Sugar Coated Nails

For the love of nails, inspiration and all things beautiful

Thursday, January 31, 2013

a-england - Ascalon

Have I mentioned that I love a-england? No? Well I love a-england. Here is another color to fall in love with.

Ascalon is a steel grey with radiant shimmers of lavender and silver. Looking even deeper into the sparkle you can see green and yellow dancing around. Always flawless in formula and no need for a top coat.

I'm also happy to be starting the Valentine Nail Art Challenge tomorrow. The idea is from datyorkLOVES. I feel it will really help me get back into nail art, since I've felt so short on inspiration lately. I hope many of you will join me and datyorkLOVES. Here is the 14 day schedule:

For more information and the inLinkz code to share you entries, head over to datyorkLoves blog.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

a-england - Saint George

The excitement continues with another a-england polish. Ooo how I adore this brand.

Saint George is a marvelous emerald green with a brilliant holographic shimmer. In the light the shimmer color shifts from teal, to gold and blue. So rich and bold. Saint George is a gem and is fully opaque in one coat. This is also with no top coat.

The only draw back to Saint George is that some staining of the skin from painting outside the lines can happen due to the dark pigment. With careful application and/or applying lotion around the cuticle, this can be minimized or almost completely avoided. I love this color so much. I can not wait to share, the two remaining a-england colors with you! Stay tuned.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

a-england - Princess Tears

I truly adore the a-england brand. Every polish is rich in formula and amazing in color. Worth the price and the wait time from the United Kingdom. a-england had a Thank You promotion that I took advantage of. I ordered four polishes. Here is the first...

Princess Tears is a beautiful and delicate light pink with a hint of purple undertones. With brilliant shimmers that change color from grey, to green and gold. Fully opaque in one coat, but I used two here just out of habit. This is also with out top coat.

Sadly, a-england is having trouble with Royal mail, and they are currently unable to ship internationally. I feel exceptionally lucky that I was able to get my order. Luckily there is still hope for people outside the United Kingdom. Llarowe carries the brand for $10 a bottle, along with a few other sites. Live in the UK? You can still order from a-England for £9.

Do you own this polish or any a-england colors? Do you love this brand as much as I do?

Friday, January 25, 2013

Half Moons with Zoya's Storm and Minka

Today I am sharing with you the remaining Zoya polishes I ordered. Ooo how pretty they are.

Minka is a picture perfect beige nude with the lightest hint of shimmer. So simple yet so chic. Fully opaque in two coats and you're ready to go.

Storm is a rich black polish with super fine holographic glitter. Storm is so beautiful. It shimmers and sparkles and just makes you smile while looking at it.

Sadly, the holo was hard for me to capture. In person, you are able to see the real beauty of this pairing. I'm so happy with my three Zoya polishes.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Zoya - Aurora

Many of my fellow nail addicts took advantage of Zoya's Color Your World 2013 promotion. The promotion allowed you to pick three Zoya polishes and only pay $10 for shipping. Talk about an amazing deal!. Zoya polishes are normally priced at $8 each. So after spending about an hour, carefully searching for the perfect three polishes I made my choice. I present to you my first choice...Aurora.

Aurora is a rich micro fine glitter sensation, bursting with holographic rainbows. The deep all over color of plum perfectly compliments the warm color changing shimmer ranging from pink to purple and gold. Perfect in two coats and so shiny. I didn't even need a top coat.

Stay tuned for my other two Zoya polishes. Did you order from the Zoya promo? What do you think of Aurora?

Want to own Aurora? You can buy it through the Zoya Website.

Don't want to miss out on another great flash promo? Follow Zoya and never miss out again!

Friday, January 18, 2013

Orly Snowcone

I'm sharing with you today one of my all time favorite colors from Orly. The always perfect Snowcone. Snowcone was part of Orly's 2010 Sweet Color spring collection. Each bottle was adorably paired with a mini lip gloss of matching color and flavor.

Color Club - Jingle Jangle Orly - Snowcone

Snowcone is a perfect cornflower creme. (Cornflower was always my favorite Crayola color) Formula is a dream with perfect coverage in just one coat. Without a top coat Snowcone has a great gloss finish. I added a top coat to really enhance the shine.

