Essie Marshmallow + A Cut Above

Self-purchased

Today, I have a simple glitter gradient, along with the reviews of the polishes I used, to show you! It was inspired by the many pictures of pretty cherry blossoms I saw on the blogs I follow and my instagram feed several weeks ago.

A Cut Above is a rosy-pink glitter in a clear base, but the glitter bled into the base and tinted it pink. It's best used as a glitter topper. I used a makeup sponge for the glitter gradient so there would be a higher concentration of glitter and lower amount of "clear" base. I sealed the glitter gradient with 1 coat of top coat.

Marshmallow is a white jelly. I'm surprised to find myself using it quite often! The jelliness makes it delicate so it's a great choice if you want to wear white nails. I used 3 coats, but it was still patchy. You'd need around 4 coats for an opaque finish. The formula was thin, but otherwise good. It dried shiny. No top coat.

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

China Glaze For Audrey

Self-purchased

China Glaze For Audrey is a pigmented Tiffany-blue creme. It's an extremely popular color that seems to be in almost everyone's collection - and with good reason because Tiffany blue is such a beautiful color! I used 2 coats. The formula, unfortunately, left a lot to be desired. It was thick, needed a lot of thinner, and didn't level well. Also, it was already separating when I received it. It dried shiny and in an average amount of time, but I still used 1 coat of top coat.

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Color Club East Austin

Self-purchased

Color Club East Austin is a somewhat stark, orangey peach neon creme with a touch of pink to it. I used 4 coats because, at 3, there were still some patches. The formula was a wee bit thick, but I still had no trouble applying it. I would say the formula was really good for a neon. It dried shiny, surprisingly, but I still used top coat.

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

China Glaze Fairy Dust

Self-purchased

China Glaze Fairy Dust is a holographic microglitter topper. It's a wonderful staple for anyone's collection! I love using it to finish off my galaxy manis. I used 1 coat over Essie Navigate Her, First Timer, Turquoise & Caicos, Bikini So Teeny, and Lapis of Luxury. The formula was a bit thick, but still easy to apply. I used 1 coat of top coat, which, unfortunately, shrunk it.

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Zoya Zanna

Self-purchased

Zoya Zanna is a mauvey-pink creme that can work well as a nude polish. I used 3 coats, but I could maybe have gotten away with only 2 if I had been more careful. The formula was okay; it was a bit thin, but manageable. I'm disappointed that it wasn't pinky-brown like in some swatches I saw. Zanna is a pretty color, but it wasn't what I was looking for and looks weird on me. It dried shiny and quickly. Unfortunately, I can't remember whether or not I used top coat.

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

OPI Thanks a Windmillion

Self-purchased

OPI Thanks a Windmillion is a dusty sage creme. The color isn't what I expected it to be; it pulls more of a military green on me. I normally like military greens, but not this one, sadly. :( I believe I used 2 coats. The formula was thin and a little runny, which, in my experience with OPI, is unexpected. Coupled with the Pro-Wide brush, this makes application a bit difficult so I had to do a little cleanup. It dried shiny and quickly, but I still used top coat.

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

365 Days of Color One Colorful Year

Self-purchased

365 Days of Color One Colorful Year has a white crelly base packed with almost every glitter 365 Days of Color used in its first year. It was a limited edition polish created to mark the one year anniversary of 365 Days of Color. I received #29 out of the 60 that were made! I seriously regret only wearing this now since it is super glitter-happy and AMAZING!!! It's like a birthday in a bottle. I used 4 coats because the crelly base was sheer. The formula was really good for this type of polish, requiring only minor dabbing and no need to spin the brush inside the bottle for maximum explosion of glitter on the nails. However, there was a little glitter settling so I recommend setting the bottle upside-down for a few minutes before application. It dried a bit bumpy because of all the glitter so I used 1 coat of top coat.

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Catrice Dirty Berry

Self-purchased

Catrice Dirty Berry is a purple creme with a very subtle scattered holo effect. Most of the time, the holo looks like silver microglitter, which makes the purple appear dusty. I used 3 coats. The formula was very good, buttery, and easy to apply. Surprisingly, it dried very shiny. Since it was a holo, I didn't use base and top coats.

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Nails Inc. Spring Summer 2013 Collection

Self-purchased

Today, I have the Nails Inc. Spring Summer 2013 Collection for you! I didn't get a chance to swatch the great collection until now, unfortunately. The colors make me happy whenever I look at them! :D They remind me more so of summer than spring, though. Since these were minis, I decided to do two-finger swatches for each because I wanted to savor them. 

Kensington Palace Gardens (index and middle fingers) is a pale salmon creme. I used 4 coats because there was some patches and dragging. I think it could be opaque in 3 coats if applied more carefully though. The formula was buttery and pigmented, making for great application. It was a far cry from what I was expecting since these kinds of colors are usually difficult to deal with. It dried shiny. No top coat.

Hampton Court Palace Gardens (ring and pinky fingers) is a vivid yellow-orange creme... And it reminds me of mac 'n cheese! I used 4 coats because the formula was thin, though still great. It applied easily, but had some minor dragging. It dried shiny. No top coat.

