Swatch and Review: Jade Mystic Gold

TGIF! And to celebrate, I wanted a little sparkle on my nails. So what better choice than a little linear holo in what I affectionately call Command Gold (after Star Trek)!?!

Jade Mystic Gold is a gold linear holo polish. The above is with three coats, but you can still see some visible nail line. It's just as visible in person as in the photo. Here, it has a marigold sort of tint indoors, but you can see below that it has a much truer gold look in sunlight.

I actually wore Mystic Gold last weekend when, as many of you saw on Facebook, I underwent surgery. I was only allowed to wear nail polish if they could still see my nails underneath and I thought this was a good compromise. The doctors and nurses LOVED it, actually. It was kind of funny.

I have a bunch of different Jade polishes in my stash, though this is the first one I've swatched. Jade is a Brazilian company that makes a ton of different finishes, but my favorite are the holos in the Holografica collection. They're also reasonably priced at a price of $7-$8, which is right on par with a lot of salon brands. 

The only downside is that you can't purchase them in stores, but can purchase them from stockists such as Llarowe. (Link will take you to the Jade Holograficas collection). I know that Llarowe offers free shipping on orders over $50, so with six or seven polishes, you'll get them shipped for free.

What do you think of Mystic Gold? Would you like to see other Jade holos on the blog?

Green and Yellow Polka Dots

Happy Thursday, everybody! Today I have some quick and simple nail art to show you. It's not very complicated to replicate, but I really liked this color combination.

For my base green, I used Barielle Do Unto Others and my yellow polka dots are SinfulColors Gel Shine Bananappeal. It's pretty much my go-to yellow because it's very opaque. I struggle to find yellows that aren't sheer for the purposes of nail art. This was vivid and perfect!

Polka dots have become my default nail art because it's so easy to just throw on to change up a look with minimal dry time.

Until tomorrow!

Zoya Antique Daisies Nail Art

Happy Monday, everybody!

Here's a quick nail art post to kick off the week, featuring some bright and happy shades from Zoya.

This look was fairly easy to achieve with the use of a dotting tool. The base color is Zoya Jacqueline, while the flowers were made using Zoya Breezi for the petals and Zoya Pippa for the centers.

I liked how Jacqueline as a base color gave this look a very antique-y, but delicate feel.

The flowers maybe took me about fifteen minutes in total and most of that time was spent dipping and cleaning the dotting tool so that there wasn't a build up of thick, gooey polish.

What do you think of this look? Is this something you'd be willing to try yourself?

Swatch and Review: Zoya Awaken

Hello, everybody! Long time no see!

Sorry for the lack of regular posting lately... I'm smack in the middle of law school finals and my time is at a minimum. The good thing is that I'm nearly done, so I'll be returning to my regular posting schedule shortly.

Today I have for you the Zoya Awaken Collection for Spring 2014.

Zoya Earth Day Exchange Swatch Spam

Hey everyone! With the Zoya Earth Day Promo here, I thought it might be a good idea to compile a list of some of my favorite Zoyas to recommend for this amazing offer!

These are just a bit of a hodge podge from a ton of different collections!

 

Gei Gei

  

Aurora

 

Storm

Blazr

 

Suri

 

Tomoko

 

Ray

 

Sarah

 

Song

Peyton

 

Pepper

 

Anja

 

Belinda

 

Breezi

 

Chyna

 

Dream

 

Josie

 

Liberty

 

Mira

Check out the Zoya Earth Day Promo by clicking HERE and use the code ZDay2014!

Let me know what shades you picked out or if you agree on any of my personal picks!

Swatch and Review: Milani Fantastical Plumage Collection

Palm Beach Sunset

Hello, everyone! I'm back!

So sorry I've been away for awhile. My new internship, while awesome, is keeping me crazy busy and my sister's bat-mitzvah just passed. You can only imagine the stress in the run-up to that!

Today, I'm returning with a Sunset Beach. I used Zoya Pippa, Lianne, and Elisa for the gradient, with Zoya Raven for the palm trees.

Originally, I didn't use Zoya Elisa. But I thought the nails needed some extra pop.

But man oh man, was this a hit! And surprisingly, it was incredibly easy to remove!

What do you think of my Palm Beach Sunset nails?

Swatch and Review: Dermelect Buzzworthy and Fearless

Happy Hump Day, everyone!

I was recently sent two of the shades from Dermelect's new Fearless Beauty Collection!

Fearless is a collaboration between Fear No Beauty's Karie Frost, the Beauty Director for Nail It! magazine and NAILPRO, and Dermelect's Creative Director/Celebrity Manicurist, Elle.

Swatch and Review: Zoya Stunning Collection

Hump day has arrived and I have for you one of the brand new collections from Zoya. I was sent the Stunning Collection from Zoya HQ, which consists of all bright creme polishes, and immediately went to work swatching!

Continue on for the full swatch and review...

Swatch and Review: Ruby Wing

Good day, all! I was sent these polishes from Ruby Wing and with the weather here in NYC turning warm and sunny, the time to test them out finally arrived.

