Perfectly Polished Tips 263 - Zoya Ornate

For the upcoming winter season Zoya has release Ornate. A set of six jewel toned polishes. There is one bar glitter, two foil/microglitter, and three with holographic glitter. When I saw preview pictures from fashion week I was really excited about this collection. It is no secret that holographic polish is loved dearly by the nail community but it seems like something companies don't often put out. I don't love the holos as much but I had high hopes for Storm.

Usually I love the formula on Zoyas polishes but the holographic ones kind of stunk IMO. Storm and Aurora were on the thin side and needed three coats for pretty much full coverage. I think that I would have been better off layering them over an opaque polish. Blaze had better coverage but was still not as opaque as Zoya's describes. I didn't have any issues with Ziv or Logan, but after looking back at my photos I wish I would have used three coats of polish instead of two.

Electra is silver holographic bar glitter. I am not a fan of bar glitter, it reminds me of little hairs or something. For those of you who do like it the formula was nice. I brushed on the first coat and dabbed on the second. I had originally planned on putting one coat of this over each of the other polished but it made such a mess when I removed it that I decided against it. sorry!

Ziv is a cool toned gold with more gold micro glitter. This polish is amazing, finally a gold that I love. Every time a company puts out a gold I rush to get it only to decide that I don't like it because it's too yellow. I am wondering how this compares to OPI Dazzled by Gold. I missed out on the OPI and I have been on the look out for it ever since.

 Logan is a gorgeous forest green that is infused with gold mirco glitter. It pulled very blue on me but it's green IRL. I'm not really big on green polish but this one is a keeper.

Storm is a black holographic polish. It's a lovely polish but like I said above I didn't love the formula. It was thin and sheer. I do think though that layering it would make it worth it. I know there are other black holo polishes out there but aside from this and OPI MPJ I haven't tried them.

Blaze is a plum toned holo polish. This one was very easy to apply, I'm meh about the color. Plums/berry tones seem to be a favorite of Zoyas and I hate it. I wish they would have done a blue or a really rich, deep purple instead of this.

Aurora is a purple holo polish and while it's pretty it's over done. I did find this one to be the most holo packed or at least the color that showed the holographic-ness the most. The formula on this was similar to Storm and again I would suggest layering.

Overall it's a neat collection, very fun for the holidays or for holo lovers. I am happy to have found a gold polish that I love!

Ornate is available now on Zoya.com. Polishes retail for $8 each or you can purchase the entire collection for $48.

Don't forget to Like Zoya on facebook to get special promos and sales.

Perfectly Polished Tips 159 - Color Club Wild at Heart

Finally a collection that wasn't 3 seasons ago! Color Club gave me the chance to try out their Fall 2009 collection; Wild at Heart. This collection has an amazing line up for fall. All of the colors are perfect for the season and the variety of finishes is pretty great too.

Wild & Willing - a gorgeous foily duochrome. I could not capture the color good enough. Kind of pink, kind of gold. Very unique though.

On the Wild Side - a blue grey shade. It's on the metallic side which for me means brush strokes all over. The color is nice but I'm not crazy about the finish.

With Abandon - brown and gold glitter in a black base, one of my favorites from the collection.

Rule Breaker - a beautiful shimmery teal. I love the color of this polish but I wish it were a creme. There aren't enough easy to get teal cremes out there.

Wild at Heart - purple holo! CC's holos apply like butter, i love them.

Love Em Leave Em - pale gold holo, it's a pretty color but not on me.

Thoughts on the new water mark? Distracting? Covers up too much? A few months ago a photo on mine was used on Ebay with out my permission. I know watermarks won't really stop the thieves but I guess it's worth a shot.

Perfectly Polished Tips 158 - Color Club Femme Fatale

Femme Fatale was another spring 2009 collection that Color Club allowed me to try out. This collection was made up of black and white with two beautiful holos thrown in. I think the intention Color Club had for this collection was to bring back the french mani but make it not so boring. (I'm so not a french mani or pedi fan). There are two shades in this collection that would be great for layering and surprisingly Ooh La La applied well. I never have luck with white polish it's usually streaky or needs a million coats. Oh La La was a two coater as were the others.

Worth the Risque

Revvvolution

Ooh La La

Oui Oui Oui

Femme Fatale

There is one more polish in this collection, Where's the Soiree. It is a basic black creme however the formula was terrible. It was very thin and streaky. I tried for a good while to get it applied decently to photograph and I couldn't. I was disappointed because it's always great to have a basic black polish on hand. I use them often in frankening and they come in handy if you like to layer.

