my life in instagram photos

Zoya Avril / Essie Licorice

China Glaze High Hopes / Essie Licorice / Orly Gumdrop

Chocolate macarons filled with peanut butter ganache

China Glaze Gothic Lolita

OPI Overexposed in South Beach

OPI Pedal Faster Suzi / OPI I Don't Give a Rotterdam

OPI Big Apple Red / Essie Licorice

China Glaze Bare if you Dare

Essie Wicked

Chocolate macarons filled with a Chambord strawberry buttercream

China Glaze FYI

If you want to follow me on Instagram, my username is claralhotak. Thanks for looking :)

more freehanded nail art: one of my favorites

I hope everyone is having a great October! I love fall. Well, technically, it's still summer here. California's idea of October: 80 degrees F.

I've been in love with baking lately. Cakes, pies, cookies... but my favorite to make so far has been French macarons! I'd be happy to post some pics and recipes if anyone would like that! :)

This mani was done maybe a month ago. It took a while, but I LOVED it. I'm glad I took the time to freehand the stripes rather than just Konad them. I know, I know, stop talking and get to the pictures!





I used:
Zoya Lolly
Milani Nail Art in Black Sketch

Thanks for looking! I hope everyone is well- I've missed you guys!

huge pink/purple polish swatchfest

Hey everyone! As we all know I haven't been quite up to par with posting NOTDs and such. Hopefully this gigantic picture-loaded post makes up for it!

Christian is coming next week. We're going on a week long camping trip, just him and I- it's our first vacation together. Hooray!


OPI It's My Year, 3 coats

OPI Be A Dahlia Won't You, 3 coats

topped with OPI I Lily Love You, 1 coat


Color Club Disco Dress, 3 coats (neon)

OPI The One That Got Away

China Glaze Rich & Famous, 2 coats

with Zoya Sooki + nail art pedicure

topped with OPI Red Shatter

OPI Planks A Lot, 2 coats

topped with LaRosa Deep Black Crackle


...can you guys tell I'm an OPI girl? Haha.

Have a great week! Happy Monday!

notd spam

Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Americans!

Who's excited that True Blood is back?! I know I am!! This season is going to be crazy... Eric and Sookie... mmmmm...
To represent my excitement, I chose one of my sexiest nail polishes to wear...


Zoya Sooki
Now, the name is purely coincidence.... just kidding! Of course I bought it for the name. And after seeing how sexy it looked on me, plus an amazing buttery one-coat formula sent this one straight to the Top 20!

OPI Teenage Dream topped with Black Shatter

China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway topped with Pure Ice Heart Breaker

OPI Dulce de Leche


Lippmann Across the Universe
Sorry for the craptastic pics -_- absolutely does not do this polish justice...


If you don't already, follow me on Twitter! I promise I'm more exciting on there.
My Twitter!

Thanks for looking!

notd, etc extravaganza

Let's start off this post with a drool-worthy polish, shall we?


Optic Lusion Swing TimeGorrrrrrgeous... perfect formula, 2 coats.


OPI Sparkle-iciousSorry I couldn't get better pictures, it was a rainy day :( These pics don't do this polish any justice! It's so pretty.. reminds me of Mad as a Hatter, but this polish only has 3 colors in it while MAAH has a shit ton. This was 3 coats.

OPI Glow Up Already! over China Glaze Zombie ZestI absolutely loved this combo! Even my mom liked it, and that's saying a lot. She's more into 'normal' colors. 3 coats ZZ, 1 coat GuA.

*flower intermission*


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Zoya LaelA pretty fall color! Nothing too note worthy. This was... ah... I want to say 2 coats but I forgot :( The formula wasn't too good. As you can see, there was a lot of cuticle drag.

*kitty intermission*


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Essie Sew PsychedI imagined I'd like this a lot more than I actually did. Maybe I was just in a sour mood, because I really like how it looks in the picture. Two coats. I'm starting to like Essie's brush :) Their fall collection really wowed me! Limited Addiction must be my favorite red of all time... it's so sexy.

I started with a bang, so I'll end with a bang!

OPI Tease-y Does ItI was SO excited for this one, and it lived up to my expectations! Just LOOK at it! Someone on the NB said it's like OPI Black Cherry Chutney on steroids. That's a pretty good description. Such a gorgeous color, great formula, and a 2 coater. Doesn't get much better than this.

Thanks for looking! Enjoy your weekend :)