Zoya Kristen and OPI Gone Gonzo

Hello and a big hello to Friday!! ;-)  Today is a quick post, but I made sure to get you guys lots of pictures!!  I used 1 coat of Zoya Kristen and 1 coat of OPI Gone Gonzo.  I loved this mani so much that I actually wore it a few days instead of my usually changing my polish every day!  That says a lot for me :-) haha  It was hard to capture how pretty it was with my camera, but it really was nice in person.  I honestly almost skipped Gone Gonzo because of how thick and blingy it is.  I'm glad I changed my mind at the last second and got it from a friend for a swap!  I feel like the light blue Kristen really helped to make this a nice, wearable look!  On to more pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

Flash

Sunlight

Sunlight

Low lighting in my bedroom!





I hope you enjoyed another favorite combo of mine!  I think I will redo this someday as a tape mani to really give it a funky look!  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!  I am so happy for the time change to have sun for a little later each night!  Yay for Spring coming!

Much Love,

Crystal

GOSH Ocean and Miss Minty

Today I have the last two GOSH polishes!  I hope you've enjoyed seeing them and a few comparisons!!  First up is Ocean.  It is a beautiful, mermaid like polish that has a duochrome from greenish teal to a blue.  In the bottle you can see some purple, but unfortunately most of that is lost on the nail.  For the pictures, I used 2 coats and 1 coat of Poshe.  In the pictures, the brush strokes are visible, but in person, it wasn't as obvious.  The color is very bright though, as it almost glows on the nails! 

A tiny bit of the purplish coming through!

Next is Miss Minty.  I believe I used 2 coats (forgot to write it down, sorry!) with 1 coat of Poshe.  This color is a nice cream.  I don't have anything this light of a teal, but it is slightly lighter than China Glaze Crushed Candy (Crackle), which should be similar to For Audrey.  I've wanted For Audrey for a while, just haven't picked it up.  If I do in the future, I will do a comparison :-)

Below I thought OPI Metallic 4 Life would look awesome over this shade, but it actually didn't look as good as I wanted, so I only did one nail.  I think the black jelly looked too streaky over it.  I bet a nice sparkle would be pretty layered over this though!

I hope you enjoyed all the pictures!  I do have another comparison for Gosh Rusty, but I haven't done that yet.  I have lots of other great manis coming up too!  I had a request for China Glaze Techno, so I hope to do that this weekend.  I am going to compare that to a few other glitters I have too!  Also, I'm excited to share with you more of Pretty & Polished!  So many fun posts coming up! :-)

Have a great weekend!!

Much Love,

Crystal

A Perfect Pair - OPI

OPI - Stranger Tides with Spark de Triomphe over

I have been looking at these two since I organized my collection onto the shelves.  Side by side they sit, and I kept putting off the combo.  Not sure why, maybe it was just because I was being lazy to do a tape mani?  Tape manis are really not that hard, but for some reason, I still put it off.  Finally, I decided to put these two together and of course I love it.

Stranger Tides is from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection and is this lovely light green that makes me feel like it's a washed out or pastel army green.  Does that make sense? haha to me it does.  Anyway, the formula is ok, but I had some streaking even on the second coat, so I went for 3 in the picture.  I knew I would be layering it, but that half would show.  Nothing makes me more crazy than a bald spot on my nail! ;-)  I love the color though, not to bold, yet very different.

Spark de Triomphe came with a Serena Williams duo, France Glam Slam with the White Shatter.  It is clear base with tiny round glitter and larger chunks of round glitter.  The larger pieces reflect making it look extra glitzy.

I love this combination because it's very subtle.  The glitter isn't too in your face, yet it catches the eye so it's noticed!

I hope you enjoyed my pictures of a new favorite combo! ;-)  Have a great day!!!

Much Love,

Crystal

Cult Nails - A Brand to Watch

My Beautiful Collection!!

