Zoya Natty with Purity accents

I have one of my favorite Zoya's for you today. Zoya Natty! This is the first Zoya I purchased and I love it!! This is described as a smoky deep steel blue with an opaque cream finish. This one is gorgeous!!

 I find myself wearing this one a lot and I love how well it applies. It's great for when I want something dark but I don't want to go black, it's that nice in-between. The formula is amazing, I absolutely love Zoya's formula and out of everything I own in my collection, I think Zoya dominates. These photos are all of Natty with 2 coats  and one coat of Out The Door for a topcoat.

Then because I wanted to add a little flair to this mani I reached for my amazing white, Zoya Purity. This white is amazing and I've worn it alone and it covers so great. For today I just decided to add a few dots to spice things up. I used a couple different sized dotting tools to create different sized dots and am very pleased with the results. My only complaint was that I did not wait long enough after I applied my dots until I applied a topcoat to seal them. My topcoat smeared a couple of the dots but you cannot see them here because this picture was taken before I added the topcoat to the dotted fingers. Oh well, next time I will be a little more patient and wait a little longer before applying a topcoat to my nail art.


Zoya products can be purchased here on their website, at Ulta stores, or select salons. You should also check out Zoya's sister company Qtica, they have many different nail, hand, and skin products that I hear are amazing. I am going to be checking out a few of those products real soon and I'll be sure to let you know!

Zoya Noel

Today I have another Zoya for you. This one is Noel. Noel is described as a faded denim blue with subtle hints of gold and silver in a dense foil finish. In my opinion, it is a metallic teal with hints of silver. I could not see the hints of gold that the description was talking about. Never the less, it's a beautiful color. I can see myself wearing this in the fall and winter. I guess it could be a nice summer color too since it is somewhat a brighter (but not bright bright or neon bright) color.

I found the application to be very good with this one. It went on smooth and was not streaky or thick. Usually when I use a frost or a metallic I get visible brush strokes and it looks all weird but I didn't have that with this one. Dry time was average for Zoya's colors. I used 2 coats on these and did not put on a topcoat. As you can see in the pictures on one of my nails the white of my natural nail shown through even with 2 coats. I'm not quite sure why it did with this one but I didn't have that with any other colors that were fairly opaque. I bet if I would have used 3 coats I would have gotten a nice deep color result. Next time I think I am going to try that and see how it looks.

All pictures were taken indoors with a flash. Zoya's polishes can be purchased on their website here, in Ulta stores, and select salons. If you haven't tried Zoya, you should, you won't be disappointed. I love all of mine and you will too!

Zoya Pixie Dust~Vespa

I am bringing you another one of the original Zoya Pixie Dust colors. This one is called Vespa. It is a light olive(ish) green with silver sparkle. There are some who do not like the textured fad that is going on right now but I have to say that I am loving it.

As with all the Pixie Dust polishes, for best results you do not use a base coat or a topcoat. You can use a topcoat if you do not want the textured feeling. The Zoya Pixie Dust dry so fast and I have even noticed that if you smudge it before it is dry, you can just take your finger and gently "push" it back into place and once it's dry I couldn't tell where I had smudged it! I love the Pixies and am looking forward to trying out some of the new Summer Pixie Dust colors!

Zoya polishes can be purchased here on their website, select salons, and Ulta stores.

Cult Nails Nail Art

So I decided to play around a little with my Cult Nails In The Garden collection.

I started out with Let's Get Dirty for my base and I have to say that I am in love with this color. I find it hard to find nudes/neutrals that look good with my skin tone but this one is awesome.

Then I decided to just do something simple for today so I added a flower to my ring fingers using Morning Glory and grabbed Fetish for the center of the flower. To create this flower I used a dotting tool (if you do not have a dotting tool you can use a pin and stick it into the eraser of a pencil and use this). I have just started to do nail art so using a dotting tool is what I started with and it's pretty easy to do.


Below are some examples of how you can make your own dotting tools at home (I got the pic off of google). **THIS IS NOT MY PICTURE**

To top it off I added Wicked Fast to all the nails except the accent nails, I left those the wax finish.

