Zoya - Kelly

Kelly was a huge hit last year, showing up nearly everywhere as a big fall color. So what do I do? Put it on in the middle of a standard Florida June summer, duh. :) I've never been a traditionalist and I don't plan on starting now. I wanted something neutral and dark but not black, so I reached for Kelly. I am very, very pleased with it! Highly pigmented and went on in two easy coats. It's a deep grey with a definite blue hint in the base. In the shade it even looked like a straight up dusty deep blue but in the sun you see that it's genuinely grey.

Click to enlarge.

How do you feel about wearing dark colors in the summer or bright colors in the winter? Do you stick to the general rules or do what you feel like?

Nina Ultra Pro - Mossy Britches

This reminds me of Sea How Far You Go in that both of them are unusual, olive based colors. Mossy Britches is a very nice olive green with gold shimmer. I'm really starting to like these kinds of colors! I recently got China Glaze Peace on Earth which I've heard is a dupe for this.. Even if they're the same, I have the feeling I can never have enough olive green. I'm really impressed with these Nina Ultra Pro polishes, this went on smoothly in two coats and looks great. I apologize for the tipwear, it took me a few days before I got to take pictures. I know my skin looks more yellow than normal, I had to color-correct the picture to get the polish to show correctly.

Click to enlarge.

Milani - Hi-Tech

Milani came out with these holographic polishes a while ago and I've just now gotten around to trying one. WOW. Like.. wow. Oh my. Hi-Tech is a yellowy spring green full of holographic goodness. It went on really easily, dried like lightning, and proved to be very distracting whenever I was in the sunlight. :) This was 3 quick coats. A note on holographic polishes: some topcoats can dull the holographic effect! I use Color Club Vivid Dry topcoat and it worked just fine with this, I've also heard good things about Sally Hansen Insta-Dri but have no personal experience with it.

Click to enlarge.

I also made a video of the polish in the sunshine. I'm sorry it's not sharper but this should hopefully give you an idea of how cool it looks as it moves!

Top 10 Award

Meeka over at Strange Nails nominated me for this award. Thank you so much, Meeka! Go give her a visit and see her pretty swatches and frankens. :)

Top 10 Award

1. Thank the person who tagged you and link to their blog.
2. Put the Top 10 Award logo on your blog.
3. List your top 10 cosmetics.
4. Choose 10 bloggers to tag, link to their blogs, and let them know.

So, cosmetics.. I really don't wear makeup on a day-to-day basis but I consider cosmetics to be any kind of skin care product so I don't feel too limited with this list. :)

1. BeneFit Brow Zings

2. REN Frankincense Revitalising Night Cream

3. Givenchy Play for Her

4. Philosophy Purity Made Simple

5. LUSH Full of Grace serum

6. Urban Decay Primer Potion

7. NYX Tinted Lip Spa

8. Hoof Hands Hard as Hoof Nail Strengthening Cream

9. Jojoba oil 

10. Make Up For Ever HD Invisible Cover Foundation

Last time I got an award I tagged a bunch of smaller blogs and, well.. now I don't have any other small blogs to tag! I think there's one or two in this list. If you know of a small blog that deserves a shoutout, whether yours or someone else's, tell me about it in the comments. :)

1. Acetone and Old Lacquer

2. Biba's Beauty Corner

3. Concrete and Nail Polish

4. Deez Nailz

5. Getcha Nails Did

6. Just Some Nails by MJ

7. My Latest Obsession

8. Nailart Creations

9. Nicely Varnished

10. Short And Sweet Nails

And if I didn't tag you but you have a blog, then consider yourself tagged!

OPI - Black Cherry Chutney

I was recently able to get 2 polishes from OPI's India collection through shopping at Publix (best grocery store ever!), Black Cherry Chutney and Elephantastic Pink. Black Cherry Chutney is definitely a deep vampy color and honestly a little disappointing. It has beautiful red shimmer standing out against the burgundy base in the bottle but it really doesn't show up much on the nail. However, it applied nicely in two coats. It's a nice enough color but I'll be putting this up to swap to a new home.

Click to enlarge.