Orly - Snowcone One Coat Color Club - Jingle Jangle Three Coats

For an added kick I paired Snowcone with Color Club's Jingle Jangle as an accent nail. Jingle Jangle is a clear base glitter with blue, green and purple round shaped glitters.

Do you love Snowcone as much as I do? What is your favorite Orly color?

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Metallic Skittle Chevrons

For some reason I've been running really low on ideas for my nail art. Whenever painters block happens, chevrons are usually my go to pattern. I love how simple chevrons are to do, and they still give you an arty look.

Kleancolor's Retro City Metallic Colors

L-R Metallic Orange, Metallic Black, Metallic Green, Metallic Aqua, Metallic Fuschia

These five colors are from Kleancolor's Retro City mini collection. A fun set of six intense and bright metallic colors. I only used five of the six colors because when I bought the set Metallic Sapphire was dried up and unusable. :( This is one coat of each Kleancolor color. Great coverage and the color pop is amazing! I wish these weren't minis so I didn't have to use these polishes sparingly.

Wet 'n Wild Silvivor is an awesome notice me right now metallic silver. The shimmer is intense and really made the Kleancolors stand out!

I loved the final result. Not super over the top, but more fun than wearing just one color. What is your go to nail pattern? Love or hate metallic colors? Let me know.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Bad Romance Vs Facets of Fuchsia

For the longest time, I've had Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance and Revlon's Facets of Fuchsia sitting on my shelf waiting to be compared. In the past I didn't like quality of my comparison pictures, and in frustration, I gave up and never posted my opinion. Well this time around I had lots of luck and got some great shots to share with you.

Deborah Lippmann - Bad Romance

L-R Facets of Fuchsia, Bad Romance, Facets of Fuchsia, Bad Romance

Revlon - Facets of Fuchsia

L-R Facets of Fuchsia, Bad Romance, Facets of Fuchsia, Bad Romance

Both of these polishes are a sheer black jelly with magenta round and hexagon glitters. Facets of Fuchsia goes on a little more translucent in the first two coat. Bad Romance goes on a little heavier but both look best with three coats.

L-R Facets of Fuchsia, Bad Romance, Facets of Fuchsia, Bad Romance

With three coats each, these two polishes in my mind are pretty much identical. Up close these are gorgeous colors. From far away, these colors don't give off enough magenta, and look like your normal black polish. The biggest difference between these two polishes is price. Revlon's Facets of Fuchsia retails for under $5 where Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance retails for a whopping $18. With color being the same along with wear the choice is easy.

After seeing these two swatches would you still pay $18 if you could have the same thing for less than $5? Is this a must own color for you?

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Neon Rainbows

I started this manicure in hopes of trying out Cute Polish's brilliant idea for home made O.P.I's Black Spotted. Turns out I don't have any hand sanitizer like I thought I did. Oops! I'll be picking up some tonight to finish the manicure. So with the first step out of the way, I present to you my rainbow sponging done with Color Club polishes.

L-R Age of Aquarius, Volt of Light, All That Razz, Ultra-Violet, Trippie Hippie

Color club is easily one of my favorite brands. Always easy to work with and a nice smooth formula. The only downfall for me is that I buy Color Club at Ross, where the collections are never labeled with the polish names. I've done my best to properly label them.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

SoFlaJo Party Time Nail Polish Collection

I am so excited to share this indie polish with everyone. Back in December I was lucky enough to win day 15 of Holly Jolly Holiday Advent Giveaway. My prize was SoFlaJo Party Time Nail Polish Collection. SoFlaJo is run by an incredibly sweet woman named Jody. As busy as running a blog can be, Jody is also a personal trainer and a lacquer mixing wizard! Her shop has a great array of fun and unique polishes, and I'm ecstatic to share these with you:

Blue-Ray is a marvelous blue shimmer. It has a subtle matte finish before a topcoat. The shimmer is so pretty with hints of light blue, white and purple. This is three coats plus top coat. Blue-Ray is my second favorite in this collection.

Ballroom is a dusty red that turns to a warm gold when moving your hands in the light. Smooth application. This is three coats plus a top coat.

