Day Four - Delicate Print

Back on track! I had ideas for all the other days in the challenge, and now I am rejuvenated!
I've been trying to go through my polish stash and use polishes I've only used once. To start the delicate print day, I used a base of Zoya Jo. It's beautiful cornflower blue! I don't know why I don't wear it more often. I then stamped using BM 310 and white stamping polish and came out with this...

 Much love for these nails! I tried stamping in silver first, but it didn't show up the way I wanted it to. I think the white looks even better though! It reminds me of porcelain plates!

Day Three - Inspired by a Tutorial

This was incredibly difficult for me. I could not find anything I had the time to do. I'm in the middle of second tests and projects at school, and I nearly forgot to do this day in the first place.

 I used the Nailasaurus' Simple Flowers tutorial - I used Girly Bits Cu Blue, Zoya Jancyn, and white stamping polish. I don't have a dotting tool, so I used a bobby pin.

Well...I like my thumb....my ring finger not so much. This is my first ever 'dotting' attempt, so I guess I can't be too upset. I flipping love Cu Blue though - that copper shimmer is to die for!!

Erica's Nail Art Challenge Day 1 - Rainbow

I gone done it again!
Erica at Erica's Nails and More is hosting another challenge!!!

This one takes the whole month, and gives three days to perform the requirement.
For rainbow, I decided to 'try' a tape mani. Now, I don't have striping tape, but I used painters tape cut into little stripes. It's messy, and I added top coat too fast, but I like it.

 The yellow was a disaster, but I like the overall effect.
I used (from L-R) OPI Funky Dunkey, Zoya Robyn, Zoya Pippa, Zoya Jancyn, and OPI Friar, Friar, Pants on Fire. I then put the tape down and used NOPI Razzle Dazzler.

Last Pink Wednesday - Zoya Kimber

Warning - this is a mess
I have been super busy - the aftermath of the hurricane caused a car accident, and I`ve been dealing with insurance and body shops :( I didn`t want to miss the last one!
I used Zoya Kimber, and stamped using white Konad polish and BM 310

I`m a fan of Kimber, and the Zoya Surf Collection as a whole. I shelled out my money to get all of them - that`s something I rarely do.

Halloween Nails #1

It's a widely known fact about me that I'm not a fan of Halloween. I haven't dressed up in years. It's just another day for me. I have a bizarre phobia of wigs as well, which doesn't help. It's just not a good time.

But I decided that I like Halloween colours, so I'm showing this mani I'm wearing and am in LOVE with.

I started with a base of Zoya Tanzy - which was the first Zoya I ever bought and am in love with to this day. So bright and sparkletastic! I then dabbed on some Colorblind, and topped it off with the matte top coat.

Ugh, I just love it so. I wore it shiny for almost a day, but I wasn't as stuck on it as I am now. It will break my heart to take it off.

Pretty and Polished Sand Art

What fresh hell!
It's sunny!!!!
I can finally take a photo of what my nails are wearing!!
I've had Sand Art for about a month, but I ended up moving it around in my polish closet and it was out of sight, out of mind. When I went and rearranged some stuff - I grabbed it and put it on right then and there.

I used Zoya Robyn as underwear, and put three coats of Sand Art over top.

This is a serious love for me - I love the colours in this polish! I also like that I can layer it over anything my heart desires :)

I never got Sand Art as a child, but I'm sure glad I have it as an adult! This may have to be in my top 10 for 2012.

Go Pink! Wednesday - Zoya Shelby and Rainbow Honey A Little Kindness

Ack - I've been sicky sick since Monday! So this will be a short one, since my head still thinks it weighs 100lbs.
I started with a base of Zoya Shelby, then added 2 coats of A Little Kindness. From my recent Rainbow Honey haul, I love this one the most! The shimmers are great but they are wayyyy to thick for my liking. So until I get polish thinner, you won't be seeing them here :(

 A Little Kindness adds epic sparkle and 'zazzle' to this creme base. I usually hate cremes, and only use them for layering. It has a pink shimmer in the base, and large pink and gold hex glitter

Girly Bits Daddy's Little Girl

I wanted this polish so badly for so long. I always managed to miss it when Pam restocked. I got lucky and got it in a swap last month!
I used Zoya Song for underwear - and it is the perfect colour match!

Daddy's Little Girl is a mix of blue and purple glitter in a clear base. This is two coats on top of one coat of Song.

It was hard to photograph, because the purple glitter never seem to want to show up.

It is super gorgeous though!  It was also very easy to apply. A but messy, but I'm always messy when I paint my nails....

Go Pink! Wednesday and September Haul!

