Aly Loves Lacquer

Here is the third lacquer from Zoya's Sunshine Collection that was released for this summer. Sunshine has 6 sparkling summery shades, each with lots of golden glitter. Zoya Tanzy is the perfect summer orange. Orange doesn't always look very good with my skin, but all the golden glitter in Tanzy made it look very nice on my skin tone. It applied well, like most Zoyas do. I needed 2 coats for opacity. The glitter in Tanzy is completely smooth to the touch, something I really like. It is a beautiful color for summer.

 This is 2 coats Zoya Tanzy and no top coat, so you can see the polish's shine.

Hi, everyone! Today I'll be showing you my first Borghese. It's called Mediterraneo Sea, from the Holiday 2010 Collection. This is a really cool polish. It has a dark blue base color, and it's chock full of glitter. The glitters are blue, silver, green, purple, and some even look a little holographic. It dried matte, but I didn't like it that way, so you'll be seeing it with Seche on top. I had no application problems.

Here are 2 coats Borghese Mediterraneo Sea and 1 coat Seche Vite.



I couldn't really figure out a graceful way to hold the bottle, sorry about that. But look at the color! It is super unique in my opinion, I have nothing like it. It wasn't very difficult to remove, considering it's a glittery polish. Borghese Mediteranneo Sea is really cool!

- Aly

This is my second Mean Girls-inspired post for On Wednesdays We Wear Pink. I chose to show you guys one of my new OPIs. This is OPI Don't Know...Beets Me! It's kind of a silly name, like lots of OPI polishes, but it is a very nice color. Though not unique, it's a pretty bright pink crème. The application was flawless. It took two average coats and looks so nice. I know it isn't anything groundbreaking as far as color goes, but it is really gorgeous. Everyone needs a nice pink!

This is 2 coats OPI Don't Know...Beets Me! and 1 coat Seche Vite.


And, because I have lots of trouble leaving a mani plain, I decided to do a funky French with it. I used OPI Flit a Bit, which is another summer crème. It's a bright orange. I used Scotch tape for the tips. I loved this look. It is simple but interesting.


I really like this. It's very cute and super summery.

- Aly

P.S. Just a little thank you to everyone who has followed thus far. Only 4 more followers until I do a 50 follower giveaway!

After a day or two of wearing OPI Dating a Royal, I decided to add two layers of Nubar 2010. Nubar 2010 is a clear polish filled with awesome flakies. It's so pretty. Check out the difference it made with OPI Dating a Royal! It's like a whole new polish. Nubar 2010's flakies shine orange, green, gold, and blue depending on the angle. What a cool flakie :)

1 coat OPI Dating a Royal, 2 coats Nubar 2010.

OPI Dating a Royal is a gorgeous royal blue. It's very opaque, and it was a one coat wonder for me :) I really love the OPI formula on colors like this -- super pigmented, and super creamy. It didn't stain my fingers or nails at all either! It also looked so great on the nail. I wasn't that excited for it, but I picked it up anyway, hoping I might be surprised. And I was! I love this color so much!

This picture is ONE coat OPI Dating a Royal, and 1 coat Seche Vite.

So shiny!

Zoya came out with a matte collection for summer, called Mod Matte. The colors are very bright and summery, and, of course, all have a matte finish. Zoya does mattes quite well, in that they aren't too difficult to apply. I never wear nail polish long enough to really test the wear on them, but they seemed okay throughout the day.

Phoebe
First up is Phoebe, a super bright blue with hidden shimmer. The shimmer really adds a lot to the color, and I think Phoebe is my favorite from the collection. This is 2 coats of Zoya Phoebe, no top coat.

I bought six colors from Zoya's summer collections, all of which are from the Sunshine half. I love the crèmes in Summertime too, but I couldn't afford to get them all. Here are the first two colors from Zoya Sunshine, Zoya Reva and Zoya Kimmy.

REVA
Reva is a beautiful fuchsia color, full of golden sparkle. All the Sunshine colors have this shimmery gold, and it really lights up the polishes and makes my skin tone look great. Reva covered excellently in two coats, and had a lot of shine on her own. I didn't add any top coat for the pictures. The removal was quite easy for a polish with so much glitter, though I did have some leftover glitters left on my fingers. Zoya Reva is truly gorgeous.