I came across Cult Nails right after the amazing Unicorn Puke was released!! I started seeing swatches pop up here and there and began to do my research of how to get that beauty!!  Most polish collectors know the joke of Unicorn Pee AKA Clarins 230, so Maria made Unicorn Puke based on that joke. 

Clairvoyant (over piCture pOlish Denim)

It was just a short time later, I found the release of Clairvoyant during a Pre-sale of their Super Powers collection. I have to admit, I only bought it for Clairvoyant. The colors all looked nice, but for someone owning 450-500 polishes, I didn't think I *needed* them.  So glad I was wrong!

Enigmatic

I received my package after they Pre-sale was over and started playing with the new colors. It was then I knew I had stumbled upon a wonderful company. This formula was amazing. And the best part was that they stayed on really well for me! Something I have trouble with!  I think I have oily nails or something.  I know for a while that Seche Vite would cause my polish to peel off in sheets!  I'm so thankful now to have found Wicked Fast top coat by Cult Nails!  It really works and it dries fast!

Mind Control

I began to take notice to the Cult Nails Facebook & Twitter accounts. I loved their energy and started to really connect with this brand. Maria, the owner, was a blogger herself that followed her dream of creating polish. How inspirational! I love those kinds of stories! 

Iconic

Iconic

On Black Friday, Cult Nails offered a great sale, so I was able to order almost the entire collection!! I didn't know until this past weekend how amazing some of those colors are!! I hadn't had a chance to try them all, so unfortunately they've been sitting!  For the ones I've tried before, I fell in love with them all over again.  And for the new ones I tried, I wasn't sure why I hadn't used them yet!

In a Trance

In a Trance with Hypnotize Me over

It's been a couple of months now and I just pre-ordered their next collection.  You can too here: Let's Get Nekkid Collection.  Toxic Seaweed is a limited edition.  If you have any interest, I would jump on it!  I know the colors will be released individually, but not sure exactly when.  I would check on the Cult Nails Facebook site for more details when they will be on the site. 

My Kind of Cool Aid

Unfortunately, Clairvoyant is out of stock and not able to be made at this time.  More information can be found here: Cali Trip.  Maria explains that the ingredient is not available, but she is looking for alternative materials.

My Kind of Cool Aid with Clairvoyant over ring finger

I am thrilled to support Cult Nails, because they truly offer a quality product along with passion for polish. Some of the bigger companies just produce shade after shade, sometimes almost exact to what they've released before. It's really nice to step back and find a company that puts a lot of effort into creating a nail polish collection.  I personally loved to learn more about their new collection, with the stories of each color.  You can read that here: Coming Soon - Let's Get Nekkid Collection. 

Layering Fun! My Kind of Cool Aid with Clairvoyant and Hypnotize Me on ring finger.
This I will definitely do as a full mani - isn't it gorgeous!?

Over the next year, we can look forward to many new collections coming our way. Maria will keep us on our toes, with even a spotlight collection from her daughter, Coco! I'd say this is a brand to watch, because they will offer amazing products this year, and hopefully many years to come!

If you would like to find these lovely polishes for yourself (instead of drooling at all these pictures! hehe)  Here is their website: Cult Nails.  I'm just a huge fan and want to make sure no one misses out on this company!  It is a top favorite of mine as you can tell from my post!

Also, I mentioned on my Twitter and Facebook about working on my spare bedroom to transform it to my beauty room!  I can't wait to share pictures with you soon!  I'm hoping to have it done by next week sometime!

Much Love,

Crystal

*Edited to add*  Each polish lists for $10 on their site.  They do have glass files (they are amazing - $12) and treatments (base - $8, top coat - $8 or both together for $15).  There are a few collections listed for a discounted price as well.  So please check it out if you are interested!

Also, as a bonus, Maria will be offering all in stock colors for $5 for a day when she reaches 5,000 fans on Facebook!  So if you haven't "liked" them yet, please do!!  :-) Cult Nails Facebook Page here: Cult Nails Facebook