Summertime with Zoya Zuza and Myrta

Hey everyone!

I'm back today with two colors from the Zoya Surf Collection that came out this summer. I really liked the look of these two together so I decided to pair them together. Here are Zoya Zuza (blue) and Zoya Myrta (orange).

Truest to color

As you can see, Myrta is a very red-toned orange and NOT a secondary or pumpkin orange. Don't be fooled! I tried to make sure my pictures are true-to-color.

I really loved both of these colors but I have some comments. They both stained, Myrta more than Zuza surprisingly and I used base coat, so next time I'll have to double-up. The formula was very interesting; they both dried fast so I had some drag marks where the polish came up when I went over it a second time, so I would suggest working fast and as few strokes as possible.

You can also notice the chip on my thumb that I hastily tried to cover up with another coat of polish. I don't think this is the fault of the polish, just so you know.

This is a fun summer manicure and I love a good accent nail. What do you think about the Surf Collection?

Thanks for reading!

Janna

Olympic Nails!

Hello! Today I have for you a super special manicure. This is my first detailed themed manicure here on Clever and Colorful! 


For this manicure, I used about 15 polishes; the ones you can probably pick out are OPI San Tanio, China Glaze For Audrey, and Zoya Dove. 

Here's some more detail in case you have any questions about polishes or design:
Thumb: Olympic Rings '2012'
            Background is one coat of generic white topped with Sally Hansen Polar Bare and Orly Winter  Wonderland. Rings are all made using Stripe Rite polishes. The 2012 was made using a nail art brush dipped in Barielle Gelt Me to the Party. 
Pointer: Bicycling
            Background is For Audrey, Grass (which was sponged) and Road are both Stripe Rite polishes, person is made with a white Stripe Rite.
Middle: Water Polo

            Background is Dove dotted with virtually every Stripe Rite I own using a dotting tool, which I intended to be the crowd watching. The water is a mix of the blue Stripe Rite and For Audrey. Person, again, is the white SR.

Ring: Big Ben at sunset

         Background is a sponge gradient of SR Yellow, SR Red, and ChG Traffic Jam. The clock tower is San Tan-tonio, Dove, and White SR outlined in the black SR. Birds are also black SR. Lines of Big Ben are the Gold SR.

Pinky: Beach volleyball

          Background is For Audrey, sand is San Tan-tonio. Net and person is white SR, outline is black SR.

The people in my designs are white because I took the Olympic symbols for cycling, water polo, and beach volleyball and inserted them onto a colorful background.

For those of you wondering, my right hand is painted with no detail at all. Thumb and Middle are Zoya Dove (thumb is topped with Orly WW), Pointer and Pinky are For Audrey, and Ring is the same stamping gradient. Just a compliment to the designs on my other hand.

I really hope you like this! It's something I don't usually do, but I was really inspired! What do you think? Are you watching the Olympics?


Thanks for reading,


Janna

Batman-Inspired Nails for Otakon

Hey there!

So I've been quiet for the last couple of days because my mom, sister, and I headed to Baltimore for the weekend. My sister and her friend were going to Otakon, the anime convention that is held there every year, so my mom and I went to enjoy the sights and, of course, the food.

I'll do another post about the things I bought there, but for now I'm going to show you the nail design I created for my sister. She was going to Otakon decked out in all of her Batman apparel: a belt buckle, earrings, converses, shirts (one for each day), a bag, sillybands, arm bands, lanyard ...not to mention all of the other Batman stuff she owns that didn't come with her. Needless to say, she's a huge fan and could talk for hours about any of the movies, TV series, or characters.

So for this weekend, I did a Batman-inspired nail design for her. She didn't want Batman nails, but just nails that were black and yellow.

Here's the recipe:

• Two coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Lightening (which, if you haven't noticed, is my go-to yellow), topped with one coat of Sally Hansen HD in Lite
• To all but the ring fingers, I added one coat of the black glitter I bought in Spain
• A black Stripe-Rite on the ring fingers
• OPI Servin' Up Sparkle

The ring fingers were supposed to be topped with a stamp from Mash plate m72 (the slashed lines image), but of course, I couldn't find my stamper when I was doing this manicure. She was really bummed that she couldn't have the stamped image, but eventually I convinced my sister to let me do a similar-looking design on her ring fingers with a nail art polish. I think it turned out pretty good! Then I topped the design with OPI Servin' Up Sparkle.

NANA NANA NANA NANA BATMAN

So, what do you think? I really liked how they came out and she got a ton of compliments at the convention. Are you a Batman fan?

Thanks for reading!!

Janna

Super Quick Rainbow Liner!

Hello everyone!

