Zoya's Feifei and a Month Gone By

Long time no blog!  Sometimes little things in life like jobs and money gets in the way of even smaller things of blurting out your little scribbles about like what you think about the latest in nail polish colours.  In the past month I’ve been dealing with 99 problems and thank god a bitch ain’t one!  I’ve been dealing with this kind of stuff:

1.      Insomnia
2.      Lack of energy
3.      Writing
4.      Job searching
5.      CV Updating
6.      Job changes
7.      Large drop in income

Yes, these are miserable sounding things but if I try hard enough, I can sort the fun stuff too!  In the past month I’ve:

1.      Dyed my hair purple

 Or more like I dyed my grey hair purple and since I dyed it on top of the black dye job that I had done while I was in NYC visiting family, it only affected my roots.  It looked like purple was my natural colour.  Oddly, only 2 people out of 100 in the accounting firm I work at noticed my hair was purple which means that either no one really takes notice of me or my showing up one day with purple hair wasn’t anything unexpected on my part...I used Manic Panic’s Ultra Violet.  The label reads “semi permanent” and it really lives up to that claim.  After one week it had faded so much that the colour was barely noticeable and that was without washing my hair!  I’m of Afro-Caribbean descent so I don’t wash my hair daily.  Once a week or bi-weekly is the norm for me so I can imagine if you are of one of the races who has straight hair and washes it constantly, this might not be the product for you.

2.      Me & My Family Met Norman Reedus

I Give You One Guess Where My Other Hand Is...

Some families go to Walmart to get their portraits done but not mine: We head out to Toronto's Fan Expo for that!  For reasons that I don’t even understand myself, I’m a fan of actor Norman Reedus.  He’s been in some good movies (Blade 2), mediocre movies (A Crime, The Notorious Bettie Page), some god awful crap (The Boondocks Saints) and whatever AMC’s The Walking Dead thinks it is.  If you watch that show then I really hope you appreciate the irony of this photo, as Reedus plays a racist hillbilly on TWD but he’s surrounded by a bunch of Black people who were actually happy to see him!

3.      Me & My Family Met Gillian Anderson

I am Fangirling So Hard Right Now!

This had me so damn excited that I can barely remember the picture being taken.  The X-Files is and will remain one of my all time favourite shows and I was so obsessed with Agent Dana Scully that I wore a pantsuit and a long coat all through university and spent most of my time pissing off my classmates by routinely telling them that their “theories were unsubstantiated”.  No wonder I didn’t get invited to any keggers...

But what about nail polish, you ask?  Well it just so happens that I bought some (despite my now limited income) today I have for you Zoya’s Feifei.  Whose name that is, I don’t know and if there’s someone out there with that name then I’m sorry to hear that.  At first glance it made me think of Faye from last year but then I look at it again and see how wrong I am.  Feifei is a much more blue polish in comparison to Faye and the flecks appear more like an orange/copper colour.  They’re not dupes by any means and I can safely say that I don’t have another colour like this in my collection.  Nice!

In The Shade

Direct Sunlight

Kennedy by Zoya

This one's my second purchase from Zoya's Touch line and now that I think about it,  sort of wish that I'd sprung the cash for the entire line.  There's just something about a simple neutral creme polish that I just love.  sure, it's not edgy or hip bit it's being a long time since I cared about that sort of thing!  the formula and the application were very good.  The coverage was even in two coats, applied smoothly and evenly, and dried fairly quickly as well.  If you don't already own a light beige creme polish then Kennedy would be a good choice.  

Kennedy, I wonder what was the inspiration for the name choice?  When I hear that name I usually think about this...

Beauty & Talent!

Which usually makes me think of this...

Bom Chicka Wow Wow!

Which then makes me think of this...

Which One Are You?  Jackie or Marilyn?

Which makes me think why would you want to be either one if you could be a Joannie?

Notice That All of This Dudes Erections Are Carefully Hidden!

Can't Wait for March 25th!!!

Kristen by Zoya

It has been quite a while since I've been downtown and checked out the Trade Secrets underground between Bloor subway station and Holt Renfrew.  The salespeople in there are not the happiest campers but when I can't find a polish or everyone else is sold out, I know that I can find it there.  This was the case with Zoya's Feel collection from 2011.  I couldn't find it anywhere but got lucky a few weeks back.  Kristen is a light blue grey creme that just misses the boat on being neutral enough to wear to work at an accounting firm.  In fact whether the colour is blue or grey depends on what kind of light you happen to be standing under at the time.  Daylight gives it a bluer cast, office lighting can  make it a little drabber.  But when I say "drabber" I don't mean it as a bad thing.  Kristen is the kind of polish that I like to refer to as "clean".  It's something you wear when you want a simple classic look to you nails and I'll always be down with that.

