Zoya Phoebe + China Glaze Flying Dragon Mani

Hi everyone!

Today I've created a fun and bright french mani using two great matte colors.

I've had Zoya Phoebe on all weekend! It's a bright neon blue that is stunning. It's only downfall is the chipping, but I've found this to be the case with all mattes.

Today I decided to add China Glaze Flying Dragon and make a french mani! Flying Dragon is a neon purple with blue and purple glitter. I saw that the blue glitter matched Phoebe perfectly!

Check it out here:

What do you think of this combo? Are you a fan of mattes?

Carolyn xo

Free Download: Chiddy Bang's new album!

Happy Memorial Day everyone! Hope you're having a great weekend and day off!

Today I have an amazing free download for you, Chiddy Bang's newest album, Peanut Butter and Swelly.

If your're unfamiliar with Chiddy Bang, they are a group from PA that write awesome rap lyrics over some familiar and great songs.

Perfect for laying out by the pool today or just hanging out with friends!

Enjoy!

Free download via illroots.com
Click HERE for download

Carolyn xo

My Take On: Zoya Audrina + OPI Black Shatter

When I got Zoya Audrina in the mail, I couldn't remember why I bought it...it seemed like the rest of my pinks/purples. But when I put it on, WOW! It is such a great color. More fun than your average pink polish, but not crazy enough that you couldn't wear it to work. 

I decided to spice it up with OPI Black Shatter and I just love this combo! The pictures don't quite capture the purple in Audrina the way I like, but oh well...

Do you like Audrina? Are you a fan of shatters?

Carolyn xo

Congrats to...

Madeline at Girl Germs! Check out her blog here: http://grrrlgermsnoreturns.blogspot.com/

Thanks everyone who entered my giveaway!

Madeline will be receiving the OPI Texas mini set, OPI Pirates mini set and three great summer colors from OPI, CND and China Glaze!

Hopefully there will be many more giveaways in the future :)

Carolyn xo

Ellie Goulding-Lights (The Remixes)

Hi everyone! 

Special hello and thanks to my new followers and readers! 

I wanted to point out a brand new EP just out, from one of my favorite artists, Ellie Goulding!

You may have heard her name recently, because she performed at the Royal Wedding reception! Above is one of my favorites, Lights. Somehow, Ellie attracts heavy dubstep remixers and more often then not, the remixes are just as popular as the original! 

Now, Ellie has made some of her most well-known remixes to the hit Lights available on an EP. 

Take a listen to the songs below and the album is available on iTunes for $3.99. 

  Ellie Goulding Lights (Bassnectar Remix) by Bassnectar

  Lights - MK Charlee Dub by Interscope Records

  Lights - Max Gordon Remix by Interscope Records

  Ellie Goulding - Lights (Shook Remix) by Shook (Official)

Are you a fan of Ellie? Will you be checking out these remixes?

Carolyn xo

100 Twitter Follower Giveaway!!!

Hello again! I apologize for the absence, but my family was in town for my graduation from college! It was a crazy jam packed weekend but was so fun!

As promised, I have a giveaway for getting 100 followers on twitter! Thanks to everyone who has been reading, following and commenting on the blog! I really appreciate it and I'm always open to suggestions to improve!

Hopefully you all like my first giveaway, gotta start small to work my way up!

Here are the details:

The winner will get the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean mini set, the OPI Texas mini set and three of my favorite summer colors, China Glaze Neon Turned Up Turquoise, CND Raspberry Parfait, and OPI Y'all Come Back Ya Hear?

 Neon Turned Up Turquoise, Raspberry Parfait and Y'all Come Back Ya Hear?

Austin-tatious Turquoise, I Vant to Be A-Lone Star, Do You Think I'm Tex-y, and Top Coat

Skull & Glossbones, Planks a Lot, Sparrow Me the Drama and Stranger Tides

How to Enter:

Leave a comment on this post with your name and email address. You MUST be following Notes and Nails on Google Friend Connect in order to win! To follow on GFC just click "follow" on the right side of the page. I will choose at random. The giveaway will be open until Wednesday 5/25 at 12AM Central Time.

This giveaway is available internationally!

Good luck to everyone and remember to pass the giveaway onto your friends!

Carolyn xo

Graduation Water Marbling!

Hi everyone!

