Zoya Fall Cashmere Swatches/Review

Sooooo, FINALLY I have the Zoya Fall Cashmere swatches to show you today. I started swatching this collection with longer length nails and had a bad break halfway through swatching, so -of course- I had to start completely over so my swatches could look all the same :)

Flynn is a "camel" colored tan cream. This color makes my skin look absolutely weird. This is two coats with no top coat.

Louise is a warm chocolatey brown cream. This went on fairly smooth in two coats *no top coat*

Pepper is a deep brick red. This was a gooey polish to work with, and was hard to avoid patches *which is very uncharacteristic of something so dark*. This is two coats with no top coat.

Sailor is a deep navy blue that my camera didn't want to photograph properly. This is two coats with no top coat.

Hunter is exactly the name, a dark hunter/forest green. This was the easiest to apply out of the entire collection it went on smoothly with two coats.

Livingston is a bright cherry red bordering between a cream and a jelly. This is two coats with no top coat.

Hopefully I will be back in the next day or so with the Satin half of Zoya's fall collections :) Stay Tuned!

Zoya Fall Pixie Dust Swatches/Review

*Press Samples*

Long time no blog! My husband and I recently moved out into the country and had a hard time finding an internet provider that serviced the area. So FINALLY we have internet, and I'll be back to my regular blogging :). 

Today I've got Zoya's Fall Pixie Dust collection to show you -and possibly the Satins and Cashmeres in a later post today. I must say that I was absolutely IN LOVE with the first two Pixie Dust collections, so this one was a little upsetting for me. The colors are GORGEOUS-don't get me wrong there- but one way or the other, the color was either too similar to another texture polish I own or the formula was too thick and gooey. I do love the texture trend, but I'm hoping that Zoya waits a little longer before coming up with their next set just for creativity reasons. Enough of the talk, here are the swatches :)

Tomoko: A sparkling champagne with silver glitters accented in a metallic beige-y texture base. Formula was great for this one, two coats - no top coat.

Chita: A forest green textured polish with silver glitters. This one had a rather difficult and gooey formula :(. This is one coat with some dabbing in patchy areas rather than a full second coat *no top coat*

Sunshine: is a navy blue with blue and silver glitters mixed into the texture. This one was also gooey in texture. Same method for application as Chita.

Carter: a grape jelly purple with lighter tone purple glitters. This polish had a very different consistency than any other texture polish I've tried, it had a gel like quality and was very sheer like a jelly polish. This is two coats -with a thick second coat.

Arabella: a rich fuchsia pink foil texture base with silver glitters in the mix. This was a very easy formula that applied fairly "smoothly" with just two coats.

Dhara: a mandarin orange foil with yellow-orange glitters in the texture mix. This one was also a super easy formula and only needed two coats. 

Did you purchase any of these fall pixies? Stay tuned for the Satins & Cashmeres post :)

You can purchase these HERE

The Juice Box Lightsabers Collection

AHHHHH! I have another collection from The Juice Box to show you!! This is a collection that is to be released this Saturday, July 6 at 1pm PST. This is a Star Wars based collection -obviously. There are four jelly polishes with scattered holo glitter and two glitter bombs. I must say Bre is AWESOME with dot glitters and if you're not a dot fan, I would suggest buying one of her polishes with dots (which is like 90% of her polishes). All polishes are three coats with top coat -except for one, and I'll talk about that later.

A Long Time Ago is a black jelly base with scattered holo glitter and multi size/shaped red, blue, purple, and green glitters including large dots and STARS!!

 I Am Your Father is a watermelon pink jelly with scattered holo glitter. This is sooooo squishy it's amazing! This is one of my favorites from this collection.

In A Galaxy Far Far Away is a glitter bomb topper. *two coats over Cult Nails Nevermore* This is pretty awesome. Remember what I said about the dots up there ^^?! Here's what I'm talking about. This has multi shaped red, blue, purple, green, and white glitters. Including red, blue, AND purple large dots. And I can't forget the purple stars! May I also add that there are RECTANGLES?! Yes, rectangles, not bar glitter!

May The Force Be With You is a royal blue jelly creme with scattered holo glitter. I could bathe in this polish. *enough said* my absolute FAVE from this collection.

There Is No Try is a lime green jelly with scattered holo glitter. Bre's jelly polishes are the squishiest jellies out there. they are absolutely PERFECT. This one shows a little VNL, so if you're not a fan, I'd layer it over white or a similar colored creme polish.

Too Dangerous To Be Left Alive is what I call "neon" purple jelly with scattered holo glitter. I wasn't a fan of this in the bottle but OMG it's awesome. This is tied for 2nd fave along side I Am Your Father.

