pastel nails

Nails, Meet Neely’s Lovely Sisters in the Zoya Lovely Spring 2013 Collection

February 26th, 2013 by Karen 14 Comments

Zoya Lovely Collection Swatches — The six-piece Zoya Lovely spring 2013 collection ($8 per bottle, or $48 for the six-piece set), available now in stores, salons and online

Pardon me as I swan dive from the top platform into a full-on pastel nails obsession…

SPLASH!

Sorry about that. I couldn’t resist because the pool is just so lovely — lovely as in the six-piece Zoya Lovely collection. 🙂 Remember creamy mint green Neely from last week? Yup, these are her Lovely (ba-dum bum) sisters.

Zoya Gie Gie Swatch from the Zoya Lovely Collection — Zoya Gie Gie (two coats)

Zoya Jacqueline Swatch from the Zoya Lovely Collection — Zoya Jacqueline (two coats)

Zoya Piaf Swatch from the Zoya Lovely Collection — Zoya Piaf (three coats)

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9 Pastels, a Panini Press and the Butter London Spring 2013 Sweetie and Starkers Collections

February 26th, 2013 by Karen 25 Comments

Butter London Sweetie and Starkers Spring 2013 Collections — The nine-piece Butter London Spring 2013 Collection ($15 each bottle), available now online and at Butter London counters and Nordstrom

Today my brain politely offered me two options. One, I could spend the afternoon experimenting with my new Sunbeam Panini Press (and eating said food experiments)…or two, I could catch up on spring nail polish swatches.

Panini Press Madness! — The Sunbeam Panini Press, my new BFF

Tough decision…

But technically, the panini press isn’t new. I’ve had it since Christmas (of 2010!) and just kind of forgot about it.

Whoops!

Over the past few days, I’ve made a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches with it, a delicious grilled shrimp burrito (!) and a quesadilla with brie and pear.

But again, it’s not new, so I opted for the swatches…in part due to my muffin top, which has been feeling extra muffin-y lately…

I’ve also been going through a pastel nails phase, and the colors in the Butter London Spring 2013 Collection are scratching the itch. 🙂

This year, Butter London divided their spring launch into two parts — the six-piece Sweetie Shop collection and three-piece Starkers collection. Each bottle goes for $15 a pop.

The Sweetie Shop sub-collection

Butter London Fruit Machine Swatch — Butter London Fruit Machine, an opaque caramel creme (three coats)

Butter London Kerfuffle Swatch — Butter London Kerfuffle, an opaque, pinkish orange creme (three coats)

Butter London Jasper Swatch — Butter London Jasper, an opaque, pastel yellow creme (three coats)

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Zoya Neely Nail Polish Makes Me Seafoam

February 21st, 2013 by Karen 42 Comments

First new favorite thing of the day/du jour: French toast 2.0! I made it again, this time actually for breakfast (I’ll explain the 2.0 version in a minute).

Second new favorite thing of the day/du jour: Zoya Neely nail polish, a creamy seafoam green, and the only thing I’ve been wanting to wear on my nails lately.

Every time I glance at my hands when I’m wearing it, I smile. 🙂 It’s just so cheerful.

Two coats provides pretty complete coverage, but I’m wearing three for these pics.

Last time I applied Zeely, I didn’t use a base or top coat, and it lasted three full days before I started seeing tiny chips appear along the edges of my nails, so it seems durable. And it made it five days before the really honkin’ chips appeared.

Next time I’ll wear it with a base coat, at least, because it naturally emphasizes the ridges on my nails, which I actually think looks kind of neat, but a base coat applied before Neely should smooth things out, and improve the wear time.

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