Zoya Song and Frida

Sorry for disappearing over the holidays! I meant to put up a few posts over the last week while we were up in Canada, but time just got away from me. There was almost 3 feet of snow in Canada where I'm from, and I was happy about that... but also didn't bring any pants. I wear leggings and tights everywhere here in NJ, and that doesn't really cut it in Canada, lol. I needed thigh warmers, or something!

We got back last yesterday and the roads were super clear all the way down. It was a good thing we left a day earlier than planned, because it has been snowing and drizzling all day in NJ here! It would have been a slippery mess had we stayed another day.

Anyhoo, here are two Zoyas I picked up during a recent promo. I'm a bit on the fence about them, but I will figure out whether I want to keep them later. Much later.

Zoya Song (1 coat) - Amazing 1 coater. It looks darker IRL. I noticed it doesn't dry smoothly, even with a coat of SV. It must be all the pigment in it? I mean, it does not dry bumpy, but it's definitely not a glass-like finish with 1 coat of topcoat, so that is something to consider.




Comparison: Zoya Song (1 coat) MAC Ming Blue (2 coats) - The MAC is a little dustier and more neutral, and has blue and purple (or pink? it's hard to tell) shimmer, whereas the Zoya just has a blue/aqua shimmer throughout.


Zoya Frida (4 coats) - A lot sheerer than I even expected for a jelly. The flash I use totally washes it out - the second pic shows without flash and is more representative of how opaque it is at 4 coats IRL.




I leave you with a picture of a cherry cheesecake I made for DF's family (which I do every year):


Happy New Years, everyone! :)

Deborah Lippmann I Know What Boys Like and Cleopatra in New York

It is so close to Christmas!!! I finally finished up swatching all my polishes, so I have some to share with you over the coming weeks.

Here are two DLs I picked up recently (one from a blog sale, the other from HSN's deal). The HSN code is 126362 for $10 off your first purchase, and Deborah Lippmanns ship free. The code is good until the end of the year, I think!

Deborah Lippmann I Know What Boys Like (2 coats) - No topcoat, beautiful formula! Reminds me a little of AA Mount Royal, but I purged my bottle a while ago, so I'm unable to compare. I think the AA was a lot deeper and more vibrant and opaque.



Comparison: Deborah Lippmann IKWBL and Nails Inc Baker St - Not even close, but just for reference.


Deborah Lippmann Cleopatra in New York (1 coat) over black jelly - I had a lemming for this the first time I saw it, but didn't want it at full price. When I heard about the HSN code, I quickly pulled the trigger and got this for $8 shipped!




Deborah Lippmann Cleopatra in New York (3 coats) - I like it better layered over the black jelly, but it works on its own too.




I really like the bottle shape and brush of the Deborah Lippmanns I own. I just wish they weren't so expensive! I've only ever purchased them on deep discount or on blog sales XD

I leave you with one of my favourite ornaments:

NOTDs: Advent Calendar Nail Challenge - part 2

Here's another set of NOTDs from the Advent Calendar Nail Challenge (Happy Hands/Kristi's Advent Calendar Nail Challenge):


Day 6. White: Essie Marshmallow (2 coats as the base), Lynnderella Love, Lace, and Lilacs (1 coat), OPI Don't Touch My Tutu (1 coat overtop) - I loved this combination :) It's a little hard to wear Lynnderella LLL on its own over a jelly white (it just doesn't look pleasing to my eye), but a single coat of the OPI really tones it down for me!



Day 8. Starry Night: an Essie SSN franken (2 coats) - I know, I'm such a cheat for using this as the 'Starry Night' polish XD



Here's the recipe for the franken, from my friend: "And it is indeed about 3/4 Essie Silver Boullions, then enough WnW Nocturnal to get it the right color, probably 4-5 or so drops of black, and then I finished filling it up with the remaining Silver Boullions (it was SUCH an exact science ) I just added the black a little at a time, until it looked right!"

Day 9. Pine: CrowsToes Jingle Balls (1 coat) over Illamasqua Rampage (3 coats) - I am in- freaking-love with this combination. It is so deep and dark, but bright and shiny! I usually dislike large holo glitters, but I really like them in this polish!! If you missed the swatches of CrowsToes Christmas collection, you can see them here. Sorry it looks a little linty... this is after a couple days of wear :)



I'm probably going to flunk out of the rest of the challenge, though, as I'm absolutely useless at nail art.

