Quick swatch: Zoya Chita

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

Happy Sunday! Today I just have a quick pic of what I'm wearing right now! We went to visit my in-laws for a few days this weekend, so I decided to wear a Zoya PixieDust because they tend to last longer on me. I picked Chita, which is a classic PixieDust in dark green. Love it!

Zoya Chita. Two coats.

During our visit, we went to a restaurant in NYC that does a family-style prime rib dinner, and it was AMAZING. Here is our waiter helpfully posing with our giant hunk-o-meat:

I also finally picked up Helmer #2, so I once again have room for my whole collection (for now)! Quite an eventful weekend!

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

An ode to brown polish

Hey there! Fall is almost here, and that means pumpkin pie, apple cider and brown nail polish!! I love brown polish of all shades, but I know that's a pretty unpopular opinion. I see a lot of comments like, "that's a nice color, but I never wear brown."

But I think brown gets a bad rap. Think about how many shades of brown there are; you are bound to find one that you like and that goes nicely with your skintone (don't forget that nude/off-white shades are technically brown too!). Brown polish can work as a great neutral/work-safe shade, or a super vampy shade that's a little less harsh than black.

I have over 30 brown polishes in my stash, and I picked out a range of them to show you how versatile brown can be. Join me, won't you??

(I apologize in advance for the yellow stains on my nails in some of these photos. I accidentally got Yellow #5 all over my fingers!)

Today's mani: Beach stamping with China Glaze

Happy Monday! I don't know about where you live, but August has not been very August-like here. It feels more like early June than the middle of summer! To make up for that, I thought I would do a mani that reminds me of the beach.

Last weekend we actually got to visit the beach in our town for the first time since we moved here. It's the oldest public beach in America!

For my mani I started with a base of China Glaze Seahorsin' Around, a bright aqua textured polish with gold sparkles. I added some stamps from the MoYou London Sailor 04 plate using Maybelline Bold Gold. It's a little hard to see the stamps here, but there's a variety of seashells, starfish and other beachy stuff.

The pictures don't do justice to how sparkly Seahorsin' Around is. Definitely recommended if you like more in-your-face textured polishes!


Last but not least, here's Trudy hanging out in bed (she likes to sit there and look out the windows onto the street, just to make sure there are no bad guys hanging around)!

Two swatches and vacation update!

(Today is the last day to enter my Petoskey Stone giveaway!! The link is in the sidebar!)

Hi everyone! Hope you've had a great week since I talked to you last! We've had a great time on vacation so far! First, though, I of course want to show you what I wore on my nails this week...

I'm happy I cut my nails short, because my manis have lasted a lot longer than usual! I've only worn two polishes since my last post. The first is Literary Lacquers As the Waltz Was Ending, a lovely warm lavender with a soft linear holo effect:

Literary Lacquers As the Waltz Was Ending. Two coats with Out the Door topcoat.

I think I would put this shade in the Radiant Orchid family (it's a little warmer than it looks here). I found the formula a little patchy, even on the second coat, so if you have longer nails you might need three coats.


Right now I'm wearing Maya Cosmetics Beach Baby. Sadly, Maya Cosmetics is no longer around (I bought this polish in their going-out-of-business sale) but you might be able to snag a second-hand bottle somewhere! This is a full-coverage microglitter in shades of copper, bronze, brown, orange and pink--it really makes me think of people lying around on the beach getting tan!

Maya Cosmetics Beach Baby. One coat with Out the Door topcoat.

This polish covered in one perfect coat! I would actually classify this as a textured polish; even with topcoat it feels gritty. It would look great without topcoat too.


OK, on to my exciting personal life! Mr. ALIQUID and I started our vacation at his parents' place, where we got to see my absolute favorite band of all time, Barenaked Ladies!! (Yes, they are still around!) It was a concert in a park, and we got there early enough to grab a spot in the second row! I was basically going nuts, and my husband was nice enough to humor me...

Next we visited my sister-in-law in New York City. Highlights included walking across the Brooklyn Bridge...

...and having some amazing fried chicken at Root and Bone in Manhattan. Highly recommended!

Then we had a very boring drive to Michigan to see my family. Right now we're getting ready for our trip up north! So keep an eye on my Instagram for some more pics!


Here's Max, one of my parents' dogs, looking cute!

The Neverending Pile Challenge: Least expensive

How are you today? I got to see some old college friends yesterday--it was really great to catch up!

