Swatch Time: Zoya Erika + floral design

Hey Polishers!

I hope you've all had a great weekend! I finally finished my first semester finals last week and luckily for me, I have another extended weekend due to a "cold day" today. So no school for me! :)

Anyway, this past Saturday I went over to Ulta hoping to buy some polishes from the new Spring Collections since there are so many good collections coming out. Sadly, none of them were out yet. But since I somehow am never able to leave Ulta empty handed, I ended up buying a Zoya polish called Erika, which I will be swatching for you today.

Zoya Erika is a pale pink polish with a gold shimmer from the Summer 2008 Chit Chat Collection. I would describe this polish as being very pearlescent. The formula was a little on the thin side, but thankfully it wasn't streaky. I used 3 coats for the pictures below.

Even though I'm no much of a pale pink person, I think the gold shimmer in it makes this polish beautiful! I also really like the pearlescence feel to it as well.

Here's a floral polka dot design I did using Zoya Erika as the base color.

I did the white polka dots in order to bring out the pink a little more.

Other polishes used: OPI Hey Baby, Sinful Colors Tempest, Nicole by OPI Hit The Lights, and Pure Ice Superstar!

What are your thoughts of this polish? I really like it and I think it will be useful to use for a base color for nail designs. It's actually my first Zoya polish, and I have to say that I'm quite impressed!

I hope you have a great start to your week!

-Colleen

Pink/Gold Chevron Tips

Hey polishers!

I am officially NOT leaving my house today. Thankfully my school's having a "cold day" and another one tomorrow so no school for me (and thankfully seniors don't have to make them up :D)!

I decided to do some plain and simple chevron tips today with my picks from the OPI Gwen Stefani Collection that I swatched yesterday.

Cute, simple, & free-handed. Music to my ears! ;)

Polishes used:
OPI Hey Baby
OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby.

Have a great rest of the day!

-Colleen

Gwen Stefani for OPI Collection Swatches: Hey Baby and Love.Angel.Music.Baby.

Hey all!

It's a winter wonderland outside today! The snow just keeps coming down! My Dad's still trying to dig us out.

Anyway, after seeing all of the press releases for the new OPI Gwen Stefani Collection, I stopped over at Ulta yesterday to pick up a couple of polishes from the collection. My two picks of the collection were: Hey Baby and Love.Angel.Music.Baby.

On to the swatches:

Hey Baby is a lovely medium pink with a glossy finish. This was described by OPI as one of the crème glosses of the collection. The formula was nice and I used 3 coats for the pictures below. I probably could have gotten away with 2, but I wanted to add a 3rd coat in order to smooth it out a little.

Although it's not the most original pink in the world, I think it's a great pink to have because you can wear it for many occasions since it's not too bright of a pink. The top picture shows Hey Baby in more of a shaded setting, while the picture below is in direct light.

My second pick of the collection was Love.Angel.Music.Baby. This polish is definitely a beauty! It's a glittery gold polish that dries with a satin finish. I used 2 coats for the pictures below. It's formula is WONDERFUL and has great consistency. It also dried really fast!

 Here's Love.Angel.Music.Baby. with a topcoat. It looks dazzling! :)

Love.Angel.Music.Baby. must be one of the most popular polishes of the collection because when I went to Ulta, out of the big display and the rack display of the collection there were only 2 of these gold polishes left (well, down to one after I walked away with one of them)! There were quite a few of the other ones left, though.

The other polishes in this collection include: Over & Over A-Gwen (a red crème gloss), In True Stefani Fashion (a silver glitter), Push and Shove (a silvery chrome), 4 In The Morning (a black satin), and I Sing In Color (a very dark red crème gloss).

By the way, if you shop at Ulta, don't forget that there is always a coupon you can print out from online. I only found this out after I looked at their website to sign up for their rewards card. So if you need a coupon, feel free to go to their website here or print off the coupon good through 1/5/14-1/25/14 here.

So what do you think of my picks from this collection? Are you liking this new OPI collaboration collection?

Have a great rest of the day! And if you're near anyplace where it's going to be sub-zero temperatures the next few days like it's going to be in Chicago, stay warm and safe!

-Colleen

Flower Penguin Nails

I hope you all had a great New Year!

Today I have a manicure inspired by pottery penguin figurine that I had painted at a friend's birthday party way back when in middle school. I'm actually surprised that I still have it. I remember the lady who ran the pottery place had said that the little flowers I had painted on the penguin were really cute, so when I found it while cleaning the house for Christmas, I thought that it would be a cute design to recreate on my nails!

And here's the mani I did next to the penguin figurine that inspired it :)

 

 The polishes I used were:

Sinful Colors Whipped (black)

Pure Ice Superstar! (white)

Sinful Colors Cold Leather (navy)

Nicole by OPI Hit The Lights (yellow)

Essie Pink Works (pink)

L.A. Girl Hustle (purple)

Sally Hansen Blue Me Away! (blue)

and a neon orange polish by Delia's

Soooo what do you think? I've got more item-inspired manicures to show you soon!

Have a great rest of your evening,

-Colleen

Fish Scales Manicure

I hope you had a great Christmas and a very happy New Years! I can't believe that it's already 2014.... I have so much happening for me this year from graduation to starting college to trying to be a better blogger, I have a feeling that 2014 is going to be an incredible year!

By the way, I've really enjoyed seeing all of the "Top ____ of 2013" 's that I've seen from other nail bloggers. It's so interesting to see how different everyone's favorite polishes were for 2013. To each their own, I guess. You should check some out if you haven't already!

Today I have a fish scale manicure to show you, that I modeled off of Julie's design on her blog Tales of Knit and Nails.

Polishes Used:
Orly Angel Rain
Sinful Colors Whipped 

Julie did hers by using a stamping plate, and since I don't own any stamping plates I had to do it free hand. Which explains how the lines in hers came out so nice and thin whereas mine's a little thicker. I should really invest in some stamping plates (I've always wanted to try them) and some more nail art supplies for this year...but my fish scales design looks pretty good for not having used a stamping plate if I do say so myself! I just wish I could have made the lines a little thinner. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to get better at nail art...which means practice, practice, and more practice! ;)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the rest of New Years Day today! I wish you all the best for 2014!

-Colleen