China Glaze Queen B

Hello, stranger.  I know I keep saying that I am going to post more but it just hasn't been happening. So I'm not going to say it anymore and we'll just see what happens. I recently made myself a little light box setup and got some Ott-Lite type lamps, but I'm still experimenting with it right now. On the one hand, I like that I can now swatch at night. But on the other hand, I need to get used to this new light and new angles to shoot. I am still working through my backlog of pics but you may start seeing some light box pics soon.

Today I have China Glaze Queen B to show you. This was part of I think their Fall 2013 collection. I wasn't super excited about the collection at the time but I spotted this one recently and fell in love with it. Queen B is a medium blue creme with purple undertones. This polish definitely falls in the "blurple" category. It has a dusty quality that I really like as well. Formula was fantastic and super opaque. Showing you 2 easy coats below. 

This color was really hard to capture on my camera. I fiddled with the color correction and I still don't think I got it right. I loved this polish though. It was super pigmented and creamy and looked great on my skin tone. 

As you can see, I am playing around with my watermark a bit. I am really not sure what to do with it. Some days I want it to be really unobtrusive and other days I want it to be huge. We'll see where I end up. I may try a few more things. 

I feel like this collection didn't get much love when it came out but I really like Queen B. I am going to have to check out some of the other shades in this collection. Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you're all having a fantastic week!

Zoya Chita

Hi, everyone! This week has totally gotten away from me and I can't believe that it's Thursday already. It's been unseasonably warm here in California and I finally painted my toes after a long hiatus ( OPI in the Cable Car-Pool Lane). I hope that all you readers on the east coast are staying warm and safe.

Today I have Zoya Chita, a beautiful forest green textured polish. Like the other Pixie Dusts polishes, it's got very even, fine glitter, given it a really sparkly but not too chunky finish. This one was super pigmented and I did 2 coats here though I might have been able to get away with 1 if I was careful. Shown without top coat.

I continue to be impressed by the Pixie Dust formula and color selection. I know that Zoya has some new ones coming out this spring that have holo glitter in them, and I am interested to see what they are like. Did you guys order from the recent Zoya promo/ I did at the last minute and am just waiting for my polishes to come. :) 

Thanks for coming by. Hope you're all having a wonderful week!

Orly Country Club Khaki

Hi, everyone. Sorry I've been MIA this week. My office is getting ready for a big move and it's been crazy packing up and organizing. It doesn't help that my allergies are horrid right now. Last night I basically slept from 8pm to 8am. Crazy.  Anyway, today I have a nice palate cleanser shade. It's Orly Country Club Khaki.

This shade has been on my wishlist for a while now and I finally managed to pick up a bottle over the holidays. Country Club Khaki is falls into that nude/mushroom category. It's not quite beige but not quite taupe either. I quite like it though and it has a really nice, neutral look. The formula was nice and creamy and I only needed 2 coats for the swatches below. Shown with top coat.

I don't wear shades like this too often but I do like them on occasion. I can see this working for a lot of people who have more conservative office environments or who like neutrals. Another lemming off the list!

Thanks for coming by today. I hope you've all had a lovely week!

MAC Grey Friday

Hey, it's Friday! Does anyone have any good plans for the weekend? I don't have anything too exciting up my sleeve except for hanging out with some friends and watching the first episode of Season 8 of Psych. I love that show.

Today I have MAC Grey Friday to show you. I picked this up recently at the Cosmetics Company Outlet. If you don't know, it's an outlet store that I think mainly sells Estee Lauder company products at a discount. They usually have leftovers from seasonal collections and limited lines. I like this one because they carry MAC and sometimes you can find some fun gems. There were only a couple of polishes that I really liked and Grey Friday was one of them. I don't really know how to describe the finish. I think the closest thing would be a foil though it's not shiny. It actually dries to more of a satin finish. Grey Friday has a really cool brushed metal sort of look that reminds me of the OPI suedes or the Orly metals collection that came out a few years ago. This isn't as matte as a suede finish but it has the same look. It was extremely pigmented and I used 2 easy coats below, no top coat.

