Welcome one and all...

Firstly, welcome to my blog!

I decided to set up this blog after becoming obsessed with doing my nails and seeing other similar blogs dedicated to showcasing manicures.

I was originally inspired by 'The Daily Nail' (daily-nail.blogspot.com). Reading Melissa's blog every day, I discovered the Konad stamping system which is just THE BEST. At this stage I was already painting my nails a new colour every day but Konad just made it so much more fun!

I live in the UK and am at University studying Accounting and Finance. As well as manicures I also love music, films and photography! So I will also be posting about those other hobbies purely for self-gratification. So please enjoy :D

Ulta3 pinks

Ok, this one is going to be a long post, as I now have heaps of Ulta3 pinky shades.  Here we go, in no particular order...

Stardust - Is a pale pink shimmer.  It applies smoothly, leaving no streaks.  This polish has tiny bits of pale pink glitter, but they are pretty few and far between.  Very pretty. This was two coats.

Bee Sting - is a dusty pink shimmer.  The shimmer in this is silver.  This one was a little thicker than the others to apply, but that might have been just because I did it sitting outside next to the trampoline while my almost two year old son jumped around in a frenzy. This was two coats.

Silver Pink - this really reminds me of lolly pop pink, or bubble gum pink.  It looks like it should taste really sweet with a strawberry flavor, or like strawberry hubba bubba.  It's almost got an orange tinge to it and it has a pink shimmer.  No streaks. This was two coats.

Pink Supreme - In the bottle it looks similar to star dust, except a little pinker, where stardust is dustier.  But on the nail this one was really sheer. This was two coats, which left a clear nail line.  It's a shimmer with what looks like pale pink and light gold glitter particles.

Pink Colada - Wow this one has some pigment.  This was one coat.  I didn't do another because I thought that the polish would end up looking much darker and redder, and I wanted to try and keep it pink.  It looks much pinker in the bottle.  If you want a one coater and then out the door, this one is for you.

Bo peep - is a very similar to Footloose Fuchsia, but just a shade lighter.  It's a strong bright pink cream with good pigment.  This was two coats.  Application on this was good, and easier than with the Fuchsia colours coming up. No idea why?

Footloose Fuchsia - a slightly darker pink than bo peep. In the bottle they look a lot different, but on the nail, very similar, but not a dupe. This was a cream finish and I found it hard to get good clean application, as they were thicker and gloopier than my other Ulta3s. A different batch maybe?

Flashback Fuchsia - is the reddest of the fuchsia colors. Again I had trouble with application for this one.  It was gloopy and hard to get a smooth finish.  This was two coats.

Eighties Fuchsia - is a purple tinged pink.  You could almost say it had some elements of a neon polish cause it almost dries matte as you can see in the pic.  This also was yuck application, you can still see the lumpies on my pinky finger.  I guess I just didn't get a good batch of Fuchsias.

Black Plum - a rich burgundy red with a dark shimmer to it.  Application was smooth.  This is two coats.  Appears darker in the bottle than on the nail and it reminds me of a nice glass of cab sav.

Mulberry - a deep purply red jelly finish.  Its ok, but it doesn't really go 'kapow' at me.  I thought this would be redder, and more like when I had just finished raiding the mulberry tree in the back yard and my fingers and nails are all covered in juice.

Gooseberry - a very dark purply plum. Indoors it pretty much looks black, but under strong light or outdoors you can see the plum colour.  I'm not a huge fan of really dark polishes, but I could certainly use this with layering.

Zoya Flash Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Yesterday I received samples from Zoya of their Flash Collection for Summer 2010, and I have swatches of them for you today, which is, as luck would have it, the official release date of the collection. Flash consists of six cremes, and all required two moderate coats to be opaque and even. Their application was nice - the formula is a bit thick, but not in a way that makes it hard to work with at all, and the dry time was good. Even though these are just swatches, I waited for the first coat to dry before applying the second, and the wait was short.

I took the pictures in sunlight, and I'll just use alphabetical order to present them to you - each is a good, solid color, so ranking them by preference would be a real challenge.

Dana is a vivid deep pink bordering of fuchsia, described by Zoya as "American rose cream." It's a bold color, definitely a shade I like, but at the same time is very wearable.

Zoya Dana Nail Polish from Zoya's Flash Collection

Zoya Dana Nail Polish, Two Coats

Jancyn is a medium orange leaning just a tiny bit toward yellow, like the color of a Sunkist orange. Zoya calls it "soft tangerine cream." It's an unusual shade of orange in a good way.

Zoya Jancyn Nail Polish from Zoya's Flash Collection

Zoya Jancyn Nail Polish, Two Coats

Zoya calls Jolene "summer pink cream," but I see it as a fabulous pink just a hair darker than Barbie pink, and is a very wearable color. Lately, I'm becoming more aware of how "wearable" colors are, for some reason - as a programmer, I don't work with the public, have generally been the only woman in my department (which made me the standard setter for what was appropriate) or worked from home, so it's always been "anything goes" for me. I'm beginning to give consideration to those for whom that is not true, and look at whether in a standard setting a nail polish would work, and for even the conservative, Jolene would fit the bill.

Zoya Jolene Nail Polish from Zoya's Flash Collection

Zoya Jolene Nail Polish, Two Coats

Maura is one heck of a tomato red with just a hint of orange, describe by Zoya as "electric crimson cream." This is the kind of red to which even I would have a hard time adding any kind of nail art, it's so strong on its own.

Zoya Maura Nail Polish from Zoya's Flash Collection

Zoya Maura Nail Polish, Two Coats

Perrie is a delicate lavender, and Zoya calls it "soft lavender cream." Hey, I matched one! I'm looking at the bottle and the picture to write my description first, one at a time, then getting the "official" description off the press release. Zoya and I are in complete agreement on Perrie!

Zoya Perrie Nail Polish from Zoya's Flash Collection

Zoya Perrie Nail Polish, Two Coats

The last color is Robyn, which is a vivid sky blue, a really gorgeous shade. Zoya calls it "perfect turquoise cream."

Zoya Robyn Nail Polish from Zoya's Flash Collection

Zoya Robyn Nail Polish, Two Coats

In general, I think that cremes are the hardest finish to apply nice and evenly, and all six in the Flash Collection applied with ease. As you can see, in two coats I did not have uneven patches or streaks, which is a huge plus. Additionally, although I enjoy pastels, I like the fact that all six shades in Flash are bold, and that there's tremendous variety within the collection, yet the colors still hang together as a collection well. I give Zoya's Flash Collection two well-manicured thumbs up.

That's what I have for you this morning, Dear Reader. I'll have more for you later - Zoya's Sparkle collection arrived as well, also with today as the release date, so I'll give you a peek at those too. Until then, love and nail polish to you!