Perfectly Polished Tips 157 - Color Club Catwalk Queen

Many moons ago Color Club gave me the chance to sample their Catwalk Queen collection. Catwalk Queen is from Spring 2009 and is made up of mostly pale, dainty shades. The collection did have one gorgeous purple, which was the stand out shade for me as well as a holographic purple. Holos are hit and miss with me but Color Club makes awesome holo polishes. Color Club has a great brush and formula, I wasn't feeling this collection because I don't wear pale or sheer polishes very often. A couple of these would be great for layering though. Layering is another thing I don't do often, I should though.

Front Row Diva


Runway Muse


Ready to Wear



Catwalk Queen


Vintage Couture


Fashion Addict

I am not 100% sure if these are still available from the e-tailers, they should be though as the collections were not limited edition.

Oh what I would give to have those nails back. Cold weather is rough on my nails, it probably doesn't help that I'm not on top of moisturizing. Good thing I have photos stock piled LOL. I am afraid to post anything with my nails/cuticles in their current state.

Perfectly Polished Tips 120 - Octa Gone Wild

The China Glaze Kaleidoscope Collection is full of holographic glitter and comes in colors that will work with every skin tone. These have recently been discontinued, they are still for sale on the e-tailers (which are listed in my side bar) but I don't know how much longer they will be available for.

I also wanted to apologize for the lack of posts lately. It's the end of the semester so I've been focusing on that. Tomorrow I will be offically on winter break so check back. I have China Glaze Romantiques as well as Carolyn New York Color's Holiday Collection to share.

Perfectly Polished Tips 116 - Piggy Polish Part 2

Here is the second half of my Piggy Polish swatches.

Sunshine on Snowflakes is holographic glitter in a clear base. I probably should have layered this over another color. My nails are so yellow and not in any shape to be photographed naked. This polish reminds me a lot of China Glaze Fairy Dust but I think the glitter pieces are larger.

Purple HEYS is a fuchsia creme and a bit more purple in real life. It applied wonderfully and dries shiny. It's similar to Zoya Audrina but slightly less pastel.

Pirates & Giggles is a sheer pink with pink shimmer. The above picture is three coats of polish. I would prefer to layer it over another polish but that's just me.

Pirates & Giggles with flash.

Pinkerbelle is a bubble gum pink creme. It has no hints of coral like the picture might suggest. It wasn't chalky at all though which is always good.

Like I mentioned in my last Piggy Polish post their polishes seem to look better with three coats, all of these swatches are three coats except for Sunshine on Snowflakes which is only two.

Perfectly Polished Tips 104 - OPI My Private Jet

I take back every mean thing that I said about OPI My Private Jet. Today was MPJ day over at the MUA nail board and I wanted to participate so I decided I would give this polish another chance. This polish has been quite lucky because I think this is the 4th or so time I've given it another go in hopes of loving it. Usually I don't do that. I layered My Private Jet over SpaRitual Solitude and was instantly in love. I guess I have just been layering it over the wrong colors. I tried a basic black, grey, and most recently white. None of them looked good to me, and honestly I would have never thought to try purple. I can only imagine what it would look like over blue, or red, or even hot pink.

1 coat of My Private Jet over 3 coats of SpaRitual Solitude

I'm really glad that I gave this polish another go. As I posted before there are two versions, this is the holographic version. The other is sparkley but not holographic. I think the Polish Addict posted pictures a few weeks ago if you are curious.

After counting my untrieds I decided that for the rest of this month each manicure and pedicure I do will be out of that list. I'll try to make it ones I haven't photographed.

Perfectly Polished Tips 102 - My Top 20 Part I

So some people have 1 favorite polish or maybe 5. I however have 20 "must haves" that I would like to share with you. Some are my all time favorite, some are from newer collections. These are the ones I am loving at the moment. Although when I think about it this list isn't really fair, as I haven't worn all the polishes I own. Yet. I will admit that I have an unreasonable amount of untrieds but we'll save that for another day! Here is the first half of my top twenty list. In no special order.

China Glaze White Kwik Silvr - reminds me of winter and the glitter is amazing

Nicole Pinkerbell - soft, girly and Tinkerbell is my favorite

Sephora by OPI Metro Chic - unique but chic..it's a fun color

OPI Got the Blues for Red - my HG red creme, it's classic

Zoya Kalista - one of the few glitter polishes, it's so pretty

L'Oreal Emerpor - my newest obsession..dark blurple (more purple) creme

China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway - perfect blue creme

butter London Portobello Pink - fun summer color..usually I use it on my toes

Lippmann Collection Fade to Black - 1 coater, great for layering

OPI Designer Series Glamour - looks awesome layered over OPI Dating a Royal