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.

Red Gradient

Hey there! Today's my first post as a 20-year-old, and I decided that my birthday present to myself was going to be no homework or studying (except for the final edit of my paper this morning), so I've been watching Whose Line is it Anyway and painting my nails all day. :) The manicure I took off today was the one I'm showing you now - I made a red sponged gradient using Borghese Sonata Berry, Rimmel Rapid Red, and OPI Red My Fortune Cookie. I wasn't sure how well it would turn out, but I really liked the results.

I always forget how much I like dark red polish until I put it on...it somehow has the effect of immediately making me feel classier. Borghese Sonata Berry is the perfect dark red because it's dark, but not so dark that it looks black. With the other two reds added, I think it makes the perfect gradient! 

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.

How to Keep Up with Never Unpolished

Happy Friday! I thought I'd do a quick post on ways you can keep up with Never Unpolished after the demise of Google Reader and Google Friend Connect (GFC), both of which will happen this summer. I have to confess I'm not too terribly sorry to see GFC go, as I never thought it was a particularly convenient way for me to read blogs. However, I was initially quite upset to hear that Google Reader would be discontinued - but don't worry, there are lots of other options for following your favorite blogs!

Facebook

Bloglovin

Google+

Twitter: This is my blog Twitter and my personal Twitter, and while I tweet all my blog posts, I also tweet lots of other stuff. So if you don't want to see that...I warned you. ;)

Pinterest: I have a board on Pinterest for just my blog (which is what I linked to), and I also have a couple boards for others' manicures and nail art.

RSS

If you'd like a recommendation for a service to import your Google Reader feeds into, I've switched over to Feedly after trying out a few different services, and I love it.

Zoya Savita

Hello again! I wasn't planning on having time to blog today, but I had one of those pleasant days where you think you're going to be super busy and it's actually not that bad, so here I am. I absolutely love the Zoya Matte Velvet winter collection from 2009 - it's one of my favorite Zoya collections despite the fact that there are only three of them, simply because they're all so fantastic. I love the rich colors, I love the satin effect that you get with a matte shimmer, I love how they glow with or without top coat, I love that they're opaque in two coats...the only thing I don't love is the fact that they chip like crazy if you don't wear top coat, but I suppose the upside to this is that since they're matte and dry quickly, touch-ups are easy to do.

Man. Just look at that gorgeousness. If you have Savita (or Harlow or Veruschka), cherish it, because Zoya doesn't sell it any more. If you don't, find a friend who does and borrow it immediately, even if you don't like mattes - it looks great with top coat on, which I'll be showing you next time along with a little bedazzling (a.k.a. glitter). In the meantime, have a great day!

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.)