polish fixation

Different Dimension - Bean there, Done that + stamping

2016-10-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

Good morning!

Today I am sharing an amazing polish with you from one of my favorite indie brands, Different Dimension. It is one of the special Polish Con colors, called Bean There, Done That...and OMG it is freaking amazing. Missy never fails to impress me with what she comes up with!

How incredible is the wow-factor on that? Pictured is two easy coats and a glossy top coat. The formula is smooth and easy to apply.

After a couple of days I decided to stamp over it before taking it off, so this is what I came up with:

I loved how this came out as silver/gray and pink is one of my favorite color combinations. The stamping polish I used was HITS brand Pink. I don't remember which plate I used but if anyone asks about it I will gladly look at my plates to try and figure that out for you!

That's all for today, hope you enjoyed! IF you were lucky enough to snag a bottle of Bean There, Done That at Polish Con let me know if you love it as much as I do!

Polish Con 2016!

2016-09-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

Hey guys! I know it's been way, way, WAY too long since I have updated this blog! I won't bother going into all the craziness that has been going on in my absence...suffice it to say that "Life happens"...and many ups and downs were gone through...but now I am back and wanting to ease back into sharing my swatches and nail art with you again!

I was definitely out of the loop for a long time but luckily I have some amazing polish friends who informed me that Polish Con 2016 was happening in Chicago...which just so happens to be where one of those friends lives, so if I was able to attend I would have a place to stay! So I got a plane ticket and an event ticket and off I went a few weeks ago, and it was SO TOTALLY WORTH IT!

I had never seen so many amazing polishes in one place, OR that many polish fanatics either! It was like a dream world! I got to meet and chat with a lot of my favorite indie polish makers like Pam, the mastermind behind the Girly Bits brand, and Missy, the creator of Different Dimension...among many others!

It was hard not to go completely broke at the event cause there was so much more I would have bought if I had the funds for it! So here I will share a pic of what I did go home with, some of you may have already seen the picture on my instagram, where I've been posting a lot more lately.

My Polish Con goodies!

And here is a random shot I managed to get to kind of give you an idea of just how packed the venue was! It was definitely putting me on sensory overload, but I stuck it out cause it was worth it!

The really cool thing is that it's been announced that going forward this Polish Con will be held annually in the fall in Chicago, and also annually in the spring at varying cities... the Spring 2017 venue is going to be NYC! Which excites me because my family lives there so, once again, if the date chosen is free on my calendar, I will have a free place to stay = more $ for polish! I hope some of you can make it to future cons because they are fantastic!

So anyhow, please keep an eye out for posts from me coming up, as I am going to work on getting content on here for you again, and please if you don't already follow me on Facebook and Instagram, please hook up with me on those as well, to make sure you have easy access to anything I am sharing! To those of you still out there, thanks so much for reading and sticking out my hiatus!

Soulstice: Guerneville & Healdsburg

2014-09-18T09:00:00.001-04:00

*Press sample*

Hi everyone! Sorry I missed a few weeks, the end of the summer got super busy between going away for a week and then having my niece and nephew come visit me for another week. Now school is back in session and fall is just around the corner! I will miss summer, but I do really love the fall!

Anyhow, today I have the next two polishes from the Soulstice Spa Sonoma Collection to share with you. Today's are called Guerneville and Healdsburg!

Guerneville

Guerneville is a very unique rustic green shade. It's very glossy and looks mostly like a cream in the bottle, but on the nail it reveals a very subtle almost speckled-like shimmer. The formula was great, and opaque in two coats.

Healdsburg

Healdsburg is a gorgeous orange shade with a hidden copper/red shimmer. I didn't even realize it was a shimmery shade until it was on my nail. I was so pleasantly surprised. This color is perfect for fall and turned out to be one of the stars of the collection for me. Great coverage and formula, two coats pictured.

I still have the last TWO shades coming up next week!

