Perfectly Polished Tips 254 - NOTD Monday Darling Diva Polish Anime Day

Carrie from Darling Diva Polish sent me a few of her polishes to try out recently. I was going to swatch all three and do one post but after applying the first one I decided to make it my NOTD.

This is Anime Day over Zoya Reagan (you can see Reagan on its own here)

Anime Day is made up of multicolored glitter, I believe some are matte. Although the base looks green it is actually pink. You can see the pink tint in the third photo. The glitter in this reminds me of those little, round, multicolored sprinkles. The above photos are two coats of Anime Day, this one you have to use the dabbing method of applying. I found that I couldn't just brush it on because it carried the glitter away.

I think this is the first time I have worn pink on my tips in a really long time LOL. Save for that horrid SH nail strip mani I did a few weeks ago. I like it, I find that I am always wearing blue, teal, or purple. Time to stop neglecting the other colors :)

DDP just recently released a new collection based on the movie The Craft. If you are a fan of the movie you need to check out the collection. The polishes are amazing.

You can find Darling Diva Polish on Etsy and check out DDP's facebook page to keep up with news, restocks, and pictures.

(this was sent to me for review - all opinions are my own)

Perfectly Polished Tips 246 - Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Strips

Last week I used Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail strips for the first time. The package comes with 16 strips in various sizes, a nail file, and an orange wood stick. They claim that the stickers can last up to 10 days. There are a ton of neat patterns, colors, and designs. It's an easy way for someone not so great at nail art (aka Me) to get decorated tips.

I googled some tutorials and watched a bunch of youtube videos. Application looked easy enough. You start out with clean, dry nails. They recommend swiping your nails with polish remover before beginning. The sticker is double ended to accommodate different cuticle shapes, I didn't really find this to be helpful. I have small and narrow nail beds. Once you stick on the strip you use the orange wood stick to seal the edges, then you file off the excess from the tip. I had a very hard time making the cuticle area look nice, it probably equated to my manicure clean up. I guess it didn't bother me that much though. The strips were all smooth and looked as if I had used nail polish.

These only lasted about three days before they began to chip and lift. Most of the time I follow the nails are not tools rule and I think I was overly cautious because I didn't want to ruin my nails. Three days is also typically what I get out of a regular manicure. I don't think I would use these often or even pay full price for them. You can only get one manicure out of a box, unless you have small nails and clip the stickers in half. Even then there is a warning on the box that unused stickers should be discarded. It appears that they dry out very quickly. Maybe putting them in a ziploc immediately would help? I didn't want to take any chances though.

I used a hot pink color called Crybaby.

Neons make my camera freak out, it was a bit more pink IRL and not as washed out. These photos are immediately after I had applied the strips. You can see it's a bit rough around the edges.

You can find Sally Hansen nail strips pretty much everywhere these days. I think they are about $8-9 at drugstores but they can be found for less at Fivebelow and Big Lots.

Perfectly Polished Tips 241 - Zoya NYFW Gloss Fall 2012

Zoya is releasing three sets for Fall 2012. It's only July and the fall collections have me craving cool weather. It has been hot here, I guess it has been hot every where but the humidity...oh my. I wonder what fall in NC is like, this will be my first. I might turn into one of those people that has to go to the north east to experience the leaves changing. Anyways, back to Zoya. This collection is made up of three sheer, jelly like polishes. They are very sheer but can be layered for more coverage.

I did swatches of 1, 2, and 3 coats of each polish. I found that at three coats it started to get a bit thick. It would probably work better to do thinner coats and let each one dry before moving on to the next. I had wanted to do a fourth coat but it would have been a mess. For the pictures pinkie is one coat, ring is two coats, middle & index are three coats.

Frida was the most sheer of the 3, there is 1 coat on my pinkie and it looks like a barely there wash of color.

Katherine is a deep eggplant color and gave the most coverage.

Paloma is my favorite of the three which is unusual. I had thought that I would have loved Frida, I think jellies are just not my thing.

