Fell Into a Sea of Grass

Happy Saturday everyone! Here in the states it is a holiday weekend, which means a 3 day weekend for some of us, including me and my husband. We don't really have any big plans, as usual, because that is the way we like to keep it. We are homebodies through and through. I'm sure I'll paint my nails at least a time or two, and the dog probably needs a bath... but that's about as exciting as it gets. :) 

Today I have another lovely Pipe Dream Polish. I'm sure you're tired of hearing it, but I love these polishes. And this one is no different. April describes this polish as being made up of medium sized royal blue metallic, bright blue matte, and silver glitter in a bright, grass green jelly base. The glitter in this polish is really hard to capture color wise, but trust me, it's pretty. My camera doesn't do the glitter justice. It's not the kind of green I normally wear, but I really love it. The formula is great (as usual), jelly sandwich in a bottle, the glitter flows just like you want it to. There's no placement necessary. The green is bright but not neon, it's jelly enough to see all the layers but creamy enough that you don't see any visible nail line. (one of my biggest pet peeves on my own nails)

I used three thin coats for the photos below and topped it with Glossy Glam to smooth it out and make it shine. One it's own it dried a little matte, and all glitters like this dry a little lumpy. 

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. 

Full Sun 

Full Sun

Light Box

Light Box

Light Box Macro

The macro really shows the glitters in all the layers. 

I don't know that this will be a polish that I wear much, but I do love it. I love love LOVE the formula. It's so squishy and bright and effortless. 

Pipe Dream Polish can be purchased from their Esty store here. 

What do you think? Personally I hope April keeps doing what she's doing because she is doing it RIGHT! 

**The polish in this post was purchased by me for my own personal use at a discounted rate in exchange for an honest review.**

Sweet Baby by Donna Cuticle Oil

Happy Friday night everyone! I know, this is a late post... I just realized I hadn't told you all about this stuff and I couldn't wait any longer! 

A couple of weeks ago Donna from Working Girl Nails on Instagram launched a line of cuticle oils called Sweet Baby by Donna. I decided to go with a limited edition scent, Apple Pie Ala Mode. From her Etsy description: Because the smell of essential oils aren't for everyone I am offering some limited edition fragrances. These limited editions are not all natural because they include a scent that is both natural and synthetic. However, they are still vegan and animal friendly, as well as paraben, soy, and nut free. As with any allergy though, you should test a small amount before using a large amount. 

I'll be honest, part of what initially drew me to this oil was Donna herself. I've been following her for a while on Instagram. She's fun, sweet, and posts great manis. So when I saw that she was starting this line I had to check it out. Then I saw that it was cuticle oil in a roller ball bottle. WHY aren't more people making this????? Seriously. It keeps you from using too much oil (a regular occurrence for me) and it's mess/spill free. I had planned to carry this in my purse, but it hasn't made it to my purse yet. I'm afraid I'll forget about it in there, so I've been keeping by my favorite spot at home. I've been really impressed with this stuff. First of all the scent is fantastic, but it's not overwhelming. Which is perfect. I'm sensitive to scents and this doesn't bother me at all. Once it soaks in there is just barely a hint of the scent left. And then there is the formula: the roller ball dispenses just the right amount of oil and it soaks in fast. there is no oily residue left behind, just nice, soft, moisturized skin. 

I don't have any before pictures, honestly I can't tell a huge difference in my cuticles. But, I am a little obsessive about moisturizing my hands and keeping my cuticle and nail area all nice and soft and clean. But I can say that this is my new favorite oil. We are going on vacation next month and I had been worrying about what kind of nail care products to take with us. This will be my cuticle moisturizer for sure! I plan to keep it in my purse and I'll probably use it ever 30 minutes for the whole 13 hour drive. (Hubby isn't letting me drive, and I can't read in the car, what else am I going to do? :) )

Here is a pic with the bottle to show you how nice the packaging is. It came in a box with the fragrance labeled, the bottle is nice and heavy and the roller ball isn't lose. I used the oil about 10 minutes before I took this pic, rubbed it in a little, and as you can see it's soaked in already. (Polish shown is Zoya Hope, I'll be posting more pictures and a review of it sometime in the next week)

Sweet Baby by Donna can be purchased through her Etsy store here. She has several scents to choose some, including some that are made with all natural aromatherapy essential oils. Go check it out! You won't be sorry. Also check out her Instagram! Her manis are fantastic!