Today's Neverending Pile Challenge theme is least expensive. I didn't do price checks or anything, but some of my cheapest polish is by Love & Beauty (Forever 21's brand), which retails for $2.80 for 14 ml. I got two textured polishes from this brand in a secret santa swap, and they are every bit as gorgeous as the more expensive textured polishes I own!

I used Love & Beauty Blue Jewel, a teal polish with green and gold flecks, and Black Glam, a blackened purple with magenta and gold flecks (this is the one that's a dupe of Julep Glam Roc). I added some dots using clear topcoat for a little extra excitement!

Both of these polishes had very nice application and were opaque in two coats, but they were a little slow to dry, which isn't ideal for a textured polish.

Total untrieds tried: 22

March Ipsy Glam Bag review

It's that time of the month again! (No, not that time of the month.) I continue to be very happy with my Ipsy Glam Bags...I think their rating algorithm really works! I got nail polish again too!

For those who don't know, Ipsy is a monthly beauty subscription service. For $10 you get 4-5 full size or sample size cosmetics or skincare products. You can personalize your bag by telling Ipsy what you like and by rating previous bags. You can try Ipsy out using my referral link here!

I'll start with my favorite products (can you guess which?)...

Nicole by OPI On What Grounds?

Nicole by OPI On What Grounds? Two coats.

On What Grounds? is part of NOPI's "Roughles" line of textured polishes. (I think that name is fairly clever, don't you?) It's a matte sky blue with little grey and blue flecks. This one is unique in my collection of textured polishes because it has glitter but is still completely matte. Not sure what it reminds me of, but I like it! The texture itself is comparable to OPI's Liquid Sand polishes--not a big surprise. The dry time was fairly quick.

Be a Bombshell Bora Bora Eyeshadow Quad

I probably wouldn't have picked out this palette for myself because I tend to stick with "safer" eyeshadow colors. But once I started playing with it, I had fun! The eyeshadows have good pigmentation and were easy to use. They seem fairly crease-resistant too. I tried a look using Rock Bottom, Risky Business and Bora Bora. Not sure I pulled it off! (I apologize for my shoddy eyeliner/mascara; I mentioned once before that I have a super hyperactive flinch reflex, so pointy objects + my eyes don't really mix.)

bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie Lipstick in Get Ready

(If you're wondering where the cap of my lipstick went...I accidentally knocked it off my desk and it vanished into the ether.) This is really nice lipstick! It applied very smoothly and wasn't too sticky. It contains some moisturizing oils, so it has a somewhat lip-balm-y feel. I like the color too--bright, but not too bright. The only downside is that it's not really long-wearing.

Pixi Flawless Beauty Primer

As always, there's one dud in every box. I was really looking forward to trying this primer, since I still don't have a really good one. I tried it out under my usual makeup. It didn't seem to even my skintone at all, as it claims to--it was pretty much invisible, except if you looked really closely there was a little shimmer on my skin (I guess that's the "youthful glow"). Once I put my mattifying makeup on top, the shimmer disappeared anyway. I will say this primer seemed to help keep my skin from getting excessively oily over the course of the day, but by nighttime my makeup was creasing and pilling up. I also saw no difference in the appearance of my pores. Oh well! I'll put this one in my blog sale (over in the sidebar -->), since I've only used it once.

For those of you who do Ipsy, did you like your bags this month?

Swatch: Zoya Cosmo

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

I know I just swatched a Zoya a few days ago, but I had to do another one today. Texture plus holographic? Yes please!! Cosmo is a new addition to the PixieDust lineup: a silver textured polish loaded with two sizes of silver holographic hex. Behold...

Zoya Cosmo. Two coats, no topcoat.

Cosmo is one of the bling-est (blingiest? most bling-y?) polishes I've ever worn. My photo really does not do it justice. It looks like crushed diamonds!

I saw that other bloggers had nitpicks about the formula, but for me it was perfect: the glitters distributed themselves evenly with no effort from me, and the polish applied so neatly that I barely had to do any cleanup. It dried a little slower than other PixieDusts I've tried, probably due to all the glitter, but still within acceptable limits for me.

 As for the texture, it's definitely a bit bumpier than your average textured polish, so if you weren't a fan of texture to begin with, Cosmo probably won't win you over. It's not snagging on my clothes or anything though.

You can of course add topcoat if you want a smooth polish, but it'll take some work. This is Cosmo with two layers of topcoat (still a bit bumpy):

Zoya Cosmo. Two coats with Gelous and Out the Door topcoats.

Last but not least, the obligatory blurry sparkle shot:

Cosmo is available at zoya.com ($10 for 15 ml)!

