August 2014 Favorites

Hey everyone! I hope you are all enjoying the weekend. Today I am sharing with you my August Favorites. I don't know about anyone else but I am so ready for Fall! I'm not the biggest fan of summer because I get super cranky in the heat but give me my blankets and a cup of hot chocolate and I am a happy camper! A lot of these products are rediscovered products since I have been on a low buy for some time but these are still really great products to try out if you haven't already!

On my nails this month I have ben loving Zoya's Lola.I've worn this a few times this month and it's a really pretty bright cool toned pink with blue/purple duochrome shimmer. Perfect for summer!

On my cheeks I have been wearing a rediscovered product a ton and that is TheBalm's Hot Mama Blush. It's a peach pink with gold shimmer. This blush is so so shimmery!!! but not in a chunky way. I had this on and I caught a glipse of myself in the mirror and literally had to think back to recall if I had put highlighter on my cheekbones because there was such a strong presence of the gold shimmer on my cheek. I would even say skip the highlighter when you use this blush. If you like peachy pinks I definitely recommend this one especially over Nars Orgasm just because i think it's a smoother application and less expensive!

 

My highlight fav. of the month is Benefit's Watt's Up. I'm just jumping on the bandwagon with this one and only becuase I received a sample of it but I do really enjoy this as a highlight - it's a cream to powder champagne highlight. I have a post about it here.

For my hair I have been loving using this styling wand by Remmington (I use the 1/2" to 1") I'll start by saying that this isn't even mine but my sisters! 

It has 3 levels of heat - I always use the highest level. I tried this one day after I got home from work on a Friday and didn't feel like washing my hair and it worked SO well on my 3rd day hair! the only negative about this is that for me, it ONLY works on my really dirty hair. I find the curls created with the wand hold up better than when I use my straightener to make waves - idk if that has anything to do with the product itself or not. I love using the wand a lot better than a curling iron or a straightener becuase I can keep the ends of my hair straight - I just really like that look and I can accomplish it really easily with the wand - I definitely want to try one with a thicker barrell - I know the NuMe wand is big right now on YouTube and they are giving tons of beauty channels codes for our use.

 

I have been loving a couple of lip products this month.  Love Love Love the Rimmel Show Off Liquid Lip Lacquer  in Celestial. Color payoff is amazing and it feels really comfortable on the lips! I got about 2-3 hours wear out of this. o\One down side is that it does leave your lips feeling a bit dry so I have been using a soft lips balm underneath this product.

 

The other lipstick i have been enjoying is the Revlon Pink About It Matte Lipstick– So I contemplating selling this in a blog sale but decided to give it one more go and ended up really liking it. Unfortunately, I jut looked it up online and saw that it's been discontinued! Pink About it Is a medium bright pink shade. On some it may even look a bit coral and pull more pink with orange undertone. The formula is not too drying for a matte finish - probably the most comfortable matte I own to wear.

My favorite skin care product this month is an AHA which is a collection of compounds such as glycolic acid, lactic acid, citric acid, etc. The AHA I have been using is a drugstore brand called Alpha Hydrox with 10% Glycolic AHA. I use this as an exfoliant, instead of a harsh scrub and it has made my skin so much smoother and very soft. 

Top to Bottom: Hot Mama, Celestial, Pink About It

What products have you been loving this month!?

Retro Dotticure

Half the week is gone already? I can remember being in school and the end of the semester felt like it was so far away. I am finishing up my thesis and getting ready for my comp. exam on Saturday and I feel like this semester has passed so quickly! I have been trying to compile as many blog posts to be ready for the next 2-3 weeks since I will be preparing to defend my thesis and finish my last semester of graduate school! I am so happy to be almost finished.

Anyway, onto what was on my nails the beginning of this week. I did a little bit of a retro dotticure using the dotting tools I ordered off Amazon. This was really easy and fun to do! Dotticures are my favorite kind of nail art. 

For the darker dots I used OPI's Jade is the New Black

The light dots that are barley visable I used Zoya's Neely.

For the base I used Sally Hansen's Insta Dri in Jade Jump (an amazing one coater). 

I love the over all look of this type of mani and will definitely be experimenting with different color schemes

Have you attempted the dotticure?

The best glitters in life are free...

Happy Hump day everyone :) I have a quick swatch for you tonight. I am meeting family out for dinner in a few.

