Zoya Godiva

So, it's been almost a month since I last posted - and guess what I've been doing since then? As I'm sure will shock you all, schoolwork. You may notice a pattern in my posts that come after a month-long absence, which is that I'm not any less busy, I've just reached the point where I have to blog because I can't stand not doing it any more. That is once again the case today, partly because I have an 8-10 page paper due tomorrow that I don't want to write. Instead, I'm writing this post about Zoya Godiva, a polish I tried out about a month ago (bottle shot to the left). It wasn't one I thought I'd like, but as it turns out, Godiva is classy and has an understated beauty that I very much like.

indoors, artificial light

Giraffe Nail Art

Hello again! Today I have some giraffe print nail art that I did recently. I've done variations of zebra and leopard patterns before, but I'd never tried giraffes. Since the giraffe is one of my favorite animals, I thought it was high time I tried, so I pulled out Ulta Sun-sational, some brown acrylic paint, and a dotting tool. Here's the result:

 natural light

I see now that the acrylic paint wasn't quite opaque in a couple of spots, but I actually didn't notice that when I was wearing the mani. While this definitely wasn't perfect, I was pretty happy with it for a first result. I didn't follow any particular tutorial; rather, I just googled "giraffe print" to get a more solid idea of what I was looking to do. You'd think I'd know what a giraffe looks like - and I do, of course - but I've always found that even when I'm trying to recreate something I have seen many times, it helps to have it in front of me when doing nail art. If you do nail art, are you the same way? I'm curious to see if it's just me.

China Glaze Capitol Colours: Dress Me Up

Hello again! Today I have the second color I received from China Glaze Capitol Colours, Dress Me Up, which is described by China Glaze as "a stripped down dark rose pink creme." To be honest, I didn't think this would suit me when I saw it in the bottle. I thought it was kind of a "meh" color, and I was far more excited about some of the other colors in the collection. Now? I've changed my mind. While it's not the most amazing awesome unbelievable color in existence, Dress Me Up is quite the classy neutral.

 indoors, natural light

Blue & Brown Plaid

Remember how I said in my last post that I've only done two manis since I got to college that didn't have blue in them? This is a continuation of that trend. I honestly do consider other colors, but I seem to always end up picking blue. Today's post is a result of my thinking that I hadn't done proper nail art in a while, so I did a plaid pattern with Sally Hansen Blue-Away, Maybelline Natural Beauty, and Orly Prince Charming.

indoors, natural light

indoors, natural light

Again, no sunlight pictures because the ones I took turned out like crap. In case you're wondering how I did this, I pulled the brush out of a gold glitter Kiss striper, wiped it off, used it, cleaned it, and put it back in the bottle. It's my cheap way of avoiding actually buying a proper striper brush, and so far, it's worked pretty well for me. Also, is it just me, or would a fuzzy plaid blanket in these colors be totally awesome?

Fall Chevrons

I couldn't really come up with a better name for this nail art, so fall chevrons it is. After all, I think the color combination looks like something one would wear in fall, and it's also been raining all day today. I used the tape method for this; all you need is some blue painter's tape (masking tape works as well, but I find it's more likely to peel off your polish) and whatever nail polish you'd like to use. I think it's pretty easy to figure out, but if you'd like a tutorial, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do - I'm pretty sure I'll be doing another variation of this sometime soon.

natural light, cloudy

As is always the case, this looks neater in real life than in my picture. As those of you who have nail blogs know, macro always likes to highlight the flaws in manicures - in this case, it's the bumpiness where I had to reapply bits because the top coat caused the dark blue to streak, as well as the little bit of tipwear I already had. The polishes I used were Maybelline Natural Beauty (isn't it a gorgeous latte? I need to do a review of it by itself), Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Blue-Away (stupid name, but also a lovely color), and Essence Just Rock It (a stupid name only because of the exclamation point that I am pointedly not including). I originally intended to use Barielle Coco Bar instead of Just Rock It, but then I decided to use for colors, then changed my mind and ended up with this. I like the way it turned out anyway, which I suppose is all that matters. I hope you're all having a wonderful week, and are much less damp than I!

