6/30/2012

Misa Lovebite + Essie Shine of the Times = Major Manicure Love

Hey girlies! Hows it been, it feels like I haven't posted in forever. But thats only because I loved my last manicure so much I rocked it up until yesterday. Thats Cray Cray right? Well anyway, so today I want to show you an experiment I tried out the other day and was absolutely ecstatic about showing you guys and then somewhere along the way I forgot about it. Anyway, First and Foremost let me just say I think the greatest addition to my polish collection has been Essie Shine of the Times. I mean it takes any old blah manicure and turns it into heaven. But only after this manicure did I realize the true glory behind this polish.




This is exactly what I wanted Barielle Elle's Spell to be like. Even when I layered it over Misa Lovebite it still didn't give me that extra oomph I was looking for. But this manicure...boy oh boy. The darkness of Lovebite nicely offsets the brightness of Shine of the Times. And no matter which direction you turn your hand the light will automatically catch the flecks and bring something extra to the table. I probably wont be wearing this in Summertime because I like to give each season its own features but I know that I'll have this on all throughout fall and winter. So if you have Elle's Spell and like me wish for more give this a try and tell me what you think. And I'll be posting up a couple more things with Essie Shine of The Times in it so stay tuned.

P.s. My Pre-100 Follower Giveaway ends tonight...so gets to entering!
xo Nail Diva

6/26/2012

Summer Zebra Mani

Hey girlies! So this morning I woke up and realized how long its been since I've done anything on my nails that could count as nail art. Forever, thats how long! Anyway, so I immediately took out some funky colors and got to work. I'm absolutely adoring how this came out and I'm sure this will be on my nails for a good while, as I rock it out! Hello.




How awesome is that? So obviously I used Barielle Blossom on my index and pinky. It was also sponged onto my other two nails. I also sponged in Inglot 961, Sally Hansen Green with Envy, and Maybelline Divine Clementine on a white base for my middle and ring finger. Topcoat sealed the deal and I was good to go. So easy to do and didn't take more than 20 minutes to do including dry time. Btw, when you sponge on colors it generally doesn't take a long time to dry so you dont need to wait as long as you would for your regular coats of polish. This wasn't my cleanest manicure ever but it definitely was a great one. So summery. Oh and the zebra design is from one of my Konad plates. I consistently go back to the same plate...I dunno why!
Anyway, thats all for now. Dont forget to enter my Pre-100 Follower Giveaway.
xo Nail Diva

6/24/2012

Misa Lovebite

Hey, hey, hey! Boy is Summer zooming on by. I cant believe we're almost in July. Of course half of the plans I had to do throughout summer aren't even close to being done. Which is what happens every year. But I still have time so heres to hoping. I just made an order from Zoya yesterday taking advantage of their awesome Pinterest Special. If you haven't seen this its for 3 polish from their Beach and Surf Collection for 15$ plus free shipping. Amazing. Its like buying one polish and gettting two free. How can I refuse. I'm also contemplating ordering a couple of polishes from Illamasqua if they still have their free international shipping. Cuz daaaang that can get expensive.

Anyway, so off topic. Today I have swatches of Misa Lovebite.




Misa Lovebite is a dark blood red vampy jelly. Yes it is a jelly as you can see it has that squishy-ness that characterizes a jelly. What I love about this polish (besides it being blood red) is that its application is fairly good considering its a jelly and dark red. Usually polishes like that are tricky to apply leaving streak lines all over your nail. But no this was very easy to apply. And formula was good too. I didn't necessarily like the brush on this polish though, I found it too small for my liking. The pictures above are three coats. I dont exactly know why I applied three coats. Its not that it wasn't enough at two but I just felt like it needed a third coat. But stay tuned because this polish will be the backdrop of a very excellent experiment I tried and I really want you guys to see it too.

Dont forget to enter my Pre-100 Follower Giveaway which ends in 6 days.
xo Nail Diva

6/22/2012

The Most Spectacular Green Ever: Zoya Envy

Hey guys! Whats going on? So as you can tell from my post title, this is about Zoya Envy. Uhhh, the sheer beauty of it is insane. I know alot of people that dont find green polish to be flattering. But when you see it on my nails you can automatically tell that this polish is a good do-er. I'm sure this color works on every skintone possible. I'm still wiping off the drool from when I first applied this. lol




Was I exaggerating? hehe, I didn't think so! You know I originally fell in love with the whole dark green look when I saw Scrangie's post about Nars Zulu. I wanted it, yet I knew I would never find it...so I began looking for alternatives and for me Zoya Envy seemed like the perfect one. Darkened green, can appear black in some lights but in most lights its an obvious dark forest green. Creamy and smooth and oooh so shiny. The formula on this beauty was impeccable. I had not one single complaint about it. Of course the Zoya brushes help tremendously with application and again and again I'm tempted to buy so many more polishes because I just have to have more. The pictures above are two coats each. Removal was a breeze although I thought it would be too difficult the color came off very easily. So altogether this polish gets an A+ for exceeding my already high expectations. What do you think?
xo Nail Diva

6/19/2012

Nail Art...Hit or Miss!?

