Maybelline Sunlight

I picked this up a few weeks ago at Walgreens, it was part of Maybelline's Springs 2011 Sweet Thing Collection. This particular shade is called "Sunlight," and it's a kind of dusty, shimmery white gold. Honestly, I looked at the bottle and thought, "Please look just like Moxie." (à la Rescue Beauty Lounge) which is currently sold out but will be returning soon, along with a few others, in the "Bring It Back" event.

Here is Moxie:

(clipped to polyvore.com)

And here is Maybelline's Sunlight:

I really love the pale, dusty gold color, although the formula is quite sheer, and I believe this was four coats. From what I can tell, the shade is similar to Moxie. However Moxie's formula is supposed to be excellent where this one took more coats than I'd like to achieve opacity, and still had visible nail line.

Scrangie has a gorgeous swatch of the real Moxie here, and you can see the formula looks more opaque and the color more luminous. But hey, for five bucks it was worth trying anyhow!

Physicians Formula Baked Bronzer in Baked Tan

This is the first bronzer I've tried actually, and so far I've been quite pleased with it. I'm rather fair-skinned and didn't think I'd find a bronzer that would suit my complexion. Lately I've been really into mineral powders (and "baked" blushes and such) for my face; I like the subtle, dewy glow they give, especially for the summer. This can be used wet or dry, and blends very nicely, with a nice little shimmer in it to give a touch more summer glow.

I'm still learning what the best application is, but I like to lightly sweep it across my cheeks to give them a bit more depth. It's suggested to apply it where the sun would naturally give your face more color.

Blended, Unblended

I picked this up at WalMart for ~$10, and I believe I saw it at Target as well. They also carry a slightly darker shade called Baked Bronze.

Zoya Zara

One of my favorite Zoya polishes, which combines my love of purple and gold shimmer. Zara goes on a little sheer but looks lovely after three coats.

I think it has a very "Spring" feel to it, but I'll definitely being wearing her all year round. The gold and purple compliment each other so nicely. I've been a bit obsessed with gold shimmer recently, in my polishes, lipsticks, and even blushes. I love the warmth and sparkle it adds in the Summertime.

I also made my first attempt at striping with tape, but I don't think the color I chose (Nubar's Indigo Illusion) contrasted enough with the orchid-plum purple. And as you can see I didn't clean up around my nail much either! There are some pretty cool designs you can create with just tape, although I'd really like to try nail stamping, too.

Skittle Mani?

The other week my indecisiveness led me to try a "skittle" mani with a spring-inspired palette and lots of flakey goodness. I just can't get enough of Nubar 2010 and am always surprised and very pleased with how it looks over different colors.

From thumb to pinky I have Nubar 2010 layered over Nubar Wildlife, Zoya Pru, Nubar Indigo Illusion, OPI It's Totally Fort Worth It, and Zoya Dannii.

I still need to learn and perfect a good nail clean-up method. I've tried using both a cotton swab and also a paintbrush dipped in acetone to clean around the edges. Maybe I have the wrong type of brush because that was painfully difficult and took forever! For now I am in the bad habit of simply waiting until it is dried, washing my hands and trying to peel off the excess. >.>;;