Zinio Magazine Subscription Giveaway Winners!

Sorry it's taken me so long to announce this, but the good news is that everyone who entered the Zinio giveaway will receive a subscription! To thank you all for entering, I have decided to give up my subscription so that all 10 entrants can win! So look out for an email from me in the next day or so, just confirming your email address and magazine selection. Thanks for reading!!

Zoya Irresistible Swatches Part 1!

Base: one coat Nicole by OPI Base Coat Plus
Color: three coats Zoya Tinsley
Top: one coat Poshe
Application: good (out of poor, average, good, excellent)
The Zoya Irresistible collection was sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

Last week, I showed you Zoya's lovely Stunning summer cremes and now it's time for the shimmering part of Zoya's summer offerings, the Irresistible collection! First up we have Zoya Tinsley, a rose gold foil metallic. I am a fan of Zoya's foil metallic finish, it's very very shimmery and doesn't have some of the downsides of more traditional foil finishes (like patchy spots). The Zoya foil metallics always apply smoothly and look gorgeously sparkly. Tinsley is no different, it has some gorgeous gold shimmer action going on!

This is three coats of Tinsley. I did feel I needed a third coat for full opacity. This finish always dries really quickly and is easy to apply though, so three coats wasn't a hassle or anything. Even at three coats though, in direct sunlight, I had some VNL remaining (as you can see below). However, this had a very nice consistency, not too thin or thick, just perfect.

Base: one coat Nicole by OPI Base Coat Plus
Color: two coats Zoya Rikki
Top: one coat Poshe
Application: excellent (out of poor, average, good, excellent)
The Zoya Irresistible collection was sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

Zoya Rikki is right up my alley, a green foil metallic!! Zoya calls it "fern green", doesn't that sound gorgeous? Rikki is an interesting polish. Indoors, it looked like a green with a lot of silver sparkle, but outdoors I noticed some larger coppery looking flecks that are hard to see, but definitely provide something extra. If you look closely in my pictures, you can see what I mean.

Rikki applied really well in just two coats. Nice coverage, nice consistency. No problems here!

Base: one coat Nicole by OPI Base Coat Plus
Color: three coats Zoya Amy
Top: one coat Poshe
Application: excellent (out of poor, average, good, excellent)
The Zoya Irresistible collection was sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

Zoya Amy is a drool-inducing juicy red-orange foil metallic. It has lots of pretty gold shimmer that really looks perfect with this shade of orange. I am a big orange polish lover, and if you are too, you need Amy in your collection! The finish of this one looks smoother than the finish of Tinsley and Rikki. The shimmer in those looks a bit chunkier to my eye. Amy almost reminds me of a glass fleck finish, rather than Zoya's foil metallic finish.

Amy had the same really nice consistency as the other two. I did three coats because I thought two still had a little too much VNL. If you tend to do thicker coats, two will probably be fine. Amy was more pigmented than Tinsley at both two and three coats.

I'm looking forward to swatching the other three polishes in this collection! Zoya's foil metallic finish is always pretty, and I love these summer colors.

The Zoya Irresistible collection is available now at Zoya.com.


The Zoya Irresistible collection was sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

Lumina Lacquer Mint Chocolate Chip

Base: one coat CND Stickey
Color: two coats Zoya Jacqueline topped with two coats Lumina Lacquer Mint Chocolate Chip. Accent nail- two coats of Zoya Dea with two coats Lumina Lacquer Mint Chocolate Chip
Top: one coat Poshe
Application: good (out of poor, average, good, excellent)

I blame Tatiana from Lumina Lacquer for the carton of mint chocolate chip ice cream in my freezer right now. We all know I'm in a mint phase right now, and mint chocolate chip is actually my favorite ice cream flavor anyway, so when I saw Lumina Lacquer Mint Chocolate Chip, I knew I needed it! I can't resist a polish with MINT GLITTER HEARTS!!!! Tatiana describes Mint Chocolate Chip as "a mixture of different shapes (hearts, flowers, hexes, and circle glitter) in mint, baby blue, white, and brown glitters". Happily for me, I got a lot of those cool shapes on my first try! I got a mint heart (swoon) on my ring finger, a couple of baby blue flowers (you can see one on my pointer), several hexes, some white satin stars and many other beautiful glitters. She doesn't mention this in the description, but there is a gorgeous sprinkling of iridescent glitter in this that really catches the light in person.

