Art: China Glaze Strawberry Fields

Stamp: Moyou London Floral 09

China Glaze Hydrangea Dangea

Art: China Glaze Electric Beat, Nails Inc Matte topcoat

Stamp: Moyou London Tropical 31

It's time for the weekly Swatch of the Day round up! This week I managed to stick to all China Glaze and even mostly stuck to the Capitol Colors collection. Overall though, the swatch of the day isn't about swatching specific colors or collections and I don't want to get too stuck into doing it that way but this one was just too gorgeous to not. Here we go with the colors!

 Monday I showed you another from The Giver collection. This one is Five Rules. It's a grungy grey reminiscent of OPI Skull and Glossbones. I think S&G has a little more of a greenish lean to it but I haven't swatched them side by side yet. Based solely on memory and online swatches from other bloggers I think they're pretty close!

Tuesday I went with this bright pastel magenta from the Electropop collection. This one is Sweet Hook. It's a purple/pink pastel with a bright punch to it. I loved this collection too. It was so vibrant but not super in your face. 

I went back to the Capitol Colors on Wednesday and showed you Dress Me Up. Meant to be a nod to the textile district from The Hunger Games, this one is a nice dusty rose color. It's pretty unique even if it's not spectacularly exciting and it looks great on my skin tone. I had forgotten how much I like this one!

Thursday we kept going with the Capitol Colors and I swatched Hook and Line. This is my absolute least favorite in the collection. I HATE frosty finishes on polish and they can be so finicky and streaky looking. I actually think they aren't THAT bad but the pearly streaks just look unfinished to me. I never liked this one for the district either. I mean sure it looks a little like a gross fish but I'd have loved to see something more blue toned for this district.

Friday I showed you Agro, which is a gorgeous shimmery olive green. This one has a very metallic type finish to it and it's ridiculously sparkly and shimmery. When you matte it you get a very velvety metallic finish. 

And finally on Saturday I swatched another metallic, shimmery Capitol Colors polish; Harvest Moon. I had to laugh a little when I picked this one up because I got Harvest Moon: Light Of Hope for my Switch for Christmas. I don't get a ton of time to play games but I've been squeezing it into my free time recently and it's tons of fun. So that's all I could think about when I swatched this! At any rate its a coppery foil polish and even though I don't typically dig orangey ones this one is another real stunner in person. 

I hope you enjoyed all the swatches this week! Which one was your favorite?

It's St Patricks Day! I really LOVE green and I always get excited to do manicures for today BUT....I realized when going through my collection this year that I really don't have many green creme polishes. I have plenty of glitters, shimmers and other such goodies, but not anywhere near enough cremes.  In either event I threw a few China Glaze polishes together with one of my favorite glitters of all time, Dollish Polish The Hero of Time. I think it came out rather nice and subtle. One of those mani's I could carry over into tomorrow if I were feeling sort of lazy. ;) I hope everyone has a happy holiday and stays safe!

Today's small nails look comes to you from Fashion Week again! These nails were sported on the runway shows of Betsey Johnson this year. I really love her but I feel like these were a little tame for her show! At any rate I love how sparkly they are! I think these would be really great in varying colors for the upcoming holiday season. One awesome thing about glitter is it's sort of chip proof! When properly applied it really lasts forever and the even better thing about this is that you can do a really great color underneath and then when it's wearing out a bit just pop the glitter on top and leave it another week! This is the last of the small nails art for the month! There will be a four week update tomorrow and then at the end of the month don't miss the conclusion of my results with butter LONDON Horse Power!! Which look was your favorite?

Following my not so awesome results with the chevron patterns, I decided to try again with a different approach.  This time I chose a houndstooth pattern for the monotone side and then for a pop I used neon for the stripe. I went for more of a half and half split this time around too. I really like the idea of just the thin line up the side for the pop of color but I also really like neons for summer so I wanted a little MORE of the pop!  I think these are my favorite of the two even though they really turned out very different in the end. I hope you all enjoy them! :)

Colors Used:

Zoya Purity and Raven

China Glaze Hang Ten Toes and I'm With the Lifeguard

It's the final day of book week and I've saved my absolute favorite book for the very last. :)  Today's nails are based on a book that I probably should have read much earlier in my life than I ended up doing. I've heard a lot of people say it's on their school reading lists but it was never on any of mine and that saddens me to a great degree.  I picked it up just a few years ago and read it out of curiosity and it's just an absolutely amazing book. It will really change the way you feel about life and about your choices and it was one of those ones that you pick up and you never really put it down. Even when it's not in your hand it's on your mind and I love those kind of novels. You can really live inside the world of the book for a few days or weeks or however long it takes you to devour the story and then inevitably, it has to end and you're left both relieved at reaching the end of the journey and sad to leave it behind. Even though it's my favorite book I've only read it a few times because I try to save it as a treat. :)  It may not be entirely obvious from my design but today was inspired by A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I wanted to really just go very simple on this one. It's a complex story but a simple theme. I chose to emulate the early 1900's Brooklyn with bricks on most of my fingers.  One of the important themes of the novel was the lack of trees and green in Brooklyn and I wanted that to carry over to the nail design. And of course there's that tree. The Tree of Heaven so it's called in the book which is a metaphor of course for the ability to thrive in difficult times. I did a tree on some sort of concrete colored polish on my accent nail to represent this. It turns out, in the end that the main character, Francie was the tree that grew in Brooklyn so it really makes a great representation I think.  Anyway...enough rambling! I hope you really loved book week because I've LOVED sharing it with you. Please check out the other girls pages to see what they've come up with for the final day. As always you can see the colors used in my mani listed below and today, because I had to use a bit of a technique I've included a little description as well! Enjoy!!

