Deborah Lippmann- Razzle Dazzle

Mmmm, it's time to showcase yet another delicious Deborah Lippmann polish. This time, I'm showing what may be one of my all-time favorites- Razzle Dazzle. It's no secret I've got major glitter love, and this is one spectacular glitter polish.

Razzle Dazzle came out with the All That Jazz collection, which also includes Some Enchanted Evening (a sheer polish with multi-sized pink glitters) and Lady Sings the Blues (a jelly navy polish with multi-sized glitters). Razzle Dazzle is a deep blackened raspberry with super-dense glitter. It is absolutely LUSH!

As with other Lippmann polishes, application was a dream. I swatched this on artificial nails originally, but then decided I needed to wear it on my own nails while they were super-short. Those photos will be coming up.

The good news is that even without a base coat or topcoat, this polish wore like iron on me! I think I kept it on for 5 days, maybe 6, without a chip. Crazy! It's such a deep, rich color that I think it's perfect for fall, or holiday parties, or even just curling up with your favorite book!

See? Nubs. I ended up breaking most of my nails, so I decided to cut them all off and start over. I think these photos were taken on day 4 of wear. I'd also received a couple of Migi nail art pens in the mail, so you can see where I tested them. They do nicely, but I'll have more about those soon!

Removal is the one big drawback to this polish, and it's the same as any other glitter. Just take your time and use a good strong polish remover. I've started cutting my cotton pads in half, then soaking each half in remover and sticking them onto my nail to soak for a few minutes. After a bit, I wiggle the pad, then slide the polish right off with no real hassle. It's sweet!

Finally, I've got the stample to show you! Would you believe you can stamp with this polish? To be honest, I'm not even sure why I tested it with my Konad stuff, but it actually worked decently. The sticker you see is half black, half white, and the polish shows up nicely on white. It's slightly sheer, but it's a pretty look.

So tell me, what do you think of Razzle Dazzle? Keep your eyes peeled, I've got some fun things coming up for the holidays!

Deborah Lippmann Razzle Dazzle was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

The Zoya Flame Collection, Finally!

I am SO behind the times on this collection. I still feel like I need to blog it, simply because it is absolutely spectacular. Zoya's Flame collection is such a gorgeous mix of wearable colors, and I absolutely adore most of them. They all apply beautifully as well. So let's look at them, shall we?

First of all, I think it's important to discuss the differences in the polishes in the set. It's almost as if there are two mini sets within it, a set of foils and a set of glass flecked polishes. The first three are the foils- Tiffany, Gloria, and Crystal. Not only are they foils, but they seem to have flecks of golden foil in them as well, which makes them that much more interesting to wear, especially for a magpie like myself!

Of all the polishes, I was most uncertain of Crystal, specifically because of these golden bits. Hearing about the set at first, I thought Crystal would be a cooler, purer blue. However, it's a drabbed, dusty sort of blue, and the gold makes it seem almost greenish at times. I honestly didn't think I'd like it, but I've used it lots, and it grew on me!

The glass flecked polishes, though, are the ones that take my breath away. I'm much more drawn to this type of color- cool, intense, bright. Lisa, Sarah, and Valerie are crazily intense shades that didn't want to play nicely with my camera. Lisa, especially, was hard to capture... this vibrant cool red is almost impossible to capture!

I sat and held these polishes for quite a while, turning them in my hands, watching them shift inside the bottles. I absolutely love the way these shades play with the light, sparkling and almost dancing in the bottles. They were exciting, and I couldn't decide which one I wanted to try first! Now, let's look at them individually...

 Tiffany is a peachy sort of color, one I found hard to describe. Zoya explains it as such: "Pink, peach and light copper toned foil particles accented by flecks of gold foil." I can agree with that description. This is the sort of color I won't usually buy for myself, but I am so happy I got the chance to try it. As you can see, it lights up my skin tone and looks gorgeous! And I would never have tried this one if it hadn't been for this blog.

The one thing I noticed about the foil polishes is that they seem a bit sheer. It's not really a problem, really, but if you don't like visible nail line, you might want to layer these over a more opaque polish.

Gloria is a more pinky-red-toned foil, but is still a very warm tone. You can see in the photos both to the right and above that there's a bit of golden flash to this one which of course makes it more interesting to me. Zoya describes this polish as "rose, mauve-pink and magenta foil particles with gold and subtle red metallic accents." It's absolutely stunning on!

