Polish Pic{k}s

As a fan of dark polishes, I was shocked to find I didn't have a basic black option in my arsenal.  I wanted a cheap & cheerful option for a Halloween themed mani, so I chose Black Creme by Wet & Wild.

 I have to say this: I was impressed when applying it, it's held up beautifully & I was thrilled with its $.99 price tag! I'll be scooping up more of this polish. Happy Halloween my Boo-ties!

Peace. Love. Polish.

Polish Pic{k}s

How I love a good gray! From the Essie Fall 2013 Collection I'm wearing  #847, Cashmere Bathrobe. My pinky features Face Stockholm Polish in #164, just to add a little metallic to the mix.

Peace. Love Polish.

Manicure Monday: Butter London

How I love Fall, with its deeper edgier shades of make-up & nails! While I normally do dark shades, I do love a good nude. Butter London's Half Moon Manicure Set ($45) includes Yummy Mummy, an opaque creamy beige nude (check out the coordinating Lippie lipgloss- it's a must have), Union Jack Black, Nail Foundation Basecoat & Hardwear Topcoat.

I think the half moon is so retro, very Dita Von Teese in style. If you struggle with the top moon & don't love using reinforcement tabs as a guide, try dipping a toothpick in the polish for more control of your outline. Then fill in with your polish. On my ring fingers, I did a little Chanel inspired bow & dropped a crystal in the center- then sealed everything with Butter's Hardwear. Tres chic!

Peace. Love. Polish.

*Set gifted for review

Polish Pic{k}s

It's pedicure season & a fun pop of color works well with this fair skin of mine.

QRS is a polish line I actually wasn't familiar with & was pleased to find very affordable. Violet Pink is a bright blue undertoned pink that is just shy of neon & perfect for a pair of sandals!

Peace. Love. Polish.

Manicure Monday

 I feel like Selena Gomez has been in my life a lot lately. Besides being on the cover of my InStyle & not being able to get her song, "Come & Get It" out of my head for a week- she's been on my fingers & toes, too!

Her polish that is. I spotted Selena's namesake shade in her collaboration with Nicole by OPI at Ulta. I was a good girl & didn't get it since I already have enough polish to last a decade. However I couldn't get the perfect peachy shade out of my mind. I feel like it's a great summery color for my pale skin tone- so of course I acquiesced & bought it. I'm glad I did.

Peace. Love. Polish.

Polish Pic{k}s

 I have been a bit obsessed with Dita Von Teese's Reverse Moon Manicure for a while now... I have yet to completely perfect it, though. I tried using the circle tabs that many YouTubers made look so easy and my first try was a hot mess. So taking the lead from Emily from Cupcakes and Cashmere, I tried it free handed.  I primed my nails, then applied one coat of Essie There's No Place Like Chrome over the entire nail.

Then carefully I carefully applied Essie Smokin' Hot in a semi circle up near the nail bed & down to the tip of my nail. I then went over with a second coat and sealed everything with a top coat.

I'm going to pick up a few mini bottles of polish from a few different brands to see if the smaller brushes are easier to navigate with. All in all I loved the look and got a lot of compliments!

 Peace. Love. Polish.

Must Have Monday

Oh happy day Beauties- starting today through Sunday, you can scoop up 3 polishes from Zoya & pay only for the shipping & handling charges of $10. Enter coupon code: ZOYA2013 at checkout. Such a bright way to start off the week!

A few of my favorite picks for this time of year? From left Sloane, Edyta & Delilah.

Peace. Love. Polish

Polish Pic{k}s: New Year's Eve Style

I love me some sparkle & the holidays are a perfect excuse to take it up a notch!  I've been using Essie's Beyond Cozy as an accent color on my ring finger as of late, but for New Year's I decided to do a full mani!

This shade works so well since it has a little bit of silver mixed in with the gold glitter. I'm a big fan- it's like champagne for my fingertips!

Peace. Love. Polish.

Polish Pic{k}s: Butter

With only a week away til Christmas, I can start to feel the panic in the air. Traffic is that much heavier, the fear in men's eyes more noticeable...  To keep in the spirit, I have lots of spirits and continue the search for festive shades. Lately I've been sporting a lot of reds. This Butter Polish in Chancer is straight out of The Wizard of Oz in terms of Dorothy's ruby red slippers. It's so stunning in person - I was quite smitten. That is for the day that it stayed on before chipping. Spirits not brightened:( I'm hoping it's the fact that it's a glitter polish versus a comment or two I've heard about the brand in general being prone to chipping.  It's held up a bit better on my piggies, but not much. The color is swoon worthy, but the durability has left me saying Bah Humbug I'm afraid.