I have a short post for you today because I should be sleeping because I'm off to Baltimore tomorrow! I'm so excited =]

I'm bringing back Face Paint Friday with this post. Here's a super quick cool-toned rainbow eyeliner look I did recently. I've really been into using bright eyeshadows on my lashline as liner lately. I love the effect =]

I started with a base of my bright teal liquid eyeliner, a no-name brand that I got in the clearance bin of a Mandee's. The stuff has incredible pigmentation and staying power. While it was still wet, I layered green and purple eyeshadow on either side and added some yellow to the inner corner. I love the gradient effect. This is a great way to wear bright colors if you don't want to be obnoxious or feel self-conscious.

What are your favorite bright eyeliners? I'm on the search!

Thanks so much for reading,

Janna

"Jewel" Tone Manicure

Hello there!

Today I really wanted to share with you an entry I made for a nail art contest. I really loved the result!

First I started with two coats of OPI San Tan-tonio for opacity. Then I added thin lines with my gold Stripe Rite to use as guides.

Then I just filled in the lines using the nail polish's own brush in one straight swipe of lacquer. I did have to retrace my lines a few times, but they ended up pretty straight.

The red is OPI Bullish on OPI, the orange is a mix of Finger Paints Courdur-Orange and Sally Hansen Insta-Dry in Lightening, the blue is Zoya Breezi and the purple is OPI No Spain No Gain. The accent nail is a bunch of 3mm and 2mm rhinestones in coordinating colors that I got from the Born Pretty Store. Jewel tones are by far my favorite color family!

This manicure took some time to do and I've been itching to do an all-rhinestones nail for a long time. I loved it! Please tell me what you think!

Thanks so much for reading,

Janna

Italian Manicure!

Hello! Sorry that my absence was longer than I thought! I was burnt out from volunteering and took a couple days to do literally nothing.

Today I have for you a special holiday manicure! The reason I was volunteering last week is because my town has a very long-running (137 years, to be exact) festival to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Taken from the Mt. Carmel Society webpage, the Mt. Carmel Society, who organizes the week-long festival, "is an independent nonprofit Catholic Organization formed in 1875 by Italian immigrants new to Hammonton, New Jersey, who took time to celebrate their safe journey to America and a successful harvest by giving praise and thanks to the blessed Virgin Mary." The 16th of July, the Feast Day of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, is regarded as a holiday like any other; for example,school and town offices have off!

Since this festival is deeply rooted in Italian tradition and I myself am Italian-American, I did a festive manicure! Lots of layering was involved for this. All red areas are two coats of OPI Color So Hot it Berns with one coat of OPI Animalistic on top. Green areas are two coats of Orly Wandering Vine topped with both China Glaze Glittering Garland and Zoya Ivanka. The white is a no-name white cream topped with Orly Winter Wonderland. Here's the result:

This was a fun manicure and I got a lot of compliments! I hope you all like it as much as I do =] Are there any Mt. Carmel festivals near you? I know there is at least one other in New Jersey.

Thank you so much for reading! Let me know what you think!

Janna

China Glaze Pink Plumeria + Stamping

Hello!

How are you doing today? I'm spending my week volunteering at our Mt. Carmel festival serving sandwiches, so there aren't going to be many posts.

I had to stop in to show you my current manicure, a China Glaze Summer Neon: Pink Plumeria. I debated this one but it looked pretty unique so I got it. I actually need to go back and get Splish Splash and Orange You Hot? because I passed on those and am regretting it. Hopefully I won't be too late!

I started with a base of 2 coats of Pink Plumeria and then stamped it using the flower image on Mash plate m64 twice; the first time I used Essie Shifting Power and the second time I used Barielle Gelt Me to the Party. Neither polish is a good stamping polish since the image never completely transferred either time, but together they create a delicate look.

Oh, and please excuse these pictures. My white balance auto correct turned my hands/everything blue-ish, but the polish color is true to real life.

What do you think? What Summer Neons are your must-haves?

Thanks for reading! Wish me luck out there in the heat!

Janna

China Glaze I'm with the Lifeguard

Hello!

I think I've caught the China Glaze Summer Neon fever....it started out slowly and I thought I needed only five...but I think I'm going to go back and get the rest of the shimmer ones. I better go soon!

So today I have I'm with the Lifeguard, a shimmery neon green. This polish is super bright! I was afraid the shimmer would make it look streaky, but it didn't! Two perfect, easy coats. My pictures here show one coat of Out the Door topcoat, too.

Any imperfections are my fault, not the polish's

How gorgeous is that shimmer? It's a little yellower in real life than it looks here; sorry for my bad photography! What do you think of this polish?

Thanks for reading! Do you have Summer Neon fever?

Janna