I'm very new to nail art and thought this one turned out wry well. I can't wait to come up with something new for my next mani!

Cult Nails polishes can be purchased here on their website and their formula is 4free!

Whimsical Ideas by Pam

Today I am going to share with you my latest purchase! I have discovered Whimsical Nail Polish by Pam and I am in love with so many of her creations! Let me tell you I had a hard time narrowing down my wishlist into just three for my first purchase. Pam does not have a Etsy store or a store anywhere else, she sells straight from her Facebook page. Her polishes are $10 plus shipping for a full sized bottle and I can assure you they are worth every penny! They also have a cute little bow on them!

The first one is called "My Friend Carol". She is a sheer creme base that is slightly pink and has pink hex glitter of a couple sizes. This one is very pretty and I think to get the pink to really show through on this one I might try layering it over a nice soft baby pink.

It was easy to apply and did not require hardly any manipulation at all for glitter placement. I thought it was very easy to work with. You didn't have to fish around for pieces of larger glitter and there are definitely plenty of them in the bottle to go around.

This is two coats of My Friend Carol with no topcoat and it was taken indoors with a flash. I think next time I will either layer it over a pink or try 3 coats and see how that looks. Overall, this one is a beauty!!

Next up is "Miss Wohelo". I would love to find out where Pam gets her inspiration for the names of her polishes because they are super cute! This one is a bright pink sheer creme, possibly a jelly, with a blue/purple fine glitter in it!

I tried to capture the sparkly of the glitter but not sure if I was able to achieve it. I wanted to show you just how beautiful and unique this one is.

I used 2 coats for this one as well and no topcoat. Dry time was good, it didn't take a long time to dry. I thought the application of this one was very easy as well. No difficulties here!!

The last one I am bringing you is "Kitty Glitter". This one I immediately fell in love with when I saw it on her page and looked at other pictures of it.

Kitty Glitter is a sheer blue, almost teal base with silver hex glitter in a couple sizes. Application on this was great also. I did not have to fish around for pieces of glitter and I did not have to manipulate it to get placement where I wanted. Dry time was average on this one also. Overall this one I LOVE!! Actually I love them all but right now based on my color preferences at the moment, this is one of my favs!

I used 2 coats for this one and I put a topcoat on this one because at the moment I wanted to wear it for a few days so I wanted it protected! I have already gotten many compliments on these.

Whimsical Nail Polish by Pam can be found here on her Facebook page. RUN out now and check her out, you won't be disappointed!!

Zoya Suri

Today I am giving you Zoya Suri. This described as a medium blue-toned purple with delicate red and blue shimmer and a smooth metallic finish. This truly is a "royal" color, excuse the pun.
I thought this would be a great color to add to my collection. I don't have anything else like it.

Application went on smooth and I thought the dry time was good. It took a few minutes to dry, but I've found that in my experience almost all of my Zoyas have a pretty decent dry time. I did not have any problems with this, it was not thick or goopy. I probably could have gotten by with one coat on this one but I wanted to see how it looked with 2 coats and after applying the second coat I realized I could have just done one.

These pictures were taken indoors with a flash and I used 2 coats with no topcoat. All Zoya polishes can be purchased on their website here, in Ulta stores, or select salons. I have to say Zoya is the one that I have the most of in my collection and I've been very pleased with all of them.

Cult Nails In The Garden Collection Part 2

Today I am bringing you Part 2 of the Cult Nails In The Garden Collection. In this second part I am bringing you the two creams, You're My Dandy Lion and Ay Poppy.

Again, I can not say enough that I think it is absolutely great how they package their polishes for shipping. They are packaged in recycled, reusable materials. The cotton balls can be used to remove your current mani and prepare to put on one of your new Cult Nails polishes. How genius!!

This is You're My Dandy Lion. It is described as a buildable bright yellow with a subtle shimmer. I am not usually a yellow girl but this one I might brave for a full mani. When I initially saw it I thought I would only use it for nail art but I am thinking this could be a great mani.

