Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Zoya Wicked and Wonderful Collections Fall 2010
They're here!! Yay! Zoya has been teasing everyone one picture at a time... but now they're here in all of their sparkly fall glory.
First up- Wonderful (the cremes).
Burke. Kind of a... soft red-mulberry creme... The only one out of the entire fall line I'm not crazy about. Berry shades just don't catch my eye for some reason. This one has a very autumnal look to it though, I think it's the softness. And I always thought the name of this polish was a naughty British slang... isn't it? Hehe.
Cola. A warm red-toned brown creme. It seems more red than brown on my skintone, but in the bottle it looks more brown than red. It also looks darker on me than it seems in the bottle. I think the name Cola suits this... it sort of reminds me of Dr. Pepper!
Kelly. This is my favorite from Wonderful. It's amazing. It's a medium borderline dark grey creme but it has purple tones to it. In certain lights it looks more purple than grey, and in others it seems pure neutral grey. Definitely my new favorite grey. Even looks good on my skintone, and I don't think I usually pull off grey all that well (doesn't stop me from wearing them, ha!). And you know what? I'm glad this color isn't green. Kelly green would have been too obvious! I'm also glad that Zoya Jade is red and not green... but back on topic...
Shawn. Oooooh. Here's the green. And what a nice green! It's a little darker for fall, not quite as dark as Envy or something like Orly Enchanted Forest. It's yellow based and a little murky. These types of greens are usually my favorite. Yellowy and murky. Is it just me or has Zoya done a green in every collection this year? Hmm... I don't think there was one in Spring, but it seems like there have been a lot lately!
Stacy. A purple burgundy... Not quite berry... seems more wine to me than berry but mostly purple toned. It deepens with every coat... I'm noticing that my ring finger is lighter than all the others... Somehow I think I missed the second coat on that nail....
Kristi. Pure red. I really like this. I have actually been wearing this for the past couple days and only took it off to swatch Wicked! It's bright but not super bright. More on the medium side. Really crisp looking.
That's it for the creme portion of this collection... now on to the glitter! Zoya Wicked!
Carrie Ann. This one is so sparkly my camera freaked out instead of focusing! It's a light red, cool toned, PACKED with sparkles. Too small to be plain glitter, more like a really reflective glass fleck. Very very sparkly.
Cheryl. You know, it's bound to happen when every polish is named a person's name... Sometimes you get the name of a person you don't want to be reminded of! But anyway... I think I'd have to call this my favorite from Wicked. It's a warm rustic chestnut type of shade. Brown with lots of reddish shimmer/glitter/glass fleck. It's divine. Divine Brown. Hee hee. Way to keep it classy, Scrangie. But seriously... this color is gorgeous, it's almost a duochrome there's so much flashy sparkle in it!
Edyta. Another green! Well, sort of green. This is like green plus. Green and bronze and smoke. Pretty complex. Very sparkly in the sunlight. Kinda like a cross between China Glaze Gussied-Up Green and that awesome Bourjois that looks like starling feathers.
Julieanne. But then... you get one named after someone you really like! This one is a really wicked cool dark purple duochrome glitter. I know, it looks so blue in my pictures, but it's actually purple. It's like if Zoya Mimi and OPI Designer Series Mystery had a baby. Or maybe LA Girl Groupie and Color Club With Abandon? It's a unique shade and kinda hard to describe! Glittery, dark, purple, duochromey with gold and copper and a little green.
Karina. Second picture (indoors) shows the color truer. Another sparkly red, this one is deeper and richer than Carrie Ann. Still cool toned to my eye. I think I prefer this one, it has more of a fall feeling.
Kym. Ahh. This makes me so relaxed to look at. It's the color of fall. The leaves changing... clothes getting heavier... apples and maple leaves. *sigh* So pretty.
The formula on these was good. The Wonderful cremes were all perfect- nice even texture, great coverage (I only did two coats and didn't need a third at all) and quick dry time. The Wicked glitters were a bit on the thick side and had a much longer dry time than the cremes. Coverage was still good at two coats, but I found that they looked a little dull without topcoat so I applied topcoat for my swatches.
