Zoya Cosmo

Today I have my first bottle of the Magical Pixie Dusts from Zoya. I managed to pick this one up at my local Ulta and it was the last one in the store.  When the Magical Pixie Dusts were first introduced I wasn't sure I was going to like them becuase these are more textured than the original Pixie Dusts and I just wasn't sure how I'd like the hex particles, but I seen this in a few manis from other bloggers and just love the sparkle of it. So I decided I had to try it out for myself. I mean, I shouldn't judge something before I try it, right?!

This is Cosmo. "Cosmo can be best described as a silver crystal sparkle, textured PixieDust with mega hex iridescent particles. Imagine the best-selling Zoya PixieDust formula amped up with larger glitter and the first ever holographic pixie particle - for a never before seen magical effect!"*

I would best describe this as silver textured polish with matte holographic glitter. I really wasn't sure how I was going to like these new Magical Pixies. I LOVE the original Pixie Dusts and when I seen that these have holographic glitter mixed in with the pixie formula I had a feeling that they were going to feel really rough and gritty. Boy was I wrong!!! For me to the touch these really do not feel any different than the original Pixie Dusts but they are sparklier! I have fallen in love with these as well!

The formula is great, same as the great original pixie formula. Application was smooth and easy. Pictures here show 2 easy coats of Cosmo with no basecoat and no topcoat. The dry time was actually fairly quick which was really nice. If you love the original Zoya PixieDust polishes I highly recommend you trying these if you haven't already, you'll love them.

Pictures were taken indoors with artificial lighting and no flash.

Zoya Magical Pixies can be purchased at Ulta stores, select salons, and as always on Zoya's site here. They retail for $10 for a full sized 0.5fl oz bottle.




* Description taken from Zoya site description of Cosmo

Zoya Summer 2014 Magical Pixies

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Today I have the new Summer 2014 Magical Pixie Dusts from Zoya. There are 3 colors in this collection and they are just gorgeous. They are chocked full of sparkle and glitter that if you aren't careful, you could blind yourself on a sunny day, lol!

This formula is the ultra textured formula of the pixie dusts but with matte, holographic glitter loaded in there. This formula is just amazing and goes on with the same ease as the original Pixie Dusts. I thought that with these having the holographic glitter in these that they would be rough or gritty to the touch but they feel just the same as the original Pixie Dust formula when you touch them. They go on with ease and dry fairly quickly.

All photos here are taken with 2 coats of Magical Pixie Dust with no base coat and no topcoat. By using no basecoat or topcoat you get the best results with application, dry time, and staying power (at least in my opinion/experience).

First up in the collection is Bar.

 

Bar is a glittery nude topaz with the matte holographic glitter jam packed in there.

Next up we have Ginni.

Ginni is a glittery pink tourmaline with the matte holographic glitter. 

And lastly we have is Arlo.

Arlo is a glittery violet amethyst with matte holographic glitter.


Like I said ealier, the formula on these were all great. I had no issues with any of them. Application was smooth and dry time was fairly quick. All pictures were taken indoors with artificial lighting and no flash.

I also want to note that removal was no different that removing the original Pixie Dusts using Zoya Remove +. I just wet my cotton ball pieces with Zoya Remove + and let them sit on the nail for about 5 minutes. Then firmly wiped it off from base of nail to the tip. No scrubbing was needed.

Zoya Magical Pixies can be purchased online here and they retail for $10 each. You can also purchase Zoya polishes in select salons and Ulta stores but this collection is not available in Ulta stores yet.


*these were provided to me for an honest review

Zoya Normani and Tomoko

Here's another mani I did a little while back. I got inspiration for this one from Zoya's Instagram page. I think I actually duplicated it exactly, lol. I seen it over the winter and just thought it looked nice and simple with a bit of sparkle.

So I did my base of Zoya Normani from the Naturel Collection. Then I topped it off with a coat of Out The Door. Once that was dry I just took Tomoko and made one sweep of the brush (lightly so that the brush did not fan out too much) from the base of the nail to the tip. Then I just let it dry since I wanted to keep the textured feel of Tomoko.

This was so simple to do and I got a ton of compliments on it. I think I will be recreating this one again but I may experiment with different colors. What do you think would be good colors to do this with??

Zoya polishes can be found at Ulta stores, select salons, and Zoya's site here. Polishes retail for $9 each and Pixie Dusts are $10.

A Cult Nails "Converse Sneaker" Mani

Here is a mani I did for my daughter recently. We were browsing Instagram and she seen these "Converse Sneakers" on someone's nails and asked if I could do that. I did some searching and found a tutorial for them (I think I got the tutorial from @thelittlecanvas on Instagram). I had never tried them so I thought that I could give it a try, I'm trying to build my free-hand nail art skills so I thought this would be a good test.

