Merry Christmas!

purchased by me

Zoya Winter/Holiday 2015: Matte Velvet

purchased by me

Sorry it took so long, but finally, here are my swatches of the Zoya Winter/Holiday Matte Velvet polishes for 2015.

All six had the same flawless formula, opaque in two easy coats, flowed perfectly and dried quickly.  Pics after the jump!

Bonita Nail-O-Ween 2015

purchased by me

I am such a sucker for packaging!  I saw this cute set at Rite Aid for $4.99 + tax and I couldn't resist!  The nail stickers are tiny, but there is tiny green shimmer over the black stickers, and I love little touches like that.  There are two glow in the dark polishes among the four.

The green glows in the dark and it's pretty thin.  I used three coats for my swatch, but could have used a fourth:

The purple is also a glow-in-the dark and also needs four coats (shown with three):

The white was fine with three coats:

The black was perfect in two coats:

If your expectations aren't too high, this is a cute set for $5, and would be wonderful for doing your nails with a small someone special!

Pi nails!

purchased by me

I treated myself to a gorgeous and geeky Pi Infinity scarf from Think Geek.  Then when I was planning to wear it with a blue and white tweed jacket, white shirt and blue slacks, I decided I would do my nails to match.  I started with a base of Zoya Dream, then added a coat of Nubar White Polka Dot and free-handed the Pi symbold in Serum No5 Guiding Light.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 29, Inspired by the supernatural

purchased by me

I went a little bit sideways on my supernatural manicure*.  I couldn't decide between ghosts and seances and werewolves and vampires, so I did one thing they all have in common.  I used Zoya Storm and Serum No5 Guiding Light to depict the phases of the moon.

*I originally typed manitou--there's some supernatural for you, lol.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 28, Inspired by a flag

purchased by me

Of course I had to go with the Ohio flag!  We have the only non-rectangular flag in the US--too bad I made it look like eyeballs. :P

I used a base of Zoya Purity, Nubar Night Sparkle and Formula X for Sephora in Pyrotechnic.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 26, Inspired by a pattern

purchased by me

My pattern inspiration was the Black Watch plaid.  My great-grandmother was Scots, but since my descent is through the female side, I'm not supposed to wear the MacDougall plaid.  Fortunately, anyone can wear the Black Watch plaid!  Here's my attempt:

Polishes used were Sinful Colors Real Teal, OPI Indigo Mood and Zoya Storm.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 23, Inspired by a Movie

purchased by me

My movie inspiration was a movie that has made its way so deep into popular culture that it's become a verb, but that so few of my family and co-workers have heard of--Gaslight.  I used Essie White Page, Sally Hansen Wet Cement and Cult Nails Fetish.  I'm super-pleased with my foggy needle marble, but I have to laugh at my attempt at a gas street lamp!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 21, Inspired by a Color

purchased by me

Indigo is one of my favorite colors, so it was my chosen inspiration for Day 21.  I used a base of Essie White Page and then did multiple fan brush strokes of Sinful Colors Matte About Blue.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 19, Galaxies

purchased by me

My galaxy nails have a base of Zoya Dream, with swirls of Zoya Purity and Ulta silver holographic top coat.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 14, Flowers

purchased by me

Very abstract flowers, but I loved the colors.  I used Essie White Page for my base, and then used a small eyeshadow brush loaded with Essie Highest Bidder and Essie Flowerista, then brushed the whole thing with top coat while it was still damp.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 7, Black & White nails

purchased by me

For my black & white nails, I went with two of my favorite e-tailers, Serum No5 and KB Shimmer.  The base for this incredibly simple look is two coats of Guiding Light, a glow in the dark white named after the soap I never missed in the '80s.  The black is one coat of Spot Sign by KB Shimmer.

You can find Guiding Light at Serum No5 and Spot Sign at KB Shimmer.

Zoya Nail Polish BOGO has begun!

press release It’s never too early to celebrate your freedom, so let’s kick off the Fourth of July with a Zoya Nail Polish BOGO! Buy ANY 3 colors, get ANY 3 Free*  (plus free shipping) NOW through 7/4/15 (11:59 p.m. EST). Get ready to salute the red, white and blue your own way and take your pick of over 300 lady liberty-approved shades. The choice is all yours! Don’t forget to show us what your Independence Day mani looks like with #EverydayZoya. Use Code: 3FREE Now - 7/4/15 (11:59pm EST) How it Works: 1. Visit www.zoya.com and add at least 6 Zoya Nail Polish colors to your shopping cart.     (There's no limit, so add as many sets of Buy 3, Get 3 as you please!) 2. Enter Code 3FREE into the coupon code field in cart and press "Apply Code" 3. Complete check-out, review and submit order *Terms & Conditions Valid online only at www.zoya.com 6/26/15 – 7/4/15 (11:59pm EST). Excludes ALL Zoya Treatments and the Naked Manicure System. Continental US and Canada ONLY. International processing fee applies. Not valid in conjunction with other coupons, codes or gift with purchase items. Returns or exchanges of promotional items not permitted. Art of Beauty is not responsible for incorrect addresses, credit card entry errors, declined credit cards or web related issues. Limit one code per order. Code must be entered at the time of purchase – code cannot be reinstated on canceled orders. Zoya Nail Polish is the world's leading brand of nail polish. Known as the "Healthy New Color of Fashion"  Zoya is always a step ahead of fashion trends with the longest wearing natural nail formula.  From creams, mattes, satins, metallic and texture finishes there are over 300 shades to choose from at www.zoya.com.