Two of the shades are from the Spring Garden Collection, which is scented, and two are from the core collection!

First up are the scented shades!

Here's Cut Grass, which smells like... guess what? Cut grass! It starts out as a light moss indoors...

Swatch and Review: Zoya Summer PixieDust Collection

Happy Saturday, lovelies! As I teased last night on Facebook, I received some amazing blogger nail mail yesterday afternoon from Zoya and I immediately went into swatch mode! Despite the rain!

 

Warning: THIS WILL BE PICTURE HEAVY!

Swatch and Review: Milani Texture Collection

Hello, my lovelies! I'm typing this from sunny southern Florida and loving it immensely!

Right before I left, I received the Milani Texture Collection in the mail. So I decided that I needed to try out these brights before I left for Florida!

Swatch and Review: Zoya Lovely

Good morning, my lovelies! So sorry for the break in posting... I was overwhelmed with school work. But am so excited to bring you the swatches of the Zoya Lovely Collection!

A little fair warning before you peruse through the rest of the post. For those of you who haven't been following the saga of my alligator skin on Facebook, I used Cutex non-acetone remover with the foil method and it turned my skin into a cracked mess. So this was the very beginning of that. I apologize for any trauma it may induce, but you should be thankful I didn't swatch these a week later. Blech.

The first of the three cremes in this collection is Zoya Blu, a chalky pastel blue creme. The above was with two coats. I really liked this color and I think it can work with just about any skin tone. I loved this. The formula was not too liquidy on this, which was great.

Next is Zoya Neely, a pale mint creme. With two coats, the formula and coverage on this was also great. I'm going through a mint phase these days, so I was VERY happy with this shade!

 

The last of the cremes is Jacqueline, a camel-beige shade. Oh, how I wanted to like her. But I just couldn't. The above was with three coats and you can still see it's uneven and gloopy. Also, the formula was super watery and pooled at the cuticles. Just so hard to be neat with.

This shade made my skin look yellow and ruddy, which is not ideal for a pale girl like me.

I wanted to use this as a base for a water marble, but I couldn't even get it to dry after two hours and a coat of HK Girl. This was the only failure of the collection, in my opinion.

 

The first of the shimmers in the Lovely collection is Piaf, likely named for Edith Piaf. It's funny... I would have pictured Piaf being the pink (as in La Vie en Rose), but I still liked this shade. This yellow veered slightly towards the olive end of the spectrum, but that's what made it unique.

This is with two coats and the formula was excellent.

Zoya Julie is the purple shimmer in this bunch, which automatically makes it my favorite. It has a bit of a frosty/metallic quality to it. And that's very unique. Not like anything in my purple drawer, that's for certain.

Two coats again above and great formula!

The sixth and final polish is Zoya Gei Gei, a dusty rose shimmer with a similar frosty/metallic nature similar to Julie. This is another polish that is different from the rest of the pinks.

Again, two coats and awesome coverage.

So there you have it, folks! The Zoya Lovely Collection.

The Lovely Collection is currently available at Zoya.com for $8, as well as at your local ULTA. I really liked these shades, with the exception of Jacqueline, so I really do think they're worth buying.

What's your verdict on the collection?

Top of 2012: Yellow/Gold

Why, yellow to you! Here are my top 3 yellows and golds for 2012!

Up first is China Glaze Kalahari Kiss, a dusty yellow-beige creme. I didn't expect to like this in the bottle, but I found that on my nails it was a nice departure from the norm.

Saint Germain Yellow Sun is up at number two and lives up to its sunny name! A bright yellow creme polish, I truly LOVED this one,

Last, but certainly not least, is Nailtini Millionaire, a goldish bronze glitter with blue and green pieces of bar glitter scattered throughout. This was super unique and SUPER awesome.

What was your top yellow or gold?

Press Release: Zoya Lovely Collection (Spring 2013)

Zoya Lovely

Beauty is a lovely state of mind

Lovely, just LOVELY!

Spring is awash in six soft and lovely new Zoya shades including three dewy metallics and three fresh blooms of cream. Poetic in nature, this collection is sure to capture the beauty of the season like no other....

Zoya Lovely – spRING 2013

Piaf (ZP652) - Fresh Forsythia Yellow Metallic - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Fashion Designer Zang Toi)

GeiGei (ZP651) - Blushing Cherry Blossom Pink Metallic - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Zang Toi/SS13).

Julie (ZP650) - Soft Wisteria Purple Metallic - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Zang Toi/SS13).

Blu (ZP653) - Lucky Hyacinth Blue Cream - Full Coverage

Neely (ZP655) - Earliest Spring Green Cream - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Peter Som/SS13).

Jacqueline (ZP654) - Perfect Magnolia Nude Cream - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Peter Som/SS13)

 

Shipping January 01, 2013

 

Ultra long-wearing, nail lacquers by Zoya are BIG5FREE - all formulas are completely free of harmful industrial chemicals such as toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Zoya Lovely $8 (US)

Follow the Zoya Nail Polish and Treatments Blog and stay tuned on Twitter (@Zoyanailpolish) and Facebook for release date updates.

