Nail Art. Swatches and Reviews. Honest love of nail polish and all things beauty.
Press Sample
My niece was going to sleep away camp so of course I did her nails! I knew she would want pink so I brought her a few options. Of course, after doing her nails, I wanted neon pink nails which is how my nails came to be. Also meet my super short nails. Of course I had planned to do autumn nails and this break put them on hold.
Press Sample
I realize I really have not done that much neon nail art this summer and I am really craving it even though it is technically "code orange" and yes, I’ve already bought Halloween decorations (as if I have none haha). I realize that is totally insane. So I had to get some nail polish looks in with some gorgeous neons before I moved onto Halloween art. I always say I am going to start my Halloween art early so I have more to post in October and never do and I am determined to this year (LOL). Of course...read until the end.
Press Sample
I confess, for all of July I did my nails once. ONCE. I left my Fourth of July nails on for over a week and then did swatches and kept not doing my nails. I’ve been taking advantage of being in my city, being fully present, and doing different activities during the day and just enjoying my time in the summer. But, I’ve been wanting to do a bright blue and white striped look forever so after I chopped off my nails after swatching the Zoyas, I did these! (And news flash, my nails are even shorter now).
Press Sample
I am not mentally prepared for August! But here we are. Today, I am sharing KBShimmer’s contribution to Polish Pickup and it is a loaded flake extravaganza! So let’s take a look!
Press Sample
Yay, Stella Chroma is back at Polish Pickup after a short hiatus! I love her creations and I especially love polishes like the one I am sharing today. Give me flakes and a cream base any day and it’ll be a polish. I gravitate towards. I think the theme is Woodland Magic, but to be honest, I never pay attention to themes anyway and always just look at the polish as is.
Oh hey! Over here sharing Zoya's summer collection. I love a bright neon collection for summer because those are the colors I crave! This is a cohesive collection that has all the colors of the rainbow with a few shimmers and glitters thrown in, so let’s check it out
Press Sample
More Stella Chroma! At Polish and Beauty Expo yesterday, Stella Chroma did an early release of her new summer collection inspired by the 1996 Romeo + Juliet. I love this movie (more on that) and was so excited to see the colors and names of the polishes. This collection releases on Friday, July 24th, so let's check out too many swatches!
Press Sample
Hello everyone! I had hoped to have these new polishes up earlier but UPS decided they didn’t want to deliver them and then sent them back to Stella Chroma lol so I finally got them. Then when I went to swatch two days ago, we were hit with the Canadian wildfires smoke (I hope everyone is okay in Canada. Thinking of you) so there is a haze on my sun pictures. But anyway, Stella Chroma is going to Polish and Beauty Expo in Chicago which is awesome.
Press Sample
I said I was coming back with another fish mani! This is a totally different color story from the one I posted back in May. This manicure also is more decorative vibes--like I want to see this on a dress or dishware while my other one was straight up, let's have dinner. So let's dive into this look!
Contains press samples
Well I meant to do lots of red, white, and blue looks before the Fourth of July. By with the World Cup and heat and just overall enjoying my summer, I actually left my previous manicure on for literally 12 days. So last night I forced myself to sit down and do a combination of the looks that I had wanted to do throughout multiple manicures. So let’s take a look at my nail art.
Press Sample
The long-awaited KBShimmer collection is here! This collection is filled with eight multichrome, magnetic polishes that have shimmery flecks in it and two celestial top coats. There are loads of photos in this post, so let's just get to it!
Contains Press Samples
Hello everyone!! Unless you are living under a rock, then you know that it is World Cup time. I absolutely love this time and look forward to it every four years. I had every intention of doing nail art for the US game last Friday, but life got away from me a.k.a. I’ve been spending too much time watching soccer and I didn’t get a chance to do it before the game. I do plan to have USA nail art by the time they play but since Croatia played next, I wanted to represent them. If you didn’t know, Mr. MK is actually Croatian and was born in the region. I actually did Croatian nails back in 2016 for a different soccer tournament but wanted to do them now.
Nothing to Disclose
So as a nail blogger of over 14 years, I very rarely buy nail polishes these days. It’s not that I don’t want to support brands, but it’s just that I have so much that I really don’t feel like being an overconsumer. That being said I fully support you buying what you love, especially if you have the space for it. I do not. But lately, it seems like OPI keeps reeling me in with their releases. Since it was my birthday month and I had a coupon, I decided to purchase two new OPIs that I have had my eye on for quite some time.
