Too Cute-ice Sleepy Flower

This brutal winter continues to drag on, and is really affecting my polishing mood. In case you missed it, Chicago got caught in a second Polar Vortex, meaning more days with wind chills around -45.  I have never experienced a winter as terrible as this one, and can readily exclaim that I am soooooo ready for spring!!!

I pulled out Too Cute-icle's Sleepy Flower recently, because it is so representative of my mood and this weather. It's a light gray jelly with gold, pink, green and turquoise glitters in it - kind of like a winter snow fall, with a hint of the spring flowers coming on the horizon. See guys? I'm deep (or suffering from seasonal affective disorder). Either way, onto the pretty polish!

Two coats of Sleepy Flower worn alone. Look at the 

pretty colors in their squishy base.

This is what one coat on bare nails looks like:

Sleepy Flower is intended to be worn layered over a base color. While this polish is very sheer, it is chock full of glitter. As seen in the first photo, two coats looks decent, though there's a hint of visible nail line (VNL).

L to R: one coat of Sleepy Flower over China Glaze Liquid Leather (black), OPI Pedal Faster Suzi (light pink),
China Glaze Pelican Gray (light gray) and Essie Go Overboard (dark teal). 

I find that Sleepy Flower looks fantastic layered over a light gray, but also amazing over dark colors, especially striking over black! I've tried it over light colors, but the gray jelly muddles those colors and doesn't live to it's fullest potential.


Sleepy Flower is currently on sale for $5! Check it out and other lovelies at Too Cute-icle. 

Nails, Actually Water Sari

Tonight I wanted to share with you a gorgeous franken. For those not down with the nail polish lingo - this is a "franken-polish" created by mixing different nail polishes to create a new polish (or adding pigments and glitters to existing nail polish).

This is Nails, Actually Water Sari. Please take this moment to ooh and aah. 

Seriously, stunning.

Water Sari is a shimmering light blue polish, with orange, fuchsia and gold glitters. This polish is thick (not in a bad way, it applies like a dream!), and can easily be worn by itself in one coat. 

One coat of Nails, Actually Water Sari
over two coats of Zoya Breezi.

Close up! Look at the shimmer! 

I took at least 50 different photos of this mani, as I couldn't stop looking at this drop dead gorgeous polish. I mean, even the not quite in focus picture looks beautiful:

All that glitter - swoon.

You can see why I would want to conserve my precious bottle, and why I would want to wear a base polish with this. The problem is, I'm not really a blue person, and I don't own anything that matches the base color in Water Sari. Like, not even close. The dusty teal color of Zoya Breezi compliments it well, but doesn't accurately show the base color of Water Sari.

Two coats of Zoya Breezi.

I purchased this franken last year from Nails Actually. I'm not sure if it's still available, but if you're interested in getting your own bottle, I'd definitely encourage you get in contact with the lovely Charlotte.

a-england Ascalon

Let me begin my post with: please forgive my poor, poor hands and nails. With the continuous snowfall and bitter cold, not to mention that "lovely" Polar Freeze we had for a few days, no amount of lotioning or oiling can help my poor mitts. Please forgive my sad nails :(

...but, hey, they're not that sad, because they are sporting the amazing a-england Ascalon. Wowza! Not only is Ascalon a grey scattered holo, but it also has a duochrome with a lilac flash.  It's like everything I love about nail polish all rolled into one bottle. Just take a look:

Two coats of a-england Ascalon, topped with
Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

 Look at all the duochrome flashy/holo-y goodness!
Seriously, I'm going to get into a car accident staring at my nails.

As with the formula on all the a-england's I own, this applied like a dream - great consistency, no pooling, practically applies itself and is completely opaque in one coat (I'm just in the habit of always doing two coats). Words cannot express how much I love the a-englands that I own. If you don't already own one or two, I highly recommend adding them to you collection.

Nom nom nom.

The UK has strong shipping regulations, and cannot ship nail polish internationally, so you will not be able to purchase a-england directly. However, they offer a list of providers here.

Zoya Monica

I typically don't stick to the rule of seasonal colors - you know, pastels only in spring, neons only in summer, vampies for fall/winter. But, with winter raging in Chicago, I was really in the mood for a darker color.