I also want to add that Donna had some tracking issues with USPS with my order. She sent me a message through Etsy as soon as she knew and apologized. She was genuinely concerned with me having a good experience and getting the product in a timely manner. I ordered the oil on Sunday and received it on Friday, so even with the glitch I got it really quickly. So customer service gets an A+ from me! 

**The product in this post was purchased by me for my own personal use.**

Zoya Carter

Good morning! I hope everyone is having a good week so far. We're almost to the weekend, and it's a 3 day weekend for some of us. I'm pretty excited. We've got big plans to do nothing, which is our favorite thing to do. I'm sure I'll paint my nails, probably half a dozen times... you know how it is. 

Today I have one of the fall 2013 Zoya PixieDust polishes. I LOVE these textures. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Zoya has the texture down perfect. They've got the sparkle, matte, and texture all balanced out perfectly. 

Zoya describes Carter as royal purple, I think that's pretty accurate. It's really unique, in different lights the base looks like dark purple and sometimes dark blue. The glitter in this is more pink, and it really brightens the whole look. Then there's the sparkle.... ugh. If you are following my Instagram you saw the video I posted of it last night. If you're not following my Instagram, please go check it out and follow me. 

There isn't much to say about Carter, I'll let the polish speak for itself. The light box pictures are the most color accurate to real life, but really it's very hard to capture it's beauty. Sorry, I love taking macro pictures of these textures. 

Light Box

Light Box Macro

Light Box Macro

I took a blurry one just to show the sparkle. I love this stuff.

Natural Light (Shade)

The sun was setting when I went to get dinner so I had to snap a pic, of course.

This is 3 coats of Carter with no top coat. 

What do you think? I have to say, if you like sparkly polish and you like purple, you NEED Carter in your life. 

Zoya polishes can be purchased on their website and in some Ulta stores.

**The polish in this post was purchased by me for my own personal use.** 

Mas Fina

Good morning polish friends! I hope you're all having a great week so far. Saturday I had a swatch-a-thon and I am really excited for the next few posts that I have for you. 

Today's post is the one that I am probably the most excited about, it was so hard to wait to share this. In fact I shared a sneak peak on my Instagram Saturday because I just couldn't wait. 

This beauty is Pipe Dream Polish Mas Fina. Mas Fina is part of April's "Just a Girl" collection. All of the polishes are named from song lyrics by female artists with "girl" in the title. This one is from Madonna's Who's That Girl. According to Pipe Dream's Etsy listing, "this polish is made up of blue-green and purple iridescent with teal and lilac in a violet base with a hint of turquoise shimmer". I have looked at dozens of pictures of this on taken by many people, and while every picture is beautiful, I haven't seen any that are truly color accurate in real life. April and I talked about it and she put it perfectly when she said the iridescent shimmer kinda makes the camera freak out a little. I don't know how to describe it other than to say that the violet base is much more vibrant in person. Maybe deeper would be a good word. It is seriously one of the most beautiful color and glitter combos that I have seen. April's iridescent glitters just blow my mind. Oh who am I kidding, all of her polishes have been blowing my mind. I have the BIGGEST crush on Pipe Dream Polish. So I hope you don't get tired of hearing me dote on them, because I won't be stopping anytime soon. I'm already planning to order all 6 of her fall collection. (She's been posting sneak peaks on Instagram but I CAN'T WAIT to see them in person!)

So, on to some pictures. 

Full Sun (LOVE these bottles!)

