A place to write about my love of nail polish and nail art!

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Citrus Stamp!

Hello! I made my first stamping challenge manicure today for the facebook group Adventures in Stamping! The challenge was to use your favorite new stamp. I chose the citrus stamp from the new Bundle Monster plates! I thought it would be fun for summer! Admittedly, my pictures aren't the greatest. I enjoy that the green and pink nails are a bit more subtle. You can see them better in real life : ) 


The green and pink I used for the base coats are two of the new American Apparel Sheer polishes (Zuma Beach and Manhattan Beach). I picked up all six of them this week! I will be posting about those later! I wanted to post this picture because it really shows how squishy and jelly like the American Apparel polishes are. 



Thanks for checking out my citrus manicure! I hope you guys are having a fantastic weekend!

- Caitie Q. 

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Zoya Reagan

Hey Guys! So I have some swatches of Zoya Reagan for you today! I really enjoyed this color. I have been wearing a lot of neons lately and this was a nice switch! It's bright enough to still feel summery, but still feels dark enough to have a change from the neons. 

I started off by using my new Butter London Nail Foundation. I figured I would post a picture of my nails with it on as my base coat. I have even enjoyed just wearing the Nail Foundation with no polish over top! It gives you such a nice base and evens everything out on your nails. It's like wearing foundation for your face on your nails : )

1 coat of Nail Foundation by Butter London


This is two coats of Reagan over top of the Nail Foundation. The polish barely requires two coats! It is very opaque. It went on very smoothly and I hardly had any cleanup to do. 

2 coats of Zoya Reagan






When I wasn't in the sun, I found that Reagan showed more of its purple side.



I decided to use one of my new Bundle Monster plates as well. This is from BM-309. I have seen a few other blogs use the owl stamp lately as well! When I was talking to my cousin Reagan, she suggested I use it. As I was swatching her namesake, I figured she should be able to pick the stamp as well : )

Zoya Reagan with BM-309


The full nail owl design on my thumb. It has a bit of shine to it but I think you guys should be able to see it ok.

BM-309


I took this picture a bit later in the day to show more of the purple in the polish.



Well that's Zoya Reagan! I hope you enjoyed my first real nail post : ) Thank you for reading!!! I'll be posting again in the next couple days, so stay tuned!

- Caitie Q. 

Monday, July 16, 2012

Vacation Haul!- Part 2

Hey Guys! Here is the second part of my post from the polishes and stuff I picked up while on vacation!

I have always loved the glitter in Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday. So when I first found out that this same glitter came in a pink base- I was sold! It has taken me a while to actually buy it, but now I finally have Candy Shop in my hands! Another color that has taken me a while to grab is Butter London Slapper! I thought that I may as well buy it too (my picture shows it more as blue but it's really a beautiful teal color). Zoya Reagan is a great pink that leans to the purple side (this picture doesn't to it justice) and I figured I needed to pick this polish up as my cousin Reagan also shares a love for polish : ) The Piggy Polish I bought is called Sunshine on Snowflakes. I have many holo glitter topcoats but this one really stood out to me! 

(From L to R) Deborah Lippmann Candy Shop, Butter London Slapper, Zoya Reagan, Piggy Polish Sunshine on Snowflakes

I decided to grab 2 Essence stamping plates from a sale bin as well as a black stamping polish. I also picked up a yellow Essence polish with some subtle shimmer in it called Wanna be your Sunshine and a plain black polish called Black is Back.

(From L to R) Essence Black Stamping polish, Black is Back, Wanna Be Your Sunshine 

When I saw the Orly Flash Glam FX display at ULTA, I decided to pick up all five polishes! My favorite out of the five is Spazmatic which has a really pretty blue shimmer mixed in with all that blue glitter. I have seen these swatched on many blogs and they look great layered over black as well as other colors. The other Orly polish I picked up is After Party. It reminds me of outer space with the black base and pink/purple and blue shimmer throughout!

(From L to R) Orly Mermaid Tale, Be Brave, Spazmatic, Can't Be Tamed, Sashay My Way, After Party

I bought one of the ombre sets from The New Black called Haze. I love these! I know that I could pick out some purples from my current polish stash, or make my own colors my mixing in some white or black to make an ombre manicure, but this is so much easier! I also like how the darkest purple has a nice shimmer to it. I did wear these while I was on vacation and got many compliments on my nails : )

The New Black Ombre Set- Haze 

Thanks for checking out my the last of my vacation haul! Now that I'm home safe and sound, I should have some time to swatch these sweet new polishes!

- Caitie Q 

Friday, July 13, 2012

Vacation Haul!- Part 1


Hey Guys! So I have been away for a week in beautiful Sandpoint, Idaho! We look forward to coming down here every year to relax and soak up some sun at the beach. This week was crazy hot which was awesome, and I was able to do some shopping for some polish : ) I wasn't really looking for any specific polishes but ended up buying quite a few. I just wanted to show you guys some pictures of what I picked up first and will be showing you some swatches very soon!


These polishes are amazing! I already had Horse Power by Butter London, which is a nail strengthener. When I was at Nordstroms I picked up Butter London's Melt Away, which is a great cuticle remover. I have been using a Sally Hansen cuticle remover forever and this stuff is so much better! I also got their Nail Foundation. Now this stuff I LOVE!!! This stuff dries very quickly and matte. It provides a perfect base for polish, it seems to prevent chipping, and it also looks great on its own. The third polish I picked up was Hardwear, which is their topcoat. It is supposed to be quick drying but compared to my Sally Hansen or SV top coats, it is much slower. Handbag Holiday is cuticle oil. It smells kind of like vanilla and absorbs quickly. I am really enjoying my Butter London polishes.  

(From L to R) Butter London Melt Away, Nail Foundation, Hardwear, Handbag Holiday


A few months ago I had picked up a LAYLA Holographic polish in Jade Groove. I love the linear holo of it! I decided I wanted black and silver ones as well! The black reminds me of my OPI My Private Jet, which has always been my favorite polish color, but I am starting to run low on it.

(From L to R) LAYLA Holographic Flash Black, Mercury Twilight


Essie was buy 2 get 1 free at ULTA so I decided to pick these three up. I don't wear many metallic colors but it's nice to have these anyway! These polishes work great for stamping as well.


(From L to R) Essie Penny Talk, Nothing Else Metals, No Place Like Chrome

I will show you guys the rest of the polishes I picked up tomorrow! Thanks for taking a peek!

- Caitie Q




Sunday, June 24, 2012

Welcome!

Hello! Welcome to my new blog! My name is Caitie and I have been following nail blogs for years! I am a little nervous getting started. I know that my pictures might not be the best quality and I have short nails : ) I'm giving this a shot and am going to do the best that I can! I'm excited to share my love of polish and nail art with others!!!