Formula X for Sephora Beacon and Magma Swatches and Review

I'm so excited to share with you two more Formula X for Sephora polishes, because they're gorgeous! My Formula X stash so far has consisted of polishes from their X-plosive Topcoats, Shifters, and New Classics collections. These new additions are from their Liquid Crystals collection, which is amazing! Sephora's describes the Liquid Crystals as, "A brilliant, light-reflecting nail lacquer made from crushed micro-crystalline and pigmented mica that captivates the eye with vivid color." I would also add that the finish is a combination of dense glass fleck and foil, with some having a subtle duochrome flash of color.

Both of these polishes have great pigmentation and applied smoothly and evenly. The Formula X bottles are topped with a bulky outer cap, but when removed it shows the smaller, easy-to-handle cap. The brushes are thin and flexible, and capture a balanced amount of polish on them for application.

Magma is a stunning, very wearable orange shade with brilliant gold flecks. It is so glow-y and fiery, I think Magma was the perfect name for this shade. I used two coats, plus top coat.

Direct sunlight

Artificial lighting

Artificial lighting

Beacon is a rich, shimmering, royal blue with a slight duochrome shift of violet color. This polish has so much depth, and is such a flattering shade. It's an eye-catcher for sure. I used two coats, plus top coat.

Direct sunlight

Artificial lighting

Here you can see the duochrome flash of violet.

Artificial lighting

An outdoor photo, out of focus, to show the duochrome shift.

Outdoors, shade

These are available at Sephora, in store and online. They are a little more pricey at $12.50, but fortunately I had my Sephora VIB 15% off coupon. It was hard to narrow my purchase down to just two, I want all the Liquid Crystals! I know I got two special winners, but the whole collection is so beautiful. Next on my wish list is Solar Flare.
Do you own any from the collection? Do you plan on picking up any?

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Blue Zebra and Leopard Animal Print

I had a day at the zoo and wanted to my manicure to blend in, so I have a zebra and leopard design for you. Lately I have been in a very "blue" mood. You know, blue as in the color, not in a sad way. Yesterday I bought a blue shirt, skirt, and even blue eye shadow. Blue is my favorite color, but I think because I've been trying to embrace other colors, I went into withdrawal or something.

To create the manicure I first applied two coats of OPI I Don't Give a Rotterdam, one of my very favoritist polishes. Then I painted on the zebra stripes with my long striping brush. Next I added some small bright blue blobs. Then used my dotting tool to finish the leopard pattern. Lastly I finished with some top coat. Darn top coat made my stripes smear. Curses.

What I used:
OPI I Don't Give a Rotterdam- base color
Zoya Sailor- navy
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Blue-Away- bright blue
Seche Vite top coat

I just received my Seche Restore in the mail today (I don't know where to get it locally, they didn't have any at Sally Beauty)! My Seche Vite bottle always gets thick after just a few weeks of use. The Seche Restore is supposed to add the ingredients that have evaporated from the bottle back in and return it to its original state. I bought mine from Amazon. I'm going to try it out tonight. I'll let you know how it goes!

Long Time, No Post.

I know, I know! It's been two whole months since I've last posted anything. Sorry everyone, I wasn't planning on taking such a long break. I haven't been feeling 100%, but I should be back in the game now. 

Having been so long, I felt a lot of pressure to make my next post super awesome. Those were my intentions anyway. Not only have I not been posting, but I've neglected my nails completely. That means I'm a little out of practice. Apparently my stamping skills really suffered.

At least my thumb nail doesn't look half bad, right? For Christmas my sister sent me some MoYou stamping plates. Isn't she awesome? :) I should have taken a photo of the plate before I used it, but I forgot, and now it's all streaky looking from the acetone. For a better picture of the MoYou Fairytale Plate Collection 04, look here. All of their plates are soooo adorable, I want them all!

I've been watching as much of the Sochi Olympics as I can, and I wanted to do a design to reflect some aspect of the games. These nails were inspired by the Opening Ceremony. There was a part towards the end where they made it look like the night sky, so that's what I was going for. Let's pretend all the squiggly lines here are part of my "artistic" interpretation.

Seriously, what happened to my pinky? It looks like I had a seizure while I was stamping it.

What I used:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Quick Jeanius
Sephora by OPI White Hot
MoYou Fairytale Plate Collection 04

Well I better get back to practicing all my skills that have atrophied during my long absence! I've missed you all! I can't wait until I turn out something really good.

33 Day Challenge Day 23: Geometric

You may or may have not noticed that I've been shirking my 33 Day Challenge posts. I assure you that I haven't abandoned it completely. I just needed a break and wanted to do my giveaway, Halloween nails, birthday, etc. I would like to complete the ones I missed, but I'm not guaranteeing it. So to get back in the game I am joining in on today's current prompt- geometric.

You can see the diamonds sparkle a little better when it's slightly out of focus.

They say diamonds are a girl's best friend, but I don't know about that. I mean, I couldn't say because I don't have any. Chocolate, on the other, I'm sure about. Sorry to my human best friend, but chocolate is always by my side.

What I used:
Wet n' Wild Fergie Blue Eyed Soul- blue
OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls- white
Sephora by OPI Meet Me at the Disco- holo glitter
Seche Vite top coat

31DC2013 Day 18: Half Moons

I'm taking it easy today. Nothing ambitious to see here, folks. I had to do today's as simple as possible because I am freaking out about tomorrow's galaxy nails! Earlier I was joking about ulcers, but it wasn't that big of an exaggeration. Two nights ago while working on my glitter manicure I developed a broken blood vessel on my face! The stress is taking its toll. Maybe I need to get in touch with OSHA again..

