Zoya Stamped Paisley Flowers

Hello, everyone!

As you may have noticed on Facebook, I've finally gotten the hang of stamping now that I've found my ideal stamper, the Creative Shop Stamper! So now, I'm a stamp-a-holic!

Today's look features an early plate from when I purchased the Salon Express kit, which basically was an epic fail. However, the plates were still decent quality and featured replicas of Konad plates. This was one of those plates, so I'm not sure what the corresponding Konad plate is. If anyone knows, please comment and I'll update this post.

My favorite color is purple, so I wanted to do something monochromatic for work this week. I wound up using Zoya Julie as the base and Zoya Belinda for the design. I think I would have liked the design to be a bit darker, but I really attribute that more to the thinness of the lines in the pattern, rather than the polish itself.

What do you think of this color and design combo?

Everyone at the office went crazy over it this morning!

What's in My Travel Bag

For a beauty blogger, narrowing down what I bring on vacation to just the essentials is a chore. After all, I have over ten deep drawers full of polish, blushes, foundations, and other bath and body products.

When I went to London, the struggle was real. I was going to be spending many days in another country and while I was certain that if I was missing anything, one of their drug stores would have me covered, I didn't want to have to go hunting down any stores or figuring out which brands were comparable. Plus, the exchange rate from USD to GBP is not favorable, so I wanted to avoid spending money unnecessarily. (AKA: have more money to bring back British cosmetics!)

So here is everything I packed below:

The Hawaii lotion, Pantene root boster bottle, dry shampoo, and face wipes were packed in a gallon bag in my suitcase on their own. However, everything else fit into my Victoria's Secret double-sided cosmetics case.

So what exactly did I bring?

Let's break it down!

Swatch and Review: Zoya Naked Manicure System

Long time, no see, everyone! I'm ten days away from taking the NY and NJ Bar Exams (AHHHH!), so hopefully, I'll have more time to get back to swatching and my nail art once that stupid test is over!

In other news, as you may have seen on Facebook, I received the Zoya Naked Manicure System a little under a month ago. Since then, I have been testing the various shades of the collection, as well as the wear of both matte and glossy looks.

Here is what Zoya says about the Naked Manicure System: "The Naked Manicure System is a simple, highly effective system that gives clients instant, gorgeous natural looking nails. It also provides the intense therapeutic, long term benefits for stronger, healthier nails."

Because of what was posted on their website, I approached product testing with three goals in mind:

1) How natural does it look?
2) How long does it last?
3) Does it make my nails stronger or healthier?

Sometimes, from all the swatching, my nails can be a little yellow and I have issues with ridges. I'm also going to be starting a new job in the fall and I wanted a few more professional-looking options that I could wear every day and know they're appropriate for both day and night work events.

You can also layer different Perfector shades to get a more customized color based on your skin tone and condition of your nails, as demonstrated below:

I'm happy to report that I've now gotten the whole collection swatched and tested for wear!

How Natural Does it Look (The Perfector Shades):

Below, you'll find a comparison between my natural nail, the satin (matte) look, and the glossy look.

DEAL ALERT: Full Zoya Naked Manicure System for $77 (Reg: $96)

Like many of you, I've found myself intrigued by the following from Zoya:

According to Zoya, the system will:

The only downside to the system thus far has been the price. The full kit and caboodle consists of five colors, one white tip shade, two different top coats, and a base coat for a total of $96.

They also offer one color (Pink Perfecter), the white tip, the base coat, and satin top coat for $25 as a set.

Yet, when I started to do the math, I quickly realized something didn't add up.

And I was right.

As I previously mentioned, the price of the full starter kit with a stand for the nine bottles is $96.

But then this happened:

However, it turns out, you can merely purchase the Women's Starter Kit and add on the Mauve, Lavender, Nude, and Buff Perfecters... and get the collection and all the free gifts that Zoya has to offer for $77.

The only thing you don't seem to get is the little stand meant for salon display, which I don't think is quite worth the $19 upcharge. Information on application, blending, etc. is available on the NakedManicure.com website, as well, so it isn't exclusive to the kit.

So if you've been eying the full collection, or even just a few, the best bet is to buy the Women's Starter Kit for $25 (since just the base coat and satin top coat alone are $12 each) and then individually purchase any other shades you might want.

Just picked up the full set for $77 myself, so expect a full review in the future. As someone who sometimes likes to go "naked" (when it comes to my nails... get your minds out of the gutter!), I'm interested to see how these look and function.

Thoughts on this interesting discovery?

NJ Pet Expo and 101 Dalmatians Nail Art

Two weekends ago was the New Jersey Pet Expo and I attended for the second time. Last year, I had just adopted Pebbles (read all about her story here) the week before, so I stocked up on some goodies for her.

This go around, we now have Dakota, Pebbles, and Brynn (who we permanently adopted last March), so I stocked up on some toys, treats, and a couple of new collars. Those collars are so pretty... I'm sure I'll be using them as inspiration for some manicures

So in honor of Pet Expo, I did a little 101 Dalmatians nail art!

