Wet 'n' Wild Meglast Nail Polish in Undercover

Hi guys!! Happy Wednesday! I hope the beginning of your week has gone well and that the latter half towards the weekend goes faster so we can all relax.

School is in full swing now with it being week two and all and so far everything seems manageable so far. Which is a nice turn from last semester. I think the only class that might get me is my Business Ethics class, its an online course and the teacher likes to assign a lot of questions.

I can't believe that its going to be February by the weekend! Its insane how fast the year is going, although I don't want it to go by too fast, but I'm sure as heck ready for some warm temperatures.

Today's polish is one last Wet 'n' Wild before I dive into maybe some Valentines Day appropriate colors and maybe a nail art post too!

This polish is one of the pretty creme colors that is apart of the Megalast line and it is called Undercover. Its a pink/mauve color that reminds me of roses for some odd reason.

All I think when I see it are those shirts that have the rose floral patterns.

    This polish went on smooth with two coats to reach opacity.

As you can see by the amount of light you have how this polish looks. The top photo wasn't taken in the best light and it comes off a really dark dusty mauve/pink. With more light like in the photo above its has more of a happy dusty pink color.

However, I didn't think this polish went well with my skin tone. In real life it just seem off to me. I wound up giving this color to my mom. Her skin tone is slightly more tan than I am ( I have a pale olive complexion) and once she put this on I knew I made the right choice of giving it to her.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post and I will talk to you all soon with some Valentines Day appropriate colors!

<3 Nicole

Wet 'n' Wild: On a Trip.

Hey guys happy Friday!! I hope you all are well!

Sorry about the break in post. School crept up on me  and it was a mad dash to get myself organized and ready for this past Tuesday!

However school has started and it seems like the course work will be heavy but I will have lots of free time to do it and blog so hopefully I will get myself on a schedule of Monday-Wednseday-Friday thing. There are so many things I want to blog about!!

Today's post is a really pretty nail polish that is from Wet 'n' Wild's Meglast Line, I got it in that gift set my mom got me for Christmas.

Its called On a Trip and its a pretty purple creme polish. When I first started getting into nail polishes purple was the one color I loved the most and most of my collection was purple. However I branched out to other colors but purple never gets old.

This polish is vibrant and definitely a purple I didn't have in my collection. It only takes two coats to be opaque. The formula is about average, not to thin where it gets everywhere and not thick. But if this is like any of the other Wet 'n' Wild polish I have, the longer this sits it will get thicker. But in the end though it will make a good stamping polish.

This polish will be one to wear as the weather gets warmer!

One thing I love about these Megalast Polishes is that with top coat they just get so shiny and pretty.

Wet 'n' Wild is available at most Drugstores accross the U.S.! I always get mine from either Rite Aid or Walgreens!

Wet 'n' Wild Megalast Nail Color: Heat Wave.

Good morning guys!!!

Today's post is of a nail polish that I received for Christmas! My mom is very hesitant when it comes to buying me any makeup or nail polish because she thinks that she will either A: get me something I already own, or B: get me something I won't like. So I told her this past Christmas that I would love anything she picks out, and that trust me there are a lot of make up and nail polishes I don't own yet.

So she picked out this really awesome Wet 'n' Wild gift set that had 10 mini Megalast colors inside. Five of the best and three limited edition colors. I will have swatches of all the colors from the set on the blog in the coming month!

Today begins the first one its called Heat Wave. Who doesn't love a red nail polish? I know I do. This one is kind of a crelly type, where its a creme color but has a jelly like finish. I say this because after three coats I could still see VNL.

But that doesn't take away from beauty that is this polish.

I think at some point I want to attempt to do a jelly sandwich with this. It reminds me a lot of Ruby Ruby from Sinful Colors which I have used for a jelly sandwich but its a tad more dark than Heat Wave. 

Like I said above three coats of this polish and I could still see my nail line on my middle finger. But what I love even more is how shiny this polish got with the addition of top coat. I used Orly's Sec 'n' Dry in these photos.

Out of the set of ten minis I think that I will definitely pick up the full size of this polish. That's what I love about mini polishes so much, you get to try a color and if you like it you can go and get the full size! If you want any of the Meglast Colors all you need to do is find in your town wherever Wet 'n' Wild is so, although its probably at most drugstores and get some of these colors! I think they only run $1.99!

I can't wait to show you guys more of the minis in this set! Mom sure did pick out an amazing gift! Love you mom!

Till tomorrow <3 Nicole

Essie Parka Perfect

Good Monday morning guys and dolls!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!! My Christmas was nice, I spent it at home with my mom and dad. It was quiet but nice. I got some nail polishes and make up which I will be hopefully getting up here on the blog soon.

