Skittles for Essie - A Tribute

Hey everybody!  

Many of you may have read this past week that Essie Rae of IHeartPrettyPolish has decided to take an indefinite break from blogging.  This was a difficult decision for her, but she ultimately feels like this is the best thing for her life right now.  Essie has become a dear friend to me over the past few months.  She was the one who encouraged me to start my blog.  Her blog was also the very first polish blog I ever followed.  I think I was her 27th follower! :)  So about 1200 followers later, Essie still always made the time to encourage me in my blogging and just be a good friend in general, even from 1497 miles away.

The lovely Christine of Polished Marvels had the wonderful idea for a few of us to honor Essie in the form of a tribute skittlette.  Now you all know I don't do nail art, and even the idea of a skittlette made me panic (I never let on to Christine...LOL), but I just put together some memories of Essie's manis from over the past year and a half, and it all came together. :)

 

Essie's Skittlette: Starring Zoya Dannii, OPI OY-Another Polish Joke, Maya Cosmetics Imagine

Way back before I was blogging and looked upon Essie as quite the nail polish rock star (I still do, by the way), she did a Friday Favorites post featuring Zoya Dannii.  Dannii was my very favorite polish for a long time.  I thought to myself, "Well, it's official.  This girl has great taste." :D  I even got up enough courage to COMMENT on the post!

Zoya Dannii is a medium purple shimmer.  It's a completely beautiful polish with the usual fantastic Zoya application.  I painted my thumb and index finger with Dannii and my pinky bookend with another shimmer, this year's favorite gold, the fabulous OPI OY-Another Polish Joke.

For my middle and ring fingers, I used Imagine by indie company Maya Cosmetics.  Essie featured a Maya Cosmetics polish about one week before I started my blog, and I was not very familiar with indie companies then.  But per usual Essie, she made the polish look so good that I looked up Maya myself. :)  Imagine is a sheer white base with purple and yellow gold satin glitter and some tiny iridescent glitter.  Because Imagine is so sheer, I layered it over Zoya Kendal, and oddly enough, it still looked white! 

The finished look shows how well the matte satin glitter of Imagine compliments the shimmer of Dannii and OY.

And could I ever "imagine" blogging without having known my dear friend Essie?  No.

You can check out more love for Essie today here:

http://polishedmarvels.blogspot.com/2013/09/skittles-for-essie-tribute.html

http://www.must-stash-em.blogspot.com/2013/09/skittles-for-essie-tribute.html

http://liesllovesprettythings.blogspot.com/2013/09/skittles-for-essie-tribute.html




Thanks for stopping by.  And thanks, Essie. <3

Maya Cosmetics Nefarious Aquarius

Hey everybody! :)

The word nefarious means wicked, evil, or villainous.  So if Nefarious Aquarious was charged with the crime of being wickedly awesome, every jury in creation would lock her up and throw away the key. 

This was my very first Maya Cosmetics polish, and I have to tell you, I'm in love.  I had been eyeing Nefarious Aquarius since it first came out last November.  I finally picked it up last week, and it's even better than I thought it would be.

 

Maya Cosmetics Nefarious Aquarius

Look at that holo!

Nefarious Aquarius is described as a "blue-green holo with a subtle underlying blue/turquoise/purple glow."  You don't have to look very hard to see all these colors!  In the shade, this gorgeous polish is a dusty teal...just add a bit of light, and it blows your mind.

A rainbow at every angle!

Awesome sauce in a bottle

I used 2 coats for the photos and no top coat .  It was a superb formula with even application and no patchiness. 

I could look at this all day.  No...really, I could.

It pains me to say this, but I'm going to say it...Nefarious Aquarius is the teal version of what Zoya Aurora SHOULD have been.  I love Zoya, but I think they missed it a bit with Aurora's somewhat grainy-looking holo glitter.  This polish reminds me a lot of Aurora but with a much finer glitter.

I love you!

Nefarious Aquarius is in danger of becoming my new favorite polish. :)  It can be purchased on the Maya Cosmetics website.  All their polishes are 3-free, cruelty-free and vegan.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a beautiful Sunday! :)