DifferentDimension Week Day 1: Giveaway!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and I am thrilled to see great new nail polishes and other products this year!  To celebrate, I'm giving away a Halloween mini-pack from DifferentDimension.  This pack has minis of Ectoplasm, Candied Corn and Smashing Pumpkins.  *commercial announcer voice*  But wait, there's more!  I'm also giving away a 3-pack of Amphitrite, Social Suicide and Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock minis!  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite thing about autumn and be from the US.  The giveaway closes at midnight, October 5, Eastern Daylight Time.  The winner will be picked by random, and announced on Saturday, October 6.

 Ectoplasm, Candied Corn, Smashing Pumpkins

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock, Social Suicide, Amphitrite

The giveaway is now closed.  Thanks to everyone who visited and entered!

Nail mail!

It's been a while since I did a haul post, but I had a ton of great nail mail today and I had to share!

From Coterie, a set of 4 Butter London polishes for $16 after shipping costs:

Left to right, Hardware top coat, Knackered, West End Wonderland, All Hail the Queen.

From Transdesign, 2 CND Effects:

Ice Blue Shimmer and Jade Sparkle

and three China Glaze polishes:

Exquisite, Bizarre Blurple and Immortal

and two OPI polishes:

DS Magic and DS Reflection

DifferentDimension polishes for $5!

I have no idea how long these will be on sale, but right now, Different Dimension polishes are $5!  Go forth and shop!

Copper Week Day 5: Zoya Cheryl

This one may be a bit of a stretch, as Cheryl is a dark, dark copper shimmer verging on brown, but in the sunlight pictures, you can see that it justifies its inclusion in the copper category.  Cheryl is easy to work with and opaque in two coats.  All swatches are two coats with no top coat (the streaks on my index finger are only visible in that one shot, not in real life).

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In the sun:

Cheryl was originally part of the Wicked collection from Fall 2010 and is now part of Zoya's core line, and can be found on their website and in some salons and brick and mortar stores.

Copper Week Day 4: Illamasqua Faithful

Faithful was part of the 2012 Summer collection from Illamasqua, but is still available at Sephora.  It's a dusty, browned copper shimmer with a lovely formula--it was opaque in two coats and went exactly where I wanted it to.  This is actually quite different from the rest of my collection of copper polishes, and I'm glad I spent the extra money for it!  All swatches are two coats with one coat of Nubar Diamont.

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Faithful fills a gap in my copper collection I didn't even know I had, and it's definitely available on Sephora's website, although I'm not sure whether or not it's available in their brick and mortar stores.

Copper Week Day 3: Zoya Ivy

Ivy is a beautiful coppery red with a ton of shimmer and sass.  It's a little bit shimmery for some workplaces, but the color is the sum total of Autumn for me.  It's opaque in two coats, shiny before top coat, and flows onto the nail with ease and no dragging or pooling.  All swatches are two coats without top coat.

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A stunning fall copper with a lovely formula, Ivy is part of Zoya's core line, and can be found on their website and in some salons and brick and mortar stores.

Copper Week Day 2: Sephora Vivid Metallic

Vivid Metallic was part of Sephora's Pantone Universe collaboration to celebrate the color of 2012, Tangerine Tango.  It's an orange-leaning copper foil, which took three coats for opacity, showed every flaw in my nails despite ridge-filling base coat and showed brush strokes like mad.  Fortunately, I only paid $3, and it will be a decent base for copper glitter topcoats.

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Sephora polishes are available on their website and in their brick and mortar stores.

Copper Week Day 1: Zoya Colette

I can't believe I haven't done a whole week dedicated to copper polishes yet!  Well, it's officially Autumn, so I'm remedying that mistake.

Colette is a very soft browned copper shimmer polish and is one of Zoya's core colors.  It's work-appropriate, fall-appropriate, opaque in two coats,and a lovely background for any of my dozen or so copper glitter toppers.  What more could I ask for? :)  All swatches are two coats of this very well-behaved polish (neither too thick nor too thin, no pooling, dripping, lagging or bald spots).

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In the sun:

Colette isn't a true duochrome, but the color does shift slightly towards either the orange or the brown end of copper depending on the lighting.  It's also decent for stamping.  Colette is available on Zoya's website and at salons and some brick and mortar stores which carry Zoya polishes.

Zoya Winter/Holiday 2012-13: Ornate

It’s time to celebrate... so make sure you celebrate in style!

The NEW Zoya Ornate Collection is the perfect to decorate your nails with stunning jewel tone colors and special effect pigments this season. Featuring six stunning, glittering, crystal shades in our new Power Pigment Full Coverage Formula. Superior coverage and dynamic color in one. All in the long-wearing, toxin free (BIG5FREE) formula you love... Each one is as beautiful as the next.

