Zoya Tanzy – It’s the Sun!

WOW.

 
Fire for your fingertips.



This is…orange. It's the color of the sun. It's really very pretty, and striking.

 
This was outside on the railing of my back porch in the sun. This might have been the shade…but I think it's sun. Look at that. It looks like stained glass, but opaque. It's a lovely sparkly jelly kind of polish that was oh so sheer and scary when I put on the first coat. I was like…what is this hot mess I just wasted all those base coats on. Which, we'll get to that in a sec.



I loved wearing this. It's gorgeous. It's sparkly and rich and just a more sunshiney color of a tourmaline, which I know because I have tourmaline earrings. I think they're tourmaline….the tag didn't say, just that they were real stones and they're this color, or a hair darker.

 
Here's another one:

Ooooo! **does happy polish dance**


Check that out. Orange with a gold glitter? Heck yeah! And I have to say, on my cool/neutral skin tone it looks OK. A little lobster pawly, but nothing you can't handle.

I had fun swatching this. I was outside in the yard, I was enjoying the sun because it was bright but not hot…

 
Oh holy blurriness…oh well. Check out the color of that sparkle on the index fingie…see that darker rust sparkle? See the yellow and gold? This was just what I wanted. Something that screamed SUMMER like a heavy metal hair band singer. Ha…check the grass in the background there. Can you say "Drought"?

OOFA. I'm serious, this is the sun on my talons. It's the color of the sun…I thought that every single time I looked at it.

 
One more, just because we can:


 

Hm. The grass is lovely and focused. Check it out! I found some that's green!

New phone…new camera….I will have some faux pas, I'm afraid.



Obviously, this is sunlight. Look at how it lights up! It looks like fire. I love it.

Is the last one in focus? We wonder…

Oh, a dream shot. Now that is a true on swatch. It do'na get any better'n that, lass. Yes. This is it exactly.



OK, so…I got this for free on a Zoya promo. If you like Zoya's colors, want to try them, or have been wearing it a long time and buying it at Ulta or something…you need to know. They have the most awesome promos. Seriously. Get on their blog and subscribe or whatever you need to do. I just check them periodically, but if you love the brand you need to know about this. Maybe this wasn't a freebie…well, regardless, great deals. I hit the Buy the colorlock system for approximately $50 and get your choice of the sparkle or crème summer collections free promo. Not a bottle, the COLLECTION. So, you got the colorlock system and SIX polishes for $50, roughly. I was thinking no way. When it comes it will be minis of the colorlock. Nope. And it comes in an easy to tote little ziplock baggie. In case you were curious, it's full size, two basecoats, a full size remover…pretty awesome. (Sheilie, might send you the ridge filler. I don't need it and it might help you, plus it's vegan, which I know you support.) I went a little apeshit on that sale, I have to tell you. I picked up a bunch, which is weird of me as I don't have the best of luck with Zoya, and sadly, colorlock was no different in that regard. I did great until it came to dry time. Suck. Even with the drying drops, I wound up completely screwing one nail about an hour later and had to do it over from basecoat on up. After that, no problems and it wore well. This was an in-between mani for me, I put it on for a couple days before my real manicure so I didn't get to really test the wear but in that time, maybe 4 days, it wore beautifully. I did Seche it, though. After the not really drying drops didn't really dry it, I was afraid to leave it nekkid. Now, in it's defense, I did not use the colorlock system purely according to their specs. I did Nailtiques 2 and Rebuild and maybe that jacked it up. Don't know.


 
K, so the mechanics:


 

1. 1 coat Zoya Anchor
   
2. 1 coat Nailtiques 2
   
3. 2 coats Seche Rebuild
   
4. 3 coats Zoya Tanzy
   
5. 1 coat Zoya Armor
   
6. Zoya Fast Drops
   
7. 1 coat Seche Vite topcoat
   

I didn't wear it long enough to have need of the Zoya Renew, which is a renewing top coat. I also didn't take this off so I didn't get to try the Remove+ that came in the set.


 
Overall, gorgeous color, great sparkle, good wear. A little weird going on and definitely needs layers, I recommend 3, but see what happens when you do this on your own nails.


 
I hope you like it!


 
Happy Polishing!

A England Tristam Holy F***

**Is speechless**

I gave a little preview of this a while ago, because I’m that far behind. It didn’t take me long to try it, however.

