Monday, December 31, 2012

Zoya Lovely Collection Swatches/Review

It's that time of year, time for Zoya's Spring collection! This year, Zoya compiled six gorgeous pastel shades. Of these six, three are shimmery metallic shades and three are creamy. All but Blu are re-releases of colors from this year's Fashion Week trios. Lets get started!

Julie is a gorgeous light purple/lavender shade packed with silver shimmer that gives it an almost metallic look. I used two coats here with no formula issues.


Piaf (which I always read as "pilaf" hahaha) is the same finish as Julie, but a really unique mustard yellow shade. I can't say that I'm overly fond of it, but it's a really nice departure from the typical light spring yellow. Two coats here as well with no issues.

GeiGei is a lovely bubblegum pink and the last of the shimmer metallics. Again, gorgeous color and zero application problems with two coats.


Jacqueline is a dreamy, creamy off-white shade that kind of reminds me of the color of eggnog. These cremes were a little thicker than the shimmers, but I still found that two coats were sufficient. You might want to consider thinning them though depending on how you like the consistency of your polish.


Neely oh, these last two I just can't even find the words to describe how much I love them. This slightly faded mint green is absolutely to die for. Two easy coats.


Blu is absolutely stunning. I've been in love with Kristen from the Feel collection since it came out and Blu is the perfect spring/summer counterpart. Dare I say that it might also be the perfect wedding mani color?? I predict a lot of brides wearing this as a wedding pedi! Again, two easy coats here as well.


The Lovely collection is available for pre-order now and will begin shipping tomorrow, January 1st. Each polish retails for $8 and is available on www.zoya.com. Do you see any must haves here?

Products provided for review

Friday, December 28, 2012

Shimmer Polish Swatches/Review: Part Three (& Super Exciting Announcement!)

Hello everybody! I have the last part of my Shimmer swatches to show you today, but first I have some really exciting personal news: I'm engaged!! Joe asked on Christmas Eve and it couldn't have been any more perfect. I included some ring photos in case anyone is interested! ;P

Okay so back to your regularly scheduled programming... Alessandra is a gorgeous red glitter mix which I layered over Zoya Rekha.


Taylor is a cosmic looking mixture of teal, green, pink, and blue glitter. I layered it here over a regular plain black polish.


Erica is a combination of gold and green glitter, very very lovely. It's layered here over Zoya Evvie. 


Brooklyn is a light blue/aqua and gold mix layered here over China Glaze Hanging in the Balance.


Tammy is a magenta pink glitter mix. I layered it over Sephora by OPI Just a Little Dangerous.


Vicki is a pretty pale pink glitter mix. It has a very slightly tinted pink base, as you can see since I layered it over white.


You can purchase Shimmer shades through Etsy. You can also give them a like on Facebook to stay updated on all the Shimmer polish news or follow the Shimmer blog. I hope you enjoyed the Shimmer spam! Which ones do you want?

Products provided for review

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Shimmer Polish Swatches/Review: Part Two

Hello again! If you celebrated Christmas yesterday, how was it? Is anyone going shopping today? I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday! :) My gift to you is more Shimmer swatches today! :P

Nichole is a mix of red and blue glitter. I layered this one over white because it reminded me of a Fourth of July shade!


 Kelly is a mix of green with larger gold glitter pieces. This is one coat over China Glaze Jolly Holly.


Cristina is a gorgeous teal green mix with some random colors thrown in. I layered one coat over Rescue Beauty Coral. LOVE this combo!


Mary is a beautiful mixture of black, red, silver, and purple glitter. I love this layered over Zoya Anja.


Julia is kind of similar to Strength from my first swatch post, but chunkier and with no hearts. This is one coat over Cult Nails Time Traveler.


Elsa is a really pretty random mix of glitter. I see mostly a magenta/red, blue, and gold. I layered it over Zoya Noot.


You can purchase Shimmer shades through Etsy. You can also give them a like on Facebook to stay updated on all the Shimmer polish news or follow the Shimmer blog. Come back for the final part of swatches on Friday!

Products provided for review

Monday, December 24, 2012

Shimmer Polish Swatches/Review: Part One

Hello everyone! I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend and happy Christmas Eve to those who are celebrating! Today I have the first of three parts of Shimmer polish swatches for you to gaze upon.

Eva is a gorgeous burgundy glitter mix in a deep red colored base. This was three coats of it with no base color.


Leslie is a happy mixture of mostly blue, purple, and pink glitter in a clear base. I have one coat of it layered here over SquareHue Champagne Toast.


Amy is a mixture of red, gold, and blue glitter. This is one coat over SquareHue Sugar Plum.


Carol is a really unique mix of gold and royal blue glitter. This is one coat over SquareHue Holly Berry.


Strength is a turquoise blue micro glitter with what I believe are also holographic particles. There are also some random silver hearts in this one, but I wasn't able to get any out of the bottle. One coat layered over China Glaze First Mate.


Sonia is a girly mix of pink, coppery, and purple glitter. This is one coat over Zoya Kennedy.


Tiffany is a mixture of light pink, blue, and silver micro glitter in a clear base. I wore one coat over Zoya Petra.


You can purchase Shimmer shades through Etsy. You can also give them a like on Facebook to stay updated on all the Shimmer polish news or follow the Shimmer blog. Stay tuned for Part Two on Wednesday!!

