OPI Polka.com Reverse Gradient!

Good morning, readers! I have a quick and simple nail art post to share with you today using the three OPI Euro Centrale polishes I got recently! OPI You're Such A Budapest with OPI Can't Find My Czechbook accent nails, topped off with a reverse gradient using OPI Polka.com. These three were my favorite and I loved how they went so well together! A big thank you to my friend, Jen from My Polish Obsession, for grabbing these and sending them my way!

I used:

Duri Rejuvacote

3 coats of each OPI You're Such A Budapest and Can't Find My Czechbook

OPI Polka.com and makeup sponge to gradient from the tips

Poshe top coat

What do you think? Thanks for reading!

Nikki's Zoya Mani!

Hello, readers! Remember how I recently moved to a new state and bought our first house? Well, I have the best new neighbor! Her name is Nikki and she is a sweetheart! Nikki has gorgeous long natural nails and I've had so much fun painting nails together, checking out Zoya.com promos, and taking trips to Ulta with her! The best part is that she lives right next door! Anyway, I loved her color combo of this mani that she did last week so much that I asked if I could feature it on the blog!

She picked Zoya Jo for her main color and the new Zoya Pixie Dust in Vespa for her accent nails. I just LOVE that the texture is on her accent nails and I think its much more wearable that way for people that don't want their entire mani textured.

What do you think of the color/texture combo? I really want to try it on my own nails soon! I have a feeling you will be seeing more of Nikki's nails featured on AIA! Thanks for reading!

GlitterDaze St. Patty's Day Party Swatches!

Good morning, readers! It's time for more St Patrick's Day nail polishes! Today, I have a fun duo from GlitterDaze called St. Patty's Day Party and they are available to purchase THIS THURSDAY 2/28/13!

The duo consists of a green jelly with gorgeous flecks and a fun glitter topper!

Let's start with Lucky Clover! It's an emerald green jelly and it's packed with gorgeous green flecks! I'm showing two coats below without top coat. It's a true jelly polish so you will have visible nail line unless you try more coats than I did. It's so squishy, easy to work with, and the flecks add something really special to it! Love it! 

Onto the second part of this duo: Heart O Gold. This glitter topper is a clear base with holo gold stars and hearts, white hearts, copper and green glitter of different shapes and sizes, and a gorgeous copper shimmer. Really pretty and pairs nicely with Lucky Clover. I like that the green glitters are different than the green in Lucky Clover so they stand out instead of blending in. I'm showing one generous coat below with top coat. I did have to fish out a few of the bigger glitters but I think that has to do with the shape of the mini bottle and the shorter brush than any fault on the polish.

Look at the holo star! The copper shimmer over the flecks in Lucky Clover pair so nicely together!

And, if you know anything about me, you'll remember how much I love jelly sandwich manis. Of course I had to try one with this duo! I did one more coat of Lucky Clover over the previous mani shown above! What do you think?

What do you think of this duo? I really like it a lot! Duos are great because I don't even have to think of what to wear as a base color for the glitter! 

You can buy them here starting Thursday 2/28/13: www.GlitterDazeNP.com

Pricing: $11 full size $6 mini.

*You will get reward points on the purchases when creating an account.*

More GlitterDaze Links:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/glitterdaze

instagram: @glitterdaze

Twitter: @glitterdazenp

pinterest: www.pinterest.com/glitterdaze/glitterdaze

Two international stockists

www.meimeisignatures.com - ships worldwide except italy

www.ledouxnuage.com - based in france and ships to most of europe

Thanks for reading!

*The polishes in this post were sent for me to review with my honest opinion. 

Oopsie Daisies Glacier Swatches!

Hello, readers! Happy Sunday! I have the final Oopsie Daisies post for you today! This is my second favorite of the 4 I've shown you. Poseidon still wins! If you missed my other 3 posts, please click on their links below:

Four Leaf Fortune
Poseidon
Demeter

"From the Wintertime Wonders collection, Glacier is an icy way to dress up your nails. A minty aqua based creme polish with aqua and white matte glitter, with subtle iridescent small bar glitter and tiny hexes." I am showing three coats below with top coat. My only issue with Glacier was that the creme base was so thin that it was very bumpy after three coats from the chunky glitter. (Maybe this is why I prefer jelly based chunky glitter polishes?) I think it would need two top coat layers or a layer of a glitter tamer. Other than that, it's gorgeous and I love the small bar glitter that gives the hidden extra glow! No issues with application.

