Zoya Intimate Swatches & Comparisons... and a plea for help

So... it's been 2 weeks since I've posted.  I don't want to constantly be saying "sorry 'bout that", but umm... sorry 'bout that.  I have been so stressed out with work and life that I really haven't felt like blogging.  I have been painting my nails, but only every 4-5 days or so, and I haven't been taking pictures.  I'm having a bit of trouble with my camera - it is suddenly refusing to capture light correctly, as you will see in these pics.  I almost didn't post them because they are all kinda dark and not what I prefer, but I haven't felt like re-swatching everything either, so I hope they are helpful to you.

Work has been just... terrible lately.  I really need to find another job.  I have been there nearly 10 years, but things have changed so much and it's just not a place I am comfortable working anymore.  :(  It's really sad, but it's the truth.  I had mentioned before that we switched our focus from service to sales, and with that came a daily sales requirement that is... well, I won't say it is unreachable, because it isn't impossible, but it isn't likely to happen.  My department started off very well with the new program and put a lot of effort into it, but then the bank decided to change the rules of the program and did not reward for the hard work like they had promised they would.  As a result, most of the department quit putting in the effort.  Since I am responsible for them, if they don't do it, I lose my job, so everyone is breathing down my neck.  I am basically begging the staff to put some effort into it, with hardly any improvement.  I asked the other day what would motivate them to their original efforts again, and was told nothing was going to do that.  Um... so basically, they have gotten me fired, along with themselves.  *sigh*  I love my staff and I absolutely understand their feelings, but they don't seem to understand that if they don't follow along with the program, we are all getting fired!!

In other life news... anyone in Illinois (or anywhere else that we can get her to!) willing to take in a very sweet and loving cat?  Sydney is my parents' cat, she is around 13 years old, black and tan tiger-striped and will be your very best friend.  She has had a few potty problems lately and my parents have decided to put her to sleep, even though otherwise, she is healthy and happy.  Recent vet visits have proven she has no diseases, but my parents do not want to deal with the inconvenience of these litter box problems and are going to have her put down.  I have begged them to let me have her and they refuse, same with taking her to the local humane society.  They claim they don't want her to be anyone else's problem, but that is not fair - someone else could love her and understand that there are potty issues with age.  I am so angry, hurt, disappointed, and disgusted with them.  I'm also not speaking to them, which does suck because we are normally very close.  I am hoping if I can find her a loving home, my parents would be willing to try that instead of killing her because she is inconveniencing them.  I wish I had a good picture to show you - if you look in her adorable little face, it is impossible to not love her. Sydney is tiny, weighs maybe 3 lbs?, has a tiny short tail that is all wonky and weird at the tip (we believe it was caught in something when she was young - we picked her out at the vet's office when she was a couple of years old, they found her roaming the streets), and is missing a bottom tooth (not sure when that happened, I just noticed the last time I was there that it was gone!).  She is extremely quiet - she actually is unable to make sounds!  When we first got her, she made little creaky sounds instead of meows, but within the last few years, she has lost the ability altogether.  She still tries, but no sound comes out.  She has the biggest green eyes and the sweetest little face.  Sydney wants to be everyone's best friend.  She will do anything for attention, including walking on her hind legs just trying to get you to pet her!  She currently lives with another cat and they get along great - he thinks she is his mother and she treats him as her own.  If anyone has any suggestions for anything else I can do to try to help her... please let me know.  I am heartbroken over this.  Here are a couple of blurry pics of Sydney with my hubby... she adores him and as much as he hates to admit it, the feeling is mutual:

So... moving on now to what you came here to read about - Zoya Intimate Collection.  I've had this for awhile... basically, since Cilucia at Spaz & Squee posted swatches and I HAD to have it!  She has a great post with them and great comparisons - check it out here.  I've done different comparisons than her, so hopefully between the two of us, you'll figure out what you need and what you can skip!

Dove is a light grey creme that leans neither blue, brown, or green - just a true grey.  Not too many of those around!  Similar in color to China Glaze's Pelican Gray, Cilucia compared them - PG has shimmer.  I tried another pale grey I had, Avon's Urban Grey.  Definitely not a match!

Compared to Dove, Urban Grey looks off white!

Marley is a shimmery lavender that is surprisingly opaque in two coats.  I dunno if I would classify it as a shimmer... it's more like a hidden shimmer, but it's not so hidden as, say, Essie Sew Psyched.  I don't have much in the way of lavenders (lemming Rumples Wiggin' bigtime!), but I do have this, Avon's Luxe Lavender.

