Friday, November 30, 2012

Zoya - FeiFei

Happy Friday!

Today has been a good day. I got a hot stone massage this morning, and my back has been feeling much better. Now I'm just going to relax at home today and write some things for you guys to read, and then I might read some of my book. 

The nail polish I am sharing today is the lovely Zoya FeiFei. I've had this one for a while, but I'm just now getting around to it. 

Clicky Clicky!

Please keep reading for more details and photos!



As you can see, Zoya FeiFei is a gorgeous deep blue that has various colors of blue and gold shimmers. It is such a complex shimmer polish and I absolutely love it. In the photos you see a base coat, 2 coats of FeiFei, and a top coat. I regret not adding a third coat of color for the photos because some nails appear a bit sheer. In person, those sheer spots weren't noticeable. The camera is very harsh!

As usual with Zoya polishes, the formula is good. I needed to clean up a bit, but that's not the polish's fault. :)



I love love LOVE this polish and will definitely be wearing it again. What do you all think of it?

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend. :)

--Dixie

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Winslow Wednesday - O.P.I. The Spy Who Loved Me

It's time for WINSLOW WEDNESDAY again!

Time flies when you're being lazy... or something like that. ;) This past week or two I have been having some unusual back pain that I can't seem to get rid of, so I've been sitting around not doing much. I scheduled a massage for this Friday and I'm really hoping that will help. I've tried Icy Hot and heating pads and Ibuprofen... but to no long-term avail. :(

Anyway, enough whining. Onto the reason you're really here!

Winslow choosing OPI The Spy Who Loved Me
It took some coaxing, but Winlsow finally chose OPI The Spy Who Loved Me, which is from the Holiday 2012 Skyfall Collection (celebrating 50 years of James Bond - 007). I've purchased a few other colors from the same collection, but this is one that I think I was most excited about. I love a good red polish, and this is different from the others I own. It has a gorgeous golden shimmer in it that sort of makes it glow.


It is more difficult to see on the nail in the photos, but you can definitely see the golden shimmer in the bottle. In person, the red is MUCH more vibrant and sparkly. It would look just fantastic on its own, but I decided to add some glequins (from Born Pretty Store) to it for even more sparkle. My husband said it looks like I'm ready for prom! :P


The formula on this polish is MAGNIFICENT. I wish all polishes would apply like this one. It doesn't pool in the cuticles and it stays right where you put it. It is almost 100% opaque in one coat, but I did a second coat for photos. I recommend two coats because it added a bit more depth to the sparkle. 


Here is a macro shot for good measure. This shows the shimmer the best. 

I think these turned out a bit more fancy than what I was going for. It would look great for a holiday party or some other special occasion (like prom). Next time I'll stick to the accent nail. But I'll definitely be wearing this red sparkly goddess again!

Thanks for dropping by!

--Dixie

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Winslow Wednesday - OPI Don't Talk Bach To Me

Hey you guysssssss!

This blog post has been inspired by my favorite blogger Cris at Let Them Have Polish. She has a cat named Muffin and will occasionally allow Muffin to pick her nail polish for that Monday's manicure.  She calls this collaboration Muffin Mondays. I decided to allow my wire hair dachshund Winslow to pick my polish and dubbed it (oh-so-creatively) "Winslow Wednesday". 

Meet Professor Winslow
I posted a puppy profile about Winslow back in January shortly after starting this blog. Although it is fairly old, there's not much to add. He's basically the sweetest little pup ever. He loves to cuddle and is really good at pulling the puppy face, which helps him get basically whatever he wants. He's spoiled. Rotten.

Choosing OPI Don't Talk Bach To Me

Technically he picked the OPI Goldeneye polish on the right, but my camera was literally so slow, it allowed him to change polishes before it captured the photo. For blogging purposes, I went with what the photo shows!

Right Hand
Winslow chose OPI Don't Talk Bach To Me. This color is a part of the OPI Germany Collection Fall 2012. I wouldn't originally choose this color, but then I saw a swatch of it on a blog I think I mention quite regularly. You can see her swatch HERE. I've officially linked to the Let Them Have Polish blog THREE times in this post. I swear she's not paying me. ;)

I purchased this polish as soon as I had a chance to visit ULTA. Unfortunately it didn't really seem all that flattering on my skin tone. I decided this would be the perfect color to cover up with some nail art! Unfortunately, I was so focused on the nail art that I forgot to photograph the color by itself. Oh well, you can see the swatch that I linked to above. 

