Nail Art: Valentine's Day

Happy belated Valentine's Day!  In celebration, I sported an ombre mani with glitter tips.  Awesomely over the top, just like the holiday itself.

Review: Sally Hansen Petal Pusher

Bought this as part of my little holiday haul while at home in Chicago; at the time I was mainly after the topcoat (which turned out not to be a topcoat at all, just a clear polish), figuring I could just bust this out for work every once in awhile.  I never thought that plain, flesh-colored nails would appeal to me so much, but I already can't wait to wear this color again!

Julep Maven January Box

I took the Julep Maven style quiz a few months back, and submitted my e-mail address when requested.  After looking around the site, I decided not to participate in the program.  But I received a promo code a few weeks ago to receive the January box for one cent.  I understand their logic, as it gets me into their system and, if I forget to skip a month, I get charged.  But I figured I might as well try it out; for only a penny, who could resist?  Here's what was inside:

Review: Zoya Izzy

This is the color that I traded a friend of mine for my Zoya Dove, and I'm happy to report that we're both quite pleased with the switch!  Gray nails are just not my thing, but this?  This is the most brilliant shocking pink I own, hands-down.  It's gorgeous.

Nail Art: Gold Tips

So here's the mani I teased in my last post.  I'm loving it so much!  This was my first time doing tips - I honestly just did it because I was bored, and there was a roll of scotch tape and a bottle of polish in the vicinity.  But I really ended up liking the color combo - that's Essie Fiji as the base, and Orly Rage on the tips.  Plus Rage is a duochrome, so sometimes it ends up looking like this:

Which works equally well with the base color.  This is making me very excited to wear Rage on its own!

Next up: Zoya Izzy.  Finally!

Holiday Haul

Holiday haul!

Belated Holiday Nails

We're now firmly out of the holiday season, but I'm still playing catch-up.  While I immensely enjoyed my time at home, eating home-cooked meals and baking cookies and catching up with old friends, it put somewhat of a damper on the trip when I arrived in Chicago, unpacked my bag, and discovered that my laptop absolutely refuses to turn on.  This is extremely frustrating given that basically my entire life is on that thing, including Chromatic Consumption content.  Luckily I still have a desktop that performs...well, adequately at best, but it's better than nothing.  So, before they become even more irrelevant than they already are a week into January, here were my Christmas nails!

Colors used: Ulta 14 Carat, Milani Jewel FX Gold, e.l.f. Light Red, Color Club Art Club White

Cheesy and over-the-top for sure, but oh god I loved it.  I got numerous compliments, even with the smearing and uneven lines - first time using a striper brush.  But I really liked it, so much easier than taping off my nails like I had been originally planning.  I think that's still the easiest for thicker stripes, but for little ones like this a striper is the way to go.  Plus it made it easier to have some variety, so not every nail looked the same.  This was my left hand, which is my dominant hand; the ones on my right hand looked a bit more uniform.

Review: Zoya Dove

This isn't even going to be a full review.  I received this color as part of a 2-part set that came free with any polish purchase back in the summer.  At the time, I got blinded by the notion of free polish for free polish's sake; even then I didn't like gray.  And after a brief trial run just to be sure, I'm now positive:  gray polish is not my style.  I wore this for about 2 days before I wanted it gone.

This color does have a slight blue undertone, but it's still too gray for me.  Maybe if it had some more blue, or purple, I'd be into it.  However, it does work well when paired with its Fashion Week mate, Zoya Caitlin:

As you can see, I haven't quite gotten the hang of doing the half-moon mani freehand.  But the colors do go together quite nicely.  However, that's not quite enough to convince me to keep this polish, so I actually traded it with a friend, for Zoya Izzy from her November Birchbox.  Look for that review coming up next!

December Birchbox

Looks like I got my November Birchbox review up just in time, because my December box arrived this morning!  Good timing, too - I'm about to go home for Christmas in a few days, I'm so glad it came before I left!

November Birchbox: Final Review

This month has been so hectic, I scarcely noticed it was over before I was getting an e-mail about my December box being shipped!  Where does the time go??