Barielle The Keys

barielle

Today I have some swatches of the new Barielle summer collection. Its called The Keys. It's made up of three pink shades, a jelly red, a shimmery orange and a greenish yellow.  The shades aren't colors I'd normally be drawn too but seeing swatches of them I decided to try them out anyway! I was pleasantly surprised by most of them.  These are all swatched with two coats and no top coat. :)

Paradise in the Tropics is a bright fuchsia.  I don't have quick access to Barielle colors so I only have a handful but the shine on these is pretty incredible.  I love how bright this one is!


Then we have Barefoot in Bermuda, a hot pink shade.  It looks VERY similar to Paradise in the Tropics but for me it was more pink and creamy.  Paradise in the Tropics had an almost jelly feel to it, though it was opaque. This one didn't. It's also a little brighter and a little less deep.


Then we have Miami Heat.  This one is a bright red jelly!


Next up is Hawaiian Sunset, a shimmery orange.  Reminded me a bit of China Glaze Cross Iron 360 or Butter London Torch.  It's brighter though and the shimmer is very obvious.   I don't love oranges but it's a really pretty color!


Then comes Panama Pina Colada.  This one didn't love me!  It's a greenish tinged bright yellow.  Great color for summer just not great on my skin!


Finally we come to Topless in St Tropez.  This one is a coral toned pink with silver shimmer.  In the bottle this one read as a hot mess to me.  I was genuinely scared of what it would look like on my nail.  But my fears were unfounded.  Even though it looks like it has grey streaks of shimmer in the bottle, it blends together for a flawless finish on the nail.  Shimmery and pretty!  Which is your favorite?


**These products were sent to me for my honest review. I have not been compensated for my opinion**

Back to school...


It's that magical time of year again!! The time when all the kiddos go back to school and if you're lucky enough to be off work on a weekday (which I unfortunately never am!) you can actually go to the pool or the beach or wherever you want to really without fighting a crowd.  Rather nice really.  It also means fall is on the way which makes me sad and happy at the same time. I truly love fall, I think it's my favorite season but I do miss the fun and warmth of summer.  At any rate I did some back to school nail art to celebrate today. :)  I used a new Born Pretty stamping plate to create the middle two nails and I was surprised at how crisp the images are.  I think that some other brands of plates have more delicate patterns but I've also had some which are etched too deeply or too shallow and I didn't have that issue with this one.  It was super easy to use.


This is the plate I used.  I made the graph paper and then added the equations with the plate. :)  Other than the index nail and the dots on my composition notebook on the pinky finger, all the colors used were by Zoya (listed below). The index which is meant to be a chalkboard I used my Ciate chalkboard nails kit for.  I really love the idea of that kit but the pens are just too large and it never seems to work out for me. :/ I suppose I'll have to keep messing with it until I get it right. I hope you enjoy these back to school nails!! I had loads of fun making them! :)











**Colors used for this design include: Zoya Purity, Raven, Geneviev, Rooney, Yummy, Alexa, and Neely, Ciate Chalkboard Paint and China Glaze The Outer Edge.
This plate was provided to me for my honest review. I have not been compensated for my opinion.**

Zoya Entice Collection

2014

Today I have the other half of the new Zoya fall collection.  These are the creams and they make up the Entice collection.  I REALLY super loved the colors in the Ignite collection and while I liked the colors in this set, I didn't find them to be as "WOW" as the others.  My favorite of the bunch were Veronica and Ryan,  Above we have Nyssa, a milk chocolate brown.  There have been a load of browns released by Zoya recently and I have about 10 of their browns already but this wasn't a dupe for any so that's a win!  All of these are swatched with two coats, no top coat and as you can see while there isn't anything special about the color of Nyssa, the formula is pretty spectacular. 

 

Next up is Genevieve, a cool leather grey.

Then comes Ryan, a classic indigo. Ryan was originally released during NYFW for Timo Weiland's AW14 Collection.  It was one of my favorites. It's SO shiny and glossy and really flattering.


Then we have Margo, a modern red plum.



And my other favorite of the collection, Veronica, a brilliant red wine.  This was another super shiny one.  I love how bright it is!


Last we have Claire, a warm, rich burgundy.  I don't know why but for some reason when I photographed this it looked sort of splotchy.  I can assure you this is lighting and not the quality of the polish.  Like the others, Claire was opaque and flawless in two coats.  It's a nice deep red with a little hint of orange in there. 

 Which Zoya Entice shade is your must have?  You can purchase these as well as the Ignite collection at Zoya.com!


