Dried flowers and UberChic Beauty Texturelicious 02 over a gradient of Zoya and Sally Hansen polishes
Dried flowers and UberChic Beauty Texturelicious 02 over a gradient of Zoya and Sally Hansen polishes
I hope you've enjoyed the Digit-al Dozen's tropical week--it made me want to fly off to Hawaii, but I'll have to settle for a tropical drink...while I check out what the other ladies did, linked below. :)
Today is day two of The Digit-al Dozen Does Tropical, and today I wanted to do something a little different, so I figured I'd do a tropical snake...when I googled 'tropical snake', this beauty jumped out at me, so I had to do it--I don't know if it's real or photoshopped, and honestly, I don't care!
To make my version, I used Dixie Plates Mega Mani Mix 02. Here's my video review of the plate, along with her Typography plate:
I love fall colors so I was over the moon to get my paws on these! So much so, I did a little unboxing video:
Okay, let's dive on in! First we have Zoya Alyssa, an oxblood red creme:
Zoya Alyssa
Coverage: one coat! Formula and application: Excellent
You can probably guess this is my favorite from the collection. Dark vampy red? Yes, please. This is elegant and adult and sexy and powerful. I'll be getting back-ups of this one.
Next we have Zoya Devin, a smoky purple-blue flecked-finish with hints of rose shimmer:
Zoya Devin
Coverage: two coats Formula and application: Excellent!
This is another of my favorites from the collection--it's like a magical eggplant or smoky mystical genie's bottle that will give me wishes when I rub it. I love the way the colors dance when the light hit it.
Then we have Zoya Donnie, a fuchsia creme beauty:
Zoya Donnie
Coverage: one coat! Formula and application: Excellent
This is bright berry goodness. It's cheerful and light and happy, to bring a splash of fun to a fall palette.
Then we have Zoya Gardner, a blue-purple shimmer with fuchsia flecks:
Zoya Gardner
Coverage: one-two coats Formula and application: Excellent
This is one of those blurples that refuse to photograph well, so try as I might, I wasn't able to get a color-true picture for you. This is more purple in real life, more akin to a periwinkle, especially in more subdued lights. If you like those types of blurple, you'll love this.
Then there's Zoya Jenna, a smoky rose creme:
Zoya Jenna
Coverage: one coat! Formula and application: Excellent
This is a soft, classy pink that makes me think of afternoon tea in a southern parlor with scones and clotted cream and saucers under my cup. It's young ladies in pretty dresses and climbing roses in a garden.
Then there's Zoya Kendra, a rich plum creme:
Zoya Kendra
Coverage: one coat! Formula and application: Excellent
If you took blackberries and plums and put them together into a gorgeous wine, this is what you'd get. This screams fall to me--I see pretty outfits with sweaters and skirts over tights, maybe with a little beret to top it all off, and these nails tapping on a pumpkin spice latte. It's sassy and warm and elegant.
Next we have Zoya Leighton, a deep aubergine creme:
Zoya Leighton
Coverage: two coats Formula and application: Excellent
This is inky and mysterious and strong. It's edgy and sexy, with overtones of goth. Love.
Next up is Zoya Maeve, a deep grape creme:
Zoya Maeve
Coverage: one coat! Formula and application: Excellent
I fell in love with this one, even though I didn't expect it. It feels fresh and light-hearted to me, and puts me in touch with my young side. I see halloween parties and fun girls nights when I look at this.
And here we have Zoya Maryann, a rose shimmer:
Zoya Maryann
Coverage: one coat! Formula and application: Excellent
I didn't expect to love this, but I absolutely do. I see raspberry sorbet and passion fruit tea. This is sweet, but with a sassy edge, and I'd bet is almost universally flattering.
Next up is Zoya Rachel, a deep wine creme:
Zoya Rachel
Coverage: one-two coats Formula and application: Excellent
Rachel is mulled wine and plum pudding and blackberry jam. It's a warm vamp rather than the cool vamp of Leighton, and it screams that you're in control--Rachel doesn't have time for anyone's crap. LOVE.
Then there's Zoya Rumor, a light, shimmery mauve:
Zoya Rumor,
Coverage: one coat! Formula and application: Excellent
Yeah, I didn't expect to like this one when I saw it in the bottle--and then I fell head over heels. For me, this functions as a shimmery neutral, and I love the rosy glow. I see business lunches and flirty first dates. There's a classy elegance to this, and I can see myself coming back to it again and again.
