OPI pie...



Here's a fun look I did using some OPI colors.  This was actually meant for Geometric week with The Digital Dozen but at the end of the day it just didn't make the cut.  I liked the bright colors but the stripey nail came out a little muddled for me.  I have two helmer drawers full of OPI colors and I literally never use any of them so I'm trying to work them into more of my designs. If anyone has any suggestions for good ones I'd love to hear them! Also my Instagram contest ended today so the winners from that will be contacted soon! Good luck to those of you who entered! :)

Red, White and...Pink?


This is just a quick post since it's a holiday for most of you!! These are the nails I'm sporting for Memorial Day! I used my LOOK Nail Color polishes and a Barry M glitter to get this look.  The LOOK colors actually were really easy to work with, even when stamping the stripes and stars.  I'm disappointed in the Barry M though. Even though I LOVE them as a brand, this glitter is a hot mess. The red glitter has bled all into the base so now it's not very patriotic anymore. :( Might be good for a baby shower though :P  At any rate I hope you all have a wonderful day and remember why we celebrate! See you again on Wednesday with some new looks!

LOOK Proud Collection

http://www.looknailcolor.com/


Today I  have some swatches of a new to me brand of polish for you!  The brand is called LOOK Nail color and if you LOOK (see what I did there? :P) at your local Walgreens you can catch the new colors for July 4th in a display like the one above.  You can also click the picture to peruse their site and see some other colors.  The brand retails for 6.99 and it's supposed to be geared towards nail artists. They actually sell some nail art tools like dotters as well.  At any rate the July 4th collection includes three shades: Oh Say Can You See, Rocket's Red Glare, and Broad Stripes Bright Stars.


We'll start with Oh Say Can You See.  This is the first one I swatched and as soon as I started with it I was all like, Oh heck no! This is for NAIL ART?!  Cause seriously guys,  this is THREE coats and it ain't goin nowhere good from there.  Buttttt.....the polish is quite shiny and glossy and translucent on the brush too soooo...I'm pretty sure that this one is just a jelly.  Which makes me hate it less. It doesn't make me any more excited to try to do art with it though but you could sandwich a nice glitter in there or do a cool pond mani with it. I just really wanted it to be a nice, deep blue creme. 


Then we have Rocket's Red Glare...and BOY is she! This is such a bright true red shade. This is two easy coats which confirms my jelly theory about the blue shade.  This one also dried to a nice shiny finish. As always no top coat on my swatches. :)


And finally we have Broad Stripes, Bright Stars.  This one is also two nice, easy coats and honestly, for a white polish this one knocks it out of the park.  If it were a hair more opaque it would be perfect for stamping.  It's a great base for nail art though!  Also could be great for a classic french!  These are available at Walgreens and are vegan and five free!!

**These polishes were provided to me for my honest opinion. I have not been compensated for my opinions**

Zoya Summer 2015 Paradise Sun Collection

 Today I have swatches of the other half of the Zoya summer collection today. This is the Paradise Sun collection and it's comprised of six, complementary metallic pearl shades.  While the Island Fun collection has two blue shades, this one has only one blue tone and then a white tone.  I found most of these to be very easy to work with though they are a bit on the jelly side of things finish wise. While they appear opaque in most lights, a few of them still showed nail lines in some lights.  So on we go!


First up is Aphrodite, which is the complement shade to Demetria. They are very similar in tone, both have a slight orange shift to them.  I really loved both shades but Aphrodite was a bit sheer in some lights.
 

Mae is next. Her complementary shade is Nana. Both are bright fuschia tones! This one was also a touch sheer in some lights. You can just see my nail lines in the photo above.
 

Then we have Isa. Her complementary tone is Serenity. I found Isa much deeper and slightly more blue toned than Serenity.  She's quite deep and lovely!


Then we have Oceane. Oceane is probably best mixed up with Talia!  They're both turquiose blue!  I felt this one had a much more opaque finish than the previous three.


Then we have Selene who is likely complemented by Jace.  This one was also more opaque than the others.

Here's a sunny shot to give you guys an idea of the finish. It does have a pearly look to it but it's also decidedly metallic.  I found it really interesting and different from the other Zoya colors I have. They're very shimmery!
 

