Bad Moon Rising Jelly Sandwich

Hello there! I hope you're all having a lovely Wednesday. I've been having a hectic couple of weeks, with a 6-page paper, two presentations, and a literary review (part of a 20-page paper; the whole thing will be due on my birthday in May) in the past week and a half, so needless to say I haven't had time for much recreational activity, except sleeping. Yes, that is considered a recreational activity now. But I'm taking a brief break today to write a blog post! And by brief break, I mean I just woke up and am not awake to go back to outlining journal articles yet. Either way, I have a jelly sandwich to show today, which is one of my favorite kinds of manicures, even though it's hell to remove. I used Zoya Frida and Lac Attack Bad Moon Rising.

Aren't they gorgeous together! I love Bad Moon Rising, and I think it went perfectly with Frida. This is actually the first time I've used one of the Zoya jellies and not taken it off immediately, because I really don't like them on their own. Now that I've tried (and loved) this combination, though, I might have to try jelly sandwiches with the other two!

P.S. I forgot to mention the fact that the lit review and the 6-page paper are still not done...and due Friday...what am I doing blogging?!

Grey-on-Grey Nail Art

Hello hello! I have good news, bad news, and more good news. Good news: it's almost Friday. Bad news: it's not Friday. Good news: I have some awesome nail art for you today! I started out wanting to do something like a henna pattern on my nails, but it ended up being some weird-but-cool combination of flowers, dots, and whatever random patterns I could come up with Monday night/Tuesday morning at 12:30 AM...yeah, that happened. Fortunately, all went well and I was very happy with the way this turned out! Of course, it doesn't look as good in macro because you can see all the little mistakes and imperfections, but hopefully you get the idea.

left hand

right hand

You even get to see my right hand! I'm not sure "get to" is the right phrase, though, as my right hand is a bit gross compared to my left hand since I'm (case in point: writing callus on my middle finger). For the dark grey, I used Pure Ice Kiss Me Here, and the light grey is acrylic paint. I think it's probably a good thing I did grey-on-grey, because I think if I had used multiple colors it just would've looked nuts! As it is, though, I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Layla Flash Black

Hello again! I've made it through the first few weeks of the semester, and I think I *might* be figuring out how to both do my homework and have free time (where I'm not procrastinating)...maybe. We'll see. At any rate, at least I have time to write a couple blog posts now and then! I really miss being more active on Never Unpolished, but of course school has to come first. A few weeks ago I finally tried my bottle of Layla Hologram Effects in Flash Black - what took me so long, I have no idea. I also tried out my brand-spanking-new light box, which I got for myself with Christmas money. I really love it, but I accidentally dropped one of the lights on the floor tonight when I was taking pictures of my current manicure, so now I only have one light. Oops. Anyway, here's Flash Black:

Gorgeous, no? I'm so glad I got this while I had the chance - now I just have to get a purple holo...and a red holo...and all of the holos... ;) You can never have enough holos, right? That's what I thought. Have a great day!

Zoya PixieDust PR

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Shipping January 15, 2013

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Instructions for Zoya PixieDust application:

·         Clean and prep nail using Zoya Remove +
·         Magic Time! Apply 1 thin coat of Zoya PixieDust to each nail  - allow to dry completely (will appear matte with sparkle).
·         Apply an 1-2 coats of polish (allowing each to dry) as desired. We suggest 2-3 thin coats of Zoya PixieDust for a full coverage manicure.
·         That’s it - Done! You now have the latest textured nail look in the famous long-wearing, Big5Free Zoya PixieDust Nail Polishformula!

NOTE: Zoya PixieDust Nail Polish dry times are a little slower than with traditional polish but once dry, the Zoya PixieDust formulation will provide extended wear.
Best results are achieved by using the product alone. No basecoat or topcoat required. Layering of the Zoya PixieDust formulation with other polishes may produce less than desirable results.

Remove Zoya PixieDust by saturating a cotton pad in Zoya Remove + and pressing to nail for a few seconds. Repeat on each nail for best results.

