Of Life and Lacquer

Hello friends! Today I have another lovely lady participating in my Blogger Spotlight series: Tina from Light Of The Moon Nails. I hope you enjoy reading about the fun mani she planned for us.

The moment I saw Nails Inc. Noho, their leather finish, I knew it would be mine….MINE.  I am bonkers for textured polish…matte…liquid sand…concrete.  You name it, I love it.  So when Cynthia asked me to guest post, I knew that I would do something with this edgy, cool and awesome polish.  But what to do with it?  Why not include one of the (many) polishes that I purchased from Cynthia’s blog sale?   And pay homage to Cynthia’s mani that she did with the same polish. So here goes.

I started with Orly Surreal Satin.  I absolutely LOVE this polish.  Love the coral color….love the finish….love the way it seems to glow from within.  Good luck finding this polish.  It was originally released in 1997.  I think that makes it an antique in the polish world, don’t you?

Next I sponged Ninja Polish The Midas Touch.  This clear polish is filled with actual gold leaf flakes, but unlike a lot of the other gold flake polish out there, is half the price.  You can purchase this polish HERE They also have a silver leaf polish too, if you’re more attracted to silver.

Next I did a half moon with Nails Inc. Noho.  I used hole reinforcers for the half moons, but I think next time I will try to freehand them.  I have such a hard time eyeing where the moons should start, especially on my pinky.

I decided it needed a bit more, so I added some gold heart crystals to a couple of tips.  Look at that awesome finish on Noho.  It has just enough texture, not to much, not too little, and really does remind me of a black leather couch (tee hee).

Finally, because of the crystals, I decided to find out what would happen if I added a top coat.  I used one THIN coat of  OPI Top Coat.  The texture was still there!  Don’t use Seche Vite though.  No texture if you use one of the thicker top coats.  I do, however, like this polish better without a top coat.  One more pic and then I‘m done.  Thanks again Cynthia!

I’ve been keeping an eye on Nails Inc. Noho so maybe now I will take the plunge and get it! Make sure that you head over there to Tina’s blog to show her some nail lovers support. Click here for her blog.  She is a challenge champ!

Thanks so much for stopping by today. If you are interested in being featured in a blogger spotlight, don’t hesitate to contact me. Talk to you later!

Thank you to everyone who participated in my second Birthday Giveaway. The winners are:

Sarah has won the Red Alert Set and Lisa has won the Passion For Fashion Set. I have contacted both winners and will wait to hear back from them.

Thanks again to everyone who participated, and I hope to hold more giveaways for all of you in the future.

Cynthia

I wasn’t expecting my Zoya goodies until Friday so I was very surprised when they arrived today. Happy Thursday to me! They arrived when I was in the middle of re-arranging my melmers and trying to figure out what color I wanted to use today. Welllllllllllllllllll, I decided to use one of the new polishes I received today. But which one? Hmmmmmmm. Decisions, Decisions.

I picked Zuza. I have never met anyone named Zuza but that doesn’t make me love the nail polish any less. It is a welcome change from Essie Haute As Hello for sure. The formula on this was fantastico magico. It was opaque in 2 coats and was so easy to spread on my my nails. I had pretty much no clean up at the end which I love. It’s not a shiny nail polish; it just has that grainy shimmer that I really like.

Oh so pretty! And I finally had some sunlight for these pictures!

I wanted to share this with you because I was laughing so much when I read it. I am a dog person for sure. I usually tell people that I hate cats but I really do like them. I guess that cats act so aloof sometimes that they don’t immediately endear themselves to me the way dogs do.

Are you a dog or a cat person?

Did you order any Zoyas through their Earth Day Promo?

Oh dear Lord where do I begin with this nail polish? Is it a neon? Not quite. Is it matte? Not quite. Does it look nice on me? Uh, NO! I think someone with a different skin tone might be able to pull this off. I’m just too dark for this to look ok. Taking pictures of it was like climbing Mt. Everest. It also had a sort of weird formula that dried kind of fast like a neon but it was pretty pigmented. It did pull and create bald spots when I didn’t let it dry enough before applying another coat. In order to even it out, I applied 3 coats.

These first three pictures were taken with flash. It washed out the color somewhat.

Please excuse the cuticle oil. I neglected to massage it in well enough which makes my fingers look like greasy sausages. I took the following pictures with natural light and they just look icky. My skin looks so grey.

I am so not happy with this color. I am going to leave it on my nails because I’d rather have this color on than nothing at all. I was wearing Mysterious Curse on my nail,s but I ruined them when I gave myself a pedicure. Not smart.

The gym was alright last night. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical and then walked 2 miles on the treadmill. It was ok as my first workout. When I got home, I had a massive headache. I thought I would sleep like a baby, but I didn’t really. I actually had a very difficult time tossing and turning all night. The other night I had a dream that I was in a psych ward and that Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) was my doctor. He was tearing us down patient by patient and when he got to me, I got so mad that I grabbed his cane and started beating him with it. Then someone picked up this big sink looking thing and threw it out the window like The Chief in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. We all stood there staring–I even stopped beating Dr. House.  That’s the last thing I remember.

I doubt I’ll wear this color again; maybe I will just use it for designs and stuff. Essie deception. You looked so pretty in the bottle.