Golden Rose is a Turkish company that makes a lot of great holos at reasonable prices. I bought this and the other polishes in my haul from their US website. They offer free shipping over $20, and it is pretty fast too. I really recommend buying some Golden Rose holos. They aren't the strongest out there, but they are cheaper and still very beautiful.




Golden Rose 109 is described as lilac on the website, and I think that is a good description. In fact, the color is remarkably close to OPI DS Diamond, and could be considered a dupe. I'll be doing a comparison post soon. These pictures are 3 coats Golden Rose Paris Holographic 109 and 1 coat Seche Vite.

Once again, I seriously recommend this brand. They have some great polishes and prices.

- Aly

OPI Absolutely Alice was released as part of the limited edition Alice in Wonderland collection.  It is a beautiful glitter, and very popular. I'm really glad I got my bottle early, because now it's selling for crazy prices on ebay. OPI Absolutely Alice is a glitter polish made up of royal blue and gold glitters. It shines like crazy! I have been in love with this color since I got it. It's one of my emptiest bottles of polish.

The pictures are 2 coats of OPI Absolutely Alice and 1 coat Seche Vite.






How gorgeous is that?! Seriously, this is one of the most dynamic and beautiful colors I own. The formula is getting a little wonky on mine, so I think it could use some Seche Restore. But, it still covers well in two coats. Without top coat, Absolutely Alice feels super rough, kind of like sandpaper. But 1 or 2 coats of Seche Vite evened everything out.

Haul :)
I finally got my Zoya polishes in the mail. They were on backorder. Here we have the entire Sunshine Collection and the Mod Mattes Collection Minis, both of which I will be showing you soon. I also received free gifts with the order, Zoya Remove+ and Qtica Smart Spa Grapefruit Surprise Sugar Scrub. I haven't tried Remove+ yet, so I'm really happy to have gotten a free sample. The sugar scrub is AWESOME. I recommend it highly -- my hands are so soft!

Here are polishes I got today. I received Pure Ice Skinny Dip from my parents in a care package. I'm so glad they support my little obsession :) I also got OPI Don't Know...Beet's Me!, OPI Dating a Royal, and OPI DS Diamond. The school salon has a buy 5 get the 6th free deal, so I got Dating a Royal and Don't Know...Beet's Me! for 8 bucks total! Also, I found DS Diamond in the clearance bin! I have no clue why it was there, but it only cost 4 dollars :) I love hunting for htf's.

- Aly

Continuing with April's blue polish swatching in honor of Autism Awareness Month, here is OPI What's With the Cattitude? It's from the Shrek Collection OPI did, and it is one of my favorite spring polishes. What's With the Cattitude? is a baby blue crème. It's a pastel, but it applies quite well despite that. OPI really does have a great formula.

These pictures are 2 thicker coats of OPI What's With the Cattitude and 1 coat Seche Vite top coat.


That night, I decided to add a little extra to What's With the Cattitude?, so I did a blue patchwork manicure. I used Scotch tape to do the additional colors, OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui and China Glaze For Audrey. Then I covered it all with another coat of Seche Vite. In real life, China Glaze For Audrey didn't stand out as much as I'd hoped, so I will have to try another combination next time.

Here are some current giveaways I am entering.

First is You Nailed It!'s Deborah Lippman giveaway. The exact color is going to be a surprise, so I just threw in a picture of the famous Across the Universe.

Here's another beautiful blue for Autism Awareness Month. This is Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Extreme Wear in Pacific Blue. Whew, what a long name! This is a super pigmented blue. It is hard to describe the color itself; it's a very bright cornflower-type blue. It's a crème, and it applies super easily.  For being a drugstore polish, Pacific Blue is downright awesome. I had no application or drying problems, it's very pigmented, and I love the color!

The pictures are 2 coats of Sally Hansen Pacific Blue and 1 coat of Seche Vite.

As Autism Awareness Month continues, I'm swatching all of my blue polishes. This is Nubar Indigo Illusion, a really strong duochrome lacquer. It covered incredibly well, with two thin coats for maximum opacity. It also dried very quickly, something that seems to be typical among Nubar polishes. The duochrome shines blue, green, gold, and mauve. I tried to capture some different angles, so you can see the different colors within Nubar Indigo Illusion. Trust me, a picture can't do this polish justice -- it's very beautiful and complex in real life.