Zoya Color Box

Last week I posted the Bibhu Mohapatra collection I ordered from Zoya. I was curious to how the presentation would be, since it was coming in one of the Color Boxes that Zoya is now offering. I was impressed, and think it will be very nice for gift giving. I decided to take some pictures so that you an see what its all about.

Pretty little black book of Zoya colors and a booklet about the collection were on top

The Color Box itself is wrapped in pretty Zoya tissue paper

Aaaand the box in another pretty black box

The box itself is black velvet with a foam insert that the polishes tuck into.

China Glaze The Hunger Games Collection - Capitol Colours Swatches

!!!! I cannot adequately explain how excited I am to have these polishes! And the movie! March 23rd really needs to get here. My younger brother readily admits that he had not read a book in at least 15 years, and devoured all three in less than a week. He got the complete set for me for Christmas. I proceeded to tear through them in less than one week as well. Luckily, I've got a friend who is a bigger fan than I am and has the ability to hold back a set of the polishes for me and let me get them before they are to be released. :)

I passed on Electrify, Hook and Line, and Luxe and Lush, but looking back, I figured I might as well get the whole set since I was buying 9 bottles without thinking. So, previously mentioned friend is setting those back for me, and I will add them to this post. ETA: It's 9:01 pm on 2/28 and I got them all. As soon as I'm sick of Stone Cold, I'll swatch and add them to this post.

The original press release for Capitol Colors named each polish and what they were inspired by. There was a lot of legal hullabaloo shortly thereafter, then we learned that the polishes would have different names. The new names are supposed to be inspired by one of the twelve districts. I like the original names better, but will take them any way I can. I'll list the original name in parenthesis.

Fast Track (Catnip) is named after District 6, Transportation. It is a nude with golden glass fleck-y shimmer. The formula was really nice, completely opaque in 2 coats. The above pic is with a flash to highlight the shimmer.

Dress Me Up (Primrose) is named for District 8 - Textiles, and is a taupe-y pink neutral creme polish. It leans much more pink IRL, but my camera just didn't capture it. I think it looks rather grandmotherly in the bottle, but there is enough dustyness to it on the nail that it doesn't seem outdated at all. The formulas of the cremes were watery and weird. Still opaque in two coats, and minimal clean up was needed.

Foie Gras (Rebel), named for District 10 - Livestock, is a dark brown/taupe with a hint of purple. Because of my skin tone, the purple shows much more prominently.

Riveting (Fire in Flight) is named for District 3, which specializes in technology, is a very bright tangerine orange with a glass fleck/foil finish. It is a little more sheer and was the only polish in this set that needed three coats. I'm not usually a huge fan of oranges, but I really love this one.

Mahogany Magic (Baker's Son) is named for District 10 - Lumber. It is straight up brown creme. There is a bit of green there that keeps it from being one of those "Oh look! I got melted Hershey bar all over my nails!" colors.

Harvest Moon (Cinna-man) is named after District 9 - Grain, and is a copper version of Riveting. Beautiful copper foil. Just like Cinna's eyeliner. :)

Agro (We Could Run Away) named after District 11 (agriculture) has a pearly finish. I want to call it a frosty finish, but that word creates such a bad reaction in my brain. It is a lovely shade of green. Similar to Peace on Earth for China Glaze's holiday 2010 collection, but much less yellow.

Stone Cold (Joined at the Seam) is named after District 2 and their masonry, It is a matte graphite grey that was fully opaque in one coat. As with most mattes it has very quick dry time. Its also generally recommended that you avoid base coats and top coats with matte finishes. I didn't notice any staining, but didn't have this on very long at all.

Stone Cold + topcoat is a great look as well. I love that you can wear it both ways. I think that's why mattes with shimmer finishes are my favorite. They are interesting matte and glossy.

Smoke and Ashes (Fight to the Finish) is named for Katniss, Peeta, and Gale's home of District 12, which is known for Mining. This polish has a very blackened blue base with tiny round blue and green glitter. This color is so, so pretty but so hard to photograph! It has so much depth, and is rather hard to appreciate except in real life on the nail.

Hook and Line is named for District 4 - Fishing. I absolutely adore the color and it hurts me deep down inside that it is so damn brush stroke-y. Hopefully I can look past it. We'll see.

