Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Press release: Zoya Island Fun and Paradise Sun Summer 2015 Collections


Introducing two new Zoya Nail Polish collections for Summer 2015, Island Fun & Paradise Sun. All in the Big5Free* formula Zoya is famous for.



ISLAND FUN (creams)
Ready for an island vacation, these playful creams embody a tropical getaway! They are strong in color to balance the brilliance of the summer sun, with a flawless cream formula.

Jace (ZP796) - Modern tropical green in a full coverage and densely pigmented cream formula. A green that is more muted than lime and surprisingly wearable!
Cecilia (ZP797) - Classic teal in a full coverage and densely pigmented cream formula.
Talia (ZP798) - True turquoise in full coverage and densely pigmented cream formula.
Serenity (ZP799) - Summer purple in a full coverage and densely pigmented cream formula. Reminiscent of beautiful blooming irises, a harbinger of summer!
Nana (ZP800) - Deep summer fuchsia in a full coverage and densely pigmented cream formula.
Demetria (ZP801) - A vibrant poppy red in a full coverage and densely pigmented cream formula.



PARADISE SUN (metallics)

Fully saturated with a gorgeous micronized metallic sheen, these shimmering beauties are much like sunshine sparkling on water. Meant to be used as an independent color, these shades feature a full-coverage, densely pigmented formula.

Genesis (ZP790) - Crystalline white with a micronized metallic pearl finish. Designed to look like micro-fine diamond dust!
Selene (ZP791) - True teal with a micronized metallic pearl finish. A unique shade with an aqua fleck that resembles deeper
layers of ocean water.
Oceane (ZP792) - True turquoise with a micronized metallic pearl finish that reflects the clearest blue ocean waters.
Isa (ZP793) - Deep blue-based purple with a micronized metallic pearl finish and an aqua flash that embodies the beauty of exotic island flowers.
Mae (ZP794) - Warm magenta pink with a micronized metallic pearl finish, reminiscent of vibrant Mediterranean flowers.
Aphrodite (ZP795) - Vibrant summer red with a micronized pearl metallic finish and multi-hued flash that brings it to life.


AVAILABLE 05/05/15!

ZOYA IS THE HEALTHY COLOR OF FASHION!
$9 (US)
Available in top salons, spas and on zoya.com



MORE BIG NEWS…

Watch LIVE as Zoya Nail Polish debuts the NEW Summer 2015 Collections – Island Fun & Paradise Sun on Periscope!

Join us on Friday May 1st at 12:30pm EST to meet the collection and talk with Zoya Creative Director, Rebecca Isa, on how the new shades blend with summer cosmetic and fashion trends. If you don’t have a Periscope account already, don’t forget to get it set up now!

Broadcast Time: 12:30pm EST
Follow Zoya on Periscope: @ZoyaNailPolish



* **BIG5FREE, TOXIN FREE: Zoya Nail Polish Formula contains no formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, dibutyl phthalate, toluene or camphor.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Born Pretty Stamping Plate Review

Press Sample


Good morning, dear readers! I hope you are having a wonderful week! For today's blog post, I wanted to share a nail art look I created using a stamping plate from Born Pretty Store. Let's check it out!

I used Born Pretty Store's stamping plate BP-43 for this post.

To create this look, I started with a base colour of Colors by Llarowe Oops. This particular shade has been tentatively described as being comparable to the new Luke, I Am Your Father shade, however, I have yet to see a comparison of the two polishes to confirm. I then used Zoya Purity on two of my nails to add an interesting twist to the base colour.
I used Zoya Purity once again with the stamping plate to create the final look.
I topped my nails off with top coat. Even though I waited for the stamped polish to dry and I applied a huge dollop of topcoat to prevent dragging of the image, I still had a little bit of smearing of the stamped image.

I am really loving how this manicure came out! I originally had an extra final step in mind to make it slightly more complex, but my husband really liked this more simplistic look and convinced me to leave it alone. I think I agree with him now that it is done, and I'm glad I asked his opinion!

Stamping is still something I am trying to master, but overall, I think my stamping skills are decent even if they aren't ideal. I think my bottle of Purity is from a bad batch as it has always given me a few issues here and there as I use it for nail art, but I have yet to pick up another white polish to play with. The stamping plate seemed to be etched well enough and I was able to pick up the image pretty easily with my stamper. The issues I had were more with the polish itself, so I'll have to try something like this again using different polish.

 This stamping plate is available for purchase on the Born Pretty Store site here. You can save 10% off the full price of any items from the store, this plate included, by using discount code QWL91. Born Pretty Store has so much to choose from, and I definitely recommend checking them out for all your nail art needs!

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!
XO!