And a little preview: some collective nail mail over the last couple of weeks, from Zoya, HSN, blog sales, Etsy, and swaps! I can't wait to get some time to swatch these, but I'm feeling burdened by the amount of holiday baking I have yet to start :S

Quickie post on reflective curling...

I had a couple lovely comments on my last blog post claiming I had curling glitters / tacos in my swatches of HARE Bisbee, and claimed my reviews were dishonest.

What is reflective curling, you ask? Well, from my understanding, it is glitter that looks like a damn taco in pictures, but lies relatively flat on the nail. Now, I say "relatively" flat on the nail, because most large glitter will not be completely flat, even solvent resistant glitters. Most glitter polishes (and I include those from non-indie brands) dry gritty, bumpy, textured, icky, and I always wear a topcoat with my polishes to get a glass-like finish.

Anyways, since I'm a classic Type A personality, I came home and wanted to take some pictures to show you that indeed, my personal bottle of HARE Bisbee (that I purchased, tyvm) has reflective curling, and not tacos.

Clearly, I can only speak to my own bottle of this polish. If I had tacos in my polish, believe me, I would not try and conceal that from you! I mean, especially in a post where the polishes were ones I purchased myself!!! Aiiish.

For the following pictures, I grabbed an empty roll of tape since it has a curvature to it and won't absorb polish. Sorry this is the ghetto-est thing on earth. Hopefully you'll get my point!

A 2 coat swatch of the polish (no topcoat), with a highly suspect looking area to the right of the American flag:


And here it is from an angle showing you that the super taco-y looking glitter, is not a taco after all.


And from the side:



If you ever have a bottle of indie polish that has tacos, please do contact the vendor you purchased it from (whether it be Llarowe, Overallbeauty, or direct from the indie creators). I can assure you they would like to know about these issues first hand so they can make things right (and also so the indie creators can burn that bad batch of glitter they got from their suppliers lol!)

Hope this post helps!

And yes, one of my New Years resolutions is to stop having to be right about everything.

Indie: HARE The First Collection: Reformulated swatches

These are the last bottles of HARE I ordered in October. The formula on these is so, so smooth. I did have to be a little careful letting the first coat dry before applying the second, though, because a glitter might scrape the first jelly layer a bit making it appear streaky. I really hope Archipelago comes back soon!!

You can get these at either Nikole's Etsy shop or at Llarowe.

Pegasus - 2 coats on its own




Pegasus - 1 coat over Essie Bangle Jangle





Edited to add: I received a few comments about the appearance of curling glitters in Bisbee. The bottle that I have (and PURCHASED myself) does not have curling glitters on the nail at all, but photographs that way (i.e., reflective curling). I always wear a coat of QDTC over my manis, often 2 coats for very glitter heavy polishes, so I would tell you if any polishes had glitter that were taco-ing and sticking out out of the surface (because that would drive me CRAZY. I cannot stand anything other than a perfectly smooth mani). I obviously can only speak for my own bottle, but if you are concerned about possible tacos in your polishes, please always contact the indie creator or vendor you purchased from. Thank you. I created a follow-up post here showing reflective curling.

Bisbee - 3 coats on its own. This also leans quite green on my skintone (bah!)




Bisbee - 1 coat over Misa Dirty Sexy Money. I wish I tried this over Nails Inc Warwick Way!




A Positive - 3 coats on its own




A Positive - 1 coat over Essie Limited Addiction




*squirrels away*

NOTDs: Advent Calendar Nail Challenge - part 1

I am participating in Happy Hands/Kristi's Advent Calendar Nail Challenge:


I am terrible at nail art, but I will try to participate in as many days as I can :) Here are a few from the first 5 days!

Day 1. Red: Lynnderella Ruby Red Ruby over a-england Perceval - two of my favourite reds!



Day 2. Gold: OPI Spark de Triomphe over Orly Luxe - a cooler-toned gold, but the OPI is an old favourite. The polish had evaporated a bit, and even after thinning, it was like applying glitter glue with a brush to my nails O_O



Day 3. Green: ChG Glittering Garland - Absolutely love this green polish! Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe is similar, but slightly bluer (I have a comparison here).



Day 4. Silver - I don't own a silver anymore! I didn't like how silver foils looked on my skin tone, so I purged them all. LOL.

Day 5. Blue: Crowstoes Blue Christmas over CND Midnight Sparkle - very glittery and shiny IRL.



Are any of you guys doing this challenge? I have no idea what to do about the more difficult ones towards the end of the month >.>