I have been anxiously awaiting the new movie from Tim Burton, Alice in Wonderland!! It stars the absolutely fabulous and talented Johnny Depp. I honestly think that he is underrated – and hot as hell!!!!!
OPI has collaborated with Disney to bring out a special edition collection, 2 glitters, 1 shimmer and 1 creme. All Lacquered Up has great swatches (she seriously consistently has the best swatches on the web, and I’m jealous of her nails!) I have my eye on the confetti-inspired, Mad As A Hatter. This collection is available from January 2010.
OPI Alice In Wonderland collection
Urban Decay also brought out a very limited edition of their every popular Book of Shadows. It was available yesterday online only, but is due to be rereleased at Sephora at a later date. When I find that out, I’ll let you know…
As I watched the rain pelting down in Port-of-Spain, as 2009 slowly draws to a close, I began to think about all the wonderful and not so wonderful things that have come out in the past year. In a tough economic climate, I had to be very selective about the products that I purchased. I cut down A LOT on my spending on makeup, haircare and bodycare. So here are the things that survived the cut in 2009 and that I thought were great products.
Maybelline Lash Stiletto
M.A.C. Mineralized Eye Shadow in Cinderfella (They did a really great job at this formula, it’s perfect for a festive Old Year’s/New Year’s fete!)
M.A.C. Greasepaint Paintstick
Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tar in Uber
NARS Blush in Crazed
Kinky Curly Come Clean
Qhemet Biologics Amla & Olive Heavy Cream
Oyin Handmade Burnt Sugar Pomade
And all that purple that reigned!!! (Seriously, I have an all purple wardrobe complete with matching makeup and nail colour!)
All of Zoya’s MatteVelvet polishes
So my list is kinda short, but I’ll fix that in 2010!!!! I definitely hope that I could branch out even more and discover more brands especially natural/organic ones!
So what made your list in 2009??? What do you hope the companies come out with in 2010?
Wishing you and yours a Happy Holiday, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa and all that!
Here a peek of my Christmas manicure.
China Glaze Ruby Pumps, Cleopatra
I just bought the coveted China Glaze’s Ruby Slippers and Cleopatra (as well as Nova and Medallion) at Sally’s. They were having a 2/$10 special. I must say, I don’t own a lot of reds but this one is GORGEOUS!!!!!!!! It’s even more beautiful than everyone has made it out to be. I usually stick to deeper, wine/burgundy reds, but this one is straight on red!!! A very vivid, intense, semi-jelly ruby red with fiery red shimmer ( the particles are larger than micro glitter). The shimmer seems to disperse itself all over at varying depths so they look almost 3 dimensional. Very cool! 🙂 I also added Cleopatra which is a beautiful 18K gold small glitter with a few silver holographic glitters mixed in. This is all suspended in a clear base. I used 3 coats for full coverage and I experienced no application problems. The polishes are available at e-retailers and Sally’s Beauty Supply. Another cool polish. I added Tracy Reese for Sally Hansen in Honeydew on the toes. It’s the perfect pedicure colour for the 90 degree weather I’m experiencing here in Trinidad. Hope you enjoy!!
So I have been impatiently waiting for my shipment of the latest Zoya matte collection. I ordered these since mid-Septmeber and they took about a month to come. Boy, I checked my mailbox every single day! The folks at Zoya tweeted that they had to rework the formulas to make them more matte hence the delay in the shipment. Glad to hear that they really try to put out a quality product.
I’ve had lots of fun testing out polishes using the Essie Matte About You topcoat, but sometimes you have to just buy the matte polish as it is just that gorgeous!!!
Enter the Winter collection for Zoya. I can tell you it was well worth the wait for these colours! Once again Zoya brought out three A-mazing colours encased in a frosted glass container with easy-to-use rubberized cover. I really, really like this packaging. At first glance, the colours in the bottle are really rich and pigmented with silver shimmer. These colours are beautiful! Especially that purple one! You KNOW I had to get that one! They all applied great and took a little longer to dry which allows you to smoother, cleaner finish and once again, they dry matte but the tiny shimmer particles give it great dimension so it’s not flat. They really created some unique matte colours. These are must haves and they’re one of the best matte collections out there. Get them!
All have 2 coats. These also were not the easiest to photograph. Still working on my photography skills. Any tips?
Harlow is a midtone rose with a hint of purple. Almost fuschia. It’s on the cooler side but it’s a really nice colour. This photo’d mostly true to colour.
Harlow
Veruschka is a deep, hunter green and the silver makes it very festive, great for the holidays. This is my second favourite! For some reason this photo’d grey, it’s a dark, but bright green.
Veruschka
Savita is a rich, royal purple. What a regal colour!!! Of course this is my favourite one!!!! It’s dark but still bright enough to be seen as purple. This one is coming across as more of a blue-purple. It’s actually a true purple. It would look great with a grey sweater or something – especially on darker/tan skin. I need to play with these colours in a manicure, maybe mixing the matte and adding some gloss. Oooooooo!
Savita
Oh and one more…….
So, I ordered only one of the Zoya Ultra Glitter polishes. I got Astra, which is a reddish pink jelly polish base with red, pink and silver glitter. I only applied 2 coats, but I think you need 3 for full coverage.
Astra
The glitter is bright and applied fairly smoothly and the surface was pretty smooth. You’ll need to use extra nail polish remover to get all the glitter off of your fingers. You might shimmer for a day or two. I think I’ll get the other two colours but I am not sure I’ll wear this all day everyday. I think they’ll make a good accent colour or added as a top coat for the holidays.
So today I am going to review the Zoya Matte Velvet Fall Collection. I only started wearing Zoya this year when I took advantage of their exchange programme that they had earlier this year. I had always heard great things about this nail polish line and they’ve lived up to the hype! They have more than 300 nail colours and have some of the best colours out there! For the most part their polish applies smoothly and the formula is on the thinner side. They are Big-3 Free, i.e. they don’t contain formaldehyde, toluene and dibutyl phthalate (DBP), which have been linked to health issues. Zoya also does not contain camphor.
Anyway, one of the most anticipated matte lines to come out is the Matte Velvet Fall Collection. As some of y’all may know, matte nails are the hottest nail trend and everybody is coming out with some sort of matte line. A few general points about matte nail polishes. Matte polishes are a little different to the regular polishes. They are meant to have no shine, no gloss, just pure colour. This trend is not for everyone as we are so used to having bright, glossy nails, but I love the change in texture that this finish gives! They also don’t last as long as glossy finishes because of the difference in formula, so they chip a lot faster and are easily affected by water, lotions, oils, creams etc. Lastly, they are not meant to be worn with any base coat, top coat, primers, anything!!! Just you and your bare nails! So there is a risk of getting stained nails as well. If you are iffy about they whole matte look and don’t want to spend $$$ on buying separate polishes, there are a lot of matte top coats out there to try. I have the Essie Matte About You. Mattes also run the gamut from completely flat and chalky to glittery, semi-matte satin.
