Sunshine on a Cloudy Day!

The weather is cold and rainy here today and I wanted to do a fun, spring-time nail because it IS spring, even if it doesn't feel like it.

China Glaze - Lemon Fizz

This is 3 coats with a coat of Seche Vite over it. Like most pastels, it started out streaky, but evened out as I layered on the coats and then SV helped even it out even more.

I tried to do a gradient with 3 of the sorbet colors from OPI's Texas Collection. It was a fail! It all got mushed together to look like one color. Next time it will be better!

All OPI - Guy Meets Gal-Veston, Do You Think I'm Tex-y? Houston We Have a Purple

See? Fail. The gradient was a more noticeable in person. I think the colors were a little too close to each other. It was fun trying though and I will definitely try again!

Zoya Haul!

An order that I placed from Zoya over 2 weeks ago finally arrived today! It was backordered and arrived in 2 separate packages - strangely enough 2 of the free gifts were in a separate package.  I didn't take pictures of the 3 free gifts I got, only the regular items.

32oz. Remove+ - Color-Lock system - Ki - Valerie - Kelly - Edyta

I love Remove+!!! It's literally the best polish remover out there. It smells fantastic, it removes polish and glitter (and layers of polish and glitter) better than pure acetone and doesn't dry out my nails. Sure, the price tag on Remove+ is a lot higher than a bottle of cheap 100% acetone from Walgreens or Sally's, but sometimes it's nice to treat yourself by using a better product and it's nice to know I'm using something that isn't ruining the nails I've worked so hard for (reformed nail biter here!!). I will always still use pure acetone for quick clean-ups on the skin around my nails (nothing beats that) but I don't think I'll be able to go back to it for regular polish removal.

I think I'm going to use Ki first - and I'm anxiously awaiting Zoya's upcoming promo!!
http://zoyanailpolish.blogspot.com/2011/03/zoya-nail-polish-promo-offer-coming.html

Green with Envy!

I did a St. Patrick's Day mani today (a day early) but I've been wanting to try out China Glaze Starboard and I figured that today would be a perfect day. How can I begin to explain how much I love this color? It's a gorgeous green cream that leans a little blue-ish on me. It was perfect in 2 coats but I put 3 on just because.

Flash

No Flash

Lol, you can see my reflection in the mirror because I took these in my bathroom because the lighting is the best in there. *note that, and will fix for future pictures*

I think the 3rd coat gave me some bubbles that weren't there with just 2 coats, but they are barely visible in person. This is CND Stickey basecoat, 3 coats of Starboard and 1 coat of Seche Vite.

Oh, and I got tickets for Jimmy Eat World in June during the presale today! I'm so excited! I've seen them so many times, but I love every show!

Loved OPI DS Extravagance, but needed some Crackle!

I love my OPI DS mani today, but I felt like changing it up a bit and felt like using a Crackle! I was going to put something over the DS but I couldn't decide which one, so I just switched everything up! I've been dying to try out China Glaze Watermelon Rind and decided to use Crushed Candy over it.

The crackle "crackled" really well. I put a top coat of Seche Vite over Watermelon Rind and after it dried I put the Crushed Candy Crackle over it in a medium-thin coat. I love the contrast of the Crushed Candy on Watermelon Rind. I like using Crackles in this way, keeping them in the same color, just using different shades. *ow, as I was typing I just pulled my sleeve back and like punched myself in the chest, I am so going to have a bruise.*

I love the combination of glitter/shimmer/holo under shatter or crackle.  I think it gives it depth and just a really awesome look. I like it a lot more than a cream or jelly under the crackles or shatter.

It's Official... I have a problem!

Today I stopped at Ulta after a doctor's appointment and picked up a few OPI DS polishes...

DS Mystery - DS Jewel - DS Extravagance

I LOVE DS Extravagance, but that could be because it's the only one I've tried so far! It is definitely the most holo of the 3. Here are a few pictures. Some are blurred to show the awesomeness of the holo!

The first picture is more true to color, but the second definitely shows off the holo-goodness more! Overall, I LOVE this polish. I have a soft spot for berry and purple shades, so this was definitely sure to please from the beginning.

I also stopped at Sally's on the way home and picked up a 4 China Glaze Polishes.

Liquid Leather - Awakening - Grape Juice - For Audrey

And at Target I got

DVD

Can you tell I have a thing for purple polishes?

Happy Monday!

I usually hate Monday's... especially after daylight savings time, but today was a good day!
I got my order from 8to8beauty.com! I heart them, I get stuff from them so quickly and their pricing is so reasonable! Here are pictures of what I got!

Stella - Watermelon Rind - C-c-courage - Ruby Pumps

Alter Ego - Alias - Worth the Risque - Revvvolution - Covered in Diamonds

Professional kit Seche Vite and 8to8beauty.com gave me a cute pop-up Essie 2011 calendar

I was dying to try Stella, so far that's the only polish I've used from this haul. I LOVE the color, it's absolutely fantastic and it looks great against my skin, but it stunk and was a little bit of a PiTA to work with. It wasn't so bad that I won't use it again, but I might try to thin it out a bit before I use it again.

This is not 100% true to color, but it's dark out and I think it's the best I'm going to get!

Update** I was so excited to publish this that I forgot the second reason I was happy today! My favorite band is coming back to my area! In fact, they are coming to the town next to mine! I don't have to go to NYC or Philadelphia this time! I so love Jimmy Eat World!

Nail Blogs

Recently I've been reading Nail Blogs and the first one I started reading was The PolishAholic. She is celebrating her 1 year anniversary with a giveaway! If you want to enter go here - PolishAholic Giveaway

There is a lot of good stuff in the giveaway and it's a great blog!

Lydia

Some new Crackle combinations!

I am LOVING China Glaze's Crackles! I am loving China Glaze!
Here are a couple of pictures of some new Crackle mani's I did this weekend.

This is actually the same mani - China Glaze - First Class Ticket under Fault Line and 2 coats of Seche Vite. But, you can see how different the purple looks in different lighting.

And this is OPI - The One That Got Away under China Glaze - Cracked Concrete with 2 coats of Seche Vite.  Please excuse the cuticles in these pictures!