Zoya Feel Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have the last of the Zoya Feel Collection to show you today, and that's Zoya Megan.  Zoya describes it as "taupe gray cream," and I can sign on for that.  I also see a bit of a lavender tinge in the bottle, but that really doesn't show up nearly as much on my hands.

This manicure is slightly different than the prior five in terms of the base used.  I cracked a couple nails on my right hand putting clean sheets on the bed over the weekend, so I did the long term repair of gluing the cracks and adding soak off gel.  With the weather changing, I figured I'd ward off additional cracks by just using one thin coat of Nubar Gelicure base coat and one of their soak off sealer on all ten nails.  It ended up being a really good ridge filling base, and I just applied two coats of Zoya Megan, which went on just as well as the previous five, and a coat of Essie Good to Go to dry it.  Over a very smooth base, Zoya Megan is even shinier than the others were.  I applied the color when I did the repairs yesterday, and it's raining today so I took this morning's picture under artificial light.

Zoya Megan Nail Polish, Two Coats

As promised, I'll put all of them in one place so you don't have to flip between pages to compare any.  To summarize, I'm just putting Zoya's color description, the picture, and a link to my full review of each, and I've tried to order them so similar colors are close together.

I think Carey is closest to Megan, and that's the "periwinkle gray cream."

Zoya Carey Nail Polish, Two Coats

Kristen is the "gull gray cream."

Zoya Kristen Nail Polish, Two Coats

Kendal moves us to the beiges, a "rose quartz beige cream."

Zoya Kendal Nail Polish, Two Coats

Kennedy is the "pale french beige cream."

Zoya Kennedy Nail Polish, Two Coats

The last is Avery, the "blonde beige cream."

Zoya Avery Nail Polish, Two Coats

The review summary is that I found all six to be exceptionally easy to apply and control, even, opaque, and super glossy in two coats, and to have a better than average drying time.  I think making choices from this collection really boils down to which colors seem like they'd work best for you, and even though Avery isn't great with my coloring, I think all six are solid updated versions of good neutral basics.

Wearing neutral cremes was a good break from glitter, just what I needed!  I'm ready for something more exciting though, and fortunately, I have good things to show you.  Until then, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

These products were sent by the manufacturer for review.

Zoya Kristen

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today brings another installment in the Zoya Feel Collection series with Kristen, the light blue creme in the collection.  Zoya describes Kristen as " gull gray cream," and it's definitely a very grey blue, maybe halfway between grey and blue.  The overall impression I get from it is still blue though, and relative to Carey, the grey I showed you yesterday, it's much more blue.

Like the others in this collection, Kristen was super easy to apply and control and exceptionally well pigmented without sacrificing shine.  I used two very thin coats of color between base and top coat, and one coat of color was almost sufficient.  I applied it last night and took pictures under a cloudy sky this morning, so the manicure was completely dry for the picture.

Zoya Kristen Nail Polish, Two Coats

You can see the color of Kristen falls into the "kinda grey, kinda blue" category, and also that its shine is really outstanding.  For me, Kristen is far more appealing than a plain grey (even though I'm a big fan of greys) just because the blue in it makes it more interesting to look at.

That's Zoya Kristen and Part Four of a look at the Zoya Feel Collection.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

This product was sent by the manufacturer for review.

Zoya Carey from Feel

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm continuing to work my way through the Zoya Feel Collection with Carey.  Zoya describes it as "full coverage, periwinkle gray cream," but I don't really see any periwinkle in it, I think it's just a good grey creme.

As with the other Zoya Feel shades I've tried, I found Carey to be really easy to apply and control, and two coats over base coat were all I needed for it to be even, opaque, and very glossy.  After topping it off with quick dry top coat, I gave it some time to dry before taking pictures in natural night that's dimmed by some clouds.

Zoya Carey Nail Polish, Two Coats

I like a good grey creme, and this is a good one.  I picked grey for today because I got some sad news today - my college minor advisor, one of my all-time favorite professors and women ever, passed away early this morning.  She was just a super cool, quietly brilliant lady, and she had the cutest little Pillsbury Dough Boy laugh you could ever hear.  The world was a better place with her in it.

That's Zoya Carey, part three of Zoya Feel, and a good shade for a kind of sad day.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

This product was sent by the manufacturer for review.

Chick Falcon Pearl

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm trying out a new brand of nail polish, a big three free, vegan-friendly one called Chick Nail Polish (that's a link to the web site).  A few were offered for review, and I'm pleased with how the first one worked out.

