January Nail Art Challenge Day 1: Ab Initio

Someone (I can't remember who now) mentioned this challenge a couple days ago on Instagram or Twitter and I thought it looked both doable and fun, so I decided to jump in. It was after the third when I saw it, so I went straight to glitter nails and wore my first and only Urban Lacquer polish, Ab Initio.

I remember I first saw this polish on Chalkboard Nails about a year ago and was absolutely smitten. However, I have to say I was just a little bit disappointed when I finally got it and put it on, because I think they must have changed it. The glitter is really dense, which I normally like, but one of the things I'd liked about Ab Initio when I saw it on Chalkboard Nails was that the glitter was sparse enough that you could really see the different layers of glitter glow through the deep purple jelly base. While I still really like this polish and am glad I bought it, I am a bit disappointed because it wasn't how I expected. I could layer it with another purple jelly, but my only purple jelly is Milani Rad Purple, which isn't the right color at all. But I have no objection to expanding my purple jelly collection... ;) Any suggestions?

Christmas Sequin Nails

Hi, and Merry Christmas! I actually haven't ended up doing as many Christmas-themed nails as I had expected to do, partly because I had finals and then got home and didn't feel like doing anything except sleeping. I definitely wanted to do something for the actual day of Christmas, though, and I ended up doing a glitter/sequin mani with Zoya Chantal* (a part of the Naturel collection) as a base. I'm planning on reviewing Zoya Naturel soon, but I will say that when I got them in the mail I knew I was going to love Chantal - I may have finally found my "mannequin hands" shade. On my first two nails I used loose glitter from Born Pretty Store,* and on the second two I used two coats of Lac Attack Holidays at Hogsmeade.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do when I started this manicure, but I'm really happy with the way it turned out. It just so happened that the red and green loose glitter I had perfectly matched the red and green glitter in Holidays at Hogsmeade, so they went together really well, and Holidays and Hogsmeade kept the sequins from being quite so overwhelming. I think I might have to just go for full-out overwhelming and do sequins for New Year's Eve, though... ;) Enjoy the rest of Christmas while it's here!

Zoya Chantal and the Born Pretty Store loose glitter were sent to me for honest review.

Butter London Keks

Hello all! I hope you've had a pleasant weekend. I know mine has certainly gone by faster than I would've liked. Today I'd like to show you Butter London Keks, a bright medium blue polish I got as part of my Ulta Cyber Monday sale haul. I decided to try it out first, and to keep with the wintry/holiday theme, I added a few coats of OPI Lights of Emerald City on my first two fingers.

Unfortunately I didn't get around to taking pictures of this until the sun had gone down for the day, but I did manage to get a color-accurate picture of Keks under my desk lamp. I have to say, though it's not a particularly extraordinary polish, I really like Keks. It's bright, but not quite neon, and I can see myself wearing it during pretty much any season. I'm hoping to compare it with a couple of other blue polishes I have to see over break, so hopefully you'll see that post in the relatively near future. I don't know if I'll be able to post again this week since I have finals, so good luck with finals if you have them, and if not, good luck with whatever else you've got going. :) Until next time!

Dandy Nails: Chilled Down

It's December! Wait, how did that happen? If you're like me, you've been enjoying the opportunity to wear sweaters and scarves and boots and layers, and that's only going to continue into the winter months. Fall is my favorite season, but I love winter, too, and it's time to get chilled down - so today, I'm showing off Chilled Down, a Dandy Nails polish. (See what I did there? Eh? Punny.) I used three coats here.

I actually wore this way back in August, but I can definitely see myself pulling it out again now that colder weather is here. I love how unique this polish is, and the blue and gold color scheme is definitely a plus. In some ways, it's similar to Lac Attack Beauxbatons Academy, which was the very first indie polish I showcased here on Never Unpolished. Beauxbatons Academy is still one of my favorite polishes, and I think Chilled Down may be making its way up the ranks as well.

On a slightly different note, now that it's officially December and thus (in my mind) the appropriate time to start doing Christmasy stuff, I can't wait to get started on some holiday manicures. Any suggestions?

