Neon & Nude Zebra with Zoya Rocha

Hey ladies! Have you ever done a mani and loved it so much when you were done that you screamed? For me, this is one of those manis. I knew I wanted a neon and nude look so I wore Essie Barefoot & Topless for a day. The next night I used Zoya Rocha and stamped my nails with a zebra image from MoYou London Pro Collection XL-04. HOLY AMAZEBALLS. Sorry, I am really not eloquent when I am excited.

Neon & Nude Zebra
Featuring Zoya Rocha & MoYou London

The Tickled cremes are proving excellent stampers! Look how vibrant Rocha is. And the MoYou plate made it effortless. I ordered way too many MoYou plates for my first go, but I have not been disappointed. The images stamp great and are nice and big for my larger and very curved nails. I also used my big squishy stamper from LeaLac and an Elmer's School Glue barrier on my cuticles. I am only just branching out into stamping with colors instead of basic neutral and having so much fun. Would it be wrong to do another neon and nude animal print tonight? Let me know what you think! And please tell me I'm not alone in becoming ridiculously giddy over awesome manis. My poor husband, sometimes I think all he ever sees is me shoving my nails in his face haha!

Products:
MoYou London
Zoya

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Zoya Magical Pixies for Summer 2014

*Provided for honest review*

Today I am reviewing Zoya's new Magical Pixies for this summer. Full disclosure: I hate the feeling of chalk, chalkboards, and terracotta as well as anything that may remotely feel like these things--including Pixies. I do have some Pixies in neutral colors to accent skittle manis... but that is for one nail max. The thought of wearing these as a whole mani freaked me out. But (for science!) I wore one of these as a full mani for a day so I could give you an honest review. I think you will be surprised at my final verdict!

All three of these polishes feature Zoya's "ultra-textured, matte, and holographic Magical Pixie formula." For my swatches I started with a thin first coat, as I do. I let this dry well and did a second regular coat followed by some more drying. For my third coat I found that painting mid-nail to the free edge and then from cuticle to mid-nail worked best to distribute the holo glitters and texture the best; otherwise they kind of all clumped at base. You can otherwise paint them on like a normal polish and it was surprisingly easy. I also know you're not supposed to use basecoat for these... I totally do though because I don't trust any polish on my bare nails! I know a lot of people who do the same thing and I feel like how I really wear stuff is an important part of my honest review.

Zoya Ginni

Ginni is a sweet pink Magical Pixie. I'm pretty sure this is what Glinda the Good Witch wears on her nails! If you look closely in my photos of this one you will see I wrapped my tips. Yeah... I would advise not wrapping your tips because it feels horrid and looks sloppy. For my other swatches gently I pushed the texture back from my free edge while it was still tacky with my finger.

Zoya Arlo

Arlo is a red-leaning violet Magical Pixie. If Glinda wears Ginni then the Wicked Witch wears Arlo. Which is totally fine with me. I wish I had this polish the last time I saw Wicked because it is that awesome. And unwrapped tips definitely looked and felt better.  

Zoya Bar

Bar is a golden-nude Magical Pixie. It made me want to go to the beach! This is the polish I decided to wear as a full mani for a day, and I could not deny its beauty. I stared at it all the time and waved my nails around in different light. I shoved them in my husbands face several times exclaiming things like "OMG look a them in the sun!" and "Wow aren't these So. Perfect.?!" I can't even punctuate my giddiness. 

The textured feeling only freaked me out a couple times, like when I grazed them against paper or stone (I was tile shopping with the hubs). Since scraping them against paper made me want to crawl out of my skin I know wearing a full Pixie mani to work is out of the question (lots of paper and files, eww). But I love how these look and would totally wear them on the weekend, I also have some nail art in mind... so all in all my verdict is yes, I like them.

So I want to know, for real: What do you truly think about the Zoya Pixies, Magical or otherwise? I realize it's not for everyone and that's okay. I also know some people love them and that's alright, too. Anyone else in between like I am?

Products:
Zoya

Have you loved your cuticles today?

A Box, Indied: The Deadly and the Beautiful

I know I've been regaling you all with my misadventures of body aches and pains, but I seriously can't catch a break. I was out sick on Thursday this week with laryngitis. Go me! I have felt awful all week, but I'm still very protective of my caseload at work and made myself go in yesterday. Anyway, again, legit reason for lack of posts...

