Who, Me?


Press Sample

Hello sweeties!

I'm a Whovian. A new Whovian, but a Whovian, nonetheless. I never thought I'd be into it, but one day I was bored and was on Netflix and thought I'd give it a whirl. Several hours later, I'd finished the first season. (Yes, I watched an entire season in a day) The following seasons didn't take me much longer, since I devoured each episode in whatever free moments I had, sometimes staying up well past my bedtime. It's cheesy, yes, but in a marvelous way, and have a mentioned David Tennant? Deliciously, adorably nerdy. By far my favorite Doctor.

Anyway. As other nerds know, yesterday was the Day of the Doctor, the 50th anniversary of the Doctor Who series. I have been making nail art, but for some reason, I rarely get around to posting it! :( I'm making a serious effort to change that, I promise! :) Today I'm starting with showing you my Doctor Who manicure, featuring the TARDIS, the Silence, a Dalek, a Weeping Angel (don't blink), and the Doctor Who logo.

Allons-y!

Who Me full hand

Who Me fingers

Who Me thumb

I used:

Thumb: Weeping Angel

Dark Grey: Nubar Stronghold
Black: American Apparel Hassid

Index: Dalek

Silver: Nubar Hi-Ho Silver
Black: American Apparel Hassid
Dark Grey: Nubar Stronghold
White: Chrome Girl Between the Sheets

Middle: TARDIS

Blue: Seche Wonderfully Witty
White: Chrome Girl Between the Sheets
Black: American Apparel Hassid

Ring: the Silence

White: Chrome Girl Between the Sheets
Tan: China Glaze Kalahari Kiss
Nubar Stronghold
American Apparel Hassid

Pinky: Doctor Who logo

Cult Nails Time Traveller (perfect right??!)
Chrome Girl Between the Sheets

Are you a Doctor Who fan? Who is your favorite Doctor? Companion? Tell me in the comments below!

ZOYA Summer 2013 Pixie Dust Review


Press Sample

As promised, here are swatches of the Summer 2013 Zoya Pixie Dust collection! These were beasts to get photographed, I seriously swatched/photographed them 3 times, the pictures kept coming out with everything in focus but the polish! :D



Hit the jump for the swatches and reviews!

Who is This Person?


Woah buddy. So I should probably introduce myself. I'm Melissa, the person who writes this blog. You may not remember me because it's been approximately 3,450 years since I've written anything. I used to post pictures of nail art and whatnot that I created, and then I'd write about it, I'd even tell you what colors and products I used. I was that weird chick that brought you bacon-themed nails, Apple-themed nails, Finding Nemo nails, and let's not forget pimple nails. Remembering me now? Great!

I'm working on getting this blog back on the map again, I've been feeling wholly uninspired lately, exhausted, and overwhelmed with life outside of the blog. I miss it though, the creative outlet, and especially the interaction with all of you!

Cosmoprof North America is coming up soon (July 14-16), and I WILL be attending this year, so I'll be bringing you the latest in nail products and gear, so keep an eye on the blog and my social media for updates! I'll also be posting swatches and nail art that I've been working on lately as often as I can, so keep an eye out for those posts as well- I've got a THOUSAND BAZILLION swatches and reviews of polishes getting posted over the next week. I've had them done for weeks, but haven't had time to get them typed up and posted.

Coming up on the blog:

ZOYA Summer 2013 Pixie Dust Swatches and Review

ZOYA Stunning Swatches and Review

ZOYA Irresistible Swatches and Review

China Glaze Texture Swatches and Review

China Glaze Hologlam

New nail art!!!



See you soon!








shamROCK OUT!


Get your pinching fingers ready, it's that time of year again–St. Patrick's Day! Time to put your drinkin' shoes on, and don your best green attire, because it's time to do it up right! I'm not Irish, but with the pale skin, red hair, and freckles, I definitely look the part. Here's hoping that this St. Paddy's Day, my 'Irish' looks bring me a few extra tips at work tonight! :D

I totally HAD to use my Zoya Gilty for this manicure, I mean, how much more appropriate can you get than St. Patrick's Day? :D  Michigan winters and being a server have not been kind to my nails/cuticles, my nails break every 2 minutes it seems like (hence the super nubs), and I'm pretty sure I could wear gloves made of Lemony Flutter and my cuticles would still be unhappy.

Anyway, Happy St. Paddy's Day! :)





I used:

White: Cult Nails Tempest
Red: American Apparel Downtown L.A.
Orange: CND Electric Orange
Yellow: American Apparel Manila
Green: CND Green Scene
Turquoise: Zoya Robyn
Blue: Pure Ice French Kiss
Purple: Funky Fingers Riot
Gold Flake: Zoya Gilty
Basecoat: Cult Nails Get it On
Topcoat: Cult Nails Wicked Fast


ZOYA Pixie Dust Review



WOO! Today I am sharing with you my review and swatches for the new ZOYA Pixie Dust Collection! I am totally in love with this collection, and the textured finish trend in general. I love the feel, the way it looks, and especially the wear. I got really great wear with these! (which is saying a lot, since my hands are wet a lot of my work day)

Hit the jump for the swatches and reviews!

Gimme a Kiss!


One more Valentine's Day nail design! This was today's nail art, and I am excited to show it to you because my super kickass boyfriend surprised me with a package from Amazon today- something to help with the blog. What was it, you ask? A tabletop lighting set for my lightbox! You can say that not only am I head over heels for Chris, but he lights up my life --->Literally! lol  The reason I'm excited to show you this design is because I got to try out the new lights when I took the pictures. I definitely have a lot of learning/experimenting to do before I get everything how I want it, but the colors are far better with these new lights. I'm already super pleased!