Don't forget, Bre is restocking her shop THIS SATURDAY!! July 6 at 1pm PST. Her storenvy store is located HERE. Don't forget to follow her on Instagram @graysonails for more information

Purple Monkey Dishwasher?!

Today I've got an Aussie brand indie polish to show you :) Pretty Serious Cosmetics-Purple Monkey Dishwasher. That's a mouthful :O. PMD is a purple *duh* jelly base glitter bomb. I'm absolutely in LOVE with the formula of this, it's hard to explain, but it's like smooth gel that applies super evenly and effortlessly. Both photos are three coats with top coat. I used a PVA glue base coat, so I can't really say how this is on removal, but mine just fell off *quite literally* while I was swimming.

You can purchase these directly HERE or from Llarowe

The Juice Box Pregnancy Pains Collection

AHHHHH! So, today I've got the FULL Pregnancy Pains Collection from the Juice Box to show you. This is one of the most creatively named/themed collections I've come across, and I absolutely LOVE every one of the polishes in it. I previously posted Disappearing Bladder from this collection, but I'll give ya a refresher on it here too :).

Beluga Whale is a royal blue jelly with green, yellow, and aqua multi shaped glitters- and DOTS! Pictured is three coats with top coat. I absolutely love the dimension this polish has with each new coat of color. If you're not a huge fan of VNL, I would recommend layering this over a similar colored cream polish.

 Endless Apetite is a clear based glitter bomb. I can't even list all of the colors and types of glitters in this, but again DOTS! This is two coats with top coat layered over Cult Nails Let's Get Dirty. You can pretty much layer this with any polish, and even just one coat is enough for awesomeness!

Heartburn is exactly that, multi shades of red *red holo too!* glitters and silvery holographic dots as well as some orangey-appearing shards :). This is two coats with top coat layered over Cult Nails Nevermore. I love this polish and have a glitter gradient over a bright orange pictured in my head that I'm dying to try out :)

Mother's Milk is a white crelly base with pink and purple glitters including hex, small dots, HUGE dots, AND hearts! This was probably the most difficult polish for me to work with, but that could be because it was the last to swatch and I was swatch impared by that time. My glitters just wanted to hide under the white :(. This is two coats with top coat. This could probably be a one coater with more prominent glitters if layered over a white base.

Memory Lapse is a "pepto bismol" pink jelly with white multi shaped glitters *diamonds, bars, circles, little squares, and the random large square. I feel like memory lapse is the "cure" for Heartburn :). This is two coats with top coat. Again, if you're not a fan of VNL, I would layer this over a similar shade of pink *I layered it over Cult Nails Untamed when I first opened the package before swatching*

Disappearing Bladder this is a pastel neon yellow crelly base with multi sized and shaped aqua glitters. I won't talk toooooo much about this one since I've already done a detailed post on this Here. This is three coats with top coat. 

You can purchase these polishes at The Juice Box. Hurry over while they're still available :) These awesome polishes are selling quick!!

The Juice Box- Disappearing Bladder Swatch/Review

AHHHHH! Indies everywhere! I stumbled upon The Juice Box on instagram (@graysonails) and fell IN LOVEEEE:). Being the safe buyer I am, I decided to only purchase one polish, and had the hardest time ever narrowing it to one only. I chose "Disappearing Bladder" from her "Pregnancy Pains" collection.  This is a "baby" yellow crelly with aqua glitters in it. OOOOH no, it's not JUST glitters; its DOTS :). Large dots, and small dots complemented with small hex glitters. This polish was opaque with two coats but I used three for some extra dimension. The glitters are like a multi layer jelly sandwich when it's finished. The glitter was a little finicky, but after a good shake, it applied easily. I was also playing with my blacklight and discovered that it has an awesome glow under direct blacklight. Enough talk, here are the pictures!!:)

I know I don't usually do bottle shots, but this label is the CUTEST :)

Indoors/artificial lighting inside light tent

Outdoors/inside light tent

Outdoors/direct sunlight

Indoors/blacklight

You can purchase this polish and many others HERE! I must say I'm absolutely loving this polish and would definitely visit her shop again :) 

Polished By KPT

Today I've got a different type of polish that I've never swatched before :) It's Polished by KPT-Hot Like Wasabi, which is a THERMAL holo polish. HLW is a bright wasabi green that transitions into a pastel wasabi green (or clear when only one coat).  My swatch is four coats with two coats of CND Speedey. This was a little difficult to catch the color change, but fun playing with it.