Before May is over I thought I'd show you my favorites from this May's A Box, Indied. I get the box because I don't want to miss out on exclusive shades, and anything I don't like I can usually just get back what I paid for it on my blog sale (go look! I also have a cheapie cheap board).

The first, and my favorite, will come as no surprise: HARE polish The Blooming Desert. I love me some HARE! The Blooming Desert is a hot pink jelly with orange and white glitters as well as golden flakies and shimmer. I used three coats for my swatch, starting thin and building up coverage. HARE polish does have a learning curve for application, so if you're new to glittered jellies & crellies check out this post. My accent nail is Sephora by OPI Hi-Def with some pearls.

HARE polish
The Blooming Desert

Contrary Polish Darling Wildflower was a surprise favorite for me, as I am not usually a purple person. Darling Wildflower is a purple jelly with microflakies and microshimmer. I see golds, pinks, and reds making this one of those beautifully complex shimmers. I did a first thin coat, a second thicker coat, and a third generous coat. In the photos you can see a little VNL but it was much less noticeable in person. I couldn't resist adding an owl from Hex Nail Jewelry.

Contrary Polish
Darling Wildflower

I just looked and there are still May boxes available, go grab yours if you like what you see! June's A Box, Indied goes on sale Monday May 26th. If you can swing the cost, it is a super fun treat every month. I am already dying over the HARE and Jindie previews for June!

Products:
A Box, Indied

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Polish Addict Nail Color: After The Rain & May Flowers

**Provided for honest review**

Yup, I'm still here. I thought last weekend was bad when I woke up and couldn't move... this weekend I pinched a nerve in my right arm and had this horrid shooting nerve pain keeping me from doing anything, including sleeping, for days. Last night I was also certain I was getting the flu only to wake up and feel fine (except for sore throat from allergies, but that's another story). Blah, anyway. Here are some long-overdue swatches from Polish Addict Nail Color (or PANC). You know I added a lil something to these swatches, too ;-)

First I have May Flowers, a glitter topper with pastel purple satin flowers and glitters in assorted shapes and sizes of purple, blue, teal, white, and yellow-green. I have it shown over OPI Eurso Euro, the dots on the accent nail are China Glaze Def Defying. I tried this topper over some lighter shades but all of the glitters just stood out the best to me against the darker color. The base is packed with glitter but easy to apply. I used one coat of the glitter and it painted it on like I was applying a color, if that makes sense. I did just a little fishing and dabbing for the flowers, which is the reality of big glitters. I only placed two but there are enough for more if you'd like. I also did a little dabbing for the green glitters which were more sparse and I wanted more green (because green!).

Polish Addict Nail Color
May Flowers
Shown over OPI Eurso Euro

The blue and green are actually colors of my teenage bedroom (navy and lime) so I am still loving this topper and mani!

After The Rain is an LE polish. I'm sorry to be showing you a limited edition, but hopefully this will help you to decide if you need to put out an ISO. There are also similarly formulated holo-glitter-jelly PANCs (such as Unicorn 2.2) for which this review would also apply. After The Rain is a blue holographic base with blue and gold flakies, iridescent glitters, and matte microglitters. After The Rain also reminds me a lot of Violets Are Blue, another beloved PANC of mine. Just look at all of the goodness going on in After The Rain *drool* I don't want my holos without flakies and glitter ever again. I added a gold Hex Nail Charm on top of my polish, but I didn't use any TC over it as this was for swatching purposes (I have a short review of Hex in this post here).

Polish Addict Nail Color
After The Rain (Limited Edition)

I have to admit I was confused by the formula at first and was a little like what-? when I was trying to apply it. I realized that I was going at this all wrong though--I wanted to think it was a metallic creme but it is definitely a jelly! So, once that confusion was over, and because jellies and I sometimes hate each other, I added a few drops of thinner to help me out and everything was fine after that (disclaimer: I am a thinner addict). The formula is easy to control, I did three coats (start thin and build up). I only did a quick cuticle sweep for clean-up. From the little clean-up I did do I can see this being a sparkle nightmare, I recommend painting carefully and the tin foil method for removal. Overall I'm so glad to have been able to review this baby.

