How I Wore It: Zoya Ultra PixieDust Collection- Fall 2014

Happy start of a new week my beauties! Today is all about the new Zoya Ultra PixieDust shades for Fall 2014. This release is made up of Three new, Red- based, textured and glittery pretties. These shades are classic for the Fall season, with the added twist of texture and sparkle. For my look I brought them all together in a swirly freehanded design.  This design was painted over a base of Zoya Sari. 

 Although you can mainly distinguish Two shades, I did use all Three colors. I was slightly disappointed that the contrast between Zoya Ariana and Zoya Oswin was not greater. However, if you look pretty hard you can see that Oswin is slightly more matte and textured than both Ariana and Noir. I dig this look though. It was fun to work on :D. 

Zoya Oswin- Zoya describes Oswin as a true red textured PixieDust with crimson Mega Hex particles. She is the densest and more textured of the Three. For me, she was also the only one to dry fully matte. 

Zoya Arianna- Zoya describes Arianna as a true red textured PixieDust with crimson Mega Hex particles. She is more berry-toned and jelly in finish. The texture particles are not as dense in Arianna. 

Zoya Noir- Zoya describes Noir as deep, vampy plum textured PixieDust with red Mega Hex particles. 

The crimson hexes make an appearance in all Three of these shades and tie them together. The formulas were easy to work with and packed with sparkle. I only wish there was a bigger difference between Arianna and Oswin. That said, they are all lovely shades and I am happy to see more textured vamp shades. 

These pretties are available from Zoya.com and retail for $10/ shade.

What are your thoughts on these PixieDusts?

Zoya Summer 2014 Magical Pixies

(**Press Samples**)

 The sparkles! OMG The sparkles! Ok, I will just come right out and say that when I first saw the Summer Magical Pixies from Zoya for 2014 I was a bit underwhelmed. I can't tell you exactly what was putting me off from wearing them. Maybe I thought the shades were a bit boring? And, in the bottle they were not doing much for me.... But then, this past weekend I was feeling sorta lazy and I wanted to wear something "easy" and that would wear for a good while. If anything, I at least knew that these would wear fantastically and they would sparkle. So, I "bit the bullet" and thought to myself.... "what the hell, I'll give these a shot.". 

Oh my GLOB! What a beautiful surprise these turned out to be on my nails. Looking back, I'm not sure at all why I thought I would not enjoy these. I will admit though, they are a million times more spectacular on the nail (and fully dry) than in the bottle.  

Zoya Arlo- On myself, Arlo wears like a beautiful shade of raspberry. Of course as we have come to expect with the Magical Pixies, this beauty is packed to the brim with chunky holo hex glitter in varying sizes.
Zoya Bar- On myself, Bar wears like a warm, sandy gold. I really was not sure what to expect with Bar, because golden tones can be hard for me to wear. I was happy to see that she is a bit of a shape shifter thanks to the jelly-like base.
Zoya Ginni- On myself, Ginni wears like a soft coral toned pink. She was a bit more sheer than her two companions, beautiful non the less.

 The reason why I kept mentioning how these wore on me specifically is because I've noticed that these can look a bit different from person to person. They seem to adjust to anyone's skin tone. I think that is because the "base color" for these is not as densely pigmented or packed with micro sparkle as the Spring Magical Pixies. They are sort of "jelly" like in application so the fully dry effect is almost like a matte jelly sammich.

 I used Three coats of each color and dry time was decent. I'd say within a good 30 they were dry enough to carry on with my day. My final thoughts on these is that they are beautiful, effortless and I regret not wearing them sooner. Never again will I underestimate a Magical Pixie, lesson learned.

Did you try out any of these Three Summer beauties? What are your thoughts on them?

How I Wore It: KBShimmer Six Year Anniversary Celebration Trio

(**Press Samples**)

  There is a birthday party on my nails and you are invited! KBShimmer is getting ready to celebrate Six years in the biz and they have given us a festive little nail color trio to party with! I'm sure the past Six years have been a whirlwind for Christy Rose, the brains behind this amazing brand. I want to take a second to congratulate Christy on this milestone, and wish her many more to come. Between KBShimmer's yummy bath and body products, and all the amazing polishes they continue to put out season after season I know they will have many more years to come.  To celebrate KBShimmer's Sixth b-day Christy created a new trio of polishes. Two cremes and a new textured shade make up this party of Three. A bit more of awesome news... KBShimmer now also carries an awesome range of nail vinyls! 

