Zoya Winter 2021 Dazzle Collection Swatches and Reviews

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Hello hello! I'm a little behind on my Zoya swatches, so I need to get on the ball. I'm working on their annual Naturel collection right now and the Spring Abundance Collection should be in the mail next week. The Dazzle Collection was released for the Winter 2021 season, and features 5 jelly-like shimmer polishes and one lip gloss. Shall we get to swatches? These are available now and retail for $12 each. 

Polish Pickup April 2021 The Nineties Swatches and Review from Noodles Nail Polish

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Happy Monday everyone! Well, the only reason why it's happy Monday is because Polish Pickup starts this Friday. I was born in the 80s and grew up in the 90's so I'm all about this month's inspiration. I already started my wishlist and I'm about 9 products in so far. Oops! Give me all of the grunge rock and Nickelodeon show-inspired polishes! New to PPU? If so, here's how it works:

Definitely join the Polish Pickup Facebook Group. You don't necessarily need to actively participate in the group, but it will give you a look at the polishes that will be available in the coming month. PPU themes are chosen by the people, often a few months in advance (brands need time to find their inspiration and test their polish). Any indie brand that has been around for at least a year can participate and each has their own specific inspiration picture and polish for that month. All you need to do is go to the Polish Pickup site during the pre-order window (the first Friday-Monday of the month) to make all of your purchases of these exclusive polishes. There's no need to pay for multiple shipping charges; since this is a pre-order, all polishes get sent to Polish Pickup and they send you the polishes you ordered. Yup, it's that simple. Oh, and shipping is a flat-rate of $3 to the US (more for international and they just had to increase the pricing to Canada). Recently they also opened a UK site which you can find here. Since all orders are pre-orders, shipping will take place about 3 weeks after the end of the pre-order.

PPU starts Friday, April 2nd at 11:00 AM ET and ends on Monday, April 5th at 11:59 PM (but if a polish has a cap and sells out before the end of the pre-order, it's gone, unless you get lucky and the cap gets raised...which is rare) on the PPU website. The website is now open for wishlisting, so go check out this month's offerings STAT. My wallet hopes I can bring my list down a little bit. 

Noodles Nail Polish Gel-ous (3 coats)

Inspiration: Pastel Pentel Milky Gel Pens

Price: $11.50

Cap: None

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I doubt this will surprise you, but I loved pens growing up. I mean, I work at a fountain pen company so I better love pens! Do you remember these pastel gel pens back in the day? Not many pens could write on colored paper (especially black paper), but these Pentel Milky pens could! I definitely had some of these back in the day. If you like similar pens, may I recommend the Sakura Gelly Roll pens? I own a ton of these, and they have some awesome metallic, neon, and pastel colors. 

Hold up, we are talking about nail polish here! Gel-ous is a sheerish grey holo base with pale pink, blue, lavender, yellow, and green glitters, white and silver glitters, and silver holo flakies. I went ahead and used 3 thin coats for full opacity, but you may get away with 2 if you have shorter nails. This does dry with texture due to the glitter density, so you may need 2 coats of a thicker topcoat, or a coat of glitter-specific topcoat (such as this one from Glisten and Glow) + 1 coat of topcoat to really smooth it all out. It was hard to capture how sparkly this one truly is, so you'll have to trust me. 

If any of the items you want have a cap, it's best to add your items to the cart the night before the sale goes live. You need to have an account and sign in first before adding your wish listed items to the cart. Easy peasy. What do you think? What are you picking up this month? 

*These polishes were provided by the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site

Static Lacquer 2020 Stained Color Theory Collection Swatches and Reviews

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Guys, remember years ago when OPI came out with their Sheer Tint set back in 2014? Here's a photo of them to refresh your memory: 

I know some people had issues with them changing color over time, and I'm so excited that Stacy from Static Lacquer is coming up with her version of sheer tints in primary colors to make any color you can imagine. Let your imagination flow while using these for your watermarbling, dry brush art, or reverse stamping. These will be available this Friday, May 8th at 5 PM PST (8 PM EST). Not just that, there's also a gorgeous silver holographic shade that can be used as a topper or base. Each polish will retail for just $8 each, or get the quad at a discounted price of $32 + shipping. Let's get a closer look at these. 

PI Colors Cotton Candy Collection Swatches and Reviews

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Hi guys! I can't believe how the year has flown by. I swear it was just January a couple months ago. This isn't the last you'll see of me this week as I'll be posting the upcoming Polish Pickup shades. Tonight I have a brand I've never featured on the blog, and it's PI Colors. I've really admired other soft shades Trish has featured before, so I was very excited to try her upcoming Cotton Candy Collection. You may be asking yourself, "Wait, it's fall! Cotton candy?" Right now the NC state fair is going on, so it's still fair time in many parts of the US, especially the south. It's way too warm to have the fair during the end of August like we used to have in Ohio. 

