Zoya Flash and Sparkle Collections Summer 2010

Well well well what have we here!? Another double collection from Zoya, which to me seems like bright cremes for summer days and shimmery jellies for summer nights. Hot, just like the season! I like that they went with deeper colors for the season, not light shades or pastels. By making the Flash brights, they keep the summer feeling for the cremes, and by making the Sparkle shimmery they catch a "night out on the town" summery feeling. Hot days, hot nights, hot nails.

Let's start with the cremes - the Flash collection. These remind me of the OPIs of last year which were inspired by those dumb tight pants which make everyone look fat except supermodels and wimpy boys. The Zoya creme formula is nice, maybe a touch thick, thin it with Zoya Renew or another thinner like my favorite, Poshe Polish Reviver, which is like 2 bucks or something for a pretty big bottle.

The sky blue, Zoya Robyn, is very close to OPI No Room for the Blues and Creative Hot Pop Blue (which was my better/cheaper alternative to OPI No Room for the Blues), but it is actually a shade darker.


Zoya Jancyn is a smooth citrus orange, I like it even though I don't, as a rule, like orange. I know OPI had In My Back Pocket - very similar though I believe that was a shade darker than Jancyn.


Zoya Perrie is a medium purple with some red in it, so it isn't much like Zoya Malia or OPI A Grape Fit. It's like a lighter Creative Studio 54 or MAC For Fun.


Zoya Jolene is a pretty standard candy pink. Very very close to China Glaze summer offering, Sugar High, which is much cheaper. It's a lot like Black Phoenix Croquet also, but hotter pink.


Zoya Maura is your standard hot red. I actually kinda like it, even though it's not my style, and is that kind of red I always shreik at when I see it on people's lips. It's a tad bluer than Zoya America, but not so different I see the point, really.


Zoya Dana: fuchsia pink. What's more to say? Cute. It's the same fuchsia pink we see everywhere but it's mercifully free of the omnipresent blurple shimmer, which makes this a kind of relief.


Onto Sparkle Collection - the SHIMMERS!!! The size and style of shimmer reminds me very much of OPI's Winter 2009 Collection I loved so much. These are nice, easily applied shimmery jellies (except for Zoya Nidhi, which is a creme). DELUMPCIOUS!!! They loosely follow the color array of the Flash Collection, with a couple replacements, but in a darker shade. Love!

Zoya Gilda is probably Dana's match, and even though it adds that tired blurple back to the fuchsia, it manages, with the jelly and the shimmer grain size, to be fresh and yummy. I guess it could be Jolene's match if Zoya Alegra is Dana's match, but Gilda matches Dana better than Jolene (see below).


Zoya Mimi is a deep royal purple shimmer jelly. Sweet.


Zoya Alegra, Dana's match? Who knows. Anyway this is a magenta with blurple shimmer. I like it.


Zoya Charla is, in my opinion, the masterpiece. It's like looking at tropical waters. It's an absolutely stunning teal my camera could not do justice. I just stared and stared at this, it is so beautiful. It absolutely glows on the nail, with an almost metallic shine. An instant addition to my top 10 polishes of all time.


Zoya Ivanka is, thankfully, NOT dark green. I am fucking sick of dark greens. I don't think it's the greatest green ever, but it's nice, shimmery, and I love the jelly!


Last but not least Zoya Nidhi is a cream with large blue shimmer. I wish the shimmer showed up more because this counterpart to Zoya Maura is an absolute STUNNER because of the blue shimmer in it. It's hot and original and a must have. LOVE.


Enjoy them, you shouldn't be disappointed with any of them unless you already have a close dupe. But BUY CHARLA!!

Nail of the Day - Nubar Mellow Yellow 4/28/09

Today is Nubar's Mellow Yellow. I was very meh about this when I saw the bottle, sent to me by the fantastic Carla.

But putting it on, I changed my mind. The formula of this frost shimmer by Nubar is amazing. It's like spreading on whipped mousse. It held to the brush well, and stayed exactly where I put it. It seriously felt like I was spreading whipped lemon mousse on my nails. It was fantastic!

And it turned out to be pretty interesting. Not quite a neon, but a bright lemon yellow with a subtle and nice lime green shimmer to it. I was happy with it! If you like yellows, try it! It's a nice change from the golden yellows.

Polish of the Day - Sally Hansen Chrome Burmese Ruby

Another luscious discontinued polish!! I see many more in the future. Thank you Rebecca!

These apply badly. Runny, and they dry so fast you are sure to get clumpage unless you apply very quickly. Also it shows EVERY nail ridge, use a ridge filler! I had to reapply three nails per hand.

I will, nonetheless, be getting more of these.

Sally Hansen Chrome Burmese Ruby, a burgundy metallic:


Tyler Durden's Opinion of Sally Hansen Burmese Ruby:
Ok, I got it. Shit, I lost it.

New MAC Rose Romance Limited Polish!

I swung by the mall today, to be greeted by a new MAC polish! Love & Friendship is a creme in the Rose Romance collection, a sort of dusty lavender grape color. It's a bit thick, but a drop of Poshe Polish Reviver should take care of it. It has nice coverage and I actually quite like it! It's chic and summery without being too pastel.

