NOTD: Purple Stripes Water Marble + Tutorial

So far I think this is the only time I've done a striped marble vertically on my nails - I think I ought to give it a try again.  For this I used Zoya Harmoniefor my base color, and then marbling is done with Harmonie & Zoya Sloane(which is from the Pulse Collection):

Here are my favorite nails:

And here's the tutorial:

I didn't get as much done last weekend as I'd hoped.  Maybe if I set a low bar this weekend, I can exceed my expectations for once LOL?

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Zoya Pippa + Finger Paints Psychedelic Sunshine

I started off with just Zoya Pippa, which is part of the La-Di-Da Collection:

But I decided that while bright, it wasn't quite enough, so I added a coat of Finger Paints Psychedelic Sunshine to give it some sparkle:

I actually don't usually go quite this bright without like some black staamping to tone it down a bit, but it was a nice change of pace & I liked the combination quite a lot.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

The Haul Post

Usually for hauls I'll do a vid, and then I'll do some close-up pics with whatever info I forgot to mention in the vid - because no matter how thorough I think I'm being I always forget something. But most of these I never got around to bottle pics, or if I did I never go around to editing them, and at this point I don't think I'm going to ... so if you're interested to see any of these polishes before they get full manicure posts, the vids are it ... pick & choose as you will because there are kind of a lot LOL.  I've also included the related swatch videos and/or polish in motion vids that I've finished, although there are others I still would like to do.

This vid is mainly on the China Glaze Prismatic Chroma Glitter collection - I still haven't gotten around to swatching the Nabis that I mention at the end:



Big Lots is of course one of my favorite places for discounted polish, and I really enjoyed getting these glitters from Michael's - even though so far all I've done is gaze adoringly at them:



The gorgeous, gorgeous, GORGEOUS Layla Hologram effect polishes:



If you do want to see more of that awesomeness I've got 4 polish in motions so far, for Flash Black, Ocean Rush, and Jade Groove & Mercury Twilight which are quite similar -  full posts for these still upcoming:






I always look forward to Zoya's Earth Day sale - I'm already looking forward to the next one LOL although I'm sure there will be other good sales before then =)



A few colors from the OPI Spiderman collection:



Many  of you probably already know that Just Spotted the Lizard is a dupe for Chanel Peridot:



A gigantic Big Lots haul of Revlon polishes, along with a decent serving of DSW's Anise brand:



My first haul of the initial 5 Orly Flash Glam FX glitters:



Another bucketful of glitter, this batch from the Dollar Tree:



My unexpected birthday haul including the Essie Mirror Metallic collection:



Revlon's Moon Candy flakies from Walgreens:



And swatches - so hard to capture flakies on camera but I tried:




And to end on a bang, the crown jewel of all these hauls as well as my most recent (well, except for the ones I just bought & haven't recorded yet!), my prize for winning Orly's Flash Glam FX contest - the entire 22 glitters, plus the Fired Up collection - awesomeness, awesomeness & more awesomeness:



I've done polish in motion vids for Sunglasses at Night & Be Brave, as well as 2 swatch videos on these so far - and I would like to do another set of swatches, with no base and/or complimentary base colors.  Not sure when that will happen but coming eventually =)






So, that's it ... for now ;)

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: The Evolution of Zoya Holly

It's discouraging when I get behind on things.  And then that leads to procrastination.  And that (obviously) leads to falling even further behind.  I've had a few people ask if I've stopped blogging, and a few others suggest that maybe I should stop blogging.  But I'm not & I won't & I'm re-dedicating myself to getting caught up with this *ahem* nearly 6 month backlog of pics.  And I'm starting today so that July isn't a month with no posts at all.

In an effort to speed things up a bit, I'm not going to be labeling my pics with what kind of light they're taken in anymore.  I think for the most part you guys are pretty used to the 4-5 kinds anyway - the natural lamp, camera flash, shade, sun & occasionally overcast.  I may or may not start doing it again once I'm caught up - we'll see when I get there LOL.

I started with a beautiful green, Zoya Holly:

To which I then added Finger Paints Flecked for some flaky goodness:

And for my final day I topped it with Warpaint Beauty Mattify:

Here's a look at it in motion:



And that's that - if I had more to say at this point I've unfortunately forgotten LOL.  And that may be the case for a lot of these, since they are so old ... but even with nothing for me to say I think they speak for themselves =)

Thanks for sticking around - and thanks for reading.

~Colette

The Evolution of Zoya Paz + Tiger Stripes Tutorial

OK, don't faint - it's a weekday post =)

Zoya Paz is an awesome bright orange, next thing to being a neon, and a very stand out color all on its own - the camera does not do it justice.  These pics are old enough that I can't remember how in the world I managed the gouge on my index finger LOL:

I decided to amp it up even further with a coat of Nails Inc Electric Lane:

And then after a day I decided to try my hand with some freehand tiger stripes.  I used black acrylic paint for the stripes:

Here's the tutorial:

I was really quite pleased with how everything came out.  Before that I'd always just gone with stamping but I think I'll try some more freehand animal print in the future.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Valentine's Hearts Water Marble + Tutorial

Sometimes it is perhaps not quite so obvious how far behind I am - but yes, these are Valentine's nails, and yes that means I'm about 4 months behind LOL.

I started off this manicure with a base of Zoya Marley, then did the marbling with Marley & Ulta Femme Fatale.  I like these hearts better than the hearts I did the year before, but for something that seems like it should be simple, it's surprisingly hard to get exactly right in the water:

Some of the hearts ended up "cleaner" in the center than others ... shows that even I am not perfect & still have plenty to learn about marbling:

Here's the tutorial:

Thanks for reading.

~Colette