What's happening in the lab...

Long time, no post readers! I've made it clear that I have no great love for writing and would rather be mixing in the lab, but I suppose I'd tease you lovelies with things that you can expect to see in the coming months.

First of all, I'd love to thank everyone for your interest in my cuticle oils! I picked just a couple of scents to offer in the beginning as I didn't know if this oil thing would even take off. I stuck with essential oils, but have just placed quite an order for fragrance oils to play with. Plan on seeing some fall and winter holiday scents, baked goods scents, fresh/floral scents, and some masculine scents as well.

Lastly, I'll leave you with a teaser of my inspiration for the upcoming fall collection. I've been calling it "Them Be Dragons" in jest, but who knows? It may stick!

I'll also throw another idea out at you folks... I'm thinking of branching out further into skin/nail care. Things like hand lotions, hand & foot soaks, and such. Is this something you would be interested in? Are you sick of seeing these on the indie market, or do you think there is room for more? What kinds of things do you look for when purchasing items such as these?

I'm just noodling this stuff around at this point. I'd have to perfect recipes, look into packaging, etc. before expanding into these other products, so we're talking months down the road.

I appreciate your feedback!

Zoya Tomoko and Maria Luisa

And my string of Zoya polishes continues! This mani is the super awesome Zoya Tomoko from the Fall 2013 PixieDust collection. Tomoko is a champagne colored textured polish packed to the brim with silver/gold glitter. I used three thin coats without any base or top coat and got excellent wear, as I have with all of the PixieDust polishes.

I also got a blurred shot to show the glitter in Tomoko. Definitely another winner from Zoya.

The only other polish I picked up from Zoya's fall collection was Maria Luisa (look at me showing restraint!). I remember seeing it in shots from NYFW, but  it wasn't available in the Zoya Fashion Sets. I was so happy to see it available to purchase!

Maria Luisa is a gold flake polish in a clear base. I'm sure you can build it to opacity, but I chose to layer it (one coat) over my Tomoko mani and to use it as an accent nail with Carter. What do you think?

Zoya Carter

I'm back with a pretty kick-ass polish. I've got Zoya Carter from their Fall 2013 PixieDust collection. I am a purple lover and this purple is all sorts of awesome! I used three thin coats with this mani and didn't use and base or top coats. There was no staining at all, and it wore for almost a week before it chipped. I never got the urge to remove it, either, which is very rare for me! I definitely recommend snatching this one up if you are lacking a purple textured polish in your stash.

Please forgive my sad little pinkie. I suffered a bad break, but it's since grown out!

Picks from OPI's Fall 2012 Germany Collection

I tried to resist this collection. I really did. Then my favorite and most guilty polish enabler, Christy, texted and said, "I've found a bunch of the OPI Germany collection. Which ones do you want?" How could I deny her?

Every Month is Oktoberfest is a beautiful, vampy burgundy shimmer in a vivid purple base. This is two perfect coats. Look at it glow!

Gratuitous shot of Every Month is Oktoberfest. Please enbiggen, and promise to buy it if you find this one in the wild.

I've been searching for a good mannequin hands shade, and couldn't turn down Don't Pretzel My Buttons. I asked her to grab this one, but picked up H&M Nerd before Christy dropped these in my lap. The color is great, but it was streaky and had a hard time self-leveling. I like Nerd's formula much better. This one will be a great base for glitters and such.

This is three coats of Germanicure by OPI. Such an odd bird. I seriously think I got an off bottle, but will try reswatching it. It's hard for me to believe the photos above and below are the same polish. Germanicure has a similar finish to Oktoberfest, but has a red-brown base and red and gold fine shimmers.

I was so disappointed in this polish. I want to give it another chance before I write it off for good.

So tell me, which polishes from this collection made it into your stash?

butter LONDON Dodgy Barnett and Shag - Swatches and Review

It seems that butter LONDON had released a store-exclusive polish every other week shortly after their regular Autumn/Winter collection was released. Several seemed lovely, but I've been trying to reign in my polish spending lately and if there are two things I have trouble backing away from, it's holos and browns. So, to my home came Dodgy Barnett and Shag.

Dodgy Barnett is a very fine silver glitter with scattered holo particles. It's rather thin, but builds up easily. I have two coats on my ring finger and three on the others. Dodgy Barnett is a beautiful, clean-feeling polish. I wish the holo were a bit more pronounced, but I'm still pretty happy with it.

