Deborah Lippman Marrakech Express

purchased by me

I'm back!  Did you miss me?  If you want to know where I've been, check out Curmudgeonette. :-D

Anyway, today is all about Marrakech Express.  I love this polish so much!  It's been a longtime lemming for me, and when I finally grabbed it from HSN, it did not disappoint.  It's a red-copper foil with gold flakes, the formula was easy and it was opaque in two coats.

It's available at the Lippman website for $20 or at HSN for $21 with a free mini bottle of top coat.

Formula X for Sephora: Groovy

purchased by me

Groovy is part of the Technicolor Silks collection from Formula X.  It's an insanely shiny orange-toned red with a pink flash.  The formula is good, thin but opaque and fast-drying, but I mostly love it for the color. :-)  Swatch is two coats, no top coat.

Groovy and the other Technicolor Silks can be found at Sephora for $12.50 each + tax and shipping.

Merry Christmas!

purchased by me

Cozy plaid blankie

purchased by me

Although it's been unseasonably warm around here, the season still calls for cozy blankies in red and green plaids, just like the Pendleton blanket my mom had in her car when I was growing up.  I used some old Sally Hansen polish strips in a red & black plaid, added a black border with my Migi nail art pen, and then topped it off with Ulta's satin matte top coat.

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!

Essie A-list

purchased by me

A-list is a nice classic red crème, opaque and shiny in two coats.

Orly Infamous collection: Scandal

purchased by me

Scandal is a basic deep red crème, that is nevertheless quite pretty.  The formula is well-behaved, opaque in two coats and shiny even before top coat.

Orly Infamous collection: 15 Minutes of Fame

purchased by me

15 Minutes of Fame is a pinky-red jelly filled with holographic and pinky-red glitter.  I've shown one coat over Front Page and two coats on its own.  It looks beautiful either way, and the formula is easy to work with and quick-drying.

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 18, Half moons

purchased by me

Yay, a challenge I can totally rock!  For this mani, I used a base of Orly Front Page, and then painted the half-moons with Orly 15 Minutes of Fame, a red jelly base with red glitter.  The gold base toned down the red so it's more pink, but it's so pretty I don't care!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 16, Geometric

purchased by me

My geometric nails have a base of Sinful Colors No Filter, a dark indigo shimmer and straight (or as straight as I could get them) lines of Orly Front Page, a pale gold frost.  Front Page is part of the Orly Infamous collection, which I will swatch when the challenge is done.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 1, Red Nails

purchased by me

Fortunately for me, this nail art challenge starts off with some easy one-color looks.  First up is red, and I pulled Illamasqua Boudicca out of my untrieds.

Boudicca is no longer available, but there are lots of pretty nail colors on the Illamasqua site!

Zoya Autumn 2015: Flair collection

press sample

The Flair collection is just as beautiful as the Focus collection!  Composed of six phenomenal shimmers in glowing colors, this is a collection to make you say "Gotta have 'em all!"  The formula was smooth and well-behaved, opaque in two coats and just a bit brush stroke-y, but that doesn't bother me as much when the colors are so gorgeous.

Aggie is a gold-to-green duochrome, nothing particularly ground-breaking, but lovely all the same.

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Cinnamon is a gorgeous chocolate brown and probably my favorite (but don't tell the other colors!)

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Ember is a bright, orange-leaning red which lives up to its name!

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Estelle is a high-voltage cobalt. 

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Giada is a truly royal purple.

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The Flair collection is available at Zoya,  The polishes are $9 each, $54 for a set of six or $30 for a set of six minis. 

Zoya Autumn 2015: Focus collection

press sample

To be honest, when I got the promo materials for Focus and Flair, I was more excited about the shimmers, but then I got the actual polishes and there's no way I can play favorites now.  The F collection consists of 6 crèmes, and all but one are one-coaters.  Yup, beautiful, shiny, quick-drying, self-leveling polishes that only need one coat, or in one case, one and a half.

Charli is an olive drab which looks more green, grey or brown depending on the light.

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Desiree is a milk chocolate brown.

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Hannah is a bright tomato red.

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Janel is a slightly darker red with a bit more blue in it.

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Lidia is a vibrant eggplant purple.  It was the only color to require a coat and a half.

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Sia is a vivid cobalt blue.  The press release warned that this one stains, so I doubled up on base coat.

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If any of these colors appeal, you can't do better than a one-coater for $9!  Plus, you can buy a set for $54 or a set of minis for $30.  You can find all of the gorgeousness at Zoya.

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.

Sinful Colors Horizon Shine

purchased by me

The last time Walgreens had Sinful Colors on sale, I grabbed two of the Citrus Twist colors (they had already sold out of the third).  Horizon Shine is an orange-toned red jelly stuffed with teeny-tiny little flakes. There's always going to be some visible nail line with jellies, but the color was vibrant and even at three coats, it dried quickly, and for a buck, this is amazing!

The Citrus Twist polishes are LE, but while the counter displays are gone from my local Walgreens, I've seen Horizon Shine and Ring the Bellini stuck in other displays.  Sinful Colors polishes retail for $1.99 each.

Zoya Paradise Sun collection

press sample

The second summer collection from Zoya contains six stunning glass fleck polishes.  Pictures and reviews after the jump.

Zoya Island Fun collection

press sample

Today I have Zoya's gorgeous collection of summer crèmes for you.  It's called Island Fun, and it definitely has a fun summer vibe!  Pictures and reviews after the jump.

Nicole by OPI DC Lover

purchased by me

Just as OPI collaborated with Coke last year, this year Nicole by OPI is doing a similar collaboration.  The only one I wanted was the Diet Coke polish, DC Lover.  DC Lover is a silver foil with red glitters, and it's so saturated with glitter, you can't tell that it's a bit sheer at two coats.  Be warned that there is a lot of fallout during removal--you will find foil particles everywhere.  For me, it's worth it!

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I found the Nicole by OPI Coke collection display on the top shelf of a CVS rack, where they retail for $7.99 each.

Orly Fireball

purchased by me

For summer, Orly brings us Adrenaline Rush, a collection of six brilliant brights.  I got two of the six, the first of which is Fireball.  Fireball is a blue-toned neon red with a great formula--perfect consistency, vibrant color and opaque in two thin coats or one thick one.  It dries satin-matte and fairly quickly, like most neons.  There is some violet shimmer faintly visible in the bottle, but it doesn't show up on the nail.  Unfortunately, Fireball freaked out both my camera and my photo editing software, so all I can do is post the pictures which come closest and say that it's brighter in real life!

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The Adrenaline Rush collection is available wherever Orly polishes are sold.  I got Fireball at Head2Toe Beauty.