Ciaté Pinkalilly and Pinkaboo Swatch and Review

~purchased by me~


I picked these up separately at TJMaxx for $3.99 each but it was originally released as a duo set for Breast Cancer Awareness and sold for $28. This is my first time trying the brand. Keep reading to see my thoughts below!

The brushes are nice on these and I like the long cap; makes it easy to grip onto when I'm painting. Also the slim profile of the bottles takes up less room in my Helmers than a regular bottle of nail polish (but makes posing my hand on the bottle quite difficult!). The bow is also a very cute touch.

Pinkalilly has a good formula; this is two coats. The golden flecks are annoying when you are trying to clean up though so use a steady hand to minimize any mistakes so that you won't have to deal with it. I put one coat of Pinkaboo on my ring finger as an accent.

Pinkaboo is a holographic bar/hair glitter in a sheer pink base and it's quite glitter dense. I know some people can't stand bar glitter but I personally don't mind it. The suspension base was a little thick and goopy but not unworkable. You can add a drop of thinner if it bothers you.

I think it looks pretty cute! I usually don't wear holographic bar glitter over any color other than black but I made an exception for this since it normally comes in a set with the other one. Tomorrow I have planned a little bar glitter comparison post so stay tuned if you're interested!

Claire's The Extra Mile Swatch and Review

~purchased by me~


Remember that polish I posted about yesterday? The one I was hoping would be a dupe for China Glaze's Sun of a Peach? Well, I'm not sure if this one is a dupe since I don't own SOAP but this damn well good enough for me!

Claire's totally changed up their packaging without me knowing about it. They look a lot better now in my opinion. It seems like a lot of companies are using this type of bottle now. I know Milani re-vamped their polish line and the bottles are similar to this. Also, Model's Own bottles have been like this. Anyway, onto the polish!

This is perfect. Exactly what I wanted. The Extra Mile is a pastel neon orange. The formula was good too; three coats, no undies. It dried to a nice shine. I love this so much.

Whenever I wear pastel neon's I usually get a lot of compliments. This will also make your skin look quite tan and also looks great with a tan! Too bad summer is pretty much over.

Bottom line, if you have been looking for the perfect pastel orange neon get yourself to Claire's and pick this up! Claire's polish shades aren't really permanent so if you see a color you like you need to get it asap.

China Glaze When In Doubt, Surf It Out Swatch and Review

~purchased by me~


So this is one of the many peachy-corals I have purchase in the search for a dupe of China Glaze Sun of a Peach. I'm happy to report that I have since sated that lemming, just not with this shade.

When In Doubt, Surf It Out is from this year's summer collection, Shore Off. It's a slightly dusty pinky peach/coral cream. This below picture isn't color accurate but it is what it looked like in my kitchen lighting lol.

I used three coats. Formula was good and it dried to a nice shine. These swatches are without base or top coat. The rest of the pictures are much more true to color.

This is a cute color and I can see myself wearing it as a pedicure. It's not bad on the fingers either. I got it at Sally's on red tag clearance but since it's relatively new, I'm sure you can still find it.

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NYC Blue Majesty Swatch and Review

~purchased by me~


The final one that I got from this collection (Fashion Queen Fall 2014) and it's basically like the green one but blue flavor.

Blue Majesty has blue hex glitter in a blue base. This is the only one in the four that I got that I thought could use another coat in real life and not just pictures. It seems to be a touch more sheer than the other three. Here it is at two coats.

It's a gorgeous cobalt blue. I think next time I wear it i'll try it at three coats and see if it looks any better. Formula was good, just a little goopy the more you worked with it. I like how the polish won't drag the polish underneath it even if you apply your second coat without waiting for the first to be fully dry.

So all in all, these all have virtually identical formulas and this is the only one that might require more than 2 coats (though you could definitely get away with just two.) The glitter is smooth and doesn't require additional layers of top coat to get it glassy. I love the four that I got from the collection and highly suggest you go get them yourself if you are interested in any!