This is Luxe and Lush after District 1 - luxury items. It's a flakie polish in the way the glitter reflects different colors - mostly yellow, red, and orange when over Riveting (Hello, Girl on Fire mani!). The glitter particles are larger than common flakies and are very pointed like shattered glass.

Lastly, we have Electrify. How in the world did I pass on this polish? It is sooooo beautiful, and almost everyone I saw commented on how great it was. The above pic is 2 coats of Electrify under 1 coat of Seche Vite. The surface was a little bumpy, but not bad. I was feeling super stressed yesterday, so decided to do a quick polish job in the car. Had this one on in 10 minutes. Love, love, love!!

The creme finishes were opaque, but oddly watery. The others had a flawless formula. All of the above photos are with 2 coats of color with the exception of Riveting and Stone Cold and none have topcoat but for the second shot of Stone Cold.

Essie Shine of the Times Over Zoya Morgan

It is so hard to get a good picture of the flakies! Grrrrr! I had only tried the Finger Paints version of flakies until Pam (the world's most awesome sister in law) brought me Essie As Gold As it Gets & Shine of the Times. She's pretty cool! I like the Essie a lot more than the Finger Paints. It just has more, well, flakes. One of the reasons I love these top coats is that they will cover chips!!!! Take for example my lovely Zoya Morgan mani below. I had Morgan on for 3 days and it was looking a little sorry. I didn't want/have time to re-do all my nails so I just threw Shine of the Times over the top and....voila! Fixed! Go ahead, try to find my chips! Bet ya can't!!!

My only complaint about all these flaky (or any kind of glitter or sparkle) polishes is that they are a real booger to get off! I really like them, so I guess I'll deal with it, but any tricks to taking them off would be appreciated. :)

Bad pic of China Glaze Capitol Colors

I'm so excited I just have to post this crap photo. I'm swatching tonight and will do a proper post later. :) 

Top row L-R: Dress Me Up, Mahogany Magic, Riveting, Harvest Moon
Bottom row L-R: Stone Cold, Smoke and Ashes, Foie Gras, Agro, Fast Track

Zoya LE Bibhu Mohapatra NYFW polishes

I couldn't deny this collection for many reasons. Beautiful red, pretty pewter, opaque nude, free shipping, Zoya color box... I love the colors, so I'm glad I got a set. Zoya website says they're now sold out. I love the story of Mohapatra"s inspiration:

"He told us that the red was an homage to his mother. When Bibhu was growing up, he remembered his late mother always wearing the most beautiful color of red nail polish on her nails. Because it was customary to eat with your right hand in India, she only wore the red on her left hand. So he always rembered her left had being painted." (zoya.com)

Say it with me, guys. "Aww!"

I swatched and took pics of the Color Box, but I think I'll save the box pics for another day.

Zoya Parveen is a yellow-based beige/nude with a very nice shimmer. Zoya says its opaque in 2 coats, but my 2nd coat was really streaky, so I added a third. It was hard to get a good pic of this one. It's not as yellow in real life. I had just scrubbed Starry Pink (removal was much easier than I expected), so that's why I've got lobster hands going on.

Zoya Zeenat is a lighter silver/grey with a fairly obvious silver shimmer. This is two coats, no topcoat. Looks VNL-y on my ring finger, but there really isn't any. Very pretty. It's got purple tones to it, so of course those jump right out on my hands.

Zoya Rekha is a classic red creme. It is similar to Sooki, but is cooler and more blue-based than her. This color was practically opaque after 1 coat, but 2 got rid of all VNL. I think I'm good for reds now. :)

Revlon Starry Pink - Expressionists Collection

I passed on this one twice. Once when it originally came out last fall, then a second time when I spotted it in the regular Revlon display at Meijer. Stephanie blogged about it (My wallet wants me to stay away from Short n' Chic) and I was sad I didn't get it. 

So, I looked in every store I went to... Meijer, 3 CVS stores, Walmart... Nothing. Then, I remembered Walgreens. And nothing. I was super bummed, and found a basket of clearance polishes. I was hoping to find something to cure my sad, and I did when I saw one lonely bottle of the original Starry Pink marked down to $2.57! Score!

