not-so-epic fail [ft zoya "myrta" and "kimber".

this manicure is like one of those mornings after you get really drunk and remember everything you did and go "ughhhh, whyyyy?!" even though it was awesome when you were doing it. anyway, when i was doing this mani last night i was in my dimly-lit living room and thought it looked SO COOL, when in reality you can barely tell i did anything but paint my nails one color. oh well, live and learn!

the base is myrta and the dots are kimber. like i said in my last post, orange and pink is my favorite color combo but i don't think particular conglomeration worked. i think it would have been better if i did a single accent nail. meh!

all the pictures of my cat on this blog are of him and this chair. he does spend time elsewhere, but particularly likes this chair because it by the big french doors!

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.

rainbow fish nails!

i know i'm a bit younger than most of the polish bloggers i have encountered, but i feel like everyone has seen the rainbow fish books. they were some of my favorite to read as a youngin' - i've liked shiny, sparkly things my whole life!

i received this polish from nailventerous a few weeks after i placed my original order - my bottle of "peacock gone wild" was a little wonky [but still perfectly usable and gorgeous!] she sent it out for free, isn't that so sweet? great customer service!
for these photos i put two coats of "rainbow fish" over two coats of "kristen" by zoya. i LOVE the results!

i think it looks EXACTLY like the fish in the books!

also, another shot of my kitty. if you're a friend on facebook, you know i've been having some problems with him lately - i've had to take him to the vet twice this past week. waaay too much money and a whole bunch of stress later, he's on his way to recovery. thanks so much to everyone who kept him in their thoughts!

if you use this link to set up a zoya account, you can get one bottle of polish for FREE! then if you add two more bottles to your cart, your shipping is free :]. so that's three bottles of long-lasting, vegan polish for 16 bucks!

if you're interested in nailventerous polishes, i suggest liking her on facebook to find out when she is going to restock her etsy shop!

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!

dun dun dun...water marbling!

i see other bloggers post pictures of their beautiful water marbles all the time. after months and months, i decided i finally needed to take the plunge and do it. i watched a video and read a blog post by the fabulous cosmetic sanctuary and set to work. the colors i used are: niecy by julep, and yummy and tobey by zoya. my base color was "you just wait" by sinful colors.

i hesitate to call this bad, since it was my first time. i think the swirls are pretty rad! i feel my main mistake was using such a sheer color for the base. i feel if i had used something more substantial, it would have ended up popping more and looking a lot cooler. still, i only did my swatching hand and will take it off before easter lunch tomorrow.

for everyone thinking about marbling - i think you should do it! it's time consuming, yeah, but the results are worth it!

zoya's "salma".

first of all, i want to give a big welcome to my new followers! i think you may have found me when zoya featured my blog yesterday [HOW COOL WAS THAT YOU GUYS OH MY GOODNESS], and i hope you stick around!

i had my first hotline training class last night and took off my mani before going [i was wearing "mermaid's dream" by ms. lippmann!] because it was chipping. i planned on putting something else on but my time management skills are a bit lacking, so i ended up with naked nails! then the buses weren't running frequently so i had to walk a mile home at 10 pm >.< by the time i got home i was ready to pass out so my nails remained nude! luckily i had time before class this morning to slap something on them. i chose zoya's salma, another of the six polishes i bought a few weeks ago.

three coats of salma. it is a rich , vampy red with hints of brown, plus some nice shimmer!

 my mom stopped by the other day and gave me these flowers. aren't they so pretty?!

a mere hour ago some my lacquistry order showed up. i couldn't wait to get them on so here's one coat of "jessica rabbit" over salma.

jr has a red jelly basde and is filled with tiny red and gold glitters, as well as larger red hex glitters.

soooo pretty.

mister mowgli is not impressed with jessica rabbit, but he's a cat so who cares!

salma can be purchased from zoya.com for 8 dollars. if you use this link to make an account, you'll get a five dollar credit! lacquistry polishes are available from her etsy shop, which is currently sold out 'cause her polishes are awesome as hell. but she should be restocking soon!

zoya's "meadow".