I tried out Falcon Pearl, which is a really nice gunmetal shimmer.  At one coat, it looked thin, but the second gave it good opaque coverage without brushstrokes, which are often a shortcoming of gunmetal greys.  For the manicure I used Illamasqua base coat, two of color, and Tout de Suite to dry it, and I noticed the dry time was quite good before adding top coat (each coat of color was mostly dry by the time I came back around for the next coat).  After it dried, I took pictures in the sun.

Chick Nail Polish Falcon Pearl, Two Coats

I really like it, and I'm always glad for new small brands making good polishes.  The names of them are cool too - they're all chicky-themed, which is fun.

That's Chick Falcon Pearl the update for today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Sally Hansen Haunted & Emerald Amethyst

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Since duochromes seem to be making quite a return right now, I thought I'd show you one of my favorites from the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms line, Emerald Amethyst.  The sun is absolutely not cooperating today, so the best I can do is give you a sense of how cool this one is.

Since Nail Prisms seem to be pretty sheer, I picked a charcoal shimmer base for it, which I find to blend a little better than a black creme, and the one I used was Sally Hansen Haunted, which is a New Lengths from a few years ago, and I think it was a Canadian exclusive.  Haunted needed two coats over a base, and while I gave it a few minutes to set, I took a picture of it alone.

Sally Hansen Haunted Nail Polish, Two Coats

I added two coats of Emerald Amethyst to it, waited a few minutes, then added Sally Hansen Salon Speed Shine to dry it all.  Here are a few pictures under a completely overcast sky to give you a hint at what it really looks like in decent light.

Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst Nail Polish, Two Coats, Straight On View

Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst Nail Polish, Two Coats, Angled View

Sally Hansen Emerald Amethyst Nail Polish, Two Coats, Close Angled View

Sally Hansen Salon Emerald Amethyst Nail Polish, Two Coats, Final Angled View

You can see that straight on, it's kind of a purple mauve, but from any angle it's really green, which make it a lot of fun to play with in the light.  I'm glad to see a return of duochromes, and hope that some of the new ones coming out are as cool as the old ones with some different color combinations.  I haven't seen any yet that strike me as unique, but hope springs eternal.

That's my ode to Emerald Amethyst, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Sally Hansen Oxide

Good evening, Dear Reader!

Tonight I have pictures to show you of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Oxide, one of the Tracy Reese shades for Fall 2011 that their PR sent me to review.  It's a really gorgeous charcoal along the lines of a darker Chanel Graphite, really the closest thing I've seen to Graphite with respect to finish, although a good bit darker.  If you recall, it's the finish in Graphite that made me swoon, and Oxide does the same.

I currently have a pretty big backlog of cool things to show you all set aside together, and Oxide is one I've really been looking forward to trying out.  I knew I'd have an opportunity to change nail color this evening, but had been torn as to what I wanted to wear because this manicure will have to stay until Sunday, and tomorrow night a friend of mine, the coolest boss I've ever had, is playing his last live show after a few decades of performing.  That's right, an IT-guy rock star.  The original plan was to coordinate with cool shoes, but last weekend I really sprained my ankle wearing hideous matronly flats to take out the trash, so I have to wait until I'm leaving to pick what I can wear (I think that was The Goddess of Hot Shoes sending me a warning, which I'll heed in the future).  Then I got a surprise when UPS delivered some non-nail-related stuff I'd ordered during a 50% off of clearance prices sale, and when I placed the order I saw a giant black rose rhinestone ring that ended up being under $3 after all the percentages off, so I added it.  When I saw it in person today, Oxide seemed like a perfect choice.

For this manicure, I used one coat of base coat, two of Oxide, and one of Lippmann Addicted to Speed since I wanted it to dry really fast and be perfect.  After it dried, I went out to take pictures, and had a kind of funny experience.  I'm friendly with the ladies who live on either side of me, and both recently had babies.  I guess they both came home with their babies in tow at the same time and met in the middle in my yard to chat.  I went out with stuff to take pictures, said hello and had a little chitchat including assurance that I didn't mind them meeting in the middle, but it was late and the last of the light would be gone if I took too long, so I just went about the business of taking the pictures with them standing there a few feet away, offering no explanation.  One of the husbands came home while I was taking pictures and went up to his wife, so at this point there was a small crowd chatting in my yard pretending that I'm not over in the corner evaluating light and clicking away.  They still have no idea why the heck I keep taking pictures of small things I'm hiding in my hand!  It was socially awkward enough to be entertaining at the time.

