Zoya Swatches

Wednesdays & Sundays are my only days off of work. i dont really find time to go online during the weekends...so thank goodness i have Wednesdays. and also, thank goodness the sun is out today! because, as promised, today i have swatches of my Zoya's from the Zoya Exchange. its almost been 2 weeks since my package came in and im finally swatching them for ya. so behind! =/

i dont know why...but it took me 5.5 hours to swatch 11 polishes. im not sure why it took FOREVERRRRR but..it did. drove me nuts..but its ok. ;) anyway right to the swatches!.. each swatch has one coat of Poshe super-fast drying topcoat.


3 coats of Harley. such a beautiful concrete gray color. there are very tiny silver/copper flecks of glitter that my camera wasnt able to capture =/ you can kind of see a bit of the glitter in the bottle though...barely.


3 coats of Jo. an adorable periwinkle polish with a silver shimmer.


2 coats of Ali. bright, neon pink. dries kinda matte but topcoat shines it right up!


2 coats of Charity. purple-mauve with a bronze shimmer. this isnt my typical color but i love it!


2 coats of Gwin. bright orange-tangerine with a gold shimmer. so pretty! thank goodness my camera was able to pick up some of the shimmer! =)


2 coats of Trixie. super awesome silver! love it!


3 coats of Richelle. its more bronze that i though..but its ok! its still pretty!


3 coats of Mimi. deep purple with awesome purple, goldish-silver glitter. my camera didnt really pick it up. =/


2 coats of Nidhi. beauuuutiful tomato red with gold glitters. looove this one! ;) my camera didnt pick up the glitters in this one either.. =/


3 coats of Ivanka. it came out lighter than i expected, but its still a beauty! kelly green? with gold glitter..that my camera couldnt pick up..


3 coats of Charla. the famous Charla.. =P its really worth all the rave its getting. dont rely on this picture...its no good. =/

my pictures dont do ANY justice for Mimi, Nidhi, Ivanka, and Charla. those are the kind of polishes that are just much better in person! that way, you can see all the awesome glitters & all!

there ya go! those are all my Zoya's! and im soooo glad i ended up doing the Zoya Exchange! im gunna be waiting for it for next year too :)

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ok, theres a new polish blog in the blog world. i got an email from Sabrina & here's a link to her blog: Positively Polished. please check out her blog.

any other new bloggers out there? feel free to send me an email & i will be glad to post about you on my next blog.

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oh, i got a disclosure policy that i posted at the bottom of my page...

lastly, i havent made a tutorial in FOREVERRR. is there anything specific that you want me to make a tutorial on? although i spend most of my time at work...i'll be sure to get around to making a tutorial ;)

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thanks for your time! im gunna go relax now... =)
<3KATRINA

Beige Gradient Nails

hello~

its Monday! time to start another week.. =/ sorry i've [still] been very MIA. uhm, just to mention..starting this week, im picking up even more hours at work. another 7 hours... -__- im very thankful that i have a job & that i can get more hours into my schedule...but when im at work, im never really in a good mood cause of the customers & some coworkers... and i dont want to spend my summer 32+ hours at work..ya know? but i should just suck it up & work the hours i can before school starts in the fall. [wheph! im done ranting now.. =P]

alright, onto nails... i redid a new mani on Saturday night but the sun wasnt really out yesterday..so im finally posting today.


4 coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Beige Blast. i didnt want to use 4 coats but i wanted good coverage... so 4 coats was needed. i then did a small glitter gradient using Cover Girl's Disco Dazzle & some rhinestones. and then on my ring finger, i have 2 coats of my unnamed Hot Topic silver polish.

gotta head off to work soon so this post is gunna be short--

have a great start to your week!,
<3KATRINA

Simple Mani + Award

hello~

sorry i've been MIA this week. i've been lazy [yet again] and i've been in a bad mood all week.. so i didnt have much to post. i will say that i was going to swatch my Zoya's on Wednesday, since i had the day off..but Wednesday was not a good day to swatch. the weather was not on my good side & the sun kept trying to play hide-and-seek with me; not fun.

anyway, yesterday morning [Thursday morning] i wore Zoya's Charla. such a beautiful polish~ the sun wasnt out in the morning so i didnt get to take a picture of it. but last night..i took Charla off, since "she"? was chipping...and decided to repaint my nails. for some odd reason, i felt like doing a french mani..and then i added a little bit of a flower on my middle finger.


this picture was taken half an hour ago..with the sun. you cant really see the flower so..


