NOTD: Liquid Sky Lacquer It's Wine O'Clock Somewhere and Zoya Arlo

And since I'm on fire this evening, here's my current mani, Liquid Sky Lacquer It's Wine O'Clock Somewhere and Zoya Arlo. It's Wine O'clock Somewehere is a slightly dusky reddish purple holo, which really compliments Arlo, the glittery Zoya Pixie Dust polish. I also added some nail stickers that I got in Superdrug the other day.

Festive Nails Part 6 - Green and Sparkly Like a Christmas Tree

This mani definitely reminds me of Christmas trees. I used Zoya Holly with Zoya Rina on top. Rina is a green shimmer polish with loads of green bar glitter, and also some blue and holographic ones. It looks like lots of very fine pine needles in a bottle.

It took only one coat of each polish to achieve fully opaque covergae which is fantastic. Unfortunately the staying power was less impressive, I had a few small chips in the first 24 hours and it pretty much all peeled off on day 3.

Zoya polishes aren't available in the UK (as far as I know), I buy mine on eBay. Holly and Rina were part of last year's Gems & Jewels collection but they are still available for around $6 to $8 each. You get 15 ml for your money which is the standard size for these professional polishes (Zoya, OPI, Orly, China Glaze).

See lots more pictures after the jump!

Festive Nails Part 3 - Red With Silver Glitter and Stars

I have another glittery combo to show you. This time it's Zoya Sarah with Topshop Rising Star on top.

I used two coats of Zoya Sarah, but in all fairness, one would've been sufficient. It's a great polish and the colour is gorgeous too. I then added two coats of Topshop Rising Star, a clear polish with silver/holo glitter and stars in it. I was actually pleasantly surprised by this as there was plenty of glitter and the stars were pretty easy to scoop out.

The manicure lasted on me for 4 days with not much chipping, so I was very pleased with it, and it was so glittery, I couldn't stop looking at my nails.

Zoya Sarah came out 2 years ago, but is still available on eBay and also from Zoya's website. It costs $8 for 15 ml. Topshop Rising Star is a new addition to their nail polish line, I'm not sure if it's permanent or not, they seem to be bringing out new shades constantly. It costs £6 for 8 ml.

See more pictures after the jump!

Illamasqua Nail Duo Bright - Glitterati and Viridian

I bought this set of two Illamasqua nail polishes from Debenhams, named Nail Duo Bright. The set includes Viridian, a metallic peacock green and Glitterati, a glittery plum shade.

My first impression was that neither of these polishes looked as bright or glittery in person as they did in the stock picture on the Debenhams website. Fair enough though, things never do. I still think naming them as "bright" is a bit misleading because they're not.

Viridian is rather dull, darker and a lot less metallic than I expected, even based on what it looks like in the bottle. I ended up jazzing it up a little by Zoya Maisie, a blue/green flakie polish.

Glitterati is very misleading in the bottle as you can see loads of sparkles, but they mostly end up being sandwiched between the layers you apply (I did two) and also just floating inside the polish. The end result was much less glittery than I thought it would be.

Both manicures took 2 coats to look opaque, the formula was nice, not too runny or thick and they applied evenly. Both started chipping slightly in the first 24 hours, even though these polishes are supposed to be "extremely hardwearing and chip-resistant" according to Illamasqua. Once I applied Zoya Maisie on top of Viridian, it lasted really well (3 more days), but that credit goes to Zoya Maisie. Glitterati was very badly chipped on me by the end of day 3.

The set costs £22 from Debenhams (currently £19.80 in the sale - ends tonight!) and interestingly £24 on the Illamasqua website. Single polishes cost £13.50 and as both are full size (15 ml each), this is a good value set. (I can't actually see Glitterati on the website, maybe it's exclusive to the set?) Whether I'd recommend it is another question. If you don't mind that they're not as bright as advertised and aren't chip resistant like Illamasqua claim, then I would. I'm myself a bit disappointed with this set, and since these are my first Illamasqua polishes, not sure this was the best introduction to the brand's nail polishes.

