Zoya London

So I have an obsession with gray polish.  I also have recently fallen in love with textured polishes.  I didn't think that I would like them since rough glitter usually drives me insane unless I can tame it with a good top coat.  I have to say when Zoya released the PixieDust Collection I was intrigued and the swatches looked amazing.  I waited for a good promotion before I finally broke down and bought a few.  My only complaint is that I waited so long to buy them.  London is the first one I used, and I love everything about it.

London and the entire line of PixieDusts are available at Zoya.com and select Salons & beauty retailers such as Ulta.  They retail for $9.

 

Zoya describes London as a fog gray with a sugared sparkle, in the exclusive Zoya PixieDust Matte Sparkle formula.  That description is pretty spot on.  This is 3 coats.  The first coat is pretty sheer but it builds nicely and keeps the matte texture.  It feels like sand on the nail, but it doesn't snag.

China Glaze Jungle Queen

I haven't posted in a long time.  This manicure is from a while ago, and the pictures have been sitting on my computer.  Please forgive the ragged cuticles and terrible cleanup.  Life has been crazy for the last few months between work and afterschool activities for my boys.  My nails and cuticles have also been a mess for the last few months so I haven't been posting.  Between my chaotic life and weak nails blogging has taken a back seat.  I'm hoping to get back into it now that things have gotten back into a routine and my nails are finally healthy again.

Today I've got China Glaze Jungle Queen.  It is from the Fall On Safari collection.  They came out summer of 2012.  I only picked up a few colors from this collection.

Let me start out by saying that I love the color on this one, but application was a mess.  My bottle was really thin and it flooded the cuticles no matter how much I wiped of the brush.  I might let the bottle sit open for a while and let it thicken up a bit.  I ended up getting decent coverage after 2 coats. 

This color is a dusty gray purple with a pink shimmer.  The shimmer was really hard to pick up on the nail with the camera, but you can see it in the bottle shot.

Dr. Scholl's® For Her Ball of Foot

I love my heels, but sometimes they kill my feet after an hour because I don't wear them everyday.  I am a bridesmaid in November and I have a pair of shoes that are comfortable, but after wearing them all day I'm sure my feet are going to hurt.  Enter Dr. Scholl's® For Her Ball of Foot inserts.  I received a pair in my Something Blue VoxBox from Influenster.  I've tried other Dr. Scholl's products so it's a brand I trust.  I've also tried other ball of foot inserts, but I haven't found any that really worked so I was really happy to see these in the box.

I have pair of heels that I love, but they really hurt my feet after an hour or 2.  I tried out the ball of foot inserts on my 10 year anniversary last weekend.  These are a lifesaver.  My feet didn't hurt at all.  We did some standing and walking that normally would have had me in bare feet in these shoes.  These inserts really did the trick.  I really love that you can transfer them to another pair of shoes but I can see myself buying a pair for every pair of heels I own.

 

I am going to recommend these to the bridal party and the bride for the wedding that I'm in.  I love that they are clear and they didn't damage my shoe.  The other inserts I've tried had double stick tape and you couldn't adjust them once they were in the shoe.  Others that I tried slide around or change the fit of your shoe.  These stuck to the shoe perfectly and didn't slide at all, but you could move them if you needed to make and adjustment to get them under your foot to get the perfect comfort.  My shoe still fit perfectly and I didn't even notice they were there.

 

Bottom line if you love heels, you need these inserts.  I'll be picking up a few pair to add to my work shoes and my fun shoes so I can finally wear some of the heels that I love that are painful to wear. 

Q-tips® Precision Tips™

I received two sample packs of Precicsion Q-tips in my Something Blue Voxbox from Influenster. 

I love these Q-tips.  I use them all the time for cleaning up my manicures.  I change my polish several times a week so I get a ton of use out of these.  They also came in travel sized boxes so I can take them everywhere.  I love that!  They are perfect for cleaning up around the cuticle area if you happen to make a mess while polishing.  I recommend using pure acetone for cleanup and cleaning up after each coat of polish. 

