Zoya Kerry

Hi! I am going to do a really quick post tonight. It's kind of late and my internet has been super slow so I want to knock this out quickly before it slows to a crawl again. Today I have a polish from Zoya's most recent summer Irresistible collection. Kerry is a really beautiful, warm toned gold foil. This was super pigmented and sparkly. I don't have many golds that are this warm in my collection and this one is pretty unique to me. Below is 2 thin coats with top coat.

I wore Kerry for about 4 days before I got bored and wanted to take it off. It wore extremely well during the time I had it one and I loved how shiny and sparkly it was. Removal was a bit of a pain and I definitely needed to let the remover sit on my nails a bit before I took it off or get glitter all over myself.

If you're a fan of gold or just want something really fun shiny, then Kerry is a great choice. I can't wait to try out the rest of the Zoya polishes that I received during the recent exchange. Thanks for stopping by! :)

Illamsqua Collide + Hard Candy Black Tie Optional

Happy Tuesday (that feels like Monday), everyone. I hope everyone had a nice, long weekend. I was out in Ojai for a few days with friends and brought a bunch of nail polish so that everyone could do their nails if they wanted. I have more np stash than I could ever use up and it's always nice to share the the polish love with people.

This is a manicure I wore a little while ago. It's so fun and bright and I just loved it. The base is Illamasqua Collide which is a warm bright pink creme jelly (or crelly). The formula on this was great and I only needed 2 coats to get it to look like this. I really like this color because it's a lot warmer than most of the pinks that I own. To complete the totally 80's vibe, I added a coat of Hard Candy Black Tie Optional, a black and white glitter topper. A lot of companies are coming out with glitters like this one lately (in fact, I just bought the Icing version as a backup) and I really love them. This one is super dense and no fishing is required. I only needed 1 good coat for all the glitter goodness below.

On my hands, this really did look like a splatter type manicure. I can see myself wearing this over a lot of things. Both Collide and Black Tie Optional are fantastic formula-wise and color/finish-wise and I am very glad to have them in my collection. :)

Note: Illamasqua is cruelty free and vegan. Hard Candy is cruelty free.

JulieG Cabana Boy

Hello, everyone, and thanks for coming back. I can't believe that it's Wednesday already. Where did the week go? I am excited about the long holiday weekend coming up. I will be getting in some pool time which means that I really need to paint my toes. They have, sadly, been naked for a couple of weeks now. I just haven't had the time to do them. But I am going to try to before the weekend starts.

Anyhoo - today I have a really love blue polish from JulieG to show you. JulieG is a part of Jesse's Girl Cosmetics and they have some really awesome colors. I only discovered them recently after buying the textured Gumdrops collection form them earlier this year. But they have a great line of polishes available at Rite Aid. Today's polish is Cabana Boy, a bright medium blue creme.

why do my fingers look so red?

I am a total sucker for rich blues like this. If you like blue, too, this is definitely a good polish to have in your collection. The polish is very pigmented and the formula was good. It only took me 2 coats for these swatches. I am not wearing any top coat in these pics and, as you can see, it's still pretty shiny. 

A really fantastic shade that I am glad to have in my collection. If you like blues or are looking for a good medium blue, Cabana Boy may just but the thing you're looking for. :)

Essie Shake Your $$ Maker

Hi, everyone. I hope you all had an awesome weekend. I had a very fun weekend. I got to meet Mandee from The Bookish Manicurist this weekend. Mandee does really awesome nail art inspired by book covers. If you haven't been to her site yet, definitely check it out. We did a little bit of nail polish shopping, which was really fun. I never get to go shopping with people who love np as much as me. I haven't taken pics of my haul yet but will try to later this week.

Alright, let's get into it. Today I have Essie Shake Your $$ Maker from the new Neons collection that just came out. I love green nail polishes and knew I had to have this one when I spotted it at CVS a few weeks ago.

This one is a jelly, which really surprised me. It looked totally opaque in the bottle and I did not expect it o be a jelly at all. The formula on this was a little thick and I used 3 coats for this swatch. This does dry to a satin finish so you'll definitely want to use a top coat to get that shiny, squishy look.

