Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Pac Man

Sarah over at Chalkboard Nails is hosting a nail art competition with a Dotting Tool theme. It is her first nail art contest and it's sponsored by InLinkz. I had a couple of different ideas of what I wanted to do, but after some debate and asking my husband for his opinion, I decided on a dotted Pac Man theme. I used a medium safety pin for the dotting.

First off, my inspiration photo for this mani:

photo is also a link to the original website
These are the colors I used in this mani:


Final nail art result:

waka waka

I apologize for the photo quality. It was dark and raining by the time I finished and the lighting in my house is less than flattering. I wanted to keep to the dotting tool theme, so instead of filling in my Pac Man and the ghosts, I left them spotted. I also added the cherries to my pinkie that Pac Man eats.

I hope you like it and if you haven't entered into Sarah's contest yet, you should! You can find the entry post here. Have a great evening! :-)

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Laser Lime Gradient

Hi ladies. It's almost March! That means I can get ready to decorate for St. Patrick's Day! I LOVE holiday decorations, and that includes sprucing  up my blog for the holidays. I decided that this occasion called for a green manicure.

So, I want to share with you my first gradient attempt. This is a manicure I did mid last year and took pictures of but never blogged on. My oldest sister was the one who got me into polishes and one of the first polishes she gifted me was China Glaze Laser Lime. I used this as my tip over OPI Stranger Tides.

all photos take in direct sunlight


Laser Lime (from the Tronica collection) is still the only Holographic polish I own. It was absolutely gorgeous in the sunlight! I don't exactly know if this really would pass as a gradient, but that was what I set out to do. I think it turned more into just a nice tip color, but regardless I really liked the final result.

See you next time ladies!

Friday, February 24, 2012

Not a Peep!

T.G.I.F.!! The weekend  is here, hooray!

So, I was out shopping yesterday at the NEX and was pursuing their polish selections. I had no intention of buying anything because I am trying to watch my nail polish spending, but then I saw it...and I had to have. What, might you ask, did I HAVE to have? 

Limited Edition Spring Collection - Not a Peep!
The second I saw it I wanted it as my Easter manicure! I mean, who doesn't think of peeps when they think of Easter?! 

Not a Peep! is one of 5 Salon Effects out in the Limited Edition Spring Collection. Here is the full collection (image from Nouveau Cheap)

clicking the picture will direct you to Noveau Cheap's post on the
Salon Effects Spring Collection
I have used Salon Effects in the past. I picked a great spider web one for Halloween last year and I loved it. They are straight forward to apply and these lil' buggers last a LONG time. I wore mine almost a week and they were still as good as new! I will post more on Not a Peep! when I finally rock them for Easter. 


Thanks for stopping in!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

ZOYA Tosca

Hello, ladies! It has been WAY too long since my last post. My own sister has been hounding me about how much I have been slacking. To get myself back in the groove, I indulged in Zoya's Valentines Day promo and got myself two gorgeous new shades, Tanzy and Tosca.

Tanzy & Tosca
While today's post is about Tosca, I thought I would show you Zoya's picture of Tanzy so you can get a better idea of the lovely color in that sparkly orange bottle. (from the Sunshine Collection)
                          
   
"Zoya Nail Polish in Tanzy can be best described as: Light, bright tangerine orange with yellow gold metallic sparkle.  A sunny orange that's easy to wear year-round." - as described on Zoya's website

I chose Tosca because I couldn't resist the golden shimmer that shines through like crazy from the bottle. I have read some posts where the ladies said once on their nails, Tosca's shimmer just seemed to blend into the color and didn't really shine through like in the bottle. I have to disagree. I can see the shimmer in this strawberry red and love it! I will admit it's much more apparent outdoors in direct sunlight, but it's has an elegantly understated shimmer indoors as well. Zoya labeled this one a metallic, but I think it barely passes because it's just looks so juicy in some of these pics. This is 2 coats sans top coat for once.

Look at the golden shimmer shining through the bottle
direct sunlight totally brings out the gold  shimmer

shade - can you believe this is without a topcoat?! 
uber juicy 

Don't you just love it? It applied amazing and was opaque in 1 coat. I added a second, but it really didn't change or add anything extra special. You could most certainly do a 1 coater of this shade. After taking these photos, I added a top coat to extend the wear of the polish.

As if I haven't spammed enough pictures today, I have another tidbit to share with you. I ran out to Target last night to replace my clean-up brush. I thought I would show you my favorite inexpensive brush.


I like the angle of an eyeliner brush the best. I feel it gives me a more precise end result along my cuticle.

So, do you love Tosca? Do you already own it? Are you a fan of the clean-up method or were you graced with a steady hand. I'd love to hear from you! See you next time.