Anyone else have thoughts on the holo-glitter-jellies from PANC?
Any polishes remind you of being a teenager?

Products:
Polish Addict Nail Color

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Stamping in Color! with Zoya & Pueen

My body is still all out-of-whack since Sunday. One of the physical therapists I work with told me sleeping on your stomach leads to locked shoulders (what happened to me when I couldn't move on Sunday) and it will keep happening if I don't cut it out. I have been trying so hard to sleep on my back or my side but I just can't fall asleep like that. How do pregnant stomach-sleepers do this?? Maybe I need a body pillow...

I've been thinking it's time I start stamping with color! Whenever I try new nail art techniques I always make sure I do just an accent to ease myself into it so I don't flip out. I am easily frustrated people, which is hilarious because I love doing nail stuff, but I refuse to give up. When I first started stamping I'd do just an accent nail in a neutral color. Slowly I built up from two nails to a full manicure, but all still in neutral cremes and metallics. The Zoya Tickled Collection got me thinking though that it was time to stamp in color. The Tickled cremes are wonderfully thick and highly pigmented, which is the perfect formula for stamping polishes. I decided to use my favorite creme first, Wendy.

Stamping In Color!
Featuring Zoya Wendy & Pueen 61

Base: China Glaze Dandy Lyin' Around (not a great formula, this never seems to dry on me and ends up wrinkling)
Stamp: Pueen Cosmetics plate #61
Stamping Polish: Zoya Wendy
Gold Accent: Color Club Striping Brush in Fine Gold (note to self, stripers are not to be confused with dotting tools). I feel the need to be embellishing my stamps lately, too.

Since stamping colors also can be stainers, I used a thin coat of Elmer's glue around my nails for easier clean-up. The Pueen image I used had very dainty lines so I made sure to paint the whole image and then scrape to ensure the lines were filled. Wendy was a great stamper. And umm... I do realize I used a neutral base. But I stamped with a color so I still say A for effort!

What color will you try stamping with next? Any other stomach sleepers out there?

Products:
Zoya
Pueen

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Colors by Llarowe Lucy, I'm Home!

Quick post today! I threw my shoulder out over the weekend sleeping... yeah I wish there was a better story but there's not. I have some back/neck problems and sometimes my body just gives up on me haha. I'm still working on geting back to normal but in the meantime, how about an amazing holo?

Colors by Llarowe Lucy, I'm Home! is a coral-red metallic holographic polish. Llarowe has some amazing polishes and this is no exception! Buttery formula, no pooling, amazing payoff. I think this one may be discontinued now, but I have yet to be disappointed with a CbL so you're totally safe buying them all ;-)

Colors by Llarowe
Lucy, I'm Home!



Products:

Llarowe

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Polish Addict Nail Color Jellies Swatch & Review

**Purchased by me**

**Provided for honest review**

I hope you've noticed the new blog design! I finally went and searched etsy for a layout I loved with polish sale money. I love the black and white scheme and of course the polka dots. I hope you like it as much as I do! The only drawback--lost all of my commentluv comments. Fail. I'm really sorry, gals. I will try to reinstall it but I don't think it'll make them all come back :-(
I have also recently made a twitter account. I'm not totally up on the Twitter thing, but I do have Bloglovin' auto-posting my blog links. You can use the sidebar to follow me on your other desired social media or you can click the "About Me" section for the links. Also let me know who you are! You can post on my facebook wall to say hi and link me to your polish world, too.

Today I have a swatch and review of some jellies from Polish Addict Nail Color (affectionately known as PANC). You can click on the photo collage (made with picmonkey) to make the image larger on desktop and mobile. You'll also notice I'm holding a random TC bottle. I have all of these colors in minis and I actually love minis... I just can't pose with minis!

Polish Addict Nail Color
Jelly Belly Remix

Jelly Belly Remix is a yellowed ivory jelly with matte glitters in a rainbow of colors. It reminds me of a circus! I used a first thin coat of Sinful Colors Daisy Daze then two coats of Jelly Belly Remix. My accent nail is Morgan Taylor Hot Hot Tamale and a few colorful studs.
I quickly scraped down the sides and bottom of the bottle and I ended up not needing to fish for any glitters. Nice consistency, too, and applied easily. I wasn't sure about the base color but I ended up loving it on and Daisy Daze is a perfect undie match.