So a funny thing happened while I was wearing this. Originally I put top coat on it but, when I did, it seemed to do something weird to the finish. It seemed to move the silver pigment around and the finish got kind of weird. I am not sure if it's because I didn't wait long enough for it to try or if it's just some weird quirk of the polish. But I ended up putting an extra coat of polish on top of the top coat to get back the original finish. I took a picture of my thumb below where you can kind of see how the top coat affected it. Weird, right?

I think Grey Friday was a pretty limited release. Most of my searches came up with the Grey Friday lipstick that went along with this. I am really happy with this polish though. It's pretty unique in my collection. It does remind me a lot of Orly Iron Butterfly so I may have to pull that out to compare someday.

Does anyone else love hitting up the beauty outlets? I wish I lived closer to one because I'd go all the time. Well maybe it's better that I don't then. :) Have a great weekend!

Essie On A Silver Platter

Happy hump day! I am so glad that it's already halfway through the week. Going back to work after a long vacation is always hard and it always takes me some time to adjust. Today I have a polish from the Essie Encrusted Treasures collection. On A Silver Platter is a gold shimmer with blue hex glitter. This was a gift from the lovely Pamper with Poilish.  The Encrusted Treasures collection was a mixed bag for me but On A Silver Platter was one that I was really excited about.  Two coats shown below.

I really liked this one. I wish the gold wasn't quite so opaque so that the blue glitter showed through more but I still really liked it. This is supposed to be a textured polish I think but it wasn't that textured and seemed like a regular glitter to me. Not sure if I didn't do thick enough layers or if the texture is just really subtle.  

On A Silver Platter really comes alive in the sun. You can see above the gold shimmer is crazy shiny and reflective.  This is a very fun polish that I think is great for the holidays.

Thanks, Mila, for this polish. <3 Have a good week, everyone!

Zoya COLOR2014 Promo

Hi, everyone! Just popping in for a quick post to let you know that Zoya is having a fantastic promo right now. 3 polishes shipped for $12 with code COLOR2014. And if you buybanother $25 worth of merchandise, you can get FREE shipping. So I put 6 polishes in my cart and the total was just $27, or $4.50 a bottle. If you're not sure which Zoyas to get, check out the link to all of my past Zoya posts to help you out. Official terms below (from the Zoya website). Happy shopping!

New Year - New Color!

Wave goodbye to 2013 and say HELLO to a colorful new year with Zoya NailPolish! Zoya brings the healthiest, fashion-forward shades right to your fingertips. Whether you are looking to knock some of the year’s hottest colors off your wish list, pick up a few shades outside your color comfort zone or try Zoya for the first time – there’s something for everyone! In 2014 you don’t have to compromise color selection, quality or price for a toxin-free formula - because now you can can try Zoya FREE...

The Deal:

Get ANY 3 Zoya Nail Polish shades FREE*
Just pay promotional shipping & processing charge of $12! 

Offer valid Tuesday, January 7th (12PM EST) through 11:59pm EST January 13^th, 2014 - so get your carts READY!

Use Code: COLOR2014

BONUS: Buy an additional $25 or more at zoya.com or qtica.com and get FREE Standard Ground Shipping on your whole order.

How it works:

1.   Add at least (3) Zoya Nail Polish shades to your shopping cart, along with any additional items you wish to purchase
      (don’t forget - spend $25 to qualify for free shipping).
2.   Enter Code COLOR2014 into the coupon code field in cart and press "Apply Code".
3.   Complete Check-Out, Review & Submit Order.

Sharing is caring – don’t let your friends & family miss out on this great offer! Make sure you tell everyone! See full terms & conditions here. 

*Terms and Conditions 

1.       Shipping & Processing Fee of $12 applies.

2.       Valid online at www.zoya.com 12 PM EST, 01/07/14 through 11:59pm EST, 01/13/2014.

3.       Continental US only.

4.       Not valid in conjunction with other coupons, codes or promotions.

5.       Returns or exchanges of promotional items not permitted.

6.       Art of Beauty is not responsible for incorrect addresses, credit card entry errors, declined credit cards or web related issues.

