Belle of the Ball

New colors from Pure Ice!  Although I have little official news — OK, none — a new set of spring/summer colors from Pure Ice has started appearing in Wal-Mart, and the collection is called Belle of the Ball.  Pure Ice, as you may know, is a budget brand that costs $1.97 or so for a full-sized 0.5 oz/15 ml bottle.

I’m not sure how many new colors there are.  I’ve read six or eight, and the new ones are mixed in with the old ones so it’s really hard to tell.  I picked up three:  Playful Princess #1041, Castle of Dreams #1046, and Fairy Godmother #1045.

I don’t know why the label on the lavender bottle is different than the other two; it had something else weird going on with it, which I’ll explain later.

Pure Ice is one of the very few budget brands that I truly like, and I’m not just saying that because they sometimes send me samples (these three bottles were bought at retail with my own money).  Pure Ice and Sinful Colors seem to have mostly consistently good colors, finishes, and formulas that rival more expensive brands.

Playful Princess is a true teal creme.  It and the other two colors were similar in that the first coat was streaky but the second covered very well.  All photos are under indirect outdoor light and then in direct sunshine, with no top coat.

Gorgeous summer color!

Castle of Dreams is a periwinkle blue creme with a faint shimmer that’s visible in the sun.  I have an unreasonable love for periwinkle blues; don’t know why!

Fairy Godmother is a slightly dusty dark lavender or light purple with a faint shimmer.  The polish itself was fine but the stem of the brush was attached very crookedly to the handle, so trying to apply the polish neatly felt like trying to put lipstick on in a moving car.  I did the best I could.

Since this bottle had a bad stem and a very different label, I wonder if I got a maverick somehow.  No big deal.

I love all three colors, and you can’t beat the price.  You may have to comb the Pure Ice displays to find these new colors but they’re worth it!

Hello, beautiful !

It’s been quite a while since I swatched a polish from budget brand Sinful Colors.  SC is available at Walgreen’s, Wal-Mart, and other thrifty locales, and its SRP is usually $1.99.  Walgreen’s sometimes has a sale where it’s only 99 cents and that’s a good time to stock up if you’re so inclined.

Today let’s look at Ciao Bella, a cobalt blue with lighter blue micro glitter or flecks.  I don’t speak Italian but am pretty sure the name means Hello Beautiful.  And beautiful it is!

The formula was smooth and dry time was good.  Two coats gave adequate coverage but I used three to intensify the color, and it’s very shiny even without a clear top coat.  I LOVE this one and think it rivals similar colors from other brands that cost four or five or six times as much.  ** cough cough **  OPI  **cough**  Butter London  **cough**

Under indirect outdoor light, with the flash, and then in direct sunshine:

Gorgeous, and I love it when a budget polish is so satisfying.  But now the bad news — I’m not sure this shade is still available.  I read it was part of the core line (not limited edition) yet I don’t see it on the Sinful Colors web site.  Probably looking in person in stores is your best bet.

Ciao!

Simply Irresistible

Disclosure:  This set was sent by Zoya for review.

Took me a while, but I finally have Zoya’s Irresistible Collection to show you!  Through no one’s fault that I can see, the first set that Zoya sent me was lost in transit.  It was entered into FedEx’s system and then… nothing.  But as they say, better late than never.    It was much appreciated for Zoya to send me a replacement.

Irresistible is a set of six bright foils.  I’ve only mentioned about a hundred times how much I love a foil finish, because it’s shimmery and glittery without having either visible brushstrokes or chunky glitter.

The formula of all six was very consistent — not too thin, not too thick.  For each polish, two coats would have been enough for decent coverage but I used three coats because I think the third coat brought out the richness of each color.  All photos are shown in reflected outdoor light and then in direct sunshine, with no top coat.

First — Kerry, a sunny yellow-gold.  It’s not a daffodil color nor a bronzed gold.  If anything, it might have a very faint greenish tint.

Amy is an intense orange with a lot of gold shimmer.  Outdoors in the direct sun (second photo) I think it leans red.

Tinsley is the one I was looking forward to the most, and I’m not disappointed.  It’s the epitome of the term “rose gold” — a pretty rose pink with tons of gold shimmer.  It kind of has a duochrome look going on too, because at different angles (first and second photos), you see either more gold or more rose.