If you'd like to find out more about this collection, or purchasing info, check out the following links:

Soulstice Spa Nail Polish

Soulstice Spa @ twitter

Soulstice Spa Facebook Fans

Soulstice Spa on Pinterest

*press sample*

Soulstice: Jenner & Bodega Bay!

2014-09-10T09:00:00.000-04:00

*Press sample*

Jenner

Jenner is a creamy neutral pink-toned lavender. The formula was really opaque and I probably could have made it in one coat, but I did two for these pictures. I don't typically love neutrals but this one is super pretty, and I liked how it looked on me.

Bodega Bay: Immortalized by the Alfred Hitchcock film, "The Birds," Bodega Bay is a scenic seaside town in Sonoma County. With wonderful whale watching, fishing and beach-combing, this sweet enclave will charm you with its misty mornings and sea-salty air.

Bodega Bay

Bodega Bay is a vibrant, cool purple cream. My pictures lean sort of bluish purple due to the camera having difficulty with certain shades of purple, but it is definitely more of a purple than a blue. The application was a breezy, easy two coats.

There are still FOUR more shades I will be sharing from this gorgeous collection, so stay tuned!

If you'd like to find out more about this collection, or purchasing info, check out the following links:

Soulstice Spa Nail Polish

Soulstice Spa @ twitter

Soulstice Spa Facebook Fans

Soulstice Spa on Pinterest

*press sample*

Soulstice: Santa Rosa & Kenwood

2014-08-14T09:00:00.000-04:00

*Press sample*

Good morning everyone! Hope you're all having a great week so far. The weekend is almost here and I couldn't be happier, especially because in a few short days I'll be heading to PA on a family vacation. Do you have any cool plans coming up?

Today's post will feature the next two Soulstice Spa colors in the Sonoma County collection, Santa Rosa and Kenwood. Both of these are lovely shades of pink, and two of my favorites in the collection!

Santa Rosa: The county seat of Sonoma County, fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area and center of Sonoma Wine Country. With a mild Mediterranean climate, historic neighborhoods, and rose-lined streets, Santa Rosa is a vibrant gateway point to explore the region's natural beauty, wineries, ranches and spas.

Santa Rosa

Santa Rosa is a creamy, vibrant fuchsia. The formula was really opaque and I probably could have made it in one coat, but I did two for these pictures. I love how bright and shiny this color is!

Kenwood: A charming town along scenic Highway 12 in the Valley of the Moon grape-growing region. Kenwood is known for its beautiful Sonoma Valley AVA vineyards, bistros, and European style resorts.

Kenwood

Kenwood is a bright, rosy pink with a very subtle shimmer. The formula was great and I used two coats for this photo, but it's probably also able to coat in one thicker coat if you prefer. This is one of my absolute favorites of this collection!

Four down and SIX to go for this collection! Check back next week for two more!

If you'd like to find out more about this collection, or purchasing info, check out the following links:

Soulstice Spa Nail Polish

Soulstice Spa @ twitter

Soulstice Spa Facebook Fans

Soulstice Spa on Pinterest

*press sample*

Soulstice Spa - New Collection!

2014-08-07T14:15:00.001-04:00

*Press sample*

Hi guys! I know, I know, it's been wayyy too long since I've checked in here with new polish eye candy for you to ogle, and for that I am sorry! What can I say? Life sometimes barges in and gets so busy that hobbies wind up falling to the wayside temporarily. But, I do hope to get back into things here, even if it winds up being less frequent than it used to be.

But enough about that, let's get to the awesomeness that is today's post! I am super excited to share with you, over the course of a few weeks, all the new shades in Soulstice Spa's latest nail polish collection, which consists of 10 shades inspired by and named after Sonoma County towns (where Soulstice Spa is based!).

Today's post will feature the two softest, sheerest shades in the collection: Sonoma and Petaluma.

Sonoma county, which this polish is named for, is internationally known for its sweeping vineyards, historic Missions, soft, fragrant air and award-winning wineries.

