Essie Cashmere Matte Preview

Out of all the upcoming spring collections, I just might be most excited for this one: Essie Cashmere Matte! I love the soft, chic look of satin polishes, so I'm pumped to see Essie give this finish a try!

Top row, L to R: All Eyes On Nudes, Coat Couture, Comfy In Cashmere 

Bottom row, L to R: Just Stitched, Spun In Luxe, Wrap Me Up

Source

I'm really digging the colors Essie chose. They look perfect for the winter-to-spring transition!

I'm not sure of the release date for this collection, but I haven't had any luck spotting these at my local polish places yet. Essie collections always seem to take way longer than China Glaze and OPI to reach where I live. :(

 Have you spotted the Cashmere Matte Collection in your neck of the woods? What shades will you be getting? I can take or leave All Eyes On Nudes, but I think all the rest might be coming home with me!

Born Pretty BP-03 Stamping Plate: Review & Swatches

I've got another Born Pretty stamping plate for you today! Now, I want to start by saying this is only my second time doing any stamping, ever. But it already felt worlds easier than my first attempt and I even felt confident enough to try a full mani! I'm not saying I'm good at stamping--far from it--but I'm getting better, so I guess that's something at least.

Anyways, on the the actual plate! This design, BP-03, doesn't really have a unifying theme to it. There are roses, kitties, stars...so, cute stuff, I guess?

 

The whole reason I wanted to try this plate was for the little kitty on the bottom right. So I was super bummed when I couldn't get him to stamp on my nails. I could easily pick up the whole design on my stamper, but when I tried to stamp it onto my nails, I couldn't get it to transfer right. I would either get just half of the design or if I did get the entire cat, it came out super light. I tried stamping it with three different polishes and none of them worked. I felt like maybe that particular design was almost engraved into the plate too shallow, if that makes sense? Or it could just be good ol' user error due to my inexperience. If any of you stamping aficionados would be able to share some insight in the comments, I'd love it! :)

So that mini-rant aside, I did have good luck with the rose designs on this plate and I did a whole mani theme around that. It's not going to be the best stamping you've ever seen, but I think it's not awful for a second attempt!

My base here was Sally Hansen Wet Cement and then I used Essie No Place Like Chrome for the stamping. I probably should have used a color other than silver, since it doesn't really pop over the grey, especially in photos. :-/

I was disappointed in my lack of cat nail art, but my overall exprience with this plate was more good than bad. I want to try something with the stars next!

If you would like to purchase anything from Born Pretty, they offer 10% off for Nailed readers:

Disclosure: This product was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Zoya Delight Preview

I dunno about you, but I am so ready for spring. It's literally three degrees outside right now and I am not having that. So I'm already starting to bust out some spring colors on my nails, as if that will somehow get rid of the snow faster. :-/

Anywho, earlier this week, I showed you what OPI has cookin' for their spring collection and we've already seen what China Glaze will have in store for us. Today we're checking in with Zoya! Zoya's spring offering is smaller than OPI's, with six shades as opposed to twelve, but there's no shortage of great seasonal colors here. The collection, dubbed Delight, officially launches on February 2nd. Let's take a look!

L to R: Rayne, Lillian, Tiana, Daisy, Leslie, Eden

 

 

Cute collection! Does it make anyone else think of Easter eggs? I love me some pastels, so I'm sure I'll wind up with a couple of these pretties.

How are you liking the looks of the Delight Collection? Which spring collection are you most excited for? 

Twinsie Tuesday: Pond Manicure

It's the first Twinsie Tuesday post of 2015 and we are back with some all-new Twinsies in our little group! So I want to give a big welcome to Amanda, Beckie and Savannah! :)

That's the good news. Now for the bad news: this week's pond mani theme was a huge exercise in frustration for me. I did a whole pond mani and it took me about an hour. It actually came out pretty nice...until I accidentally hit my hand against my polish table and two fingers of my still-wet, still-unphotographed manicure got completely dented and smeared. Gah!!!! I was so mad!

After I'd invested all that time and effort into the mani, I honestly didn't want to try again. I made another attempt, but my heart wasn't in it and before I was even halfway done with it, I knew it wasn't going to look as nice. But rather than give up completely, I cut my losses and used the pond effect as an accent nail.