Bobbi is another pink, but is cooler in tone, much more fuchsia, and it has silver shimmer instead of gold.  Love this one too.

I liked Rikki, a cool fern green, a lot more than I expected.  Greens are tough for me to wear and often bring out weird tones in my skin, but I think Rikki looks great.  Must be the silver shimmer it has.  I also saw a few flecks of gold in the direct sun.

Similarly, Hazel has both silver and gold shimmer, and is a light steel blue that looks darker in the sun.  Could be wintery-looking but also great for summer — a nice change from neon blue or turquoise.

I love the Irresistible Collection and it’s perfect for summer.  My favorites are Tinsley, Bobbi, and Rikki.  Hazel’s right up there too but I wonder if I have a near-duplicate.  Kerry and Amy would probably look much better on someone with a different skin tone than mine (I’m such a self-critic).

Here are all twelve of the Irresistible and Stunning polishes together.  As you can see, each one in its set has a somewhat close shade in the other set, but Stunning is all cremes.  From top (12 o’clock position) and moving clockwise:  Kerry, Darcy, Amy, Thandie, Tinsley, Micky, Bobbi, Yana, Rikki, Josie, Hazel, and Rocky.

Disclosure:  These polishes were sent by Zoya for review.

Zoya’s Stunning Collection — the review

Disclosure:  This set was sent by Zoya for review.

Zoya is rolling out some beautiful polishes for us this spring, as part of their official summer releases.  Today I have the Stunning Collection.

Stunning is a set of six cremes, but Thandie, Micky, and Yana have an extremely subtle shimmer.  It’s so faint I thought at first I was imagining it.

First I tried Darcy, a bright daffodil yellow.  I found the formula a bit thin, and the application streaky and patchy on the first and second coats.  I used three coats.  This photo and all other photos today are under indirect outdoor light and are shown without any kind of top coat.  All other polishes required two coats.

Hmmm, doesn’t wow me.  I love the color yellow in general but don’t think Darcy flatters my skin tone and actually think it makes my skin look grayish.  I swatched Zoya’s Creamy last year, and while I no longer own this color, I don’t think there’s a big difference between the two.  You might have better luck wearing this one; I’ve read at least one blogger who said Darcy was her favorite from the whole set.

Thandie is a bright (not neon) medium orange that has a slight dusty hue.  I rarely find an orange I like, but this is one of them!  Don’t think I have anything like it in my stash.

I was really surprised at how much I like Thandie.

Micky, whose name makes me think of my favorite Monkee from the ’60s — go ahead and laugh, I don’t mind! — is a medium coral pink.  I love pinks but tend to reach for cooler or lavender ones, so the warmth of Micky is a nice change.

Micky’s a fun retro look.

Yana looks only slightly darker than Micky in  the bottle and in these photos but I think they look much different in person.  Yana is a bright geranium pink.  Love it.  Like I don’t wallow in pink already!

Rocky is a medium blue, slightly dusty.  I was reminded of two other cremes from Zoya, Robyn and Yummy, but I like Rocky better because it’s not as bright or neon.

Finally, Josie is a medium grass green, not a lot to say about it.  It’s pretty but for some reason doesn’t grab me the way most of the rest of the set does.

Overall, I think the Stunning Collection is great for summer.  Makes me think of citrus fruit, flowers, grass, and blue sky.  My favorites are Yana, Thandie, Micky, and Rocky.

I also wanted to compare the bottles in Stunning to five of the ones from last year’s Beach Collection.  Beach had no yellow, and Stunning has no light pink like Beach’s Shelby (not shown).  In my opinion, there are no duplicates.

Disclosure:  The Stunning Collection was sent by Zoya for review.

P.S.  I will not be able to review the Irresistible Collection for at least a few more days.  Zoya sent it but it has vanished into the ether. 

Lets compare: PixieDusts plus others, Part II

Disclosure:  Some products in this post were sent by Zoya for review.

So glad that many of you found my comparisons yesterday helpful!  More today.  LOTS more.

First of all, here are three polishes that I’ve swatched in the past but will not be comparison swatching today because they aren’t even remotely similar like I thought at first:

(l to r) Solange, Ziv, and Piaf, all from Zoya.  Solange is a yellow-gold matte textured PixieDust, Ziv is a metallic true gold foil, and Piaf is a very light yellow shimmer.

