PREVIEW: Zoya Fall 2009 Truth or Dare

The choice is yours... Truth, Dare or Both?

Zoya Nail Polish lets you decide what fashion is right for you this fall. Will it be Truth or Dare? Should you? Would you? hmmmmmmmm...

Zoya Truth Collection - classic, bright and straightforward

Penny (ZP492) - copper gold metallic

Kalmia (ZP493) - rose copper metallic

Salma (ZP494) - scarlet red metallic

Isla (ZP495) - venetian red metallic

Anaka (ZP496) - fuchsia metallic glimmer

Drew (ZP497) - mauve rose metallic

Zoya Dare Collection - edgy, dark and mysterious

Vanessa (ZP486) - blue red cream

Ciara (ZP487) - burgundy plum cream

Demi (ZP488) - purple mauve cream

Pinta (ZP489) - inky violet cream

Envy (ZP490) - gleaming Jade green (!!!!)

Ibiza (ZP491) - gleaming Sapphire blue (with a little shimmer too)

To compliment the collections, six super glossy lip balms from Zoya Hot Lips are also available.

These collections are available starting July 15th. I can hardly wait. The Dare collection looks AMAZING. I am beyond excited about Envy, especially!
I'll have swatches as soon as I can get my hands on these :) WOOHOO!!!!!!!!

It's not nail polish!

I particularly liked this eye look I did the other day, so I took a few pictures!




I love the way bright pink and bronze look together. I love doing a bronze eye with a hit of bright color. I usually do hot pink or turquoise to accent the bronze.

What I used:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance from lid to brow
Fyrinnae Shrouded In Gold all over lid
Fyrinnae Lousy Tip in crease and lower lashline
MAC Fuchsia pigment applied with MAC 209 brush and a little MAC Water Based Mixing Medium as liner
Tightline with Urban Decay Zero 24/7 Eyeliner
Cover Girl Lash Blast Mascara
Urban Decay Brow Box in Brown Sugar

I've been on the hunt for the perfect hot pink liner and so far my search has come up empty. I have one that I like from Hot Topic, but the texture is odd and if you apply too much it peels off. The best I've been able to do for hot pink liner is pigment in mixing medium, but I'd prefer something more durable, like a pencil, gel or liquid liner. Anyone know of a great bright pink / hot pink / neon pink liner?

What do you think would happen if I used a long-wearing lipliner as eyeliner, like Urban Decay 24/7 lipliner? Disaster? I have Gash... maybe I'll do an experiment. Hmm....

Matte on Glossy Konad and Reminder about OC Nail Art's Konad Contest!

When I was swatching some of the new neons from Zoya and Essie a few weeks ago, I decided to do a little Konad experiment.

Before I removed my polish, I slapped on a quick Konad design using KO Black. KO Black, in case you're not familiar with it, is a matte black polish, perhaps even the mattest black there is.

While I am not crazy about my color choice, I do love how it turned out. Does anyone remember those velvet color by numbers type posters? All of the outlines of the image are done in black velvet, and you have to color in the spaces in between to make the picture? I have a Sailor Moon one somewhere that I made years ago. This looks exactly like that. The outline is done in black velvet.

The only downside to it is that it didn't last very long. Since I had applied a coat of Seche Vite to make the neon glossy, the KO Black had nothing to stick to and started chipping off within minutes. You can even see in the picture where parts of it had fallen off. When I took a shower later that day, almost all of the KO Black washed off! Weird.

Sealing it with a top coat would defeat the purpose of the matte on glossy look. I'll probably give this another try soon, maybe I'll use basecoat as topcoat to see if it helps the matte design stay on.

And speaking of Konad, don't forget about OC Nail Art's Konad Contest! It ends TOMORROW!

Here's my original post with all the rules, but I'll summarize.

Create a design using any of the items in the B Kit (also known as the Luxury Kit) which contains: m4, m8, m15, and m21 plates and red, white and green special polish.

Submit your pictures or videos to Kathleen (contest@ocnailart.com), along with the name of the blog that referred you and permission for Kathleen to use your images.

The winner AND the blogger who referred them will receive the humongous Professional Salon Case, the one that costs $437 and contains just about every Konad product ever.

Please visit the original post for full rules and details. Again, it ends Sunday, May 31st at midnight, so get your entries in!!

They're almost here...

The Zoya mattes are almost here... Check out this promo image straight from Zoya!

Those bottles looks super cool. Almost like they're frozen!

I can't wait. This is awesome.

OPI Retro Fun In The Sun Revisited

It seems like it was about this time last year that this collection came out. I had gotten my own camera and was just learning how to use it. Needless to say, my pictures were horrible.

