okay, so those aren't the lyrics... but she is super flashy and fun!!! Lady J over at MyPerfectPolish did a swatch of Lola a few weeks ago and i loved it on her, so i thought i would take a shot at it.

this is such a glowingly gorgeous pink, and i thought it was tons of fun with Lush and Luxe (China Glaze) on my ring finger and thumb. it is super hard to photograph though, because the flashes of blue are so much more apparent in person than in photographs. it took two coats to get opaque, but i did three to make it a little more even. i felt like barbie the whole time i wore this :)

with flash

sunlight

golden agro

so, long story but a coworker's exboyfriend used to tease her every time she wore green that she was a lesbian. (i guess in asshole logic, lesbians like green?) anywho, the joke is now that whenever i wear green, i'm totally gay for her. which is true at all times to be honest. 

so she's been away from work for three weeks and in her honor, i decided to do my tips in Agro from the China Glaze Hunger Games Collection. (okay, we may have also read the Hunger Games together) 

this is one - yes, one!!!! - coat of Agro with two layers of essie as gold as it gets on the tips. this was a dream to apply, even more so than my other China Glaze polishes. i love how subtle the essie is, but i think it adds something to the manicure. Agro has a nice golden glow to it on it's own and it isn't nearly as dark as i thought it would be...i'm kind of in love with it in all fairness. 

lamplight

the cold harsh light of a soulless cubicle

Out of Character Nail Day (Zoya Dea)

i was painting nails last night with a girlfriend and she pointed out the many untried bottles of polish i have sitting in my polish box, so i let her choose my color for today. She chose Zoya Dea. i believe my exact response was, "poop brown? awwwwwwwwwwwwwww." which is a little silly of me, because i bought it and lets face it i have excellent taste. 

so dea, uh-mazing application. a lot of my Zoya creams are on the thick side and tend to apply a little like my high school white out manicures (come on, you know you did it too) if i'm not super careful. *i'm looking at you Snow White* however, Dea was an absolute dream.

Zoya Dea - Lamplight 

i finished my manicure and kept glancing down, a little disappointed at the lack of sparkle on my out of character mani so i reached for my newest bottle of American Apparel polish. Meteor Shower is soooo pretty! it is a gorgeous gold foil flakie that applies relatively easily considering how randomly sized and shaped the flakies are. as it dried i used a toothpick to pat down any stray corners and then put like 5 coats of topcoat (china glaze and then sally hansen) to get a smooth and shiny finish. 

turned out kind of cute if you ask me ;) 

and in the end, not at all poop brown-ish.

Zoya Dea & American Apparel Meteor Shower

Lantana Inspired Orange Gradient

had to take the day off with my beautiful little bear, since daycare was closed. and the options for the day were: 1), sit inside and watch movies and nap or 2) hit the garden store, rip up a winters worth of weeds, wreck my nails and plant flowers. obviously i made the right decision, because not only did it lead to my now pristine (well, much improved) front beds and butterfly garden, but the wrecked manicure and flower selections inspired today's manicure!

so, as a kid i was obsessed with lantanas. they are gorgeous little flowers that grow in natural gradients. i used to pick them and use them as bouquets for my Jem doll. anywho, as bear laid down for her nap, i searched my polish box for just the right reddish orange and i popped up with Paz. i was super excited to order this a few weeks back and eagerly anticipated it, as orange is one of my favorite spring/summer colors. i was disappointed at how streaky this went on (even compared to Pippa, Zoya's finnicky yellow). two coats in i was still unhappy with at least three nails but decided it was smooth enough at the tips to reverse the gradient from tip to base. that said, the color was much richer than i'd expected. more red tone and much less neon than it looks in the bottle. 

i feathered China Glaze Sun Worshipper from the base of each nail then did a coat of Zoya's Armor top coat and a quick swipe with SV because i was a *little* eager to post the pictures of this mani, well that and i still have one more trip to the garden store to pick up a few more types of basil and another blueberry bush. hmmm...if i plant them tonight i might be able to sneak in another manicure today :D

Inspiration from the garden

Lamp

Shade

Direct (and super hot) Sun

Birthday Party Nails

needed something somewhat fun and girly for a girlfriends birthday party, hence the China Glaze Purple Panic topped with NerdLacquer Resolutionary. The CG Purple Panic is so pretty, i think i actually have pictures of it on it's own that i'll have to dig up, but it is kind of chalky and matte. no more so than any other neon though. The NL Resolutionary is so much fun, though there is more tiny glitter than my other NL's. but it did get a lot of comments, including one from my man describing it's beauty as "JUST LIKE A FISHING LURE!" 

i'm taking it as a compliment.