After all of that, I got some good pictures of Sally Hansen Oxide in sunlight.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Oxide Nail Polish, Two Coats

This is a closer look at the shimmer.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Oxide Nail Polish, A Look at the Finish

And just for fun, I took a picture of it with my fabulous cheapo ring.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Oxide Nail Polish & A Fabulous Ring

I love this a whole lot.  Admittedly, the overall look is somewhat vampiric, but aside from wearing nothing but pastels all the time, there's not much to be done about that so I go with it.  I'm extra happy about having a manicure I love as the start of an ensemble for a fun event tomorrow night.  I would have been fine with a blood red that went with anything, but it's always a little more enjoyable to wear something that thrills me.

That's the scoop on Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Oxide, which should be showing up with the other Tracy Reece shades any day now.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Chanel Graphite

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing Chanel Graphite. which is every bit as fabulous as I'd hoped it would be.  It's the dark grey shimmery one released pretty recently, and all it took was two coats of color to be just right.  Here's Graphite in the sun.

Chanel Graphite Nail Polish, Two Coats

I'd count Graphite amongst the really fabulous Chanels - when they do a good one, they really do a good one.

That's about all there is to tell you about, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Fall 2011

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Today I have a limited edition Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure collection to show you.  You might have read about it last Spring when promo images first came out, it's the collection created for Prabal Gurung's Victorian-inspired Fall collection.  Here's the backstory from Sally Hansen's PR:

Red carpet favorite Prabal Gurung teamed up with Sally Hansen and to create a new collection of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure nail polishes to complement the designer’s Victorian-inspired fall collection. Celebrity manicurist, Jin Soon designed and hand painted each set of nails with new fall hue, Crinoline, a warm white base and added flecks of black polish for an Asian inspired design. Prabal Gurung and Sally Hansen will release their full five-color Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure collection in the fall. The patented polishes feature the most advanced lacquer formula, concentrated high-intensity color and encapsulated treatment spheres of Vita-Care technology.

Here's a promo images of the color all lined up.  It's a tiny one, but I have giant swatches so you'll see detail of each.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure with Prabal Gurung for Fall 2011

Furthest to the left is Dorien Grey, a nice medium light grey that's between a jelly and a creme.  At two coats it looked like a well-pigmented jelly, at three it's a super shiny creme.  This is three coats without top coat.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Dorien Grey Nail Polish, Three Coats

The next one over is Crinoline, which is a barely beige-pink creme.  I needed three coats because I made the coats thin, and the third was required to even it out.  I think two moderate coats would do the same thing, but three is pretty standard for something this pale.  This is without top coat.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Crinoline Nail Polish, Three Coats

Ballet Rouges is in the middle, and it strikes me as a modern version of Crayola Carnation Pink in a creme nail polish.  It has a little of that faded-out quality that's common in very recent years, but it still looks Carnation Pink for the most part.  It's a great balance of pigment and shine, and two coats was perfect.  Here's Ballet Rouges without top coat.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Ballet Rouges Nail Polish, Two Coats

The second from the right is Courtesan, a bright fuchsia creme that's also very pigmented and very shiny.  Two coats was plenty here, and the picture of Courtesan is without top coat.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Courtesan Nail Polish, Two Coats

The last one is Madame X, a slightly pinkish red creme.  One coat gave even, opaque coverage and I added a second for shine.  This is what I'm now wearing as a manicure, so Madame X does have top coat.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Madame X Nail Polish, Two Coats

The quality of each of these is quite nice and I have no complaints about them, so I think it come down to color preference.  I always like well-done or updated simple shades, and these qualify.  Madame X is nice enough that I'd choose this formula over just about any other for the shade.

The press release tells me they'll be out this Fall, and that's as specific as it gets.  If I get additional info, I'll tack it on here, but I really have no reason to believe the release of these will be different than other, so different retail locations will likely get them at different times over the next couple of months.

That's what I know about the Prabal Gurung Sally Hansen limited edition colors, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



*The products featured were sent for independent review by a PR firm.

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Midnight Sky

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today is the first Fall day for me, so I picked a great Fall color, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Midnight Sky, one from a display of all glittery Xtreme Wears I recently came across. It's officially Fall for me because there's something I'm allergic to, I think tree pollen, that makes me ears buzz really loudly so I can hear nothing at all, and this morning I woke up to the start of it. It happens every August, so waking up this morning, it just felt like Fall. It's not a big deal at all, just a tiny bit annoying, but it generates a lot of really funny conversations!