Disclaimer:  The products reviewed above were provided to me for my honest and unbiased opinion. All thoughts stated are entirely my own and are based on my use of said products.  I love receiving feedback from my readers, and any comments left here are the express opinions and/or property of the individual authors.  Therefore, I, the author of this site, cannot be held responsible for the opinions held by others.  I reserve the right to remove any comments that I find to be harmful, unnecessary, or not constructive for other readers.


Thursday, April 23, 2015

LynBDesigns: The Vocab Collection Swatches and Review

Good afternoon, dear readers! I hope you are having a wonderful day! I had planned to get this post written up yesterday, but I ended up with way too much on my plate and the day was suddenly gone. It may be spring now, but nail polish lines are already preparing to launch their early summer collections, and I have a bright one to share with you today! LynBDesigns will be releasing their striking neon collection, called The Vocab Collection on May 1st, and I'm eager to jump right in and share photos with you!
The Vocab Collection consists of eight base colors and two toppers. My camera freaked out with the brightness of these polishes, so I apologize in advance for the wide variation in skin tone. I didn't give myself a fake tan in the middle of swatching, I promise! In order to get as close to colour accurate photos of the polish, I ended up looking a little darker in several of these photos than normal. Now let's check them out!

YOLO
Whenever I think of neons, highlighter yellow is the first shade that comes to mind; I naturally had to start with this one first! This neon yellow crelly is BRIGHT! I used three coats here, although I probably should have added a fourth coat to help fill in the slight patchiness my camera picked up. The application was easy, and this did seem to dry rather quickly for me. There is also top coat for added shine on top of these swatches.

Adorbs
I love this pink! While I'm generally not a huge pink fan, I love darker pinks and apparently dark neon pinks! Adorbs is a neon magenta cream with added holo shimmer. It's such a pretty shade, and I definitely see myself wearing this beauty a lot! I used three coats plus top coat for these photos.

Feels
Feels is another favorite from this collection- just look at that neon blue! I really love the added holo shimmer as well. It adds a nice something extra without taking away from the gorgeous base shade. I used three easy coats plus top coat for these photos.

Thirsty
I have a confession to make- as much as I love orange polish, I really don't like neon orange. Something about the more traditional traffic cone orange is a turn off for me, and I never wear it. I was a little nervous at first when I heard there was an orange in this collection, but I must say, I dig it! It isn't my favorite of the bunch, but I really like that this crelly is more of a yellow-orange; I will actually wear this shade of neon orange! I used three coats plus top coat for these photos. 

On Fleek over YOLO

On Fleek over Adorbs

On Fleek over Feels

On Fleek over Thirsty
On Fleek is such a cool neon glitter topper, and I could not decide what I wanted to swatch it over. My camera is *the best* at picking up invisible dog hairs, but sometimes it has a hard time distinguishing between colours that I can easily see are different. I opted to swatch On Fleek over four different shades so you can really see what all is going on with this topper. I dabbed on about a coat and a half of polish over each base shade, and I really like this volume of glitter. There is enough to have fun variety, but you can definitely still enjoy the base colours underneath. This topper was easy to work with, and the glitters dispersed quite easily for me. I topped my nails off with top coat for these swatch photos.

Yas
I found myself humming the theme to Ghostbusters as I was swatching Yas; this neon green crelly screamed Slimmer to me! Photographing it, on the other hand, was something of a nightmare as no matter what camera I used or how I changed my settings, the most colour accurate images ended up with this odd glow. While it is a bright shade of green, this polish doesn't quite have this glowing effect that you see in these photos. It's still an awesome polish though, I promise! I used three coats plus top coat for these photos.

Bae
While it looks blue in my photos, Bae is more of a blurple in real life. It is a really pretty cream polish, and one I suspect will look either more blue or more purple against different skin tones and in different light sources. I used three easy coats plus top coat for these swatch photos.

Slay
Slay is the perfect name for this polish because it slayed me (or is slew technically correct?)! Well, maybe not *quite* since I'm still here, but I am in love with this neon melon crelly polish! It just might be my favorite of the collection. I really love neons in shades of coral, and Slay has the perfect amount of pinkness to it. I used three smooth coats plus top coat for these photos.

Shade
Shade is another one of my favorites from this collection. I adore this neon purple cream shade, and I really like the added holo shimmer! Even if neons aren't exactly your cup of tea, any purple fan will want this baby in their collection! I used three smooth coats plus top coat for these photos.

So Basic over Yas

So Basic over Bae

So Basic over Slay

So Basic over Shade
I love this holo plus glitter topper! It will look great over EVERYTHING! The holo effect was a little more subtle as I only used a single coat over each of these base shades, but I really wanted to enjoy the full base colour plus holo topper effect rather than covering the base too much. The formula was great and easy to use, and I'm not kidding when I say I want to put it over everything! It is definitely another must-have from this collection.

