NOTW - China Glaze Emerald Sparkle

I wanted to be green for St. Patty's day, which is why I chose this mani. I LOVE China Glaze. I get better wear from it than I do OPI, and it's cheaper....can't beat that. This color was introduced with this past holiday season's "Sleigh Ride" set along with the much loved Ruby Pumps and Tinsel. Everyone went CRAZY for this color, as it's a green version of Ruby Pumps and just as amazing. It's kind of HTF, although as far as I know, not discontinued.

Onto the pics. I had a hard time this week finding a nice sunny day, so these were taken in indirect sunlight:

Thanks for looking!

Philosophy

While I was on maternity leave I had a lot of time to watch TV. I ended up watching a lot of QVC. My mother is obsessed and so I too became obsessed. They had Philosophy products on a couple of times and I had always like what Philosophy I had tried, so I took the plunge and ordered their 8 piece Radical Skin Makeover kit. WOW, this stuff changed my skin. I was dreading having the same issues as after my first child. My skin dried out terribly. It was so bad that my cheeks were red and chapped and painful. People thought I was wearing a lot of blush, but no, just my skin! Now, maybe this wouldn't have happened again, but I wasn't going to take any chances. Since I've been back to work I have had SO MANY compliments on my skin. Apparently I looked like crap before? But it is better...so soft and smooth and even the fine lines on my forehead are starting to smooth out. <3 it!!!!!! So, if you've been contemplating trying this brand, I say GO FOR IT!
See you soon...NOTW is China Glaze Emerald Sparkle....LOVE IT...can't wait to post pictures!

NOTW - Nicole Boys'N Berry

Hello! I haven't posted in a little while. I started back to work this week, and it's all been a blur. Once we get home the craziness doesn't stop. It seems like I hardly get to sit down except when I feed the baby. I wanted to post earlier, but even my Saturday's are a little hectic in the mornings - it's my time for my bellydance classes...that's right, bellydance. It's fun, and I'm really trying to get into better shape. Hopefully it'll help!

Anyways, this week I pulled out a Nicole by OPI polish. I really love this brand. This is an older color, although I think they re-released it. This is obviously an older bottle, it was a little thick to apply. It'll definately need some thinner the next time I use it. The color is nice, although I think I like it better in the bottle than on me. The bottle has a bit of a duochrome cast that unfortunately didn't show up on my nails. Let me know what you think!
























This angle shows the duochrome that I was talking about:






















Thanks for visiting!

NOTW: Icing Signature Runway

I've own this bottle of nail polish for well over a year, I think I bought it in December 2007 (how I remember that, and not what I did 5 minutes ago I'll never know). This is my first time using it. I usually have problems with Icing bubbling, but not this time. It's holding up very well and still looks great. I did my mani on Sunday, and it still looks almost like new. I'm just now starting to get some tip wear. Can't complain about that. It's a very sheer color, takes at least 4 coats to get bottle color, maybe more, so I layered it over black.

This picture doesn't really do it justice...the red glitter really has a fire-like glow. This has been compared to China Glaze's Lubu Heels, and while I have yet to do my own comparison, I think Lubu Heels is a little more opaque.



























I think this picture shows the glitter a little better:





















Icing nail polish can be found at Claire's/Icing stores.


Thanks for looking!

News from Zoya

Hello all! Well, it's my last week of maternity leave so I'm a little depressed. I hate to leave my little man. It doesn't help that he's such a mama's boy, but I know he'll be well taken care of. We're sending him to the same daycare that my 2 year old goes to, and they all love him there. They can't wait for Kaden to start next week. It's time though...my students need some structure and authority. They haven't been doing their work I guess. I don't know this batch of kids, we switched semesters while I was on leave. Should be interesting!

Onto the Zoya news. They've been doing a polish exchange...you send in old bottles of nail polish that you no longer want, and they send you brand spankin new Zoya polish in exchange. All you do is pay shipping and processing. A sweet deal if I do say so myself. I know I complained a *little* about Zoya in my last post, but honestly, that mani lasted me a whole week without chipping!! Anyways, the exhange was supposed to end on Saturday, but since it was so successful they extended it through 4/28! So, look through all your polish, get rid of the ones you don't want for some new Zoya's! For more information on the Zoya Polish Exchange visit http://www.zoya.com/exchange.

See you soon!

