Riveting and Luxe and Lush - China Glaze Colours From the Capitol

  I absolutely loved The Hunger Games trilogy - I am very big into dystopian and post-apocalyptic books lately, and it definitely fit the bill.  For those of you who don't know I am a very avid reader.  It can be hard to find the time with work in the lab and class and my miniature zoo and polish, haha - but I try to read a bit every night.  So far this year in January and February I got in 5 books per month.  I am not sure I will keep that up, but it is a good start!  At any rate, I can't wait for the movie, and was excited to see China Glaze teaming up with Hunger Games for a line of nail polish, and even more excited when I received two of these beauties to review for you!

Riveting

District 3 - Technology

Outdoors, shade

 Stunning bright, fiery orange jelly full of golden-yellow shimmer flecks.  Somehow out of the two polishes I received I managed to get the one I had been most wanting.  This polish is so aptly named - it is definitely riveting!  I couldn't stop staring at it!  It applied fabulously for a jelly, two smooth and easy coats.  The shimmer in this is just amazing.  Here are (quite) a few more pictures to hopefully show off some of its beauty - and I would definitely recommend clicking on some of these to enlarge!

Outdoors, shade - close-up

Outdoors, direct sun

Outdoors, direct sun - close-up

Indoors, artificial light

Luxe and Lush

District One - Luxury

Outdoors, shade

Chunky mylar flakes in a clear base, with flakies reflecting predominantly golden-orange, pink and blue.  This is a bit different type of flakie polish than I am used to, and at first I wasn't sure what I was going to think, but in the end I really like it!  It was fairly easy to apply, although sometimes the larger-sized flakes have to be gently guided into position.  the above swatch is three coats alone; below I added one coat to Riveting.  While too sheer to wear alone (in my opinion) this does make a gorgeous top coat!

Outdoors, shade

Outdoors, sun

Outdoors, shade - close-up

Overall Review

 Both of these colors are gorgeous and I would highly recommend either of them.  Luxe and Lush has a lot of potential uses as a flakie top coat and is fairly unique in size, shape, and type of flakies.  Riveting is a stunning orange jelly with great pigment and application and gorgeous shimmer flecks.  There are still a few colors from this collection that I am going to have to pick up when it becomes available (most notable Stone Cold), but these two are definitely winners!  Below is the rest of the collection, available early March - which colors are you most excited for?

DISCLOSURE: The polishes featured in this post  were provided to Polishology by China Glaze for review purposes.  This is an honest and independent review and was in no way influenced by the company.

Zoya True Collection - Swatches and Review

  I was planning on getting this out yesterday but I am sick with the flu... :(  Sorry about the delay, but here is the gorgeous Zoya True collection, the main Spring 2012 collection from Zoya.  If you missed Fleck Effects yesterday you can see it here.  And remember that you can click on all pictures to enlarge!

Farah

Outdoors, shade

Beige creme with subtle green undertones.  Perfectly smooth creme application that is to be expected from Zoya, this was two coats.

Cho

Outdoors, shade

 Lighter yellow toned beige with a very subtle silver shimmer.  I tried to catch the shimmer on camera but it is very difficult.  It does add a soft pearly quality to the polish, though.  This swatch is three coats, although two was almost sufficient.

Bevin

Outdoors, shade

 Slightly dusty sage green creme.  Same smooth application, two coats for full coverage.

Lotus

Outdoors, shade

 Blue-toned purple with gorgeous pink and gold shimmer throughout.  This polish sort of reminds me of Neeka from the Smoke and Mirrors collection (I will do a comparison soon).  Below you can see the shimmer a bit better.  Two easy coats.

Indoors, artificial light

Tru

Outdoors, shade

 Brighter red-toned purple with gold and pink shimmer.  This is my second favorite polish of the collection!  I used three coats here but again two coats was almost perfect and probably would have been if I had a more steady hand.  Close-up of shimmer below.

Outdoors, evening sunlight

Skylar

Outdoors, shade

 Slightly dusty medium blue with intense silver shimmer throughout.  My absolute favorite of the collection - does this surprise anyone, with my love of blues?  Haha.  The color is amazing and the silver shimmer stands out quite a bit.  This is just totally amazing.  Three coats here, probably only needed two.