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

Swatch: OPI Silent Stars Go By

I won this polish in a giveaway. All opinions are my own.

Last week I won a giveaway at Shelby Lou Nails! I got a set of three mini OPI Liquid Sands from the Mariah Carey holiday collection. The collection as a whole isn't too exciting to me (do we need that many more red polishes??), but I had my eye on the Liquid Sands thanks to my love of texture!

The first one I tried on is Silent Stars Go By. This is a silvery blush-colored textured polish with lots of silver hexes thrown in.

OPI Silent Stars Go By, two coats.

I really liked the formula on this polish; it applied in thin, easy-to-control coats. It dried quickly without the aid of a topcoat. (I did wear a basecoat with this.)

I have to say, having tried several textured polishes from multiple brands, I think I prefer the neutral/nude ones over more colorful polishes--maybe because they look like natural stone with gems buried inside? Anyway, I'm a big fan of Silent Stars Go By; I think it would be great to wear to a classy holiday party!

I won this polish in a giveaway. All opinions are my own.

Swatch: Zoya Sunshine and Tomoko

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

Recently I finally got my hands on some more Zoya PixieDust polishes. Not everyone's into textured polish, but I adore it, and I love Zoya's most of all! The two I'm wearing are both from the fall collection.

Zoya Sunshine and Tomoko, two coats.

The navy blue is Sunshine and the champagne is Tomoko. (Don't you think the names should be switched?) They both have silver sparkle that makes them look totally lush. If you haven't tried PixieDusts before, the texture is very fine and just the slightest bit rough--some people find it distracting, but it just comes down to personal preference. And of course they don't need topcoat (unless you want). Luckily they dry pretty quickly! Also, I always use basecoat under PixieDusts with no ill effects.

What do you think: is textured polish just a fad or is it here to stay?

Zoya Sunshine and Tomoko are available for $9 each (15 ml) at zoya.com!

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

31-Day Challenge #10: textured double gradient

So the gradient is probably the only form of nail art I can do with my eyes closed. Even on my first try I nailed it (pun intended). So I knew for this challenge I had to do something a little more exciting than just a plain old gradient.

I started out by doing a gradient of Julep Nina (horrible formula by the way) and Essie DJ Play That Song. Then I laid down some striping tape and did another gradient of JulieG Tangerine Dream and Crushed Candy. I'd never done a textured gradient before but always liked the look (plus I love textured polish in general). I need to get some more of those Zoya PixieDusts so I can do this more often!


Check out today's other awesome gradients!

Swatch: Julep Jill

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

Polish makers have been jumping aboard the textured polish train for the past several months, and Julep is the latest. They call the finish "sea salt" and released a Mystery Box containing one of three new polishes. I generally like textured polishes, so I grabbed a box and ended up with Jill.

Julep Jill. Two coats, no top coat.

  
Jill is a muted brown, and unlike many of the textured polishes I've seen, has no shimmer or glitter. So it's more toned-down and work-appropriate (note: I'm a grad student and have never had a real grown-up job).

Now, when I swatched this on my swatch wheel, the texture came out perfectly consistent and fine-grained, but when I put it on my nail, I got a lot of "bald" patches--places with no texture. My pinky finger there is the most egregious. I wondered if it might be because I was wearing a base coat (NailTek II), even though I've never before had a problem with textured polishes over a base coat.

So, like a good scientist, I did an experiment: I removed the polish from my index finger and repainted it with no base coat. (It's shown in both these pics.) I do think the texture came out finer and more consistent on that finger, although not perfect. So I would recommend not using a base coat.

The texture is very similar to the Zoya Pixie Dust polishes--you can feel some grittiness if you rub a nail with your finger, but it isn't rough or sharp and won't snag on things.

As for the formula, it was fine as long as I used thin coats. The difficulty with Julep's brushes is that they're longer than normal, so a lot of polish collects along them and drips down, and you have to keep wiping them off to prevent globs. But I really didn't have a lot of trouble. Like all textured polishes I've tried, this dried fast. I did get some chips a few hours later when I was washing dishes and cooking.

The Mystery Box containing the sea salt polishes is no longer for sale, and the polishes aren't up on the Julep site, so I guess they're waiting a bit before releasing them. If you're at all interested in Julep products, I do recommend getting a Maven membership, since everything is discounted and there are always some Maven-only specials. That said, I think even the regular Maven price ($11.20) is too high for a bottle of polish, since they're only 8 ml. So I always buy stuff from them in sets or discounted.

What do you think of Jill?

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