 

Full Sun

 Light Box

Bottle Macro

Nail Macro

SERIOUSLY, those macros. This polish is just so so pretty. Application is flawless, it glides on just where you put it, no glitter placement needed. The first coat is a little thin, but it builds nicely. I used 3 coats here but you could probably get away with 2. (I have this thing for 3's... yeah, I'm a little crazy. But not too much.)

This is 3 coats of Mas Fina topped with one coat of Glossy Glam.

Pipe Dream Polish can be purchased on their Etsy store here. 

Glossy Glam (the best top coat EVER, especially over indie glitters) can be purchased on Etsy here. Looks like she's out of stock right now, but watch her Instagram for restock updates! 

I hope you all love this one as much as I do! 

**The polishes in this post were purchased by me for my own personal use. The Pipe Dream Polish was purchased at a discounted price in exchange for an honest review.**

Freckles

Good morning everyone! Happy Sunday to you! I hope everyone is having a nice weekend so far. 

Today I have a fabulous indie polish for you. It's no secret that I love indies, and my love for them started with Lush Lacquer. The first indie I ever purchased was their polish Clowning Around. It is a fabulous neon glitter in a clear base with varying sizes of hex glitter in all different colors. I fell in love with it the very first time I saw it, and I remember how excited I was when I finally decided to purchase it. Once I got it on I still loved it, but large hex glitter isn't my favorite. I love the way it looks on others, but I think because my nails are relatively small it just doesn't always lay right on me. Plus it is a little trickier to work with. 

So, when I found out that Lush Lacquer was releasing Freckles, the little sister to Clowning Around, I was ecstatic. Clowning Around has 6 different sizes of hex glitter, Freckles only has 2; and they are all small. This polish is amazing. If you are on the fence about trying an indie, I highly recommend this one because it's really versatile. I bought it for myself as my "birthday polish gift" to myself. Sounds weird, I know. I've been planning a birthday manicure since my birthday last year, and this polish is perfect for what I've got in mind. 

Freckles is densely packed with neon hex glitters, there is no need to place this baby. It flows on all by itself in a nice, dense, layer of colorful goodness. For this manicure I decided to layer it over my favorite blue, OPI Can't Find My Czeckbook. You don't see a lot of people layering these neon glitters over color, and I have no idea why. The result is fantastic; it totally changes the look of the glitter! They are such chameleons, I can't wait to try it over many more. 

For this mani I used 2 coats of Can't Find My Czeckbook and 2 coats of Freckles. I could have left it at just 1 coat of Freckles, but really the only thing better than glitter is more glitter... So I couldn't help but add 1 more. Then I topped it off with my beloved Glossy Glam. I've had this one for 3 days and it is still just as shiny and bright as the night I put it on. 

Here are some pics. I'm going to apologize here because I feel like I need to. I'm still working out how all of this works and I feel like my lighting isn't always the best. Sometimes I have lobster hands and other times my fingers look like ghosts. I think I'm getting better, but it's a learning process. But, even with lobster hands you can see how awesome this combo is! 

Light Box 

Light Box

Light Box Nail Macro

Light Box Bottle Macro (look at all that glitter!!!)

I took these light box photos the night I painted them, but then the sun didn't show up much the next day. So this picture is after a full day and a half of wear, including my usual routine which USED to really scuff my nails. Check out how great Glossy Glam holds up! It's amazing stuff, I can't say enough good things about it. 

What do you all think? Isn't this glitter fun? I can't wait to incorporate it into my birthday manicure. Or maybe birthday manicures, because I'm getting so many ideas that I might have to do them for the whole month of September. 

Lush Lacquer can be purchased on their Etsy store here. 

Glossy Glam can be purchased on their Etsy store here. 

OPI can be purchased at salon retailers, Ulta, and many other online retailers. 

**The Lush Lacquer in this post was purchased by me for my own personal use. I did receive a blogger discount in exchange for an honest review.**

Small Talk

Good morning everybody! Happy Friday! I know Friday isn't the end of the work week for all of you, but it is the end of the work week for me. And today I'm leaving work a little early, so I'm extra excited. I love my job and my hospital, but there is something about having a Friday afternoon off. 

