My favorite Orange Nail Polishes

I already shared with you my favorite Red nail polishes so next up I am moving on to my favorite oranges! Here they are in no particular order. 

1. China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy- this one is really more of a coral shade. It's got a lot of pink it in, but I figured I would share it with the oranges, since I am bound to have a ton of pinks to share with you when I get around to that post. Flip Flop Fantasy is the epitome of summer. It's a great neon coral that dries super fast (as most neons do) It dries matte, so if you want that super shiny finish you'll need a top coat. But, I love this polish! It makes my skin look super sad in contrast to the bright pop of neon coral fun! It's perfect for the toes in the summer. Guess that's why they named it flip flop fantasy! 

2. Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Sun Kissed- This is a great basic cream polish. It's a great crayola crayon orange that applies like a dream. Not much else to say about it! 

3. Wet n Wild Megalast in Club Havana- This one is a near exact dupe for the one above, so if you like the color but you love the formula and the brush on the megalast polishes as much as I do, go for this one. This is opaque in two coats, dries relatively quickly and is just a great orange! 

4. Elf Party Peach- This is another great, super affordable bright orange polish. This one has gold shimmer running through it which adds a little something extra. It's super opaque as well. Just one coat is all you need! 

5. Maybelline Color Show Classic Camel- This is one of the polishes from the vintage leather collection. I was not much of a fan of the line of polishes, but for some reason I really like classic camel. It's a sort of rust brown-y orange, so it's completely different than any of the other oranges I am sharing with you today. Very fall appropriate. These polishes dry to a matte type finish, but this one is beautiful with a top coat to make it shiny. I just find it so unique that I had to include it. 

no top coat

with a top coat

6. Wet n Wild Fast Dry 9.0.2.1.orange- honestly, I think what I like the most about this polish is the name. So fun and I love that show! But I also adore the polish. The fast dry polishes are pretty watery, so be careful not to flood your cuticles! But they dry quickly and this one is a gorgeous sheer jelly orange base with a TON of gold shimmer running through it. It's a beautiful unique polish that can be worn on it's own in 3-4 coats, but I love it most when used as a topped for other orange polishes! 

7. Julep Kyla- I hate the formula on this polish. It's super goopy. BUT, it's stunningly beautiful. It's a sheer orange base with iridescent orange and pink glitters. This is beautiful on top of any other orange polish. It's not the type of polish you can wear on its own, but it's so pretty. 

top two nails are julep kyla on top of Elf party peach
bottom two are wet n wild 9021orange on top of Elf party peach

8. Julep Mariska- This is another goopy formula from Julep. I swear, their formula is really hit or miss. But Mariska is this gorgeous neon sort of orange that is just something else. It dries matte, so you do need a top coat if you want that shiny finish. But, if you're in the market for a neon orange and you can stand the formula on this one I highly recommend it! 

So that's it, those are the favorite oranges from my collection! I hope you enjoyed this and found it helpful. Be sure to stay tuned for the next post in this series where I will share with you my favorite yellow polishes! Take care 

St. Patrick's Day Manicure

I thought I would share with you my st. patrick's day manicure! I am Irish and proud so of course I had to do some green nails! I didn't do any fancy nail art or anything, mostly because my stamping attempt failed. But I was still quite pleased with the end result!

On my index, middle and pinkie fingers I used the China Glaze Magnetic polish in con-fused. I am not a big fan of the magnetic polish trend, but the magnetic polishes can still be used, just without using the magnet. It's a beautiful green shade that I think is perfect for St. Patrick's Day! On my ring finger and thumb I used Julep nail polish in Adrianna, which is a gorgeous light pistachio green shade that I absolutely love. And on top of that I used the Hard Candy nail polish in Emerald's Eve, which is a great glitter topper. It's got small pieces of emerald green glitter and larger gold glitters. It made the perfect glitter topper!

Overall I really love the finished look, and I was very pleased with all of the polishes I used! I highly recommend them all! Did you do anything special with your nails for St. Patrick's day? I would love to hear about it, so leave me a comment and let me know!

Advent Calendar Nail Challenge Day 16: Inspired by a Christmas Song

Yep, I am still a couple of days behind! Sorry! But, I am super excited about the theme for Day 16! Inspired by a Christmas Song. One of my favorite Christmas songs is "Silver and Gold" by Burl Ives. I couldn't help but do a silver and gold manicure!