Sonoma

Sonoma is a creamy, sheer peachy pink. Soft, subtle and delicate, but really gorgeous! I love the shine of this one. Pictured is 3 coats, and you can still see that it is very sheer but I think that gives this polish a nice clean and refreshing feel. I think with one more coat you could achieve full opacity, but I really preferred to leave it at three cause I was really digging it at this level of sheerness, so I left it.

Petaluma is a quaint, small town famous for its Butter & Eggs Day. This polish is a soft buttery yellow inspired by its long history of poultry farming.

Petaluma

As you can see, Petaluma is bright and cheery yellow with a gorgeous pink shimmer. This is also a sheer sort of shade, and I used 4 very thin coats for the pictured look, but you could probably do 3 thicker ones, I just prefer to do them thinner. I think it's also important to note that the formula was really easy to work with and wasn't sticky or streaky at all, which I find is sometimes a problem with yellow polishes for some reason. Overall, I am not usually one to wear yellow very often, but if I had to pick one, this would definitely land among my favorites in that category!

There are 8 more shades in this collection that I will be sharing with you over my next few blog posts and I can't wait 'til you see the rest!

If you'd like to find out more about this collection, or purchasing info, check out the following links:

Soulstice Spa Nail Polish

Soulstice Spa @ twitter

Soulstice Spa Facebook Fans

Soulstice Spa on Pinterest

*press sample*

Zoya Dream

2014-03-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

Dream is a perfect name for this polish by Zoya because it really is a dream! Perfect application and stunningly gorgeous!

Lady of the Lake, reswatch

2014-02-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

Wayyy back in September 2011 I swatched A-England Lady of the Lake. I recently wore this polish again and decided that it deserved a better picture for my blog, so here's the 2013 version.

Textured Gradient

2014-02-26T09:00:00.000-05:00

Base textured polish is Nicole by OPI Candy is Dandy , and then I sponged the tips with Nabi Rainbow Effect polish in Fushia.

More Zoya Jelly Fun

2014-02-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

Sparkly Gradient

2014-02-21T09:00:00.001-05:00

La Girl 3D Silver & Teal Dimension Gradient

Sparkly & Pink

2014-02-19T09:00:00.000-05:00

Zoya Micky & Yana topped with Models Own Indian Ocean.

Zoya Micky is probably one of my favorite Zoya pinks ever!

Return of 50 Shades

2014-02-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

I loved Different Dimension 50 Shades so much that I had to try it over a dark grey this time instead of light grey. Still love it!

Boxy Stamping

2014-02-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

The purple polish is Avon Cosmic. I stamped with black using a Gals image plate, GA4.

Scaly Stamping

2014-02-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

The base polish is Avon Moonbeam. I don't recall what polish I stamped with, or the stamping plate unfortunately. I will update the post if I remember!

LA Girl Hooked & 3D Silver

2014-02-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

China Glaze Glitz n Pieces

2014-02-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

This is a teal creme polish topped with China Glaze Glitz n Pieces, with shiny top coat.

I then decided I wanted to see how it would look if I used a matte top coat instead, and the result was the following:

Really liked it matte!

Sparkly Teal Mani

2014-02-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

This look is Butter London Slapper topped with Different Dimension Unteal We Meet Again.

Pink & Black Stamping

2014-02-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

Zoya Vivi stamped in black from an image on the PUEEN 22 image plate.

Jelly Sandwich with Zoya Paloma

2014-01-31T09:00:00.000-05:00

Started out with a base of Maybelline Antique Teal layered with Jindie Nails Baby Doll. Decided I wasn't in the mood for teal nails and pulled out Zoya Paloma, a jelly. Layered it over everything for the end result pictured above.

Different Dimension, 50 Shades

2014-01-29T09:00:00.000-05:00

50 Shades is an awesome glitter mix from Different Dimension, layered over a grey creme.

Fan Brush Mani - first try!