Last we have Genesis which I REALLY wanted to love. It's such an interesting polish.  That said, I just couldn't make this one work. :( The swatch above is FOUR coats and you can still see though in spots.  I found this one oddly thick and difficult to work with.  The others were perfection so it really made me sad that this one was such a mess. I'll have to keep working with it and see if I can make it work because a metallic white is just too awesome!  Which one is your favorite?

**These polishes were provided to me for my honest review. I have not been compensated for my opinions**

Zoya Summer Island Fun Collection



Today I have some swatches for you of the summer Zoya collection.  As usual this is a two part collection with one set of six cremes and one set of six metallic pearl shades.  I'm swatching these in two parts for you mostly because I had different experiences with each set and I think it will be easier this way. So we'll start with the Island Fun collection which is the cremes.  I always LOVE a good Zoya creme and these are good Zoya cremes.  All of them are swatched with two coats and no top coat. Overall I felt they were a win. They dry quickly, are shiny to the finish and have great coverage.  Only complaint with this bunch is that Cecilia and Talia are MAJOR stainers.  I wore Talia with one coat of Poshe base coat and had it on only long enough for it to fully dry and be photographed and even that was enough to cause a stain.  But that being said the stains were fairly easy to remove with an oil soak so it wouldn't hinder me from wearing it again. Still, it's something to consider.  First up is Demetria....


Demetria is described as a bright, poppy red and that's pretty accurate. There's a slight orange undertone to her that makes her super flattering and not so straightforward red. 


Next up is Nana, a deep fuchsia.  I'm not crazy into pinks but I found this one to be very pretty.  It's a great, bright color for summer.


Serenity is next.  She's a nice, bright puple. Again not my favorite polish color but very flattering and great for summer.


Then we have Cecelia.  She's a GORGEOUS teal.  I did have minor staining with this one but honestly, the color is enough to make me not care. I think this was my favorite of the bunch.


Talia is up next.  This one I had pretty bad staining with. I was able to remove it with a simple oil soak but if you want to pick up this turquoise stunner; double up on base coat.


Finally we have Jace. Zoya calls this one a modern, tropical green.  I found it to be a bright but still deep apple green. I really loved the blues and greens in this collection.  I also think it will be awesome for nail art. All the colors are nicely pigmented and easy to use!  Don't forget to check back for the other half of the summer collection on Wednesday!

**These polishes were provided to me for my honest review. I have not been compensated for my opinions**

Weekly Check In...



It's been a little while since I've done one of these; life gets hectic, ya know?  The above picture pretty much sums up my week this week. I've been epically exhausted.  Work has been hectic and now I'm on some unexpected overtime so that's made things even MORE crazy.  Oh and that's my CLEAN laundry Aoife pulled out of that basket to lay in it. Cat owner problems, right?


Apparently Friday was Chocolate Chip Cookie Day (who knew that existed?) and my office handed out cookies to celebrate.  I don't normally eat cookies but when you're working an extra long shift things happen. lol...in typical fashion though, my body decided to punish me for it about an hour later so that made for a not so great end to my week.  On the plus side...


I'll be reviewing these LOOK Nail Color polishes for you later next week.  I'm hoping for a nice one coat white. Or even better, a great white for stamping!  These colors are supposed to be designed for nail art which makes me think they'll be more opaque than your standard ones but I guess I'll let you know next week! Additionally...


I have the new Zoya's to show you!! I'm wicked excited to show those to you since I've already used them and know how great they are.  You'll see the creams first and the shimmers mid week.  In other news I'm in the process of a MAJOR house clean out.  For various reasons but mostly we're planning a major move and we need to get rid of a lot of things.  I had a StorEnvy and then they switched to a weird payment type which I didn't appreciate or care for so I closed it.  Upcoming I'll have some pictures and since I really just want this stuff GONE it will be pretty cheap. Nothing over $2.  So please check it out and help me unload. :)  Enjoy your weekend! What did you do with your week?

Red, red lines...


It's the final day of The Digital Dozen's Geometric themed week.  I had a panic attack yesterday thinking I'd forgotten to do a fifth look and then started going through my memory cards and realized I actually had three too many! Problems of a nail blogger, right? ;p So these ended up being my final pick. The base is actually less red and more of a berry tone and as the gold is quite decidedly metallic and the base is very glittery it was a really cool look in person. Though my husband gifted me some weeks back with a really snazzy new camera I've thus far failed at learning to use it so this is the best picture I have for now! Hopefully soon! :) check out the other girls art below!! What was your favorite look this week?

Oceans apart...


