Spring Fever

Happy first week of spring, polishists!

Here in New York, we are about to sue Puxatony Phil for false advertising! It's currently 44 degrees, and warmer weather is nowhere in sight :( Despite the reality of the situation (it's coooooollldddd!!), it is, in fact, springtime. And I decorated my nails to celebrate its arrival!

I wanted to go for a subtle mani for this week, after the colorful one I had for St. Patrick's Day.

I picked up these Sally Hansen Salon Effects in All A- Flutter nail decals a few weeks ago, and I wasn't sure if I would wear them. They looked a little juvenile, but I still copped them. When I was thinking about my manicure for this week... the week before Easter, first week of spring- they seemed completely appropriate.

I decided to pair All A-Flutter with Wet n Wild's Break the Ice. Back when I was just starting my polish habit, I loved Wet n Wild's Megalast formula because they lasted longer than other polishes I was using. I'm changing my polish more often now, but I do still love Megalast! Break the Ice is a pearl off- white that is perfect for professional settings.

I definitely see myself wearing this again.

So, polishists, how's the weather where you are?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Polishists!!

Sorry for the late posting- my weekend to-do list is about a mile long! I haven't mentioned it on the blog, but I am actually a doctoral candidate who is working part time and trying to finish my dissertation! Whew! A lot is going on. I appreciate your patience and loyalty :) Hopefully this dissertation roller coaster will be over soon!

Anyway, on to my festive nails!

I was trying to keep it simple, but... that didn't exactly work out.

Here is the cast of characters.

I used Essie's Mojito Madness as my main color. It's a vibrant kelly green that goes opaque in two coats. The formula is a little thin, but I like the results.

On my index finger, I toped Mojito Madness with Orly's Sashay My Way. It's a festive glitter with hexagonal and rectangular pieces. It's not my favorite, but it is really unique.


I tried a striping manicure again and am crazy about the results! The underwear is a butterscotch gold from Color Club. There wasn't a name on it, and I bought it at a local discount store (Lot Less, for you New Yorkers). It's a pretty color, but it dries a little streaky. I like it as a base color for a tape mani, and perhaps a good color for stamping...? We shall see.

I used the Color Club polish as the base color for my ring finger and accented it with green striping tape . I sealed the design with two coats of Seche Vite.

Finally, I did a glitter gradient on the pinky finger. I used e.l.f.'s Gold Star over Mojito Madness for this look. I am LOVING the glitter gradients. This will not be my last one :)



I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out. Not exactly work- appropriate, but cute nonetheless!

How did you spend your St. Patty's Day?

Ay, Que Rica!

Today I am bringing you something short and sweet :)

This week I kept it simple. Nothing fancy, no special tools, no multiple colors or layers. Just this:

Zoya Rica. And, sí, es muy rica!!

Rica is a tangerine color with a glass fleck overload! I love it!! It reminds me of if tangerine soda existed. Wait, does it?

I just Googled it. It does.

Moving on...

This is two coats, topped with Seche Vite. Lovely.

I may add some art later on this week, but I like how this looks for right now! What do you think?

My first glitter gradient

Hello, Polishists!

For this week's manicure, I wanted to try something that I have previously failed at: a glitter gradient. In the past, I tried a method involving painting the nail multiple times. Didn't work. But recently, I stumbled upon this tutorial, and what resulted was magical.

I love glitter gradients with natural-looking polish. In my mind, I envision myself in a rowboat (think the "Kiss the Girl" scene in The Little Mermaid), dipping my fingertips into the water, and gently dragging them as we merrily row along. Did I mention that the water is made of glitter?

Anyway, onto the polish.

For the beige/ nude polish, I used Essie's Allure. It is probably the closest shade to my natural nail bed. It's pretty sheer, even though I used three coats.

The glitter polish is from Ulta's house brand, in Indigo-go Girl. It's a brilliant glitter polish with differently sized glitter pieces.

Overall, I'm pleased as punch with this mani. It's a really easy way to add a little pizzazz to a basic mani.

Do you have any quick mani tricks when your polish job is just meh?

Happi Nails :-D

Hello, Polishists!

I'm bringing you another installment from my latest Zoya haul. My coworker (a fellow polish enthusiast) brought up the fact that neither of us has worn coral polish in a while. Coral is one of those rare colors that works well for the palest of the pale to the darkest of the dark! So, this week, I turned to my haul for some coral inspiration.

Coral always reminds me of summer, the Caribbean, and the beach... all things that I love to think about this time of year! The weather is pretty miserable in New York today... cold, windy, and rainy :( Good thing I have my nails to make me... Happi!

Happi is a stunning pinkish coral with gold flecks. It is absolutely stunning! It goes on smoothly, and is opaque in 2 coats. I was concerned at first, because the first coat was kind of streaky. But, the second coat masked the streakiness of the first coat, though.

For the accent nail, I used Revlon's Brilliant Strength in Hypnotize. It goes on opaque in one coat.