Indoors, artificial light

Overall Review

A great collection!  I thought Farah and Cho were somewhat interesting choices right on the heels of the Feel collection, but it is nice to have a choice with neutrals for different skin tones.  Formula and application on all of these was great as well.  My two choices for must-haves of this collection would definitely be Tru and Skylar, although Tru does seem to have a twin floating around in the OPI Holland collection (Holland swatches and comparisons coming very soon).  Really great spring colors with the great Zoya formula we have all grown to expect!

Also, don't forget that tomorrow is the last day to enter my China Glaze giveaway!  If you haven't entered yet click here.  :)

DISCLOSURE: The polishes featured in this post  were provided to Polishology by Zoya for review purposes.  This is an honest and independent review and was in no way influenced by the company.

Zoya Fleck Effects Collection - Swatches and Review

  The next couple of posts I'm going to share are swatches of Zoya's two Spring 2012 collections, the Fleck Effects top coat collection and the True collection.  First off I'm going to share the Fleck Effects collection, which as you can probably guess from the name consists of some gorgeous flakies!  I will also show a comparison to Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure (SH HT), which itself is dupable to Essie Shine of the Times and Nubar 2010 (among others) so it is good for a comparison of those as well.  All swatches are shown with one coat of the flakie top coat over the base color.  Here we go!

Outdoors, shade

  First up, all three polishes over black, along with Hidden Treasure.  Immediately you can see here that Opal and Maisie are very similar in terms of the flakies - both are comprised of green-to-blue shifting flakes.  Chloe is something totally different.  It has both red-to-gold and green-to-blue flakies, making it unique as far as I am aware.  Also, you can see here that none of these are a dupe to Hidden Treasure (and its many dupes).  Yay!

Outdoors, shade

  The above picture shows the shift in color of the flakies at an angle well.  They are all totally gorgeous!

Outdoors, direct sunlight

  Over white, you can see that the base of each polish has a subtle tint of color to it.  This is one coat over white - more coats would of course give you a bolder base color.  Hidden Treasure is in a clear base.

Outdoors, shade

  Finally, time to let these colors shine on their own over some corresponding colors from the Zoya True collection!  There are some really amazing combinations possible here.  Personally, I am fairly in love with Chloe over Tru.

Zoya Opal over Zoya Bevin

Outdoors, shade

 Zoya Maisie over Zoya Skylar

Outdoors, shade

Zoya Chloe over Zoya Tru

Outdoors, shade

Overall Review

I really like that this collection didn't include a dupe of Hidden Treasure - there are already so many dupes out there!  However, it was a little disappointing that Opal and Maisie were so similar.  Perhaps a blue-to-purple flakie in Maisie would have been more unique?  Since they are so similar honestly you probably only need one of those.  Chloe is totally unique and gorgeous (especially over Tru!) so I would definitely recommend adding it to your collection if you are a flakie lover.  The tinted bases will be fun to use over lighter colors as well.  These all applied nicely for flakies, although like all flakie polishes you might find yourself having to place some of the bigger bits here and there with your brush.  Flake topcoats are fun, and allow you to totally change up the look of a polish, so I would highly recommend having one or two in your polish stash if you don't already!  :)  Check back tomorrow for swatches and review of the Zoya True collection!

DISCLOSURE: The polishes featured in this post  were provided to Polishology by Zoya for review purposes.  This is an honest and independent review and was in no way influenced by the company.

Spring Water Marble

  Here is a water marble I did with a couple of the colors from the OPI Nicki Minaj collection.  This ended up a tad bit more jumbled than I originally intended but it was still really fun, and totally spring-y.  :)

Outdoors, overcast

  I started off with a base coat of OPI Skull and Glossbones, then added marbling using OPI Did It On 'Em and OPI Pink Friday.  I added white flowers using Konad Special White and BM-205.  I added colored dots using the same pink and green and a dotting tool to the middle of the white flowers.  Finally, I topped it all off with China Glaze Fairy Dust.  I perhaps added a smidge too much to this mani, haha... but again, I still think it is really fun.  I am ready for spring!

China Glaze ElectroPop Giveaway!

  Remember yesterday, when I said that I got an extra set of three polishes from China Glaze?  They were nice enough to let me keep them, so I am going to give a set of three to one of you!  :)

  Prizes in this giveaway will include the gorgeous Sunshine Pop, Aquadelic, and Dance Baby polishes from the Spring 2012 ElectroPop collection!  If you missed swatches you can see them here.