Polish Addict Nail Color
A Mother's Love

A Mother's Love is a blue jelly with assorted pastel satin glitters in various shapes. There is also some satin-looking microshimmer which is my favorite part! For my swatch I used a first thin coat of OPI What's With The Cattitude? (more like "What's With The Formula?") and then two coats of A Mother's Love. For my accent nail I used OPI Pink Friday and did some flowers using Cult Nails Tempest and OPI Oy-Another Polish Joke! I added some yellow pearls for the middle of the flowers, but I fear I made them look like fried eggs :-/
Anyway, this has a nice jelly formula. I like my polish to be opaque so I used the creme coat first. A Mother's Love was on the thicker side so I added a couple drops of thinner and it worked perfectly. I fished a dabbed just a few of the larger glitters. Overall nothing horrible and I love how watery this looks!

Polish Addict Nail Color
'Vanilla Lace 

Vanilla Lace is a nude-ish jelly with rose, gold, white, and holographic glitters. I had been eyeing this one for awhile but just wasn't sure about the base color. I am so glad I ended up purchasing it though because look. how. pretty. Work appropriate, too! I started with two thin coats and ended with a thicker third coat. Accent nail is OPI Kiss Me I'm Brazillian with a heart stud.
Vanilla Lace has a great formula. Applies easily, no pooling, and builds up coverage in just three coats. My biggest criteria for formula is how much clean-up I have to do; for Vanilla Lace and all the jellies today I just did a quick sweep.

Overall Polish Addict Nail Color knows what to do with a jelly. From fun to more sophisticated she has something for everyone! Plus she is amazingly sweet. Which doesn't affect formula but for me it adds points to any brand. have you tried PANC yet? I'll have some more to show you soon!

Products:
Polish Addict Nail Color

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Zoya for Summer 2014: Tickled Collection

Products provided for honest review

I've got the second half of the Zoya summer collection today, Tickled! If you'd like to see the first half I reviewed, Bubbly, click here. Tickled is a highly pigmented bright creme collection that made me fall in love with cremes all over again. There are even some neon-like ones in here! These formulas and colors warrant individual attention so lets get to it.

Zoya Kitridge
Bright pink bubblegum creme

I I think Kitridge has some neon pigment in it! When I put it on it was SO BRIGHT. It reminded me of the neons China Glaze put out last year only with a fantastic formula, yay! It starts a bit streaky but covers evens at the third coat. Topped with a nice thick coat of Zoya Armor Top Coat to even it all out. Bonus: it makes my bad German self look tan! 

Zoya Rooney
Bright magenta creme

I had a hard time getting this one to photograph correctly. Rooney is actually a little darker and dustier in real life, but still very bright (just a smattering of neon juice maybe?) Lovely formula, I did two coats and a third thin coat, plus a thick coat of Zoya Armor. 

Zoya Wendy
"A juicy summer melon"

Wendy is without a doubt my favorite. It again reminds me of China Glaze neons but with a perfect formula instead of a crappy one! Three coats and a thick coat of Armor to completely smooth it out. Yum.

Zoya Rocha
A bright red-orange (or orange-y red?) creme

 Holy wow, Rocha! First off, paint carefully, this one is a stainer if I ever saw one. That aside, two thick coats and Armor make this shine. Can't decide if it's just bright or neon... either way this is literally fire on your nails.

Zoya Ling
A bright royal blue creme

Ling is so pigmented it feels bright but it's still a darker color... does that even make sense? Y'all must know what I mean though. Two thick coats for full coverage and a thick coat of Zoya Armor. 

Zoya Tilda
A bright "mantis green" creme

 I don't know how else to describe Tilda other than "mantis green." It is a green I always find myself looking for in the summer in my accessories and polish, so I love it! Doesn't make one too lobster-y either which is a bonus. I did two thick coats of this one for full coverage and a thick coat of Armor.