See lots more pictures including swatches after the jump!

My Nail Polish Stash and Storage Video (and Lots of Pictures!)

I've spent a couple of days re-organising my nail polish storage and creating a spreadsheet, so I know exactly where every single one of them are, so I though I would show you the fruit of my hard work. Also I enjoy looking at other people's stashes, so hope you enjoy it too.



I have also taken pictures of the contents of each box and separate packs, so if you're interested, have a look! No individual pictures, but I did do a rather extensive series on my nail polish stash last November, so click here if you'd like to check it out.

See lots more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Nails Inc. Burlington Arcade + Zoya Chloe

I picked up loads of Nails Inc. polishes from TKMaxx over the past couple of months, one of them was Burlington Arcade, a pretty burgundy shade. I decided to spice it up a bit and layer Zoya Chloe, a sheer pink flakie with orange, green and pink flakes. Here's the result:

I did two coats of Burlington Arcade and one coat of Chloe. This manicure lasted on me for the average 2 days without chipping. I love how the light catches on the flakes, it's very pretty.

Nails Inc. polishes normally retail for £11 for 10 ml and Zoya polishes cost around £8 (or more like $8 in the US) for 15 ml. The sets in TKMaxx cost £12.99 for 3 or £14.99 for 4 polishes, a bargain! I buy all my Zoya polishes on eBay from US sellers for about $7 a bottle (obviously you have to factor in the shipping cost and possible customs duty as well).

See more pictures after the jump!

This Month I...

Rather than just doing a post about products I've finished this month, I've decided to do more of a summary of the last month and all beauty related happenings. So here we go.

Last month I...

• finished 3 products. It's been a slow month, what can I say? At least it's more than nothing, eh? One of the products finished was Maybelline Lash Stiletto mascara which I really enjoyed using and would definitely consider repurchasing if I didn't already own 20+ mascaras. It also lasted for ages, I don't even remember when I first started using it, it didn't go bad or dry out, just simply ran out eventually. 
• have overspent by about £250 again. I think I should just up my budget, because it's clearly too low. Or maybe buy less make up and spend less money. (Crazy talk, I know.)
• have bought another lorry load of nail polishes. I know I'm crazy, I have been buying nail polish all the time, but there are so many pretty colours! I have also discovered a couple of brands (namely Glitter Gal and A-England) I'd not heard about before and they both happened to be holographic nail polishes which is my weakness. 

Here are some pictures of the pretty polishes I bought in April (some reviews will follow eventually, let me know in the comments which ones you're interested in the most). First up, A-England holo polishes:

Princess Tears, Lady Of The Lake, Ascalon, Tristram, Princess Sabra

See lots more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Zoya Adina

I haven't had much time lately to photograph and swatch products, so apologies for yet another nail polish post (these are quick and easy to do), but it is such a pretty one, I would've wanted to show it to you anyway. This is Zoya Adina from the Spring 2010 Reverie Collection.

Without flash

It's a gorgeous light purple and green duochrome, depending on how you look at it. My pictures don't really do it justice, but if you click on the link above, you can see some wonderful swatches Scrangie did.

I like Zoya polishes very much, they have a lovely consistency, this one took two coats, and they stay on my nails pretty well. I think I took the pictures on day 2 and there were no chips yet. I'm not too sure if this is available anywhere other than eBay, but I got mine from the US for a few pounds only, so if you're interested, it's well worth checking out.

See more pictures after the jump!

2011's Favourite Products: Part 3 - Lip and Nails

2011 was definitely the year of the lipstick for me. I purchased over 100 new lipsticks, spent a whole month wearing a different lipstick every day and really got into wearing bold, bright shades that I used to shy away from. So let's have a quick rundown of this year's favourite lipstick - in no particular order.

Guerlain Rouge G lipsticks have become one of my favourite lipsticks and this year out of them all Garconne and Girly, the two bright autumn shades were my absolutely favourites. Garconne is the most perfect red lipstick for me, and Girly is a fun bright pink shade.