I don't love this one. I like jellies but I really wanted this to be an opaque kelly green creme. It's not the polish's fault but my expectations of it were off. If you've been looking for a green jelly, then you might love this. As for me, I am still on the search for the perfect green creme. If you have a favorite, let me know in the comments below. :)

Avon Supernova

Happy Sunday, everyone! I meant to post this on Friday but I totally forgot to schedule it and so here we are. Today I have another of the Avon Celestial collection polishes to show you. Supernova is a warm red with orange undertones  and, like all of the shades in this collection, it is a fine, scattered holo. The formula on all of these is really great and Supernova was very pigmented. Below is 2 coats with no base or top coat.

lighting: sunlight

lighting: shade

While the holo in this isn't super prominent, I still really like it. The formula so far has been fantastic on all of these, too. I'll have more swatches from this collection soon. Thanks for reading!

Avon Starburst

Happy hump day! Does anyone know why they call it hump day? I have no idea. Anyway, today I have something very fun to show you. A few weeks ago I purchased some of the new Avon holos from their recent Celestial collection. I had heard that these weren't a linear holo and were close to the holo effect of China Glaze's Tronica collection a couple of years back. And while I prefer super rainbows in my holo polishes, some of the colors looked pretty unique and they were on sale for only $3.49 each. So I picked I think 6 of them, one of which I am showing you today. 

Starburst is a really pretty medium pink/berry color. As you can see, the Avon holos are not linear and are instead a very pretty, fine scattered holo. There was something very delicate looking about the holo in these and I really liked the effect. It's not in your face but you can definitely see the rainbow.The formula on this was great and I had no issues with balding or dragging. Below I am showing 2 coats without base or top coat. (Note - I normally would have added top coat if I was wearing this for a full mani. I know people say top coats can dull a holo finish but it's never happened to me. Didn't do it in this case because of sheer laziness). All shots taken in full sun.

I mean to take a shot in the shade as well but totally forgot to. I really liked this one and thought it was very pretty. If you like a more subtle holo effect, these might be great for you. 

Thanks for reading! I'll be back later this week with more from Avon's Celestial collection.

Sally Hansen Sour Apple

When I hear that that Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coats and Candy Coats had been popping up at Target over the weekend, you know I had to make a trip to see if I could find them. I am not sure I am sold on either of these textures but I wanted to see them for myself. After striking out at one Target, I made the effort to try one more a little further away and I found them!

The only one from the Sugar Coat collection I was dying for was the mint green (and maybe the black). Target seems to have a limited display though and only has 4 Sugar Coats and 6 Fuzzy Coats. I think the full display has 8 Sugar and 8 Fuzzy. Luckily the Target I tried did have the mint green textured polish though. That's what I have below for you. Sour Apple doesn't really look like a sour apple at all but is instead a really nice, creamy pastel mint. Now this texture collection does not have any shimmer or glitter in it. I think it is similar to the Milani or China Glaze textures (vs Zoya or JulieG). I did not have any issues with application and just tried to do really thin coats. The consistency of the polish is interesting. I kind of feels like you put some sand in your regular nail polish. It was a little weird at first but I soon got used to it. Below is 2 coats with no base or top coat.

It really does look like stucco to me. I don't know, though I love the base color, I don't know if I am loving the whole look. I like some of the textured polishes but I think I need that sparkly, glitter in order to enjoy it. If you do like this texture though,  I think you will really like this collection. There are some unusual colors in the mix and the formula was quite nice. I haven't had a chance to try out the fuzzy polishes yet. I don't know if I will like those either, but I guess we will see.

Thanks for stopping by. Did anyone else snap these up this weekend? Do you love it or hate it? Tell me in the comments below. Thanks!

Stashed (1): Sinful Colors, Hard Candy, Avon, Cult Nails and More!

Hi, everyone. I've been meaning to do a stash type post periodically since I started this blog but never got around to it. But I am doing it now. :) Nothing too fancy. Just a little post with some of my recent acquisitions. I know it's called Nail Mail but not all of these came in the mail.

I won't get into too much detail. If you're curious about what something is, just ask in the comments and I will be more than happy to answer.  Hope you enjoy this bit of stash flashing. :)

sinful polishes haul

awesome new hard candy polishes gifted to me

sinful stripers from dollar tree

new avon holos

cult nails order

l'oreal jellies (or gellies)

:)

OPI Solitaire

Happy Friday, all. I have been looking forward to the weekend so much. I plan on going to a local art and craft fair and I may go see The Great Gatsy. I don't know why, I am just not that excited about it but I do think that it will be visually gorgeous. And it might just surprise me and be fantastic. So we'll see.