Anyway, simple is good. I think that's what makes half moon manicures so popular. They are simple, elegant, and have endless possibilities of color combinations. I am really enjoying this color combo!

This is the first time for me doing a half moon manicure. Well, actually, that's a lie. I tried it once before, but that was before I knew what I was doing. This was also the first time I used both of these polishes. Aren't they so pretty?

How to:

I applied two coats of Zoya Robyn all over the nail, then applied top coat to help it dry faster. When it was completely dry I put round paper reinforcers in place above the cuticle. Working one nail at a time, I painted one coat of  Zoya Natty, the darker shade, then immediately removed the reinforcers. After they were drying for a few minutes I finished with a top coat. Viola! I love it when things are easy and they look good! 

What I used:
Zoya Robyn
Zoya Natty
Seche Vite top coat


Come back tomorrow for something much more complex! I'm not promising it will turn out since I've never tried it. We'll have to wait and see!

31DC2013 Day 05: Blue Nails

Rise and shout, the Cougars are out!

Honestly I'm not a big (or small) sports fan. I've never been passionate about team sports. On the other hand, come Olympics time, I am glued to my t.v. for two weeks straight. Although I may not be devote, there is one team I will always root for. That would be the BYU Cougars.

I myself never attended Brigham Young University, but I know a long, long, list of people who have. Many of those people include family members such as: both my parents, my husband, sisters, brothers-in-law, cousins, etc. So I feel that I have an obligation to make some effort of loyalty. The fact that their school colors include blue, my favorite color, is a major winning point.

Go Cougars!

What I used:

OPI Dating a Royal

Sephora by OPI White Hot

INM Out The Door top coat

What makes you loyal to a team? School affiliation? Pretty colors? Uniforms that make the athletes look hot?

Eye Shadow Pigment Nails

Thank you Lacquerheads of Oz for this inspiration! I stumbled upon their pigment nails tutorial, and realized that I had actually tried a version of this before.
Years ago my coworker and I were strolling through the mall, possibly on our break but more likely we were "shopping on the clock". I know, I was such a rebel. We were checking out some eye shadows at a NS Minerals kiosk, not seriously intent on buying anything. That changed when the sales girl told us you could use the shadow to make your own nail polish. Oooooo, now that caught my attention. Suddenly I was looking at the colors in a whole new way. Lacking any actual instruction, I tried to apply the nail polish with just a clear coat, and it looked awful. There just wasn't enough color. That was probably over six years ago and I hadn't tried it again until now. I don't even like to use these as shadows. It's a good thing I have such an aversion to throwing anything away!

I started with a base color of Sephora by OPI Havana Dreams. I wanted to show it here so you could see the difference between the polish and the loose eye shadow pigments I used over it.

After three coats (I probably could have just done two), I applied my Out the Door top coat. While it was still wet I used my eye shadow brush to tap some of the medium blue over the nail. I let it dry, brushed off the excess, and repeated the process again with the white/blue color. I repeated the process for a third time with a little of the dark black/green color.

Unfortunately none of these eye shadows came with labels so I can't tell you what they're called! They were sold in stack-able sets of three. 

I am so happy that I found how to make this technique work. This was loads of fun for me to do, because seriously it's so easy! Now, after all these years, the once "useless" eye shadows are no longer collecting dust.

You all should try this! Even if you don't like the look, do it just for the fun of it. Let me know if you do, I want to see pictures!

Bikini So Teeny Ombre

The ombre look was one that was at the top of my to do list. This trend was one of the main inspirations for me to try experimenting with nail art. I love that it's so simple yet has interest to it. I also appreciate that it doesn't take much skill at all to accomplish. Always a bonus, right?

Here is a looksy at my first ombre attempt:

I started with Essie Bikini So Teeny on my middle nail. Next I mixed some of the color with a couple drops of white polish on a palette. I painted that color on my ring finger with a brush from a bottle I had emptied and cleaned out. Then I added a couple more drops of white to the mixture for my pinky, and painted it. Before I started with the darker colors I cleaned off the brush in acetone. I put some more base color on the palette and added some black polish, mixed, and applied to my pointer finger. I repeated the process on last time for my thumb, adding just a little more black. Then I finished it off with topcoat! Ta-da!

If you haven't tried this before but think it looks fun, go try it! My variation is fairly subtle (my husband said he didn't think anyone would notice it), but I still got compliments. More importantly, I really loved it myself.

Important Tips :

1. I made sure to paint each color on both hands before moving on the the next color.

2. If you know anything about painting you probably know that a little black changes the color much quicker than a little bit of white. Well, I'm not a painter. I added WAY too much black to the mixture on my first try. So just go easy with it and add in much smaller amounts.

For my second time I think I'll make it more dramatic to see which I like better. Any suggestions for the color?

Three Cheers for the Red, White and Blue

The holiday is past, but I still wanted to post this mani. I had fun trying some things new to me. I love this red and was happy for the excuse to use it. It's the perfect summertime red. I thought the dots turned out fairly well.

On my right hand I was going for fireworks but it looks kind of blobby. It stood out even more to me when I was watching fireworks and realized how much it didn't look like that! Oh well. I like the glitter coat over it. It was good to practice doing more art with my left hand. 

What I have on:

Red Hot Ayers Rock OPI (red creme)

Dating a Royal OPI (blue creme)

My Boyfriend Scales Walls OPI (dull white creme)

Stars at Night Nicole by OPI (glitter topper)