Cheeky Monkey Damn I'm Hot

Another reader request (actually, it was the same reader) today - this time it was for Cheeky Monkey Damn I'm Hot.  This is listed as a streaky pewter on Cheeky's website and it does paint like a metallic except more sheer.  Also it was kind of a yellowed pewter with some shimmer.  As you can see, the weather turned icky, so I didn't get any nice sun pictures. ;__;


I used a base coat of Cheeky Monkey Get Wet, 2 coats of Damn I'm Hot, and a top coat of Seche Vite.  The formula was just a tiny water on here and I did have to shake it quite a bit as the color had settled.  

I think this would be a good base color but overall it's just too bland for me to wear alone.  I'd like it with some crazy glitter on top, personally.


Cheeky Monkey can be purchased on their website [official website] for $15 a bottle.

Zoya Spoons in Red

My UPS guy is interesting.  He never sticks around to chat, literally just puts my package on my front porch, rings the doorbell and BOLTS.  Like a high school kid.  Currently, my desk faces my front porch and due to an ... unfortunate accident of Hulk Like strength, I pulled my mini blind OUT of my window about a month ago... and never replaced it.  So when I see someone run up to my porch, hear the door bell, and then see them sprint off, I'm thinking I'm having a Family Guy moment (Season 4, Episode 7... better to just say it that way) and am slightly worried what will be at my front door.


So you can imagine my surprise and shock when I saw it was from Zoya.  I thought maybe it was my backordered items that I got last month?  No, I would have received a shipping email from them (so far, Zoya has been the best at sending me emails that detail my shipping/ordering status).  So I tore it open.

SPOONS.

Yes Zoya, I want to spoon with you.  Badly.  I said so last night and I can't wait to say it again.  THIS is why you spoon.

Here are 6 different Zoya Reds.  I don't even KNOW which is which, because me, being the genius I am, forgot to take a picture of them laying down to get the labels.  (Smart, aren't I?)  But can you tell which one is a melon red?  Which one has gold sparkles?  What about the satin finish bottle?  I try very hard to get all my swatches (and bottle pictures!) as close to actual real life color as possible, but this right here shows you that it's not always easy!

My set of 6 spoons came in this cute case, perfect for storing your spoons flat.  However, as I mentioned last night, all the spoons have a hole in the top side, so you can easily put them on a keyring or string.  The nails stack perfectly against each other and frankly, they look awesome.

The spoons are teardrop shaped and are medium sized for nails.  While the spoon doesn't fit over my entire nail on my middle finger or thumb, it does fit well on both my index and ring fingers.  Now you can see that Carmen is a cherry red creme.

This is Zoya Jade.  Looks how you can see the glitter goodness that is just barely visible from the bottle, just POP at you on the spoon!


Now I only have one small gripe about the spoons.  The label is a clear label that contains the barcode of the bottle, the ZP number (which can help you in ordering), Zoya's name, and the actual name of the polish.  I would much rather prefer a white label with black writing, instead of a clear label, but if you just put your hand behind the spoon, you can read the name without any problems.  I was having issue with the spoons being on my wood desk and not being able to see the names through the wood grain.


Back to the spoons.  I double checked with a Zoya Fairy and it's true... if you order a spoon for 50 cents, the shipping is free AND you receive a coupon code for your 50 cents to be applied to your next purchase.  So, essentially, if you purchase 14 spoons ($7), that's the same price as a Zoya polish ($7).  Hello, no brainer here.  ^_^  Get to Zoya now and order your spoons!


Zoya [official website] can be purchased on their website for $7/bottle.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

Zoya Wants To Spoon With You!

When I first started with nail polish, I was irritated that I couldn't remember what a color looked like outside of the bottle, or how many coats I used, so I spent way too much money getting plastic nail wheels and painting one nail with a color, listing the bottle number and how many coats it took.