2013-10-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

So I haven't done as much nail art recently as I would like to, but I have been trying to remedy that by playing around/trying different things.

I have seen people post manis they did with fan-type brushes and I always thought they looked really cool so I decided to try one for myself.

I can't remember the exact polishes I used, but it was a pink, grey and white...if I remember them later I will post the names. I am pretty happy with the result considering it was my first attempt!

All I did was start out with a white base nail and then brush on the grey, pink, and white with the fan brush and then top off with top coat. It is a little messy but definitely not a shabby first attempt! I will definitely be trying this technique out again with different color combinations!

What do you think of this? Have you ever tried a fan brush mani?

China Glaze Cowgirl Up + Orly Miss Conduct

2013-10-18T09:00:00.000-04:00

I originally got the idea to do this from Jeanette (The Swatchaholic), from her post here on her facebook page.

First off, since I don't think I've shared it on its own before, here is Orly Miss Conduct, which is the color I wore on my nails for my wedding!

Orly - Miss Conduct

An amazing color by itself, super sparkly and BRIGHT pink (it looks more reddish in my picture but it is much more hot pink/magenta in real life). The coverage is amazing and the formula is perfect!

Here it is over China Glaze Cowgirl Up! I think the metallic finish of Cowgirl Up (Sorry, no swatch at the moment) is what makes this look extra super sparkly and shiny! What a great pairing, so glad I saw Jeanette's post cause I loved wearing this!

What do you think? Do you like layering different polishes to see what happens?

Swatch Dump!

2013-10-16T09:00:00.000-04:00

Another swatch dump for you guys to ogle! Enjoy!

Butter London - Slapper

LA Girl - Teal Dimension

Loreal - The Temptress' Desire

Lush Lacquer - Glitter Girl

Misa - Grey Matters

Misa - Well Heeled Grey

Zoya - Vivi

Ok...I think I have now shared most of the swatches I was backlogged with! But I have PLENTY more polishes I need to swatch, so I am sure there will be a lot more of these posts! Hopefully they are helpful!

What is your favorite swatch in this post? I am loving Well Heeled Grey and Teal Dimension! Also wondering how Glitter Girl would look layered over several of these!

Maybelline Vintage Teal + Transformations!

2013-10-14T09:00:00.001-04:00

Happy Monday everyone! Ok, ok...I know MONDAY ugh!, but I am trying to be positive.

Anyhow, I recently picked up a one of the new "Vintage Leather" bottles of Maybelline Color Show polishes, in Vintage Teal.

I was not quite sure what to expect, I figured some sort of vinyl/matte type finish, but in the bottle I noticed some shimmery looking flake type glitters, so I was intrigued.

Well, the result really was a dark matte teal polish, and I could not really see the glitter bits in the application, but I did love the color/formula anyway.

Here is what it looked like by itself:

Maybelline - Vintage Teal

You can see the glitter bits a little where the surface is slightly uneven/bumpy looking, but it's not shiny or pretty like they looked in the bottle, but as I said, the formula was really nice for a matte, and I like this color, so I was still happy with my purchase.

I decided it needed something more though, so I turned to Orly Sparkling Garbage!

Vintage Teal topped with Orly Sparkling Garbage

I was super happy with this combination! So super-duper sparkly! I wore the mani this way for about 3-4 days with no tip wear or chipping. (NYC Grand Central Station quick dry top coat on top of it all).

However, I had a wedding to attend, and the top I wanted to wear was a purplish/maroon shade, and this clashed, but I didn't feel like doing a whole new mani...Zoya Paloma jelly polish to the rescue!...

Vintage Teal, Sparkling Garbage, Zoya Paloma jelly

This is my absolute favorite of the 3 manis! How awesome does that look? I got 2-3 more days out of this mani by adding Paloma to what I already had. So gorgeous!

Hope you enjoyed this, it just shows you can start with an OK mani, and just keep transforming it without too much trouble and get a totally different/fresh look!