essie "camera" + zoya "arizona".

not much to say about this one. pink and orange has been one of my favorite color combinations for as long as i can remember!

three coats of each. "camera" still shows some VNL, dunno if another coat of two would remedy that issue.

these pics aren't color accurate for "camera" at all, but even the ones i took inside stunk. it is much more like the bottle - a nice, hot pink.

essie "ole caliente" + cult nails "captivated".

just a quick post for you all this evening. i did this mani last night right before my kitty got ill and had to be taken to the emergency vet, so they are NOT super great. but i thought the combo was really awesome and i wanted to share with you all :D. i have swatched ole caliente before, you can see that post here. but this is my first cult nails polish - i bought this and two others when they had their five dollar sale a few weeks ago!

two coats of OC with one coat of captivated. for some reason it makes me think of salsa...

so pretty! i love this combo and can't wait to try out my other cult nails polishes. you can buy them here!

gradient mani ft essie's "she's picture perfect" and "no more film", plus zoya's "mimi"

i think gradient manicures always look really cool and seemed relatively easy, so i figured i'd give it a shot. i was impressed! it's hard for me to make things look "natural" or "messy" 'cause i am a very ordered person in everyday life, so some nails turned out a little less gradual and a little more...stripey. regardless, i like the finished product and think it looks rad!

the polishes are lined up the way i did them on my nails. first was two coats of "she's picture perfect", then after that dried i dabbed on some mimi, then after that dried, "no more film" was last!

this is the makeup sponge i used to dab on the polish. most tutorials say to use the big triangle ones, BUT i didn't have any and didn't want to waste one of the round ones i use to actually apply makeup, so i took this [the connection between four round ones, if that makes sense!] and used it. it worked really well, though it was a little small.

ta-da! pretty neat. 

once this blogs gets to 100 followers [only 24 away!] i will be hosting another giveaway. so spread the word and follow :D!

essie's "trophy wife" ft. lacquistry's "lake placid on acid"

can we just talk about how much i freaking love lacquistry polishes? not only are the all beautiful, well made, long-lasting, and unique, but jenna is just a really great person. i bought "a friggin circus" after this polish and jessica rabbit, but she waited to ship my order and combined costs, so i was refunded a few dollars! i know some indie polish brands don't do that anymore [because it takes a lot of tedious work!], so when she offered to do that i was so impressed. anyway, on to the pictures! the following pictures show three coats of LPOA over two coats of essie's "trophy wife". HOWEVER, LPOA has a blue-tinted base and could easily be opaque on its own.

just...just look at that polish. look at those glitters. is that not one of the prettiest things you have ever seen? to let you know how much i love this polish - i've worn it for two days, and i haven't worn a polish for more than a day in months!

those glitters! LPOA has large silver, green, and blue hex glitters, smaller hex glitters of the same colors, plus tiny circular blue, silver, and green glitters. HOLY GLITTERS, BATMAN!

nice bottle shot. 

and, as usual, a nice photo of mister mowgli. i guess he's really into sniffing polish lids. also, a nice shot of my living room >___<

essie polishes are available at drugstores for 8 dollars. lacquistry sells her polishes in her etsy store for 8.75, but she's usually sold out so i suggest liking her facebook page to get updates on when she's restocking.

essie's "ole caliente" [featuring nubar 2010]

i'm not an essie fanatic. their colors have never really appealed to me and for 8 bucks i would rather buy an OPI polish. but i've seen a lot of awesome swatches of "ole caliente" from their "navigate her" collection, and couldn't resist picking it up when i stopped by cvs the other day - i'm so glad i did!

this is three coats of polish. i could have gotten away with two, but the light in my house kept making it look uneven and weird. application was easy and i barely needed to do any clean up.

this is a shot taken inside, with flash. and because i can't leave well enough alone, i added a coat of nubar 2010!

soooo shiny. soooo sparkly!

and here's a picture of my cat, mowgli. i thought the polish went really well with his fur :P.

essie polishes sell for 8 dollars in most drug stores [cvs, walgreens, target], or you can buy them from mbeautylounge for a little over 7 bucks.