Purple Parachute

Hello Ninjas!

It's almost Friday and that means it nearly the weekend. Does anyone have any neat plans for the weekend? I'll be learning cool secrets about the history of the Togakura Ryu of Ninjutsu on Sunday since my mother is far away on the West Coast. Hopefully you get to spend time with your mom this weekend!

Tonight's manicure is two coats of Purple Parachute from last year's Sephora Pantone Jewel Lacquer collection. This polish has been hailed as a dupe for the highly sought Scrangie but in reality the shimmer in PP is blue leaning teal instead of the green from RBL's Scrangie. Still, this was a pretty polish. The formula was a little on the thick side and not self leveling as I would have hoped thus the uneven look here.

Orly High on Hope

Hi Ninjas!

Hope you all had a great weekend out there in the world. This week is graduation week at work so it's cram time getting everything perfect for those students getting promoted to the next rank. On top of that, Hubby and I are going to the house we're hoping to buy for an inspection tomorrow so that will be fun!

Tonight's manicure is two coats of Orly High on Hope. HoH is from their Hope and Freedom Collection for Spring 2013. High on Hope is a dark navy cream base with a duichrome red/orange shimmer throughout. The shimmer is large enough to almost be considered a fleck type finish but it's not so large it effects the texture of the polish. I do wish the red side of the flecks had come out more prominently in these pictures!

What do you think? I really like this polish and think it was a uniquely dark shade for a spring collection. If you're a fan of this color, keep an eye out for my upcoming giveaway!

Jessica Nadia: Sterling Queen

Good evening Ninjas!

I hope you've been having a great week. The weather here in NC is lovely as can be, finally reflecting Spring! Of course Spring means green season here in NC so my car and the roads are covered in allergy inducing pollen. So far my allergies haven't been bad, I hope it stays that way!!

Tonight's manicure is two surprisingly easy coats of Jessica Nadia. This is from Jessica's Spring 2013 collection that I won in a giveaway a few month back. Nadia: Sterling Queen is a lovely light grey with a fine silver shimmer throughout. I was pleasantly surprised how quickly this became opaque considering the pastel nature of the base grey. This was a fun polish to wear!

Wordless Wednesday

Essie Navigate-her with Funky Fingers Taffy Town

Essie Navigate-her with Funky Fingers Taffy Town

Easter Mani Monday

Hello Ninjas!

Sorry about missing Friday's post, I was out of town at my Grandparents' house which is about 5 hours away. Since our visit out there was a belated Easter weekend, I figured now would be a good time to show you my actual Easter manicure.

Tonight's manicure is made up entirely of the awesome Zoya Lovely polishes that were sent to me for review a few months back. The base of this manicure is three coats of Jacqueline with Piaf, Julie, or Gei Gei dotted on with the rounded end of a bobby pin. I have to say that the bobby pin is much easier to use than actual dotting tools for me. Maybe it's because the pin is shorter? On the bright side, it's a cheap way to do pretty nail art! I was aiming for my nails to look like Easter Eggs, I thought they came out pretty well :)

Zoya Lovely collection provided by Zoya PR for honest review.

Wordless Wednesday: Green and Gold scallops

Zoya Logan, Zoya Ziv, Ulta Maine Attraction

Zoya Logan, Zoya Ziv, Ulta Maine Attraction

Zoya Logan, Zoya Ziv, Ulta Maine Attraction

Review: Zoya Dahlia

Good evening Ninjas!

Anyone have plans for Easter? I'll be heading to a friend's house for a Misfit Easter lunch, I'm excited!

Tonight's swatch is a press sample provided by Zoya for my review. This is two coats of Zoya Dahlia from the PixieDust collection. Zoya describes Dahlia as, "a black beauty with a sugared sparkle." I liked this polish for the quick opacity and neat texture; it would probably look awesome gloss too!

Product provided by Zoya PR for honest review. Post contains an affiliate link.

Black and White and Blue all over

Good evening Ninja readers!

I hope you had a lovely weekend in whatever part of the world you're from. This coming weekend is Easter, I don't have any plans but I hope my lovely readers do. This week is weapons week at work which means that I get to learn sword moves!

Tonight's manicure is two smooth coats of Jessica Sophia under one monochromatic coat of Hard Candy Black Tie Optional. Sophia "True Blue" is a perfect University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill blue (aka, Carolina blue) and I foresee myself wearing it in future NCAA seasons when UNC isn't losing so early on. Sophia has a lovely silver shimmer throughout that makes it more than a plain blue cream polish. Black Tie Optional is Hard Candy's version of the currently popular Black and White glitter combinations that began in the Indie polish world. I like this polish much better than the China Glaze version as it was easier to apply and had more glitter per swipe of polish!