 I had her pick out the colors she wanted and she went through my stash and picked out Cult Nails You're My Dandy Lion for the base color. Then I Cult Nails Tempest and Nevermore for the white and black. Grabbed my brushes, dotting tools, and other supplies and got started.

I put down a base of You're My Dandy Lion, once that was dry I took a striping brush and dipped it into the Tempest and did the tips of the nails for the sneaker tops. Then I took my dotting tool and dipped it into Tempest and created two rows of three dots to create the "lace holes" of the sneakers. Then I took a smaller striping brush and criss-crossed lines going to and from the "lace holes" the create the "laces". Once I was finished with the "laces" I dipped my next dotting tool (just a tad smaller than the previous one used) in Nevermore (black) to dot on top of the white "lace holes" to give them dimension. Then I grabbed another small striping brush and dipped it in Nevermore and drew my half circles on the white tips to give the sneaker tops definition. She only wanted the sneakers on two accent nails on each hand.

On her remaining nails she wanted to add rhinestones in the shades of the birthstones of the people most important to her. Then we let everything dry so that when I added the topcoat it wouldn't smudge the nail art. Once dry I added a topcoat of Out The Door to seal everything in.

I think they didn't turn out too bad for my first ever attempt but I'm definitely going to practice to make them better. I love trying to improve on my skills!! What do you think? Have you tried this type of nail art before? What is your favorite type of nail art??

Cult Nails polishes can be purchased through their site here.

Zoya Ling and Tilda Nail Art

Here's a little nail art I did with Zoya Ling and Tilda from the Zoya Tickled Summer 2014 collection. I seen these two sitting next to each other on my desk and thought that they would go great together for some nail art. So I sat down and tried to figure out what kind of design would look goo with these two colors. Then I went "AH HA!" and pulled out my envelope full of Nail Vinyls from @Teismom (her instagram handle).

 

I layed down my base colors for this mani after putting on my nail strengthener from Sally Hansen (Maximum Growth Nail Treatment) and then put a layer of Zoya Anchor for the base underneath. Then I applied 2 coats of Ling on my thumb, middle, and pinky fingers. I also put 2 coats of Tilda on my ring and pointer fingers. Once these were dry I applied the chevrons to my ring fingers and the single chevrons to my pointer fingers. After I had my nail vinyls in place I applied I good coat of Ling over the top of them and immediately removed the nail vinyls to reveal my base of Tilda underneath. You want to remove your nail vinyls right away while the polish is still wet so that you get clean lines and it doesn't pull up any of the other polish you applied.

 

I waited for these to dry halfway before applying my top coat of Out The Door because I didn't want anything to smudge. There they are all nice and shiny and bright in these gorgeous summer colors from Zoya. I am really loving these together!

 

Zoya polishes can be purchased at Ulta stores, select salons, and on Zoya's site here. The Tickled and Bubbly collections are not available in Ulta stores yet but they are available now on Zoya's site. They retail for $9 each.

Zoya Tickled Collection Summer 2014

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I have the other half of the highly anticipated summer collection from Zoya. Here is the Tickled Collection. When I seen the press release for these I was so excited for these because 1. I love a great cream and 2. I LOVE bright colors!!! I couldn't even figure out from the press release which one I wanted to try first because I wanted them all!!

Now on to the collection.....

Kitridge is a bubblegum pink cream.

I used 2 coats of Kitridge and no topcoat.

Kitridge had a little bit of streaking with the first coat but after the second it was all smoothed out.

Pics were taken in artificial lighting with no flash.

Rooney is a mid range magenta pink cream.

I used 2 coats of Rooney and no topcoat.

Pics were taken in artificial lighting with no flash.

Wendy is a melon pink/coral cream.

I used 2 coats of Wendy and no topcoat.

Pics were taken in artificial lighting with no flash.

Rocha is a folly red cream that to me has a hint of orange in it.

I used 2 coats of Rocha and no topcoat.

Pics were taken in artificial lighting with no flash.

Tilda is a warm mantis green cream.

I used 2 coats of Tilda with no topcoat.

Pics were taken in artificial lighting with no flash.

Last but certainly no least....

Ling is a vibrant royal blue cream that just screams gorgeousness to me.

I used 2 coats of Ling with no topcoat. I did not experience any staining from Ling either! Usually with blues I get some staining (I even didn't use a base coat). This one is a great blue!

Pics were taken in artificial lighting with no flash.

Overall the formula on all of these were great. I just love Zoya creams, they apply so smoothly and I rarely have a problem with them. Kitridge went on a little streaky on the first coat but the second coat smoothed everything right out. As you can see, I didn't use a topcoat in any of these pics, and they have a nice shine to them on their own. But once you add the topcoat to these they just radiate!!!

