Winner Announced for Zoya Mini Trio Giveaway!

Congratulations to Maria for winning the Zoya Mini Trio, featuring three of my favorite colors from the Zoya Surf Collection (Kimber, Zuza, and Myrta)! I have contacted her, gotten her address, and sent off the prizes! :-)

Thank you so much to everyone for participating, and for your support of me and my blog. Don't go anywhere. I will have another giveaway planned to start in just a few days, and I'm sure you guys will love the prizes. In the meantime, keep doing what you love and keep polishing! ♥

China Glaze Man Hunt

Today, I have another polish from the China Glaze On Safari Fall 2012 Collection to share with you! Man Hunt is a dark blue creme.

Usually I'm quite wordy when I'm describing polishes (as I'm sure you guys have noticed :P), but I don't have much to say about this color. It's a pretty straight forward dark navy-blue creme. The formula is not too thick or thin, which makes application easy. Color payoff is great, and it is opaque in two coats. My only small complaint is that dark blue isn't a color I normally associate with the safari, which conjures up in my mind greens, yellows, and browns, so I'm not sure if this color entirely fits in with the theme of this collection.

You can find Man Hunt at your local nail salons and at beauty stores such as Ulta and Sally Beauty for a retail price of $7 for 0.5 fl oz.

** This post contains a product that was provided to me by the company for honest consideration. How I obtain the products does not influence my opinion. For more info, please view my Disclosure Policy.

Zoya Mini Trio Giveaway - One Day Left to Enter!

Just a reminder that my Zoya Mini Trio Giveaway is ending soon. You can still enter for a chance to win a mini Zuza, Myrta, and Kimber. The giveaway is open until tomorrow night, so if you haven't entered yet, you have one more day to do so! :-)

To enter, just click HERE! Good luck everyone! :D

China Glaze Elephant Walk

Hi everyone! Hope you had a lovely weekend! As for me, I spent the entire weekend taking care of my sick and extremely grumpy husband. He is always in a surly mood when he is sick, so it was a most trying weekend for me. *grumbles about men and their inability to handle sickness* :-)

Today, I have the first of three colors to show you from the twelve-polish China Glaze On Safari Fall 2012 Collection. Elephant Walk is a gray shade with a strong teal tone and a smattering of fine shimmers.

This is a really interesting color, shifting from a dark neutral gray to a more teal gray, depending on the lighting. The silver shimmers in it are very small and understated, so they add a small glimmer to the nail without making the finish appear metallic.

The formula spreads out into thin coats easily, while still giving a good amount of coverage. It is almost opaque in one coat, but I prefer two coats to even everything out. Overall, I really like this color. It feels like a cool, refreshing quench of light color in the midst of a summer overdose of brights and neons.

You can find Elephant Walk at your local nail salons and at beauty stores such as Ulta and Sally Beauty for a retail price of $7 for 0.5 fl oz.

** This post contains a product that was provided to me by the company for honest consideration. How I obtain the products does not influence my opinion. For more info, please view my Disclosure Policy.

China Glaze On Safari Fall 2012 Collection Preview

Even though it's still the dog days of summer, we're already starting to see previews and releases of fall collections. Today, I wanted to pass along a press release of the new China Glaze On Safari Collection. (All info and images are courtesy of China Glaze.)

UNTAMED COLOUR AWAITS YOU

China Glaze® Introduces 12 New Crèmes and Glitters for Fall 2012

Los Angeles, CA – (May 2012):  China Glaze® nail lacquer invites you to take an exotic expedition with its Fall 2012 collection, On Safari.  Be captivated by the earthy tones, rich plums and celestial sparkles that make up this adventurous assortment of polishes.

The China Glaze® On Safari features 10 rich crèmes and two glitters including:

·         Kalahari Kiss: Light sand brown

·         I’m Not Lion: Glistening gold and multi-color glitter

·         Call of the Wild: Beautiful chocolate brown-dark cherry blend

·         Adventure Red-y: Vivid red

·         Desert Sun: Delicious caramel

·         I Herd That: Brilliant copper glitter

·         Man Hunt: Bold cobalt blue

·         Exotic Encounters: Lush green crème with blue undertones

·         Elephant Walk: Cool graphite grey

·         Jungle Queen: Smoky violet

·         Purr-fect Plum: Bold burgundy

·         Prey Tell: Daringly dark red

On Safari is also available in:

·         6-piece “Native” Collection: Man Hunt, Exotic Encounters, Elephant Walk, Jungle Queen, Purr-fect Plum and Prey Tell

·         6-piece “Tourist” Collection: Kalahari Kiss, I’m Not Lion, Call of the Wild, Adventure Red-y, Desert Sun and I Herd That

·         12-piece counter display

The China Glaze® On Safari collection will be available at fine salons and beauty supply stores nationwide in July 2012.  Individual polishes retail for $7 MSRP; the 6-piece sets retail for $42 MSRP.

I have a few colors from this collection, and I am looking forward to trying them out and sharing my thoughts and swatches with you guys! :-)

Julep America

Today, I'm wrapping up the Julep polishes from my July Boho Glam Maven Box with America. It is a glitter polish filled with blue, red, and silver colored and multi-shaped glitters in a sheer base.

There are so many different glitter colors, shapes and sizes in here. There are fine red glitter flecks, small round silver and blue glitters, medium-sized blue hexagon glitters, and large silver star-shaped glitters. The base is quite sheer, so it's best to wear this over a complimentary base color. In the swatches, I have America over Julep Mischa.

As with all glitters that contain large pieces, application can be a little tricky. You pretty much have to fish out the star pieces and manually place them to ensure one star for each nail. Then you put a medium-thick layer of polish over the whole nail, and lightly spread out the polish to ensure the star stays where you want.

Overall, I think the glitters look gorgeous in the bottle, but they look messy once they are on my nails. A large reason is that the silver stars end up with lots of the other smaller glitter pieces all over them. Also, I could not get some of the star pieces to lay flat due to their size and the curvature of my nail bed. It's not a polish I would normally wear, but it's still cute and fun for July 4th. :-)

Don't forget to enter my current giveaway for a chance to win a Zoya mini trio, featuring three colors from the Zoya Surf Collection! <3

Julep Mischa

Hello everyone! :-)

Today, I have for you Julep's Mischa, another polish from my July Boho Glam Maven Box. Mischa is a juicy scarlet red with hints of orange and lots of sparkly shimmers.

Julep really hit it out of the park with this month's polishes for the Boho Glam profile. I thought Mischa would be another typical red (lots of those around), but it turns out to be a most interesting color. Depending on the lighting, Mischa shifts from a bright red to a more fiery orange. It also has the most fascinating silver and gold shimmers in the bottle, which then translate clearly onto the nails.

The formula is excellent, and I am able to apply even coats without any problems. Although each coat is a little sheer, they build up to a good level of opacity with two coats. I love this type of micro-glitter/glass fleck finish because it is the best of all worlds. You get shimmers and sparkles without the brush strokes of a metallic finish or the removal problems of glitters.

Don't forget to enter my current giveaway for a chance to win a Zoya mini trio, featuring three colors from the Zoya Surf Collection! <3