Buy before it sells out, like the Sugarsweet polishes.



Tyler Durden's Opinion of MAC Love & Friendship:
Forget about what you think you know about life, about friendship, and especially about you and me.

Nail of the Day - Sinful Hottie 4/24/09

Today's polish is Sinful Hottie!

Sinful is a drugstore brand, here at Walgreen's it sells for $2 a 0.5 ounce bottle. They have some pretty nice colors I will blog about later.

Sinful Hottie is a sheer denim blue jelly with a ton of glitter in it. The glitter is very much like the sparks you see in the depths of an opal, kinda candy colored without being pastel at all. It also has a jellylike texture from all the glitter. It spreads well and evenly, and dries very quickly, allowing many coats. I used four today, the picture is three. When you run your finger across the polish surface and it feels bumpy, Hottie is dry and ready for another coat. It's beautiful and simultaneously somehow blingy yet understated.

Pick Hottie up and enjoy!!




Tyler Durden's opinion of Sinful Hottie:
Recycling and speed limits are bullshit. They're like someone who quits smoking on his deathbed.

Essie Summer 2009 Neons

I LOVE these! As I blogged about when posting about Funky Limelight, the formula is pretty standard neon polish formula. They go on a bit streaky, they dry a bit too quickly, but they are pretty decent anyway, and relatively easy to use. And bright... WOW!! These are eye-popping, and very hard to photograph. You will not be disappointed, unless of course you dislike neons.

The first is a gorgeous, OPAQUE yellow neon, called Funky Limelight. I am going to get another bottle of this, I think it is outstanding in every way. An opaque yellow neon as bright as a highlighter marker? Instant win.



Next up is a soft pink called Punchy Pink. It's nice, you could probably call it hot pink were it not for another color in the series, Flirty Fuchsia, which really IS hot pink. This manages to be a softer pink while still neon. Who knew it was possible. Forgive the picture, it is so bright it just would not photograph well.



Third up is Perky Purple, a juicy hot reddish purple. I got a lot of compliments on this one, it's a stunning eyecatcher.



Last up is Flirty Fuchsia. As previously stated, it's HOT pink. Violent pink, and it almost vibrates on your finger. Sometimes a neon like this can look orange toned on the fingernails, but this stays very true to the color in the bottle, as all of this collection does. And it's gratifying and impressive that they do. Once again, bad photo, this eyebleeder even shocked my camera.




So, if you like neons or are even curious, BUY THESE!!! I think they are hot stuff!


Tyler Durden's opinion of Essie 2009 Neons:
Time to stand up for what you believe in.

Finally an OPAQUE NEON YELLOW!!!

I've tried a fair number of neon yellows. Some are beautiful, some look like I peed on my fingers. But all are sheer even with multiple coats.

But now Essie's new summer neons bring us a magic event - an OPAQUE neon yellow!!

Essie Funky Limelight:


Essie's formula is pretty standard for a neon. It dries very quickly, even on the nail as you polish if you are too slow. So it can streak, which accounts for the 99% instead of 100% opacity. But it also means no mudslides (that annoying slippage to the side of polish which is wet under a dry top layer) and also you are free to go about your business quickly. But it's pretty easy to use despite that and for this kind of opacity in a neon yellow I would put up with FAR worse. I couldn't find it online, but I didn't look hard, I snagged this as part os an Essie mini sampler set. I'll post the other colors soon. ENJOY!!!


A couple other neon yellows, for comparison:
Nina Ultra Pro Solar Flare:


China Glaze Celtic Sun:


Tyler Durden's opinion of neon yellow polishes:
Did you know that if you mix equal parts of gasoline and frozen orange juice concentrate you can make napalm?

Patting My Own Frankenback

After all the NARS Zulu foofooraw I read, I wanted to try my hand at frankening a copy. Which I did, using a green jelly, and black. Nice, people, nice. But I'm more a glitter girl.

So I added some glitter. Why not email me your opinion of my handblended polish at polishmayhem@gmail.com?

I present, MollyHell's Jungle Boogie!


Tyler Durden's opinion of MollyHell's Jungle Boogie:
We are consumers. We're the by-products of a lifestyle obsession.

Cheap Cheap Cheap! A Little Bird Told Me...

Sally Beauty little bottles of polish. Eighty-nine cents with your Sally card. TRY THEM, they actually have some great colors!

In fact, one Sally Beauty will save you a bunch of cash if you choose it over some nice OPI polish. Behold:





And they have a lot more fun little colors. Try some!






Tyler Durden's opinion of Sally Beauty polishes:
We are all part of the same compost heap.

Similar or Matching Polishes - #1 in a Series: Black Jellies With Red Glitter

This isn't exactly timely, but it serves as a good beginning, especially since some of the polishes, maybe all, are still available.

Black jellies with red glitter. Lovely aren't they? Probably the best known is China Glaze Lubu Heels. If you buy it off a wholesale site online, pretty darn reasonable too. A lot of people I know love it.