Contains Press Samples
Happy June everyone!! I actually meant to post this earlier and then saw it was sitting in my drafts, so whoops. I want to share some art from May that I have not gotten around to sharing, but I just love how it came out! I don't know what all these flowers are, but it is a mix of flowers for this nail art!
Contains Press Sample
Holy cow, today is 14 years since this blog debuted! Since then, nail trends have certainly changed with indies becoming more mainstream and mainstream companies closing. I have always loved the idea of sharing art that is approachable and hoping that you can apply the methods with products that you already own. I hope that over these past 14 years, I have been able to inspire a nail art or even a nail polish purchase and help you to feel your best self. I love a fresh manicure and even all these years later, I still love doing my nails. I hope you enjoy seeing them. So let’s check out my blog anniversary look which also as always is my birthday look.
Press Sample
Polish Pickup returns on Friday so let’s take a look at the KBShimmer contribution. I guess magnetics are making a big comeback, especially with the velvet style, which I do love. So let’s take a look at this multi-dimensional color!
Contains press samples
Would you be surprised if I said this is the FIRST of two sardine nail art looks that I have?! My friend asked if I would do sardine nails on her, so of course, I had to practice on myself. This was not the actual look I did on her nails (that is to come as today, I plan to re-create it in my own way!) but I cannot even explain how giddy I was after doing these nails!
Contains gifts
Oh hello everyone. Despite defending my dissertation last June, I was unable to walk at graduation due to rules in the doctorate program where your defense must be completed two months before the graduation date. So I had to wait 11 months to walk in my extremely expensive custom doctoral gown. It felt like forever (well it was almost a year!) and then I felt meh about it. As soon as I put that gown on though, I got excited all over again. And of course I wanted to wear some special nails, despite having broken them all two days before graduation so let’s check it out.
Press Sample
More funky and fun spring nail art! I took out colors I wanted to use and originally was going to do something intricate and last minute changed my mind. So let’s see what I ended up doing!
Press Sample
Hey it's spring! I mentioned I was entering my pastel mood, so perfect timing to share this collection from Zoya! This collection is definitely a spring collection and it is inspired by a delicious dessert. So let’s check it out.
Contains Press Sample
Expect all the florals coming from me in the next few weeks because that is what I’m in the mood for. This is another look from Pinterest that of course had no watermark. As always, I take inspiration but switch up for my needs and my time. For example, I have a wider middle nail then ring nail, so I chose to switch around the designs so basically do what works for you. I also eliminated one of the designs because I simply didn’t like it.
Press Sample
Another month has passed so that means Polish Pickup is back! This polish will be available next Friday, so get your wish list ready because this is an awesome color you do not want to miss out on! I got so many compliments on this polish!
Contains Press Samples
I wanted to squeeze in one more Easter look because it was so cute and I chipped up my previous Easter nails. So although today is Easter (and Happy Easter if you celebrate), I wanted to post these. Honestly, these are also perfectly spring, and I love the color combination so here ya go!
Press Sample
I realized that Easter was coming up and I had a few ideas for Easter nail art. Of course time was of the essence because it is this weekend so here is the first of two looks that I hope to get done. I went full spring for this one.
Press Sample
Oh hello there. Polish pickup for April is upon us. I absolutely love KBShimmer’s creation! So let’s check out this colors because you will want to add this to your wishlist!
Contains press samples
Hey all! So we are in this weird weather pattern where I am not exactly ready for spring nails, but spring might hopefully soon come! Hence, my floral nail art but in some darker colors looked! We had 2 feet of snow, 80 degree weather when the snow mounds still lived, now back to 30s. I NEED WARMTH. For now, let's check out my transitional floral art.
Press Sample
Sooooo..... I am not one to take product and never share it. So although these polishes are from a year ago, and I actually did wear them since then, I realized I never officially posted these polishes. I absolutely love the Zoya Naturel lines. This is the sixth one and they create colors that are versatile for skin tones and provide a really great palate cleanser. And with this post, I am officially caught up on all the Zoyas!
