Zoya Malia

 

L to R: Zoya Malia, Eyeko Lilac

 

Zoya Malia is a lovely deep lilac creme polish with a buttery smooth formula that I’ve come to associate with Zoya polishes (because of this, they’re becoming my favorite brand). It’s a shade deeper than Eyeko Lilac polish as you can see so they’re similar enough that you can probably be happy just owning one or the other but for nail junkies like me, you want them all.

PS: I’m jealous that Zoya doesn’t have a polish with my name (yet?). The closest is “Kristi” (my name without the “n” at the end) but that’s not my name at all. No “Kris” or “Kristine” either. Not even my middle name, Karen. My sister and my mom both have their Zoya namesake colors, in fact Malia is my mom’s name, just the Hawaiian spelling of it (luckily for her, Zoya has a “Maria” too).

 

 

 

Glitter Gal 3D Holographic in Blue

 

Glitter Gal hails from Australia and they make some of the most beautiful holo polishes out there. I am mesmerized by this blue color. It’s so beachy, summery and best of all, has strong rainbows in them. The formula was a dream too (unlike the Nfu Oh holos); very smooth and full coverage in 2 coats. I’m using a topcoat here, though I can’t remember which one (probably Color Club Vivid).

Bonus: here’s a short clip I made showcasing this color in the sunlight :

 

 

 

 

 

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Pink-y Ring

Picked up this color last week while browsing around the nail polish section at the grocery store because I don’t own a magenta colored glitter polish. This color is part of the new Xtreme Wear collection that is currently on display at stores.

It’s gorgeous isn’t it? So shiny and vibrant and girly!

BUUUUUUUT, this was one of the WORST formulas ever. The glitter was ever-so-sparse on the brush and each stroke only deposited about 10 glitter flecks so imagine how many layers it took to achieve a semi-dense coating of sparkles on my nails. I lost count after 6, I think! You can definitely tell I had to pile it on because of how thick and acrylic-y my nails look. Because the formula is so thin, I couldn’t possibly wear it on its own so I layered it over Nina Ultra Pro in Punki Purple and used Revlon Quick Dry topcoat (which shows a little tip-pull if you enlarge the pictures).

Was it worth all that trouble? Not really. In fact when I was done painting my nails, I finished about 1/4th of the bottle–and that’s after my first (and only) time using it!

I’m a vagabond

I’ve really been into the whole nondescript black ankle boots and wedges thing for a while now so when I spotted these babies (photo from Solestruck), the Vera short boot by Vagabond, I fell instantly in love. I love the chunky and sturdy heel and can already picture myself in different outfits with them. Does anybody else picture outfits with a certain item before you own it?

Curvy updates:

As of late, I’ve been re-training myself to walk in heels and wedges again. I used to wear them often many years ago but once I started going back to school, I wore flats most of the time so my high-heel wearing skills have become quite rusty. Every opportunity I get to leave the house, I’ll wear a pair of one of my ridiculous platforms just so I can get used to the feeling again. Besides all those fashion bloggers out there make it look so easy!

(Actually, I’m just lazying about at home right now wearing pjs and my Jessica Simpson Dany heels!)

#firstworldproblem aka “cry me a river” :

I’ve recently upgraded to OSX Lion and while it has some “cool” features I guess, I’m very upset that the 4-finger swipe gesture to activate the application switcher no longer works. I used that gesture all the time and I have no idea how to get it to work again. Anyone know how to get it back?

PS: I’m wearing Essie “Pop Art Pink” on my nails but no pictures because it’s such a basic, sweet girly pink.

Milani Purple Gleam

under a lamp

direct sunlight

This purple glitter color is from Milani’s One Coat Glitter series. I also have the red and gray shades too (will post in the future!). It’s a lot different from other purple glitters because there are other colors as well to give a more multi-dimensional, well-rounded look. What you see here are 2 coats, actually. One coat was pretty opaque but there were some bald spots so it needed a second coat to even things out. Texture-wise, these one coat glitters are incredibly THICK and goopy but not a pain to apply. The only gripe I had with this formula is that once the glitter dried, it was bumpy (a given, as all glitter nail polishes tend to dry that way) but much bumpier than other glitter polishes and I had to apply at least 6+ coats of plain ol’ clear polish to ensure that smooth-as-glass finish before applying topcoat. I used Seche Vite…as you can hopefully notice the telltale signs of tip pull. The end result is gorgeous though. It sparkles like crazy and I can’t stop staring at them.

With all those layers on my nails you’d think I’d have a heart attack when it came down to removal time but nope, I’m ok with glitter nail polish removal as long as I use those polish remover jars with the sponge inside. They work better and faster than doing the foil method or just scrubbing forever using cotton balls and acetone.

Nfu Oh Holographic Swatches

(all images are clickable!)

L to R: #63,#64, #62, #65

                                                                #62 – beige pink holo

#63 – pale pink holo

#64 – deep rose holo

#65 – light blue holo

(both above pictures) L to R: #65, #62, #63, #64

#63

#64

All pictures were taken in direct sunlight except for the last 2 (swatched on my nails), which were taken under a lamp. These colors have excellent holo properties and show rainbows really well in sunlight, HOWEVER the application (like many have said) is a pain in the ass. The first couple coats are incredibly streaky and clumpy. Nfu Oh suggests using their Aqua Base coat beforehand but I wasn’t able to get a hold of a bottle so I used it over a normal base coat (I usually use CND Stickey or Orly Bonder but in this case I used Seche Clear). In the last 2 pictures, I used 4 coats total. I learned that you must let each coat dry completely before adding another, otherwise you’d risk smearing the layers, creating more streaks and ugly bald spots. I added a topcoat (Color Club Vivid) which fortunately didn’t ruin the mesmerizing holographic goodness (I read somewhere that topcoats lessen the holo quality).

Just Peachy

This is part 2 of my orange lipsticks post. Watch the video! I’m showing 3 more shades:

Barry M Lip Paint in Peach 54 – a ultra matte (has a thick, dry-ish texture so a lip balm underneath is ideal). Ordered online from BarryM.

Revlon Moon Drops in Apricot Blasé – Soft coral shade that’s less on the orange side. Very easy to wear.

Revlon Moon Drops in Peach Silk – it has a lot more orange and reddish coral tones than peach, so it’s a lot brighter than Apricot Blasé but still more “gentle” than straight up orange as shown in my previous post.