The precision Q-tips are also perfect for cleaning stamping plates.  Here is a picture of some nail art I
did using a stamping plate.  The starbursts were really hard to clean with a cotton ball, so I pulled out my precision Q-tips and they really were able to clean up the plate so I could continue stamping and get clean lines.  I cleaned up my manicure with the Precision Q-Tips as I went.

 

 

When I'm getting ready for a special night out and I wear more make up than usual, I keep my box of Precision Q-tips within arms reach.  I know I'll need them for several types of makeup.

Other uses for Precision Q-tips are cleaning up mascara mistakes, which is something I use them for as well.  They do a great job getting under the lash without smudging your mascara.  They are perfect with the pointy tip for grabbing any clumps or separating lashes that may have stuck together during application.. 

You can also use them as an eyeshadow applicator, they are perfect for the crease, while you can use these or regular Q-tips for the rest of the lid.  I can never find my eyeshadow brushes, but I've always got Q-tips handy.

I also like to use the Precision Q-tips to apply concealer where I need it.  I have dark circles under my eyes and the occasional blemish that I want to hide.  The concealer applicator doesn't always apply concealer that well and this way you don't have to worry about putting a dirty applicator back in the tube, you get a clean one each time you use the concealer.  These are perfect for application and blending concealer where you need it.

Zoya Kelly

In honor of my brother getting married this coming November, I wore Zoya's Kelly to go bridesmaid's dress shopping this past weekend.  The colors for the wedding are dark gray and yellow.  Kelly matches the dresses we got perfectly.

Zoya describes Kelly as a rich gray shade with soft purple and blue undertones. An easy to wear alternative to black and a perfect NEW neutral.

Kelly had perfect application.  Super shiny and smooth with 2 coats.  In the pictures Kelly looks blue, but she is really more of a dark charcoal gray with dusty blue and purple undertones.  I love gray polish and this is a softer alternative to black.

 

I purchased Kelly from Zoya.com during their New Year's Promotion.  I paid $10 for 3 Zoyas of my choice.  Keep an eye out an Earth Day promotion.  Kelly has been on my wishlist ever since I saw it posted on the Polished Cousin's blog a while back.  It is a very sophisticated shade that would go well with a power suit or as underwear for an awesome glitter or nail art. 

Zoya retails for $8 at their website, select e-tailers, and Ulta.  Kelly is from the 2010 Fall Wonderful Collection so it may not be available everywhere, but it is available through Zoya directly.

 

 

 

Zoya Jem

Today I have Zoya's Jem for your viewing pleasure.  I love Zoya and if I had to pick my favorite of the ones I have I think I would have to say it's Jem. 

Zoya describes Jem as: A dark red-toned purple base with metallic dark pink highlights and subtle gold duochrome flecks. This shade has it all; bold color, vampy drama, bright sparkle and a glam rock persona.

I will definitely say Jem is a vampy purple.  It was hard to capture the true color on camera.  Jem is more red on the nail and appears more purple in the photos.  The gold flecks are more visible in the bottle, while the red flecks are more apparent on the nail.  While you don't see the gold specifically on the nail unless the light hits it just right, but you can tell it's there. The red and gold give the polish a certain sultry depth that I love.

Like all of my Zoya's the formula was great.  Opaque in two smooth coats.  The only thing, and you can see it in the pictures is that foils, no matter the brand, tend to show every flaw in your nail.  It is more apparent in the photos since they are close up, but not so noticeable in real life.  The dark color of Jem helps hide any blemishes, a lighter color wouldn't be so forgiving.

 

Zoya retails for $8 a bottle at Zoya.com, in most Ulta stores, and select online retailers. 

This product was purchased by me and the opinions are my own.

Happy Valentine's Day (a few days late)

This was my Valentine's Day manicure.  I know its a few days late, but I wanted to post it anyway.

 

This is 2 coats of OPI's Animal-istic with several coats of Revlon's Hearts of Gold FX. 

