Have a Zaptastic Day!

Nothing to Disclose

OK friends. I normally wouldn't do this, but this competition is SUPER important to my team and I, and the prize is amazing. (and one of the judging criteria is page views and interaction!)

At my job (Zappos.com), there is currently an internal contest going on to kind of explain the Zappos culture and strategy. Part of this competition is to create a video that represents that information in a fun and unique way. My team chose to do a time lapse video of me drawing images that represent the ideas we're talking about.

Trust me- not as boring as it sounds!! lol  Plus- you get to see some nail art that I created in the spirit of Zappos!

My team and I would love if you would watch the following video, give it a thumbs up, and if you have the time, leave a comment! It would make our day!


It's a Wash!

Press Sample


Do you ever have one of those days where you're inspired to create some nail art...and you're lucky enough that it turns out EXACTLY how you envisioned it? The day I created this design was definitely one of those days for me. It was after I watched an episode of Project Runway, and I was inspired by a rug, of all things. :D I liked how the colors messily faded from one color to the next, and I knew I wanted to do it in a cream/turquoise/navy color scheme. I feel like I'm inspired by rugs a lot...weird. Either I look down a lot, or I have a thing for rugs? (not bad toupee rugs though)

For this design, all I did was paint the cream color as a base, then grabbed my turquoise polish, wiped all the excess polish from the brush, then brushed the polish lightly from the tip toward the cuticle, stopping about 2/3 of the way down. Next, I did the same with my navy color, only going 1/3 of the way down, so both the cream and turquoise would show. I tried to make the strokes look semi-messy and distressed looking. I topped it off with topcoat and was good to go! I got so many comments on these nails, and I absolutely loved them (so much so that I touched up the navy when I got tip wear, and I'm still wearing them a week later!!).






I used:

Cream: Illamasqua Load
Turquoise: Morgan Taylor West Coast Cool
Navy: Morgan Taylor Polished Up Punk

Base Coat: Glisten & Glow Stuck on Blu
Top Coat: Glisten & Glow HK Girl

Tell me in the comments about a time where your next art turned out exactly as you envisioned!


Disclosure: Some of the items in this post were provided by the manufacturer for consideration. 

Do I Need a Loub-otomy? Christian Louboutin Rouge Louboutin Swatches & Review

Nothing to Disclose



Yeah. I did it. I didn't mean to, it just sort of...happened. I feel a little nauseated, a little giddy, and a little guilty. I just wanted to look at it. To hold it. I shouldn't have brought my purse. When I reached the apex of that moving sidewalk in front of the Venetian Sephora, my heart skipped a beat...maybe two. I was within feet of having my hands on a bottle of the first nail polish from fabulous shoe designer Christian Louboutin. You know, to hold. Not to buy.

My first mistake was applying it to a single nail...at first. Then I found my way to the Nail Studio...I had to try this stuff on naked nails, surely it couldn't be a one coat red, could it? I removed the Elevation Polish Yeti Finds an Oasis that I've had on my nails for the last couple of days and sped back toward the entrance, where there was a glorious display of those spiked bottles of red awesomeness. I don't think I have to tell you the rest of the story, I think it's fairly obvious where this is going! :-P

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know I'm not partial to reds. There are a few standouts, but on the whole, I'd rather spend my money on other colors. So why, you ask, was I so entranced by this red? I'm not going to lie. It was the packaging. I'm SUCH a sucker for great packaging, and this is GREAT packaging. It's sexy, dangerous, and sleek, and is a polish that is definitely not going to live inside a Helmer (not to mention the fact that it wouldn't really fit!).

I will admit, that even with the astronomical price tag, I was expecting a microscopic bottle. I was wrong, it's a fairly decent sized bottle which contains .4 fl oz of polish vs. a .5 fl oz bottle of Seche. The formula, as I mentioned above, is quite opaque, and I was able to obtain full coverage in one coat. For the pictures in this post I used one coat of polish and NO top coat. It is REALLY that shiny.