Today I have my first Lac Attack polish for you. Lac Attack was one of the first indie polishes that I found and started stalking. I'm not sure why I hadn't bought any before now, but a few weeks ago Anastasia posted that she was having a sale before she changed sites so I jumped on. 

This is one of two polishes that I purchased, and as part of the sale she threw in an extra mini. How sweet is that? 

This is Small Talk, it was part of her Candy Hearts Collection from earlier this year. I would call this a shimmery mint green base with dark and light pink hex glitter pieces in large and small sizes. There's also an interesting dark shimmer to this. I'm not sure how to describe it, at first I thought it was pigment that didn't get mixed in, but no matter what I like the look. 

I had some minor application issues with this. I think it would behave better if it was layered over an opaque color. I did 3 coats for these pics and had a little drag. But I was a little rushed. Overall I think this is a really pretty polish, I just don't think it's as easy to work with as some of the other indies I've tried. I love the dark and light pink pieces in it, it makes me think of kiwi strawberry candy or something. It's a sweet polish. 

My middle finger got bumped and a little smudged in the process, I'm sorry about that. I didn't see it until after I had already taken the pics and removed the polish. 

The sun wasn't playing nice on the day I did these, so all of my pics are in my trusty light box. The macro shot is really the one that does it the best justice. :)

This is 3 coats of Small Talk topped with 1 coat of Seche Vite. 

What do you think? I think this color will be perfect for spring and I think I'll create some fun Easter looks with it. 

Lac Attack polishes can be purchased through Anastasia's online store. However the store is currently closed while she changes hosts. I'm not sure if Small Talk will still be available when she reopens, but she has a lot of amazing polishes to choose from! Including the Magical Musings collection, which I've been drooling over for a long time.  Check her site and Instagram for store updates. 

**the polishes in the post were purchased by me for my own personal use**

Waterfall Mani

Hello friends! I hope you're all doing well this morning!!! I've had a long week so far, but we're halfway through it!

Today I have my very first attempt at a waterfall manicure. If you've been around the nail art world for any amount of time I'm sure you have heard of Sammy from The Nailasaurus. If you haven't heard of her, go to her site. Go now. I'll wait. Trust me, you want to spend an hour or 7 browsing through her beautiful pictures and helpful pictorials. Sammy was one of my very first nail crushes, and she still amazes me with every single manicure and post. 

Now, back to my mani. Aren't you glad you went and checked her out? You should be. This one is dedicated to her, since it was in fact inspired and based on her fantastic pictorial. She posted this back in mid July and I knew I had to try it.  

Yesterday I went on a mission to find all of the Wet-n-Wild Pop Art Collection Polishes. I love hunting for stuff like this, it's a fun challenge for me for some reason. 4 Walgreens and 2 Kmarts later, I had them all. (and maybe a backup or two of some of the colors) When I got home I had them all lined up (because that's what I do with new polish, don't you?) and just looked at them. Then it hit me, perfect colors for my first waterfall mani! 

I started with a base of Wet-n-Wild Blank Canvas. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with this white. Whites are tricky, but this one doesn't disappoint.  Just two smooth coats to get full opacity, it flowed pretty well and was self leveling. For $0.99 I wasn't expecting much, but this was nice. My only complaint was that it was pretty slow to dry, but not unbearably so. 

Once the white was dry I took my striping brush and went to work. I dabbed a bit of colored polish on my palette (a piece of paper), then dragged my brush through the color. Then starting at the cuticle I painted a solid line, slowly lifting from the nail. This creates the smaller wispy look at the end. I love this technique. I need practice, badly. But for a first try I think I did pretty good. Once I got through all of my colors I went back in with a Stripe Right silver glitter striper and added a little sparkle. Then I topped it off with a thick coat of the best topcoat ever, Glossy Glam. I'll list all the colors below the pictures. 

