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?

An Update!

Hello, everyone! I'm sorry that I've been absent for the better part of the past two months or so. As many of you know, I started this blog as a senior in college and continued it through law school. I'm very happy to say that I graduated in May and am now preparing to take the NY and NJ state bar exams. Consequently, my free time is at a minimum.

However, I will try to continue to post at least once a week from here out.

That being said, if anyone would like to write a guest post for this blog, please contact me at PrincessPolishBlog@gmail.com. I have plenty of room for those posts, as I don't take the exams until July 28-30th.

Thanks for sticking with me and keeping up with me on Instagram!

xoxo