Monday, March 24, 2014

Zoya Awaken Collection, Swatches and Review



Hi there!! Today I have some swatches of the spring Zoya collection to show you. This is the Awaken collection, which contains 6 polishes; 2 creams and 4 shimmers. I've also swatched the topper Monet at the end of the post.


Zoya Cole - "a full-coverage peach whisper cream (originally released during NYFW as Stella for Peter Som's SS14 Collection)." 2 coats, no top coat. I certainly think that peach is an accurate description for this. A creamy pastel orange, with a good formula. No issues with application.
a full-coverage peach whisper cream (originally released during NYFW as Stella for Peter Som's SS14 Collection) - See more at: http://www.zoya.com/content/category/Zoya_Awaken_Spring_2014_Nail_Polish_Collection.html#sthash.e8Efjyto.dpuf


Zoya Dot - "a full-coverage pink petal cream (originally released as Dot for fashion designer Zang Toi's SS14 Collection)."  2 coats, no top coat. I did have some issues with the formula on this one... application was ok but wasn't as effortless as I would have liked. It wanted to make some bald spots if I wasn't careful, which you can probably see around the cuticle area.
 

Zoya Brooklyn - "a full-coverage, white-gold shimmer metallic." 2 coats, no top coat. I really liked the tone of this one, a nice light gold. That said, it shows brush strokes, so if you don't like that you may want to sponge on your second coat of polish.


 Zoya Dillon - "a full-coverage, green mint metallic with a silver shimmer." 2 coats, no top coat. Now we get to the stars of the show. The following three are, in my opinion, the stand-outs of this collection. Great formula, no brush strokes, just shimmery and beautiful. The description says silver shimmer, but to my eye there is also a little gold shimmer mixed in as well, which adds a lot of interest.


Zoya Hudson - "a full-coverage, purple orchid metallic with a silver shimmer." 2 coats, no top coat. Same formula as Dillon, super easy to work with. This was my favorite (surprise, surprise!).


Zoya Rebel - "a full-coverage blue sky metallic with a silver shimmer." 2 coats, no top coat. Same formula as Dillon and Hudson. Also with a little bit of gold shimmer sprinkled in there.


Zoya Monet - "a multi-colored, cellophane holographic special effect topper." 1 coat shown over 2 coats of Dillon. A few things about this polish... first of all, I wouldn't use holographic to describe it, I think this is better described as iridescent. Second, this polish is pretty thick. I don't think I would want to apply more than one coat of it. Also, I found that the bits wanted to clump together a bit. I think this is best applied using the dabbing method, rather than a traditional dragging method. All that said, I think the colors of the cellophane bits are interesting, and this could have potential over the right colors.

Zoya polishes can be purchased on Zoya.com for $9 each, Monet is $10 since it is a special effect shade.

Which ones are your favorites?

Friday, March 21, 2014

The Lacquer Cabinet: March, Coy Makeup for Nailtini plus Giveaway!



Hi there darlings! Today I have the March edition of Nailtini's The Lacquer Cabinet to show you. (Read more about The Lacquer Cabinet and see Feburary's collection here.) The guest mixologist this month is Sarah Coy of Coy Makeup. Her inspiration came from some of her most famous makeup looks. Her collection consists of Cement Mixer, Bottle Green, and Venom.


Cement Mixer - creamy pale grey with a hint of purple, reminiscent of legendary villainess Ursula’s pallor. I've shown two coats without top coat. The formula on this was great, nice and creamy and easy to work with.



Bottle Green - deep jewel green, like the bottle that holds the finest champagne and inspired by the envy and complexion of Maleficent. Two coats, no top coat. This one could be a one coater if you're careful. I really love this one, the formula was on point and I just really enjoy this type of deep teal.


Venom - rich, inky black shot with subtle shimmer, inspired by Sarah’s epic makeup look of the same name. Two coats, no top coat. This has a super pretty shimmer, if you look at the macro of the water marble at the bottom of the post you'll be able to see it really well. Also, yay for a black shimmer that easily water marbled!!

How could I resist water marbling with this collection. They all worked together and in the water amazingly. They spread easily and were a breeze to make the design in. I really loved the accent that the one shimmering polish gave the two cremes.



So there you have it! I was really happy with this collection, especially as all the formulas were so great to work with. I'll certainly reach for these for nail art in the future.

The Lacquer Cabinet is available to order from the 'Tini Beauty website. One monthly box costs $25 and comes with three lacquers plus two empty mini bottles for trying your own hand at being a mixologist. You can also save by getting a six month subscription for $23/month or a year subscription for $20/month.