Veruschka By Zoya

 Matte & Suede finishes had a brief time in the sun a couple of years ago as the new "It" finish.  Despite the fact that this trend is done for now, I still really like mattes & suedes.  But I think what buyers didn't like was the formula's fragility.  One had to be thankful that these types of polish dried quickly because they would chip within minutes of application.  Zoya's Veruschka was no exception to this problem.  It had tip wear in a few moments and was terribly chipped by the next morning.  It's pretty as anything but a trial to wear.

Yara By Zoya

Zoya may be one of my favourite brands when it comes to nail polish but I should have know that someday, I would buy one that failed to meet my expectations...Yara is that polish!  Of course I like the colour. Olive green is a big trend this fall and this muted tone with the gold shimmer is easy on my eyes. Colour is the primary factor of all of my polish purchases but quality is a major factor as well.  And I'm accustomed to quality from the Zoya brand and unfortunately, Yara is not up to snuff.  You'll notice that there's visible tip wear in this photo and one expects that after a couple of days but I only polished my nails about 7 hours before I took that photo.  If I'm going to sport a meduim olive green nail again soon, I'll choose Estee Lauder's Metallic Sage.

Weekend Warrior By China Glaze

Olive Green seems to be all the rage this fall and since my recent weight loss means that I have to spend money on new clothes at least I can get an olive fix cheaply by picking up China Glaze's Weekend Warrior, part of the Metro collection.  Right off the bat I have to say that I to say that alothough I hate the name of this polish, I think it's apt as I wouldn't be able to get away with wearing a green creme at the office and would certainly have to wait until the weekend to wear it.  That being said, the formula of this polish, much like Brownstone from the same collection, was so thick that it made appliction difficult but at least you get full coverage in two coats.  WW put me in mind of Zoya's Shawn, one of my desert island polishes but WW has a darker tone to it.  I like the polish but I could have lived without it.

Jacy By Zoya

Looks like I might be getting that urge for purple nails again now that I've taken an another look at Jacy by Zoya.  A red purple that at first looks like a creme, but on closer inspection, you can see that there's the slightest hint of blue shimmer to it.  I found the formula a little bit sticky in this polish and there was an issue with application, as you can see with the slight bald spot on my ring finger but it's not a deal breaker...Oh Zoya...I still love you!

Rally Pretty Pink By OPI

I've made no secret of my dislike of the crackle trend that's been dominating the polish world for the last few months.  It seems as if every company and it's mother have released some kind of variation of crackle polish, invading salons and drugstores and making me wonder if it will ever go away.  I also didn't like was how the Serena Williams polishes from OPI are packaged with a more traditional polish finish and paired with a shatter polish that I didn't really want (but if I showed patience, I could have waited until a retailer removed the pairs from their boxes in order to sell them separately).  Well, for the sake of review purposes, I didn't wait to pick up the Rally Pretty Pink set with Red Shatter.  And to my surprise, I don't hate it!  Let's take a look at RPP without the shatter top coat:

It's a lovely golden, glass flecked finish, but it's awfully similar to Zoya's Faye from Zoya's Sunshine Collection, with the difference of Faye being more pigmented and looking more purple than pink.  You can see visible nail lines but once you apply the shatter top coat, it's not noticeable. Application was good, no stray lint in the bottles, good dry time but applying the shatter top coat is still a little tricky since it dries very quickly. So despite my shatter fatigue, I did like this colour combination quite a bit, even though from a distance, you might look like you're back from an extended stay at Buffalo Bill's Nails & Spa:

It rubs the lotion on its skin.  It does this whenever it is told.

Well, OK but I've been waiting over and hour for my manicure.  Could you send down some Red Shatter?

That's funny, that's the same polish the last girl asked for....

SO TRENDY!!! AAAAAHHHHHHAAA!!!!

Goodbye Horses!!!

Faye by Zoya & RIP Sherbert

Faye in Sunlight

I thought I wasn't going to be able to find Zoya's Faye in stores. I kept haunting my local retailers asking for it and getting a lot of shrugs in response.  I've heard that OPI's Grand Slam, the second release in Serena William's polish line is very similar to Faye but since I'm not cuckoo for the crackle craze, I'm glad I didn't have to pay extra for a polish I didn't want to get one that I did.  As far as polishes go, Faye is one of the more unique colours I've seen in a while.  With its gold glimmer packed into a light purple based, it has so much depth to it that I find that I can't stop looking at it. It's a real beauty! Although it's good in 2 coats, you might want to go for 3 if you don't like seeing your nail line peeking through the polish.