All of these cremes are gorgeous and a must for creme lovers. All of the colors truly look like they would be flattering on any skin tone. Make sure to use thicker coats and a nice thick coat of top coat for the lovely glossy finish. The formulas though made me remember why cremes can be as beautiful a choice as something shimmery. Which ones will you pick up for this summer?

Products:
Zoya Tickled

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Zoya for Summer 2014: Bubbly Collection

***Products provided for honest review***

This is a picture-heavy post so I'll get right to it. I have a highly-anticipated collection from Zoya for the summer today, Bubbly! All of these six polishes have a "liquid-metal holographic jelly formula" exclusive to Zoya. The effect of these on my nails was mind-blowing, so sparkly and bright. Swatch time!

Zoya Alma
Bright yellow-orange holographic metallic jelly with golden shimmer

Zoya Jesy
Bright red-orange holographic metallic jelly with golden shimmer

All of these polishes applied like a dream. They go on like a jelly and have some of that squishi-ness yet are also metallic. The only clean-up I did was with an orange stick as I was polishing. I'm glad they applied well because I could foresee how cleaning up cuticles would cause some major sparkle herpes. I suggest painting carefully as well and using the foil removal method in order to contain the awesome to your nails only.

Zoya Harper
Bright pink holographic metallic jelly with golden shimmer
This one really needed a unicorn (from Nailz Craze plate 02)

Zoya Binx
Bright orchid holographic metallic jelly with golden shimmer

For all of the swatches I did three coats. I did four thinner coats on one, Jesy, but I found no difference in opacity or application. I also did not use any TC for these swatches as they were already so shiny! Make sure you use it when you wear them though to make the color last though. When I wear Zoyas I also use their Color Lock System. For me it makes my Zoya color last longer and they play nicer together than my other BCs and TCs do with Zoya.

Zoya Muse
Bright blue holographic metallic jelly with golden shimmer

Zoya Staasi
Bright pink holographic metallic jelly with golden shimmer

I can't decide which is my favorite, they are all so stunning. Well-done, Zoya!
I will have the creme half of the Summer collection, Tickled, coming up soon. And of course some nail arts.
Edited to add: You can see swatches of the Tickled Collection here.

Products:
Zoya Bubbly

Have you loved your cuticles today?

You Polish Dolphins Tell No Tales

Omg Dolphins! I can be such a novelty whore. Once I pulled my sh!t together I decided I really only needed one dolphin polish. Because dolphins... but how often can I wear dolphins? I chose You Polish Dolphins Tell No Tales. It is described by You Polish as "A matte, iridescent, and holographic mix of blue, teal, turquoise and green with silver holographic DOLPHINS!"

You Polish Dolphins Tell No Tales
Shelby Lou Nails

I tried DTNT over a light color first and I really hated it... it just looked like glitter vomit, in a bad way. So I went for the darker color and hello! Gorgeous. All the glitters are displayed for your viewing pleasure. I decided to really go for the novelty and do some nautical stamping and studs.

You Polish Dolphins Tell No Tales
Shelby Lou Nails

I found for me doing a thinner coat of the DTNT and dabbing my dolphins was better than dabbing a big glob on my nail and smooshing it around. There's a lot going on and the base is packed, which is good! I did add some thinner to mine, but I really think it's because I am thinner-happy anyway.

Here's the other polishes and stuffs I used for this mani. I hope this gives you ideas on how to mix all your stash items together for a look!
China Glaze Man Hunt
You Polish Dolphins Tell No Tales
MoYou London Sailor 05
Pure Ice Silver Star
INM Northern Lights holographic TC

You Polish Dolphins Tell No Tales
Shelby Lou Nails

Overall I think this version of the dolphins is about as sophisticated as dolphins can get. I can also use it and keep the dolphins off my nails if I was so inclined. I like having a cutesy polish for the rare occasions I have need of it, but unless you are an avid dolphin collector or lover you might not need more than one. Okay maybe two because I had a hard time leaving Dolphins Are A Mermaids Best Friend out of my cart... I think I might keep a small decant of DTNT and give most of the bottle to my dolphin-and-general-animal-lover little cousin. The dolphins might be too big for her dainty nails but we shall see. Anyone else succumb to the power of the dolphins?

Products:
You Polish

Have you loved your cuticles today?