..here's a picture i took last night, right after i finished my mani. i didnt even clean up yet.. -__- but at least you can see the flower more. this picture is with the flash on.


i also want to post an award i got.. ;)



Rules of this award are:
1. Thank the person who gave this award to you.
-- Enamel Girl, thanks sooo much :)

2. Copy the award and put it on your blog.
-- done*

3. List 3 things which you love about your self.
-- honestly, i've been thinking about this for 15 minutes. i guess theres not much about myself that i love. haha so instead, i'll post 3 random things about me.

--1: i wouldnt say im a perfectionist, but i like things in one certain way, in one certain order.
--2: i hate, hate, HATE it when people cough, yawn, or sneeze without covering up. its the most disgusting thing & it pisses me off...SO much.
--3: i love k-pop [korean music]. even though im not korean, i am more updated on current k-pop than i am with current music in the States.

4. Post a picture you love.


mint chocolate chip ice cream; my favorite <3

5. Tag 5 people you wish to pass this award on to.

-- Kathy
-- Li Lian
-- Jan
-- yokeMun
-- Jackie S.

=)

to end this post, i have a question; am i supposed to have a disclosure policy on my page? even if everything i post is purchased by me?

alrighty, i have to head off to work soon. i hope today is a good day; this past week has really been bad. =/ and tonight, my sisters, friends & i might go eat at the same Korean restaurant that we went to last week..in hopes that the cute waiter is there tonight. *crosses fingers. please cross your fingers with me too. haha

hope your weekend starts out great!
<3KATRINA

Zoya + Sailor Mani

happy Monday!

i sure hope your weekend was great! i know mine was! it was packed! lets start with Friday, shall we? ;)

so, on Friday...i was dreading work. and then i got an email from Zoya saying that my Zoya Exchange polishes have already been shipped to me! i was SUPER excited cause i've been dying for Zoyas. so i assumed my polishes would be in by Saturday. then i got a text from my sister, later that day, saying that my polishes were sitting at home, waiting for me..ALREADY! i was SOOO excited!

this was my first time ordering polishes online & it came much faster than i expected! im REALLY impressed by Zoya's super, awesome customer service! i placed my Zoya Exchange order on Tuesday night. i sent my polishes on Thursday morning. and i got my Zoya polishes Friday afternoon. how. awesome. is. that!? if all online ordering sites are like this..i would love to order more!

anyway, onto pictures of my Zoyas.. [please note that these pictures were taken with my phones camera. i was WAYYYY too excited to go find my camera so i just used my phone..]


waiting for me in my room.. ;)


first thing i saw when i opened the box..


dug around & found two boxes..


my new babies!!!!~ <3

honestly, when i opened the two small boxes, the Zoya bottles looked REALLLLLLLY little to me. i thought i got ripped off cause i've always pictured Zoya bottles to be bigger..since i've only seen Zoya's online. but i didnt get ripped off. the bottles are just smaller in size in comparison to China Glaze & OPI. it has 15mL like the other bottles too. haha

ok!, so after i went Zoya crazy, my sisters & i took out our friend Cindy for her birthday. we went for Korean food & we went to a restaurant where one of the waiters looks like a famous korean singer. sadly, he wasnt there =( but we're gunna go again this weekend cause Cindy's sister-in-law is in town & she loves Korean food too. hopefully the cute waiter is there ;) *crosses fingers. after dinner, we went for ice cream & then we headed to Cindy's house to watch When In Rome.

Saturday, i went to the beach with my family & cousins. my cousin came to visit & wanted to go to the beach so we went. spent the WHOLE day there; it was awesome though..cause the weather was great & the beach was pretty empty ;)

Sunday, i went to my friends wedding. it was BEAUTIFUL!~ i was in a reallllllllllllly crabby mood but it eventually went away - thank goodness! it was a long day but it was nice ;) then i redid my nails after..

you can find lots of random pictures from the weekend on my twitter.