 The amazing sparkler I am holding, and wearing on my pinkie and index nail, is KBShimmer Hexy Bikini. This textured glitterbomb is packed with prismatic silver glitter and accented by a rainbow of prismatic hexes that perfectly jump off the textured silver base. The formula, while dense, is very easy to work with. I used two easy coats on my textured nails. 

 On my ring and middle nail I used a base of KBShimmer Shore Thing. This shade is an awesome minty/ aqua/ teal. It is one of those shape shifter shades that will look a bit different from person to person, and great on everyone. This shade has a nice creamy formula that does great in Two coats. I topped my ring nails off with KBShimmer Scribble Me This, from the later Summer 2014 collection. I love the festive mix of glitters and shapes. 

 The final touch was adding a "scalloped" nail using some nail vinyls and KBShimmer Beach Please. This shade is a perfect vivid magenta creme. This shade has such an amazing formula! It goes un very smooth and builds up to opacity easily. 

 I finished off all my nails (except the textured ones) with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top. This celebration trio will be available from KBShimmer on August 1st!! And now... I am off to find some CAKE... all this talk of birthdays and partying have me wanting cake! 

Thanks for coming by today!

KBShimmer PT Young Thing & She Twerks Out

(**Press Samples**)

Happy almost end of the week!! 

 Today I want to share a look with some AMAZING shades from the KBShimmer Early Summer 2014 collection. For this look I decided to pair one of the extreme new holos with one of the beautiful textures Christy released. I never cease to be amazed by beautiful Silver holographic polishes. Part of me always thinks they will all look the same, but they never do. Basically, a Silver holo is like Black eye liner, or Red lipstick... You cannot have too many, and no two are ever the same. 

 I was also very pleasantly surprised with the texture I chose to wear for this mani. The look of it is super unique and complex. I was so happy to see that the KBShimmer textures are unlike any texture out there.

 The outstanding silver holo is the, cleverly named, PT Young Thing. As the name suggests it is an intense platinum (silver) toned linear holo. When I say intense, I mean INTENSE. You can see rainbows on your nails even when it is not in direct sunlight. The formula on this color is fantastic and does well in Two easy coats. A perk to this holo is that the addition of a top coat does not mess with the intensity of the holographic effect.

 The accent shade is one of the new textures. This pretty is She Twerks Out (lololololol). This pretty is a perfect teal jelly base saturated with matte and sparkling glitter. I love the how the blend of green, lilac and aqua glitters give this color its texture as well as a beautifully complex, layered, look. This color dried to a satin- matte finish and gets the texture from all the glitter packed in the base. The formula was suuuper easy to work with. I only needed Two coats for full opacity. Even though the surface was fairly smooth and the textured nails were not snagging, I chose to top coat them with a coat of Cult Nails Wax That... top coat. I didn't want to alter the matte finish, but I did want to ensure a quick dry time and extended wear. 

 Seriously though, how amazing is that holo... Even in artificial light you can still see intense rainbows! 

KBShimmer rocks my socks off and that is all there is to it ♥. 

Black.Holo.Texture

(**Press Samples**)

Hi!!

  Know what I've been wanting since the dawn of textures? A Black textured holo.. Doesn't have to be linear. Doesn't have to be the "OMG BEST HOLO EVAR"... I just wanted something Black, textured and sparkly... SO.. I "made" my own ;D. 

 I started with a a base of China Glaze Bump in the Night. This shade is a super pigmented, true Black, texture. Bump in the Night is a creamy texture. Meaning, it has no sparkles whatsoever and dries to that cool stucco finish I love so much. Once I applied my Two coats of BITN I waited for it to dry thoroughly. It goes without saying that I did NOT top coat my texture. 