I used two coats and no topcoat. As you can see it is shiny enough on its own that you wouldn't need a topcoat.

Check out that subtle shimmer! Gorgeous!!

The next and last one in this collection is Ay Poppy. It is described as a bright traffic cone orange.

This is my first orange and I was a little hesitant about this one also but after seeing it on and reviewing the photos I love it!

I used two coats on this one also and no topcoat. Just like You're My Dandy Lion, it is shiny enough that you wouldn't need a topcoat!

Cult Nails polishes can be purchased here on their website. Check them out, you won't be disappointed!

Cult Nails In The Garden Collection Part 1

I have the new Cult Nails "In The Garden" collection for you. I am so excited for the collection and couldn't wait for it to arrive. I am going to do this in 2 parts since there are 5 polishes in the collection. I didn't want it to get too long or pic heavy. This collection is beautiful!

I love how they come packaged. They are packaged with recycled, re-useable materials. They call them burritos and you can see that they really do look like burritos. Cult Nails is also 4 free and cruelty free.

First up is a beautiful shimmery taupe wax finish called Let's Get Dirty. I love their wax finishes because they are so versatile. You can wear them with no topcoat and have the wax finish or you can add a topcoat and change the look and have a shiny finish.

With this one the shimmer doesn't really pop until you add a topcoat. In these pics I did two coats of color and added a topcoat to my pointer and ring finger so you could see what the difference is.

As always the formula is outstanding! I love the formula from Cult Nails! It goes on so smooth!

Next is a dusty rose wax finish called Kiss My Rose Bush. This one also has a bit o shimmer that pops out when you add the topcoat.

Again I used 2 coats of color and added a topcoat to the pointer and ring fingers so you can see how it looks.

This is such a girly pink and I love it!

Lastly for part 1 of this is a fuschia wax finish called Morning Glory.

This is a beautiful fuschia and I hope you see in the pics how the color changes slightly when a topcoat is added.

I again used 2 coats of color and added topcoat to the pointer and ring fingers.

These are absolutely gorgeous and the wax finish is so spot on!

Cult Nails polishes can be purchased here and I suggest that if you haven't tried their polishes you should! They are amazing!!

Stay tuned for part 2 of the "In The Garden" Collection...

Julep April Maven Box

 

Today I am going to show you what I got in my Julep April Maven box. Normally I am an "It Girl" but this month I decided to change it up. I went with the "Classic with a Twist" box because these two colors caught my eye. There was a rock candy sucker in there for a special sweet treat. Julep always likes to add something extra for their Mavens!

 

 

In this month's box were two polishes and a Mighty Nail and Cuticle Serum pen. The polishes are Avery (the bright pink one) and Jackie (the red one).

 

Avery is a bright what I call a bubble gum pink creme. This one is really pretty and will be great for summer! I have to admit that another reason I was drawn to this one is because it has the same name as one of my nieces, but I am a sucker for a nice pink too!

The formula on this is great as is with all the Julep's have had the experience working with. Dry time was average for a creme polish

This picture was taken indoors with just a flash. I used 2 coats in all these pictures and no topcoat. As you can see without a topcoat there is still a nice shine to it!

Jackie is described as a marachino cherry red creme. This caught my eye because I do not have many reds and I love red. This is a nice bright red and I have some great plans for this girl!

This is a nice picture for you to see just how opaque this red is and it has such a great shine to it. These pictures were taken indoors with flash.

I used 2 coats for all these pictures also and no topcoat. I wanted you to see just how much shine there is with these polishes without the topcoat. Dry time on this one was average as well.

I have yet to use the Nail and Cuticle Serum pen and honestly I'm not sure that I will because I already have something that works very well for me and I sometimes have a hard time changing things. I haven't completely decided yet if I'm going to try it or not but if I do I will be sure to post my thoughts and review of it as well.

Julep is a monthly subscription box and you can get your first box free if you use my link at the bottom of my page. Just click the "What's Your Style" box and then enter FREEMAVEN code for your free box. You will have to pay for shipping on your free box but after that Mavens get free shipping on their boxes. Julep's website can also be found here.