Let's address the price. Yes, it's expensive. Yes, it should paint my nails, and then buy me dinner for that price. I'll be the first to admit that I probably shouldn't have purchased it, but I have little to no willpower, especially when two of my favorite things collide–nail polish and shoes. Who knows, I may have buyer's remorse when I wake up tomorrow at 4:45 am for work, but maybe not, because dammit, I'm worth it.

This nail lacquer can be purchased at select Sephora stores and at Sephora.com, as well as Saks 5th Avenue, and Christian Louboutin boutiques for $50 USD.

What do you think? Would you have splurged on it? HAVE you splurged on it? Do I need a 'loub'-otomy? Tell me in the comments below!

Cosmoprof 2014 - NUBAR




This year at Cosmoprof, I had the pleasure of meeting with Aimee of Nubar to hear about their current and upcoming collections, and I'm so excited to show you! I've been a Nubar fan for quite a few years now, one of my all-time favorite polishes is a Nubar polish- Nubar Milk Chocolate Creme! Now that I think about it, I have quite a few favorite polishes that were born in the Nubar factory! Their Sparkles collection, the Fortress collection, ahhh! So many! No to mention, my nail art brushes came from Nubar, and I am pretty sure I'd have a hard time living without them–I've been using them for close to 4 years!

First up are two collections that are available this summer, the Social Butterfly collection and the World Champions collection!

The Social Butterfly collection couples pale springy pastels with a handful of fun, bold, and bright accent colors!
The World Champions collection is a mix of all the colors needed to create the country flags for the teams that played in the World Cup! This would be excellent for the Olympics as well! All the colors in this collection are existing core colors. (Thumb courtesy of Krystal of www.PolishGalore.com :-P)


Next up is the Fall 2014 collection, FALLing in Love, which is available in August 2014! The colors in this collection all contain mica for a subtle shimmer that is sure to make you fall in love! (See what I did there?) Below I've shown my favorites of the collection: First Date (mustard with golden shimmer) and Sweet Hue (hot pink with golden shimmer). Aren't they gorgeous? I'm dying over First Date- I LOVVVVEE an ugly yellow polish (and I mean that in the BEST way possible!!). Click to see larger versions!

The FALLing in Love Collection gets its subtle shimmer from mica, which is in each color!
NUBAR First Date
NUBAR Sweet Hue
And last, but not least, other products coming up from Nubar are a Matte Gelicure topcoat, which will be out this fall, and a long-wearing gel-like lacquer topcoat called PoliCure, which is not UV-cured, and will be released at a later date. 

What are you most excited about? Do you agree with my picks for the top colors in the FALLing in Love collection? Tell me in the comments below!


Proof of Concept(tion)

Nothing to Disclose Press Sample



Holy cow. Today I celebrate the 12th anniversary of my 21st birthday. In other words...I'm now 33. Woah. Were you like me all those years ago as a dorky girl in my early teens looking up to those 30-year-olds you knew, thinking how impossibly cool (and old) they were? Yeah, now I'm beginning my 4th year of BEING one. Lucky for me, I don't feel my age...unless you count the tendonitis in both of my elbows from serving, and the fact that when I move (anything), I make a cacophony of creaks and cracks.

Anyway, to celebrate this blessed? day... I decided to do a non-conventional design on my nails...I really went back allll the way to the beginning...you know, somewhere in Aug/Sept 1980. :-D

Please excuse my thumb wound, Homer the Land Shark got me while we were playing...


moonicure monday, proof of concept(ion), nail art

moonicure monday, proof of concept(ion), nail art

moonicure monday, proof of concept(ion), nail art




Chew on This

Press Sample


If you've been a member of the internet-browsing public today (which you obviously are, since you're reading this), you've probably seen in your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and every other feed that today is May 4, otherwise known as Star Wars Day, so May the Fourth Be With You! Though I have never (yes, you read that correctly, NEVER) watched a single Star Wars movie, despite being nearly 33 years of age, and having had several attempts on tricking me out of my Star Wars virginity, I felt the need to do Star Wars nails today. I decided to do a nail art interpretation of Chewbacca, complete with 'fur', which I had to 'make' myself by trimming brown pipe cleaners. Can you believe that no one had flocking when I looked at a couple different craft stores today? The people at Joann's had no idea what I was even talking about when I asked about it! *sigh* Kids these days.