Zoya Dream

Hello again! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that you don't have too much of a food hangover. ;) Today I have Zoya Dream, a blue jelly with a scattered holo effect. It's a polish from the Zenith holiday collection for this year, and let me tell you, it's an absolute dream. This is the polish that immediately grabbed my attention when I opened the package, and editing the pictures for this post just made me want to put it right back on again. I used three coats here.

Sorry for my yellowish hands in the second two pictures - I can never seem to eliminate that without messing up the coloring of the polish, which is accurate in these photos. My favorite thing about good jelly glitters is the extraordinary depth they have, and Dream is no exception. I really want to use this in a galaxy manicure at some point and see if I can get the same illusion of depth by sponging it on a deep blue or black base. What do you think of Dream? Leave a comment and let me know!

Zoya Dream was sent to me for honest review.

A Good Man Goes to War

Hey! Remember me? Yeah...this semester just about killed me. It's definitely been my busiest so far, and it's not an experience I'm keen to repeat. The semester's coming to a close, though, and I've slept what would normally be an obscene amount over the past few days. I think I'm about caught up, and I'm definitely eager to start blogging again. I haven't even had time to paint my nails much this semester, but I do have a few posts worth of pictures on my computer. My post today is actually showcasing my current mani, Nail Pattern Boldness A Good Man Goes to War. It's a polish from her excellent Doctor Who collection, Time Traveler, so I thought it'd be appropriate to wear Monday night, when I watched the 50th anniversary episode with my friends.

A Good Man Goes to War is a bright red jelly with black square glitter, black microglitter, silver hex glitter, silver microglitter, and gold square glitter. Because of the red jelly base, it's hard for me to tell whether the glitter is silver or gold, but that's my best guess. It's actually out of stock permanently, so if I give you a huge lemming...sorry? It's so pretty that I couldn't resist sharing, though. I used three thin coats here, which I found worked best for glitter distribution. I was very happy that A Good Man Goes to War wasn't patchy like some jellies - it distributed really evenly, and I didn't even have to reposition the glitter. Very impressed! (EDIT: I just took this off...and it stains. Not too badly, but I'd recommend doubling up on base coat with this one if you want to avoid staining.)

All pictures were taken outside on a cloudy day.

Yeah...gorgeous. I am so in love with this polish. I didn't try this for the longest time because I was afraid I wouldn't like it as much as the other Time Traveler polishes I have, but I was wrong - I love it. So much. Also, the name is wonderful. I can't wait for the rest of the season...do you watch Doctor Who? What did you think of the anniversary episode? No spoilers, please!

P.S. Have a great Thanksgiving! And don't worry, you can eat as much turkey as you want, because it doesn't actually make you sleepy.

Green & Gold Sponging

Hello again! As you're reading this, I'm about to move back into my apartment for the fall semester. I'm writing this on August 11, so hopefully I will have packed by the time this is published, but you never know...I am a pretty good (bad?) procrastinator, particularly when it comes to things like packing, which you just have to undo again later. The nail art I'm blogging about today is a little something I did back in late July. I used Zoya Neely as a base, Zoya Josie, Sally Hansen Green with Envy, and another green (the darkest bits) that is escaping my memory right now for the green sponging, and added a little bit of China Glaze Blonde Bombshell for some sparkle. On a side note, Blonde Bombshell is pretty much the best gold glitter ever, and you should get it now. But anyway, back to the sponging ---

I was very happy with how this turned out. The green sponging is subtle, but pretty, and the gold glitter adds an extra bit of oomph that makes the whole thing pull together. I thought after completing the manicure that it was more of a spring-y sort of nail art, but, ehh, who cares? I say wear whatever you want all year round, whether it's your clothes or you nail polish. Though I do tend to be a bit more versatile with polish, since it's not affected by the whole weather thing. ;)

P.S. The background for my pictures is a page of Mental Floss magazine, which is my favorite magazine ever in the entire world ever. I was reading it at work on lunch break, which is when I took these pictures.

