Sparks Will Fly!

Second post, and what I'm currently wearing on my tips... China Glaze Magnetix! The color I chose was Sparks Will Fly. Lets take a looksie..

 

Sparks Will Fly is a beautiful flat metallic until you take the magnet to it, when purple magnificence just bursts forward!! I love the swirl design the most. If any of you are familiar with the China Glaze Magnetix, the magnet they sell for the polishes comes in a separate package, is horseshoe shaped and has 3 varied designs! I got the one with the swirl, the grid, and the lines. I'm very happy with it!

Until next time..

Another Zoya Beauty!

Hey guys! I have two posts for you today. Another Zoya beauty from the Color Your World event they had, and a China Glaze Magnetix. Lets start with the Zoya, shall we?

Now, this one I didn't do anything other than swatch. It was just so gorgeous and multidimensional on its own I didn't want to ruin it! This is Zoya Indigo. I just took this beauty off my nails after 3 or so days of wear, I just didn't want to take it off! Haha. Indigo is a stunning, deep magnetic blue with sparkles that are just barely visible. Very happy with my Zoya picks so far!

ZOYA!

I FINALLY got my hands on some Zoya polish. I was SO excited!! After drooling from afar for a while, I decided to take advantage of this promotion I'm sure some of you heard of:

I decided to get Zoya Indigo, Cynthia, Akyra, and Ki. I figured I'd buy one since I was getting 3 free and had to pay $10 in shipping anyway :)

They arrived in cushioned packaging, with this little box inside:

These are the polishes:

Indigo, Cynthia, Akyra, and Ki

Instead of swatching these polishes I wanted to do full manicures. So I've only got one for you today. I'm trying to make sure that while it isn't a plain swatch, the manicure still lets the real beauty of the polish shine through.

The first baby I cracked open was Zoya Cynthia.

 

I did however, photograph it by itself before adding anything new. Cynthia is a gorgeous, deep, black-toned emerald green. I used 2 and 1/2 coats. The half being for a few swipes here and there to cover a few bald spots I created heavy handed on accident.

This "full" manicure incorporated dusky rose colored hexagonal glitters (that arrived in tact) from Born Pretty Store. I can say these glitters are AMAZING. I decided to keep it simple and apply them to the base of my nail in the center.

^ My right hand turned out lovely so I needed to photograph it, too.

I'm so proud of this hardener, I love my nails now! :)

Thanks for looking!

Not so great experience

So, if any of you are familiar with the blogging community, or have shadowed a few blogs here and there, it's likely you have heard of the Born Pretty Store. Lots of bloggers in the UK I see post many things about them and always a positive experience. So when I decided to finally get rhinestones, caviar balls, decals and tweezers, I chose to finally try BPS for myself. I never will again.

For BPS the shipping is free, unless you decide to pay $3 for tracking information on the package. I am not trusting, so I paid $3 and it took me emailing them 2 weeks later asking where my tracking information was to even receive information.

A few days later I received my package, from Singapore. I assume that is where their headquarters are located. Nothing was cushioned inside aside from the very small, overly priced white stamping polish. This is how my items were when I opened the package:

 

I wasn't TOO angry about it, because I thought that I would have no issues requesting a replacement. When I discovered the gold metal decals were bent and broken and some missing, I was kind of sad... I thought I'd be able to just pick through and separate them easily. Now, you have to understand. Amazon contracts the selling of some of these exact same items with the exact same retail packaging (not shipping packaging) for less money. But I had heard so many good things about BPS I wanted to give them a try and get their name out there.

When I sent an inquiry email in asking about replacements they asked to see photos. No problem. I took those photos above and attached them to my responding email. The answering email made me really mad.

 

Yes, I realize I myself thought I could pick the gold metal decals apart, but in my email I TOLD them there were many missing, broken and bent beyond repair. So this response was disregarding what I had to say as a customer with a concern. To compound my displeasure, instead of just replacing the steel balls that got all over the packaging, mixed together and gone altogether, they offer me a stamping plate on another order I should make (forcing me to spend more money on a separate purchase just to receive this incentive).

To be sure I fully understood, I responded asking if I got what they were saying correctly, asking for clarification. Then I expressed my dissatisfaction with their offer. All I wanted were my items replaced. If they'd been packaged securely enough in the first place, this wouldn't even be a problem.

 

To finally get the email above, I had to mention I had a blog and was trying to give them a chance to provide me with a happy experience, but so far I was very dissatisfied. I'm really mad still. I had to mention I had a blog to garner respect from their customer service? What if I was just some nailart enthusiast that wanted to try their store? Jeez. I haven't received information or any further emails after my curt "Thank you" response to this regarding the new replacements. We shall see I guess. But from now on I'm sticking to Amazon.

Back-to-school

I recently began another semester of college on January 16th and things are going well so far! I did my nails for the first day classes were in session and I hadn't done a leopard dot mani in a while, so this is what came out.

 

The base blue is China Glaze Bahamian Escape, the darker blue is matte-n-a Sequel, and the black is Orly Liquid Vinyl. I had originally intended to stamp on the ring finger, but I ended up liking the solid black alone with the leopard. It looked clean and pretty. :)

 

This manicure was after 1 week of applying the Hardener. My thumb nail is actually long enough to be shaped! Haha.

Thanks for looking!

Matte to Glossy

Last I posted I introduced you guys to my newfound love of Melmers! I still love them rather a lot but I took a break from posting because I needed to nurture my nails with a special hardener. I was tired of all the peeling and breaking off.

I was very interested in trying the Herome hardener I had heard about on a foreign nail blog (I can't remember which, when I do I'll link it here) but Herome is only available in Europe and Australia. I found a way to get it here, but it is already expensive at $22 and the shipping would have been $35. Not happening! LOL. So I found an alternative. European Secrets Calcium Builder Fortified Nail Builder. I'll never use anything else again.

Can purchase at Sally's for less than $7! :)

Now, that should answer questions about why my nails look thicker and better shaped in my photos than ever before. On to the reason for the title:

 

If you remember my swatch spam of the matte-n-a collection from Amazon then you recognize Musical. But with Seche Vite on top :) I loved it before, I LOVE it even more now haha

I decided, after taking dozens of photos of Musical alone with the glossy coat, to use Orly Liquid Vinyl to put some black tips on there. In this photo, my nails are just beginning to strengthen after 1 day of use of the Hardener.

Thanks for looking!