Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Picture Polish Swagger

Hey guys! Today I have the full mani I wore this past weekend. It's one of the last few of my untried Picture Polishes (only so because I have been super busy since I got it!) DANG this polish is as awesome as I hoped and knew it would be. BUT it was also the hardest one to photograph! The color is a dusty medium blue with a slight periwinkle tone, but my camera would only see blue! I had to color adjust the hue a little which I HATE doing but it was necessary! I still don't think it's 100% but its the best I could do :)

The glitter on my ring finger is Zoya Bar, one of my favorite Pixiedusts. Yall know that, I've said it a million times. :)

 
I really loved the way the nude gold goes with Swagger. Man I hated to take this off! This is my idea of a neutral mani for the weekend, haha!



Here's a pic with the softened light I was talking about before. This lighting made my color issue even worse this time I think. Which do yall like better? 

If you haven't tried Picture Polish yet, you need to! It's available online and at several USA online retailors, but I prefer to order right from them! If you take advantage of the "everyday deal" they have, even factoring in the shipping, its still more inexpensive per bottle for me than ordering from one of the retailors here. It does make for a steep bill, but I only do it a couple times a year so its worth it! If you only want to order one, then you might look into the USA retailors. There's a full list at PicturePolish.com! 

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Ella + Mila Lilac Luster (purple mix and match!)

Hey guys! I have another purple mani to share! What did I say about purple before...I feel like I never wear it and then when I do, I wind up wearing it for a week! I put this on last week after doing some swatching and then got distracted when the UPS guy showed up with my Ulta order....wha-lahh, mani for the week! haha!

This is my first time using Ella + Mila polish. I have a couple that were a gift from a friend and I've been dying to use them! CAN WE PLEASE talk about the cuteness of the bottles???? They all have little elephants on them. On the bottles. Elephants.

Discuss.


I also wanted to dig into my little collection of Funky Fingers glitters...I have several I picked up here and there and I keep forgetting to use them! So be on the look out for those soon!! Most of the ones I have are still available at Five Below stores.

This was a super easy mani, for this method I usually start with the one polish I want to use most, then I look through my glitters for one that matches, then I find a couple other polishes that match the glitter, usually including a texture! I gotta have texture on my thumbs at least!

From L:
Ella + Mila "Lilac Luster"
OPI "Baby Please Come Home"
Blanc-Morena "I AM Divine"
Funky Fingers "Anna"

note on the Funky Fingers...they (still) have 3 glitters that are Frozen themed! Anna, Elsa (light blue and white) and Olaf (all white)!!! All of them have little snowflake glitters in them. I DON'T CARE if they aren't seasonally appropriate, I'm still going to use them!

"Anna" has small matte white hex glitters, metallic fushia hex glitters, metallic purple glitters, teeeennyy tiny white glitters and blue and white snowflakes. gah!


The snowflake glitters do kinda stick up a little bit, and I do tend to pick at them a little. The blue one definitely didn't survive the week ;) The formula on the Ella + Mila and the Blanc Morena (also first time using this brand!) are amazing! The BM was a gift also and I have a couple more to be using soon! I just love them and the names.


I feel like I'm wearing purple so much this spring so far! Lilac is just a super springy Eastery color, isn't it? 

Friday, April 24, 2015

Pipe Down This Love is Bliss box- April 2015

Hey guys! This weekends post is all about the April "Pipe Down This Love Is Bliss" box! I'm actually getting a post up about it in the same month! Whaaaatttt!! You can read my post about my first box from January Here!

I haven't picked up one of these boxes since January. I kind of liked the February box but I needed to be on a major no-buy! And after all the MAC Cinderella stuff I bought...well, yall know. I've been in the poor house haha! I wish I could pick up all these boxes! But I need to be more discretionary with my polish spending bc my stash is becoming a little larger than I'd like (kind of). As soon as I saw this box, I knew I would be getting it! The star for me is the Polish my Life polish, called "A Sea of Diamonds". I'm SUCH a sucker for colors like this! GAH! Its a major weakness, I know. The theme for this box is "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" :)

The polishes are, from L:

Love Angeline "Canary Diamonds"
Bliss Polish "Girl's Best Friend"
Polish My Life "A Sea of Diamonds"
Pipe Dream Polish "Carbonado Lustre"


How cute is the packaging?!