Umm... again... no match.  Not even close.

Gemma is a dusty army green with a blue shimmer - totally unique, I haven't seen anything else like it!  I decided to try to make it myself with a similar colored polish topped with CND Ice Blue Shimmer.  Here are my results (resluts!):

From left to right: Essie Sew Psyched, American Apparel Army Jacket, and Gemma.  As you can see, Army Jacket topped with Ice Blue Shimmer comes close - if you have both of these, you might be able to skip out on Gemma. 

Caitlin is a beautiful periwinkle cream and honestly, I have nothing even close in my 700 +/- stash.  Others have said it is an exact dupe to Petites Periwinkle, but that polish is not available to me here, so I haven't gotten to see for sure.  All You Desire compared it to Spa Ritual's A World of Compassion and has stated they are dupes as well - check out her post here.  Then don't forget to come back - I know her, blog is AMAZING!

Dannii is a purple umm... I don't know what to classify this finish as!  Any suggestions?  It's kinda foily, but not a foil, and the little particles in it kinda remind me of a glass fleck, or something like Charla... but it's not really any of those things.  This is the one I was most excited for and I really love it.

In the bottle, the color seemed similar to Zoya Zara, but as you can see, totally different!

Finally we have Jules, another weird finish like Dannii, but this time in a gold/silver blend.  I like this one a lot more than I thought I was going to, it's pretty unique.  I heard rumours that it was dupe-ish to Wet 'n Wild's Shield and China Glaze's Swing Baby, but it really isn't... at all!

Left to right: Swing Baby, Shield, Jules.  The other two, besides being different colors, are way different in finish to the Zoya.

Overall, I was very pleased with this collection.  Nice range of colors, nothing is a total dupe to something in my stash, and application was great.  I think I did 2-3 coats on each (depending on color), which is pretty standard, especially for Zoya.

I've got to wrap this one up for tonight, as lots of other things are waiting on me (like hubby, who needs me to pick him up from work!), but please leave your thoughts in the comments.  I have switched over to Disqus because it is SO much better for replying to comments and keeping track of conversations, so please, comment away!

And any suggestions on the Sydney situation would be much appreciated.  *sniffles*

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: none

Number of coats: 2-3

Essie Retail Swatches

So Essie was went retail and is now available at Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Target, Meijer, etc. etc. ... which is both great and irritating.  Essie wasn't readily available here, so I'm excited to be able to get my hands on them without ordering, but it does suck to see destroyed displays.  Since Essie has been available at Walmart.com, my collection has tripled - free shipping, so I can order 1 or 2, not feel guilty, and not have to actually set foot in Wal-mart - it's a dream come true!  ;)

Today I have for you a bunch of the retail exclusives that I've managed to pick up - Dive Bar, Sweet Talker, Mochacino, Jamaican Me Crazy, Devil's Advocate, and Mango Bango.  There are 5 I don't have - Oui Madame (pearly/frosty white shimmer), Trophy Wife (teal pearly/frosty shimmer), Beach Bum Blue (cerulean pearly/frosty shimmer), Miami Nice (hot pink shimmer), and Master Plan (neutral/taupe cream) .  I doubt I'll be picking any of those up - maybe Miami Nice, but it's doubtful.  None of them really appeal to me.  If you have one and love it, tell me why - convince me!!  ;)

Now on to the ones I do have... we'll start with Dive Bar.  Check out these bottle pics!

I saw that purple shimmer mixed in with the teal and about died - it's so gorgeous!  On the nail though...

Where did that purple go?!  I wore this for 2 days and held my hands every way I could think of with every light source I could and never saw any purple... none.  Such a disappointment... I kinda want to swap mine away, but I would feel bad, since there is no purple!  Others say they see it though... am I blind?

Once this was on my nails, I realized it wasn't all that unique.  Here it is compared with Too Rich For You by Nicole.

The Nicole is in the center... these two are super-close.  TRFY has a few more sparkles than Dive Bar, but the colors are dead-on dupes.  No muggle would notice the difference!!

Sweet Talker is a pretty pale blue, perfect for spring time!  Makes me think of Easter and daffodils... and bunnies!  ;)  You can barely see it, but it does have some shimmer, not just a plain creme.

When I received Sweet Talker, I immediately thought I had a Hard Candy Sky dupe on my hands - both are sky blue and have the same aqua shimmer.

Once swatched though, it's obvious the two are quite a bit different.

