Zoya Naturel Vintage Floral Stamping

I recently picked up a few colors from Zoya's amazing Naturel collection during their recent "Color Your World" promo and decided to coordinate them together in a vintage-inspired floral stamped manicure!

Candy Lacquer: Random Picks

I'm very excited to share a few polishes from an awesome polish maker whose colors I've finally tried (after eyeing them for ages!), Candy Lacquer. Her fun and fanciful color palettes, often reminiscent of delicious sweet treats, offer a delightful assortment of colors and sizes that give excellent depth and variety to her polishes.

Digital Nails Ultimate Ginger, Wibbly Wobbly, and Timey Wimey

Digital Nails Wibbly Wobbly, Ultimate Ginger, and Timey Wimey

It's Summertime out there, which means it's time for bright colors, shiny glitter, and Doctor Who! Yeah! Today I have three stunning glitters from Digital Nails that I'm really excited to share. I recently picked up Ultimate Ginger and Wibbly Wobbly, and Raphaelle was kind enough to add Timey Wimey for me to review as well. Now, onto the trio of awesome Doctor & Companion colors!

Different Dimension: Excelsior, Yours Mine and Flowers, and Squarey Hexey

Random swatches of a few more polishes I received from Different Dimension today! Here is the holographic Excelsior, pretty pastel Yours, Mine, and Flowers, and very sparkly Squarey Hexey.

Different Dimension Excelsior

Excelsior is a white-leaning-grey subtle holographic polish with multi-colored shimmer that give it a touch of sparkle and texture. I really love the balance of the holo effect with the color-- it isn't metallic-looking, and the white/grey is very soft and flattering. Plus the colorful flecks make it even more interesting and unique!

Different Dimension: Orion Nebula and Doppelgänger

More beautiful polishes (purchased or sent for review) from Different Dimension! Take a look at these two gorgeous glitters, Orion Nebula and Doppelgänger.

Different Dimension Orion Nebula over Revlon Black Lingerie

Orion Nebula contains different-sized fuchsia circle glitters in a semi-opaque black jelly base. The large circles are holographic, and absolutely stunning! The fuchsia and holo glitter contrasting against the black really give Orion Nebula a likeness to this incredible interstellar formation.

Zen Pool Nail Art

This week I decided to finally try out my nail art brush set with some "real" nail art! Jen's Nail Files is hosting a nail art contest (which ends tonight!) where participants create an interpretation of one of Darling Diva's polish names. I chose one of my favorite Darling Diva Polishes, the beautiful Zen Pool.

Borderlands Splash Screen Splatter

Anyone who's played the video game Borderlands knows, for one, that it's super awesome, and also that the art is AMAZING!

Sinister Benediction: Part Two

I hope you're ready for some color-packed polishes! Here are three stunning multichromes sent to me by Sinister Benediction, and an extravaganza of polish pictures!

Sinister Benediction Aqua Illusion over Wet n Wild Black Creme

What do you do if you see a blue indigo banana?

Try to cheer it up! Actually in this case I'd suggest painting it on asap, 'cause these polishes are super a-peel-ing! (Yeah? You see what I did there?)


Indigo Bananas Chill Out
(L to R, over Essie Lapis of Luxury, Sally Hansen Wet Cement, L'Oreal Royalty Reinvented, Essie Lapis of Luxury)

Crack-tacular and Zombie-rific!

I've been out of town with my husband visiting with his family for the past two weeks, and we had an awesome time! But I did miss out on doing more spooky manicures, so I tried to make up for it the other day with some zombie nails-- BRAAAIIINS!

Love & Beauty Mint Frosting + Fantasy Makers Glow + Sinful Colors Black Crackle

Target Beauty Bag

A couple of weeks ago I received my Target Beauty Bag in the mail, and boy was I excited-- check out the goodies!

I love the cute striped cosmetic bag they came in! I'm using it to keep my sunglasses in my purse. And below are all of the great samples that came inside.