Zoya Monica is a dark purple creme that reminds me of the skin on really dark plums. I've seen other swatches where Monica looks incredibly dark, but my bottle is a beautiful, rich color that is still bright. To me, this is a vampy lite.

Two coats of Zoya Monica topped with HK Girl.

But, you know me, I had to shnaz it up a little. I chose Orly Fowl Play as an accent color. Fowl Play is a dark purple jelly jam packed with flakies and blue glitter. It's a lovely color, and really deserves to be worn as a full mani in the future. 

T

One coat of Orly Fowl Play over Zoya Monica.

If you are a purple lover, I think Monica needs to be included in your collection. It's a nice, rich color that is very versatile. It can be your fall/winter vampy go to, but would still look great during summer.

Mentality Mirth and my first stamp art.

You know what I love most about birthdays?! Special birthday manis!!! ...and cake, and presents, and balloons, and cake, and friends and pinatas, and cake...

To celebrate the birthdays of Mr. Manicure and Mom Manicure this weekend, I wanted to wear something sparkly and fun. As I was looking over my collection, serendipity took over and the word Mirth popped out at me - and what better word to describe a birthday?

Mentality Mirth was definitely was the sparkly polish I was craving. Mirth has a light purplish/gray base with a stunning linear holo running through it. 

Two coats of Mentality Mirth topped with HK Girl.
As you can see, the holo was not dulled at all with the top coat.

It's like a rainbow got pulverized onto my nails. So pretty!

Mentality's Facebook page is adorned with gorgeous manis featuring stamping art, and inspired me to take the blue film off my Konad M57 plate this afternoon and give stamping a chance. I chose Mentality Offbeat, a dark teal - almost black, to stamp a fishnet pattern.

Clearly, I need to practice. But, look how the beautiful Mirth almost distracts you from that terrible stamping job. Almost.

Mirth and Offbeat are available at Mentality Nail Polish.

Snow Day!!!

Chicago is currently experiencing a deep freeze, with wind chills around -40, resulting in a massive city shut down, most importantly:

NO SCHOOL!!!!!!!!

Snow days as a student were fun, but snow days as a teacher are epic (and super rare at my school). I wasted spent the whole day watching trashy television in my jammies, snuggling my pets.

I somehow managed to find some during my busy day to paint my nails. To get out of the cold blahs, I decided to try one of my untrieds - GAP Bright Pool. With it's gorgeous aqua color, and pink/purple shimmer, this lacquer is a stunner! The application was great, not streaky at all, and had total coverage with two coats.

   

                                                             Two coats of GAP Bright Pool.

  

Look at that amazing shimmer! Ah, gorgeous!

The silver cap was creating a glare during photos,
but I did not want to stop taking pictures of this beautiful color.

Just looking at my nails makes me smile, and forget that it's too cold for the zoo's polar bear to be outside. It's like a tropical island in a bottle. So pretty!

I was late to the polish game, so I never picked up Rescue Beauty Lounge's Aqua Lily, but according to other bloggers, Bright Pool is a dead on dupe for it. This was released in October, so I'm not sure if it's still available in GAP stores (was retailing for $6), but if you are lucky enough to find it at the store or on a blog sale, you need to add this to your collection! 

2014: The Year of Nails.

I'm not normally one for New Year resolutions, but this year I decided I'm going to give this blogging thing another go. For the past few years, not only have I been adding to my collection, but I've also been making friends in the nail community, and become a fan of their Facebook pages and blogs. They have taught me new nail art techniques, pointed me in the direction of fantastic nail care products and have helped me gain the confidence to restart this blog. So, ladies, thank you. Because of you all, 2014 will be my year of nails.

...was that too sappy? I'm drinking wine and in love with the world.

Now, onto the nails!

For my New Year's Eve mani, I decided to go with a traditional gold and black. I started with two coats of OPI Glitzerland. But, then I thought I would kick it up a notch and free hand a chevron look using Zoya Storm and a silver nail art pen. And from this thought, came this abomination:

The horror! The horror!

Lesson learned - never again shall I attempt to free hand straight lines.

I decided to start all over again, and this time attempt my first Scotch tape mani. I think it turned out alright, considering this was a first attempt.

Two coats of OPI Glitzerland and Zoya Storm, 
topped with HK Girl.

Happy New Year! May the year of nails begin! :)