China Glaze Pink Voltage

Hi, you guys! Hope it's a pleasant week for you! :)

Now that summer's here, it's time to break out my favorite neons and brights from storage and add them to the rotation. (Although if I were honest, I would admit that I don't have to break out anything because I wear neons all-year round. :P) A favorite of mine year after year is China Glaze Pink Voltage.

It's hard to believe, but it really is as bright and intense of a pink as it shows in the pictures! Sometimes I have trouble capturing shades this bright, but I managed to do all right this time. This color is gorgeous, both in pictures and in person. It's just the perfect shade of pink, not too cool or warm to my eyes, with a hint of shimmer that adds an interesting pearly glow to its neon satin finish.

I don't have too much trouble with application. It goes on pigmented, and dries faster than usual (something I've seen in quite a few neons), so you can't go over the same area too many times or it will get streaky. I did two coats for the swatches, which is good enough for me, but there are still one or two uneven spots if you look really closely, so a third coat wouldn't hurt.

Though this is one of my favorite colors, I do wish it lasted a little longer on the nails. Because of its neon formula, it starts chipping quite soon. If I wear this without top coat, chips usually start appearing after a day. With top coat, it will last an extra day before the chips start to set in. But even with its short nail-duration, I still love this color. No one does neons like China Glaze, and one of my favorite things about this is that you don't have to do a white base coat first. I can never get the edges of a coat of neon color on top of a white base coat to line up, so I'm really thankful that there are neon polishes out there that "pop" even without that requirement. :)

Do you wear neons in the summer time? Is there a particular shade that's your favorite? I'd love to know. :)

Butter London Ladybird & Lolly - Lolly Brights Collection for Summer 2014

Hi, you guys! How's it going hmmm? :) As I'm writing this, I'm watching reruns of Boy Meets World on tv. Do you guys remember this show? I loved it back in the day and heard that they're making a Girl Meets World series that show the main character all grown up, married with his own kid. Haha... I can't wait to see it. :D

Every year, I look forward to summer for its wonderful array of nail polishes in brilliantly intense shades that encompass all the colors of the rainbow. And so today I'm totally thrilled to be kicking off the first colors of the summer. I've got two of the gorgeous bright shades from the new six-polish Butter London Lolly Brights Collection for Summer 2014 to share with you.

Zoya Awaken Collection & Monet - Spring 2014

Hi, you guys! Hope your week is going well. :) Is it me or is this month just flying by so fast? I love this time of the year, with all the flowers and trees blooming, and the extended amount of day light every day. I think my hubby, who does all the mowing, disagrees with my love of spring. We get just the perfect mixture of rain and sun so that the grass is growing like crazy weeds this time of the year lol.

Today, I've got Zoya's Spring 2014 offerings—the Awaken Collection and Monet special effects topper—to share with you. I always look forward to Zoya's spring collections with their fresh, understated colors and soft finishes, so I was super excited for this.

KBShimmer Spring 2014 Collection - My Picks!

Hi, you guys! Hope your week is going well! :) It's finally starting to feel like spring over here. It was actually sunny yesterday, with blue skies! Of course I was stuck inside at work because it was a weekday, but beggars can't be choosers. I'm just getting over a pretty miserable cold. It had me good for two weeks and I'm still coughing a little, but I'm thankful to be back to feeling mostly normal and sleeping through the night again. :)

Today, I've got my picks from the new KBShimmer Spring 2014 Collection. It's a large collection of 16 polishes consisting of a variety of finishes—glitters, holos, and cremes. It's a fun set of colors and finishes, sure to have something to satisfy whatever you love. For me, four totally stood out and made my heart sing, so I wanted to share those with you.

Nicole by OPI Roughles Collection

Hi, you guys! Hope your week is going well. We had a few days of sunshine, so I totally soaked up the vitamin D. But now it's back to rain and clouds... gotta love the Pacific Northwest. :P

Today, I have the Nicole by OPI Roughles (pronounced "ruffles") Collection to show you. These speckled pastels caught my attention from the moment I first saw the promo pictures. They look so fun and unique, I was just chomping at the bit to try them out. Without any further delay, here they are. :)

NOTD: Zoya Holly & Zoya Opal

Hi, you guys! How was your weekend? Mine was pretty uneventful. It was raining and gray the whole weekend, so I mostly holed up inside and caught up on tv shows and movies, emerging outside only in search of food. :)

In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, I thought I'd show you a recent gorgeous green mani of mine:

This is one coat of Zoya Opal over two coats of Zoya Holly. Holly by itself is already one of my favorite green looks, but adding Opal on top made it catch the light from every angle and just glow from within. Up close, you can see the individual flakes in the green, but from an arm's length, it gives the impression of dancing green fire on the nails... totally amazing! :D

Do you guys like flakies as much as I do? If so, what's your favorite combination? :)

** Zoya Opal is a press sample.

NOTD: Zoya Lux & Zoya Emme

Hi, you guys! Hope your week is going well! :D

I've been loving the Zoya Magical Pixies lately, and wanted to show you one of my favorite looks with Lux. I had heard that some of the pixiedusts are great for layering, so I wondered how Lux would look over a different shade. Here's the result:

I have one coat of Zoya Lux over two coats of Zoya Emme, and I just love it! :) Emme's baby pink color is the perfect girly shade to put under Lux. And having just one coat of Lux instead of the usual two (when wearing by itself) makes the texture more subtle, while still retaining all of its sparkle.

Have you guys tried layering the pixiedusts? Let me know what combinations you've tried or want to try! :)

** Zoya Lux is a press sample. Full swatches HERE.