Let’s look at dark oranges:

(l to r) Zoya Milla, Zoya Myrta, JulieG/Jesse’s Girl Sugar Rush, and Zoya Destiny.

Milla is a coral-pink-orange jelly with some gold flakes, Myrta is a medium-dark orange foil from last year’s fabulous Surf Collection, and Sugar Rush and Destiny are matte textured polishes.

All photos are under indirect outdoor light, and again, I’m holding a bottle of Zoya’s Raven for contrast.

I’d consider Sugar Rush and Destiny duplicates.  Their formula (excellent), color, and finish are all so close I don’t think I could tell them apart.  Myrta is a great foil and Milla is a pretty polish that doesn’t get near the love I think it deserves.  You could do a jelly sandwich manicure with it.

Now, silvery lavenders:

(l to r) Zoya Julie, Milani Hi-Res, JulieG Crushed Candy, and Zoya Stevie.  OPI Can’t Let Go is hovering in the upper right corner only because it’s another purple matte textured polish, but as you can see, it’s much darker and more blue-toned than the others and I won’t be swatching it today.  You can see my swatches of it here, and I like it a lot, but it is quite dark.

Julie is a light shimmer, Hi-Res is a very glossy holographic glitter (unfortunately discontinued but I see it for sale online occasionally), and Crushed Candy and Stevie are matte textures.

No dupes.  Crushed Candy is more pink and has larger glitter than Stevie.  Julie and Hi-Res have completely different finishes.

Since we’re looking at these, let’s bring back Miranda from yesterday.  I turned these bottles — Miranda, Crushed Candy, and Stevie — sideways so you could see more of the polish.

Crushed Candy seems to be a color in between the pink of Miranda and the lavender of Stevie.  I LOVE all three.

Let’s move from pink to red:

(l to r) Zoya Miranda, JulieG Hot Cinnamon, and Zoya Chyna.

No duplicates.  All are pretty; Chyna has more of a ruby tone.

Even though I showed blue ones yesterday, I want to revisit Zoya Liberty and compare it to JulieG Blueberry Fizz and Zoya Nyx:

Gee, why did I even show Liberty again?  Not even close.  Blueberry Fizz and Nyx are similar but not dupes — Blueberry Fizz is more of a sky blue and has larger silver glitter, and Nyx is thinner and more steel blue.

Finally, just because I can, here are JulieG Rock Candy and Zoya Vespa compared to each other:

Not close.  Rock Candy is thicker, more of a teal green, and has larger silver glitter, while Vespa is thinner and a light gray-green.

Whew!  Hope I haven’t overwhelmed you with samples and comparisons.  Of all the polishes today the only true duplicates in my opinion are JulieG’s Sugar Rush and Zoya’s Destiny.  Both are excellent polishes from great companies.  The JulieG polish is less expensive but the bottles are smaller as well.

Disclosure:  Some products in this post were sent by Zoya for review.

Lets compare: PixieDusts plus others, Part I

Disclosure:  Some products in this post were sent by Zoya for review.

Yesterday when I was swatching all six of Zoya’s new Summer PixieDusts, I was reminded over and over of other polishes in my stash.  So today I broke out a bunch of them for comparisons that I hope you will find useful.  (And fun — don’t forget the fun!)

For gold-toned light oranges, I have:

(l to r) Zoya Rica, Zoya Tanzy, JulieG/Jesse’s Girl Tangerine Dream, and Zoya Beatrix.

Rica and Tanzy are regular glitter/flake polishes, and Tangerine Dream and Beatrix are matte textured ones.  You can see my full review of the three gold-toned JulieG/Jesse’s Girl textured polishes here.

For all my swatches today, I used three coats of each polish, even if two was enough coverage, and took the photos under indirect outdoor light.  I’m holding a bottle of Zoya’s Raven for contrast.

Tangerine Dream and Beatrix are, to my eye, duplicates.  If you like the color of those two but don’t want a matte textured finish, then Tanzy is very close.  Rica is slightly more pinkish/reddish than the other three.

Considering price?  SRP (not counting any sales or promotions that may occur) is $8 each for 0.5 oz/15 ml for Tanzy and Rica.  Beatrix is $9 for the same amount of polish, and Tangerine Dream is $3.99 for 0.35 oz/10 ml.

