Pink Week: Zoya Lillith

Let's start this week off with a big pink bang--Zoya Lillith. Lillith is a hot pink shimmer with a pronounced blue flash. The formula is good but not great--it was pretty thin and tended to flood my cuticles, but covered nicely in two coats.

In the sunshine:



Indoors with flash:



Indoors without flash:



I was going to put a coat of Zoya Chloe on top, but at the last minute decided to go with Maisie instead:

Two coats of Lillith, one coat of Maisie, indoors with flash:



And without flash:

Anti-Valentine's Day nail art

Because Valentine's Day is sometimes about heartbreak, I have broken hearts on a background of ice for today's manicure. This is one coat of Orly Au Champagne, two coats of Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Glass Slipper (which I think might be a dupe of Orly Winter Wonderland) and tiny little broken hearts in Sally Hansen Cherry Smash crackle. To get the heart shapes, I used painter's tape and a heart-shaped paper punch. I think they're cute and silly and a nod to my inner cynic. ;)

Inside with flash:



Inside without flash:



Closeup of my thumb:

Sinful Colors Go-Go Girl and Valentine's nail art

Sinful Colors Go-Go Girl is a true, blue-based red jelly. It hit bottle color in two coats, although with some VNL because it's a jelly. Go-Go Girl is part of the Sinful Colors core line and available at a number of drugstores. I stamped with my white stamping polish from the Born Pretty Store.

Inside, with flash:



Inside, without flash:



And some sloppy stamping in my attempt to make conversation hearts out of my nails:



This was three coats of China Glaze Something Sweet, which still had some bald spots after the third coat, stamped with red polish from Born Pretty and topped with a coat of China Glaze Matte Magic. I just wish I could have gotten the stamps a bit neater.

Valentine's Giveaway from Lilypad Bathworks!

The giveaway is now closed.




Congratulations, Jillybean!

The lovely and talented Eva of Lilypad Bathworks is giving one of my readers a gift box of Valentine's Day goodies! The box includes an 8 oz. sugar whip in Sweet and Spicy Caramallow, and 2 oz. sizes of Body Buttercream in Orange Buttercream, Bath Butter in Lemon Loves Coconut, Therapy conditioner in Blue Valentine Cake, and Quench in Vanilla Lust.


How to enter? Simple--be a follower and leave a comment saying so for one entry. No comment, no entry. You can get more entries by referring one or more additional follower(s). Whether you're a longtime fan of Lilypad as I am, or looking to try some marvelous products for free, enter quickly, because this giveaway ends at midnight Ohio time (GST -5 hours) on February 13th, and I'll announce the winner on Valentine's Day!

Steampunk-inspired nails

Since the Cold of Doom has taken over my body, my weekend schedule was pretty much sleep 90 minutes, be awake four hours, repeat. I had zero energy and just barely managed to get the sheets changed and the laundry done. I re-read some of my "comfort books" like Heidi and Hans Brinker, and read every single entry on Epbot. I wasn't really up for any of Jen's amazing projects, but I figured I could manage some steampunk-inspired fingernails.

To get this look, I used:

1 coat Orly Ridgefiller
1 coat Sally Hansen Wet Cement
1 coat Deborah Lippmann Marqee Moon
1 coat Kleancolor Chunky Holo Copper
1 coat CND Copper Shimmer
2 coats Nubar Diamont
1 coat China Glaze Matte Magic

I'm reasonably satisfied by how it turned out, but if my nails were a bit longer, I'd add French tips in China Glaze Unplugged for a wood strip effect.

Here's the finished manicure, inside with flash:



Inside without flash:



And a close-up:

Revlon Copper Penny review and swatches

Revlon Copper Penny is part of the core line and can be found pretty much anywhere Revlon cosmetics are sold. It's a beautiful copper foil, opaque in just two coats, which is what I used for the swatches below. All swatches are without top coat.

Indoors with flash:



Indoors without flash:



In the sun:

OPI Fresh Frog of Bel-Air review and swatches

Fresh Frog of Bel-Air was part of my last haul of 2011, and it's a very pretty layering polish. It has green glitter and silver green hex glitter in a clear base, and it's not opaque in three coats, which is what I used for the swatches below:

In the sunshine:



Indoors without flash: