Zoya True Collection

Tonight I have Zoya's spring 2012 collection, True, to show you guys! I think I like this as much as I liked Smoke and Mirrors from fall. Tomorrow I have the coordinating mini collection, Fleck Effect.
A quick word about the formula, because these are all uniformly great - I needed only two coats for each polish. That's a good consistency with six different polishes! Also, for the record, I don't use top coat unless otherwise stated in my swatches, so these are all glossy on their own.
Okay, let's get this going with Bevin. Do I have to tell you how much I love this? I knew I was going to love it from the first swatch I saw of it and my opinion hasn't changed. It's perfection. It's in the mint family, but darker, dustier and a tad more blue than many mints. Gorgeous. Perfect for spring, I think!

Cho is the first of two neutral shades in this collection. Cho is the warmer of the two, it's a tad more yellow and warm and it has a fine shimmer that's barely noticeable on the nail. You can see it if you click to enlarge my photos but it mostly serves to add depth to this polish. It's very pretty. I think this doesn't suit my skintone as much as the other neutral, though.

Farah is the other neutral, and it's darker, cooler and a tad more brown/grey than Cho. It doesn't have a subtle shimmer, either. This one is much more suited to my skintone, I think.

The last three of the spring collection are straight out shimmers, so I have two shots of each. This first shimmer is Lotus, and it's one of two purples in the True collection. This one is cooler, lighter, more blue toned and dusty than Tru. The shimmer is a metallic, electric purple. Gorgeous! Might want to click to enlarge these to see the shimmer better.

Next up is Skylar. When I first saw this, I thought the shimmer in it was straight silver, but it's not - it's silver, gold, pink, and turquoise. I tried to capture all the colors but nope, no such luck. The base color of Skylar is a gorgeous dusty slate blue.

The last color I have to show you is Tru, which is deeper and brighter than Lotus. It's also more red toned. The shimmer in Tru is metallic red and gold.

I am so in love with these! I don't guess I need to say that. The shimmers are awesome, Bevin is totally a me color. Farah is the perfect "nude" shade for me. I like Cho as well, but I think it'd be better suited on someone with a different skintone than me. What do you guys think of this collection?
As I mentioned, tomorrow I have a bunch of swatches of the Fleck Effect Collection!

Disclaimer: Product(s) in this post were provided in return for an honest review.

Nicole by OPI Iceberg Lotus

Nicole by OPI (NOPI) Iceberg Lotus is...stunning. Seriously. It's an electric turquoise shimmer duochrome. 

I have to go ahead and warn you, this is much more vivid and amazing in person. I tried so hard to capture the awesome, but you know, sometimes it just can't be done! I think I was able to capture a bit of the purple duochrome though - if you click to enlarge these photos you'll see it a bit better. This was a bit thin, because the shimmer is suspended in a jelly base, so I used three coats here. 

I know my application is less than stellar because the brush, which is different than my other NOPI bottles, is a short, stumpy paddle type brush. I could not get it to cooperate and it caused some balding and I had difficulty controlling the polish with it. It's a case of madly in love with the polish, hate the brush!

I'll deal with that brush because seriously, there just aren't enough words to describe my drool induced state. 

Nostalgic Nail Lacquer: Bizarre Teenage Love Triangle Collection

Good evening everyone! I have something fun to share with you guys tonight. Recently, Erin, of The Sugar Cube, launched her own Etsy shop where she is selling her line of nail lacquers, called Nostalgic Nail Lacquer. She sent me a couple of sets to show you guys!
The first trio I want to show you is the Bizarre Teenage Love Triangle collection, inspired by the eighties movie Pretty In Pink. *swoon* These are really cute pastel jellies - be still my heart! - with various sized glitters floating in them. They remind me of Sweet Tarts. I have not layered any of these, but these would be FANTASTIC layered.
I'll start with Duckie. Oh sweet Gods, a mint green jelly? Yes please! Duckie has three different shades of glitter. This is a darker mint, though - and quite a bit blue. So, an aqua mint? It's perfect. Because it's a jelly, it's a bit sheer, but I prefer it that way. I liked it with three layers but I could honestly have left it at two and been fine with it, I like it a bit sheer and squishy.

Click to enlarge these, please! The next one I'm showing you is Andie, which is a baby doll pink jelly with four shades of glitter. I used three coats here also. This shade of pink is pretty flattering on my skin tone, it's not too grey like some other baby pinks I've tried!

The last shade of this trio is Blane, and it's a squishy lilac jelly that maddeningly, reads strongly pink in photos. I assure you this REALLY IS purple.  No matter what light I took this in, it appeared more pink than purple! This was the most opaque of the three, but I still used three coats here.

Well, put directly below Andie, it definitely looks more purple. *whew* And I'm glad, because I dislike misrepresenting a color, but I'm sure you guys out there have read more than one nail blogger complaining about trying to get a purple to photograph correctly! They're stubborn little suckers.
This is the cutest collection, isn't it? I'm absolutely in love with it, they're JELLIES! They're PASTEL JELLIES WITH GLITTER! Squishy. I could squee all day over these. What do you guys think?

Disclaimer: Product(s) featured in this post were provided in return for an honest review.

Duri Red Carpet Collection

Okay, I have finally finished up editing photos of the nine polishes in Duri's Red Carpet Collection - this is going to be a bit long! I'll just go ahead and jump right in with photos and details.
As I suspected, Addicted To Fame, the orange I saw in the press release is hot! It's a bright orange loaded with gold shimmer and would look great in the summer as a pedi. I used two coats here for opacity.

Behind The Scenes is a deep vampy reddish toned purple. It looks a bit dark here in the low light photo, but trust me, you can still tell it's purple. Perfect opacity, I could almost have done one coat here.

Celebrity Scandal is a silver foil. It's very fine, though - it could almost be considered a chrome, since it's not very textured! Gorgeous. We have proof here that you need to baby these bad boys when you're applying, because I must have had SOMETHING on my middle finger that didn't agree with the polish! It shows right up on these metallics. If you don't have a nice silver foil, this is a good one - the application was easy, it dried in a snap, and any brush strokes disappear when it's dry. I love that!

Fashion Police is a gorgeous, gorgeous cornflower blue jelly with strong silver shimmer. It's more sheer than the other polishes, but that's to be expected since it's a jelly. I used three coats here. This is as gorgeous as I thought it was going to be from the press release!

Limo Ride is probably my only nemesis in this whole collection. Colors like this are just not me, it might be pretty on summer toes as one of my lovely twitter followers suggested, or topped with a darker stamped polish? It's a copper frost/pearl (maybe someone can identify, I can never QUITE tell the difference) that shows up brushstrokes pretty easily. I used two coats here.

Okay, we've come to the surprise of the collection, for me. Oscar Party is a bright, celery green shimmer. I had to do several photos for you guys and I'm going to ask you to click to enlarge these - it's a duochrome! It shifts from that celery green to a strong orange gold - stunning! I cannot get over how cool this is. I used three coats here, it's a little bit thin. This is going to be hot in the summer especially on your toes.

Whew, that was cool, huh? This next one is Paparazzi, an emerald green shimmer. I don't think I have a polish quite this shade and it is VERY pretty. Two coats here.

Tabloid Rumors is a very nice dark charcoal gray shimmer. Two coats here.

And last, but definitely not least: VIP Lounge. This bright red stole my heart - I don't even like bright reds and I fell head over heels for it! This has more of a berry/blue undertone so that's probably why I like it so much. Two coats here.

So, that's a pretty well rounded collection, huh? My favorites are VIP Lounge, Fashion Police, and Oscar Party, but I think it's a very good collection. What are your favorites?

Disclaimer: Product(s) featured in this post were provided by the PR company in return for an honest review.

Joe Fresh Moss

I'm trying to get back into the swing of things, but it'll probably take me a bit before I'm back to my regular posting of once a day. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate you guys - I've had emails, comments here and folks reaching out to me on twitter and I'm totally touched by your concern and care.
So, anyway - on to today's post!
Ever since I saw this beauty swatched elsewhere, I've been wanting Joe Fresh Moss. It's an awesome green with strong yellow tones - I don't think it could be more aptly name! So, when Halifax sent me my precious bottle of Unicorn Puke, she also sent me a couple of Joe Fresh polishes that I'd had on the wishlist for ages. Previously, Joe Fresh has only been available in Canada, but now they're popping up in New York City, as well. Hopefully they'll eventually expand more into the US!
I intended to show this under Twilight, but Twilight is opaque enough to wear on its own, so when it's layered over Moss, you don't get to see any of the pretty creme of Moss. I decided to scrap that and show them off separately!
As I mentioned, Moss is perfectly named - and I only needed two coats to achieve full coverage. Application wise, the Joe Fresh bottles remind me of the Wet N Wild Craze bottles, they're very cute - short and round. The brushes are also shorter than what we're probably used to but it didn't take me long to get the hang of it -if I remember right, I had the same opinion on the Craze line as well. Also, while I'm thinking about it, I want to mention that I LOVE the font they use on the bottles. It's a little thing, but I like fonts, and this one is nice and clean and eye catching. Anyway, on to photos.

It should be no secret by now that I'm a sucker for yellowed out greens, so obviously I'm going to adore this. And. *deep sigh* I ended up chopping all my nails down not long after this, so I'm at super stubs (for me, anyway) when I broke two nails off in one day. You'll be seeing the evidence of that soon enough.

Layering: China Glaze Glittering Garland and White Cap

Hey guys! Did you have a good holiday? I've got a few more holiday combinations to show off, which should carry me to New Year's Eve, I think. Hope that's okay with everyone!

This layering combination is directly inspired by the lovely Salla, who has the best ideas! I just love her wonderful style.

So, I lied a little. I said I had finished up posting my picks from this year's China Glaze holiday collection - and I had forgotten the star of the show, Glittering Garland. I think this is the runaway hit of the collection, and you can see why. This is a sister of the very famous Emerald Sparkle, a forest green jelly with golden glass fleck. Gah. COULD this be a more perfect holiday polish? I don't think so! I love it of course. I used two coats of this, because I was going to top it with China Glaze White Cap, which is, though sheer, lovely on its own - a milky white shot through with gold. Seriously, if you don't have this, this is a gorgeous, gorgeous shade I'd highly recommend picking up, because it can spice up so many colors. Check it out! First shots are Glittering Garland on its own.