I used Revlon Gold Coin, Milani Spotlight White, Zoya Breezi, Zoya Rehka, and Zoya Raven to make this nail art, along with gray striping paint.

This was extremely labor-intensive, but I'm happy with how it came out. What do you think?

Zoya Loredana with Studs

Hello, everyone! I just picked up some awesome clearance stuff while at Ulta, including backups of the Zoya MatteVelvet Collection and a nail wheel of studs. Both were on clearance for 50% off!

I thought it would be kind of cool to play with the matte silver metallic look of Zoya Loredana with the shiny gold metallic pop of the square studs.

The above is with three coats of Loredana. In order to make the studs stick (because they're concave), I had to apply top coat to my ring finger before applying the studs. After I felt the top coat was dry and the studs were secure, I went back over the polish with a matte top coat. I honestly wouldn't notice the difference.

Will you try the mixed metallic look anytime soon?

ANNOUNCING: Zoya Delight

ZOYA DELIGHT
Get ready for mouth-watering spring delights from Zoya! Inspired by the soft and airy colors of the season, Zoya Delight serves up three cheerful creams and three turquoise flash metallics for an updated, flirty way to wear pastels! All in the full-coverage, long-wearing, Big5Free* formula Zoya Nail Polish is famous for.

·            ZP772/Rayne: Dewy, spring blue with an energizing turquoise metallic flash.

·        ZP773/Lillian: Faded aquamarine with a glossy cream finish.

·            ZP774/Tiana: Palette-cleansing ‘pistachio gelato’ green in a glossy cream finish.

·        ZP775/Daisy: Refreshing ‘lemon merengue’ yellow with a turquoise metallic flash.

·            ZP776/Leslie: Soft spring lavender with a turquoise metallic flash.

·        ZP777/Eden: Classic spring flower pink in a glossy cream finish.

**BIG5FREE: Zoya Professional Nail Lacquer formula contains no formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, dibutyl phthalate, toluene or camphor.

AVAILABLE 02/02/15!

ZOYA IS THE HEALTHY COLOR OF FASHION!

$9 (US)

Available in top salons, spas and on zoya.com

I'm definitely looking forward to such a bright pink in Eden, but also the metallic turquoise flash found in Rayne, Daisy, and Leslie! What are your thoughts on this upcoming collection?

Zoya Negative Space Nail Art

Hello, everyone! I hope that you all had a lovely holiday and are enjoying the final giveaway in the 31 Days of Giveaways series, which features a Coach Wristlet and a Pixie Dust set!

Today, I have my first negative space nail art to show you. I experimented with some nail vinyls to achieve this look and I'm pretty happy with how it came out!

 

I decided to go with matte shades for this look, so I used Zoya Veruschka and Savita.

A helpful tip for using nail vinyls: peel them off in the direction of the design. So for here, I peeled up a little, then down a little, following the zig zag. It helped me achieve much cleaner lines on this hand.

What do you think of my negative space zig zags? Is this something you'd like to try for yourself?

Until next time!

31 Days of Giveaways - Days 30 and 31: Zoya and Coach

The end is here! I have combined the last two days of the giveaway because I think these two are just too awesome to post for only 24 hours.

So this giveaway will end on December 31st at midnight!

Here's the Zoya prize:

And here is the Coach prize:

Are you as excited now as I am?!? Enter below!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hanukkah Dreidel Nail Art

Hanukkah begins tonight at sun down, so I thought it would be appropriate to kick off the eight craaaaazy nights with a little ode to the dreidel.

The dreidel frustrated me to no end as a child because I was highly unskilled at getting it to spin and always seemed to lose to my dad. Oh well.

At the least, painting them was more fun than having all of my chocolate coins stolen.

For this manicure, I used navy, teal, red, yellow, lime, and white acrylic paint over Zoya Blu. Blu has been lingering in my polish drawer for so long now and I had forgotten how much I adored her.


A very happy Hanukkah to those of you who celebrate and please keep posted for more Hanukkah nail art, as well as upcoming Christmas manicures, as well!

31 Days of Giveaways - Day 20: Discontinued Zoya Trio!

I'm very excited for today's Zoya giveaway! If you haven't read about the giveaway and the rules, click here.

Check out the prize under the cut! It's totally AMAZING! And because it's so amazing! I'm going to let this giveaway run through Monday, as an extra apology for the posting issues I've had as of late!

31 Days of Giveaways - Day 10: Zoya

Welcome to Day 10... it's a BIGGIE!!! If you haven't read about the giveaway and the rules, click here.

Day 10's mystery Zoya prize is...

THE ENTIRE MATTEVELVET COLLECTION!

Fill out the Rafflecopter widget below to enter! This giveaway will run for 48 hours, due to an issue with this post being published, so it will end on December 5th at midnight. Check back tomorrow for the reveal of the Illamasqua prize!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ANNOUNCING: 31 Days of Giveaways!

Hello, everybody! I'm super excited to bring you this giveaway that I've been teasing on Facebook the past few weeks!

