Archive for January 2012

Zoya Fleck Effect Polishes

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Flaked polishes are all the rage this spring and luckily for us, Zoya has three new Fleck polishes to drool over.

First up is Opal, worn here over Zoya Shawn. It's translucent green with you guessed it, very shiny green flakes with a shift to blue.

Next we have Maisie which is a thin blue base with flakes that shift from green to blue. Here, I've picked Zoya Mira to wear underneath Maisie.

Chloe is a translucent pink with bright coppery/gold flakes. In addition, it looks like there are also a few green flakes too, though sparse compared to the copper ones. It's my favorite of the three, because I don't really have another flake polish like it. Here, I'm wearing on top of Zoya Juicy.

In all of the pictures, I used two coats on top of my base color. Some people might prefer just one, others might even like three coats for a more densely packed look. The formula is quite nice, very fluid compared to other flaked polishes which can get thick and goopy. By themselves, these effect polishes are much too translucent to wear by themselves, they're really meant for doubling your polish wardrobe.

The only thing that I can critique is that the flakes in Opal and Maisie are the same green to blue shift particles. Layered on top of other shades, they look quite similar but not quite. It seems that Opal is just a bit more green and Maisie shifts a bit more blue, but I could be seeing things. It would have been nice if one of them contained blue to purple shifting flakes instead.

Which Zoya Fleck polish appeals the most to you?

Products featured were sent to me for review. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

EOTD: Fyr Velvet Vampire

Good evening!
This is one of the few Fyrinnae eye shadows that I feel 'meh' about.
Velvet Vampire. It's pink and very sparkly. I'm not particularly fond of it because it's a sort of rusty pink, the only way I can explain it. Just not my cup of tea.

I used:
Brows: NARS Bali shadow
Eyes: Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy, Fyrinnae Velvet Vampire, Fyrinnae Steampunk, Physicians' Formula Shimmer Strips Gel liner, NYX EL 104 lashes (which I abhor, super stiff band, impossible to blend into natural lashes) and Kiss Me Heroine Make Volume + Curl Mascara.

Day 21: Inspired by a Color- a england Dragon

Monday, January 30, 2012

Good afternoon! Sorry I didn't post over the weekend at all. I was somewhat busy, and I also really loved my last water marble manicure and didn't want to take it off.

Today's polish is from a england's new collection, The Legend. This is actually one of my first a england polishes (I also ordered Saint George when I bought Dragon, but more on that later) and I have to say that I'm kicking myself for not buying any a england polishes sooner. It's not that I was living on a rock the last few years and missed Adina's beautiful polishes featured on many great nail blogs, it's just that I felt like I wasn't worthy. Is that silly or what?

Back to the polish. Dragon is a beautiful green holo but with with a bit of bronze mixed in that adds to the complexity. I can't help but marvel at this color on my nails, it is so jawdroppingly rich that I did with just ONE coat.

In the sunlight, this polish is the exact color that I imagine a dragon to be, resting on his golden hoard that reflects the glint of metallic color and prismatic gems onto his underbelly.

Even in artificial lighting, there is something unbelievably attractive about Dragon. It has that sort of sly, sneaky reptilian feeling green. I could babble on about it for days.

So though my nail challenge calls for a manicure Inspired by a Color, I'd like to reword it. Today, I'm wearing a color that is so vibrant, that I find it thoroughly inspiring.

I ordered my A England polishes from Llarowe ($12 each), and I wanted to mention that my experience was fantastic. I ordered on a Monday, and it was processed and sent out the very next day. I'm all about instant gratification so I was thrilled at how fast I received it on Friday. Also, shipping was more than just reasonable ($1.64, I think for two polishes).

Product featured was purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 20: WATER MARBLED

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Water marbling is a pretty tedious process for me, a lot of the times I find myself questioning whether or not its worth it. I waste -so- much polish each time.

For this challenge I used China Glaze City Siren, China Glaze Urban Night, Zoya Shawn and Zoya Cho*.
I absolutely love how my middle finger turned out, absolutely saturated with color in thick and thin bands. I smudged a little on my pinky finger, I hope it's not all that noticeable.

Have a great night!