ZOYA WINTER/HOLIDAY 2012/13: ORNATE COLLECTION

·       Blaze (ZP641) - Cranberry Glitter Glam Crystal - Featuring Power Pigment Full Coverage

·       Electra (ZP642) -  Holographic Tinsel Special Effect- wear it alone or layer it for extra drama

·       Ziv (ZP644) - Gold Foil Glitter Crystal - Featuring Power Pigment Full Coverage

·       Storm (ZP645) - Black with Multi Color Crystal Shimmer - Featuring Power Pigment Full Coverage

·       Aurora (ZP646) - Plum with Multi Color Crystal Shimmer - Featuring Power Pigment Full Coverage

·       Logan (ZP647) - Green Foil Glitter Crystal - Featuring Power Pigment Full Coverage

ZOYA IS THE NEW COLOR OF FASHION!

Ultra long-wearing, glossy nail lacquers by Zoya are BIG5FREE - all formulas are completely free of harmful industrial chemicals such as toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Find over 300 other Zoya shades at www.zoya.com. Each and every name has a color as unique as the women who inspired it.

$8.00 ea. US. Shipping October 15, 2012.

Find Zoya Ornate on Zoya.com

I'm loving Blaze, Storm and Aurora, how about you?

Zoya Gilty Pleasures Gift Box

press release

The luxury Gilty Pleasures 18K Real Gold Flake Topcoat Gift Box by Zoya has arrived! 

The Gilty Pleasures velvet gift box features Zoya Gilty*, the 18k Real Gold Flake Topcoat  (0.5oz) PLUS two long wearing, full-size (0.5oz), colors to cover in gold... Zoya Raven (black) and Zoya Purity (white). 

Pre-Order HERE!  

Official Ship Date 10/15/2012 - Due to extreme demand and scarcity of the gold material, we are asking everyone to pre-order the Gilty Pleasures Trio Box in advance.  Once pre-sell is sold out, there will be no more product available (that means when it's gone it's gone).  You will not be charged until for the Gilty Pleasures Trio Box actually ships. 

Want more? Try Zoya Gilty over your favorite nail polish shade to create your own signature 18K Gold look -click here for a few of our suggestions.

*Zoya Glty not sold separately 

ZOYA IS THE NEW COLOR OF FASHION!
www.zoya.com

Funky Fingers* Teal Scales

This little gem was a gift from my beautiful and talented friend girlygirl, who is currently experiencing la dolce vita in Italia.  Hopefully she's finding some time to buy Italian nail polish while she's there. ;)  Teal Scales is a glitter crackle polish, which is a true teal on the nails although it looks blackened in the bottle.  It was very unfussy, flowed right off the brush and cracked beautifully with no trouble on my part.  This manicure is one coat of Teal Scales over Savvy Chrome.

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I know a lot of folks are over crackles, but I still love them, and this one is a lovely addition to my stash.  Funky Fingers* polishes are available at FiveBelow, Target, Walmart and Ebay, just to name a few places.

Thanks, GG, I love it!

*Funky Fingers gives me a flashback to my high school years, when the cool song was "Funky Poodle" by a local band called Wild Horses (who are still playing in the Cleveland area!).

Zoya FeiFei

FeiFei is part of Zoya's 2012 Fashion Week Diva collection, and it's a beautiful dark blue with a great deal of gold and silver shimmer.  It reminded me of Zoya Crystal, so my ring finger is Crystal and all the rest are FeiFei.  The formula was very smooth, slightly thin but very easy to work with.  All swatches are three coats without top coat.

In the sun:

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

You can see that the FeiFei's base is dustier than Crystal's as well as being more purple-toned than the soft denim of Crystal.  They are definitely sisters, but not dupes.  Zoya polishes are available on their website and at some brick and mortar stores and salons.

Zoya Daul

Daul is part of Zoya's 2012 Fashion Week Diva collection, and it's a beautiful red-leaning purple with a great deal of gold shimmer.  It reminds me of purple and gold art glass.  The formula was very smooth, slightly thin and inclined to pool a bit, but certainly not unworkable.  All swatches are three coats without top coat.

In the sun:

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I love this polish.  It's elegant and different, and a beautiful fall color.  Zoya polishes are available on their website and at some brick and mortar stores and salons.

Zoya Heather

One of Zoya's core colors, Heather is a very soft lilac crème and a nice way to ease into the week.  I seem to gravitate to the pink-toned pale purples, in both nail polish and clothing.  Heather is in the same family as China Glaze Light as Air and Orly Lollipop, but it's lighter in color.  I used three coats for complete opacity.  Zoya says there's shimmer in Heather, but I didn't see any!

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

The ding on my middle finger is from forgetting I had to give my dogs their pills, not a fault of the polish!  Overall, Heather's formula was very nice, smooth and slightly thin but not so thin as to cause pooling.  Zoya polishes are available on their website and at some brick and mortar stores and salons.