It’s gorgeous. I’m sorry….this is spectacular. Just…look for yourselves.

Yeah…there’s a little tip wear here. Do you care? Really? Look at this! It shows more purple here than I would say that it actually is, but it’s not far off. This is a natural light through the window picture. This is a show stopper. It looks like a clear winter’s night.

I couldn’t stop looking at it. It’s backup worthy and I really don’t do that. New stuff comes out all the time and the chances of your remembering that spectacular thing that made you so happy last summer is not likely. This isn’t that easily forgotten, though. I no longer lemming Essie Starry Starry Night. I don’t have to worry about trying to find that on ebay (at the time it was for real cruelty free, not just pseudo cruelty free) and I wouldn’t be able to blog it anyways simply because it’s no longer available. I just don’t think that’s very fair to you guys. I will always try to be straight up about where I get what I get and if you can’t go buy it, you won’t see it here. BB Couture Dragon’s Breath? Amazing as it is, you won’t see it here because you can’t get it any longer. If I get a notice from OverallBeauty.com (Kim is a sweetheart and a big customer advo, I can tell you from personal experience) that they’ve made more, I will try to get it blogged and swatched. Until then…it will have to be a mani-in-between for myself that you won’t see until you can get it. I just won’t do it! No offense to the plethora of bloggers out there who do it, I love you all and have learned so much from you all, but…I can’t. I know how it feels to be the one who wants it and can’t get it.

BUT. Off on yet another tangent, we see.

I don’t want Starry Starry Night any more. I have this. I love this. I love this more. Check it out:

I could bawl, it’s so amazing. This is sunlight again, obviously. It would likely be prettier if I could bring myself to spend the bucks to wash my buggy. I’m sure more light could come through there. Look at the depth! Love. Love. Love. Lovelovelovelovelove. I feel like the tree in The Last Unicorn when she latches onto Shmendrick. (If you haven’t read it, READ it. If you haven’t watched it, WATCH IT. Fall in love. Then go to the Conlan Press Website (google it, peeps) and buy the signed editions from them because they give more schwag to the struggling and brilliant Peter S Beagle. Then read the Rhinoceros Who Quotes Nietsche and revel in his genius. You simply don’t get a bad story from Mr. Beagle.) TANGENT!

So…this is so gorgeous I want to eat it. I’m not kidding. Look at that. What more do you want me to say? It’s iced blueberry, it’s the Mediterranean under a full moon, sapphires on a bed of diamonds….or the opposite. It’s the deep deep blue of that guy I used to work with’s eyes. Say what you will about the Poles, but in my experience, there are some seriously gorgeous blue eyes that come out of that country. He wasn’t anything to sneeze at himself. **sigh** It’s holo glitter awesomeness of a level hitherto unmeasurable by the seriously lacking human technology we have to rely on. It’s off the charts.

 **cleans drool off keyboard**

Wear…it did OK. About as well as anything could with the amount of abuse I heap on it.  It did begin to chip, but not badly. It seems to me the reason I removed it was because the chips it did begin to form were catching in my hair. I hate that. It just couldn’t handle the amount of water my polish is submerged in and I can’t hold any blame against it for that.

This is super-saturated. Wear a basecoat. Maybe a couple coats of it, if you don’t apply any other treatments to your nails. If you don’t…I hate you. I hate you because I’m jealous.

It applied almost watery at first. I was shocked because as you know from a previous post, it covered yellow like it was nothing. I think possibly the other existing coats of polish really grabbed it. I’m not sure what the deal was. Maybe I just put it on lighter when I did the full mani. However, it straightened itself out OK. I can’t remember if this was 2 or 3 coats. I may have done 3 just to deepen it. I did try the base and top coats, adorably named The Knight and the Shield, respectively. It seems to me the basecoat did dry rather fast but the top coat didn’t? OMG, it’s hard for me to remember now. I need to take notes if I can’t blog right away. Derrrr. I’m sure I’ll be drawn to the other colors and I will try to comment because I have guilt.

I THINK what I did was:

1.      1 coat - The Knight basecoat

2.      1 coat – Nailtiques 2

3.      2 coats – Seche Rebuild

4.      2 or 3 coats A England Tristam

5.      1 coat The Shield topcoat

One more shot for posterity…I took a ton.