Zoya Carter

Zoya Carter is one of the polishes from this year's fall PixieDust collection. Of course, since it's purple I had to try it first - and, since it's purple, of course I loved it. It was opaque in three quick coats, and quite easy to control (i.e., not get all over my fingers). I only wish the PixieDust polishes were easier to remove. I always have such a hard time getting them off, even with the foil method! I think most of them are worth it, though, and I really like Carter. Unfortunately, my mani was a little chipped by the time I got around to taking pictures.

As far as the color accuracy, Carter is a little warmer and redder than my picture shows - I took pictures with all the cameras in the house under all the different lighting situations I could find, and this is the closest I could get to what Carter looks like in real life. Suffice it to say, if you like purple and glitter, you should probably get this. Because purple. And glitter. Right? ;) Have a great rest of the week! I'm having my wisdom teeth taken out tomorrow, so wish me luck.

P.S. In case you were wondering what the green on the side of the bottle is, that would be the remains of Chita. Sadly, she did not make it to my door in one piece, but many. And boy, let me tell you what a mess that was to clean up...I had to leave it out on the front step for a while before I could even bear to bring it into the house. 

Zoya Carter was sent to me for honest review.

Lac Attack Crazy Girl

Hello there! Fortunately my fingers are all back to normal, though I still have no idea what was making them peel like that (see last post). They were actually better by the end of June, but I decided to take another month off to figure out how I wanted to structure this blog going forward. I did miss blogging, of course, and I still checked Feedly like a maniac, but I thought it was important to really decide how I wanted to continue. I no longer have the time to post several times a week like I used to, and that has led to me blogging in fits and starts, which makes me stressed when I'm doing it and lazy when I'm not. So, I decided that I will blog once a week from here on out - of course, if I'm ahead and feel like writing an extra post once in awhile, that's great, but I'm attempting to have a balanced life (imagine that!) this semester. I don't want to put too much pressure on myself, but I love blogging, so...yeah. I'm not going anywhere. With that said, I'm super excited to show you a polish from one of my favorite indie sellers, Lac Attack. Crazy Girl is a simple but super fun polish that has red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, and light pink hex glitter. You can see a not-quite-color-accurate bottle shot to the left.

A Different Kind of Galaxy

Hi there! I've done several galaxy manicures of this variety in the past, but after wearing Living Water by itself for a day or two, I thought I'd try a different kind of galaxy manicure. I sponged Sinful Colors Nail Junkie and Sally Hansen Laser, then topped it off with a coat of Claire's Starstruck. I did have to place the star glitter from Starstruck, but other than that it was quite an easy manicure, and I enjoyed wearing it for the day.

Sorry for the green glow on my nails in some of the pictures...the top coat was apparently so shiny that I reflected the trees and grass in almost every picture. Other than that, the pictures are pretty accurate.
In other news, I might not be posting a lot for a while...my fingers recently started peeling profusely for no particular reason I can discern. This occurs despite the heavy moisturizing I've been doing over the past couple of days, and it doesn't really make for nail pictures that are pleasant to look at. So, until whatever it is quits or is abated, I won't be taking any new pictures. I do have one manicure left in my archives, but that's it, so...yeah. Hopefully my fingers will be back to normal soon?

Cult Nails Living Water

Aaaaand, it's Friday! I bought Living Water soon after it came out in early 2011 as part of the Cult Nails Inaugural Collection. The first time I tried it, I'll be honest - I didn't like it that much. I was disappointed, and I never got around to taking pictures to post here. I decided to give it another try, and boy, am I glad I did! The picture to the left is a macro of one of my nails. I used two coats of Living Water sandwiched between Duri Rejuvacote (which I'll post about soon) and two coats of Cult Nails Wicked Fast top coat. The second coat of top coat was necessary to make Living Water completely glossy, but it was definitely worth it.