 To give my Black base that extra holo punch I layered one thin and even coat of KBShimmer Prism Break over my texture. Prism Break comes from the KBShimmer Spring 2014 collection. This pretty holographic top coat gave me just the effect I was looking for. I didn't want the holo to take over the base, I just wanted it to give it a sparkly punch.. And a sparkly punch I definitely got. 

 Layering the holo over a texture kinda "broke up" the holo and gave a cool scattered holo texture effect. Since Prism Break is "thin" enough it gave me the perfect finish of a Black Holo texture. Prism Break was not thick enough to alter the bumpy finish of the black. Prism Break settled into the texture just perfectly. 

 This is Bump in the Night all by itself. Still an amazing polish non the less. IDK why my skin looks so corpsey here... Black polishes can wash me out so bad :S... Anyhow, this shade has an incredible formula and could definitely be a one coater.  

 Now I kinda want to layer Prism Break over all my creamy textures, just to see what happens. I really loved this layering. 

Thanks for stopping by and happy Thursday! 

Such Magical, Much Pixies

(**Press Samples**)

Happy Humpday!

 Did I mention I was on a serious textured kick lately? I mean, seriously... I just cannot stop reaching for textures every time I go to do any mani I intend on wearing for more than a few hours. I am a BIG fan of the ease of texture polishes. Meaning you just need a base coat, one or two coats of a texture and you're done. They dry really quickly and, to me, always look AMAZING.
 This past weekends mani was all about the beautiful Zoya Magical Pixies for Spring 2014. This Trio is made up of Three gorgeous sparkling textures. They all feature a strong holographic twinkle, and lots of chunky glitter. 

  On my thumb and index nails I wore Zoya Lux. Lux is a soft, rose quartz micro sparkle texture base accented by prismatic rose hexes ranging from small to CHUNKY :D. Even though this color is soft and feminine it packs a huge sassy punch thanks to the super sparkly finish. 

 On my middle nail I wore Zoya Cosmo. Cosmo is the bright Silver sister of Lux. She is basically the same concept, but in an insanely beautiful Diamond- Silver color. Last, but not least, is Zoya Vega which is the Sky Blue version of Lux and Cosmo. 

 These three beauties have a very dense formula. They are very, VERY packed with sparkles. They really do resemble crushed precious stones. I used Two coats of each color. A light hand is best to ensure an even spread of the glitter all over the nail. 

 Removal of these can, and probably will be a pain. For that reason I wore the OPI peel off base coat underneath. I am glad to say that these pretties wore like IRON for SEVEN days, and I was still able to peel them off when I was ready for a change. 

 These are the sparkliest of all the PixiDusts that have been released, and some of my favorites. I love how chunky they are and how much they sparkle. I also loved the dense formula because I could definitely get away with one coat in days where I might be rushing. 

 These retail for $10.00/ color. Did you pick any of these up? What are your thoughts on these sparklies? 

Happy Wednesday! 

Fit for a Sea Goddess

(**Press Samples**)

Good morning and happy Tuesday! 

 Today I want to share some cute pairings I wore over the past few weekends. All of these beautiful shades come from the China Glaze Sea Goddess collection. The Sea Goddess collection is made up of Six new textured polishes ranging from super sparkly, to subtle and adorable. I really loved these shades and I loved wearing them. 

 Ever since the O.P.I peel-off base coat came out I have been on a textured polish kick. I love that when I am done or ready for a change I can just peel my textures off and not worry about removal at all. 

China Glaze Tail me Something- A stunning shade of micro- glitter, light Purple. This pretty is sooo sparkly it is almost blinding. The formula seems to be made up of nothing but micro glitter and small hexagonal glitters in a beautiful shade of Purple. I used Two easy coats of this color. I paired this sparkler with China Glaze Sand Dollar Make you Holla which is a creamy White textured base base accented with small glitters in a rainbow of colors. This is definitely the ultimate "cake batter" nail polish with that awesome texture. I used Three coats of this shade. 

 My next pairing was all about Pink. I went with China Glaze Shell we Dance which is a beautiful shade of light Raspberry texture shimmery goodness. This pretty has a " shimmery base" accented with small raspberry toned glitter. I used Two coats of this pretty. The light pink shade is China Glaze Wish on a Starfish. I LOOOOOVE this soft shade of pink which is accented by an amazing flash of golden duochrome. Very "seashell pink" feeling. I used Three thin coats of this beauty. 