I didn't think all 4 of these polishes went together as well as the January box, so I divided them up into 3 fun manis!

The first (and my favorite) combination is this one. I MEANNNNNNNNN. I think Carbonado Lustre is going to be a fast favorite overall for me. April does these kinds of glitters so well! I have several already and I just love them! I highly recommend checking out her site Pipe Dream Polish. Champagne Kisses and Cha Ching are some of my favorite polishes I own and work so well for accent nails! They are so sparkly!


There's no blue glitters in CL but the reflection from the blue polish makes it seem like there is! Its actually teeny tiny black and silver holographic glitters in a clear base. I think I did 3 coats on my ring finger and 2 on my thumb...its pretty opaque in 2. ASOD is also 3 coats plus topcoat.




This mani gets multiple pictures just because....I took them.


I used the Bliss polish in another mix and match  mani (I've been doing these a lot lately!) with Zoya Dovima (matte black) and Zoya Arabella (Pixiedust-raspberry colored texture). One of my favorite ways to use this type of crelly polish with glitters is to find matching colors in my collection with different finishes!


I almost always wear texture on my thumbs....because I regularly break the nail-blogger rule: nails aren't tools (monkey hides face emoji here)


I used the Love Angeline polish with a simple pink mani of Loaded Lacquer "No Bra". I think a lot of us love the pink/gold combo, yes? This is a reallllly yellow gold and I think my skin is a bit confused with it. I have yet to figure out if I'm warm or cool toned, but this shade of gold looks a bit off on me, I think. None the less, its super opaque, I only needed 2-3 coats for full opacity! I tried to do a "jelly sandwich" on my thumb with these 2 and it didn't work at all, so you don't get to see it. I think because the glitter is so opaque!


Again, playing with my lighting. This is not the soft light I usually use. It looks a little off to me, what do yall think?? GRR, I can't wait to be able to take pics outside again.



I'm also tinkering with making my pics a little larger on my blog (you will only notice if you are viewing on a non-mobile device) something I've stayed away from in the past. What say yall?
 :)

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Pipe Down This Love Is Bliss box- January 2015

Hey guys! I don't know why I'm so tardy getting this post up but seeing as how I have the April box to blog about I feel like I should post this first! haha! I posted this mani awhile ago on Instagram. I created a little mani with all 4 of these polishes...they go so well together! I suppose I may swatch these on their own at some point! I used the Pipe dream polish in another mani since that I posted
here ! It has been really fun in the past few months getting more interested in and experience with indie polish brands! You really have the opportunity to get to know the makers, and they share your passion because they are polish lovers too.

The theme in this box was "Baby it's Cold Outside" so all of them are wintery themed and named :) (ps.....these polishes are no longer available! sorryyyyyyy!!! They only make about 35-40 sets of these, and it can get quite competitive getting your hands on one if you decide to get it!)

The polishes in this box are: the "regular" 3 brands with:
Pipe Dream Polish "Bundled Up"
Love Angeline polish "Let's Snuggle"
Bliss Polish "I Really Can't Stay"
and the "guest" indie maker was Heather of Loaded Lacquer! Her polish is "Wind Chill"

This also marks my first Bliss polish (I got this one before the Starbucks one) and my first Love Angeline! That blue tho!




This is the look I came up with using all 4! I just love how well they all coordinate. Heart eyes!


Stay tuned for my post on the April box!

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Zoya Earth Day sale 2015: My reccomendations!

 
 Hey guys! This post is really picture and link heavy so I'll keep my intro short! Zoya  is doing it again to us, their yearly Earth Day polish sale/exchange! They offer all their polishes (except topcoats and treatments according to the fine print) for 50% OFF!! And free shipping! The idea is you send in your old/unused polishes to them and they will dispose of them responsibly. Let's be honest, most people don't do it but I did last year, you can read more about it Here!