Zoya Smoke Swatches and Review

Zoya Smoke is one half of Zoya's Fall 2011 collection set, Smoke & Mirrors. Smoke is made up of creme polishes, and Mirrors is made up of shimmers and glass-flecked polishes. I really like the concept for this collection, and there are several that I'll be adding to my "take to college" list - which, at the rate it's going, will be far too long come August 24. And now, the polishes! I did not use top coat in any of these pictures, and as you can see, they're all very shiny without it.

outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Jana is what Zoya calls a "smoky mauve quartz cream" - frankly, I'm quite sure where the quartz part comes from, but it's a very pretty color. It's not a particularly unique color, but it stands out from all the other trendy mushroom taupes for its opacity. I used one coat on all nails except the ring finger, because I dripped acetone on that one and it dulled the polish. As you can see, there's absolutely no difference in opacity between the finger with two coats and the rest. A classy, one-coat-and-done taupe? I'm definitely taking this one to college.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Petra, a "smoky eggplant mauve cream," is a very pretty purpley, greyish, brownish, mauvey polish that's hard to define when you see it in person - and I think that's partly what I like about it. In some lights it looks mostly grey, but in different light, it takes on different tones. I did use two coats with this one, but it barely needed the second.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Look at that shine! If I didn't know this didn't have top coat, I'm not sure I'd believe it. Anyway, Codie is a "smoky brown taupe cream," though I'm not sure I agree with Zoya on the taupe part - taupe is grey tinged with brown, and if this has any grey in it, I'm missing it. This is probably the darkest brown I own, and I think I prefer them a little lighter, à la Barielle Coco Bar. I used two coats.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Zoya calls Anja a "smoky palatinate purple cream" - I call it lovely. Though it doesn't really have any relevance to the polish itself, I do like that they used "palatinate" in the description. I used one coat of Anja here, which suited me just fine. My only (slight) complaint is that I had one too-long, slightly wonky bristle in Anja's brush, but I trimmed it down and the brush works perfectly normally now.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Cynthia is a "smoky Prussian blue cream" that reminds me of a considerably more blackened American Apparel Peacock. I keep getting this one mixed up with Anja, because I feel like the one that's described as Prussian should have the Russian name. Anyway, that's irrelevant as well - Cynthia is a lovely color, and perfect for those of you who are particularly fond of vampy polishes. It's a bit too dark for my taste, but I like the touch of teal it has. Cynthia is opaque in two coats.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Dree is the final polish in Smoke, and by far my favorite. A "smoky camouflage green cream," Dree is the kind of color I just can't resist - I just can't resist a good khaki green, so I'll definitely be carting this one off to SLU as well. Dree reaches opacity with two coats - I baaarely needed the second, but it is a tad sheer without it, so I do recommend two coats. Like all the others, it's uncannily glassy without top coat. I'm in love.

I planned on doing more Harry Potter nail art today, but when the Smoke & Mirrors package arrived, I ended up spending all my free time at home swatching them instead. I will still be doing the nail art I'd planned (even though it's almost 11:00...eek!), but I'm not sure I'll be able to get it up tonight.

Also, I'm planning on doing a comparison post for these polishes at some point (I'd do one for Mirrors, too, but I honestly can't think of any really similar colors in my collection), so if you have any suggestions, please put them in the comments, shoot me an email, or sent me a tweet. Thanks for reading!

These samples were provided to me by the PR company for review. However, this will never influence what I say in a review. For more information, see my disclosure policy.

Jewel of a Lighthouse

Cheesy title! I never know what to name these layering posts, especially if I use a gazillion polishes. I only used two this time - Color Club Jewel of a Girl and China Glaze Lighthouse. I did this combination because I put on two coats of Jewel of a Girl, which is a burgundy/brown shimmer, and didn't like it nearly as well as I did in the bottle, so I thought, "Hm, what can I do with this?" So I topped it with a coat of Lighthouse.

outdoors, shade

Much better! I did take pictures of this inside and in sunlight, but none of those looked anything like what the combination looks like in real life, so I deleted them. Even though Lighthouse is a yellow polish, I feel like it adds a gold foil finish to Jewel of a Girl...whatever it does, I like it! I'm considering putting Jewel of a Girl on my swap list, but now that I've found out how great it looks with Lighthouse, I'm having to consider it more carefully. :)

BB Couture A Touch of Greece: Apollo and Uranus

Hello, all! Today I'll be showing you Apollo and Uranus, the two polishes I received to review from the BB Couture A Touch of Greece collection. Apollo and Uranus are both from the men's part of the collection. Unfortunately, it was raining yesterday when I took these pictures, so I only have indoor pictures to show you - of course, today the sun is shining bright...and I don't have my camera with me.

