Had to Have It, Still Haven't Worn It.

Hi everyone!  Okay, so I lied last night.  I didn't get my second post up.  We went out to dinner with my parents and I was so tired when we got home that I went straight to bed!  I'm exhausted today too even though I got plenty of sleep last night.  I'm not sure what's going on, but I hope it's just allergies so that when I go to the allergist on Monday we can get it sorted out!

So yesterday's NPC prompt was "Had to Have It, Still Haven't Worn It".  When I saw that, I immediately thought of the first Zoya Pixie Dust collection from last spring.  This collection came out shortly after I had a bad experience with Zoya's customer service, so even though they were available on the website, I didn't want to order them from there and risk something going wrong with my shipment.  So instead I called Ulta over and over again asking if they had the Pixie Dusts in stock yet! When they finally did, I went by and picked up most of the collection and the girl at the checkout asked if I had been the one calling about them!  Well, after wanting them so badly and having them for over a year, I've only worn one of them.  So here's Zoya "Nyx", which I had to have, but never wore:

"Nyx" is a textured grey-blue base with tons of silver shimmer.  This is two coats.  While there's a little bit of VNL in my pictures, it's not visible in real life.

I love how this sparkles and shines in the sun!

Thanks for reading!

An InLinkz Link-up

NPC Day 7: Drugstore

Hey girls!  Not too much to say tonight; I am tired.  My allergies have started acting up, so I think that might be why.

Anyway, today's NPC prompt is "Drugstore".  I tried three different manis before I did one I liked enough to share.  So here is a new polish from Revlon, "Mayan Riviera":

"Mayan Riviera" is from the brand-new Haute Rocks Pebbled Texture collection.  I hadn't heard of these, but I saw a display at Walgreens and loooved the glitter, so I picked up a few.

"Mayan Riviera" is a milky-white base with green, gold, pink, blue, and silver glitter.  There's a little bit of everything in there!  This is 2-3 coats.  The glitter payoff was pretty great, but a few nails had some bald spots after two coats, so I added a third.

This is meant to be a textured polish, but I added a coat of Nail Pattern Boldness "Glitter Food" to smooth it out, and then sealed it all with Seche Vite.

 Bottle shot to see all the glittery goodness!

I'm so excited to see a drugstore brand branching out a bit more into fun glitters and textures!

Thanks for reading!

An InLinkz Link-up

NPC Day 6: Indie

Hi everyone!  Today's NPC prompt was an easy one: Indie.  I have TONS of untried indies, so I reached into my way-way-back pile and came up with Darling Diva "Space Beetle" and Colors by Llarowe "Black Gold, Texas Tea".

"Black Gold, Texas Tea" is a rich black holo.  The formula was great.  Could have been a one-coater, but I added an extra for more depth.

I don't even know where to start with "Space Beetle"; there's so much going on in this polish!  At it's base it's a silver holographic, but then there's added duochrome microshimmer, so in different lights it looks silver, brownish red, lavender, or green.

Two more polishes I'm glad I finally got around to trying!  Hope everyone out there has a good weekend!
Thanks for reading!

An InLinkz Link-up

NPC Challenge Day 1: Glitter

Hi everyone!  I'm in a Facbook called The Glittah Pirates, and today is the first day of our Never-ending Pile Challenge!

The point of the Challenge is to try some of your untried polishes that have been sitting around since the beginning of time!  Today's theme is "Glitter".  Well that's easy enough.  I just reached into my big box of untrieds and the first one I grabbed was a glitter.  Here is piCture pOlish "Mardi Gras"

"Mardi Gras" is a mix of teal, magenta, and silver glitters in a clear base.  Here I've layered one coat over Julep "Charlotte".  I could have done another coat to get more glitter coverage, but I kind of liked how it looked at one coat :)

I'm loving this glitter, but I think it would have *popped* more over a different base.  Oh well, now I know that for next time!

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you Wednesday for "Pastel"!

Checkout the other girls in this challenge below!

An InLinkz Link-up

OPI "Peace, Love, & OPI"

Hi girls!  How was your weekend?  It finally started to feel like spring here, but I don't know how long it's going to last...We're supposed to have storms the next few days, and then I think it's supposed to get a bit cooler again.

Today I have for you "Peace, Love & OPI" from the fall 2013 San Francisco collection.

"Peace, Love, & OPI" is a silver duochrome with a purple and green shift.  This is two nice and easy coats.

My ring finger looks kind of brush stroke-y here, but you can't see that in real life.

