Pretty & Polished: Jawbreaker

Today I bring you an oldie but a goodie. Well, it's really not old at all but it was one the first indie polishes I bought so it has a special place in my heart. Chelsea from Pretty & Polished is also super nice so it is a pleasure buying from  her store.

I've gotten so many compliments in the past two days about this polish, and they are well deserved. All the glitters just look so pretty and delicate on the nails. Chelsea recently started taking pre-orders in her blog but she also updates her Etsy store very often. 

Pictures in artificial light

Pictures in natural light

Colors that don't work: Trout Pout

I love the color of Butter London's Trout Pout. I loved how it looked on the bottle, on the color chart, and on other nail bloggers. However, I didn't like how it looked on me.

I debated whether or not to post the pictures in the blog, after all most of the readers are not after nail disasters. But then I thought that it was important for me to be objective and share both the good and the bad. So, here it is: one of my nail polish fails.

The first picture doesn't look that bad except for the sloppy cleaning job on my part, but I think the second picture translates better how it looked in most lighting conditions (most importantly in my office). I ended up wearing it only for a couple hours and then changing it.

Lac Attack: Hell on Heels

I'm so excited to show you what is on my nails today. It is a neon glitter party!

I managed to buy this early bottle of Hell on Heels from Lac Attack and I have nothing but a big praise for it. This bottle contains: yellow, blue, pink, purple, and orange matte glitters. 

I must admit that it took me a couple days/tries to find a base that I liked. I tried an orange base, a light orange base, and a light blue base (Sally Hansen Smooth and Perfect in Air).  I ended up chosing Air because it allowed all the little neon glitters to shine on their own. I followed with one coat of Hell on Heels and one coat of Seche Vite. At the end I opted for adding one final Matte Topcoat (I got it at Hot Topic for $2). Voila! I haven't been able to stop staring at my nails.

This nail polish is a little bit camera shy. It was hard to photograph it but I tried my best. 

Lac Attack is currently waiting for some base to launch her new collection. Based on this nail polish, rest assured that her new collection is going to be amazing. You can find Lac Attack in Twitter, Facebook, and on her Etsy Store.

Pictures in artificial light

Pictures in a cloudy day

One ray of sun decided to show up for the last picture:

Finally, one macro shot taken with my phone:

Versatile Blogger Award

The lovely Take it with a Drop of Polish nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award. 

So here it goes:

The rules for this are as follows:

1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers that are relatively new to blogging.

2. Let them know you have nominated them.

3. Share 7 random facts about yourself.

4. Thank the blogger[s] who nominated you.

5. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your post.

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I would really like to nominate 15 different people but as I was looking through the blogs, a lot of them had already won the award so I ended up choosing only two lovely ladies:

Apple Drops: http://appledropme.blogspot.com/ 

QueenDom: http://quietqueendom.blogspot.com/

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7 Random Facts about Me:

1. When I was 10 years old I attended a couple nationals for Chess. 

2. After playing chess I became a jock. 

3. I've been playing tennis for the past 14-15 years.

4. My field of study is Computer Engineering.

5. Contradictory to #4, I really enjoy being outdoors: running, biking, and hiking.

6. I met my boyfriend freshman year of college thanks to my roommate/best friend. 

7. Boyfriend knows about my nail polish addiction. I've even trained him in the art of Etsy stalking and he's pretty good at it. [He managed two get 2 P&P I wanted in one of the store re-stockings]

I just want to finish this post by thanking you for reading this little blog, and for the lovely comments some of you leave. It really means a lot to me. 

Aphrodite Lacquers: Mai Tai

During my free time I'm an assistant coach for the tennis program at a local high school. This weekend we had a small tournament so I searched my stack for a red to wear because that is one of the school colors. I decided to try on Mai Tai and it fulfilled my all expectations. 

It is a very pretty red jelly packed with red glitters and really small sparkly glitters. Application was a little bit tricky because I felt the color was not going even, but applying a second coat was enough. I also applied a coat of Gelous and a coat of Seche Vite to increase the jelly effect. 

You can pick up Aprhodite Lacquers in their Etsy shop.

Under artificial light:

Outdoors (natural light):

Elevation Polish: Ridnitsohkka

I could have also called this post "The evolution of a mani", because that is truly what this is.

While contemplating if you should change colors, I decided to try out something. Now, you have to know that I hardly ever do nail art of any kind (the first post of the blog was my first and only attempt so far). Boring? maybe... Anyways, this time I decided to be adventurous and try some sort of half-moon mani... but, it turned out to be something else.

The end result? My half-moons are too big, is there even a name for this? But, despite the failed half-moon, I really like how it turned out, or maybe it is just that I LOVE (yes, capital letters) this color. It is a cool gray with hints of green creme from Elevation Polish. Lulu is coming up with awesome stuff and you need to check it out at her blog. She is also one of the sweetest nail polish sellers out there. I could go on and on about how awesome Lulu and her collection are but I will let you discover it by yourself. In the mean time, I will keep admiring my "failed" nail art. Have a great weekend!

This is what I used for the mani (under artificial lighting):

Outdoors in a rainy day:

Elemental Styles: Can I Buy You A Zinc?

I'm going to tell you a little secret about my nail polish addiction: I love themed nail polish, specially if it is quirky or nerdy. So, I was naturally attracted to Elemental Styles Etsy store where all her polishes are after chemical elements.

Today I'm wearing a dusty green/silver linear holographic polish. This another color that makes me play with my fingers all day because it looks different every time.  The formula was a little bit on the thick side but it still applied nicely.  I used two coats and then a coat of Poshe for quick drying.

