Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Zoya Touch Collection (PREVIEW)



Ooohh!  Pretty nude/neutral/beige polishes!!



2011 limited edition, full coverage nude nail colors
TOUCH
soft  sensual  sexy
Zoya Nail Polish presents 3 new, full coverage nude nail polish shades designed to coordinate with a variety of skin tones ranging from light to dark. Each softly kissed with a bit of metallic to make them ultra wearable.

Zoya TOUCH Collection
Minka (ZP561) - latte beige cream with a metallic kiss
Shay (ZP562) - desert rose sand beige cream with a metallic kiss
Pandora (ZP563) - mauve beige cream with a metallic kiss

Zoya is the new color of fashion...
The Zoya TOUCH collection was designed to recreate the custom looks developed for and inspired by the runways of New York Fashion Week.

Ultra long-wearing, glossy nail lacquers by Zoya are free of harmful industrial chemicals like toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Find Zoya TOUCH as well as over 300 other ultra high-fashion Zoya shades at www.zoya.com. As always, each and every Zoya color is made for women so we name them after women.

TOUCH by Zoya
PRE-ORDER May 25 - May 31, 2011
shipping JUNE 1, 2011

Sug. Retail $8.00 per 0.5 fl. oz. bottle (US)




Friday, May 20, 2011

GLAM SLAM 2 & 3




OPI Rally Pretty Pink on left, Zoya Faye on right

OPI Rally Pretty Pink on left, Zoya Faye on right






Plum with intense golden sparkle  

w/Red creme shatter

As you can see from the above picture, this polish is a near dead-on dupe for Zoya Faye. I loved Faye, and I love this one, too.  I was, however, VERY unsure of the Shatter pairing on this one. It just didn't seem to go. I was wrong. The gold explodes from within the cracks in this red Shatter polish. Amazing. 

Opacity scale (1-5): 3

Use for Konad: Not good for stamping, dries too fast and, obviously, shatters. ;)

Finish: Sparkle, 3 coats & Shatter, 1 coat. 








Sheer with silver and gold square glitter and silver and gold hex glitter

w/White creme shatter

At first sight, I thought this was silver glitter, because of the gold glitter addition, it sort of has a tarnished silver look to it. I think I like it better underneath the white shatter, but that is mostly because I'm not too big on sheers because my nails are so stained. I like how the bigger hex glitter peeks out from the cracks, nice and sparkly. :)

Opacity scale (1-5): 4 for Shatter, 1.5 for the Glitter

Use for Konad: Not good for stamping, dries too fast and, obviously, shatters. ;)

Finish:  Glitter, 3 coats & Shatter, 1 coat. 


Wednesday, May 18, 2011

OPI Blue Shatters




Turquoise shimmer Shatter over OPI Houston We Have a Purple

This polish is AH-mazing. It's pretty in the bottle yes, it's pretty indoors, but outdoors in the sunlight is where it really shines, shimmers, and glows. It's stunning. Truth be told, it's pretty much what I wanted Austin-tacious Turquoise to be. I LOVE this Shatter, it's really beautiful.

Opacity scale (1-5): 4

Use for Konad: Not good for stamping, dries too fast and, obviously, shatters. ;)

Finish: Shatter, 1 coat. 





Electric Blue Shimmer Shatter over OPI Don't Mess With OPI

This polish is totally eighties, and I mean that in the best way possible. It's super glowy and seems lit from within. I'll admit it wasn't my favorite of the three, but it is still something awesome that I WILL use!

Opacity scale (1-5): 4

Use for Konad: Not good for stamping, dries too fast and, obviously, shatters. ;)

Finish: Shatter, 1 coat. 





Dark Navy Creme Shatter over OPI San Tan-tonio.

Initially I didn't think this color would stand out enough for me, but with the combination of the tan, I really like it. It's kind of like denim and suede. I think this color has the ability to be really awesome or kind of boring, depending what you pair it with, so be careful! :-P

Opacity scale (1-5): 3.5

Use for Konad: Not good for stamping, dries too fast and, obviously, shatters. ;)

Finish: Shatter, 1 coat. 


