Italian Nails

Hi everyone,

I'm not sure if anyone still reads this, but here's a quick post from my smartphone.

This week is the 16th of July which constitutes a big feast in my hometown. In honor of this Italian feast, I of course did my nails. This design was hand painted, but then I went to my local nail salon to have a UV gel topcoat applied. I really should invest in a UV light!

That's it for now. Drop me a comment if you're still reading!

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 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

Some Sally Hansen HDs!

Hey everyone! This post is scheduled because I'm away for the day....hopefully it posts.


Anyway, here's something quick to show you. These Sally Hansen HD polishes were at Five Below, advertised as 2 for $3. So needless to say, I got six. I'll show you all six even though my pictures aren't the greatest.

This is Lite, a standard yellow shimmer. Rather sheer and very shimmery. This was four coats.

This is Digital, a coolish pink shimmer. This was is also pretty sheer but a nice color if you don't have anything like it. Shown is 3 coats.

Hi-Def, a light, yellow-green shimmer. This one is rather unique for this collection, but sheer. This is also 3 coats.

Up next is Cyber, a really striking deep purple shimmer. This one is a bit more opaque, needing 2-3 coats. I really liked this one as I don't have many purples.

Here's Pixel Pretty, which I only got because I needed a 6th polish. Your run-of-the-mill turquoise shimmer, related to OPI Austin-tatious Turquoise and $OPI Who Let the Dorks Out. It's pretty if you don't have anything like it I guess. 3 coats.

And finally, the most unique and prettiest of the collection if I do say so myself, BLU. And blue it is. It's a rich shimmery cobalt that was very opaque. 2-3 coats needed. Really worth getting if you like blue!

My camera is awful. Anyway, last time I was at Five Below, these were still there, so take a look if you're interested. Do you have any HD polishes? I feel like this line was sort of a bust...

Thanks for reading!

Janna

Rainbow Glitter!

Hey everyone! This is a quick post because I'm going with my boyfriend's brother to his college orientation tomorrow! Here's one from the vault. The bright lime green polish is from Icing and since I'm not home, I don't have the name handy. (EDIT: It's Icing's Absinthe.) But you wouldn't want this polish anyway; it was streaky and sheer. It's topped with OPI Rainbow Connection though, so that makes it better.

That's all for now. Sorry for the short post! 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

Christmas Mani 2011

Hello!

Today I have a my manicure from Christmas, about two weeks late. I apologize in advance for the quality of these; they were the first shots I took with my new camera I got for Christmas. I had an older Kodak Easyshare and now I have a newer one....actually, two new ones because both Santa and my boyfriend got me two different Kodak Easyshares. I'll have to figure out what I'm going to do about that!

My mani for Christmas Eve was China Glaze Jolly Holly with accent nails of Orly Winter Wonderland. For Christmas Day I added a coat of China Glaze Party Hearty. I didn't get to take pictures without PH though. So yeah, this Christmas manicure is exclusively Holiday 2010 polishes. I liked it; it was festive enough.

The background here is my living room. I snapped this one in a last-ditch effort to get a clear shot
and it was my clearest one so I included it even though the background is funky.

Blurryyyy.

WW brought out the blue undertones in JH, which was pretty interesting. I should use that polish to layer more often but it's almost too opaque for that!

What do you think about my manicure? Is it "so last year?" I say these are pretty much classics in my book!

Thanks for reading!

Janna

Hello! And Chysanthe-mum's the Word

Hi everyone!

The semester is in full swing and I've already had a bunch of exams, all of which have gone well so far! I've barely turned on my computer and my Google reader constantly shows that I have "1000+" new posts to read, but hopefully I'll find the time to get through them and get the energy to write up some posts.


It's October! I'm excited for the cooler weather but not for the extreme cold. How is the weather where you are?

Anyway, here are some quick pictures of Finger Paints Chrysanthe-mum's the Word from the Spring 2011 Collection, the ones with the adorable rings attached! It's a really bright seafoam green, if that makes sense, and I can't really decide what kind of undertones it has. It's lovely! I wore this for longer than I care to admit.

It's a really pretty cream! I can't believe it took me so long to wear it. Do you own it?

Thanks so much for reading and continuing to follow!

Janna

Better Late Than Never - Zoya Intimate Collection

Helloo!

So I finally got around to swatching the Zoya Intimate Collection. I ordered the whole collection for $25 from the Zoya website for the Women's Day promotion, and I love them all. Zoya's vision for this collection was awesome - soft and delicate rather than bright and shiny like some other spring collections. None of these colors were like anything that I typically wear, but I think that's why I loved them so much.


This is Dove. For this swatch I used three thin coats of Dove, but you could definitely do two medium/thicker ones. Medium gray cream...maybe even jellyish. I didn't expect this to look good with my skin, and I'm not even sure if it does, but I loved this one when I put it on. I definitely need more grays, since this is the first one I've ever worn, and the second one in my collection.










Me trying to get Dove to photograph more gray and less blue.


Next is Zoya Jules. This is a champagne/taupe shimmer polish. Shown is 3 coats. This was one of the colors I was most excited about from this collection, but when it arrived I wasn't sure how it would look on me...but it's gorgeous nonetheless. This one, along with the other shimmer in the collection, was hard to remove since the little shimmer flecks did not seem to want to come off.






FLASH. Not this silver-toned in real life.









Then there's Marley. This is a pink-based lilac pearl polish, if that makes sense. The finish reminded me of Color Club Pretty in Platinum (shown HERE). I really liked this one too, mostly because, if you can believe it, I don't own any other light purples. Shown is three coats, but two is fine if you pay more attention when you apply this lol - I only did 3 to fix my application flaws.
















Next up is Zoya Gemma. This one definitely got the most attention when the promos of this collection started showing up, but I've read many people wish there was more blue shimmer. I do agree, since the blue shimmer almost disappears on the nail, but I still love the color. It's a murky green jelly with subtle light blue shimmer throughout. This is three coats.






FLASH. Look at that blue! =]









Onto Zoya Caitlin. Very pretty, very dusty deep periwinkle color. Cream finish. I actually wore this on my birthday with China Glaze Black Mesh crackle on top, but it didn't turn out very well. I love Caitlin. This is two coats.
















Finally, Zoya Dannii. This is a very shimmery warm toned purple, almost magenta. Same finish as Jules. Two perfect coats. She may be my favorite of the collection? I hate picking favorites!






Not this bright in real life, but not as dull as in the other pictures.









This collection is awesome. I love how the colors fit perfectly together but couldn't be more different from each other. Oh and also, I always forget how awesome Zoya's brush is. It fits my nails perfectly! The formula on all of these polishes was awesome and Zoyas used to not dry for me, but these all have dried very nicely. Oh, and sorry for the dry hands - I used pure acetone while swatching...=\

Don't forget: Zoya is offering Caitlin and Dove free with any purchase on their site through tomorrow, 5/23, at 11:59PM. Click here to see Zoya's post!

What were your favorites from this Zoya collection? Do you own any? Planning to get any?

Zoya Ivanka

Hello!

(Sorry Guys...I definitely posted this, but blogger's been down...you know.)

This is Zoya Ivanka - It was one of my three-free Zoyas along with Charla and Pinta. This color is the absolute PERFECT St. Patrick's day green, so that's what I wore it for =] This is three coats. Ring fingers and thumbs are stamped with a Champagne/gold Stripe Rite and BM plate 03!












What do you think? Sorry for the extreme lateness!

Janna