Faye with Flash

On a sad note, one of my canaries, Sherbert, passed away :(  Poor Little thing...we loved her so..

And She Loved Oranges.

Wham Bam Thank You Spam! Here's a Bunch of Polish

Hey out there!  I`ve been so swamped with school and stuff that I haven`t had time to craft together a long, convoluted post as I so like to do but my birthday (and my twin sister`s too!) is this weekend so I`m not planning to do any posting  for a few days.  But that doesn`t mean I can`t fill the gap a little with a few polishes that I`ve being sporting lately!

Here`s OPI`s Just a Little Rosti from the Swiss Collection.  I have dozens of polishes that are similar to this one and I always tell myself I`m not going to buy anymore.  But then I`ll be in the store and I`ll see them and that notion flys out the window.  I`m just kidding myself.  I will always buy polishes like this because I love them and this one is no exception!

I found Borghese`s Stellare Notte a few months back at Winners for $4.99 CDN which is much more fair than the $17.00 CDN that Shoppers Drug Mart shills them for.  This is an awesome colour with a nice douchrome effect which you can see in the bottle but I couldn't capture it on  my nails in the photo.

I wore Purple Gala from the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear line on Christmas Day and I got lots of compliments on it.  It applied well, wore well and was easy to remove to.  It was a definite winner at $2 CDN.

Another win from the Joe Fresh makeup line is Orchid.  A really pretty purple that I was glad to add to my collection, especially when I was going through my Purple Pandemonium a few months back.  It`s hard to say no to a polish line that sells at 3 for $10 CDN, the cost of one bottle of OPI up in the Great White!  I`ve read online recently that Joe Fresh will be opening their first US store in Manhattan soon, so if things go well for them, any American readers will have access to the brand.  Happy Future Shopping USA!

After a few months of darks, greens, purples, glitters, shimmers and crackles, I was pretty eager to sport some more calm and sedating colours and Zoya`s Nikki is one of my favourites.  I actually find it a little difficult to describe the colour, it`s not really pink, or beige but it has a great blue shimmer in it that keeps it from being too bland.

 As much as I love grey polish, this one drives me nuts!  OPI`s Moon Over Mumbai should be one of my all time favourites but it isn`t because, look at that photo.  That`s 3 coats of polish and still it`s nowhere near the coverage it needs.  What a nail fail!

Now I love this colour.  Leotard Optional from Sephora by OPI`s Urban Ballerina collection is for me the perfect neutral.  It goes with any outfit I put on which is great BUT...!

Everyone I Know Has a Big But!  This Big, In Fact!

Legwarmers Optional has a dupe!  A low cost dupe at that too!  I was in a big ass Loblaws last weekend and when I checked out their Joe Fresh nail polish display to see if they had anything new, I found that the LO that I was wearing was exactly the same as their polish called NUDE and it would have cost me only $4 CDN or 3 for $10 instead of $13 for one bottle!  I could have saved $9...

Nine Bucks!!! AAAAAHHHH!!!!

Sigh...that brings me to my last polish for today.  Zoya`s Gemma from their Spring 2011 Collection.  This another one of their greens that just knocks it out of the park for me:

Yes, it`s a hospital green but if hospitals had that awesome blue shimmer in them, I`d be less reluctant to go to them.  Zoya is starting to be my favourite salon brand as I haven`t bought anything from them that disappointed me yet but it`s still not the easiest brand to find in T.O. and when I do, the store`s stock is not always up to date.

Well that`s it for now...I hope that everyone has a great weekend and the next time you hear from me, I`ll be a year older!

Dupioni by Joe Fresh & A New Frankenpolish

So it finally snowed in T.O. so I thought it might be a good time to break out Dupioni by Joe Fresh, a white shimmer that came in their Holiday gift set that included Midas.  This word rang no bells for me at all so I had to look it up to find that Dupioni is a type of silk that is often used in wedding dresses.  No wonder I never heard of it!  If there is one thing that is never mentioned in the same sentence, it's my name and wedding dresses!  Anyways, the quality of this polish is very good.  Yes, the bottle cap is a bit awkward to hold, but the brush itself is really wide and the formula is not watery which lead to a very smooth application overall.   I would have expected a white shimmer to be extremely streaky but this polish wasn't at all.  I'm not sure how often I would use this colour, since for some reason, I find white polish sort of makes nails look like they're fake, but I'm going to hang onto it because it's such good quality.

