My Top Five Favorite Fall Polishes

I know we're still a few weeks out from it being "technically" autumn, but lately I've been so in the mood for fall colors that I decided to put this post together. These are my top five absolute favorite polishes to wear during the fall. I do have a lot of other shades that I enjoy wearing around this time, but I find myself reaching for these five very frequently every year.

OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest is a super dark, super shimmery blackened shade of garnet. The formula on my bottle is incredible and covers great in two coats.

Essie Very Structured is kind of my "wild card"; I never expected to like this dark pumpkin spice shade, but I actually love it! I'm wearing two coats.

A England Dorian Grey is an absolutely stunning gunmetal grey metallic. Two easy coats are all you need.

Zoya Monica is a stunning aubergine crème. I have such a thing for purples and I wear this all the time, fall or not. The formula is fantastic and it covers perfectly in two coats.

A England Tess D'Urberville is one of my all time favorite shades. This deep, dark shimmery green is absolutely breathtaking! I'm wearing two coats.

What's your favorite fall polish? Did it make my list?

Spring Sunflower Nail Art

Hi guys!! I missed you all! I know it's been ages since I've posted and usually bloggers apologize for that when they've been absent, but I'm not going to this time. :P I've just been living life and pursuing other passions and I don't think there is a need to apologize for that. I started The Nail Network at a fun project, not as a job, so why should I force myself to post if I'm not feeling it 100%? I'd rather step away for a bit and come back once I've taken a breather and renewed my interest. With that said, I'm not promising I'll be back to posting consistently. I don't know when I'll post. I'm just going to paint my nails at my own pace and post when I feel like it.

But anyway, that's enough introspection and life-talk, I pulled these sunflower nails from my archives because I'm desperately craving the warm spring weather that we are supposed to be having in April! It's been snowing here the past two days! It's not sticking but still, it's the principle of the thing.

For this look, I started out with two coats of the most perfect green grass polish, Zoya Tilda. I used a nail art brush to paint the big yellow sunflower shape with a Sally Hansen Insta-Dry polish (the name is escaping me but I know it has the word "lightning" in it) and then I mixed a little bit of white with it to paint the lines for the petals. I used an orange shade (I don't remember this one either, don't kill me!!) to create a jagged line near the center of the flower and then I used Zoya Louise to make the darker brown area, making a jagged line over the orange. I finished the design off with some taupe dots inside the darker brown area. And top coat of course!

I have the whole weekend off, so hopefully there will be some nail painting and post writing in my near future! ;) Hugs!!

Neutral Snowflake Nail Art with Zoya Kennedy

I told you I was going to have some nail art with these snowflake stamping plates coming up! I wore this design for a long time and absolutely loved it. I like to mix in up in the winter and wear neutrals to balance out all the dark shades I wear and Zoya Kennedy is my all time favorite neutral.

I started with two easy coats of Kennedy and used China Glaze I'd Melt for You and Konad Special White polish to stamp snowflakes from Born Pretty plates QA57 and QA58. I did large snowflakes on my thumb and ring nails and topped them off with a silver rhinestone. Definitely give this look a try if you're looking for a work-appropriate winter mani!

TDOCNAS 2014: Day 11: Glittery Reindeer Nail Art

Happy Christmas Eve everyone! I hope you have all of your affairs in order and are all having a wonderful day. I'm working until 1 o'clock and then heading over to our annual family Christmas Eve party later tonight and I can't wait! This is my absolute favorite time of the year. Anyway, these nails were inspired by my obsession with glittery reindeer this season. I know it's weird, but I can't help it! I'm hoping to pick up a couple on sale after Christmas. ;)

I used Zoya Godiva on my pointer and ring nails and plain black on my pinky and middle nails. I wish Godiva had photographed the way it looks in real life; it's so sparkly but it doesn't translate at all in the photos! I used Godiva to paint my little reindeer as well and finished him off with a China Glaze Just BeClaws nose. I also did some Just BeClaws dots on the rest of my nails to tie the look together.

See you tomorrow for the last day of the Twelve Days of Christmas nail art series!!

Black Friday Glitter Gradient with Zoya Wishes

I guess by the time you guys read this, you'll probably have been out shopping for hours already, but here's some Black Friday nail art! I actually hate Black Friday and have only gone out once (and never again), but I won't ever turn up a chance for some pretty nails. Being in huge crowds of people and waiting in long lines just seems like torture to me!

For this look, I used two coats of Zoya Willa for my base and sponged Zoya Imogen near the cuticles towards the tips. I applied a coat of top coat to finish it and that's it! Super easy, but super pretty!

