Disney Inspired Nails

My school recently took some of our students to Disneyland.  I LOVE Disneyland and haven't been in a long time since I don't have an annual pass anymore.  I had a little time on my hands the day before we left, and decided to try some nail art.  I am usually terrible at nail art, and so I don't do it often.  I liked how this turned out (even though it took way too long to do).

 Minnie Mouse

 Mickey Mouse's Glove

 Mickey Mouse

 Mickey Mouse Ears

Random....

I will try doing more nail art to get some practice in.  What do you guys think of this manicure?

-polish. impress. repeat.

OPI - The Living Daylights over Nails Inc. - Black Taxi

It's been a while since I've been able to post!  Today, I share with you "The Living Daylights" from OPI's Skyfall James Bond 007 collection.  This polish always intrigued me and I decided to try it out for myself.  It is chunky glitter in a clear polish.  The glitter is gold, silver, teal, and this peachy orange/red color.  Perfect color combo for fall!  I chose to put it over a black base, so I used Nails Inc.'s "Black Taxi".  I'm still getting used to this combo, but I think I'll really grow to like it.

Black Taxi was very easy to apply.  It has a slight 'jelly' quality when applying. It needed two coats to be fully opaque.  I love this polish and I'd definitely wear it by itself in the future.

 

The Living Daylights was very goopy and clumpy, but that worked as a benefit because it made the glitter stick together.  I hate when glitter polishes do not get on the brush.  I used two coats of this so make the glitter more apparent and full on my nails. 

What do you all think of this manicure?  Do you suggest any other colors from the 007 collection?

-polish. impress. repeat.

Batman's "The Dark Knight Rises" Inspired Nails

 With Batman's The Dark Knight Rises going into theaters on Friday, I decided to try my hand at a little 'Batman' nail art.  I used Zoya's Dovima which is a black matte color.  For my accent nail, I painted Finger Paint's Silver Crackle on top and then used Sally Girl's Poser to paint on the bat.  The bat was a pain in the neck.  I practiced on paper a bunch of times and it still didn't turn out as well as I thought, but I still like it.  I hope you guys enjoy!  Let me know if you like more nail are things and I'll try my best.  My right hand always ends up looking terrible! 

-polish. impress. repeat.

Metallic Black Dupes?

Over the last year, I have purchased a few different metallic black polishes.  Each one had it's own quality that attracted me to it, but I worried that they were all too similar.  I put them to the test, and they are indeed all different and unique in their own ways.

The three colors I swatched are OPI's Lucern-tainly Look Marvelous, China Glaze's Stone Cold from The Hunger Games collection, and Zoya's Dovima.  Dovima and Stone Cold have matte finishes so I swatched them with and without top coats for you to see the compaisons.

Thumb- Zoya's Dovima, Index- China Glaze's Stone Cold, Middle- OPI's Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous, Ring- Zoya's Dovima with topcoat, Pinky- China Glaze's Stone Cold with topcoat.

(topcoat) Dovima (no topcoat)

(no topcoat) Stone Cold (topcoat)

Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous (no topcoat)

Dovima is more black, Stone Cold is more gray, and Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous is more silver.  Dovima is matte, but also has a nice smooth shine to it, Stone Cold is a true matte, and Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous isn't matte at all.  I really like all of these, but it probably won't be until Fall that I'll wear these again.  They are too dark for me to wear in the Spring and Summer.  I can't wait to get them back out though!

-polish. impress. repeat.

China Glaze - Smoke and Ashes

 
The Hunger Games movie is going to be released THIS week!  As obsessed as I am with the book and waiting for the movie to come out, I have been equally excited for the nail polish collection from China Glaze.  The day the collection was released, I went to a few different stores to pick up the ones I wanted.  Sadly, I have been so busy I haven't been able to share any of them with you until now!  Smoke and Ashes is the first one I'm going to show you.  It was the color that most intrigued me from the collection.  I couldn't find very many good swatches online and I know why now.  It's incredibly hard to capture this polish in a picture.  It just doesn't pick up each part of the polish.  If you read the Hunger Games, this polish represents the District 12 and their mining. 

 Smoke and Ashes is a black color with blue and green reflux sparkles.  The sparkles are a dull sparkle (if that makes any sense).  In the picture above, it is easier to see the blue and green.

 Here it just looks like a sparkly black nail polish, but I promise you it's so much more than that.

 These pictures do no justice to the polish.  It's gorgeous! One coat would have done just fine, but I went ahead with two.  It's opacity is incredible and the formula is the perfect consistency.  China Glaze sells their polishes at Ulta and Sally Beauty Supply.  I could only find them at Sally's though.  They are usually $6-$7. 

Stay tuned to see which polish from the Hunger Games collection I do next to wear to the movie this week!

Which colors from the Hunger Games collection have you tried?

-polish. impress. repeat.

Zoya - Dovima (Matte)

I'd like to introduce you all to Zoya's Dovima matte nail polish.

 I haven't fully decided if I love matte nail polishes, but I do know that I really like Dovima.  When I want to wear something different, I grab this.  It's not fully black, I'd consider it more of a dark grey.  Although it is matte, you can see in the pictures that there is some shimmer which makes this polish even more gorgeous!  In order to keep the matte effect of the polish, I couldn't use a top coat, but this polish dries extremely fast anyways!  Definite bonus!  You can see in the pictures that the colors look really different in a variety of lighting.

 Isn't the bottle adorable too? The bottle is frosted to indicate that it is matte whereas their normal bottles are a see through shiny glass bottle.  I love the brush and handle of Zoya nail polishes too.  The handle is easy to hold and that is one of my biggest pet peeves with nail polishes!  Way to go Zoya!

For an accent nail, I used Revlon's Steel Her Heart.  Adorable name right?!  It's a little lighter than Dovima, and it isn't matte, so I thought they would compliment each other nicely.  It has a little bit of a streaky look to it, but I like that difference for the accent nail.  It has a quick drying time as well so I didn't even use a top coat on it either!

I hope you guys like this post.  What do you think about matte polishes?  Yes or no?

-polish. impress. repeat.