Hey guys! Hows it going? Today I want to show you some nail art I did quite a while ago but Im not really sure whether its a hit or not. My sis seems to think its really cool but I'm not totally into it. Individually I like the designs on each nail...I dunno, you tell me.




Strange, huh? Well let me break it down. I did a slanted cheetah print on my thumb with the base of Color Club Incognito and dotted the cheetah with OPI Senorita Rose-alita. For my index I used a base of Color Club Oh Naturale and Did the rose with Essie No More Film. My middle finger is done the same as my thumb but with a full print. My index finger is Orly Ingenue. My pinky finger is the same base as my index but the rose is made with Essie Olie Caliente. The leaves design are with .Sally Hansen Green with Envy.

So, Hit or Miss?
xo Nail Diva!

6/16/2012

Zoya Anastasia

Hey guys! Whats up? Sooo, I've been on and off with the posting and that upsets me but please bare with me. So today I have a pure beauty for you all. Get ready to feast your eyes one of my beloved Zoya babies. My few but cherished ones.




I was not kidding. Zoya Anastasia is a deep Brown with what zoya calls strong "Purple undertones, golden Plum duochrome, and heavy Gold microglitter." I couldn't agree more! Definitely a brown color, but the golden glitter is strong, and the plum douchrome is always noticeable at every angle. I got a close up shot so you can see how packed with glitter it is.


You know I'm really so pleased with the polishes I got from Zoya, so I need get a few more polishes and make my collection bigger. In the short period of time I've owned these I have been complimented so much on my choice in polishes and I know its because these are truly special polishes. These pictures here are two coats. I wouldn't call this a one-coater because you would definitely need two to just even it out. Application was relatively easy and the formula on this polish was really good. Overall, I'm sold on this.

If your interested in trying out a Zoya polish for the first time or just want to add more to your collection you can click HERE and make an account and you will automatically receive a free polish to your account. Amazing right!

Also dont forget to enter my PRE-100 Follower Giveaway because it ends soon.
Anyway, talk to you soon.
xo Nail Diva

6/14/2012

HM Lady Luck

Hey guys today I'm showing you swatches for a polish from H&M. You know I would have never thought to get a polish from a clothing store just because I would guess its not good quality, but I've heard alot about these H&M polishes and I was very excited to try it when I got it as a gift. Anyway so here is Lady Luck which is a duochrome btw! Love.





H&M Lady Luck is a dark metallic green polish to gold duochrome polish. Simply a must have. Quality is very very fine. This took two coats and thats mostly out of habit because you could definitely get away with only one. Formula on this was very good and easy to work with. The brush was also good, its a tad bit bigger from the bottom than the top (like fan shaped) but very easy to work with. Have you noticed that all of my duochromes have to have green in them. Strange because green wouldn't be my first pick! but still beautiful! Thats all for today.
xo Nail Diva

6/11/2012

Barielle Blossom + Accent Nail Art

Hey guysss! Ugghh,  I hate being away from posting so long but everything has been so hectic recently and plus I was sick so theres that too! Anyway so today I want to show you Barielle Blossom. So this was kind of a let down-ish for me! Mainly because I expected it to be alot more on the peachy side but when I got it I was immediately let down. Then I tried it and now I have mixed feelings. But I'll tell you more about that later.
See this bottleshot shows you why I had falsely assumed that it would be peachier.


But on the nails it looked more like this




A very pretty color but not what was expected. Now you can see why I was let down-ish!
Barielle Blossom is a light pink cream that in certain lights leans peach. In certain lights...like in my lightbox it gives off a peachy look. I dont know if it was just my bottle but the formula on this was horrendous. I had the hardest time applying it. It was thick and bumpy. I first applied 2 layers and then begin to notice the polish was clumping towards the tips so applied a third. Then it began getting uneven so I applied another coat until finally I felt there was a little too many coats and just let it be. At the end it looked fine but not what I had come to expect from a company like Barielle. But it may just have been my bottle. And since I'm not your biggest pink fan I chose to do some small nail art on my ring finger to change it up a bit.