As you can see, it wasn't the easiest to do - plus there were many flaws.  Because they were clear nails, I had to make more coats to get the opacity up.  I should have bought white nails.  Worse, some of the nails have had the polish chip off completely.  I ended up throwing them all away and just not looking back.

I've always envied Sally's Beauty Supply for having these little spoon swatches of China Glaze and even asked China Glaze if I could buy them, but they aren't for sale for the consumer.  Imagine my GLEE when I got this email in early August from Zoya.

Zoya Nail Polish wants to Spoon with you!
Do you REALLY love nail polish? Have you ever purchased a color online or from a color chart only to find that it doesn’t match the picture? Have you always wanted to be able to try on nail polish the way you do clothing?
Well, what if you could see EXACTLY how any Zoya color would look on YOU before you buy it? What if you could make sure you ALWAYS get your perfect pink? Or perfect red. Or purple! ANY color! Any shade, EVERY TIME! Well now you can...
Zoya presents a new way to shop for nail color - The Zoya Color Spoon!
Every incredible Zoya nail color made will now be available as a spoon so you can try it before you buy it! This is a revolution for the online nail polish consumer and salon and spa buyers alike who previously only had online color representations or printed color charts as a guide. Never before have you been able to try so much color for so little money out of pocket. This is same Zoya color that comes in the bottle poured into small nail shaped wells to create a tester color spoon - you can see every subtle detail of the color and hold it up to your nail to see exactly how it will look. Plus, the amount you pay for the spoons will be added to your account in the form of code that will be available for use on a future Zoya purchase and BONUS Zoya will ship the spoons to you at no charge. “It’s amazing that we will be able to do this for our customers - there really is nothing else like it in the nail polish market today” stated Leo Reyzis, VP of Marketing at Zoya.
So quit the color guessing game when purchasing nail color online and try any one of Zoya’s over 300 formaldehyde, toluene, dibutyl phthalate and camphor free, vegan friendly shades. Now you can be sure that the color you try is the exact same color you buy!
See it - Try it - Buy it!
Zoya Nail Spoons - $0.50 ea. (free shipping on all spoons - value of spoon(s) will be added to your account for a future zoya.com purchase).
Zoya Nail Spoons will be available at www.zoya.com starting September 1, 2010.

Here’s how it works...
Simply visit www.zoya.com, select a color(s) to try, click on the coordinating Zoya Color Spoon option in the product ordering area to add the color spoon to your shopping cart. Order as many as you would like. After your order has been approved and processed, zoya.com will ship your selected color spoons out for you to try and email you a confirmation along with your spoon value code (code will also be available under the “my account” section of www.zoya.com so you never have to worry about losing it).*
* All Zoya Color Spoon sales are final. One time personalized spoon value code. Zoya Color Spoon value code can be applied to any polish or treatment item at www.zoya.com. Code cannot be used to purchase additional spoons.

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So I had the privilege of speaking directly to a Zoya Fairy who explained to me that this is an amazing way for us to seriously see what a color will look like on our nails.  Each spoon has the equivalent of 2 coats of nail polish so if a color is more sheer (like Vegas Freeze), that's what you're going to see.  If a color has a hidden shimmer or duochrome that's not quite apparent online, you'll see it in a spoon.  As you can see in the promo picture, each spoon has a hole at the top of the spoon so you can easily keep track of them on a keyring or just a simple string loop.  I think I'm going to start by buying spoons of all the colors I currently have, for my reference and then start buying spoons of those colors I've wanted to buy.  How about you?

Cheeky Monkey Camel Toe vs China Glaze

Yesterday I showed you Cheeky Monkey Cosmetics Camel Toe.  Well I went through all my polishes and grabbed the only colors that looked remotely close, but as you can see in this bottle picture, neither color is that close.  I chose China Glaze Far Out from the Retro Diva collection and China Glaze Chocodisiac which is not a big 3 free color from the Guilty Pleasures Fall 2006 Collection.  


