Zoya Freja

Did you know it's been almost TEN months since I posted a Zoya polish!? Well, prior to posting Rica. Not that I have a ton of them, but I haven't even posted half of what I have! (In my defense, I've posted 4... I have 9). So after reorganizing my Helmer this week, I decided it's definitely time I posted another Zoya! So I picked Freja.













2 coats Zoya Freja
1 coat Poshe

Freja is a beautiful charcoal grey metallic-y polish with a faint shimmer and almost a lilac/blue undertone (which is why I have so many photos). It's not metallic in a chrome sort of sense, but more of a metallic shimmer. I'm going with that. Metallic shimmer. I feel like if this weren't grey, it'd just be a shimmer and not necessarily metallic. Does that make sense?

Holy gosh I would put this polish on every day... if it would change colors =P. This polish was actually FUN to apply. The combination of Zoya's brush and the formula of this polish made it just amazing and easy. If you're a beginner with polishes or you need something easy to apply to help practice your technique, I HIGHLY suggest this polish. Like I said, not only have I not posted a Zoya polish in close to a year, I also haven't worn one. I don't remember if they all apply is great or if Freja is a stand out.

Here's why it was awesome. The brush is a perfect width for my nails. It is not perfectly round, but not flat. It's obvious which was the brush should be turned to allow the bristles to fan out properly. The tip of the brush is straight, not rounded or curved. The bristles were perfectly soft and flexible so they spread evenly but were stiff enough that you still had complete control of how the bristles fanned out depending on the pressure you used. The density of the bristles was also perfect in that it hid brush strokes very well, and each individual bristle was the right size so this also helped.

The formula could have gone two ways. Opaque in 1 thicker coat or opaque in 2 thinner coats. I chose the latter. This really was an amazingly friendly polish to work with. Formula alone should make you pick this up!!

Swirly Stamped Mirror Mirror

I was going to just do a fun top coat over Orly Mirror Mirror for something fun. Then I decided stamping with black would be PERFECT! I found the designs I wanted to use, then went from there! Here's what I came up with.















2 coats Orly Mirror Mirror
1 coat Poshe
Swirl stamping with bundle monster plate BM-201
-Black is Sinful Black on Black
-Silver is Pure Ice Silver Mercedes
Stamping on ring finger with Essence stamping plate
-Black is Sinful Black on Black
1 coat Poshe

Yup! I top coated it... well, some of the photos have a top coat. I took photos beforehand in case the top coat smudged the design. But it didn't! So I retook a few more photos with the top coat.

My initial intention was to make this kinda subtle. Obviously that went in a different direction! The silver didn't contrast the way I wanted it to, so I decided to do the rest of the swirls in black because I didn't want to bring a vibrant color into the design. I left the silver on my ring finger and decided you couldn't see the silver well enough and it looked like I forgot to stamp a nail. I had my Essence stamping plate right next to me, picked a design off of it, and went with it!

I think it looks really pretty. I'm a sucker for whimsical, swirly designs (obviously) so I really like it! What do you think? Should I have gone with a pop of color? Is there just too much going on? Lemme know!!

Orly Mirror Mirror

I had planned on doing all of the Orly Once Upon A Time collection back in November, but it didn't happen. So I'll try to finish it up in December! So here we have Mirror Mirror.













2 coats Orly Mirror Mirror
1 coat Poshe

Mirror Mirror is a light grey creme that can look a little different in different lights. Indoors in not so bright like, it looks blue-ish almost with a lavender feel, and in brighter lights it can look like a light cement or it can be a little darker. Regardless, it always looks like a lovely light grey-light/medium grey. I would expect this polish to not work great with my pale, warm toned yellow/olive skin tone, but it actually works very well.

The formula was unfortunately NOT like most Orly cremes. Orly does a great job with pigmented, smooth, flawless, opaque cremes that are amazing to work with. This polish did not fit that standard. It is on the thinner side, which would generally be an ok thing, but the pigmentation isn't there. If you use too many brush strokes, the polish already put down lifts from the nail. By the second coat, it is completely opaque, but it is VERY uneven. Uneven in the sense that it's not smooth. I have like 2 ridges in 2 nails, and the way this polish leaves the finish makes it look like my nails are not smooth and have lots of ridges.

I overall suggest that you make sure you use a generous coat of a thicker top coat (SV, Poshe, etc), and if you have imperfections on the surface of your nail, use a good base coat or a ridge filling base coat to help smooth the nail and give you a good surface. Other than that, the uneven surface is combated well with a thick topcoat. And the color of this polish is just beautiful.