7.       Code must be entered at the time of purchase. We will not be able to apply code after an order is submitted.

8.       Please allow up to 4 weeks for shipping if volume warrants it.

9.       Limit 1 promotional order per account – code cannot be reinstated for canceled orders.

Important:

Correct Information

Please thoroughly review billing, shipping, and order information for accuracy.  Please correct your information or contact Customer Service: http://www.zoya.com/content/category/Customer_Service.html  (Monday-Friday 9:00am-4:30pm EST) for assistance BEFORE submitting your order. We are not able to make ANY changes to your order once you confirm and press the "submit" button.

Check Status of Your Order
You can cancel any order that has not been shipped yet. To cancel an order, login and click on the "My Account" link in the Top Menu. Select "My Un-Shipped Orders" in the left menu.  If your order has not shipped you will see it there with a cancel order link.  This will automatically cancel the order and any pre-authorizations associated with the order.  If you applied a promotional code to an order you cancel that code will be UN-retrievable. So please confirm that what you see in your check out is exactly what you want before submitting your order.

All Customer Service Information: Can be found here.

- See more at: http://zoyanailpolish.blogspot.com/2014/01/color-your-world-in-2014-with-3-free.html#sthash.mwK25R7N.dpuf

L'Oreal Hidden Gems

Hellooooo, Monday. Sigh - vacation is officially over. :( But it's a new year and I am excited to see what it brings. Today I am showing you L'Oreal Hidden Gems, a textured polish from the Gold Dust collection. Hidden Gems is a blackened blue polish with chunky silver glitter. It is a textured polish and is meant to be worn without top coat. Below is 2 coats.

I was actually a little disappointed in this one. In the bottle it looks almost like a duochrome with a purple and blue shift but it really doesn't come out in real life and appears almost black in most lights. You can see the blue better in these pics, but on my nails it wasn't nearly as exciting. 

oooh, texture!

I think I have two other polishes from this collection to try. While this one wasn't as awesome as I'd hoped, I am still excited to try the rest of them.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Stashed (13): OPI, Morgan Taylor, China Glaze

Hi, everyone. Sigh - this is my last official day of vacation. I am not really looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. I also got sick over the weekend and have spent the last couple of days just trying to get better. Boo - well enough with the sob story. Let's check out what new polishes I bought this week.

I went to Ulta a few days ago to see if they had the new OPI Gwen Stefani collex. No luck but I did find a bottle of the Mariah Carey white gold flake top coat. I wasn't really super excited about it but it was on sale...I also had 100 Ulta points to use so they knocked off another $3 off of it. I ended up paying about $13 total which isn't too bad. I also picked up Orly Country Club Khaki, which I've been meaning to get for a while now. Two Morgan Taylor polishes also made it into my cart (sorry I don't know their names right now) along with China Glaze Queen B, a lovely blurple creme shade. 

Hope you're all having a fantastic Sunday! :)

Rescue Beauty Lounge Grunge

Hello and happy Friday! I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Years. I didn't do anything exciting at all and was tucked in bed before midnight. I know it sounds lame but I've never been a huge fan of New Year's Eve celebrations. I do like fireworks though. Anyway - today I have another polish from my Rescue Beauty Lounge haul. This is Grunge, which is one of the most popular (as far as I can tell) RBL shades. I was initially on the fence about this one, as I am not really into nudes. But I had heard so many great things about it that I decided to try it and hope for the best.

Grunge is a pink nude with fine silver shimmer. The shimmer is really hard to see in these pics and in person. It's more apparent in person but still very subtle. Formula was good on this and it took just 2 coats for opacity. I added top coat to this to make it extra shiny.  

I was surprised by how much I liked this one on me. It's a really nice palate cleanser after all of the crazy colors I usually wear. It's a really classy shade that still manages to be somewhat edgy. I think this color would work on a lot of skin tones, too. All in all very glad that I picked this up. 

What shades have you rocked so far this 2014?