Zoya Summer 2012 Beach Collection Swatch and Review: Shelby

Zoya Shelby (2 coats)

Happy Hump Day! Today was my first day back at work and I'm a bit tired and still have a fever. I have lots of brand new collections from Sally Hansen coming up soon, so stay tuned. I also have a really exciting announcement to make soon...I don't want to give too much away. 

I'm also excited to announce that I am now swatching and reviewing for Zoya! That means I'll have the brand new Summer 2014 collections and the Magical Pixie polishes before they go for sale! I'm so happy and I feel like this is a big step for my blog. I've been working on this blog for over 4 and a half years (5 year anniversary in July!!) so I'm happy to have my hard work acknowledged. I wouldn't be this far without all of you, my beloved readers! I appreciate every single time you click to see what I have to see and say. Now that I've gotten all sappy, how about I finally get to the last Zoya polish I have to show (for now)? Shelby comes from the 2012 Beach collection and is a blue-toned pink creme. I'd like to think that Barbie would like this color for her nails. The formula was a little thick and streaky on the first coat, but completely covered with the second. 

Zoya Summer 2013 Swatches and Review Spam Part Deux: Amy and Rocky

Zoya Amy (2 coats)

Zoya Rocky (2 coats)

Continuing on with the Zoya spam, I have 2 polishes that come from the 2 different 2013 Summer collections-Amy from the Irresistible and Rocky from the Stunning collection. Up first is Amy. You may notice a lot of orange and dusty polishes on my blog. My husband's favorite color is orange so he can enjoy them. He's been so supportive of my blog, I figure it's the least I can do. Either way, I still like orange anyway. This one just shines. Shines! It's a bright orange with their famous glass-flecked gold shimmer. I think this one would also look great as a pedicure this summer. The formula was perfect in only 2 coats. 

The second polish I have is Rocky which is pretty much the exact opposite of Amy. It's a medium dusty blue that dries a little bit darker than the bottle color. I love it! It looks a bit similar to Robyn though. Other bloggers were saying Robyn is brighter and Rocky is a dustier blue. I haven't done a comparison so I'm just the messenger from others who have. This one also had a great formula and application. Enjoy your night. 

P.S. I'm still a bit sick and doctors still have no idea what I have. I've had bloodwork done, checkups, etc. Anyone else have a fever for over a week with only a headache, fatigue and body aches (all likely due to the fever)? Yeah, no other real symptom. I also got the flu shot and it doesn't feel like the flu. 

Zoya Spam Swatches and Reviews: Song and Rue

Zoya Song (2 coats)

Zoya Rue (3 coats)

More Zoya swatches for you! I hope you don't mind. Song comes from the Zoya Fall 2012 Diva Collection. Yes, it's almost a couple years old, but it is the most beautiful bright shimmery blue. It was also extremely opaque and barely needed the 2 smooth coats I gave it. This is definitely a favorite for many. 

Zoya Rue is a newer color and comes from the Spring 2014 Naturel Collection which featured many nude shades. Rue is a light pinkish creme and changes depending on your skintone. I have more golden tones so it looks pink, but if you have pink tones, it will will be more of a nude for you. It was a little streaky on the first 2 coats, but completely evened out and self-leveled on the third. I love both of these polishes. 

Zoya Holiday 2013 Zenith Collection Swatches and Review: Cassedy

Zoya Cassedy (2 coats)

Since the Zoya Earth Day promotion is still going on, I figure it would be nice to show some of my backlog of Zoya polishes. I only bought one polish from the Zenith collection (I almost bought Seraphina though) which is a pewter foil that has hints of teal depending on the angle and lighting. I think this one looks really awesome and is unique to my collection due to the teal foil finish. As usual, it had amazing formula and application. Some people have issues with it drying, but I guess I happen to use the correct combination of basecoats and topcoats which makes it not an issue. I hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Nail Pattern Boldness Time Traveler Collection Swatches and Review: Oodiful

Nail Pattern Boldness Oodiful (2 coats)

I'm still sick-still! I went to the doctor and they basically have no idea what I have so they gave me antibiotics for tick diseases. I doubt I've had any tick bites without me knowing since I don't live or work near woods or grasses. Oh well, if it's not better by Monday, I have to go get blood work done. 

I haven't been bashful in announcing my love for Doctor Who. It just so happens to be that the Ood are my favorite characters! They look like this:

Source

As soon as I found that Nail Pattern Baldness had a polish named after them, I knew I had to have it. Luckily I liked the color as well. It's a medium grey crelly with large and small white hexagonal glitter and large and small pink square glitter. I thought it was going to be sheer, but it only needed 2 easy coats! I do wish it had a bit more glitter in there; otherwise, I think it's perfect. You can find Nail Pattern Baldness in their store, their Etsy store and stores likes Llarowe. Find out news and updates on their Facebook page as well. 

Maybelline Brocade Collection Colour Show Polish Swatch and Review: Gilded Rose

Maybelline Gilded Rose (2 coats) over 2 coats Ulta On Taupe of the World

I wasn't sure if this Maybelline polish would be opaque or not, so I decided to use it over my Ulta On Taupe of the World manicure I showed yesterday. Gilded Rose comes from the Brocade Collection that was a bif hit and features a few sizes of pink hexagonal glitter and tons of gold microshimmer. You could likely get away with 3 coats for full opacity, but I still like it over this nude. It looks so dainty and cute for such a great price (~$3). The formula and application was wonderful as well. Do you have any from this collection?

Ulta Nail Polish Swatch and Review: On Taupe of the World

Ulta On Taupe of the World (2 coats)

I'm sorry for my absence. I've been sick with a high fever since Saturday so blogging has been on the back burner. I'm still sick, but I just wanted to do a quick post for you.