NYC Ruby Queen Swatch and Review

~purchased by me~


Out of the four colors I got from this collection (Fashion Queen Fall 2014) two are monotone (the blue and green) and the other two had thrown in an another color of glitter. NYC Ruby Queen is red and pink hex glitter in a red jelly base. I'm not sure if there are two shades of pink glitter in this (a lighter shade and a darker one) or it's just the glitter being tinted by the base.

I for one, love red glitter on the nails. If this was just pure red glitter I would consider it a holiday color but the pink glitter makes me think of Valentine's day haha.

The formula for all these appear the same across the board. Two easy coats, decent formula, decent brush.

Very cute and unique in my collection. I experienced no staining in the time that I wore this. I recommend this shade from the collection as well!

NYC NY Princess Swatch and Review

~purchased by me~


Here is another one that I got from the NYC Fashion Queen collection. I know a lot of people love purple polish so I decided to swatch this one second :). I'm not really big on purple (though a gander into my nail polish collection would denote otherwise) but I needed another polish so I could take advantage of the BOGO 1/2 sale and I didn't want the other two colors more. lol.

NY Princess is purple and (small) blue hex glitter in a purple jelly base. I don't really care for this particular color and I don't like the name of the polish but it is pretty. I don't regret getting it but I probably won't be reaching for it very often haha. I just don't like purple that much!

This is perfectly opaque and wearable in two coats though looking at my pictures now, I probably could have used another one just for pics. It didn't stain when I removed it and the formula was pretty much the same as the green in this collection. No complaints here.

The color is a very rich "true" purple and the glitter pops in this. My mother would love this (her favorite color is purple) and I mean that in a good way.

NYC is only $1.87 regular price at my store and this is limited edition so if you like it, go get it before it's gone!

NYC Queen's Jewels Swatch and Review

~purchased by me~


So I decided to swatch my favorite color first from this collection! Queen's Jewels is a dark emerald green jelly with small green hex glitters.

It's not really suitable for layering, unless you don't mind it greatly changing your base color. To demonstrate, here it is at one coat:

And here at two coats:

Holy wow, this is a two coater! I love this color! It's very festive looking. The color reminds me a lot of Sinful Colors San Francisco. The formula was pretty good, albeit a little goopy. It didn't hinder application though. I didn't wear this very long but for the time that I did wear it, sans base coat mind you, it didn't stain.

Super affordable, good formula, opaque in two coats?? What's not to love? If you like green polish, go get this now!

Sinful Colors Pride Swatch and Review

~purchased by me~


Initially I wasn't a big fan of multicolored glitters such as Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday, Milani Gems, Confetti Tasmanian Devil, OPI Rainbow Connection and Wet N Wild Part of Five. Most swatches I've seen of glitters like these use them as toppers and I've never really been into glitter toppers. But then, when Sinful Colors Pride came out, the very first swatch of it I saw was full coverage. Color me intrigued!

DIY Peel Off Base Coat, Sinful Colors Pride, NYC In A New York Minute Topcoat

For full coverage glitters I've started using homemade peel off base to take the pain of removal away. The foil method works good for glitters too but it takes longer and makes my fingers super dry from all the acetone. I used up all the Seche Clear Base Coat (it's meh) and cleaned out the bottle with acetone, let it dry and then mixed elmers white glue with a splash of water. You just paint it on and let it dry (10 minutes, dries with a matte finish) then use whatever nail color you want and top coat if you're using any. The only downside to peel off base is that the nail polish can just "pop" off your finger at any time. If you just keep the peel off base coat on your person, you can just apply another coat of it on the polish-less finger and stick the peeled off color back on and it should stay. I usually get about 3 days of wear with this base coat before my nails start taking off their clothes ;).

This is three coats with only one coat of top coat. It's not thirsty at all and is pretty smooth on its own. It's very glitter dense and the formula didn't give me any problems. My nails weren't thick afterwards either. Walgreen's is running a promotion where Sinful Colors polishes are only $0.99 valid 08/17 - 08/23 and I have seen this in stores at every single Walgreen's I've been to so if you are interested you should go get it now.