This is definitely my kind of polish, even if it is sort of pink. It's so incredibly sparkly on! I also can't complain about the application of any of these. The foils apply smoothly with no streaking and are deep and rich with two coats.

Finally, Crystal is the standout of this set- a dusty, desaturated golden blue that is (at least to me) unlike any of the other polishes in the Flame collection. Zoya describes it as "Light, silvered shiny blue metallic foil with sparks of brilliant yellow gold. A cool, snowy winter blue that's ideal for any Ice Princess." I'm not sure how they decided this is a cool blue, because to me, it's about as warm as blue can get before it becomes green! Still, it's a really, really interesting color- the blue and gold both show through, creating such an enthralling combination that I simply couldn't stop looking at it.

In short- Crystal is weird. Seriously weird, but in a good way! :D

Next we come to the glass flecked trio. Did I perhaps mention that Lisa refused to play nicely with my camera? Yea. This red is intense. Zoya describes it as "An iridescent combination of deep raspberry pink, bright candy apple red and subtle gold tones in a dazzling sparkle finish." Oddly enough, they describe the finish for this polish as metallic. I'm not sure I agree, but I don't think it particularly matters.

What does matter is that this is an absolutely captivating polish. When you wear Lisa you will get noticed, because it's a color so bright that it's almost fluorescent, without the 80s-associated feel of neon pink. It's the sophisticated big sister of the neon pink polish I wore in 9th grade!

Sarah, on the other hand, would be the older, wiser, slightly more mysterious sister. It's cooler-toned, deeper, and stunning. Zoya describes it as "Pearls of dark fuchsia, red-violet and ruby tones in a bright sparkle finish." Again, it was such an intense, saturated color that my camera looked at it and said, "Nope, sorry. Can't do it." The photo to the left is the best out of perhaps 30 I shot of this color. What can I say, it was a stinker!

This trio applies so amazingly well. If you're a careful polisher, you could get away with one coat of them, but another coat definitely ups the intensity. Two coats makes for maximum drama, maximum intensity!

Finally, we come to Valerie, perhaps my favorite of the bunch. This is a purple for women who love purple. Zoya describes it as "Royal purple, dark violet, red, deep pink and gold iridescence amplified by a glittering sparkle finish." I describe it as velvet, sparkle, a purple so deep and intense you could lose yourself in it. It is rich, people... it is spectacular.

While I rarely wear a polish twice in a row (or twice, for that matter!), I wore Valerie for three manicures in a row because I just could not get enough. It was addictive, and I still find myself reaching for it over any of my untrieds. This is a color for fall, for winter... it's a rich warm color that makes me feel like I've wrapped myself in the velvet robes of royalty!

Can you tell I like this one a bit? I know, I need to learn to let my emotions out, or I'm going to explode!

Also, congratulations! You've found The Lucky Star for the Overall Beauty 13 Days Of Christmas Treasure Hunt!

I hope you've all had a wonderful holiday and are now shopping your hearts out for Black Friday! Starting next week I'll be showing some fun holiday nail art! I've got a few tricks up my sleeve, including an unexpected source for striping tape, as well as nail art for Hannukah and Christmas. Are there any other winter holidays you'd like to see nail art for? Leave me a comment, and I'll see what I can come up with! :D

The Zoya Flame collectrion was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Life's a Beach- Revlon Beach, that is!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope it's a wonderful day for you. If I had my way, I'd have every single one of you over for a giant party (catered, of course!) so we could sit and talk nails and fashion and just have a great time! Unfortunately, life doesn't work that way, so whether you're having a giant gathering or a simple day at home, I hope your life is filled with blessings and bright spots.

I'm thankful for so many things: my wonderful best friend (who happens to be my husband!), my awesome kid who isn't a kid anymore, my extended family and friends, the fact that my health is better right now than it's been in years. I also have to say this- I'm so thankful for every single one of you reading my blog, because you guys bring me so much joy every single day. I hope I can bring a smile or two to all of you as well! *hugs*

Ok, enough with the sappy stuff- let's get to the goodies! Today, I'm showing you a polish I got in a wonderful prize package from Dainty Darling Digits a while back. It's a very light golden green color with absolutely gorgeous shimmer. I think I would be absolutely in love with the color if it didn't make me have lobster hands!

The interesting thing about this polish (other than the gorgeous color) is that it's scented! I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, since I don't particularly like the smell, but it's certainly interesting.