So for today's post I have one of the new Essie winter polishes. Its called Parka Perfect. I picked it up just before Christmas when I was getting a gift for my best friend.

Its a really pretty muted blue grey color that has shimmer in it.

You can definitely see the shimmer in the bottle itself but I didn't really see it translate to the nail. Which makes me kind of sad but i still think its a very pretty color and very season appropriate. 

It takes about three coats for the color to be opaque, and I don't know if its just me or maybe it was my Seche Vite, but the color kind of dulled out after a couple of days. 

Nonetheless I think that Parka Perfect is a very winter appropriate color and makes me think of the very cold weather that is headed to New York by the end of next week. The weatherman is saying it is going to get down to -12 degrees by Friday night. What a way to start off 2014 right? I want the 60 degree weather we had back just before Christmas!! 

So thats all for today lovelies! I hope you enjoyed this post and I will see you tomorrow on New Years Eve to show you what I am wearing on my nails to usher in the new year. Which by the way I hope is awesome and way better than 2013 in terms of personal things that have happened! 

Talk to you all soon! 

<3 Nicole 

Back in Business!!!

Hi guys!!!

Sooo.... the semester is officially OVER!!!! WOO HOO! You have no idea how relieved I am. Technically I do have to go into school on Monday for one last class and to return a rental book but I don't have anymore test or anything like until the spring semester in January!

Since Christmas is about 11 days away I thought I would share my current winter/Christmas/Holiday manicure with you!

I feel like this year is coming to an end so fast, but I'm kind of glad it is. I have had a roller coaster of a year, with loss and family health problems. I've also been suffering really bad lately from depression, and anxiety. Its not fun but one thing that has kept me going over the last three months or so has been staying in touch with the nail community and how many of you amazing people out there are so supportive and encouraging!  I can't say thank you enough for that!

Today's manicure started off with one of my absolute favorite Christmas reds, China Glaze Cranberry Splash. I talked about this red a lot last year from what I can remember . Its shiny and shimmery, and every time I use it or see it, it makes me think Christmas!

I also have to give a shout out to OPI Nail Envy Matte for being my base coat to protect my nails, I got a twin pack of the original formula and the matte formula back in February. I finished the bottle of original formula and now working my way with the matte. It definitely keeps my nail polish on longer and I haven't seen any yellowing in my nails, compared to other base coats I have used.

To make this manicure more holdiay-ish I broke out my stamping plates. Originally I saw Nicole from Polish Me Please, post a snowflake manicure on her Instagram. I got inspired that day and did something similar and posted a photo on my Instagram. I used the same stamps from Bundle Monster for this manicure, and I think it makes my nails look like wrapping paper.

I used my mini star tree topper to pose my hand on. I have a mini tree in my bedroom this year and it just makes it so much cozy-ier. I will say this once I was done taking photos with it my hand was full of glitter, but there is nothing wrong with that.

For the snowflake stamp I used Fresh Paint's Coconut. I got it from Five Below, but I don't think they have it anymore. Five below goes through series of different polishes every so often and Coconut was released over the summer.

And to make my manicure shiny and protected I used Seche Vite. I was using Sally Hansen Insta Dry Top Coat but my nails chipped quickly after using it, which is a problem I have never really had with it so I decided to go back to Seche Vite one day after seeing they sold it in Wal-Mart. Seche Vite was the first quick drying top coat I ever used and I loved it, but then it started shrinking my manicures so I stopped. It seems though that this bottle isn't doing that so I guess I must be doing something right.

For the photos I did take them inside since it is snowing outside right now and the hours of daylight are limited. A couple of the photos did come out dark so I had to adjust the light on a couple of them.

So this is my launch back into blogging!!1 I am so excited to be back you guys!! I hope you like this manicure!

I will talk to you all very soon!
<3 Nicole

Zoya VS. L.A Girl

Well hello there! Wow its nice to be back writing here at the blog! As you know things have been crazy over the last month but now that they are al settled down for the most part I hope to get back into a routine and start Free For All Beauty Fridays, like I had mentioned in my post a couple weeks ago.

Today's post is going to my very first dupe post! Back at Christmas time Zoya released their Ornate collection which held highly sought after holographic polishes! I know that I was on the look out for them when they were released, and even though they were not linear holographic polishes, none the less I wanted them for my ever growing collection!

Just before Christmas I was lucky and found them at the Beauty Plus Salon, I also had yet to swatch them or wear them for the blog. Such a fail I know! But now almost five months after Christmas L.A. Girl released a scattered holographic collection. L.A. Girl can be found in some Rite Aids (that's where I got mine) and I believe on Cherry Culture's Website.

