Cosmetic Sanctuary is having a giveaway of Starrily polish!

Hello readers!

Cosmetic Sanctuary is having a giveaway of some beautiful Starrily polish! This is from the cosmetic sanctuary website.

"I was recently approached by Starrily.com and they wanted to know if I would be ok with them sponsoring a giveaway for my readers!

Of course I said YES!

I personally have never tried their polish, but the creations look GORGEOUS and why would I turn down the opportunity to let my readers snag some gorgeous polishes?

The Details:

2 Winners!  This is for US only (sorry!  They can only ship within the US!) but if you have a US Mailing address, thats fine – just understand that the prizes must be shipped within the US

First Winner will receive Oh My Melons and Angel Baby:

                                         Second Winner will receive Strawberry Donut:

Aren’t these just gorgeous for Summer??"

Man these polishes are beautiful! They'd be totally unique in my nail collection. You can enter the giveaway here.

Summer nails! Peach nails with bright turquoise leopard print!

Hello readers,

So today I have some nails that just scream summer, in my opinion at least. Pastel orange with bright teal/ turquoise leopard print. The pastel orange or peachy color is a color I mixed myself because I didn't have the right shade of polish. Although I didn't fully love this design, I do think it's bright, summery and fun. The polish isn't the best quality, so my nails weren't completely smooth, but they still look nice.

Not the best but I do like them, what do you think of this mani? Let me know in the comments below!

Santa Cruz boardwalk inspired nails! Roller coaster gradient nails!

Hello readers,

I am so excited to show you this manicure! I really fell in love with it and these pictures don't do it justice, the colors are much more vivid in person. If you've been to the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk before, I think you will know where my inspiration came from. I'll post a picture of where I got the background colors inspiration from. I wanted to go with a somewhat sunset type feel, but more of when the sun has just gone down and the sky has a fade from blue to purple. The colors I used are Essie Avenue Maintain, Essie Bikini So Teeny, Essie Bond With Whomever, and Insta- Dri  Lively Lilac. This will be a picture heavy post.

 Here are the pictures  got my inspiration from. Neither of these pictures are mine.

Now onto the pictures!

What do you think of this mani? Let me know in the comments below!

Monster Energy drink nails!

Hello readers!

Today I have some pretty radical nail art to show you! This is an old manicure I did I while back, but I have yet to take pictures of the manicure I have on currently so I thought I would show you this past one. There's not much to say about this manicure, it's actually pretty simple and maybe i'll do a tutorial in the future. I used a neon green with yellow shimmer which is Wet n' Wild's Fergie collection in shade "Glowstick." The black shatter is Maybelline's Color Show in Carbon Frost. I free handed the Monster logo in white and then painted in the green and the shading.

Well, i'll post my current manicure sometime soon. Please share this picture and credit me! I've been trying really hard to get this blog seen by more people, and it'd be just amazing if Monster Energy were to share my picture and give credits to me and my blog. What do you think of this mani? Let me know in the comments below!

Essie summer 2013 The More The Merrier swatch+ Essie Bikini So Teeny

Hello readers,

Today I have a swatch of The More The Merrier from Essie's new summer 2013 collection. I only picked up this shade from their collection because I felt that it was the only shade I didn't have anything similar to.

The More The Merrier-  Grass green. It's very vivid in the bottle, almost like a lime green, but it dries a shade darker and looks more like a grass green. Although I thought this color was unique for Essie, I had some problems with the formula. Aside from finding this shade unflattering on my skin tone, it balds/ patches like crazy! I had to work very fast to avoid balding, but even then it would still clump up. Once I finally got a smooth- ish coat, I noticed this polish is not very good at self leveling. I had to use top coat to smooth out the polish and make it look even.

Bikini So Teeny- Princess blue/ light sky blue. I think this shade is so pretty, I immediately think of Cinderella. This shade has a better formula, I needed two thicker coats, it dries average and is more flattering on my skin tone.

This polishes are pretty and summery but definitely not my favorite, and not the best formula. Did you have a better experience with this mani? Let me know!

Essie Licorice with rhinestone triangles!