today, i didnt have to work because i had a checkup at the dentist. afterward, i ran some errands for my grandma & played with my baby nephew. i would've posted this blogpost sooner but Kiana took the camera with her to Cedar Point & she wont be home til tomorrow night..and i couldnt find my mom's uploader for her camera..so i had to take pictures of my nails on my phones camera. and i spent the whole day trying to email myself the pictures but it never sent..even though i tried sending it 4-7 times!!!! T__T then i realized there was an easier way of doing things..and now..here i am! =/


my sailor themed nails. this was completely inspired by someone elses mani i saw online.

i used 2 coats China Glaze's Up All Night; which is a dark navy blue that looks royal blue in some lightings. i used 3 coats of Sally Hansens White On. and then some acrylic paint.

i have a really bad migraine right now..so im gunna end it here.

hope your week started out great!,
<3KATRINA

Heart of the Tiger

Happy Friday!~ well, i sure hope today will be a happy Friday! *crosses fingers.

hmm..so i redid my nails on Wednesday night.

i used Forever21's Indigo. the picture makes the polish look more purple than it really is. its a really, really dark-dark purple that kinda leans navy blue in some lightings.

thats just a really simple mani that i hated. i wore it all day yesterday & then i took it off last night to redo my nails.


China Glaze's Peachy Keen as the base & OPI's A Good Man-Darin Is Hard To Find. another simple mani but i kinda like this one.

my blog title is a little lame cause my nails arent even tiger stripes..they're leopard prints. HAHA but whatever.. =P

im really dreading going into work.. T__T

enjoy your day!,
<3KATRINA

Cousin Day Manis

today, i spent my whole day with my cousins, Amy & Nouche, and Kiana - my sister. we had breakfast at Coney Island at 11am; i paid. and then we went back home so that i could do their nails. -i did everything for them today, basically! i even drove! =P

Nouche was awesome & she let me practice doing a full mani with acrylics. here's how her nails turned out;



-i dont know why her hands look so freakin red..

this was my second time doing a full set with acrylics & they turned out pretty well..in my opinion :) i showed her a some of the designs i've done & she liked this design so we went with this one. i made each nail a little different but nothing too different.

here's Amy's mani. just on her nails;



at first, Amy told me to do whatever i wanted..and then she started to tell me how she wanted it..lame. haha

after i finished their nails, we went to my cousins house to mess with our baby nephew Landon. and by that time, the post office was closed..so i couldnt go drop off my polishes for the Zoya Polish Exchange. but its ok..cause i can just drop it off before work tomorrow. [im SOOOO excited for the Zoya Exchange!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!--] =D

alright! im going to spend the rest of the night to myself!... doing my nails~

enjoy!
<3KATRINA

Lucky Lucky

Happy Sunday! i hope all of you ladies had a great weekend! ;)

thanks to all of you who wished me luck & helped me wish for good weather. we DEFINITELY had good weather this past weekend. it was supposed to thunderstorm both yesterday & today and thankfully, it didnt. the sun was beaming down on us although it was occasionally hidden by the dark clouds. it was great weather. being the stubborn person that i am & because i usually dont burn easily, i didnt put on sunblock on all weekend [cause i wasnt expecting good weather]. disaster struck! on Saturday, i had my hair down & my bangs covering half of my face. i ended up getting a tan on my forehead at the end of the day. half of my forehead was covered by my bangs so it didnt get burned but the other half that wasnt covered..it had a pretty good red burn on it. so i had two different color foreheads. haha so embarrassing! i had to pin my bangs up for today so that i could even out my tan. thankfully, it evened out. but the rest of my forehead, my cheeks, nose, shoulders, chest, & back are all burned. its a pain. literally. =P oh, and for volleyball..we placed 5th place out of 14. not good. but not too bad.

but thanks ladies, for all the warm wishes & all the luck =)

anyway, on to the topic of nails, here's the mani i did on Friday night;



3 coats of OPI's Lucky Lucky Lavender. 2 coats would've been good but i was tired & had some bald spots while painting. the polish must've given me extra luck.. haha. lame joke. =/ anyway, this is just something simple for the weekend. i ended up getting a looooot of compliments on it.. uhm, im kinda bummed cause this mani kinda looks like my blingy nails right? -__-

i've been wearing China Glaze's Flip Flop Fantasy on my toenails & this past weekend, EVERYONE kept telling me how bright my toenails are. HAHA. but i hate feet & i hate it when people look at my feet so i just laughed & turned away. *haha.