After I applied my base coat to protect my nails, I applied two coats of Julep's "Amity" Technically this is a white gold shade, not quite silver, but I feel like a super metallic silver color wouldn't have worked as nicely with gold. Once "Amilty" was completely dry, I sponged the gold I chose to use, China Glaze's "Mingle with Kringle" on just the tips. Then when that was dry, I added just a bit of chunky gold glitter, Elf's "Gold Star" to the tips of my nails by just dabbing the nail polish brush. Overall I think it's a beautiful manicure. I love the mix of silver and gold and the added bling that the chunky glitter adds. Gradient manicures are so fun, aren't they? Everytime I look down at my nails, I start singing that song, too, which is really putting me in the Holiday Spirit! It's just a week until Christmas! I hope you're all having an amazing Holiday season so far, and I hope you'll join me tomorrow for my next themed manicure for this challenge! See ya soon!

Advent Calendar Nail Challenge Day 11

Well, I have managed to fall a day behind in the challenge. I suspected that would happen. I am certain it won't be the last time. In fact, If I finish this challenge by the new year I will be happy. haha. The theme for Day 11 was gifts.

The purple-y shade I used is China Glaze Positively in Love. It's a magnetic polish. Obviously I did not use the magnet. The green shade is Pure Ice Not Now. And the little bows are decals that a friend from a nail polish swap group sent me that I have been wanting to use for a while. They are actually a little small for this design, but I decided to use them anyway and I think it's cute!

Advent Calendar Nail Challenge: Days 9 and 10

Today I am bringing you yet another comical attempt at nail art. I hope you're ready to laugh! Note: Ignore the abysmal state of my hands. They are dried out from the acetone I use to remove my nail polish, and I took these photos before I moisturized. Sorry!

Day 9's theme was pine. I decided to attempt little pine trees on each of my nails.

I started out with a base of Julep's Dendrie, a soft grey cream. Then I used a little nail art brush to add the tree details. The brown is Elf's Chocolate. The darker green is China Glaze Holly Day. And the khaki green shade that I used to add accents is Sinful Colors Beau Khaki. You can see some of the trees got a bit smudged, but overall, considering what a novice I am with the nail art brush, I think I did a decent job.

Day 10's theme is lights.

I used Wet n Wild Wild Shine in "French White Creme" as the base color for my nails. The Black that I used for the cord on the lights in NYC Black lace creme. I used a little nail brush to draw on the cord, and then used a small dotting tool to add the lights. The red is NYC "Big Apple Red" the purple is NYC "Purple Pizazz" and the green is NYC "High Line Green"

Hopefully as I continue on with this chalenge I get better at this whole nail art thing. At least my nail art attempts are good for a laugh!

Advent Calendar Nail Challenge: Days 7 and 8

I was so busy yesterday that I didn't find a free moment to photograph my nails and write up the blog post. I did find time to create the mani though. It's laughable, but I thought I would share it anyway. The theme yesterday was Ornaments, and so I attempted to free hand an ornament on each nail. It looks like my 5 year old did my nails, but hey, at least I tried!

I used my usual black and white. Wet n Wild Wild Shine "Black Creme" and "French White Creme" For the red, I used China Glaze "Poinsettia". The Green is China Glaze "Holly-Day" The Gold ornament is done in China Glaze "Gold Fusion". The Silver Ornament is Milani "Tricky Treat" and the Blue ornament in the Sally Hansen complete Salon Manicure in "Nightwatch"

Day 8's theme for the challenge is Starry Night"

For this design I used the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polish in "Nightwatch" as the base. It's a bit darker than it shows in the photos. Then, as accent nails I painted the Step 3 polish from the Kiss Gradation Set in Film Noir. It's a pretty holographic glitter polish that I think gives the look of a night sky spattered in stars. Then, I used the  Konad image plate number m3 and stamped the star design using wet n wild wild shine "french white creme" on the remaining nails. I love the overall look.

So there ya have my designs for days 7 and 8. Be sure to check back tomorrow when I attempt a design for day 9, when the theme will be pine!

