Blog Break

So clearly I have been crazy busy. Last weekend and in the weeks previous I was preparing for my BFF's wedding. She got married on 6/1/14 and it was beautiful. She and her new husband had a bridal army (a 14-person bridal party!) set up and tear down the little country fire hall for her reception in two days for 200 people. It was an awesome time and I would do it all over again for her. Not gonna lie though... I am still exhausted! You can see my wedding day mani on instagram here. Picture polish Majesty was the perfect wedding polish, since I had to pick just one awesome color that I could apply at the hotel the night before.

In the midst of these wedding festivities our tenet upstairs moved out. I realized only a couple weeks ago that our 14-day gap between tenants (June 1st-15th) was going to be the best (and yet the worst) time to gut our bathroom and remodel, since we can use the bathroom in the upstairs unit. It is such a pain running up and down stairs but much better than moving into our parents' house for who knows how long. My husband ripped down the walls the day before we had to leave out of town and finished by cutting up the jacuzzi tub (that was a not-properly-installed-moldering-deathtrap) the day we came back. You can see a picture on my instagram of the bathroom guts here. Currently my husband's uncle is working on electrical and hopefully a floor today. My cats are freaked out by the power tools and hiding. I also made banana muffins this morning.

So anyway, I'm on a bit of a blogging break but thought I should give y'all a heads up, because I'm still here with tons of polish to wear and share. Instagram is probably the best place to see what I'm doing while I'm less active on the blog!

Have you loved your cuticles today?

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?