Zoya Naturel Collection: Swatches and Review

Hi everyone! I don't normally review Zoya products (I'm not part of their blogger network, instead I bought this for myself), but like many people I was really captivated by the new Naturel collection. I ended up buying it the day it became available from Nail Polish Canada.

It seems that nudes are going to be more and more popular this spring. For me, it's a nice change from all the bright glitters and colours that I normally wear. And for a spring collection, it's a refreshing alternative to the pastels that we tend to see emerging this time of year.

Zoya Naturel Collection

If you are on the fence about this collection, read on to hear my thoughts about the polishes and collection as a whole. I also have a bunch of comparisons that I'll be posting this weekend.

Wing Dust Collections Perfect Day: Swatches, Review and Some Simple Taping

Hi everyone! Tonight's post features a polish that I've had my eye on forever. I've been wanting Wing Dust Collections Perfect Day ever since it came out in the summer. I was able to get it at a recent restock, and literally the moment I opened my mail I wanted to use it right away! To be honest I see a lot of polish, and it takes a lot to make me excited, so it's great when I come across something so perfect.

Wing Dust Collections Perfect Day

Wing Dust Collections Perfect Day

And because I'm trying to improve my taping skills, I thought I'd experiment with a simple taped design. I still have a ways to go, but I think I'm improving. ;)

Foxy Paws Ms Matronic's Magic Mirrors

Hi everyone! I was a bit sporadic posting last week, but I think I needed the mini-blogging break. I feel really excited about all the posts I have to share with you, given that I didn't post much last week.

Foxy Paws Ms Matronic's Magic Mirrors

First up I have a polish that I should have shared with you long ago! Foxy Paws Ms Matronic's Magic Mirrors is from the Filthy/Gorgeous collection along with Baby Come Home and Let's Have a Kiki. Like the two previously shown from this collection, this polish is fun, bold and bright. Make sure to check out my previous posts on this collection.

GOT Polish Challenge: I've GOT the Blues

Hi everyone! This week's GOT challenge was blue, and you may think that it would be difficult to pick out one blue, given that I have so many. Surprisingly it was easy. I knew right away that I wanted to use one of the more unique, and hard-to-find polishes in my collection...Enchanted Polish Ballerina Sprinkles!

Enchanted Polish Ballerina Sprinkles

I also did some grungy, distressed flowers on top. But I'm on the fence as to whether they turned out or not, so I think I'll let you be the judge of that!

Introducing the Renaissance Custom Lacquer Love...Everyday Collection

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been MIA lately. I have no excuse besides laziness and spending a bit too much time with Netflix...that thing is totally addicting.

I have the new Valentine's Day collection from my indie brand, Renaissance Cosmetics. These polishes will go on sale tomorrow, Friday January 24th, at 12pm (noon) EST at Renaissance Cosmetics. At the same time we'll be restocking the popular L'Hiver! So if you missed out the first time, now is your chance to get it!

Renaissance Custom Lacquer Love...Everyday Collection

Check out the rest of this post for more about the collection, as well as a bunch of swatches!

Jindie Nails Anniversary Seaquins and Be-Wear the White Polish, Swatches and Review

Hi everyone! Just a reminder that my blog anniversary giveaway ends in about two and a half hours! Have you entered yet!? If you haven't, I have a bit of motivation for you in tonight's blog post. I have two polishes that are part of my giveaway, from one of my favourite indie brands.

Be-Wear the White Polish and Anniversary Seaquins

These are two polishes I was happy to add to my collection relatively recently. They aren't part of any collection, so if you missed them, they are worthy of a second look!

The Digit-al Dozen Does Monochrome: Mix n' Match Magenta

Hi everyone! A bit late I know, but here's my fifth and final nail art for The Digit-al Dozen monochrome week. I know I've only participated in three challenge weeks, but this is by far my favourite. I'm really happy with what I came up with, and I want to keep up the momentum until next month's challenge.

Mix n' Match Magenta

The Digit-al Dozen Does Monochrome + GOT Polish Challenge: Sepia Stripes

Hi everyone! As promised this is my second post for tonight. One of the tricky things about participating in multiple challenges is that they sometimes overlap! So I am doing double duty with this post. As you may remember, I'm also trying my best to participate in the GOT Polish Challenge hosted by the Crumpet Nail Tarts. This week's theme is stripes, so it only made sense to do monochromatic stripes!