How do you feel about Black Friday, love it or hate it? Have any Black Friday horror stories?

Zoya Wishes Winter/Holiday 2014 Collection Swatches & Review

Hello hello! I have the Zoya holiday collection to share with you guys today and they are so stunning! I love holiday collections (as long as they don't contain too many reds!) and this collection of shades is so unique. Let's get started, shall we?

Prim is a velvety ice blue polish. I honestly didn't think I would like this one based on the swatches that I saw, but it turned out to be much less brushstrokey in person and I actually love it! I'm wearing two coats.

Haven is a stunning deep royal purple shimmer. This color is gorgeous but I had a little bit of an issue with the application. It was just a smidge streaky, but it looked good in two coats.

Willa is a perfect shiny black creme. Great coverage in two coats.

Imogen is a black PixieDust packed with silver glitter and larger holographic hexes. I'm wearing two coats of the PixieDusts alone in the first photos and with top coat in the second photos.

Nori is a vivid icy sapphire blue PixieDust. This is two coats.

Thea is a deep royal purple with holographic hexes and silver glitter. I'm wearing two coats.

I'm so glad that the PixieDusts for winter are completely opaque since the summer ones were so sheer, but my problem with these now is that they don't dry matte enough! For this reason, I much prefer them with a coat of top coat to make them shiny and glittery. Overall though, this collection is so fabulous! Any of these shades would be perfect on your nails for a holiday party!

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Zoya Summer 2014 PixieDust Swatches & Review

I've had these polishes for a while and kind of put off swatching them since I don't really like textured polishes that much. Unfortunately, these didn't change my mind. These three PixieDusts are no where near as good as some of the previous PixieDusts that Zoya has released.

Ginni is a light baby pink shade with lots of large glitter that dries to a semi-matte finish. This is three coats and it's still not opaque!

Bar is a sandy tan PixieDust shade. I'm not nuts about this as three coats on it's own, but I think it would look awesome layered over a dark green or red for the holidays.

Arlo is a raspberry jelly shade with lots of glitter. This is three coats.

I hate to say it, but these are pretty much all a fail to me. Bar would be fabulous as one coat layered over a jewel tone for the holidays, but the sheerness otherwise is just annoying. I know I can't be the only one who wants her polishes to be opaque! However, if you're digging them, you can purchase them from Zoya's website.

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Zoya Yuna and Sansa Swatches & Review

Good morning! Today I have my two must have shades from Zoya's Ignite collection from Fall 2014 to share with you and let me tell you, you guys are in for a treat! Zoya is one of the brands that hardly ever disappoints me and once again, they've released two stellar fall collections. I only got my hands on two of them thanks to a fabulous friend, but I'm confident that these are the best two, so enjoy!

Yuna is an incredible greenish gray shade packed with golden glitter. Seriously, I just can't even deal with how gorgeous this is. Of course, the formula is perfect and this is two coats.

Sansa is a gorgeous, deep royal plum/purple with golden shimmer. I'll admit that I wanted this one mainly for the name (hello, fellow Game of Thrones addicts! Please tell me I'm not the only one!), but the color is absolutely stunning. I got at least three comments on this from different people while I was wearing it, including older men! You know it's a stunner when old dudes comment on it. :P

So what do you think? Did I pick well? Check out the Ignite collection at www.zoya.com and tell me if you would have picked your top two differently!

Zoya Bubbly Collection Swatches/Review

See how behind I am? Haha! Oh well, better late than never, right? I finally have my swatches of the Zoya Bubbly collection from this summer to share with you. It's getting awfully cold around here and I don't know about you, but I could certainly use some cheery summer shades to keep my mind off of the impending winter. Let's get to it!

Jesy is my favorite color (duh, coral!) out of the collection, but it was also one of the most sheer so I will be layering it when I wear it again. I used two coats here.

Alma is an orangey gold jelly with golden flakes. This is two coats. Alma is the most sheer out of the collection.
 

Harper is a juicy bubble gum with iridescent glitter. This was one of the most opaque out of the collection; I'm wearing two coats.

 Binx is a dark pink/magenta shade within gold shimmer and iridescent glitter. This is two coats.

Muse is the second cousin twice removed to Zoya's mermaidy Charla. About the same shade, perhaps leaning a little more blue, but with tons of iridescent glitter which Charla lacks. This is two coats and as you can see, it has pretty good coverage for a jelly.

Staasi is a medium green with gorgeous iridescent glitter and shimmer. This is two coats. 

My top picks from this collection are definitely Jesy (for layering) and Muse (for wearing alone). These polishes can be purchased at www.zoya.com and retail for $9 each.