Anyway. Things I learned from this manicure:

Never blow excess fuzz off your nail over the paper plate full of pipe cleaner trimmings.
Never cough over paper plate full of pipe cleaner trimmings.
Never rub your eye with pipe cleaner trimming nails.
Do not breathe at all during this manicure, fuzz fill end up inside your nose and tickle.

chewbacca, star wars, nail art, chewy, fuzzy, flocking

chewbacca, star wars, nail art, chewy, fuzzy, flocking

chewbacca, star wars, nail art, chewy, fuzzy, flocking

I used:

Brown: Nubar Milk Chocolate Creme
Silver: Morgan Taylor Could Have Foiled Me

Basecoat: Morgan Taylor Stick With it


What do you think, Chewy enough?  Did you do a Star Wars manicure? Tell me in the comments below!

Disclosure: Products in this post were provided for review by the manufacturer. See the legal page disclosure for more information.

Fit for a Goddess?

Purchased By Me Press Sample


Today I have yet another of the designs that I posted on Instagram (Follow me at: thedailynail) for the 31 Day Challenge a few months ago. The theme of the day was 'Blue'. For the theme, I went back to my days in India and chose to do Kali, one of the Hindu goddesses. Kali is described as black, but is portrayed in art as blue, so I thought it'd be a fun take on the theme of the day! She is also portrayed with her tongue out, small fangs, and a necklace of severed human heads.

Fit for a Goddess? Nail art, kali, india

Fit for a Goddess? Nail art, kali, india

Fit for a Goddess? Nail art, kali, india



I used:

Pink: Seche Happy, As Is
Blue: Essie Butler Please
Gold: China Glaze 2030
Sparkly Gold: China Glaze Mingle With Kringle
Black: American Apparel Hassid
White: Chrome Girl Between the Sheets

Basecoat: Morgan Taylor Stick With It basecoat
Topcoat: Seche Vite topcoat

What do you think, did I satisfy the 'Blue' theme for the day? Tell me in the comments below!


This Isn't Real…

Nothing to Disclose


Two words— Theo. James. Not the only reason to go see Divergent, but definitely the most aesthetically pleasing one. :-D Yum. I'm not ashamed, I totally went and saw this the first night it was in theaters, and even painted my friend Nikki's nails in the theater with the Divergent nail polish set from Sephora. The movie isn't one of award-winning cinema, but it's fairly decent for what it is. Decent enough that I went to see it a second time, though that was probably due more to the extremely handsome male lead than the plot line. I did this nail art for the second viewing of the movie, it's the bird tattoo that Tris gets on her collarbone.

This Isn't Real nail art, divergent, birds, Tris

This Isn't Real nail art, divergent, birds, Tris


I used:

Nude: Deborah Lippmann Naked
Black: American Apparel Hassid

Basecoat: Formula X basecoat
Topcoat: Seche Vite topcoat

Have you seen the Divergent movie? What did you think? And let's talk Theo James (aka Four)...I'd love to read your thoughts in the comments below! :D


Point Taken!

Press Sample


It's spring. Seriously, in Michigan today I am able to go outside WITHOUT A COAT! How exciting, right?! I have to say, I'm super stoked about slightly warmer days and well, the lack of snow. I can't wait to be able to play outside with Homer and take his energetic little white butt for walks.

Today, to celebrate a day above freezing, I decided to do some quick nail art using some nail polishes from the Morgan Taylor nail polish line. It's very simple, but it makes me think of pools and bright sunshiny days!