**These shades were provided to me for my honest review. I have not been compensated for my opinion.**



Zoya Ignite Collection Part Two

entice

Today I have part two of the Ignite collection by Zoya today.  Yesterday I showed you Autumn, India and Teigan and today we'll do Yuna, Remy and Sansa! We're going to start with Yuna, shown above in a standard, natural light.  One thing I found more prevalent with these three than the others, and especially with Yuna is that they have a color shift. I wore Yuna around for a few days to check wear time (excellent) and removal (not too bad and no staining!) and depending on where she was she looked deep green, blue or greyish.  Zoya describes her as a warm grey with copper and gold liquid metal. Just to prove my point in the below picture the lighting is exactly the same I've just shifted my angle slightly.


Where above she looks more of a light greyish blue now it's closer to a dark grey and the shimmer is a lot more noticeable. In indoor light (which I neglected to take a picture of! Sorry!!) she looks really deep and takes on a slight greenish tint.  While I may not know what color to call her I do know that she's totally gorgeous. One of my favorites in the collection for sure. 

Here she is with a matte top coat.  I'm a sucker for suede's and this collection is perfection if you like dual finishes.  All of these work wonderfully as suede's AND a lot of them have a little color shift so they really have dimension and depth.  I think Yuna looks much more blue grey when matted! It really reminds me of stone.  Next we'll look at Sansa...


Here she is in standard, natural light. Zoya calls Sansa a deep eggplant with a gold metallic sparkle and its a very fitting description.  I'm not big into purple tones but this one is really deep and warm which is nice because it didn't make me look pale or goth or anything like that. It was quite flattering.  You can't super tell that the shimmer here is gold but when you take it out in the sunshine...



...it REALLY lights up.  I wish I could capture the real effect of these because they're honestly one of the most shimmery, glossy, sparkly collections I have.  I like that they used gold and copper shimmer in these because they really do remind you of fire and your nails look so alive!  It's a noticeable effect!  You can also see a bit more here the depth and the jelly-ish effect.  They are all totally opaque though.


Last up let's look at Sansa matted.  I really love how perfectly these all take to a matte finish.  GREAT for anyone who loves a suede finish.


Finally we have Remy.  I thought Remy would be my favorite, and she is a beautiful color but there were a few I liked more!! Zoya describes her as a brilliant indigo with copper and gold liquid metallic.  I can agree with this but again I felt there was a little shift to green in there.  It may be just the way the gold glints off the blue but it's definitely there.


You can see it a little better here, especially if you look at the bottle.  This one reminds me a bit of Zoya Charla although it's much  more sparkly.  I think these are meant to be metallic's but unless you're dead in the sun (like above) they really don't read as metallic.  They also don't have that streaky effect metallic's can have.


Here is Remy with the matte top coat.  So pretty!  Which of these is your favorite? Do you prefer them matte or shiny? 


**These polishes were provided to me for my honest review. I have not been compensated for my opinion**

Zoya Ignite Collection Part One

autumn


I'm so excited today to be sharing these swatches of the new Zoya Ignite collection for Fall 2014.  I have loads of polishes and plenty of Zoya's but I can honestly say I think this is my favorite collection so far.  Every single shade I swatched made my jaw drop, EVEN the ones I thought I'd hate.  I felt the Entice collection, while filled with stunning colors as well, was less crazy beautiful but over all both collections are really solid.  These are must haves in my opinion.  I'm swatching the Ignite collection in two segements, so you can see some pictures of the finishes in various lights and both matte as well as standard. We'll start with Autumn, India and Teigan.

This is Autumn with a matte top coat.  Zoya describes Autumn as an orangey copper metallic and that really sums it up.  It's like a shiny, pretty new penny.  One thing I love about this collection is how it has the ability to change in different lights.  I found this to be especially true of Yuna, which I'm swatching for you tomorrow.  However, they all look sort of warmer and deeper in indoor lights while when you take them outdoors they really start to show why the collection is called Ignite.


Here's Autumn in the sun.  These are SO SUPER SHIMMERY.  It's like your nails are alight.  I felt overall these reminded me of gem stones because they're really shimmery and have a great depth to them.  Autumn was one I was worried about as I'm not big into oranges and in the bottle it looked weirdly metallic.  On the nail however, it turned out to be quite a beauty.



Next up we have India.  Zoya describes it as a deep red but I felt it leaned magenta.  It really reminded me of one of my favorite Zoyas, Blaze from the Ornate collection.  Of course India has no holographic glitter but she's deep and shimmery and lovely.  These give the appearance almost of a jelly with suspended glitter but they're very opaque.  It's a unique finish because that depth is there and they have that very glossy jelly type feel but you can almost get away with one coat on many of these.