Sepia Stripes

The GOT (Golden Oldies Thursday) Polish Challenge is all about wearing your older once loved, but now forgotten polishes. This design features one of the first polishes that I bought when I started collecting - OPI You Don't Know Jacques!

The Digit-al Dozen Does Monochrome: Lil' Green Sprouts

Hi everyone! It got late last night and I wasn't able to post my third nail art design for The Digit-al Dozen monochrome week, so I will be posting twice tonight. For that reason I will keep this short and sweet.

Little Green Sprouts

When it comes to nail art, I tend to go for the intricate and time-consuming. In fact, the members of The Digit-al Dozen have been working on Queen names for themselves, and I happen to be the Queen of Intricate Nail Art. But this design showed me that sometimes the most simple nail art can be just as effective.

The Digit-al Dozen Does Monochrome: Purple Pattern

Hi everyone! I have my second nail art design for this week's Digit-al Dozen challenge. When I set out to do my manis, of course I first went for the blue polish. But once that was out of the way, I set my sights on my next favourite colour...purple!

Purple pattern

I had two goals with this design, practice some abstract patterning, and use one of my untried Lynnderellas. I think I succeeded with both. ;)

The Digit-al Dozen Does Monochrome: Blue Valentine

Hi everyone! It's another week of Digit-al Dozen challenges, and I'm pretty excited, because for the first time ever, I finished mine beforehand! Yeah organization! And I really enjoyed this theme so I'm happy with how my ideas turned out. Today though, I'm showing you what is probably my favourite of the bunch.

Blue Valentine

Monochromatic means one colour plus black and white. You'll see some days that I pushed the limits a bit by using cream instead of white, or using a glitter or holographic polish. But for the most part I really stuck to the prompt. Despite the limitations, I think it was a good prompt for inspiring some cool looks. But enough with that, more about this design!

The Digit-al Dozen Loves You Giveaway!

Hi everyone! I'm happy to announce that I have another giveaway for you! In addition to my blog anniversary giveaway (there's still time to enter!), I'm also part of a huge multi-blogger giveaway that myself and the other members of The Digit-al Dozen have put together.

January can be a tough time. You're back at work after the holidays, the weather is awful (at least if you live in a cold climate place), and your wallet took a hit during the holidays. Polish spending has to be put on hiatus, you might have even gone on a no-buy. Is that you!!? Well you're in luck because there are 12 prize packs of cash or awesome goodies from our sponsors!

The top prize, sponsored by The Digit-al Dozen is two $100 (USD) gift cards to the nail polish etailer of your choice. Additionally there are 10 other fabulous sponsored prizes:

• Mega Bundle from MoYou including 10 plates (winner's choice), 3 types of stamps and scrapers, 4 rhinestone wheels and a surprise from the new MoYou jewellery range
• $50 store credit to spend with GG Couture
• $25 gift certificate to spend with Moon Sugar Decals
• Full-size bottles of Chirality Polish Party All the Time, Neptunus, Yoda Purpurata, and Gazoo
• 4 x Simple & Seasonal polishes from the winter collection
• All 4 polishes from the VooDoo Lacquer Winter Holiday 2013 Collection (Marshmallow World, Polar Express, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and Holly Jolly Christmas)
• 3 x Renaissance Cosmetics polishes and 1x 10ml cuticle oil
• Plumilicious, Milky Candy Pack and one full bottle (winner's choice) from Candy Nail Polish
• Chloe and Misfit Toys from Ruby White Tips
• Eponine and My Name's McGill from Quirk
• 5x 50% off coupons for Simple & Seasonal (five winners)

The giveaway is open internationally and the terms and conditions are listed in the Rafflecopter. Make sure to read them before entering. 

And good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Foxy Paws Let's Have A Kiki

Hi everyone! I have another fun polish from the Foxy Paws Filthy/Gorgeous collection; make sure to check out my previous posts on this collection. These polishes are inspired by the American pop group Scissor Sisters and they are all in very fun, bright, neon colours, some that glow in the dark and react under UV (black) light. It's worth heading on over to the Foxy Fingertips website just to check out the songs that inspired each one, I guarantee it will get you humming and dancing in your seat!