 

 

Animal-istic had no application issues and is a fun red from the Muppets collection.  I liked it so much I did my fingers and toes with it.

 

 

Hearts of Gold was a bit difficult to work with.  I got it for 40% off at Rite-aid so it wasn't a total bust.  It is a thick clear jelly with small gold fleck glitter which I like, that part was OK.  The hard part was the hearts.  You rarely get one on the brush and when you do they require manipulation to get them where you want.  The base polish builds up while you are doing this making it build up a bit too much.  Fortunately its clear so you can't tell but it does make dry time longer.

 

I did like the holo hearts and the gold together.  I didn't care for the final outcome, but it was perfect for the holiday.  I wasn't crazy about it over the red and I think I put too many hearts on each finger.  I think it would look better over a more neutral color or a nude.  I'm a less is more kind of girl so I'm not giving up on this one yet.

 

 

Amy's Nail Boutique Chesapeake

I've been slacking on the posting.  I've been taking the pictures and doing the painting but life has been crazy as of late.  I had the day off today so was able to catch up on some of my posts for the last 2 weeks and get back on track. 

Amy's Nail Boutique is one of my favorite indie polish makers.  I picked up Chesapeake during a sale she had on her winter polishes.  It is a unique color and reminds me of being out on the ocean.  It has different sized turquoise glitter as well as green and baby blue glitters.  It is pretty sheer, so I layered 2 coats of Chesapeake over 2 coats of NYC Cashmere Crème which is a pale baby blue.

As always, Amy's polish had no issues with application.  This polish isn't as glitter packed as the others I have from her so it took some work to get the larger glitters out, but it wasn't unreasonable.

 

I still think she has this available in her shop, as well as a bunch of new creations.  Amy has ventured in to holo's and she's got amazing glitters.  Check out her shop or her facebook page for updates.

 





Liquid Lacquer Polar Burrr!

I recently won a giveaway from the lovely Stephanie from A Little Polish.  The prize was pretty awesome.  It was a custom Liquid Lacquer polish and a bunch of other goodies.  I love Liquid Lacquer so I was really excited to get this in the mail.  I immediately stripped off the mani I was wearing and put this on.  It is packed with glitter as you can see from the bottle shot.  There's blue, silver, black, and purple in an off-white crelly base.  I love it because its like a jelly sandwich but you only need 1 polish.

 

 



Application was great.  I did 3 coats to get the glitter the way I wanted it.  Each brush was packed with glitter and minor manipulation was all that was needed. I didn't have to fish for pieces.

I used a coat of Seche Vite to smooth things out and that was all that was needed.

 

This was a custom made for the giveaway so I'm really honored to have it.  Be sure to check out A Little Polish and Liquid Lacquer on Facebook

Happy Birthday to Me with Color Club Eternal Beauty and Blue Heaven

So my birthday was a few weeks ago and my husband asked me what I wanted.  I had been eyeing the Color Club Halo Hues for weeks since the 2012 collection came out back in October.  The 2013 collection had been release early to select retailers online people have be able to grab them in January and February while supplies were available.  I told him I wanted some of them for my birthday.  Well being the awesome guy that he is, he got me both sets instead of just the few that I wanted.  Needless to say I was a very happy girl when the box came and I was allowed to open it early since he was out of town.

 

These are my first Color Club polishes and they didn't disappoint.  They are also my first linear holographic polishes.  My only complaint is that I couldn't decide which one to wear first.  Since my birthstone is amethyst I decided to go with Eternal Beauty first.  Eternal Beauty is a beautiful purple linear holographic. 

Later in the week and on my actual birthday I wore Blue Heaven.  Blue is my favorite color in general.  Blue Heaven is a pale blue holographic that heavily leans towards silver. 

Application of both was perfect. Blue heaven did show some of the blemishes on my nails at certain angles, but it was more apparent on camera than on the nail.