Oh my.

Happy Polishing!

BB Couture Intake Valve on my Moms

My Moms has been really ill and I've been one of her primary care givers for months now. As a way to cheer us both up, I started giving her manicures and pedicures. Often she falls asleep, leaving her my hapless victim **muahahahahahaaaa!** where I put pretty colors on her that veer far away from her normal pinks and corals. She has a narrow color comfort zone and mostly I respect it while pushing the boundaries a bit. Her coloring is way different from mine so we wear colors differently. She tends towards her American Indian background (her father would never have said "Native American". He was Indian first and American second.) while I look more like her Irish roots and my fathers German, Scot and Welsh...in other words, Casper-like. In the summer I might approach not quite dead in my coloring. I'm pasty, OK?? In case you couldn't tell from the swatches. I can wear about anything. Oranges and yellows can be tricky but other than that...a bad color for me is difficult to come by. Moms on the other hand...some are just "oofa" bad.

So. I experiment.

I've done OK up to now, mostly choosing colors that work. I haven't run into anything I've immediately removed on her, which is good because her hands ache and it's hard for her to sit still. Intake Valve was no exception.

If you have been reading this blog at all, you know I'm a HUGE BB Couture fan. Great formula, edgy colors (and we know I'm all about the edge) and just fun stuff. Plus, I confess, Kim at OverallBeauty.com has made me secure that I will get personalized attention and great customer service. This helps! I'm tempted to try the mineral makeup but I'm afraid I'll get hooked on something else I can't afford. I'm a junkie, I'm tellin' ya.

Incidentally, that LCN order I placed yesterday has already started it's shipping process, I got a note from UPS today. Krikey!!! That was fast!

The moral of today's story is, though, that BB Couture for Men's Intake Valve looked AWESOME on my moms! Check this out!

Intake Valve is an odd color. Sometimes it's lavender-grey, sometimes pinkish grey...it's a Silly Putty kind of color. It turned out to be a very nice neutral on her but she tired of it quickly. This was helped along by her rather brilliant neurosurgeon taking a big jump back from it with a scornful expression and declaring "I like red" when asked if he didn't like it. Now her nails are red. Estee Lauder Jungle Red which I would show you but you can't get it any more. It looks really good on her, too.

Intake Valve performed well, just as I have come to trust BB Coutures will. It went on nicely, covered in two coats, was even and lovely. Mom's nails are really strong so I only need to do:

1. 1 coat Seche Base Coat
2. 2 coats BB Couture Intake Valve
3. 1 coat Seche Vite Top Coat

She doesn't need any other help and for God's sake doesn't need a nail strengthener.

Here's another shot of it:

Hm. That could be better, but you get the idea. Moms loved having her picture taken, too! She used to be a hand and shoe model...You can see why.

I hope you like this one! I did!

Happy Talons!

Hard Candy Sky

K, this was weeks ago. I'm so far behind and I apologize again. I've just had a great deal going on. The Talons have been tricked out and I'm taking pics but motivation has been an issue and time...I'm a bad blogger.

If you're reading this, hopefully you're forgiving me already. Something I have a note to myself to figure out: how to schedule my posts...I know there is a way. Oh yes. It will be mine.

K, and the blog is a major fail on not buying any more polish front. I just did major hauls from the Nordstrom sale, foregoing the MAC brushes I thought about getting in favor of the 4 new Deborah Lippmann's and some Butters. Wallis, ladies and gentils hommes. Oh yes. Sparkly olive green glitter? Hells to the hell yeah. Am I picturing this over the Deborah Lippmann Billionaire (a hunter green)? Yep. Am I picturing it over black? Yahhuh! That is if it's a sheer jelly with sparkle and not opaque...we shall see. However, Wallis will be a while coming, she going to take a bit to ship. Then I hit up the BB Couture new limited editions...Not sure about some but the ones I AM sure about I'm super excited for so...I had to give up the men's wild west collection. Again. But it will be mine. **curses self for not picking up on the specials a month ago. Idiot.** I NEED Bandito. The SB would be proud. ... That would be a nod out to a friend who will never read this blog in a zillion years, unless I could figure out how to polish his Maine Coon Cat's claws in something...like Glampyre, maybe. No wimpy colors for a cat named Sandor!

