Nail News: What Your Nails Say About You

Hey guys, if you're interested in a laugh....check this youtube video out. A few of them are actually pretty funny (once you get past the whole totally-inappropriate stuff).For example, I totally agree with the red nails one and the nail art thing. I can't tell you how many times my boyfriend has texted me only to hear back about an hour later that I was painting my nails. It's pretty much expected now I think when he hasn't heard from me and he knows I don' have much to do.

The video is by a YouTuber named Jenna Marbles. Her YouTube channel is here.

Nail News: Essie Awards

Everyone knows it's award season right now. Yes, the Grammies, the Peoples' Choice Award, the Oscars.....and now the Essies. Yes, "The Essies" are becoming a thing! I was reading InStyle online today and found out that for the first time ever the Essie nail polish brand is creating their very own nail art awards this year AND it's going on RIGHT NOW!

The Essies will have multiple rounds, with the first round ending February 22nd. Visit this link or the Essie website for the rules and such. The second round ends March 28th (winners to be determined by us fans by the way!). Then there will be a third round (again picked by fans) but I don't know when that will be. The fourth and final round will be picked by judges (including Rebecca Minkoff)! I think that's in June.

As for the lucky lucky lucky winner? She (or he) will receive a $20,000(!) partnership with the Essie brand, join Michelle Saunders backstage at NYFW, and wil even be featured in Essie video tutorials!

Pretty cool, right? If you enter I can't wait to see what you do! Best of luck my fellow polish friends!

NailNews: 4 For You Glenn Coco!

Hey there fellow polish lovers! While on twitter today I learned from Swatch and Learn that Zoya, the King of Promo, is having a 4 FREE* polish promo! The promo started January 6th and runs until January 13th and you use the promo code 4YOU. The downside? You pay for shipping....which isn't cheap this time.

Now, pardon me while I vent....$15 for shipping?? Does anyone else remember the 3Free from 2014? Yeah, the S&H fee was $6.95 then! I get that the polishes have been raised to like $9 and $10 a bottle so the deal isn't toally bad but sheesh! It is true that 4 bottles at $9 (aka $36 total) makes the $15 S&H not look so bad but just call it Buy 2 Get 2 instead of "pay for shipping." Shipping is too steep for me this time. Be sure to let me know what polishes you went for if you end up going for this promo!

Nail News: Zoya's Earth Day Nail Polish Exchange

For anyone who is interested, Zoya is celebrating Earth Day by bringing back their Earth Day Nail Polish Exchange! If you don't know what that means, it's super simple and is a great way to swap out any polish that you may not want anymore. Here's what you do: You go to Zoya's website and choose 6-24 bottles of polish, when you check out use promo code ZDAY2014, and then when you receive your polishes you send back the same number of non-Zoya polishes.  It's that simple. I know you have some polishes in your collection that you really don't want....so why not take advantage of this amazing opportunity! If you're interested, place your orders between April 21st and April 28th!

A+ for Nicole by OPI

I think I'm a little bit late to this party, seeing as this all came out some point in January but....Nicole by OPI is launched 14 new polishes to convince us hoarders that we still don't have enough polishes. These polishes are G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S and brilliantly named. The photos I've included in this post are not mine...I have stolen borrowed them from the OPI website here. You know you're a tad obsessed when you start buying polishes purely based on the name, but with some of these names how can you not? 

Dear Nicole by OPI, Fabulous might just be my middle. It might just be.

From a wannabe yogi, I simply MUST have Yoga-then-yogurt. Also, from someone who is *proudly* at the top of her law school class, you better believe Taupe of my Class will be joining my collection ASAP.

Which name is your favorite? Let me know in the comments!

And just one more thing: Can we all raise a toast to the OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director, Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, for her quote: "Maintaining manicures is an important goal to have the New Year's resolution list! Perfectly painted nails are one of the best accessories any fashionista can have." Amen, sister. Amen. My perfectly painted nails salute you.

Nonexistant National Nail Polish Day?

I was googling when national nail polish day is and realized there is no National Nail Polish Day! Girls and guys, what are we going to do about that?! How on earth is there a "National Pig Day" and a "National I Want You To Be Happy Day" but no "National Nail Polish Day"?! Well now I am creating a National Nail Polish Day, May 10th and I hope that you guys all add take part and this little photo to your blogs to spread awareness (otherwise I will revel in my National Nail Polish Day bliss all by my lonesome).

Cosmopolitan Magazine On Nail Care

Today's post is about an article I just read on Cosmopolitan's (you know, the magazine) website: "21 Things You Absolutely Must Know About Painting Your Nails" by Carly Cardellino. Having been seriously obsessed with nails for the last...oh I don't know...8 or 9 years, I think I've picked up on a lot of them but a few "tips" had me concerned, rolling my eyes, or just plain filled with questions. I've included just the 21 things (none of the article's additional thoughts or reasons for each) so if you want the full list click the link above. Otherwise, let's explore Cosmo's wisdom and see if I'm not the only one that should be surprised she even has nails at this point. 