Next, I compared several pinks:

(l to r) Zoya Nova, Zoya Astra, Zoya Miranda, and OPI The Impossible.

Nova and Astra are fine glitters, and Miranda and The Impossible are matte textures.

No dupes here.  The Impossible is more of a coral pink, has sparse hex glitter, and the full-sized bottles of it contain large star glitter which does not appear in the mini bottles.  Astra is a clear base (or maybe a very light pink) with pink and red glitter, and Nova is a sheer purple-pink base with pink glitter.  Astra and Miranda are close in color but the finish is totally different.

Astra and Nova are no longer available as minis, but can be bought as full-sized 0.5 oz. bottles.  The Impossible mini is available as part of a four-bottle set, which I reviewed here.  OPI’s Liquid Sand polishes can all be purchased as full-sized bottles as well, and I believe the SRP is $9.

Finally for today, let’s get the blues:

(l to r) Zoya Noel, Zoya FeiFei, Zoya Liberty, and OPI Get Your Number.

Noel is a medium blue foil, FeiFei is a sheer-but-buildable steel blue shimmer with micro gold flakes, and Liberty and Get Your Number are matte textures.

No absolute dupes here, and I think all four are quite interesting in their own way.  Liberty and Get Your Number are close in color and finish, but the latter has more sizes and colors of glitter, plus a little holographic glitter flash.  Noel is also similar in color but has a completely different finish.  FeiFei is more grayish.

More comparisons tomorrow!

Disclosure:  Some products in this post were sent by Zoya for review.

Zoya Summer PixieDusts — the review

Disclosure:  This set was sent by Zoya for review.

Have been looking forward to this set of matte, textured, sparkly,  PixieDusts from Zoya ever since they were first announced.

If you’re new to the world of matte textured (MT) polishes, they’re different from regular polishes in that they have a sandy or sugary feel (not sandpaper-rough), and dry to a matte or mostly matte finish.  Different companies have different MT polish looks, as might be expected.  A few have no sparkle at all, a look I don’t personally care for because to me they look like bumpy dried paint.  One company at least has a fair amount of chunky glitter in its MT polish.

I prefer the slightly sparkly look; it’s the Goldilocks of MT polishes — not too dull, not too glittery.  Juuuust right.

Application of these Summer PixieDusts was excellent.  Be sure to use thin coats and let each coat dry thoroughly before you apply the next one for the matte look.  Zoya recommends not using a base or top coat, but a clear shiny top coat gives these polishes a gorgeous different look as well.

There are three warm colors with gold sparkle — yellow-gold, light orange, and medium-dark orange, and three cool ones with silver sparkle — medium pink, lavender, and bright blue.  Each is shown under indirect outdoor light, with the flash, and in direct sunshine.  Some of the sunshine photos look like I added little fake “starburst” sparkles, but I didn’t; that’s really how the polish looks. 

First up, the lightest, yellow-gold Solange.  I like that it’s neither too yellowish or too brassy.  Wouldn’t it look great with, say, a teal shirt?  Three coats.

Beatrix is citrus orange, light and sparkly.  The color seems halfway between Solange and the next color, the darker orange Destiny.  Three coats.

Destiny was a bit of a surprise for me.  Instead of being just orange, its base is a sheer coral-pink.  Only needed two coats of this one.

Miranda was the one I was looking forward to the most and it does not disappoint.  I love trying different colors but pink always calls to me!  Three coats.

Stevie is lighter than I expected from the promo photos but it’s still very pretty.  It’s like the MT version of Zoya’s Julie.  I used two coats.

Liberty is probably the most intense color of the bunch.  Liberty with an accent nail of the previously released red Chyna for the 4th of July?  I just might have to try that.  Two coats.

Oops, this next photo is outdoors but the sun went behind the clouds and refused to come out.  The nerve.

Overall I love this set and it’s so bright and summery.  They seem to have more fine glitter and be less matte than Zoya’s first PixieDust set, but I wonder how much of that impression is due to the much brighter, higher angle sunlight today as compared to a few months ago.

SRP is $9 per 0.5 oz/15 ml bottle.  Available at http://www.zoya.com or at select retailers and salons.

