Collection Pics (Erika)

So over the past year and a half I have amassed a little collection of nail polishes. I tend to buy my polishes in groups instead of just one at a time... (hence the Zoya) What can I say I like varity;)

My Zoyas!

I love Zoya and for years I would see it advertised in magazines and wanted to buy it but it was only available in salons at the time. But now if you go to zoya.com (art of beauty) you get sucked into buying at least 3 or 4. They always have some kind of promo going on, so wait for them or follow them on twitter.

Zoya glitters!

Waiting for a new shelf!

Some of my collection. I need to get another display for the other NP that I have gotten in the past months.

Just some OPI for Sephora minis. This is a great set, because it has so much variety from pale pink to a dark shimmery purple

More Zoya, and then Essies, and at the bottom are NYC nail polishes. Affordable and a great selection of colors!

This is just a few pics that I wanted to get up before I forgot, I would love to take group shots but.. Im sure that would take to much time, and well Im kinda lazy too.. I kid. Sorta.

Deborah Lippmann showed up in the mail today (Julie)

I've heard so many rave reviews over Deborah Lippmann - how edgy and unique the swatches are. When I first saw this color I was floored at how beautiful nail polish has become these days! I feel I've started yet another obsession, and goal - to own the entire collection. I am surely going to be getting more in due time. But here's Bad Romance, the swatch designed for (or by?) Lady Gaga. I am not a gaga fan by a long shot, but this redeems her a bit in my mind!

The color is a lot smoother than it photographed (again, I'm new! Bare with me!) but it really is. No bumps whatsoever. The pink just glows through the black and makes this a lot less "goth" than I thought it might appear. This color is worth the $19 spent.

OPI for Sephora "Flurry up!"/ Sally Hansen "Celeb City"

I'm still wishing for snow.. nothing yet. So here is a look inspired for my love of snow...

Flurry up has to be the coolest silver glitter nail polish next to "Luna" from Zoya. It's got tiny specks of glitter to huge chunks all over. The base is clear so it makes an awesome top coat as well. They have a gold version called "only gold for me" but being a silver lover.. I couldn't resist this color when I walked into Sephora a few weeks ago.

Luna by zoya

Now it was really hard capturing the look of this nail on film, this was the best out of about 20 pictures that I took. (yes I did take 20 pictures of my hands, don't judge me)

I love the Sally Hansen color, its like a foil.. but it still has some shimmer to it.

Two Swatch Combinations - O.P.I Burlesque And China Glaze Rainbow (Julie)

I'm starting to get more experimental, and I really love my glitters, so the last few applications, I've been testing out what sparkle top coats go with which swatches the best. I still haven't figured out the very best looks, and I certainly haven't learned to apply it as nicely as most, but here are two color combos I did recently, and rather like.
First is from O.P.I.'s Burlesque collection (released for the Christina Aguilera flick) called Sparkle-icious. It's an extra sparkly polish mixed with flakes of purple, blue, and gold. It works well as a birthday color! Reminds me of birthday cake. I'm not a huge fan. Lately I've been growing more fond of the chunkier sparkles (at first I was on the fence) over the smaller sparkles like these. Anyway, I started with 1 coat of Rainbow by China glaze, and followed up with two coats of Sparkle-icious. And voila.

Next I tried Orly's Velvet Rope and topped it off with one of my favorite top coats ever - Fairy Dust by China Glaze. Do you have this color yet? If not you need it!!! The rainbows still never cease to amaze me. And it's really easy to remove.

2 New Colors! Nubar Brilliance & NYC Starry Silver Glitter! (Julie)

Just got a new Nubar in the mail today, and it's SO pretty, but I fear I am just too pale for it. Tanned skin might be better for this swatch. I really do love it though. It's a prism color with all the lovely rainbow colors fit for a princess ;) The NYC color is just freaking awesome. I started with a base layer of China Glaze's Pixie Dust, then I added just 1 layer of NYC's Starry Silver Glitter. I love it, but if the huge chunks of glitter aren't hitting the light, one might be confused as to what the hell kind of nail disease I might have. I guess it just takes a little adjusting to not think there are bugs crawling around on my fingers right now. But it is definitely really pretty. I think that the Pixie Dust definitely made this swatch more interesting. This is my first NYC polish and I felt it was definitely worth the .99 cents! So does this stuff peel right off? Or will the seche vite guarantee a day or so of wear?

And a little photography & photoshop fun, with my new scarf since the colors matched so well! Those are x-mas lights hanging in the background btw!

My five favorite nail polish colors ...of the moment!

I have over a hundred nail polishes, so this was hard to narrow down. But after picking through my polishes with a fine tooth comb( well not really, but I looked at them really hard!) I have picked these five:

Mermaid to order by Sephora by OPI
There is like 5 different colors in this bottle. If you look you can see blue, green, pink, silver, gold and purple.. yes purple. It's a simple gorgeous color that I have worn many times!

Erika by Zoya

Ok, seriously no bias here. It's just a perk that it shares my name;) This pink gives the look of a creamy pink but its not. If you look at the bottle its a shimmer, with hints of gold. It takes about 3 coats to get this color, but it's so worth it!

Brick by Sally Hansen

This is a true blood red that I have never seen! The formula is amazing and its dries very fast. It's the perfect red to wear around the holidays or just on your toes. Simply gorgeous.

Mademoiselle by Essie

This color gets raves for a reason, its the perfect pink. Voted best nail color in many magazines like Allure and InStyle, its a favorite by many celebrities and stylists. The pink is sheer, but still has enough color to show through, wear it alone or wear it as a french manicure. It's a classic.

pic borrowed from blog thr
ough the looking glass

Charla by Zoya

When I first saw this color, I did a triple look. I have never seen anything remotely like this color before. The swirls of the different blues with the micro glitter, it's enchanting just to look at it. If you ever have a chance to buy this color, do it! It should be in every girl's (and guy's too!) nail polish collection.

Ok I think that's it for now.. Next from me, a blog about gradation manicures!

My first taste of Nubar (Julie)

For those of you who are aware of Nubar nail polish, you know they are vegan cruelty-free nail polish. They have some of the most unique swatches around. My two new purchased were Nubar Jewels, and Nubar Brilliant. They were a bit pricey, so I hope they hold up and are worth the $ spent! Judging by the beauty of the colors, I have a feeling I'm going to be buying plenty more by them. Jewel is a prism rainbow type swatch in a medium sparkly champagne. Brilliant is a flaky polish, my first ever with this type of a swatch. I tried it on top of an aqua Sephora polish. Not so sure how I feel about it with the Sephora aqua. Maybe I will try it with pink next time. I am sorry once again for my horrible looking fingers. They are extra dry today!

Update on 12/21/10 - I just tried nubar flaky Brilliant on top of China Glaze black - this really showcases the rainbow in the flakes in this swatch. Super pretty!!