OPI Skull and Glossbones

Hi there! Today's mani is a little outside my comfort zone. I usually prefer bright colors and glitters! Here's two coats of OPI Skull and Glossbones, from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection, plus a coat of Seche Vite. 

Skull and Glossbones

Skull and Glossbones is a really nice color. It looks more nude on me especially in this horrible lighting, but in the bottle it is more of a murky white. I'll try to get better bottle shots when it's sunny. I found this polish at Ulta on sale the other day.

Because I can't leave a neutral alone, I decided to stamp with Fingerpaints It's an Original! using BM plate 20. It's an Original! is a gorgeous deep purple with subtle shimmer.

close up

My stamping isn't the greatest, but it looks better in real life than it does in this picture, promise! For some reason my tips look blurred but they're actually pretty clean. Sorry for my hoodie sleeve in there :) it's cold here tonight!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day! Thanks for coming by.

-Rachael

Zoya Charla

Hey everyone! Today's mani is very simple. These are some of the first pictures I've taken of my manis and I hope they aren't too obnoxious. These were taken with my phone. My camera is charging, so other pics will be done properly, with different lighting and angles. Learning curve, haha. Please ignore my dry cuticles! They're a work in progress, too.

Anyway, this is Zoya Charla, two coats. She's a beautiful metallic blue that flashes green in certain lighting, and especially in the bottle. Zoya describes her as "a tropical blue sparkling metallic." I think that sums it up perfectly! There are quite a few dupes of this color. One off the top of my head is Essence Choose Me! I can't get over the endless sparkle that gives this mani such great depth. Coverage was a bit troublesome, dragging especially. I ended up with some bald patches that very well may have been entirely my fault. I'm new at this, after all! Anyway, there was very little cuticle flooding and I had great control of the brush. I am rather crazy about Zoya's formula. I'm going to attribute the problems here to user error.

I stamped my ring fingers with BM plate 01 in Sinful Colors Snow Me White and topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite . I love that little swirly design. It's very elegant and did just enough for me to feel that this manicure was unique. The Seche is definitely causing some shrinkage, which I've heard happens often with Zoya. I need a good top coat to use when SV isn't the best. Any suggestions?

First mani post... done! So excited about all of this. I think I'll post pics of this week's haul later tonight. Thanks for stopping by! Hope everyone is having a great day.

Rachael

And so it begins!

Hey! No one is reading this yet but hopefully, with a little luck, that will change. I thought I'd start with a little introduction and we'll see what happens from there. This is only the first post, after all!

My name is Rachael and I live in the United States, in the plain state of Oklahoma. I am in college and I work quite a bit, but if someone ends up interested in my blog I will certainly attempt to post as frequently as I can. I'm going to shoot for every few days, for now. I'm an English major and hope to become a lawyer one day. I am passionate by nature and quite exuberant. I'm very easy to get along with. Lately I have been inspired by the nail polish and beauty blogs I've been keeping up with, and decided that I'd try my hand at blogging and picture taking and polish hoarding. :) I intend to post pictures of my little stash soon, and we can watch how it grows.

I paint my nails every day, or every other if I get busy or just particularly like the manicure. I'm not an artist, by any means, but I do love a pretty bottle of polish and quite enjoy painting my nails. It's relaxing though the result may not always be perfect. Or close to it. haha.

Here's a little bit about me, if anyone is interested.

-I have three dogs, three cats, and a bird. There will probably be pictures of them here and there, and maybe a video if someone is being particularly adorable!

-I am 21 years old and dating a quite wonderful man who does not understand my nail polish addiction. However, he's very sweet about waiting for me to dash into this drugstore or that Sally's. Nice guy, right?

I feel like this has already been too long, so maybe I'll post more later. I'm hoping to have a giveaway around 100 followers or so, and from then on maybe at more milestones. I'm reaching for the stars, I know, but a girl can hope!

Anyway, this is the beginning. The blog is plain and empty for right now, but I'm looking forward to watching it change and grow.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day! I so look forward to this blog and where it will go.

See you soon!!