Savvy by femme couture: Chrome

I mentioned yesterday that I used Chrome as a base for one of my new DifferentDimension glitters, but I realized that I hadn't featured this polish on its own.  It does deserve its own post, so here it is!

femme couture is a brand of mineral makeup I've only ever seen at Sally Beauty, and Savvy is their nail polish.  Only one color is available on the Sally Beauty website, but there are more colors on the shelves at my local store.  I grabbed Chrome because I was looking for a plain silver foil, and I'm pretty impressed--for a buck I got a polish which is silvery, shiny, opaque in two coats, doesn't make my ridges look too terribly obvious and is great for stamping!  Both swatches are two coats without top coat.

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I don't know why there are so few of these on the Sally Beauty website unless they're being phased out, but if you have a brick & mortar SB nearby, you might want to grab a bottle of Chrome if you need a dependable silver foil.

DifferentDimension: Selene

Selene is my second polish from the lovely and talented Missi of DifferentDimension. Selene is a barely-tinted white jelly base with matte white glitter hexes, shards, rounds and micro-glitter.  For a truly shivery look, I layered two coats of Selene over two coats of femme couture Chrome, a silver foil.  The pictures are before top coat, but after the second coat of Selene dried, I added one coat of Gelous and one coat of Nubar Diamont and had glass-smooth nails.

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Formula-wise, Selene was lovely--only a small amount of glitter-placing was required, and it wore like iron.  I had this on for a full week with no chips and only minor tipwear.  Highly recommended!

Essence Colour & Go: Walk on the Wild Side

Walk on the Wild Side is a dark, yellow-toned green with bright green shimmer.  Like all of the Essence polishes I've gotten, the formula was a dream to work with!  All swatches are three coats without top coat.

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Indoors without flash:

Unfortunately, there's too much yellow in Walk on the Wild Side for this to look good on me.  :(  But for someone who can pull off army green, this is a great polish!  Essence Colour & Go polishes are available online and in-store at Ulta, where they retail for $1.99 + tax.

Essence Colour & Go: Oh My Glitter

Oh My Glitter is a perfect medium purple, leaning neither red nor blue, with bright fuchsia shimmer.   Like the other Essence polishes I've tried, the formula was just wonderful.  I used three coats and no top coat for my swatches.

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Indoors without flash:

Unfortunately, my camera didn't do a very good job of capturing the shimmer, but it's there and very pretty!  Essence Colour & Go polishes are available online and in-store at Ulta, where they retail for $1.99 + tax.

Essence Colour & Go: Greyt to be Here

Greyt to be Here is a lovely light grey with fuchsia shimmer.  Despite the flattened brush, it stayed exactly where I put it, no drips, no drags, no pools.  I think because of the lighter color, this one took three coats for opacity, so all swatches are three coats and no top coat.

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Indoors without flash:

The shimmer is subtle, only strongly visible in direct light, but it's still a very pretty polish.  Essence Colour & Go polishes are available online and in-store at Ulta, where they retail for $1.99 + tax.

Essence Colour & Go: Date in the Moonlight

Finally, the new Ulta store near me is open!  This means I have access to what is (so far) the only US outlet for Essence Colour & Go polishes.  For the store's grand opening, I had a coupon for 20% off my entire purchase, so the polishes wound up costing me $1.59 + tax.

The first ever Essence polish on my blog is Date in the Moonlight, a dark grey crème with bright blue shimmer.  Sadly, it does need two coats for opacity, at which point the shimmer is drowned out and the dark grey looks black.  Still, the formula was very good--this is an extremely well-behaved polish, going exactly where I wanted it and not dragging or pooling.  For the price, I may use it up in either water-marbling or try to franken a lighter version.  Anyway, all swatches are two coats, no top coat.

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Indoors without flash:

Essence Colour & Go polishes are available online and in-store at Ulta.  They retail for $1.99 + tax.

ncla From Dusk Till Dawn polish collection press release

ncla is a Los Angeles-based nail polish company, and their autumn 2012 polish collection has arrived!

From Dusk Till Dawn consists of four polishes:

Call Me For The After Party, a blue metallic:

Dirty Martini, an olive créme:

Rock Solid, a grey créme with silver shimmer:

and

Without Me, there's no Vip, a berry shimmer:

ncla polishes are available on their website and in brick and mortar stores (but the website doesn't say which stores!) and retail for $16.00 each.

Ulta nail polish in Blues Cruise

Blues Cruise is one of Ulta's own brand of nail polish, and these can often be found on sale, both online and in their brick and mortar stores.   Blues Cruise  is a beautiful blue glitter suspended in a lightly blue-tinted jelly.  The pictures show it as leaning purple, but in real life it's a true royal blue.  I had to adjust the color values a bit to get the true color of the polish to show, so please forgive the weirdly-colored fingers! :) Swatches are, from pinky to index, one, two, three and four coats.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

It's beautiful, but because of the glitter removal, this one is probably going to be used strictly for layering.