Peace. Love. Polish.

Polish Pic{k}s

I tend to stick with my one signature shade throughout the year. It's just my shade, I just feel like myself when I wear it. But there's something about the holidays that makes me want to get a little more festive with my polish picks. So as the weather turned colder, I gravitated towards Zoya's Delilah.

There's a subtle sparkle, but it's still work appropriate & the true red definitely gets me in the holiday spirit!

Peace. Love. Polish.

Manicure Monday: OPI 007

 Can you believe 007 is turning 50? To mark the celebration, OPI launched a collection of 12 holiday limited edition lacquers named after the beloved James Bond films. I scooped up The World Is Not Enough. This polish has so many dimensions it's hard to put into words or capture via photos.  With the first coat it's a soft sheer taupe with multi-colored shimmer.  You could use it as an special effects polish on top of another.

 With the second coat it turns into a bronzey gunmetal color.

 But, wait there's more. Don't forget there's that multicolor shimmer dimension that I can't stop looking at. Don't think 'tacky' when I say that, think more along the lines of a little dance party on your finger tips. This polish is perfect for the holiday season & in my eyes more than 'enough!'

Peace. Love. Polish.

Polish Pic{k}s

As the summer wraps up its final weekend, it's finally time to break out the dark polish!!! How I love my vampy colors- I just feel like myself again.  A girlfriend & I both opted for pedis sporting Becca's Pasa Doble polish from their Balearic Love Collection.  It a deep black plum that's pretty rock & roll if you ask me.

Peace. Love. Polish.

                            

Mani Monday

I subscribe to MyGlam- a monthly beauty delivery service. I've received a bottle of nail polish from Circus by Andrea's Choice in the last 2 shipments & decided this might be one of my last chances to rock a bright mani as the summer winds to a close.

 I'm sporting Ringmaster on my nails which looks neon pink in the bottle, but pulls a little coral on my nails. My accent color on my ring finger is Somersault, less of a neon- more of a French's mustard yellow.

 

 Circus by Andrea's Choice color collection includes 5 vibrant shades. The shades are vegan & cruelty free. The formulas are also free of Formaldehyde, Toluene and DBP.  What do you think of the packaging & colors? Will you be steeping into the ring when they launch this fall?

Peace. Love. Polish.

Fabulous Finds Friday: Polish Pic{k}s Edition

While making a paper towel run recently in Walmart, a flash of fun colors caught my eye. Some of Maybelline's new Color Show nail polishes begged to come home with me. I scooped up #330 Tenacious Teal (very similar to Chanel's Jade if I remember correctly) & #350 Blue Freeze to add a little variety to my life. I dabbed Blue Freeze on with a tooth pick for polka dots to add a little whimsy to my manicure- you can use the end of a liner brush, as well. It's super easy.

I love the just-bigger-than-trial-sized bottles of polish. Who really finishes a whole bottle of polish before it becomes gooky & thick? I have one polish out of easily 50 shades that gets that much use. These bottles are a guilt free way of adding a dash of color into your life at under $3 a pop- at Walmart they were $2.97 a bottle! So go ahead- brighten your horizon!

Peace. Love. Polish. M

Polish Pic{k}s

I have been on a Zoya kick lately, I love that the shades are named after female monikers. No, unfortunately there's not a Madeleine shade (hint hint Zoya!), however there are more unusual names like Heidi & Tobey. Both my sister & one of my best friends are named Heidi, plus my cousin's name is Tobey. So I picked those shades as treats, because I'm sweet like that. However the Tobey polish never made it to Tobey, because I had to use it! 

Whether or my fingers or toes- the cool toned pink is so fresh & feminine. It's perfect for spring & summer.  I love it & that's saying something for this girl who gravitates towards dark polishes. I wear it with a tough ring to balance out the girliness, but I must admit I'm smitten.

Peace. Love. Polish. M

Polish Pic{k}s

Sometimes the packaging of something is just so cute, you have to have it. Such was the case with this Scandal nail polish that I picked at a recent skincare conference. The corseted top was to die for!

The polish, called Black Pearl, is a little naughty being black- with a touch of glam thrown in with the silver glitter. The glitter in this polish was a little rougher than a micro glitter though- so I could feel it through the top coat.  I also felt the texture cut through the shine of the top coat a bit & you know this girl loves shine!

