OPI Atomic Orange

31 day challenge. 
Day two: orange nails.

As was true with the red nails, orange is not a prominent color in my collection. Though my fair skin tone can pull off a cherry red (which makes me feel sexy), orange usually isn't something that I find attractive. Nor is it a color I usually reach for outside of nail art or Halloween. I probably should, as orange is Mr. Manicure's favorite color, but I never found an "attractive" orange. Until now.

OPI Atomic Orange is a vibrant, red-based orange creme. It was released with the OPI Brights collection, and it definitely is just that. Though Atomic Orange is a vivid, summery color., it doesn't feel like a neon, and is quite wear-able. I wore it to work today and got several compliments on the color from fellow teachers.

I don't know why it's almost coming 

out as salmon-y - it's not at all.

 
And then, because I thought another plain colored mani would be monotonous, I decided to spice things up with an accent of Zoya Destiny.  This is a PixieDust finish in a coraly-orange color, with gold glitter. As with all of Zoya's PixieDusts, this polish seems to radiate in all lights, and therefore, makes it virtually impossible to photograph correctly. Destiny is a lovely orange, not over the top, but look how she shines!

 

One thick coat of Zoya Destiny over OPI Atomic Orange. 

You can still get Zoya Destiny from their website. I purchased my bottle of OPI Atomic Orange at Target, but if you can't find it there, it's available at most internet shops. 

Let's get fruity!

We have been studying various fruits in my preschool classroom, and after the success of Watermelon Day manicure, I tried my hand at some festive strawberries.

I started with two coats of Zoya America - the prefect tomato (or in this case, strawberry) red creme! My photo doesn't do it justice - it's really a bright, beautiful red.

   

 

After a quick layer of top coat, I added a line of China Glaze Starboard to the top of my nail. Using a small nail brush, I created the triangle points. After finishing all the strawberry tops, I used China Glaze Lemon Fizz and a toothpick to make the seeds.
 

Ta da! Quick and easy strawberries :)

I think these turned out super cute!

World Cat Day

I just found out it was World Cat Day - I'm the worst crazy cat lady on the planet! I quickly threw together some nail art to celebrate. Please be advised I did this in under an hour, and while it's not the greatest, it does a smile on my face and I had to share.

I wanted a neutral background, so I began with China Glaze Seashell. I don't normally do "office friendly" or nude colors very often, primarily because I love bright colors, but one of my issues with nudes is because I dislike having to do more than one or two coats of nail polish. This is three coats of Seashell, and you can still see some bald spots. It's a great peach-y color, but at three to four coats, I don't recommend this (unless I have a fluke bad bottle).

On to the kitties!

 

Pointer: I used China Glaze Liquid Leather and a dotting tool to make a cat silhouette. I know these are normally thin, graceful cats, but this is an homage to my fatty mcfatterton, Mr. Nibs and is a little bulkier on the tush.

Middle and ring: China Glaze Life Preserver and China Glaze Ingrid for the cat faces. China Glaze Starboard for the eyes and Zoya Shelby for noses and ears.

Happy World Cat Day everyone! But especially to Nibbler.

Watermelon Day

Did you know that August 3rd is National Watermelon Day? Well, now you do :)

Watermelon nails in natural sunlight.

How to:

I began with two coats of OPI Alpine Snow. Next, a quick dry top coat was added to make sure that the nails were completely dry before applying striping tape (otherwise, it becomes a gooey mess). Top coating a base color whenever you do nail art is also a great idea, because if you mess any details up, you can use nail polish remover to fix your mistake, without destroying your carefully painted base color.

The striping tape helped make a clean white line for the mani, and also acted as a guide where the melon and the rind would be painted. One finger at a time, I used a generous coat of butter London Snog and Zoya Yara, quickly removing the striping tape on the nail before any polish dried to create a clean, sharp line. Then, I would move onto the next nail, continuing the process until I was finished.

Under a lamp, indoors. You can see the yellows
in Yara better than the first photo.

I think they turned out pretty cute. Now, off to celebrate this holiday with some delicious, ice cold watermelon slices!

Olympics!!!

For those who don't know me, I am a total nerd for the Olympics. I adore everything about the Olympics: the Opening Ceremonies, the camaraderie of all the participants, the comebacks, the fierce competition... everything.

I especially love the Winter Games. I could watch figure skating for days - and I will! I also love hockey, speed skating, ski jumping, bobsled, curling... I really love it all.

This manicure is dedicated to Team U.S.A. On my pinky and pointer fingers I used Zoya Richelle, a lovely golden bronze metallic (going for the gold!), while OPI Alpine Snow was used for the base on my middle and ring fingers. 

Next, I used my striping tape (first attempt) to create represent the U.S. I originally wanted to go for a flag, but as this was my first attempt, I kept it simple. This was done using Zoya America (of course) and China Glaze First Mate.

The Olympic rings are my favorite part of the mani! I think they turned out great. How did I get such a perfect circle you ask? A simple coffee stirrer. I dipped the ends in the nail polish and stamped it on. I centered the black ring first and continued from there, using blue, red, yellow and green cremes that I had in my collection.

USA! USA! USA!

With this manicure, I'm all set to watch the Americans win gold in Sochi. Hope you all enjoy the Olympic coverage as much as I am!

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.

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. 

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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.

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! :)

My First Zoya - Jo

It's been a big week for nail polish in my household! My free (and first ever) Zoyas finally came in. Then I scored big at the clearance section of Ulta - 10 polishes for under $35. And lastly, I splurged and purchased half of the China Glaze Metalix collection. My little nail polish basket is going to cave in soon!



Back to the Zoyas. 


I'm a fairly devoted e-tailer shopper. When I see a salon quality polish going for $2.99, I get excited. What can I say -  I love a bargain. That being said, I've limited myself to a handful of brands due to pricing. I've seen (and tested) the Zoya brand at Ulta before, but at $8 a bottle, I never made the commitment.

Luckily for me, Zoya is brilliant in their marketing. Two free nail polishes for the cost of shipping? Sold. It was the perfect opportunity to give this brand a shot. 


Zoya Jo
This is a periwinkle blue blue polish, with silver and blue shimmer. The formula is a little runny, but nothing a steady hand can't handle. Requires two, possibly three coats. This also took a while to dry.
 

 Two coats of Zoya Jo, no base or top coats.

Let's be honest. I initially only bought this color because we share a name (and how cool is it to own a nail polish that is named after you). But, after applying it, I notice how gorgeous this color is. Jo is a very delicate, calming shade (we do not share those qualities). It reminds me of Spring skies. A very lovely and elegant blue.

I actually like this color enough, I've worn it for a full week. Seriously. Check this out:

A solid week with no base coat or a top coat?!

I've never been able to wear any brand of nail polish for a week without touch ups. As a teacher, I wash my hands no less than 50 times a day. And I'm one of those gross habitual nail biters. I'm lucky if I can keep a mani looking nice for two or three days. This is after seven days. And had I not picked at my nails while sitting in traffic, this mani probably could have gone another day.



My inaugural Zoya was a success. I'm loving this color, the durability of the polish, I even like the sleekness of the bottle.

You can find Zoya brand at Ulta and at www.zoya.com

Zoya promotion!

The wonderful people at Zoya would like to help you ring in the New Year with two new nail polishes.

Simply go to zoya.com to choose your two favorite shades (it really isn't that simple to choose only two, that part took me a half hour :/). At check out add promo code zoya2012. You will receive your nail polishes (a $16 value) for the cost of shipping ($6.95).

The promotion ends January 9th at 11:59pm EST, so if you haven't already chosen your freebies, go soon! Enjoy :)