I got/had the Springtime Blues

i played with manipulative when i got it in the mail, but was so unhappy with the application that i put it away and forgot about it until last week. i was checking zuza agaisnt all of my dusty blue/tiffany's blue dupes and realized that maybe manipulative and i got off on the wrong foot. i think the two together might be a little off, but individually i am enamored. 

manipulative is the perfect mix between a dusty blue and a bright teal, i didn't' get much of that beautiful pinkish shimmer that glimpses out of the bottle (even after three coats), though i think i can see glimpses of the pink in this picture, on the thumb...

zuza was just as lovely, and it wasn't gritty like some of the micro glitters that i have gotten from zoya *i'm looking at you Kimmy* 

btw - my kiddo was just as in love with zuza so i see a full on zuza mani coming soon...

sneak peek of sneeze breeze

played with this last night, but it didn't quite fit my mood. but i will totally do this again and believe me, this is worth seeing in all light and from every angle!

purple sisters from two very different misters

okay, i only have two medium purples from zoya, so in my head the two morphed into dupes. which they obviously aren't. just look at those bottles. btw - caitlin looks super grey next to her more flashy sister, but she really is a true dusty lavender. 

so i thought i'd swatch one finger malia with my caitlin manicure tonight, just to laugh at how different they really are, despite my earlier lapse in memory. and i decided i liked an accent nail in malia. so i left it. hence my purple sisters from different misters mani. btw - myperfectpolish swatched malia  last week and though it looks more pink on her and much more blue on me (imho) it was utterly gorge on both of us, which is super fun if i want to activate lacquer twinsie powers one day! both covered sublimely, as most of zoya's cream's do, in my experience. oh, and i topped it all with a coat of zoya armor and then one quick swipe with SV. 

final note - judge me not on my wrecked cuticles. please? i spent most of my weekend in the garden and my hands are one huge collection of thorn scrapes, swollen knuckles and some seriously destroyed cuticles. you'll learn someday, oh single reader of my blog, that i do not do cuticles at home. so i can only promise to apply some cuticle oil and hopefully hit up my local manicurist this coming weekend for some damage control.

just a quick look at the bottles.

by the light of the lamp - and game of thrones

outside, on an overcast morning

Work Safe Wednesday - Thursday Edition

ok, we all know i was super bitter about how badly my EUT accent nail turned out yesterday. so i decided to keep the Amanda and jazz it up a bit. i redid the ring finger with one coat of Amanda and added Set in Stones. I did my best to use a light hand with SiS, but all of that glorious shiny silver glitter has a mind of it's own. i have read some complaints about the flat nature of the silver glitter, but i happen to love it. the shine is phenomenal and i get so many compliments every time i wear it. it truly is eye-catching. 

also if you can't tell from the massive dent in the bottle, i love matte top coats, they dry so quickly and especially combined with glitter it adds an unexpected element to my manicures. there is also something so pretty about the combination of a nude + glitter + matte...

i am resisting the urge to take this manicure 2.0 and make them all matte. 

oh, excuse the broken pinkie nail. i got a little manic with the cleaning yesterday and in my enthusiasm i apparently lost a little soldier. it ripped low so it'll be a little hidden for the next week or two.

Work Safe Wednesday - Amanda meets Entirely Unlike Tea

so Zoya Amanda is like my all time favorite neutral. and i am slightly sad to admit it took seeing it on Rachel Zoe at one of her fashion shows to see the potential in this gorgeous rosy nude. either way, it is my dearest love. i've worn it with a little silver sparkle and a matte top coat (i'll try to find pictures) and when i found NerdLacquer Entirely Unlike Tea (EUT), i thought they were a natural pair. Amanda is a dream going on, with a steady hand it is pretty perfect at one coat. i did two coats just to smooth out a few problem spots (watching Game of Thrones while i do nails is such a bad idea). my problem came with adding top coat to EUT. you can see on both pictures that i had issues with some wrinkling on my ring finger. now, being that i have so little time, it'll have to do. but it is still annoying as hell. i did a coat of Gelous and then SV on all of the nails. (btw, this totally cancelled out the shrinkage problem i normally have with Zoya + SV) the shine on the Amanda is GORGEOUS, but i am plagued by the desire to redo my ring finger...

i just know that EUT is stunning, i just have to figure out the right way to wear it.

natural light (even if it was cloudy outside)

by the light of my lamp (and tv)

now, i'm linking to MyPerfectPolish's Work Safe Wednesday, which i love the concept of. keep in mind however, that i wear all of these nails to work, wild colors/glitters included. *but* this one falls into the Work Safe category for most people...i think.

Fancy Nails

so shopping with my little bear for accessories for her (she's my little princess after all) and i ran across a bottle labled only Glitter Top Coat at Claire's. *le drool* three coats for full coverage and it is super duper shiny. so of course i made it into my accent nail paired with Zoya's Raven. I love nothing more than a shiny black nail, so i added two coats of Seche Vite. did the SV ompletely unthinkingly though, because i was immediately treated to ripples. the next morning i had major shrinkage. so, i have finally broken down and ordered Zoya's topcoat, i'll be trying this again soon. 

well, until it was rippley, it was super gorg.