The formula of the polish was VERY easy to work with. It doesn't flood the cuticles, it self-corrects, and does fantastic in two easy coats. The OPI pro-wide brush is always a pleasure to work with. It's a shame that I don't really care for it on MY nails. :(

Left Hand - No Flash
Anyway, I decided on leopard print nail art because I hadn't tried it yet and it looked quite easy. Here is the link to the tutorial I used. Sarah at Chalkboard Nails is extremely creative and always has amazing nail art and tutorials. You should definitely check out her blog!

I used Essie - Lapiz Of Luxury (light blue cream) for the center of the spots and Nicole OPI - If The Blue Fits... (dark blue shimmer) for the outline.

The photo above is without flash and the one below is with flash.

Left Hand - Flash
What do you think? It's kind of an interesting-colored leopard, but several people recognized it as leopard print, so I must have done something right!

Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully Winslow will make continued appearances on Wednesdays. :)

--Dixie


Monday, November 19, 2012

Cult Nails - Behind Closed Doors Collection

OHMYGOSH you guys!

I should probably apologize in advance because if you don't already have these polishes... you're definitely going to want at least one (if not ALL) of them. These are my first Cult Nails polishes, and I can tell you they will not be my last.

Cult Nails is owned and run by a really awesome lady in Florida named Maria. For now her polishes are only available online at www.CultNails.com, but she is working on getting her brand into stores. I think it is only a matter of time. I need to stop blabbing and get on with the good stuff! 

Without further ado... The Cult Nails Behind Closed Doors Collection!

Flushed, Coveted, Disciplined, Bitten, Afterglow

Afterglow
I have to admit... when I purchased this set, Afterglow was the polish I was the least excited about. I love brown, but I felt like I already had this color. Until I put it on my nails!!!! Look at that. Just look at it! It is this lovely coppery-brown laced with little flecks of magenta/pink shimmer. I think it is extremely unique. 

What you see in the photos is a base coat, 3 thin coats, and top coat. I'm totally fine with the fact that it required 3 coats. It's beauty is completely worth it. :)

Afterglow

Bitten
Bitten was another color that I was a little "meh" about when I saw it in the bottle. I am SOOO glad I didn't pass it up. It is the prettiest shade of raspberry red mixed with a bunch of pink, magenta, and purple flecks. I love it a lot.

In the photos I used a base coat and 2 coats of the polish. No top coat, people! It's that pretty all on it's own. :)

Bitten

Disciplined
Ohhhhhh Disciplined! It is such a pain to photograph... but I think I did well enough that you get the point. I am a HUGE fan of gray, so naturally this was one of the colors I couldn't wait to wear. The fact that it had a bunch of purple, pink, and blue shimmer was icing on the cake. It's soooo soft and pretty!

This swatch has no base coat, 3 coats of color, and a coat of top coat.

Disciplined

Coveted
Coveted is one of the most unique polishes I've ever purchased. My favorite color is green, so naturally this is one of my favorites. It is a really awesome deep forest green jelly with green shimmer and big metallic green shards of glitter. There is so much to look at and admire! Unlike some glitter polishes, there is no fishing around in the bottle to get a sufficient amount of sparkle on your nails.

Pictured in the photos is base coat, 2 coats of color, and top coat. Love.

Coveted

Flushed
Last but not least... FLUSHED! This one was the first polish in the collection that caught my eye. I'm not typically drawn to purples and pinks so much, but I really really really like this one. The description on the website says "Flushed is a true 'Blurple' (blue/purple) buildable sheer with an intense purple/pink shimmer effect that appears to glow through the polish." I couldn't say it better myself, so I just borrowed the whole description! This polish is kinda magical.

What you see in these photos is a base coat, 2 coats of color, and a top coat. Some people say it requires 3 coats, but I achieved full coverage with 2. Perfect! :)

Flushed
I love all of these polishes a lot and cannot believe I waited so long to join the Cult. You can purchase all of these colors plus tons more at the CULT NAILS website. Go. NOW! ;)

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed looking at these as much as I did.

--Dixie