Zoya Tanzy

Hello lovies!  Merry Monday!

For the past week I've been on vacation in south Florida staying with my Sissy, so I've done nothing but relax and hang out, and play with my niece.  I did get my nails done while I was there though!  This is not the manicure that I got while I was there, this was the one I intended on wearing the entire week, and almost did!

At the very beginning of the year I found a promotion code to get two free Zoya polishes directly from the website, all I had to do was pay shipping.  The two I picked were Tanzy and Pippa--this post being for Tanzy.  I was so happy too when my order arrived literally two days before I was supposed to fly south.

Tanzy is a super shiny tangerine orange with gobs of gold, yellow, orange, and even a tiny bit of silver shimmer in it.  While I was painting my nails I was entranced by how shiny it was even after one coat.  And I didn't know this until I read up on the company, but Zoya polishes are made for natural nails, not acrylics.  Did you know that?  I'm pretty sure that most of the other big polishes are made for artificial nails so they adhere differently, but Zoyas are formulated for natural nails.  And the difference is very noticeable!  There was absolutely no sign of wear after five whole days of wearing the polish, and the only reason it came off was because I was getting them done a new color.

I have fallen in love with Zoya polishes all over again.

The pictures really don't compare to how shiny and shimmery this polish was in person.  The lighting is bad and I couldn't figure out how to make the flash on my camera work.  =(

Zoya Tanzy retails for $8 US, but I got mine for free!!

OPI Skull and Glossbones

Hello loves!  Happy Sunday!

In keeping with the theme of last post being extremely late seasonally for review, here is OPI's Skull and Glossbones from the Pirates Summer 2011 collection!  I originally purchased the 4 piece mini set that was released with the entire collection, but this was also before I earnestly started hoarding collecting polishes.  I fell in love with it in the mini, let someone borrow it, and after I got it back I lost it.  So when I found the full sized bottle of it randomly at Target I snatched it up almost in a panic.

Skull and Glossbones is a very pale almost heather gray creme (I have a pic below of my nails next to a heather gray sweater for comparison), but it really is the color I would imagine sun-bleached bones would be.  The formula is a little on the thin side, but not enough to be sheer.  I got full opacity with three thin coats and it lasted about a week with just my regular quick dry top coat.

The first time I wore this my mom commented that I looked dead, so I decided I would ignore her.  But the this time she like it.  Maybe she forgot?  I love a gray polish, and I have a couple now that they've become more popular.  Until this past summer it was almost impossible to find a distinctly gray polish.  Not a blue-gray, or a purple-gray/light periwinkle, just gray.

So shiny!!

I got a little ambitious after I put this on, and decided to try my hand at freehand nail art.  As a play on words like the name, I put a skull and crossbones on my ring ringer.

This was after I had to redo them before cleanup.  I was just so excited about this little guy looking so good for shaky hands and being a first try.  =)  I used a Sally Hansen black nail art pen for this.  S&G wasn't 100% dry when I did this, so he kind of had to be dotted on very carefully.

Also, please forgive my cuticles, I stabbed myself while manicuring.

Da Bush and Stranger Tides

Happy Thursday!  =)

So I realize that this color comparison is waaaay late from the release dates, but I honestly just realized it myself.  I've had these two colors sitting my hoard collection and saw them next to each other.  Then I thought, "Hey, that looks exactly the same."  The colors I'm talking about are Essie's Da Bush and OPI's Stranger Tides from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection, both of which are from last year's summer collections.

Yeah, I know, my bad.

In the first picture I have Essie Da Bush on my index finger and OPI Stranger Tides on my middle finger.  Please correct me if I'm wrong, but to my eye they are exactly the same.  There might be a fraction of a shade difference, but that must might be from lighting in the photo.  These are perfect dupes for each other.  They're both a murky gray toned sage greens, and they're both cremes.

The second pic is of the two in the bottle side to side.  I figured Da Bush would be more different because Essie tends to dry darker than what you see in the bottle.  But I was wrong.  Granted these are minis of the shades, so I didn't end up spending a gob of money on two bottles of the same thing, but still.

Formula wise, the OPI is thinner and more watery than the Essie.  In the picture I used two coats of Da Bush and lucked out with two thick coats of Stranger Tides.  Normally I'll choose OPI over Essie, but in this comparison you get more bang for your buck with Essie.  Essie normally has very cute names for the colors, but OPI's are more bitchy and interesting.  So if you're deciding over marketing and presentation between the two, go with OPI.

I have no idea if either of these are still available en mass at, say, Ulta, but OPI Stranger Tides retails for $8.50 US and Essie Da Bush retails for $8 US.

SCREW YOU SOPA & PIPA

Protect your Freedom of Speech.  End Piracy, not Liberty.

Tell Congress not to censor the internet.  Here is a link to Google's petition to Congress.  Call or e-mail your Representative and Congressman and let them know that you don't want SOPA and PIPA passed.

