A few more Zoya swatches

Hope everyone had a good weekend! Mine was pretty lazy, just the way I like em! I booked my San Diego "me" getaway for next weekend, I am so excited! I am looking forward to wandering on beaches and shopping. I think I am going to go see the Old Point Loma lighthouse, it looks kinda meh compared to some of the lighthouses on the east coast but I'll take what I can get! Thinking about going down to Coronado too, I love it there! Today I have a few more Zoya swatches for you, they are Gwin, Dea and Nova. I swatched Ki also but I took about 50 pictures of my nails and none of them turned out, it is not an easy color to capture so I'm going to have to try again later.

Dea- This color was one on the top of my "need" list from Zoya, I love a nice brown polish and they are hard to come by. This one is fantastic! After the first coat I was skeptical about it but the second coat evened it out and warmed it up, it was opaque after two coats. It reminds me of a milk chocolate candy bar, like I melted one all over my nails....any polish that looks like candy is a winner in my book! This is 2 coats of Dea and one coat of Seche Vite.

Gwin- This color was also on my "need" list. Can't say I am as impressed as I was with Dea. It's a nice color a bright tangerine-ish orange with a gold shimmer, but I just don't love it on me. Application was a chore, it was more watery than I am used to from Zoya so my fingers were a mess. I think for me this will be a pedicure only polish. This is two coats of Gwin and one coat of Seche Vite.

Nova- This polish is part of the Ultra Glitter collection from Zoya and it certainly does pack in the sparkle. It's a nice fuchsia with different shades of pink glitter. Application was easy, I used 3 coats on my nails I could have used one more to cover the spots where the glitter was lacking a little. My only compliant: major chipping after not even 1 full day of wear :( I do love the color though so I can look past the chipping! This is three coats of Nova and 2 coats of OPI Start to Finish.

Zoya- Loredana & Savita

Here are the first couple swatches from the 2 Matte polishes I got in my Zoya Polish Exchange. I really love the idea of matte polish but haven't found any that I have really loved, until now. These are both great matte, but are even better with a top coat!

Loredana- Zoya's website describes this as a medium gunmetal gray packed with silver shimmer. It lives up to that description, this is the first matte polish in my collection with any kind of shimmer to it. The first picture is 2 coats of polish in all its matte glory. The second is 2 coats of polish and one coat of OPI Start to Finish as a top coat, I love this color with a top coat it really comes to life!

Savita- I have had my eye on this polish for a long time, I love purple nail polish and trust me I have tried to make all of them matte with different top coats and they are always kinda boring looking. This matte is amazing! I will definitely be wearing this again as a matte polish and with a top coat, much like Loredana this really pops with a top coat! If you are trying to decide what to add to your Zoya Polish Exchange order, this is definitely one I would recommend, you will not be disappointed! The first picture is 2 coats of matte goodness, the second picture is 2 coats and a coat of OPI Start to Finish.

Deborah Lippmann Superstar

I finally talked myself into buying this Lippmann Collection polish, I had a hard time justifying the $18 price tag but I finally caved in and ordered it. Totally worth every single cent! This polish is pretty much perfection, copper is one of my favorite colors and I've had difficulty finding polishes I actually like in this shade. Not only is the copper amazing but hellllllloooooo glitter, I don't think I have ever seen such a glitter packed polish in my life!

It went on way smother than I thought, since it has so much glitter I thought it might be a chunky PITA...in fact it was quite the opposite. I have on 2 coats and a coat of Seche Vite, I thought about putting on a 3rd coat but it didnt really need it since I tend to apply my polish on the thicker side. This picture was taken outside in in-direct sunlight, also should mention that this is after almost 2 days worth of wear and it still looks perfect!

Don't Worry, Bee Happy

Happy hump day, I swear it feels like it should be Friday by now. I think that's just wishful thinking! I am considering  maybe getting away this weekend or next..I have 3 day weekends for both (yay!!) maybe San Diego or Santa Barbara, whichever is cheaper. It would be nice to have a "me" weekend of relaxing and not dealing with the world. Its been a rough year in regards to stuff with my family and the stress of it has been weighing on me...I think a weekend of soaking in a bathtub and strolling on a beach is exactly what I need!