In case you didn't know, Apollo was quite a busy god - he was the Greek god of music, poetry, plague, oracles, the sun, medicine, light, and knowledge. BB Couture Apollo is a bright orange, which I'm guessing comes from the fact that he was god of the sun/light. It's actually the only orange I have which is actually the color of a real orange. It's a little less vivid than the picture shows, but it's quite close. I really like the color and consistency, and though I wouldn't be surprised if there are dupes, I don't have any in my stash. Also, look at how shiny that is without top coat! I did have to use three coats to eliminate visible nail line, but as the application was absolutely perfect, I didn't mind.

indoors, artificial light

The second polish I was provided was BB Couture Uranus, which is a toffee, caramely brown color that I love despite the disparaging comments my mom made about its similarity to the color of...well...you can probably guess. Uranus is the Greek god of the sky and son of Gaia, the goddess of the earth. I only had to use two coats of Uranus, and it was just as incredibly shiny without top coat as Apollo was. I actually went ahead and wore this as my full manicure today because I loved it so much. The color isn't as yellowy as it looks in my pictures, though.

indoors, artificial light

So there they are, Apollo and Uranus! What do you think? 

These products were sent to me by Overall Beauty for review. However, this will never affect what I say about a product. For more information, see my disclosure policy.

China Glaze Knotty

Can you believe I took my leopard print mani off yesterday, did some swatching (most of the Anchors Away stuff I have), and put another leopard print mani on? I am crazy, I know...but I love it! The weird thing is that I don't think I've ever owned anything with leopard print on it since a Lisa Frank messenger bag I had in elementary school, and I still wouldn't consider wearing leopard print clothing...I guess there are many things I'd wear on my nails and not elsewhere!

Anyway, that's not what I have for you today. China Glaze Knotty is a glass-flecked beige with a sort of yellowy tint from the Anchors Away collection...it's hard for me to describe. I guess that's what pictures are for! I used three coats with no top coat.

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

As you can see, there is still VNL with three coats. I'm not sure if it would be opaque in four or not, because I just didn't want to put on a fourth coat, haha. I haven't quite decided if I like this color on me or not, though - sometimes I think it looks pretty on me and sometimes...not so much. I do like Knotty in the bottle, I'm just not sure whether it really goes with my skin tone. I really like the way it looks in sunlight, though. What do you think of Knotty?

Franken Week Day 5: My Favorite Trench

I frankened this at the same time I made WASP...so, yeah, it's been a while. Unlike WASP, it's not intended to be a dupe of anything else - I just wanted a nice mousey taupe brown. I think I got it. Sorry for my messy application and gross cuticles. Eurgh. I never realize how terribly bad they are until I look at the pictures on my computer. This was two coats without top coat.

indoors, artificial light

My Favorite Trench is a bit warmer than the photo - and for the record, I'd love to have a trench coat this color. It compliments my skin tone really well, and while I'm not sure why I thought I needed another taupe in my collection, I don't think I have another exactly like it.

Dr.'s Remedy Winter Wonder-Nails

EDIT: I added some bottle pics.

I'm sorry it took me so long to get this post up...I've been very busy, and now I have strep throat! I'm just glad it's not the flu. Anyway, I am so glad that I got the chance to try these, and I'm very excited to share them. The Dr.'s Remedy Winter Wonder-Nails collection consists of four polishes - Healing Heather Grey, Revive Ruby Red, Desire Dark Brown, and Nurture Nude Pink. I got to try the first three, and I am happy to say I love them all! I used artificial lighting for the first two and sunlight for Revive Ruby Red because I felt like those were the best pictures of each particular color. Here are some pictures of the bottles and of the bottoms of the bottles. (Alliteration, anyone?)