Geometric week is coming along with these swirly nails. This is actually the result of my trying to stretch the life of my Great Big Swirled nails.  I really loved them as a base but as time went on they started to get some tip wear so...enter these lines.  I quite liked the rigid look a top a sort of soft, chaos of blue too!  Don't forget to check out the other girls art below!!


It's just like honey...


It's time for another Geometric design with The Digital Dozen! Today I have a gradient and some honeycombs.  I tried to do a radial gradient on this but I didn't love the result. I guess it needs more work! Check out the other ladies designs below!!


On the Line...



It's day two of Geometric week with The Digital Dozen.  Today I decided to go outside my box a bit by adding some 3D art to my mani.  I didn't love the end result though. I really wanted to use solid gold bars for the accent but it turns out I don't have any so I substituted these gold toned crystals and for some reason it just didn't have the effect I was looking for.  That said the overall look was pretty decent.  The base color on this is China Glaze Make Some Noise which I swatched for you last week! It's such a flattering color and perfect for spring and summer!  Don't forget to check out the other ladies art by clicking the links below!!


The Digital Dozen Does...Geometric!!!



It's the first day of another Digital Dozen week! And in typical me style I'm kicking off with what I think is my worst design of the week.  This looked so great in my head but you know how much I love tape mani's and I think once I got finished with free-handing it the hot mess that it is started to become evident.  I did love the pop of neon with the mono tone though. You win some you lose some I suppose!!  Check out the other girls art work below! And don't forget I'm holding an instagram giveaway with not one but TWO great prizes! So you can check that out by visiting @bee_polished on instagram! :)

Bee Polished Instagram Giveaway!!




If you're on Instagram then you may have heard I'm doing a little giveaway! If not then...I AM!! There are two prize packs to be won so if you're not already following me, this is a great time to start.

Here's what's up for grabs:

Butter London Prize Pack:
Full size Jaded Jack nail lacquer
Full size Lippy in Primrose Hill Picnic
A sample pack of Kitten Heels powder finish pedicure lotion 
A sample pack for Backstage Basics signature lotion

Funky Fingers/Essie Prize Pack:
One package Essie Sleek Stick UV cured nail wraps in Stickers and Stones
Funky Fingers Oogie Boogie (glows in the dark)
Funky Fingers Glitter Matters
Funky Fingers Elsa

Check out my Instagram for details or enter below using the rafflecopter! Please be sure,, however you enter, that your account is not private so that I can verify your entries! This giveaway is open internationally except to UK followers. Sorry guys! I love you too but I've had too much destroyed! Good Luck!!

Zoya Island Fun and Paradise Sun Collections



This is just a quick post to let you know what's coming up on my blog!! Soon I'll have the new summer Zoya collection to show you! I'm so excited because the colors look SO pretty!  There will be 12 colors in two collections of 6.  That's fairly standard for Zoya's and as per usual one collection is cremes and the other has some pizazz! No complaints here though because I LOVE creme finishes.


The Island Fun colors are cremes: Demetria, Nana, Serenity, Talia, Cecelia, and Jace.  I can't wait for the purple and of course I'm a sucker for anything teal!!


The Paradise Sun collection is packed with metallic shimmer: Aphrodite, Mae, Isa, Oceane, Selene and Genesis.  Again I'm really excited for the blue and purple.  I'm intrigued by Genesis as well! Which one are you dying to have?

Swatch This! China Glaze: Make Some Noise



It's been awhile since I've done a Swatch This! post and I REALLY need to start going through my collection again. It's getting out of control!  Today's post is a real winner though so it's definitely a keeper!  This is China Glaze Make Some Noise from the 2012 Electro-pop collection.  It's a bright melon color and it's just absolutely perfect for summer!  I can't believe it's been sitting in my drawer for so long getting no love! ;P  I did some art over this after a few days of wearing it plain so you'll have that to look forward to as well!  How do you feel about this one? Love it or leave it?

It's a great big swirled...



Today I decided to try out an old technique; needle marbling.  It's been YEARS since I've visited this type of nail art and with the new blob mani on the rise I thought it might be time to play with it again.  If you never mastered needle marbling but you're rocking the blobs then you're right on track to try this out again. Just take a needle and swirl your blobs after they settle.  I used Zoya Jacqueline for my base here and then Butter London Kip and Giddy Kipper (haha!) to create the swirls. :) Enjoy!

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