This is a 5-piece set that features pastels with iridescent glitters, chameleon shimmers and some occasional flakies. These will be available tomorrow (October 30th) in the PI Colors website for $10 each, or get the whole set for just $42.

Right on the Nail ~ Deborah Lippmann Swatches and Reviews: Chasing Pavements and Like Dreamers Do

I'm back, sort of. My flight back to NC was delayed 4 hours so I didn't get home until after 4 AM. There was a ton of socializing and work this week which has really exhausted me. Tonight I have a couple of polishes from the famous Hollywood manicurist Deborah Lippmann that I got on sale at the Sephora inside JC Penny.

Right on the Nail ~ Morgan Taylor Holiday 2014 Home For the Holidays Collection Swatches & Reviews Part I

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Morgan Taylor Midnight Rendezvous (2 coats)

OoOo....a dark polish for a holiday collection! I like! It's a black base with multi-colored small glitter. This is one of my favorites of the whole collection. It is a bit of a pain to take off though. 

Morgan Taylor Snuggle by the Fire (2 coats)

Yup, we got the red creme that has to be in every holiday collection. Every.single.one. I understand it, but that doesn't mean I don't already have about 20 of these. This one is very smooth and opaque, so it does have that going for it. 

1 coat Morgan Taylor Snow Place Like Home over 2 coats Snuggle by the Fire

Snow Place Like Home is a bit of a change for Morgan Taylor. Usually their shimmers/glitters are extremely opaque, but this one is a sheer topcoat with iridescent glitter and shimmer in a very lightly pigmented white base. I should have put this over a black because you would have been able to see the glitter better. This one had tons of shimmer and only needed 1 coat. 

Ah, yes, more holiday collections are rolling out. I'm also happy to report that my local nail supply store now carries the core line of Morgan Taylor polishes! I hope to get some more of those since I basically just get the limited edition collections. Definitely look for more in the future.
The Home For the Holidays collection seems to be geared more toward shimmers and glitters which is right up my alley. There is only one lone creme, Snuggle by the Fire, shown above. Every polish applied quite well, as usual. Some of the glitters were difficult to take off, but there's no surprise.

I think you'll be happy with the next 3 polishes as well. I'm happy to report that you can now buy Morgan Taylor polishes online without a license from Loxa Beauty for $8.50 each. You can keep up with Morgan Taylor on their Facebook and Twitter pages as well.

*These polishes were provided by the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure: Arm Candy

Sally Hansen Arm Candy (4 coats)

My Julep package finally arrived! It only took 2 weeks from Seattle, but it finally came. Holo goodness is upon me. There were a few snafus when getting my mail forwarded, but it's finally cleared up.

Do you remember the Golden Globes a few weeks ago? Well, Naomi Watts wore Arm Candy from Sally Hansen on that special night. The problem I have with my nails is that they are stained. I mean, it's no surprise they got this way with how many polishes I put on, but they just don't look good naturally anymore. This means sheer polishes like Arm Candy are almost out of the question for me. I used 4 coats to try and cover my nails up, but this one is just sheer and cannot be opaque. If you are into polishes like these, I would recommend Arm Candy to you. If you are into color, don't bother with it because you'll just be disappointed.


*This polish was provided by the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*  

Sally Hansen Smooth & Perfect Polish: Whisper

Sally Hansen Whisper (4 coats)

Holy crappy swatches! I took these pictures in Knoxville so my lighting was a little off as you can see. I didn't love this one so I didn't bother to redo the manicure. Whisper is in the now discontinued Smooth & Perfect line from Sally Hansen and is a sheer lilac purple color with a very fine shimmer. I find these best for glitter sandwiches since they are so sheer (4 coats shown here), but if you're into the sheer nail polish look with VNL, then a couple coats will be fine for you. While I've enjoyed some of the other colors in the collection, Whisper leaves me wanting a little more pizzazz. You may be able to find a few of these left at your local drugstore, but no promises. 

Pure Ice Discontinued Shade: Watermelon Ice

Pure Ice Watermelon Ice (4 coats)

Ugh, I have the stomach flu with a high fever. I didn't want to let anyone down, so I decided to make a quick post.

Since Pure Ice was bought out by Revlon, they are getting rid of some polishes, and bringing out a whole slew of new ones to make up for it. One polish on the chopping block is Watermelon Ice which is a sheer pink shimmer. Yup, 4 coats was used here, and you can still see some visible nail line. Honestly, I'm not too surprised this one is being discontinued. There is no set date on when these will exactly be taken off the shelf, so it will most likely be in early 2013.


*This polish was provided by the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site* 

American Apparel Sheer Polish Collection: Pacific Beach

American Apparel Pacific Beach (3 coats)

Happy Monday! I hope your weekend went well! Mine was pretty good (nothing too exciting went on). I have 2 more of the American Apparel Sheer polishes left to show you, and next is Pacific Beach, which is a kelly green jelly. This one looks a lot more sheer in the pictures than they do in real life. I used three coats for the above photos, with my index finger containing a jelly sandwich with Happy Hands Flowers on the Highway. I am not loving how this looks in pictures, but I love it in real life.


