Polishes I Received this Christmas!

Hey guys! I know Christmas was over a month ago but I never had the chance to show you all what polishes I received this past holiday. I'm so grateful for the friends and family that fed my polish addiction and I'm so excited to share my new pretties with you!

*Disclaimer* I am in no way trying to brag about things that were given to me. I simply want to share them with you and show you my collection as it grows. I love reading about what polishes people bought/ received so I thought this would be a good idea :) I also want to mention that this will be a picture heavy post! 

To start, I'll show you polishes from one of my favorite brands, Essie! These polishes were given to me by my aunt, my friend Madi, and my mom!

From L to R: Off the Shoulder, Shake Your $$ Maker, Sable Collar & Using My Maiden Name

Stars and Half Moons

Hello all! Today I have exciting news to share, I finally received my light box in the mail which means I don't have to depend on daylight to be able to take my photos! Many of you on Instagram were curious as to where I purchased this. I bought everything from Amazon, my soft box was $14.95, my lamps for $13.99 each (I bought two, one on each side of the light box), and my daylight bulbs for $10.67. So far I'm pretty impressed, if anything I bought is out of your budget or you're looking for something better, I encourage you to browse Amazon.com, you can find anything!

Onto my nails, the other day I was browsing through Candice's lovely Instagram (@MrCandiiPants) and was completely inspired by her twist on half moons + a french tip! So inspired that I revolved my whole mani around them, adding stars for an extra touch of chic.

#NailArtJan - Sparkles

Phew, today was easier to figure out than Day 3 - Fresh! I have so many glitter polishes but I immediately knew which one I wanted to use. I recently bought Essie's Lots of Lux, it's been staring at me for a while and I realized that this was a perfect time to use it!

Lots of Lux is a cobalt blue, textured polish. In the bottle you can really see the blue, green, and deep purple shimmer throughout the polish. When applied, it dries to a matte texture that's somewhat gritty but really beautiful because of all of the sparkle. Did I also mention that it's 99% opaque in one coat?! Seriously, so many people have had the same reactions and I didn't believe it until I tried it. Of course, I had to add another coat because I just don't feel okay without it, but it's fine with just one!

Out in the sunlight, you can easily see the texture in Lots of Lux. If you prefer smooth nails, you could add a topcoat to this but I really love the fine grit to this. Overall I'm so happy that I purchased this nail polish! I haven't heard that many good things about Essie's Encrusted Treasures Collection but Lots of Lux sure seems to be a hit! I also purchase Ignite the Night and I'm praying that it's as fabulous as this! Not too sure if I'll be purchasing Belugaria or Peak of Chic any time soon but so far I love what Essie has done with Lots of Lux.  I'm so excited to wear this for the next few days, I'm afraid I won't be able to focus on school with nails like these :) So tell me, what do you think of the Encrusted Treasures Collection? Do you own any polishes from it or do you plan to? I'm personally on the fence about buying any more but Hors D'ouevres and On A Silver Platter just look so nice! Leave me a comment about what you think down below!

#NailArtJan - Fresh

It was honestly really difficult to think of a nail design that is seen as "fresh." I first think of fresh air, freshly cut grass and fresh fruit, but I didn't really want any of those things on my nails. So I decided on fresh flowers. I had seen a design a few weeks ago by @OrlyNailGirls and completely fell in love. The design included a sheer background and crisp, white flowers on top of it.

To start, I grabbed the nail polishes that I needed. For the nudey-pink base, I used Essie's Mademoiselle. I also needed a white polish for the flower petals so I used Sinful Color's Snow Me White. Lastly, for the center of the flower I used Mellow Yellow by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear. 

After painting my nails with two coats of Essie's Mademoiselle, I used a large dotting tool dipped in white polish to create a big flower at the top of my nail. As the flowers go down my nail and decrease in size, so do my dotting tools. I used a large, medium and small sized dotting tool for the flowers and a toothpick for the smallest daisy. 

Once the flowers were dry, I took Mellow Yellow and created small dots in the center of each flower. I then added a matte top coat and I'm done! I love this design and I think it looks very fresh and it's such a palette cleanser compared to all of the sparkly and intricate New Years nails. I hope you guys love these as much as I do and I hope you all had a fun and safe New Year! 

I'm Doing A Nail Art Challenge?

Because I'm on Winter Break I thought it'd be a good idea to participate in the January Nail Art Challenge. I've done these challenges before and I never quite seem to finish them... Oh well, it's a new year right?! This month's challenge seems really interesting and I can't wait to start! Thank you to @Californails for creating this challenge.