Do you like???
xo Nail Diva

6/08/2012

Orly Ingenue and Orly Night Owl; Swatches and Review

Hey guys! Today, I want to show you the two polishes from Orly that I got in my recent haul. Btw, if your wondering most of the polishes I purchased were bought from Transdesign. Honestly, they are amazing...I mean they dont have the biggest range of polishes but you'll more than likely find what your looking for. And they sell at like half the prices of other stores. Oh and Heads up; these are pics of my left hand so my nails are a bit shorter. Anyway, so here they are!


Orly Night Owl...Finally in my posession! This amazing putty brown with amazing silver microshimmer has been on my wishlist since forever. And my oh my has it been worth the wait! It has a definite earthy feel to it and I feel vegan when I'm wearing it...How weird right? lol. Its the most flattering polish on my skintone that I have ever owned. It brings subtleness and a bit of sass to the equation and I simply cant wait until wintertime to wear this non-stop! Its formula was amazing. Applied perfectly within two coats. And I dont even feel like it needed a topcoat just because it had enough shine on its own. AMAZING!



Orly Ingenue...Another biggy on my wishlist. J'adore! Ingenue is a duochrome shimmer polish that flips between copper and purple at the slightest hand shift. Application was totally easy being perfect at two coats and the formula was great to for a completely shimmery polish. I loved looking at this on my hands and everybody complimented me while wearing this. Its a screamer...I can tell you that. You will definitely get noticed while wearing this...thats for sure! Love, love, love!

Hope you liked these pictures. And enter my Pre-100 Follower Giveaway if youd like to win some pretty nice polishes, Peace!
xo Nail Diva

6/07/2012

Essie Resort Collection 2012

Hey everyone! So today I will be showing you some swatches of 4 colors from the Essie Resort Collection 2012 that came out in Spring earlier this year. I really wish I had gotten a Crewed Interest because that was the one that sparked my attention the most but I couldn't find it...Oh well! So shall we begin?



First up is Essie Sure Shot, a medium pink fucshia color with slight blue reflective microshimmer. Is it me, or does Essie come out with one of these for most of their collections? Three thin coats were used here but it really had great formula Not my favorite color in the world, but very flattering on my skintone.



Essie She's Picture Perfect, a light lavender blue creme with pink reflective microshimmer. As you can see the microshimmer is much more pronounced in the bottle, but it still shows up on the nail. I however, with my severely lacking picture taking skills couldn't quite get that to show up. These pictures are at 3 coats, even though the formula was kind of on the thicker side.  This color is definitely one of my faves of the collection because it is quite unique and I dont think I've seen someone do this take on the reflective microshimmer before. Good job Essie!



Essie No More Film. Boy oh Boy! This color is definitely a special one. A dark navy blue creme that isn't blackened yet retains its darkness quite well. I gotta say if your looking for a navy to add to your collection, definitely give this one a chance. This applied relatively well and took three coats to reach a good level of coverage. I think this color is shiny which gives it an upper hand, but if your looking for easier application you might want Color Club's Naughtycal Navy instead.



Essie Pink-a-boo! Must I say anymore? The pictures speak for themselves. A light creamy pink with tons of pink, blue, and violet microshimmer spread throughout. Heaven! Quite hard to reach heaven though...but when you get there its totally worth it. This took 4 coats and although it can get quite streaky if your patient, and wait out between coats you should be good to go. A definite Must-Have!

So thats all for this review, I hope you liked it. And I'll talk to you guys soon.
xo Nail Diva

6/05/2012

Some Polka Dot Lovin On My Nails!

Hey girlies...hows it going? Today's gonna be a short post, I've been getting really busy with summer activities and work so I'm going to show you real quick some nail art I did.




For this design I used Essie No More Film, Essie Ole Caliente, Flormar 424, Inglot 721, Barielle Blossom, and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Green With Envy (In order from Navy Blue at top of nail to Green at bottom corner). For the base I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White On. Obviously this design is super easy to do, it just requires some patience. Great for summer wear. Anyway, thats all for now.
xo Nail Diva

6/03/2012

Essie Pink-a-boo and Essence Time for Romance

Hey guys! Whats up? Soo, I just got back from Work...yeah ya heard right, I have already started working even though I finished school only a week ago. Thats me! Never one to sit down. Anyway, I am having fun working with kids...its the most rewarding job. Especially working with children with special needs (I'm a speech therapist btw). But I have been trying to do my nails before I go to work so hopefully I'll be able to keep that up. Today I have Essie Pink-a-boo to show you...which is to dieeee for! and I also added Essence Time for Romance on my ring finger just to spice things up and also show you something in my giveaway.




