Reader's Choice Monday ~ SpaRitual Shooting Star & Revere

Hey dolls! For the first time, there was a tie in the Reader's Choice poll. Both SpaRitual Shooting Star and Revere received 43% of the votes. I didn't have time to wear them both separately over the weekend, so I decided to incorporate the two with some nail art. Shooting Star is a gorgeous purple that is filled with pink and golden shimmer. The formula was a little runny, so I had some pooling at my cuticles. Revere is a bright orange that is filled with golden shimmer. The formula was thin, but not problematic. Two coats were used of both colors. I saw this super cute pyramid polka dot look on Chalkboard Nails and I had to give it a try with these shades.

This was the perfect week to have a tie because Shooting Star and Revere compliment each other nicely! I love the pyramid dots as well. Dots go so well with my nail art skills. :)

I have three NY Summer jellies for you to vote on this week. I haven't worn a jelly sandwich in a few weeks and I think I'm overdue. Please take a second to vote and as usual, the poll will close on Friday.

Summer Fun, Hot Green, Hush

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4th of July ~ Cult Nails Evil Queen

Happy Fourth of July to all of my American readers! I'm so thankful to the men and women who have served and protected our country, especially to those in my family!

Today I'm wearing two colors from Cult Nails. Evil Queen is a true red creme that had the typical Cult Nails flawless formula. Tied Up is a cornflower blue jelly that I used for an accent nail. Two coats were used for both polishes.

I've seen polka dot framed nails on several blogs, so I wanted to give them a try. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On was used for the polka dots.

This look is a little busy for my tastes, but I sort of like it. I actually prefer the way my left hand looks in the last picture where only an accent frame was done. While Evil Queen is gorgeous, red just isn't my color. I'm excited to use Tied Up in a full mani now...maybe even a jelly sandwich.

What are your thoughts on this look?

Essence Spring Polka Dots

Hi dolls, I just realized that I completely forgot to do a full post on this mani that was featured on Temptalia on Easter. Christine of Temptalia put out a request for reader submissions of spring nail art, so I entered a photograph. You can see her full post here; my photo is towards the end.

I started with Essence No More Drama, which is a gorgeous lavender creme. No More Drama went on smoothly and was fully opaque with two coats. The photos were taken using my light box because I did my nails late that night for church.

 I then added polka dots as an accent using Essence Lime Up! (green) and Let's Get Lost (blue).

I am really loving all of these Essence polishes! The formulas are great and they are very pigmented. I volunteered at church Easter Sunday with the kids ministry and my polka dots were a big hit of course. I just can't ever get tired of polka dots. :)

Happy weekend dolls!

Pink Wednesday ~ Zoya Pink Polka Dots

Hey dolls, today's post is a quick one just to show some polka dots I did with the three pinks from the Zoya Beach collection. I used two coats of Zoya Lara and three coats of Zoya Gaia on the accent nail. The darkest dots in the middle of the nail is Raegan, followed by Lara, and then Shelby at the tip and base of the nail.

I haven't pulled out my dotting tools in so long, but I just love this! The three pinks really compliment each other well. I love Gaia as well, but I wish it wasn't so sheer. The soft white with golden shimmer is worth building up though.

Hope you all are having a great week so far! Be on the lookout for a very special announcement later today!!! Get excited...you should be. :)

Pink Wednesday ~ Guest Post on Sweet Sugar

Hi dolls, I have a guest post over on Sweet Sugar using Zoya Happi and Gaia. I'd love for you all to check it out. I was more than pleased and excited when Gwenn asked me to provide this post, so I hope you all enjoy it!

See post here

Happy Pink Wednesday!!!

Barielle Elated

Hey dolls, Barielle has a Valentine's day contest going on over on their facebook page and I decided to enter a photo. I realized that the only shade I had in the pink/red family is Elated, which is a chameleon of sorts. In some shades it looks pink, in others more red, and at times coral. This color just screams warm summer day to me. The formula was very easy to work with and I applied two coats.

I decided to do a simple dot on dot look. Essie Marshmallow was applied first using a large dotting tool and then Elated was applied on top with smaller dots.

Cute and simple! It's Valentine's themed, without being too literal. If you like this mani, I'd love for you to "like" it over on the Barielle facebook page by clicking here. The person with the most likes receives three polishes. :) Thanks dolls!

Breast Cancer Awareness for Pink Wednesday ~ SH HD Digital

Hey dolls, today I'm sharing my last breast cancer awareness mani for the final Pink Wednesday in October. I'm wearing Sally Hansen HD Digital, a hot pink shade that has a flash of blue in it. I purchased this color (along with some other HD shades) from CVS a few months back when they were 75% off. The formula was good on Digital although it was somewhat sheer. I used two coats in the pictures below and a little visible nail line was still present. The dots were done with Essie French Affair and the ribbon with a white SH nail art pen.

Cute, yet simple, and all for the cause. I like Essie French Affair much better for nail art...it didn't look good on me at all as a full mani. I hope you all have enjoyed my breast cancer manis...I had a lot of fun doing them!