I really, really love this polish. It is a little sheer, but there is enough glitter in there to make it barely noticeable. This is three coats with one of Seche Vite and it is perfectly smooth. The shade of pink is milky and very feminine, and it surprisingly seems less girly with the glitter. This isn't a five-year-old's glitter. It's a night-out-with-your-friends-in-a-club glitter, but is also tame enough to wear to work if your boss isn't a douche canoe (Holla Bloggess!). All in all, full of win. I'm soooo happy I got it.

Zoya Yara

I chose Yara for Zoya's 2 free polish promo they ran last month. It is part of the Fall 2011 Smoke & Mirrors collection, and I'm just not thrilled with it.

The application is fabulous, as always. The color was perfect and opaque at 2 coats. I just don't like the color. It is an olive-y green with a beautiful gold fine glitter. It's just... Brighter than I expected. I think I'll stew on it a bit and maybe it'll grow on me.

In the meantime, I'm super excited for my Bibhu Mohapatra Fashion Week set. It is sitting at my post office right now. I'll get it Tuesday evening since Monday is President's Day. :( I've also got Sasha in the box.  It was free from the Valentine's Day promo.

Finger Paints Brushstroke Blush and Sparkle Top Coat

This is one of the polishes I was surprised with by my adorable little niece. Let me just say that I love the Finger Paints brush! It is soft and full, but not too flexible. The cap is very comfortable in my hands. If I could dump every polish I own in a Finger Paints bottle, I'd be a happy lady.

The formula of Brushstroke Blush was pretty shoddy. It was thin and runny. After 3 coats, I had a fairly streaky mani. So what do I do? Throw on a top coat! Sparkle Top Coat added a really nice, pearly sheen and fine, purple glitter. I really loved the end effect, and it lasted a good 3 days before chipping.

Thanks for my nail polish Miss Sarah!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I went back to blingy manicures again with HITS Atena. It is such a beautiful holo! One of the nail obsessed ladies I follow on Instagram did Nailside's cloud mani, and I decided to copy it. :)
I stuck with Atena as the base, then did a coat of Black Poppy Silver, and Nails Inc Charing Cross. I think my right hand looks better than my left (who'd have thought?), but my left has a nasty hangnail.
I think it turned out great! I hope you all have fabulous Valentine's Days and be sure to tell your loved ones how you feel every day, not just today.

OPI Wocka Wocka!

This is one of the polishes I won in Short n' Chic's Muppets giveaway. The set included minis of Wocka Wocka!, Excuse Moi!, Designer... de Better, and Warm and Fozzie.

Wocka Wocka! is a fabulous, shimmery, berry-red that went on like butter. It was practically opaque at one coat, but I used two. I found it didn't make much difference to the final result. The color was part of the Holiday 2011 collection, but it is classic enough to fit well in any season.

Layering - Essie Chinchilly and As Gold as it Gets with Pure Ice Heartbreaker

I've had quite a bit of blingy manicures lately, so I decided to try something a little more subtle. I picked up Pure Ice Heart Breaker at Walmart awhile ago, but haven't used it yet. I poked through my stash and decided to throw it over Essie Chinchilly and As Gold as it Gets.

Sadly, lots of shrinkage with this manicure.

Macro shot that shows flakes of AGaiG and green/blue shimmer of Heart Breaker

Revlon Scandalous, or Deborah Lippmann Bad Romance for $3.99

 Happy February! How better to ring in Valentine's month than with a cheap dupe of a polish called Bad Romance? This is the only Deborah Lipmann polish I've been tempted to buy, and was very excited to see the Revlon dupe out last summer/fall. So why didn't I buy it when I saw it at Meijer? I have no clue. Because I'm silly? All I know is that I went back to get it, and they were gone. There are some people with fabulous taste in polish on this town.

So, of course I was super excited to see it again, in the new Revlon display for only $3.99! So much win I can hardly stand it. I saw a dupe for DL Glitter in the Air on the same display and snatched it up, only to realize that I didn't even want to pay $3.99 for that one. I just don't get the appeal. Too sheer. But, Scandalous... zomg, it's fantastic.

The photo below is 3 thin coats of polish with a coat of Seche Vite. I debated stopping at 2 coats, because the base isn't as sheer as I thought it would be, but I'm glad I used a 3rd because it gives a great depth. The finish was fairly smooth with 1 coat of Seche Vite. So, so glad I got this one!