What do you think of Glacier? Which was your favorite Oopsie Daisies polish I posted on this week?

You can purchase this polish for $8.50 at the Oopsie Daisies Etsy shop below! 

Oopsie Daisies Links:

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/OopsieDaisiesNails

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OopsieDaisiesNailPolish

*The polish in this post was sent for me to review with my honest opinion.

Oopsie Daisies Demeter Swatches!

Good morning, readers! I have another Oopsie Daisies polish to show you today! This one is called Demeter and is part of the Mount Olympus Collection like Poseidon from yesterday's post.

Demeter is described on Etsy as: "Demeter, goddess of the harvest, is a peachy orange creme based polish with orange and yellow glitter." The yellow and orange glitter is teeny tiny and it definitely needs top coat. I'm showing 2 coats below with 1 coat of top coat but once that fully dried, it was still a bit rough to the touch so I recommend 2 coats of top coat. No issues with application!

What are your thoughts on Demeter? I'm not sure it goes very well with my skin tone, but it is definitely unique! 

You can purchase this polish for $8.50 at the Oopsie Daisies Etsy shop below! 

Oopsie Daisies Links:

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/OopsieDaisiesNails

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OopsieDaisiesNailPolish

Thanks for reading! I have 1 more Oopsie Daisies polish to show you this weekend so come back tomorrow!

*The polish in this post was sent for me to review with my honest opinion. 

Oopsie Daisies Poseidon Swatches!

Calling all blue lovers!! I have a gorgeous blue jelly glitter polish to show you today from Oopsie Daisies! It's called Poseidon and I am so totally in love with it! I won't say too much on it because the pictures speak for themselves.

Poseidon is described by Cathryn as: "Poseidon, god of the ocean, is a vibrant blue jelly polish with blue and aqua glitter with a subtle blue shimmer." I'm showing 2 coats with one coat of topcoat below. No issues with application at all! The shimmer is a gorgeous addition. Cathryn also notes in her Etsy listing that this has a stronger smell than the others, but I didn't even notice that at all while applying. 

Just look at how squishy it is, and that added shimmer!

What do you think of Poseidon? 

You can purchase this polish for $8.50 at the Oopsie Daisies Etsy shop below! 

Oopsie Daisies Links:

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/OopsieDaisiesNails

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OopsieDaisiesNailPolish

Thanks for reading! I have 2 more Oopsie Daisies polishes to show you this week so come back tomorrow!

*The polish in this post was sent for me to review with my honest opinion. 

Oopsie Daisies Four Leaf Fortune Swatches!

Hello, readers! Are you ready for my first St. Patrick's Day post? Hard to believe we are less than a month away! I am loving all of these holiday themed indie polishes and today's glitter topper from Oopsie Daisies is no exception! (And let me just ask, how CUTE is that brand name!? I love it).

Four Leaf Fortune is, "the magic at the end of a rainbow, with gold coins and plenty of shamrock green glitter. A clear based polish with three types of matte green glitter, tiny metallic emerald glitter and round gold 'coins'!" It was nicely packed with glitter and I'm showing one generous coat below! I didn't have to dig for glitter and had only minimal manipulation of the glitter. I love love love the gold "coins" in this polish and think it's a super cute idea for a St. Patrick's Day polish! Shown below with one coat and top coat over Essence Walk on the Wild Side.

What do you think of Four Leaf Fortune? 

You can purchase this polish for $8.50 at the Oopsie Daisies Etsy shop below! 

Oopsie Daisies Links:

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/OopsieDaisiesNails

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OopsieDaisiesNailPolish

Thanks for reading! I have 3 more Oopsie Daisies polishes to show you this week so come back tomorrow!

*The polish in this post was sent for me to review with my honest opinion. 

Pomegranate Lacquer: Prince Charmer and Royal Brat Swatches!

Good morning, readers! I have two of the new Pomegranate Lacquer Royal Fairy Tale Collection polishes today! You can see the bottle shots of the other colors on my previous post of the Press Release below:

Pomegranate Lacquer Royal Fairy Tale Collection PR

The first is called Prince Charmer, a "rich, lavender grey creme." It applied easily and was opaque in two coats. This is a very pretty color and I think I'll use it as a base for some nail art soon! Shown below with no top coat.