anyway, im burned out. literally. =P

have a great night...or day,
<3KATRINA

Nail Stickers - Take 2

last week was not a good polish week for me. in that post, i babbled on about my Broadway's Fashion Diva stickers & how they came off after only a day of wear. i didnt know whether to blame the stickers or the new Orly Top 2 Bottom top/basecoat that i had tried for the first time. so two nights ago [which was...Wednesday night] i retried the stickers but this time, i used my trusty ol' Poshe Nail Strengthening Basecoat & Poshe Super-fast Drying topcoat.

i also killed 2 birds with 1 stone with this; i was able to try my stickers again & try another new polish, Orly's Lola. Lola was super *bleh* to me when i put it on...but the more i looked at it, the more i began to like it. the pictures down below are 2 coats of Lola. Lola is a pretty, vibrant hot raspberry pink.

here is a picture from Thursday morning;

*please dont mind my super ugly ring finger..the stickers are EXTRA sticky & once they touch a spot, they STICK! if you try to peel it off, it peels the polish off too. so..thats why my ring finger has an ugly design.. -__-

there was a BIT of lifting of the stickers -- which happened last time. but when i layed my 2nd coat of topcoat on, the sticker seemed to level back down?..

here's my nails from Thursday night -- after a day of work;

ergh..the sun was gone by the time i took this picture so i had to use flash..so the polish isnt accurately colored.

besides for minor tipwear..nothing changed. the stickers didnt fall off -- like how they did last time. so i decided to keep this mani on for another day.

here's a picture of my nails that i just took a few hours ago after i got off work;

ergh. the sun was going down. non-accurate color picture..again. -__- uhm..the stickers were slowly starting to peel off. just tiny bits. but that was it.


so isnt this the weirdest thing?! last time i used the stickers, they didnt even last me a day. this time, they lasted me 2 full days. so..i CANT blame the stickers?..right? i have to retry my Top 2 Bottom top/basecoat again soon. we'll figure this out - - eventually - - i hope.. ;)

anyway, please wish me luck for this weekend! im gunna be playing in a volleyball tournament -- all day Saturday & Sunday. theres supposed to be thunderstorm for both days yet its gunna be in the 80's. [icky Michigan weather. grr.] so hopefully the weather wont be as sucky as its said to be...and hopefully we do good! ;)

enjoy your weekend!,
<3KATRINA

I'm Behind

- on a LOT of things!

first off, i havent swatched since May 13 which is almost a whole month ago! since then, my "UNUSED" polish stash has been growing. here's a picture stash;


this stash keeps piling up..so i finally decided to swatch some polishes today.

*note: please excuse my excessively dried hands & cuticles. im out of non-acetone polish remover & so im using my pure acetone remover..and its killing me -__-


3 coats of Ulta Orange You Glad It's Summer. application was good & kinda jelly-ish. i got this polish [and the next polish down] from my first Ulta trip 2 months ago! finally got around to trying it out.. =P


3 coats of Ulta Vintage Violet. dark, dusty lavender. easy application; much better than OYGIS.

next, i have some Sally Hansen Inst-Dri's. i've had these for..i dont even know how long! i totally forgot that i had them until i went through my drawer of unused.


3 coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Snappy Sorbet. application was ok; my camera was able to capture the very subtle shimmer in this coral-ish polish [and even in the bottle!]. *yay!


3 coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Spring Green. a dark mint..easy application. i remember how much i used to hate how wide the Insta-Dri brushes are...but now i've learned to enjoy em ;)


3 coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Mango Motion. how would you describe this color?..a bright salmon? haha i dont know..but this was the best application of the 3 Insta-Dris & Snappy Sorbet was the worse when it came to application.


ok! continuing my list of things im behind on...awards! a little less than a month ago, i was tagged by Lacquer Ware for Tips and Toes & Amused Polish for the sweet blog award. thanks so much ladies ;)





Make a post about the award including the picture and mention the person who gave it to you. Put the award on your blog. Let your nominated 10 know you've awarded them by leaving a comment.

since im so late on this, i decided not to personally tag anyone. anyone & everyone reading this - im gunna tag. you're awesome awesome! =)


finally, the last thing that im late on is...the Zoya Polish Exchange!

i just recently decided to for sure do the exchange. i've been looking at Zoya swatches like crazy..and i LOVE the Zoyas! i need a few bottles for myself! i've already picked 5 polishes that i for sure want & i have a list of 16 other possibilities. haha. im not sure how many im going to trade in..so we'll see.

ok, so my question is, besides for Zoya, Qtica or Nocti, i can send ANY brand bottle in? even Revlon, Wet n Wild, or Finger Paints? - right?