Last to Leave is a light sea foam green with a grand shimmer that reflect wonderfully in the light. Normally I'm not a fan of how green looks with my skin tone, but I loved this color. This is three coats plus a top coat

Hidden Gem is a steel blue that leans towards a slate gray color. Scattered holographic glitter completely pops along side the vibrant blue and green flecks. Easy application this is three coats plus a top coat. Hidden Gem is hands down my favorite in the Party Time Collection

Red Carpet is a warmer dusty red than Ballroom. This matte polish was easy to apply and fully opaque in three coats. The finish has a slight grittiness before the top coat which I liked. I reminds me of the new sand polishes coming out.

Yule Tidings is a fun mixture of Christmas color glitters in an olive green base. Filled with large mirrored hexagon glitters, along with smaller dark green, red, and rainbow round shaped glitters. I love a polish that requires no fishing to retrieve the hexagon glitters. I easily applied Yule Tidings to my nails and got the hexagon glitters with out trying. Sadly Yule Tidings was limited edition and no longer available.

Ice Dancer is a holographic topcoat with a brilliant combination of blue, silver and brown glitters. Ice Dancer is wonderful all by itself or adds a dazzling shimmer to your favorite polish. Alone Ice Dancer is fully opaque in 3-4 coats.

L-R Silver with Ice Dancer(1 coat), Black with Ice Dancer(1 coat), Blue-Ray with Ice Dancer(1 coat), Ice Dancer (3 coats)

Over all, I'm a total fan of SoFlaJo's lacquers. Unique and vibrant along with a rich formula these polishes are a hit. All of these polishes, minus Yule Tidings, sell for $10 for the .5oz/15ml size or $5 for the 5ml size. You can buy SoFlaJo's polishes in her SoFlaJo's Website Shop or her Etsy Shop.

Note: Jody is in the process of changing her labels and will be discounting many of the current polishes in her shop that have the old labels on them. Normally $10, the ones that she has left with old labels will be $7. Stock is limited on many of them, and not all of them are included. There are some mini sets included! Complete sets in mini and full size have discounted shipping prices.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Happy 30th to me!

Today is my 30th birthday. Woo Hoo! My boyfriend and I have a simple evening planned. We're seeing How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular and having a quite romantic dinner at a steak house neither of us have been to. My first instinct was to go for loud birthday nails, but I settled for something sweet and chic.

A Cut Above is a fun filled dusty pink glitter top coat. With a delightful mixture of big and small hexagon and round shaped glitter. Smooth and non clumping. This is one coat plus top coat.

Nomadic In Nude is a subtle grey color leaning towards a pale nude. It's a hard color for me to describe but an easy color to wear. I really like this color all by itself. However, paired with A Cut Above, it gave my nails a fun flirty flair. This is three coats.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Opulence, I Has It

I've been holding on to Zoya's Gilty Pleasures for awhile. There is something very exciting about being able to feel glamorous and luxurious just by painting your nails. I needed to pick the right color worthy of being paired up with real gold. Looking through my nail polish stash I found Pure Ice's No Means No. For me it is the perfect high life pairing.

Gilty is a real 18K gold clear base top coat. Gilty screams opulence and is a dream to apply. This is one coat and goes on flawlessly. No fishing needed.

Goldie is a two toned gold metallic with a small, but marvelous shimmer. With smooth application I imagine this is what real gold in liquid form feels like. This is three coats.

No Means No is a rich dark purple with subtle blue and pink shimmer. Super easy to work with and fully opaque in two coats, A real complement to the gold, this lovely purple completed my regal nail look

Thursday, January 3, 2013

NOTD: Color Club - Sugarplum Fairy

This lovely glitter polish is from Color Club's Beyond the Mistletoe Collection from 2011. I bought the box set which included six sparkle-tastic shades and a top coat. I love the whole collection and can't wait to show you more of it.

Sugarplum Fairy is an intense holographic glitter that truly puts on a show. It has a brilliant mixture of silver and lavender glitters that love to dance in the light. With every movement of your hand, Sugarplum Fairy sends rainbows scattering. I love this polish and would be okay if I never had to take it off.