Zoya Carly Upgrade

Just a quicky today. I showed you Zoya Carly all by her lonesome the other day, but I decided to upgrade her a little bit.

I added Zoya Trixie, a silver foil in a sponging technique to the tips of my nails or up by my cuticles. Then I sponged Layla Violet on top to give some extra beauty and added some rhinestones.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Linda

Zoya Carly

Hello fellow polish addicts!

Today I'm wearing Zoya Carly, a red toned purple with a silver metallic shimmer. This polish has a metallic/foil like finish and the silver micro shimmer gives it quite a bit of depth. This is an amazing purple...definitely one of my favorite Zoyas!

This is two coats of Carly and one coat of Color Club Top Coat.

If you've ever tried to remove a Zoya polish that has metallic micro shimmer you'll know that the purple comes off first and leaves almost a tarnished purple/silver layer underneath. Everytime I take off a polish like this I think  *DOH* Why didn't I use that as some nail art while wearing this?????

One day I'll be smart enough to remember this! ☺

Thanks for stopping by lovelies!

~Linda

OPI Liquid Sand vs. Zoya Pixie Dust

Today I wanted to give you a comparison of OPI Get Your Number and Zoya Nyx. Both are textured polish that have been described as gritty, sandy or sugary that dry to a matte finish. All pictures have three coats for full coverage and deeper color.

OPI Get Your Number (GYN) is a bright blue with holographic glitter and sparkles within the polish and dries very gritty like rough sand.

Zoya Nyx is a light periwinkle purple and feels much like a fine grit nail file. There are no large 'chunks' in the polish and it's much smoother than OPI.

The texture of these polishes are absolutely 100% different. The OPI is soo coarse that it could pull a sweater while the Zoya definitely would not. Nyx truly feels like a fine grit nail file with a consistently bumpy feel to it. GYN has smaller and larger particles that can be compared to sugar in the raw granules.

If you are not the type of person to like textured nails, you might still like Zoya Pixie Dust if you don't mind glitter, while OPI Liquid Sand is probably just too much for you.

Personally, I loved the OPI Liquid Sand, I couldn't stop touching my nails! GYN is my choice from these two, because of the true gritty texture, the significant sparkle and the bright color. Nyx seemed a bit dull in comparison although there were bits of shimmer and sparkle it was no where near as prominent as GYN.

OPI Liquid Sand is part of the 2013 Mariah Carey Collection and can be picked up for $9 USD. There are four different colors with this Liquid Sand texture however they are all slightly different in style.

The Zoya Pixie Dust Collection can be found on Zoya.com for $9 USD and there are six different choices all with the same look and feel.

~Linda

Valentine's Day Mani Marathon

Happy Valentine's Day! I thought I'd do something a little different today and show you all of the fabulous Valentine's Day Manis my fellow bloggers have pulled together. These are a few of my favorites so you should definitely stop by their blogs and check them out! Some you will no doubt know, but hopefully you will be introduced to a few new blogs as well. All of which are absolutely fantastic and completely creative.

Without further ado...here are my top 5 Valentine's Day manicures in random order.


The Nail Network's Valentine's Day lovely lip mani using Zoya polishes and Born Pretty Store stamping plate and rhinestones.

The Manicurator's love nail art mani uses straight lines and love and heartbreak themes in this fabulous mani.

Sassy Shelly has some peek-a-boo hearts and french tips that look perfect! She too used all Zoya polishes and some fun nail art tools. I love this color combo!

Gnarly Gnails has some Laser Hearts on a non-traditional Valentine's Day color...dark teal. I love it! Plus a little sparkle ☺

Work / Play / Polish is full of love with a Heart Tree mani with OPI polish. I love that all her nail art is hand drawn...soo talented!

These made my top 5 V-Day manis due to their creativity, fantastic nail art abilities or just plain pretty! Do you have a V-Day mani that you love and want to share? Feel free to post the link in the comments!

Have a great V-Day!!

~Linda

OPI DS Magic

I introduce you to.... (drumroll please).....OPI DS Magic! I believe this polish was released back in 2010 but I have never seen it before. How you say? Well I must be living under a rock.

This polish is gorgeous, but a mega pain in the ass to photograph. I cannot even tell you the amount of pictures I took to try and show you the true beauty of this baby. The purple was very shy on camera but superb in real life!

This is three coats for maximum coverage although two decent coats should do the trick, and one thick coat of Seche Vite. The polish applied smoothly and definitely builds in depth with multiple coats. There are gorgeous glass flecks throughout the polish and it shifts from a deep royal blue to purple. 

Sigh...Look at all those lovely glass flecks ☺

I loved the color of this polish, the duo-chrome affect was very strong and it almost has a mettalic type finish in some lights. Consistency was good as usual for OPI and wear time was pretty good thanks to 'the Seche'. I think I wore this for 3 or 4 days before any tip wear or chips.

I picked this up at Ulta for $12 opposed to the normal $8.50 price tag due to it belonging to the Designer Series.  Do you think the DS polishes are worth the premium?