Well well, after a week of devastating midterms, I am back to posting!
There is a blogger named Andrea over at the blog Finger Painting Fingers who is doing a Go Pink! challenge to support breast cancer. At her site, there is also a link to an indie polish brand (Perception Nail Lacquer) who is selling a polish she help create. Part of the proceeds go to the New Mexico Cancer Center.
So in honour of this, today is Go Pink! Wednesday and we are to paint our fingers PINK! I didn't do nail art because I was pressed for time, but I used Zoya Happi.

Happi is such a pretty colour! It is a bubblegum pink with serious gold flashes.

I actually got it by mistake, thinking it was Reece. Lucky for me, because I actually like Happi better. It's part of Zoya's Reverie Collection, which I happen to own all of :)

Now on to my September haul....which after I took all the photos was much more extensive than I thought it would be.
First, the polishes I actually bought.

 At Trade Secret, I had to get Everybody Loves Oktoberfest - it's an epic polish. I also grabbed Myrta and Elisa on sale in the half off bin. I think Elisa being in there was a mistake, but I'm not complaining!

 To my surprise, Winners had the OPI Germany Collection as well. I grabbed Deutsch You Want Me Baby? (sorry for the crappy light in the shot) and China Glaze Unpredictable, both for awesome prices.

 I'm really digging these new Essence Colour and Go polishes my Shoppers Drug Mart has. I didn't buy the old ones, but Chic Reloaded and Grey-t to Be Here really spoke to me. You can kind of see the pink flash Grey-t has!

I got my two Pretty and Polished Lemmings from a FB sale group! Here's Sand Art and Jawbreaker.

 I originally just bought Polished Perfection Leaping Lizards from Epic Nail Time's blog sale, but she sent me Polished Perfection Easy Peasy and Fever Lacquer There Is No Odyssey as well! Much love to Caitlin!

And then there was Rainbow Honey! I picked up some mini's since I'd never used them before, but I love love LOVE them! This is A Little Kindness, Ephemeral, Wistful and Celestia.

I also did a wee bit of swapping, and I'll save the best for last :)

On MUA, I swapped and got Girly Bits Daddy's Little Girl and China Glaze Sweet Hook.
Drumroll please.............

CATRICE!!
A great swapper in Belgium picked me up some Catrice polished I'd been lemming for quite some time!
We have Captain Sparrow's Boat, Steel My Heart, Steel My Soul, Dirty Berry, George Blueney, and Essence Just In Case!

Wow...that was a lot of polishes. Anything you guys want to see?

Erica's Challenge Day 8 - Galaxy Nails!

I was super worried about trying this for the first time. Since my gradient fail I was worried about sponging again. I'd never tried galaxy nails because it looked so intimidating! For my first attempt, I think it's not bad. I get the feeling my stars look kind of weird, but maybe that's just me?

I started with two coats of Zoya Ibiza. It's my go to navy blue. Then I sponged (in this order) China Glaze Bahamian Escape, Zoye Fei Fei, and Zoya Laney. I'm actually glad I used Fei Fei - it is hard to see since my photos are lame, but it adds awesome multi-colour sparkle to my galaxy. I then added the dots with Sally Hansen's White On. Not satisfied with the amount of polishes used (eye roll) I added a top coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust.
Also, I just realized I've never address my top/base coats....ever. Those who were(n't) wondering, I used Essie All in One base coat and Essie Good to Go top coat.
Two more days! Then I'll have to think for myself.....

Erica's Challenge Day 6 - Polka Dots!

I love me some spotted nail goodness. For someone who loves dots so much, you'd be surprised to know that I don't own a dotting tool...I'm an embarrassment to a nail art challenge. Don't worry, I will rectify this problem.
I really wanted to wear Zoya Myrta, which I just got half price! This completed my Surf collection! My OCD makes me very keen on finishing collections.
Something that stuck with me from childhood is that orange and blue go together, a la complementary colours. So I decided to Konad stamp polka dots using A-England Tristam. Unfortunately, I anticipated Tristam to be more opaque, but I still think it looks acceptable.

Sorry...my pinkie looks all kinds of jacked up. It looks fine in real life I swear.
Tomorrow's challenge is flowers, and I'm probably going to have to stamp....again. I am truly an abomination!

Erica's Challenge Day Four - Saran Wrap

Quick post today - Saran wrap was the texture of choice today in the Erica's Nails challenge (those of you just joining us, her blog is in my blogroll -->
I went for a subtle look - I didn't want extreme marble city on my nails. I started with Zoya Quinn, a deep berry red, and used China Glaze's Swing Baby over top. I then dabbed the excess Swing Baby off, which left me with this.

It's interesting to look at I must say. It reminds me of velvet for some reason. It also appears I need to invest in some other method of clean up - I use q-tips right now and it's not looking so hot. Any suggestions?