Products provided for review

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Gals "Princess" & "Fairy" Stamping Plate Set Review

Good afternoon everyone! I have a review for you today of some new stamping plates by Gals, the sister brand to Cheeky. I chose to use one of the Christmassy images from the plates since it's so close to the holiday and all! ;P


For this design, I used Zoya Kennedy as my base and stamped with Zoya Carly. This image is on plate GA27. The plates stamp really well, although you can see a bit of smudging on my middle and pinky nails. I think that was more of a user error than a plate error though. I love the range of designs on these plates too; they have SO many images, ranging from winter-themed to summer-themed and tons of pretty full nail designs too. 


The Gals sets can be purchased of off Amazon. You can see the Fairy set here and retails for $14.99. The Princess set can be seen here and retails for $10.99.

Products provided for review.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Zoya Ziv & Yara Tape Mani

Happy Friday! Today is my favorite of the easy Zoya nail art posts that I have for you so far. I've never had a tape design turn out so sharp and crisp. I'm really excited to share this one with you!


For this mani, I started out with two coats of Zoya Ziv. I used striping to create the lines once Ziv was totally dry and painted as thin of a coat as possible over that with Yara. I let the coat of Yara dry for only a few seconds before I pulled the tape off; the quicker you pull the tape off, the crisper the lines will be, but I feel better pulling it off if I let it set for a few seconds. Do you like them? I really enjoyed these two colors together.


Thursday, December 20, 2012

White Nails for Newtown, CT

This is not going to be a wordy post, as there's really not many words to say other than that my thoughts are with those suffering in Newtown right now. The nail blogging community has joined together to do white nails for those in Newtown and you can see more of those manis at the end of this post if you are interested. The shades I used are Zoya Trixie and Purity. <3




Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Zoya Storm & Noot Dotted Mani

Say hello to Day 2 of my easy Zoya nail art posts! Today I used Zoya Storm and Noot in a super easy dotting mani. It took practically no time to do and looks really pretty.


I started out with two coats of Zoya Noot and once that was dry, I took a couple of differently sized dotting tools and dotted out a rounded design with Storm on the side of each nail. I think this would look really great using Trixie and Natty too!


Tuesday, December 18, 2012

SquareHue December Box Review/Swatches

Hello everyone! I have a cool new monthly nail polish subscription program to review for you today. SquareHue is a new program that ships monthly. For each month, you get three full size (0.50 oz) bottles in hip, seasonal colors for $21. However, I have a special promotion code for all of you at the end of this post! ;D


And how fabulous are these bottles? These square bottles will make storage so easy! I also really love the inclusion of the month/year on the bottom labels. The whole design is so modern and attractive; the designers did a really great job!


Champagne Toast is a festive pale gold metallic polish. I used three coats here with no application issues. This is a really elegant color that would look great at any holiday party.


Sugar Plum is a rich, royal purple shimmer. I only needed two coats here but again, no formula issues.


Holly Berry is a bright, shimmery, holiday red that was perfect in two coats.


So are you ready for your special promotion code? From now until Monday, December 24th (Christmas Eve) you can enter promo code DECBLOGGER03 to lock in your subscription price of 14.99/month! Your subscription can be cancelled or paused at any time, but three months of pausing will result in the cancellation of your service. The code is case sensitive, so make sure you use it exactly as I posted it. For even more information about SquareHue, check out their website here. Will you be signing up?

Products provided for review.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Zoya Blaze & Anja Half Moon Mani

Good morning everyone! I have three easy nail art posts planned for you, all featuring my very favorite polish brand, Zoya! Would you believe I've never done a half moon mani before this? I wasn't sure if I really liked the way they looked, but I definitely love the look after trying it!


I started out with two coats of Zoya Blaze and once that was completely dry, I stuck some hole reinforcer stickers on my nails and painted Zoya Anja over the top. These two polishes have been sitting next to each other on my wall rack for ages now and I just knew that they needed to be used in a mani together. What do you think? I love it!


Friday, December 14, 2012

Freehand Snow Leopard Print Mani

Happy Friday all! I did some shimmery snow leopard nails recently that I thought you might enjoy. These started out with a base of Zoya Carey and I painted over that with Zoya Sparkle Gloss. Then, I painted the spots and outlines on with plain white and black polishes. I don't know if I like these anymore than the stamped versions I do, but it was cool to hand paint them!

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Mohda Multichrome Swatches/Review

Hello everybody! I have some beautiful multichrome polishes to show you today from Mohda. I have five shades to show you today, all swatches are two coats of the Mohda polish over black. These shades shift color much more than my photos show, but it's rather difficult to capture.

Polo Norte is a mainly green/yellow color shifting polish.


 Vento Solar is a fabulous royal blue shifter.


 Austral is the typical oil-slick type of multichrome, based mainly on a gorgeous purple shade.


 Iceberg is my favorite of the five, a beautiful ice blue shifting polish.


Polo Sul is a pinkish purple to yellow shifter.


Mohda Multichrome polishes retail for $7 and can be purchased from Harlow & Co. What do you think of them?

Products provided for review.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Zoya Christmas Tree Tape Mani

Good morning! I am one day away from being done with school for the semester, which means more nail time! Yay!! Today, I have some shimmery Christmas tree nails for you guys.


I started out with three coats of Zoya Ziv on all nails except my ring nail, which has two coats of Rekha. Once Rekha was completely dry, I used strips of tapes to form a tree shape and painted over it with Logan. I top coated everything and then topped my tree off with a single star glitter! Hope you like!

Products provided for review.