The other night I was in a rush to get ready and didn't want to leave my house naked....my nails of course. I slapped on one coat of Zoya's Reagan polish and added a glitter that I received in a swap for free! It is a LA Color Craze glitter. I cannot find the name of the color for the life of me!

Zoya Charla

Do you ever look through your stash and get bored of it? I had that feeling last night when I went to choose my mani so I decided to just do a layering experiment with OPI's Yoga-ta-get this blue and Zoyz Charla. After I had finished I realized I have yet to feature Charla on my blog! Charla is probably one of Zoya's most beloved polish. Normally it has a 'mermaids tail' look with a blue-green sparkle to it . Over the OPI, the teal doesn't stand out as much, but it looks pretty regardless! 

Green Gradient Nails

Before I start talking about what's on my nails today I just wanted to say WHOOHOO and a huge thank you to my 300 followers I acquired white writing this post! I know I'm not the most dedicated blogger but i do what I can because I truly enjoy the nail polish community! As mentioned before I do want to do a giveaway but I still need to gather some goodies for that.

Onto today's post:

I finally attempted a gradient mani! It actually wasn't as traitorous as I thought.

I followed The Nailasaurus tutorial and it was so simple I am kicking myself for not trying it sooner. 

For this manicure I began with Zoya's Tracie and let it dry completely. 

Then I painted a good amount of both Tracie and China Glaze Four Leaf Clover on a piece of paper and swirled the polishes together. I dabbed a makeup sponge into the polish and then patted it onto my nail. Easy Peasy! 

There will be many more gradient mani's to come! I love the look of gradients, you can have so much fun with them and get really creative.

Share with me your gradient nails!

Zoya Reagan

So my first post in a while comes from Zoya's Beach collection. I was really excited about Zoya's beach and surf collection, especially the cremes. Like always the formula was spot on and this mani was a simple 2 coater. I probably could have even gotten away with one coat. 

 

Rease is interesting because its not quiet fuscia not quiet berry, its a nice in between. It's a nice bright shade but not an in your face summer color. It's a nice shade to swear in transition from summer to fall.

Speaking of, i hope you all are enjoying the last month of summer !!!!!

Flowers Flowers Flowers!

Happy Friday! Although it has been absolutely miserable where I live on the East Coast I did a fun summer time mani to liven my nails a bit. I saw this mani on Nailed It! Her nail art is so fun and her blog is amazing! Definitely heck it out 

For the base I used Maybelline's Grey T-Glamour

Yellow: Zoya Pippa

Pink: Revlon Colorstay Passionate Pink

Blue: China Glaze: Flying High

I am so loving this mani,  I still have it on and I applied it Wednesday! That is actually a record for me haha :)

That's it for my quick post, hope you guys have a great extended weekend for Memorial Day!!!

String Mani

As promised in my last post, here is my string mani with Revlon Colorstay's Passionate Pink nail polish and Zoya's Pippa. After seeing Makeup Withdrawal's String mani post here. I immediately  wanted to try it.

The concept of the mani is pretty easy. All you need is a dotter, or something of the sort and some nail polish. After spilling out some of Pippa I let the polish get a little tacky. This was the hardest part for me because I am pretty impatient when it comes to waiting around. When the polish gets tacky enough to the point where it creates strings, all you need to do is drag the strings across your nail and whala!

This can get a little messy but the end result is so much fun!

Zoya Skylar

Happy Friday lovelies! Today I have another Zoya from their spring collection to show you. This is Skylar, my favorite of the collection. If you haven't already noticed I am a sucker for blues so this was an obvious purchase for me. Skylar is unique slate blue polish. The flecks in this are what really make this color special - they are a mix of gold and silver flecks but in the right light can look blue. 

The did kick up the fill light in these photos because I really wanted you guys to see the flecks so the color is a bit brighter in these photos than in real life. In person it is much more if a slate blue

Now I am itching for some of Zoya's Beach and Surf collection!

Zoya Yara

Oh, Sunday. I will never have to work another Sunday again and I am thrilled. I am starting a new job at a Doctors office tomorrow. I used to work in retail but really missed having the weekends to myself. Tomorrow is my first day and I am really excited about it. Have to decide whether I want to keep this stunner of a nail polish on for my first day.

Even with the zoya promo, I picked Yara up at Ulta yesterday because I had a $3 off $10 coupon and couldn't for the life of me decide what other zoya I could have ordered. So either way I would have paid about the same for shipping.