I've haven't been shopping yet in the new year but I wanted a new polish to play with.  So I grabbed some old polishes and whipped up a Frankenpolish so that I had something new.  I took Respect the World Nicole by OPI, Glow by Sally Hansen  and Creative Nail Designs Hyde in the Dark,  mixed them together and got this:

 

Hmm, Not Bad!

Left to Right: Respect the World, Glow, Hyde in the Dark & Frankenpolish

Although I'm really pleased with the result, it made me think of a couple of green polishes that I already had , namely Irene by Zoya & Leaf Him at the Alter from Sephora by OPI so I swatched them for a quick comparison:

Yay!  Looks like they're not that similar after all, since the frankenpolish has so much gunmetal in it and I've got a new toy to play with!

Last but not least, I would like to give a shout out to my very first follower, Jessica!  Thanks to you, I'm feeling a lot more motivated  to keep posting!   Until the next time, don't break a nail!

Crystal by Zoya & Le Sangre by L'oreal

Crystal by Zoya

I just picked this up the other day as consolation for not being able to find a bottle of Kelly everywhere I went.  It's not a secret that I love blue nail polish but I'm not crazy about the extra amount of time and effort it takes to remove shimmers, glitters and flakies but look,  So pretty!  Crystal put me in mind of Opi's Absolutely Alice  because of the blue and gold colours but the similarities end there.  For a polish that's got blue, gold and sparkles like this polish does, I'm surprised that I would describe it as subtle but that's exactly what it is.  It's lovely!


The application went well and smoothly and the first coat dried very quickly and it was opaque in three coats.

Stash it/Pass it: Stash it!

I picked up Le Sangre by L'oreal at the drugstore and I believe that their Mysterious Muse collection has been available in the US since October but I hadn't seen it before.  I always keep telling myself that I have enough wine coloured polishes but when I see one that catches my eye, then all bets are off!


I found that this polish colour was a little bit more dusty than most of my other wine polishes, but that was what caught my eye in the first place.  Even though the polish seemed a little thick it went on smoothly, even with a few wonky hairs on the brush.  I don't buy many L'oreal polishes but when I have,  I haven't been disappointed with them, in fact, I'm downright satisfied!


Stash it/Pass it: Stash it!

Zulu By NARS With Envy by Zoya Comparison

I bought Envy by Zoya a while ago when the polish that I really wanted seemed out of reach.  Then NARS  reissued Zulu, one of the most sought after of nail polishes.  It was costly for me, but I bit the bullet and bought a bottle despite the price because I do love NARS cosmetics.  Zulu has it's pluses and its minuses.  As a plus, it seemed as if the formula has been improved in the respect that it didn't chip quickly, which is a problem I've had with previous NARS polishes and that's great!  But as a minus, it took forever to dry and stayed sticky too long. It lead to a lot of dents and smears in my polish:

I also did my manicure in the dark, so it's also sloppy!

Bummer!  The thumb to the ring finger is Zulu but I painted Envy on my pinkie for comparison:

Envy is the lighter colour and is more of a mossy green while Zulu is more of a jewel tone. You can clearly see that Zulu lasted longer in wear when you check out the nail tips.  In addition, Zulu is the far glossier of the two.  I like them both but I'm leaning towards Zulu more, since it's shinier and was more durable but the slow dry time was irritating!  If you don't want to spend extra for a dark green look, then Envy is a good substitute.

Shawn by Zoya

I FINALLY got my hands on Shawn by Zoya and I have to say that this is the greenest green that ever greened a green and by that I mean it is awesome! I wanted to get some real life tree leaves in the photo so that one can see what a perfect green it is.  I love this colour so much that I almost feel like I might never have to buy another green polish again...almost.  When I say She Has Green Fingers, this is what I am talking about!  Great Application, this was two coats and had a good dry time.

Pass It or Stash It - Stash It!

Yodel Me On My Cell by OPI

Part of Opi's Swiss Collection for Fall/Winter 2010, I would describeYodel Me On My Cell as an shimmery auqamarine but it is a lot darker in the flesh than it is in this picture. I love to look at this colour and I find it's kind of between Sephora by OPI's Teal We Meet Again and Zoya's Tallulah. I applied 2 coats and as you can see, there is visible tip wear. VTW is an issue for some people but it isn't an issue for me most of the time.

It applied very smoothly as OPI usually does. I really love blue nail polish but I don't like how it can stain my nails so much that it looks like I have serious heart problems. I used a base coat underneath which I loathe to do since everytime I do, my polish chips instantly. This occassion was no exception and my manicure was ruined within an hour. I don't blame the polish, but I blame the base coat.

Stash it or Pass it: Stash it!