*This polish was provided by the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site* 

Sally Hansen Smooth & Perfect Color + Care: Fog

Sally Hansen Fog (4 coats)

I'm not one to get political, but yesterday I was appalled by voters in North Carolina. Being a North Carolinian myself, I am quite disappointed in the results of the Marriage Amendment law. And no, this was not just a "gay marriage ban," but also had repercussions for other heterosexual couples as well. Hopefully with Obama finally changing his stance on the subject, it will get the ball rolling. 

Onto a much lighter note, Fog is the final Smooth and Perfect color I have to show you and it's an off-white color with a golden pearl shimmer. As you can see, I had a bit of an issue with shrinkage, and this wasn't even with Seche Vite! While I think it's a nice, soft color, I'm not impressed with the application (again). That seems to be the issue with this set of polishes. Maybe it's the huge (and terrible) brush, but I just couldn't get thin coats. 

Overall, I like the polishes, but I wish they were slightly more opaque with a change of brush.


*This polish was provided the the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*

Sally Hansen Smooth & Perfect Color + Care: Sea

Sally Hansen Sea (4 coats)

Sally Hansen Sea (4 coats) over Jessica Cosmetics Superstar (1 coat)

Hola! Sorry for my lack of updates, but I've been getting ready for my trip. I still can't believe I leave in exactly 1 week! I figured I should post a color for you guys in between packing and washing bottles :-D

Sally Hansen's Sea is a muted seafoam green color with a pearly shimmer finish. Again, 4 coats was needed for (mostly) opaque coverage. I like it, but I think I like the other colors in the collection better. To spruce it up a little, I added a coat of Jessica Cosmetics Superstar glitter topcoat that came from the Shine On holiday collection.  Unfortunately I don't think this collection is being sold anymore, but I thought I'd show it anyway. This one packs quite the glitter in 1 coat, for sure!


*This polish was provided the the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*

Sally Hansen Smooth & Perfect Color + Care: Dune

Sally Hansen Dune (4 coats)

There's nothing like getting out of bed after noon and having some cold pizza. I may try and go for a bike ride later this afternoon and then relaxing. I have a 20% off Sally Beauty Supply coupon I got in the mail so I may try and stop by there today. 

Dune is another color from the Smooth & Perfect line that is a a nude color with some gold shimmer. If you like nudes, I think you will be in love with this one. I really like it, I find it makes a nice palette cleanser if you've been using a lot of bright colors or glitters. I forgot to mention the reason why I had a problem getting thin coats on the nail and that's because they have those huge tapered brushes on the bottles. I hate these brushes, and I find it hard not to get a huge amount of polish on the nail. Why won't they go back to a thinner brush?! If you don't mind a little visible nail line (VNL), you will only need to apply 2 coats.


*This polish was provided the the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*

Sally Hansen Smooth & Perfect Color + Care: Air

Sally Hansen Air (4 coats)

Hi everyone! I watched Avengers today and it was really awesome! I generally like superhero films (of course it depends on the film) and this one did not disappoint. It even had Jeremy Renner in it, and I am a huge fan. That guy has aged so well! It's not fair that people think men look better as they age. 

Anyway, I have most of the polishes from the Smooth & Perfect Color + Care collection and the first one is Air. This is what Sally Hansen claims that it smooths ridges in the nails and promotes 20% more oxygen to reach the nails...whatever that means. It also has ginseng, camelia oil and lotus for stronger and healthier nails. All of the colors are extremely sheer, and I had to use 4 coats on most of them. If you want to make them opaque, definitely try to use thin coats or it will start to gum up. If you're into the sheer look, 2 coats will be fine. Air is a very light sky blue color with some shimmer if you look closely. I was also testing out the Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Diamond Flash Fast Dry Topcoat  (in the black bottle) with these and it was disastrous. I am not a fan of this topcoat because it causes bubbling to occur on all polishes. No matter how thin I tried to make the coats, it would still bubble like crazy. I haven't talked about any topcoats recently, so I thought I'd mention this one.


*This polish was provided the the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*

SinfulColors Holiday 2011 Wish Collection: Out of this World

SinfulColors Out of This World (3 coats)

I am so happy I found the Icings magnetic nail polish last week! I've been dying to try these and found them at my local store. I bring this up because I am wearing one today and will have a post up about them as soon as I can. Have you heard that China Glaze is also coming out with magnetic polishes? It's the year of the flakies and magnetic polishes! The Polishaholic has swatches right here for your viewing pleasure. 

And now I bring you my least favorite polish from the SinfulColors Wish collection called Out of This World. Yup, we have a sheer one. This is three coats and I still have a bad case of the visible nail line (VNL). If it wasn't so sheer, I think this would have made a really nice shimmery silver polish. The other problem I had was that the formula was really thin as well. Overall, I think the rest of the collection is much better than Out of This World and I would skip it.


*These polishes were provided the the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*