  I'm gonna keep this one super simple - just leave a comment below with your e-mail address and you are entered to win!  Of course you must be a follower to join.... and I may tack on an extra entry for people who have previously been active on Polishology as well... :)  This is just going to be a one week giveaway, and is open until February 28th at midnight.  International followers welcome! 

Thanks so much for reading, everyone! ❤

China Glaze ElectroPop - Swatches and Reviews

  I was thrilled to receive a few polishes from China Glaze's ElectroPop Spring 2012 collection.  I only received three for review, but luckily for me, two of the three were ones I had been lemming since the promo pics, and the third turned out to be a pleasant surprise as well!  I still might need to get my hands on a few more from this collection (I'm thinking Ulta trip...?) but for now, here are the three beauties I was sent for review!

Dance Baby

Outdoors, overcast

  This is a gorgeous bright medium pink creme.  Slightly brighter than Pink Friday from the OPI Nicki Minaj collection (I can do comparisons if you want, let me know).  Beautifully smooth two coat application - this is a really nice basic pink!  It was the base for one of my Valentine's manicures.  :)

Aquadelic

Outdoors, overcast

Very aptly named bright aqua creme.  Also totally in love with this one.  Same smooth and creamy two coat application.

Sunshine Pop

Outdoors, overcast

 Shimmery bright sunshine yellow.  This was the surprise for me - I wasn't really expecting to like this on my fingers, but I actually liked it quite a bit.  It can be just a touch streaky, so apply with a steady hand.  Three coats for full opacity on this one!

Overall Review

I really enjoyed these three polishes - the application on the cremes was pretty perfect and I was actually surprised at how nicely the yellow applied for a polish of its finish and color - it is still a touch streaky but overall pretty darn nice.  While the colors in this collection seemed like they might very well be dupable, they are very fun bright colors to add to your collection and the smooth formula is an added bonus.  I will definitely be looking for a few others from this collection (Hello, Kinetic Candy...).  I would recommend any of these three polishes!

In fact.... CG seems to have accidentally sent me two boxes with these same three polishes.  I offered to send them back, but they said not to worry about it.  Hmmm.. what to do, what to do?  Check back tomorrow and maybe I will have an idea... ;)

DISCLOSURE: The polishes featured in this post  were provided to Polishology by China Glaze for review purposes.  This is an honest and independent review and was in no way influenced by the company.

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

  Awhile back, I saw some promo pictures for Deborah Lippmann's spring collection, and immediately this beauty caught my eye.  I was super excited to find it last weekend while out shopping, and of course had to snatch it up to add to my small-but-growing collection of Lippmann polishes!

Outdoors, shade

  This is three thin coats of Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream, a gorgeous seafoam green shimmery beauty with gold microglitter and medium bright blue glitter throughout.  This polish is just really amazing and sparkly, and has so much depth.  It was really difficult to capture all of its glory on camera, haha.

Outdoors, shade

  This applied really well, not too thin or too thick, and was very smooth and easy to control - which I would expect from a Lippmann!  Probably was fine with two coats but I felt like adding a third thin coat on top just to be sure.  It dries very quickly and a bit gritty, but a nice thick coat of Lippmann topcoat made it super-smooth!  I am sure it will be somewhat a pain to remove (I will edit this if wrong, haha) but totally worth it.

Close-up view

Outdoors, sun

   I have a hard time justifying buying some of the more expensive brands sometimes, but so far I love every single Lippmann in my collection, and this gorgeous polish is no exception - definitely worth the extra cost, in my opinion!  :)

Valentine's Day Manicure, Nail-Strip Style

 I have been wanting to try Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Polish Nail Strips for a long time.  In fact, I have had one sitting in my nail cabinet for awhile, but I just never got around to trying it.  Well, a few weeks ago in Ulta, they had a display of special Valentine's strips, and I decided it was a perfect time to try them out!

Outdoors, snowy and overcast day (but SNOWY!!)

  I am fairly sure this print has a name - I think Are You Single? but I am not positive on that one.  At any rate, it is a super-cute design in pink and burgundy and red, with swirls and hearts and it was just perfect for Valentine's Day!  I found that it was pretty easy to find strips that fit my nails almost perfectly (I only had to do a tiny bit of trimming along the sides), but if you have very large or small nails this could pose a problem for you.  Application was difficult at first because I was learning the best way to put them on, but by the time I got to my right hand I knew what I was doing better, what with the folding over the strip and then filing off the excess and all.

