Zoya Monica Designer Collection - Swatches and Review

I have a ton of purple polishes, but purple is my color. Can a girl have too much of her color? Nope. I debated picking up Monica because it seemed similar to Mira. When I have them side-by-side, I see that Monica is much deeper and bluer. I haven't actually blogged Mira, so I'll put that and a comparison on my to-do list.

Above are two coats of Monica swatched without top coat. It is a very opaque, deep plum creme. A very rich tone that is perfect for fall. It wears wonderfully as I wore it as a full mani this weekend and still hasn't chipped despite handwashings at work on Friday, and cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. yesterday and today.

I'm really glad I picked this one up! Have you gotten any from Zoya's Fall collections?

Vivid Lacquer The Harlequin's Adoration and Your Princess is in Another Castle Swatches

Have you had the opportunity to look through Vivid Lacquer's Etsy store? Anni has a great selection of awesome glitter polishes, and she designs nail stamping plates. Her first two plates are out of stock right now, but hopefully she gets more stock soon, because they are fabulous. I'm still practicing my stamping skills, but plan a post with the designs soon.

First up to The Harlequin's Adoration. Anni's description is as follows:

"This polish is a dazzling red and bronze flecked polish, rounded out by black and white diamond, red heart, and fine black and white glitter."

The polish is a little thick, but that's necessary to suspend all that lovely glitter. The photo below shows Harlequin over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (index and middle finger) and OPI Steady As She Rose (ring and pinky). This is one coat dabbed on. I didn't have to fish out the larger glitters, and check out the bronze flash! Such a fun polish.

Your Princess is in Another Castle... 

"Jelly nail polish featuring a pink, jelly base loaded with holographic glitter, multiple sizes and colors of pink glitter, and black glitter."

YPIIAC is so packed with glitter, and is fairly smooth. These swatches show one coat applied over (ring - pinky) OPI MBSW, Sally Hansen Black Out, OPI SASR, and OPI MBSW. No difficulties with application with this polish. I'm excited to try the Elmer's-Glue-As-Peel-Off-Basecoat thing with this one on its own.

Also, how stinking cute are Anni's bottle labels?? Have you tried Vivid Lacquer's polishes or stamping plates? I definitely recommend them. Anni and her products are a joy to deal with.

Holy Duochrome! Swatches & Review: Limited Edition Sally Hansen lustre shine Lava *Pic Heavy*

Swatches! Ahh! This is a pic heavy post, and it's well deserved. Promo pics of Sally Hansen's lustre shine collection have been all over the place, but I was rather stunned when I saw what was left of a picked-over display at Meijer today. There were only four colors left, and only one bottle of Lava. I didn't really pay attention to the others (the ever-present Chanel Peridot dupe, the Deborah Lippmann Sugar Daddy dupe, and a teal/blue that wasn't very duochrome-y) and the next thing I knew, Lava was in my hand!

All shots are three thin coats over a coat of Elmer's Glue (I'm experimenting) and under one coat of Poshe Super-fast Drying Topcoat. The first coat had me a little worried as it looked very thin and patchy, but the second coat had near-complete coverage. The final coat added a nice depth to the color. My brush was a little wonky, but workable. The long, thin cap was very comfortable to hold.

Here you can see the pink near the tips, and yellow/gold over the bed of the nail. The photo is a little blurry, so please excuse that.

This photo has a very nice representation of both colors across the nail.

Okay, these are just because it's so freaking pretty!

Go. Buy. Now.

(I've also built a light box in an effort to bring you better pictures. I think it makes an improvement!)

Stamping with Vivid Lacquer, Zoya, and Essie!

I've been spending money like I have it lately, and I've come home to a mailbox with bubble envelopes and a box by my door almost every day for the last week! I got my Vivid Lacquer nail plates (VL001 & VL002) earlier in the week, but haven't gotten my stamper and scraper yet. I patiently waited, but couldn't take it any more, so I went to Sally's and picked up the Salon Express As Seen on TV kit-thingy so that I could use the tools with it. :) 

Two coats of Zoya Evvie

A couple of days ago, I got my BOGO polishes from the Zoya promo and had picked up Penny Talk and No Place Like Chrome from the Essie Mirror Metallics collection for stamping. I decided on a base of Zoya Evvie from the Fall 2012 Designer collection (beautiful dusty, murky grey-green that's opaque and perfect in two coats) and topped it with a honey comb pattern and Essie Penny Talk.

Obviously there are some wonky spots and some not-completely-covered spaces, but I don't think it's too bad for a first try. This pattern is on Vivid Lacquer's VL002 plate. There are so many cute designs on her stamping plates. She sells them in her Etsy store here. Anni also sells some awesome polishes. I've got two of those coming up for review soon.

I hope to have some better stamping nail art for you soon!

China Glaze Real Nail Polish Appliques - Cherry Blossoms

Today I've got the second set of China Glaze Nail Polish Appliques from my last trip to Sally Beauty. (See my previous post for an in-depth review of application, wear time, etc.) This set is called Cherry Blossoms, and features large red blossoms and dark branches on a creamy, yellow-white background. Very pretty and just as easy to apply as the Loop Hole set.

Manglaze F*** Off & Dye!

I have such a fun polish for you guys today! I've eyed Manglaze polishes for a long time, but never actually "checked out" with one. Manglaze specializes in matte polishes, and does them fabulously.

In the interest of not offending any of my readers, I will post bottle pictures after a jump. It depicts violence and has a swear word. It is very cool, comic-book style art work. I would encourage you to check it out if it sounds like something you may appreciate.

Below is a shot of my nails only. I did use butter LONDON Nail Foundation for this manicure, but I gave it a good long time to dry. The brush was nice and full with a rounded edge and was nicely flexible. The formula was very smooth and super opaque. I used two thin coats and the polish dried very quickly.

Bottle shot after the jump...

China Glaze First Mate & Black Poppy Gold Saran Wrap mani

I wore China Glaze First Mate for the Doctor Who season 7 premiere Saturday. I was going to do something more fancy-pants, but ran out of time. So, TARDIS blue it was! (If you want to see an awesome set of Doctor Who nails, check out Sarah's post at Samarium's Swatches!)

Two perfect coats of First Mate. Man, I love China Glaze's formula!

Last night, I was putting away dinner and decided to try the Saran Wrap mani I've been seeing everywhere. It's very simple! I cut off a few pieces of Saran Wrap and scrunched them down into loose balls. I added a coat of Black Poppy Gold to one nail, then immediately smooshed the Saran Wrap ball onto the nail. It lifts off some polish, and mars up what's left on the nail for a cool effect. 

Sorry about the blurriness of the photo, I was quickly snapping and didn't realize it wasn't clear. I;m shooting with the wrong hand as I've got a nasty hangnail on my left hand.

Orly Buried Alive - A Great Brown Glitter for Cheap! (And, Duri gets along nicely with Poshe)

Orly Buried Alive is part of the Spring 2012 Dark Shadows collection. It consisted of 4 polishes, and this was the only one I was remotely interested in. I eyeballed it every time I went to Sally Beauty Supply, but never actually got it. However, last weekend was the 1/2 off of all clearance items sale at Sally's, and I couldn't pass it up for $1.45 

Buried Alive has a warm, yellow-toned brown base and lots of gold/bronze shimmer. It was rather thick, and the first coat literally looked as if I'd painted Hershey's Syrup on my nails, but the second coat evened out nicely.

Also, I've discovered that Duri Rejuvacote plays nicely with Poshe. Poshe isn't my favorite topcoat, but I want to be able to see if Duri really helps with my peeling nails. So, I'll use it until I can make that decision.