Hello readers,

I'm really excited to show you this manicure! This will be a picture heavy post, but I had so much fun with these nails. I took pictures holding a bottle of China Glaze Liquid Leather, just because I didn't have my bottle of Essie Licorice in hand. You can get the same effect with either polish though, they are both plain black polishes with glossy finishes and good formulas.

 Since this manicures base color is a plain black, I took the opportunity to take some pictures with colorful things in the background. I bought this cool new Monster Energy Drink can, that was pink, and I collect Monster tabs in all colors so I took some pictures with those.

This manicure is really simple, easy, and elegant. It's really classy with black, but you an use any base color you'd like. I did this manicure with a peach color, and will post pictures of that sometime soon. On to the pictures!

 With a Monster Energy Drink can.

I love these nails and I love how the pictures came out. What do you think of this mani? Let me know in the comments below!

Silver french tip nails with flowers

Hello readers,

Just a quick post today with some pictures of an old manicure I did a couple of months ago. This is a simple french with silver tips and pink one stroke flowers. I finished off the manicure with some pearls  that you can purchase here.

I'll soon swatch a shade from Essie's new summer 2013 collection. What do you think of this mani? Let me know in the comments below!

Blacklight reactive triangles with rhinestones!

Hello readers,

I recently bought some inexpensive blacklight reactive nail polish, since i'm waiting to buy the new Illamasqua Paranormal collection because it's pretty expensive. The polish used in this has no name, but it's a really pretty teal that looks almost like a minty green in some lighting, and comes in an edgy skull shaped nail polish bottle.

The polish was pretty sheer, but nothing terrible. I've applied two thicker coats, top coat, and then painted in small triangles using black acrylic paint and a detail brush before applying the rhinestones.

Under blacklight!

These were really fun and eye catching while I had them. What do you think of this mani? Let me know in the comments below!

Caviar nails ft. Essie Sexy Divide

Hello readers,

Today I want to show you my first attempt at caviar nails, I've purchased some caviar beads off of the Born Pretty store that you can purchase here. The purple polish I've used here is Essie Sexy Divide- A plum/ eggplant color with magenta undertones. It's a bit warmer in real life, the magenta undertones are more visible which make it go so beautifully with the magenta caviar beads.

I loved how these looked in person, although I didn't keep them on very long, they were so pretty while I had them. What do you think of this mani? Let me know in the comments below!

Essie Peach Daiquiri, No More Film, Madison Ave- Hue, and Avenue Maintain swatches and review

Hello readers!
So today I'm going to swatch and review some Essie polish that I've recently picked up. I also purchased a shade from their new summer 2013 collection, and will do swatches of that soon.

So first to swatch is Essie Peach Daiquiri. Essie Peach Daiquiri is a really bright pink that can look coral in some lighting. It's a really beautiful shade for summer and has good formula. This polish is easy to work with, it's opaque in two coats and dries fast and glossy. Pictures show no topcoat.

Essie No More Film- A deep inky violet with blue undertones. This is the best formula I've ever worked with from an Essie polish. The formula was smooth, creamy, and opaque in one thicker coat. It dried really fast and very glossy, and is a very elegant shade and a great alternative to a plain black polish. Pictures show no topcoat.

Essie Madison Ave-Hue- A pretty magenta polish with subtle silver shimmer. Although I love the magenta shade of this polish, the silver shimmer is not noticeable once you paint it on, and it looks as if the polish is dirty or had mistakes in the application. Bummer, but it's still a very pretty and summery color. This polish is opaque in two coats and dries average, and glossy. Pictures show no topcoat.

Here's a pic of the silver shimmer in the polish, it looks a lot better in the bottle than on the actual nail.

Essie Avenue Maintain- A medium sky blue. I apologize for the bubbling in the pictures! My base coat is getting gloppy and it caused it to bubble which showed through when I applied the polish. I'll post a pic of when I did a gradient with the same polish so that you can get an idea of what it looks like when it's smooth. This polish is opaque in two thin coats, it dries fast, but not as glossy so I've applied topcoat.

Here is a picture of a past manicure I've done using Essie Avenue Maintain, you can really get an idea of what a pretty polish it is when i'ts smooth!

I'll soon post a swatch and review of one of the shades from Essie's new summer 2013 collection. What do you think of these polishes? Have you tried these shades before? Let me know in the comments below!