To achieve this look, I simply painted my nail with Morgan Taylor Water Baby and then used tape to mask off where I didn't want the turquoise to go, then painted with Morgan Taylor West Coast Cool. Remove the tape, add topcoat and done! :-D




I used:

Light Blue: Morgan Taylor Water Baby
Turquoise: Morgan Taylor West Coast Cool

Basecoat: Morgan Taylor Stick With It basecoat
Topcoat: Morgan Taylor Need for Speed topcoat

What do you think? Does this nail art feel like Spring? What are you painting for spring? Tell me in the comments below!

Morgan Taylor nail polishes, as always, are free of formaldehyde, toluene, and dibutyl phthalate and can be purchased at loxabeauty.com for $8.50. 

Disclosure: Products in this post were provided for review by the manufacturer. See the legal page disclosure for more information.

The Daily Nail is MOVING! (again)

Press Sample


I'm seriously so excited to tell you the REAL reason I moved back to Michigan instead of moving back to Las Vegas when I came back from India. I needed to acclimate myself to a cooler climate because I was selected to be part of a group of 'normal' people to participate in an experiment in Antarctica to study how super chilled climates effect the average person so scientists and researchers can better prepare for global climate change. Exciting right?

Not to worry though, I did get permission from the head of the study to continue writing on my blog and posting pictures. However, there is one little catch...




I hope you all are ok with this method of showing my nail art!!!  On the bright side, I no longer have to concern myself with cuticle care. BONUS! :D

I'll post better pix later tonight- I couldn't get the darn colors to come out right, and I ran out of time before work!

Here is a picture of the nails by themselves. A little rough on the edges, I'm not used to painting falsies!



I used:

Grey: Nubar Fashion is Forward
Aqua: Nubar Dreamy Moss
Violet: Nubar New Mood
Pink: Nubar Spring in Her Step
Pink-toned purple: Nubar City Self
Bright pastel coral: Nubar Succulent
Bright pastel orange: Nubar Wildflower Blooming

Topcoat: Nubar Diamont Top Coat

Disclosure: Products in this post were provided for review by the manufacturer. See the legal page disclosure for more information.


Throwback Thursday: Zoya Cashmere Swatches & Review

Press Sample


Don't you hate it when you're on your computer, looking through files, and you discover that you never posted those swatches that you did literally MONTHS ago? Awesome, right? I feel like a big ol' dummy. I looked at the date, and these photos were taken in August. Yeah, that month at the end of summer that was, hmmm, let's count...over 7 months ago. Really. The sad part? I LOVED this collection, so I'm not sure how I could have missed posting it!!

Anyway, better late than never right?


A Frog in My Throat

Nothing to Disclose

Rumor has it that there is another Muppets movie out recently. While I did this a few months ago for a 31-day challenge (the theme for the day was 'green'), I figured this would be perfect to post on my blog instead of just my Instagram. This was a super quick and simple design that you instantly recognize, right? For some reason it makes me want to sing Rainbow Connection. lol

I'll be honest, it's been a while, and I only remember what color I used for the base color of Kermit–I'll list it below. :)

Kermit, Muppets, collar, neck, A Frog in My Throat

Kermit, Muppets, collar, neck, A Frog in My Throat

Kermit, Muppets, collar, neck, A Frog in My Throat


I used:



Are you going to watch the new Muppets Most Wanted movie? What do you think of my Kermit interpretation? Tell me in the comments below, I'd love to hear from the lovers, the dreamers, and you!



Morgan Taylor Glam Rock Swatches & Review


Morgan Taylor Glam Rock nail art

My first introduction to Morgan Taylor was this past summer at Cosmoprof, and man, what a color selection! Today's post is a review of their Winter 2014 collection–Glam Rock. These are colors fit for a punk rock princess; silver, black, duochrome, it has a little everything for the chic girl on the go! Most of the colors are pretty pigmented, and the ones that aren't build very nicely!