These polishes can be used to create all types of nail looks. I have read a bit about jelly sandwiches but I have never tried it myself. I think it is when you put a layer of glitter or shimmer in between a jelly polish. These paired with some of the foily polishes in the Zoya Diva collection may make for some interesting combos. I have swatches of the Designer and Diva collections coming, I am editing now!

These polishes retail for $8 each and will be available on Zoya.com on July 15th.

(these were sent for review)

Perfectly Polished Tips 225 - Zoya Beach

Here is the other half of Zoya summer.

I kind of hated the formula on these, especially Shelby. It was thin but goopy, I had many bald spots. I was most looking forward to Wednesday and it is still my favorite from both sets. I know I always always always say this but I really wish Zoya would do other colors than pink and red. Three pinks in this collection is almost as bad as the three neutral shades in the last collection. What about yellow, blue, brown, gray? I do recall saying that I had wished that the last collection had a pastel orange. This set does, most of the colors in the Beach collection remind me of spring but I guess since polish is not seasonal to all it does not really matter.

As usual two coats of polish, no base or top coat.

Reagan-Lara-Shelby-Arizona-Tracie-Wednesday

Reagan-Lara-Shelby

Arizona-Tracie-Wednesday

I saw a little bit ago on Zoya's facebook page that these are available NOW. You can get them from Zoya.com.

(these were sent to me for review)

Perfectly Polished Tips 224 - Zoya Surf

I am having a really hard time accepting the fact that it is the end of March. Time is flying and I don't like it one bit. We didn't have much of a winter or spring here in NC! Not that I am complaining, well maybe a little. I don't like highs of 83 degrees in March.

For summer Zoya is releasing two bright and fun collections. One half is cremes (with a lone shimmer) and the other is foils. Today I have the foil half, Surf, to share. Each swatch is two coats of color, no base coat or top coat

Carly-Kimber-Rory-Myrta-Meg-Zuza

Carly-Kimber-Rory

Myrta-Meg-Zuza

The formula on these was a little thick but it dries quickly. I found that if I tried to do too many brush strokes it got goopy. All of the shades are very vibrant. My camera made Kimber a little too red, it's more on the magenta side. For once I actually like each shade in a collection. Meg gives me lobster hands and I don't love green but it is still a nice polish. I love the little shimmer bits in the polishes. I remember reading some where that these were foils like Rea & Kotori. I am wondering if the ones available now are similar. My Rea & Kotori are nothing like these polishes. I actually hate Kotori because it is such a pain to apply and so sheer. I didn't have sheerness issues with any of these.

I am waiting for the sun to be over my deck so I can swatch the Beach half. I will hopefully have those up later on today or tomorrow.

Beach & Surf will be available on April 1st. They retail for $8 each.

(these were sent for review)

Perfectly Polished Tips 207 - NOTD Pink Essies

Pink + Glitter + Me = ?

I have not worn a pink polish on my tips in forever. Once I got over the initial blue, green, teal, black, purple, ect are not weird or "goth" colors I never looked back. Pale pinks were once my go to polish. Most of them did not cause all of the damage to my nails to stick out. Plus they weren't "weird."

It's so silly that certain colors are suppose to mean certain things. Like black = goth or a french mani = klassy. I'M NOT KNOCKING the french mani either. Only the french pedi! No No No, everyone should wear what they like.

Back to my NOTD. I spotted Essie A Cut Above at Walmart and she stole my heart. Prior to this polish I did not own any polish with hex glitter or multi sized/shaped glitter. I only had glitter of the normal glitter variety. To be honest I always thought the hex glitter polishes were tacky and "gah, why would anyone wear that?" Now I know. The base color is Essie Skin Deep which is just a pale pink with subtle silver shimmer. Skin Deep was one of the very first polishes I purchased after finding the Nail Board.

I don't think that I'll wear A Cut Above often, it's fun but a little too much for me. I do love the color though, can anyone point me in the direction of a hot pink version?

I also picked up Nicole Kendall on the Katwalk when I got A Cut Above. Another polish I wouldn't usually go for. I fondled Nicole A Rainbow in the Skylie or whatver the rainbow crazy glitter one is called. I need to go back for it.