I wanted to show this over both a creamy color and also a chocolate brown, so I went with a chocolate brown accent nail. I think the mint glitters really pop on the chocolate brown (Zoya Dea) and the effect on the creamy color is so soft and pretty. Despite being chock full of shaped glitters, Mint Chocolate Chip was easy to apply when dabbed on. Tatiana recommends dabbing with all of her polishes, as I do with any glitter-heavy lacquers. I dabbed on one coat for coverage and then went back and added some more fun shapes in the second layer. The shapes are plentiful and are not at all hard to get out of the bottle (one of the many things I love about Lumina Lacquer polishes!). Also, I almost never comment on the wear time of polishes, since almost nothing lasts more than 3 days on me, but I wore this mani for more than 4 days with no chipping and maybe a hint of tip wear.

Mint Chocolate Chip is currently out of stock, but I'm sure she will restock soon. I suggest liking Lumina Lacquer on Facebook to stay updated on the latest news! Lumina Lacquer is available on Tatiana's Big Cartel store. I will have to order 1000 Julys whenever she restocks, it is GORGEOUS!!

Speaking of gorgeous, check out these adorable pansies my mom bought to plant. They have extra large faces, and they are so cute!! Happy spring!

Some Spring and Summer Comparisons For Ya!

 left to right: two coats OPI Jinx, three coats Zoya Destiny, two coats OPI Jinx, three coats Zoya Destiny

The polishes in this post were all sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

My first summer collection comparison is OPI Jinx and Zoya Destiny. These two are very very similar. To an extremely discerning eye, OPI Jinx is slightly darker and has a bit more golden sparkle. In these pictures, I had been wearing Zoya Destiny for 3 days (only a teeny bit of tipwear!) and OPI Jinx for about half an hour, so the OPI does dry down even more. Destiny might be a tad warmer of a shade. All in all though, I'm sure you won't need both.

 left to right: two coats Zoya Rocky, two coats OPI Can't Find My Czechbook, two coats Zoya Rocky, two coats OPI Can't Find My Czechbook

OK well, these two are so close that I actually had to write down which finger had which polish on it because I was afraid I would forget before I could write the post! OPI Can't Find My Czechbook and Zoya Rocky are near perfect dupes. In person, I would say the OPI is a teeny bit brighter and the Zoya a little bitty bit darker and dustier. Again, you probably don't need both unless you're crazy about this color blue. Personally, I can't decide which to part with, so I will probably keep both. What can I say, I am a blue ho.

left to right: Essie Pretty Edgy, Zoya Josie, Essie Mojito Madness 

No dupes here, so I didn't even swatch them. If you want to see them swatched, just let me know in the comments. I am also a green ho, so even if these were vaguely similar (they're not), I'd keep them all. Mojito Madness is even brighter and darker than it looks here, while Josie is dustier and lighter.

 left to right: three coats Zoya Yana, two coats Nicole by OPI A Like-Haley Story, three coats Zoya Yana, two coats Nicole by OPI A Like-Haley Story

Zoya Yana and Nicole by OPI A Like-Haley Story are similar, but not dupes. The NOPI has a lot more shimmer, especially in person. The finish is totally different. Yana's shimmer is that super smooth kind that you barely notice, whereas the NOPI is little mini flakie sized shimmer. They are a similar bright pink color though. I think Zoya Yana is slightly warmer and A Like-Haley Story contains more blue. Unless you really love pink, you probably don't need both, but they are not dupes.

If you've requested any other comparisons in the comments of the Zoya Stunning posts, I'll get to those this weekend. If you've suddenly remembered other polishes you want me to compare, just let me know! Hope these were helpful!

The polishes in this post were all sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

Zoya Stunning Swatches, Part 2!! (THE GREEEENNN!!!)

Base: one coat Nicole by OPI Base Coat Plus
Color: two coats Zoya Josie
Top: one coat Seche Vite and NYC Grand Central Station mixed
Application: good (out of poor, average, good, excellent)
The Zoya Stunning collection was sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

There's usually at least one polish per Zoya summer collection that has me drooling right from the very first promo picture. This year, it's the lovely Zoya Josie! Josie is an excellent grassy green creme. Well, I say grassy, but whose grass is really this color? Definitely not mine! Maybe my crazy neighbor who spends 5 hours a day working on his lawn and mowing it 6 times a week... Moving back to Josie, this is such a pretty medium green. Not too dark, not too bright, a little hint of dustiness. Even better, it appears to be unique in my collection!! I have a comparison post in the works, but it is totally different from Essie Mojito Madness, if you were wondering.

This is two easy coats of Josie. No problems here! Just nice application and great opacity!