Also...and yeah, I know, like that's not enough, I hit LCN Cosmetics. I had never heard of this brand but they're doing magnetics. You know, the fabled and impossible to get Lancome magnetics that came out a couple years ago? Yeah, like that, only cheaper. I went for the whole "Starter Set" which was mega-yen, but it also came with all 8 colors and both magnets. I can't wait. While you know I'm not a big fan of nail art, this is a whole other animal. I did a google on them and they were clear on the animal cruelty thing, though I have to admit, these are so awesome I had them in the cart before I checked. Only images of tortured bunnies in my head made me stop before I pulled the trigger.

My credit card is actually weeping, as will I be when I see the bill, what with a new smartphone on there, wifi for the house plus whatever stupidity I downloaded to my nook....I'm sorry. The slowly diminishing book clutter in my world makes me do these things. The nail polish thing...that's just psychosis. I seriously want the rest of the a England collection as well, but I need to make a couple payments before I do anything like that. Hello. And of course, the awesome Scrangie, who I turn to first for all things polish, has already got her talons tricked out in the Rescue Beauty previews. I will be pre-ordering just as soon as I get the email. **shakes fist at Ji Baek again. WHY do you do such fantastic colors/polishes? Why can't they suck?? *sigh* ** Check her blog on this very site to see.

So. With all that blather said, I'm getting caught up.

Hard Candy Sky. OK...if you've been reading this blog, you know that even though I can do cheaper polishes with a lot less hassle, I luvs my salon/premier brands. I just do. I find the colors are more interesting, probably because you have to work harder to get them. Only true devotees and rebels are going to wear some of the stuff I put out here, I think. At least in my small midwestern town. So, to find a fun and very cheap, relatively, cruelty free brand at my not even awesome local Wal-Hell? Yeah. Hand Candy is a Leaping Bunny recipient so we're all good there, and it has really great colors. I have tried some of the make-up and meh. The polish though....it's pretty cool. So I give to you Sky:

Which still looks green in this picture. I assure it is not. Pssht. Crap. I think I went through this in a post before. Let's try this yet again.

Still greenish and slightly blurry, but you can see the blue flash there...that may have been my idea with the blur to start with. It's really a very pretty pastel, and I'm not a big pastel fan.

Here we go again:

Yep, no. Still looks green. Crap. I have one last offering:

Poo. Well, trust me. It's blue.

I do not remember the whole of this mani, but knowing me, it was

1 coat Seche Base Coat
1 coat Nailtiques 2
2 coats Seche Vite Rebuild - which has transformed my nails with consistent use, I'm not kidding. Nail peelage? Gone. Now...I've been taking a vitamin as well, for healthy skin, hair and nails, so that may have done some of the work here.
2 coats Hard Candy Sky
1 coat Seche Vite Top Coat

I do remember that this was slightly chalky going on, which was weird, and that it was somewhat troublesome to apply. But the end result was just what I wanted: edgy, light and airy and pretty. I'm getting better at painting close to my cuticles, check it out....


So, I'm very sorry I didn't get a better pic of this. It was hard color to capture. I think the last one is truest to form, but...none of them are great. I believe this was sunlight through a window.

It wore...OK. I've seen better. My nails are getting a serious work out these days as I'm doing all the cooking and dishes and whatever bathroom cleaning is getting done. I've been slacking lately on that, which is gross, I know, but dammit, I get tired too! The kitchen is spotless as usual so shut up. Spend more time in there anyways. **grumbles**

If anyone would like to see a bottle shot, let me know and I will post one. You can either email me or leave a comment.

Happy Polishing!

Wow am I behind.

And I apologize. I have some great swatches and some great colors and I have things to say about them and...I can't get motivated. I am going through an odd time in my life. If I could be left alone to be a hermit, I'd be perfectly and sublimely happy. This is not strange for me, but strange for right now. I'm not sure how to explain that.

I have some swatches of BB Couture Intake Valve, which I put on Moms and it looked really nice! The swatches are of her talons so I really want to post them. She enjoyed having the pictures taken, which was really cute. But then...she went to see one of her doctors, she's been very ill, and he kind of snorted and when she asked if he didn't like it said "I like red". Hm. So now they are Estee Lauder Jungle Red, which I will not swatch on here because I've promised you not to show you colors you can't get any longer. It IS a great red, though.