My favorites are Miranda and Liberty, but I hope the warmer colors look better on me when I get a little tan this summer.  Which are your faves?

Tomorrow I’ll post some comparisons between these polishes and matte textured ones from other collections, and also between these and some older Zoya polishes..

Disclosure:  This set was sent by Zoya for review.

Frosted Gum Drops from Jesse’s Girl, Part II

Yesterday I showed you the three warm colors from the Jesse’s Girl/JulieG Frosted Gum Drops Collection — Tangerine Dream, Sugar Rush, and Hot Cinnamon.  They all contain micro gold flakes and are very sugary-looking, but weren’t as matte as I expected except for the red, Hot Cinnamon.

Now I’ll show you the three cool polishes in the set –Rock Candy, Blueberry Fizz, and Crushed Candy.

Each of these contains silver shimmer and small silver hex glitter, and while they’re all pretty they weren’t quite what I was expecting.  I don’t get a matte look from these at all; I’d call them shiny glitters, although the textured look comes out more as they dry.

The formula of all three, as with the warm colors, was fantastic.  I used two coats of each, and the following photos are under indirect outdoor light and then direct sunlight.

Rock Candy is a teal green that photographs more blue than it looked to my eye.  Such a pretty color, and so sparkly!

Blueberry Fizz is a great silvery light-medium blue.

Finally, Crushed Candy is a purplish-pink, a bit lighter and more pink than I expected from the swatches shown by work/play/polish, who is the hand model in the official display photos for this collection.  I’m not complaining!  I love the color.

Overall, I think these three cool colors look better on me than the three warm colors, but I truly love all six.  They’re fun and the formula is super.  Do I have favorites though?  Yes, I think I’ll probably wear Crushed Candy, Blueberry Fizz, and Hot Cinnamon the most.

The Frosted Gum Drops Collection should be for sale at Rite Aid stores in a few weeks, and they’re available now at Jesse’s Girl web site.  The price is $3.99 for each 0.35 oz/10 ml bottle, and Jesse’s Girl polishes are are Big 3 Free (free of DBP, toluene, and formaldehyde) but do contain formaldehyde resin.

Twisted, sister

After a weekend of enjoying the nicer spring weather and managing to break a few nails despite being cautious, I have a pretty duochrome to show you.  And it’s from Pure Ice so it’s only $1.99.

Twisted is one of the new colors for 2013 from Pure Ice, a brand available almost exclusively at Walmart.  I’ve read that some Walgreen’s have Pure Ice, but I’ve never seen them there.  Twisted is a flashy blue-green flakie that makes me think of sunshine reflecting on water.  The base is a sheer ocean blue and it’s chock-full of microflakes in blue and green.

It went on very smoothly and two coats gave great coverage.  The second coat looked so much greener than the first that I suspect a third coat might bring out the green even more.  Having said that, the green did not show up well in my photos, in spite of my trying many different angles and lighting.  Trust me, it really flashes green over blue.

Here’s Twisted under indirect cloudy outdoor light.  The second, more oblique, angle shows the darker blue duochrome look.  (I apologize for the wildly varying length of my nails but I just can’t cut them all off to match the shortest!)

And with the flash:

I love this one and think it would be awesome with a tan.  So summery and beachy!  I haven’t given it a wear test, but its look rivals blue-green duochromes from other companies that cost four times as much.

Rich In Spirit

Last month when I had my kid-in-a-candy-store trip to an out-of-town Ulta store, I picked up several polishes.  One was Rich In Spirit from Nicole by OPI.

Rich In Spirit isn’t a new shade, but it caught my eye.  It’s a light silvery teal foil, and as you may remember, I adore foils.  Love the streak-free finish.

This is one of those teals that I can’t say is more green or blue, because next to other blues it looks green and vice versa.  In my photos it appears more blue, but I think light silver teal is the best description.  It’s fairly sheer so I needed four coats but that wasn’t a pain because it dried so quickly, and it dried to a shiny powder-smooth finish.

Here’s Rich In Spirit under cloudy outdoor light, with the flash, and under artificial indoor light:

It looks like there’s a thin or patchy spot on my little fingernail, but I double-checked and it’s just a reflection of my other finger.  The finish is very reflective.

I love this one and think it’s very flattering on my skin tone.  Think I’ve found what I’m going to wear for Easter!