Piper Pink

 October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. 1 in 8 U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer in her lifetime, and even men can get this cancer. To the survivors, the people struggling with it today, and the people whose lives have been touched by it, this is for you. Read my first post for more about how cancer has effected my life.

It's the last Monday in October! Time is flying by lately...yet going so slowly at the same time lol.

 This is one of my favorite pinks and one of my first Zoyas - Piper.

Piper is a lovely soft pink creme with a touch of mauve.

 It's almost peachy in some lights...

And quite dusty in dim light. I love how this polish changes. It's so simple, yet such a perfect pink. I've been into these "mom" colors for a while now.
Perfect two coat application, as with pretty much all Zoyas :P.

Feel free to join in the fun the rest of this month as we post a mani in support of breast cancer. Don't forget to tag your posts on Twitter/Instagram with #PolishUsPink!

Zoya Ornate Collection - Winter 2012

 This honestly may be my favorite complete Zoya collection ever. Aahh I love it when companies listen to the desires of "the people". So I bring you...the Zoya Ornate Collection of Winter 2012 :).

Aurora is a gorgeous purpley berry magenta jelly with scattered holo microflakies.

It shines so many different colors! Pairing a jelly with these holo flecks is brilliant, as it adds even more color and rainbows!

RAINBOW LOVE!

Here you can see the microflakies in the shade. This makes it so much more unique than just a regular scattered holo with round glitter particles. Brilliant!!



  Ziv is a super metallic microflakie bronzey gold. 

There are a couple different shades of bronze and gold mixed in, which makes it that much more interesting! Mmm like gingerbread!

 It's even super reflective in the shade. You can see my orange camera in it a little here :P.


Here's a close up of those microflakies.

 Logan is the perfect piney green with a metallic microflakie finish.

The green is tinted blue instead of yellow. It makes me think of a Spruce tree :). Definitely not regular green! Look how shiny this is!


Mmm and it's even better in the shade! You can even see the olivey green flakes in this on. So many shades of green all in one bottle! It's almost slightly duochrome.

This finish is just to die for. It's just like the finish on Ziv.



Blaze is a gorgeous berry red with scattered holo microflakies in a jelly base.

 I think I have found my new favorite red. A perfect shade that isn't true red, but darker and sexier...holo microflakies...jelly....Yea - Amazing!

It can look so bright, like a juicy apple...

 Or dark like a ripe raspberry...Yum! The finish on this is the same as Aurora.

Storm is a black polish with holo microflakies scattered throughout.

The finish on Storm is just like Aurora and Blaze.

 Ahh the rainbows :D

 In the shade it's still lovely but looks a little more like silver/gray microflakies.

Electra has loads of medium silver holo bar glitter in a clear base. 

It is SO rainbowy holo! Unusually awesomely holo, seriously!

Even in the shade the holo is definitely not hidden. This polish wasn't any harder to apply than any other bar glitter. It took only a little dabbing to get even placement. To keep them from poking over the edge I gently run the brush over the free edge last. You can grab the ones on the sides by sweeping the edges with a cuticle tool while the polish is still wet. I'm not a super fan of bar glitter, but this is pretty fun :).

It looks just like tinsel on the tree! This is one coat of Electra over Logan.

I had to stamp around with this collection (though I forgot to use Storm but I'm sure it would be just as good if not better than these). Of course I used Christmasy stamps!! They didn't show up perfectly like a black creme would on a white or anything, but I thought they were cute and fun. Because of the metallic finish you kind of have to angle them the right way to get the strongest visual effect. The red on gold was perfect though, so on less busy colors I think they'd be great for stamping.

Let me just say that every single one of these polishes had perfect two coat application with no issues (except the aforementioned Electra which was one coat and perfectly normal). 

You can get these polishes on Zoya's website - $48 for the collection of 6 or $8 for one.
If you sign up for an account with this link you'll receive a coupon for a free bottle of Zoya nail polish! If you add two more polishes to your order you even get free shipping. Awesome deal! So you could get this full collection for $40 and free shipping = $6.67 a polish.

Which ones do you like the most, and how do you think this compares to any other Winter polish collections (past/present/future)?

These products were sent to me for my unbiased review.

China Glaze Surfin for Boys, Amped Up!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. 1 in 8 U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer in her lifetime, and even men can get this cancer. To the survivors, the people struggling with it today, and the people whose lives have been touched by it, this is for you. Read my first post for more about how cancer has effected my life.

Here is a fun neon pink for you!

This is two coats of China Glaze Surfin for Boys. I usually don't like neons, but I love this collection because it adds something different - shimmer! Honestly I don't think it looked so much like this color on my hands, but my eyes must be messed up because everyone else said it looked neon/pink coral.

It looked more like this to me most of the time - a lot more neon orange.

 Here are some sunlight pics....

 See how you can't even focus on the color, nor can my camera?! That's a neon :P.

I had to spice it up a bit and wanted to make it more pink. I added a couple coats of Zoya Soho Punch, Revlon Dawn, and some holo topcoat from Copious.

The holo topcoat isn't super linear and wow after 2-3 coats, but it's definitely gorgeous. This seller actually sent me another bottle to see if it was stronger, and I can't wait to try it! That's good customer service :).

 It even looked awesome with the shade - the microflakies showing through the holo pigment.

I was making some polish jewelry so I had my black light on. Everything looks cooler under a black light!

Feel free to join in the fun this month as we post a mani in support of breast cancer every Monday in October. Don't forget to tag your posts on Twitter/Instagram with #PolishUsPink!

Plastic Marble Tutorial

We've seen saran wrap manis/plastic wrap manis all over the place lately. It's a fun technique that's similar to a dry marble (without water) and sponging. It is usually done by painting your base coat, letting it dry, painting on a different color, then removing some of that wet paint with balled up plastic wrap. It creates a fun marbled effect and is super easy. I like to do it a little differently though, in a way that uses less product and is more eco-friendly.