Next, we have Royal Brat. It is a "bright apple green jelly." It's squishy but too opaque for a jelly sandwich manicure (I tried) so it is sort of a crelly(creme and jelly hybrid) in my opinion. Gorgeous bright green that will be great in the summer months. I'm showing 3 coats below with no top coat.

What do you think of these two new Pomegranate Lacquers? 

You can find these for $8.50 at their website here: http://www.pomegranatelacquer.com/ 

International Orders can be placed through Star Trinkets: http://www.startrinkets.com/en/shop-2/category/nail-lacquer/pomegranate/

Follow on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pomegranatenaillacquer

Follow on Twitter: @freshjuicycolor

Follow on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/pomegranatenail

Thanks for reading!

*These polishes were sent for me to review with my honest opinion.

Digit-al Dozen DOES Love & Heartbreak: Love Letter

Hello, readers! Sadly, it's the last day of Digit-al Dozen week for the month. I really enjoy these art weeks, they make me enjoy nail art again and I love trying to figure out creative new ideas for the monthly themes.

I'm closing out this week with a simple manicure with a gorgeous unique Valentine's Day polish: The Nail Junkie's Love Letter. It's, "a symbolic polish with red, white, and pink mini sheets of paper (square glitters) and lots of  black ink (super teeny bar glitter and fine particle glitter) in a clear base." I loved this glitter and had to order it as soon as it was available on Etsy. It is currently in stock so go grab one!

I stamped some love designs from my essence stamping plate as well on my accent nails and love this mani! So easy but eye catching as well.

Look at the secret shimmer I didn't know about!

I used:

Duri Rejuvacote

2 coats of Sinful Colors Smokin

1 coat of Nail Junkie Love Letter

2 coats of Zoya Posh on my accent nail

Konad special polishes in white and pink with my essence stamp plate 

Poshe top coat

What do you think? Here is a fun collage of this week's Love & Heartbreak manis! Hope you've enjoyed the week! Thanks for reading!

Digit-al Dozen DOES Love & Heartbreak: Simple Heart Stamping!

Hello, readers! I'm a bit late on posting today's Digit-al Dozen manicure for you, but I decided that I wanted to spend Valentine's Day with my hubby and kiddos and am just now getting a free minute to post.

I am a little disappointed at how this stamping turned out. The stamp was great, but it didn't show up as well as I'd hoped over Deborah Lippmann Sweet Dreams. Sweet Dreams was so gorgeous on it's own that I probably should have just left it that way. Let's just look at the pretty base color instead LOL!

I used:

Duri Rejuvacote

2 coats of Deborah Lippmann Sweet Dreams

China Glaze Passion and Cheeky stamp plate CH-15

NYC Grand Central Station quick dry top coat

So what do you think? Can't love them all. At least I'm totally in love with Sweet Dreams!

Come back tomorrow to see the final day of Digit-al Dozen Love & Heartbreak week!

Digit-al Dozen DOES Love & Heartbreak: Abstract Heartbreak

Hello, readers! It's Day 3 in this month's Digit-al Dozen art week. The theme is Love & Heartbreak and I've shown you two "love" themed manis so far and changed it up today with one that is more representative of "heartbreak."

I loved the idea of using crackle nail polish to do a broken heart and thought that some sugar spun nails paired with it would make a cool look. I think it's kind of abstract, and like that my heart didn't turn out perfect.

I sugar spun light gray, charcoal gray, and black over a dusty teal color and really like how it turned out! Are you seeing a texture theme of this week as well? I didn't top coat this because I wanted the texture to be a big part of the mani.

I used:

Duri Rejuvacote

2 coats of Misa Dirty, Sexy, Money

1 coat of Poshe top coat

Sugar spun with a toothpick:

 Sinful Colors Cool Gray, Sinful Colors Smokin, and Wet n Wild Black Creme

OPI Black Shatter for the heart

What do you think? I love how this looks in person and am wearing it as a full mani today! Thanks for reading, come back tomorrow for another Love & Heartbreak design!

