Zoya Julieanne

I don't know how this beautiful shade sat on my testing shelf for so long...  It's amazing!  Zoya Julieanne is from the 2010 Fall Wicked and Wonderful collection (Wicked) and is listed as a Byzantium purple sparkling metallic.  So apparently Byzantium is just a dark shade of purple - knowledge is power ^_^


I was absolutely thrilled with this color.  I always forget how smooth Zoya applies and am always happy with it when I put it on.  I used a base coat of Zoya Anchor, 2 coats of Juileanne, a top of Zoya Armor and another top of Seche Vite (to make it dry faster for me).

Look at that beautiful color in the bottle!  And holy cow, my nail just all of a sudden got super long!  It almost takes on a glass fleck look instead of a metallic.  Lovely.

In the shade, you can really see the richness of this color.  The ONLY downside was that inside in ridiculous yellow light (I hate yellow light bulbs), this color was super dark - almost black.  I was in church with my son when he said "I like your nail polish" (we're still working on indoor voices) and I noticed two women kind of look at me and wrinkle up their noses.  Oops.  ^_^  I ended up wearing this color for a couple of days because it was just so stunning.  Love it.


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.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Cherry Love

Did you take advantage of the Rescue Beauty Lounge, who by the way, is now on Twitter, 50% off sale?  When I heard rumors (which are still just rumors) that this would be the last sale of its kind, I narrowed it down to 4 shades and pulled the plunger.  I do own Scrangie but realized last night that I haven't officially swatched it yet - and I need to!


One of the 4 colors that I purchased is Cherry Love, listed as a "Popsicle-fuschia, the love child of hot pink and sizzling red.  When pink is too tame and red is too expected, give this glamorous shade a try."  I always have heard from other bloggers that the Rescue Beauty Lounge cremes are super smooth but I did find this one to be just a bit thick.  I'm not sure if it just needed time to adjust to the Texas humidity (is that real?) or what - but I didn't have that hard of a time applying - just needed to wipe a little extra off my brush.


I used a base coat of Seche Natural, 2 coats of Cherry Love and a top of Seche Vite.

In the sun, you can see how smooth the formula comes out - I do love how cremes look on the nail, which is funny... years ago I was all about glitter and nothing more.  Now I love the look of glitter on other people because I know how hard it is to remove heh.

One shade picture - just a tiny bit of VBL, but I may be the only person to see it - you can see a bit of red-blue in the bottle, but not too much.


Now, I've heard (again from other bloggers) that RBL doesn't play well with Seche, but I didn't have any problems.  I have 3 more colors here plus Scrangie and so I may be doing a wear test soon.  ^_^


Rescue Beauty Lounge is available for sale on their website for $18 a bottle.  You can Like her on Facebook as well as follow her on Twitter.

Blogs of Note

Happy Sunday!  I have 3 more blogs here for you.

First today is Vampy Varnish.  Blog owner Kelly has short to medium nails and has also started to blog about makeup too.  She gets some advanced releases of certain brands, so she's a good one to watch if you like reading about things way ahead of time.  I do wish that her RSS would load the whole post the first time.  I always have to click the "Read more" from my reader, which I haaaaaate because it loads in a new tab but I'm more inclined to comment because it does load the blog ^_^.  Kelly also created a line of nail polish with BB Couture found here.


Next is Inside Of My Purse which actually a Turkish blog but owner Zuzu writes in both Turkish and English for her readers.  She has short nails and reviews a lot of cremes with other finishes as well.  She recently moved so she was on a bit of a break since everything has been packed up.


Finally today is A Polish Problem.  I love that she promotes other blogs every Friday in her "Blogger Round Up" which includes new and just new to her blogs.  She's one of the people who inspired Blogs of Note.  She was also listed as a Top 50 Nail Blog by SpaBeautySchools.com.  Megan has short pear shaped nails which I have never seen before.  It's great to see a variety of nails out there, and blogging has certainly done that.


Enjoy!

China Glaze Jolly Holly

Oh look!  More icky weather!  I seriously couldn't get a good picture of Jolly Holly to save my life due to the cloud coverage.  Everything just looked gross which is sad because China Glaze Jolly Holly from the Winter 2010 collection is a super pretty dark green shimmer!  China Glaze actually had it listed as a forest green shimmer.


I used a base coat of Seche Natural, 1 coat of Jolly Holly and a top of Seche Vite.  Very nice formula - completely opaque in one coat.  I'd also like to mention that I didn't have any staining of my nail or of my hands after wearing this color - something that always scares me with greens.


I really am sorry for just having this one nasty cloudy picture - I promise the color is pretty dang awesome!  Additionally, I think it would be very beautiful with some Konad stamped in Cheers To You!

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.

SkinCare Rx Coupon

As you may have seen, my Apothica giveaway just started last night and I got an email that their sister site, SkinCareRx is having a Friends and Family sale from now until 1 December, 2010!


This code will give you a 25% discount on SkinMedica and other brands which now accepts PayPal (and frankly, I prefer using PayPal these days, personally!)!


Friends and Family Coupon* Code: FF25
*Excludes some brands.