On a side note, I made it to 2012 and I got a smart phone! I finally figured out how to upload my photos to Picasa straight from my phone. So if this photo looks odd it's because it's a phone pic and I used something other than Photobucket to edit it. I kind of feel like my phone takes better photos than my point and shoot cannon. I need to do some side by side comparisons.

Speaking of comparisons my next few posts will be bottle and swatch comparisons of a few of my favorite polishes. They are all in the teal family - surprise, surprise.

Have you jumped on the glitter train or are you avoiding it? Have a great weekend!

Perfectly Polished Tips 181 - Perfect Formula Spring/Summer 2011

Perfect Formula is a brand that is new to me. I've tried their cuticle oil and it is pretty nice. If i only I could remember to use it regularly! Perfect Formula polish is formulated with "instant strength technology" which helps to thicken and strengthen your nails. I believe this brand is fairly new so while there are not a lot of color options there are a lot of nice choices. I have my eye on the fall/winter 2010 collection. I really like that this collection is small and basic. All three are perfect in any combination for the season. Calypso would be an amazing pedi and Pirouette is a nice neutral mani. As much as I love gold polish I just don't think it works on me. I've tried so many and it just doesn't feel "right." Maybe I haven't found the right one yet.

On to the polish. Each swatch to two coats of polish, no base or top coat.

Pirouette

Calypso

Tango

Perfect Formula polishes retail for $15 and can be purchased at perfectformulas.com. This brand is a little on the expensive side but I liked them just as much as I like my Lippmanns. For the right color I don't mind spending extra.

(these were sent to me for review)

Perfectly Polished Tips 179 - Essie Summer 2011

hey I'm kinda late to the party on this one. I've been busy or maybe just lazy. I love blogging but sometimes I get overwhelmed and feel like it's too much to do. A lot goes into swatching and photographing. Or well a lot goes into it for me because it has to be done around a two year old's schedule. Unfortunately for me nap time was dropped a long time ago. The next couple of posts may be old news for some and I apologize!

Essie has been doing amazing things lately. The collections have had more variety and more colors that I would want to wear. Yea, a lot of times the "safe" pale pinks and reds are included but for this summer collection they did not play it safe.

Brazilliant

Meet Me at Sunset

Super Bossa Nova

Smooth Sailing

Too Too Hot

Absolutely Shore

All photos are two coats of polish except for Absolutely Shore which is 3. This collection should still be easy to find.

(these were sent to me for review)

Perfectly Polished Tips 178 - Zoya Summertime

Finally I have the other half to Zoya's 2011 summer release. The weather has been crazy, one minute it's gorgeous and sunny and then the next there are clouds for days.

Summertime is made up of 6 creme shades, all bright and perfect for summer manicures or pedicures. I think in every Zoya post I make I rave about their creme formula. It is perfect to me, very pigmented and a great consistency. Now that they have released a collection* that includes all my favorite colors I may do something crazy and shun all other brands. Just kidding, but seriously again amazing. Zoya has not yet disappointed me with a release, I may not love all of the colors but their collections as a whole are great.

On to the photos, all are two coats of color, no top or base coat.

Tamsen - a warm brick red with strong orange undertones. The photo is pretty true to life, this would be a perfect pedi color for me!

Sookie - a slightly jelly cherry red. I'm really not a fan of jellies but this one applied wonderfully.

Mira - blurple! I love colors like these. Slightly muted but still cheery. One of my faves from the summer collection.
Kieko - purple with berry tones. Very pretty, Zoya recommends this for warm toned gals.

Breezi - a medium, dusty, cerulean blue. This is probably my favorite of the collection. I love blue polishes and I never grow tired of seeing this color.

Areej - a muted, cool fuchsia pink. A very bright and happy color. This shade is usually my go to pedi shade in the winter. I love bright pink toes when it's cold out.

Summertime is currently available on Zoya.com and retails for $8. Also I may have mentioned it in my last post but if you don't already, go "Like" Zoya on facebook. They recently hit 50,000 Likes and may be planning a promo soon!

*The collection I was referring to was the Smoke half of Smoke & Mirrors for fall. I will have photos soon!

(these were sent to me for review)