this is one of the polishes i purchased when zoya did their buy three/get three free promo. on the website it is described as a "soft medium pinkish pink with mauve undertones and warm frosty golden shimmer. golden and flesh-toned, a sparkling nude for warm skin tones." but that's a whole lotta words so i'm just going to describe it as "pretty"!

this is three coats of meadow. two was most certainly sufficient, but i kinda messed it up so i added a third to cover up my mistakes :P.

the next two photos are in the shade:

see that beautiful shimmer? it's great!

you can meadow for 8 dollars on zoya.com, but if you click this link and create an account, you'll get a five dollar credit - making meadow only three dollars!

zoya - "bekka".

this is one of the siz zoya's i got during the buy three/get three promo. someone on my facebook requested a swatch, so here you go! let me preface this by saying that i did a pretty horrible job of painting my nails for these photos, blah - but i feel like they accurately capture the color.

my pointer + ring finger just have three coats of bekka. my middle and pinkie have a base of white polish, then two coats of bekka. [my polished toes wanted to make an appearance too, apparently :P.]

i would describe this as an electric pineapple yellow. it is a absolutely beautiful and unique color, and worth applying some white polish beforehand! 

zoya phoebe + nubar 2010 = robin's egg!

i have never purchased a matte nail polish. i have essie's "matte about you", but don't have a polish that starts off as matte. i have seen some beautiful swatches of matte zoya polishes, so when they did their buy three/get three free promo recently, i decided to take the plunge. boy, am i glad i did!

this is three coats of phoebe. i've read that it's common for matte polishes to dry quickly, and this one sure did!

look. how. beautiful! this color is so bright and fabulous. even my boyfriend said he really liked it!

and now...with flakies! i got nubar 2010 in the mail and was dying to try it out.

doesn't it look like a robin's egg?

outside, in natural light. as much as i love phoebe by herself, i like her even better shiny. even without flakies. she's just so bright and in your face!

overall consensus: buy it. do it now. you should have bought it five minutes ago. why are you still reading this when you should be buying that polish?

giveaway!

head over to my facebook to get all the details + enter!

zoya's "happi".

on leap day zoya offered free shipping on all orders so of course i had to take advantage :P. this is one of two colors i got.

it was super grey and gross outside today so i couldn't take photos outside :[. zoya describes happi as "a pink metallic duochrome" and it DEFINITELY is. it goes between vibrant pink and a lovely peach shade, which unfortunately you can't really pick up on in these photos. the polish is beautiful, but i wasn't really happy with the formula. i did three coats and still had some visible nail line, as you can see. but that's my only complaint. if you are interested in purchasing happi, it's available for 8 dollar plus shipping on zoya's website.

also - today's the last day of an awesome zoya promo!

zoya has a deal going on [ends today!] where you can get two of the following polishes: maisie, megan, chloe, or kristen for FREE + FREE SHIPPING when you buy a mini color-lock system [20 bucks]. the polishes alone are worth 16, plus shipping! so go here to find out more about the deal and get your order in. i got mine in a few days ago and since i'm lucky enough to be in the same state as zoya, my package is set to arrive today. i got maisie and kristen, since i already have chloe and megan just seemed kind of "meh" to me.

new zoya + finger paints flakie.

my trip to sally's was a minor success - they have one of the finger paint flakies [the main reason i went there], and i found "some like it haute" by china glaze for only 1.99! and then that same day i got my zoya package in the mail [from their valentine's promo], so i decided to combine the two for my mani today.

first i used two coats of zoya's "lotus", followed by one coat of "flashy" by finger paints. i own one of zoya's fleck effects, chloe, and i the only differences between that [and seemingly the rest of the fleck effects collection] is that the zoyas have a tinted base and i feel like the finger paints flakies are larger [see the second photo]. also, the price! unfortunately the finger paints flakies [there are five: flashy, motley, fleck, twisted, and asylum] aren't available online via the retailer, but you can buy them at sally's beauty supply for 4.99. the zoya fleck effects collection [chloe, opal, and maisie] are available at zoya.com for 8 dollars plus shipping.