Today's nails were inspired by the most handsome guy I have ever met in my whole life...my dog Degen =) I think it was back when he was 1 or 2 (he is 6 now) I dressed him up as a bumble bee for Halloween, here is a picture with a crazy eye as a bonus lol. Now that I look back on the picture I am wondering why the black on the costume is dots and not stripes, it kind of looks like what would happen if a bee and a ladybug had a baby. The second picture was taken about 10 seconds after the first, you can see his time as a bumble bee  was pretty limited...to about 30 seconds in total. Since this Halloween Degen has had the nickname "Bees", he even answers to it!

On my nails I used OPI- Need Sunglasses as a base and the LA Colors Art Deco Nail Art polish in Black for the stripes. It's my first time venturing into the world of free-handing any kind of stripe onto my nail, it's going to take a lot of practice to get good at that! Sorry for the weird picture, my thumb was the test nail, I was going to sponge on the stripes but it was a massive fail and I didnt have time to fix it before work lol

Going in Circles

Hi everyone! I've hit 50 followers this afternoon that is so incredible...thank you all for following and reading my blog! When I started it I thought no one would read it, I really appreciate all of you =)

Today is such a nice day, I wish I could be outside enjoying it! Degen had the right idea earlier this afternoon when I was home at lunch...

For my nails I wanted to use the Color Club- Wild and Willing polish I picked up the other day, it's pretty fantastic tons of copper and pink glitter! I used Color Club-Wild and Willing as a base and stamped over it with Konad plate M65 and American Apparel-Hassid.

I had issues with the Konad...I think it was part laziness part sometimes sucking at applying it. It looks a little funky on my index and middle finger but overall I like the way this turned out. It looks really pretty out in the sunlight since the base color is packed with glitter!

Cloudy Sunset

This morning has been very eventful. I took Degen out and George the Squirrel was up in the bird feeders. Degen ran around in circles barking at George then when George decided to come down and make a run for the trees. Degen ran after him and almost caught him this time! It was pretty funny, poor Degen gets so worked up when he sees squirrels, I dont know what he would do if he ever caught one...actually I do know, he would probably try to find the squeaker inside it lol.

I picked up this color a few weeks ago at Ulta, I finally got around to putting it on. Its a nice creamy orange, it's not super bright like most of the orange colors out there right now, it kind of reminds me of a a color out of a sunset. I have a bunch of orange polishes in my collection and it looks like this is a unique color for me. Scroll down for a swatch if you'd like to see it :)

For my mani today I used Ulta Professional- Orange You Glad Its Summer, I stamped over it with the cloud design on Konad plate M79 using American Apparel- Cotton polish.

Here is a picture of the bottle and a swatch of the color, both are taken inside under a lamp:

Sally Hansen High Def.- DVD

When I saw this color tonight my first thought was holy wow, second was "no Jen, you do not need more nail polish", third was HOLY WOW. Since I have no self control I bought it, along with 2 others from this collection and a Color Club polish that was calling my name. I am beginning to think that all nail polish calls my name and I need to start tuning it out a bit lol.

Anyway, onto the awesome. This color in the bottle is seriously amazing, I thought it might not live up to that on the nail but it totally does! I think this might actually surpass OPI Ink as my favorite polish in my stash, we'll have to see if I still feel this way in a couple days. My only complaint---- 4 coats. But I can forgive that since the result is so fantastical. I took a bunch of pictures because sometimes it looks blue and sometimes purple and also because its amazing so it deserves a lot of pictures, all pictures we're taken either with flash or under a lamp...since its midnight there is no sunlight to be found.