Anyhow, in light of an early Fall feeling, I reached for Midnight Sky. I looked at the display I mentioned, and was really pleased when I found this one. It's about the grey of the graphite in pencils, which is a handy segue to the reason I was so pleased about it.

I'd avoided pictures of Chanel Graphite so I wouldn't be too tempted until the Revlon rendition came out, and when I looked at comparisons it was that grey with a whole lot of Chanel sparkly bits that got me, not the Revlon. When I saw Sally Hansen Midnight Sky, the reason I was excited about it is that it has a whole lots of pronounced sparkly bits, and since it was that grey with a lot of sparkle I was after, I'm able to dismiss Graphite. Not having used a Graphite, I'd never propose that anything was a dupe for it, it's that the elements of Graphite that really appealed to me are in Midnight Sky, so I'm content with it for $20 less.

I used a Nutra Nail base (I'm just using up what's around and doesn't cause troubles), two coats of Sally Hansen Midnight Sky, which applied beautifully and was great in two coats, then Diamont. Here's Midnight Sky in sunlight (that sounds like something from Late Lament!).

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Midnight Sky Nail Polish, Two Coats

Isn't that a nice one? I'm a big fan of the Xtreme Wear line - a lot of really nice colors of offered, and the quality of them is usually very nice for little cost.

That's Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Midnight Sky and just about all I know this morning, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Zoya Mirrors Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

After I thought I was all done yesterday, a set of Zoya's Mirror Collection sent for review arrived, and I have swatches of them for you today.  This is a really cool collection - each of them applied really beautifully, the one I'm wearing dried well in reasonable time, and they're fun to look at.

All of these are base coat, two coats of color, and top coat, and I let each dry for a few minutes before taking a picture in sunlight.  There's no real significance to the order of the swatches.  Now that you know all of that, let's look at pretties.

Tao, which Zoya describes as "smoky slate gray metallic", is what I'd call a light gunmetal shimmer, and a good one.

Zoya Tao Nail Polish, Two Coats

I'd agree with Zoya that Marina is "smoky steel blue," but I say it's a shimmer and not so much metallic.

Zoya Marina Nail Polish, Two Coats

Nimue is called "smoky rich thistle metallic", and and strange as it sounds, I think "smoky thistle" is the best description of Nimue, a shimmer.  A technical difficulty resulted in less nails swatched for this one.

Zoya Nimue Nail Polish, Two Coats

Zoya says Neeka is "sparkly amethyst purple  metallic," it's a bit deeper purple than Nimue and has little gold glitter.  Neeka is right along the lines of Sally Hansen Salon Arabian Night from a collection Tracy Reese did with them a few years ago.

Zoya Neeka Nail Polish, Two Coats

The other with glitter just like that in Neeka is Yara, where it's in an olive green shimmer base.

Zoya Yara Nail Polish, Two Coats

These five are all lovely, but I think almost any polish would pale in comparison to Zoya Jem.  It's described as "sparkly fandango pink metallic," but mine's nothing like fandango pink at all.  It's a fantastic red plum shimmer, and there's something about the shimmer in it that makes it look just like cool custom car paint.  It makes me think of a neighbor I had when I was a teenager who was terribly proud of his IROC-Z.  The custom paint job even included his name on the driver's door - too bad it was spelled wrong... Anyhow, this is Zoya Jem - see if it transports you back to the days of watching a whole bunch of guys trying to construct an entire car out of Bondo.

Zoya Gem Nail Polish, Two Coats

I think the whole Mirrors Collection is excellent (Zoya's really been making great colors), but Jem put it over the top.  Jem is one amazing nail polish.

That's what I know about Zoya Mirrors, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Nubar Marble Tower & D09

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I finally decided to take a breather from things that sparkle today, but I didn't take a break from fun manicures.  Today I figured I'd try out a few patterns from the D-series nail art stamping plates, which I've only seen at Chez-Delaney.com.  I went with plate D09, which is one with several stamps of iconic celebrity pictures.

For a the stamps, I thought black would be best, and I decided to use Nubar Marble Tower, a light grey creme, as the base color.  Here's what I ended up making.

Nubar Marble Tower Nail Polish with Nail Art Stamping Plate D09

Starting at the top, that's Clint Eastwood on my thumb,  Jim Morrison on my index finger, The Blues Brothers, Audrey Hepburn, and Sylvester Stallone in Rocky.  Audrey won the prize in a battle against Bob Marley for her spot - he's also an option on this plate.