And last but not least is this pairing of mermaid-y proportions. China Glaze Seahorsin' Around is the answer to anyone who was praying for a textured version of Zoya Charla (O.P.I Catch me in your Net and all is dupes). This baby is a Teal foil with a slight Golden duochrome. The finish is very intense, sparkly and just beautiful. The only downside to this shade is that it can stain your nails. I used Three thin coats. For a soft contrast I used China Glaze Teal the Tide Turns. This pretty is a creamy "seafoam-teal" creamy texture base accented by small mossy green glitters. I used Three thin coats of this shade as well. 

 I really adore the mix of extremely sparkly, and creamy textures in this collection. I also love the theme behind it. I definitely get an oceanic feel from them, very "treasure chest". I love that all of these are unique in my collection. In a sea of textured polishes, these still manage to stand out for me. These have been out for some time now and should be available where ever China Glaze is sold. 

I loved wearing these as pairs. Do you have any faves from this collection? 

Skittles in "Roughles" ♥

(**Press Sample**)

Good morning!

 Yes, it is a "Roughles" Skittle mani :D. These make me a happy girl; and here is why... A few weeks before these were announced I was bitching to my husband about how I wanted some cute pastel textures. Yes, these are things we talk about.. I've ruined him lol.. Anyhow, I was talking about all the awesome bright, and sparkly textures and how much I love them and my disappointment in the lack of cute pastel textures.
 Enter the Nicole by O.P.I "Roughles". I was DELIGHTED when I saw the press release for these and even more excited when I started seeing swatches. This collection is made up of Four entirely adorable pastel- toned textures that have no sparkle, but a neat "speckled egg" effect.  Get ready for another raving post about these, because I just love them so much! They really filled a gap in my collection. 

Index nail- Nicole by O.P.I I'm Stucco on You; a beautiful lilac pastel texture with blue, magenta and Violet "speckles". 

Middle nail- Nicole by O.P.I Rock the Look; a perfect pastel bubblegum pink texture with vivid pink and dark pink speckles. 

Ring nail- Nicole by O.P.I On What Grounds?; an AMAAAZING aqua pastel texture with blue, dark blue and black speckles. This shade stained my nails a little.
Pinkie nail- Nicole by O.P.I Sand in my Shoe; a greeeat shade of "Easter chick" pastel yellow texture with orange and red speckles.

  All of these shades have amazing formulas. They are very dense and pigmented. Even though they are dense they have a really good, even spread. If applied carefully, I could have gotten away with one coat. I used two coats of each color. I love the finish on these. They have that awesome "stucco" look to them when fully dry. Of course it goes without saying that these wore like iron. I wore the O.P.I "Glitter-off" peel off base coat, and they still wore until I decided to peel them off Four days later. I could have worn them longer, but I was ready to a change.
  I am madly in love with these and can't wait to wear them again and again and again. They are just precious and have filled a void in my collection. They came at the perfect time.. SO.. I will take this opportunity to mention that I would REEEEEEEEALLY love some neon textures... Sparkly neon, "stucco" neon... Neon texture all the things please ;).

Have you been lusting after these Roughles? I can't pick faves, they are all just perfect!

O.P.I Brazil Beach Sandies- Liquid Sand Mini Set Look

(**Press Samples**)

Hiiiii and happy Thursday! 

  I swear I am not making a habit of these long pauses between posts. As you guys know, we just recently moved. And we all know how much FUN that nonsense can be *insert sarcasm here*. I never imagined that unpacking, sorting and organizing 1,500+ bottles of polish would be such an ordeal. It was... I am now on day four of setting up my little polish corner. I must say it is coming along really nicely. It will be an excellent creative space once it is done. If you follow me on Instagram you can see the progress :D (@L_T_H_P). 