*indicates a product that was sent to me for review. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 19: GALAXY nails

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

I've been wanting to do galaxy nails for a while, but I didn't think I could do it quite right. Oh well, here's my first attempt!

image credit

I spent half an hour googling star systems and creepin' NASA's Astronomy Picture Of The Day site.

image credit

I used: American Apparel Imperial Indigo, Savvy Red Caviar, L.A. Colors White, Ulta (no label, silver glitter) Sally Hansen Thinking of Blue, China Glaze Lemon Fizz.

Products feature were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Zoya True Collection Swatches + Thoughts

Monday, January 23, 2012

Good afternoon! Today I have some of Zoya's spring polishes, the True Collection to show you.

Cho is a pale, yellow tinged beige. There is the tiniest bit of fine shimmer if you look closely, but for all appearances, creme finish.

Farah is a pale, grey tinged beige creme. Close to Cho in color, it is cooler in tone.

Bevin is a pale sage green creme that is too muted to be considered a true pastel. Gorgeous shade, very neat looking on the nails.

Skylar is a watery, Monet Blue Nympheas- sort of blue with shimmer that is predominately silver. Never fear, still perfectly opaque in two coats.

Tru is a medium purple with shimmer that is reddish/coppery/gold. It simply comes alive when the light hits it and you see the whole range of shimmer.

Lotus is a dusty, faded violet touched by grey with shimmer that is pink/magenta. Very lovely, subtle-but-with-sparkle color.

I used two coats for every polish except for Cho, which looked much better and more opaque with three coats. The formula was excellent on the other five (don't get me wrong, Cho went on well for such a light color, those usually streak like crazy, just that it was not quite as flawless as the others) especially Skylar, Tru and Lotus.
A very beautiful collection, altogether. I love that time after time, Zoya gives us work appropriate colors that are still very interesting and chic.

What can I say about Zoya that hasn't been said before? I've always been impressed with Zoya's quality. They have over 300 polishes that are Big 3 Free and come in a wide variety of shades. The True Collection and other Zoya polishes are $8 each and can be purchased on Zoya.com.

Which one of these shades do you feel like you absolutely have? My pick is Tru!

Products featured were sent to me for review. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 18: HALF MOONS

Sunday, January 22, 2012

I did my nails earlier for Chinese New Year, so of course I had to use gold and red! I also completed my nail challenge for the day, half-moons.

I used China Glaze GR8 (which sadly, lost all of its holographic nature due to the topcoat and indoor lighting) and Sally Hansen Red Carpet aka another Ruby Pumps clone. Oh! Also I used Seche Vite French Guides to help me make crisp curves.

Have a great night!

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Happy Chinese New Year! FOTD

A quick picture of my FOTD, taken stupidly in my bathroom, where the lighting is horrid. I have this dream that one day a room with proper lighting for photography. One day.

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I'm Chinese.
(You may have guessed this from the qipao that I'm wearing.)
I have never spent a CNY in China though, that's definitely one place I'd love to experience during the holidays! I hear that it gets INSANE, more so than NYE in New York City.

My favorite part of CNY has to be the presents, or the red envelopes full of money. How great is that? No guess work on presents, people don't get you what you may or may not like. Money. In a red envelope.

On the flip side, when you finish school and have a real job or get married, you start becoming the one who has to hand out envelopes.

Brows: NARS Bali shadow
Eyes: Laura Mercier Eye Basics in Wheat, LORAC Beige shadow, Jane Sungloss shadow, Jane Rockstar shadow, L'oreal Lineur Intense black liner
Face: Laura Mercier Foundation Primer, MUFE HD Foundation, Milani Advanced HD Concealer, MUFE Full Cover Concealer, NYX Taupe blush, BECCA Fine Loose Powder
Lips: OCC Harlot Lip Tar mixed with Revlon Firecracker gloss

Have a great year of the dragon!

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 17: GLITTER nails

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Good evening!
I did my nails earlier this evening, after I finished swatching some Zoya polishes (which I absolutely can't wait to show you!).
I used OPI Roadside Blues, which I bought hoping that it would be pretty close to OPI Sapphire In The Snow. I used Scotch tape to tape off 'X' shapes, and filled it in with Color Club Magic Attraction and Wet'n'Wild 24 Carats.
Here's a blurry picture to show off the glitter:

Have a great night!