The other polish I ordered from this collection is Shag. Shag is a warm-toned, brown shimmer polish. I was so excited for this one because I love browns, but I was very underwhelmed by this polish on my nails. I don't know if it's because of my skin tone or what, but just don't like the look of it. I'll probably give it another go before I completely give up.

What do you think of butter LONDON's new offerings? Any you just couldn't say no to?

China Glaze Jungle Queen - On Safari Collection, Fall 2012

Jungle Queen is from China Glaze's Fall collection, called On Safari. This polish was hyped up all over the blogosphere as a dupe/close-enough for Chanel Paradoxal (and the HTF Revlon Perplex). Jessica of The Polish Insomniac does a great comparison here. I'll direct you to her post as I do not own Paradoxal - and am fine with that.

This is a pretty color that changes depending on the lighting conditions. It sometimes looks grey, sometimes purple, sometimes an odd, dark purple-brown. It has an awesome pink shimmer that is pretty evident in real life, but hid from my camera until I gave up!

Formula-wise, this bottle was awful! I've yet to encounter one of those thick-and-runny-at-the-same-time polishes, but this one brought it in spades. Really yucky. Hopefully it was just my bottle and I'm not sweating it because I picked it up during Sally Beauty's 50% off clearance sales and it cost less than Wet n' Wild.

Zoya Natty Swatches - Designer Collection - Fall 2012

Natty is the third polish I grabbed from Zoya's Designer collection. It is a beautiful dusty grey-blue creme and was complete perfection in two coats. One thick coat would do it if you're careful, but I prefer to be less careful and use two coats. So wasteful... :)

I really don't know what to say about the formula that hasn't been said. Zoya's formula is one of my favorites, and their brush is fantastic. Full, flexible, and on a compact stem that's easy to control. 

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?

Zoya Fall 2012 Diva Collection - Swatches and Review

Zoya has a pretty decent fall release this year with 15 new polishes in the Diva, Designer, and Gloss Collections. When I saw swatches of the metallic Diva collection, I knew I had to have them. I wasn't crazy about one of them, but I figured if I were going to buy 5, I may as well get all 6. 

2 coats, no top coat

Zoya Elisa is a polish that I would've gotten even if it weren't the perfect pearly, cherry red. I took 5 years of Spanish middle and high school, and we had to pick Spanish names. There was another Pam in my class who was before me alphabetically, and she picked Pamela. I wanted something different, so I picked Elisa.  The formula on this polish was great, as is usually the case with Zoya.

2 coats, no top coat

Ray is the one Diva polish I wasn't thrilled about. It's a pretty, frosty evergreen color, but I think it's pretty similar to butter LONDON's British Racing Green, which I own. Not a dupe, but close enough that were it not for my need for the complete set, I wouldn't have gotten it. Definitely worth getting if you don't have a deep green in your collection.

4 coats, no topcoat

 Zoya Daul, how impressed I was by this one in other blog posts, but it just didn't wow me in real life. Zoya's website describes Daul as such, "A medium red-toned purple base with heavy purple and gold iridescent metallic sparkle." It's also listed as a 5, which is the highest intensity level. I agree with the description, but definitely not the 5. I still had obvious nail line at 4 coats, and I waited for the prior coat to dry before adding another.

Highlighting Daul's glitter

 Daul is a very pretty color when the sun glints off of it. Maybe I'll try it over Suri.

3 coats, no top coat

FeiFei is a steel-blue base that is packed with blue, gold, and pink (!!) sparkles to lend a foil finish. While sheerer than the non-glitter polishes, I got great coverage with 3 thin coats. I think the pink sparkles in this one lends a very unique look to it. 

2 coats, no topcoat

Suri is a bold, blue-leaning royal purple metallic polish with very fine blue and red micro glitter. I wish that glitter translated on the nail a little better, but Suri is still a fabulous polish. It is a little warmer in real life, but my camera really freaks out with bright purples.

2 coats, no top coat

And finally, Zoya Song. Song! Wow. Pictures do not do this polish justice. Neither do the words bold, bright, or vibrant. The base is a true royal blue, and it is absolutely packed with tiny, irregular blue and silver glitter. It is totally opaque in 1 coat, but add a second because it adds great depth and really highlights the shimmer. This polish is hands-down my favorite of the set.

A completely gratuitous shot of Song