Zoya Tomoko

It's Monday and time for another Zoya Pixie Dust! Confession: for awhile I was getting Zoya Godiva and Tomoko confused. Which is not really fair of me, because they are definitely not the same. Tomoko was originally released as part of the Fall 2013 collection and is described as a "romantic champagne silver with a matte, textured, sparkling metal finish." This is pretty spot on. Tomoko definitely has a more sparkly, metallic look to it than Godiva, which is a more beige neutral.

As with the previous Pixie Dusts, Tomoko was easy to use. I think I used two coats here-- this was a little on the sheerer side just due to the nature of the lighter color, but two coats still gave good coverage. It dried quickly and wore really well, as these textures tend to. This one was a nice sparkly metallic, especially if you want to spice up a neutral look.

Artificial light (flash):

Another hit from the Pixie Dust line! It really is a bummer that Zoya decided to discontinue this line-- I hope that some day Zoya will revamp the line or bring it back.

Rescue Beauty Bonne Journee

Today I have a polish from Rescue Beauty's latest collection, Je t'aime! Je t'aime! collection. I love France (have only been there once but would go back in a heartbeat!) so I was excited when this collection came out. The first polish I have from this collection is Bonne Journee, which means "good journey" in French. Bonne Journee is described as a "happy rose pink with blue undertones and a hint of copper." The description also says it has a "shimmery satin finish." What this translates to is metallic.

As a metallic, this type of polish is prone to brushstrokes, but the brushstrokes don't bother me as much as the formula did-- it seemed very thin to me, and was not helped by the narrow brushes these bottles feature. It was very sheer in the first coat (although I think this is pretty common with metallics) and I ended up having to use four to get the coverage I wanted, which was disappointing, because I think the color is gorgeous. 

Artificial light (flash):

I actually don't hate this-- usually brushstrokes are not my cup of tea, but this polish is extremely pretty. I just wish that the polish had been more pigmented because the color is gorgeous. It reminds me of this gorgeous photo a friend took in southern France-- bonne journee indeed!

Birthday Manicure!

I'm 32 today!! Yikes, how did that happen?! Hahaha! I still have trouble accepting I'm an adult sometimes. But here I am anyway! Luckily, I can say that my life is pretty good so really, aside from being another year older, I don't really have much to complain about. It'll probably be a pretty quiet birthday-- we're going out for dinner to our local brew pub and then we'll have a bigger celebration later on because my husband's birthday is in another 8 days! June is always a busy month around here.

For my birthday manicure, I went with something simple in my favorite colors: blue and gold! So I used two new to me polishes: Illamasqua Serenity and Zoya Maria Luisa. Serenity is a gorgeous medium blue with a rubber finish and Maria Luisa is a gold flakie topper. They were both easy to apply so this got thrown together fairly quickly, which is always a good thing these days!

Artificial light (flash):

It's not much, but it's fun! I really like the blue and gold combo and I'm excited to use Maria Luisa over some other polishes!

NOTD: My First Blobicure!

I have something fun today! My husband and I were invited to enjoy a Seattle Mariner's baseball game in a suite on Monday, and I knew immediately wanted to do a fun themed manicure! The Mariner's colors are navy blue and teal, and luckily I had the perfect polishes on hand to play with: MAC Monday Blues and Washeteria. As the name implies, Monday Blues is a deep navy blue and Washeteria is a gorgeous teal creme. Perfect! It's like it was meant to be!

This was the first time I did a blobicure, so I was worried about screwing it up--smearing the blobs together or that it would terrible. Luckily, this technique is super easy-- I think I went a little too conservative and should have actually added more blobs. I decided to mix things up by including an accent nail as well.

Artificial light (flash):

This was so much fun! I really like this technique and it was easy to do. Lazy nail art at its finest! I was really pleased with how this turned out and can't wait to try it again!

Two-fer Tuesday: Sinful Colors Pinata Blast Glitters

I have something fun to share with you today! These are two polishes from Sinful Colors from the Fierce Fiesta display: Baila Baila and Mamacita.There were actually three of these glitters, but the third one had bar glitter so I passed on that one. This is actually only part of the Sinful Colors Summer collection; if you are interested in what else is being offered, I would check out Nouveau Cheap and her post on the collection. Both of these polishes are glitter toppers and meant to be worn over a base color because they will never be opaque by themselves.

Baila Baila (bailar means to dance in Spanish, so baila baila would be "dance dance") is a mix of blue and coral hexes, with white and lime green micro glitter in a clear base. Here I dabbed one coat over Julep Marcella:

 

Mamacita (this name reminds me of the Straight No Chaser song Donde Esta Santa Claus?) is a mix of blue, red and pink hex glitters with white mirco glitter in a clear base. Here I have dabbed one coat of Mamacita over Julep Brandis:

These are fun! Easy to apply and a nice mix of springy colors. And the price tag is great too! If you like glitter toppers, I would defintiely recommend searching these. I especially think Baila Baila has a unique color combination. The glitter base is a tad thick, but that seems pretty common, and it was pretty easy to get glitter on the brush and dab it around the nail. I tend not to play with glitter very often but I'm glad I snagged these two! Does anything from this collection strike your fancy?

Illasmasqua Noble

It's been awhile since I featured an Illamasqua polish on the blog! Even though they are currently hard to come by stateside due to Sephora no longer carrying the brand, they have been popping on Hautelook recently. Which is a double bonus because they are discounted! Woo! Who doesn't love that? And so, accordingly, I have bought several *coughcough* many Illamasqua polishes recently thanks to Hautelook. Sorry not sorry. Well, my wallet is a little sorry. ANYWAY... today I have Illamasqua  Noble to share with you!