This was such a good collection, it really deserves better pictures. Let's try this again.

OPI Retro Fun In The Sun Collection - Summer 2008


Calendar Girl. A shimmery magenta with a blue/purple flash. It has lots of little sparkles, but it's not quite as sparkly-looking as the other polishes in the collection. The blue flash is what makes this one special.

Give Me A Coral Sometime. Shimmery coral. This one is actually not too different than Calendar Girl. It is lighter and has more of an orangey tint instead of pink. It also has a little bit of a blue flash.

Lemonade Stand By Your Man. Shimmery lemon yellow. This one is a stunner! It's so bright and cheerful, and in the sunlight it looks like it's candy. It has so many little sparkles in it, almost like it's coated in sugar.

Peach-A-Boo! Shimmery, duochromey peach. This polish is really unique. It changes colors depending on the angle. It has a peach shimmer base, but flashes of gold, red and silver. Very, very, very pretty.

Sea Ya Later, Sailor! Sheer sparkly light blue. This is a bright, beachy, watery light blue. Reminds me of swimming pools and beach balls. It's really sparkly, and one coat of it reminds me a lot of Chanel Azur. Would be great for layering.


Sit Under The Apple Tree. Light golden-green shimmer. This is an unusual color. It's very light green apple green with a strong golden flash. It leans very yellow, and looks more yellow than green until you get to three coats.


The formula on these is so-so. It seems like with each new collection they release, OPI adjusts the formula. They just keep getting better and better. This was pretty soon after they converted to three-free, so I don't think they had worked out all the bugs yet. These are thick but runny at the same time, what I refer to as Three Free Syndrome. They are all very sheer. These pictures are three coats. They make great layering polishes because they're basically sheer shimmers, but opacity on these is definitely buildable.

I really loved this collection. The polishes are so pretty and sparkly, they look so beautiful in the bright summer sun. There was also a pretty good range of colors in this. I would have preferred a purple instead of either Calendar Girl or Give Me A Coral Sometime, but I'm still happy with the color selection. They do look very retro, and they all have cute names. I think this was right before OPI's names started to switch from cute to confusing (Paint My Moji-toes Red, anyone?).

These polishes also came with beaded hair bands around the necks of the bottles. I could never figure out how to use them. They were figure-eight shaped elastics with a bead in each loop. What are you supposed do with them?

I'm sure that most of this collection is still around at the various etailers. It didn't seem to get very much hype when it was released and I never hear of anyone wearing these. Sad, because this was a really great collection and I still love it.

Del Sol Sale and some answers.

I no longer feel good about recommending this brand, so I've archived my review.

Sneak Preview: Lippmann Collection Celebrate: The 10th Anniversary Set

A sneak preview from Lippmann Collection! This will be available in July.

Please click for full size. This picture is huge.

CELEBRATE: THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY SET

FROM LIPPMANN COLLECTION

THINK: Celebrating a decade of nail perfection.

WHAT THEY ARE: Three shimmering shades that let your nails shine. After ten years of pioneering nail trends and developing fashion-forward shades, nail guru Deborah Lippmann is celebrating with an exclusive set of special-edition polishes. Available only in the Celebrate tenth anniversary set, the luxe lacquers come in three glam, glittering shades:

• Ruby Red Slippers—A sparkling red reminiscent of Dorothy’s famous slippers
• Funky Chunky—A sequined, sheer black
• Superstar—A show-stopping, shimmering copper

Created by Deborah Lippmann, the go-to nail guru of the Hollywood set and the fashion elite, Lippmann Collection includes a vast array of nail lacquers and luxury treatment products for hands and feet. This sequin-infused set celebrates Lippmann’s legacy on the runway and the red carpet, bottling her expertise in three essential new shades.

The Celebrate lacquers mirror the over-the-top glam seen on the spring runways: Ruby Red Slippers and Superstar complement the embellished flapper frocks seen at Alberta Ferretti and John Galliano, while Funky Chunky reflects the black, heavy sequins shown by Alexander McQueen.

Lippmann Collection nail lacquers are free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, and Dibutyl Phthalates. Additionally, all of Lippmann Collection lacquers feature Aucoumea Klaineana extract, a natural resin from West African trees, which is known to strengthen nails and prevent ridges for smoother, healthier nails. The long-lasting formulas of Lippmann Collection nail lacquers contain Green Tea extracts and protein-building Biotin so nails stay healthy and strong.