Full Sun

Full Sun

Full Sun

Light Box

Light Box

Colors Used, L to R:

     A Blank Canvas

     Teal Slowly and See (no idea why this has teal in the name, it's all blue and beautiful)

     Stand the Test of Lime

     Who is Ultra Violet

     The Clock Strikes Orange

     Listening to Blue Reed

     Stripe Rite silver glitter

I really love all of these colors, they are really vibrant without being neon. Which is good for me because I'm not a huge fan of neon on myself. I'm looking forward to doing a lot of nail art with these. (which is why i bought a backup or two of some of them. :)) 

Wet-n-Wild polish can be purchased at most drugstores. The Pop Art collection is a limited edition collection. I know here it is available at Walgreens and Kmart, but other stores probably have it too. It is selling out quickly so if you see it and want it you should grab some! 

The Stripe Rite Striper is from Sally Beauty Supply. 

Glossy Glam topcoat is available from Rica's etsy shop here. Watch her Instagram (@justricarda) for restock information. 

The tutorial for this mani is available here, on www.thenailasaurus.com. Please go check her blog out, her manis are flawless and simple and beautiful. Sammy coined these "waterfall mani", and I think it's a great description. Other's have done their own versions, but her version and her pictorial are the best in my opinion. 

Let me know what you think! Have a happy rest of the week! 

Until next time, happy polishing! 

~caseylane

**all polishes in this post were purchased by me for my own personal use**

Flip Fantasia

Good morning everyone! Happy Monday! 

Today I have the 4th and final Pipe Dream Polish for you. (Final for now, I have more on the way this week. :) )

This polish is called Flip Fantasia. It is a lovely coral-pink jelly base with just a bit of turquoise shimmer. This polish has circle glitters, teal and silver HOLO circle glitters. Holo teal glitter, yeah you read that right. There are also small silver, teal, and turquoise, hex glitters packed in here. This polish is really very pretty. I'm sure you're getting tired of hearing it, but April's polishes really are fantastic. They are jelly enough to see all the way through the layers, but opaque enough that they build nicely. 

Today was a swatching day, so I didn't wear this for very long. And the sun didn't come out to help me show it's true beauty. I can see myself reaching for this one anytime I need something bright and unique. 

On to some pictures. 

All of these were taken in my light box.This is 3 coats of FF with one coat of Seche Vite. You could get away with 2 coats of this, but I have this thing for doing 3 coats of any polish I apply. I'm not sure if it's an OCD thing or maybe a security thing? Could be both. I can't stand visible nail line (VNL) on myself and I get so mad when I find bald spots the day after painting! :) 

Bottle Macro

Nail Macro

Nail Macro

So what do you all think? I absolutely love it. The circle glitters are unique and really eye catching. The application of this polish was pretty, everything but the large circle glitters flowed and applied easily. I had to do a little fishing for those big pretty circles, but that is completely normal for a polish like this. 

Overall I love it and have zero complains. Pipe Dream Polish can be purchased from their Etsy store here. Please go check it out; April is amazing and her products are just as great as she is. 

Thanks for reading! Have a happy Monday!

~casey

**The polish in this post was purchased by me for my own personal use at a discounted rate in return for an honest review.**

Zoya Miranda

Good morning and happy Saturday! I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. Ours has been good. This morning we took our cat to the vet for a check up and nail trim. I was pretty nervous about this because she's 11 and this is only the 3rd time she's left the house. And because she tends to be a bit grouchy. But, she did much better than I expected. She didn't try to bite anyone, she only hissed a little, and held mostly still while they trimmed her tender problem nails. So much better than I expected, so I have high hopes for a good weekend! :)

Today I have another Zoya PixieDust polish to show you. I know I've said it before, and I'll say it again and again and again. I love these polishes. I love all of my Zoyas, but these Pixies are so sparkly, the texture is perfect, and the formula is amazing. I could go on and on about them. 

Today's color is Miranda. Zoya describes this polish as a "rose sparkle". It's a lovely pinkish mauve shade, with just a hint of coral. At least that is how it pulls on my exceptionally pasty complexion. It's very pretty and subtle. 