I thought I would round up a little list of my favorite Zoyas (it's hard to narrow down!) to help some of you make a decision-they have so many shades it can be a little overwhelming! In the lower caption of each picture is a link taking you to the post that features that manicure!

Most of you know how much I love the Pixiedusts, they are being discontinued so I would grab up any you want because when they're gone, they're gone! They last forever on me and give a lot of dimension and fun to mani's!


(DISCLAIMER: Some of these polishes were provided by Zoya for past reviews, but MOST of them I have purchased myself! I still continue to purchase older ones for my collection!)

REMEMBER CLICK THE CAPTION TO GO TO THE POST ON THAT MANI!!!!!

Beauty and the Beast nails with Zoya Chyna (it's mentioned several times here, haha.) Its perfect for Valentines and Christmas, or for any red lover!

Beauty and the Beast nails by Aggies Do It Better
Zoya Chyna
Chita is another one I use a  TON!!

http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2014/04/masters-golf-nails.html
Zoya Chita

Taylor is hands down one of my favorite nudes! Its a one coater on me! Highly recommend!



http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2014/07/zoya-gradent-wth-taylor-wednesday-and.html
Zoya Taylor


Here's a negative space mani I did with some of the Summer 2014 collection. It was heavy on blues and greens, so I loved them!


http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2014/07/zoya-blues-and-greens-plus-winstonia.html
Zoya Rebel

Zoya also has a line of scattered holo polishes, and I can't recommend them enough! You need all of them! This is Storm (black) which I refer to "galaxy in a bottle" haha! There's also Blaze (red), Payton (maroon), Dream (blue) and Aurora (raspberry). You guys need them all. Trust me.



http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2014/10/31dc2014-part-2-styles.html
Zoya Storm


I also have not been shy about my love for the re-release of the Matte Velvets last year. They dry SO FREAKING FAST you can tape over them in 5 minutes. Seriously, if you think you don't have time for nails before you are leaving for something, you do! Matte Velvets for the Win!


Zoya Savita

Purity is a white base I reach for often. A good staple to have, the formula is about as good as you'll get for a white! I used all Pixiedusts for this pawprint mani.

http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2014/05/tbt-puppy-bowl-nails-featured-in-this.html
Zoya Purity

More pixiedusts! haha! This was Olympic themed. The bottle is Tomoko, which is probably my fave, if  I had to pick one. Please don't make me!

http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2014/02/olympic-colorblock-nails-with-zoya.html
Zoya Tomoko


Zoya Louise (pictured) is a really great staple brown for your collection. Its also the perfect "football" brown. :)

http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2014/01/traditional-football-nails.html
Zoya Louise
This is  a splatter mani I did with last years summer polishes. Raven is the bottle pictured, its a shimmery black. I love it! The formula is WAY better than Willa, a straight up black crème that was released this past winter, which makes me sad. I don't use it near as much as Raven. But I am going to give it another chance soon!



http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2014/06/star-cutout-splatter-nail-art-with-zoya.html
Zoya Raven


I used a whole ton of blues and greens for this fish scale mani. Pictured is Remy, from fall 2014. Its so opaque and shimmery! If you are a blue fanantic you NEED DIS.

http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2015/02/fish-scale-nails-for-alys-birthday.html
Zoya Remy


Here was my Superbowl mani from this year. Pictured is Song, also a super opaque shimmery blue. Song is a ONE COATER but yall do NOT get it on your skin, it will stain. And use a basecoat. It's worth it though, I promise!

http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2015/02/super-bowl-patriot-themed-nails-for-2015.html
Zoya Song

Yep-Chyna again.

http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2015/01/valentines-day-nails-with-nude-and-red.html
Zoya Chyna

Godiva is probably my second favorite Pixie dust ( I don't know why I didn't mention any of the magical pixies in this post, but I love them as well! They are a little chunkier which a lot of people don't love but they wear like IRON! Bar, Cosmo, Vega are my favs!)


Zoya Godiva

More matte luvvvvvvvv

Zoya Dovima
Chita again. yep. 

