Zoya Rica and Tanzy: Swatches and Review

One of my favorite things lately is to paint the nails on each hand a different color. I usually try to pick colors that are similar enough so that it's not obvious at first glance that it's actually two different colors. My favorite combo so far has been Zoya Rica and Tanzy from the Sunshine collection.

Zoya - Tanzy and Zoya - Rica

Tanzy is an amazing light orange base that's absolutely packed with sparkly golden glass flecks. Rica is the same formula except with a coral pink base, and both are absolutely amazing. Zoya's Sparkle (summer 2010) and Sunshine (summer 2011) are two of my favorite collections of all time from any company, which is why I was a little disappointed in the 2012 summer collection. Oh well, maybe next year they'll come out with something even more spectacular!

It started out as one of those "I can't decide which one I want to wear!" days, and since I never actually made a decision, I just ended up painting one hand with Tanzy and one with Rica. Turns out, the crazy gold sparkles in both pulled them together into an awesome mismatched manicure, and I ended up loving the rebel feeling of having two different colors. I will certainly be doing this again!

Both of these are shown at two easy coats, but for some reason these have a longer-than-normal dry time.  They were still slightly dentable after a couple hours even with Cult Nail Wicked Fast (quick dry) topcoat.

Zoya Rica and Tanzy are both available on Zoya's website for $8 each, but if you love gold sparkles, I highly recommend picking up the whole Sunshine set. Every single one is a stunner.

OPI - Crown Me Already! Swatch and Review

Just like I have polishes where I wonder WHY I bought it in the first place, I also have ones where I can't figure out why I DIDN'T buy it immediately.

This is one of them. I passed it up in the store many times only to buy it on ebay about a week ago because I couldn't stand it any longer.

OPI - Crown Me Already

Crown Me Already is a mix of super shiny silver micro glitter and all different sizes of hex glitter. The biggest hexes are probably about 2mm wide and they look like tiny little mirrors or coins amongst the micro glitter. It is truly eye-catching and bling-tastic, and I love it. I have a coat of Gelous and Seche Vite over it and it's not completely smooth, but you can't really tell because of how extremely reflective the silver is. I'm so glad I got this one, and now I wish so badly that OPI would make a nice, rich gold version of this! The formula was great as well; it's opaque at two coats and not lumpy or thick at all. It's also not one of those where you have to "place" the glitter to make it look nice.

This one made me realize just how much I appreciate almost every brand of nail polish because each one has it's own "gems" that are particularly wonderful. I'm not at all an OPI fan girl (I can't stand all of the "Suzi" names... and I actually don't like the name of this one much, haha), but every once in a while they bring out a beautiful doozy of a polish that really wows me.

I was only able to find this one on ebay (at a reasonable, typical OPI price - $8 with free shipping), but it may be available at other online retailers as well.


Another quick question. Which do you prefer: pics with the bottle or without? I've automatically done them with the bottle because that's what a lot of bloggers do, but think I like how I can "pose" my hand a little better without it. Thoughts?

Glitter Gal Type O (in the sun!)

Yesterday was so cloudy that I didn't even get to see how this looked in the sun. So today I was just doin' my thing and walked into the sun and holy gooses! This red gets even MORE deep and rich and sparkly. The picture kind of shows the depth, but not the sparkle factor.

Glitter Gal - Type O (sun)

Yep, this is one really freaking awesome red.


Remember to enter my 500 Follower SensatioNail Starter Kit giveaway if you haven't already!

Happy Valentine's Day & Glitter Gal - Type O

Happy Valentine's Day! I know this holiday can be both loved and hated, but I personally think it's wonderful. It could possibly be because my sister sent me a Valentine's voice mail this morning of her singing "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. It made my day :o)

On the other hand, Chief loves red nail polish, so I figured I'd put on a new one that I just got a couple days ago: Glitter Gal Type O.

Glitter Gal - Type O

This is my first Glitter Gal of the 3D Sparkle Type (I have a couple of the linear holos), and it is so awesome! The sparkle in this one is hard to describe. It sort of reminds me of the Milani holos with the "fleck" or "shard" type of holo particles (not the smooth linear or the glitter type). It's also a warm cherry red, which I love over the more common cool-toned reds. Just like A England Saint George, this holo seems to add more depth that in-your-face sparkle, giving it a kind of 3D appearance (just like it's name!)

What are you wearing for Valentine's Day?


Remember to enter my 500 Follower SensatioNail Starter Kit giveaway if you haven't already!

Sephora by OPI - To the Glitter End

There's kind of a funny story behind getting this polish. I'll tell it after the swatches. To begin with, I got this because it looked like a dupe for Deborah Lippmann's I Love the Nightlife. I don't know if it's a perfect dupe since I don't have Nightlife, but it looks pretty much the same.

Sephora by OPI - To the Glitter End over ManGlaze Fuggen Ugly

This is another one of those chunky hexagon glitters like the Milani Jewel FX in silver and gold (by the way, I actually found Silver at Wal-Mart the other day!!). It'd be difficult to get to be "opaque," but probably possible. But I love the dark charcoal color of the glitter. I'm pretty sure that every time I want "black glitter," this is the color I REALLY want.

