Nail Art. Swatches and Reviews. Honest love of nail polish and all things beauty.
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I have been away for a week at an academic conference and wrote this post while in a hotel and then I published this post without a header lol so I came to update to share this KBShimmer that is currently available. So let’s get right to this polish!
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Hi everyone. Polish Pickup returns this Friday and I am just sharing a quick post so that you can grab this polish as it is available this weekend. I am so happy to see that Stella Chroma is back and it’s with this super gorgeous offering. Check out the rest of my post for lots of photos.
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Hello everyone! For myself, I love to do a recap so that I can reflect on all the art I have done. I remember the days when I used to do 15 to 20 Halloween nail arts, but that is because I used to swatch them and take them off. Those days are long gone for me as I love to wear the art that I create. So let’s just take a look back at the last month of nail art especially if you missed some previous posts.
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I cannot believe this is my last Halloween nail art! I feel like October went by especially fast, which is such a bummer, but I feel like I did enjoy it at least! So today, on Mischief Night (which apparently is only a thing in parts of the northeast?), am sharing my final nail art for spooky season!
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These type of Halloween nails are everywhere. I’ve seen them all over Pinterest, all over influencers nails, and other social media. I can’t remember if I pinned these last year or this year, but they were there and they definitely needed to be on my nails. I saw so many versions of this nail art and just decided to make it my own Based on lots of different images so let’s take a look.
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Snoopy is all the rage. Seriously, he has been everywhere between Starbucks cups, museums, and so much more. I have done quite a few Snoopy nail arts over my time with this blog. I decided it had been a really long time since I had done a snoopy manicure and I really wanted to re-create this manicure back from 2017. I think it’s time Snoopy is back on this blog.
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Some abstract art! If you are not into Halloween nail art with pumpkins and ghosts, then this one is for you! Maybe you just like a Halloween color palette that is not so obvious? Then check out my retro look!
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We did some neon Halloween nail art so now let's do some pastel art! I love shimmery bases paired with cremes, and these shimmery pastel ghosts did the trick!
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I actually made a list of Halloween manicures I wanted to do. It was like 25 manicures, so that is not happening, but hey, great to have inspiration! I have adorable Halloween air plants from Trader Joe's that I somehow managed to kill. I wish I could be a good plant grower, but I just cannot keep indoor plants alive. Anyway, I saw a manicure on Pinterest that was "AI-generated" BLECH, so I said, I am going to create these myself!
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I love that neons have found a place in Halloween! I am more of a fun and bright Halloween gal anyway. So I found a look on Pinterest that was obviously different so I made it my own! I also was dealing with a massive nail break, so it was growing as I did this look.
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Mr. Ehmkay was like, hey it’s been a while since you’ve done white nails (his fav) and I was like ummmm it’s Halloween season, so no white nails for a while. Then I saw a gorgeous tablecloth at Home Goods with a white base and you know what, here’s my white Halloween look! I have added a picture of the tablecloth in the post!
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Happy October! I tried to start my nail art for spooky season earlier than normal and while I wish I had more done, I did get some despite multiple nail breaks! So I am trying to figure out how to share these with my broken shorties first! Haha. So even though these were not the first Halloween nails I wore, let's ease into it with some simple stamping.
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Hi all! I just wanted to share a quick post with nails I wore for a party! I wanted something with sparkles and something I could do quickly, so I figured I would share this look even if it is not revolutionary.
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Zoya is back with their fall collection. There are lots of deep and moody colors and this collection definitely has autumn vibes. Since autumn officially started this week, I wanted to share this 12 piece collection that has a little bit of everything and some super gorgeous color. Keep reading for my full review!
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Oh hey now! My nails were soooo chipped and I just wanted a quick mani! Then I realized PPU was coming up and I had this polish waiting to be swatched. I cut my nail off prepping dinner so I am back to shorties, but PPU is only available for limited time so here it is!
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Practical Magic is coming out with its sequel this weekend. As a kid, I absolutely loved this movie. If you know anything about this blog, you know that I have been Halloween obsessed since a child. So it only makes sense that I love this movie. I actually have a gorgeous piece of artwork in my office that is the Owens Family house with the final line of the movie. So I really do mean that I love this movie! When I heard about the sequel, I was so excited! So naturally, I decided to do a themed nail art to honor one of my favorite movies!
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It's officially been fall since after July 4th, right? I have already started decorating for Fall/Halloween and already did one Halloween mani! I actually meant to post this collection last week, but never hit schedule. Whoops! So let's check out KBShimmer's fall collection, which is available now!
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Yay for Halloween colors! This month for PPU is Halloween themed, which they usually do! I have KBShimmer’s offering to share as it is available this Friday, so let’s look at this literal flashlight on my nails!
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I was dead set on having one more neon look before I go into autumn and Halloween nail art. I originally wanted to start my Halloween nail art in early August but my nail break annoyed me. I like the length of my nails now but again, I just really wanted some neon before I went into black and oranges and purples. Let's just say I am obsessed with how these came out!
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Hello there! Here's another manicure I did while I let my nails grow out. I actually got sick and left these on for like 10 days! Not your typical neon nail art for summer, but these are bright and fresh! As usual, I wore these wayyyyy too long and then took pictures, so you might see how I fixed them a bit for pictures haha.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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!
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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
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