White Cap just really amps up the beauty of Glittering Garland, right? You can better see Glittering Garland if you click on the photos to enlarge them, though. It's a stunner on its own!

China Glaze Emerald Sparkle

MERRY MERRY!

I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday.

This year I decided to keep it simple and wear one of my two favorite holiday polishes, China Glaze Emerald Sparkle. The other favorite is, of course, Ruby Pumps. Emerald Sparkle is divine - if you have the opportunity, definitely hunt it down and nab it! It's a darkened emerald green jelly jam packed with the signature glass fleck - it's divine. I used three coats here for opacity.

I'm playing with my new camera, so we'll see how these photos came out.

And a couple of direct sunlight shots.

Guh. You can click to enlarge these! I don't even know how those pieces of glitter ended up there. Hard to tell today, lol! Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Happy Christmas Eve!

I hope you guys are having a wonderful holiday, wherever you are! We are getting ready for our Christmas Eve celebrations, lots of baking and cooking going on today - my Daddy is going to finally teach me how to make his famous spaghetti, which we have on Christmas as a break to all the turkey we eat during the holidays. Mom's already made her pumpkin bread, I've made the snickerdoodles, hubby and my daughter are making sugar cookies too! Nomnomnom. Tony has also made his famous sausage balls - I swear I could turn INTO a sausage ball, I love those things. We'll be opening presents tonight, following my dad's Christmas traditions from his family. What are your holiday traditions?
Today I'm wearing a festive combo - I've got a beautiful pine green jelly from my friend Tuli in Israel, it's Jade Emerald. I love it so much! I used Color Club Art of Seduction as an accent nail - I just love that glitter set so much, and the red and green from it are so festive. Lots to do so I'll leave you with the photos - I used three coats of each polish and I've a full on sunlight shot for a little bling!

I got bubbles on my pinkie finger! Oopsie, I'm sure that was from rushing around. I could have put some flakies on the green jelly and made it even more festive. Have a wonderful evening!

Finger Paints Mistletoe Mischief

Mistletoe Mischief is from Finger Paints holiday collection last year - I actually didn't bother to pick up any of the shades from this year's collection. I don't know, nothing reached out and screamed "take me home"!
So, this is a little sister to China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, one of my all time favorite greens. The base is a bit darker, and there's not as much sparkle in Mistletoe Mischief but boy, it's a pretty one as well. This swatch is with three coats, so be aware that it is pretty sheer. I've still got VNL here - I don't notice it as much though, honestly - the sparkle totally distracts from the sheerness.

Gosh, that's such a beauty! I really liked last year's collection. So shiny!

Finger Paints Special Effects Collection

Good afternoon everyone! This is a break in my regular posting schedule because today...I HAVE FLAKIES TO SHOW YOU! Also. This is a very, very picture heavy post.
I called up every Sally's Beauty Supply in the area, on the hunt for the Finger Paints Special Effects collection. I'm a bit of a fiend for flakies - they're probably my favorite finish, because they can make every boring creme polish lots of fun. So, I found a manager who didn't mind setting aside two sets of these, since my mom wanted one also! Shout out to Nikki of Sally's Beauty Supply for your help.
There are five flakie polishes in the Special Effects collection - Asylum, Flashy, Flecked, Motley and Twisted. They might all look very similar in the bottle, but they're quite different on.
I decided, rather than to do individual swatches, I'd do flakie skittles.  So from pinkie fingernail to thumbnail I have Asylum, Flashy, Flecked, Motley, and Twisted. I used a base of Savvy (by Femme Couture) Garland, from last year's holiday collection - it's a shimmery deep, dark vampy emerald green.

It looks pretty dark in low lights, but it's nice and glowy in the sunlight. So, I thought this would be a nice, festive base for the flakies.
First off, there's a bottle shot of all five bottles. I've labeled them.

I tried to do bottle shots, but it was impossible to get my four fingers and my thumb with the bottle in the picture, so I have a few varied shots with the bottle. Again, pinkie is Asylum, ring is Flashy, middle is Flecked,  index is Motley, and thumb is Twisted.

I gave up the bottle shots, and have decided the best thing to do with this is the claw.

Hopefully you can see the color changing going on here! What's interesting to me is that Motley is primarily blue, but shifts from aqua to blue to almost a violet. Flecked is mostly an emerald but shifts from aqua to emerald to blue. Flashy is basically a Hidden Treasure/2010 dupe, which goes from orange to yellow to green. The two others, Asylum and Twisted, are multicolored flakies that are NOT identical, but have a really good amount of color shifting!
Just a quick word, if you're unfamiliar with flakies. These are best layered, I guess you could wear them alone but I don't think you'd ever see the effects, and they'd be pretty sheer! The magic comes out over darker colors. You can also use a matte top coat for a really neat effect. The more you shift your hand, the more you'll see the color shift.
So, I hope you enjoyed this post - are you on the hunt for these? Don't forget to click to enlarge any of the photos!