Then there's the added bonus that when you matte them they make AMAZING suede's.  It's almost like they were meant for it.  Even though she's a deep red I felt India was very flattering and didn't come across too vampy on me. I've heard from some people that Teigan and India are very similar and despite the fact that in the bottle they look VERY close in shade....


There is most definitely no truth to this!  Teigan is a described by Zoya as a pink toned violet.  I found her to be a bright berry pink.  I think of these three she was my least favorite but again it's a gorgeous shade with LOADS of shimmer.  You can see a lot more here how jelly these look and Teigan for me was also much sheerer than the others in the collection. While all five of the remaining Ignite colors were mostly opaque in one coat (though I've swatched all with two coats), Teigan is still just a SMIDGE sheer even with two coats.


She looks less sheer after a matte top coat but if you look super close you can still just barely catch a glimpse of smile line on my index finger.  I did like this color as well but it's probably my least favorite of the whole Ignite collection.  Pinks just aren't really my thing!  Which of these three is your favorite? Do you prefer them matte or with a shiny finish?


*These polishes were provided to me for my honest review. I have not been compensated for my opinion*

She's no picnic...


It's the final day of the Summer challenge with The Digital Dozen.  The weeks leading up to these always feel hectic and then it feels like they fly by so fast!  Despite the struggles I had with this week I'm sort of sad to see the week end.  I suppose that may be because summer is on it's way out as well though! At any rate my last design is another of my favorite summer activities; picnicking! I did a little repeating watermelon pattern on my index finger and then I have some bread (or a sandwich!), the picnic blanket with everyones FAVORITE picnic guests ;) and finally some cheese. I hope you enjoyed summer week with us!! What are some of your favorite summertime activities?

In just a few hours you'll be sitting around a campfire making delicious hot Schmoes...


Summer week continues today with these camping nails! And look....no more shoddy cuticles!! *Happy dance* :P  So one thing I love to do in the early and late summer is camp.  Haven't been yet this year as I've been quite busy with other things but hopefully I will before it's over!  I really love roughing it with tents and whatnot.  No caravans or cabins or any of that. I tried to cover the most common camping items here even though I don't really eat hotdogs (vegetarian!) or s'mores (chocolate, yuck >.<)!  My index finger is meant to be leaves in the sky and then I have a s'more with a toasted marshmallow, a campfire with roasting marshmallows, and then of course the hotdog.  I hope you enjoy them! What are your favorite camping foods? Check out the other girls mani's below!

Wastin away in Margaritaville...


It's day three of Summer week with The Digital Dozen and it's the LAST day you have to look at my terrible cuticles. *Happy dance* :)  Although a quick paraffin dip here really did wonders and I forgot how relaxing they are.  One of my favorite winter nail treats. :)  At any rate today I decided to do kind of a double meaning on this one.  The first is obvious, summer is all about cold drinks and long nights!  The second is because every year I go to Myrtle Beach for one of my holiday weeks and I always end up at Margaritaville!  I did a version of these sans salt but come on, what's a margarita without salt? I hope you enjoy them and don't forget to check out what the other ladies came up with by clicking the links below!!

Aloha!


It's day two of the Digital Dozen summer challenge!  I had to do this design today because I'm trying to cover everything summer and every summer I go on at least one holiday.  This year I've been on two and coming up I'm taking a trip to Hawaii! So Hawaiian nails HAD to happen.  This is still pre-manicure so again I apologize for the shoddy cuticles!  I felt they came out rather nice although I waffled a bit on the color scheme.  I settled on this neon gradient in the end and I liked how it sort of emulates a sunset but it's also quite bright and happy!  Do you holiday in the summer? Where's your favorite location? Don't forget to check out the other ladies art below!!

The Digital Dozen does...Summer!


It's time for another Digital Dozen challenge!! This week the challenge is Summer and I struggled with this so much at first but then I ended up with more ideas than I could handle!! I wanted to capture all the great things about summer while still keeping it relatively simple.  You're going to have to excuse my nubs and terrible cuticles this week. Unfortunately, I was recently diagnosed with CFS/ME and it's made this week quite miserable.  Tests, doctor visits, lack of sleep and numerous medication changes have just absolutely wrecked my nails, my skin and my motivation.  After I completed my last design for this week one of my nails actually cracked halfway down the nail plate for...well basically no reason whatsoever.  I did get a paraffin dip about halfway through and it helped some but at any rate...my apologies. So these nails are meant to look like pool water.  What's better about summer than sitting around the pool with a cold drink and a good book?  Or taking a dip on a really hot day?  Not a whole lot in my book!