Foxy Paws Let's Have A Kiki

This one is another bright neon polish, that also glows in the dark! Make sure to check it out after the jump for more photos.

GOT Polish Challenge: China Glaze Ahoy and Alberta Wild Roses

Hi everyone! One of my blogging goals for the year was to wear my collection. At the same time Debbie from The Crumpet started a new challenge with the Crumpet Nail Tarts called GOT Polish Challenge. GOT stands for "Golden Oldies Thursday" and the point is to wear older polishes from your collection. The main criteria is that the polish should be a year old.

I'm going to try to participate in as many of the challenges as I can. I have too much older polish that sit around unused. And I'm trying to save money by not buying as much polish as I did last year.

China Glaze Ahoy!

For the first challenge I went back to one of the first polishes that I swatched when I started to post my pictures on Tumblr. Wow, what a difference one year and four months makes!

Foxy Paws Baby Come Home...And I've Got Some Stars For You

Hi everyone! I have a short post for you tonight since I have an 8:30am class tomorrow - drag!! Foxy Paws Baby Come Home is from the Filthy/Gorgeous collection, seven super fun polishes with bright neon colours, and sparkly glitter. Many of them also glow in the dark and reflect under UV light. Like so many of Charlotte's polishes, these are inspired by music, more specifically, the American pop group Scissor Sisters.

Foxy Paws Baby Come Home

Check out the rest of my post for some swatches as well as a fun star design!

Wing Dust Collections, Swatches and Review: I Ain't No Angel, I Can See Your Holo, and Waking Dream

Hi everyone! Now that all my end of the year/beginning of the year blog posts are out of the way, I can get back to regular blog posts. And for you that means swatches! Even better - all three of these polishes are included in my giveaway! Stephanie, the maker of Wing Dust Collections, was kind enough not only to donate some polishes for the giveaway, but she also sent an extra set so that I could blog about them!

All three of these polishes are stunning as I've come to expect from Wing Dust Collections. Beautiful shimmers, poetic names, and ethereal colours and glitters.

My Blogging Goals for 2014

Hi everyone! If you have been following this blog for awhile, you may already know that I love setting goals. But I may have outdone myself this time! But it's like that expression, "go big or go home"...right!?

Last year in January, I had no expectations. I had no idea what this blog would be. I just wanted to keep doing it because I knew it was good for me (I was going through a major depression at the time). This year is different. I've put a lot of hard work into this blog. I realized I really enjoy blogging, and it's given me a sense of purpose that I don't always get from my PhD work. I've also started a small business that came out of this blog - okay, not a profitable business, but a business nonetheless.

When it comes to my blogging goals for this year, I've thought about the kind of blog I want to have, and the quality of the work that I want to produce. I'm reluctant to make goals like "I want x number of followers on Facebook/Instagram/Tumblr etc." What if I don't achieve those goals? There's always the fear that people will stop following or reading your blog, at least with me there is. Which is why I don't want my happiness to be tied to numbers. I'm going to try to focus on the quality of my work and the quality of my interactions with people.

So enough of my babbling, here's my goals in no particular order...

Guest Post Over At Lacquertude

Hi everyone! I recently had the opportunity to guest post over at Lacquertude. Kate is a relatively new-ish blogger, but she's really hit the ground running. Her nail art is very unique and she puts together very high quality posts and tutorials. I believe I first saw her work when it was shared on the piCture pOlish Facebook page, and I'm always in awe when she comes out with a new design. I encourage you to visit her blog and check it out for yourself!

While you're there you can read about this snowflake design I did for my guest post. It's somewhat similar to the snowflake design I posted on Christmas, but this one was done first and I think turned out a bit better (if I had to decide that is).

Visit my guest post at Lacquertude!

I'd like to hear from you! What do you think of this? Are you still up for more winter-themed manis or are you tired of all the snowy imagery? :)

My Top 13 Polishes of 2013

Hi everyone! Happy New Year! I really like this time of year when I get some time off to relax, catch up on things, and try to get my life organized before classes start up again next week. Oh, and goals! I've been thinking a lot about my blogging goals for the new year, so expect a post on that very, very soon.

I've seen so many bloggers put together lists of their favourite polishes, and they are always fun to read, because each one is different. Instead of the multiple lists you've been seeing on some other blogs, I've only put together one list - indies, mainstream, and everything in between. It's all here.