Advent Calendar Nail Challenge Day 5: Blue!

Today's theme for the Advent Calendar Nail Challenge was blue! I couldn't decide which blue I wanted to use, so I decided to use a few of my favorites and create a sort of mix and match mani! I really love the finished result!

On my pinkie finger I simply did two coats of the Wet n Wild Fergie nail polish in the color "Havasu Blue". For my ringer finger, I did three coats of Sinful Colors "Cinderella" and on top of that I did two coats of the China Glaze glitter polish in "Bells Will be Blinging" My middle finger is Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in "Blue It" with Wet n Wild Wild Shine polish in "French White Creme" dotted on top. My index finger is the same "French white Creme" with all three of the previous blues I mentioned done in the saran wrap method on top. And my thumb is once again "French White Creme" with a design from the Bundle Monster BM02 plate stamped on using the Fergie Polish in "Havasu Blue" again. I love the way the different blues compliment one another and adding the same blues in the different designs help tie each nail together to make it look cohesive and cute! I really love this mani and I am going to be sad to take it off tomorrow, when I do day 6 of the challenge!

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Be sure to follow me so you won't miss a single day of the Advent Calendar Nail challenge plus lots more!

Advent Calendar Nail Challenge Day 3: Green!

The theme for Day 3 of the advent calendar nail challenge is green, and I was super excited for this one! I purchased a nail polish that has been on my wish list for ages a while ago and I thought this was the perfect chance to use it! There isn't much art to this particular manicure. Not like yesterday when I did the stamping. But I love it nonetheless. I just wish the picture did it more justice. I found it hard to capture how pretty this is and have it look true to color. I did my best. You all know I am no photographer.

Sorry about the dreadful photo. When I attempted to take it using the flash it turned the green polish I used this bright neon green color, that was not at all true. So this was the best i could do. I used China Glaze Holly Day as the base color. It's a gorgeous christmas tree green from a holiday collection three years ago, if I am not mistaken. And then, the star of the show is Sinful Colors Green Ocean which I put on top. It's a gorgeous green flakie polish that I believe they re-promote every year around St. Patrick's day, but that I managed to find randomly in a sinful colors display at walmart a month or two ago. I love it, and I think it makes the perfect green manicure for this challenge!

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Be sure to follow my blog so you don't miss the rest of this challenge! Tomorrow's theme is "Silver"

Advent Calendar Nail Challenge Day 2: Gold!

Day Two's theme is gold. For this one, I decided to do a bit of stamping. It's been a while since I stamped!I started out with a plain black base and then stamped with gold to fir the theme. I used a bundle monster plate, and the specifc design that I chose is a bit too small for some of my nails, especially my thumb. So instead of stamping them and having the design look wonky, I painted my larger nails- my thumb and my ring finger a sparkly gold.

The black base color is the Wet n Wild Wild Shine polish in Black Creme. I stamped my first, middle and pinkie fingers using the China Glaze polish in Gold Fusion, which is actually a magnetic polish. The magnetic polishes make great stamping polishes because they are thicker than the average polish so they work wonders. I used the bundle monster plate number BM19 and the accent nails are polished with China Glaze Mingle with Kringle. I could have used the same polish I used for the stamping, but I liked the idea of a bit of sparkle. I like the finished result a lot!

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to come back tomorrow to see the next design in the challenge. Green!

Mani Monday: A total fail in stripes!

Are you ready to laugh? What I am about to share with you is possibly the worst manicure I have ever done. It's bad. Laughable even. Honestly, I wouldn't even be showing you at all if it weren't for the fact that this week's mani monday theme is stripes. And despite my talent at stripes, I wanted to participate. So I did my best. It's ok if you laugh, honestly. I'll never know.

I wanted to do some sort of autumn-like theme, so I started out with a base color of a gorgeous copper-y colored polish- China Glaze Harvest Moon. It's so pretty. A very nice metallic copper with some really killer sparkle!

Then I grabbed my L.A. Colors art Deco striper polish in black and added some vertical stripes on each nail. They're a little sloppy, and I am not thrilled with at all with the finished look, but I did my best so I thought it was worth sharing!

Here's the finished product! I hope you enjoy or at least got a laugh! haha. Come back next week and check out my favorite nude polish!

