NOTD: OPI Alcatraz ... Rocks

I really wasn't sure about the Liquid Sand polishes at first, but I've grown to like them - both on their own & glossy with a top coat.  This Liquid Sand color is from OPIs's San Francisco Collection, Alcatraz ... Rocks:

Here it is with top coat:

Which version is your favorite?  For me, glossy wins.

Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

NOTD: Blue & White Water Marble + Tutorial

I've been meaning & meaning to get this posted ... then I've had interruptions at lunch, connectivity issues, and yesterday a crapload of thieves that I had to file copyright infringements on.  So!  Finally here is my blue & white water marble, using Orly White Tips & Orly Angel Rain, a beautiful combination and one I took a lot of pictures of ... even so, the iridescence of the blue was nearly impossible to capture on camera:

Here are some close-ups:

And here's the tutorial:

Thanks for reading =)

~Colette

NOTD: Green Color Block for Depression Awareness + Tutorial

Well, this is just a tad late onto the blog, but I did manage to get it posted on YouTube before the end of October which was my goal.  (October is Depression Awareness Month)

This manicure was inspired by a design I saw on Pinterest and added to my "I Wanna Try That" board (here:  http://www.pinterest.com/pin/460422761875760772/), and after digging through just my unworns I picked a light green for my base color & seven additional greens for my blocks; Piggy Polish Daylilly's & Music, Color Club Kiss Me Mistletoe, Finger Paints Evergreen Dream, Icing All That Glitters is Green, Love & Beauty ? (no label & not sure if it ever had one), Sinful Colors Exotic Green, Ulta Army of 1 & Zoya Shawn:

I made each nail a little different, but if you have one that you particularly like, obviously you could stick with just one style.  Here's the tutorial:

I think I already have more ideas pinned than I may ever get to, but now that I'm finally on there I just can't help myself, there are so many cool ideas!  So you can count on seeing more Pinterest-inspired manis going forward =)

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Introducing Formula X for Sephora + Teardrop Nail Art Tutorial

I'm always flattered when I'm contacted by a company to do a review.  This was even more than that, an introduction for a completely new nail polish line.  Formula X for Sephora is the next in nail, a 3-free polish that has a wide range of colors, finishes, and products extending to nail appliques & nail care treatments.  Sephora sent me a selection of colors from both the New Classics, and the Celestials.  You can see my thoughts on the collection as a whole, a close up look at the polishes, as well as a tutorial for my teardrop design in this vid:

One thing I forgot to mention in the vid is that the caps are not really square - that's just for looks & can be removed to reveal a normal cap, which makes application much easier.

Here's a closer look at the manicure - I used Pyrotechnic for the base color & Sparklebomb for the teardrops:

So what do you all think?  Have you been in store to see the awesome display of the full collection?  Let me know in the comments!

If you don't live near a store you can always order online from Sephora's website:
http://www.sephora.com/formula-x-for-sephora

Or, if you're just looking for some inspiration, check out the Formla X site:
http://www.formulax.com/

Thanks for reading =)

~Colette
(These were sent to me for review)

NOTD: Goodwill Halloween Faces + Tutorial

This is so my favorite commercial right now - just puts a smile on my face every time I see it, and I (along with nearly everyone else in my family &, it turns out, many people at work) can't help but to sing along - if you haven't seen it yet, you can see it on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw4De9it-8Q&feature=share&list=LLl6OwCbW6bdtZ14hoxJrgwg

So, since the faces are all pretty basic, I decided to try my hand at putting them on my nails.  Just picking out the polish for this manicure took longer than some of my designs!  And would you believe that with over 2000 bottles of polish, I still had a bit of trouble?  I would have liked the pirate's beard to be a slightly lighter brown, but I didn't have one that was a creme, and since I was able to find creme matches for all the others, I didn't want to use a shimmer there.  So I just went with the slightly darker shade that was used for the cat/werewolf.  There were a few other things like that, but overall I think I did a pretty good job color matching everything.

I used black acrylic paint for the details, and 18 polishes for everything else:  China Glaze Papaya Punch, Essie Boxer Shorts, Nails Inc Tate, Nails Inc The Thames, Nubar Milk Chocolate Creme, OPI Alpine Snow, Orly Glow, Orly Orange Punch, Revlon Stone Edge, Ulta Blue Streak, Zoya Blu, Zoya Carmen, Zoya Evvie, Zoya Jacqueline, Zoya Josie, Zoya Neely, Zoya Pippa & Zoya Shawn.  Whew!  But worth it I think:

Here's a close-up view ... I see I could have done a bit more cleanup at the cuticle area LOL:

Here's the tutorial - there are annotations to navigate to each one, so if you only want to see a few of the faces it's easy to jump around:

This was a fun mani, I was a bit sad when I took it off to fix the break in my index (that you might have noticed on some of the pictures on the witch nail).

Thanks for reading!  I hope you all have a safe & happy Halloween =)

~Colette