Michelle from 'Tini Beauty actually sent me an extra set of these which I'm going to give away! Giveaway is open internationally, so please enter and share! Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, March 17, 2014

Zoya Magical Pixies: Cosmo, Lux, and Vega Swatches and Review



Hi darlings!  I know you've probably seen these all over the blog-o-sphere already but today I'm going to share my swatches and opinions of the new Zoya Magical Pixie collection.

I will say up front that when I looked at most other swatches of these and read reviews I was expecting them to be super chunky, which I was prepared to hate. BUT, when I got them myself and tried them out I was so pleasantly surprised! I did not have any issues at all with the large glitters laying flat. If I had any that I thought looked like the might want to stick up I just patted the nail with a clean finger (very lightly) as it was in the drying process. I did a full mani with Lux and wore it to work (I'm a hair stylist), and I didn't have any issues with it getting caught in clients hair when shampooing or blow drying, which is a great test for me because if I have anything sticking up on my nails at work I notice hair getting caught right away. One of the other reviews I read stated that these are only good to wear for one night, and I have to respectfully disagree with that.

Now, on to the swatches!


Zoya Cosmo - silver textured polish with lots of holographic glitter. 2 coats, no base or top coat. These are all super sparkly, which is right up my alley. Holographic glitters always make me happy. They're so sparkly that its impossible to get a photo that really conveys the gorgeousness of them, so I had to take a video for you! ( I always forget that I should change the orientation of my phone when I take these videos, so I'm sorry that its vertical! >.<)



Aren't those sparkles fantastic? I hope you can see them ok! (Mental note to improve my video taking skills.)



Zoya Lux - a pale pink textured polish with holographic glitter. 2 coats, no base or top coat. This one was my favorite of the bunch. I loved how it looked with my skin tone, and it had lots of bling factor. This will definitely be reached for many more times.



Zoya Vega - a light blue textured polish with holographic glitter. 2 coats, no base or top coat. There were no formula issues at all with this but personally this was my least favorite from the collection. I think it seems to me that it has a slightly different finish than the other two, the blue base is almost frosty and I just don't care for that. Like I said though, this is purely personal taste, and its still a lovely polish.


So which one do you like best?

Zoya Magical Pixie polishes can be purchased from Zoya.com for $10 each.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Superficially Colorful Lacquer: Serene, Giggly, Listless, and Poised



Hello there sweets! The Superficially Colorful Lacquer grand opening is in just a couple days now (the shop opens on March 3rd), so I wanted to share a few more swatches of the thermals Jin has sent me. In this post you'll see Superficially Colorful Lacquer Serene, Giggly, Listless, and Poised. I've shown all of them with two coats, both in their natural matte state, and with top coat. The photos for each polish will be in the following order: warm without top coat, cold without top coat, transitioning with top coat, macro with top coat. Let's get started, shall we?

 
Serene - a pale powder blue (warm) to sky blue (cold) thermal with a silvery shimmer. The color change in this is one of the more subtle ones in her line. Still absolutely gorgeous though. I know I gush over every one of these thermals when I try them, but all of them are stunning in their own way.





Giggly -  a bright fuchsia (warm) to purple (cold) thermal with pink shimmer. I took a couple extra photos of this one in the sunlight because my light box photos weren't incredibly color accurate. Obviously I love this one because, well, PURPLE! The shimmer in this one is really spectacular too. You should probably click these photos to enlarge them... I promise you won't regret it! ;)






Listess - a sage green (warm) to slate gray (cold) thermal with a multicolored shimmer. I don't want to call this polish completely holographic but it does have a touch of scattered holographic particles in it. I normally pick the bright colors as my favorites, but this time Listless was the winner. I am 100% in love with this polish.





Poised - an amber based, burnt orange (warm) to deep, olive-toned brown (cold) thermal with golden shimmer and micro-flakies. I'm not sure if this polish will be available when the shop opens or not because I believe Jin is still doing some tweaking on the formula. I think this one is a really unique color though, I certainly don't own anything like it. The shimmer and tiny flakes are pretty amazing.




I don't know how Jin does it, but every time she sends me more thermal polishes I have new obsessions.

Superficially Colorful Lacquer will be available for purchase on March 3rd. They will retail for $9 per 12 mL/0.4 fl oz bottle. You can see my swatches of Jin's other thermal polishes here and here, and her non-thermals here.

Please tell me what you think of these! Do you love thermals as much as I do? What colors of thermals would you love to see that you haven't seen yet?