1. Pantene Color Preserve Volume Shampoo

2. Nivea Extended Moisture Daily Lotion

3. Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes

4. Target Coupon Booklet

5. L'Oreal Paris Magic Lumi Light Infusing Primer

6. Neutrogena Visibly Bright Daily Facial Cleanser

I think my favorite product is either the Nivea Extended Moisture lotion or the Neutrogena Visibly Bright cleanser (consequently they are also the two that I purchased full-sized bottles of). The Pantene shampoo is okay; it didn't seem to lather particularly well and I needed rather a lot of it. I only used it once. The Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes are pretty nice! I've used them several times to remove a full face of makeup, which they did both effectively and fairly gently. I have somewhat sensitive skin so it's always good to find something non-irritating, although I'll probably continue to use my L'Oreal makeup remover (it's also less expensive). Honestly I don't think I used the L'Oreal Magic Lumi the way I should have. I applied it to my face over my moisturizer, and it gave my face a shimmery sheen but I wasn't really impressed with the look. So, I thought, "Primer? Let's find out!" and then applied my Revlon Colorstay foundation over that-- not a great idea. It made my pores super visible, and definitely doesn't work as a *primer*. I think if I had used it as a highlighter over my foundation, that would have worked out much better. But, I really love my Physicians Formula Happy Booster Powder as a highlighter (and it smells fantastic!) so I don't feel the need to re-purchase/retry the L'Oreal.

Also included was a wonderful little book of Target coupons for each of the products/brands included as well as a few others. So far I've only used the Neutrogena & Nivea coupons, and I seem to have misplaced my booklet for now so hopefully it turns up so I can try more stuff!

I love this moisturizer. Granted, I am a little obsessed with hand and face moisturizers in general, but the Nivea Extended Moisture works really well! It's extremely hydrating and long-lasting, and it's basically unscented so there's no, "I'm just not into smelling like raspberry pie mojitos right now" dilemma. The one thing I did notice though is that the formula of the sample and that of the mini tube are totally different. The sample was a little runny and took a little while to absorb fully, where the mini tube is much thicker and absorbs better. I like both-- they both work the same for me, I just wonder which one is the real formula. Observe in the photo below these contrasting creams:

The other product I couldn't live without was the Neutrogena Visibly Bright cleanser. Again, I just really love facial cleansers, but look-- there is gold shimmer in there, whaa? It doesn't show up on my face after I rinse, however, I love this shimmery gold soap. It also has a subtle and pleasant citrus smell that is delightful, and, oh yeah, it cleans my face pretty well, too! So, admittedly, I don't have truly convincing reasons for loving this cleanser. I don't see a dramatic change in the brightness of my face, but it certainly makes my skin feel refreshed and clean and kind of blingy, even though there really is no bling. It washes right off. (Do I want to cover to my face in gold shimmer now? Yeah, kind of. A little.)

Target actually just announced their Summer Beauty Bag giveaway yesterday, and sadly they are already all gone. So hopefully those of you who wanted one were able to grab it. After many attempts I was lucky enough to get one, so I'm looking forward to what this next one will have in store!

Now You Sea Sparkly Pink!

Ah, layering. Why have just one color when you can have several, all at once? As much as I love the shade of L'Oreal Now You Sea Me, I couldn't resist adding one of my favorite shimmery duochrome-y polishes, simply named "Blue Multi" from Forever 21's line of polishes, Love & Beauty. Oh, *and* I put CND's Crimson Sparkle over that, just to give it a little more sparkly.

L'Oreal Now You Sea Me + Love & Beauty Blue Multi + CND Crimson Sparkle

So much duochromatic shimmering goodness! I am love.

But wait, there's more! I decided it also needed some pink glitter as a "subtle" accent.

+ Forever 21 Blossom

Mmm... glitter jelly sparkle sandwich!

My Favorite Hue, Robin's Egg Blue

I was excited to see the new colors L'Oreal recently released, and found a nice display of them at my local Walgreens. There is a wide range of colors, but none terribly unique, so I just picked up a lovely shade of dusty turquoise I had seen photos of on Noelie's blog, Now You Sea Me. At first glance I wondered if it might be very similar to Sally Hansen's Gray by Gray, but here you can see that is not the case:

Sally Hansen Gray by Gray, L'Oreal Now You Sea Me

Top to bottom: NYSM, GBG, NYSM, GBG

L'Oreal Now You Sea Me

I really love both of these shades, and am glad to be able to justify owning both as they're clearly very different blues. Now You Sea Me is such a striking color, and I think works well with my cool, pinky complexion. The formula was excellent and needed only two coats, and the texture almost has that "squishy" look, I think. Glad I picked this one up, and may grab one or two more if just for the great formula and pretty bottle!