The glitter in the Wickeds is really nice. It's a bit like the Sparkle collection but they seem less foily and more dense glass fleck. So hard to describe! A little like the Sally Hansen HD ones... You know those big shiny particles that have a duochrome look to them? It's like that in these. Gorgeous, just totally and absolutely gorgeous. Zoya is really on a roll with these amazing sparkle/glitter/foily/glass fleck hybrid shades. I really hope they do more in the future because they all look STUNNING!
And I can't give the glitters all the praise, cause the cremes were great too. Perfect fall colors. Great formula. Good variety. Notice how in each set of cremes and shimmers they do three interesting colors and three more conservative shades? I kinda like how they do that- they don't ignore us hardcore polish addicts- they seem to try to cater to the more traditional less adventurous crowd and the nailies at the same time. I appreciate that.
So... there it is. Zoya fall 2010. I have no complaints, I'm actually really content with both these sets of colors, they had everything I wanted for fall! Now if October would get here already...
(These were sent to me for review.)
Red Creme Spam
I'm actually really liking red cremes lately. I know... where is Scrangie and what have I done with her? So why not have some red creme spam?
Maybelline Express Finish Speedy Hot Tamale
Essie Pama
Chanel Lotus Rouge
MAC Kid Orange (okay... it's orange, but it's reddish orange!)
Maybelline Wet Shine Cherry Rain
Essie Red Nouveau
Misa Single and Ready To Limbo
Zoya America
Rescue beauty Lounge Killa Red (with bubbles and decal)
BB Couture Poppy Passion
Um... so now I've just realized that I don't have any more pictures of red cremes that I haven't already posted!
Interesting.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Clip in Hairpieces and Hair Extensions
If a wig is not for you, then you can go for salon-made clip in hair extensions that are braided or glued to your own hair. High quality designers’ wigs look very natural - nobody will guess that you are wearing a wig unless you tell them. If you have a short haircut, but are dying for long locks, buy a wig that is similar in colour to your natural hair. Clip in Hair extensions only look natural when they are mixed in with your natural hair, so if your hair is short, people will notice that you are wearing extensions.
Clip in hairpieces come in a range of colour and styles and usually made from synthetic fibres so easily maintained. However, clip in hairpieces will work for women with very short hair, as these are worn over the top of your own ponytail. If you have long but very fine hair, or your hair is not in its best condition, clip-in hair extensions are a great way to bring richness and fullness to your hair. If you have medium length hair, extensions can make it longer.
Clip in hairpieces come in a range of colour and styles and usually made from synthetic fibres so easily maintained. However, clip in hairpieces will work for women with very short hair, as these are worn over the top of your own ponytail. If you have long but very fine hair, or your hair is not in its best condition, clip-in hair extensions are a great way to bring richness and fullness to your hair. If you have medium length hair, extensions can make it longer.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Sneak preview of Illamasqua contest winners!
Illamasqua has chosen the winners of their polish design contest! Since they received so many amazing entries (over 6,000!) they couldn't pick just one- they chose three winners!
I have the names and pictures of the bottles below. Once I have more info I'll be sure to post it! But, WOW, these look awesome. I'm especially digging Eclipse. I can not wait to see how these look on the nail. Congratulations to all the winners!
"Shrapnel" by Loren Perry – a pink-based metallic copper inspired by the dazzling shine of a new penny and a beautiful pair of copper shoes she owns.
Raindrops by Ann Black – a creamy pale grey with a sheer silver sparkle inspired by watching raindrops running down the window while riding the monorail in Seattle. [her blog post is at http://anniedollface.blogspot.com/2010/03/one-in-50.html ]
I have the names and pictures of the bottles below. Once I have more info I'll be sure to post it! But, WOW, these look awesome. I'm especially digging Eclipse. I can not wait to see how these look on the nail. Congratulations to all the winners!
"Shrapnel" by Loren Perry – a pink-based metallic copper inspired by the dazzling shine of a new penny and a beautiful pair of copper shoes she owns.