Colors Used:

Zoya Destiny

China Glaze Brownstone and Life Preserver

OPI Solitaire

Models Own Black Nail Art Pen

Technique:
To achieve the texture I started with two coats of Zoya Destiny (any color will work but I wanted to start with something sort of similar to the direction I was going). When fully dry I sponged LIGHTLY over the top with the two different China Glaze polishes to get a nice brick shade. Then use the nail art brush to make the lines. I did not topcoat. :)

It's time for another Digital Dozen challenge week!! This weeks challenge is Bling! These nails were actually something I did to be festive for a recent trip to the zoo, but they're also very bling! Leopard is still hands down my favorite go-to pattern for nails in a hurry because it's SO easy to do and it always looks great.  Don't forget to check out what the other ladies came up with for today!!

Colors Used:

China Glaze I'm not Lion and Mahogany Magic

LA Nail Art Pen in Black

I have a super pretty polish to show you for today's ABC Challenge. The letter for today was "U" and I dug out this China Glaze color that I haven't used since I originally got it. It's called Unpredictable and it's from the New Bohemian collection.  The collection was made up of mostly duo chromes and this is no exception.  It's a green to blue shift and it's just gorgeous. I also loved that these have some shimmer to them and an overall metallic effect so they're just really cool from all angles. This is two coats of Unpredictable and it's got a pretty flawless application. Happy to fall in love with this one all over again!

Don't forget to check out what Emma and Kerrie had for the letter "U"!

Here we go with day three of the Digit-al Dozen art challenge. Today's mani is inspired by graffiti.  I actually quite like graffiti.  I know it's basically vandalism but I think it's really interesting to see the different styles and types.  Street art is usually inspired by a very different muse than classic art.  That said I'm not super great AT graffiti.  My husband used to draw fat graffiti letters which were really cool but I failed at recreating them.  So this is a sort of lame attempt but I liked the results anyway!  I used a suede base to emulate concrete and then used a series of neons and some black and white polish to create the letters.  I used a matte top coat over the whole of it since I felt it looked more graffiti-like!  Don't forget to check on the other girls art work for today's challenge!

Nail art done using: 

OPI: Suzi Ski's in the Pyrenees Suede

Zoya: Purity 

Models Own: Black Nail Art Pen 

China Glaze: Hang Ten-toes, I'm With the Lifeguard, and Sun-kissed

This year's holiday collections really didn't do much for me.  I have plenty of greens and reds and golds.  There were only two China Glaze's that I decided to pick up and one of them was only because my husband insisted.  This is the other. It's called Glitter All The Way.  It's a multi-glitter with bits of green, purple, red and gold.  It does have decent coverage; this is three coats.  It also dried pretty smoothly for such a concentrated polish.  This is two coats of top coat and no Gelous.  I don't really love the multi-glitter effect.  I just think this is too much in one bottle.  But if you're into multi glitters then this one has a great formula and is definitely worth the $$!

Thanks for following! Don't forget to check on what Emma and Kerrie chose for the letter "G".

Another simple Christmas mani!! I can't believe how many of these I've managed to squeeze into the few hours a day I have left to do them in! Seche Vite has been a lifesaver for me since it dries in 15 minutes and I can go to bed without worry of sheet marks!  I actually saw this cute little tree on Zoya's Facebook page and I decided to pair it up with some glitter for a fun twist. The trick to making the tree is to do the outline of it FIRST.  Then fill it in with dots.  I'm glad I purchased the Ornate Collection too because they're coming in very handy this season!  For this one I used Zoya Purity for my white base (and can I just say I'm in LOVE with the white nail look. It's so clean!) and then used OPI Goldeneye (my new favorite gold!) for the top of the tree and Zoya Logan and Blaze for the rest of it.  The glitter is China Glaze Twinkle Lights.  I  just used the brush to kind of dab it on the bottom part of my nail.  I think this is one of my favorites!!  I hope you're all enjoying the holidays and traveling safely!