Fall 2013 Nail Polish Picks

I feel like I just shared with you my summer picks (technically I did, I was wayyy late to that party) and here it is time to share with you all my fall polish picks. These are the polishes from my nail polish collection that I am most excited about wearing this fall. These are some pretty classic fall shades. I love dark, vampy shades in the fall as well as those sort of ugly pretty cement colors, and some darker glitters. So without furthur ado, let's get into it! You can check out my video if you want to hear more about these polishes!



OPI "Color so Hot it Berns"- This is a gorgeous true red that makes it one of those classic reds that are fantastic all year round, but I find myself wearing reds MUCH more often in the fall, of course into the winter/holiday season! "Color so Hot it Berns" is a polish that I currently only own in a mini size, but would love to have it in the full size at some point. The formula is good, the color is gorgeous! The only not so great thing is the price point. I really never like shelling out more than 5 bucks for a polish, and OPI's full size polishes run around 9 dollars. But this one is so pretty, it might just be worth the investment!

(swatch coming soon!)

Revlon Top Speed "Stormy"- This is one of those ugly pretty colors I was referring to. It's a gorgeous sort of  mushroom taupe-y color. Sort of the color of wet cement. I just love this sort of color in the fall. I feel like it's a great darker neutral! The formula on this polish is great! It applies easily, with no problems, is opaque in two coats and dries at top speed!

Sinful Colors Sinfulshine "Steel Reserve" This is a great dark steel gray polish that looks amazing on my skin tone! The sinfulshine polishes are amazing because they dry to a super shiny finish that just looks flawless! You don't even need a top coat! Of course, I always add one to keep my polish lasting a little longer, but you could totally skip that step. These polishes are super affordable, and available exclusively at walgreens, if I am not mistaken. They cost just $2.99!

Revlon "Scandalous"- This is one of my all time favorite polishes! It's a sheer black jelly base with large pieces of fuchsia glitter! This one was originally released under the name "Facets of Fuchsia" and it's just stunning. The base is a bit sheer, so I layer this one on top of a black polish for best results! The glitter in this one keeps it lasting AGES! It's a pain to get off the nail, but I don't mind because once I get it on I am never in a hurry to take it off!

(swatch coming soon)


Ulta "Material Girl" This is one of the newer polishes to my collection. I picked it up in a haul with about 7 other Ulta polishes back when they were on sale for just 2 bucks a piece. I am so glad I did because this is stunning. It's sort of a wine/berry shade with a TON of small holographic glitter in it that is just so pretty! I can't even tell you how much I adore this polish!

(swatch coming soon)

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear "Blue It" This is another super affordable polish that you NEED in you collection if you don't have it already. It's a darker blue, but it is also a bit bright, and it has sort of a metallic finish. Ok, yeah, I am terrible at describing colors, but I think the swatch speaks for itself. It's stunning, and a great fall polish on days when you want something less vampy, but still not too bright. This one is opaque in just one coat! Can't beat that!

(swatch coming soon)

E.L.F. "Copper" This is my favorite Elf polish. I love copper and bronze shades especially in the fall. It's that color of leaves turning color and it's a great polish for my skin tone. Elf's copper is a great formula and a great finish and the color is just right, in my opinion. I don't have anything else to say about it. I will just let the swatches speak for themselves!

China Glaze "Harvest Moon" is similar in color to Elf's Copper, but different enough that I felt it necessary to include this one as well, because it is so pretty! It's got tons of shimmer in it which makes it so beautiful. It's also a bit more bronze-y rather than copper. China Glaze makes some really amazing polishes, and I highly recommend you check them out if you haven't already. Especially this shade! It just screams FALL to me!


Rimmel London 60 Seconds "Sage all the Rage" I just did a nail of the day post on this polish. It's so pretty. I love a light, sage green, and this polish did not disappoint. I picked it up for just a dollar fifty, which is an amazing price. This polish dries super fast, and the color is just so pretty. I'd consider it a nice neutral for the fall time, because even though it's green, it's a pretty neutral shade of green and I feel like it would go with anything!

