Zoya Sloane

Hi dolls!  Long time no post.  It's been a strange week.

So for Valentine's Day Zoya was running a special where you could get a free red polish plus free shipping if you used a certain code with any $8 purchase, so it was pretty much buy one get one free.  As soon as I saw it on their Twitter I checked it out myself and posted on my Facebook about it, since the sale was only for two days.  A friend of mine asked me how I find out about these sales (because Julep was also having a V-Day sale that I mentioned on FB).  I troll on blogs, am on about a dozen mailing lists, and creep on Twitter.  I take my nail polish seriously.

This is Sloane, she's a blackened purple with a metallic shimmer that is almost microscopic, it's very muted.  I think I could only really see it in direct sunlight.  But there are hints of pink, blue, purple, and red in it, so it is very pretty.  Sloane is originally from the Pulse collection, which is entirely dark vampy metallics (my favorite kind).  I got complete opacity in two thin coats, so you could probably do the same with one thick coat in a pinch.

I know it's beginning to be Spring and all, and all the new collections have bright or pastel colors, but vamp colors are always appropriate in my book.  They just make you feel more sultry, like how bright colors make you feel flirty.  I could be making this up, but that's what I get from it.  =)

Direct Sunlight, my skin looks a little washed out.

Direct sunlight

Shade

My camera couldn't pick up the shimmer in it, and my friend C couldn't even see it very well in person, but I promise it's there.  Also, these pictures were taking after a full week of wear with only a touch up on my middle nail because it decided to break off.  This is why I love Zoya polishes so much.  Because they are made for natural nails!

Ulta Underneath It All

Hi dolls!

I hope everyone's weekend has been going well, today is my Saturday.  I got another mini set, so I'll be doing a 4-part series on these.  Today's polish is Ulta's Underneath It All, from the Lust in Lace set that came out during the holidays.  It's four dark, shimmery polishes plus a top coat, all from the Ulta professional line.  Ulta has two different lines of polishes, one for about $6 a bottle, and then a higher end one for about $7.50 a bottle.  The Lust in Lace collection comes from the higher end line.

Underneath It All is a blackened almost chocolate brown/bronze color with crushed glass shimmer.  But on further inspection, it has a green holo in certain lighting, giving it that kind of spilt chemicals look.  So I'm going to classify it as an industrial color by default.  It is a very dark and sensual shade to have on your nails, but put it in direct sunlight and the colors come to life.  Total win in my book.

I took way too many pictures of this and for some reason my camera would not pick up the green, so I gave up.  But you can see in the pictures that it is definitely a blackened bronze.  Enjoy!

OPI Come to Poppy

Hello hello!  I feel like I haven't made a post in a long time, even though it's my normal post day.  Maybe it's because I worked 9 days in a row...I have today and tomorrow off so I don't really care anymore.

This post is featuring the mani/pedi that I got while on vacation with Sissy.  I shocked myself twice in one day: my hands and feet matched AND I paid for a simple manicure that I could have just as easily done myself.  Another shock was the mani/pedi was sub-par.  All they really did was clean up my cuticles and moisturize then paint my nails.  Didn't even exfoliate my feet.  And I have scary ex-dancer feet so I have a huge build up of calluses.  Not too happy about that.

Anyway, this is OPI Come to Poppy from the Nice Stems collection.  Lovely hot pink creme with silver shimmer.  I own a lot of pink (surprise surprise!) and I think it ended up matching almost every dark or hot pink article of clothing I own.  Also, there is so much silver shimmer in it that it was almost difficult to get all the silver micro sparkles off of my nails after all the pink came off.

This was the best picture I could get since I was on a moving boat.  All the other ones were horribly blurry and you couldn't exactly tell what you were looking at.

However, in the matter of shade excluding the shimmer: exactly the same as Ulta Fuchsiamania.  Now, it's my opinion that Come to Poppy would be a better buy just because it lasted much longer.  I don't know if it's just this certain top coat I was using but I think I'm going to throw it out.  Every manicure I do with it ending up chipping horribly.

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!!

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...