NOTD - Zoya Kotori

Zoya is one of the brands of polish that the lovely ladies at the MUA board introduced me to. I LOVE the unique colors that this brand sells. The unfortunate thing for me (and I've heard, some others) is that it is notorious for chipping. When I bought my first bottles of Zoya, I also purchased their Color Lock system (minus the new Ridgefiller, it wasn't out at the time) because it has been said that this is the only base and top coats that you can use with success. My thing is that when I used it, I got terrible bubbling...probably because I didn't give enough dry time between coats. That and I'm so used to WONDERFUL Seche Vite that I wasn't prepared for the amount of time that I would need to for my mani to dry. I then tried Zoya with my HG's, Orly Bonder and Seche Vite. It chipped the next day. Badly.
With this mani I again used Zoya's Color Lock system. With a little patience it does work quite well. I DID have to top it off with Posche (I find it doesn't shink dried polish as badly as Seche does) because even after a few hours my nails were tacky. I was afraid to go to bed!
On to Kotori. I LOVE this color!!!!! I'm having a hard time NOT staring at my nails! It's a little sheer, took 4 coats to be opaque, which is odd for Zoya. I can usually get bottle color in 2 coats, a feat for me, the habitual 3 coat-er. I'm also going to show you a swatch of 2 coats of Kotori over black (although 1 probably would have been fine). I love the look. It gives the polish so much depth.

Zoya Kotori - outdoors
























Kotori over black -
























Thanks for looking!

Past NOTD's

I wanted to post something while I try to get decent pictures of my current mani (Zoya Kotori). If you are at all curious to see some of my past NOTD pictures, you are more than welcome to check them out at my Flickr page. Let me know what you think!

NOTD - Misa Dying Love

I used to think that wearing black nail polish was WAY too much...too edgy. I would never wear a color like that to work (I'm a high school teacher). My, how things have changed. Most of the polish I own now are colors that I would never dare to wear to work. I finally realized that no one cares!

This is my first time trying Misa. While I still love OPI and China Glaze more, I gotta say I'm like the Misa too. It was very smooth to apply, very easy to work with. While this is a black shimmer, you have to be outside to see it. Indoors it looks like a black creme. All in all, very nice, I could see myself wearing it again! You can click on the pictures to see a larger image.

Outdoors:

















Indoors:

















Oh, I wanted to edit this to add that this polish lasted 5 days before it chipped, with only minimal tip wear...NICE!

Enjoy!

Biotin

I'm needing me some biotin. Us nail freaks know that it grows our nails long and strong. I'm just not sure if I can take it while nursing my son. I'm trying to find out, and the minute that I hear I can I will be running out to Rite-Aid to get some. People think that it's the prenatal vitamins that help grow your nails when you're pregnant. It's actually not true...while they do help, it's the hormones. I've been on pre-natals for the better part of 6 years. Between TRYING to get pregnant the first time, to being pregnant, nursing Riley for a year, and then getting pregnant about 6 months after I was done nursing Riley...All that time though my nails only grew REALLY well when I was either on biotin or had those wonderful pregnancy hormones helping.

I also have some problem nails that I need help with. My thumbs both consistantly split along the sides. I've tried the popular silk wrap patch. For some reason it doesn't work for me. I just split through that, resin and all. I also have an index fingernail that starts to curl in on one side when it gets too long. It's almost like one side of the nail grows faster than the other. There is even a ridge that goes down the nail where I think the difference is. Other than these nails, I can grow them pretty well as long as I'm keeping them polished and taking care of them. VERY frustrating!

So, does anyone know about the biotin? Can I take it while nursing?

I'm going to give this blogging this a try!

Ok, I have to say it...I LOVE nail polish. My sister recently told me that I need to join a support group for my addiction, hence the name of my blog - Nail Polish Addiction Anonymous. It's very fitting. While my stash may not be as huge as some people, it's pretty big. I probably will never wear ALL the polish I own simply because I don't change my mani very often (only once a week), and I keep buying more. In fact I'm due for a haul pretty soon!
Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I'm in my 30's, married, and have 2 beautiful boys. In fact my youngest will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. I teach high school chemistry in a small town in Virginia. I grew up in Western NY...miss it terribly, but I do like the life my husband and I have made for ourselves here in VA.
I'm finally starting to run out of room in the small space alloted in my linen closet for my polish. I told DH that I have to buy one of those plastic rolly carts for it because at this point in my life I can't have small boxes of polish scattered throughout the house.

This is my current mess:

I REALLY need to get organized!

Anyways...as I said previously, I don't change my mani very often. Once a week, tops. I have 2 small boys and I work full time...I WISH I could do it more, but it's a stretch. So, you won't see NOTD posts very often. Plus, the polish that you see is probably going to be out of season, but hopefully that will inspire you to dig through your stash and get out something you haven't worn in awhile!

So, there you have it, my new blog. PLEASE...if you can think of a way to improve this, let me know...I'm still learning!