I think my favorites from this collection, if I had to choose, are Wendy and Ling but I LOVE them all!!! I can't wait to do some nail art with these, I've already got a couple nail art ideas planned so hopefully they work out and I can share them all with you. I hope you enjoyed this post! Which are your favorites???

Zoya polishes can be purchased at Ulta stores, select salons, and as always on Zoya's site. The Tickled Collection is not available at Ulta stores yet but they are available on Zoya's site. They retail for $9 each.

*this was provided for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I Love Nail Polish(ILNP) Sirene

Today I have ILNP (I Love Nail Polish) Sirene. Sirene is a part of their Ultra Chrome line. I seen this one on another blogger on Instagram and I fell in love. I showed it to my Mom and she fell in love with it as well. Now mind you, we have only just seen pictures of this beauty...we knew we HAD to have this one in our possession! As soon as pay day came around and I knew I would have extra money after the bills were paid I hopped online to ILNP's site and snatched that sucker up!

I was eagerly anticipating the delivery of this as soon as I got my shipping notification. Then it arrived, it felt like it had taken forever but in reality it only took about 4-5 days at the most. As soon as I opened the package I texted my Mom and told her I ordered it and it had arrived. She told me that the next mani night (which was in a couple days) we were doing this one on her. I told her that I was going to do it as well!

Mani night came and we were so excited to try this out that we couldn't wait for one of us to finish our mani to let the next one use it that we took turns applying our coats. That way one of us had a coat drying while the other one applied their coat.

Let me tell you, this applied like a DREAM! It went on so smoothly and it was perfection in a bottle. Once the second coat was on you could really see the shift in the colors. The beautiful shift from green to blue to purple. Those three colors were the most prominent in the color shifts under all the lighting that I was under. Just look at this pic below and you can get an idea of the shift and the beauty of it!

I can't tell you how many people stopped me and complimented me on this one, asked me how my polish was changing colors, or where do you get something like that because they've never seen anything like it in a regular store. I told them where to get it and they were amazed by Sirene. I guess for the people working around me and with me my polish was very distracting because of how gorgeous and unique it was. I should also tell you at the amazing brushes in this, the handle of the brush is rubberized for a better grip. It's awesome and gives you such great control. The brush itself was pretty great too!

I am already planning my next purchase from ILNP and am having the hardest time deciding on what to get because they have such amazing polishes. You should head over to ILNP and check them out! Sirene retailed for $12.50 plus shipping for a 0.4fl oz bottle.

Zoya Bubbly Collection Summer 2014

*PRESS SAMPLE*

I have the gorgeous and highly anticipated Zoya Bubbly Collection-Summer 2014 for you today. This collection is jam packed with glitter and sparkle and I am loving these colors. They are great for summer! This collection consists of 6 shades of glittery goodness...

This is Alma, a warm golden peach jelly with iridescent and holographic glitters and a nice golden shimmer.

I used 2 coats for Alma and no topcoat.

Artificial lighting in all pics with no flash.

A nice close up for you to see that beautiful glitter packed inside these!

Jesy is a fiery orange jelly with iridescent and holographic glitters and golden shimmer.

I used 3 coats of Jesy and no topcoat for these pics.

All pics were taken in artificial lighting with no flash.

Harper is a cotton candy pink jelly with iridescent & holographic glitters and golden shimmer.

3 coats of Harper and no topcoat were used.

All pics were taken in artificial lighting with no flash.

Binx is a orchid purple jelly with iridescent & holographic glitters and golden shimmer.

2 coats of Binx and no topcoat were used.

All pics were taken in artificial lighting and no flash.

Staasi is a citron green jelly with iridescent & holographic glitters and golden shimmer.

2 coats of Staasi and no topcoat were used.

All pics were taken in artificial lighting with no flash.

And finally the last one in this collection is...

Muse is a blue raspberry jelly with iridescent & holographic glitters and golden shimmer.

2 coats of Muse and no topcoat were used.

All pics were taken in artificial lighting and no flash.

Here's another close up so you can see how jam packed with glitter these are!

Overall these had a great application, no clumping or hard to work with because of the glitters. I was very surprised at how easy these were to work with considering how much glitter is packed into these. I did apply topcoat to one of them to see how well they coated and it just took one regular coat of my topcoat to make them smooth, but even without the topcoat they were fairly smooth to the touch. I had no issues with any of these and loved how well they covered!

I think my favorites of this collection were hard to pick but if I had to pick one or two I would pick Binx and Muse. I don't know, for me these just popped on me and stood out. I loved them all though and can't wait to try some nail art with them. Hopefully I'll have some nail art with these soon for you all! I hope you enjoyed!!

Zoya polishes can be purchased at Ulta stores, select salons, and of course Zoya's site. They retail for $9 each. The Bubbly Collection is not available at Ulta stores yet but are available on Zoya's site.