Zoya - Miranda

When I decided to get the Zoya Luli Fama collection (Summer Pixie Dusts), I thought for sure that the first one I reached for would be either Destiny or Liberty.  Both I had wanted for awhile (esp. Liberty, my God, what a gorgeous color), but when I laid my eyes on Miranda, I knew I had to try her first.

This is a jelly finish, dusty rose textured polish.  The sparkles are AMAZING.  Like a brighter version of the base, and oh so shiny.  Whew, this one is a stunner.

Top coat

I needed three coats. Two would be doable, but would not look as great.  The texture itself isn't bad, it is very fine, almost smooth, but you do notice it.  I think I have glitters that are rougher than this, so you know...

Dry time...slow, sadly.  The polish is another thick one, and got nearly unusable at the end of the second coat.  A shaking helped, but it was getting to that point again at the end of the third coat, so thinner might be needed.  But I don't care.  I love her.

Zoya Pixie Dusts are $9 a piece.  Be smart, wait for sales and deals.  They happen, they happen all the time.

Zoya - Destiny

Zoya...do you have to do EVERYTHING right?

Folks, look at this.  Zoya Destiny is a gorgeous reddish orange (perhaps coral-y).  It's amazing and sparkly.

bottle shot

And now, macros...

Top coated

1 coat Gelous, 1 coat Essie Good to Go

And even more magic...

Re-mattified 

Any way you look at it, it's great.  This is three coats.  Formula was fine, nothing difficult.  I decided to do a third after looking at it totally dried at two and not being satisfied.  It is perfect with three.  

Old haul

Collective haul here.  Not all of this was purchased at one time.

First up,

Went to Sally's during the most recent red tag clearance sale.  Didn't find much, unfortunately, but I did get these nail appliques.  I really don't know when I'll use them, but they're ridiculously cheap and they seem like a good idea to have on hand, just in case.

I also picked up two Sinful Colors around that same time.  One is Bali Mist and the other is Rain Song, which is limited edition.  I'm excited to try them.

Then...

Went to Sally's again...yes, I know.  I got an email that China Glaze and Orly was buy one get one free.  I really had no choice.  Here lies Flip Flop Fantasy (the new version, I think) and Fairy Dust (it looks used, I have no idea what is going on with it).  I also picked up that Sally Girl polish, which is a matte top coat.  $1.  Went to Walmart for general shopping and they had the newest Salon Perfect display (I never saw those Neon Explosions).  This Matte topcoat was in the display.  It's real matte, I love it and am totally tempted to get another.

And then...

Zoya had a promo with Luli Fama.  Get all six summer pixie dusts and a special gift for 30-some odd dollars.  I decided to get it if the promo stayed alive until some arbitrary date I set.  It ended up working.  

I forgot to take pictures of it, but it also came with a 2oz bottle of Remove, and the special gift of the big flipper 8 oz bottle.  Kind of nice to receive, but it would have been nice if they threw in another new fall line polish instead.

Here they are.  They are magical and I've already worn two of them.

No regrets here.  They're wonderful.

Now, makeup.

Been itching to try The Balm, and when they reappeared on Hautelook, I jumped on it.  I LOVE these.  Quality is amazing, colors are beautiful and it's all so travel friendly.  Cannot get better than this.  I will be buying more stuff the next time they're on sale.

Finally...

Got a $2 off coupon on Sally Hansen from CVS.  I had some real internal struggle happening here because the new limited edition displays were out.  I got something cheap anyway, but it was hard.  I cannot remember the name of this...

That's it for now.  I have another haul coming soon.  I'm also thinking of doing a little blog sale.  Not sure if I have much I'm willing to part with now, but there is some stuff that I'm just not partial to and would like gone.

Sinful Colors - Daddy's Girl

Wow, it's been awhile.  I actually haven't painted my nails in a long time, I just haven't had the time or energy to do it.  I also had a wicked migraine today, and decided I couldn't risk painting today as I did not want to trigger it again with smells.

I did have this waiting in the wings though, thankfully.  Photos aren't great but they'll have to do.

Daddy's Girl is a GREAT polish.  I picked this up at Dollar Tree and it is magic.  Easily a favorite, I've already worn it twice since getting it. A rare feat for sure.  This is a red toned purple, with a jelly like finish.  It also has something special: flakies!  I only did two coats, lighting was not good and I didn't realized how bad it looked until I had already top coated it.  Trust me on this one though, it's fantastic.

I did recently break another nail and my hand is not really blog worthy at this time.  Maybe I will get it in gear tomorrow and file/shape so I can post again this weekend.  I have one more post sitting in my camera still, and a haul that needs to go up, so I'll have a little content to get me back into the swing of things.  I have been meaning to do a gel mani but I just can't bring myself to do it. I still probably won't do one this weekend but I might do it mid-week, next week.  We shall see.

I Need A Refresh-Mint!

Another Wet n' Wild.

I Need a Refresh-Mint is a blue-green/mint color, very Tiffany like. I love this color, it's just gorgeous.  The formula is ok on this.  I only did two coats but it probably needed three.  It tends to bubble very easily, but top coating it will help.  Do not shake this if you plan on using it that day, it is very bubble prone.  For a Mega-Last, dry time was great but I will probably just get the China Glaze version if I ever need to repurchase.

Photos are off slightly, as it appears more blue here.  It's much more minty than what is showing here, but I couldn't replicate the color.

Sorry for my lack of complete posting.  It's been a combination of very busy and very lazy.  Talk about vacillating.  I am still taking and editing photos, I just haven't had it in me to do blog posts.

I did decide to post an empty that is not polish related.  However, I'm proud of finishing this because I've never finished a perfume before.

I probably won't rebuy this, but I do like it, it has a very nice clean scent.  I've got too many other scents to work through, and I also want to get some more Escada scents added to my small collection.

I will have a few haul stuff to post soon too.  I'm really excited for that.  That's it for now.

Layla - Flash Black

Yet another holo.

This is the last Layla to swatch in my stash.  I love all of them and I plan on investing in more when the opportunity arises.

Flash Black is not really black.  It is a dark polish, but it is more of a charcoal gray, not black.  However the holo in this is pretty amazing and in the sun, you can see all kinds of amazing colors.  Photos can't do this justice.

I did swatches differently this time, just using my bare nail.  It went on a lot smoother, and I only needed three coats, despite the watery thin formula.  At two coats, I did a top coat of Essie's Good to Go, then a last coat of Flash Black.  It is fairly opaque, and I did not experience weird baldy dragging spots over the naked nail.  It is incredibly runny, so I did need to clean up some.

From here on out, I'm going to try to move my photography location.  Each time I move, I feel a little weird about the poses so there will be an adjustment period.  I wanted to move to a location near the window to capture natural sunlight.  It is just unbearable going outside to photograph because of the heat and constant rain.

I have also ordered some extender tubes for my camera.  I'm using a NEX series camera, and I do not own a macro lens.  I'm still not sure what direction I want to go with the purchase of a lens, and extender tubes are a lot cheaper so I decided to try them out.  They're currently at ISC New York, so I may be getting them in use in the next week and a half.  Woohoo!