Wow, what an awesome time we had in North Carolina! My boyfriend Damon and I enjoyed some much-needed relaxation, and we both have had quite a hard time getting back into the swing of normal everyday post-vacation routine. Who wants to go back to work after having an awesome break? We've been home since Tuesday and I haven't felt like doing anything.
While I don't have any NOTD photos to attach to this entry, I do promise some photos of my HUGE vacation haul by the end of the weekend! I haven't hauled in months, and I really made up for that while we were down south. Bigtime. This is probably one of my biggest hauls, and I can't wait to post pics!
~Carley
Vacation, Vacation, Vacation!
Greetings from Wilmington, North Carolina!
I won't be making any swatch posts for a couple days, so I'm just gonna leave you with a photo of my vacation pedicure (which I took while enjoying my time on the beach!).
I am wearing FingerPaints Artistic Azure with two coats of OPI Absolutely Alice on top. I wanted to wear Orly Royal Navy as my vacation pedi, but Absolutely Alice was just calling my name. I thought it would look nice sparkling on the beach!
~Carley
I won't be making any swatch posts for a couple days, so I'm just gonna leave you with a photo of my vacation pedicure (which I took while enjoying my time on the beach!).
I am wearing FingerPaints Artistic Azure with two coats of OPI Absolutely Alice on top. I wanted to wear Orly Royal Navy as my vacation pedi, but Absolutely Alice was just calling my name. I thought it would look nice sparkling on the beach!
~Carley
Orly - Royal Navy
One of my favorite colors this summer is Orly's Royal Navy. I believe it is a new color for Summer 2010, as I had never seen it before I picked it up at Sally Beauty Supply about a month ago. It is quickly becoming one of my most-used colors of the season.
I personally think that Orly polishes offer a great value... you get a little more product than other brands offer, the color range is pretty nice, and the quality is awesome. I get long wear out of them, as well.
This will probably be my last post for a couple days... my boyfriend and I are going to North Carolina on Wednesday for a much-needed week-long vacation!
~Carley
Two coats in full sun.
Royal Navy is a vivid blue with tons of beautiful greenish-blue microglitter packed into it. The formula is like heaven to me... I am a huge fan of Orly polishes. I haven't used a bad Orly polish yet! Every single one I own goes on smoothly with no problems, and Royal Navy is no exception! I had excellent coverage with two coats!
I personally think that Orly polishes offer a great value... you get a little more product than other brands offer, the color range is pretty nice, and the quality is awesome. I get long wear out of them, as well.
Two coats in the shade.
I am actually dying to use this on my toes. I think I'm going to use it as my vacation pedi color, but I haven't decided yet! I know I definitely want to wear blue on my toes!
This will probably be my last post for a couple days... my boyfriend and I are going to North Carolina on Wednesday for a much-needed week-long vacation!
~Carley
Zoya - Nicole (with a fauxnad stamp!)
I have been wanting to add some Zoya nail polish to my collection for quite some time, and it wasn't until I started swapping recently that I got some to try. My first two Zoyas were Charla and Ivanka, which are nothing short of absolutely amazing. My second set of Zoyas just came from a very generous lady... I had arranged for Ki and she threw in Nicole as a surprise to go along with it! I couldn't wait to try Nicole, as it is such an awesome summery-looking color. It is a pinky-orange with very fine golden microglitter that pops in the sun.
A little over a month ago I ordered a set of Bundle Monster nail image plates, and I haven't really used them much. I was looking at them today and on a whim I decided to use plate BM13 to dress up my mani a little bit. I naturally went for the cobweb, since spooky was what I was feeling at the moment! I love the little spider design, so I had to throw him on, too.
Photo taken in the shade with no flash.
A little over a month ago I ordered a set of Bundle Monster nail image plates, and I haven't really used them much. I was looking at them today and on a whim I decided to use plate BM13 to dress up my mani a little bit. I naturally went for the cobweb, since spooky was what I was feeling at the moment! I love the little spider design, so I had to throw him on, too.
