In support of Chalkboard Nails!

Today I decided to make a tribute to one of my favorite nail blogs: Chalkboard Nails.

The blog owner, Sarah, is incredibly talented in the realm of nail art, and has provided inspiration to so many nail polish fanatics, including me. I'm actually lucky enough to live in the same neighborhood with Sarah, and get to hang out with her every once in awhile. She's very sweet, social, and just plain fun to be around.

I decided to try one of Sarah's signature hand poses, though my hands don't look nearly as graceful as hers do...  *sigh*  :o)

Chalkboard Nails Houndstooth

(American Apparel L'Esprit and OPI Just Groovy)

I kinda of suck at stamping, but I'm determined to practice and get better at it. I was pretty happy with the results this time, even though they didn't come out perfectly.

Here is a picture of the inspiration (just in case she changes the background in the future. She's had quite a few really awesome ones so far!):

Sarah has actually had a bit of backlash of hateful comments and emails after having requested that a particular Instagram user credit her when using her pictures. Not an unreasonable request, but the IG user retaliated in a disgusting manner, and I feel so bad for Sarah having to deal with the aftermath. She works so hard not just on coming up with original creative designs, but also in the execution AND superb photography of them. She definitely deserves to be cited when her pictures are shared. 

So I wanted to show her my support, and tell her just how much I personally love her blog and nail art.

You're amazing, Sarah!

My picks from Zoya Feel and True Collections

I wasn't all too excited about the Feel or the True & Flecked collections (so many flakies everywhere!), but when Zoya had their "Get two bottles, just pay shipping" deal, I figured I'd try a few of them that looked interesting.

Zoya - Avery

Avery is ALMOST the perfect nude for me, but it's slightly lighter and pinker than my skin (doesn't really show in the picture).  I guess I have kind of funny hands, because my fingertips are more pink than the rest of my fingers and hand which is much more of an olive tone.  Oh well.  Avery is pretty, but for some reason I have trouble with Zoya cremes.  They tend to be very opaque, but kind of dry out as I'm applying it, so it ends up looking a little "lumpy" in the end.  Top coat usually fixes it, though.

Zoya - Kendal

Kendal is a really soft dusty purple that leans warmer than other pastel purples I own (like Essie Lilacism), so I actually really love this one.  The cooler blues make my hands look "dirty," so I usually avoid them.  I'm certainly going to wear this for Easter (even though I don't really celebrate Easter much... I just like coloring eggs with my family!).

Zoya - Bevin

I know I love dusty olive greens, so I figured I'd try a dusty teal (most of the teals in my collection are super bright).  It's quite nice and actually goes well with Avery and Kendal, even though they are in different collections.  I hear it's similar to OPI Mermaid Tears, but it's a bit more dusty, so I chose the Zoya.  This one was easier to apply but maybe not quite as opaque on the first coat.  Two coats and it was perfect!

Zoya - Tru

Tru was my instant favorite from the True collection when I first saw swatches.  I love red grape purples, and the gold shimmer looked so beautiful!  I always thought it looked more vibrant in pictures, but I think it's shown close to Lotus, which is a very greyed-out dusty lavender.  You can see a little bit of a bald spot on my pinky at two coats, so maybe waiting in between coats is a good idea to avoid cuticle drag.

Overall I'm really happy with my picks from these two collections.  I can actually see myself wearing all of these.  Also, I love Zoya as a company.  They have super helpful customer service and offer many promos and deals for their customers and facebook fans!  I think I have pretty much every Zoya color I want (I have a LOT), but they keep coming out with new awesome colors so I keep ordering more!  All of these are available on Zoya's website for $8 each.

As a side note... For some reason lately I'm not satisfied with anything on my nails unless it's really attention-grabbing.  Since I don't do much nail art, that usually means glitter.  Every time I put on a shimmer or creme I'm bored with it within a few hours and have to either add glitter or take it off and put something more "interesting" on.  It's kinda frustrating...