Perfectly Polished Tips 265 - Holiday Party Nails

I got an email this morning saying a photo of mine had been apart of a holiday manicure suggestion post. If you are looking for ideas for your up coming parties you should check it out.

10 Best Black Tie Manicures for Holiday Parties

I am failing miserably at Happy Hand's Advent Calendar Challenge, I still have naked nails!

Perfectly Polished Tips 264 - Catch Up

This time of the year is always busy, my nails get neglected, my stash goes mostly untouched. The sun is rare for photo taking, and I usually acquire way more polish than I could ever possibly keep up with. :) I am considering doing the Advent Calendar Nail Art Challenge that Kristi from Happy Hands Nail Polish made.

I am not great at nail art or challenges but I will try.

Even though I have not been polishing my nails I have been trying to keep them safe from the cooler weather. NC is weird, it hasn't actually been cold here yet. Or well not cold to me, I will take these 63 degree days all winter long. I know using Lansinoh for keeping cuticles nice has been very popular among the nail community. I just got a tube of my own to see what the hype was. It actually works really well and quickly. I had a few rogue cuticles that I had been picking at and after one application of the Lansinoh they were looking a lot better. They had softened up enough for me to forget they were there, so I stopped picking and chewing them. I will definitely be adding this to my nail care routine.

See you soon with my first manicure from the Advent Calendar Nail Challenge!

Perfectly Polished Tips 263 - Zoya Ornate

For the upcoming winter season Zoya has release Ornate. A set of six jewel toned polishes. There is one bar glitter, two foil/microglitter, and three with holographic glitter. When I saw preview pictures from fashion week I was really excited about this collection. It is no secret that holographic polish is loved dearly by the nail community but it seems like something companies don't often put out. I don't love the holos as much but I had high hopes for Storm.

Usually I love the formula on Zoyas polishes but the holographic ones kind of stunk IMO. Storm and Aurora were on the thin side and needed three coats for pretty much full coverage. I think that I would have been better off layering them over an opaque polish. Blaze had better coverage but was still not as opaque as Zoya's describes. I didn't have any issues with Ziv or Logan, but after looking back at my photos I wish I would have used three coats of polish instead of two.

Electra is silver holographic bar glitter. I am not a fan of bar glitter, it reminds me of little hairs or something. For those of you who do like it the formula was nice. I brushed on the first coat and dabbed on the second. I had originally planned on putting one coat of this over each of the other polished but it made such a mess when I removed it that I decided against it. sorry!

Ziv is a cool toned gold with more gold micro glitter. This polish is amazing, finally a gold that I love. Every time a company puts out a gold I rush to get it only to decide that I don't like it because it's too yellow. I am wondering how this compares to OPI Dazzled by Gold. I missed out on the OPI and I have been on the look out for it ever since.

 Logan is a gorgeous forest green that is infused with gold mirco glitter. It pulled very blue on me but it's green IRL. I'm not really big on green polish but this one is a keeper.

Storm is a black holographic polish. It's a lovely polish but like I said above I didn't love the formula. It was thin and sheer. I do think though that layering it would make it worth it. I know there are other black holo polishes out there but aside from this and OPI MPJ I haven't tried them.

Blaze is a plum toned holo polish. This one was very easy to apply, I'm meh about the color. Plums/berry tones seem to be a favorite of Zoyas and I hate it. I wish they would have done a blue or a really rich, deep purple instead of this.

Aurora is a purple holo polish and while it's pretty it's over done. I did find this one to be the most holo packed or at least the color that showed the holographic-ness the most. The formula on this was similar to Storm and again I would suggest layering.

Overall it's a neat collection, very fun for the holidays or for holo lovers. I am happy to have found a gold polish that I love!

Ornate is available now on Zoya.com. Polishes retail for $8 each or you can purchase the entire collection for $48.

Don't forget to Like Zoya on facebook to get special promos and sales.

Perfectly Polished Tips 262 - Lemming Fulfilled

Before I get to today's polish post I just wanted to say thanks for entering my giveaway! I love hosting them. I have emailed both winners and will be sending their polish grab bags out soon :)


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Every once in a while I will come across a polish that I HAVE to have. It doesn't matter if there may be something similar out there, I need the real thing. A few years ago OPI did an Alice in Wonderland collection with a gorgeous blue polish. At the time I had no internet access and no stores with polish near by. I missed out on the entire collection and tried to just forget about it. I let it go for a while but I just could not forget about Absolutely Alice. I don't do ebay, I can't. I will put a polish on my wish list and let it sit for years in hopes of it somehow finding it's way to me. Recently I was lucky enough to have a bottle of Absolutely Alice find its way to me. I put it on immediately and I never want to take it off. I have the tiniest chip on the middle finger of my right hand but I am seriously considering doing a touch up and more top coat. That is how in love I am with it.

This is two coats of Absolutely Alice over one coat of Jessica King Tut's Gem. I don't think the Jessica was really needed but I wasn't sure about opaqueness and I didn't want to do too many coats of the OPI.

