NOTD feat. Revlon ColorStay Gel Envy Nail Enamel

Price: $5.59 (Target)

I haven't done a NOTD post in a while because I hardly ever paint my nails anymore. However, I loved these colors so much, I thought I'd share! In this photo, I am wearing the Revlon ColorStay Gel Envy nail polish in Jokers Wild and Lovestruck for the accent. I NEVER wear these colors because I'm all about that vamp life, but I wanted to do something a little different. I ended up really loving the blue polish and at the end wished I had switched the colors around, with Jokers Wild being the accent. My manicurist also used the Gel Envy Top Coat on me. I was impressed with both the polish and top coat. I experienced no chipping in the 7 days I had it on, which is pretty impressive for a regular nail polish. Although the name has the word "Gel" in it, it's not actually gel polish, at least not in texture. I removed the nail polish easily with regular nail polish remover. It definitely gives real gel polish a run for its money in terms of longevity. All in all, I'm impressed and willl most likely be purchasing Lovestruck for my own collection.

NOTD | My First 3D Manicure

Nails by Asako Suzuki of LC Spa

I've done many NOTD's, but this is the first one that has included any kind of nail art. I have no artistic skill nor the patience to do anything like this, so I had to go to a professional. Like I said in my lash extension post, I am going to a wedding this weekend so I thought I'd glam it up a little bit and since my dress is a little bit understated, I wanted my nails to stand out a little.

I brought in a design that I saw in a magazine and Asako (the nail artist) pretty much replicated the exact look. One minor change I made was the thumb. The thumb was supposed to be all black but I really wanted to incorporate that green color somewhere so I replaced black with it. I love that it complements the middle color so well.

It is such a weird feeling on my nails. Because she used gel nail polish, my nails feel slightly heavier. They don't even feel like my real nails; it feels like I have acrylic on even though I don't. Even though I know that the little studs won't fall off, I still feel like I have to be careful with everything. It's going to take a while for me to get used to them. Overall, I'm really happy with how they turned out. I don't think I'll be making this a regular thing, but at least now I know where to go if I ever want fancy nails again.

NOTD | essie - Bobbing for Baubles

Bobbing for Baubles a dark navy shade. I've had this in my collection for ages, but never actually used it. When I searched for a swatch on the internet, it looked very blue, but for whatever reason my one looks like it has some gray in it. I don't know. I love it either way.

NOTD | Amy Pond Series - Amy's Choice

In this NOTD, I'm taking you to 7th episode of Series 5. In this episode, the Doctor and the Ponds find themselves in bit of trouble with a Dream Lord. They're forced to choose between two “realities.” In one reality, Amy and Rory finally get married and settle down in a nice cottage in a little village. Oh and not to mention, they're expecting. In the other reality, they're stuck in the TARDIS heading towards a cold star, unable to steer themselves away.

Anyway, there's old people, aliens, old people aliens turning children into dust (I'm not making this up), the dude from The Hunger Games shows up and Amy pretends to go into labor. Just your run-of-the-mill Doctor Who episode really.

Promo photos from whoiskarengillan.com

In this episode, Amy was not wearing any sort of nail polish. Well, not that I can remember at least. So I decided I'd match my nails to something in the episode and I decided on Amy's sweater.

I'm wearing butter LONDON in Queen Vic. This color is so divine. I think it's a pretty close match, don't you think?

NOTD | Essie - Forever Yummy

This is the last swatch from my essie Holiday Collection Kit. There is actually one more polish in the collection, but it's Wicked and I've already worn that.

Anyway, Forever Yummy is a really nice red. It is actually not as bright in person as it is in the photos above. It definitely reminds me more of Zoya's Cola, because the shade is a bit deeper than a true red like butter LONDON's Pillar Box Red. I think this color would go nicely with any skintone. The formula was nice and there was no streaking. I only had to apply 2 coats to get it opaque. It stained just a tiny bit when I was cleaning around the edges, but I just made sure that go over those areas again.

If you'd like to see all the other swatches for the essie Holiday Collection Kit, check the links below:

• Ballet Slippers
• Chinchilly
• Turquoise & Caicos
• Wicked

Edit:
Oh gosh, I really liked this color but sadly it started to chip just a couple of days after I put it on. And I mean majorly chip. None of the others did that and I didn't do anything different with the application. So, so sad :(

NOTD | Essie - Ballet Slippers

I've never been a fan of pastels, but this was included in the essie Holiday Collection Kit. Ballet Slippers is a really pale pink color, which surprisingly doesn't look too bad on me. However, I absolutely HATED the formula for this. It was just so streaky and I had to apply 3 coats to get it to the opacity that I wanted. But I have the same problem with all pastel nail polishes anyway, so I wasn't the least bit surprised.