Hashtags: #ZoyaLovely and #nailpolish.

So what's the verdict, everyone? Excited? Disappointed? Let me know!

Princess Polish

Falling Forward Nail Art Challenge: Day 4 - Back to School

Happy Football Sunday, everyone! It has been a crazy week in sports for this Jersey girl. My alma mater, Rutgers, smashed Arkansas yesterday to bring their record to 4-0! Mets starting knuckleball and CY Young candidate R.A. Dickey notched his 19th win of the season over the Miami Marlins in dramatic fashion. (Read: I was tearing my hair out as it got to 4-3 in the top of the 9th). And the Jets will be playing the Dolphins in a little over 30 minutes from the time I start this post. 

Today, I'm bringing you Day 4 of the Nail Art challenge with a Back to School theme!

For those of you who have been following the blog from the early days of a crappy point and shoot camera, you may remember this mani. I've updated it slightly with a few new colors, but it's comparable. The biggest improvement in general is the picture quality!

For the locker (pinky), I used Revlon Silver Dollar, the Chalkboard (ring) features Sally Hansen Emerald Express, the ruler (middle) is Piggy Polish It's All About Blue, the books and apple feature NOPI Yellow... It's Me, and lastly is Sally Hansen White On with Funky Fingers black crackle. The detailing was all done with nail art paints (Stripe Rite and Art Club) and a striper brush.

So what do you all think? I'm dying to know!
Princess Polish

Falling Forward Challenge: Day 1 - Neons

Good morning, polishaholics! Today, I'm beginning the Falling Forward Nail Art Challenge and am very excited. This is my first nail art challenge!

As you can see above, today's theme is neons!

I'm not a big fan of neons, so I had to do something that I would be willing to rock on a daily basis.

I went with a pale green base in Julep Courteney and used It's So Easy Stripe Rite paints in neon colors to make a stringy French manicure.

I really like how it turned out. The stripes remind me a bit of ocean ripples. And the muted green of Julep Courteney makes it a little less in-your-face.

Before we bid farewell, to summer neons, be sure to check out the posts of my fellow bloggers who are undertaking the challenge!

College Polished
Tall Girl in Heels
Nail Polish Anonymous
Peace Love Lacquer
DIY Polish
XO, Noelle
Galactic Lacquer
Princess Polish
Munchy's Nails
Pishposh and Polish
Beyond Beauty Lounge
Beauty Dish
Jilltastic Nail Design

Have a great rest of your Monday!
Princess Polish

Swatch and Review: It's So Easy Saturday - Hypnotic Swirls

Hope everyone is having a lovely Saturday!

Here's another installment of It's So Easy Saturday. Last week's theme was Miami Stripes and this week is Hypnotic Swirls!

I used the neon Stripe Rite colors to make curves that remind me of op art.

I definitely LOVED the fact that I could make curves with the brushes relatively easier than I thought. These would be really easy to use for french tips, in my opinion.

I thought this was bright and summery and loved wearing it to work! I got tons of compliments.

Visit the It's So Easy website at www.itssoeasynails.com for more information on the variety of products and retailers near you. Be sure to also check out their Facebook, Instagram at @ItsSoEasyNails, Twitter, and Pinterest pages!

Disclaimer: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for consideration. For more information please visit my Disclaimer page.

Swatch and Review: It's So Easy Saturday - Miami Stripes

Hello, everyone! For next few Saturdays, I'm going to be showing you some cool nail art with the help of It's So Easy!

Today, I'm going to show you a design I created with the help of Stripe Rite, nail art paint with a precise striper brush.

I wanted to do something that was bright and funky for summer, but that wouldn't be too over the top. So I decided to do an accent nail and looked to the old TV show, Miami Vice, for inspiration. Who does love those crazy 80's outfits, right?

This was not nearly as time consuming as you might think. I did the stripes in different colors, all using shades of Stripe Rite. Then, I separated them with a thin black stripe. I let the stripes dry for about ten minutes before drawing on the palm tree, also with the black paint.

Here, you can see how smooth the stripes dried. It wasn't bumpy to the touch or anything.

The cool thing about the It’s So Easy website is that it features a Nail Art Community. Fans can upload their nail designs, regardless of experience level, and interact with others through Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

Finger art fanatics can have their wishes granted through the It’s So Easy Product Section by creating a personalized Wish List... perfect for birthdays and holidays! Users can select from Stripe Rites, loose glitters, cracked ice, rhinestones and more, then print or email to have their list on hand when visiting their nearest It’s So Easy store location.

Need inspiration? The growing How-To page offers quick and easy nail art tutorials that can be accomplished in a few easy steps. A What You Need list is available to help visitors create their desired look.

Visit the website at www.itssoeasynails.com for more information on the variety of products and retailers near you. Be sure to also check out their Facebook, Instagram at @ItsSoEasyNails, Twitter, and Pinterest pages!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!
Princess Polish

Disclaimer: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for consideration. For more information please visit my Disclaimer page.