It took some getting used to in the beginning. It's very...busy. Also shiny and sparkly but it's a little much for everyday wear. It grew on me though and I do like it very much. Also, removal was a breeze, haha.

Do you like multicolored glitter bombs? Which are your favorites?

Zoya Ali Swatch and Review

~purchased by me~


I love wearing neon shades in the summer and I think one color that compliments every skin tone is a good bright pink! I actually used to not like wearing pink anything, nail polish included and I also used to not like wearing cream (creme?) nail polishes. A lot has changed since then! This is what I used:

Ali is described on the Zoya website as "Ultra-bright warm medium neon pink creme.A fluorescent shade for maximum impact." I think this description is right on! Medium neon describes it perfectly! It definitely has some sort of neon pigment in it because it dries semi matte. You can use two coats if you have shorter nails but I needed three to cover VNL.

In sun

It dries a little darker than bottle shade but it's still bright. The formula was very easy to work with, not sheer nor streaky.

Some people say that Zoya polishes chip like mad on them. The only Zoya's I have worn for more then a few days were the PixieDusts, which wear like iron since they are basically glitter bombs so I can't really comment on that. I've also heard that the reason why Zoya's don't wear well for a lot of people is because they aren't using the Zoya base and top coats in conjunction with the polishes. I don't think it's so much the brand as the ingredients that Zoya polishes seem to have a problem with. A lot of bloggers have noted that using a base or top coat with the ingredient cellulose acetate butyrate (a common ingredient in fast dry top coats) may be causing the problem. I used Seche Vite as my topcoat which contains this ingredient so I'm not really expecting fantastic wear lol.

I like this color a lot! If you are on the market for a medium neon pink shade, consider this one! Also, I'll keep you updated on the wear ;).
Zoya polishes retail for $9-$10 and can be purchased on the Zoya website or at Ulta.

Zoya Binx Swatch and Review

~purchased by me~


I like the Zoya brand a lot. They have nice colors, do a lot of promotions, their bottles are nicely shaped, they don't have long names and their formulas are 5 free and usually excellent. They recently had a nice promotion that I didn't partake in but the promo they had before that was really good and I couldn't pass it up. Buy any three Zoya polishes and just pay the shipping price of $12. What a steal! I had a hard time deciding but after looking at some swatches I decided on Cosmo, Binx and Stassi. Today I'm showing you my swatches of Binx. This is what I used!

Now. As you may or may not know, I'm not big on purple and this is described as "a spicy orchid purple dappled with gold metallic and holo sparkles. The exclusive liquid-metal holographic jelly formula is full-coverage in 2 coats. With undertones evenly balanced between red & blue, this shade is flattering to most skin tones." via the Zoya website. So you may be wondering why I chose this particular shade. Well, I saw a swatch of it on Pretty Girl Science and it looked so beautis. This might be true on her but on me, well...

I really don't like this color on me.

Nope.

Not better. 

No matter how I twiddle my fingers, I simply did not like this on me at all. As soon as I put it on I thought to myself . . . this is a color my mother would wear. And not in a good way either. Formula was fine, you can get away with 2 coats even on long nails; it will just be a softer pink color. At three coats the nails match the bottle shade. And at three coats, I wanted to take it off. I don't like this at all. With my skin tone, this color may even be SFW. I think it looks really good on skin tones paler than mine or if you like the color purple but on me it was so dull and blah looking T_T. The polish itself is pretty but it's just not my style and I think it hates me as much as I hate it haha. Maybe I'll try to mattify it and see if it's any better. Now I regret not getting the Magical PixieDust shade Bar in it's place. Next time!
Zoya polishes can be bought at Ulta or the Zoya website. They retail for $9-$10 but often run promos.


**UPDATE**
So I tried to mattify it. It looks better but still not that great on me. I used Warpaint Beauty Matte topcoat (You can get it at hot topic). I'll have to try to layer it over a different color next time.