Zoya - Sloan: Why is your shimmery face in the discount bin? :( (+ classy rhinestones!)

So I think if you were to ask too choose what season I love when it comes to nail polish I would have to say fall.  When I think of fall I think of deep, rich, warm colours.  This polish is no exception.

I found this beauty in a discount bin!  At first I though "It's ok.............................LOOK AT THE PRICE...SCORE!".  When I originally bought it 1)I was just starting to get into polish so I never really looked at it. 2)Blind to it's shimmery beauty due to my naive, polish virgin eyes.  I did not see the truth!  But brothers and sisters I am here to show you the truth! The truth that is Zoya Sloan! Can I get an Amen!

Zoya Sloan is 2 coats of deep plum goodness.  Filled with some amazing pink and purple shimmer.  The formula was great.  This actually bubbled the last time I wore it.  But I'm pretty sure I used really thick coats, and didn't give it enough drying time in between.

Love this.  But I will pretty much go for anything vampy.  And to class it up a bit (Ha!) I added a single rhinestone to each finger.  A bit of bling yet not overdone.

 Why does this look berry? It's just another mystery of the universe. Plain and simple.

Sally Hanson's Gray Area: Y U Bubble?

Sally Hanson's Gray area is a gray cream with brown and purple undertones.  For these photos I used 2 coats.  And the formula was pretty good!

My problem with it was when I woke up the next morning it had bubbled.  You can actually kind of see it starting on the ring finger in the photos.  Now maybe it was my fault.  Maybe I layered the coats on too thick.  I'll give this polish another shot though.  It's such a pretty and chic fall colour!

I should also mention I can't stand the bottle.  You wipe off the brush, start doing your nails, and boom, an avalanche of polish that had been on the length of the brush. Longer doesn't mean better...if you know what I mean. (Get your face out of the gutter).

It's so cute, she'll sometimes take a pack of mayonnaise...

So when I saw swatches of Hap Hap Happy Hands' Arrested Development collection, I knew my paypal balance was going to suffer.  Arrested Development is easily in my top 5 favourite TV shows of all time, and I absolutely loved the moments she used as inspiration for the polishes.  I bought three, but I'll have to show you the other two together because they go together(Illusions, Michael and Tricks are Something a Whore Does for Money... Or Candy).   So first up is Mayonegg, which feautures medium and larger matte yellow hex glitters in a jelly-like white base with fine shimmer.

I did three coats alone on my middle finger(and index) and the other fingers show two thin coats over a single coat of my favourite white creme, NARS Ecumé.  The formula left a lot to be desired as you can see from the obvious application problems(FORGET wrapping the tips with this one!), but I anticipated that because this polish is honestly PACKED with glitters.  The trouble in application was forgiven when there was not a bit of glitter fishing to be done.

First photo was taken in bright sunlight, the other two in fluorescent indoor light.

Cult Nails - Mind Control

I think this was the first Cult Nails I ever owned.  Memories.

Mind control is a blackened base with duochrome flecks that flashes magenta and green depending on the light.  Formula was nice and it covered in two easy coats.

I don't know why but when I took photos with flash It just looked gross.

Overall this is a great vampy colour for the fall.  I love colours like this.  And while it's not my favourite I still think it's pretty great and if you can you should grab yourself a bottle.

 Green

 to

 magenta.

 

It looked dirty with the flash.  Maybe that's just me...

Candy Nails - See! I can be flippin cute (｡◕‿◕｡)!

Well look who's sporting a simple, super cute, fun, non threatening mani.  Me.  My nails are fuc*ing adorable.  I even have a pink background!  What more can I say?

This is what more I can say(????????).  These are actually inspired by the Cover for Robbie Williams new single Candy from his upcoming album Take The Crown.  The song kind of makes you want to skip around with a giant smile of your face. Well it makes me want to.

It was SUPER easy to do(like 90% of the nail art I attempt to do).  3 coats of Essie's Moonstruck and then dotted my nails with dots of varying sizes using Essie's Fishnet Stockings, Essence's Ultimate Pink, and CND's Rose Bud.

Boom.  Done.  Nail art master.

 Essie - Moonstruck, CND - Rose Bud,  Essence - Ultimate Pink and Essie - Fishnet Stockings

The cover for Robbie Williams single Candy

And did you think after going on and on about the song I wouldn't post it?

 :D

I'm back! Goodness me, it has been too long! Have some Cult Nails Annalicious with my apologies.