This picture is with flash:

Low Flash:

Under a lamp, no flash:

Under a lamp, no flash:

Under a lamp, no flash:

Ulta Professional- For Bitten

Hi Guys! I have been dying to try out this color since I picked it up last week and finally got around to putting it on last night, it does not disappoint! This is Ulta Professional- For Bitten, it is a part of the Glam Goth mini set. This color is pretty much the reason I bought the set, and after wearing it I am sad that this is only a mini bottle.

For Bitten is packed with pink and orange glitter in a black base, this is definitely a unique polish in my collection! Application was awesome, 2 coats to be completely opaque but I could have done with 1 thick coat. The first picture was taken in direct sunlight, the second was taken under a lamp and with flash...I think the polish really shows how awesome it is in the second picture!

The "frustration" manicure

let me explain the reasoning behind calling this the "frustration" manicure. Last night I was doing my nails, I decided I wanted to use one of the Bundle Monster plates I got. It was an epic fail...twice. Not because of the plates, but because I kept bumping into things or smudging nails. I was so annoyed that I took all the polish off and decided to do something simple. Little did I know I would end up really liking this simple manicure.

I used Sally Hansen Fairy Teal as a base and American Apparel Hassid for the tips. I believe this might be the first time in my DIY nail painting life that I have done some kind of variation of a real french manicure.

Also, I had to throw this picture in because about an hour after finishing my nails I was resting my hand on my leg and noticed that my nails matched my PJ's lol...I really do love my Teal & Black combos!

P.S. The sun finally came out yay, turned out not to be such a cruddy day after all!

Ulta Professional- Twilight

Happy Tuesday! I did this swatch over the weekend and wasnt going to post it until later but since our wonderful Southern California weather has decided to be all gross and rainy I couldn't take a decent looking picture of the mani I did last night...hopefully it clears up during the afternoon or tomorrow!

I picked up this Ulta polish last week and wasnt really sure to think about it, I like it but I thought I probably had others similar. I was happily surprised when I got it on! Its a nice dark grey with multi colored glitter. I love that the orange and pink glitter really pops in it, you can really see it if you click and look at the larger picture!

This is 2 coats, and no top coat (it was super shiny on its own!!)

Fields of Polka Dots!

The weather here has been crappy since yesterday so I wanted to do something on my nails that was happy looking, and something that used one of the new Konad plates I got! I used China Glaze Strawberry Fields as a base and stamped over it with Konad plate M79 and American Apparel Cotton polish

Ulta Professional- Black Diamond Swatch

Happy Sunday! Today is my "be lazy day" I slept in until almost 11am, it was awesome!

Today I have a swatch of one of my polishes I picked up the other day. This is Ulta Professional- Black Diamond. I thought it was going to be horrible to apply, the first coat was really streaky but the second coat was perfect and completely opaque for me. This is 2 coats and a top coat of Seche Vite. The first picture is in the shade, the second is in the sun. I like this color because it looks like just regular boring black until you get in the sun and then it's so pretty! It has mostly gold glitter but it looks like there might be some pink and green glitter in there also.

Pink, Purple & Teal...oh my!

This morning it looks like a nail salon exploded in my room, I spent most of yesterday organizing all my polishes. I've been swatching them, numbering them and putting them in a spreadsheet. Today I will continue doing that, hopefully I'll finish!

In between organizing I decided I wanted to try something new, multi colored Konading. I remember seeing a tutorial about it on wowsocool.com when I bought all my Konad stuff. It was more successful that I thought it would be! Also, somehow in the 8 or so hours I've had my nails like this, most of them sleeping hours, I managed to chip the mani on my thumb :(

I used American Apparel Cotton as a base and stamped Konad plate m72 over it with Sally Hansen Fairy Teal, Ulta Salon Formula Fuchsiamania and Ulta Salon Formula Celebutante.

Funkafied

Gooooooood morning! Hope everyone is having a good day so far, I have no complaints about mine (yet!). This post is super boring because I have nothing to talk about lol...not one exciting thing has happened to me since yesterday afternoon!

