Unveiling My New Short Vampy Nails With Zoya Sloane

Good morning or afternoon dear readers depending on where you are!!

First of all, I just want to say THANK YOU to all of the lovely, caring and thoughtful readers that left me such positive comments yesterday. I was really feeling traumatized yesterday by the short length of my nails but this morning, I am happy to say, that I am feeling much better about them. It is much easier to type and take out my contacts now. 

What a perfect opportunity, as a lot of you suggested, to break out the dark and vampy colors. I couldn't agree with you more! So I got out my big shoe box of untried polishes last night and picked out a perfect one: Zoya Sloane. I polished my nails with Zoya Sloane last night but snapped the pictures this morning at about 9:45 a.m. Pacific Time. The sun is out and shining strong this morning! Still a bit chilly here though. Although I cannot complain too much. My friends and family back in Michigan are getting hit with snow big time right now.

 Zoya Sloane:

This is a gorgeous, deep, purple &  vampy shimmer. I cannot believe that I had this one sitting in my untried box! This is the perfect color to rock on my new short nails. Although, even with long nails, I had no qualms about wearing colors like this. I guess now I am more "in style" or whatever now. 

A bunch of you also suggested to me that this would be a great opportunity to track how fast my nails are growing as inspiration for all of the ladies that might be trying to grow out their nails. Great idea! I am going to call it "Nail Growth Watch 2009" (we only have 2 weeks of 2008 left ok). I would love to encourage all of you ladies who are trying to grow your nails out to participate with me and let me know how you are doing!

It was much harder than I thought it would be to take a picture of me measuring my nails. I really needed a 3rd hand for this. So this picture is just an approximation. I am going to use my left hand, middle finger, as the benchmark for "Nail Growth Watch 2009". Right now this nail is approximately a five eights of an inch long, measuring from cuticle to tip. I will post a new measurement once a week. I would love for all of you to participate with me! Let me know how you are doing each week in the comments.

Also, just a reminder, you have until Sunday night to enter my giveaway. Click here for all of the details. 

Thanks again everyone for your support. I love you! Time to do some serious Christmas shopping now. I have not started yet.

xoxo,

Katee

Essie Fall 2008 Ulta Exclusives

Hello, lovely readers! 

If your Ulta is anything like mine, they have a tendency to bring out products really late. For instance, they just put out Essie Winter 2008 about a week ago at my local store and these Essie Ulta exclusives for Fall are still readily available there too. I usually do not buy nail polish at Ulta because they are full price; but what I do look for there are the Ulta exclusives, the colors that you can only buy at Ulta. 

This year Essie teamed up with Ulta to release three exclusive shades for the fall: Groovy Grape, Retro Red and Plumski. Everyone has been talking about Groovy Grape but I have not heard much buzz about Retro Red or Plumski, so I thought I would share them with you. 

Essie Groovy Grape:

Ok, everyone already knows about this one. Gorgeous vampy purple shimmer on a blackened base. This color is absolutely flawless.

Essie Retro Red:

Classic red with a jelly finish. Nothing special but if your collection is missing a red jelly, then this is a good one. 

Essie Plumski:

Plum color that is very vibrant and bright. This one was the big surprise for me. I thought it only looked OK in the bottle, but on my nails I AM IN LOVE!! I don't know what it is, but this color has depth, and it complimented my skin tone perfectly. I usually only wear colors once, because I have so many and I am always getting more, but this will be one of those that I reach for more often. 

Depending on how your Ulta is, these might be readily available, or they might not be. If there are any of these that you really want, maybe call a few Ulta stores on the phone before driving around. Essie/Ulta also released three exclusive shades for Winter but I skipped those because they are all red colors and I have enough of those. But if you really like reds, check those out too! Good luck polish hunting!

xoxo,

Katee

More BB Couture for Nails Swatches For You!

Hello, my lovely readers!

Today I have more BB Couture for Nails polishes to share with you. Click any of the photos to enlarge! I always try to remember to add this little tidbit of info for you but sadly I forget sometimes. 

First, BB Couture for Nails Hound Dog:

Dark, chocolaty brown creme. This swatch is 2 coats. This is a true, pure brown; no hint of red here!

Next, BB Couture for Nails La Bamba:

Burnt orangey red type of color that has a nice jelly finish with small glitter. This swatch is 3 coats.

BB Couture for Nails Tangerine Scream:

I love this hot, bright orange! This will be on my toes next summer for sure. This swatch is 3 coats.

BB Couture Poison Apple:

Nice red with a jelly finish. I really like this one too. This swatch is 3 coats. I think that this also has excellent potential for a pedicure color.

BB Couture for Nails Prince Charming Blue:

Gorgeous royal blue with a nice, shimmery finish. This looks electric in person! Super bold, I love it. This swatch is 2 coats.

BB Couture for Nails Erotic Night:

This is my absolute favorite of the bunch. Dark plum with a jelly finish and the slightest shimmer that can only be detected in full on sun. This swatch is 3 coats. I will get a ton of wear out of this color. Can't stop staring at my nails with this color on them.