Indoors, artificial light

  I added a coat of Seche Vite on top of these just to maximize wear (since i want to wear them for several days).  I really love how it turned out... honestly though, I am not sure it was any easier than just Konading away with multiple designs, haha.  I suppose that is just because I have gotten fairly good at Konad and am new to this.  The price tag or $9.99 makes these a bit much for an every day kind of thing, but I would definitely use them again for special occasions.  I have had them on two days now and they SEEM to be holding up really well.  I will let you all know how they do after a few more days - next time I wear these nail strips, I will do a full review including pictures of various days and try to keep them on for up to 10 days, if I can manage to not go crazy about having the same thing on that long.  :)

  Hope you all had a great day yesterday!

I ❤ U

  Here is another pretty in pink Valentine's mani I did, which I wore this weekend.  A bit softer colors than the previous plaid mani - soft and shiny and cute.

Outdoors, shade

  For these nails, I started off with OPI Pedal Faster Suzi! from the Spring 2012 Holland collection.  This gorgeous shimmery pink was the perfect base for this mani - look for swatches from the collection sometime in the next week or two.  For the base stamping image, I used Zoya Reva and Red Angel plate RA-108.  The accent finger design (I ❤ U) was done using BM-02 and the hearts are from Konad plate m59, both done with Konad Special White.

Outdoors, sunlight

  I really enjoyed this mani.  The shimmer in both Pedal Faster Suzi and Reva worked really well together and I love that accent nail design!  Lots of compliments on this one too.  I have one more thing up my sleeve for the actual day tomorrow, but I won't be able to get pictures of it until later, so I will show you all that the day after Valentine's Day.  So until then, have a great day tomorrow!

OPI Nicki Minaj Collection - Swatches and Review!

  Following in last year's footsteps of a celebrity spring mini-collection, this year OPI released the Nicki Minaj collection, consisting of three bright cremes, two glitters, and a brand new shade of shatter.  I have been super excited about this one ever since I saw the promos, and I was not disappointed!

Fly

Outdoors, shade

 Fly is a bold and bright teal blue creme.  I absolutely love this color - I think it might be my favorite of the collection!  I am sure there are probably similar shades out there, but this is a unique shade of teal in my personal stash.  It is very bright and in your face and beautiful.  Smooth application in two easy coats.

Outdoors, sun

Pink Friday

Outdoors, shade

 Pink Friday is a bright, bubblegum pink creme.  I feel like I am constantly looking for the perfect bubblegum pink and this may just be it.  Once again, two smooth and creamy coats for full coverage.

Outdoors, sunlight

Did It On 'Em

Outdoors, shade

 Did It On 'Em is a bright yellow-green creme.  This color feels really springy to me - but not a soft warm fuzzy spring, a bold in-your-face spring, haha.  Two easy coats.

Outdoors, sun

Metallic 4 Life

Outdoors, shade

 Metallic 4 Life is a black-based polish full of silver glitters of all different sizes.  This is unique (as far as I know) in terms of black with silver glitter, and the multi-sized glitter give it a really interesting overall look.  Three coats.

Outdoors, sun

Save Me

Outdoors, shade

Save Me is a clear-based polish with silver glitter and blue holographic bar glitter.  Very unique and pretty.  The bar glitter really shows off its holo effect, even in the shade.  Three coats for the coverage shown; I also have shown one coat layered over Fly, which was really pretty.

Outdoors, sun

1 coat over Fly

Super Bass

Over Did It On 'Em

Over Pink Friday

 Super Bass is the newest shatter from OPI, a glittery magenta.  It applies nicely and I didn't have a problem getting it to shatter decently.  I love the shimmer in this one, and the color is really pretty with all of the creme shades in the collection.  One of my favorite shatters released by OPI to date!

Overall Review

This collection did not let me down.  The cremes applied very nicely, opaque in two coats and evened out over the nail.  The glitters were unique and fun.  And the shatter is really pretty - quite possibly a new favorite in the shatter department for me!  It is hard to pick "must haves" out of this collection... Fly is my personal favorite but there may be polishes very similar.  Save Me might be the must-have glitter for me, since It is totally stunning on its own and makes a very nice topcoat.  I don't know that much about Nicki Minaj, but from the few times I have briefly seen stuff about her, these colors seem to suit her well.  Overall, I was completely pleased with this release!  I wonder what celeb collection we will get next year.... :)

DISCLOSURE: The polishes featured in this post  were provided to Polishology by OPI for review purposes.  This is an honest and independent review and was in no way influenced by the company.