Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Zoya Gloria

Hump day is almost officially over!! Yay! 

This polish I am showing you today has a little bit of a funny story behind why I bought it.  This is Gloria!



2 coats and this is without a top coat.  I love the gold flecks in this one.  There are a lot of them and it almost looks like a 50/50 mix of gold and the base color.  I love this finish!  The base color reminds me of a very deep rose gold.  The application on this was very nice.  Both coats went on evenly and the formula was very easy to work with in general.

Now, on to the story.  When me and my man started dating several years ago he was trying to protect my identity from his psycho drama ex.  She knew who I was so she would have likely done very bad things if she found out we were dating.  So, I became "Gloria".  Everytime she would try to get information from him he would always refer to Gloria.  We all laughed about this for months because she became obsessed with finding out who Gloria was and eventually left us alone.  I know, silly story but I always chuckle when I hear the name Gloria.  And, of course, when I saw that Zoya had named a polish after my code name, I had to have it!  Now if only they will make a polish named after my legal name!!  (Hint to Zoya....a polish named Tara would be awesome!!  Even more so if it were a really vibrant, in your face color with one of those awesome glass flecked finishes!!!)

Hope you have a great finish to your week!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Shrinkage is never a good look!



Ummmm, yeah....NO!

I always forget that SV does not play nice with Zoya! 

This is 2 coats of Zoya Gilda.  A gorgeous, glass flecked, hot pink polish.  This applied very nicely.  Even on the 1st coat and pretty opaque on the 2nd coat.
I wanted to do a black tipped funky french to match my derby team colors and thought it actually came out very nice...until I woke up the next morning!!  It looks like a 2 week old mani without tip wear!!  Unfortunately I did not have time to redo it and had to wear it out like this.  The surprising thing is I got so many compliments on it!  Either no one noticed or didn't want to comment on the very noticable shrinkage along my cuticle.
Lesson to myself...don't use SV with my Zoyas!!

Friday, March 25, 2011

Catherine Arley 803



This is going to be a bit quick and to the point!

Catherine Arley 803.  Very pretty, lime green holo!  I have worn about 3 of my 12 CA's and I have not been diasppointed in any of them yet! 

This is 3 coats with my usual base coats.  For the top coat I used Sally Hansen Inta-Dri Clearly Quick.  I have found this is a really good top coat for holos.  Not only does it dry quickly but it does not dull the holo effect like most quick dry top coats do.

Happy Friday and have a safe weekend!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Still feeling GREEN!!


I am still wearing my St. Patty's Day mani!  That's how much I really liked this green. 

This is BB Couture Frosty Meadow.  3 thin coats.  I am not sure if this is a jelly or is it just a sheer base with glitter...either way it is really pretty.  It has teeny, tiny silver glitter which shows through the base color and makes it look like a lime green.  I think there is also some aqua glitter in there too because at some angles you get pretty flashes of aqua blue.  I only have about a dozen BB Coutures but I have loved all the ones I have worn so far!

I took this photo this morning and it is a bit overcast where I am.  The good thing about that is the color came out almost perfect!  This is the color I see when I am looking at my nails myself.

On a side note, I have updated my blog sale with a few items.  Some high end, some low end...please take a look if you are interested in a little shopping.  You can always check my MUA tokens (my user name is tjoyu) if you are not familiar with trading/buying from me.  I am doing another PO run on Monday 3/21 so I could get anything out to you pretty quickly if you are interested in buying anything.  You can go to the sale by clicking on the teal colored tab towards the top of my page.

Hope you all have a great Saturday afternoon!!

Monday, March 14, 2011

China Glaze Hi-Def

A blue for Manoday...how fitting!



This is from the new Tronica collection which, sadly, can only be found at Sally's and Cosmoprof.  If you have access to either, I would suggest getting them quick if you wanted them as my Sally has already sold out and are not sure if they will restock.

The holo effect in these are super subtle but still very pretty.  It reminds me a polish that has a flash of color but instead of color, the flash in these is holo.  The application was excellent.  Smooth and even with 2 coats.  There is also no drag as some holo polishes have when you apply the 2nd coat which is a plus!

Here's another shot, closeup. 


It kind of shows the holo but it was very hard to catch because the camera would not focus clearly when the sun hit.

Hope the rest of your week is fabulous!!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Catherine Arley #667

Ta-daaaa!!!


This is the polish that I posted as a test shot from my new phone!  Catherine Arley #667.  A beautiful light grey holo that has a slight warm tone to it.
This is 2 coats but I could have done a 3rd.  I was a little pressed for time so I only did the 2.  The application on this was so smooth and applied evenly.  Amazing!!



It seems that a lot of lacquerheads try to compare all holo polishes to the China Glaze OMG and Kaleidoscope collections.  Those are some BIG shoes to fill!  The thing I can say about the Catherine Arley's is they may not be OMG or Kaleidoscope but they do not disapoint either!  I'd say the finish and the holo effect is right between the two.  Not as dense as OMG but not as chunky as Kaleidoscope.  The polish itself is very smooth and removes very easily.  I am definitely looking forward to trying out the other CA colors that I bought!

OK...one last photo!!


Have a great Saturday and don't forget Daylight Savings Time if you are in a state that observes it.  Not looking forward to losing an hour of sleep but I am looking forward to an hour more of daylight! 

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Test picture

Just trying out a new phone.  Hmmmm...what lovely polish could this be? :)

Also...if you are interested, please check out my sale tab above.  I have added just a couple of things but they are some goodies!!

Test...

Test...

Friday, March 4, 2011

FF Riot: Redeux!!

It's Friday already!  Just finished up a home cooked meal and am watching some DVR'd shows to finish off the evening.  What's going on for your Friday?

 
I had enjoyed my Chanel clustered dot mani so much I wanted to see if I could replicate the effect but with a different color scheme.  I did not like the way this one came out in comparison though.  I wouldn't call it a fail but it's also not a win for me!

This is the same base of Funky Fingers Riot.  The dots are done with WnW Ebony Hates Chris, NYC Little Italy, Sally Hansen Prisms Diamond and more FF Riot then sealed with Barielle Speed Dry TC.  The addition of the Prism Diamond was a fun touch in the sun but did not translate well in this photo.  I wish I would have remembered to take full sun shots!

Hope you all have a great weekend!  I know I will!!