Criss Cross Striping Tape Mani

TGIF, my lovelies! I'm so ready for this week to be over. Aren't all of you?

Today's post is going to be a bit short. It is my first foray into striping tape and I was pretty happy with the end result. I think with a little more practice, I'll be ready for a how-to post!

I used Nfu Oh 61 as a base with Rimmel Black Satin as the top coat. I like Black Satin because it dries with a rubbery texture that is a nice contrast to the linear holo of Nfu Oh.

I know there's a little jaggedness to some of the lines, stupid macro! They're not this noticeable in person.

Is this something you would try? Would you want to see a tutorial?

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?

Swatch and Review: China Glaze Tranzitions

Happy Saturday, everyone! Today, I have for you three of the new Tranzitions shades from China Glaze!

The Tranzitions are a form of color-changing polish in which the use of top coat triggers the color shift. In all of the swatches with the dual colors, I used China Glaze Fast Forward top coat.

First up is Shape Shifter, a gunmetal metallic polish. This was opaque in just one coat. The color itself was pretty, but very streaky. I did my best to hide the brushstrokes, but I wasn't thrilled with the end result.

Here is Shape Shifter with the top coat. I wanted to do some designs on the nail so you could see the difference with and without top coat. As you can see, the color shifts to a blurple that I'm pretty fond of and would probably wear on its own.

This one is Altered Reality, a teal metallic polish that was opaque in one coat. This was even more streaky than Shape Shifter.

The french tip I did was with two coats of top coat and it barely made a difference. The shift wasn't enough to be noticeable for me. This was by far my least favorite of the three.

Split Perso-nail-ity was my favorite of the three and probably the only one I'd wear again. It's a dusty pink that changes to more of a magenta. This is with two coats to even out the streakiness.

And here is the color with the top coat. I used a dotting tool to create the polka dots and then dotted the original color back on to hollow them out. I thought this was a pretty easy way to do nail art.

The pros: Versatile color. Need only one bottle for multiple looks.

The cons: Slow dry time unless you use a top coat, but you can't if you want any portion to remain pink. These shades also stained my nails. Additionally, the brushstrokes are not really attractive to me in the first two shades and not nearly enough of a color shift.

The Tranzitions collection is currently available at ULTA and other beauty retail stores. For more information, please visit www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze on Facebook (@ChinaGlazeOfficial), Twitter (@ChinaGlaze) and Pinterest (pinterest.com/chinaglaze).

What do you think of the Tranzitions? Do you have a favorite?

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: Lush Lacquer Ticklish Teal

Hello, everyone! Sorry for the delay in coming back. I think I just needed the time off post-vacation to relax and get in a good state of mind, even once I was over being sick. Law school is VERY taxing mentally and emotionally, so I think I just needed the break.

But I'm back now... and with lots of fun things to share!

Today's polish is one I bought as part of Llarowe's Scratch and Dent Grab Bags: Lush Lacquer Ticklish Teal!

Ticklish Teal is a black jelly base filled with all different sizes of black and teal hex glitter, as well as teal bar glitter. The above picture is with three coats and one layer of top coat.

This color was very pretty and the base built up better outside of my light box. That being said, I probably would have had better results if I used a black base polish, but I was afraid of losing the awesome black hex glitter if I did.

The application wasn't gloopy and there was definitely a ton of glitter in each stroke. It was a little gritty on the nail, but not to the point where one coat of top coat couldn't handle it. However, this was REALLYYYYYYYYYYYYY hard to get off. I'm talking about three separate foil wraps AND a soak in some remover. It took me about a full hour to get it off. I was contemplating using this as a base for a striping tape mani and am really glad I reconsidered.

So what do you ladies think? Is this one worth all of the removal trouble?

Until next time!