Zoya Kissy

   Umm...Happy Valentine's Day guys!! LOL I know I am late as hell with this, but I actually did paint my nails for Valentine's Day. I'm forever alone, so to counteract the inevitable Valentine's Day depression, I wanted to wear something happy. So I chose Kissy (such a good name for a V-Day polish, no?) from Zoya's Gems and Jewels Collection. I meant to put some lovey-dovey decals on there too, but I forgot. My bad.

Kissy is made mostly of small red hex glitter, with lots of pink and holographic bar glitter scattered throughout. There's much more pink bar glitter than holo though.

Bottle shot. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

       Kissy is pretty and actually made for a fun Valentine's Day color. All the glitter is really sparkly, and although I generally don't like pink, Kissy's shade wasn't vomit inducing. I also think it looked pretty good on me. My only gripe is again, the fact that the holo bar glitter isn't as visible as I would have liked. You can see it straight on, but not that well. To really see it, I had to do finger Cirque du Soleil or look at it in lower lighting conditions. However, it does show up more in Kissy than in Rina or Twila (I'm planning to post that soon), so there's that. 

    Putting Kissy on was kind of tough though. The glitter isn't too sparse, and covered in three coats, which was nice. But I had a hard time getting it to stay put and it was pretty messy...little bits of glitter hanging off my nails and such. In the future, I'll probably just layer it over a similar color. 

   And a note on Kissy's wear, I had several fingers where the polish just popped off in a big nail-shaped chunk. The same happened with Twila and Rina. I didn't use Zoya's Anchor base with any of them, so maybe that would help, but I just thought I would mention it.

And I wanted to quickly put it out there that my giveaway is closing in one week, so don't forget to get your entries in if you want to play!

And that's all from me today! (Haha that rhymed.)

But anyway, thanks for reading and have a happy hump day! (HA I RHYMED AGAIN. I'm a poet and didn't know it. ^___^)

More Color Club Poptastics

    Hi guys!! First of all, Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a satisfying 2011, and that 2012 will be even better. To be honest, I'm really anxious about this year...this spring will be my very last semester as an undergrad and I don't know what to do next. I've been in school literally for as long as I can remember. So this will be...interesting, I guess.


Secondly, I have to say sorrrryyy again for being such a bad blogger lately. It's partially because I've been busy and partially because my heart isn't in polish and blogging so much anymore. I think I'm getting bored with it all...it just feels kind of futile, you know? I'm trying to get reinspired and fall in love with polish again, but idk...it's just not happening. And then it doesn't help that my nails are staging a rebellion. 


But anyway, I spent the holidays wearing mattes that I've worn already, so I don't really have anything nice to show you all. I did get a few other polishes from Color Club's Poptastic Collection swatched though, and can show you guys those. And all pictures are in sunlight, with no flash.


First up is the collection's namesake, Poptastic

   Poptastic is a pretty and bright neon pink. It's sweet and wearable, but not anything special and if it didn't come in the box set, I probably wouldn't have it. Formula-wise, it was okay. A little thin maybe, but not overly troublesome. Pictures are with three coats of polish and one layer of topcoat.

Next is Almost Famous.

      Almost Famous was a surprise for me because I really like it, despite my general aversion to yellows. I think it's just so bright and sunny that you can't help but like it lol. Formula was also surprise, in that it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I used four coats of polish, but they went on pretty smoothly for a yellow. There was some streakiness and whatnot, but they covered up pretty nicely with more coats. 

Last is Wham! Pow! (their punctuation, not mine):

     Wham! Pow! is probably my favorite of these three. The shade of orange has a bit of extra red to it, which adds interest, and I love its level of brightness. It isn't a retina-searing polish, but it's still substantially bright, which makes it fun but still wearable. Application was also quite easy...three easy coats and I was all done. 

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading and listening to me whine, and I hope your holidays were all perfectly lovely!

Revlon Starry Pink

    For today, I have another pink for breast cancer awareness month. This time, it's Revlon Starry Pink from their fall Expressionist Collection.  

Starry Pink is a super pale baby pink jelly base with lots of large and small silver hex glitter.

Sunlight, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

   Starry Pink is really cute, dreamy, and soft. It reminds me of when I was a kid and used to pretend to be a princess in a castle in the sky. Yeah...I've kind of been a loser since birth, but that's okay. The only bad thing about Starry Pink is that it only really looks good at one or two coats. Anything more started looking kind of gross and lumpy, so going forward, I'll just save this one for layering. 

   Formula-wise, it's the same thing. Starry Pink went on fine for the first two coats, but around the third and fourth, it started feeling goopy and draggy on the nail. I waited between coats, but it was still like that...maybe I should have waited longer? Idk. But anyway, the pictures are with four coats of polish and two of topcoat.

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and have a great Tuesday! 

 (Icon courtesy of  lizbot)

Zoya Astra

   Hi guys!! I finished doing the entries thing, and am happy to announce that I finally have a winner for my last giveaway. So yayness for...

Noir Lacquer!!

  She has a fab blog, so make sure to go check it out! A big congrats goes to her and a big thank you goes to everyone who entered! 