E.L.F."Chocolate" Beware of this polish because it will stain your nails if you are not careful and apply the proper base coat. But I think it's worth the risk because this beautiful, chocolate brown color is perfect for fall. It's a great alternative to black, in my opinion. Brown matches with everything, so it's a great neutral, but this deep chocolate shade isn't boring. I think it's so pretty. It dries to a nice shine, but I love adding a matte top coat to it because the color handles that finish so well.

Elf's chocolate topped with a matte top coat

OPI "Lincoln Park After Dark" This is such a cult classic color and is always included in people's fall polish picks, so I almost left it out, but I can't. It's the newest polish in my collection and I just love it. It's a so dark it's almost black purple that is just gorgeous. Purple is my favorite color, so of course, I would love this, and the dark dark nature of this makes this the perfect vampy autumn color! I haven't even worn this one yet and I already know it's going to be one of my all time fave polishes. OPI's formula is notoriously good and this color is just so "me"

(swatch coming soon)

Sinful Colors "Calypso" This might be my favorite out of all the polishes I have "picked" for fall. Seriously, if you only get one polish from this list, make it be Calypso! This color is a gorgeous, deep green that looks almost black in some lighting. It's so pretty. The formula on this polish is amazing. It is completely opaque in one coat, and this polish did not chip on me for 5 days! Not bad at all considering this polish will run you just $1.99! And I was lucky and caught it when it was on sale at walgreens for just 99 cents! Score!

Mani Mondays: Favorite Neon

By now you're all familiar with Mani Mondays. Where myself, and a group of nail polish junkies share our manis, which are tailored to fit a theme! You should check us out on facebook and join us if you want!! (www.facebook.com/manimondays) This week's theme is Favorite neon! You all I know I love me some neon polish and there was no way I could choose just one, so I did a little colorblock mani!

There are so many neon nail polishes out there, but I don't have a ton of them in my collection. I only have 4 or 5. But these are easily my favorite shades! I chose to use China Glaze Flip Flip Fantasy and Sinful Colors 24/7.

China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy

Flip Flop Fantasy is a cult favorite, and one I have a feeling a lot of people have in their collection. It's a gorgeous coral neon. So unique! I haven't ever seen anything like it from any other nail polish company! It's a neon, which means that it has a pretty streaky formula. Honestly, I have never used a neon that didn't! This one took three coats to be opaque and even out. I could have used less coats if I had applied it over a white base, I think, but who ha time for that? Multiple coats with neons is never a problem since they dry so quickly. And, like most neons, it dries matte. So it requires a top coat, if you want that shine!

Sinful Colors 24/7

Sinful Colors 24/7 is the perfect neon pink. It's bright and beautiful and the pictures do not do justice to this neon. Like Flip flop fantasy, this took 3 coats to be even and opaque, and also dried matte. This pink makes the skin look soooo tan, even if you're just one shade up from marshmallow like I am. I love it, and it's super affordable, which makes it that much nicer!

So for the favorite neon theme, I did a super cute color blocking mani with these polishes. On my thumb, index finger and pinkiefinger of my left hand, I painted Sinful Colors 24/7. And on my middle finger and ring finger I painted China Glaze Flip Flop Fantas. (I did the opposite on my right hand) Pink and coral go sooo good together, and I just loved the way it looked. But I decided to take it up a notch, and bring it all together with a fun glitter top coat, China Glaze Whirled Away.

China Glaze Whirled Away

Whirled away is a clear base with large hex matte white glitters as well as smaller black matte hex glitters and black bar glitter. I am not at ALL a fan of the formula of this polish. The glitter is practically impossible to get on the nail, unless you do a lot of work with it. I like to sort of dab the glitter onto the nail instead of trying to just brush it on, and that works pretty well. I wouldn't even bother with this polish, but I just love the way that it looks, so I keep going back to it despite the crappy formula. Sometimes the bar glitter curls up a little and gives you that dreaded taco glitter, but I am telling you, despite all it's kinks, Whirled away looks awesome on the nails, and I especially love the way it looks with my neon mani!!

So hopefully you guys enjoyed this mani! I definitely LOVE it, and am in no hurry to take this one off! Thanks for stopping by and checking out my mani monday! Be sure to stop by next week, when the theme will be Glitter! Can't wait for that!!