Aside from the fact that it's time-consuming to wait for all the layers to dry, this is actually a pretty easy technique to do--and if I say it's easy, then it's something just about anyone can do! For the hearts, I just drew little V-like shapes using Illamasqua Scorch and a Born Pretty nail art brush. My base was OPI Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em, a hot pink jelly. I'm not a huge fan of jellies (too sheer for my taste) but this is a really gorgeous pink and I love that it can be built up to complete opacity without losing that squishy shine.

After our holiday hiatus, we're returning to our regular TT schedule, so hopefully I'll see you back here next week!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amber at Nails Like Lace
Beckie at Polished by Beckie

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Chelsea at Nailed

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished
​Lisa at The Polish Playground

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

OPI Hawaii Collection Preview

OPI's Fifty Shades Of Grey Collection (yeah, that's happening) is just hitting stores, but it sounds like we won't have to wait all that long for another new batch of OPIs! The Hawaii Collection, launching in February, features 12 new shades. Let's take a look of what's in store for us this spring!

Top row, L to R: That's Hula-rious!, My Gecko Does Tricks, Lost My Bikini In Molokini, Pineapples Have Peelings Too

Bottom row, L to R: Suzi Shops & Island Hops, Just Lanai-ing Around, Do You Take Lei Away?, Is Mai Tai Crooked?

 

L to R: Aloha From OPI, Go With The Lava Flow, Hello Hawaii Ya?, This Color's Making Waves

There are already some swatches floating around for this collection and it looks like a beautiful collection. I wound up skipping last spring's Brazil Collection altogether but that definitely won't be the case with Hawaii! I'm thinking I'll need That's Hula-rious!, Suzi Shops & Island Hops, Go With The Lava Flow and maybe Pineapples Have Peelings Too--just 'cause the name is so stinkin' cute. 

What shades will you be getting? Is this an upgrade or a downgrade from the Brazil Collection?

Essie Strut Your Stuff

Essie has made some pretty fantastic blues over the years, but Strut Your Stuff might just top them all. This bold cobalt blue creme is a must-have for anyone who loves statement shades. I have something of an obsession with blue polish and this was an instant top five of all-time blue for me. It's that good!

Essie's neon shades have had some notoriously problematic formulas, so I was pleasantly surprised how nicely Strut Your Stuff applies! The consistency was perfect and I only needed two coats for complete opacity. Best of all, you don't need any white base underneath to make the neon pop. It's this vibrant all on its own! The only downside to this polish is it stains. I even doubled up on basecoat and I still had staining. I've had much worse staining, mind you, but it's still never a fun thing to deal with.

So yes, it stains, but you NEED THIS! Hats off to Essie for making such an amazingly bright blue. I can't wait to rock this during the summertime! I've already used Strut Your Stuff for some nail art, but wouldn't it make for a super fun pedi too?

Sinful Colors Sweet Dreams

When it comes to cheap beauty thrills, you can't get a much better bang for your buck than Sinful Colors. I usually wind up buying way too many of them whenever they have a 99-cent sale at Walgreens! At that price, how can you not?!

The Sinful Colors shade I'll be showing you today, Sweet Dreams, actually came from the ever-generous Amanda and it is a beauty! Sweet Dreams is an aqua blue glassfleck. I often say that China Glaze is my gold standard for glassflecks but damn if Sinful Colors doesn't give them a run for their money!

The formulas on Sinful Colors can be hit or miss in my experience, but I'm happy to say this one was spot on. This was two easy coats.

Unfortunately, I'm not super thrilled with how my swatches of this came out. They looked fine when I was taking pictures, so I went ahead and covered this polish with glitter (of course). But then when I looked at the swatches on my computer, they came out kinda crappy. My camera always has a really hard time with teals. They either make my hands look weirdly red on camera or the color photographs completely inaccurately. Ugh...

So I apologize if this isn't the best quality, but it is color accurate, at least! Yay! Sweet Dreams is too pretty not to try and share, so I hope you enjoyed taking a look at it with me. :)