For the Cheeky Monkey, I had a base coat of Get Wet.  For both China Glaze colors, I had a base coat of Seche Natural.  I used 2 coats of color for each polish, and topped all with Seche Vite.

As you can see, there isn't a dupe here.  Far Out has a darker base with a slight gold shimmer, and Chocodisiac has a much darker base than Camel Toe.  While you could buy both the China Glaze colors and a base and a top coat for the same price as the Cheeky Monkey, if you're looking for a coffee caramel color, Came Toe is still the way to go.

Cheeky Monkey Camel Toe

Today's post was actually a reader's request.  By all means, feel free to email me (address on the sidebar) with your requests or questions on any of the polishes I own.  I'm constantly trying to keep my spreadsheet updated with all my polishes, and overall, I would love to get them all swatched!  I'm not on a "no-buy" by any means, but I'd like to at least wear half of what I have, haha.


Cheeky Monkey Cosmetics Camel Toe is listed as a medium dark neutral beige.  Now, I find it to be more of an orange based brown - kind of like a coffee caramel, if you would.  It's a creme which actually surprised me a little - I kept thinking there was some hidden shimmer in there, but nope.  Great neutral color for the office, if you ask me.


I used a base coat of Cheeky Monkey Wet Dream, 2 coats of Camel Toe, and topped it with Seche Vite.  The formula was very smooth - not runny or thick and had excellent coverage.

As you can see in the sun, it's pretty close to my own skin tone (at least to me) - with the orange showing up a little more than the brown.

However, in the shade it does look a little darker but overall it's a very wearable color - nothing bold or in your face.  Again, great for the office.


Cheeky Monkey can be purchased on their website [official website] for $15 a bottle.

China Glaze Zombie Zest

China Glaze Zombie Zest is the second piece of 3 from the Halloween release "Awakening" launching next month.  It's listed as a mossy green shade with gold flecks of microglitter.  I was most excited about this color because of the microglitter and just the zombieness of it, and it didn't disappoint me.


I used a base of Seche Natural, 2 coats of Zombie Zest and a top of Seche Vite.  The formula was perfect - not runny at all, not thick, and worked well on my nails.

Braaaaaaaaaains.  You can see almost a little bit of VNL in the sun, and I could have probably gone 3 coats but I was quite happy with two.  This is such a unique shade of green in my collection - more yellow than Emerald Sparkle.

Love love love this color in the shade - the gold microglitter, the moss green, I'm a happy camper with this on.  I can't wait until Halloween is around the corner - this would also be a great color for a witch to wear.  I think zombie would be more of a bluish black yellow on the nails (now that's a color).  If you're only looking to get one color from the 3 pack, I recommend this one.

China Glaze [official website] can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty [official website], Sally's Beauty Supply [official website] as well asTransDesign [official website].

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

OPI My Private Jet

Just a quick, down and dirty post because I was listing my nail polishes on my spreadsheet and had one of those heart stopping moments.


On my recent hauling trip, I found not one but 2 different bottles of OPI My Private Jet.  One had a definite teal flash to it, the other had a bronzy-red flash to it.  I couldn't remember which was which as far as the so far 4 different versions I've heard of My Private Jet, but I bought them both without question.  Tonight, I couldn't help but just slap it on (no base or top coat) to see the different.


On my index and middle fingers are my bronzy-red flashed MPJ and on my ring and pinky fingers is the teal flash MPJ.

Do I actually have an original bottle of MPJ?  I have no idea.  I'm so lost on it all.

I can't wait to get this color out in the sun.

Some blur to show the glitter holo going on.  Stay tuned or leave me a comment if you think you know!  (Because I don't!)