I've been reluctant to try these because the Chez-Delaney.com owner only sells this series as a substantially discounted set, stating that several of the patterns within the set don't work.  With these particular images being so detailed I thought there might be troubles, but there wasn't a single one.  I'll probably play with stamping plates for a few days since I'm so completely enamored with this manicure.

That's all for this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Molten Metals

Not much to update today. I know it's been a few days since I last blogged but it seems like nothing has really happened except a trip to the dentist today where I had another wisdom tooth pulled out. I've spent a lot of time sat inside staring at all my notes from school because I have an exam on Friday which I need to study for but it's such a mammoth task I have no idea where to start! My plan is to knuckle down tomorrow and cram enough information in to my brain to pass.

Plate: Bundle Monster BM223

Base Colour: L'Oreal LaquiResist 837

Stamp Colour: Collection 2000 Moonlight Shine

Top Coat of NYC

Blue Blood

Last night (or rather this morning) I didn't get to sleep until after the sun came up! If anyone's ever done that, don't tell me it's not an amazing feeling. I went out in town then watched Napoleon Dynamite and couldn't sleep until 5.30. I don't know why I've shared that with you today. It's completely unrelated to anything but I guess I just want to say everyone should do it more often! I'm very much a night person. I'd much rather sleep all day and be awake all night.

Plate: Bundle Monster BM225

Base Colour: La Femme - Grey Cream

Stamp Colour: NYC Glossies 243B

I used scotch tape to mark off the edges of the nails and painted on two coats of Barry M Blue Glitter .

Top Coat of NYC

 

China Glaze Crackle Glaze

Hello, Dear Reader!

This morning's manicure was another fail.  Not so huge that I won't show it to you, but enough that I didn't want to look at it all day, so I figured I'd just crank out some swatches of the China Glaze Crackles I haven't shown to you already.

To recap, I already showed you Broken Hearted, the pink creme, over purple and later compared Black Mesh, the black creme, to OPI Black Shatter using China Glaze Sea Spray as the base color.  Here are the pictures of those so you can see all six Crackle Glazes in one place.  All six have base coat, base color, Poshe, crackle, Gelous, Poshe (the Gelous was what I used to smooth them out).

China Glaze Broken Hearted Crackle Glaze

China Glaze Black Mesh Crackle Glaze

Today's failure was a result of playing with Konad over a crackle.  I don't care for it.  I only stamped one nail, so we can just pretend I didn't do that.  I had base coat, two coats of Essie Lovie Dovie, and two of OPI Teenage Dream topped off with China Glaze Lightning Bolt, the white creme, which I consistently want to call White Lightning (a name synonymous with moonshine is just more amusing).  The Konad stamp which we're all ignoring is from plate m83 in Konad Cool Red.

China Glaze Lightning Bolt Crackle Glaze

I really like it except for the stamp.  To my eye, the clean lines of the Konad stamp over the rougher looking crackle is unappealing.  It looks like a mistake to me.  Lightning Bolt is very cool though.

The next one is the purple shimmer, Fault Line.  I was concerned about how this one would do because I've seen some pictures where it didn't break up too well.  I found that Fault Line was very thick, so I applied it as thinly as I could.  I used a good bit of pressure on the brush and really smeared Fault Line on more than painting it on, assuming that since it just shrinks anyhow that any irregularities in the application would disappear.  It turned out that was accurate.  This is Fault Line over Nfu Oh 63 with Aqua Base.

China Glaze Fault Line Crackle Glaze

Crushed Candy is the aqua creme that looked super green in one promo picture.  I applied this one as I did Fault Line, using Essie Dive Bar as the base color.

China Glaze Crushed Candy Crackle Glaze

The sixth and last shade is Cracked Concrete, a medium grey creme.  I like red and grey together, so I went with China Glaze Hey Sailor as the base color.  I used the same manner of application as I did with Fault Line and Crushed Candy for Cracked Concrete.

China Glaze Cracked Concrete Crackle Glaze

Those are the China Glaze Crackle Glazes.  I figured I'd show them to you over a variety of colors and finishes since each could be used with anything at all.  I'm a complete convert on the whole crackle/shatter thing having smoothed them out a bit and tried some other colors than black.  I'm fond of them now, and think it's an easy way to get a fun look.  It's certainly not practical for everyone, but there's nothing stopping me from wearing them.

That's what I have for you today, Dear reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!