Now here's the story:

I went into Sephora at Union Square (the one at the end of the Powell cable car line), and asked one of the sales reps if they had this color. I had picked up the display one to show her which one I wanted. She made a big show to say "Wow! That's not even supposed to be out there! We're not allowed to sell that one yet!" Yeah right... I'd been to at least two Sephora's in the Phoenix, AZ area and they were all sold out of it, and it was available online but I didn't want to pay shipping. I told her both of those things, but to no avail.

Let me tell you, she was just MAKING SHIT UP. Maybe was just too lazy to go get some from the back, but whatever.

So later, my sister went in to see if she could get it. As it turned out, the guy she asked went right in to the back and put more on the shelf and gave her two to buy. I was SUPER happy that she got one for me, but still pissed about the lazy, full-of-bs sales rep. I kind of wish I would have gone back to her and warned her that she's losing business for her store and it will probably come bite her in the ass...


If you haven't already, be sure to enter my giveaway here to win Essence Nail Art Twins Bonnie and Clyde!

Wet'n'Wild - Diamond in the Rough

Yet another beauty from the Wet'n'Wild Ice Baby collection (Coloricon): Diamond in the Rough.

Wet'n'Wild - Diamond in the Rough

This time I decided to layer the glitter over a solid color. I used one coat of Zoya Raven (doesn't matter if there are slightly bald spots - they're covered by the glitter anyway) and two coats of Diamond in the Rough. As it turns out, I kind of think it has more depth at only one coat, which is what I did on my other hand (not shown). It looks pretty much the same color (maybe a tiny bit darker, but not really noticeable), but for some reason, one coat of the glitter seems to have more "depth" than the two coats. It's also smoother and less "lumpy."

This one is either very close or a dupe for China Glaze Some Like it Haute, Sally Hansen Glitz Gal, and Nails Inc Sloane Square. Some of those may be a little easier to find since this was limited edition, though a tad bit more expensive.

Wet'n'Wild - Back Alley Deals

I love glitters, so when I found the Wet'n'Wild Ice Baby collection, I was thrilled. This one is one of my favorites: Back Alley Deals. It's hard to grasp just how vibrant this is without seeing it in person, but let me tell you, it is amazing!

Wet'n'Wild - Back Alley Deals

First of all, for some reason this doesn't dry as quickly as most glitters. And as it dries, it eats top coat like crazy! This is shown with a coat of Gealous with an immediate coat of China Glaze Fast Forward, and it was still lumpy. I ended up adding another layer of Gelous and Fast Forward after this pic, and it was STILL a little lumpy (though not nearly as much so). Oh well, I still think it's gorgeous.

Oh!  Also, check out my guest post over at Sparkly Vernis if you get the chance!  It's one of my favorite manis that I've done so far!

Butter London Tart with a Heart (layered)

First of all, I should give credit where credit is due: I didn't come up with this layering combo. The original creator of this masterpiece is Scrangie. In fact, if not for her post about these two polishes, I would never have bought or wanted Tart with a Heart at all.

If you remember, I had no interest in this set at all because I immediately deemed Black Knight "easily franken-duped." So I did just that, I frankened what I believe is a pretty close dupe (you can see it here on its own). But once I saw Scrangie's post where she layered the two, I just HAD to have Tart.

Check out the EPIC layered combo of Mid Knight (Black Knight dupe) with one coat of Tart with a Heart!

Mid Knight and Butter London Tart with a Heart

Incidentally, I had just a plain glossy black polish (China Glaze Liquid Leather) on for a couple days and it was showing major shrinkage from the China Glaze Fast Forward top coat, so I figured I'd quickly swatch this combo over it so I could put it up on the blog. Well, this is yet another example where I decided to go ahead and put it on every other finger and actually WEAR it for a couple days. Seriously, this combo is so awesome. Even though it made me spend $15 for Tart (on ebay), I love Scrangie for posting it. In my mind, it's worth every penny.

Sally Hansen Gem Crush - Big Money

Here is a quick picture of the polish I ended up wearing for New Years Eve. It's from the Sally Hansen Gem Crush Collection that can be found in drugstores now, and it's called Big Money.

Sally Hansen Gem Crush - Big Money

At first I didn't think I was interested in the Gem Crush line because a lot of them look like exact dupes of other recent ones (the Wet'n'Wild Ice collection and the China Glaze Eye Candy collection), but when I saw this in the store I had to pick it up. It turns out I LOVE it (of course I do - it's a soft gold glitter!!).  I'm pretty sure the light neutral gold in this one would flatter ANY skintone - light, dark, cool, or warm!  This picture took 2 coats and it applied very easily.  It's made up of champagne gold micro glitter and medium-sized light purple hex glitter, and was so super sparkly and elegant!

Also... I know I didn't finish my 12 Days of Christmas Nails, and there are all sorts of excuses I could give, but I'm not going to bore you. Maybe I'll try again next year. For now, I'm happy that it's 2012!