Zoya Color Lock System Revisited

The Zoya Color Lock System is essentially a set of treatments that is meant to make your manicure last dramatically longer. It consists of a nail prep (Remove+), a base coat (Anchor), a top coat (Armor) and some quick-dry drops (Hurry Up).

The first two times I used the Color Lock System, I did get extremely good wear time out of my polish, but I also had a lot of bubbling. Since then, I obtained the 'new' Color Lock System, the big set with all the extras and decided to give it another try. This time, my results were much better, and I think I've pinpointed the cause of the bubbling.

Day one. Nothing worth noting.

Day two. Looks the same as day one. I added another coat of Armor.


Day three. One more coat of armor. No tipwear yet, but I was beginning to see where tipwear was starting.

Day four. Now we have minor tipwear. Nothing noticeable from a distance. Added another coat of Armor, but in hindsight that was a bad idea. I'll explain why in a moment.


Day five. Looks pretty much the same as day four.


Day six. Here's where I started to have very obvious tipwear. I think that if I hadn't done all those extra coats of Armor, I wouldn't have this much tipwear.

Day seven. Slightly more tipwear than day six, but now the polish was lifting up at the edges, like what happens when you apply Seche Vite on dry polish.

Here's what I did this time. I prepped with Remove+ and waited for it to dry. I made sure I wasn't by a fan or vent, and that I wasn't next to a window with the sun shining in. I did one thin coat of Anchor and let it dry for one minute. I did two thin coats of Zoya Roxy and let them dry one minute in between. On top of that, I did one thin coat of Armor. I waited five minutes and then applied a drop of Hurry Up to each nail. Total drying time was about fourty-five minutes. The polish was set at around 20 minutes, but very dentable and soft until around the fourty-five minute mark.

This time I had no bubbles. Looking back at it, a glitter polish probably wasn't the best choice if I was trying to detect bubbling.... But I inspected each nail closely under multiple kinds of lighting and from every angle and didn't see any signs of bubbles.

The main difference between this try and the last two was that this time my Anchor and Armor were noticeably thinner. Almost watery thin. The first two times they were both about the thickness of regular polish- not thin but not thick like Seche Vite either. I'm thinking this is why they decided to add the Renew Polish Rejuvenator (basically a three-free thinner) to the Color Lock System. So, if you're having problems with bubbling while using the Color Lock System, try adding a little Renew to your Anchor and Armor.

I was also sure not to apply my polish in direct sunlight. Even with the windows closed, being in direct sunlight while applying can sometimes cause bubbles. I noticed this while swatching one day, and since then I've made sure my hand was in the shade while polishing.

This time around, I also did an additional coat of Armor for the first four days. I'm positive that this was a mistake. Around day five or six, the polish started to pull away from the tips- it very closely resembled the 'shrinkage' that you get when using too thick of a coat of Seche Vite. I think I did too many coats. The more coats of polish you have on your nails, the more likely it is to chip, shrink and peel. On the last day, the polish lifted at the edges where it had worn, exactly like what happens when you use too much Seche Vite or put quick-dry on top of dry polish. If I had only done a coat of Armor every other day, I could have probably extended my wear to around eight or nine days.

On the seventh day, I decided to try a little experiment. I broke the corner off my ring finger nail, so I filed down the rest of them to match. This removed the tipwear from the seven days of wearing Roxy. I added one additional coat of Roxy, since I think it looks best with three coats. Then I did this:

Matte Roxy.

I found an old bottle of Maybelline Matte Maker topcoat!! Since I found it, I've been mattifying every polish I put on. Matte Roxy is truly breathtaking. It looks so much better in person, though. Each little glitter particle now looks like a shiny metal plate. You can see it trying to reflect from under the surface of the matte topcoat. When it's matte, the glitter in Roxy looks like perfectly smooth river stones. This is so ridiculously cool. Tiny platelets of metal suspended in a purple sea. Gorgeous. I don't know if I'll ever wear Roxy glossy again, this is just too mesmerizing!

(That was the polish experiment I mentioned on Twitter the other night! Matte glitter. )

So, overall, I had great results with Color Lock. A full five days without major tipwear and a full week without chipping. And this time, no bubbles! Again, if you're experiencing bubbles, thin your Anchor and Armor. That fixed my problem. I also did Color Lock manicures on my Mom and on my brother's girlfriend over the weekend (Mom got Audrina, girlfriend got Paz) and didn't get bubbles. It had to be the texture of the Anchor and Armor.

I have not yet used the Color Lock system on non-Zoya polish, but I don't see a reason not to. I would assume that any big three free polish would work. I'm going to try it with a variety of three-free brands (Which is... like... all of them now...) and report back.