Hard to believe but I'm graduating from college this weekend! I knew I had to do something special, and I got the suggestion to use Chanel Mimosa from fellow blogger Miss Ladyfinger and I had a great idea!

I'll be graduating from the University of Kansas, and our colors are crimson and blue! However, a majority of the time, there is a bright yellow!

I thought it would only be appropriate to do a KU-themed mani! And then I thought...water marbling! 

I'm fairly new at water marbling, so go easy on me! This is only my second time!

I used Essie Red Noveau, Chanel Mimosa and Butter London Blagger

I'm pleased with how it turned out (considering I did it at 2 in the morning after studying for a final!), and I LOVE water marbling! It's so fun to play around with and I love that every nail is so different. 

Have you done water marbling before?

Carolyn xo (soon to be college graduate!)

P.S. Posts may be lacking in the next few days because of parents in town, graduation etc. 

This is what I'll be doing this weekend! 

My Take On: Zoya Gloria

As part of the Zoya Earth Day exchange, I received Gloria, a beautiful dark pink with a lot of glitter power.

I was surprised how dark the color was, and could have sufficed with just two coats.

Here is Gloria with three coats and Essie Good to Go:

The next two photos don't really do the color justice, but these are the best I've got today, been studying all day! 

Overall, application was perfect, color is gorgeous both inside and in the sun, and the glitter adds that bit of POW I love! 

What do you think of Gloria? Have you tried this color?

Carolyn xo

P.S. Today I hit 100 followers on twitter and I must say thank you thank you thank you! I've only been at this for around a month and am so thrilled to feel so welcomed by the nail blogger community. And special shout out to Sammy at The Sammersaurus for being my 100th follower! A giveaway is soon to come! :)

More Lady Gaga: Fashion of Love

Newest single...reviews say it sounds like "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and I agree, but I love both songs so I don't care :)

New Song from Bon Iver

Good afternoon everyone!

I'm stuck inside studying for my last finals ever, so I thought I'd share a great study tune!

Fun fact: The name Bon Iver is a play on "Bon Hiver" which in French means good winter.

Some of my favorite Bon Iver songs include Rosyln (which yes, was on the New Moon soundtrack), Woods (an auto-tune masterpiece), and most recently, Birdy did a cover of Skinny Love that was featured on The Vampire Diaries that I just LOVE!

They just released Calgary, a relaxing and soothing song that is perfect for studying, or just chilling out.

Check out Calgary here:

  Bon Iver - Calgary by indieistanbul

and a wonderful remix of it here:

  Bon Iver - Calgary (Cillo Remix) by Cillo

And for your listening pleasure...

Roslyn:
  Bon Iver And St. Vincent - Roslyn by ieatcatlitter

and Woods:
  Bon Iver - Woods by greentea

What do you think of Calgary? Are you a fan of Bon Iver?

Carolyn xo

No Diggity

Found this gem of a cover and have been listening on repeat! 

Check out Chet Faker's cover of Blackstreet's No Diggity right here: 

  Chet Faker's "No Diggity" (Will Hewett Guitaremix) by willhewett

Love it!

Carolyn xo

Chanel Mimosa + Zoya Jules French Mani

So yesterday I had Chanel Mimosa on and was loving it. Of all of the new Zoya color's I've just received I was the most intrigued by Jules. In the bottle it looks like a champagne glitter, and I expected it to be sheer, but it only took two coats to look perfect. It's more of a bronze/gold than I expected!

I used Zoya Jules to create a french mani on top of my Chanel Mimosa. I covered my entire pinky with Jules for a twist.

What do you think of this combo? Would you try a combo like this? 

Carolyn xo

P.S. We are so close to 100 followers on twitter, help notes and nails get there!

My Take On: Chanel Mimosa

Hello there! I apologize for the delay in posting this, but if you follow me on twitter you'll know that I'm graduating from college next week! It's very bittersweet but exciting!

Anyways! I received Chanel Mimosa this week and was dying to try it! Although my boyfriend made fun of me for spending so much $$ I couldn't help it!

Mimosa is a gorgeous yellow with a gold shimmer. I really only needed two coats but added a third.

This color is perfect for summer, and I've been getting compliments on it!

And it could not have been more ironic, but this morning I drank a mimosa! I didn't even notice until a friend posted the picture on facebook and said "your nails match the mimosas" and I laughed out loud! 

What do you think of Mimosa? Would you try this color?