On the nail polish side of things, some of you may have noticed that October has begun (Happy October, btw!), which of course means that it's Breast Cancer Awareness and Depression Awareness Month! I'm planning to wear lots of pink and green this month, and starting off the parade will be Astra, from Zoya's Ultra Glitter Collection.

Astra is pepto pink and rose red hex glitter in a raspberry pink-tinted base. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Ottlite, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. 

      Going in, I didn't think I'd like Astra very much, but I do. It's cheery and youthful, and I love how the glitter is sparkly and bright in all lighting conditions. I also appreciate that Zoya made the glitter two different colors, because they give Astra some dimension and make it more unique. And I like unique polish...makes me feel like I didn't waste my moniez. 

    Astra's formula was pretty good. It applied smoothly, built easily, and dried quickly, which made for an entirely stress-free application. Removal is another story altogether. x_x

The pictures are with three coats of color and two thick layers of topcoat, because Astra dries gritty and eats topcoat like I would eat chocolate sauce off Cristiano Ronaldo's stomach. Which is quickly and greedily. 

But that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and have an awesome Monday!!

 (Icon courtesy of  lizbot)

China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy

     Hello guys! With the weather being so rainy and dreary here as of late, I thought it would be nice to show you all a color that is the exact opposite. So behold Flip Flop Fantasy, from China Glaze's Poolside Collection.

Flip Flop Fantasy is a coral-pink neon creme.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

   Flip Flop Fantasy is fabulous. It features a unique, pretty, and super-flattering shade of the coral, and I love how it glows, especially in the shade or under artificial light. 

    Its formula was also pretty good. I used one layer of China Glaze White on White as a base and then did three layers of Flip Flop Fantasy on top. I did experience a little trouble with streaking on the first two coats, but by the third, everything was nice and smooth. And as with all neons, it did dry to a satin-y finish, so topcoat is a must if you'd like it shiny. 

If you'd like a chance to win your very own bottle of Flip Flop Fantasy, make sure to enter my 400 Follower Giveaway! It's one of the prizes, donchaknow. ^_^

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful Friday!

Barielle Blossom

        Hello guys!! For today, I have a polish that I was lemming for like a million years, so I'm excited to wear it and show it to you guys. Meet Blossom, from Barielle's Wildflower Collection!

Blossom is a pale but saturated peachy pink creme. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light. no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

     I really love Blossom's color. It's very cute and ladylike, and satisfies the intense craving I've been having for peach and coral polish. I don't know why, but I just really want to wear them. And I like that Blossom is probably more wearable for most people (including moi), because it leans more towards pink than orange.

    However, Blossom was again kind of hard to work with. It was thick and gluey, and needed three coats to be opaque and streak-free. And really, I'm kind of reaching a point of annoyance with Barielle over this. It's easily solved with thinner, but I'm lazy in my soul and don't want to go through the trouble of thinning the polish. I have to open the bottle and then pour it and shake it and test it....ugh, I don't want to do that stuff!! Whyyy? *rolls around in bed*

But enough whining...time to go find something productive to do with my life. Have a beautiful evening and thanks for reading!!

Diamond Cosmetics Hot Summer Pink

       I'm still trying to work my way through the Diamond Cosmetics order I made in February (I get so sidetracked ;_;), so for today, I have Hot Summer Pink from their Summer 2009 collection.

Hot Summer Pink is a hot pink base with a soft blue shift and some iridescent shimmer.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

       Hot Summer Pink is such a wonderful color for warm weather. It's super bright, bordering on neon, and I love how the iridescent shimmer dances in sunlight. I forgot to take the picture, but in lower light, you can really see the blue flash. While a bright pink with a blue flash is not the most unique concept out there, what really sets Hot Summer Pink apart from the others is the slightly fuzzy suede-ish look that it has to it. 

      However, I had my issues with Hot Pink Summer's formula. I felt like it went on easily enough, but it didn't level correctly and looked a bit streaky to me. I finally got it even in four coats, which is what I'm wearing in the pictures. It also really required topcoat to look nice. However, I'm still going to keep Hot Summer Pink because it's a beautiful bright color and I love how it looks on me. Yeahhh conceited moment.

And that's all from me today! Thanks for reading, and have a fantastic Friday! 

OPI Wing It!

      For today, I've got Wing It! (ahh I hate unnecessary punctuation) from OPI's Summer Flutter Collection. 

Wing It! is a sheer reddish-pinky-coralish base packed with flat, color-shifting pink and blue shimmer pieces.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

    I found Wing It! to be really funny. The base color just kind of hangs out in this really ambiguous area, and the shimmer is the same. It's kind of iridescent, kind of blue, kind of pink, kind of violet, kind of duochrome, kind of metallic...but it doesn't fit firmly into any of those groups. Wing It! is like...the epitome of a noncommittal polish and even though I don't like noncommittal things (and people), I think I'm going to keep it. 

   I still have to think about it though, because I didn't like Wing It!'s formula at all. It went on smoothly enough, but was rather thin and hard to control. It also took five coats to eliminate all VNL in person, which is of course no bueno. So I guess we'll have to see on this one.

    

 But that's all for today! Thanks for reading!