Raindrops by Ann Black – a creamy pale grey with a sheer silver sparkle inspired by watching raindrops running down the window while riding the monorail in Seattle. [her blog post is at http://anniedollface.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Essie The Summer Collection 2010
I think this collection is actually called "The Summer Collection." Seriously! It's printed on the little display box and everything.
Anyway, this collection was one heck of a surprise. You will see why shortly....
Demure Vixen. What a strange color. Not in a bad way, though! It's a mauvey, putty-ish light purple but it has a really interesting contrasting violet shimmer. They describe it as a duochrome, I don't think I'd quite call it a duochrome, but it does have competing base and shimmer- it's like they don't look like they're part of one polish, you see both the base color and the shimmer separately, fighting for attention. I rather like it.
Miss Matched. A milky pale lavender-toned pink. Not bad but not really that interesting. Doesn't particularly say 'summer' to me either. The soft lavender shade is even paler than all the pastel ones we've been seeing lately, and it has a lot more pink to it.
Knockout Pout. Okay, this is where things get weird. You see the color in the bottle? It is a pale milky pink. Looks like the standard Essie sheer pink. I was not really enthusiastic about swatching it, but I'm glad I did.. because.. when you open the bottle and put it on, it's really BRIGHT NEON PINK!! Yeah, seriously!! Isn't that crazy??? I was so confused. Anyway, this particular neon pink is of the light variety very much like China Glaze Shocking Pink.
Haute As Hello. This was the same way as Knockout Pout. I'm looking at the bottle this whole time thinking, "More pastels for summer? Didn't we just see this same color in Spring?" and then I open the bottle to apply it... And it turns out it's semi-neon orange coral. That was a really nice surprise. I was pretty relieved to see it wasn't another pastel. So... this color... coral. This says coral to me, but it's very orange toned. Call it coral, salmon, orange-pink... This shade has a strange brightness. It's bold and punchy but it doesn't seem like a 'true' neon to me. It does dry matte, interestingly enough, so maybe it does have some neon pigment in it. You know what this reminds me of? My new Make Up For Ever eyeshadow in #5.
Pretty Edgy. Hell. Yes. OMG. I can't believe I'm seeing this. Essie did a true green! Finally! I've been really hoping for this for a long time! This particular shade did not disappoint. It is a medium yellow-toned grass green/leaf green creme. Very obvious green. Noticeable. Fresh looking. The only downside is I don't think it suits my skintone particularly well- makes my hands take on a yellow cast. But, that doesn't really bother me... I like this color too much to care.
Vermillionaire. I always thought vermilion was redder. But this color is pure orange. Sweet, sweet orange. I have a thing for orange polish. Maybe it's my obsession with Halloween or fall or pumpkins... but I love orange. Very happy about this shade. It's very very bright. I don't think this one is a 'true' neon either because it lacks that bright burning glow that makes neons special, but it is bright. Very rich color.
The formula was good. On the thin side but it didn't give me any trouble. The brushes seemed bigger than the winter collection but still small- no Pro-Wide style brushes here! I did three coats of all, I think they needed the three coats. Vermillionaire and Knockout Pout would be fine with two, but I had a little visible nail line on the others. Dry time was very good. Some of these were mostly dry by the time I was done taking the picture.
This collection really was a surprise. I was looking at the polishes in the box thinking... Summer collection... four pale/sheers in a summer collection? Where's the color? At least there's a green. And then I swatched it. There was much confusion and rejoicing. No sheers. One or two pale colors, but also some neon! Haute as Hello is pretty unique. I have orangey corals, but none seem to have that neon glow to them. I'm sure there are matches for the rest of the colors here, maybe not Demure Vixen, that seems pretty unique too... but I can't think of any at the moment. Oh yeah, China Glaze Shocking Pink and Knockout Pout seemed a little similar to me. If I'm remembering my China Glaze neons correctly... Shocking Pink was the light pink creme one, right? I'm probably not even remembering the right one. But I do prefer the formula of the Essie for this particular shade anyway.
So... Essie finally did a green. A real green, not pastel and not sheer. That's pretty cool. When are they going to bring Dominica Green back? *pokes Essie*
(These were sent to me for review.)