This Valentine's nail design is another twist on a half-moon inspired design- Hershey's kisses! :) I'm totally in love with China Glaze Adventure Red-y, despite the fact that I usually loathe red polishes. Dunno, something about this one. the coverage, color, and application are fantastic.

Anyway, to the nails, I hope you like them!





I used:

Red: China Glaze Adventure Red-y
Silver: Zoya Trixie
Silver Shading: Zoya Trixie mixed with American Apparel Hassid
White: American Apparel T-Shirt
Blue: Zoya Yummy mixed with American Apparel T-Shirt

Topcoat:  Seche Vite


Pucker Up!



Happy Valentine's Day! :D

I hope that everyone is enjoying the day with friends, their crush, their significant other, or their dog (like I am). To some, today is merely Thursday, but to some, Valentine's Day is kind of a big deal… :-P I meant to post these earlier, but work and whatnot got the best of me, so I'm posting them now. The thumb and ring finger are conversation hearts, and the other three fingers are lips, all of them are a different twist on a half-moon! :-D I hope you like them!

Please excuse the state of my cuticles, Michigan winter is not proving to be kind to them! :-/  They look sad and angry and very very dry (and this picture was taken AFTER applying Lemony Flutter, so just IMAGINE the state of them before!!)  

I also apologize for the picture quality. Ever since moving back I'm still trying to figure out lighting because it's so damn gloomy here.



I used:

Turquoise: Layla Softtouch 09
Pink: Zoya Areej (mixed with American Apparel T-Shirt for the heart on the thumb)
Dark Red: China Glaze Adventure Red-y
White (used for highlighting): American Apparel T-Shirt
Black (used for shading): American Apparel Hassid
Topcoat:  Seche Vite



Not Very A-Peel-ing.



So I've been a tad MIA for a while. I know, I suck.

I'd better have a damn good reason for my unannounced absence, right? I do. TRUST ME, I do! (I have the scar on my back to prove it!)

Well, it all started with my sister coming to visit me in India, a trip which we dubbed the 'Ring of Fire Tour 2012' (for obvious reasons, I think?). We did some sightseeing around Chennai, Mahabalipuram, and then took our tour up north and hung out in Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. Only one of our days was spent in Delhi, but honestly, that was enough. In our short time there, we were in an auto-rickshaw that was slammed into by a city bus and subsequently mobbed by people who saw it happen. We saw a dead man on the side of the road, and we missed getting to see the Red Fort by 1 minute. ONE. Needless to say, we were ready to move on to Agra. Delhi's one redeeming trait was the rooftop restaurant of our hotel, which was a relaxing place to escape from the bustle below in the market of Pahar Ganj. 

Agra was great, our hotel was CHEAP and a mere 800 meters from the Taj Mahal, but the air was so hazy that we couldn't see it from the roof. We got to the Taj Mahal, and it's very impressive, and was insanely beautiful, but there were so many people that you couldn't really even enjoy it. :/ Next up was Agra Fort, which was SUPER awesome. We were there for hours and barely saw half of it. 

Image courtesy of Stacey Osburn of Her On Wheels. 
Finally, our travels took us to Jaipur, where we spent our first day at an elephant preserve, interacting with and feeding the elephants. Did you know that elephants make a vibrating sound in their head when they want to communicate? One of the elephants we shared, Shakuntala (princess) LOVED it when you pet/stroked her trunk, she would press into your whole body and vibrate her head. She was super sweet. We also enjoyed an incredibly delicious meal cooked for us by the mother of the owner of the preserve. It was probably my favorite food that I ate in India- we had rajma (kidney beans in a tomato based sauce), aloo gobi (cauliflower and potatoes in spices), okra (with seasonings, not sure what it was called), some coriander chutney (my favorite!), and chapati (flatbread). The next day was spent in the garden of our hotel relaxing and chatting with our new Belgian friend Kurt, a truly hilarious guy who kept us laughing. On our third day in Jaipur, we did some shopping and visited a handloom place that also did wood block prints. It was really cool to see how they dyed large pieces of fabric and did the block printing that Jaipur is known for. After the shopping, we did some sightseeing…

AND...

You're never going to believe this, but I was bitten by a wild monkey. Yes…you read that right, a MONKEY. A monkey just like this one:

Image courtesy of Stacey Osburn of Her On Wheels.
A Rhesus Macaque, to be exact. It jumped out of a tree onto my back, bit me, jumped off and ran away. While it was a super fun experience, the accompanying rabies shots over the following month kinda knocked me on my ass. When I combined that with the stress of moving back to the U.S., I was out of nail art commission. In fact, I pretty much slept whenever I got the chance.

WARNING: GROSS PICTURE AHEAD!!







Now I'm back in the States, and I'm getting to a point where my life has some sort of organization, even though all my polish is still awaiting shipment from India. 

However, in honor of my monkey experience, I did something a little more 'a-peel-ing' than my monkey bite picture! 



 I used:

Yellow: American Apparel Manila
Black: American Apparel Hassid
Brown: China Glaze Call of the Wild
Basecoat: Cult Nails Get it On
Topcoat:  Seche Vite


And a couple more monkey pictures. The first shot cracks me up, the look on his face makes me laugh.