China Glaze Ick-A-Body

China Glaze Ick-A-Body is a dark green base with orange glitter - lots of orange glitter.  Unlike last year's Fortune Teller which was a black base with some orange glitter, this is almost all glitter.  This is one of three colors that China Glaze is releasing for Halloween... starting in September, you'll be able to find the bottles individually in Sally's Beauty Supply but already you can buy the bottles individually or in the 4 pack "Awakening" Collection on TransDesign.  The 4th bottle is China Glazes Fast Forward Top Coat.


I used a base of Seche Natural, and then I wanted to check out the opacity of this polish.  Only one coat of Ick-A-Body on my pinky, 2 coats on my ring finger, 3 coats on my middle finger and ended with 4 coats on my index finger.  I topped it with Seche Vite (thin coat, not thick) because the glitter wasn't bumpy or raised.

I can honestly say that 2 coats was perfectly fine for me.  One coat had more of the green base showing, and then 3 coats was just a bit much.  Four coats was way too much and the polish just kind of slid around on my nail at that point.

In the shade you can see the green in the bottle better and more on the pinky.  I guess it depends on how much glitter you want versus base.  I will be wearing 2 coats, but if you wanted more green to show, only go with one coat.

This was a glitter, which meant time to soak my nail in my cotton pad so that the glitter would slide right off (instead of scrubbing the glitter) but I did want to show you that it's definitely a green base, and not a black (just in case you doubted me, hah!).  Very nice color overall and great formula.  This wasn't too thick, or too thin and the glitter stayed right on the nail (instead of sliding around).  Two thumbs, way up!

China Glaze [official website] can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty [official website], Sally's Beauty Supply [official website] as well asTransDesign [official website].

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

China Glaze Tease

On my last trip to San Antonio, my salon manicurist (who does great pedicures), told me about a nail supply store in the middle of nowhere, so I went to check it out.  It was like I died and went to Heaven - I wish I had taken pictures.  The small shop was stuffed full of nail polish - everything from OPI to China Glaze... and oh the China Glaze.  They had so many bottles of old polish (dusties) but the newest items looked to be the Up & Away, and they didn't have many bottles of it.  I grabbed this bottle because I'm a sucker for blue flashed whites but it wasn't until I got outside that I realized this was a sheer.  China Glaze Tease is from the Blush collection and is not big 3 free, but I don't mind that.  However, if you're looking for a big 3 free polish, I do believe this is a dead on dupe for their color Rainbow.  I'll have to comparison sometime.


I used a base of Seche Natural, 3 coats of Tease and a top coat of Seche Vite.  The color is very sheer but as you can see in the sun, you do get the blue flash.  The formula on this was great - not runny or thick despite the original layer of dust on my bottle.

If you catch the light properly, you can see all the blue flash.  However, if you angle your nails, you get this:

A whole lotta nothing.  However, I bet this would look great over black, or really it's a nice understated color - might go well as a french manicure too.


In the shade, you also get that blue flash.

China Glaze [official website] can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty [official website], Sally's Beauty Supply [official website] as well asTransDesign [official website].

China Glaze Endurance

China Glaze Endurance is the last of the 3-piece "Fight Like A Woman" breast cancer awareness set launching in September.  China Glaze says it's a raspberry shimmer but to me, it looks just like the 2009 Summer Days glass fleck collection.  I was a little surprised by this color - it's not a traditional pink that you'd see for BCA, but at the same time, it's a nice unique color for both fall and just in general.


I found the formula on this one to be a little thick as well but I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the heat in my house.  I'm going to have to check a few more bottles in my house to see.


I used a base of Seche Natural, 3 coats of Endurance and a top coat of Seche Vite.

You can see that glass fleck in the sun, and just a tiny bit of VNL although it's always hard to tell with nubbins.

In the shade it looks a bit more like a shimmer but overall I'm quite happy with this color.  It's not as red as Cherry Pie but I do want to see how it stacks up with Raspberry Festival (both from the Summer Days collection).  I'll let you know!

China Glaze [official website] can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty [official website], Sally's Beauty Supply [official website] as well asTransDesign [official website].

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.