Some China Glaze Summer Neons!

Hello!

Today I have for you just two of my picks from the new China Glaze Collection, Summer Neons! I seriously thought I was going to pass on this whole collection until I saw swatches that showed gorgeous shimmer! I love these =]

First I have for you Sun-Kissed, which is a lemon yellow neon with shimmer. The shimmer in this is really pronounced, borderline brushstroke-y, which made it really different from other neon yellows in my collection. The base color is also kind of unique too, since it's a little less green than, for example, Essie Funky Limelight. I've read rave reviews on the formula, but I still needed four coats of this polish to make it close to opaque. This might be because I do thinnish coats of polish, so I may be the exception to the rule. I liked this one well enough.

These pictures were all taken in indirect sun and they're very close to true color.


Now I have my favorite of these two, and possibly my favorite of the whole collection, which is a huge statement since I haven't even worn any of the other shades yet: Surfin' for Boys. This is a reddish coral neon with gorgeous pink shimmer. I don't think I have any other shades even close to this, so if you're looking for something unique, definitely give this one a try. I'm still wearing this one and am already contemplating a pedi with it in the near future, so maybe I should look into a backup bottle. This polish has already made my best of 2012 list is the reason I'm already starting a best of 2012 list! Oh, and I had significantly better luck with the formula; shown here is three coats but two would have been alright, just with some VNL (visible nail line).

LOOK AT THE SHIMMER *Dies*

These were taken in direct sun!

Overall, these were very fun to wear...not to mention, look how tan I look! Have you tried any of these? So far I've picked up Sun-Kissed, Surfin' for Boys, Pink Plumeria, I'm With the Lifeguard, and Love's a Beach. On my maybe list are Beach Cruise-r and Orange You Hot? Any comments? Which do you have?

Thanks for reading!

Janna

Random Question for you!

Hey everyone!

I'm starting to get in a groove a tiny bit with my blog, so thanks again for bearing with me. I'll be sharing my pictures of my picks from the China Glaze Summer Neons collection shortly!

But first, I have a question for you: Have you ever done a volunteer project that put you totally out of your comfort zone?

Let me explain. I'm passionate about sea turtles and have donated to the Sea Turtle Conservatory to protect them, and I also follow a bunch of organizations on Twitter and Facebook. One in particular, called SEE Turtles, recently posted on Facebook about becoming a volunteer in Mexico or central/south american countries for anytime from 1 week to 2 months. It seems to cost a bit of money and seems like pretty hard work, but it would combine two of my passions, sea turtles and Spanish. I'm seriously considering this program!

So that's it for now. Have you ever made any decisions like this that were out of your comfort zone? Perhaps a volunteer project or job that took you away from home for some amount of time? How did it turn out? I'd love any feedback you can give!

Thanks for reading everyone!

Janna

SpaRitual It's Raining Men

Hello!

This morning, I returned from a two-day trip to New York City, where I met Christian Borle, who, if you aren't into Broadway, you may know from Smash. It was a great trip!

Today I'm showing you a polish that I bought with an Apothica giftcard that I won. I wanted a "different" polish that was unique to this brand, and I think I found that in SpaRitual's It's Raining Men. This is a sheer baby blue with a strong pink flash, and I can't really think of anything else like it. I did three coats and could have used a fourth but I wasn't minding the sheerness. I bet it'd be pretty layered too.

Blurry to show the flash!

That's all for now. And sorry for the nasty paper cut on my ring finger...it's actually from cardboard and was pretty painful, lol. See you soon for another update!

Thanks for reading,
Janna

My Take on: The Ever-Popular Gradient!

Hello!

How's everyone been? So since I was so behind on my blog-reading, I only-recently came across the wave of gradient manicures that swept the blogosphere, so I had to try it.

For this manicure, I started with a coat of Sally Hansen No Hard Feelings, a really pretty lilac that was opaque and actually vibrant enough for me without looking washed out or almost-white. On top of that, I took a regular kitchen sponge and painted one "strip" of OPI No Room for the Blues (blue), then under that a strip of No Hard Feelings (lilac), and finallly a strip of Zoya Whitney (pink) directly onto the sponge, so it differs slightly from the technique of painting the colors onto a piece of plastic and swirling (I originally tried that but my sponge wouldn't pick up the color from the plastic baggie!).

Then I went crazy on my nails, sponging onto each one with No Room for the Blues near the tip and Whitney nearest the cuticle. I made sure to move the sponge up and down to create a more gradual fade, and I ended up doing two coats of sponging. These are also topped with a coat of Cover Girl Night Lights to smooth/distract from the lines. Check it out!

For some reason, I could not get this to turn out normal. Don't judge.

 I really loved this manicure and kept getting a ton of compliments over Memorial Day Weekend. Someone even asked, "How do you ask them to do them like that?!" thinking I had them done at a salon, and my boyfriend grabbed my hands (without being provoked) and told me they looked really cool, which we know are like two of the best compliments ever.