I also have swatches of the mesmerizing Chanel Peridot. Cruelty free, Chanel. Who knew? I did a little digging and according to their website, they are all good. Though, I have to confess, I'm leaning more towards looking for the leaping bun simply because Leaping Bunny first of all, engages veterinarians in their decision making process and also because they are not politically motivated. Check them out: leapingbunny.org I think they may be a little strict and that's a good thing.

Then I have many many swatches of A England Tristam because it's mesmerizing and because I have a new phone and therefore a new camera and am trying to learn to do more than accidentally back out of the camera. Yeah. You should be wishing me all kinds of luck with that because I need it. It really is great polish and it really did go on beautifully, but that needs to go in the post when I finally get it written.

I am currently sporting Zoya Tanzy, which is a firey orange and looks way better on me than I would have ever anticipated. Gingery hues tend to be total rubbish on me but this one is working. It's gorgeous, truly. One day I will actually get in gear and show you.

I just wanted to let you know I wasn't forgetting you. I've just had motivational issues. I want to sit in front of my computer, for sure, but playing Dragon Age: Origins and the two Witcher games and otherwise being a total geekazoid, but not so much blogging. Which is a pity, because I honestly enjoy my blog...I don't know what my problem is. I'm in a slump.

Just weird nail musings

I was complaining last post that my nails are too long for dark colors right now. Remember that I had missed my last mani because BMWWU and I were both sick? Yeah, we never really got around to rescheduling so I'm now close to a month with no mani and I will not re-shape them myself. I am a firm believer in knowing where you fail and I fail at that. I can do my mothers? I can't do mine. So. I am living with these things. My ponderence is, though...while we feel free to do all kinds of things with our talons, how do we each decide what we can and can't do? I mean, we can DO anything, right? I can put blood red on these things. They're so long they'll look like they are dripping wet blood, but I could do it. I guess...our nails make a statement about us and we choose what to do with them to help make that statement. Look at these:

Yeah. WAY too long for me. I work on a computer. Would the A England Tristam have been too much in it's navy holo drool-worthy amazingness? In my view, yes. I opted for a powder blue with a royal blue flash:

That looks seafoam. Lord. It's not. It's blue. It's Hard Candy Sky. This is sunlight through the window....and I don't know why it looks green. Let's try that again, shall we?

That's a little better. Check out the drunken monkey overspray there...derrrr. I reiterate: this is why I get professional manicures.

So...I felt that I HAD to go lighter because of that length. Maybe I'm just sensitive. I don't know. Any thoughts out there?

That is so weird...tomorrow morning I should be able to get a desk shot with the lighting that shows all colors as they actually are. It's bugging me. I don't want to be bugged by it.

In all seriousness...I almost went nude for this mani! But I look at these swatches and think...I could have gone as vampy as I want. They're not that bad. That's actually a great length if you don't do anything with your hands. So...I don't know. Just random musings. But what do you all think? Would a dark vampy red have been too much on this length? I think...I guess there is a part of me that thinks that there is a line about nail length...you're judged for it. Too long becomes unkempt looking to me, on me. Mine are too long to be practical and there was a time this was the length I wanted, but now...it just seems too much. On others I think long nails can be great.

Here's another thing! Anyone else have curvature of the nails? Look at this:

I actually really love that they do that but Ruby Pumps pointed it out to me with something like wonder. Don't most nails do this? I like it about mine, it reminds me of claws. Yeah....claws! **scratch!** (In BB Couture Daisy Dweller again)

Introducing A England

Sometimes when you are surfing around you find the most amazing stuff. I present to my tiny but hopefully faithful followers: A England. I think it's A England. It might be A-England, but regardless, it's awesome.

This is an indie brand from...imagine this, England. It has a small line of colors right now, but the ones they have are inCREDible. This collection is called "The Mythicals" and all named after the Arthurian legends, something close to my heart anyways, so that alone is a selling point. We're talking about someone who just bought lipsticks off Sephora because they were called Howl and Growl. Yes. Not the wisest of people. Growl is dark eggplant matte. I'm thinking...with a little really light iridescent lipgloss I might actually be able to wear this...it's Illamasqua so we know it will be good. I digress. Again.