Raindrops for a Hurricane

This was going to be posted yesterday, but we lost power AGAIN. Anyway... Only fitting that the day after a hurricane I finally wear Illamasqua Raindrops. I snagged this on Illamasqua’s website on clearance for £5 (which works out to just over $8). The unfortunately thing was shipping was still high. But still, this was a polish I never thought I’d own because it was a UK exclusive and the regular cost of polish and shipping was OUTRAGEOUS. I totally fell in love with this as I watched the progression of the winners of this collection. The promo pic and description totally drew me in, but I got a little nervous when swatch photos started appearing and reviews said Shrapnel and Eclipse (the other two in the collection) were not really like the promo pics had shown. Seems Raindrops eluded that. It was just as gorgeous as I imagined from the initial promo photo.













Closeups




3 coats Illamasqua Raindrops
1 coat Poshe

This is a blue-based light grey JELLY with the most interesting white/clear irregular pieces/flecks of… glitter? But it doesn’t sparkle, so I can’t quite call it glitter, that seems wrong. Illamasqua describes it as “sheer silver sparkle”. Eh. I guess. Lol.

The formula was that of a jelly. Squishy, took 3 coats to be opaque - sheer but buildable - but easy to apply. Wish I could talk more about the application, but I also want to mention that I applied this 4 days ago and haven’t had the technology to write my mini review (thank you, hurricane), and was too preoccupied whining about having no power to just write it on paper.





Direct Sunlight steals away the jelly-ness of it and makes it look more crème.

You might see little tinges of green on the sides of one or two nails. No, that isn’t mold or dirt or other nastiness. That was Zoya Shawn from this HORRIBLE fail the day before:


Don’t worry. I never wore this in public. I’m never that messy with painting, either. I think I knew it was going bad so I just said screw it and slapped the polish where ev with no regard.

Newspaper Nails withOUT Alcohol (Vodka)

I noticed that so many people are wondering if you can do Newspaper nails without alcohol (vodka). I wrote this Newspaper Nails Tutorial, and I used vodka. Here's my second part to that which showcases other things you may have around your house to use instead of vodka. And if you're under 21 (or 18 depending on your country), you can still do Newspaper Nails!!

All nails were done with the tutorial I linked to above.



Nail Prep:
2 coats OPI Skull & Glossbones
1 coat Poshe


Note:
If you're having problems with the newspaper print not being dark enough, try a lighter base coat. It can make a HUGE difference. I tried this with Essie Nice is Nice and the print came out too pale. Just know that pale newsprint may not be due to your technique at all, it may be your base coat.

What I Used:
70% Rubbing Alcohol
Vodka
Hand Sanitizer
Almond Extract



My Results:



Index Finger - 70% Rubbing Alcohol
Middle Finger - Vodka
Ring Finger - Hand Sanitizer
Pinkie - Almond Extract

70% Rubbing Alcohol


Not bad, absolutely a great alternative. Unfortunately, though, I had to redo this nail several times to get it to look this way. I don't know if it's my nail shape or the rubbing alcohol, but it kept missing parts of the text. The intensity of the text is great, though.

Vodka


This transfers the text SO quickly. If you're looking to do this quickly, vodka is the best out of all of them. Intensity is very similar to the rubbing alcohol, but I don't feel I can do a complete comparison because some text didn't transfer right with the rubbing alcohol, which makes it look more faint.

Hand Sanitizer


Nope. Didn't work. Well, sorta worked, but no where NEAR as well as the others. I'd definitely say don't even bother.

Almond Extract


Umm, yes please!! I cannot believe how well this came out. I think it's my favorite. The text is very sharp, the color is very dark, and the extract smelled delicious!! The texture of the extract makes it very easy to keep it on one spot on the nail. I think that helps attribute to how well it works.

Which do I think is the best?
Honestly, I vote the Almond Extract. And the fact that it smelled DELICIOUS makes it that much more awesome.

Overall Opinion:
If you're looking for something besides vodka, go with an extract. The Almond Extract I used is clear (I say this because some extracts are not clear), and it lists alcohol as the second ingredient next to water. It uses 36% alcohol. Even if you have vodka, I still suggest trying an extract. The results are amazing. I'm sure other extracts, such as vanilla, orange, mint, etc would work fine, but the vanilla extract I have isn't clear, so I thought that might cause problems. The almond extract was clear.
I would also recommend rubbing alcohol, though it wasn't my favorite. It did a fine job transferring, so it will certainly work.
As for the hand sanitizer, don't waste your time.

Note:
I know that the close up photos still look fuzzy. This is because I'm shooting in macro. In real life, you canNOT tell there is fuzziness on the index, middle, or pinkie. And when I say the pinkie is the sharpest, even if it doesn't look it in the photos, it is. It's amazing.

OPI Stranger Tides

Had NO idea what polish to wear today. It's apparently supposed to be gloomy ALL weak. Ugh. And because I just had to silk wrap, I like to stick with light colored cremes for a little while after I put it on just so shimmer/glitter or dark colors don't get stuck to it before it adjusts to my nail. Sounds odd I know, but just go with it! Haha.