Photo taken in full sunlight.
Overall I am very impressed with Zoya so far. This mani was perfect with two coats, but I went with three for good measure. The color had a very smooth application, with no bald spots on the second coat. Nicole has worn well over the past day, and my topcoat of choice (Seche Vite) did not give me any problems with dry time or shrinkage. I can't wait to try more Zoya colors!
~Carley
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Going Green
I chose to go green today with my manicure by wearing Going Green from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear's spring collection. I am a big fan of the Xtreme Wear line, it has some awesome colors and I've never had a problem with the formula. It goes on smoothly and dries quickly! Instant love!
This color is very unique in my collection! I don't own any other greens that are even similar to it. Going Green has a beautiful subtle shimmer in it that looks amazing in the sun. I wish I got some shots of it in the sunlight to show it off! The shimmer matches the base color very well, so at first glance it looks like a basic creme.
The formula is wonderful. Two coats gave me the perfect finish with no streaking or bald spots.
Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to put a coat of Nfu Oh 038 on top... I think I like it! I have never tried 038 over anything other than dark blue and black, so this is new territory for me! The flakies aren't as noticeable against the green polish.
All in all I am glad I picked this color up. The Xtreme Wear polishes are about $2.99 at my local Walgreens, so the price is right. When nail polish costs that little and comes in interesting colors I feel like I can't go wrong!
~Carley
This color is very unique in my collection! I don't own any other greens that are even similar to it. Going Green has a beautiful subtle shimmer in it that looks amazing in the sun. I wish I got some shots of it in the sunlight to show it off! The shimmer matches the base color very well, so at first glance it looks like a basic creme.
The formula is wonderful. Two coats gave me the perfect finish with no streaking or bald spots.
Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to put a coat of Nfu Oh 038 on top... I think I like it! I have never tried 038 over anything other than dark blue and black, so this is new territory for me! The flakies aren't as noticeable against the green polish.
All in all I am glad I picked this color up. The Xtreme Wear polishes are about $2.99 at my local Walgreens, so the price is right. When nail polish costs that little and comes in interesting colors I feel like I can't go wrong!
~Carley
Wow! Followers!
In honor of my first three followers (!!! I am so excited about this! Thank you for following me!), I would like to make my first nail-related post dedicated solely to some stash spam. I would like to start posting some NOTD photos soon, but I haven't been satisfied with the photos I've taken so far.
A little bit about my stash: I have about 240 polishes, including backups of a few colors. I keep a spreadsheet to keep track of how many polishes I own, and I sort my spreadsheet by brand and then by collection. I actually used to swatch each polish on a popsicle stick, but I ultimately gave up on making popsicle stick swatches when my collection exceeded 200 polishes. It just got to be a little too tedious for me to keep up with, especially on days when I came home with big hauls!
My collection lives in a 3-drawer storage cube that I picked up from Michael's Craft Store. It fits my needs quite well, and I even bought and assembled a second one in anticipation of my first cube reaching critical mass.
In the bottom drawer I have Color Club, Orly, OPI, China Glaze, and FingerPaints. This drawer is totally jam-packed full! I don't organize them too well, as you can see. I do manage to keep them grouped according to brand, though!
The middle drawer holds mostly drugstore brands, like Sally Hansen, Wet 'n Wild, Revlon, Pure Ice, etc... I do keep my three Nfu Oh's in this drawer, though; so it isn't entirely drugstore polish.
Here is the top drawer, which is the loneliest drawer of all! My collection just recently began spilling into it, so it is sharing space with my cotton rounds. I used to keep all my treatments and topcoats in the top drawer, but I have since moved those into my spare storage cube.
Finally, I keep a few oft-used basecoats and topcoats on top of this mini storage thingie that I keep all my implements in. The purple polish on the right is the first franken I ever made! That image plate is Bundle Monster BM20, which has some cute star designs that I was experimenting with for a July 4th manicure.