In other EXCITING news, I saw the first promo pics of the Holiday Zoya Collection. It's called Ornate, and it has 6 sparkle-tastic shades!

I think I need Blaze and Aurora....and Logan and Ziv...or maybe all of them. Better start saving those pennies now!

Erica's Challenge Day 3 - Favourite Season

Hey y'all! Are you impressed I haven't missed a day yet? I know I am. Today's theme was seasons. I flipping love the fall - the colours, the weather, back to school. It doesn't help that I have a (late) fall birthday either.
Alas, the stamping plates I have do not have leaves! I was very upset because that was my plan. So I used the colour that to me is Fall in a bottle - Deutsch You Want Me Baby from OPI's Germany Collection. To spice things up I did an accent nail using Zoya Elisa as underwear and China Glaze Electrify.

I'm so glad I decided to grab this OPI - I hummed and hawed about it many times, until I saw it on sale at Winners. It's also currently on my toes :)

Erica's Challenge Day 2 - Favourite Animal

Now I've been excited for this since I read the challenge list. Why you ask? Because it's not animal print per se, it's your favourite animal. My favourite animal is clearly my cat - so I used his 'colour palette' as inspiration for these nails.

My baby, Indiana Dingus Jones, is completely black. That made for super boring nails - but his collar is a silver glitter extravaganza. So I used NOPI Razzle Dazzler for my black base (the name of that polish is deceiving, no?) and stamped using BM 316 and Zoya Trixie. I realized after I uploaded my pictures that my cleanup was atrocious, so I'm sorry for the people reading this that had to scratch their eyes out after looking at this.

These nails actually got the seal of approval from the boyfriend, so all in all I'm impressed. Now, I must include a bonus photo of my fur-baby! Here he is after adventuring up the fridge and claiming the top of the cupboards for all kitteh kind.

Erica's Nail Challenge - Day 1

Here it goes! Day one - my favourite colour. I love purple - my phone is purple, my notebooks are purple, my pencil case is purple. If my boyfriend would let me paint my car purple, I would. So naturally, I purpled the heck out of my nails. Now I know this is a nail art challenge, but I am completely art-tarded. So until I need to art, I will not. I will stamp! I used Zoya Mimi and NOPI Light my Candle.

As you can see, I've used Mimi a fair bit in the year that I've had her. The only polish I've used more is Zoya Dannii. Here is the most colour accurate photo I could get today of Mimi on her own.

She's so pretty! I used my old camera today because I lacked batteries for the new one.
Then I stamped using BM 314 and Light my Candle.

It's not my best, but it will do I suppose. I'm super excited for tomorrow so I'm impatient I guess. I'm also mad I couldn't get a colour accurate photo....grrr. Maybe on day 10 I'll revisit purple.

Day Three - Zoya Pippa

Uh.....right...yellow.

I have two yellow polishes, ChG Lighthouse and Zoya Pippa. I've never used Pippa and I figured today was as good as any day.

I really wanted to like it. In actuality it wasn't bad, I just wasn't inspired by it today. It's rainy, that's my excuse.

So I went and ruined it more by adding Black Shatter. Now I'm removing it as soon as I put it on.

Day Two - Zoya Gwin

Hi y'all - I'm so excited to wear this lady! I got this around Christmas in a swap and I held off from using it until now. I just looked at it in the bottle, and fell more in love everyday.

This was my best attempt to catch the green/yellow flash that is in the bottle

So pretty! I don't wear orange a lot, but it is my favourite! I'm waiting for Lana in the mail so maybe there will be a faceoff.

This is kind of a blahh shot but it's the best on at this angle. It looks much better....

RIGHT HERE! BAM POW!

Maybe tomorrow I will get it in the sunlight because...

I got my first llarowe order which had Princess Tears and Ascalon! I want to photo my swatches in the sun to try them out. Naturally I would get these right after I started the challenge...I always have my toes to paint!

Zoya Reva...and a little bit of nonsense

First the polish! I just got Reva in a MUA swap, and I'm loving it! It's a cool pinkish red with golden shimmer!

And finally - I got a picture in the sun! I'm a super night owl, so when I paint them fresh, it's usually at 11pm. But I was doing some schoolwork today and was mesmerized by my nails, and I remembered to snap some pics.

I really wish I knew what caused that random brown spot on my index finger...hangnail fail mayhaps?

Now, on the slightly related nonsense - every time I say 'Reva', I immediately redirect to 'Reba', which redirects me to this.

I love the Lonely Island. Andy Samberg makes my day. The only two men I love more are Darren Criss and Kevin McHale. And yes, I clearly love a man who can pull off hipster glasses.