And finally, we have Zoya Ruthie, a deeper deep rose-rasperry creme:
Zoya Ruthie
Coverage: one coat! Formula and application: Excellent
Ruthie is the workhorse of the collection, imo. She's steady and versatile and flattering. She transitions well from office to evening, all the while keeping a classy, feminine feel.
So what do I think of the collection overall? Zoya's last few collections were somewhat pink-heavy, so I was glad to see this collection move away from that toward a celebration of purples. I was also seriously impressed with how many of these--almost all of them--covered in one coat--not just the cremes, but the shimmers, too. I pull out my 'older' Zoyas routinely for my nail art, and the difference is clear--they're becoming masters of the one-coat polishes. I think there are definitely some little-black-dress polishes in here that will get you solidly through fall.
You can find this collection on sale now in Zoya's online store, or anywhere Zoya polishes are sold.
This month's Digit-al Dozen's theme is 'Tropical'...I don't know about you, but I could really use a tropical vacation! I won't be going on one any time soon, so I'll at least get to live vicariously through the group's nail art...
Beauty Big Bang unicorn mirror pigment over darker colors
For my second mani, I tried the powder over Zoya Paris, then stamped with UCB 24-02 and Hit The Bottle Polish Moonshine:
UberChic Beauty 24-02 over Zoya Paris and Beauty Big Bang unicorn mirror pigment stamped with Hit The Bottle Polish Moonshine
UberChic Beauty 24-02 over Zoya Paris and Beauty Big Bang unicorn mirror pigment stamped with Hit The Bottle Polish Moonshine
UberChic Beauty 24-02 over Zoya Paris and Beauty Big Bang unicorn mirror pigment stamped with Hit The Bottle Polish Moonshine
Here it is matted:
UberChic Beauty 24-02 over Zoya Paris and Beauty Big Bang unicorn mirror pigment stamped with Hit The Bottle Polish Moonshine
So there you go, two tropical flowers manis to start the week off right! I'll be back tomorrow with another take on tropical...in the meantime, check out the other ladies' manis, linked below.
Today we're going to take a look at two new stamping polishes from It Girl Nail Art, along with a couple of other new products I think are pretty cool. First, here's a video review of everything:
First up, let's take a look at It Girl Nail Art's clean-up brush:
This brush is sleek, simple, and very functional. The slanted edge allows me to clean right along my cuticle in as few swipes as possible, and the little tip gets into problem areas under my cuticles. LOVE.
Next is their cuticle balm, which I'm OBSESSED with:
You know as a nail blogger I am in a constant cage match with my cuticles, trying to keep them healthy and pretty for close-up pictures, which show ev-er-y thing. But what you don't know is I really hate having greasy/oily skin. I have to force myself to put mosturizer on my face, and spend years seeking out a lotion that works while absorbing almost instantly. So, cuticle oil has always been an unfortunate necessity. Cuticle balm is better, but it generally comes in those little pots, and to get any out, you have to scrape with your nails and get it under your cuticles and that bugs me almost as much, lol. So when I saw this, I lost my mind. This makes it easy to apply, and while the balm does its job, it's not oily. And, it seems to last through my obsessive handwashing better (no, I'm not joking when I say obsessive).
Okay, time to move on to the polishes! I received It Girl Nail Art Mimosa and Inkwell to play with:
I received It Girl Nail Art Mimosa and Inkwell
Both of these polishes are opaque and were easy-peasy to work with. Here's how they stamp:
So, the deep blue of Inkwell doesn't show up super well over black, but it does show up better than in this picture. It's visible, but not from far away. However, it's gorgeous over white--and look at how well Mimosa shows up over both light and dark bases!
To test them out further, I did a couple of manis. For my first, I wanted to create a mani I could wear with my new Deadpool shirt. I started with a base of Zoya Jack, the stamped two images from It Girl Nail Art IG123 first with Mimosa, then with It Girl Nail Art Ruby. Here's how it came out:
Here it is next to my shirt, so you can see why I chose the colors I did, hehe:
And here it is matted:
For my second mani, I went a very different direction. I wanted to art nouveau elegance, so I started with a gradient of Zoya Abby,Delia, and Toni, then stamped an image from It Girl Nail Art IG103 with Inkwell:
For both of these manis, the polishes were a breeze to work with, even though the images weren't exactly beginner-type! I'm impressed with how well these stamp, and hope to sometime have one in every color. :)
You can find all of these awesome goodies in It Girl Nail Art's store now. And follow them around the interwebs here:
