Across The Universe

Long time no post! So sorry for my mini-vacation but I wasn't vacationing at all! I've been so swamped with assignments, papers, presentations and tests. So sad that I've been away so long.

Soooooo, today I thought I'd share my first Deborah Lippmann purchase. This is hands down my favorite polish from her glitter collection. It took quite a few coats to get this one opaque. Yes it's designed to be sheer but I couldn't get the glitter just right, so I applied 4 coats. Next time, I'll go for 3 coats because I prefer the glitter floating in jelly look that I achieved the first time I used it.

4 coats

3 coats

Once In A Blue Moon

Just a quick post to share a past nail of the day. I've been really busy with school this week and if that wasn't enough, my daughter has the flu. I actually feel slightly sick myself, so I'll keep this short. I'm behind on posting manis and swatches, and I hope to update more frequently next week.

This mani was inspired by Ivana*. She does the prettiest color combinations using this image plate. I stamped with an old school Sally Hansen Chrome from the dollar store.

That's all for now. Hope you're having a great week!

Crackle Mix

Are yall tired of seeing the crackles yet, lol? Here's my mani from a few weeks ago. I wanted to try all the crackles at once and this is what I came up with. I debated on posting because I wasn't crazy about the results, but here goes.


I used a Kiss striper to divide the colors and stamped half of each nail with XL plate B.

Crackles used: China Glaze Lightening Bolt, Crushed Candy, Broken Hearted, Fault Line & Concrete

It's not perfect but its interesting. I think I like it better without the stamps.

Which mani do you prefer?

It's My First Blog-Birthday!!!

I didn't want this day to end without mentioning that I've been blogging for one year! I can't believe that I've managed to fit blogging into my lifestyle. I'm not the most technically savvy person, and to tell the truth, I probably would've never started blogging if it wasn't for my instructor. As part of my management class, I had to create a blog and update it weekly. I never knew those skills would come in handy.

To celebrate, I'll be having a giveaway as a small thank you to my subscribers. I'm not exactly sure how I'll set it up. I thought about having a nail art contest but I want everyone to be able to participate, so I'm pretty sure the winner will be drawn using Random. I'm having a great time collecting items but its taking longer than I thought, so the giveaway will be sometime in April.

I also wanted to share my weekend mani. This is somewhat similar to the mani in my first post, which was made using real black lace. The white lace is not as racy but its still cute. Hope you like it!

Image plate - A34
China Glaze - Knotty
Konad - White

China Glaze Knotty Nauticals

Woohoo Happy Spring! I hope the sun made it to your area. It's really beautiful here and I'm loving the weather we've had lately. It's a great day for swatches, so today I'll share the first half of China Glaze's Anchor's Away Collection, Knotty Nauticals.

Starboard. Gorgeous green creme that applied with 2 coats. The color reminds me of freshly grown grass. I'm really becoming a fan of green polishes. This is my favorite from the collection.


Lighthouse. Bright yellow glass speck. I think this one would look great layered over other colors to wake them up. I like to think of it as sunshine in a bottle.


Life Preserver. Bright poppy creme that is opaque in 2 coats. I like to call this the happy color. Another favorite.

Hey Sailor. My camera couldn't capture this beauty correctly. It wanted to make it a jelly but in reality its a vibrant red creme. Two coats.

First Mate. Intense navy creme. I like how it's dark but still vibrant. A surprise favorite. Two coats.

Ahoy. Intense pink with glass specks, my camera couldn't handle the color. Its more of a dark magenta.

A closer view of the glass specks.

China Glaze did a great job capturing the nautical theme with this line. I wouldn't have expected a pink but it was a fun turn from the usual. First Mate, Starboard and Life Preserver were the standouts. Overall the collection was well done.

And here's my nautical mani.

Thanks for stopping by!

*These polishes were provided to me for review*

Zoya Sunshine and Summertime

Zoya Nail Polish presents two new collections with six new metallics and six new creams for summer 2011.
Sunshine and Summertime
...everything should be this good!

Summer 2011 color so perfect that it could only come from the nail polish experts at Zoya... Zoya is the New Color of Fashion!

ZOYA SUNSHINE COLLECTION

· Reva (ZP546) - A cool toned strawberry red with glowing golden metallic sparkle. A very rich and luxurious looking gilded red.

• Kimmy (ZP547) - Gleaming metallic candy apple red brightened by gold sparkle. Not your usual red shimmer- this one has a fiery attitude.
• Apple (ZP548) - Luminous yellow-toned apple green packed with gold metallic sparkle. A dimensional green that's clean and bright.
• Tanzy (ZP549) - Light, bright tangerine orange with yellow gold metallic sparkle. A sunny orange that's easy to wear year-round.
• Rica (ZP550) - Warm light coral with pink and orange tones and heavy gold metallic sparkle. An alternative to flat corals for when you want to shine.
• Faye (ZP551) - A bronzed mauve with purple and brown undertones flooded with right gold sparkle. A unique gilded shade that will work in any season.
• 
  

ZOYA SUMMERTIME COLLECTION

· Sooki (ZP552) - Bright, clean, crisp cool cherry red cream with a subtle jelly finish. For an irresistible, attention-grabbing red nail.

· Tamsen (ZP553) - Medium warm brick red with strong orange tones with an opaque cream finish. A special red that is both enticing and mysterious

· Areej (ZP554) - Pink with an opaque cream finish. A pink for when you want a bold pop of color but not something neon-bright.

· Kieko (ZP555) - Warm, red toned dusty light purple with berry tones with an opaque cream finish. A nice alternative to pure pink or berry, especially flattering on warm skin tones.

· Mira (ZP556) - Blue toned medium purple with dusty lavender tones and an opaque cream finish. For a muted yet colorful purple that isn't too dark.

· Breezi (ZP557) - Soft, dusty, medium cerulean blue with an opaque cream finish. A super chic high-fashion denim look for nails.

Ultra long-wearing, glossy nail lacquers by Zoya are free of harmful industrial chemicals like toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Find Zoya Sunshine and Summertime as well as over 300 other ultra high-fashion Zoya shades at www.zoya.com.

As always, each and every Zoya color is made for women so we name them after women.

Sunshine and Summertime by Zoya, available March 21, 2011
Sug. Retail $8.00 per 0.5 fl.oz. bottle (US)
Available at www.zoya.com

Diamond Cosmetics Spring Stroke of Luck Collection

Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day! For those of you that celebrated, I hope you're not having too bad of a time recuperating =)

Today I have the Stroke of Luck Collection by Diamond Cosmetics. But first I wanted to share yesterday's Holiday mani. Its not quite clovers but I thought it suited the clover theme, or at least it looks like clovers from a distance.


Four Leaf Clover (#368). A Festive Kelly Green that went on with two coats. This is in natural light without a topcoat. It went on smooth and applied easily.

Even more beautiful in direct sunlight.

Lady Luck (#370). A dusty peach with matching micro glitter. It almost reminds me of caramel. Only two coats without a topcoat. Unfortunately my camera didn't capture the glitter very well.

But here's a close-up of the glitter.

Once in a Blue Moon (#369). My favorite from the collection. A dark Juniper creme that also went on with two coats. This one dried with a high gloss, super shiny!

Overall, I think it's a great collection. This was my first time using DC polishes and I must say that I'm impressed. They all applied well and went smoothly. Once in a Blue Moon was the stand out for me. I can see myself wearing this often because the color is so beautiful!

The Stroke of Luck Collection can be purchased at diamondcosmetics.com

All of Diamond Cosmetics' polishes are free from Toluene, Formaldehyde, DBP and Camphor.

*The above polishes were sent to me for review*