All of these applied beautifully with the exception of Tangerine Scream which was a bit streaky. I don't know what it is with orange nail polishes but I find that most of them are streaky. This one was not bad as far as oranges go, it just wasn't a dream like the others. If you like Tangerine Scream don't let this stop you from buying it.

I will also mention again, that I love BB's brushes and handles, and that these babies wear like IRON!! If you are looking for something long wearing then I would definitely give BB Couture for Nails a try! Buy them online at bbnailpolish.com and overallbeauty.com.

If you missed my other BB swatches, scroll down to my entry from November 6th to see six more!

Ta ta for now! Thanks for reading and hope to see you back here soon.

xoxo
Katee

NOTD: Lippmann Collection Pump Up the Jam

Hello readers!

Today I am sharing with you a fabulous, shimmery, vampy shade for fall and winter: Lippmann Collection Pump Up the Jam. The following swatch is 3 coats of polish, 1 coat of Seche Vite top coat, and in direct sun. This is a very opaque color that only requires two coats but I made a goof and had to use 3 coats to fix my mistake.

This nail color is a aubergine or eggplant shimmer with a black base. This is one of those colors that is almost black indoors and then it is crazy gorgeous, shimmery beautiful outside in the sun. I bring this up because I know that some of you (like me) really like the 'almost black' vampy colors and then others are disappointed when they look black inside. Lippmann Collection Pump Up the Jam is definitely a keeper for me! I will enjoy staring at this on my tips this weekend in the sun. Don't worry, I'll be careful while driving.

Have a fabulous weekend!

xoxo

Katee 

Two Stunning Colors for Fall from Essie

Hello!

Today I am sharing with you two stunners from Essie that I think are FABULOUS FOR FALL! I live in southern California and we are just starting to see the leafs change colors and that is really putting me in the mood for these colors.

First, Essie Decadent Diva - this was a Fall 2007 release but I think it is still fabulous and I am not tired of seeing it at all. Let me just say that I love the name Decadent Diva and I could not imagine not loving a color with that name. It is a gorgeous dark brown with red shimmer. I had a hard time capturing the true color of this polish. I think my pictures make the polish a little more redder than it is in person. You must see this on to truly appreciate how gorgeous it is. 

Essie Decadent Diva Indoors:

Essie Decadent Diva Outdoors:

Next, the insanely gorgeous Essie Groovy Grape, my current NOTD. When I say insanely gorgeous, I mean insanely gorgeous. When I saw this in the sun I almost *dropped dead*. Stunning. Groovy Grape is a gorgeous deep vampy grape with tons of red shimmer. It is simply amazing in the sun. This polish is a Fall 2008 release available exclusively at Ulta.

Essie Groovy Grape Indoors:

Essie Groovy Grape Outdoors:

Both of these Essie polishes are available at Ulta but like I said that is actually the only place Groovy Grape is even available.

OK now time to stop blogging and get outside! We are having amazing weather here in Cardiff by the Sea and I am going to get out there and enjoy it. While staring at my Groovy Grape nails in the sun. 

Zoya Casey - Vampy Love!

I saw Zoya Casey over on the Polish Addict's site the other day and instantly fell in love. It is vampy, jelly like, glossy and gorgeous! I instantly *ran* (ok, drove) to pick it up the moment I saw it, seriously. I just put it on and I cannot stop staring at my nails! Admiring this color on my nails is like a Rachel Zoe *die* moment. I am even more in love with it now than when I first saw it on PA's site. The only thing I'll warn you about though is that this was a 4 coater for me. Most jelly like polishes are because they tend to be thin and need to be built up to achieve bottle color. I enjoy the act of polishing my nails so I don't mind 4 coaters but they probably aren't for everyone. I also had cuticle drag issues, which can happen with the jellies, which is why I really needed the 4th coat to even everything out. On to the swatches!!

This first swatch is indoors, natural lighting, and please excuse my cuticle ouchie. I had a hang nail and got a little overzealous with the nippers :( Indoors, Casey is almost black, which I love.

The second swatch is in the amazing California sun. When you take Casey outside you can see the gorgeous plum color:

I hope you enjoyed today's swatches and hope to see you back soon!

Welcome

Hi my name is Katee and welcome to my blog! This blog is dedicated to my newly found love of nail polish. I will share tips and products that I love as well as my "Nail of the Day" (NOTD). 

I am a bit of a newbie to this nail polish love so I don't have a huge collection (yet) but I am working on it. So most of my NOTD posts probably won't be anything color wise that you have not seen yet. But rather I'll be sharing with you my FAVORITE colors. 

Thanks for looking! 

And now on to my NOTD, Revlon - Hot For Chocolate. This is the first Revlon Polish that I have tried and I must say that I really like their formula and brush. The polish went on smoothly with no clumps or anything bad. It flowed onto the nail perfectly. I am really LOVING this color! I am a big fan of dark and vampy polishes. I love polishes that look dark and almost black indoors but then show their true colors in the sun.

This first swatch was taken indoors. I used 3 coats of polish and one coat of Seche Vite top coat (best top coat ever). 

The next swatch is a sunlight shot so you could see this color and all of its chocolaty goodness.

Thanks for checking me out and hope you visit soon and often!