Ukkhh, my cuticles have gone wild. Sorry I usually blur my cuticles out but I didn't because I wanted the shimmer to show up. Essie Pink-a-boo was released with the Essie Resort Collection this year and my oh my is it a stunnnner! Its a soft baby pink or cinderella pink with the most beautiful blue, pink, and purple shimmer. This really reminds me of Essie To Buy Or Not To Buy which I swatches a couple of days ago the shimmer in this really does transfer well onto the nail. I mean you can definitely see the shimmer even though its not too obvious in the photos.
Now this is definitely a sheer polish so you need about 4 coats to get to cover the nail with some still slightly visible nail line. But I like it for that it because it kinda gives it that French Manicure look without actually doing so. Also I read that this is supremely close to NOPI's Kimpletely in Love. =]

Essence Time for Romance is a beautiful rasperry jelly base with tons of berry pink shimmer and different sized glitters spread throughout it. You can totally wear it on its own at about three coats and gets to verry good coverage but in these pics I only used two coats over one coat of Essie Pink-a-boo. I like the formula on Time for Romance because although its a glitter its not clumpy or gooey or nasty its very good in terms of application and formula. Removal was kinda difficult.. you may want to try out the foil removal technique with this baby.
Anyway thats all for now. Be beautiful and dont forget to enter my giveaway!
xo Nail Diva

6/02/2012

Color Club Oh Naturale

Hey everybody! How are you all doing this fine fine day? Today I have an absolutely stunning summer polish to show you. I knew I had to have it the other day when I walked in the store. It was sooo bright and yet mellow. See I'm not a fan of neons, especially after four years at the University of Jordan seeing every single girl wear neon pink or orange because thats whats cool... ummm Not! lol, I dont know it sickens me to see neon orange and pink now. Anyway back on topic...so this is a mellow orangey peach color. And it is to dieeeeee for!


Color Club Oh Naturale- Direct Sunlight


Color Club Oh Naturale- Artificial lighting

Oh My God! Where has this baby been my whole life? Oh Naturale is definitely on the sheer side and I'm wondering why. I mean I know its called Oh Naturale but I dont really understand the relations between orange and naturale. Also why is this orange color sooo sheer? Maybe its to maintain the mellow-ness of the color. I'm not sure, but it took 4 coats to get it opaque. But it was easy to reapply the polish, there was no dragging, clumping or streaking. Is it me or is this color really hard to describe?...A part of me wants to call it tangerine peach. Because its definitely not that "in your face" kind of orange. Love it...love it! As for whether its flattering or not...I cant really say, I mean the color is subtle. Its somehow a nude orangey color so it doesn't really look much like polish but I think it looks OK on my skintone. I just loooove this color so much I dont care if it made my hands look like crap! Anyway, thats all for now lovvies.
xo Nail Diva

6/01/2012

Color Club: The Holographic Edition

Hey girly girls! So I've really been feeling in the mood for collages. I dont know why lol! Anyway and I was looking through my stash today and felt like I didn't do some of my Color Club holographic polishes justice before when I pictured them. I decided I would give it another try and hopefully this will do it. This post will mostly be pictures... Yaay for pictures!!




Color Club Wild at Heart from the 2009 Wild at Heart Collection. Amazing deep purple linear holographic polish. Holographic-ness alot stronger in real life than pictures!




Color Club Worth The Risque from their Femme Fatale Spring 2009 Collection. Silver Linear Holographic...way more amazing in person!



Color Club Fashion Addict from their Catwalk Queen Collection. A lavender linear holographic polish although lacking in holographic-ness and doesn't look better than this in real life. This is I think the least holographic polish out of all of them. Still beautiful though its extremely dull inside.



Color Club Revvvolution also from the Femme Fatale Collection. A dark charcoal based black linear holographic polish that shines soooo much more holographic in real life.!

All in all these polishes are a definite staple in my collection. I'm glad that I found them all because I would much rather have these strong holographic polishes than spend 17-20$ on some other polishes like Layla which might have slightly more holo-ness to them. Nah, I'm satisfied with these.
Anywho, I hope you've enjoyed these as much as I have... Love, love!
Dont forget to enter my Pre-100 Follower Giveaway.
xo Nail Diva