Swatch: Zoya Cecilia

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Hi gang! I wanted to quickly show you the polish I wore on my first day of classes last week! This is Zoya Cecilia, a bright turquoise creme. It's from the latest summer collection, but I think it works great for early fall as well!

Zoya Cecilia. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula was unfortunately a bit thick and sticky. (That might have been partly due to the high temperature/humidity in my office.) So make sure not to overload your brush. On the bright side, it was nearly a one-coater.

I'm going to try to do some nail art for class this week. Gotta make a good impression!

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Swatch: Indigo Bananas Acid Ocean

The product in this post was given to me as a gift. All opinions are my own.

Happy Monday everyone! It's the last day of August, but summer is definitely hanging on here--it's over 90 degrees today. Yuck!

Today I have a swatch from one of my favorite indie brands, Indigo Bananas. Last year she released a bunch of polishes with beautiful color-shifting flakies, and this was my top lemming from the collection. Acid Ocean is a dark teal jelly with green-blue-purple shifting flakies, plus what looks like some Fantasy Fire-type shimmer! So squishy and ethereal!

Indigo Bananas Acid Ocean. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula was on the runny side for a jelly, so I needed three coats to build up the color. Otherwise I had no problems with it! The flakies are the classic type that lie perfectly flat.

Yet another gorgeous IB polish! It's available here for $12 for 15 ml, or $7.25 for 8 ml!

The product in this post was given to me as a gift. All opinions are my own.

Today's mani: Watercolor stamping

Hi kids! Today I tried out a new nail art technique that I just discovered--it gives your mani a watercolor look using a stamper! I saw the tutorial at Chit Chat Nails, so go check out her post for the details!

I started with a white base and added the watercolor with ILNP A Twist of Lemon, ILNP Sniffany, Essie Vibrant Vibes, Essie First Timer and Essie Chillato. I did three applications on each nail for more depth. It's a very peaceful blend of colors!

Afterwards I decided to do a subtle accent nail by stamping on a flower design from MoYou Pro 08 using Bundle Monster Angelic White. I'm getting a lot of zen from this mani!

Have a great week!

Swatch: Three new Femme Fatales

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Happy Monday everyone!

So after being in the nail polish game for a while now, it takes a lot for a new polish to really wow me, much less an entire collection. But lately I've been absolutely drooling over everything Femme Fatale has released! That's why I had to break my no-buy for Color4Nails' latest restock and grab some of Femme Fatale's newest polishes. I've managed to get three swatched for you, go me!

All of these had a great formula and stayed exactly where you put them. The only negative was that, since they have sheer bases, I got some bald spots on my tips. But honestly I didn't care!

First up is Lantern Waste. This has a dark slate grey base with orange-to-green flakies and red-to-gold shifting shimmer!

Femme Fatale Lantern Waste. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

This has such a creepy vibe! Despite the strong shimmer, it wasn't brush-strokey at all.


Next is Heart's Desires. It has a dusty rose base with green-to-blue flakies and lots of copper holo microglitter.

Femme Fatale Heart's Desires. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

I love the way this polish takes a "grandma" color and makes it exciting again!


Last but not least, I have Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall... I was so happy to get this one because I missed the first two restocks and was terrified that I'd missed it forever. When I first saw the swatches, I wrote that it looked like a polish a unicorn would wear, and I still think that's true! It has a very pale turquoise base with pink-to-gold shifting shimmer and lots of silver holo glitter.

The shimmer was so strong in my normal lighting that it freaked out my camera, so I got some natural light shots. I love how different it looks at various angles!

Femme Fatale Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall... Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

There's definitely a touch of magic in that bottle, don't you think? The polish was pretty smooth after one coat of topcoat.


Well, are you as in love with these Femme Fatales as I am? If you want to grab one, keep a close eye on the Femme Fatale shop and/or their stockists, because I'm sure they've been selling out really quickly!