It's been too long since I've posted and Ulta Salon Formula polish. They are always on sale, so I find they are a great deal. I wanted another palate cleanser, so I picked up On Taupe of the World which is a taupe shimmer. Part of the reason why I picked it up was because of the shimmer so I'm really glad you can see it on the nail. The formula was a breeze and only needed 2 coats for full opacity. If you are into nudes right now, pick this up at your local Ulta store. I hope your week is going better than mine! 

Also, don't forget about the awesome Zoya Earth day promotion going on now! 

Doctor Lacquer Spring 2014 Coholorful Traits Collection Swatches and Reviews: Optimistic Youth and True Compassion

Doctor Lacquer Optimistic Youth (3 coats-cold)

Doctor Lacquer Optimistic Youth (3 coats-warm)

Doctor Lacquer Optimistic Youth (changing)

Doctor Lacquer True Compassion (3 coats-cold)

Doctor Lacquer True Compassion (3 coats-warm)

*True Compassion is a press sample-Optimistic Youth was purchased by me*

Happy Easter! I'm happy to report that the Easter bunny made it to my house last night/this morning. I have enough candy for a week to eat! Good thing Easter has the best candy of all holidays, IMHO. 

I have the final 2 polishes from Doctor Lacquer and they are both thermal linear holographic polishes. Optimistic Youth is easily my favorite thermal polish I own. I really enjoy the brown/beige transition to the chartreuse green. It's extremely earthy which is perfect for this month since it has Earth Day! It was easy to change from the last picture I showed. The formula was great, but it was a bit sheer, even after 3 coats. It wasn't really a problem though. 

True Compassion is not quite as much of a big transition as it goes from a cobalt blue to a light cornflower blue linear holo. I mean, it is a big change, but I like when it goes to a completely different color. The darker color is the cold version and lighter version is the warm. The formula was exactly the same as Optimistic Youth which needed 3 coats. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the polishes I tried. Yes, a few of them tricked me into thinking it would be opaque when it really needed a base, but that's partly my fault. You can find Doctor Lacquer on Facebook and Instagram to keep up on all the news and releases and their polish run from $8.49 to $11.99 in their store.

*This polish was provided by the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*

Doctor Lacquer Review and Swatches: Purplemint For Your Thoughts and Fashion (Mg)azine

Doctor Lacquer Purplemint For Your Thoughts (4 coats)

Doctor Lacquer Fashion (Mg)azine (2 coats) over 2 coats Jessica Cosmetics Sharktooth

*press samples*

TGIF! If you celebrate Easter, happy Good Friday! Easter is my favorite holiday because it's finally Spring, you get to eat candy, eat food with family, and not have the whole ordeal of getting gifts for others (which is nice, but anxiety inducing). 

Angelyn was kind enough to include a few samples with my order, and tonight I have Purplemint For Your Thoughts and Fashion (Mg)azine which comes from the Elements of Style collection (Fashion (Mg)azine only). Neither of these are thermals, so I figured I'd show them together. I made a big mistake with Purplemint For Your Thoughts. I thought it was going to be opaque enough on its own, but I really recommend you use a base with this one. It's pretty much covered in 4 coats, but working with the glitter would be much easier with a base and you also save some polish while doing so! It's an eggplant purple jelly with circular, square and hexagonal blue, white and green glitter. It's lovely, but now you know to layer it! 

I learned my lesson for the second polish, Fashion (Mg)azine. I used Jessica Cosmetic's Sharktooth as a base which is a stark white creme and was perfect with this polish. It has a white jelly base with various pastel glitters in circle, square and hexagonal form. When I wore this, I got multiple compliments stating how Eastery it looked and I totally agree. It's just so cheerful and the glitter really stands out. Overall, I wish I didn't have to wear undies, but the glitters in these make up for that fact. Oh, and the whole science aspect of this polish has me swooning with magnesium (which burns white with flame....get it?).

You can find Doctor Lacquer on Facebook and Instagram to keep up on all the news and releases and their polish run from $8.49 to $11.99 in their store.


*These polishes were provided by the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*

Zoya Magical Pixie Dust Preview for Summer 2014

More summer polishes from Zoya? You can order these now which will be released on May 15th. Some people were on the fence about the last set. Will you be buying?

Doctor Lacquer Hormonal Efficiency Collection Swatch and Review: Estrogen

Doctor Lacquer Estrogen (3 coats)

Hi again! Is it Friday yet, because it feels like it. I have another indie brand I've never reviewed before (I've heard good things though) called Doctor Lacquer. I have 4 polishes to show, many of them thermals. Up today is from the Hormonal Efficiency collection which cracked me up. It's called Estrogen and is a pink/purple jelly with tons of pink, green, and white glitter with some of them being holographic. There is also an abundant amount of green microglitter in there as well. As you can see, I had no problem getting the glitter out! This thing was so choke full of it that I had to start taking some off because I wanted to see some of the base color. Speaking of base color, this one is supposed to be a thermal that changes from pink (warm-shown here) to purple (cold). I tried my faucet sink cold water and it wasn't changing so I contacted Angelyn, the owner, and she kindly told me that since temperatures are getting warmer, the facet cold setting is not cold enough to change some of the colors-which is what happened to me. Rest assured, if you put the polish in the freezer for a short time, it will definitely change to a full on purple. I found it easiest to do full strokes on the first coat to try and get as much of the base color on there, and then dab the glitter and move it around with the brush on the second and third. Overall, despite it not changing color for me, I still think this is a fun, unique polish.

You can find Doctor Lacquer on Facebook and Instagram to keep up on all the news and releases and their polish run from $8.49 to $11.99 in their store.