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 8 - Christmas Glitter

So I decided to go crazy and combine my two favorite Christmas glitters: China Glaze Twinkle Lights and Party Hearty!

China Glaze Twinkle Lights w/ Party Hearty

I LOVE this combination so much. It is SO blingy and blinding! It's not quite as yellow as it shows in the pictures, because they were taken in very low lighting. It's more of a soft gold color in person, and super shiny and sparkly. Needless to say, this was the biggest pain in the butt to take off... glitter EVERYWHERE!

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 6 - Gold Gradient

This is one of my favorites so far from my 12 Days of Christmas Nails. It's a simple French gradient made with OPI's Bring on the Bling.

10 - Pinky Promise sponged with OPI Bring on the Bling

Bring on the Bling has always been one of my most favorite polishes. It's an awesome gold glitter with tons of multicolor glitter as well, and we all know how I love gold glitter. I feel like I've done this before, but I don't think I have - I've only gone it over red or just straight gold French tips (both shown here).  I actually did put a simple French tip in Orly Luxe underneath the glitter so I didn't have any bald spots, but I don't really know if it was necessary.  However, Liquid Palisade helps ENORMOUSLY on cleanup if you put it on the edges of your finger under the tip (since it's easy to accidentally sponge some glitter there).

So I have a confession. Some of these "12 Days of Christmas Nails" manicures are really only "swatches" (only four of my fingers are actually painted), like the present one yesterday. And I started this one off the same way. When I was sponging on the gold, it looked really dull and not very, so I figured "eh, another dud... I'll just take some pictures then move on to the next thing." Well, in this case I ended up putting on the top coat and my whole opinion changed and I put it on all the rest of my fingers for a full manicure!

Oh, I also wanted to share something with you. I got an email from a skin care company in Canada called ASK Cosmetics that's hosting a huge giveaway (their entire line!). If you want, you can check out all of the details and guidelines for entering on their facebook page here: www.facebook.com/askcosmetics. It runs until Dec 22nd.

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 1 - Christmas Tree Nails

I'm borrowing an idea from Sammy over at The Nailasaurus called "The 12 Days of Christmas Nails" (hopefully she doesn't mind, but I just love it)! The idea is to create 12 different holiday themed manicures between now and Christmas. Since there are 24 days left 'til Christmas, that's about one manicure every other day, which seems pretty reasonable to me!

So here it is! Day 1: Christmas Tree Nails!

Christmas Tree V2.0 - China Glaze Emerald Sparkle and Milani Gems

I actually did a Christmas tree-inspired manicure a year ago (almost to the date!) which you can check out here. I loved that one, but this time I wanted more of a "shiny ornaments" look. I used China Glaze Emerald Sparkle as a base (2 coats), and put one coat of Milani Gems over it. This bottle of Gems has the purple glitter in it (I will actually have a comparison post tomorrow for you on the Milani Jewel FX polishes).

You know what I think would make this even better?  A layer of Zoya Rina to look like pine needles!  Unfortunately, my Rina is at my parents' house right now, so I didn't have it for this.  I DO plan on doing a "snow and pine needles" look with it once I get it back though!

China Glaze - Lorelei's Tiara

You may get sick of hearing how much I LOVE every single polish I post about, but that's kinda how my blog works. See, I follow a LOT of nail blogs (you can see them all in the sidebar under "Blogs I Love") and I keep on the lookout whenever I hear about a new collection or polish coming out. I read and research reviews and swatches - A LOT - before I buy my polishes (yes, I buy my own - they are not PR samples). So usually what ends up in my nail polish collection are only those that I really deem worthy, and those are the ones I wear and post on my blog. I have hundreds of polishes and I truly "like" almost all of them and "love" more than half of them. Sometimes I'll end up putting on a "bum" one, but then usually I don't even feel like taking pictures of it.

So there you have it. That's why I gush over almost all of the polishes I post about. Not because I feel an obligation to a company or to advertise for anyone. I write what I honestly think of each and every thing that I post on here. I have received a couple of PR samples, and those too are reviewed honestly in my own words of my own opinion (but that's not what my blog is really about - it's more about just sharing all these pretty things that I really enjoy).

So without further ado, ANOTHER awesome polish! This is Lorelei's Tiara from the new China Glaze Eye Candy collection, and it's sooooooper sparkly! This is how is looks in normal indirect daylight. Very shiny!

China Glaze - Lorelei's Tiara

And then in the sun the sparkle is blinding! Probably one of the most sparkly polishes in my collection, and such a gorgeous icy blue effect.  It was hard to capture the intensity in a still photograph - you HAVE to see it in person to appreciate it!

In the shade, the blue glitter comes out a little more, but it still maintains an almost mirror-like effect.

I feel like my fingernails should be icy cold to the touch with this on them. I like that this is wintry more than Christmasy, so that I can wear it into the new year as well.

I found this at my local Ulta, which has had the Eye Candy collection for a few weeks now.