Summer Must Haves: Nail Polish Picks

Hey guys! I know it's super late in the season, but I decided to go ahead and share with you my summer nail polish picks. I chose 10 polishes that I love using in the summertime. I am not going to go into a big long intro. Let's just get on with the polish picks!  I will post photos of the polishes on my nails where possible, and otherwise, I'll do a picture of a swatch from my swatch wheel!

1. Julep Eileen- a simple white polish is fantastic in the summer. I love the look of stark white nails. I have a few white polishes, but my current fave is Jule's Eileen. It applies smoothly, if a little thick and is opaque in just one coat!

Julep's Eileen with a silver glitter top coat

2. Sinful Colors 24/7- This is a nice bright neon pink. It's super affordable. Sinful colors polishes are just 2 dollars at your local drugstore. And this is the PERFECT neon polish for summer. It dries to a matte finish, as most neons do, so if you want a shiny finish you have to add a top coat. This polish is opaque in 2-3 coats and makes you look super tan- a summer must!

sinful colors 24/7

3. China Glaze Monte Carlo- This is one of the latest polishes in my collection and I am absolutely obsessed with it. It's a bright blue toned pink that leans almost purple. I wish I had gotten this earlier in the summer because I feel like this would be all I put on my toes all season! This polish applies like a dream. I had no issues at all, other than the fact that it takes three coats to be opaque. But it dries quickly, so that's really no issue at all!

China Glaze Monte Carlo on my middle, ring and pinkie fingers

4. China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy-Here's another neon that I love in the summer. This is one of the most unique neon nail polishes on the market today, in my opinion. It's a coral neon! This is another one that makes me look super tan, which of course, makes me happy in the summer. This one requires a top coat, but it's stunning, and I love it!

China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy with a glitter top coat

5. Wet n Wild Megalast Club Havana- It wouldn't be a summer polish picks post without an orange polish. Orange is one of those colors that I think people tend to shy away from because its not as easy to pull off as pink or red. But orange is a color that I definitely embrace in the summer. Club havana is a bit muted compares to some brighter oranges in my collection, which makes it easier to pull of, and it goes well with my skin tone! The megalast formula of polishes is great! Most of them cover in one coat, and the brush is thick and flat and makes it super easy for application!

Wet n Wild Megalast Club Havana

6. Wet n Wild Megalast Heatwave- This is the perfect summer red. It's sort of a poppy red with some orange undertones. I love it! It's a gorgeous cream polish and has the same awesome brush and formula of all the other megalast polishes. This one might be my favorite megalast polish that I own, and I own quite a few!!

Wet n Wild Megalast Heatwave

7. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mint Sorbet- You might think that mint is much more of a spring color than a summer color. I disagree. I think it's one of those nail polish shades that works all year round. The sally hansen Xtreme Wear formula is awesome, and they are super affordable, at about $2.50 a bottle. This is the perfect mint shade. It applies opaque in one coat, and it's absolutely gorgeous!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mint Sorbet with a glitter accent nail

8. Sinful Colors Endless Blue- This is the perfect summer blue in my opinion. It's a bright rich royal blue, and it's stunning. It applies really nicely and is opaque in 2 coats. It's so bright and shiny and you almost don't even need a top coat. I think the name, Endless Blue, is perfect for this polish. Don't you agree?

9. Revlon Gold Coin- I feel like I include this polish in my polish picks every season, and that's because it's such a versatile polish! I love metallics all year round and this gold metallic shade is perfect for summertime! Gold coin is one of my all time fave polishes. I can't say enough good things about it. It's affordable, opaque in one coat and it's just beautiful. I wear it quite often as an accent nail with a brighter color. I love that look, and I love this polish! I highly recommend it!

Revlon Gold Coin as an accent nail

10. Revlon Girly- The last polish is one that isn't my typical summer pick, but I just love it. It's a ton of glitter in pink, purple and blue in a light pinky-purple base that is just gorgeous. I don't know if it's because I just got this one not too long ago or what but I have been wearing it a ton this summer and I love it! The base f this polish isn't opaque, so this is best layered on top of another polish. But it's gorgeous, and my final polish pick for summer.

Revlon girly on top of Sally hansen xtreme wear Lacey Lilac

So that's it for my summer polish picks! I hope you enjoyed!