Sinful Colors Endless Blue

Hey guys! Today I have a really simple post for you. So, Sinful Colors may be a drugstore brand, but it's one of my absolute favorites! They have an amazing range of colors and glitters, great formulas and they are only $2 a bottle - sometimes $1 on sale!

This is Sinful Colors Endless Blue. I've heard a lot about this polish all over Instagram, so I snatched it up when I saw it at Target. And let me tell you, I'm so glad I did (I mean, for $2, how could I not?)! The name is absolutely perfect for this polish. The formula was flawless - it basically applied itself. This is two coats with no top coat.

Look how shiny it is!!

Here a picture of my kitty, Finn! This is his first appearance on my blog. He thinks Endless Blue looks fabulous with his orange fur! ^_^

Thanks for stopping by!
Maggie and Finn

Essie Summer 2013 Collection

Hey everyone! Today I have the Essie Summer 2013 collection for you. I love this collection! It's my favorite summer collection so far. These colors are all so bright and fun! There are five shimmers and one creme. When I first got this collection, the formulas were really bubbly for me after they dried. I don't know why this happened because the formulas weren't very thick and I always wait for each coat to try before adding the next to prevent bubbles. So much for that. Anyway, I ended up adding one or two drops of thinner to each bottle. Even though this made the formulas pretty thin (obviously! haha) and requiring more coats, it made the bubbles go away! Lets get started :)

First up is Full Steam Ahead, a lovely lilac shade with pink undertones. The shimmer is almost nonexistant unless the light hits it just right. It's still a very pretty polish, but I feel like we've seen a lot of this shade so far this year. It doesn't seem to stop me from buying them, though! The formula was good, I had no issues with application. I used three coats for the picture below.

Next is Rock The Boat, a light blue shade with periwinkle undertones. Yet again, the shimmer is very subtle in this, but it adds a nice dimension to the polish. I don't know why but this color made my camera photograph my skin yellow! I wish I was that tan ;) The formula was good - the first coat was a bit streaky but it evened out just fine (keep in mind I thinned these polishes before these swatches!). I used three coats for the picture below.

Next we have Naughty Nautical, a bright teal polish. Again, the shimmer is hard to detect unless it's in the right lighting. It's still a gorgeous color, though. This Naughty Nautical is probably the most opaque polish in the collection. Formula was fine, I had no application issues. I used two coats for the photo below.

Next we have The More The Merrier, a bright chartreuse shade and the only creme in this collection. I think I only have one other polish that is remotely like this in my stash, which is hard to believe. This formula was the trickiest of this collection, very streaky on the first and second coats. A third coat finally evened it out.

Sunday Funday is a bright coral shimmer. The shimmer in this more prominent than the first three shimmers in this post, but still kind of hidden. The formula on this was good, three coats for the photo below.

I saved the best for last - The Girls Are Out. This is a gorgeous purple with red undertones and easily the polish with the most prominent shimmer. This is my favorite of the collection - great formula and the shade was pretty flattering on my skin tone. I used two to three coats in the photo below (two on my pinkie and index fingers, three on my middle and ring fingers).

I love this collection! I can definitely see myself using these polishes for some nail art in the future. You can pick this collection up at your local drugstore, Target and Walmart or on Essie's website for $8 a bottle.

Thanks for stopping by!
Maggie

Zoya Summer 2013 Pixie Dust Collection

Hey everyone! Today I have swatches of Zoya's Summer 2013 Pixie Dust collection. The Pixie Dust polishes are textured polishes with a gorgeous sparkle to each of them. When I first heard about textured polishes, I wasn't really that keen on the idea of them, but I decided to try some out anyway. And let me tell you, I am so thrilled I picked out this collection to try! The sparkle in these is absolutely brilliant and the texture is really pretty cool.

The formula for these polishes were all the same so I'll just talk about them here. They were a little thick due to the texture, but they were all very easy to work with. For each of these swatches I used two coats for full opacity. These polishes dry completely within 45 minutes, but it's important to note that I used no base coat and I let the first coat dry completely before adding the second. Over all, I am extremely happy with the formula on these polishes.

First up is Solange, a gold textured polish with a golden sparkle:

Next is Beatrix, an orange textured polish with a orangey-gold sparkle:

Next is Destiny, my personal favorite, which is a coral red textured polish leaning orange with a gorgeous gold sparkle:

Next is Miranda, a rosy pink textured polish with a silvery sparkle:

Next is Stevie, a lilac textured polish with a silver sparkle and another one of my favorites:

 

Finally we have Liberty, a blue textured polish with blue sparkle. Let me just say that this polish stained my cuticles and the skin around my fingers like crazy! I would very much suggest using a peel-off base coat under this polish. That being said, it's a gorgeous blue and I love it!