Stranger Tides is part of the Pirates of The Caribbean collection that came out earlier this month. When I initially saw promo pics, I KNEW I wanted Stranger Tides. Then when I finally saw swatches a while ago, I knew I had to have it. I even posted about wanting it April 1st!! So I've been stalking it for a while.

I was freaking out the week before the collection was released at Ulta. Due to my work schedule, I wasn't going to get to Ulta until a few days after the collection was out. I was afraid it would've been sold out!! I walked into Ulta and remembered that this is the Ulta I bought Black Shatter at 3 weeks after it came out. No one around this Ulta follows polish, clearly. So they had 2 full displays of Silver Shatter save 1 or 2 bottles, and had every other color from the collection as well. Because I had a $5 off $10 coupon (as did my Mom, who I went with) I decided to grab 4 polishes from the collection and I saved $10 total, making each polish only $6!! Yay!!

So here's Stranger Tides













2 coats Stranger Tides
1 coat Poshe

Ready for it? If you've seen my other OPI posts, you know what I'm about to say. I HATE THAT BRUSH!! When I paint my pinkie, I cannot let the brush spread at all, or it'll get all over my skin. Even when I do the rest of my nails, I have to use the brush so gingerly or it'll get everywhere. Great for my thumb nail and big toe. Even fairly decent for the rest of my toes. Sucky for the rest of my fingers. Despite what it may look like in my photos, I have skinny nails.

So the color. This is a... paler camouflage green? A murky sage green? Yeah, I'll go with both of those. I don't think you can describe this polish one way. So picture a pale camo, murky sage, and you have Stranger Tides. Certainly... strange. And GORGEOUS!! Loving this color. Loved it in the promo, loved the early swatches, love it on my nails!! Very, very interesting.

I'm much happier with the formula of this OPI polish. I'm usually sadly disappointed by OPIs formulas with their newer polishes (b3f). But I had no trouble with this one. Totally opaque in 2 coats, no strokes, nice and even. Had a little cuticle drag on two nails, but I was able to fix it. I think it's just because of my frustration with the brush.

Overall, please do not hesitate to grab this polish if you want it! It's an interesting, different color, and the formula is great! Now if only they'd fix that brush...

Song:
Default - Wasting My Time

China Glaze Sea Spray

Remember!! You can always click my photos for better quality. Uploads to blogger tend to look grainy. If you click my photos, they won't be.

I'm loving China Glaze more and more lately. I usually gravitate towards Orly, but I've recently hauled a ton of China Glaze's that I'll be blogging soon. I don't plan on posting a haul of all of them in one post, but I'll mention they were part of my buying craze when I post them individually. The reason for the haul was that B2G1 Sally's and Ulta had. You can combine brands at Sally's, but not at Ulta. I hate when you can't combined brands!! Anyway, I got no OPI because OPI really isn't my favorite and I seem to repeatedly get disappointed by the polishes I buy. That and because Ulta doesn't combine brands, I wasn't going to try to find 3 OPIs I wanted. If they combined brands, it might be a different story... Anyway, I picked up a bunch of China Glazes and a couple of Orly's. I also grabbed two Essie's when Rite Aid had their B1G1 1/2 off with a $1 coupon.

Today's nail is China Glaze Sea Spray. This color has been out for a little while, but can still be found at Ulta (it's not at Sally's). Be forewarned that I ended up choosing 10 photos of this polish that I loved. I may take some out, but tentatively, there are 10!!





















2 coats Sea Spray
1 coat Poshe

This is a very, very opaque formula. You can get full coverage with just 1 medium-thick coat if you're rushing out the door. I went with 2 to correct some imperfections at the cuticle. It's so opaque, though, that if you're going 2 coats, try to keep them thin-medium. Mine went on a little thick. But with that, there was no cuticle drag and it was no uneven. With each brush stroke, it looked like it was going to be SO streaky because of the thickness and each bristle made it's own dent/smear through the polish. But it immediately evened itself out even before top coat. No signs of streakiness once done!

I'd describe the polish as a very blue toned grey or a very grey toned blue. It's one of those colors you could go either way with because it has such strong hints of each. Reminded my mother of Kate Middleton's mom's dress she wore to the wedding. People questioned maybe it's a powder blue, maybe more of a grey.
This polish also has shimmer in it, though you'd never know on the nail. The bottle does have this shimmer/sheen to it, but it looks totally creme once on. It also looks darker on the nail than in the bottle. But really, it looks SO SO SO creme on the nail I had to work with the camera for you to be able to see the "shimmer" in a few of the photos above. I'm not complaining about the lack of shimmer, though. It would be nice if it were more prominent because it would have added an interesting dimension. But the color is so interesting and dynamic on it's own that I don't think the lack of shimmer is disappointing.

Song:
The Ataris - In This Diary
I'm really slacking with posting songs!!