Don't ever buy it for $$$$ if it gets discontinued! You'll have many places to find the same exact color. And I mean EXACT same polish. Not similar, not a good match, not a darn fine stand-in, I mean the SAME polish.

Icing Signature Runway, Piggy Polish Midnight Fireflies, Petites Black Rouge, and Precision Rebel Red - all exactly the same as China Glaze Lubu Heels. All black jelly with exactly the same size and shade red glitter. So buy the cheapest, honey!!


Index: Piggy Polish Midnight Fireflies
Middle: China Glaze Lubu Heels
Ring: Icing Signature Runway
Pinky: Petites Black Rouge






Precision Rebel Red not pictured, but guarantee you it is the same as above polishes.


Tyler Durden's opinion of black jellies with red glitter:
How's that working out for you, being clever.

Browns - To Poo Or Not To Poo?

About 6 weeks ago I bought myself a color I had been craving - OPI Bronzed to Perfection. It made me think of smooth, glowing tanned skin at the beach. I proudly put it on before dinner and showed it off to my husband at the table.

"What do you think!?" I asked.
"Uhh... kinda looks like you stuck your fingers up your butt."

Now my husband is 100%, okay 95% in support of my nail polish hobby. But I like honesty and he is honest with me. And he thought it looked like poo. It brought to mind something I heard from some guys in the 80's when brown lipstick, especially matte, was all the rage. "It looks like you kissed someone's butt!"

I think, possibly, some guys, maybe even some women, think browns look like, well, you stuck your fingers up your butt.

I dunno how I feel. But I think the possibility some people will think that when they see your nails should be mulled over. Some might care about that, some won't. It's all good. What do you think?

So Poo or No Poo??:

OPI Bronzed to Perfection:


OPI Basque In the Sun:


OPI Bittersweet Chocolate:


Revlon Mudslide:


Amour Queens Brown:


Tyler Durden's opinion of brown nail polish:
This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time.

In Your Easter Bonnet...

Okay I don't have an Easter bonnet. I don't have kids. I'm not even Christian. But I do like Easter! I love the bunnies and the pretty, fun eggs. Oh and there's that little issue of candy and chocolate bunnies. So we all go to brunch and wear something fun and springlike. It's a chance to go out in festive clothes and enjoy the spring weather.

This year's 1st Annual Easter Manicure:
Green: Sally Beauty Pea-Body
Blue: Sally Beauty Periwinkle
Pink: Sally Beauty Blissful Kiss



Tyler Durden's opinion of my Easter Manicure:
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken.

Sally Hansen Opal Nail Glazes

I saw these mentioned on Scrangie's blog. Just a mention, but I was intrigued and sought them out. I could only find a scant few pictures of them on FlickR, on Lextard's photostream. Hence this post, because I know people are looking for pictures of them and I want to help.

I took a chance and bought some, because I wanted to experience the "lustrous glow of real crushed opals". WHOOO REAL CRUSHED OPALLLLLSSSSSSS!! Anyway they are nice, but it's not like strapping a fire opal to your nail or anything. They tend to be sheer, slightly opalescent (of course), and in soft pinks, subtle reds, and very light purples. The formula is very nice, not runny, not thick, and easy to apply. Super easy. They dry quickly, but not so quickly you get clumps or remove dried polish with a second stroke. They have a nice wide brush (not as wide as OPI DS brushes) and a wide flattish stick. This makes it even easier to apply.

These also are discontinued. Eyeroll. You can find them on eBay and suchlike. Eventually I will get some more, but until now enjoy a few!

Sally Hansen Royal Opal:


Sally Hansen Amber Opal:


Sally Hansen Rose Gold Opal:


Sally Hansen Wildfire Opal:


Sally Hansen Red Opal:


Tyler Durden's opinion of Sally Hansen Opal Nail Glazes: I am Jack's raging bile duct.

Sally Hansen Prisms

Okay, Sally Hansen may not have any prestige. You can find it anywhere. If it was a celebrity, it'd be Danny Bonaduce.

But when you take a closer look it's kinda more like Madonna. All over the place, sometimes super tacky, but has longevity despite cheapness. My Mom wore Sally Hansen, and guess what, I do too.

An overlooked Product of Magnificence is Sally Hansen Prisms. They are fun, have wicked duo- and trichromes, sometimes holographic glitter, and the formula is nice, if a bit runny. It applies easily if you don't leave too much on the brush. It dries quickly and two or three coats, and they don't need to be thick, is plenty.

You'll have to search for these, they are not in stores, but I had no problem getting some. I am sure I'll post more of these later.

CHECK IT:

Sally Hansen Prisms Burgundy Orchid:


Sally Hansen Prisms Garnet Lapis:


Sally Hansen Prisms Golden Tourmaline:


Sally Hansen Prisms Metallic Magenta:


Sally Hansen Prisms Turquoise Opal:



Tyler Durden's opinion of Sally Hansen Prisms:
Reject the basic assumption of civilization, especially the importance of material possessions!