That's all for today's post! My favorite picks of this collection are Destiny and Stevie. You can buy this Pixie Dust collection and more at Zoya's website.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Maggie

Teal China Glaze Jelly Sandwich

Hey guys! Today I have a really simple post. I wasn't feeling too artsy today so I just went with a jelly sandwich.

I started off with two coats of China Glaze Keepin' It Teal, a teal jelly leaning green from the Summer 2013 Sunsational Jellies collection. Keepin' It Teal was kind of thick and balded a little for me, so I added a couple drops of thinner and it straightened right out. Then I added one coat of Spoiled by Wet n Wild Pet My Peacock, which is a glitter topper in a clear base with silver, gold, green, blue and navy hex glitters. The glitter payout was pretty good, although I did have to dab on some more glitter here and there. Finally, I added one last coat of Keepin' It Teal to create the jelly sandwich effect. I finished with one coat of Out The Door top coat.

This look is not something I usually go for, but it's really different and I must say I am enjoying it. I hope you guys like it, too!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

-Maggie

Pink and White Dotticure

Hey everyone! So, I just started working as a tech at one of the hospitals downtown, and yesterday was my first 12 hour shift! Talk about exhausting! But if I'm going to be a nurse, (seven months and counting!) I've got to get used to that schedule. The awesome thing is, though, I'm allowed to have my nails painted whatever crazy colors I want as long as they are #1 My real nails (always!) #2 No longer than a quarter of an inch (or something like that..I doubt they come around with tape measures) and #3 Nice and neat with no chips! I personally cannot abide chipped nails and remove my nail polish ASAP after I witness the first dreaded chip. Anyway, yay for awesome jobs that don't make me wear boring nail polish or, heaven forbid, don't allow nail polish at all!

Today I have a really easy manicure for you guys. I am all about easy when it comes to nails (for the record, easy is not to be confused with time consuming - sometimes I spend hours on one manicure). I have never pretended to be very good at anything requiring free-handed drawing, so easy is right up my alley. That is why I love dotticures so much (dotticure, n. - a manicure composed of dots)! I pull out my dotting tools all the time when I want to add a little something to a plain manicure. Here's what I came up with for your guys today:

I started out with two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls on my thumb and ring finger and two coats of Zoya Shelby on my index, middle and pinkie fingers.

 

I think these two polishes go really well together. Shelby is a light pink with blue undertones and My Boyfriend Scales Walls is a white that has grayish-blue undertones. It's hard to tell in this picture, but if you compare the OPI with a pure white, it's very obvious.  Look at how shiny both polishes are on their own without top coat or anything! Next, I used my big and small dotting tools to create vertical lines down one side of the nail. I went over the white dots a second time to make sure they were opaque.

 

 

I still can't decide which hand pose I like better! I guess I'll just keep switching it up on you guys :) I hope you guys like this look! It's very simple, I know, but that's the beauty of it (in my opinion).

Thanks for stopping by!

-Maggie

Rainbow Gradient Manicure

Hey everyone! Welcome to my new blog. I'm super excited to begin blogging! I've had a nail-related Instagram for a long time (username: maggiemooie - follow me!) and I've decided it's high time I start blogging. So here we are! I'm very, very new at this so if you guys have any comments or recommendations I would love to hear them!

Right, so, first nail post - GO! Today I have a rainbow gradient manicure to show you guys:

For this manicure I started off with a white base (OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls) to really make the colors pop. Then, I sponged on the colored polish with a make up sponge. To do this (lets take my pinkie for example), I painted the blue and purple colors on the sponge, making sure they overlap each other. Then, I dabbed the polish on my nail, going back and forth to make sure the colors blended. I kept adding paint to the sponge until I was happy with the result. I finished off the manicure with one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust and one coat of top coat. Here are the colors I used for this look:

Red - Essie Come Here!

Orange - Zoya Arizona

Yellow - Zoya Pippa

Green - Essie Mojito Madness

Blue -  Essie In the Cab-Ana

Purple - Essie Play Date

I really love anything rainbow so I thought this would be a perfect beginning to my blog! Here's a blurred close up so you can better see the holo gorgeousness that is China Glaze Fairy Dust:

I hope you guys enjoyed my first blog post! Thanks for stopping by :D

-Maggie