Carolyn xo

My Take On: Zoya Savita

I finally received my Zoya Earth Day Exchange package yesterday and I was so excited to try them out!

I decided to try Savita first, a matte purple with some subtle shimmer.

Application was a dream, and like other matte colors- it dries very quickly. These photos are with two coats.

The only flaw I found with this polish, was how easily it chipped! After just a few hours every nail had a small chip in it.

Overall, I love this color and polish! 

What do you think of Savita? What are your thoughts on matte polishes?

Carolyn xo

Spotlight On: The Downplayer

Hello there!

Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days, I was just really unsatisfied with how my nails turned out. On top of that, I'm graduating from college next week (GAH!) and so life has been a bit nuts.

I wanted to take a few minutes and give a shoutout to one of my all time favorite music sites, the downplayer!

The Downplayer posts 10 songs each day during the week available for FREE downloads! That's right, FREE!

And the songs aren't old tunes that you already have...they are up and coming remixes, covers and new songs! You can stream the songs through the sight, or download them directly.

I literally visit this site every day and download the tunes I like. Even the artists I've never heard of are always amazing.

Check it out, and you can follow them on twitter @downplayer

Enjoy!
Carolyn xo

New Lady Gaga Leak- Edge of Glory

Lady G is just putting out these tracks like nobody's business! Her full album debuts on May 23rd, but tracks are dropping about every week!

Check out the latest song, Edge of Glory. It has an 80's vibe but it still true to Lady Gaga.



What do you think of the new song?

Carolyn xo

Music Video Monday

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a great weekend and a great Mother's Day!

Two new videos have debuted today and I wanted to share!

First is Taylor Swift's video for "Mean." Great stories and Tswift looks as gorgeous as always.



Next, The Lonely Island have debuted a hilarious new song called "Jack Sparrow."

The Lonely Island is best known for their song "I Just Had Sex" ft. Akon, and numerous others like "D**k in a Box" with Justin Timberlake. Their latest includes a surprise guest, Michael Bolton!

Hilarious and catchy, you'll enjoy this video and want to share it!



What do you think of the videos?

Carolyn xo

Mother's Day Polka Dots!

Today after a failed attempt at water marbling and getting slightly frustrated...I just did a simple polka dot manicure!

I used OPI Do you Lilac It? and dotted with Butter London No More Waity, Katie. I dissed Waity, Katie at first but I thought it would make a perfect accent to the lilac shade with its' lilac sparkle!

This was my first attempt at polka dots and I used a bent bobby pin to make the dots. I'm sure my skills will improve over time but I felt pretty good about my first shot at it.

Have you done a polka dot manicure before?

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there! Hope you had a great day!

Carolyn xo

My Take On: Deborah Lippmann Girls Just Want To Have Fun

Good Afternoon friends!

I received Deborah Lippmann Girls Just Want to Have Fun a few days ago and was so excited to try it!

Application was perfect, and reminded me a bit of the "sorbet" description of my OPI Texas colors.

I used three coats and Essie Good To Go. I was surprised how in some lights it looks very red-orange, and I thought it might be a dupe for OPI Big Hair, Big Nails...but then when I'm indoors it looks like a bright orange-coral.

I do love it and have been getting so many compliments on it!

I recommend it for sure! What do you think? What are some of your favorite Deborah Lippmann colors?

Lady Gaga Judas Music Video Leaked!

I figured I wouldn't have to wait until 7pm to watch the premiere of Lady Gaga's video for Judas! It leaked about an hour ago, and it appears it is now on youtube (surprised it hasn't been taken down yet!)

Check it out! What do you think?

Teaser for Beyonce's Who Run The World (Girls) Music Video

Check out this fierce teaser for Beyonce's newest video. Looks hot!




What do you think of the video?
Carolyn xo

Old School....Hard Candy Drop Out

Major throwback for me...

A good friend of me gave me her Hard Candy Drop Out more than five years ago. I love it but have not used it in about four years because I simply couldn't get the bottle open (embarrassing, I know!)

Finally last night I decided to take a crack at it and success! Bottle open!

This definitely could have used some thinner as it was quite chunky at first but it smoothed out.

Drop Out is a light purple with gold flecks. Just as gorgeous as I remember it!

Here are some shots I took:

In sunlight:

Inside:

What do you think of Drop Out? Do you have any super old polishes you just love?

Carolyn xo