What it really comes down to:

I know that some people are on the fence about Shatter/Crackle polishes, but most people love 'em or hate 'em. My two feet are firmly planted on the LOVE 'EM side. These Shatter polishes are vivid, unique, and awesome, and if you can get your hands on them, I'd totally recommend it!


Products in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer for review. 


Sunday, May 8, 2011

OPI Pirates of the Caribbean Collection


Yarrrr!  I cannot wait for the latest installment of Pirates of the Caribbean to come out! As you may have heard, OPI has come out with a Pirates of the Caribbean nail color collection - complete with a Shatter polish to set it all off!!  I have to say, I'm a tad confused by half of these polishes...namely, the pinks and purple?  Dunno, don't really scream pirate to me, and for some reason, I'd picture a gold Shatter polish to be with a Pirates themed collection, but that's just me. 

That said, the colors are fabulous, and the silver shatter is brilliant. (even though it doesn't show as much as I'd hoped over the muted colors)  

More thoughts after the photos- on to the swatches!








Bright pastel purple creme

This polish is a very pretty purple- a little darker than the average pastel, but I'd still consider it a pastel, though a strong one. :)  The silver shatter didn't really stand out over this one, they're too similar in density of color perhaps?

Opacity scale (1-5): 2.5

Use for Konad: So-so for stamping, doesn't show up amazingly on darker or lighter colors.

Finish: Creme, 2-3 coats to be opaque - depends on application








Pale pink putty with just a hint of blue or lilac undertone.

Not a bad pink at all, coverage was great, and this actually doesn't hate my skin tone. :)

Opacity scale (1-5): 2.5

Use for Konad: Better for darker colors than light, but not great for either.

Finish: Creme, 2-3 coats to be opaque - depends on application










Ecru Creme

I think this color is one of my favorites of this collection, though not terribly unique. It evokes thoughts of Johnny Depp in not-so-clean looking pirate garb. *drool*  The Shatter effect is again very subtle over this muted color.

Opacity scale (1-5): 2.5

Use for Konad: Not great for stamping on lighter or darker colors. 

Finish: Creme, 2-3 coats to be opaque - depends on application









Medium pink creme. 

I'll be honest, not a huge fan of this color, and not entirely sure how it fits into a Pirates themed collection, but I can see the appeal to someone who enjoys pink polishes. I will say that this color sticks out underneath the silver Shatter, which I can totally appreciate. :)

Opacity scale (1-5): 2.5

Use for Konad: So-so stampig on lighter colors, but not great on darker colors.

Finish: Creme, 2-3 coats to be opaque - depends on application









Aqua creme

Love this color!  It really is a beautiful turquoise/aqua color. For some reason, when I first opened the bottle, it made me think of OPI Damone Roberts 1968, so above you see a swatch comparison, and as you can see, DR is MUCH lighter and greener. I've actually been wearing this color with silver Shatter for almost a week - can you say RARE?!  I really like this color, but it's not my favorite of the collection,  however, it's runner-up. ;)

Opacity scale (1-5): 2.5

Use for Konad: Probably the best of the 6 on lighter colors, but still not wonderful. Not great stamping on darker colors either.

Finish: Creme, 2-3 coats to be opaque - depends on application









Murky beiged/pistacho creme

Not sure how to describe this, but I adore it. ADORE. IT. Something different there that doesn't remind me of any of my other polishes, which is hard to do. I can see me wearing this polish a lot. Go OPI! :) 

Opacity scale (1-5): 2.5

Use for Konad: Not great for darker or lighter colors really. It does show up on both, just not very well.

Finish: Creme, 2-3 coats to be opaque - depends on application


What it really comes down to:


As I stated before, these colors really don't make me think of Pirates of the Caribbean, but some of them confused me more than others. That said, all 7 colors are well-executed colors. They applied lovely, the colors were fairly unique - and great for pastel-ish colors, and they're colors that most people can (and will) wear. I'll definitely don one of these color combinations when I watch Pirates (or perhaps all of them!?!) Yarrrrrrrr!