After I did these I added some glitter for a "sparkling" water kind of look. I didn't love it as much as the other but I thought I'd show you how it looked anyway!! Which way do you prefer it?

Don't forget to check out the other ladies looks by clicking the links below!! :)


Now you sea me...



These nails are sort of a preview of what's coming up next week!! They're a bit plain but what they really are is some brainstorming art I did while planning out some mani's.  Do you ever do that?  I just lay down some framework and then try to figure how it's going to come together and which way to lay it all down for a complete look.  It's sort of like a rough draft or a blueprint.  I like to do it when I'm trying to visualize a new look but can't quite figure how I can get it to come out just right.  I'm not the best at art work...lol...drawing and painting are NOT my strong suits so I often have to take a different approach to things.  Don't forget to check in next week for the final look! :)

Zoya Naturel Deux Collection Part Two

vegan


Today I have the second half of the new Zoya Naturel Deux collection for you. These are the rose tones.  I'm not a huge fan of pinks or reds but I found these dusty rose colors quite flattering on me.  This one is Madeline, the lightest of the three.  Like the browns I found the formula on these really nice.  They're creamy and opaque and dry to a shiny finish.  I have top coated these for swatching purposes with Deborah Lippmann Addicted to Speed.


Here is a comparison of Madeline and Aubrey, the mid toned of the group.  There's a pretty large difference in color between these two but I found that Marnie, the deepest shade was much closer to Aubrey.  At any rate you can see that they're both still nice rosy mauve tones!


I think Aubrey was my favorite of these three. It's a nice warm shade and while it's deep it's not so dark as to be vampy.  It's perfect for fall!  Probably helps that my BFF is named Aubrey though! :p Here's a comparison of Aubrey and Marnie, the deepest shade in the collection...



I think this one is really necessary because it illustrates that Marnie isn't just a darker shade in the color spectrum, she really has a different tone as well.  Zoya describes her as a warm plum creme and she is definitely distinctly more purple than the previous two.  She's also dustier to me.


It's a very pretty shade but it just seemed less warm to me than the other two!  All in all I think these are a really solid fall collection.  The colors were all flattering and they have a nice warm tone to them.  Which one was your favorite?



**These polishes were provided to me for my honest review. I have not been compesnated for my opinion**

Zoya Naturel Deux Part One...

swatch

Today I have some swatches of Zoya's new Naturel Deuz collection.  It's a collection of six polishes; three are a neutral brown tone and three are a neutral rose tone.  I LOVE neutral polishes so I was really excited to get these.  They don't disappoint!  While all the colors didn't really work on my skin tone as well as I'd hoped I think all in all it's a great collection. These are all two coats and while they do dry shiny and smooth, I have used my Deborah Lippmann Addicted to Speed topcoat for these swatches. I honestly think that for most of them you could actually get away with one medium thick coat BUT I used two thin instead.  So the first round today will be the brown tones.  I recall when looking at them they're sort of toned as caramel, coffee, and milk chocolate. The above is Spencer and it's a creamy caramel or cappuccino tone.



It's light but warm and really flattering.  It's really great for a muted manicure (like an office type setting!) and I can see it being a really nice color for fall.  The other nice thing about these shades is that you could easily pair it up with other colors from your collection.  Next we'll move on to what I think is a milk chocolate shade and what Zoya calls toasted almond; Chanelle.  Here's a comparison for you of Spencer and Chenelle:



You can see that it's noticeable darker than Spencer, but still has that nice warm tone to it.  Again this is two coats but I really think, especially with Chanelle and Emilia that one coat could be plenty.


Still super shiny and smooth and incredibly easy to apply.  These seemed a little thinner than my other polishes but they applied like a dream. I think this was my least favorite of the browns just because it didn't seem to flatter my skin as much but it's a nice color for fall if you have the right skin tone!



Here's a comparison of Chanelle and Emilia.  Emilia turned out to be my favorite of the brown tones! It's a deep chocolate brown which reminded me of a nice dark coffee!!  I used one coat of Emilia for this particular shot because I wanted to demonstrate the incredible opacity of these.  You can see a LITTLE baldness on my middle finger at the base but over all it's pretty nice coverage for a cream.  


Here she is with two coats.  Such a gorgeous color! I like that it's deep but still quite warm.  Again no issues with application. These all went on super smoothly and dried to a nice shiny finish (they are top coated in these swatches!).  I think Emilia was my favorite this round! What about you? Which shades will you be picking up?




***These colors were provided to me for my honest review. I have not been compensated for my opinion.***

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