~Linda

Monster Trucks...Heck Yeah!

Hi Guys!! This past weekend a friend asked us if we wanted to go to Monster Jam and I couldn't say no to seeing some cars get crushed. I figured I'd be a little festive since this was the first time I've gone to this type of event.

I got inspired by those large ass tires and looked up what their tread looked like. I also incorporated some dripping paint that just seemed to fit since those trucks are always decked out.

I started with two coats of Milani White on the Spot and used WetnWild Glowstick from the Fergie Collection and Sally Hansen Crushed for the paint drips. Believe it or not, I used a black gel pen to draw the tire tracks and gave it a few minutes to dry before using a nice thick coat of Seche Vite.

While these are not my best nails, I think they worked for the occasion. I wish they turned out a bit better though.

~Linda

Feb Julep Maven Box

Hey Girl Hey!!! ☺

Today I'm showing off my February Julep Maven box. I've skipped the past few months because none of the colors jumped out at me but this month I wanted almost all of the colors. With that said...I upgraded to the whole wardrobe!!!!

The February collection features rich, smokey colors and glitzy holographics inspired by classic Hollywood icons and modern leading ladies. The product this month was the Oxygen Nail Treatment but they also gave everyone the Freedom Top Coat. Not only that but when you upgraded to the full wardrobe you received the white lacquer jewelry box that holds 12 Julep polishes.

This month had soo many extras it was an amazing deal! They charged an additional $35 on top of the $20 normal cost for the full upgrade. The value of this upgrade was $252 = $168 in polish, $36 in Nail Treatments and $48 for the jewelry box. Let's recap...that's a $252 value for $55 bucks. F'n Score!

This is what I received in my February Box:

•   Sally: Antique ivory crème
•   Joan: Raspberry plum with rose gold shimmer
•   Julianne: Smoky grey blue crème
•   Ingrid: Burnt orange crème
•   Laura: Olive khaki crème
•   Ginger: Sand holographic
•   Helen: Smoky pastel lavender crème
•   Claudette: Smoky brick red crème
•    Marion: Smoky blue with silver shimmer
•    Rebel: Silver holographic
•    Oscar: Ultra chic, multi-dimensional gold glitter
•    Ellie: Opalescent seashell pink with holographic shimmer
•    Oxygen Nail Treatment: Strengthening 'makeup for nails' with a subtle tint
•    Freedom Polymer Top Coat: Smudge-free shine in five minutes
•  White Lacquer Jewelry Box: Hand-made limited edition white lacquer box with high shine finish
•  Plus: A travel size plastic eyelash curler.

I was super excited to see how Julep's first holographic polishes would stack up to other holos on the market. You'll have to stick around to see ... devilish grin. ☺

I couldn't be happier with what I received in my February box. I haven't had a chance to try many of the polishes out, but I've swatched them and wow..they're awesome! 

If you want to sign up for your own Maven subscription, start by taking your style profile quiz and get your first box for FREE with promo code: FREEBOX. With Julep Maven you decide how often to receive your monthly box with the option to skip months and you can cancel at any time. 

Did any of you get a Maven box this month? Any big winners or losers in your opinion? 

Thanks for stopping by!!

~Linda

Halo Hues 2013 - Over The Moon

Hi Lovelies! Today I have on Color Club Over The Moon from the 2013 Halo Hues Collection. In 2012 they released 6 holographic polishes and in early 2013 they released 6 more. Over The Moon is a vibrant blue with a fabulously strong holo. All the colors from the 2013 are bright and lively rather than semi-muted tones from the 2012 release (in my opinion).

This is a base coat of Nfu-Oh Aqua Base and two coats of Over The Moon.

I have used an Aqua Base sandwhich approach with Layla Holographics in the past and it seemed to make the holographic effect stronger for the 2nd coat, however with this polish I did not see much of a difference. It doesn't matter because I was very impressed with how great this holo was!

Check out this AmaZing bottle shot!

Only a few etailers have these available right now - I grabbed mine for $6.50 each at enospring.com. I also picked up a gorgeous orange, Cosmic Fate, and a bright purple, Eternal Beauty so make sure you stop by to check out these other beauties!

Have you picked up any of the 2013 holographics? What's you're favorite?

~Linda

50 Followers Giveaway!

Hi Guys! I reached 50 followers and that is totally freakin awesome! Thank you soo much for continuing to check out my blog even though I've been completely MIA for the last few months. I should have much more time in the upcoming months to dedicate to my polish addiction and I have some amazing new polishes to share with you. I really want to thank you for sticking with me...sooo...I have a giveaway for you guys!!!

I've pulled together a few goodies for one lucky winner so make sure to follow my blog via GFC, on Facebook and Twitter for more chances to win!

The prize consists of two polishes: Julep Morgan & Julep Sandra, and a pink Julep glitter pot.

This giveaway is open to the US only. The winner must respond to the winner notification email within 72 hours or another winner will be chosen.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for stopping by and Good Luck!

~Linda