Digit-al Dozen DOES Love & Heartbreak: Footprints in the Sand

Good morning, readers! Digit-al Dozen Love & Heartbreak week continues! Today's post is one that I was really looking forward to trying and I am pretty happy with how it turned out! Once I ordered Zoya Godiva from the Pixie Dust collection, I knew I had to try a beach manicure because it looked like beach sand to me! It paired so perfectly with Deborah Lippmann On The Beach that I just ordered from Apothica and the dual texture look is super fun!

The hard part was making the footprints and initials "drawn" in the sand. The sandy texture of the Zoya made it hard for clean lines on the small details. Oh well, all in all, I think it's a pretty cool idea. In case you couldn't tell, the initials in the heart are "J+W" for me and my husband, Wes. We've been married over 7 years. :)

I love the texture in this pic!

J+W

Look at the glitter in the sand!

 I used:

Duri Rejuvacote

2 coats of Deborah Lippmann On The Beach

Acetone and my clean up brush to make wiggly tips wiping off some of the blue

1 coat of NYC Grand Central Station to seal in the "water"

2 coats of Zoya Godiva on the bare tips to make the sand

OPI Wooden Shoe Like To Know? and a striping brush for the details

What do you think? I am really loving these new Zoyas and can't wait to figure out some more fun ideas to use them for! 

Come back tomorrow for another Love & Heartbreak mani! Thanks for reading!

Digit-al Dozen DOES Love & Heartbreak: Zoya Pixie Dust Stripes

Hello, readers! It's time for this month's Digit-al Dozen nail art week! Are you excited? This month's theme is Love & Heartbreak.

I wasn't feeling very inspired last night for this theme but I did want to try out my new Zoya Pixie Dust polishes so this is what I came up with. Simple, not sure it should qualify as a Digit-al Dozen manicure but it will have to do for today's post. I got the heart gems in a bundle monster accessory wheel.

I am really liking the Pixie Dust polishes! The texture is no where near as rough as I was imagining. Two coats is the perfect texture, but adding 2 coats for the stripe of London wasn't so great. It took a while to dry completely and it didn't get to the same "roughness" as the first 2 coats of Nyx. Obviously shown with no top coat.

My camera was having a hard time focusing on the texture of the nail polish!

I used:

Duri Rejuvacote

2 coats of Zoya Nyx

2 coats of a stripe of Zoya London

Heart stones stuck with a dab of quick dry top coat on the backing

What do you think? I have a really cool idea in mind for a design this week and hope I can try it out and post for tomorrow! Thanks for reading!

The End of Dandy Nails Week! Day 7: Flamingo Kisses

Hello, readers! Sadly, it is the end of Dandy Nails Week here on AIA. I hope you've enjoyed the week, come check out what you've missed if you weren't keeping up:

Day 1: Started Out with a Kiss
Day 2: Bound to Fall
Day 3: Piece of Youth
Day 4: Wish it Away
Day 5: Paranoia is in Bloom
Day 6: Just Hugs

I've decided to end this week long event with a very special polish. This is Flamingo Kisses. It is inspired by Victoria Soto, a brave teacher lost in the Sandy Hook tragedy. Sandy from Dandy Nails found out that Victoria loved collecting flamingos of all sizes, so she made this gorgeous polish to honor her and her bravery. 100% of the profits of this polish will go to the Victoria L. Soto Memorial Fund for Education. 

It is a gorgeous color and applied beautifully! A soft pink base with multicolored flecks aimed to create a flamingo-like look. I did 2 coats with one coat of top coat for the pictures below.

I thought this polish deserved some pretty free hand nail art so I drew a flamingo (OPI Sparrow Me The Drama) and some kisses (OPI Houston We Have a Purple)! The kisses were inspired by Sarah's Lover's Kisses post from last year, and were super easy with a dotting tool. 

Just LOOK at those amazing flecks!

How gorgeous is this polish? And for an amazing cause, you can't go wrong. You can also enter to win this polish, along with a ton more, over at the Lacquered Lover Sandy Hook Fundraiser/Giveaway! 

Flamingo Kisses is Limited Edition so get it while you can!

You can purchase this for $8(15 mL) at the Dandy Nails Etsy Shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/DandyNails

Don't forget to "Like" Dandy Nails on Facebook for updates:

https://www.facebook.com/dandynailspolish?fref=ts

I hope you've enjoyed Dandy Nails Week as much as I have!

Thanks for reading!

*The polish in this post was send for me to review with my honest opinion.