Zoya polishes and the Color Lock system can all be purchased directly from Art Of Beauty. Keep an eye out for special deals from Zoya on Twitter as well!

ManGlaze Revisited

It's about time I re-did my old, blurry sideways pictures of these.

This seems to be the year of the mattes. Everyone's doing them now. KO, OPI, Zoya and MAC are all coming out with more mattes soon and I'm sure a few other companies will jump on board before the end of the year.

I have been enjoying matte polish for a very long time. My old 'signature' shade was Maybelline Matte Olive. (Thank you, kind-hearted friend -you know who you are- for allowing me to enjoy this polish once again!)

If you are a matte lover like me, you'll know it was impossible to find any matte polish at all after the Orlys, Maybellines and Cover Girls were discontinued. All hope was lost. And then, ManGlaze was invented.

ManGlaze is marketed mainly toward men and it's not for the faint of heart. It is truly a rock star polish. It currently comes in two shades:

The Death Tar. Formerly called 'black' (and I think it even had another name before that). It's an asphalt-black matte. It's not just a plain, flat black. It's flecked with shimmer and little particles that make it look like a little piece of blacktop on your nails.


Fuggen Ugly. Formerly known as Grey (and something else before that). Matte grey with the same shimmery flecks and particles as The Death Tar. This shade makes me think of metal. It reminds me of the time I put a non-dishwasher safe part of my coffee maker into the dishwasher and when it came out, all the shiny coating had been removed. That's what this looks like. Raw metal.


The whole point of these polishes it to be matte. Their tagline is "Glossy has been cancelled." But... I just couldn't resist seeing what they look like with topcoat, and they're truly a sight to behold.




The Death Tar with topcoat. You're going to want to look at the full size images for these. It's awesome. It seems like the topcoat makes the black in The Death Tar even richer and deeper. Applying topcoat seems to release a multitude of multicolored sparkling particles. This is so sparkly that it almost looks holographic. You can see the colors shift in the shimmer- red, blue. orange, green... Perhaps they're tiny, tiny holographic flakes and not just rough silver shimmer?


Fuggen Ugly with topcoat. Just like The Death Tar, this one comes to life and becomes richer and more vibrant with the topcoat. The sparkles are outrageous. It's glittery but there's no glitter. It's smooth as glass. These pictures seem to show the prismatic effect of the shimmer a little better.

The application on these is fantastic. They're right in the middle of thick and thin texture-wise. They don't run or streak or bubble. They need two coats for optimum opacity. The drying time on them is super fast. You don't use topcoat with these polishes (that would destroy the matte finish) but even without my beloved Seche Vite, this polish dried completely within ten minutes. Out of all the mattes I've worn, these seem to wear the best. They resist chipping and tipwear very well, but depending on how rough or gentle you are on your nails, wear time can vary. I don't usually wear polish for more than a day or two, but every time I've worn these for more than a day they haven't chipped.

A few people have asked me about the texture of these once they're dry, and the best I can describe it as is paper. Like rubbing your finger across a sheet of printer paper. It's smooth, but not glossy smooth like photo paper, and not rough like construction paper... It's about the texture of plain printer paper or notebook paper.

I love these polishes. I love everything about them. I love the artwork on the bottles, and even the ingredients list that comes inside the shipping box. Take a look at your address bar when you visit the website. This company has a sense of humor and that's one thing that is SERIOUSLY lacking these days. I really appreciate that about ManGlaze. Above all, ManGlaze is pretty badass and that scores major points with me. It also helps that the guy who did their label, Joe Simko, also did artwork for a bunch of my favorite bands. It was love at first sight.

On top of the great product, they have really great customer service. Friendly and very quick to respond. Another thing that most companies lack.

ManGlaze is big three free and does not do animal testing. You can get ManGlaze directly from the company's website. Right now it only comes in two shades, The Death Tar and Fuggen Ugly, but a little birdie told me that there are more shades in the works.

Dazzle Dry Spring/Summer 2009 Morocco Collection (Partial)

Dazzle Dry, the creators of the fastest-drying nail polish in the known universe, just released their summer collection for this year. Much to my delight, it contained what appeared to be two greens and a yellow alongside some rather uninteresting reds and corals. When I received them, I was actually a little surprised by how they turned out. Take a look!


Casablanca. This picture is slightly misleading, as it's not such a bright blue in person, it's more toned down and greenish. It's closer to the color in the bottle. It's very similar to the dusty turquoise/teal colors we've been seeing lately, such as Essie Greenport. I love this shade. I wouldn't call it completely green as I was expecting from the promo pics, but it's not entirely blue either. I'm going with dusty turquoise.