Base: one coat Nicole by OPI Base Coat Plus
Color: two coats Zoya Rocky
Top: one coat Seche Vite and NYC Grand Central Station mixed
Application: good (out of poor, average, good, excellent)
The Zoya Stunning collection was sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

Zoya Rocky is another one of those colors that I just love! I know I already have several medium bright blue cremes similar to Rocky, but I adore them all! Who doesn't want to wear this color in the summer? I love this kind of blue on my toes.

Rocky was also super easy to apply. Just two coats, no difficulties at all. My one note (and the reason Rocky and Josie didn't get excellent ratings), is that I felt these two were maybe a tad thick. It was not a problem now, but may eventually make application a little harder/require thinning.

Base: one coat Nicole by OPI Base Coat Plus
Color: three coats Zoya Yana
Top: one coat Seche Vite and NYC Grand Central Station mixed
Application: good (out of poor, average, good, excellent)
The Zoya Stunning collection was sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

Zoya Yana is a bright pink creme with some visible shimmer. Zoya calls this "geranium pink" and I can see that. This kind of not pale, not too dark creme is always popular during the spring and summer months, so check your stash for something similar. I like the shimmer in Yana a lot though. It reminds me of that understated Chanel shimmer. Very elegant looking! I'd be interested to see this compared to Chanel Fracas, although I don't own it myself!

Yana was pretty easy to apply, though I found I wanted to add a third coat to really hide my nail line. Two thicker coats would probably be fine. I think the shimmer in this made it even smoother to apply than Josie and Rocky.

My top picks from the Stunning collection are Josie and Thandie. I also really love Darcy and Rocky, but fellow polish hoarders enthusiasts may own similar shades. If you are a lover of pink, you will especially love Yana and may like the carnation-y Micky too. If you have any suggestions for comparisons, please let me know, I will check my stash!


The Zoya Stunning collection is available now on Zoya.com.

The Zoya Stunning collection was sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

OPI and Taylor's Gift Team Up

image courtesy of Taylorsgift.org

Does your driver’s license have that little heart on it indicating that you are a registered organ donor? If not, this is the month to get registered. April is National Donate Life Month.

In celebration of National Donate Life Month, OPI Nail Polish has teamed up with Taylor’s Gift to release a limited edition nail color called Taylor Blue to help raise awareness about the life saving gift of organ donation.

Taylor Storch was a vibrant young lady whose life was cut short by a tragic skiing accident on a family vacation in Colorado. Her family did what they believe she would have wanted by donating her organs to people on various waiting lists. They also started the Taylor’s Gift Foundation to help raise awareness about the gift of organ donation.

You can help by purchasing OPI’s limited edition Taylor Blue and posting a picture of your painted nails to your favorite social media site with the tags #TaylorBlue and @TaylorsGift. Help Taylor’s Gift paint it forward.

Find out more by visiting TaylorsGift.org/TaylorBlue.

Revlon Lash Potion Casts a Spell on Me!

Revlon Lash Potion mascara was sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

Revlon has a new mascara coming out in May called Revlon Lash Potion by Grow Luscious. I don't know about you, but "new mascara" is always more appealing to me than the mascaras that are currently available in stores. I don't think I have ever re-purchased a mascara from the drugstore. There are so many varieties, I really just like getting a different one (or 3) each time! Plus, I'm always looking for MORE length, MORE volume. I like a DRAMATIC mascara that says "YO, I HAVE AWESOME EYE LASHES!". Will Revlon Lash Potion be The One?

Above is a picture of my sad and lonely lashes with no mascara. It pains me to put this picture up here. My lashes are fairly long without mascara, but they are very light-colored and from any distance, are basically invisible. Therefore, I do not leave my house without mascara.

Revlon calls the Lash Potion wand the "Illusionist Wand". The Illusionist Wand is a triple groove bristle brush. Revlon says the wide grooves "instantly coat lashes in formula for maximum volume". I'm a fan of bristle brushes, rather than the rubber brushes that we have seen a lot recently. I never seem to get good volume from the rubber ones.

Revlon sent me Lash Potion in Blackest Black (it's like they know me! I always buy the blackest color, despite my see through natural lash color). These two pictures show just one coat of Revlon Lash Potion on my upper lashes. I have been wearing Lash Potion for about a week now and REALLY love it!! It is very lengthening, as you can see. It adds some volume and thickness, definitely enough for me for everyday. For special occasions, I might mix a volumizing mascara with Lash Potion for even crazier results. Since Lash Potion arrived, I have not touched my other current drugstore mascaras. Honestly, I didn't like them a lot to begin with and Lash Potion blows them out of the water.