When looking at the L.A. Girl collection I had remember someone said that three of the polishes looked like dupes of the Zoya Xmas polishes, and to my surprise I had bought one and didn't realize it. The L.A. Girl Purple Effect was the first one I had purchased and thought that it was actually darker than its counter part Aurora from Zoya. But when I compare the two bottles side by side, there was no denying that they were sisters, identical twin sisters. I even posted a picture on Instagram about it. That became the deciding point that I wanted to purchase the other two to do an official dupe post!

**NOTE: In all pictures I am holding the Zoya bottle since it was easier to get a better picture with it.
Except for the last one... so much for continuity.

**On my middle and pinky fingers I am wearing the L.A. Girl 3D Effect and on my pointer and ring fingers I am wearing the corresponding Zoya polish. Goes for all pictures***

So we shall start with the polish that began my dupe adventure. Zoya Aurora Versus L.A. Girl 3D Effects: Purple Effect.

When wearing both polishes on your hands you really cannot tell a difference at all. The sparkle is the same on the nail so neither polish has more scattered holo than the other.  So if you don't own the Zoya or don't have access to it, then the L.A. Girl might be a nice alternative for availability  and price point. Zoya sells for a bout $8 and L.A. Girl was $3.99

If your a nail blogger you will notice the subtle differences, such as L.A. girl is a bit thicker than the Zoya and applies to the nail thicker as well. Even though L.A. Girl is thicker drying time is not affected.

Next up is Zoya Blaze Versus L.A. Girl Sparkling Ruby.

I noticed that the names of the L.A. Girl Polishes were not very unique at all where as some had fitting names. Some just said the name of the color and then 'effect' after and some have names like this one.

With Blaze and Sparkling Ruby once again identical twins, even formula wise they were the same not thick but not watery either. The holo effect is nice in person and most difficult to capture on camera. One detail I did notice is that in the bottle Zoya Blaze looks like it has more chunky pieces of holo than L.A. Girl but it doesn't translate on to the nail that way.


Finally we have Zoya Storm Versus L.A. Girl Black Illusion.

Who doesn't love a black holo? I have to say I do not like black polish on me unless its being used to stamp with. It makes my fingers look stubby and overall its just a hard color to clean up. I think I had black polish on my cuticles for days and still a little bit on my thumbs.

Anyway Storm and Black Illusion conclude as the identical twins, once again formula wise they are the same, a bit sheer on the first coat but by the second its opaque and ready to go. The holographic bits are no different; as like I said with Blaze; Storm also looked more holo in the bottle than Black Illusion.

So all in all if you have the Zoya you don't need the L.A. Girl or vice versa, unless you want back ups of course. If your a polish addict who doesn't need a back up of a polish once in a while.

Going toe to toe, Zoya is slightly more expensive at $8 a bottle and L.A. Girl at $3.99 a bottle. Please also remember prices may differ where you live due to location. I believe the $8 price tag for Zoya is always the same on their website, as for purchasing Zoya polishes in beauty supply stores like Ulta or Beauty Plus Salon the prices may vary.

 That's all for today! Hope you enjoyed and I will talk to you all soon!
<3 Nicole

A very simple holiday manicure!

Hello my dears!

Hope you all are having a wonderful Sunday! Today I am picking my dad up from the train station! I'm excited to see him I haven't seen him since before Thanksgiving.

Another thing that has happened is we have had our first snowfall this year!! It's only like a half inch but still it's snow! Sadly it will be gone by Tuesday as they are forecasting it to be 60 degrees! Such weird weather for December and New York!

Since it is December and the holidays are approaching I bring you the first holiday manicure! Anyone can do this manicure it so simple you can't mess it up!

First up you start with a gold foil polish! I used Sally Hansen Golden-I which I just bought and can't believe I never owned it! Plus gold polishes are all over this time a year, there are a few companies that have them out this year. Two coats and your at optimal opaqueness. Let that dry completely, then add one to two coats of your favorite multi color glitter! Who doesn't want to be all sparkly this time of year??

I would suggest if your multicolored glitter is densely packed then only use one coat if its a very sparse glitter like the one I used which was the Blue Cross Beauty Holiday Lights use two coats. The bottle actually lights up different colors!

Add your favorite top coat and you are good to go! I got a lot of compliments at work on this manicure, it's so simple and festive that it would go good would any holiday party and outfit!

Check out the photos below!! I hope you enjoyed this post and stay tuned for more holiday manicures and treats!