design off my index and pinky fingers and just wore that lime green "Thrill Seeker" color all week. That tennis ball color got me several compliments throughout the week! 

Sometimes I get so wrapped in trying to do interesting designs for the blog that I don't ever get to wear my polishes as-is; just one color on all ten fingers. It's something I may try to work on in the future. 

Next week, be sure to check back because I will be doing an entire post on my favorite SPF beauty products! 

Gradients and Dots Mani

I'm obsessed with neons right now. I just got my Zoya Earth Day Exchange order in the mail, and half of the polishes I ordered are screaming fluorescent. 

I haven't had a chance to use them yet, so I used another set of my favorite neon shades from Orly. 

I saw this manicure done by @duhmynails on Instagram:

Credit: @duhmynails

It was so adorable and fun I knew I had to recreate it, but since I love gradients a bit more than dots, I switched the design up a bit. 

I used Orly's neons from their "Baked" collection in "Neon Heat", "Ablaze", and "Saturated" for the gradient and dots with Zoya's "Purity" for the base. On the ring finger I used OPI's "Coronation" topped with Zoya's "Electra". 

This upcoming Thursday I'm headed up to NYC with Mike to visit amazing friends, so I'll definitely be putting my new Zoya neons to good use and writing a big blog post on the weekend, so keep your eyes open for that next week! 

I'll also likely dedicate an entire post to swatches of my Earth Day Exchange haul. 

Have a fabulous week! 

Back to Basics: Dotticure

This week, I decided to use a tool I haven't touched much since I started getting into nail art: my dotting tool! 

Dotticures, or manicures featuring polka dots, are a great nail art option for beginners. They are easy, fun, and pretty hard to mess up. Once you get a good feel for dotting tools and the different size dots they can make, you can get pretty inventive with your Dotticure designs. 

These, for those of you that don't know, are dotting tools:

Forgive the fact that mine are dirty. They're double sided to give you size options. They are cheap to pick up on Amazon or eBay, and are a staple in any nail artists kit. 

I picked up three colors to decide between for my pedicure, and decided to use them together for my dotticure instead. 

Colors used: Zoya in "Purity", "Wendy", "Tiana", and "Rooney"

I really love how it reminds me of soda bubbles, like a really colorful ad for a cola company! 

90's Themed Nails

Yesterday was my 25th birthday (yikes!), so for my birthday party I decided go go with a 90's theme and had all my friends come dressed as characters from their favorite 90's TV shows and cartoons. It was SO much fun, and quite possibly my most successful party. 

We played Twister (which is a lot harder as an adult!) with Jell-O shots. There was dunkaroo dip, pizza rolls, tang punch, and cake pops, which I aptly named "MmmPops".

 And the costumes? Incredible! I went as Debbie Thornberry from The Wild Thornberries and Mike went as Johnny Bravo. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place costumes went to Dexter and DeeDee from Dexter's Lab, Tommy Pickles and Lil from Rugrats, and Arthur, respectively, but appearances were made from Bananas in Pajamas, Bevis and Butthead, Squints, and more. It rocked. 

Mike and I as Johnny Bravo and Debbie Thornberry

Rob and Juli as Dexter and Deedee

Not sure how I didn't get a photo of Tommy in a diaper, but here is Cynthia as Lil

Lindsay as Arthur

Of course, I had to do my nails to fit the theme. I decided to take different 90's icons and represent them on my nails. 

From thumb to pinkie: the All That face, Lisa Frank leopard print, Nickelodeon splat, paint splatter, and Stick Stickley

Most of these images will bring back fond memories for most 90's kids. I did hear that a few people don't know who Stick Stickley is. To that, I say this: http://youtu.be/HfDw619p2Tw

I also got lots of great birthday goodies, including a set of Sigma makeup brushes and a few gift cards to Ulta. You all know warm and fuzzy that makes me ;P

Thank you to everyone who made my day so special!

Zoya Spring 2015: Delight

Hello, everyone! By now, you know I'm a huge Zoya fanatic (my iPhone even knows to capitalize it, for real). So obviously when I saw their gorgeous Spring 2015 line, I had to get it. Usually, I can take or leave their transitional lines, and this past winter's "Wishes" collection didn't speak to me, so I was really excited to see a line that I really wanted (then again, Zoya's spring and summer lines are ALWAYS on point). 

Because my aunt rocks, she ordered me the set as an early birthday gift, so last night I had a chance to swatch them for you. The line consists of six pastel shades, three with a creme finish and three with a beautiful blue shimmer throughout. 

Zoya "Delight"

Let's start with the cremes. 

L to R: "Eden", "Tiana", "Lillian"

"Eden" is a Barbie, bubblegum pink. Not the most unique shade, but pretty nonetheless. 

"Tiana" is a GORGEOUS pistachio green. The formula was a little streaky on this one, but easy enough to work through. I was curious to how this compared to Zoya's shade "Neely" from an older spring line, so I did a comparison swatch as well:

L to R: "Tiana", "Neely" 

"Tiana" on index and ring fingers, "Neely" on middle and pinkie fingers. 

