Hot under the collar for nail polish.
December 30, 2013
December 25, 2013
December 21, 2013
Zoya Naturel Collection Pt. 2 [Swatch] & [Review]
Here are the other three neutral shades from Zoya's new Naturel collection! If you missed the first three, check them out here.
First, Zoya- Rue:
Rue is a mauvey nude creme- or maybe a super desaturated rose-lavender? It's also a little bit of a putty color, but with a very pink undertone.
Artificial light, two coats:
Whatever you call it, this is a super sophisticated nude option for people with fair, pink-undertoned skin! This made my hands look so clean and even elegant (it's very finger-lengthening), and was such a great palette cleanser.
Window-filtered daylight:
Outside, shade:
Formula: It's on the thicker side compared to some of the others, and is also a little more opaque. It does seem to want to cuticle drag if you overwork it, but self-levels slightly, albeit slowly. The consistency seems more of a straight creme than crelly to me. Two coats are opaque!
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Next, Zoya- Taylor:
Taylor is a neutral-toned, beige-ish nude. Compared to Chantal, it's much warmer in tone, but looking at it on its own, Taylor appears quite neutral to me, although will pull warm on cool skin like mine.
Artificial light, two coats:
Window-filtered daylight:
Outside, shade:
So, yea. I don't like Taylor against my skin so much, but it's a nice color and will flatter warmer skintones. My fingers are super red in those swatches though because it was about 7 degrees when I was photographing outside that day!
Formula: Medium-thick viscosity, and very similar formula to Brigitte. The first coat is just sliiightly streaky, but doesn't want to pull/ cuticle drag like Rue does. Nice! Two coats even everything out, and are opaque for the most part, although nail line might be subtly visible in strong direct light. Good formula for such a light color!
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Last, here is Zoya- Chantal:
Chantal is light, peachy nude creme, described by Zoya as a "French Vanilla Cream." I can see that.
Artificial light, three coats:
Window-filtered daylight:
I love this against my skin much more than Taylor! It's almost a perfect "mannequin hands" nude for me.
Outside, shade:
Formula: It's a little chalky compared to the other shades, and the first coat goes on sheer and pretty streaky. It doesn't self-level as well as the others, and has a tendency to drag bald patches. With Chantal, it's critical to load your brush properly with enough polish, so you don't run out mid-stroke and have to go back for more. If that happens, you'll likely get dragging since it seems to set quickly.
The second coat goes on much more easily than the first, and evens most of the problem areas out, but I needed three coats to be safe. My least favorite formula of the collection, but the end result was pretty nice even if I did have to work a little harder.
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Overall, I'm super pleased with this collection. All of the shades are great palette cleansers, and all are easy to wear or pull off in every situation. I'm a sucker for cremes, so this type of thing is right up my alley, but I think these are so wearable they'll appeal to a lot of people, and a few- namely Odette, Brigitte, and Rue- are not in the least "boring" for being neutrals. Win.
Disclosure: these polishes were provided to me for honest review, and all opinions are my own.
December 19, 2013
Mail-time: Indigo Bananas Black Friday Sale Spoils!
Here's some uber-exciting mail from earlier this week! During Black Friday, Indigo Bananas had an amazing sale that I failed to resist. To be fair, I only succumbed to this and a small Butter London order during Black Friday, so I don't feel too badly.
Ham the dog, what have you found?
just give me carrots, lady
Inside:
Andrea always includes super delicious sweets in her shipments...
A literal pile of polish, guys!
Unwrapped:
You can basically imagine me drooling at this point. That thing in the middle is her cuticle balm, which I've been thinking of trying!
You can see I've already dipped into it, and it's wonderful! I accidentally ordered the cocoa scent, thinking it was coconut (durrrrr), but I have to say I'm glad I did because it smells chocolatey and amazing. I am this close to chowing down on it, actually. Delicious, and feels great on my cuticles...
Polishes! I won't have time to swatch any of these until after I return from Holiday vacation mid-January, and it's just killing me because I want to wear them all- stat!
left to right: Earthshine (clair de terre), Immortal Game, Telephasic Workshop
left to right: Fiery the Angels Fell, Electric Unicorns, Great Scott (teal glow version)
So, it's safe to say I'm mega excited for these. Indigo Bananas might just be my favorite indie brand at the moment. She's got a new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-themed collection out, too: !
December 18, 2013
December 17, 2013
Zoya Naturel Bottle Spam!
This is sort of a pseudo/ abridged mail-time, but I mostly wanted to tease some bottle shots of Zoya's new and gorgeous collection called Naturel!
What did we get, Fourlegs?
Zoya Naturel!
I just about died when I saw these in person. I think it's because the color tones just belong together. Makes me want to ombre all the things.
left to right: Chantal, Taylor, Rue, Brigitte, Odette, Normani
Cremes, people, cremes! Are you excited?!
Zoya beat me to the punch, and totally already mentioned it on their blog, but the Naturel collection is strongly reminiscent of the color tones found in the new Urban Decay Naked 3 eyeshadow palette! I guess rosy hues are in.
Stay tuned- swatches are coming tomorrow of the three darkest shades!
Disclosure: these polishes were provided to me for honest review, and all opinions are my own.
December 16, 2013
OPI- DS Pewter [Swatch]
OPI- DS Pewter is one of OPI's most recent Designer Series polishes, having been released alongside DS Lapis this Fall.
DS Pewter is basically what it sounds like: a "dirty" silver. There's silver, square microglitter, as well as larger silver hexes in kind of a charcoal base. OPI describes is as a "matte textured metallic," and I think that's accurate.
Artificial light, two coats:
Every time I use an OPI, I remember how nice the handle is to hold while painting. For me, it's just the perfect shape/ size, giving optimal leverage so I can control the brush the most easily.
Window-filtered daylight:
Outside, shade:
Up close:
Here is DS Pewter with topcoat:
Two coats of INM- Out The Door completely smoothed DS Pewter, and I strongly prefer it with a glossy finish. It really brings out the sparkle!
Formula: It's not too thick or too thin, and the glitter (which is very dense) seems to be well-supported by the base. Like many matte or texture polishes, it dries very quickly. Two coats were all I needed!
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