Peace. Love. Polish. M

Polish Pic{k}s

I always love a good polish- especially during optimal pedicure season. So when I heard that the founder of Me Bath, a scrumptious line of body treats, launched a nail line- I wanted to check it out. First & foremost, I was thrilled to find out that it was vegan. An added plus is that the Whet polish formulas are what the company calls "Three Free." That means that their the lacquers are free of harmful chemicals like Formaldehyde, Tolune, and DBP(dibutyl phthalate.) That is a perk, especially since my nails are still brittle & breaking after a gel experience. 

I tried out Faux Pas on my piggies. It's a vibrant coral with the tiniest bit of shimmer to it. It's a great pop of color on the toes during sandal and flip flop season. There are 9 shades + a clear top coat in the initial launch of the line to 'whet' your appetite.  Expect some fun & fabulous limited edition shades, too!

Faux Pas on left, Nonchalant on right. Nonchalant is the color to reach for if you're loving the skin type foundation colors craze. Whet polishes retail for $15 &can be found here.

Peace. Love. Lipgloss.
*Gifted for review

Polish Pic{k}s: Pedicure Edition

This hot summer weather (it's close to a 100 degrees here in Baltimore) means it's definitely flip flop weather! For my toes, I love bright pops of color & picked out this China Glaze polish in Purple Panic.

Though China Glaze categorizes this shade as a neon, I think it falls just below in terms of loud factor.  I also think the shade name does nothing to convey the actual hue. It's a delightful pink with cool blue undertones.

Oddly enough- the polish has an interesting matte finish that gives you some versatility.

However, I love my nails to be super glossy, so I topped it off with my beloved Seche Vite & voila! Gorgeous tootsies!

Peace. Love. Polish. M

Polish Pic{k}s

So when I spotted Layla's Hologram Effect nail polish in Ulta I was intrigued. Though I usually favor dark color on my hands, I'm a glutton for special effects. Hologram is an avenue I haven't experienced before so I scooped it up- at a rather pricey $15.50 for a small bottle.  I normally draw the line at @$9 for my OPI & Essie polishes, unless I have to have a particular Chanel shade.   

As much as I wanted to fall in love with this polish, it just didn't cooperate. I buffed my nails (recommended) then used a ridge filler.  The first coat was very sheer and oddly matte.  The polish also had little globs in it that made it difficult to maneuver

 Usually the second coat hides all sins for me, but it was a bit streaky & then dried down to the same weird matte finish.  I topped with a clear top coat & thought I managed to salvage the manicure - not scrap it & have to start over with a different polish.  

 However upon inspection the next day, the polish looked so streaky that I ended up topping it with my trusty OPI for Sephora shimmery champagne color.  My only thought was that the chemical make-up of the polish was doing something odd with my topcoat, since it was already starting to turn matte again.  I then had chipping rather early on, too! I'm sad to report this polish was a total bust for moi in terms of performance! Has any one else tried it?

Peace. Love. Polish. M

Polish Pic{k}s

I love me some Dita Von Teese. I think she oozes class, style & sensuality. I love her retro look - her skin, make-up & hair are flawless! She always wears a vintage inspired reverse moon manicure & I wanted to recreate the look. So I painted a base coat & then applied a coat of OPI's Lucerne-Tanly Look Marvelous.

On Pinterest, every one said this style was easy to recreate. Just apply reinforcement labels where you want the reverse moon to go. Then on to the second coat of polish.

Liars! I start to get nervous as I apply the other color. The navy polish, OPI's gorgeous Light My Sapphire was very runny for some reason. I had some serious run off into my cuticles. I'm normally very good at polishing my nails, so this 'crafty' manicure attempt had me muttering an expletive or two or five.

Yes, this is the hot mess part. Certainly, no Dita here! Though in this picture it doesn't look awful. The problem is I couldn't get the round tabs to lie flat all the way across the nail. You also have to make sure the initial coat is very dry, or removing the round tab can pull up some of the inital polish coat. It didn't help that the navy was runny, but the tabs also weren't cooperating for me, either.

My remedy was to go back & cover the unevenness with a simple 'V' shape. I still like it & love the color combination- I just wish more of the silver was showing. I'm going to buy a nail polish pen & reattempt this in another color combo to see if it's any easier. I'll report back to you Beauties! In the meantime- what do you think?

Peace. Love. Polish. M