Pure Ice + Zoya

This is Pure Ice's Heartbreaker layered over Zoya Caitlin.... absolutely cool!

Caitlin itself was already pretty, especially under sunlight. I could not get over how smooth the application looked. A day later I decided to layer Heartbreaker over it since everyone seemed to like it as a top coat (Heartbreaker itself is too sheer). The result is a beautiful teal-green duochrome with muted gray-purple undertones.

One thing I hated: shrinkage. Something with the Pure Ice polish reacted with the SV top coat because my nails got craaaaaazy shrinkage. I've noticed that my Zoya's haven't been able to last very long with SV either. Good thing I change manicures enough to not care as much... hahaha.

Colorful Dotted French!

Quick post with my most recent nails! Sorry for the small images.

Colors used:

- Base: Zoya Marley

- Dots: LA Colors - (sorry don't know the magenta name!)

Zoya Robyn

Pure Ice - Wild Thing

Essence - What Do U Think?

Long Time No See!

Hi everyone!

Today I'm posting three different manis I've been rockin' since the last time I posted. In chronological order, here they are:

Remember the Essence nail stickers I bought a while back? Well, I wore them out! The application was pretty simple: just find the right size, stick, and file off the excess. Sadly, my nails are small compared to the sticker sizes they provided in the package, so I used up all the small ones. Hahaha. The largest one they have can actually fit on my big toe if I wanted.

It's REALLY metallic. I had some serious foil-age goin' on when I wore them out, especially when the sun was out. I think I blinded several people, but that's why I loved them! Unfortunately, I didn't like the fact that my nail edges never felt smooth. I peeled them off two days later and went back to nail polish. The design was great, but I still love painting good ol' polish on my fingers instead.

Another thing I think some people don't know about me: I hate crackle polish. I never understand why some people are SO obsessed about it, especially the colorful shades. For the most part, it looks like a disease, or very poorly constructed roads. But I figured I shouldn't hate on something without reason, so I picked up OPI's Black Shatter at the local beauty store back at home (for $6 only! Figured I shouldn't pay full price if I wasn't sure about it). I layered it over Zoya Zara, a pretty medium purple with warm golden shimmer.

I messed up my index finger, but the rest of my fingers look better. Ya know what, black crackle polish isn't so bad after all. It's quite alright. I still don't agree on the other colors out there though, like red and blue. *Blech* :P

I stopped by Walgreens today and picked up several polishes that were on sale! Guess who's on a glitter craze!?

L to R: Wet n' Wild Night Prowl, Kaleidoscope, Sally Hansen Ice Queen, Wet n' Wild Party of Five Glitters, and Teal of Fortune (which looks blue in this picture...it's more teal IRL)

I pulled out a baby blue creme polish (The Face Shop in BL602) I got from Debbie while I was in Korea. It's streaky on the first coat but evens out quite nicely by the 2nd and 3rd coats. I was super excited by my new purchases and used Kaleidoscope and Ice Queen on top! I dumped extra glitter on the tips, and I quite like it!

Blurred to show glitter:

It's so glittery and sparkly that I was distracted by my nails while driving out today. I probably shouldn't be doing that, hahaha. It's so pretty!

Zoya Bela & ULTA (essentially Essence) Haul!

Zoya Bela is a cute, wearable light pink that is buildable in 3 coats. Apparently it made an appearance in Black Swan, but I still haven't watched the movie yet, so I have no idea how it all matters. However, what matters is that Bela is a very pretty color for all skin tones, clothing choices, and it's very work-appropriate.

But obviously there is no way that I'm just going to leave it alone. :P I pulled out Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri in Night Flight, some Konad materials, a dotting tool, and scotch tape to create the mani below:

w/o flash

w/ flash

My lines with the tape are not clean, but I think I did pretty decently for a first-time tape user. I really love this mani...it's simple but intriguing.

This past week I've been to ULTA twice...both times using this awesome $5 off $10 coupon to get all of these. I believe it was about $14~$15 for all. Pretty awesome deal! I went Essence-crazy since everything was so cheap!

I think I'm particularly excited about the nail stickers...the design looks like shattered glass! I think there's a konad plate out there with a design similar to this, but I don't own the Bundle Monster Plates (barely got a stamp and scraper last week, yo) and I've never tried nail stickers either. Doesn't hurt to try! This was $2.49 before coupon deduction.

Oh, and a bonus: I did my apartmentmate's nails last week for Sun God! I followed Chloe's tutorial here and my aptmate liked it very much. :)

Essie - Merino Cool

The other Essie polish I mentioned picking up (in the previous post) from a haul is Essie's Merino Cool. Merino Cool is a gray-purple taupey color that looks mature and refined without being a boring light pink. It's neutral enough to be office-appropriate but enough to get noticed.

You can see the purple better in this picture. This is 2 coats.

(Sorry for the dry hands....heh.)

Taped off a diagonal section and painted on Zoya Marley, a creamy soft lilac with subtle shimmer. Added some gold rhinestones along the line, and topped it off with some Seche Vite! I love this top coat.

Final pic of my mani while wearing a cute handmade rose ring made by my boyfriend's baby sister! :)

Essie Blanc Polka Dot Mani

Happy belated Mother's Day!

I went home to LA for the weekend to see my mom and finally went to this beauty shop in my area for a nail polish haul! Sadly, I don't have any pictures of what I bought since most of the things I got I left with my mother as a gift. Nevertheless, many of the things I got were a steal! This place sells Essie for $3, ORLY for $3.75, and OPI for $4.75! I picked up a dotting tool, glass filer, two Essies, one OPI, Essie fill-the-gap base, top coat, konad stamp/scraper and a couple templates for just $25. :)

One of the polishes I purchased was Essie's Blanc. It's a plain white polish that I would assume most nail fans would own, but for some reason, I only have white polishes with striper brushes. So this is the first time I've been able to paint my entire nails white! I used the new dotting tool I got and picked out several colorful polishes for this mani. It's super cute and fun, but for some reason I wasn't feeling it, so I've taken it off already.

Polishes used in this mani:

- Essie in Blanc

- Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in 330 Posh Pink

- Zoya in Robyn

- Pure Ice in #616 Wild Thing

- Etude House in Lilac Milk (direct translation from Korean)