It looks a lot like both sponging and saran wrap manis. The great thing is you can make the marble a little more subtle like this, or really strong, with the same technique. I used Maybelline Firefly and Zoya Skylar in this one.


Here is the tutorial video if you'd like to see it in action :D.

I don't paint a whole coat of polish on, but rather do "splotchy dots" w the polish brush, then smoosh those out with a piece of plastic grocery bag. This way you waste less nail polish and recycle plastic by using it again rather than ripping off a new piece of plastic wrap to throw away. I also use the same piece of plastic for all 10 nails. 

 Basically my technique is:
1. Paint base color, let dry
2. Splotch on your second color randomly w the polish bottle brush
3. Dab wet polish with small piece of plastic bag until it looks right
4. Add more polish and do again if you want a bolder design or missed a spot
5. Let dry and top coat
Voila!

I hope you enjoy my little take on this technique and my tutorial video! Let me know if you try it :).

Two Days of Love in One

 Two important causes coincide for me today - Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day and Polish Us Pink for breast cancer. I chose a pink polish to support breast cancer awareness, which I've been blogging about every Monday in October with a blogger group. Look for my other posts on it. October 15th is also Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. In memory of all the angel babies out there...far too many...you are truly missed and we love you every day.

I lit a candle for every angel baby I know and placed my favorite gemstone, a rose quartz heart, in the center.
In Loving Memory

I added blue to the pink for all the babies. I love how it almost makes it look purple, which is a combination of the two. The pink is Maybelline Fireflyand the blue is Zoya Skylar added with a plastic marble technique I just did a tutorial on. I also topped it with my best friend Brittany's franken she made that totally rocks. It's just so fun and random and colorful I think it goes perfectly with the memory of children.

Sorry I couldn't get any good sunlight pics. It's been dingy today, fittingly. Her franken is amazing and has so many colors of glitter I can't even bring myself to try and pick them all out - including black bar glitter, large holo silver hexes, and fine holo shimmer. Pretty much my favorite polish ever.

I got an update on my Stepdad and he had his surgery to remove the cancer for a second time today. They had to remove quite a bit, but he's doing well. I just hope he can emotionally cope with the repercussions of this difficult journey. He may not have to have chemo this time around though, so that's a plus that he won't be constantly deathly sick! Let's hope Sting is gone for good (that's what he named his giant port implant for chemo lol)! I have sort of a secret project going on for him if you'd like to participate, so please contact me!

To those struggling with cancer, the loss of a loved one or your own baby...I'm sorry and I love you.

Feel free to join in the fun this month as we post a mani in support of breast cancer every Monday in October. Don't forget to tag your posts on Twitter/Instagram with #PolishUsPink!

Polish Jewelry: To Polish or Not

 I got some awesome polish jewelry recently from To Polish or Not! She made three custom pieces for me.

 How cute is her packaging!?

Here are my three pieces together.

The earrings are gorgeous glittery rainbows with some OPI Black spotted!

They make really cute chunky studs! They have a nice thick black coating on the back to seal the polish in and are comfortable to wear. She attached the earring stud higher up on the back of the heart instead of in the middle, so it a better fit on my ear.

I also got this fabulous galaxy ring! I asked her to make a galaxy ring for me that had lots of different colors in it so it would go with pretty much anything. She made more than 6 for me to choose from!

The polishes she used are multichromatic so they look different from every angle! She also added some fine holo glitter and hand painted stars. From this angle it looks mauve, teal, and blue...

Pink, teal, and purple...

Amber, pink, silver, light blue, and blue violet...

Black, red, orange, teal, dark blue...

Bright pink, blue, and purple...


There are so many colors in this! It looks really well made and I love it! The ring base is absolutely gorgeous with the scrolls and swirls, but it isn't the most comfortable. At the bottom where it adjusts it can sometimes pinch a little. It seems to be because the metal of the band is so thin. It's sterling silver plated, and despite the thin design, it's very sturdy. There was also a small bump on the side that looked perfectly fine but was a bit scratchy...just a minor flaw from the producer of the bands. I carefully filed it down and it feels much better minus the tiny patch or two where I missed and nicked through the silver. I've seen many other sellers use this exact band, so I don't blame To Polish or Not, but the producer of the bands. Honestly the issues are minor anyway! She has plenty of other band choices, and I chose this one.



She also made a necklace that would go with everything for me! I chose this pretty tear drop pendant. It is painted and set very nicely and looks great in all lights. Yea I know, those are my scars from my microdermal piercings. They used to look so cool :/.


It has so many colors and looks different from every angle! I love the swirly almost fiery pattern she made in this!

 Holo glitter, teal, dark blue, dark orange...

 Hot pink, light blue, orange...

 Orange, pink, purple, silver, green, blue...

 It looks completely different in the shade! Lavender, red orange, pink, dark blue, teal, silver...

Golden yellow, blue green, green, orange, light pink, hot pink, magenta...So many colors!! I love rainbowy stuff like this :).

I absolutely loved the polish jewelry pieces that To Polish or Not made for me! I was a very picky customer I have to say, but she dealt with my requests, tweaks, and ideas with grace and perfection. It was really important to her that I got a piece I liked and she made SO  many different ones for me to choose from, all based on my specifications. Her customer service was truly fabulous. She just really makes me feel like she takes care in her work and loves what she does. She even drew a butterfly on my package per my request :P!

Seriously, check out her Facebook page for pictures of some of the things she's made (including these)! She can make you anything you have in your mind! I have worn these pieces with so many things, for days and days in a row, and received loads of compliments.

These items were provided to me for my unbiased review.