Once swatched side by side, you can tell more easily that "Neely" definitely has a more grey undertone to it and that "Tiana" is significantly brighter. I totally think there is a big enough distinction to justify both in your collection ;) 

"Lillian" is a pretty, sky blue. Again, I had some streaking issues with this one. And again, I was curious about how it compared to "Blu", which was the blue shade in the same spring line as "Neely". 

L to R: "Lillian", "Blu"

"Lillian" on index and ring fingers, "Blu" on middle and pinkie fingers. 

There was really no comparison with this one; "Lillian" and "Blu" are two completely different shades of blue. Once side by side you can see that "Lillian" has a touch more green in it. 

And now for the shimmers!

L to R: "Daisy", "Rayne", "Leslie"

"Daisy" is a mid-tone butter yellow with color-shifting blue shimmer throughout. I really am not a fan of yellow polishes, but as far as yellows go, this one definitely brings something unique and special to the table. It's really difficult to capture this shimmer in the swatch, so I did a macro bottle shot for all of the shimmers in this collection. 

Wow. Check out that shimmer! At first it just looks blue/turquoise, but when I looked at the bottle again it actually shifts a bit to purple. Really neat. 

"Rayne" is a robin's egg blue with the same blue shimmer as "Daisy". The formula was really good with this one. Since the shimmer is essentially the same color as the base, it doesn't stand out as much in this one as the other two, but it still adds a nice element to it. 

"Leslie" is a pastel lilac shade with blue shimmer throughout. I really enjoyed the color combo of the base and the shimmer in this one; blue and purple are my two favorite colors so to combine them is divine :)

YOWZA! 

Overall, I am happy with this collection. I like that all the pastels they picked this year are bolder than they have been some previous years, teetering almost into summer shade territory. My favorites are "Tiana" (which I used for a mani immediately after swatching) and "Leslie". 

What are your favorites? Will you be picking up this collection? Comment below! 

Know Your Mushrooms Mani

I'm sure everybody is pretty familiar with Super Mario Bros. by now. If you haven't played some version personally, you at least know what the game is all about. Most people are probably familiar with the red power up and green "1up" mushrooms, but did you know there's even more 'shrooms running amok in Mario's world? 

It's pretty important to know your mushrooms. 

Most Mario players have hit a block to discover a red mushroom that makes Mario big or a green mushroom to give them one extra life. The block mushroom is in Super Mario Bros. 2, and can be thrown at enemies to defeat them or stacked to allow you to climb up to a greater height. The reverse mushroom was originally in Super Mario Bros. 3 and can cause players to either reverse their positions on the level OR reverse their size from small to large and vice versa. Finally, the poison mushroom will make a Super Mario small, or kill a small Mario. 

I was inspired to do a manicure like this while working on my power rangers mani. It was surprisingly easy and turned out pretty cute! 

Power Ranger Nails

If you grew up in the 90's, you're probably familiar with the Power Rangers. The live-action show was about a group of teens that could morph into a team of heroes with specialized strengths, skills, and weapons. Fight scenes and explosives were prominent elements on the show. 

I recently had some money left over on a Michael's gift card and picked up a couple of nice detailing brushes. Eager to put them to the test, I wanted to go for a more detail oriented manicure this week, and I thought the Power Rangers costumes would be a neat premise. 

What was your favorite TV show/cartoon from the 90's? Did you have a favorite Power Ranger? I always liked the pink ranger because she was a blonde girl like me :)

Coming up this week I'm hoping to have a bonus post featuring the Kat Von D Butterfly Effect palettes, so keep your eyes peeled!

Color of the Month: Garnet

This is it, folks! My last ever color of the month post. January's was actually pretty fun to do. 

Before I get started, I just wanted to let all my readers know that commenting on this page is now enabled. It was recently brought to my attention that people could not comment on my blog, so I fixed it! I'd love to chat with you guys so leave your messages below! 

For those who don't know, the birthstone for January is garnet. Most of you probably have seen this in it's deep red form, but while doing my research I learned that garnet exists in other colors as well, including green, yellow, and orange! 

My wheels started turning as I considered how to incorporate these colors together into one mani. And I realized that red, yellow, and green would make a sweet gradient manicure. 

I got so many compliments on this manicure and so many strangers asked me how I achieved this look. 

For this look, I used Zoya in "Sooki", "Darcy", and "Tilda" as well as a makeup sponge. 

First, I painted two coats of yellow over a base coat and let it dry completely. Next, I painted one stripe each of red, then yellow, then green onto a makeup sponge, overlapping the colors slightly. Finally, I rolled/dabbed the makeup sponge onto my yellow base to create the gradient you see. A top coat helps smooth out the final look! 

I loved this gradient. When I went to Antigua on my honeymoon, I had a tropical layered daiquiri drink that looked just like this. Every glance at my fingers this week had me dreaming of warmer weather. My husband also loved it because it was, as he said, "very Bob Marley". 

What are some of your favorite gradient color combos?