For today's Christmas art I went simple.  I'm running low on time to do them and yet they keep getting chipped at work --TRUST me-- it's a miracle this time of year if they last 24 hours. So rather than sport a chipped mani I've been trying to squeeze in some mini looks.  Things that are easy and don't require loads of dry time in between designing!  This one was wicked easy and only took me 15 minutes start to finish!  I used A-England Dragon for the base. It's a gorgeous holo grassy green color.  Then I used China Glaze Champagne Bubbles to add a gradient on all nails but the ring and then I used a stamp and some Barry M Gold Foil to add a gingerbread man! Easy but gorgeous! These managed three days before I chipped the thumb. :(  Oh well...onto the next!!

 Hope everyone is having a happy holiday season! Aoife helped me build a gingerbread village this year (or rather...she rearranged all the candy for me!)

It's time for another edition of Who Are You Wearing!! Today I'm doing a special Christmas themed WAYW post. :)  I guess I'm starting to get into the Christmas nail art spirit because I've had new Christmas art on my nails pretty much everyday this week!  Anyway here's the inspiration nails for today's post:

The nails above belong to one of my most favorite famous people: Zooey Deschanel.  I think they're actually from LAST Christmas but they're still cute! My husband has been on the lookout for an ugly Christmas sweater for a work function lately and it reminded me of these Christmas sweater nails.  I was pretty worried about the reindeer and the poinsettia...but it didn't actually turn out to be that bad.  Here's my version:

The base on my nails is China Glaze Winter Berry.  I used a Models Own White Nail Art pen/brush for the entire design. Yes....FREE hand.  It's easier than it looks.  I started on the pinky and then did the middle finger since they're just lines.  Then I did the dreaded deer.  Basically all you need to do is to make a rectangle in the middle of your nail.  Then wing out a tail add some lines for feet, a dot atop another rectangle for the head and lines for antlers. Easy peasy.  Then the poinsettia.  It's really just diamonds so I just made some triangles to form the center and then added the tops and the lines. Again...easy.  I actually was able to recreate this without much trouble on my other hand BUT I didn't attempt the reindeer.  I had a deer stamp so I used that and added some antlers and a flipped tail.  I ended up really loving them but I think it might have been fun to do one in green and white for a kick.  Have you done Christmas sweater nails?

It's day four of the Digit-al Dozen's Halloween week challenge and today I decided to go all out!  I wanted to use texture and color to create a sort of bleeding monster/zombie effect on my nails.  I thought this over for a few days in my head and I had several ideas of how to go about it but at the end of the day it sort of just came together. I started with a muted green base color, OPI Stranger Tides.  You can't see TOO much of it on the final design but you can see it just a bit.  After that I used China Glaze It's Alive and lightly sponged it randomly for a little bit of color and sparkle.  I topped that with China Glaze Lightning Bolt, a white crackle.  Then I sponged Zoya Dree on top of that to make it look greener in places and THEN finally, I used China Glaze Velvet Bow to add the 'blood' and sponged on some red areas.  No top coat because I wanted the red to stay glossy and the other to be flat and textured.  It sounds like a lot of work but it really wasn't that time consuming.  Don't forget to check out what the other ladies came up with for this challenge!!

I used a combination of China Glaze Foie Gras and Lime Crime Milky Ways for the base which is meant to emulate the two tone skirt.  Then I used China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald for the french to capture the jacket on top.  They kind of remind me of football season.  The brown ball and the green grassy field? No?   Alicia went home this week and I felt like while it wasn't warranted this challenge per say, it was about time she went home at any rate.  Did you like the winning look this week best? Do you think Alicia should have stayed?

Don't forget to check out what Emma and Jewli came up with this week!!

These nails are actually from a little while back.  I meant to get them up sooner but life gets busy!  In fact, if  you happen to follow my shenanigans on Instagram (beejustice!) you might remember these from about...oh, a month ago! 

It's time for another edition of Dupes Up! This weeks contenders:

China Glaze Rare & Radiant

Retail Cost: $5.99

vs.

OPI Just The Spotted Lizard

Retail Cost: $8.50

The other day my husband surprised me by purchasing the entire China Glaze Bohemian collection for me.  It was a nice gesture, though I have to say I'm fairly dissapointed in the collection as a whole.  That aside, when I got them swatched I realized that one of them was VERY similar to another polish I already have!  So I decided to swatch them together and see if I was right.  You can see that in the bottle the two look exactly the same, thought the China Glaze seems a bit more coppery owing to the bottle shape. So how do they look on the nails?

You guessed it: exactly the same.  The formula is very similar on these as well. The China Glaze was a hair thinner but the application was the same.  This is two coats of each.  Obviously the OPI has a larger brush and the China Glaze is a bit easier to obtain but other than those differences, these are exact dupes. Exact.  I'm not really sad about owning two of these because it's a lovely color and neither color is core so now I sort of have a back up!!  But if you were searching for the OPI you can now buy the China Glaze and save yourself the silly online prices or the hassle of hunting it down!

Verdict: Dupes.

Availability: OPI Just the Spotted Lizard was part of the SpiderMan collection and has limited availability at Ulta and drugstores where OPI is sold.  China Glaze Rare & Radiant is to be released in August at Sally Beauty locations nationwide and will also be available online and at Ulta.