I also wanted to show you all a really nice bracelet that I received from Me'Shell Nicole Jewelry. It's a pearl bracelet with a pink blinged out ribbon. Proceeds from all of her breast cancer related jewelry go to breast cancer research and support. I ordered the survivor bracelets for my mom and two other women close to me that have battled breast cancer and survived.

Survivor bracelet

The jewelry is affordable and her customer service is excellent! You should definitely check her site out! Happy hump day dolls!

Pink Wednesday ~ Zoya Gilda

Hey dolls, as you know October is breast cancer awareness month. While I'm a pink lover at heart, this cause is also near and dear to me because my mother is a two-time survivor just within the last 5 years. Most people know at least one person who has been affected by breast cancer so its important to continue the campaign for early detection. All of my Pink Wednesday manis this month will be dedicated to my mom. Today I'm wearing Zoya Gilda. This is a bright pink that is filled with the shimmer we all love from Zoya. The shimmer is so bright and sparkly that it gives off a foil or glow from within look. The formula was awesome and opacity was achieved in two coats. 

This is a bright in your face pink and I love everything about it. Its definitely reminiscent of China Glaze 108 Degrees, but this formula was slightly better. I'm going to attempt some form of nail art at least once a week, so I decided to jazz this up with my handy dotting tools. Two coats of OPI Your Royal Shine-ness was applied for the accent nails and the dots were done with Gilda.

Simple, but still cute and girly....just the way I like it. You may have noticed that I've added a watermark to my pictures. Let me know your thoughts on it. Is it too big? Too obtrusive? Bad positioning? I want to include one, but I want it to be as unobtrusive as possible. No need for the watermark to take away from the pictures. 

Cult Nails Enigmatic

Cult Nails Enigmatic

Hey dolls, as much as it pained me to take off In A Trance, I wanted to try another color from the latest Cult Nails collection. Enigmatic is a gorgeous shade of deep purple that flashes shimmers of pink, purple, red, and blue in the sunlight. The formula for this one was much thinner than what I'm used to from Cult Nails. It wasn't problematic, but I did have to be more careful with my application. I must warn that this color does not look like much with one coat...the magic happens when you apply the second.

Enlarge to get a closer look at the shimmer!

This is a really gorgeous purple. The pink shimmer really makes it stand out in my collection. I wanted to add a plaid accent nail, but that was a fail. So of course I feel back on my handy dotting tools. The dots were done with Cult Nails Devious Nature, one of my favorite pinks.

Super simple and fun. I adore pink and purple together! If you're liking these colors, head on over to Cult Nails. Using the code TEMPTALIA, you can receive $5 of your $40 or more purchase until the end of the month.

Just a reminder, you only have a few hours left to enter my Teal Toes giveaway if you haven't already. It closes at midnight eastern time tonight!

Pink Wednesday ~ Polka Dots with Goldie Polish

Today for Pink Wednesday I'm wearing a brand that's new to me called Goldie. I received a gift set of 8 polishes from one of my besties, West of Confessions of a Blog Vixen, during all of my wedding festivities. After doing a little research on the net, I think these polishes were sold at Bath & Body Works and can now be found at places like Marshalls. Unfortunately these shades have no names (I can't stand that), so I'll just label them by the numbers on the bottom. The base color for my mani was #33. This is a super girly light pink that has a subtle silver shimmer. The brush was a little wonky with this one, but luckily the polish evened out by itself. This is 2 coats:

I love how cute the bottles are with the bow and the flower petal lid! This is a super pretty pink. I'm glad I got around to wearing these. To make this mani a little fun, I got some inspiration from Beauty by Kayla Shevonne's rainbow polka dot mani seen here. I used #20 (pink-leaning coral), #37 (bright Barbie pink), and #41 (mauve-ish pink) for the dots on my thumb and ring finger for accents.

#20, #37, & #41

I think this came out okay...its a lot of pink...uber girly to say the least! I'm getting low on pink polishes. Maybe I'll switch to a different color of the week when I run out...

Have you ever heard of Goldie polishes???

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lively Lilac

SH Lively Lilac

Some of my polish friends wanted to wear lavender polish to remember Caylee Anthony as it was her favorite color. I have a couple of lavenders that I haven't tried, so I decided to use Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lively Lilac. This cream polish has an awesome formula! Its a perfect shade that isn't too bright or too muted. I only used 1 coat...yes...only 1 coat! Lively Lilac also dried relatively quickly with good shine. I'm still trying to get used to the wide, flat brushes on these polishes. They fan out and spread extremely well though. Here's a pic...

 Love, love, love this color! I'm not sure if I told you guys, but I ordered a set of dotting tools from amazon a few weeks ago. They've been here for awhile...I just hadn't gotten around to using them. I decided to play with them this morning.

I was inspired by Wacky Laki's mani found HERE for this look. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Gunmetal and Hot Magenta for the dots. I think it came out really cute for my first attempt. This took less than 5 mins for me and would be a great way to spice up a 1-2 day old mani. I needed these a few weeks ago for the polka dot mani shown HERE...lol. I see lots of dotting in my future. :) Here's the set I purchased.

Source

What do you think of my first attempt with the dotting tools? Happy polishing (and dotting) dolls!