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

Essie Mademoiselle

Super Sunday Post!!!  Back on schedule.  =)

I am so excited to have a Sunday off.  I only have gotten out of bed to eat, and then got right back into bed where it is warm.  Remember that lovely spring weather I was telling you about the other day?  Well, it's gone.  Since then, it has snow flurried approximately 3 times.  And if you know anything about how GA reacts to snow, you know that most people either get super excited about it or despise it with a firey passion.  I am one of the latter.  I need to move to FL where 75* F is cold.

Onto nail polish.  One day many moons ago while I was waiting at CVS for something I was flipping through a magazine and saw the Essie ad for Mademoiselle (which I can't find a picture of), turned around and marched over to where they had the Essie polishes and snatched one up for myself.  So, Essie, your clever marketing campaign has worked.

Mademoiselle is a sheer polish, although on the Essie  website it isn't categorized as one, and is perfect for French manicures.  It's a delicate pale pink, very pretty and feminine.  Great for any time of the year if you are season-conscious, but more of a spring/summer color to me.  And did I mention it was sheer?

I am not the biggest fan of sheer polishes.  One of my many OCD quirks is that when I put on polishes I would like to be able to see that there is polish on my nails and that it has a distinct shade.  I did two coats at first of Mademoiselle, and couldn't event tell that I had painted them.  I ended up putting four (4) coats on before I was satisfied with the amount of visible pigment on my nails.  Then I didn't touch anything for an hour while I let it cure.

Two nails did decide it would be a good time to break and look like freaks on my hand right before I didn't this manicure too.

Direct sunlight

Shade

This manicure did last me a full week, I have to admit, it has staying power.  I'm not sure if it's because I put 4 coats on or because I didn't end up obsessing over it because it was so light.  Either way, this color is classy.  Also, in person it made my tan look a little darker.

Essie Mademoiselle retails for $8 US.

Mint Apple

Hello all!  =)

That wonderful warm front that I was enjoying came to a very quick end, it's back to being cold again. =(

So you remember that part in Lady Gaga's video for Marry the Night where she said something about mint being really big in spring 2012?  If you don't, here's a link to the video, it's pretty freaking amazing.  I'm kind of biased though, because I love Gaga.

I grabbed a bottle of SinfulColors Mint Apple back in the early fall, when I was still wearing flip flops everywhere that wasn't work, and just never got around to wearing it for one reason or another.  So I tried this one on for size and kind of liked it.  The formula is a little thin, so I used 3 coats, but it has a really pretty silver shimmer to it that I really liked.  This is a little darker than what the color mint looks like in my head, but it's about the same as the Andes mints that you get at Olive Garden and then wish you had more of.  But shimmery and on your nails.

Direct Sunlight

Shade

Ok, the pictures actually look like mint, it looked a little darker in person.  This is actually the same color as my contact case...

China Glaze Urban Night

Hello hello!  It feels like a long time since I've last posted, but it's really more like my normal schedule.  Maybe holiday is still lingering in the back of my mind.

I've gone back into my fall colors because I realized that I hadn't even worn a couple of them.  Plus it was really cold when I wore them, so they felt appropriate.  Unlike right now, which is feeling more like spring.  This time last year we'd had snow consistently throughout the season, so everyone in north GA was flipping out.  I much prefer the warm weather.  I hate cold.

Ok, tangent finished.  Urban Night is from China Glaze's Metro 2011 collection.  I was iffy about this one at first just because the purple was so different from any of the other ones I've had in the past and didn't know if it would look good against my skin tone.  In the bottle it looks almost like a rusty purple, if that makes any sense.  But I was very pleasantly surprised with the shade after I got it on my nails.  Turned into a nice plum purple.  =)

The formula was what threw me off.  I expected it to be kind of thick, since most really dark shades tend to be in my experience.  This was a little watery.  I ended up using three coats plus a quick dry top coat, then didn't touch anything for about half an hour.

Strange formula aside, I was very pleased with the outcome.

Shade

Direct Sunlight

China Glaze Urban Night retails for $7 US.

Sweetheart Pink

Hello all!  I took a little break from blogging to recover from the holidays, but I'm back now.

This is a mani that I wore before the holidays, I think a couple days before Christmas.  During the very busy and hectic retail holiday season I was using my nail polish as a coping tool, sometimes redoing a manicure the next day just because I was stressed.  But this one came at a time when I felt like I needed something pink in my life.  Something to get me centered and feeling like myself again.

Funny how I always turn to pink for those times....

Anyway, this is the Ulta brand of nail polish and it's in the old bottle so I got it for SUPER cheap (I think I might have paid a dollar for this bottle).  I found this one to be almost the perfect consistency formula wise, had a lovely cream finish, and the color just made me happy.  It's Barbie pink.  And what self-respecting girly girl doesn't like Barbie pink?

This manicure would have lasted me much longer without chipping than I let it stay on my nails because I got my lovely Christmas pressie from Herself and Brother (you can find Part 1 here).

I did kind of feel like Barbie while wearing this color, except I don't have 8 different careers and all of Barbie's stuff.

Ulta Sweetheart Pink normally retails for around $6 US.  But I got my bottle in a 5 for $5 deal.  =)