China Glaze - Sea Spray

This is the last of the China Glaze Anchors Away colors I have to cover for you. Previous entries include Life Preserver and First Mate. Sea Spray is a beautiful greyed blue with very subtle silver shimmer running through it. It makes me think of cold northern seas and rocky beaches, kind of melancholy but beautiful. It went on nicely in two coats. Even though it looks fairly simple, I really haven't stopped looking at my nails all day. It's low-key and still eye-catching.

Click to enlarge.

Essie - Your Hut or Mine

When I was younger I hated pink, protested it with all I had. It was mostly because of the girly connotations but I also could never find a pink that looked good. Now that I'm older I wear pink on occasion. I generally prefer richer tones as opposed to powdery pinks. When it comes to my nails I've been on an absolute pink spree lately! Your Hut or Mine is definitely one of my new favorites. It's a yummy light color that reminds me of watermelon or guava and it has the prettiest pinkish gold-orange shimmer in it too. Best of all, it's not a fussy Essie like a lot of the others (ahem, Mint Candy Apple and Borrowed and Blue, looking at you), it went on nicely in 2 coats.

Click to enlarge.

ABCs

I've seen this tag floating around and thought it might be a good chance for you all to get to know me since I've only been blogging a few months. :) I'm not going to tag anyone specifically, just take it and have fun!

A. Age:
Turning 21 next week.

B. Bed Size
I think I have a queen size? It's nice and big.

C. Chore I hate:
Cleaning my rats' cage. Yuck. Thankfully I have big orange gloves to protect my hands.

D. Day
I don't really have a favorite!

E. Essential start of your day:
I grab my phone as soon as I wake up to check my email and read Twitter.

F. Favorite Color:
Hmm.. Black. 

G. Gold or Silver?:
I prefer silver but I'll wear white or rose gold as well. Yellow gold is not my style at all.

H. Height:
5'8" (173cm for my metric friends).

I. Instruments:
Never played any.

J. Job Title:
Unemployed! I'm a college student.

K. Kids
Nope! Just rats.

L. Live:
Around Tampa Bay in Florida.

M. Mom's name:
Stefanie. She always has to spell it out, apparently it's more commonly spelled with 'ph' instead of 'f'?

N. Nickname:
None that I can think of. My mom used to call me sweet pea sometimes.

O. Overnight stay at hospital:
Um.. I was in the ICU for a week or two when I was born. That's it!

P. Pet Peeves:
Snarkiness. I think everyone is so used to catty, destructive celebrity-focused culture that they think everything needs to be snarked at, everyone needs to be judged or torn down, etc. It's not funny, really, you just look like a jerk.

Q. Quote from a movie: 
Not much of a movie watcher, sorry!

R. Right or left handed:
Right.

S. Siblings
One older brother.

T. Time you wake up:
Right now in the summer it's anywhere from 10am-1pm.

U. Underwear:
I like Aerie's stuff.

V. Vegetable you hate:
Mushrooms. Yuck.

W. What makes you late?:
Forgetting things or just dawdling.

X. Xrays you've had:
Lots of dental and one for my foot when I broke my pinky toe.

Y. Yummy foods you can make:
Red velvet cake, baked ziti, empanadas, cuban sandwiches, lemon meringue pie, biscuits..

Z. Zoo:
I love the zoo! I've been to quite a few around the country.

China Glaze - Life Preserver

I've really been liking bright, bold colors for summer and this is no exception. Life Preserver is a nice strong orange color that really pops without being neon. It went on nicely in 2 coats which is always a plus. Next time I might layer Fresh Squeezed on top of it for some sparkly, juicy goodness!

Click to enlarge.

OPI - Stranger Tides

Stranger Tides is an interesting color, unique for sure. It's a light creamy dusty yellowish-green. I was concerned about the yellowness when I applied it but it doesn't really translate onto the nail much, hooray! This is the only color from the collection that I really wanted so I'm happy I got it. This was 3 coats.

Click to enlarge.

Essie - Midnight Cami

I wanted to like this, I did! Midnight Cami is the blue cousin to Sexy Divide, both almost black. However, Sexy Divide did a better job at not hiding its true color. Midnight Cami looks nice in the sun but the rest of the time I may as well be wearing black polish. This is a no go for someone like me who spends a lot of time indoors and in dim light. It is wonderfully pigmented though, needing only 2 coats if I recall correctly. Best of all it didn't stain my skin one bit when I took it off!

Click to enlarge.