 

 

 

 

The official 2013 Halo Hues will be released soon.  The 2012 Collection was available at select brick and mortar stores as well as various online retailers.  I didn't have any luck locally.

 

I haven't tried them all yet but here are the 2012 Halo Hues on a swatch wheel.  Halo-Graphic is a pale pink, while Cloud Nine is pale lavender and you can see from the wheel they are close in color.  Cloud nine is definitely purple, but they are close. Harp on It is silver and Blue Heave is blue, but they are really close as well because of all the silver in Blue Heaven.  Cherubic is tan and Angel Kiss is an aqua green.

These are the 2013 Halo Hues and they are a totally different color scheme from the original collection which was all pale.  The holographic is equally as amazing.  Kismet is an odd green shade, chartreuse maybe.  Cosmic Fate is a coral orange color and Beyond is a black holo.  Over the Moon is a mermaid blue and Miss Bliss is a deep pink.  Eternal Beauty you've seen above.

 

 

Butter London Trustafarian

This week was holo week, and to finish out it out I went with Butter London's Trustafarian.  It is a subtle scattered holo, but its there.  I had a really hard time capturing the holo in the photos.

Trustafarian is a sage green polish with golden holographic shimmer, which is unusual.  Most of holos I have go with silver vice gold.  Gold and green go well together so this was a perfect combo.  I love green polish.  My favorite color is blue, but purple and green dominate my polish collection.

 

 

Application was perfect.  The formula was excellent.  I had almost no cleanup.  The cap on the Butter London's is small so it takes some getting used to, but the brush is great.  What you see here is two coats with a quick dry top coat.  I got great wear out of this polish as well, I wore it for 4 days before it chipped and I was doing some serious house cleaning when it happened.  Anything that wears for 2 days or more is good in my book.

 

I purchased this polish with my own money and the opinions are my own.

Milani HD

Despite the fact that the sun hasn't been shining and the weather has gone from belown zero, to warm, to raining, to below zero and snowing all in a matter of days I felt rainbow polish was in order.  Milani HD is a silver scattered holographic polish.  It is one of the 3D holographics.  I picked up all six at CVS.

I have to say I'm very impressed with these polishes!  They apply like butter and dry extremely fast.  There is no grit to the polish at all despite all the sparkle.  HD required 3 coats for the opacity achieved in the photos here.  There is still a little visible nail but it is barely there.  Normally that would bother me, but it was hardly noticeable.    You could always wear it over silver or grey to eliminate that problem.  I might try that next.

I really like the Milani brushes too.  There was little to no clean up needed with HD.  The holographic in HD was amazing.  It was scattered, but you could catch a linear rainbow when the light hits the nails just right.  I would recommend these while they are still available.  CVS recently had them on clearance for less than $2 a bottle, but I'm not sure if the winter beauty clearance is still going on.

 

I purchased this with my own money and the opinions are my own.

 

 

Picture Polish Goddess

Today I am bringing you a foreign brand of polish. Picture Polish is a brand from Australia.  I won Goddess in a giveaway a while back from Llarowe, which is a specialty online shop which carries Picture Polish as well as other foreign and specialty brands.  I have several picture pOlish polishes on my wishlist, and hope to add more to my collection.

I am trying to go through my untrieds and this one has been sitting on my shelf for a while.  Goddess is a really pretty copper color.  It is the color of a shiny new penny.  I wasn't so sure about this color or formula at first.  The first coat was a streaky mess so I was not happy.  The formula was a bit thin, but not unmanageable.  Thinking that sometimes frosty polish evens out with a second coat I kept going.  I am happy to report that coat #2 was much better.  There were hardly any brush strokes and everything leveled and evened out nicely.  What you see in the pictures is 3 coats, but 2 would be enough.  I was trying to cover some nail blemishes, the unfortunate thing about frost polishes is that they show every uneven spot on your nails, creams are a little more forgiving.

 

 I think this is a great neutral color and would be great in the fall as well.

This polish was provided to me via a promotional giveaway, the opinions are my own.