Will I wear this again? Probably not.

NOTD | Essie - Chinchilly

Today's swatch is the second from my essie Holiday Collection Kit. If you own this particular nail polish, please tell me I'm not crazy. I swear it looks like a pale lilac color in the bottle. I thought it was going to be like that when I put it on, but it turned out to be a more soft grey color. I mean, I'm not complaining. I just was confused for a second. The color is still very pretty. I think I like this better than Turquoise & Caicos. Don't get me wrong, that color was brilliant, but I like the more Lokilow-key shades that aren't so much in your face. I think they look better with my skintone as well.

Which one do you prefer? Turquoise & Caicos or Chinchilly?

Sneak Peek | Zoya Color Your World 2014 Picks

In the beginning of the year, Zoya ran a promotion called "Color Your World 2014" and if you picked 3 nail polishes and entered a special promo code, you get them for "free" and would only need to pay $12 for shipping. They've ran similar promotions in the past and I've always taken advantage.

Check out my picks for Color Your World 2014!

From L-R I've got: Cynthia, Codie and Caitlin. I was really into the letter C that day, apparently. I swear that wasn't on purpose. I can't wait to wear them. They look gorgeous!

NOTD | Essie - Turquoise & Caicos

I'm finally putting my essie Holiday Collection Kit to use today. I started off with the lovely turquoise color. I was a little bit afraid that it might be too "Tiffany" blue, but it's not too bright actually. It has a more greenish tint to it.

It's gorgeous. I'm in love. I'll be wearing switching out my nail color all week so that I can wear them all.

NOTD | Amy Pond Series - Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone

Hiya! Here's another installment of my Amy Pond NOTD Series. I'm really surprised that I've kept it up for this long. I believe this is my 11th one. Awww 11th... Okay sorry, just had a quick cry there. If you watch Doctor Who, you probably understand why.

Today I'm taking you all to Series 5 once more. I'm combining two episodes into one because this particular story was a two-parter. In these episodes we meet the Weeping Angels again, the first time being in Series 3 in the episode called "Blink." Though this is Amy's first encounter with them it's definitely, and unfortunately, not her last. So what ARE Weeping Angels? Well I'll let a certain Tenth Doctor explain.

If you didn't watch that because it was tl;dr (or rather dw), basically Weeping Angels are statues that can only move when you're not looking at them. Their special power, amongst the moving when you're not looking or if you blinked thing, is that they can send you back in time. It really is the nicest way to kill someone. You're displaced in time and space and you live out the rest of your life wherever they send you.

But enough about them. Here's what you all came for:

Images from the episode are copyright of the BBC.

I probably should've warned you not to blink when you scrolled down to see the swatch. Also, I probably should've mentioned that whatever holds the image of an angel, becomes itself an angel. So basically we're screwed.

Okay, enough joking around. In this episode, Amy is actually wearing a greyish-lilac nail polish. I don't have a color like that (yet), so I decided to use the Zoya PixieDust Nail Polish in London instead. It's one of those textured nail polishes, similar to OPI's Liquid Sand. I used this polish in particular because the matte finish and slightly gritty texture reminded me of statues. I'm only realizing now that it doesn't really actually match the color of the Weeping Angels, but I think you guys know where my head's at.

If you've made it to this point in the post, bless you. I know I write a lot, but I think with this particular series of posts, putting things into context makes them more enjoyable. Also, if you've made it up to here, then that also means you haven't blinked. So good on you! And if you didn't... well then I wish you the very best and hope that the angel sent you somewhere fun and exciting.

NOTD | Thor: The Dark World

Hi y'all. Sorry for the lack of updates. November is moving month so I'm been spending a lot of my time cleaning, throwing things out, packing, etc.  But today I thought I'd do a little NOTD post in celebration of the release of Thor: The Dark World here in the US.

I didn't do any fancy nail designs, but I think it's a good "swatch" post. I chose Loki's colors because who doesn't love a bad boy?! Plus, Tom Hiddleston is kind of incredible so I thought I'd throw support in his direction ;)

The green is China Glaze in Agro from the Hunger Games Collection and the accent nail is butter LONDON in West End Wonderland.