  Today I want to share this look I wore a couple of weeks ago using the Liquid Sands that O.P.I released with the Brazil Spring/Summer 2014 Collection. These four beauties were released as a Four-Pack Mini set. I, for one, am BUMMED that these are minis because they are so damn BEAUTIFUL! I chose to rock them as a skittle look accented by an accent textured gradient nail. 

 On m index nail I wore O.P.I Samba-dy Loves Purple. This shade is a beautiful medium Red- toned Purple texture. I'd venture to say it is a fantastic shade of shimmering textured Radiant Orchid, right on trend. This shade was the most sheer and did best in Three thin coats. That said, I ended up doing Three thin coats of each shade, even though the rest could have done with two coats. On my Ring nail I am wearing O.P.I What's a Little Rainforest?. This shade is a stunning shade of vivid Sky Blue, practically metallic in finish. This one was my favorite. On my Pinkie I am wearing O.P.I I'm Brazil Nuts Over You This shade is a fun Red with Pink undertones and beautiful contrasting Purple shimmer. The hints of Purple are visible even when the color is fully dry. On my Thumb and Middle nail I used O.P.I You're so Flippy Floppy. This shade is my other top pick here. This shade of Yellow is really warm and perfectly shimmery. 

 For the gradient nail I used I'm Brazil Nuts Over You and You're so Flippy Floppy. I used the same technique I would use for any other gradient. I "painted" the color onto a bit of cosmetic sponge and then "bounced" the sponge lightly over my nail until the color was built up to my liking. The biggest pain was the clean up. I also noticed that sponging the color on compromised the wear of that particular nail. It was chipping quicker than the others. 

 IDK what is going on with my skin in this pic lololol... Anyhow, I wore these for about a week or so. I loooove the shades. I really do wish that they would release these in full- sized versions. I didn't run into any issues with application. Personally, I don't mind the mini brush, it did just fine. I really do love these shades. I hope they release more textures like these. 

 Thanks for stopping by today! I'm hoping to be done with my corner today. I'm SOO ready to be done haaha. 

China Glaze Crinkled Chromes Collection Swatches

(**Press Samples**)

Happy Friday everyone!! 

Two words: Crinkled Chromes... What? I can't recall a collection causing so much conflict within me since.. ever. When I first read about these a few months back, I was slightly confused. I could not wrap my brain around the concept of a textured chrome. How would they go about this? It looked awfully weird in my head. This meant that I just HAAAAAD to see them in person and try them for myself. I didn't care that hating them was a possibility because the concept was so new and weird, I needed to see in action on my nails. 

 To see closeup swatches and find out more about the China Glaze Crinkled Chromes collection just keep on reading. 

Zoya PixiDusts in Arabella and Sunshine and Catching Up

(**Press Samples**)

Good evening!! 

 LTHP is officially in Cali-land!! I wanted to do a quick post to share with you this pairing I did with two of Zoya's newer PixiDust shades. I went with Arabella and Sunshine. I rocked this mani for about Five days and my nails still looked perfect come removal day! I have said it a million times before and I will say it again.. Zoya has this texture thing DOWN!!! They make such beautiful shades. I love how they play with "metallic matte" bases and plain shimmering matte bases. These pretties have amazing formulas and could have almost been one coat each. I did Two thin coats to get a really sparkly effect. 

  Arabella is a beautiful Raspberry toned textured polish. The base almost appears matte metallic and the shimmer in this pretty compliments the base. Meaning, the twinkle is Pink and lights up the deep, saturated Raspberry base beautifully. Sunshine is an amazingly saturated shade of Navy Blue matte base with tons of Silver Sparkle to light up the dark base. These are just beautifully executed and looked amazing together.  In the photo above they were fully dry so you guys can get the full effect of the matte/ sparkle goodness.

 Here about 20 minutes has passed after application, as you can see there is still some shine to them here, but still beautiful as ever.

 PS: I've been rocking Carter and Dhara on my toes for about four weeks now and they are still looking amazing! I think out of all the textures the Pixi Dust line has to be some of my faves. They are just beautiful and the wear is incredible!! 