Just because I wanted to be fancy and do what all the cool kids do, I attempted a striping tape design. I kept the design simple: three vertical lines of varying lengths.

While the design came out pretty clear, I think the colors are too similar to create the desired contrast effect. I love Happy, I love Hypnotize, and I love striping tape manis... but I do not love them all together.

What about you, Polishists? Have you tried a striping tape mani? How did it turn out? Which colors did you use? I'm interested in trying this technique again!

Walking on the Wild Side

Hello, Polishists!

How are you doing? Were you snowed in like me and much of the rest of the Northeast? Thankfully, I was safe and sound. Being cabin-bound gave me loads of time to relax, watch old episodes of The Wire (I had never watched it before... someone write me a late pass! It's soooo good!), and, of course, do my nails.

Cobalt blue has been one of the hottest colors in fashion for a little while now. I LOVE cobalt blue and have several CB clothing items in my closet. I've been seeing the pairing of cobalt blue and animal prints around lately, and I adore the combination. Since I was going to be out of work for a few days, I decided to do an NSFW manicure. No... not like that... just probably not what you would expect from a professional in an office setting. Anyway, enough suspense. On to the nails.

For the zebra stripes, I used Sally Hansen's Salon Effects in Wild Child. The Salon Effects are nail-shaped stickers that you apply to your nails in lieu of painting them. They're pretty cool and pretty easy to use. The Salon pack comes with nail strips of different sizes and a mini orange stick and nail file. You first apply the sticker onto your nail, cut and file the nail down to the correct size, and then finish it off with a top coat. I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri No Chip Top Coat.

The cobalt blue is also a favorite of mine. It's good ol' Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Co-Bolt Blue. It's a rich cobalt with silver and blue shimmer. It's opaque in one coat and dries pretty quickly.

The black polish is Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure in Onyx. Onyx is a bit watery, but I was satisfied with its opacity after two coats. It's a no-frills flat black that I recommend as a Polishist staple.

Both Co-Bolt Blue and Onyx dry with a shiny finish, but I wanted to change things up a bit so I used a matte top coat. Now, I've been burned by matte topcoats in the past. But, I figured something out: matte coats are not like your average shiny topcoat that you can just slap on a couple minutes after your second coat. This time, I waited until the polish dried completely, then applied the topcoat. Success!

The topcoat I used was Gosh Matte Effect Top Coat. I love it! It's a little streaky, but matte coats tend to be unforgiving. I did this mani a couple of days ago and there has been minimal signs of wear- even on the tips.

I'm overall quite pleased with my wild side mani! Now, back to The Wire!

Are there any trends that you've been late on?

Zoya on Zoya on Zoya!

Hello Polishists!

Long time, no see!

I've been super busy lately, hence my lack of posting. But! I'm all the way back!!

I teased you with this little gem...

And now, the big reveal! Here's what was in the box:

From L to R: Happi, Reva, Tosca, Rica, Meadow, Vespa, Skylar, Megan, Julie, Mimi, Mikka, Godiva.

Surprise! There were two boxes :)

Zoya recently had their annual Color Your World sale, where they give away 3 bottles of polish, absolutely free! You only had to pay $10 shipping. I decided that I didn't feel like paying the $10 shipping, so I picked out 3 more polishes so that I would be eligible for free shipping with $25 purchase!

I did that twice, 'cuz I'm sneaky like that.

Phew! I won't need to buy any polish for a looooooong time!

I wanted to make the most of the promotion, so I picked up two bottles from one of their newest collections, Pixie Dust. Polishes from that line have a textured matte finish. I got Vespa and Godiva.

I didn't even know where to start when I went to do this week's manicure, so I decided to keep it relatively simple.

Godiva, featuring Essie Case Study.

Godiva is a soft gold with silver and gold sparkles. It dries matte with a slightly bumpy texture- I would compare it to the surface of a glass file. I used two coats which dried quite quickly (less than 10 minutes). You're not supposed to use a top or base coat with this polish. I'm not good at following directions so I used a base coat, but no topcoat. I like Godiva, it's sparkly without being over the top, and the texture is quite interesting.

Case Study is one of my favorites. It reminds me of when I first started drinking coffee (as a little girl) and I would add approximately one gallon of non-dairy creamer to two teaspoons of coffee. It's a khaki creamish color that goes on opaque in about two coats. It dries quickly and is just generally awesome. This is the third time I've worn it in the last two weeks.

Yeah, there were secret manicures, what of it???

What about you, Polishists? Is there a color you can't stop wearing? Spill the beans!

What's in the box?!?!?

Just a little teaser for my next post.... Stay tuned!

Royal Nails

Hello, Polishists!

Are you ready to be back at work? Here in the U.S., many of us had yesterday off to commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with the bonus of celebrating the second inauguration of President Barack Obama! It was quite a day!