Noble was actually released in a fall collection (in 2012, wow) and I recall liking it at the time, but never got around to picking it up. Noble is described as a "turquoise blue" and also as a robin's egg blue. This polish is incredibly vibrant and bright, so it was love at first sight for me. Personally, I didn't see the turquoise in this for awhile and it definitely looks more blue in my photos, but it does have a hint of green to it to move it into turquoise territory. The formula was good-- I used two coats here and the polish was easy to apply.

Artificial light (flash):

Personally, I am in freaking love with this shade! Even though this was originally a fall release, the brightness makes it perfect for spring and summer! I even got compliments on this polish from one of the sample girls at Costco while I was wearing this. Bonus! Given how awesome this was, I am definitely looking forward to wearing all my other new Illamasqua pretties!

Pahlish Always Bring a Banana

Recently, I was overcome with the desire to wear a yellow polish. This might sound weird to non-polish lovers And conveniently, not long ago I got a new, sparkly yellow polish courtesy of a Llarowe sale: Pahlish Always Bring A Banana. Pahlish is a new-to-me brand, so this the first appearance on the blog and my first experience with the brand. Always Bring A Banana is from Pahlish's Doctor Who collection. Apparently, there are a lot more bananas in Doctor Who than I initially realized, because I was totally wrong about which episode inspired this polish, hahaha!

Anyway, Always Bring A Banana is a bright mustard yellow holographic polish. In the bottle this definitely seemed less mustardy yellow and more sunshine yellow. I was a little bit surprised, but it's not necessarily a bad thing (maybe my eyes are just weird). This does have a holographic finish, though it is not very strong. In the bottle this looks more like a glass fleck. It's pretty, though! I ended up using three coats here, though I probably could have gotten away with two. There was a hint of visible nail line with just two coats, but I don't see any with three coats. The biggest issue was that the formula on this was thick. It seemed to get thicker as I used it. It wasn't terrible to apply, but it was kind of annoying.

Artificial light (flash):

Sorry for the the lack of a clean-up job here, but... I am busy and was probably tired! Though it wasn't quite the yellow I thought it was in the bottle, I really liked it and it was the little spot of sunshine I was looking for! The formula wasn't perfect, but it wasn't horrible, so I would definitely be willing to try more Pahlish polishes in the future!

LVX Fuchsia

Oooohhh, I have a pretty polish to share with you today! A while back, I won the LVX spring collection from work.play.polish and because of my mountains and mountains of untried polishes, they have been sitting neglected. No longer! Today I have LVX Fuchsia to share with you because last week I was perusing my stash to find something to wear and couldn't resist the shimmer in this! I would describe Fuchsia as a vivid magenta/fuchsia color with a strong blue/violet shimmer.

Aside from my personal issues spelling Fuchsia correctly (I always forget how to spell it!), I had absolutely no issues with the polish! The formula was wonderful and practically painted itself on my finger nails. I honestly can't remember if I used two or three coats here. Sorry! I think I used three to make sure any visible nail line was covered-- while pigmented, this definitely had a slight jelly feel to it.

Artificial light (flash):

Isn't the shimmer awesome?! (The answer is yes.) My photos don't really do justice to this polish-- it's more vivid in real life. But at least it captured the shimmer well, which is very visible. This was my first experience with LVX polish and I was impressed with the formula-- which is good, because LVX polishes retail for $16, so they are not on the cheap side. Have you tried any LVX polishess?

Zoya Stevie

Today I have another Zoya Pixie Dust to share with you today! This time it's Zoya Stevie! (Aside: does the name of this polish recall the character from The Saddle Club book series? Did anyone else read those books? I was horse crazy as a younger girl and I devoured these books.) Moving right along-- Zoya Stevie is a "violet sparkle" and was originally released in the Summer 2013 collection. I would further say that Stevie has a silvery sparkle to it. Like the other Pixie Dusts, this has a great formula and covers nicely in two coats (it is possible I used three, but I'm pretty sure it was just two).

Artificial light (flash):

Honestly, looking through swatches originally, Stevie was not my favorite Pixie Dust. But then I actually wore it and I was amazed by how much I liked it. This is a gorgeous spring color, very reminiscent of the lilacs that bloom in the spring, which are my favorites. This is definitely a winner in my books; I'm glad that my initial reaction was turned on its head when I wore this.

Zoya Arabella

Well, I was going to have a patriotic manicure for the blog today as a way to celebrate Memorial Day, but my plans were changed drastically last night when one of my boys fell down a flight of stairs and had to be rushed to the ER and ending getting seven stitches because. It was pretty scary and stressful, so painting my nails was the last thing on my mind when we finally got home and got the kids to bed. So I am currently wearing a purple polish on my nails which is not particularly patriotic, though it is pretty. 

The closest thing I have is Zoya Arabella. Another Pixie Dust polish, Arabella is described as a "rich fuchsia pink in a matte, textured, sparkling finish." Once again, I can't really disagree with this. This is a deep, rich pink color with a nice sparkle. Like the other Pixie Dust polishes I have tried, this had a nice formula and went on easily. I used two coats here.

Artificial light (flash):

It's so pretty! I love how sparkly it is. This is so pretty.

I hope everyone is having a much more relaxing and less hectic Memorial Day weekend than I did! We definitely didn't get as much done as we intended to do.