So many thanks to the lovely lady who swapped with me and sent this polish!

Perfectly Polished Tips 261 - GIVEAWAY!

I am giving away two polish grab bags. I do ask for color/preference of colors and finishes but I cannot promise that you will receive only those things. I'm letting it go for a week. Please enter!

Unfortunately this giveaway is for US residents only.


a Rafflecopter giveaway



Good luck!
xx

Perfectly Polished Tips 260 - NOTD Monday OPI DS Mystery

For some reason I thought this polish was a lot more purple. Maybe batch differences? I just purchased this polish recently. It looks very brown in most lights, think the glitter bits make up for it though. It's a lovely fall polish. Two coats.

I found this in the clearance bin at Ulta, I'm not sure if that means it's being discontinued or not. 

Check back in this week, I'll be posting a giveaway :)

Perfectly Polished Tips 259 - Zoya Ornate for Winter 2012

More Zoya news! They have decided to have the Ornate collection available for pre-order as well. I think that it will be up around monday.

Ornate is six, possibly holo, jewel tone shades. I am really excited about this collection, it looks amazing. From Zoya:

"               ·       Blaze (ZP641) - Cranberry Glitter Glam Crystal - Featuring Power Pigment Full Coverage

·       Electra (ZP642) -  Holographic Tinsel Special Effect- wear it alone or layer it for extra drama

·       Ziv (ZP644) - Gold Foil Glitter Crystal - Featuring Power Pigment Full Coverage

·       Storm (ZP645) - Black with Multi Color Crystal Shimmer - Featuring Power Pigment Full Coverage

·       Aurora (ZP646) - Plum with Multi Color Crystal Shimmer - Featuring Power Pigment Full Coverage

·       Logan (ZP647) - Green Foil Glitter Crystal - Featuring Power Pigment Full Coverage"

I am really looking forward to Storm. I will drool over Ziv as well even though I cannot seem to find a gold that looks ok on me!

Keep on eye on Zoya's website and facebook page for updates on when Ornate will be available.

Perfectly Polished Tips 258 - Zoya Gilty Pleasures Trio

Zoya has also hopped on the real gold flake top coat band wagon. They are offering a trio of polishes; the gold topcoat, Raven (black creme), and Purity (white creme) for $30.

The set is available for pre-order now, you can order it here. It will be shipping on 10/15/2012. This set is a Limited Edition set, once the pre-order sells out it is gone for good.

I don't have swatches to share, I'm not really into the whole real gold top coat. If you are though hurry on over to Zoya & order it. I think it's going to go fast. I have read that some people don't want to spend $30 on it so check your Zoya accounts. If you have share the love points you may be able to use them to get a little bit of a discount.

Perfectly Polished Tips 257 - NOTD Monday Happy Hands For British Eyes Only

Happy Monday! I usually hate mondays but so far today Monday is going smoothly. (and i probably just jinxed it and the rest of my day will suck) It is damp and rainy outside but I really appreciate the cooler weather. I have been over the summer heat for about two months now :)

Today I have Happy Hands For British Eyes Only to share. It's a gorgeous, glitter bomb, and it happens to be in my favorite color family - teal!

2 coats of FBEO over Illa Muse

It was raining yesterday too when I took these photos. The bling is understated but the color is spot on. Usually my issues are opposite. There is  all types of glitter going on in the bottle. I have become really fond of hex glitter and I really love the depth and dimension in this polish.

For British Eyes Only is from Happy Hands I Have Made A Huge Mistake collection which was inspired by a TV show. After seeing the polishes I became very curious about what they were referencing and I watched all three seasons of Arrested Development over about two weeks. I loved it, if you have not watched the show you should really check it out. I know it's an older show but some how I had never watched any of it. I'm glad I did.

For British Eyes Only can be found on Etsy, it looks like FBEO is OOS right now but the shop restocks on Saturdays at 5PM.

Perfectly Polished Tips 256 - Darling Diva Polish The Harbinger

Happy Friday! Today I have another polish from Darling Diva Polish. The Harbinger is a part of the Battlestar Galactica collection and is meant to be used as a top coat. The polish is a clear base with gold and red glitter, iridescent hexes, and blue flecks. Very pretty polish, I love how much the blue flecks stand out.

I had a hard time deciding what color to layer this polish over, I felt like black is always used and I am trying to branch out. For the longest time I did not layer, I like my manicures to be quick. I don't often have a lot of down time to wait for 19 coats of polish to dry. This manicure meant staying up a little bit later to ensure that it was completely dry. There is nothing worse than waking up with a sheet marked mani!

I decided to layer it over Jessica For Your Eyes Only, which is a dark purple creme. I have seen quite a few red/purple combos lately and I like the way they look. For this manicure I did one coat of the Jessica and two coats of The Harbinger.

It was tricky for me to get a direct sunlight picture of this. The sun kept reflecting off of the hexes and creating blobs of color. Other photos were just blurry. Overall though I think these two photos show each part of the polish well.

Darling Diva Polish is available on Etsy.

(this was sent for review)