Odd layering combination - Zoya Kelly+China Glaze Lighthouse

I can't believe its March already! The weather is really nice today which is great for taking nail photos. I recently got Zoya Kelly in mail (it was backordered from the 3 free promotion) and I also bought China Glaze Lighthouse. I didn't know which colour to get from the Anchors Away collection so I had Chase choose. I was surprised  he chose Lighthouse since he normally hates yellow. He describes it as "the sun in a bottle". When  he saw Zoya Kelly he told me I should layer Lighthouse over it. I didn't have any other ideas of what I should do with my nails so I tried it.

I was skeptical at first but I really like China Glaze Lighthouse. I don't think I would wear it on its on since its so sheer but I do like it for layering. I tried it over a turquoise colour on a nail wheel and it looked really pretty. It has a green-golden look to it when put on top of Zoya Kelly. I really like it.

I really want to wear Zoya Kelly on its own sometime. Its a gorgeous grey that leans slightly purple. It was almost a one coater. I might even do a Konad with this colour soon...it seems like it would work well for that.

On an unrelated note...I mentioned a long time ago that I got a 28 dollar nail file for Christmas. Since I mentioned it on here I want to a review for it soon. So tell me in the comments what you want to know about it...and what you look for in good nail file. I would appreciate your feedback so I can't write a good review. =)

Peace and Love,
Serena

Pikachu inspired manicure! =]

"I want to be, the very best..like no one ever was. To catch them was my real test, to train them is my cause.."

When I was in elementary school, I loved Pokèmon. I had the cards, the games, the movies, everything. And even though I'm a senior in high school now, I still have a soft spot for anything Pokèmon related. So today I have a Pikachu inspired manicure. I was having a bad/sick day when I painted my nails, so the application is a bit sloppy...not to mention the formula of the polish wasn't amazing either. I probably should have gone for something more simple considering how sick I felt. Anyway, the base yellow colour is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightening. It was a fairly opaque polish but it was too streaky and uneven to work. Some nails have 2 coats, others have 3. I got this yellow because it was mentioned to me in the comments of my last post, it was easily available, and Walgreens had this particular colour wrapped with a free Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat. (I was really pleased with how quickly this topcoat dried, I'm trying to find another quick dry top coat because my bottle of Seche Vite is getting way too thick and stringy.)

For the zig zag lines I used L.A. Colors Art Deco in black. As you can see, my pointer finger looks really messy...which is due to the brush having a few stray hairs. Once I cut them down my lines became smoother. The red dots on the side were made using another Art Deco, in red glitter. The black lines and the red glitter dots smeared a bit with top coat, but that could be avoided if you're more cautious. I really love the concept of this manicure and surprisingly several people noticed my nails and made the connection with Pikachu. I'd really like to do this manicure again someday, only with a better yellow and when I'm not sick. I feel so weird wearing yellow polish though...I kept looking at my nails in disbelief. I've never worn yellow before! Here is one last "bonus" picture:

What do you think of this design? Have you used Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri topcoat? I'd really love to know what other quick dry topcoats people use...I've tried many that don't live up to their claims. I think I'll be doing a 'skittle' type manicure soon, one I thought of while trying out different layering combinations on paper. =)

Thanks for reading!!

Peace and Love,
Serena