1. Three strokes are all you need. Yeah nope, I definitely don't do that. Sometimes I just need to go back over a stroke, you know? I don't think this one is a deal breaker.
2. Always use a base coat. Eh, guilty. I'm so guilty of NEVER doing this. And I know I should because I have paid the price so many times by having my nails stained blue and green before. That is never an appealing sight and contributes to the reasons that my nails are always always always (hear me?) alwaysss  polished.
3. Repurpose your old lip brush to help tidy up the edges of your nail. Genius idea but I don't have a lip brush so...Q-tips for me it is!
4. Find the right white. Is this similar to "find the right wine"? My favorite white polish so far is Zoya Snow White but it took me a while to find it. I've also tried China Glaze White on White and Orly White Out. China Glaze was shockingly my least favorite! Oh my gosh that's two China Glaze polishes in a matter of days that I've said I didn't like! What's going on here?!
5. Stay away from quick-dry nail polish. I have no opinion on this. My polishes are usually standard but then my Seche Vite is fast drying. Eh, no biggie.
6. Swipe on cuticle oil religiously. Guilty. I never do this even though I have Orly's Cuticle Therapy Creme (the one in the circular pot) AND Sally Hansen's Instant Cuticle Remover and that stuff is AMAZING. To do one better, I also trim *gasp!* my cuticles on the daily because for whatever reason they always are rough. Next time I'm at Target I will have to invest in a cuticle oil. Or maybe just start using the creme, lol. The Cosmo article also mentions that you can place cuticle oil over your polish and that would give the nail a little slip when it comes in contact with something, therefore decreasing the chance of chipping. I'm not sure about the truth of that....but in the name of science I will definitely be giving that a try!
7. Hold your hands under cold water post-paint job. They say it makes the nails dry faster. I say there's no way I'm doing this.
8. Make your neon polish pop by adding a white shade under it. I knew this and said a little thing about it here. I didn't do it with a neon though and will have to get on that immediately! Perhaps a comparison post to see if this is actually true! Yes! Expect that post shortly :)
9. Apply thin, not thick coats of polish. Yes, so many times I will put layers that are too thick and then it will take FOREVER to completely dry and harden. So many smudges have resulted from my impatience to do multiple coats!
10. Keep your paint in a cool, dry, dark place aka your fridge. I'd like to say this is ridiculous. If anyone actually does this and it makes a difference...can you let me know in the comments? My fridge is for food. My IKEA Helmer is for polishes. I'd like to think my Helmer is cool, dry, and dark though.
11. Thin out too-thick nail polish with thinner. I literally just got on board with this one when I did my Ode to Seche Vite Nails of November post. I was so bummed I wasted two good bottles of seche vite top coat because they had thickened too much. Now I have a ton of Seche Vite Restore and no more polishes will ever get prematurely abandoned!
12. Never shake your nail polish. I do this all the time. None of that rolling nonsense happens here. I'm not making cookies...I'm handling my nail polish!
13. Never cut your cuticles. See #6. OMG GASP.
14. Only bust out the nippers when you have a hang nail. Ew, hangnails. The reason everyone should exercise some level of nail care. I don't have nippers (the actually scissor like ones) but I do have a cuticle trimmer that I just slide across the dead cuticle skin.
15. Never saw your nails back and forth when you file them. Oh good lord, I'm so guilty of this. I blame my lack of coordination...it's just easy to saw the nails! I really should change this though because I do know it's the worst for your nail strength and composition.
16. Stay away from hot water. Aw, I recently gave my boyfriend a piece of my mind for never offering to do the dishes when he knows I hate doing them because the hot water and detergent chips my nails!
17. Use non-acetone nail polish remover whenever possible. Oops. I mention my nail polish remover in this post. Yes, it's pure acetone all the way. What can I say?
18. Go for glitter. Oh, I do, thank you very much! And I might again soon now that you mention it!
19. Use a cotton ball to help remove your glitter polish. I usually resort to brute force when removing glitters but yes, surrounding the nail with a remover-soaked cotton ball and letting is soak for a minute does indeed make glitter removal less frustrating (and bonus: if you don't move the cotton ball around a lot you eliminate unwanted glitter specks from getting ALL OVER YOUR HANDS. Scout's honor.)
20. Always use three-free polish. To my knowledge, I do! Carry on.
21. Always use a top coat. AMEN! My top coat of choice? You guys know me. Let's all say it at the same time: SECHE VITE!

So which tips do you follow? Are there any you definitely don't (but maybe should) follow?

Zoya....Miley?

Ok all, this is NOT a serious post. It's just something I found...interesting.

I was looking on the Zoya website for three colors that I simply HAD TO HAVE (because they're doing their 3 Free promo) and one color in particular made my eyebrows raise. Now, I'm a Miley Cyrus fan all around (don't hold it against me if you're not). Old Miley, New Miley, doesn't matter to me. And I know there are other girls named Miley in the world, too, but when I saw the shade that Zoya picked to name "Miley" I sort of just laughed. I mean, pastel purple? Really?

I mean, what about the Miley (on the left) has you thinking hmmm, pastels, yes? I would expect a more vibrant red or gold or even something with like shimmer, glitter, hex glitter, or something like that in it. Where's the WOW factor? I know Zoya didn't make this polish specifically for Miley Cyrus or even with Miley Cyrus in mind but, because Miley Cyrus is the only Miley I know of, she's the one I thought of when I saw it and the color just doesn't fit. I have both Zoya polishes named Nicole and Nikki (my names, obviously) and they are pretty fitting shades for me and my personality.

Either way, you go Miley. Keep doing your thing!

Now, the serious part of this post: Turns out I probably won't be purchasing Zoya polishes this time around. The shipping is super expensive ($12, although they also raised their polish prices to $9-$10 each so I guess it's still a good deal after all) and I just can't seem to find any polishes that simply MUST be added to my collection (did I just say that?!).

Nail News: Pick 3 from Zoya!

Hi all! I just had to post this real quick because I like to share amazing deals on nail polish! Zoya is doing their pick three, pay shipping deal! 

Nail News: Pick Up a Polish for Charity!