Press sample
Oh hello there! Mr. Ehmkay won a crazy ultimate fan experience with the NJ Devils and we were told we would be on the Jumbotron and all this stuff, so naturally he was like, do some themed nails. You don’t have to tell me twice! I love a themed nail. We’ve been to a good amount of Devils games, but never on a Jumbotron haha. I have to say, everyone was obsessed and impressed by my nails. So let’s get to it.
Press Sample
Zoya has a new line of Opals Perfectors which are meant to be sheer shimmery toppers. I actually love toppers like this. If you search my blog, I loved using Essie Kisses and Bises, which is a shimmer topper. I actually basically finished a bottle of it, because I used it for French manis all the time. So I was super excited when I received the press release for these! Let's look at them.
Press Sample
Hello all! I am just over here grumbling because the snow from the January storm finally mostly melted and we are currently experiencing a blizzard with 2 feet of snow expected! I think there's 18 inches out there already with 40+ mph winds. No more! Anywho, I always like to do some quick and dirty comparisons of Zoya colors because many have similar vibes and your girl refuses to get another Helmer (which has also doubled in price, ugh!) so let's take a look!
Press Sample
Today I am sharing 5 new colors from L.A. Girl Cosmetics. I have polishes from this brand from ages ago! I have featured them on this blog too. In 2011 or maybe 2012, they came out with a sparkly holo line that every single nail polish lover went nuts over. Can you imagine finding an inexpensive holo in a drugstore? I’m excited to see that this brand is still around and creating new colors.
Press Sample
I last-minute realize that Mardi Gras was coming up and so I wanted to do nails, but wasn’t feeling that inspired to intricate nail art. What is easier than sparkles and glitter? So here we are!
Press Sample
Happy Valentine’s Day! I am currently wearing this manicure and loved all my super pink nails! I hope you did too. I have all the fun Vday looks on this nail, so let’s go through it!
Press sample
This was the first Valentine's Day look I did and as I said earlier, it’s the week to share Valentine’s Day nail art looks as it is this weekend. Well it is not typical for me to go crazy for Valentine’s Day, I do love doing fun and bright pink looks in the cold of February. So let’s take a look at my hearts and cherries nail art.
Press Sample
Happy Valentine's Day week! While I do not make a huge deal of Valentine's Day, after weeks of dark nails, I went full blown into pink nails at the end of January, so I'll be sharing those looks this week! I actually just took these off yesterday, but decided to share them first! So let's get into this look.
Press Sample
Today I’m sharing the November color of the month. Although Phoenix is no longer available, it may be in the future. This is the perfect red for the month of February so let’s check it out.
Press Sample
I let my Zoyas pile up while I had nail break after nail break since literally Halloween. And they are still broken. So I finally went to tackle some swatching. I’ll have lots of Zoyas for you this month as I did last month! The Fall 2025 Muse collection is not necessarily Autumn exclusive. In fact, I have been wearing black nails (who am I?!) for the past few weeks so I feel like I like this collection more right now than I would have in September!
Press Sample
Happy February! I forgot to schedule this post so I am sharing it now! This polish is insane and you absolutely need to check out the photos on how this transformation!
Press Sample
Oh hey! Not to brag, but I’ve totally met the inspiration behind this polish. I love sparkly neutrals; it is something I have said so many times on this blog. And this one is such a stunner! So let’s check it out!
Press Sample
Hello everyone! I hope you have enjoyed the snow, but it seriously was not fun to dig out. I’m showing a sparkly nail polish today as I catch up on these color of a month polishes.
Press Sample
Oh hi. I am behind on sharing previous Zoya color of the months, and they sold out. Whomp. The problem is that these colors don’t usually get to me until halfway through the month. So I made an effort of showing off this month’s color despite its late arrival. Anyway, we are expecting loads of snow tomorrow, like most of the country, so this snowy shimmer is perfect for right now.
Press Sample
Hello everyone! I threw my parents a surprise anniversary party a few months ago, so I figured I would finally get around to sharing that art! I decided to make all the party favors (royal icing cookies with a custom cookie cutter that I also made) and a tiered cake, so I was so tired! So when it came to my nails, I did them late at night and needed something simple!
Press Sample
Press sample
Okay, I will admit that for the last week of 2025 I wore a ridge filling base coat as my manicure. Therefore, when I finally sat down in 2026, fully congested, but not wanting to attend an event with my nails not done, I wanted something that was fun and sparkly but really quick to do. So let’s check out my first nails of the year.