Hot-pastel wasabi green

Transition-pastel wasabi green with bright wasabi green tips

Cold-bright wasabi green

Polished by KPT will restock on July 6th HERE :) follow her on Instagram for more swatches and updates @polishedbykpt

Californails #NailArtMay Day 7- Neon

So I'm a day late posting yesterday's Californails nail art may challenge. Day 7 was Neon :) I decided to use Serum No. 5's Dayglow. Dayglow is a pastel yellow that has a fierce glow in the dark effect. *Swatch info: three coats w/top coat*. To make this polish glow, I held my hand in front of my desk lamp for 30 seconds then turned the lights out. This had such a strong glow that it was glowing even before I turned out the light.

Californails #NailArtMay Day 4- Star Wars

So today is the next Californails Challenge, Star Wars! I'm sure some of you will gasp or giggle, but I'm definitely not a Star Wars fan. There ya go, I said it. So naturally, I had no idea what to paint. I decided to use the cutepolish tutorial for Stormtroopers :) I like how they turned out although I probably won't keep them on long.

I used China Glaze's White on White for the base, and a black Striper for the design :)

This one was my favorite :)

Don't forget to follow on ig @phophelia to see more pictures :)

Californails #NailArtMay Challenge

Hey guys!! I've decided to blog my second month doing the (instagram) @californails nail art monthly challenge. I did it last month for the first time and had a blast keeping up with the challenges, so this month I'm sharing it here as well as my instagram (@phophelia).

So, with today being May 1st, I've got some flowers to show ya :)

For these flowers, 

1. I started with a nice even base of Orly Dayglow and did a saran wrap with OPI Glints of Glinda for a little bit of texture. 

2. For the flowers, I used Essie Forever Yummy and Lime Crime  Parfait Day. I dipped a small tip art brush in the polish then in acetone to give a watercolor effect to my strokes

3. I used a nameless green striper for the leaves as well as a nameless black striper for the dots/squiggles in the center.

4. Wait for these to dry before applying or it will be streaky :(. I used two coats of CND Super Shiney.

I am absolutely loving these flowers and will probably leave them on until the next challenge day. *haha yeah right*

Zoya Stunning Collection

I'm back already!! With Zoya's Stunning collection :) This is a collection of bright summery creams. Four of these creams have a subtle shimmer to them that gives them a dewey look.


Darcy is a bright sunflower yellow cream with subtle shimmer. This polish was a pain to apply. This is FOUR *yes four* coats with top coat. It was extremely streaky and hard to get an even coverage. The color is absolutely gorgeous if you have the patience for this polish.

Thandie is a tangerine orange shimmer. Like I said above, the shimmer is SUUUUPER subtle and hard to capture on camera. This is two coats with top coat. *much easier to apply than Darcy*

Micky is a light coral toned pink with the subtle shimmer mentioned above. This is one of my FAVORITES from this collection :). This is two coats with top coat.

Yana is a darker pink very similar to Micky. This also has a very subtle shimmer, and applied evenly with two coats & top coat.

Rocky is a dark sky blue cream with no shimmer. This went on super smooth with no patches in two coats. *picture shows two coats with top coat*

Josie is a grassy green cream *no shimmer* that went on super smooth like Rocky. This is two coats with top coat.

Overall this collection has gorgeous summery colors with only a few application issues. You can purchase this awesome collection HERE!

Zoya Irresistible Collection

I'm on a blogging roll!! Today I've got Zoya's Irresistible Collection to show you :) These are all super amazing colors, and I must say I love them ALL! This is a collection of foils, but with a twist- metallic FLAKES! *Think Ziv from the Ornate Collection* The formula for these was the same for all six polishes, went on perfectly smooth with two coats. I will say that these are a pain in the rear to remove without getting glittery shimmer EVERYWHERE. If you hate removing these types, I'd suggest a glue or peel off base coat. Enough talk, let's get to the polish!!:)

Kerry is a gold shimmer with bright gold flakes. This polish is a yellow gold version of Ziv, and I love it just as much :) I must also add, that none of these needed topcoat to be super shiny and sparkling.

Amy is a sunset orange foil with gold flakes. This color almost glows with warmth.

Tinsley is a red toned pink foil with gold flakes. This was probably my least favorite, only because it blended way too well with my skin tone.

Bobbi is a darker pink than Tinsley, and has a stronger foil effect and less flakes. I am definitely in love with this color.

Hazel is a green toned blue foil with gold flakes. This formula is the same as Bobbi *stronger foil effect less flakes*

Rikki is a green foil with gold flakes. In the above five polishes, the foil tone is silver, in this one- it's more of a gold toned foil.

Overall, I LOVE these colors, and the foil + flake gives so much dimension. I'm super glad Zoya built these colors after such a huge success with Ziv *Ornate Collection*. You can purchase these HERE!