I took the day to reflect on the First Family- our version of royalty in America. Although the First Family is nothing like royal families around the world, who are born into and pass down their pomp and circumstance, our American First Families get to experience all of the flash and flair for, at most, eight years. Then, it's back to the world of the normies. That's what I call normal people :)

Anyway, royal nails. Let's discuss.

I really wanted to do purple nails, because I haven't used purple in a while. And purple is so pretty. It's a good color. Solid.

I wanted to do something regal on my nails. I knew I wanted purple, which is a pretty royal color. I also wanted to stamp, so I chose a gold that I knew would pop against the royal purple.

I can't stop staring at my nails!! I love this mani!

I used e.l.f.'s Violet Velvet as the background color. Violet Velvet is a rich, eggplant purple with a slight shimmer. It looks black in the picture, but it's actually a gorgeous purple.

I stamped with Revlon Brilliant Strength in Hypnotize. Hypnotize is a buttery, shimmery gold that is pretty great for stamping. I used my Cheeky stamping plate for the design. I used two different patterns, just to mix things up.

I created this look while watching the Inauguration ceremony on TV. It was pretty enjoyable- Beyonce killed it, didn't she? This is one of my favorite blog posts about her performance.

Did you watch the Inauguration? What was your favorite part?

A Change of Pace...

My dear friend and B/vlogger, Jere, has featured me on her blog, Nappturally Chic Jere! If you want to know a little more about me, beyond my nails, you should check it out!

Sorority Nails

Hello Polishists!!

Can you believe that we're already 2 weeks into 2013? The year is flyyying by!

Well, today was a special day for me, and my nails.

First and foremost, it's Martin Luther King Jr.'s 84th birthday!! I can't believe he would have been 84 had he been alive today. Happy birthday, Dr. King!

Second, it's my sorority's Founders Day!! Today, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. turns 105 years old! Today, sorority sisters around the world celebrate our founders, known as the 20 Pearls. Of course, I commemorated the occasion by painting my nails.

Our colors are salmon pink and apple green. Our official flower is the Pink Tea Rose, and we have also adopted pearls as another symbol of our sisterhood. I tried to artistically incorporate all of those elements into today's manicure.

I used Butter London's Bossy Boots as the background color. Bossy Boots is a pastel mint green creme. The formula is a bit runny, but goes opaque in two coats. I love mint greens, and Bossy Boots is no exception!


For the roses, I used Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri in Rose Run. It's a dusty rose creme that is completely opaque in one coat. I am a big fan of Insta-Dri, but the wide brush sometimes makes it difficult to do nail art.

I used Essie in Mojito Madness for the leaves. Mojito Madness is a kelly green creme that is pretty opaque in one coat. It is a bit runny and the applicator brush is a little small, but the color is absolutely brilliant! Love it.

Finally, I used OPI's Kyoto Pearl for the polka dots and accents in the rose. Kyoto Pearl is a delicate, sheer, pearlized white that shows up surprisingly well over Bossy Boots. I generally would not wear white nail polish by itself, but I could see myself wearing this. It's not as harsh and Wite-Out-esque as other white nail polishes.

I added outlines for an abstract look with a Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Black. I have not figured out how to keep this on my nails! I know I can't topcoat it, but I can't leave it naked either! It either smears or completely rubs off. Sad.

The black outlines rubbed off pretty soon after I took those pictures, leaving sad blobs of brightly colored polish all over my index and middle fingers. I work in a job that involves a little bit of pointing (of the index finger!), and I was pretty embarrassed to point with my unfinished nails. And it's awkward to try to point with another finger (ring? Impossible. pinky? weird. thumb- are you kidding?), I just had to spend the day looking like an inept polishist. Oy. #polishistproblems

What do you do when you have a nail fail? How do you cover it up... especially when you work with your hands?

Silver Linings

Hello, Polishists!!

How has 2013 been treating you? I hope well! Here in New York, the temperature has risen a bit so we have been able to take a bit of a break from the regular winter chill! It has been quite lovely :)
Continuing on the theme of optimism and fresh starts for the new year, today's manicure reminds me of blue skies and clouds with silver linings!

To achieve this look, I used e.l.f.'s Dazzle Diva for the main color. I received it in the cube I purchased just after Thanksgiving last year. Dazzle Diva is a steel blue frost with a purple and green shimmer. It's so pretty, y'all!

The application was not too difficult, although the polish took forever to dry. I even missed up my whole right hand and a couple of fingers on the left trying to shower 45 minutes after application + Seche Vite!! Sheesh!

For the silver lining, I used Ulta Salon Formula's Scene Steel-er, which is a silver remeniscent of the dull side of a sheet of aluminum foil. I only needed one coat to achieve opacity!! Woo hoo!

I used Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Ion for the clouds. It's a grayish white that went on smooth and was also opaque in one coat.

I topped my masterpiece (lol) off with a coat of Seche Vite.

I'm quite satisfied with how this turned out. Clouds are an oldie but goodie for me- simple, yet chic.

What about you, polishists? Is there a go-to nail art style that you lean on?