Starting on Monday, November 24th, I'll be kicking off 31 Days of Giveaway that will run through Christmas! Each day will feature a different prize and the giveaway for that prize will be open for exactly 24 hours.

Rather than reveal every specific prize ahead of time, I've created a handy calendar below that lists each day's giveaway by brand or by category. Tune in each day at midnight EST for the big reveal across the main blog and all social media pages (including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!)

Many of these products are limited edition or are discontinued items!

This giveaway is open to everyone 18 years and older AND is open internationally.

Are you as super excited for this giveaway as I am? What products are you hoping are included based on the listing above?

DEAL ALERT: Get Zoya Nail Polish for $4.84 a bottle at ULTA Beauty!

Hello, my fellow polishaholics! You may remember last week's post about how to get any Zoya shade for just $6.50 at ULTA Beauty any day of the week. Well, this week only, you get get any non-PixieDust shade for just $4.84 a bottle.

To learn how, keep reading!

Frozen Elsa Holographic Gradient

For those of you who have been following me for a while below nails may not look very familiar to you. There's a very good reason for that!

My younger sister is fourteen and decided to dress up as Elsa from Frozen for Halloween. She wanted something that was Elsa-like on her nails and had previously asked me to create a gradient on her nails for a while. So I figured now was as good of a time as any!

I wanted to use something holographic to create an icy look, like how snow and ice glisten in the sunlight. And of course, who can resist rhinestones?

I used four shades for this blue holographic gradient. From dark to light: Zoya Dream, OPI Blue Chips (aka: OPI The Flowers are Blue-Ming), Wet n Wild Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and OPI DS Shimmer.

I used a bit different of a technique for this gradient than I've used in the past. Normally, I sponge on one color at a time, however, I decided to try a different method. This time, I painted on Who Wants to Be a Millonaire as a base coat and painted the gradient onto a makeup sponge, then dabbed that on my nail.
 
It needed a few touch ups, but I was happy with it and my sister was over the moon.

I added some bling in the form of a rhinestone snowflake... unfortunately, one fell off sometime between the night I painted them and the afternoon I took the picture, but it's still blingtastic to me!

What do you think of this blue holo gradient? Did I do Elsa proud?

DEAL ALERT: Get any Zoya polish for just $6.50 at ULTA Beauty

When Zoya released the Entice and Ignite Collections for Fall 2014, I knew I immediately had to pick up an extra bottle of Sansa for a friend who is a HUGE fan of Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire.

There's a Harmon's Discount Cosmetics in my town, so I hardly ever shop at ULTA for brands like OPI, Essie, Color Club, and Orly, as well as a most of the drug store brands. However, Harmon's doesn't carry Zoya or China Glaze and the only other discount place is in the mall. And let me make this very clear: I ABHOR going to the local mall.

However, I've found a way to purchase Zoya polishes for the discount store price at my local ULTA, a mere three minutes drive from my house, right next to Whole Foods. (Let's not even get started on Whole Foods, aka: Whole Paycheck.)

By the time I was done, Zoya Sansa cost me a mere $6.50 AND I got a three-pack of mini nail files as an added free bonus.

So how did I do it? The solution was incredibly easy and all you really need is a smartphone.

Zoya Bruised and Bloody Nail Art

Happy Halloween, my lovelies! May your day be filled with lots of treats and not only a moderately acceptable amount of screaming, sugared-up children!

My NOTD in honor of this holiday uses the classic blood drip look, but with a little something extra.

 

By sponging a little Zoya Cynthia around the border of my nail, over a coat of Zoya Audrey, and topping it off with Zoya Rekha for the blood, I created something a bit spookier than usual. Perhaps, Zombie-like?

What do you think of my subtle twist on a Halloween classic manicure?

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 Tickled Polka Dots

After featuring nail art for the Zoya Bubbly collection, I felt it was only appropriate to feature nail art using the Zoya Tickled collection today!

Again, I wanted to go for a fun and funky feel and with these shades from the collection, it was not a problem!

All polka dots were made using Zoya Kitridge. From thumb to pinky finger, the shades in order are Wendy, Ling, Tilda, Rooney, and Rocha.

Zoya Kitridge is a summer bubblegum cream.

Zoya Ling is a vibrant royal blue cream polish.

Zoya Tilda is a warm mantis green cream.

Zoya Wendy is a juicy summer melon polish.

Zoya Rooney is a mid-range magenta pink cream.

Zoya Rocha is a folly red cream polish.

All of these polishes were opaque with two coats, while Kitridge was fairly opaque with one coat for the dots, so I imagine it would be opaque for full coverage in two, as well.

The entire Tickled collection is available at Zoya.com for $9 per bottle. You can also find Zoya at your local Ulta store.

Are you going to be picking up any of the Bubbly shades? And do you love these as much as I do?

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: Zoya Magical Pixie Dust for Summer 2014

Happy Friday! Yay, it's the weekend! To celebrate, I'm reviewing the three new Zoya Magical Pixies for Summer 2014!