Guerlain Rouge G in Girly (left) and Garconne (right)

Keep reading to see which other lipsticks made it into my favourites!

My Ever Growing Nail Polish Collection Part 2 - Zoya, Color Club, Mac, Nails Inc.

Here's the second part of my nail polish stash post, if you missed part one, you can check it out here. And don' forget to come back soon to see part three!

As you will see below, a lot of my nail polish sets are still in boxes, this is partly because I haven't used them yet (Color Club), or because they are actually more convenient to store like that. I apologise for being too lazy to remove them from the packs. If you really want to see detailed pictures, let me know in the comments and I'll see what I can do.

First up are my magnetic polishes, I only own these 3, and actually didn't like them much, so won't be buying more of them. I might just sell thm actually.

Nails Inc and 17 magnetic polishes

See more pictures of my stash after the jump!

NOTD: Rainbow Nails - Just For Fun

I decided to do something different last night and painted my nails in rainbow colours. I was going to add black crackle polish on top, but the colours were so pretty I decided to leave them as they are. What do you think?

With flash

I used the following nail polishes:
Thumb - Zoya Reva
Index finger - Zoya Tanzy
Middle finger - Mavala Gold Diamond
Ring finger - Zoya Apple
Little finger - China Glaze Blue Iguana

It would've been better if I had used a gold/yellow polish that didn't have glitter, but I don't own one, except a creme one, so I went for the Mavala one. Also Blue Iguana has a slightly different finish too, no flecks of shimmer in it like the Zoya polishes. Still, it's only for fun.

See more pictures after the jump!

Yet another NOTD with Zoya Sunshine Collection - Faye swatches and review

I have already reviewed 2 nailpolishes from Zoya's Sunshine Collection, you can check them out here and here, and now it's time to show you possibly the coolest, prettiest shade from the collection. Faye is a gorgeous purple shade with lots of gold shimmer, or in Zoya's description: "a bronzed mauve with purple and brown undertones flooded with bright gold sparkle". It is absolutely wonderful and a very unique shade. I love the purple and I love the gold shimmer.

As I have already reviewed two of these shades, I'm not going to repeat myself, please check out my previous reviews. I will show you lots of pictures and swatches though as the true colour of this gorgeous nail polish is very hard to capture just from one angle.

See more pictures and swatches after the jump!

Another NOTD with Zoya Sunshine Collection - Rica swatches and review

I'm really enjoying using my new nail polishes from Zoya's Sunshine collection and today I would like to show you Rica, a gorgeous coral with orange and pink sheen and gold sparkle. This is once again a shimmery metallic nail polish (not glitter!) and is a lovely lovely summer shade. Its texture and consistency is the same as Apple, so I will not repeat it, please check out my previous review here.

I really love it that it looks coral, orange and pink at the same time, it's such a gorgeous colour. Reminds me a bit of Mac's Bad Fairy although it's not a dupe by far (it is lighter), but it's almost duochrome like Bad Fairy and similarly pretty. Love it!

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Zoya Apple nailpolish - swatches and review

Today I'm wearing Zoya's new nailpolish called Apple from the Sunshine Collection which is a gorgeous apple green colour (hence the name) with gold sparkle. It is absolutely gorgeous, a very nice summer colour, bright and cheerful. I'm not a green person as in I don't often wear green clothes, make up or nail polish (I do recycle and try to do my best for the environment though!), but this kind of green I find very wearable. The formula is pretty good, quite runny, but the colour opaque enough to only require two coats. Dries fairly quickly too, but unfortunately as any other nail polish it didn't last for longer than 24 hours on me without chipping (my nails are very soft and bendy).

I'm not too sure where Zoya nail polishes are available to buy in the UK, I ordered mine (the whole set) from eBay. If you do know where they can be purchased in the UK, please let me know in the comments. They cost $8 each in the USA by the way which is a very good price for such a big bottle (I think it's 15 ml).

Finally I leave you with some more pictures after the jump!