Space Nails!

So if you've been paying attention to the US space program lately, you'd know that yesterday was the attempted launch of STS-134, Endeavour's last flight. I was there! Unfortunately the launch was canceled due to some mechanical problems, but I'm hoping I can make whatever the rescheduled flight date will be. In my excitement for the launch I did these space-themed nails. I started with 2 coats of Zoya Raven (black with faint silver shimmer), then used 1 coat of Nicole by OPI Let's Get Star-ted (clear base with big holo glitter and purple stars), 1 coat of Nicole by OPI Pitch-Black Glimmer (black glitter with micro silver and holo glitter) and 1 coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust (clear base with holo glitter). I wanted something shimmery with depth that represented the tons and tons of stars in the sky and I think I got it! If I were to do it again I wouldn't use the Fairy Dust, it adds a little too much rainbow to it and obscures the stars more than I'd like.

Click to enlarge.

Nicole by OPI - Sea How Far You Go

Sea How Far You Go is a great, great shade recently released by Nicole by OPI. It's an olive gold or old gold, really wonderful color. It's somewhat similar to Zoya Jules, but Jules has a taupe base with gold shimmer while SHFYG is olive gold with gold shimmer. Jules reminds me more of a golden oyster and SHYFG is more of, well.. old gold! This was 3 coats.

Click to enlarge.

Essie - Mint Candy Apple

Here's a fun little spring manicure for you. Essie Mint Candy Apple is a nice mint green color but it suffers from the same watery streakiness that Borrowed & Blue does. You have to let it flow onto the nail, not paint it on. It did go on in two coats though, so that's always nice. I did have some dings and bald spots but it didn't matter too much since I was planning to decorate it anyways. These nail decals are from Sally Beauty Supply and are made by Cina. Really easy to put on.

Click to enlarge.

Have any spring plans? Looking forward to the Easter bunny's visit tomorrow?

Nicole by OPI - Fresh Squeezed

Here's another fun summer color! This came from a spring or summer collection from last year so if you really want it, try MakeupAlley or eBay. It's a semi-sheer orange with very pretty pink and yellow shimmer. I must be really changing, I'm becoming tolerant of these sheerer colors nowadays. They used to drive me mad! I'd still probably prefer this with a solid layer of orange underneath though. This is 4 coats.

Click to enlarge.

Essie - Borrowed & Blue

This color makes me so very happy! Part of Essie's new bridal collection, Borrowed & Blue is the perfect pastel blue for me. I really wanted to love Hard Candy's Sky but it was a streaky, terrible mess. B&B has its own problems but with a careful hand and two coats, you get great results. This is a perfect color for spring and would be a great base for some spring or summer related nail art.

Click to enlarge.

Sinful Colors - Boogie Nights

So I love/hate the name of this polish.. It's so fitting but it got the song stuck in my head! Oh well. Boogie Nights is a beautiful orange-y coral that still has just enough pink in it to keep it looking good on me. When I first applied it, it made me think of melon candy. It's a jelly-creme finish that leans more jelly which you can see here by my visible nail line after 3 coats. Normally VNL would bother me a lot but I love this color so much I'm willing to give it a pass. It's perfectly summery and super glossy! I filed my nails down into a rounded almond shape since my nails tend to curl a lot when they grow long and the corners will break if you look at them. So I figured, hey.. no corners, no breaks! It's worked out great so far. Can you tell any difference?

Click to enlarge.

Let me pick your brains for a second.. Would you like to see what things I'm gathering for a 50 follower giveaway as I pick them up, or should it stay a surprise until I hit that number? I'm ITCHING to do a giveaway but haven't quite got the numbers yet! Perhaps it'd be motivation? :) I'll tell you a little secret about it, there's two hard-to-find polishes in the prize bucket as of right now..

Sally Hansen - Emerald City

Sally Hansen polishes can be quite the mouthful sometimes.. This is Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Emerald City with tips painted in Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Gilty Pleasure. Whew! These are my school spirit nails, we're having a bunch of celebrations all week and I thought I'd do my part. :) Emerald City is a very pretty green, similar to Finger Paints Sketch n Etch that I reviewed earlier. It went on nicely in two coats. Gilty Pleasure was, as usual, a pleasure (haha) to work with! These tips are one coat.

Click to enlarge.

Zoya - Jules

Today's polish is another selection from Zoya's Intimate collection for this spring. Jules is really something else! It's a soft warm grey beige packed with gold shimmer. There's even the tiniest hints of pink and green shimmer in there which isn't obvious unless you catch it in the light. I've honestly never seen a color like this before and I just really, really love it. It makes me think of the color of wood that's been left outside and sun-bleached, that soft grey with a touch of brown. This was two coats.

Click to enlarge.

Essie - Sexy Divide

Normally I choose my polish on a whim, eying colors until something pops out at me. But this was worn with intention. This beautiful blue-toned purple from Essie with pretty pink and blue shimmer went on my nails for a cause. My college club, the Feminist Student Alliance, just put on our annual charity production of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues. If you've never heard of TVM, it's a series of monologues that touch on female experience. Some are funny, some are sad, some are uplifting. We talk about the stories of all kinds of women and through these stories hope to help other women love themselves. For the performance, we wear all black with an accent color. This year's color was, you guessed it, purple. We chose it not only because it's pretty but also because it's the color generally used for domestic violence awareness. This matters because our primary beneficiary this year was The Spring of Tampa Bay, a wonderful volunteer-run local domestic violence shelter. Through the generosity and support of the community, we were able to raise about $3000 for The Spring. The remainder of the money goes to an organization called V-Day that acts as our parent organization for TVM. Their portion of the money will go towards global efforts to help women and girls. It was a tremendous, scary, and exciting process to direct and bring this year's production into fruition and I can't wait to do it again next year.

Click to enlarge.

Zoya - Blair

So I know I wear a lot of blues and greens. Today I have a very rare appearance of a red polish! I'm not generally a red polish girl but sometimes I'm in the mood. Zoya Blair is a cousin to Zoya Suvi in that both have a smoky, blackened base. This makes Blair a beautiful, deep garnet color with great shimmer and depth. It's very vampy but still a classic. It only needed two coats and that's always a plus.

Click to enlarge.