Happy 23rd Birthday to my better half!

I'm back-dating this post because I had my nails painted like this on the actual day but then failed to actually upload them to my blog here. Anyway, these were my celebration nails for my boyfriend's 23rd birthday! Just a simple balloon design with his age and a heart on my thumbs. I wish I would have realized I did three balloons on my left hand and two on my right...

And this is a photo of the birthday cake and presents that I found on my computer from his LAST birthday! I apparently didn't do a manicure last year :(

I hope he had a great birthday!

I got the blues...

...in my nail design! A quick manicure for today because I have a ton of work to do! So stressed this week and school is kicking my butt!

For this manicure I used Zoya Snow White, Zoya Natty, and Zoya Kristen. 

Swatch: Sally Hansen Cherry Red

Next to blue polishes, red is my favorite color of polish to wear. I think there's just something about red nail polish on a woman that screams self-confidence, sexiness, and beauty. I love any and every shade of red and if someone handed me cherry red, fire engine red, burgundy, oxblood, etc,  I will wear every single one of them with a smile. Maybe it's because I like the red with my skin tone? Maybe I just like red (two of my formal gowns in high school were red). Maybe I'm just weird. I LOVE red nails though. They're so eye-catching. The particular red I'm wearing now is Sally Handsen Cherry Red. There is something about the Sally Hansen brand that I just like. They have a good formula, a wide variety of colors, and their polishes dry quickly. I also think they're Xtreme wear line bottles are cute. I'm a fan!

Also, I've posted my SECOND video on my YouTube channel: NikkisNailFiles! It's a slideshow of ALL my designs here on this blog starting from my very first polka dot tropical to my Toetally Tuesday post from yesterday. Go check it out!

Toetally Tuesday: For Audrey dots

These tootsies are probably one of my favorites in the history of my blog here. I just think they're adorable! I used China Glaze For Audrey, Orly Liquid Vinyl, and Orly White Out.

Nail Polish Storage

Hey everyone! I'm officially on Spring Break and so NikkisNailFiles as a YouTube channel is now "live" (is that the right word? Probably not...) and I've posted my first video! Yay! It's kind of boring but it's all about how I store and organize my 300+ bottles of nail polish. If you'd rather watch the video then you can check it out on YouTube, otherwise you can just read through this post and get the same general idea.

What I use to contain my nail polishes is an Ikea Helmer that the boyfriend bought me either 1 or 2 years ago for Christmas. He knew that I needed a different storage thing than my multiple plastic bins so he surprised me with it and seriously I love it. It's sold at Ikea for $39.99 and it comes in three different color choices. Honestly, it's definitely the best way to store nail polishes if you don't have actual salon rack. The helmer has 6 drawers with spots for labels if you'd like to add them (I did although they aren't in the picture) and the drawers fit every single bottle of polish perfectly. The tallest bottles I own are my Finger Paints polishes but even they fit perfectly. Also, I would definitely recommend purchasing a roll of grip liner from Target or wherever to line the bottom of each drawer so your polishes don't slip and slide all over the place. Liners are super cheap (<$5) and you can even find them at the dollar store. I bought just plain cream with grooves but there are also actual adhesive liners and liners with patterns too.

The drawers can be organized any way that suits you. I've seen other nail bloggers organize theirs by brand, color, finish, collection/year, but I just do mine by color and then by brand within each color. My top drawer contains all random items, my detailer/design brushes, top coats/base coats, nail treatments, nail accessories, paintbrushes, my Konad stamper, some Sally Hanson Salon Effects, and my cuticle lotion.

Ikea unfortunately doesn't make dividers for the Helmer so I had to come up with my own way to separate things. I used a shoe box and separated my top coats, base coats, and nail treatments from my really thin detailer polishes (the detailer brushes ALWAYS would fall down if I left them with the rest of my polishes).

The rest of my polishes stay in the 2nd through 5th drawers. I sort them by color and then by brand within the drawers. There's not much to say about those so I'll just put the pictures.

The last drawer has fresh cotton balls, a pouch with my Konad and BundleMonster plates, and some nail enamel spray. I used to keep my polish remover in the bottom drawer but I ran out of that polish and the new one I bought leaks if it's stored horizontal.

The nail wheels are probably one of my favorite things about my entire collection. It helps with deciding which colors would look nice in a design, what pair of colors work for tips, and just to help me decide what color to paint my nails when no polish is really jumping out at me.

This is how I store my nail polishes! Comment below and tell me how you store yours!

My New Year's Zoya Haul

Today's post is my newest Zoya Haul from back when they were doing the Get 3 Free promo to celebrate New Year's. I got nine GORGEOUS polishes including:

• Natty - Described on Zoya.com as a "smoky deep steel blue with an opaque cream finish." I loved this color when I googled some swatches of it and I didn't have a nice, deep cream blue creme polish. Plus, I can never have enough blue polishes. Never.
• Snow White - A "pure white creme that's as clean and bright as freshly-fallen snow." I needed a good quality white so this was a no-brainer to include.
• Moxie - This "medium saturated red-toned purple-berry with a glossy cream finish" was a great addition to my collection.

• Jo - I was so excited to add yet another blue to my collection. This color is described as a "delicate and serene looking medium periwinkly blue with subtle silver and blue toned shimmer."
• Zuza - "Deep, saturated, oceanic turquoise with gold and silver metallic shimmer and a foil-like finish."Absolutely stunning. This will be one of my go-to summer polishes definitely and I can't wait to swatch it!
• Indigo - In every Zoya haul I always get a dud. For this haul it's Indigo. The swatches I've seen online are absolutely b-e-a-utiful and I was so excited to get my hands on this polish finally. Well, it's described as a "dark indigo blue shimmer with a pinch of holographic microglitter" and I have to say...a pinch indeed. You can barely see anything. I have yet to see these in direct sunlight though so maybe that will help. I'm keeping my fingers crossed this polish is better than I realize.

• Lotus - Unlike Indigo, this "very soft, dusty blue-toned amethyst purple with colorful shimmer that reflects pink, red, and gold" actually reflects pink, red, and gold. I really like this polish for everyday. I don't have many purples and so I welcome new purples like I welcome new blues.
• Kristen - This polish is a "gull gray nail polish with a mild blueish hue" and I LOVE it. I've already worn it on two different occassions and I get so many compliments on it. 
• Crystal - A lemming of mine has been Crystal, a "light silvered shiny blue metallic foil with sparks of brilliant yellow gold."  This polish is gorgeous but I'm not sure I'll be wearing it as an every day polish. 

 I can't wait to swatch and use all these new polishes over my spring break!