Oh, and don't mind my amateur watermark. I like watermarks on pictures because as I'm reading through Google Reader, I can remember whose post is whose as I read. There's also the added benefit of actually getting credit for your photos, but whatever. Let me know if you have any suggestions for it! I just did it very quickly whilst playing around on Gimp.

So that's it for now. Are you tired of seeing gradient manis? I'm going to do my best to do more nail art for you all while I have time!

Thanks for reading!

Janna

Zoya Trio Contest Reminder and Plea!

Hey everyone!

This is just a quick post to remind you or inform you that the Zoya Take Three Free! Pinterest Mini Trio contest is ending tonight at 11:59 PM! I repinned Myrta, Zuza, and Arizona! Look how gorgeous this combo would be!

Come on, now.

Not only do I looove these colors together, these are my top 3 picks from Zoya's summer collections, Beach and Surf. And luckily, Zuza and Myrta are currently in first and second places! Now, here comes the sad part...

Are people out of their minds?!

Kimber is BEATING Arizona! I know, I could hardly believe it myself. How could this gorgeous creamy orange goodness, you ask, come behind a been-there-done-that pink shimmer? I haven't the slightest idea.

But luckily, YOU, yes, YOU can help Arizona beat out Kimber for the trio! If you have a Pinterest account (and if you don't, WHY NOT?!), please pleaseeee log on and repin the picture of Arizona on Zoya's Pinterest page. HERE'S A LINK! There's also a picture with the contest details and information on how you could win this trio (of aqua, orange-red, and ORANGE) after it's created!

All in all, I think this was a pretty neat contest and I hope to see more in the future. Thanks for reading, and happy pinning!

Janna

PS. Pictures used in this post were copied and pasted from Zoya's Pinterest Page or my Nails pin board and edited at will. Credit goes to Zoya, of course!

Summer Water Marble!

Helloooo.

As you could have probably noticed, my semester was rough. From mid-February to the end of April I was literally swamped, and then I turned 21 on April 23rd, so I had to go out and celebrate with my friends, of course!

Here's a mani that is epic enough to make up for my 3 month absence (....wow, that's a big claim). I had just gotten home from school when I did this - so, maybe a week and a half ago - and wanted to do something intricate since I usually just slap on polish during the school year and leave it there for a week so it ends up just about as chipped as can be and then I repeat the cycle.

I started with a base of Savvy French White White (not a typo!) and then water marbled with Sally Hansen Lightening (yellow cream), Wet n Wild Sunny Side Up (orange cream), Essie Olé Caliente (coral cream), and OPI Pink Flamenco (berry pink cream) using random dragging motions. The colors came out much brighter than I expected! I also got compliments and/or questions about how I did it from a ton of people, including my male relatives. I loved it and was sad to take it off!

Left hand! Sorry for the horrid lighting.

Anddd the right!

SO BRIGHT!

Mhm.

So my pictures aren't that great but hopefully you get the gist.

And if you'd like, check out my tutorial HERE and my past water marbles using the water marble tag on my blog and this post, a link to which I've conveniently provided for you HERE! You're welcome.

Thanks for reading!

Janna

China Glaze Trendsetter with some stamping!

Hello again!

Today I have for you a polish I was DYING to wear...China Glaze Trendsetter. It's a really awesome olive green with very strong yellow tones and a really pretty fleck finish. When I put it on though, I was a tiny bit disapointed because it showed up a lot more green on my nails than in the bottle. So the hunt continues for a really awesome mustard shade of polish, but I really liked this one for what it was.

Since I had some extra time on the Sunday night that I did this manicure, I decided to stamp it so that 1) people wouldn't be weirded out by the shade, and 2) ......it would look cooler?

I stamped it with OPI Here Today....Aragon Tomorrow using Mash plate m64. The design was a forest green that I think looked really nice over Trendsetter, and the design on the plate was as....funky....as the color.

Have a look!

Most color-accurate

Sorry for the strange background...none of my stamped photos
came out clearly so I had to use the ones that were the closest.

So what do you think? Would you wear this shade? I got so many compliments while I was wearing this!

Thanks for reading!

Janna

Pure Ice Siren with ChG Ring in the Red

Hello!

It has been a while, hasn't it? My semester is off to a super fast start, but I'm loving every minute of being busy. I've also had some pretty great manicures this semester so far.

Here's a manicure that I did at the end of winter break that lasted until the first week of school. It's a Pure Ice red cream, which I borrowed from my sister, and it had no label, but after some research I'm assuming it's Siren. On top of that I added Ring in the Red from China Glaze's Holiday 2011 Collection. I'm pretty much obsessed with this glitter. I wanted to wear it on its own but I wasn't sure how many coats I need, so I used one of the Pure Ice first, then added two of the glitter. I didn't get to take pictures until about five days after I did these, so sorry for any tipwear or chips you may notice!

I love the different-sized glitter in this polish! It's so much fun to look at and creates such a cool effect. It's definitely a warmer-red glitter, and my pictures photographed near orange-red, so imagine these a bit more of a true red than they look! These are topped with 2 coats of Out the Door topcoat.

Enjoy!

Meep! That's one ugly chip.

As always, thanks for reading and following!

Janna