 

indoors, artificial light

Dr.'s Remedy describes Healing Heather Grey as "a seductive pewter with deep blue undertones." As it's a creme, this I wouldn't really describe the color as pewter - I was thinking more dove grey. It is very lovely though, and only took two coats. The application was a bit streaky with the first coat, but by the second everything was perfect. It also dried very quickly. This is without top coat.

indoors, artificial light

Desire Dark Brown is described in the press release as "a cocoa-meets-hot-fudge handsome hue." YES. I couldn't say it better myself. If Barielle Coco Bar is a milk chocolate, Desire Dark Brown is a dark chocolate, and a gorgeous one at that. Look how shiny it is without top coat...and even better, it took only one coat for opacity and dried just as fast as Healing Heather Grey! It is pretty dark, but it's not quite as black-looking as the picture shows, which I'm thankful for.

outdoors, sunlight

And lastly, my favorite - Revive Ruby Red, "a shimmer-infused, Wizard of Oz-inspired shade of crimson." I have to say, while many red polishes have the word "ruby" or "rubies" in the name, none of them remind me of actual rubies except Revive Ruby Red. The polish is a dark red shimmer on the edges but absolutely glows wherever the light hits it, and it's perfect one coat. I love, love, love this color. Oh, and by the way...the weird-looking background is my choir folder. I took this picture in the car when the sun came out for five minutes on the way to school. :) Also, I used top coat, but only because I was wearing it as a full manicure - it was plenty shiny on its own.

I am absolutely thrilled with these polishes. While the colors are gorgeous, what really makes them unique is the amazing formula. I can truthfully say that this is the best nail polish formula I have ever come across - better than Zoya, OPI...the list goes on. Ultimately, that is what would make me willing to buy one of these for $16 a bottle. I can franken dupes of many expensive colors, but I can't replicate such a wonderful formula.

Also, here's a heads-up for you all: because I'm sick, I don't feel much like painting my nails and tromping around finding the best spot outside to take a picture. Therefore, I won't be posting frankens this week like I thought I would. Instead, I'll post some of the colors I've swatched and not posted yet, and I'll be on the franken wagon as soon as I feel better. Cheers!

EDIT: I forgot to mention that this brand is formulated by doctors and is supposed to have anti-fungal properties, as well as be generally healthy for your nails. I actually have nail fungus on two of my toenails, meaning that I normally can't wear cosmetic polish on my toes (though I do use a prescription lacquer, ciclopirox, that is helping) and therefore can't (well, won't) wear flip-flops. While I still think it's best to leave polish off my toenails most of the time, I definitely plan on wearing these as pedicured sometimes during the summer! I also plan to do a wear test and see how well the Dr.'s Remedy polishes wear.

The products in this post were provided to me by Dr.'s Remedy's PR company for review. However, this in no way affected my review - I will always say what I truly think about a product.

Gold-Tipped

I didn't particularly want to touch Night on the Town, but after I stubbed my finger and chipped a little off the tip of one finger, I decided to add some gold. I did something similar to a French manicure, but I painted the tips in straight lines (using Nailene Perfect Tips & Toes toenail guides, which I received for review) rather than following the curve of the nail. I used an unnamed Charlotte Russe for the gold, which funnily enough is also part of Night on the Town. For some reason, the gold doesn't appear opaque in the second picture, but it is in real life.

indoors, artificial light

indoors, artificial light

I've decided to swatch a bunch of colors this afternoon so I don't have to worry about painting my nails for a week or so - I'll still be painting my nails, but I'll just be posting my swatch pictures for a bit. I've just gotten sick again (that stomach flu crap, whoopee) and I'm still catching up with schoolwork from last semester that I missed because of my kidney stones. Anyway, I figured it'd be better to have some pictures stocked up so I can concentrate more on schoolwork and still post often (hopefully daily). I hope you're all having a great week!