Check out my photos and review after the jump!

Luck of the Not So Irish?

Nothing to Disclose Press Sample

Happy belated St Patrick's Day! I posted this manicure on my Instagram (Are you following me yet?! :-P) yesterday and, as promised, I'm posting them here on the blog! I know that I've been horrid about posting lately, but I'm working very hard to get stuff posted and collections swatched for you!! :-D

So about the nails, I usually hate stuff affixed to my nails, but I knew that the gold studs from the Sally Hansen I ♥ Nail Art stud set would be perfect for gold coins left by a mischievous little leprechaun on my nail! I actually like the ring finger nail a lot, and since the studs are so close together, I won't pick them off like I usually do. I used a bunch of polishes for this manicure, so see below for the details!

You can sort of see the beautiful shift of Ninja Polish Shillelagh best in the second photo; from one angle it is a beautiful emerald, and from another it's a golden green, and sometimes I feel like I can even see a rusty orange. I love it!

Side note: These pictures were unfortunately taken after a shift at work, so there is some slight tip wear...oops!

Luck of the Not So Irish manicure

Luck of the Not So Irish manicure 2

Luck of the Not So Irish manicure - thumb


I used:

Thumb: 

Green: Sephora by OPI I Come in Peas
Green/Gold Shimmer: Ninja Polish Shillelagh

Index:

Yellow: Wet 'n' Wild Get Lucky
Green: Sephora by OPI I Come in Peas

Middle: 


Ring Finger:

Green: Sephora by OPI I Come in Peas

Pinky: 

Green/Gold Shimmer: Ninja Polish Shillelagh


Topcoat: Seche Vite top coat


What did you do for your St Patrick's Day Manicure? Tell me in the comments below! 


Disclosure: Some products in this post were provided for review by the manufacturer. However, many of them were purchased by me. See the legal page disclosure for more information. 

ZOYA Magical Pixie Dust Swatches & Review

Press Sample



If I had to guess what kind of nail polish Disney princesses and fairies wore, the Zoya Magical Pixie Dust collection would most definitely be it. I'm not sure the polish fairies at Zoya Headquarters could have packed any more glittery goodness in these three polishes! I really like the mixture of texture, holographic hexagonal glitter, and smaller holographic and regular glitter. It's kinda like a stripper exploded on my nails, but you know, in a good way.


See the swatches and review after the jump!

Zoya Naturel Swatches and Review


 Press Sample

Everyone loves a good neutral polish and I'll admit, I'm a total sucker for them! After the jump, Check out my swatches and review of the Naturel collection from Zoya!! It's a pretty collection that I feel will look great on a number of skin tones and with all different styles. Application on every one of these was a dream, not a streak in sight, and these were all creamy and pigmented!


Hit the jump for more!




All Wrapped Up


Purchased Press Sample

So good news for Dexter fans without Showtime...Season 8 is on NETFLIX! :D I'm surper stoked, and trying to pace myself so I don't devour the entire season in a single day. (I watched seasons 1-4 in a week, all while working full time, I have a problem.)

Aaaaaanyway. I actually did this nail design back in July when the show was on TV, but never posted it. I know, I suck. I based this off of a Season 8 promo image I saw, where Dexter's image is made up of blood spatter. On the remaining nails, I did blood splatters over a white background. Red is the worst color to do splatter nail art with, it's so hard to remove all the pink residue that remains from the pigments. I'm fairly pleased with how this turned out, the face isn't super obvious at first glance, which I like. :)

All Wrapped Up - Dexter Season 8 nail art

All Wrapped Up - Dexter Season 8 nail art_2


I used:

White: Chrome Girl Between the Sheets
Red: China Glaze Adventure Red-y
Dark Red: China Glaze Adventure Red-y mixed with American Apparel Hassid

One of more of the items used in this post were provided by the manufacturer for review, the remainder of the items used were purchased by the author.