  The move from Florida to Cali was very smooth, long, but smooth. We are now in Big Bear Lake, California. For the next few weeks I will be blogging out of a small cabin in the woods, and have NO nail stuff with me. The rest of out stuff is being shipped here and then will go into storage until we find a home. I has a sad.. However, I do have a few fashion-y, make-up-y posts that I can share.. So I'm thinking of doing an "LTHP Fashion week" since I don't have much nail material to blog with at the moment. I hope you guys bear (bare?) with me during this transition period. LTHP will dabble in all things girly and awesome while I wait for the rest of my nail babies to get t me. There is a lot that Mr. LTHP and I have to get done to start our new lives off right in Cali. SO, yeah... LOTS of changes, bit changes. 

 I'm excited and nervous, I really want things to go well for us out here in California as it is an area we have been wanting to be in for years. 

Thanks for stopping by today loves! 

Julie G Beauty Gumdrop Skittles

Happy Friday- fryday!!!! 

  Today I want to share a cute skittle mani I did using the awesome Julie G Gumdrop polishes by Jesse's Girl Cosmetics. I have been in love with these polishes from the second they came out. I absolutely love how ridiculously sparkly they are, and how easy they are to wear. What I mean by that is that they apply like a dream, they dry quick and you can have fab nails, ready to go, in less than 20 minutes! Since I couldn't decide which to wear, I went with the last Three shades I had not had a chance to rock. I wore this mani for about Five days. There was absolutely no sign of wear when the time came to remove them.

 The Blue shade is Blueberry Fizz. This one is a steely shade of Blue packed with Silver sparkles and hexes. I love how as they dry the sparkles become stronger. The green shade is Rock Candy. I adore this shade of sparkling minty Green. This pretty is packed with Silver sparkle as well as light green hexes to give it a bit of a chunkier look. The Coral shade is Sugar Rush. This pretty is a fiery shade of shimmering Coral with a strong Golden shimmering duocrhome. 

  All of these pretties have AMAZING formulas and did well in Two coats. These also look fantastic layered over each other to create your own custom Gumdrop shades. I got tons of compliments while wearing these. And for those of you who might still be worried about the texures, you have nothing to worry about :D. They are barely noticeable and I've never had an issue with snagging and such. They are just fab! 

 Did you pick up any of the Julie G Gumdrops? Which were your faves? I'm loving them all :D. 

#31DC2013 Day 7: (Not So) Black and White Nails

(**Press Sample**)

Yay for being able to get a post up!! 

  So all my photo editors I like to use decided that they were going to take a little nap over the past few days. I was not able to edit any photos until earlier today. I am one hot little potato haha. I just can't stand when I am held back by things that I cannot control.... Like photobucket deciding to take a crap haha. But.... Here I am, with day Seven of the #31DC2013. Day Seven calls for Black and White nails, I gave it a little twist and added some color too. 

 

 This look features Four shades from the Nicole by O.P.I Tinkerbell collection in gradients over Nicole by O.P.I Am I Making Myself Claire? of the Modern Family Collection. On my Pinky and Middle nails I did gradients in Sweet on Pete, Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary and Tink's in the Pink. On my Ring finger and Index finger I did gradients in Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary, Tink's in the Pink and Half Charming Half Alarming. I then topped off my gradients in my signature coat of INM Northern Lights to give the look some sparkle. To bring in the Black and White factor I topped off all my gradients in a generous coat of Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat in Tweedy. I topped off the whole look with KBShimmer Clearly on top. 

 Below you can see my gradients before I added the fuzzy coat. 

 And for shiggles, here is a swatch pic of Am I Making Myself Claire? of the Modern Family Collection. This shade was perfect to gradient over, it really made the colors pop. I wanted to be bored with this shade, but I quite liked it. It is the perfect shade of violet leaning putty. This pretty has a great, Two coat, formula. Shown with top coat here. 

 Yay for playing catch up haha! I know I am SOO far behind from the rest of the gals that all started together. But I do have quite a few more prompts ready to go so yay for that!! I also have some swatchies coming your way soon. Mama is bustin butt over heah!! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

#31DC2013 Days 4 & 5! Green and Blue Nails

(**Most of these products were provided as press samples**)

Never go to bed angry... 

 And never try to nail art when you are sad... or you might end up with derpy looking cats on your nails lol. Now, lemme remind you of why exactly I don't freehand...