Revlon says that Lash Potion "drenches lashes with a potion of strengthening proteins for captivating volume and length" and that the formula "conditions and moisturizes so lashes are less brittle". I do think Lash Potion provides great length and good volume, almost rivaling my beloved DiorShow. As for the claims that it moisturizes lashes, I have noticed that I don't seem to be shedding as many lashes when I remove my make-up at night. I don't know if that's necessarily connected to this mascara, but I'll take it!

 Check out my complete EOTD above, with Lash Potion on both top and bottom lashes. Revlon Lash Potion comes in blackest black, black, and blackened brown. It also comes in a waterproof version in blackest black and blackened brown. I tried the non-waterproof version and wore it to several very hot dance classes with no running or streaking. I also never had any flaking with this mascara (thank goodness, I can't STAND that!).

I honestly think I will purchase this mascara when it comes out in May. As I said before, I normally don't get the same mascara twice, but I've had a bad streak with mascaras recently and it's nice to find a good one! Revlon Lash Potion will retail for $7.99 and be available at drugstores and mass retailers, as well as on revlon.com.

Revlon Lash Potion mascara was sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

Zoya Stunning Swatches, Part 1!!

Don't those bottles look gorgeous all lined up together?!? I love Zoya's summer collections every year, but the Stunning collection really seems to include ALL of the colors I want to wear this summer (green! blue! yellow! orange!).

Base: one coat Nicole by OPI Base Coat Plus

Color: three coats Zoya Darcy

Top: one coat Seche Vite and NYC Grand Central Station mixed

Application: average (out of poor, average, good, excellent)

The Zoya Stunning collection was sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

Zoya Darcy is a pretty sunflower yellow creme. It's nice and bright and cheery looking! It also looks a bit different than other yellows cremes I own, I think maybe a bit darker, with a golden tone, rather than a creamy tone. Almost murkier looking, rather than clean. It's still quite bright though, not muted! I love yellow polish, so Darcy is just what I want to see in a summer polish collection.

Yellows are notoriously streaky and hard to apply, and Darcy is not really any better. My brush also had some splayed bristles, exactly what you NEVER want in a yellow polish. Yellows are hard enough to work with, adding wonky brush bristles is really a pain! This is three coats. Two was fine for opacity, but I needed a third to even out some streaks. I don't think Darcy was the worst yellow creme I've ever used, but not the best either.

Base: one coat Nicole by OPI Base Coat Plus

Color: three coats Zoya Micky

Top: one coat Seche Vite and NYC Grand Central Station mixed

Application: average (out of poor, average, good, excellent)

The Zoya Stunning collection was sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

Zoya Micky is a carnation pink creme with a hint of coral. Zoya actually describes Micky as an "amazing coral cream", but it looks a lot more like pink on me personally. To me, coral has more orange and a bit of red too. Micky is a nice pink shade for pink lovers though, kind of warm and not bubblegum-y. Micky has a whisper of shimmer in the bottle, but it doesn't really translate to the nail.

The brush in my bottle of Micky also had a wonky bristle or two and I had a hard time getting Micky to be streak-free and smooth. This may have been the brush's fault, but I have a feeling it may be the formula. I also found Micky to be a bit less pigmented than I have come to expect from Zoya cremes. This is three coats and I felt I did really need the third, both for opacity and streak smoothing!

Base: one coat Nicole by OPI Base Coat Plus

Color: three coats Zoya Thandie

Top: one coat Seche Vite and NYC Grand Central Station mixed

Application: good (out of poor, average, good, excellent)

The Zoya Stunning collection was sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

Zoya Thandie is easily my favorite of these three polishes, both for the color and the formula. Thandie is a dark creamsicle orange creme, not as light as what we usually describe as "creamsicle", but it still has that kind of feeling to it. It has a muted quality, but also manages to be bright. I have a LOT of orange cremes, but Thandie is pretty unique! I think you have to see it in person to get the bright, yet soft quality about it! It also has some ribbons of shimmer in the bottle. The shimmer is slightly more visible than the shimmer in Micky, but you wouldn't look at Thandie and call it a shimmer finish.

Thandie was pretty easy to work with. No wonky brush bristles, and it had no streaks (yay!). I used three coats, but you could probably do two thinner coats.

Of these three, Thandie is my obvious favorite, although I adore the sunny yellow of Darcy. I can't wait to try the other three Stunning colors!!

The Zoya Stunning collection is available now on Zoya.com.

The Zoya Stunning collection was sent for review. All opinions are my own honest thoughts.

By the way, I extended my Zinio giveaway. I have 9 subscriptions to give away and 9 people haven't even entered yet! It's a free magazine subscription guys!!! LOL.