A Summery Gradient

Hello again! Today I'll be showing you a manicure I did several weeks ago, after I tried Zoya Beatrix. I thought Beatrix and Destiny looked really nice together, so I decided to do a gradient. I used Beatrix as a base and sponged Destiny on top, then finished off with a couple coats of top coat.

Nail Pattern Boldness: Slow Invasion

Hello again! I've finally resurfaced from the haze of finals and moving back home for the summer...I still haven't finished unpacking, but let's not talk about that. Instead, let's talk about the fabulous polish I have for you today! I ordered some of the polishes from Nail Pattern Boldness's Time Traveler collection, which is based on Doctor Who, my favorite currently running TV show. Between that and my Harry Potter polishes from Lac Attack, my Melmer is getting nerdier and nerdier, and I love it!

I decided to try Slow Invasion first. If you watch Doctor Who, you'll know that the Slow Invasion was a gradual invasion of Earth by the Shakri cubes, through which the Shakri intended to kill all humans on Earth. Fortunately, the Doctor saved the day, but I mention this because all the glitter in the nail polish Slow Invasion is - yep, you guessed it - square shaped like the cubes. Pretty clever, huh? Not only that, it's an awesome polish in its own right. I did a gradient over Revlon Royal, but you can get an idea of the dusty, teal color of Slow Invasion's base from the bottle shot above and to the left.

Zoya Beatrix

Hello again! Here I am taking another study break...my first final is tomorrow, so I've been napping studying a lot. Today I'm showing you Zoya Beatrix, a tangerine that's perfect for the 80º weather we're having in St. Louis right now. I don't like the color of Beatrix quite as well as Destiny just because it's not as vibrant, but it's a very pretty orange and I will definitely be wearing it again this summer. This was two coats.

Zoya Destiny

Can we spend a moment admiring how gorgeous Zoya Destiny is?

Zoya Godiva

So, it's been almost a month since I last posted - and guess what I've been doing since then? As I'm sure will shock you all, schoolwork. You may notice a pattern in my posts that come after a month-long absence, which is that I'm not any less busy, I've just reached the point where I have to blog because I can't stand not doing it any more. That is once again the case today, partly because I have an 8-10 page paper due tomorrow that I don't want to write. Instead, I'm writing this post about Zoya Godiva, a polish I tried out about a month ago (bottle shot to the left). It wasn't one I thought I'd like, but as it turns out, Godiva is classy and has an understated beauty that I very much like.

indoors, artificial light

Butter London Henley Regatta

Hello! I don't know how many of you live in the Midwest, but we're getting quite the spring blizzard right now in St. Louis. It's been snowing furiously all day, and we're supposed to get 8-10 inches. (I wrote that yesterday. We did get 8-10 inches. Or more.) I have to say, I'm beginning to get a little confused about what month it is! Anyway, today I tried my first Butter London polish, Henley Regatta. I decided to do an accent manicure, so I chose Zoya Kelly, one of my favorite grays. I used two coats of Kelly and four coats of Henley Regatta (it really only needed three, but I added an extra just because). The first picture is in my light box with artificial light, and the second is in my light box with natural light.

Sequined Savita

It's finally the weekend! Between getting my midterm grades back and the massive amount of homework I had this week, I'm definitely glad it's Saturday...mostly so I can catch up on my schoolwork. Exciting, right? More exciting is the addition I made to Zoya Savita after wearing it by itself. Born Pretty Store was kind enough to send me some items to review recently, and I decided to try the loose glitter sequins with Savita. I used a dotting tool to place them on my thumb and ring finger after adding Wet 'n' Wild Clear to make the nails tacky, and added Cult Nails Wicked Dry on top.

I absolutely love Savita with top coat! I don't think you can go wrong with a good, rich, glowing purple, and I like that it doesn't look weird on my nubbins like some shimmers do. The sequins took a while to place, but I definitely think it was worth it. They laid down nice and flat, so I didn't have to use tons of top coat, which is always nice. I've seen lots of sequin manicures that I really like, so I can't wait to try some more now that I have sequins of my own! You can purchase these here, and if you use my coupon code, ZR5X31, you can get 10% off (I don't get anything if you use the code). Enjoy!