Alright - well today I have a polish from OPI's recent Bond Girls collection. I wasn't really sold on them but decided to try the mini pack. I am not a big fan of OPI's mini bottles but I figured this would be a good way to try them. The first one I tried was Solitaire, which has a frosty white base and small silver glitter.

I actually thought I was going to like this one a lot more than I did. The base was pretty frosty and a little thin. This might just be my bottle though since I have heard nothing but praise for the formula on this. It took me 3 coats to get it to as opaque as I wanted it. I wish there was more glitter in it. When it was on, it just seemed like a slightly textured frosty white. I didn't hate it, but I did not love it either. 

Hopefully I'll have better luck with the rest of the set (which I haven't tried yet). Especially excited to try Jinx. :)

Sinful Colors Daredevil

Happy Friday, dear friends. I hope you all had a good week. Mine was a bit exhausting and I am glad that the weekend is finally here. I ordered a whole bunch of nail polish and nail art supplies this week and I am excited for everything to come. My Zoya Exchange order finally shipped as well. Sometimes I wish I changed my polish more just so I could try all the pretties!

Alright, today I have a really pretty polish. I picked up Sinful Colors Daredevil a couple of weeks ago when I was visiting my parents. I heard about Sinful popping up at Dollar Tree so I hit up a couple of them. I didn't have the best selection but I did find Daredevil. It's a super bright, almost neon pink with great shimmer. The formula was a tad bit sheer and I ended up doing 3 thin coats. I think most people would probably be fine with just 2. This does dry to a satin finish so you will definitely need top coat to get it nice and shiny.

This looked kind of boring in the bottle but I really liked it on my hands. I think it was the shimmer that sets this apart from other hot pink polishes. I am glad I picked this one up.

I have a bunch of Sinfuls that I picked up from the sale so you'll probably see more popping up in the near future. Anyone else have a soft spot for bright pink like me? And did anyone else find any good Sinful polishes at their local Dollar Tree? Do tell!

Nubar Indigo Illusion

Hello and happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a great week so far. Today I have another Nubar duochrome for you. This one is Indigo Illusion, and I don't really know how to describe it. It's a grey-ish blue with pink and purple flashes. I really have no idea how to describe this color except to say that it's pretty awesome. The formula was a little watery but it only took me 2 coats for the swatches below. This does have a tendency to be a little brush stroke-y so be careful if you don't like brush strokes. 

lighting: sun

lighting: shade

lighting: sun

This is a really unique shade and I don't think I have anything like it. I think Indigo Illusion might still be available on the Nubar website. If you like duochromes, this is definitely a fun one to have. Thanks for coming by!

Nubar Wildlife

Hello, Monday. You always come back even though I don't always want you to. :) I hope everyone is having a good day so far. I had a really nice, relaxing weekend and even got to see Iron Man 3, which was highly entertaining. Today I have a fun polish to show you all. This is Nubar Wildlife, a really great green/gold duochrome. Nubar has a bunch of really awesome duochrome colors and I was lucky to pick this one and a few others up at a local beauty supply a while back. The color shift is quite apparent and it only took 2 coats to get what you see below.

light: direct sun

lighting: shade

As you can see, the main color is a very pretty burnish gold/copper with a green color shift. You can really see the green at the edges of my nails. I am a fan of Nubar. I only wish their polishes were a little easier to find. I am still on the lookout for the sold out Peacock Feathers. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

L.A. Girls Brilliant Blue

Happy Friday! Yay I am so glad it's finally the weekend. It's supposed to be super hot where I am this weekend so I am hoping to stay indoors where it's air conditioned. I am glad we finally getting a little sun though because I have been wanting to swatch some things but it's been super cloudy.

So today I have L.A. Colors 3D Brilliant Blue, which is from I think their most recent collection. They put out 6 or so scattered holo glitter polishes. I picked up this blue since it seemed unusual though I think the orange in the collection looked really nice, too.

Brilliant Blue had a good formula and I only needed 2 coats for the swatches above. It was packed full of holographic glitter and was a very fun shade to wear. If you liked the recent Zoya Ornate glitters, then I think you will like these as well.

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome weekend!