The products in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Quick swatch: Maya Cosmetics Tranquillis

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Hi all! I meant to post this a couple days ago, whoops! We had a busy week looking for a new apartment with a better commute for the both of us. Moving sucks, but it's kind of exciting to think about living in a brand new place--I don't know about you, but I always like to imagine that I'm going to be so much more organized in a new apartment (and then I never am).

Today I've just got a swatch for you, no review, as Maya Cosmetics is sadly long gone. :-( Maybe you can find this polish in a destash somewhere though! Tranquillis is a dark teal jelly with a mix of shimmer, mainly gold, green and pink to my eye. I fell in love with it at first sight! This mani was already a few days old when I photographed it, so it's lost some of its shininess.

And yes, I lost a corner of my middle fingernail--the perils of square nails!

Maya Cosmetics Tranquillis. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Quick swatch: KBShimmer Funky Cold Patina

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Hey guys! Just a quick pic of what I'm wearing right now--KBShimmer Funky Cold Patina. It's no surprise that I LOVE this color! Even though there's a lot of blue in the polish, it still feels very cheerful and springlike to me.

KBShimmer Funky Cold Patina. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

Today's mani: Spring watercolor gradient

Hi all! Have you entered my bloggiversary giveaway yet??

Today I decided to retry the watercolor gradient method that I learned from Nailasaurus (my first attempt is here). This time I was thinking about "April showers bring May flowers" for the color scheme and picked four teal/green colors: Revlon Trendy, Zoya Wednesday, Illamasqua Nomad and Essie Mojito Madness. I also mixed the polishes together to get more colors in the gradient. What do you think?

I really like the painterly look you can get from this method, and it's almost impossible to mess up!

Happy weekend!

Swatch: Femme Fatale In His House He Waits Dreaming

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Happy Hump Day everyone! (Are your tax returns done??) Today I want to show you a polish that I was really excited to get my hands on, because it's exactly my style!

Femme Fatale In His House He Waits Dreaming is a red-brown (mahogany?) jelly with teal shimmer and teal holo microglitter (and I think also tiny silver holo glitter). First, I LOVE the combo of brown and teal. It seems to creep into some of the polishes I make! I also love the Cthulhu reference in the name of the polish. The shimmer definitely gives it a creepy, otherworldly vibe, don't you think?

Femme Fatale In His House He Waits Dreaming. Three coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula was thick, like most jellies, but went on like butter and was very easy to control. My one criticism would be that I think the base could use more pigmentation. Even at three coats, it still looks a bit patchy (which you can see in my photos), and my tips look naked even though I wrapped them.

Still, I feel like even brown polish haters might be able to get into this one. It's like a galaxy in a bottle!

I bought this polish at Color4Nails, although it's not currently in stock there. You can also check Femme Fatale's site for restocks and other stockists!

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Swatch: Girly Bits Save Your Scissors

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Hi gang! Happy Monday! Today I have a polish from my very first Girly Bits purchase! I had this one on my wishlist for a while, then I learned recently that it's been discontinued, so I jumped on it. (It's still available right now!)

Save Your Scissors is a lavender crelly with pink, purple, teal, aqua and white glitter, plus a sprinkling of holo dust. I think this polish is a perfect winter/spring transitional shade--it's overwhelmingly cool-toned, but with floral pops of pink!

Girly Bits Save Your Scissors. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

The formula was a bit on the runny side, and I got some pooling in my cuticles, but I had no problem getting even the biggest glitters out. The base color was nicely opaque in two coats. As with most glitter polishes, I had to place some of the glitters on the second coat to get an even distribution. Probably the only real disappointment to me was that the holo dust wasn't as prominent on the nail as it looked in the bottle.

As I said, this polish has been discontinued, but right now it's still available for purchase at the Girly Bits shop ($10.33 USD for 15 ml). Get it while you can! Girly Bits is based in Canada, but I found the shipping process affordable and hassle-free.

The product in this post was purchased by me. All opinions are my own.