Godiva Pixie Dust Swatch with a Stamp

When I saw the array of pixie dust colors I knew this nude one called Godiva was my fave!  So I purchased this polish back when the Zoya collection first came out!  Sorry that I’m so behind the ball with swatching this pixie dust!   But there’s a few reasons why I kept pushing this fresh bottle of polish to the back of my stash:

♦ The instructions say to apply this without a basecoat, and that just seems icky to me.  I always wear a strengthening basecoat.  Always.

♦ Pixie Dust is meant to be worn without a topcoat too.  And patience is not one of my virtues, hence my love for quick-drying seche vite topcoat!  So I’m gonna have to wait for Godiva to dry on it’s own?  Every time I try that I end up with sleepy sheet marks on my nails!  Even if I wait HOURS for a polish to dry I will still mess it up when I’m asleep.

So I pushed my issues aside and finally tried my pretty Godiva!  I did use a base coat though since other bloggers said it didn’t make a difference.  I applied it on a sunday so I had the full day to wait for it to dry.  I needed three coats to make it opaque.  It’s beautiful and the texture doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would.  In fact, I really like it and I think it makes my nails feel stronger!  I especially notice it when I get out of the shower- my nails are usually soft and bendy then, but they felt strong and tough with my pixie dust on!  Another thing I like is how glittery and glisteny it is in the sun.  I took this pic in the sun to try to capture it- and check out the burst of glimmer in this pic ↓  I didn’t even photoshop it!  🙂

But after 24 hrs I was a little bored with all the nudeness  … so I tried out one of my new Cheeky brand stamping plates!  I went with this weird circle design (CH48).  Out of all the ones to choose from I picked this weirdo splotchy one?  I guess it kinda reminded me of rocks and I thought that would look good with the organic appeal that Godiva has.  It was fun and easy to stamp on pixie dust!  It soaked right in and I didn’t need topcoat.  Next time I will pick a plate with a more crisp image and see how that transfers onto the textured polish.

I’ve been wearing Godiva for about 52 hrs now and it’s holding up well.  I think I might invest in another pixie dust… maybe from Zoya’s new summer collection.  They have some really pretty colors!  So have you tried this stuff out?  What did you think of it?

what I’m wearing today- maraschino tips

The red mani that I’m wearing today kind of went in a different direction than I planned.. but it came out cool!  Originally I wanted a french manicure with red tips.  So I free-hand painted some red french tips on my nails using a Sephora by OPI polish called And a Cherry on Top.  Sephora describes it as an opaque vivid maraschino.  I have a mini-sized bottle of this polish and the small brush is perfect for hand-painting french manis.  Well, it came out more dramatic than I expected!  I loved my blood-red tips!  They were shiny red and hot hot hot!  I would’ve taken pics but it was late at night and dark out.

Keeping in mind that I had to attend a family event today – I felt the need to soften the look a bit.  I went ahead and topped it off with a coat of Sally Hansen Maximum Growth Nourishing Nail Color  – the sheer nude that came with my SH French Manicure Kit.  Unfortunately the red didn’t shine through well after applying the nude topcoat. So I put a row of tiny dots using more of my And a Cherry on Top.  Then I slightly mixed both the cherry and the nude polishes together and then dabbed it on my tips with a q-tip to give a blotchy effect.  Mixing the two colors really transformed the maraschino to a hot pink.  It came out kinda cool…a different play on the regular old french manicure!

Sometime soon I’ll have to try out my And a Cherry on Top again- it’s a luscious red!!  I don’t have a favorite red polish yet, so maybe this could be the one?  Do you have a favorite red ?

My Mid-Week Work Mani

Since I’ve seen the recent swatches of Zoya Pixie Dust floating around the blogosphere,  I have been determined to get myself a bottle of the sandy colored one called Godiva (swatches coming soon!).  I hit up the Zoya website and discovered just how many other pretty neutral shades they carry!   Normally I’m a fan of bold polishes like purple, green and blue.  But there’s something special about glancing down at a beautiful nude manicure and thinking, “mmm hmmm… I look good and I’m not even trying!” LOL

Zoya has a past collection called Touch which I never heard of til now.  It’s made up of 3 nude polishes that are full-coverage, creamy, and have a hint of sexy shimmer.  Check out the Zoya site which has a cool YouTube video about the collection.  Of the three polishes I chose Pandora which is described as a “medium pink-beige nude with blue and mauve undertones and a hint of pearly silver shimmer. An opaque, full-coverage nude that works beautifully on skin with cool tones.”   The shimmer in this polish is so subtle and gives it a sense of depth that a straight-up cream finish just wouldn’t have.  The formula was on the thick side, but very smooth and only required two coats.  I think I really like Pandora!  It was just perfect for the work-related event that I attended tonight.

What’s your favorite work polish?

I LOVE NY nails!

I ♥ NY!  is the theme of my nails today.  Ya see lately I’ve had an urge to ‘buy local’.  So I searched Etsy for some cool polish made right here in New York and I think I scored big!  Just check out this glitter!  I am wearing Borough Babe Made nail color called LIC Queen.

I got a lot of glitter coverage in just two coats!  Pictured here is one coat of Orly Ridge Filler, two coats of LIC Queen, and no topcoat.  Looks beautiful even without a topcoat!  I didn’t have any application issues.  The base polish is relatively thick so the glitter suspends nicely.  It dried pretty quick and I love the peachy nude base color.  I tried three coats but that was overkill.  No reason to go overboard when surprisingly, two coats is just perfect to give you plenty of the yellow, blue and orange hex glitter.

This polish is part of Borough Babe’s ‘NY Hoods” collection and is ode to Long Island City. I would like to add that I hope everyone in LIC is recovering from Hurricane Sandy.  The devastation from that storm was unparalleled and I hope that the NYC and Long Island area is rebuilding and regaining normalcy.  The news barely even mentions it anymore, but your neighbors have not forgotten!

Borough Babe nail color can be found here on Etsy.  The seller has a promotion right now…get a free gift with international orders and free shipping in the US!