So I bet some of you thought you'd never see me again!  And I'm sure that in the time I've been gone, Kas has brought a bunch of new people to the blog, so for those who don't know me or have forgotten, I'm George, best friend and blog partner who has been away for far too long due to a myriad of terrible things including but not limited to:

1) MOVING.  Moved house with my family the day after I made me last post.
2) BROKEN COMPUTER.  My macbook decided that not only was the hinge going to snap, but the screen was going to come apart!  HORRORS.  Finally managed to have it repaired a week and a half ago, and now have access to my computer again.
3) BREAK ALL THE NAILS.  So I got a new job not long after I commenced my hiatus, and then, just as I was finally ready to return to the blog about 3.5 weeks ago, I shut my hand in a freezer door at work and broke three of my nails right to the quick.  In case you were wondering: Yes, it hurt like a bitch.  So obviously my nails were in no shape to be shown off, which bummed me the hell out.
4) CUTICLES FROM HELL.  As is evident in my photos, my cuticles and I have a love/hate relationship at best.  Dry skin and other issues tend to make them yucky looking which makes me afraid to swatch for fear of scaring some of you.  They've been extra unhappy after the freezer door incident.  But luckily I think this is getting better, and I will soon my posting MY hand and nail care regimen as well.

Hopefully from here on out my hands and swatches will be a lot prettier :)  I look forward to getting to know our new followers and catching up with the old ones!

So, for my first post back I thought I'd share one of my new pretties from Cult Nails.  Annalicious is from Maria's daughter Coco's collection(I also picked up I Got Distracted, which deserves its own post and will soon get it!) and is a bright cherry red packed with gold shimmer that really warms it up without looking garish.  It's glowy and absolutely amazing!  I can't stop staring at my nails!  This one reminds me of OPI Dear Santa.  All photos taken in natural light with no flash.

Slightly unrelated:  I need some ideas for new editing software/sites, because I am not happy with the one I've been using.  It really messes with the quality of my images and I don't like that. Any suggestions?

How I get my nails so damn sexy (using only a really expensive assortment of products including dragon elixer and pure magic). I'll also show you some n00dz!

So I really didn't have a post today so I just decided I would show you some naked photos...of my nails!  And just write a bit about how I take care of them.

Now before you read any farther keep in mind what I do works for ME.  And just because it work for me doesn't mean the same will work for you.  I am not a professional nail tech,  I'm an actor and writer.

Now I've seem other bloggers do post like this.  And most of them contain, oils, sticks, creams, and what I can only assume is something expensive created from the breast milk of Aphrodite. Mine contains none of those.  When it comes to nail care I'm kind of a hippie.  But I've been doing my thing for years now and it works like a charm.  Let's begin. I'm going to do this in list form.  I don't do enough lists.

1. I only buffer my nails for one of two reasons.  If I have a break and need to repair it with a tea bag.  Or if I stumbled upon a polish that I didn't know stained and can't get rid of the stain.  I don't find it prolongs the life of my polish.
2. I rarely cut my nails.  Generally I file them a tad using an emery board every time I do my nails.  About once every 7-10 days I use a stainless steel file and file a bit more than usual.  Then I soften the look with the emery board. NOTE: Some people say not to use a stainless steel file because it makes you more prone to breakage and peeling.  I don't have that problem. Never have.
3. I have NEVER used cuticle remover.  90% of the time I don't think I need it.
4. Vaseline or any other brand of petroleum jelly.  Now the palms of my hands do tend to get quite dry(mainly in the winter).  And my fingers get dry too (but not nearly as dry). So I use Vaseline.  I use it after I shower.  So once a day.  That's pretty much all I do to keep my hands from not drying out.  No special creams.
5. Base coat, base coat, base coat.  I always wear it.  I use Sephora by OPI Strengthener. Which is also a base coat.  It's the only base coat I use. 

If you were too lazy to read that let me sum it up for you. I don't buffer of do anything to my cuticles.  In my opinion I have no reason to.  If file my nails.  I use Vaseline.  And I always use base coat.

Questions?  Comments?  Take That?

Ps.  There should be a bloggers n00dz week.  Where everyone posts their n00dz (nails). :P

NOTE:  All these photos were taken soon after I removed my nail polish.  My nails are as naked as they get.  This is what they look like most of the time(without polish). As you can see they are a tad stained but really not that bad considering I almost always wear polish.

 Nothing fancy to see here folks!  Just my Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat (I use this 90% of the time).  My Sephora by OPI Strengthener. My Revlon stainless steel nail file and my 4-way buffer (File, buff, smooth, shine).  And my Seche Vite top coat (which I use maybe 10% of the time).