Beauty

[bella-luna]

jup - SO many pretty colors! I love anything in the coral/melon family!!

Knit - My springy nail theme has come to an abrupt end today - haha! We have had flurries this morning and...to think that it was just 70° a couple days ago! Crazy!!

jax - I love that color from OPI!

mutt - How are you feeling about Rowan since it's been a day or two?

I changed my polish to Zoya's Ibiza. This is probably my all-time favorite dark blue! Well...I love Ryan, too. And butter LONDON's Royal Navy and Big Smoke...

[juperier]

Knit - Glad you liked the polish! It is a really pretty and unique color.

bella - I love coral/melon polishes too. My problem is that I don't have much in my wardrobe that goes with them. The weather is still warm and gorgeous here.

Does everyone know the Zoya is having a BOGO thru tomorrow? Free shipping over $35. Limit four bottles per order. Code: SUP

I was still missing nine of the twelve polishes from the two most recent releases, so I ordered four of them, andchose four more as my free polishes. Since you get three free polishes at $50, I added on the ninth polish, plus a lip gloss.

Yesterday's mani was Gothic Gala Demeter. I'm not quite ready for one of the China Glaze neons, so I'm going with Super Chic Pleasant Surprise.

[mom of 2boys]

Hi, I am new to this thread, but enjoy reading what you ladies are using....and pics are great. Bella-luna, how do you get your cuticles to look so neat and clean??...I seem to have trouble with the polish looking "caked up" at the cuticle...and I try not to use too much. I've been using nude/ opaque colors lately and they usually require several coats. I would love any tips from any of you ladies how to get this short and neat look! Thanks!

[bella-luna]

momof2boys - Hi! I'm also a mom of 2 boys, but they're grown now...looove my boys! Thanks for the comment about my cuticles! It just takes a some practice and doing clean-up afterwards. When I put the brush on my stubby little nail, I don't really put it near my cuticle; I start painting just below the cuticle, push the brush just a tad toward the cuticle and then swipe the polish down. Does that make sense? I am also careful not to get too close to the sides of the nail - and yes...sometimes in my pics, you might see a little gap at the sides, but I'd rather have little gaps than flooded cuticles. After I've done my top coat, I take an e.l.f. concealer brush (it's tiny and has synthetic bristles) and dip that into remover (I use Sally's...the pink one) to clean up any excess/mess around my cuticles. Then I'll do a quick rinse (sometimes I use soap...depending on how much acetone I had to use in clean-up) and then slather on coconut oil. Hope that helps!

jup - Oooh, I'm jealous of your weather...please send some of that warm goodness my way, would ya?! Ya know...I don't ever match my nails to my clothes, but I understand what you're saying about not having anything to match a coral/melon mani. I wear SO much black, I guess it just never occurred to me... That green and blue you posted are so pretty! They'd be pretty worn together, too! Love that blue especially...reminds me of something...Zoya's Rocky, maybe? Or Zuza? I dunno...good for you for ordering! I'm skipping this promo, unfortunately. Let us know when you get your polishes! OH...what all did you order?!

Have a great day, y'all!

[mom of 2boys]

Thanks so much for the info!...I will have to try.... You're right....they do end up looking "flooded" that's a good way to describe it. But great tips, can't wait to try!.... Love my boys too oh, and since I made this name I have had a little girl, and now another baby boy! Guess I should update my name, lol....( mom of 3 boys and 1girl would be getting kinda long though, lol)

[bella-luna]

mom of 2 - You are more than welcome! Please let me know if you have any other questions! I'm sure some of the other ladies will pop on with their tips/tricks, too...we're a very friendly/helpful bunch! Oooh, you have been busy since you created your username! haha Congrats to you and your ever-growing family!

[juperier]

mom of 2 - Welcome! Bella's right...practice and clean up...and practice at clean up. I also think basecoat and (especially) topcoat help a lot. Some days, and depending on the polish, I barely have to clean up. Other times your youngest could probably do a better job! But by the time I've cleaned up, it looks like I actually knew what I was doing.

bella - I wish we could trade heat for water. We've set a couple of new highs recently. But we have had practically no rain. I don't think it even rained in January, and that's normally one of our wettest months. Since I'm retired, I don't really have to worry about what color I wear. And it's been years since everything had to be "matchy matchy" anyway. But part of me still wants everything to kind of coordinate. I used to have a lot of black clothes. Now I seldom buy black. As far as colors go, most of what I own is in cooler colors, so I guess I'm drawn in that direction as far as polish goes also.

The two polishes look better together on the screen than they do in person. But I do think that they could be used effectively in nail art. I've been meaning to reorganize my Zoya's and I'll try to remember to take a look when I do. Excluding finish, and off the top of my head, I'd say Rocky is more blue and Zuza is at least deeper in color, and probably has more green in it. Here are descriptions of Demeter and Pleasant Surprise from the companies:

Demeter: "light metallic, grassy, spring green" (all polishes in the collection have metallic/chrome/shimmer finish)

Pleasant Surprise: "retro teal blue" (the collection is described as Neon Dewy Day-glow cremes"...ie, neon pastels)

Actually, I'm seeing several polishes between the two collections that coordinate rather well.

[juperier]

bella - The closest Zoya I have to Pleasant Surprise is Wednesday. Color is pretty much identical. Of course it's missing the shimmer and isn't neon. Rocky is darker,has a bit more blue in it and is also more muted. Again, missing the shimmer and neon. Zuza looks as if the base color is a similar mix of green and blue, but quite a bit darker. The shimmer and finish are completely different.

As to which Zoya polishes I got...Lillian, Eden, Tiana and Rayne from the Delight and Brittany, Lean, Tove, Sage and Ana from the Naturel Satins. Then I added Trendy from the Hot Lips collection to get my total up to as close to (but over) $50 as possible (so I'll get 3 free random polishes, hopefully at least one or two that I don't already have). I wish they would have another half off total order promo. I need to get another large bottle of Remove+ soon since I'm well into my last pump bottle.

[bella-luna]

Hey girls!

I've been MIA for a couple days because I had nothing on my nails for about 3 days! Wha??? Yup...sometimes, I just have to take a breather! haha

jup - You ordered some great colors from Zoya! I have yet to wear any of the polishes from the Delight collection, but I'm looking forward mostly to wearing Tiana, Rayne and Lillian.

Today I'm wearing another color from the Wet n Wild Silver Lake collection, Tree Hugger. I love these minty/pistachio greens SO much!! Side note: I don't know why I have lobster hands in this picture because in real life, that's NOT what it looks like!

[nomless]

Hi, all. I'm still lurking and trying to get my nails decent enough for polish again. I'm having some luck with my left hand, but the nails on my right hand are still breaking. There must be something that I do with my right hand that I don't do with my left hand, but I can't figure it out. For the most part, my nails aren't peeling any more, a step in the right direction.

A week or so ago, I came across the TIPS file from years ago. It's a contoured finishing file with a very fine grit. I use a glass file to file down the length, then a Ruby Stone file to shape, and then use the TIPS file to seal the edges (I hope it's sealing the edges!). I like the TIPS file, and Q still has it, so I ordered a couple as spares.

Bella, your color is perfect for a spring day. Enjoy!