My favorite maroon polish across all brands I own is Toni! I've said it before, all Aggies need this polish. Need. 
http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2014/10/aggie-week-day-1-featuring-zoya-toni.html
Zoya Toni

Here's another one of the scattered holos I was talking about.  Dream. Get this one. :)

Zoya Dream


The whole Naturel2 collection that came out last fall is perfection! I only have about half of the fist set of Naturels, I wish I had them all too! Smooth and buttery. Perfect "work appropriate" colors or for any of us neutral lovers :)
http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2014/07/color-block-nails-with-zoya-naturel2.html
Zoya Naturel2 shades

Zoya Sunshine is a really pretty almost one coater pixiedust. This mani lasted a full 7 days last summer when we were on vaca!

http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2014/07/july-4-texture-chevron.html
Zoya Sunshine

This trio isn't available anymore but I wanted to show it anyway (sorry!) MOST of the Zoya crèmes I have are just perfection, formula wise. The white base is Purity!

http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2014/05/peter-som-block.html
Zoya Peter Som Trio 2014
More pixiedust art!

http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2014/03/march-madness-textured-basketball-nails.html
Zoya Beatrix


Yep....Chyna again ! haha!
http://www.aggiesdoitbetter.com/2013/12/christmas-2013-nail-art.html
Zoya Chyna
 
Here's the complete details of the sale! What are yalll getting! I will probably place a small order because I'm still missing 2 of the pixiedusts from my collection- Dhalia and Dahra. I need them all, yes?


ZOYA EARTH DAY NAIL POLISH EXCHANGE 2015 – STARTS TUESDAY - APRIL 21, 2015!
With over 300 shades rooted in a healthy philosophy, it’s no surprise that Zoya is committed to helping you green your beauty routine! That’s why each year we give you the opportunity to exchange any old nail polish bottles that you may have laying around your house collecting dust, or that are not BIG5FREE* formulas, for brand new toxin-free** Zoya Nail Polish shades. You can rest assured that your unwanted polishes will be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. Helping the earth is easy… all you have to do to get started is pick out your NEW Zoya colors at zoya.com, follow the instructions below and checkout. Let us do the rest!

How the ZOYA EARTH DAY NAIL POLISH EXCHANGE works
...

1.     Visit www.zoya.com and add a minimum of 6 bottles of ZoyNail Polish (no more than 24 bottles) to your cart. Minimum 12, maximum 48 for professional accounts.
 
2.     Apply Code: EARTHLUV and a 50% credit will be added to your exchange order - free shipping included!
 
3.     Complete checkout and you're all set! If you need further instructions (including info for our professional program) on sending back your unwanted polish click HERE.
The exchange runs on the honor system, which means you are not obligated to send in your unwanted polish - we assume you're going to do the right thing! Many people donate the polish to a local cause instead, which we fully support. If you choose to send back your polishes, please check with your carrier of choice for shipping guidelines and restrictions for nail polish. For full promotion terms & conditions and instructions on how to send in your polish, click HERE.
USE CODE: EARTHLUV
Offer valid 4/21/15 - 4/28/15 (11:59pm EST)



Monday, April 20, 2015

Loaded Lacquer "Tractors are Sexy" review

Hey guys! Today I have Heather of Loaded Lacquer's newest release. Well, half of it! She released a tractor-and-beer "Dirt Road" duo and I just had to have this one! The other polish is more of an orangy coppery flaky glittery bit and it's just not my cup of tea. (you can see it here) But this one....hoooo boy. Its a bright grassy green with turquoise shimmer running through it. Not being a SUPER fan of shimmers I was surprised how strongly I felt about this polish! IT'S GORGEOUS LOOK A THE PICTURES NOW.



On the back of the bottles look a the cute decal!




This polish was thinner than I expected but I still got away with 2 coats. If you usually do super thin coats then you will probably need 3. I did add topcoat to this mani.


Here's a couple pictures with out my super high tech super fancy filter I put on my lights. What do yall think of these pics? I really like a filtered light on my old lady skin, but the pictures are definitely more crisp with out it. When I feel like my skin is finally moisturized again I might start taking  more pictures with out it.

You can really see the shimmer like crazy! I wasn't able to get a picture of this outside because it's been so overcast here lately but I will be wearing it again soon! (I feel like I'm saying that a lot lately!)