Zoya Shelby and Cupcake Polish Icing

Today's swatch is Zoya Shelby.

I'm not a huge pink polish fan, and frankly this one isn't convincing me otherwise. It's very much a bubblegum sort of pink creme polish. The formula isn't great either and needs 3 coats. Mostly I use this for nail art, but I decided that I should swatch it as well.

Since I don't like it on its own, I decided to add a holographic topper, Cupcake Polish Icing. The effect is gorgeous! Most holographic toppers having a greying element due to the nature of holographic pigment. That's just fine by me though! The grey factor toned down the bubblegum pink color, and the holographic effect is beautiful of course.

OPI Black Cherry Chutney

Black Cherry Chutney is an older OPI polish, but one that is sort of new to my collection. It's a gorgeous super dark purpleish red polish with a shimmer. It's a bit hard to photograph this one, but it's super stunning in person. It takes two coats for full opacity.

Purple Tropical Water Decal Nails

I haven't ordered from Born Pretty Store in ages, but I do have a bunch of water decals from them. They are all very summery and tropical, so my goal is to use them all this summer. Each set is good for 2 manis so I won't completely use them, just make a dent in my stash.

There are two designs included with these decals, and I mixed and matched them with on both hands. These are clear decals so I recommend a white or light colored based for them.

Glisten & Glow Lacey Skittles Nail Art

Hello all! Today's mani is a skittles nail art design featuring two polishes from one of my favorite indie brands, Glisten & Glow. The two colors are Fairy's Tryst (from The Holo Hookup August 2017) and Parasail in Puerto Rico.

Photo taken in artificial lighting

Both polishes have that awesome Glisten & Glow formula and went on in two coats. Fairy's Tryst is extremely holographic silver polish with a hint of green shimmer and some silver microglitters. It's absolutely gorgeous. My mom picked this up in a destash and passed it on to me :)

Photo taken in artificial lighting

I added a lace stamp design to my ring finger for an easy mani. Also seriously, how gorgeous is Fairy's Tryst? The last photo is in natural light at 7pm when the light was going away. And it's still super holo!

Photo taken in natural lighting

Zoya Vespa

Hello polish lovers! Today's swatch is of Zoya Vespa. It's part of their PixieDust.

While I adore the light green color, the formula isn't a good as I remember. It took 3-4 coats to fully cover, and even in the sun I feel like I could use more coats. Also this one took a while to dry. You can see that especially on my pinkie where the polish smudged. Frankly, I couldn't be bothered to fix it.

Also I just bought a light box! It came with adjustable LED lighting. I think I really like it, and now I won't have to struggle with lighting. Ideally, I plan to include natural light and artificial light photos. What do you think?

Grey and Green Skittles Style Nail Art

Just a quick post with a quick mani design from me today :)

For this mani, I used KBShimmer How You Dune? and A-England Dragon. How You Dune? went on in one coat for me! I'm pretty sure it used to take 2 coats so either my application changed or the polished thickened up a bit. It wasn't too thick to use at all so I'm guessing my application changed.

Anyway, a one coat light grey is awesome.

I love grey and green polish so pairing gorgeous versions of both these colors made for a winning mani for me :)

Glisten & Glow Fairy in Love

Glisten & Glow Fairy in Love is part of the Road to Polish Con Spring 2018 series. Unfortunately, it's not available any more for purchase. I'm not sure if Jill will have it available at the convention either, but I'd for sure ask her since this polish is gorgeous!!!!

Cold state

Fairy in Love is a beautiful teal to light teal thermal polish. It's loaded with microglitters. It has a gorgeous pink shimmer running through it too. The transition is pretty subtle which gives it a lovely sort of gradient effect. Mine was a bit thicker so I only needed 2 coats.

Transitioning

Normal state macro: lighter teal with a hint of the dark teal on the tips

The pink shimmer is amazing.

Zoya Breezi Chevron Nail Art

For today's mani, I decided to focus on Zoya's Breezi. It's a very pretty blue with a hint of teal and a duskiness to it. It applies nicely in two coats, but I could see where you need 3 as it is on the thinner side.

I paired it with a white polish (my go-to is Funky Fingers Gesso) and China Glaze Glistening Snow.

Zoya Chyna

Zoya Chyna was first released in 2013. I believe that's about when I bought this polish as well. Fortunately for everyone, it's still available for purchase!

Chyna is part of their PixieDust line which means it will dry to a textured and glittery finish. You can add some thick top coat to smooth it out a bit, but I like the texture. I find after a day or two, the texture is less rough as well.

The PixieDusts are my fav for fast manis too since they do not need base or top coat and dry pretty fast too. They tend to last longer on me as well.

This macro shows off some of the texture.

Red is not usually my color. But this red and the finish make it a red that I like. Chyna applied in two coats, and I didn't need clean up (except for that small spot on my index fingers, whoops!)

Glisten & Glow: The Dark & Delishious Collection Swatches

The Glisten & Glow Dark & Delishious collection released on May 11th. It's still available so I suggest you head to the website and buy some! The collection is a collaboration with Delishious Nails. It features 6 polishes with a black base and all sorts of goodies added. My mom and I picked up 4 of the 6, and I've got swatches of those to share with you today :)

These all applied in just 1-2 coats for me! They were slightly dull after applying so I would recommend a glossy top coat like I used here. I did see some awesome swatches with a matte top coat so that would be an option too :)

First up is Black. Color of My Soul.

It has that black base and is loaded with olive shimmer and silver micro glitters. This one is probably my favorite of all of them. 

Next up is Leather and Lucille. It has the same black base, but this time with emerald shimmer and those silver microglitters.

This is one of my mom's picks because she loves The Walking Dead, even if she hates sexy Negan lol. Right, mom?

This one is Sarcasm. My Second Language. It's a black base with those silver micro glitters and a violet base.

The final polish is Sparkles & Skulls. This polish has fuchsia shimmer combined with the black base and silver microglitters.