#31DC2013 Day Five- Blue Kitteh Nails 

 The base color for my moon is a custom made shade by Honeybuttons Nail polish. She made a beautiful memorial Periwinkle Blue shade for my Muffin called Muffin Picks Blue... It seemed fitting that I used my kitty inspired shade for my kitty nails. This look is a modified version of the owl nail look I did Two years ago. To give my kitties a fuzzy look I used a bit of Sally Hansen Wool Knot. For the eyes I used Nicole by O.P.I Sweet on Pete, and for the pink noses Barielle Smarty Pants Pink. All the Black details were done with Cult Nails Nevermore. I finished the whole thing off with some KBShimmer Clearly on Top. 

#31DC2013 Day Four: Green Nails 

 I had actually attempted some more freehand over my Green base, but it was a failure... I shall keep trying.... I am determined to produce some blog-worthy freehand looks! So, for my green nails I give you Cirque nail polish in Erda, from the Arcus collection. This color alone is a work of art. This shade of rich Emerald Green is lit from within thanks to all the beautiful and fine microshimmer. I used Three thin coats for this swatch and a top coat to bring out shine. 

 And with that I am official caught up on the challenge prompts! YAY!! Though I am really pondering if I will keep going with the challenge. I was looking at my desk and I am REALLY backed up... Like ridiculously backed up and it is bothering the crapola out of me. We shall see... I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to take this beast on again lool!! I should have known better. 

 Have you seen many awesome Green and Blue looks? I'm off to stalk the interwebs for some Purple inspiration. ♥. 

Nicole by O.P.I Gumdrops in My Cherry Amour & I Lilac Gumdrops

(**Press Samples**)

Ew it's Monday... 

  But even that can't take away from how much I ADORE these two polishes from the Nicole by O.P.I Gumdrops collection. These are some of the first shades to grace my newly rounded shorties. I had been pondering trying a new nail shape for quite some time, so last week I finally took the plunge and went for some squoval/rounded nails. I must confess that I looove them shaped this way. I loved my squared shorties, but I am loving my rounded shorties even more. I must also admit that they are MUCH easier to keep up with.They are also growing out past my comfort zone, but I am actually liking how they look. 

  So I put these Two colors on last Thursday (8/22), I am still wearing them this morning, and they still look perfect! The only sign of wear is the gap between my cuticles and the colors, where the nail growth is showing. I'm super impressed with these two pretties and thoroughly enjoyed having them on my tips. 

Nicole by O.P.I My Cherry Amour and I Lilac Gumdrops

 Let us talk formula first. Both of these shades have great formulas, I did not even need to clean up around my cuticles. I used Three thin coats of each color, both shades were dry within 45 minutes. My Cherry Amour is a beautiful, rich Raspberry matte texture base packed full of holographic micro-sparkle. This shade becomes more and more sparkly as it dries and the holographic sparkles really give it beautiful dimension and a sweet, twinkly look. 

  I Lilac Gumdrops is a gorgeous Lilac matte texture that has a really pretty metallic sheen to the base, even once it is fully dry and matte. This pretty is packed of glassfleck-y Silver bits that light up the metallic Purple base. From afar it resembles Zoya Stevie, but upon closer inspection, it is set apart by the metallic sheen to the base and the chunkiness bits of the Silver sparkles.  

  I really loved wearing these. My nails looked positively yummy and sparkly the entire time. I am actually kind of sad to take these off because the polishes are still looking so perfect after all these days of wear. One of these days I really want to do an experiment to see how long these babies can go if I leave them be. Did you pick up any of the Nicole by O.P.I Gumdrops? Which were your faves?

Thanks for stopping by! Oh, and what is the longest you have had a texture mani last for you? 

O.P.I Bond Girls Liquid Sand Collection Pairings

(**Press Samples**)

Happy Friday!! 

  Though I've never really been a fan of the Bond movies, I must say OPI has made some stunning polishes inspired by the franchise. Last year's Skyfall Holiday collection was full of WIN. So many of those shades are really stunning. This year O.P.I came out with a Six piece Liquid Sand collection inspired by the iconic Bond Girls. 