ALRIGHT! i think this post is long enough..so i'll leave it here!

oh! by the way, my sister is going to reboot the computer any time soon...so hopefully i can post once again before i lose all my fonts & adobe photoshop. haha. i dont want to post without my abobe. haha

hope your Wednesday is going great!,
<3KATRINA

Tulle Mani

happy Monday!

i actually wanted to post this blogpost this morning...but if you follow me on twitter, i mentioned that Blogger was "currently unavailable" for me & it wouldnt let me post anything.. errgh. its ok. as long as its letting me post now.. =P anyway, i came up with a new mani design [in my head] on Friday... i wanted to try it out RIGHT AWAY but sadly, i didnt get to try it til last night. here's how it turned out;


i used Maybelline's Bubble Pink - 3 coats. i forgot how horrible application of this polish is...freakin streaky sucker. *ahem..anyway... i used black tulle on my nails & then some pearls. this mani took me...a little more than 2 hours cause of the tulle...i had to clip them with a nail clipper to the same length/size of my nails..and then they dont exactly stay on right away either. the pearls were also a pain; the pearls have a sticky back & were connected in one line..so i had to snip off each pearl individually..


here's another angle of my nails. i actually like how the mani turned out but im not sure if it was worth the two hours...haha =P i will say that all of my pearls did make it through work today with me today, so that i like =)

uhm.. my mind is pretty much blank right now. so i'll leave it at this. =P

hope your Monday was great!,
<3KATRINA

Not a Good Polish Week

sorry for the lack of updates this week! -__- i've picked up more hours at work...and plus, we're babysitting the pastor's kid this week...so him, my mom, & my younger brother are sleeping in the living room - - so i cant even stay up late to paint my nails. total bummer, really.

anyway, after almost a month of having Orly's Bailamos, i finally got around to trying it out. i also decided to try the Top 2 Bottom base & topcoat that came along with it. i also have a story to go along with this...but first, pictures.


this picture was taken first thing Tuesday morning [after i painted it midnight on Monday]. i also used Broadway's Fashion Diva nail stickers. just to point out, a piece of sticker on my ring finger already chipped off.

i'd also like to point out that that stickers are lifting a bit. i did place the stickers on my nails correctly, made sure they were on...and when i put a coat of topcoat on, they lifted..weird, right? anyway, you cant really see it in the picture, but when i woke up, there were finger smudges on my nails. the bottle didnt say it was supposed to be fast-drying..but it sure was slow to dry!


this is how my nails turned out after an 8 hour day of work on Tuesday. the stickers chipped off & the polish itself was already chipping.

i cant exactly blame the fault of the stickers on the stickers-itself, cause i've used broadway stickers before & they've lasted me up to 4 days. would it be wrong to blame the top 2 bottom base/topcoat? then again, this was my first time using it..so....

anyway, i also didnt like Bailamos on me. ew. so it took it off. i went into Sally's yesterday & bought myself my usual Poshe basecoat & topcoat..and then i picked up 4 more polishes... and then i redid my nails last night..


i used Orly's Rage & China Glaze's Medallion. 3 coats of each polish, but im sure 2 coats of Rage would've been fine.


i took these two pictures a few minutes ago but the sun isnt all the way out today, so i didnt get a good picture of the blingy-ness of the polish.. but i dont like Rage on me either. i dont think it matches my skintone well...but thats just me...

well, this is all i have for today. hopefully i'll be able to do actual nail art soon =X

enjoy your day,
<3KATRINA

Giveaway Winner

first off, thanks to EVERYONE who joined in on my giveaway! sadly, there can only be one winner...

i used random.org to pick a number..



and entry # 22 is...



PANG! CONGRATS! here is a link to Pang's Blog.

again, thanks everyone who participated!! =)

oh! and since i try to follow everyone who follows me...if im not following you & you would like me to, please just leave a comment here. im really bad @ keeping track of who im following & who im not. haha

have a great day!,
<3KATRINA