NOTD | Amy Pond Series - The Beast Below

Today I'm taking you all to Amy's second episode as the Doctor's companion. In this episode, the Doctor takes her to Starship UK, a spaceship built to save the people of the UK from solar flares that were scorching the earth. While on Starship UK, the pair discover that the government has been hiding a big secret from its citizens. What's the big secret? I guess you'll have to watch to find out.

Bottom right & top images: Copyright BBC.

In this episode, Amy is seen wearing a sort of burgundy shade. I had two options to choose from: OPI's Skyfall or Zoya's Cola. Both were pretty good matches, but I ended up choosing Cola by Zoya since I had already swatched Skyfall. I love this color and have actually worn it a few times already. My only gripe with it is that I usually have to apply 3-4 coats to get the opacity I want.

Anyway, see you all again next time!

NOTD | Amy Pond Series - The Girl Who Waited

Yes, I'm back with another Series 6 episode and it happens to be one of my favorites. Why? Because Karen Gillan absolutely shines in it! I loved her before this episode aired, but this was when I fell in love with her.

In "The Girl Who Waited", the gang visits a paradise planet called Apalapucia. Unfortunately, when they land, the Doctor is completely unaware that entire planet is under quarantine due to an outbreak of Chen-7, aka The One Day Plague. All sorts of wibbley-wobbley, timey-wimey things happen and Amy ends up in a completely different time stream from the Doctor and Rory. When they try to save her, they jump into a completely wrong time stream and Rory finds a much older Amy, an Amy who had been stuck in the Two Streams Facility for 36 years. Do they find "their" Amy or do they take this Amy with them? I guess you'll have to watch to find out (I highly recommend that you do). It's a great stand-alone episode, so you needn't know anything from previous episodes to understand much of it!

(Bless you if you read all that btw. On with the swatch, I suppose...)

Image source: WhoIsKarenGillan.com

In this episode, Amy was wearing some of sort of gold hue on her nails, but since I already did that for "The Impossible Astronaut", I decided on this lovely purple color that matched the top that Future Amy was wearing. I'm wearing Pure Ice in Last Chance. It's a brand that I've only seen at Walmart. They're really cheap and they have really fun colors.

I'll see you all in the next Amy Pond NOTD, but before I go, I'll leave you one of my favorite Amy Pond quotes from the episode (and possibly the entire series):

You know when, sometimes, you meet someone so beautiful, and then you actually talk to them and five minutes later, they're as dull as a brick? Then there's other people and you meet them and you think, "Not bad, they're okay." And then you get to know them, and their face just sort of becomes them, like their personality's written all over it. And they just turn into something so beautiful...

Gah, my heart! When will I find the Rory Williams to my Amy Pond?

...someday.

NOTD | Amy Pond Series - Let's Kill Hitler

My Amy Pond NOTD's are back! Apologies for keeping Amy away for so long, but do not worry as I will be posting a couple more this week featuring The Ginger One.

Today I'm taking you to Series 6, Episode 8 where the gang travels back to the 1930's to catch up with Hitler... sort of. We also get to meet the Ponds' BFF Mels, see River Song put her sassy pants on and watch Rory put the Fuehrer himself in the cupboard. All in all good times.

Screencaps courtesy of WhoIsKarenGillan.com

In this episode, Amy is wearing a sort of green-apple-ish, almost chartreuse, color. Gosh, don't you just love my descriptions? Haha! Anyway, another way to desccribe the color is maybe Shrek-like. For this look, I used the Maybelline Color Show Nail Lacquer in Go Go Green, which is a pretty spot on match. Lately, I've been super obsessed with the Maybelline Color Show nail polishes. I bought 6 within a span of 2 weeks, which sounds terrible, but they're only about $2.50 each so it's not at all bad. I'll do swatches of them soon. I'm currently obsessed with their Polka Dots collection. 

Until next time...

NOTD | Amy Pond Series - The Asylum of the Daleks

In the opening episode of Series 7, we see the Ponds on the verge of divorce and the Daleks employing the Doctor's help. We also get to meet the Doctor's new companion. As we saw in "Closing Time" in Series 6, Amy became a model. In the beginning of this episode, we see her displaying her amazing ability to "pout at a camera."