Under artificial lighting:

Under natural light:

Candeo Colors: Sprouse

Hi again! I know it's been a while but today I bring you Candeo Colors Sprouse. I have it layered over Glitter Gal's LAAF from the last post. Sprouse has black and white hexagons and bars, blue holographic hexagons, and holographic particles that make it shine even brighter. I was really pleased at how it looked. The application was easy but a couple of bar glitters refused to stay down. I put a coat of gelous and coat of Seche Vite after applying it. I took these pictures during my trip last week hence the tip wear and other minor problems. 

I highly recommend Candeo Colors: all their glitters are really shiny, and the combinations are very pretty. They are also committed to customer service and quality of their products. For example, they retired one of their polishes due to glitter curling and gave everybody who bought it a chance for a refund or a new color. 

Here is the Etsy Store and their Facebook page.

PS- Their next reopening will be tomorrow at 11 am EST so take advantage of it :)

Glitter Gal: Light as a Feather

Today I'm wearing Glitter Gal Light as Feather. 
When I originally bought it I thought it was going to be a milky white holographic color. But after 3 coats I think it looks more gray on me. It is still gorgeous though. 

Without further ado, here it is:

First, under artificial light.

Now under the sun. It is more sparkly in person.

Interview Day and Blog Sale

I'm currently in Arizona for an interview. I had Nerd Lacquer Holy Grail on my nails up to 1 hour ago because then I thought it was a little unconventional for the position I'm interviewing for. Trying to take off the glitter without using the foil method is way harder than I remember.

I also wanted to encourage you to take a look at the Blog Sale tab above. I'm sure some of those lovelies will find a suited home for them. I have drugstore brands, essies, and a couple Indie polishes that either didn't work for me or I have an extra bottle. I update the sale quite often :).

PamsAndKin: Sweet Caroline

Today I'm wearing another indie brand. This polish is from Pams & Kin Etsy Store. They have quite a range of cremes, shimmers and glitters. I think the packaging is super cute and the formula was really nice and easy to apply. Below, I have two coats of Sweet Caroline, which is a creamy orange. I ended up putting some glitter in the tips (China Glaze Bobmshell) and I think it turned out nice. Too bad I didn't a very good cleaning job and my camera captured it.

Overall I really like Pams & Kin, if I had a bigger budget I would definitely order more bottles from them. You should check their store as well as their Twitter. <3

Nail-venturous: Burst of Blue

Today I want to show you another awesome blue nail polish (that's three in a row).
This one is from Nail-venturous and it is called Burst of blue. 

Nail-venturous is run by the sweet Amy who is trying hard to meet the demand for her awesome nail polishes (which you can also buy at Ninja Polish). I was able to get this bottle on the opening day of her Etsy Store, in which she sold 149 polishes in less than 5 minutes. I would really want to congratulate Amy because I think she is doing a great job. I know some people are frustrated because of the way Etsy deals with orders in the carts, but none of this is Amy's fault, unless you want to blame her for creating these pretty nail polishes. 

Application was a little bit tricky, at least for me. I applied on top of the blue Elevation Polish that I was wearing previously and I like the result after one coat. I applied another coat of gelous and then one of seche vite.  I really like the little holographic bar glitters because I think they add another dimension to it. Below you can see pictures in artificial light and under the sun. 

And finally, a macro shot: 

Elevation Polish: Owen

Today I want to show you one of the bottles I ordered recently. 

Elevation Polish just opened their Etsy store last Thursday, I place my order right then and I got my lovely package on Monday. 

Lulu is the creative master mind behind Elevation Polish and you can see her blog here:

http://lovebrownnailpolish.wordpress.com/

Today I want to show you: Owen, the description says that it is an iridescent

shimmering blue that shift to green then shifts to blue with green shimmer. I can summarize the description in one word -> awesomeness. I have been playing with my fingers all day because everytime you switch positions you can see how the color changes. It also looks lovely under the sunlight. Below you can see pictures on different kinds of lighting.

I also swatched it quickly on a wheel to see how it would look with undies. The left swatch is a coat of Owen over a coat of Essie's Bobbing for Baubles and the right swatch is a coat of Owen over WnW Black Creme.

Lulu will reopen her etsy shop on April 7th. Hopefully I will be able to show you a couple more colors of the wonderful collection before then. But I highly encourage you to stalk the shop on that day.

Hungry Asian: Sneezy Breezy

Today I bring you this lovely polish from Hungry Asian. It is called Sneezy Breezy and it consists of little black and blue matte glitter.


I applied two coats of it + gelous + seche vite. It is still a little bit rough in texture but it acquire some shine. Application was tricky but it was all worth it, I love how it looks. 


Next time I think I will try to use a similar base color.


Please bear with me while I figure out how to improve the pictures and while I try to remember to moisturize my cuticles more often because the camera is not forgiving any of my mistakes.

This nail polish can be bought here:

 http://www.etsy.com/listing/92974279/sneeze-breeze-black-and-blue-glitter

Welcome

Hi, I'm glad you stop by.

I got into nail polish around three of years ago when I bought my first OPI's in little store at the mall, I bought a couple collections and then I used them for a couple of years. I recently became more interested and my collection grew exponentially. I love trying out colors and I'm really into indie nail polish right now so I thought I might as well share my swatches with the world and discover my favorites in the process.

I will begin by sharing my first nail art (unless sponge gradients count as art). I drew this design specifically for a nail art contest at More Nail Polish blog. My inspiration was the typical dress of the state where I was born (seen below). I love being able to say that I simply dressed up my nails.