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Zoya Tickled Collection Swatches/Review

Happy Friday all! Anyone have any fun plans for Mother's Day weekend? I'm going camping with my family and I can't wait! Just hoping it doesn't rain... but today I have something to brighten your day! The Tickled collection from Zoya consists of six bright, dreamy cremes that you won't be able to resist!

Kitridge is a bright bubblegum pink creme. Formula was a little thick, but two coats got the job done. I don't typically like shades like this against my skintone, but I know there are a lot of you out there who will absolutely love this one!

Wendy is my favorite of the collection; it's a juicy melon shade that will be taking up permanent residence on my toes for the next month or so! This is two easy coats.

Rooney is a medium magenta that seems like it could be Zoya Reagan's brighter sister. This is two coats.

Rocha is a knockout red-orange creme! If you want to get noticed on the beach this summer, slap this shade on your nails! Two coats, great formula.

Tilda is a very unique shade of green and while it doesn't look the best with my skintone, I can't help but like it! I'm wearing two coats.

Ling is an incredibly vivid royal blue. Perfect in two coats.

This collection is incredible, I just love a good creme-based collection! All of these polishes are worth checking out, but my top picks are Wendy and Ling. These polishes can be purchased at www.zoya.com and retail for $9 each.

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Springtime Floral Gradient Stamping Nail Art

Good morning everyone! I finally had the desire to do some nail art recently and once I sat down to do it, I actually had a really hard time deciding on what exactly to do. It sure helps to have the book around to thumb through for inspiration! I decided on a neutral base with pink/purple gradient stamping and a floral pattern.

The base I chose is OPI My Vampire is Buff, one of my most favorite neutrals. I used Zoya Reagan, OPI Antibleak, and OPI Miss You-niverse to create a stamping gradient by painting a line of each shade and dragging the scraper across the stamping plate in the same direction as I painted the lines. I'm usually not into flowers and floral patterns but I really love this! How do you feel about florals? Fun or granny-style?

Zoya Awaken Collection & Monet Swatches/Review

Good morning and happy Monday everyone! ;) I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. I'm in a much better mood now that it's starting to actually feel like spring! I have another beautiful spring collection to share today, this time it's the Awaken collection from Zoya. This collection consists of six polishes and one glitter topper. Unfortunately, my bottle of Brooklyn faced a violent death in transit (you'll see remnants of her golden goodness on the bottles in these swatches), so that one will be missing from my review.

Hudson is a deep lavender shade with silver shimmer. The shimmers in this collection are to die for! Two easy coats, formula is great.

Cole is a beautiful peachy orange shade. The formula here was a little testy... I used two coats, but the first was a little streaky. I'd recommend three thinner coats for this one.

Rebel is an absolutely dreamy sky blue shimmer. Perfect coverage in two coats. This is one of my favorites!

Dot is a pale candy pink color. It shares the same formula as Cole; this is two patient coats. I really, really love this color, so I'm absolutely willing to look over the slight formula issues.

Monet has a bunch of multi-colored cellophane glitters in a clear base. This is two coats over Dot. I didn't have any trouble getting the glitter out of the bottle here and I love how whimsical it looks layered over the light pink.

Dillon is a fabulous shimmery mint green. It reminds me of mermaids! The silver shimmer is perfection and it was easy to apply in two coats.

The Awaken collection and Monet glitter topper are available for purchase now on Zoya's website for $9 each and are absolutely worth picking up. I would at least recommend purchasing Dillon for a fun spring shade or Dot for a manicure staple, but I really don't think you could go wrong with any of these shades!

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Zoya Magical Pixie PixieDust Spring 2014 Collection Swatches/Review

Hey everybody! Happy First Day of Spring! I know I've been gone for a long time and I won't bore you with the details, but I've been really busy lately and blogging has had to sit on the back burner for a while. I've been missing it, so I'm getting back into the swing of things and trying to set aside some time each week for swatching and writing. :) Today I have swatches of the new Zoya PixieDust collection for you!

Cosmo is a chunky silver texture with glitter of all sizes. This is two coats with no top coat.

Vega is a beautiful crystal blue polish with tons of sparkle. I love that Zoya added chunky glitters to their PixieDust polishes. It adds such dimension! This is two coats.

Lux is a gorgeous pale pink. I'm wearing two coats, but I could have used a third or done the second coat thicker.

The PixieDusts retail for $10/bottle and can be purchased from www.zoya.com. If you are a fan of the original PixieDusts, you're going to love these! They're absolutely stunning.

The product in this post was provided for my honest review.