Milani Fierce Foil Nail Lacquer: Sardinia

purchased by me

Milani has six new nail polishes out in a collection called Fierce Foil Nail Lacquer.  Per the Milani website, these polishes have "genuine gold flecks – twirling, swirling, luminescent sparkles - to send lacquer shine straight into the stratosphere...[f]or a multidimensional effect  that only looks like you spent hours at the nail salon..."  I bought three and may have to get the other three as well.

First up is Sardinia, which Milani describes as "shimmery white-cap ivory" and what I describe as a clear jelly base loaded with white and gold micro-glitter.  It's one of those polishes that is so sparkly you can't tell it's still sheer at two coats, but it dries smooth.  Sardinia also dries quickly and is a lovely twist on the work-safe manicure.  My only complaint, and it's minor, is that the micro-glitter gets everywhere during the removal process.

 Indoors without flash:

Indoors with flash:

I got Sardinia, Rome and Capri at CVS, but the display was almost empty, so I'm going to get at least Venice and Milan at the Milani website.  The polishes cost $3.99, which is a great bargain.

Nyx Cosmetics Prismatic Eyeshadows

purchased by me

Over the last year or so, I've come to a bigger appreciation for Nyx products, so when they came out with their Prismatic eyeshadows, I bought nine of the twelve.  I love eight of the nine, because they are reasonably priced, smooth, pigmented, soft and long-wearing.  The only failure is Frostbite, which is less because of the shadow itself than that it's just too close to my skin color!

All swatches are one swipe over bare skin.

Left to right: Punk Heart, Blue Jeans, Bedroom Eyes, Girl Talk

Punk Heart is a deep plummy brown.

Blue Jeans is a denim blue.

Bedroom Eyes is a medium brown.

Girl Talk is a pale beige.

Left to right: Frostbite, Smoke & Mirrors, Liquid Gold, Mermaid, Golden Peach.

Frostbite is a very soft white.

Smoke & Mirrors is a dark grey.

Liquid Gold is a medium copper.

Mermaid is a mint green.

Golden Peach is a pink-peach.

If you'd like to indulge in one or a dozen, the Prismatic shadows can be found on the Nyx website for $6.00 each (told you they're reasonably priced!) plus shipping.

Sinful Colors About Blooming Time: Flower Power and Petal Be the Day

purchased by me

As I said in my last post, I am over winter and looking forward to spring.  Sinful Colors is helping out with their About Blooming Time collection!  I snagged Flower Power and Petal Be the Day, and one is a keeper and one is going to a different home.

Flower Power is a milky pink jelly filled with matte white and shiny fuchsia hex glitter in several sizes.  It's flower-like but with a bit of drama, was opaque in three coats and dried very quickly.  It does dry noticeably rough, so you'll want a second coat of a thick top coat, but it's so worth it, especially for $1.99!

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

Petal Be the Day is a lavender milky jelly with shiny blue and lavender hex glitter in two sizes.  Unfortunately, it was much sheerer than Flower Power, and there was a lot of visible nail after three coats.  This one will probably work well as a layering polish, but I have plenty of those, so I'm giving it away.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

A note about finding these polishes--the Sinful Colors promo pictures show a small counter display called About Blooming Time, with 8 polishes.  Three of them are new, the two I've shown here and another glitter called Standing Bloom Only.  The new glitter polishes have little yellow and pink stickers on the cap which say Sinful Colors BLOOMBLAST.  My Walgreens did not have the counter display, just a large end-cap display, and I found these polishes by the sticker.  So don't despair if you don't see the display, just check all the other Sinful displays.

OPI Mustang collection: Pony Pack

purchased by me

Of the OPI + Ford collection, I adored The Sky's My Limit and had my socks bored right off me by Pony Pack.  Thirteen dollars for four basic colors, only two of which were done right?  Bleah.

50 years is a standard gold metallic, opaque in two coats and unforgiving of nail ridges.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

Angel with a Leadfoot is a horrible white cream--I've shown three coats and it's still a streakfest.  C'mon, OPI, by now you should be able to do a streak-free white!

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

Girls Like Ponies is a flawless formula in a standard pink crème--only one coat!

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

Race Red is a standard red crème with a nice, two-coat formula.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

I'm mostly ticked with myself for buying this, but I'm not thrilled with OPI raising the price of the minis and disappointed with the plebeian choices of color and the fact that the white is a mess.  If you disagree with my opinion, you can find the Pony Pack at Ulta.

KB Shimmer Periwinkle in Time

purchased by me

Periwinkle in Time is a gorgeous periwinkle crème, shifting from a bright light blue in direct light to a softer, greyer blue-purple in low light.  It's also stuffed with white, blue and purple glitter!  The formula was thin enough to let the glitters show through, but thick enough to be opaque in two coats.

Indoors with flash:

In the sun:

Periwinkle in Time is available for $8.75 + shipping from KB Shimmer.

Zoya Jolie

gift with purchase

The third and final free polish in my recent Zoya order was Jolie, which is a beautiful pearl sheer with pink and gold shimmer.  The formula is a tiny bit thin, almost runny, but it can be worn opaque in three coats, or as a transformative top coat.

Three coats, indoors without flash:

Three coats, indoors with flash:

One coat over Zoya Codie,

In the sun:

Indoors without flash:

One coat over Zoya Dawn,

In the sun:

Indoors without flash:

Jolie can be purchased for $9 + shipping and any applicable tax at Zoya.  Unfortunately, I no longer have my bottle, because Mom took one look and fell in love! :-D

Incoco Made with Love

purchased by me

Made with Love is from the Valentine's Day 2014 collection from Incoco, and it appears to be out of stock on their website.  I've seen other out of season patterns come back in, so if you like this one, check the website now and then.  This is a cute pattern, and I do like it, but it reminds me I need to get off my butt and do a proper spun-sugar man!

Incoco nail polish strips retail for $8.99 each for a package of 16, plus any applicable shipping or tax.