Here is the haul:

I went for the base and top coats because as we know, I'm kind of operating under the notion that some polishes will perform better with their own stuff supporting them. The Base Coat is called The Knight and the Top Coat is called The Shield. Awesome. Those will be the top of the little pine tree o polish I made there. Then starting with the pretty light tealy blue and working r-l and down we have: Galahad, Morgan Le Fay, King Arthur, Lady of the Lake, Lancelot and Tristam.
Here's a label shot, which you won't be able to read, but you can see what the bottles look like:

I don't know, you can read them.
These are so pretty I about started drooling and kicking myself for not just closing my eyes and buying the whole stupid collection. Morgan Le Fay is really a shimmer top coat, which is designed to go over any of their creams. Lady of the Lake and Tristam do not need that, they're holos and totally gorgeous. Tristam is blue, presumably because of his sad relationship with Isolde? :D I don't know but I have a swatch of that, more on him in a sec. Lancelot is black. And I mean, BLACK. Black cat, black sportscar, tar black. I was surprised, I hadn't remembered ordering that, probably it looked amazing with Morgan Le Fay. In which case, shouldn't that be named Guinevere? Ha. Told ya I like Arthurian legends. I can make cheeseball jokes all day. In checking to make sure I had the right linky at the bottom here, I checked this out, and it's "black red garnet". Hm. In the bottle he looks BLACK BLACK BLACK. I'm intrigued! We shall see!

A England happens to be running a free world-wide shipping if you just buy something from the collection sale right now. If I didn't already have Zoya and BB Couture hauls (Not to mention 3 Illamasqua lipsticks because I'm stupid) on the way, I'd totally go back for more. I signed up for the newsletter or whatnot so I will try to keep that posted because from what I've seen already, I might have a new fave. However, as this is posted to run through January(!), I will probably be back for the rest. Read on and you will see why I say that.

I couldn't take it, I knew I had to get the BB Couture chipped mess off and Tristam (my favorite hero of the legends anyways) was calling to me. Try me! Try me!! I'll save you from nail boredom! Who cares if you have talons any raptor, including the veloci variety, would envy? You can do dark vampy polish on claws and not look...just bad. DO IT!
So I did. One nail because I couldn't take it.

Check this shit out:

Now...what I want you to keep in mind is this is ONE coat, over the magnificent but day glo bright Daisy Dweller from BB Couture. It covered it and I mean right now. This stuff is OPAQUE. You can see a little Daisy Dweller at the cuticle because I wasn't being careful. My nails are WAY too long to wear anything this dark right now. It was so amazing I had to get another shot. Actually, I have 4, I'm just trying to get you the best.

Yeah. Against my black pants. This is sunlight through the window. Couldn't you just die?? You can keep your stinking Starry Starry Night from Essie. I'll take this baby. This isn't just a starry night, this is a starry night with a fractured Aurora Borealis all over itl Can't wait to wear this for real. It's like, Nfu-Oh level holo...without the sketchy animal cruelty issue, which is why I don't put Nfu-Ohs on here. Love them, they're amazing, but are the critters safe? Dunno. So I haven't bought any more and I haven't worn them since I made this choice. I did email A England before I ordered, they are cruelty free
BUT!
Gorgeous. And the coverage and application? Shhyahh! The formula is amazing. We shall see if the others colors are as great. This could obviously be a one coater. It's definitely back-up bottle worthy and I never say that.

If you're interested in checking them out yourself, to the best of my knowledge these are only available from their website and you'll have to deal with the BPS conversion but look at that again and tell me you care. I'm waiting....that's what I thought.

www.a-england.co.uk

Something cute and nice on the website is that the founder, Adina Bodana, or at least I'm assuming she's at least guiding this process, puts on little tips of things you can try with the polish. For example, they suggest deepening Lancelot but alternating it with Camelot, which is the true black of the collection. . If you go to the about page, the end of Ms. Bodana's bio says the exact same feeling about nail polish that I have: "Painting her nails through the bitter sweet stages in life has been a constant moment of enjoyment and empowerment. Sometimes a way to start a conversation, then share an impression, a smile, a story." Yep. That is also why I write this blog and couldn't have said it better. I like it. I think you can expect to hear more about A England from me!

And check this out! http://www.a-england.co.uk/content/somedays This is a little page about what your mood may be and a color suggestion. That's fun! Just found that!

Happy Polishing, ladies of the lakes!