For my nails I used OPI Funky Dunkey as a base and then stamped over it with OPI Ogre The Top Blue and Konad plate M57. I have to say, I am much happier with these colors from the Shrek collection, though the Funky Dunkey is for sure a dupe of China Glaze Grape Pop which means I love it haha.

Buttoned Up

I have a serious case of the Mondays going on today. I haven't left my cubicle at work at all today except to make a copy and to go to lunch. I wish I didn't have to get to work so early, I have to be here at 7:30am and it seriously kills me. I set my alarm for 5:45am and don't usually roll out of bed until about an hour after that...it's a good thing I live so close to work so I don't have to leave my house super early. On the bright side, American Apparel added a few new colors to their line of nail polish. I especially like this one, its called Malibu Green and I will be adding it to my "must have" list!

For my nails, I did something fast during my lunch break. I couldn't take the pea soup green on my nails any longer haha. I had this fastastical idea of doing a huge button in the middle of each nail to cover up most of the green. Things did not work out so well though. The size of the pin I was using to make the circle for the button looked bigger than what it actually was so my big dots turned out to be medium sized dots. It kinda looks more like sideways electrical outlets more than buttons...but I didn't have time to fix it so you guys can laugh at this tragedy with me :)

I used American Apparel Hassid for the wanna-be buttons.


Now I am going to go get a soda from the vending machine at work, hopefully this will somehow cure my Mondays!

Who The Shrek Are You?!?

Hope everyone is having a good Mothers Day! We're going out to dinner soon, I dont care for the restaurant but it's what Mom wants so I go along. I had a very productive weekend, I finally finished hanging a ton of No Doubt posters in my room. I have been working on this wall for nearly a year! If there is one thing I love more than my nails its No Doubt, they have been my favorite band for around 15 years!

I decided to just do a swatch today since I'm pressed for time. I also wanted to try out one of the weird colors from the OPI Shrek Collection. I applied 2 coats of OPI Who The Shrek Are You? and 1 coat of Seche Vite. This color is very pea soup and I'm not really loving it on me, good thing I got the mini bottle.

Here is a picture of my No Doubt wall, please ignore the Gordon Ramsay cameo in the reflection of the glass I was watching Kitchen Nightmares :p

New Polishes!!

Last night as I was on my way out my favorite person, the UPS man, showed up at my door. I just got a chance to unpack my goodies this morning!

I got the OPI Shrek mini-bottles set, I'm still going to need to pick up "Ogre The Top Blue" and "Funky Dunky" those were my 2 favorites from the collection but they didnt come with this. Also got the Orly Viva Summer mini's, cant wait to try these I really love the colors. Finally got a couple of the Orly Foil polishes in Shine and Luxe!

Degen is not impressed!

Snakeskin pt. Deux

Weekend time woohoo!!! This week felt looooonnnng, I'm glad it's over. Sonic the other night was a total bust, I was going to go right after work then got busy and didn't make over there until almost 7pm, when I got there the line of cars was about 40 cars long! I couldn't believe it, there was a whole lane of traffic blocked off specifically for the huge line! Needless to say, I wasn't about to wait in that line, no slush is worth however long that would have taken...hopefully the crowds calm down soon.

I decided to try doing that snakeskin looking effect that I did earlier this week again, but with a different color combo and guess what.....IT WORKED the Konad is visible this time (and not just on camera!). I used American Apparel Hassid as a base and sponged China Glaze Watermelon Rind on the tips. I applied Konad plate M57 with the American Apparel Hassid and shined it up with a coat of Seche Vite.

Also, I've heard things about this black from American Apparel being a one coat color, I didnt believe it....but its true!!

Seein' Stars?