Well, that concludes my mini-stash spam/tour! I often think that it would be totally awesome to have my stash prominently displayed in my living room for all to see, but I think my boyfriend Damon would have a heart attack if I moved them out of the drawers!
~Carley
A little bit about my stash: I have about 240 polishes, including backups of a few colors. I keep a spreadsheet to keep track of how many polishes I own, and I sort my spreadsheet by brand and then by collection. I actually used to swatch each polish on a popsicle stick, but I ultimately gave up on making popsicle stick swatches when my collection exceeded 200 polishes. It just got to be a little too tedious for me to keep up with, especially on days when I came home with big hauls!
My collection lives in a 3-drawer storage cube that I picked up from Michael's Craft Store. It fits my needs quite well, and I even bought and assembled a second one in anticipation of my first cube reaching critical mass.
In the bottom drawer I have Color Club, Orly, OPI, China Glaze, and FingerPaints. This drawer is totally jam-packed full! I don't organize them too well, as you can see. I do manage to keep them grouped according to brand, though!
The middle drawer holds mostly drugstore brands, like Sally Hansen, Wet 'n Wild, Revlon, Pure Ice, etc... I do keep my three Nfu Oh's in this drawer, though; so it isn't entirely drugstore polish.
Here is the top drawer, which is the loneliest drawer of all! My collection just recently began spilling into it, so it is sharing space with my cotton rounds. I used to keep all my treatments and topcoats in the top drawer, but I have since moved those into my spare storage cube.
Finally, I keep a few oft-used basecoats and topcoats on top of this mini storage thingie that I keep all my implements in. The purple polish on the right is the first franken I ever made! That image plate is Bundle Monster BM20, which has some cute star designs that I was experimenting with for a July 4th manicure.
Well, that concludes my mini-stash spam/tour! I often think that it would be totally awesome to have my stash prominently displayed in my living room for all to see, but I think my boyfriend Damon would have a heart attack if I moved them out of the drawers!
~Carley
First post!
Well, hello out there! My name is Carley, and I am finally getting around to writing a blog centered around my love for all things nail polish!
Now, a little bit about my love of lacquer... I have loved nail polish for as long as I can remember. When I was very young, I was given a bottle of gold glitter nail polish that I wore quite frequently. When I wasn't wearing it, I would love just looking at how the glittery polish sparkled in the bottle. I carried it around with me in a little kid's purse everywhere I went. Even as I got older and long after that bottle of gold glitter polish was gone, I still found myself fascinated with how many different colors nail polish came in. It seemed like the possibilities were endless, and I still feel that way to this day!
I just recently began to find myself getting back into my old hobby of polish collecting, and I couldn't be happier. I love collecting different brands and colors, especially brands and colors I used to own. I thought that a blog would be a fun way to connect with others that share my passion for polish, and also a way to talk about polish without boring my man, Damon... he doesn't always enjoy listening to me go on about nail polish all the time.
So, that's my little introduction! Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope you enjoy my future posts!
~Carley
Now, a little bit about my love of lacquer... I have loved nail polish for as long as I can remember. When I was very young, I was given a bottle of gold glitter nail polish that I wore quite frequently. When I wasn't wearing it, I would love just looking at how the glittery polish sparkled in the bottle. I carried it around with me in a little kid's purse everywhere I went. Even as I got older and long after that bottle of gold glitter polish was gone, I still found myself fascinated with how many different colors nail polish came in. It seemed like the possibilities were endless, and I still feel that way to this day!
I just recently began to find myself getting back into my old hobby of polish collecting, and I couldn't be happier. I love collecting different brands and colors, especially brands and colors I used to own. I thought that a blog would be a fun way to connect with others that share my passion for polish, and also a way to talk about polish without boring my man, Damon... he doesn't always enjoy listening to me go on about nail polish all the time.
So, that's my little introduction! Thank you for visiting my blog, and I hope you enjoy my future posts!
~Carley