 I rocked the daylights out of these and loved every second of it. The colors and finishes of these are really interesting and beautiful. There is a great mix of classic, flashy and subtle in this group of colors. Overall, I am a huge fan of this collection. 

 I went for pairings because most of these were actual manis that I wore for many days. The wear on all of these liquid sands is just ridiculously amazing. These do no chip, they do not fade and they wear like iron. 

 I don't want to sound like a broken record so I will get this out of the way now lol... The formula on all of these is AMAZING. They apply with much ease, I used Three thin coats for all these liquid sands. They were all good to go within 45 minutes. I don't know what sorcery is in these, but as they dry tge sparkle becomes more and more intense! I will never top coat these, they are just perfect in their beautiful matte form! 

O.P.I Jinx and Solitaire

Jinx is a beautiful, fiery shade of vivid Coral with a strong Golden duochrome. It reminds me of one of last years Fall DS shades, but in liquid sand form. I literally could not stop staring at this color once it was fully dry. It is just amazing. Solitaire is a really pretty Silvery-White base with little chunky Silver glitter accents. As it first applies it looks like an ugly frosty mess, and then it starts to dry... and it becomes the most interesting shade of shimmering textured White matte. I adore the complete transformation of this color as it dries. It is really chic and different from every other texture out there. 

O.P.I Tiffany Case and Pussy Galore

I took this photo Two days after application o.O!!

These Two shades have my full attention hee hee. Tiffany Case is probably my most favorite liquid sand ever. She is GLORIOUS! This shade is a heavy dose of matte cerulean Blue sparkle accented by small light Blue sparkling hexes. Tiffany Case is painfully sparkly and just magical in Sunlight. Pussy Galore is a playful matte sparkling Pink. It was very much like Solitaire, in that it looks frosty and ugly as it applies. As it dries the base becomes this beautiful sparkly Pink accented by micro, barely there, Magenta sparkle. It almost reminds me of a textured version of Suzi and the Lifeguard. I loved wearing these Two together as they reminded me of yummy cotton candy.

O.P.I Vesper and Honey Ryder

I've actually already gone over these two beauties ont he blog before. You can check out the original post for Vesper and Honey Ryder [HERE]. Honey Ryder has a very special place in my collection. She is just BEAUTIFUL! 

 My faves in this group are Tiffany Case, Honey Ryder and Jinx. Though I really do adore all of them and I love that there is a bit of everything in terms of color. They gave us delicate, vampy and flashy all in one collection. 

Did you pick up any Bond girls? Which are your faves?

Truffle Tuesday!! LVX Celeste Swatch and Look

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Happy Truffle Tuesday!! 

  For this week's pick Truffle went with another shade of Blue!! What is it with my kitties and Blue? Miss Muffin was very fond of picking me Blue shades as well. I find it adorable that Truffle has kind of carried on that trend with her last Two picks. For this week she went with a soft, dreamy shade of baby Blue by LVX called Celeste. 

 This color inspired me to go for something that looked sweet, like candies or something. I don't know why that was... But this is what I ended up with, and I LOVED em!! 

 For this look I started with Two easy coats of LVX Celeste. Once my base was dry, I taped off my stripes and painted over with LVX Viridian. I really loved the look of my nails at that point but they did not feel done, so I added a black "drip" with Cult Nail Nevermore. To give the final look a really "sweet" finish I added some of Sally Hansen's Wool Knot from their fuzzy coat collection to the drips. I wanted it to look like sprinkles over hot fudge. I finished the whole look with some KBShimmer Clearly on top to add shine and smooth out the nail art. 

LVX Celeste is a wonderful, white based baby Blue creme. The formula on this shade was so unbelievable! I only needed Two easy, effortless coats of color for my base. I expect color like this to have difficult formulas, but this one was the complete opposite. Here are two coats + top coat. 

 Thank you all for stopping by! Now, I must go find some ice cream. Because looking at these nails over and over have really made me hungry for some cake and ice cream haha. I know I must not be the only one this happens to ♥! 

Thanks for stopping by today!! Much love from Truffle!