Royal Botanical Gardens (index and middle fingers) is a light Tiffany-blue creme. It was terribly difficult for me to distinguish it from Chelsea Physic Garden both on the nail and in the bottles because they are so similar to each other. I used 3 coats just in case, but it was opaque in 2 coats. It had a good formula and was easy to apply. It dried shiny. No top coat.

Chelsea Physic Garden (ring and pinky fingers) is a pale sky blue creme. I used 3 coats. It also had a good formula and was easy to control. It dried shiny. No top coat.

Primrose Hill Gardens (index and middle fingers) is a vibrant watermelon jelly with a touch of neon to it. I used 3 coats. Since it was a jelly, the formula was a bit sheer on the first coat. It glided on effortlessly even though there was a stray brush hair. It dried satin. No top coat.

Belgravia Gardens (ring and pinky fingers) is, in my opinion, the perfect taupe creme. It also makes a great nude polish! It's a shame it was never released in a full-sized bottle. [IMMENSE SOBBING] The formula was great and easy to control. It dried shiny. No top coat. Belgravia Gardens and Primrose Hill Gardens were definitely my favorites of this collection so I saved them for last! <3

I think the Spring Summer 2013 Collection was really amazing! The color selection and formula (though a couple did have some minor problems) on all were great! It appears that this limited edition collection was brought back, and you can purchase it from Sephora. ;)

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Vintage Floral Nails with Born Pretty Store Water Decals

Self-purchased, *Sent for Review

Today, I have some pretty vintage floral nails for you! Born Pretty Store kindly sent me three different packs of water decals for review.  I decided to do this mani spontaneously so I cut and placed the water decals randomly. I'm glad it still turned out wonderfully! 

First, I made sure to cut out the decals I planned to use. Then, I used Zoya Zanna for my base color. After it dried, I soaked the decals for 10-20 seconds (a detailed review after these pictures!). I made sure to remove the excess water on the decals before transferring them onto my nails and smoothing them out. I finished the mani off with a fast-dry top coat.

Born Pretty Store generously allowed me to choose what I wanted to review for them so I chose floral water decals in Y174*, Y001*, and G005* (all shown below). I'm sure you all know how much I love floral manis by now!

Left to right: Y001, G005, Y174

Y001 (Sorry it's a bit hard to see!)

G005

Y174

All three water decals performed similarly. The transparent backing of the water decals didn't cover the whole sheet, but instead surrounded the image. Because of this, you don't have to make sure you cut as close as possible to the decal image since the extra transparent backing won't damage your mani's appearance. If you do end up with excess transparent backing, however, then you can file it off easily. (I like to do this after I top coat the decal so it can't change its position.) The instructions say to soak the decals in water for 10-20 seconds, but I recommend doing so for only 10 seconds. I had to remove a lot of excess water when I soaked a few of them for 20 seconds so my fingers got really wet, which made it harder to position the decals and gently pat them dry. I recommend using tweezers to help you position the decals because it was hard to do so using just my fingers. Also, don't worry if the decals scrunch up a little on your nails! Top coat smooths them out really well.

Born Pretty Store offers an amazing selection of good quality nail art tools and accessories for cheap! (More here!) They also offer nail polishes, fashion accessories,  and stationary, among many other items. They also have free shipping! (If you would like a tracking number, then you will need to pay $3. I recommend paying for a tracking number because you can resolve any problems you might encounter while waiting for it.) I shopped at Born Pretty Store even before I was asked to review for them, and all my experiences have been great. However, they are based in China so shipping can take a while.

You can use my code, NFX31, for 10% off your purchase! (Because you will probably end up getting a "few" things... ;) )

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

*Products were sent for review. I am neither compensated nor influenced in any way. As always, my reviews are 100% honest. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Nail Polish Jewelry - Falling

For "Falling," I used Zoya Caitlin as the base and Black Cat Lacquer Lucky Star. I wanted to try out a gradient because I haven't seen one done in any nail polish jewelry yet. It was a bit difficult, but I did it! I had to pick out and place the stars myself. It's a shame that one star makes the gradient look so off. :( I used a lot of layers of the glitter topper so bubbles formed, but I think it makes the combination look more like a galaxy and ethereal.

I'm glad "Falling" finished off this nail polish jewelry series. It's the one I'm proudest of! :)

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

For Grandma

Today, I have a special post featuring my grandma's nails! I wanted to post the two manicures up a couple weeks ago to celebrate her birthday, but didn't have time to do so. She turned 80!!! :D

The first mani I did for her was way back during my winter break. I didn't really know what to do on her nails so I opted for roses. You can't really do any wrong with roses!

I used Essie Go Ginza as the base. For the roses, I used Zoya Purity and Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby and my second smallest dotting tool. I used Sally Hansen Limestone and my smallest dotting tool.

For this second mani, I decided to go for something simple and use the butterfly stickers I reviewed in this post because my grandma likes butterflies.

I used Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby as the base since it's a classic red color and my go-to red polish. My grandma also loves classic nail polish colors!

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle

Nail Polish Jewelry - Fairytale

For "Fairytale", I used Zoya Caitlin as the base and Urban Outfitters Dust, which is a dupe of Deborah Lippmann Today Was A Fairytale. I did this combination more for the fun of it than anything else. I thought it was pretty.

Thanks for looking! See you on the other side of the day!

Michelle