Disclosure: The above post is a paid insertion in exchange for a gift card from the company.  I do not receive any compensation if you click on the links in this post or if you use the Coupon Code for a purchase.  For more information, please read this post.

nubar Sale

Just in case you haven't heard, nubar is offering 30% off retail orders of $30 or more now through November 30th with code NOV3030. Free shipping on orders of $75 or more after the discount is applied. Visit them at www.bynubar.com to take advantage of this offer!

Stealing is not fun

There has been a rash of websites popping up using other bloggers' pictures and in some cases, their own blogs. I thought I was slightly immune because I'm still new to the game, but I'm not a spring chicken anymore.


Please do feel free to report these posts as well - here's the ones of mine that I know (and have reported) so far.


Again, I did NOT authorize users taking my images and/or blog postings.


China Glaze Gelato http://www.luuux.com/health-beauty/china-glaze-gelato 
China Glaze Ingrid http://www.luuux.com/health-beauty/perfect-fall-nail-polish-0
China Glaze Seduce Me http://www.luuux.com/health-beauty/china-glaze-suduce-me
Nicole by OPI Bring On The Tinsel (image only) http://www.luuux.com/health-beauty/what-i-did-my-make-gift-cards
Sephora by OPI Club Scene Queen http://www.luuux.com/health-beauty/sephora-opi-club-scene-queen 

Flat Irons

Considering my birthday is in exactly one month from today, and I'm definitely feeling like I'm getting older, I've decided that I needed to start caring more about my appearance.  Nail polish/long nice nails was part of it, but I've also started wearing eyeshadow and lipstick (still not getting into foundation/powder), and actually taking care of my hair.  I have very straight hair, as I showed you in a blog posting awhile back, so I never thought I needed a flat iron until I had my hair done at a salon.  It's crazy how much nicer my hair looks when it's been flat ironed - all the little flyaways are down and the hair almost shines.

However, my knowledge of flat irons is pretty non-existent.  All I know is what friends tell me and there is a kiosk in the mall that constantly tries to ask me "What flat iron do you use?"  Now, I like to read up on products before I buy, and recently I was told about a flat iron reviews website where some of the top rated flat irons can be found.  The best part for me is custom searching with the different tags.  If you're looking for a certain brand, this website has them listed alphabetically or if you have no idea (like me), you can browse by type as well.

I currently own 3 different flat irons - none of them have brand names that I can even remember, and all were very cheap.  I have a tiny traveling one that I used on my bangs when I first cut bangs this year, and I had a wet to dry flat iron that I loved but my Mom took to use for herself, and then I have one that I currently use that I just know gets really hot, really quick.  But just owning a product is half the battle - you have to know how to use it and of course, you have to use it.  At the very bottom of the review website are some tips and advice including how to create wavy hair with your flat iron and even how to clean it.

Do you own a flat iron or plan to get one during this holiday season?

Disclosure: The above post is a paid insertion in exchange for a product from the company to be reviewed for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

New Look!

After lots of debating, I finally updated the look of my blog.  Eventually, I want to customize even more, but this is a good start for now.  ^_^  Yay me!

Apothica Giveaway

I was so glad when I finally took the plunge for deborah lippmann nail polish.  Not only are all the polishes named after popular music (Deborah Lippmann is actually an accomplished jazz singer on top of being a celebrity manicurist), but they also incorporate a combination of sweet and bold colors and textures.  The hexagonal glitter combined with small round glitter of Ruby Red Slippers all set in a jet black base is still one of my favorite unique polishes that I own.

Now you can have the opportunity to purchase this polish, any deborah lippman polish or any product from the premium brands that is available through a great website called Apothica.  Apothica carries the finest selection of cosmetics, skin care, body care, fragrances, candles and hair care.  In addition to their store in Utah, they have an online store which I have been graciously given a $25 gift certificate to give away to a PolishGalore reader!  Both domestic and international readers may apply, but please note that an international winner will be responsible for any tariff/customs fees imposed by your country.


Apothica will be responsible for the fulfillment of the $25 gift card which will be sent via email and can be used at any of their 3 websites: http://www.skincarerx.com, http://www.apothica.com and http://skinbotanica.com  Please be sure that you add skincareRX as a contact in your email so if you win, the email isn't sent to your Spam/Junk Mail folder by your email provider.  The winner will be randomly chosen from the entries at which time, I will verify the winner and email them so I can send their shipping information to Apothica.  Please note your information will never be shared with a third party company, ever.


So let's do this!  The giveaway begins today 19 November and ends in 2 weeks at midnight GMT 3 December.  You do not have to complete all entry possibilities but these are all available to you.  Added information here:


1) The Facebook page for Apothica is located here
2) The Twitter page for Apothica is located here
3) The Newsletter for Apothica is found at the bottom left of their website here
4) If you write a blog post about deborah lippmann for seven additional entries, it must have a minimum of 100 words and use a pre-defined anchor text of "deborah lippmann" which must link to the website http://makeup.apothica.com/lippmann-collection.html

This giveaways is now closed.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company as apart of our advertising agreement.  For more information, please read this post.