Beach applied really nicely, and although I was worried about brush strokes there really weren't any. It's such a lovely color, and I'm sad it makes my skin look so... icky. I'm now wondering if I should try layering it, or just set it aside to use in a prize package for someone else. =/

So what do you think- keep it or share the love? And what are you thankful for this year? I'd love to hear some positive stories!

Hard Candy - Beetle

You may have noticed by now that I tend to be drawn to interesting polishes- duochromes, holos, things that don't look typical. I love iridescence, I love sparkle and glitter and shimmer. I am a total magpie, so when I saw Hard Candy's new polish Beetle in the display, I absolutely fell in love.

It's such a hard color to describe, for me. Depending on the angle of the light, I can see purple, magenta, green and gold in it at varying times. It's a beautiful foil polish that is absolutely stunning on the nail, and it wears like iron on me. These photos were taken 7 days after I applied the polish, and I hadn't even applied topcoat after that!

The photo to the left shows more of the variations of color that show up. I wore this the day of the impromptu polish party, and my nieces absolutely loved it. They gathered around while I was painting their nails and tried to decide how many colors they could find in it.

Then one niece asked why it was called Beetle. I loved this, because I was able to describe how beetles' wings are iridescent and reflect many colors, just like this polish. We also discussed the term "duochrome," and the roots of it- duo means two and chrome means colors.

Unfortunately, they then asked why this would be called a duochrome if more than two colors show up, and I had no answer for them. I think they forgave me for it, though. They certainly seemed happy enough with the holo polish on their own nails!

I had lots of fun wandering around my father-in-law's property looking for photo ops. He's got so many lovely flowerbeds, but almost nothing was in bloom this time of year! Of course, he did have some gorgeous pansies in the back yard that I didn't find until after I'd finished taking photos. That's ok, though... I'm happy with the shots I got.

What do you think of Beetle- is it your kind of polish, or do you tend to stick with more traditional colors?

Hard Candy Beetle was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

More Experiments- Sponging With Gold

Mmmm, I love it when an experiment comes out nicely. I was experimenting the other day with various ways to liven up a neutral polish. I decided to go with simple things, and ended up absolutely falling in love with one of the looks. It isn't that the others aren't fun (except for that flower garden... it just did NOT work as I'd hoped it would!), but I am in LOVE with this look!

Do you see this? OMG, I love it. All I did was get a very inexpensive kitchen sponge (I think they were two for a dollar at the Dollar Tree) and cut it into a smaller manageable section. I made sure to get sponges with irregular-sized holes, instead of one with very small, uniform holes like a makeup sponge.

I put a base color of a nice, neutral taupe on my nails. Then once it was dry, I painted a coat of gold polish onto the sponge, then lightly touched it to my nail. That's it, and I was left with this gorgeous effect- sort of crackled, sort of granite-looking. I absolutely adore it!

What do you think- is this your sort of look? What would you add to this to make it pop more? 

Blah blah was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Impromptu Nail Polish Party!

I had a spectacular day yesterday. I'd gone with my family to my in-laws' house, where my husband's aunt made everyone homemade beignets and we visited for hours! Everyone was there, too, so it was pretty amazing fun, if a bit chaotic at times!

Somehow, my gorgeous holo purple polish I picked up at the Dollar Tree wound up in my purse instead of in my untried box (no clue how, seriously!), and I ended up having an impromptu polish party with three of my nieces! SO MUCH FUN!

I got a pic of the bottle during the middle of the day, when the sun was out and the holo was playing nicely. Unfortunately, the pics I took of the girls were taken as the sun was fading, so the color is just not as good... so humor me!

The girls were all so excited about going into my blog, though, and so without further ado, here are my nieces and their nails!

Then I managed to get them all three together for a group shot before they ended up back in trees in front of the house. For once, it was the girls climbing trees and the boys inside playing with legos. Nuts, yea? :D

My nieces are awesome, and I've been informed that I need to bring my entire nail polish & nail art stuff collection to Thanksgiving, so that we can have a polish party. I told them no, not everything, but I'd put together a bunch of polish for them to choose from. I smell a Thanksgiving Konad party on the horizon!!

Stay tuned, I foresee more pictures coming soon!

YAY, IT HAPPENED! 10,000 pageviews!!

I love you guys!! I never expected to get this far with the blog, and I am so excited to think about what's to come! Have a great week!