One of my favorite MUAers posted this the other night and have since been hooked. It is much darker on me than it is on her but it is still a gorgeous green.

Zoya Yara is a really pretty olive, army green with golden shimmers in it. Unfortunately, the shimmers are not as apparent on the nail as they are in the bottle. Yara's formula is spot on. It went on so smoothly and it might be one of the creamiest polished I own. I found it to be really opaque as well.

Oh the Horror! A broken nail + NOTD Zoya Lola

On Sunday I went to work with a horizontal tear on my middle finger.

My nails were already painted and didn't have time to re-do so I could to the tea-bag method.

Usually I put a band-aid on it to avoid further breaking but I forgot :(

By the end of the day I had a really bad break.

I usually never chop them all of my nails down to the same length since the broken nail usually is back to normal within 2 manis anyway.

This time I tried something different and I don't think I will do it again LOL.

I don't think my nails have EVER been this short, even in my nail biting days!

Luckily my nails grow pretty fast and I have seen some progress already.

This is Zoya Lola a gorgeous bright, Barbie pink shade with a slight blue duochrome (click photos to enlarge)

I know a lot of people either love Zoya's or hate them. I have NO problems with them. I love the formula, application, the brush, everything! My only issue was not with Zoya but with Seche Vite because it shrank the crap out of every Zoya. However, since I purchased the Sally Hansen Insta Dri top coat I have had no problems.

Even more progress: This is Petites Fiji with Ulta Pinata yada yada.

I did not know Fiji was a foil when I bought it and I despise foils! I threw some Pinata yada yada over it and WOW - LOVE this glitter top coat!

Zoya Zara + My Chemical Romance Concert

hello, hello! I hope you all had an amazing weekend and Mother's Day for you US

ladies. The weather was BEAUTIFUL here.

I had been a little occupied Thursday - through Sunday. My Chemical Romance tickets went on sale last November. By the time I found out, the Saturday show was already sold out. Thankfully they added an additional date since New Jersey is their home state :) On Thursday I was playing around and stumbled on some tickets for sale for Saturdays show. By Friday I was able to get in contact with a man, picked up the tickets on Saturday and 5 hours later

I was waiting on line for My Chem's sold out show. It was amazing. However, their Sunday show was 10 x better. The energy of the crowd, the front man - everything was PERFECT.

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Okay sorry I just had to get that out of the way. Onto my nails.

I received Zoya Zara through last years Earth Day Exchange. The first time I wore it I wasn't thrilled with it. I thought it looked great on other people but I didn't LOVE it on me. I am a believer in second chances though so I gave it another shot. Um, gorgeous! The light purple shade, the green and gold shimmer is just perfection!

I have always been a fan of Zoya's formula - the application is so easy for me. The only thing that bothers me is the shrinkage with EVERY fast dry top coat. I had shrinkage within a couple of hours with Essie's Good to Go.

I took photos in a couple of different rooms and I love how it looks different in the different light. -------------

& just because ... Gerard Way. My obsession haha

NOTD: Zoya Savita

Today's NOTD is a matte, my only one!

The first time I tried this I didn't even get around to putting on a second coat

before deciding I hated mattes. Today I decided I should give it one more

shot before getting rid of it.

(CLICK FOR BIGGER IMAGE)

I am really glad I gave it a second chance. Its a really pretty deep purple with

a little pink shimmers GAW-GEOUS

The pink was even more apparent (in real life) with a top coat.

Now I am thinking of ordering some of the new summer mattes!

Happy Easter NAILARToftheday

I really wanted to get this post up earlier but there was no time!

Busy day, lots of food :) Visited cousins, and godparents for Easter breakfast and dinner.

I hope you all had a great Easter for those that celebrate.

I was so inspired by all of the Easter manis on MUA I wanted to do my own!

Here's a breakdown

Thumb: OPI Parlez Vous OPI, Color club Alabaster, Sally Hansen Insta Dri Fuchsia Flare, SH Inta Dri Jade Jump

Index Finger: Fuchsia Flare, SH Insta Dri Blue Away, Zoya Pippa

Middle Finger: ALL COLORS LISTED ABOVE

Ring Finger: Jade Jump, CC Alabaster, Fuschia Flare, Blue Away

Pinky: SH Blue Away, Pippa

This was a lot of fun to do !! I wish Easter lasted more than one day so I could keep it on longer haha.