Eyeko Military Polish

Hello, and I hope your Mondays are going well! I started class today and had Research Methods from 1:10 to 2:00 and then Contemporary Challenges in the U.S. Health Care System from 2:30 to 5:00. Research Methods sounds like it's going to be kind of scary - it's never a good sign when the professor starts class by saying, "this is the worst class you will have as an undergraduate." Eek! Good thing I only have 15 hours this semester, and no honors classes. Tomorrow I'll have Intro to African-American Studies (which I'm taking as a core "U.S. Diversity" requirement), Issues in Political Philosophy, and my English class, which is on Muslim women in literature.

But more importantly (on here, anyway), I'm wearing Eyeko Military Polish for the first time today! I don't even remember where I got my bottle at this point, but I've had it for at least a year and hadn't worn it, so I figured it was about time. I used two coats, and I took this picture before I applied top coat.

Unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan of Military Polish. From the way it looked in the bottle, I thought it might be a little more green, but in most lights, it just looks brown with a green tinge. It's nice, but not quite what I expected. I've been collecting a few polishes that I don't think I want, and I think this will go in that pile. I think I might have a blog sale once I have enough to get rid of, but I feel like it would be a huge hassle. Anyway, we'll see!

Lac Attack Beauxbatons Academy

GUYS. I am so super excited about this polish. It's the first indie nail polish on Never Unpolished (I know, I'm behind the times), and it couldn't be more deserving of the title. I was so thrilled about this beauty that I went out and stood around in the damp and chill taking pictures of my nails, probably confirming my neighbors' opinion that I am strange - and I guess they wouldn't be wrong. In any case, Beauxbatons Academy is absolutely gorgeous. I used four coats, but it was definitely worth it, and it hasn't shown any signs of wear so far (I've worn it for two days as I type this). As always, you can click the pictures to enlarge them, and I strongly encourage it with this one. So pretty!

China Glaze Whirled Away

Good morning! It is still morning for a few minutes, right? Today I'm writing about a polish that everyone knows by now - but it's still amazing. China Glaze Whirled Away came out as part of the Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away collection (which my local Sally's still doesn't have - get on the ball!), and it's a black and white glitter topper that positively makes my socks roll up and down. Here, I wore it with Sally Hansen Blue Away.

Unfortunately, my top coat bubbled on several of my finges - oh, the vicissitudes of top coat! However the bubbles weren't as visible in real life as they are in the picture, so I quite enjoyed wearing this manicure yesterday. 

In related news, I seem to be on another blue kick. Before this mani, I was wearing Zoya Blu from the Lovely collection, and as I type this, I'm in the process of applying another (mostly) blue polish, which I'll show you next. Hint: it's nerdy. :)

Have a great day!

Zoya Lovely Swatches & Review

Happy New Year! It sure seems like 2012 went by quickly...and here I am reviewing Zoya's spring collection for 2013, Lovely. I have to say, I wasn't too excited about most of the colors in Lovely, but I ended up liking a few of them.

sunlight

shade

Piaf is a medium yellow with silver shimmer. I used three thin coats, though two thick ones would probably do just as well. I wasn't really a fan of this one...I tend not to like warm colors with silver shimmer, so the first three polishes in this collection were at a disadvantage from the start.

White Christmas

Hello again! Thanks bunches to those of you who have stuck around during my semester-long hiatus - I really appreciate it. Today I have some Christmas nails that, while I like them, aren't quite up to par in my opinion, at least on one of the nails. In my defense, I packed in a huge hurry because I had to pack and move out pretty much right after finishing my last two finals, and therefore forgot important nail art implements like...well...all of my nail art implements. Except toothpicks - I have toothpicks. So, this is a toothpick friendly manicure. What do you think?

 

Aaaaand I'm Back! Zoya Lovely PR

Hello again! It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry I've been gone for so long - I've really missed blogging, but just didn't have time with everything I had going on this semester. In retrospect, I don't have the faintest idea why I thought taking 18 credit hours was a good idea, considering that half of them were honors and that I'm also in an a cappella group and that I volunteered for the Obama campaign this semester...yeah, don't know what I was thinking. At any rate, I got my grades back yesterday, and while they were still quite good, I'm definitely not trying anything like that again.

I'll be back with a proper post soon, but for now I wanted to show you the press release for the Zoya Lovely collection coming out this spring. I'm not a huge pastel person, but I think these look really pretty and I can't wait for my samples to come in the mail!