Duochrome Purple Layering

Good evening Ninjas!

The weather here in NC is just toying with my emotions this week. There have been days nice enough to wear summer dresses and others where I needed gloves and a hat when I went outside. Ah well, Spring will be here soon enough!

Tonight's manicure is one coat of Cult Nails Charlatan over two coats of Illmasqua Vice. I really liked the way that Vice looked with the rubberized finish and sort of wished I hadn't layered anything on top of it. I can always wear it again though! Vice is a really pretty magenta that Illamasqua calls a "deep cerise" where Charlatan is a sheer pink jelly with pink/blue duochrome particles suspended in it.

Stamping and Rhinestones!

Good evening Ninjas!

I took my test for red-white belt on Monday and I passed! Now I get to keep practicing my water until graduation on March 6th and I still need to plan my graduation manicure as well. Red and white would have been perfect for Valentine's Day!

This is a pretty complex manicure. The base polish is four frustrating coats of Zoya Kotori which Zoya describes as "A dense bright blue shimmer superimposed over a sheer black base." Kotori is rated at a 3 out of 5 on the Zoya sheer scale but I really wanted three coats to be enough! I stamped Kotori with Blu from the Lovely collection. I used the dandelion seed image from MASH plate 30. Then, because I couldn't be happy with that, I added a border around the ring finger nail using the silver rectangular rhinestones from Cult Nails that came as a free gift with purchase around Christmas time.

Blu and MASH 30 were received from their respective PR companies for honest review.

Triple Gold Manicure

Good evening Ninjas!

Tomorrow is test day and I'm freaking out! I spent and hour today reviewing earth techniques and then I felt like I forgot half of the water techniques I was supposed to know. So much stress!

Tonight's manicure is three different golds I used for Chinese New Year. I should have mixed in a red but I was sort of enjoying the subtle nail art with all gold dotting. This is two coats of Pure Ice Viva Las Vegas with dots of "313CP" and Bare it All along one side of the nail.

Product provided by Bari Cosmetics for honest review.

Illamasqua Glitter Gradient

Good evening Ninjas!

Happy Monday, hope you had a lovely weekend. I think the highlight of my weekend was Walking Dead coming back for the Mid-Season premiere! Do you watch that show?

Tonight's manicure is one I really didn't want to take off. This is two coats of Illamasqua Phallic which is, hands down, my new favorite blue nail polish. Illamasqua describes Phallic as a "deep midnight blue, shimmer finish" which doesn't do this polish justice. This polish absolutely glows on its own but I couldn't just leave well enough alone. I did a sponged glitter gradient on the tips of my nails with Finger Paints Falling for You which is a Copper mini and hex glitter combination. This was an awesome duo!

Winning Layering

Good evening Ninjas!

Hopefully you've been having a good week so far. Tomorrow we'll be over half way through, woooo!

Tonight's manicure is a combination of two polishes I received when I won My Lucid Bubble's giveaway. The base polish is two coats of Ava from Jessica's It's a Girl Thing Spring 2013 collection. Ava (New Kid in Town) is a very pretty lilac that has a subtle silver shimmer throughout. Over this polish I did a thin coat of Shift Happens from Girl Bits just to make this purple even better! I could have done two coats but I didn't want to use up my mini and the light purple of Ava is already a nice Winter pick-me-up.

Zoya Lovely Day 3

Hi darling Ninjas!

Day three! This is the last of the three shimmers that came in the Zoya Lovely collection.

Zoya describes Julie as, " a full-coverage, soft wisteria purple metallic. The soft color and subtle shimmer give nails a delicate and feminine look. Originally created as a custom runway shade for fashion designer Zang Toi." This one is a little darker than the others with the same thick formula. It took a little while to even itself out but at least it only needed two coats!

Product sent for consideration by Zoya PR for honest review.

Zoya Lovely Day 2

Hello Ninjas!

It's day two of Zoya Lovely week! I figured I'd go through the shimmers first so here's Gei Gei. I have to admit to being a little confused by the name since my bottle said Gie Gie instead of Gei Gei. Also, how is that name even pronounced? Is it like what you'd name a poodle, Gigi (Jee Jee) or is it meant to sound more Asian in origin Gei Gei would be pronounced Gey-Gey in Japan.

Zoya described GeiGei/ Gie Gie as, " a full-coverage, blushing cherry blossom pink metallic. A shimmery light shade for an always-appropriate natural pink nail look. Originally created as a custom runway shade for fashion designer Zang Toi." I also had to use three coats for this color. It's a very pretty soft pink with silvery shimmer and very wearable.

Product sent for consideration by Zoya PR for honest review.