Image source: www.whoiskarengillan.com

Throughout this episode, Amy is seen wearing a grey hue on her nails. For this NOTD, I used one of my favorites which is Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Grey Area. Whoa, tongue-twister. I love this brand because it is long-wearing and does not chip. Best of all, it's very cheap!

Apologies for two Series 7 episodes in a row. I'll switch it up next time :)

NOTD | Amy Pond Series - The Power of Three

This was the episode where according to Amy "the Doctor came to stay." It was the invasion of the small cubes and it was also the episode where the Ponds celebrated their wedding anniversary. At the party and thereafter, Amy can been seen wearing a gorgeous pink hue on her nails.

Image Source: www.whoiskarengillan.com

 I was trying to decide between two nail colors to match what Karen Gillan was wearing and decided on Zoya's Sachi. I'm not a pink/fuschia kind of gal, but this color is just brilliant. The formula is great as well. It is so creamy and I only needed two thin coats for the job.

By the way, a HUGE thank you to the people at Who is Karen Gillan? for letting me use their screencaps for my blog posts! If you're a Karen Gillan fan, then you should definitely head over for there for the latest and the greatest :)

NOTD | Amy Pond Series - Vampires of Venice

In this episode, the Doctor takes Amy and Rory to 16th century Venice for a 'romantic' date. However, because this is Doctor Who, they run into some trouble with a certain Signora Rosanna Calvierri who is played by none other than Helen McCrory. She, of course, played Narcissa Malfoy (my favorite character) in the Harry Potter films.

Screencaps: Copyright BBC & BBCA

I am wearing Essie's Lady Like on my pinky and pointer fingers and Color Club's Put a Pin In It on the rest. I decided on wearing two different nail colors because I have already featured Lady Like in another post. Put a Pin In It reminded me of the color of the Alien Fish and actually has a slight lavender tint to it, which I thought would go perfect with Lady Like. Amy wears a color similar to Lady Like, but I don't have a screenshot of it. Just trust me. Or watch the episode haha.

NOTD | Amy Pond Series - The Rebel Flesh

Left & top right images Copyright BBC.

In this episode Amy wears a red polish again so I had to switch it up. Luckily I had this nice milky shade in my stash that matched the Almost People's flesh. I'm wearing Zoya in Gaia, which was one of the polishes I got when they had the 3 for $10 deal in the beginning of the year. This was very streaky and I actually had to put on 3 coats (sometimes 4) to get it nice and opaque. It's not a terrible thing, but I usually prefer when it can get the job done in just 2.

NOTD | Amy Pond Series - The Angels Take Manhattan

Hello old friend. And here we are. You and me, on my blog... Just joking. I'm not going to do that here because if I keep going, I will bawl my eyes and I won't be able to finish this post or get on with the rest of my life for at least 3 hours (if you've seen the episode then you'll probably understand why).

Anyway, today I'm taking you to Amy Pond's very last appearance as the Doctor's companion in the episode "The Angels Take Manhattan." Don't worry, I'm not going to show any spoilers.

Photo of Karen Gillan: Copyright BBC.

In this episode, Amy has got on a very dark plum color. I couldn't find any other photos of her with her nails showing like that, but if you watch the episode you'll see it. I have on Essie in Wicked. I am really into vampy shades so when I saw this at CVS, I didn't even think twice about getting it (even though I knew I probably already had something similar at home). Essie's formula is always so brilliant. I recommend this if you're looking for a dark vampy shade ;)

By the way, by no means is this the last of the Amy Pond Series. She was a companion from Series 5-7 (well half of 7) so there will be many many more to come!

Until next time...

NOTD | Amy Pond Series - The Impossible Astronaut

Hiya! Today's NOTD for the Amy Pond Series is brought to you by the Color Club. Since this is Doctor Who related and we are dealing with time travel and timey wimey stuff, I figured I needn't go in order in terms of which episode I want to blog about ;) The Impossible Astronaut was the first episode in Series 6. The Eleventh Hour was the first episode of Series 5. You get what I'm doing here?...

Okay I'll stop geeking out now, haha!

Top right photo: Copyright BBC. Screencaps: Courtesy of BBCA

In this episode, Amy can be seen wearing a sort of golden hue. I am wearing Color Club in Disco Nap which I got in one of my Birchboxes ages ago. Sorry if the particular screenshot is of a bit of spoiler. It really doesn't count as one since this scene is about 5 minutes into the episode. Don't worry about it. He's fine.

I am really loving this series. I have an excuse to watch all the episodes again... Not that I ever really need one ;)