Zoya Marley

Oh Zoya, you slay me with your Intimates Collection.  I'm definitely a sucker for soft cremes - I feel like they are super work appropriate, fun, flirty... I'm in lust.  Marley is a soft purple with a hint of grey in it - it looks very "washed out" here in the bottle picture but oh wait until you see it on the nail!


I used a base of Zoya Anchor, 2 coats of Marley and a top of Zoya Armor.  I did feel that the formula on this was slightly thick but it may also just be my storage conditions.  Despite these blue skies, it was freezing temperatures.

In the sun, you can see how lovely this color is - very soft, very pretty.  I think this would also be a great base coat for some bright Konading or even nail art.  Oh how I wish I was more creative (and patient).

In the shade, this color really pops.  The purple is really showing its stuff against the muted greys.  Very much a winning color for me, but keep watching today - I have another comparison post coming!


Zoya [official website] can be purchased on their website for $8/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.

Jesse's Girl Crush vs Zoya Jancyn

Are you seeing double?  DOUBLE TROUBLE!  ^_^  While wearing Jesse's Girl Crush, I was thinking "Hey, I've seen a perfectly pigmented orange before!"  Zoya Jancyn from the Flash collection was a pretty awesome orange as seen here so it's time for a comparison!


For Crush, I used a base coat of Seche Natural, 3 coats of Crush and a top of Seche Vite.  For Jancyn, I used a base of Zoya Anchor, 2 coats of Jancyn and a top of Zoya Armor.

Yep - they look pretty much like twins!  Both were smoothly applied, both have a nice shine - winners!

Same story in the shade.  Nice - orangey... mmmm juice.  Love it.


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

CSN Giveaway #5

I'm still validating the entries from my Urban Decay Giveaway, but hey, let's have another CSN gift certificate giveaway - this one for $45!  Sorry international friends - this is only for USA & Canadian readers, but I'm going to be having a few more giveaways in the near future, so stay tuned!

To sign up, just fill out the form below - giveaway ends in one week on 16 February at midnight GMT.

So as I mentioned before, I purchased my first house last year, and while we were remodeling the kitchen, we tore down the existing bar area in the kitchen to open up the floor plan.  Now that it's gone, I miss it!  I've thought about building a new one, or even just a stand alone area but one thing that was missing was an overhang to place some modern bar stools.  It was pretty annoying, actually, since you just had to stand there and when one person was preparing food and the other was talking to you at the bar, well, it wasn't very inviting

Now, I'll be honest, you're not going to find a bar stool for $45 on CSN, but you could get some beautiful framed art, or maybe some accessories for you bar, so with that in mind, make sure you follow via GFC and fill out the form below!  ^_^

Cat's Meow Winner

So as I mentioned (like 2 months ago), the winner of my Cat's Meow 6 piece never contacted me back (ever), so tonight I went through the entries and picked a new one.

#79 is miketrochack!  Congrats!  I have already emailed you and will need to receive your mailing address by 16 February or I'll chose another winner.  

Jesse's Girl Crush

It's time for another Jesse's Girl color - today is actually Jesse's birthday!  Give him a shoutout on Twitter if you have time.  ^_^  Crush is a perfectly pigmented orange creme - very vibrant and a very nice formula.  I used a base coat of Seche Natural, 3 coats of Crush (to make sure it was even) and a top of Seche Vite.

In the sun, you can see how this color is very pumpkin like - or a big glass of orange juice.  Either way, it's pretty sweet!

Same story in the shade - just a lovely orange that looks good enough to drink.  (I think I'm just craving orange juice...)

Jesse's Girl sells for $2.99 a bottle online or at Rite Aid stores. You can visit Jesse's Girl on their website, Like them on Facebook and Follow them on Twitter.

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

Blogs of Note

It's Super Bowl Sunday here in the USA, and I'm stoked to watch the game.  While I start pre-gaming, here's some blogs of note for you to nosh on.


Jellynat: Medium to Long nails - slightly sporadic posting (had a down computer and was missing her photo editing software) but still a good place for searching older posts.


Just Nice Things:  Definitely long nail blog here - which I think is super cool!  I wish I had long nails sometimes!  You'll also find guest blogging reviews, some makeup, and some great blogger interviews here.  I do believe this blog is updated daily, so be sure to put her in your RSS/GFC feed!


Keerthamina: This is another blogger who hasn't updated in a while but does have some great older posts to check out - reviews and some art.  I really do like researching other colors on other blogs - especially some of the "core" colors from companies.  ^_^


Enjoy!

Last Day for Urban Decay Giveaway!

While I'm Super Bowling it up (I'm a sucker for football and good commercials), my Urban Decay Pigments Giveaway will be ending.  Make sure you sign up - there's currently 106 people signed up (not counting bonus entries), and I'm giving away 3 whole sets of pigments so go go go!


Link to the giveaway is here.  Please do tell your friends!

Jesse's Girl Flirt vs China Glaze Trophy Wife

Still looking for a dupe here - here is Jesse's Girl Flirt and China Glaze Trophy Wife and yet in the bottle, they sure don't look very similar.  I figured Flirt would be much darker than Trophy Wife.  For both polishes I used a base coat of Seche Natural, 2 coats of polish and a top coat of Seche Vite.


Are you ready?

Can you tell the difference in the sun on which picture is which?  Yeah, me either.  In fact, I forgot which color was on what nail.  Go me.  These are definitely dead on dupes.


Edit! I checked my notes, I have Jesse's Girl Flirt on my index and ring fingers and China Glaze Trophy Wife on my middle and pinkie fingers

Same story in the shade.  So if you missed Trophy Wife or you're just looking for a frosty foil pink, look no further - these two are cut from the same cloth!

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 Trophy Wife

When I was originally taking my bottle pictures of China Glaze Trophy Wife from the Specialty/Glitters & Cremes Collection, I had one that was further away, but this picture just cracked me up.  It reminded me of The Daily Nail's post on her adventures with Zoya Nail Polish Gemma.  Please do check it out.


I used a base coat of Seche Natural, 2 coats of Trophy Wife and a top of Seche Vite.  Trophy Wife is a pink foil that applied very smoothly - very nice formula.

In the sun you can see that this is a nice foil/frost pink.  Hey, didn't I say that before?  ;]  

Same story in the shade - it almost looks like this polish is a sponged gradation from dark to light but nope, it's just the polish.


You can still find this color on Head2ToeBeauty and possibly on eBay or you can stay tuned for my upcoming comparison post!

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].

Jesse's Girl Flirt vs China Glaze Good Witch?

In my quest to find dupes among my own collection, I thought that Jesse's Girl Flirt looked familiar, so I started digging.  First, I pulled out my China Glaze Good Witch? from the Wizard of Ooh Ahz re-release last year.  (It was one of my first reviews when I started blogging - be kind with my bad pictures!)


For both polishes I used a base coat of Seche Natural, 2 coats of polish and a top of Seche Vite.  For some reason, Good Witch? was a lot easier to work with this time around.

These two do look similar in the sun but there is a bit of a difference.  Flirt is a straight up foil/frost where as Good Witch has this tiny pink glitter in it that gives it a slightly gritty look.

In the shade, you can see that Flirt is more plummy pink where Good Witch is more baby pink.  Dupes - no.  Cousins - sure.  However, don't leave me yet - I have yet another good comparison coming up.  :)

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