Day 14: FLOWER nails (sort of...)

Friday, January 20, 2012

Are you by chance a fan of the childhood wonder, Dr. Seuss? More specifically, do you have an appreciation of the book, The Lorax?

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~~I wanted to do flowers~~. That's an outright lie. I hate having flowers on my nails. Other people do really cute ones but mine look like wilted flowers that a hobo found in a dumpster or something, and put in his buttonhole.
So I did tree things.

I used: Sinful Colors Why Not, Revlon Black Lingerie, a white franken, China Glaze Lemon Fizz, China Glaze Papaya Punch, Spoiled 2 Weeks Sober.

Have a great weekend, friends!

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 16: TRIBAL PRINT

Thursday, January 19, 2012

I didn't know what to do for tribal print... I google'd around and saw that a few bloggers did like an Aztec print. They sort of inspired to paint my nails bright like Mexican blankets, so I did!

All in all, not one of my better designs. I used a white franken as the base on all nails. Additionally I used: Essence Everybody's Talking About, OCC Grandma, China Glaze Papaya Punch, China Glaze Solar Power, OPI Green-wich Vilage, Sally Hansen Fairy Teal,Spoiled 2 Weeks Sober,Wet'n'Wild Black Creme.

Whew. I think I need some finer tipped brushes.

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 15: Delicate Print

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

I'm skipping Day 14: Flowers for now. I'll explain later, but basically I am absolute rubbish at flowers.
Today's nails are inspired by something very delicate indeed- women's stockings. I have a fondness for lingerie, especially anything having to do with garters and hosiery.
There's something super sexy about lingerie, and I take great delight in wearing it to please me. Sure, it's nice when someone else appreciates it, but I find wearing something beautiful and lacy under my clothes an instant mood booster. Sort of like a secret that only I know about.

Anyways, just be glad I'm showing you lingerie on my nails and not on my body. Heh!

I used OPI Samoan Sand and Konad Special Polish in black. Plates BM 209, 210 and 220 were also used.

Have a great night!

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 13: ANIMAL PRINT nails

Monday, January 16, 2012

I'm back! I had a bit of technical difficulties the last few days where I wasn't able to post, but now hopefully I'll be able to catch back up on my month long nail challenge.
I was inspired by my LORAC Pink Python Palette (click here to see my guest post for KarlaSugar about it). I'm usually not a fan of pink or scaly textures but when I combined the two for my nails, I liked the end result.

I used Color Club Fashion Addict as the base (which is not really a true pink, but a lavender pink holo) and used Konad Special Polish in White with BM 215 to get the snakeskin print.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day!

Products featured were purchased by me for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 12: STRIPES

Friday, January 13, 2012

Can you believe that this is the only picture that turned out decent? I'm serious. I don't think I've complained about a manicure being too shiny before, but today it greatly hindered my ability to capture it on camera.
I used a base color of Orly Prince Charming and used Shine and Rage (both also Orly polishes, from Foil FX). I really don't own many browns, but this one is soft like chocolate milk.

Have a wonderful weekend, folks.

Product featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 11: POLKA DOT nails

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Polka dots. I did a sort of staggered polka dots, with the majority of them concentrated near my tips.
This is OPI Greenwich Village for the base shade, and China Glaze Solar Power for the dots.

Have a great night! It's almost Friday, I've almost made it to the weekend.

I swear this is the longest week ever.

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 10: GRADIENT nails

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

I didn't want to do a traditional gradient, whether it was skittles of fading colors or transitions on each nail. I decided to do a zigzag instead.
I only used two colors, a white franken I made and Zoya Juicy. I like how it turned out!

Thanks for checking it out!

On a side note- I always sit on my foot while I'm blogging. It's a bad habit. My foot falls asleep EVERY time. Agggh, I'm agony right now.

Products featured were purchased by me, for my own use. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

Day 9: RAINBOW nails

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

I finished this set of nails yesterday and had planned to post them... but my indoor lighting did not do the holographic design any justice at all. Today, I was blessed with a whole day of beautiful, unadulterated sunshine. I was so happy.
I used a base coat of Revlon Black Lingerie, then used Nfu Oh 61 to trace the designs and fill in the spaces.