It's almost Friday! This has seriously felt like the longest week ever! Last night I was supposed to go over and spend some time with Lacey then my night just decided to suck and it was spent somewhere not fun. But today, I think things are turning around! Why....because the Sonic they built by me is opening today LOL. Now I know this might not be exciting to some people but I am SO excited for this! The closest one is like 20 miles away and I've been there twice, I've had to suffer through seeing their yummy looking commercials for years so it will be nice to drive a couple of minutes to Sonic if I want to. I plan on going after work to get a Cherry Slush and some tots! One the the girls at work has a son that is going to be working there, I hope that somehow that will benefit me ha ha! On Tuesday I went and got tickets to see one of my favorite local bands, New Years Day! A few years ago, 2007 ish I think, they started getting popular then their label went bankrupt and pretty much screwed them over so its been a while since I've gotten to see them! On Tuesday we also stopped by Lush...that store is seriously dangerous for me. I went in to get a Lemony Flutter and left with that, a scrub called Ocean Water (I think?), lip gloss and a big old gift for my Mom for Mothers Day. I wish they would make nail polish...maybe one day.... what else has been going on hmmm I bought the Neon Trees cd, its pretty much amazing I'm sad there are only 8 songs on it, it's been on repeat at my desk all day.

Onto zee nails... I used American Apparel Factory Grey as a base, I like this color it almost matches my car! Then I dotted on American Apparel Hassid and tried to make it look like there was a star outline. You can only really see it on the thumb and middle finger, the rest are kinda meh and messy looking...guess that's what happens when I have like 5 minutes to do my nails before work!

tonight I think I am going to re-do my nails like how they were the other day looking like snakeskin, but with a different color combo so maybe the Konad will actually be visible! *fingers crossed*

semi fail nails :(

So this plan I had of sleeping this weekend was a total bust. But I got a lot done because of it, pretty much cleaned my room from top to bottom. I don't think its been this clean in well, ever! I also watched a ton of nail art videos on youtube looking for ideas to do on my own nails in the future. I decided to do one of them today! It is supposed to look kinda like fish scales (I think it looks more like snakeskin), the ones I saw on youtube turned out great.....mine not so much.

I used American Apparel Downtown LA as a base and sponged on Sally Hansen Purple Pulse then used Konad plate M57 with my base color, to finish I slathered it all with a coat of Seche Vite. The issue with these nails is that you cant really see the Konad part in person, it shows up in the pictures but unless I'm in really bright light you cant see it. :( bad color combo for the effect I suppose. Oh well, I still like the way they turned out!

Dipped in Fun!

Happy Weekend! I look forward to sleeping a lot this weekend haha. Yesterday afternoon I went on a little bit of polish shopping spree, on accident! I went to Sally Beauty because I wanted to get one of those tools to do dots since every other method I've tried has sucked. I walked in and bam...there is a giant sign BUY 2 GET 1 FREE. Bad bad bad, I should have just left. Eventually I did leave, with 3 bottles of China Glaze and a bunch of "Stripe Rite" polishes in a variety of colors...I also got my little tool that I wanted, usually I would forget to pick up the thing I went to get in the first place so I am somewhat proud of myself that I remembered it. After that shopping spree I went and saw the new Nightmare on Elm Street movie, which is the reason I am still awake past 1am! The movie kind of sucked, but Freddy Krueger creeps me the heck out! All I can think of when I close my eyes is that song...1 2 Freddy's coming for you...3 4 better lock the door AHHHH, I am seriously traumatized by it from when I was a child.

Yesterday at work the office manager was walking around with this weird box filled with old school candy. Inside was stuff like candy cigarettes, red hots, wax lips etc... She said that I could have whatever I wanted, and a packet of fun dip caught my eye. I always loved fun dip as a kid but I was drawn to it because I liked the colors on the packet! I decided I wanted to paint my nails to match it, which is what led me to my Sally Beauty Supply spree.

Now the nails, I used China Glaze Entourage as a base and used my super fancy dotting tool thingy to dot on China Glaze Shower Together and OPI Alpine Snow (Matte). Covered all of it with a coat of Seche Vite!

I think one day I might re-do these and sponge some of the blue onto the green, I think that would make it look a little more like the actual package, but I'm happy with the outcome! Hopefully now I will be able to get some shut eye without Freddy haunting my dreams!