The glitter sequins were provided to me by Born Pretty Store for unbiased review.  I was not compensated for the post.

Not a St. Paddy's Day Manicure

I actually had a St. Patrick's Day mani all planned out. I planned it last night, in fact. And then I went ahead and painted my nails pink and glittery, because I forgot that today was St. Patrick's Day. Whoops. I'm just going to blame it on spring break, because when I'm not at university, I have no idea what day of the week or date it is. Anyway, I really like this manicure and didn't want to take it off after less than 12 hours of wear, so here we are! Maybe this is for St. Patty's Day instead of St. Paddy's Day? (Hint: If you didn't know, Patty is a girl's name in Ireland.)

Zoya PixieDust: Chyna

Happy Saturday! My mom's coming up to visit today, and while I should have spent this morning working on my literature review and EMTALA presentation for Monday, I painted my nails and watched YouTube instead. Story of my life. Anyway, I have to admit something - I went about a week this week without painting my nails...and it wasn't horrible. I think I'm getting to the point where I don't feel like I *need* to have my nails painted all the time, though I still feel more polished when I have a nice mani on. Anyway, it was still definitely time to paint my nails, and since my samples of Zoya PixieDust arrived yesterday, I thought I'd try one out. I picked Chyna just because it looked so freaking gorgeous in the bottle - I just can't resist a glittery red. I used two coats, and two coats of top coat (Cult Nails Wicked Fast) in the second two pictures. All of these were taken in my lightbox.

While I was really feeling iffy about the PixieDust polishes from looking at the press release and promo stuff, I actually really liked Chyna. The textured effect was not as obvious (or as weird or gross) as I thought it might be, and turned out to be quite the cool effect. I'm now very much looking forward to trying the rest of the collection.

And now, I have a little questionnaire posted by the lovely Elizabeth of Life and Polish! I haven't done anything like this in quite a while, so I thought it would be fun.

1. How many foundations do you own?
None, actually! I do, however, love Pixi Illuminating Tint & Conceal, which is a wonderful tinted moisturizer I use sometimes.

2. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?
Well, it depends on whether or not you count the amount of time I spend convincing myself to actually get out of bed...but usually 30 to 45 minutes including shower and breakfast.

3. Do you have a go-to makeup look?
If mascara is a go-to look, yes. I also go with mascara and lip stain quite a lot.

4. What about nails, a go-to nail polish look?
Not really, actually. Just whatever happens to catch my fancy.

5. How often do you try new skin care products?
Not very often. When I find something I really like, I tend to stick with it for as long as I can. I do like to experiment, though.

6. Steak, chicken or fish?
Since it's Lent right now and I gave up red and white meat and popcorn, I have to say fish. :)

7. What is your favorite lip balm?
Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm with Peppermint! I literally never use anything else. It's my number one "beauty" staple (I'm going to argue it's a beauty staple because, you know, chapped lips ≠ pretty).

8. When did you start wearing makeup consistently?
Actually only in the past year or so. I've really made an effort recently to always wear at least mascara, because I feel like mascara alone makes so much difference in both my appearance and how put-together and confident I feel.

9. Do you find you look older or younger with makeup on?
Definitely a bit older.

10. How many lipsticks do you own?
Only one that I actually use, which is Maybelline Red Revival, a classic bold red. I also have two lip stains, Pixi Lip Blush in Love (which they no longer make! sad) and Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain. While I absolutely love the products I have, I also want to expand my collection of lipsticks and lip stains. I don't really have any paler pink shades, so I'd like to work on that.

11. What beauty product do you wish was still made?
Ohmygoodness Pixi Lip Blush. It is my absolute favorite thing ever (okay, maybe that's a bit of an overstatement), and Love is one of those shades that looks good on everyone. I really wish I'd had the chance to get the other shades before the discontinued it. Pixi still makes lip stains, but they're not the same product or the same colors. I haz a sad.

Feel free to do this survey if you like, and have a great weekend!

This product was provided to me for review.