Oasis. Another surprise! This one is a very light, metallic green, not quite chrome but still somewhat reflective. This is pastel green, a little on the yellow side. Surprisingly enough, this one doesn't make my hands look too red. That's the main thing that bothers me about super light greens- they're hard to wear, even for me.


Sahara. This is honestly one of the best yellows out there. The shade itself isn't horribly unique- it's a nice, bright, creamy lemon yellow. It's the formula. Yellows are normally a nightmare and a half to apply, streaky, thick, goopy, stringy, you know the drill. This one is really thin and smooth, not nearly as streaky as other yellows, and is even in two coats. Not to mention the fact that it dries completely in about a minute.


The formula on these is great. They're thin and opaque. They dry faster than any polish I've ever used.

Since this is a special nail system, please refer to my original post for application instructions. You must use their base coat with these polishes in order to prevent chipping and peeling. I've provided a full review of the process, formula and wear in my original post as well.

One special thing about Dazzle Dry polishes that I found extremely interesting is that they are said to contain no nitrocellulose, therefore preventing your nails from becoming stained yellow.

I've always noticed that no matter what color I wear, my nails get stained yellow after a while. I had heard from various sources that it was a component of the polish itself rather than the shade that caused the staining. This is the first time I've heard nitrocellulose named as the culprit and it makes a lot of sense to me now.

All this time it's been nitrocellulose causing the yellowing? I guess it doesn't really bother me since I'm wearing polish 24/7/365, but for some people who like to have naked nails or wear sheers, that might be a helpful tip. Dazzle Dry claims to be the only polish without nitrocellulose, though. I'm not sure if this is 100% true, but from a quick scan of the ingredients labels from all the major brands, it appears to be the case.

Anyway, I really love Dazzle Dry's formula and the drying time, and I also experience exceptional resistance to chipping and tipwear when I wear these. I attribute that to the nail prep (basically fancy alcohol) and the thin coats of polish. Even if they did chip, I'd still love these because of how ridiculously fast they dry.

Dazzle Dry polishes can be purchased directly from the manufacturer, VB Cosmetics.

Revlon Fantasy Lengths Minx Lashes

The first Revlon lashes I reviewed, the Intensifying lash, worked very well for me. In fact, almost all of the Revlon lashes I've tried worked well for me. However, my experience with the Minx style lash wasn't as good as the previous lashes.


Here's the Minx lash from Revlon. As you can see, the set includes one pair of lashes and one tube of lash adhesive.

Here's what they look like on me. (I didn't realize that there was a ball of mascara-covered glue on my lash until I took the picture, sorry!)






As you can see, I had a little bit of trouble with them.

The style itself is very nice. It's a thick, long lash with a fun criss-cross arrangement. This particular arrangement of lashes is meant to create a dense, voluminous look.

I'm not sure if my issues are due to my lack of skill or the lashes themselves, but here's where I had problems:

The lash band is very thick, wide and stiff. Normally, I aim to glue the edge of the band to my eyelid- essentially the top of the lash strip. The band was so stiff and wide that I couldn't get the lashes to sit right. I could only get the widest part of the band glued on. The thickness and stiffness of the band also prevented the lash strip from conforming to the natural shape of my lid. Even with a lot of flexing ahead of time, the strip maintained a steep curve and I couldn't keep the inner and outer corners attached.

My other main problem is that the lashes won't curl. Since I was not able to position the lashes properly, they aimed straight out with a slightly downward slope instead of upwards like the other Revlon lashes do. I assumed that this could be fixed easily with an eyelash curler, but these lashes wouldn't curl. Maybe it's the material that they're made of, but no matter what I did, they just wouldn't budge. The best I could do was produce a strong curl in my natural lash that supported the false lashes and gave them a bit of lift.

Also, the ratio of band to lashes seems really off. Like I mentioned before, this pair of lashes has a wide, thick, stiff band, but the lashes themselves aren't quite as substantial as you would expect from that such a band. Normally, a thick band is there to support a very thick dramatic lash, usually a costume type lash, but not in this situation.

I wanted to love these lashes because I love the style of them. They seemed like they would give me the length, drama and volume I am looking for in a false lash, but I couldn't get them to work for me. I think that if I had been able to position them in a manner that would cause them to curve upwards I would have loved these lashes.

Overall, my experience with this lash wasn't very good. If any lash experts out there can offer me some tips on how to make the Minx lash work for me, I would be very grateful. But, despite my problems with this lash, all of the other Revlon lashes I have worn so far have been great. I especially loved the Intensifying, Flirty and 91001 (no name) style lashes (which I will be posting my reviews of soon).