EDIT: Why do I always forget to do this?! Here are a couple new nail blogs I discovered recently and am enjoying:

Jessica v. Polish
The College Student's Nail Guide

Franken: Night on the Town

I made this franken in a slight fit of peak after not being able to find 212-Sephora in stores. I thought about ordering online, and then decided that I didn't want to pay nine freaking dollars for it anyway - heck, I'd just franken the thing myself! I used a random clear polish, Rimmel Black Satin, A Perfect 10 Talk Dirty (brown shimmer), an unnamed Charlotte Russe gold, NYC White Lights Glitter, and Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. I think HT has been in my last two or three frankens, and I have so many more ideas. I need to stop using it until I get myself a bottle of Nubar 2010! Here are two coats of the franken (and one coat of Seche Vite), which I named Night on the Town:

 outdoors, sunlight

indoors, artificial light

I'm really happy with this - I'm having a tough time deciding whether this or Give Me Gallifrey is my favorite franken so far. I do think Night on the Town is a bit lighter, but seeing as the only time I've seen 212-Sephora in person was in a tester bottle and not on the nail, it's hard to tell. Excuse my gross, dingy-looking fingers - I thought my cleanup was good enough until I looked at these pictures on my computer, and now it's too late to go outside and take more. Ah well. I ended up having a snow day today, and I'm aiming for another tomorrow. I bet I'll have to go to school, though...c'est la vie.

Barielle Coco Bar

I originally bought Barielle Coco Bar because I was looking for the perfect chocolate-y brown creme. In all reality, I think this is it. Here are two coats of Coco Bar with a coat of Rush top coat (though it didn't need it to be glossy):

indoors, artificial light

Coco Bar is the color of a Hershey's bar...and it makes me want one, too. I love how it looks on my nails, and it was very easy to apply. While it didn't wear well, I honestly suspect Rush is to blame for that, as the last few polishes I've used Rush on have worn horribly. (But when I use Orly In a Snap, which I have a mini bottle of, my polish wears well.) I think my bottle is getting old, which is not good - I still have 15 mL left.

In other news, my thumbnail broke past the quick today. Ow. I fixed it with some nail bandages I bought in a pack for a dollar at a local grocery store, but I don't imagine it'll look too pretty under a creme for a while. Oh well, I'm going to wear whatever the heck I want anyway! :) I hope you are all having a wonderful week!

WASP

I set out yesterday to create a franken of Chanel Khaki Vert, which is part of Les Khakis de Chanel. After experimenting with several different combinations on an index card, I finally came up with the following: 1/2 Orly Prince Charming, 1/4 Orly Enchanted Forest, and 1/4 Revlon Minted. The fractions are very approximate, though, so if you decide to do this yourself, mix small bits at a time (and really, that's a good idea anyway). I used an old Bon Bons bottle because I didn't want to use too much of my base polishes, and because they have one ball in each bottle - not two, but better than none. However, their small size does make them difficult to take photos with...oh well. I don't have any of the Chanel khakis, so I can't compare them in person, but I think my franken is a bit greyer than Khaki Vert. Here are two coats with top coat:

outside, shade

outside, sunlight

indoors, artificial light

I decided to name my franken WASP after the Women Airforce Service Pilots from World War II. I've always been rather interested in that period, and particularly interested in WASP after reading Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith earlier this year. Anyway, I thought it was kind of a good name, and I'm very happy with the polish itself. I may even make franken-dupes of the other two khakis...hm...


Here are links to the swatches I used in creating WASP: Frazzle and Aniploish, The Nailphile, My little world of polish by Lily Nail, All Lacquered Up, and Lacquerized. Thanks, ladies!


So, how close do you think I got?

OPI Chop-sticking To My Story

If you're in the U.S., happy Labor Day! If not...well...happy Monday!I'm out of town today, so that's why I'm not holding the polish bottle in my pictures - I forgot to bring it with me! Good thing my polish hasn't chipped. Yet. *crosses fingers*

indoors, artificial light

shade (sort of - it's inside, but the overhead light wasn't on)

sunlight

I absolutely love this color. It's a rich, orangey, caramel brown, most accurately represented in the last photo. I also love the way Chop-sticking to My Story looks with my skin tone (though I hate the hyphen in the name), and I can never stop staring at its glossy gorgeousness, which makes typing rather difficult. :) I feel like now would be a good time to confess that I love the entire Hong Kong collection. In addition to Chop-sticking to My Story, I own Red My Fortune Cookie, A Good Man-darin is Hard to Find, Hot & Spicy, Jade is the New Black, Suzi Says Feng Shui, Dim Sum Plum, and Pearl of Wisdom, and they are all amazing. In fact, you may be seeing a lot of the Hong Kong polishes in the upcoming few posts...I suspect my next few manis will come from this collection.