I am really happy with the variety of shades in The Vocab Collection! I like that there are crellies as well as creams and toppers to choose from, and I love that some of the shades have added holo shimmer. There really is something for everyone in this collection! I definitely recommend picking up polishes with the launch on May 1st!

The Vocab Collection will be launching on the LynBDesigns Etsy shop here at 7pm EST. These polishes will retail for $10 each.

You can follow LynBDesigns on Facebook here and Instagram here for shop news and announcements.

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!
XO!
















Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Hare Polish: Poison Pomegranate Swatch and Review

Good afternoon, dear readers; I hope this post finds you well! For today's post, I wanted to share a quick swatch of Poison Pomegranate by Hare Polish. Let's check it out!
Poison Pomegranate is a maroon jelly with gold flakies, neon blue glitter, purple glitter, iridescent gold glitter and purple shimmer.

I think my body may be confused with the seasons right now. While it may be spring, I feel particularly drawn to these darker berry shades at the moment. We've had a few grey overcast days recently, so I'm blaming my current fixation on the weather. Whatever the reason for my current obsession, Poison Pomegranate fit the bill perfectly and beautifully! The formula was really easy to work with, and I used two flawless coats plus top coat for these swatch photos.

Poison Pomegranate is part of the "Abduction of Persephony" winter collection, and I definitely recommend adding it to any collection! This and other shades are available from the Hare Etsy shop is addition to Hare's authorized retailers.

Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!
XO!



Monday, April 20, 2015

Zoya Earth Day Promo Details!


ZOYA EARTH DAY NAIL POLISH EXCHANGE 2015 – STARTS TUESDAY - APRIL 21, 2015!

With over 300 shades rooted in a healthy philosophy, it’s no surprise that Zoya is committed to helping you green your beauty routine! That’s why each year we give you the opportunity to exchange any old nail polish bottles that you may have laying around your house collecting dust, or that are not BIG5FREE* formulas, for brand new toxin-free** Zoya Nail Polish shades. You can rest assured that your unwanted polishes will be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. Helping the earth is easy… all you have to do to get started is pick out your NEW Zoya colors at zoya.com, follow the instructions below and checkout. Let us do the rest!

How the ZOYA EARTH DAY NAIL POLISH EXCHANGE works
...
1.     Visit www.zoya.com and add a minimum of 6 bottles of Zoya Nail Polish (no more than 24 bottles) to your cart. Minimum 12, maximum 48 for professional accounts.
 
2.     Apply Code: EARTHLUV and a 50% credit will be added to your exchange order - free shipping included!
 
3.     Complete checkout and you're all set! If you need further instructions (including info for our professional program) on sending back your unwanted polish click HERE.
The exchange runs on the honor system, which means you are not obligated to send in your unwanted polish - we assume you're going to do the right thing! Many people donate the polish to a local cause instead, which we fully support. If you choose to send back your polishes, please check with your carrier of choice for shipping guidelines and restrictions for nail polish. For full promotion terms & conditions and instructions on how to send in your polish, click HERE.


USE CODE: EARTHLUV
Offer valid 4/21/15 - 4/28/15 (11:59pm EST)



* **BIG5FREE, TOXIN FREE: Zoya Nail Polish Formula contains no formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, dibutyl phthalate, toluene or camphor.


Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Hare Polish: Damn Fine Coffee Swatch and Review

Good morning, dear readers! I hope this post finds you well! I've been feeling a little under the weather recently, so I've been trying to take it easy. It always seems to happen when the weather is going a little crazy with sudden rainy spells and temperature drops, and I seem to be particularly sensitive to it right now. Yay, pregnancy! One of the other joys of pregnancy is the difficulty sleeping, and I've been needing a cup of coffee in the mornings more often. In honor of that, I felt it would be quite appropriate to write a post featuring Hare Polish Damn Fine Coffee. Let's check it out!
Damn Fine Coffee is an older shade released as part of the Twin Peaks Winter 2013 collection, and I only just purchased it last month. I really like glittery brown shades, and I wish I bought it sooner! Damn Fine Coffee is described as a deep brown jelly packed with red and gold flakies plus iridescent hexes. It's a pretty cool polish, and I like that it looked a little different depending on how the light hit the flakes!

Because this jelly is densely packed with flakies and glitters, I couldn't make out any visible nail line with only two coats of polish. The application was surprisingly easy given its makeup- I had no issues whatsoever! I also added topcoat to my nails for these photos to get a smoother look to my nails.

Damn Fine Coffee is available from the Hare Etsy shop is addition to Hare's authorized retailers.

I'm off to go make my own coffee now! Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!
XO! 



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