I think this photo really shows off the pinky-purple duochrome.

So, what do you guys think?  I love colors like this, and I have everything that's even sort of similar.  If I get a chance, I'll do a comparison post!

Thanks for reading!

Contrary Polish "18th and Vine"

Hi ladies!

I have another test this week, so sorry for the lack of posts the past few days!  My test is Wednesday, so after that I'll be back to posting a bit more.

Today I have the first polish I've tried from Contrary Polish, "18th and Vine".  Carrie, the maker of Contrary Polish, is from Kansas City!  I didn't realize this until she put out the No Place Like Home collection, which this polish is from.  Each polish in the collection is based on an area around Kansas City.  18th and Vine is the Jazz District, which is home of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the American Jazz Museum, and it's working jazz club, The Blue Room. 
I have family in friends in KC, so I've been there many times, but I've never been to the Jazz Museum.  I'll have to visit next time!

Here is "18th and Vine":

 Beautiful!  This post is a little picture-heavy because I love this color so much, so I've put the rest under a jump!

Orchids on "Orchids" for the Orchid Show

Yesterday Gosia and I went to the Orchid Show at the botanical garden in town.  The Missouri Botanical Garden is pretty much my favorite place in St. Louis.  I'm sure I'll do more flower-themed manis as everything starts blooming!

Since we were going to the orchid show, I decided to wear one of my new Colors By Llarowe pretties, "Orchids Are Better Than Roses Any Day" AKA "OABTRAD".

"OABTRAD" is the perfect representation of the Pantone Color of the Year for 2014, Radiant Orchid.  It's a warm orchid with almost golden undertones.  The holographic finish absolutely makes it radiant!

This is two coats of CBL's usual perfect formula.

I decided to try some stamping too!  I didn't have anything with orchids on it, but I thought these flowers from MoYou Pro Plate 06 were close:

I stamped using Julep "Harley", which left me pleasantly surprised!  I wasn't sure if silver would stamp very well, but "Harley" was nice and opaque and my images transferred perfectly!

Colors By Llarowe can be found at Llarowe.com and Julep can be found at Julep.com

Here are some pictures of the orchids from the show:

Thanks for reading!

piCture pOlish "Orbit"

Hi girls! 

Sorry for the lack of posts this past week.  The weather was kind of blah, which made me feel kind of blah, and then I had a test to study for, so I didn't have any time. But now my test is over, it's 60 degrees outside, and it was sunny this morning at least!

Unfortunately the sun didn't stick around for me to get these pictures, but the shimmer in "Orbit" is still AMAAAAAZINNNNGGG!!!

This first picture is a little brighter blue than in real life, but these next three are color-accurate:

 

"Orbit" is a deep blue and silver shimmer.  The silver didn't really come out in my pictures, but it is stunning in real life!!

I used two coats of "Orbit" here, but if my coats were thicker, one might have been enough.  This also dries a little gritty, so I used one coat of Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food on top, followed by my regular Seche Vite.  Glitter Food is a thick, dense top coat that is good to use over textured glitters to get them nice and sooth.  It does dry to a matte finish though, so I always use a good top coat on top of it!

"Orbit" is another polish that I borrowed from Gosia, and it immediately went on my wishlist! 
piCture pOlish can be found at llarowe.com, as can Nail Pattern Boldness.

Back to school mani!

As I was leafing through the Jan/Feb issue of Nail It! I decided to do a mani inspired by the cover model for my first day back this semester

They used foil nail strips for the gold, but I decided to do something similar with a new foil finish polish.

I did two coats of OPI Push & Shove from the new Gwen Stefani collection, then put down hole reinforcement stickers to block off the bottom part.  Then I painted a coat of OPI Lincoln Park After Dark for the tips!  Mine's obviously not as crisp as the professional one, but I'm happy with it!

Push & Shove is another foil finish like the Formula X I showed the other day.  It comes with a mini bottle of Lay Down that Base, which is OPI's special base coat.  This is even shinier in person!  I hope OPI comes out with more of these mirror finishes!!

Lincoln Park After Dark is a classic OPI shade from the 2005 Chicago collection.  I know it looks black in these pictures, but it's really a deep dark plum.  You can kind of see where it smudged a bit.  I like colors that are dark, but not quite black like this.  They're sort of softer somehow.

All right guys, I'm back to school tomorrow.  I probably won't be posting as much, and I definitely won't be able to do much nail art, but I'll still try to post at least once a week!

This is my last semester of classes before I start rotations!  I'm excited, but also nervous!!