On to some pictures. I'm going to show you this polish both matte and topped with glossy topcoat. PixieDusts are sparkly straight out of the bottle, both matte and glittery. Adding a topcoat changes it completely, and turns the glitteriness a whole new dimension. It's kind of like getting 2 polishes in one. 

This is 3 coats of Miranda on its own with no topcoat. All in the light box. 

Then I added 3 coats of my favorite topcoat, Glossy Glam. Textured polishes are very "topcoat hungry", so it takes a bit to get it all smoothed out. But I wanted a glassy finish on this, so I'm glad I added that extra coat. 

Here is one with the flash to show the extra sparkles. Sorry, I had just used cuticle oil so it's a little greasy around the edges. 

Sparkle sparkle! :) 

So what do you all think of this color? I love it. It's a "safe" color, but still fun with all of the texture and sparkle. 

Thanks for reading! 

~casey

**all polishes in this post were purchased by me for my own personal use.**

PixieDust Leopard!!!

Good morning polish lovers! I hope everyone is having a good day so far! 

I have to say, I am super excited to bring you this manicure. A few weeks ago I ordered the entire Zoya Pixie Dust fall 2013 collection. Around the same time I did my first Leopard print mani... and then I realized I haven't seen anyone do an all PixieDust leopard mani! I knew I had to do it. I love Zoya, I love PixieDust polish, I love nail art... so being able to combine all three was such an exciting idea for me. I didn't mention this leopard idea to anyone, I just kind of kept it stewing in my brain. Then last weekend I was playing with my nail wheel and tried it out. It looked great to me, but I needed my good friend Alaina's opinion. (aka TheLittleCanvas) I sent her a picture, I knew she'd be honest with me if it totally sucked. She loved it too, and after we threw ideas back and forth for a bit we decided it would be a great opportunity to do some #BestieTwinNails for Instagram. Alaina is way more experienced than I am with blogging and nail art, and she's got a special gift with PixieDust nail art... so I was thrilled to do a little collab with her. Go check out Alaina's blog and Instagram as soon as you can, she's great and super sweet. Her version of these turned out fantastic! 

Here is our stitched photo for Instagram, both with topcoat. We were pretty matchy matchy huh? :)

Now for some solo shots of my version. I took pictures of this both with and without topcoat. For the textured look, you need to leave the topcoat off. But adding a topcoat gives you a totally different (and more sparkly) look. 

First I'll show you the textured look.

Full Sun, textured

Full Sun, textured

Full Sun, textured

Light Box, textured

And here it is with a couple of coats of Seche Vite. 

Full Sun, topcoated

Full Sun, topcoated

Light box, topcoated

Light Box, topcoated

For this look I used the entire Zoya Fall PixieDust Collection and Pixie Dust in Dahlia from their first PixieDust Collection.

Here are the colors and names for you:

Black - Dahlia

Gold - Tomoko

Blue - Sunshine

Green - Chita

Orange - Dhara

Purple - Carter

Pink - Arabella

I started with a base of 2 coats of Tomoko on all nails. Then using a medium size nail art brush I started painting the colored spots. Some colors required two coats (Carter needed 3 in some spots), then using a fine nail art brush I painted the lines in Dahlia. I used 2 coats of Dahlia on all nails so that it would really pop as black. I think leopard print nails are one of the absolute easiest types of nail art to do. You don't want it to be perfect, the less perfect your spots are the better. So it's pretty fail proof! 

I highly recommend Zoya's PixieDusts. They are by far my favorite of all of the textured polishes out there. They are textured but not too rough, matte but also sparkly, and the colors and formula are fantastic. 

What do you all think? Do you like this? I was very excited to do it because it's the first time that I came up with a mani that I hadn't seen before. I've seen lots of textured nail art, and it all inspires me. But I hadn't seen a full textured leopard design yet. You should give it a try! If you do let me know because I want to see! You can tag me on Instagram or send me a message on kik or email! 

Instagram & kik: caseylanelovespolish

email: caseylanelovespolish@gmail.com

Thanks for reading! 

~casey

**all polishes in this post were purchased by me for my own personal use**