Sky (middle) is very milky and so danged sheer and streaky, you really have to use very thick coats.  Sweet Talker isn't fantastic in the application department, but it is better than Sky.  Could probably use a little thinner - it was a bit thick.

Mochacino is a gorgeous neutral/taupe with little flakes of silver running throughout.  This is probably my favorite of the retail exclusives, one of my favorite Essies ever, and probably in my top 20 polishes.  I just adore it!

It's perfect for work, but the little flecks of silver keep it interesting and edgy.  I wore this one for a week straight and didn't get sick of it one little bit.  I don't have anything to compare it with... let me know if you can think of something!

Jamaican Me Crazy is a fuchsia shimmer - so shimmery the particles are almost foily, but it's not a foil.

My camera absolutely hates colors like this - these berry-ish shades never show quite right and the crazy amount of shimmer made every other pic blurry.  I like it a lot and was surprised, I usually shy away from pinks.  Maybe I'm branching out?  I think this will look great in the summer, especially on toes!

Devil's Advocate is a really dark purple - practically black.  It's extremely shiny!

I don't have OPI - Lincoln Park After Dark (blasphemy, I know!), but I'm thinking this is really darned close.  I do have William Tell Me About OPI, which is a less black version of LPAD, so I compared the two of them.

WTMAOPI is lighter and always appears purple, where Devil's Advocate looks like black in most indoor lighting.  It was smooth and easy to use, but I bet it could stain cuticles like a mofo!

Last today I have Mango Bango - my first coral creme!

I never thought I could pull off coral, but I was proved wrong - I can!  :D  Mango Bango probably isn't all that unique, but I absolutely loved the color on me.  It's such a happy spring/summer color, I think I'll probably use it a ton.

I picked up Elf's Summer Ready Nail Kit after seeing it reviewed at Polished Pirate, mainly because of that coral, so when I got it, I had to compare it to Mango Bango.

Elf's Coral is lighter, pinker, and kinda jelly-like, where Mango Bango is deeper, more saturated, and definitely a creme.  Gahhh I love them both so much!  I've suddenly become a huge coral fan - give me your must haves!

I have to say, when I swatched this one, I was oohing and ahhing over the formula as much as the color - it was so smooth and easy to apply.  I wore it as a full mani earlier this week (so a couple of weeks after originally swatching it) and I really had a time getting it even.  I'm assuming I just need to add a little thinner, but dang, that was quick to get thick!

These retail exclusives are available wherever Essies are suddenly showing up - Walmart, Walgreens, Target, Meijer, CVS, etc., and retail at $8.00.  The price varies on where you get them, but I haven't seen them cheaper than $7.75 in store.

What are your favorites from the retail exclusives?  I LOVE Mochacino and Mango Bango, and like Jamaica Me Crazy quite a bit, but I could have skipped the others.  I can't wait until they put out new retail exclusive shades!  :)

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: none

Number of coats: varies - 2 to 3

Nicole by OPI - One Less Lonely Girl Collection

I rolled my eyes when this collection was announced, but then I ended up getting 4 of them... and I keep talking myself out of a 5th!  I don't hate Justin Bieber or anything, I don't really have an opinion of him - hell, I didn't even know who he was for a long time, just the name.  One of the girls I worked with had Bieber Fever and when I told her I had no idea what he sang, she played "Baby" for me.  Ooops, I had heard that song, but I thought it was a girl!  Needless to say, that's not really my kind of music.

I am typically a big fan of Nicole polishes even though they don't seem to get a lot of love anywhere else, so I started hunting for the collection when it came out.  Wal-mart's website has a feature where you can see where items are in-stock, so I had to drive to Urbana to find these.  Yeah, yeah, Champaign and Urbana are sister cities, but from my house to the Urbana Wal-mart is like 20+ minutes!  :P  I found OMB!, One Less Lonely Glitter, and Me + Blue there - I had to order My Lifesaver online, as it hasn't appeared here quite yet.

So first up is my fave, OMB!

Red is my favorite color, but I typically don't love it on my hands.  However, OMB! is so amazing that I didn't want to take it off - evar!  I have never seen a red foil like this.  It is intense!

When I rooted around through my collection, I thought this looked pretty similar to I Stop For Nicole, also by Nicole.  In the bottle at least.  Not so much on the nail.

As you can see, OMB! is a deeper, more true red than ISFN.  The finishes are totally different too.  I don't think I've seen anything quite like OMB! before - have you?  I'm thinking it will make one sexy pedi!  Application was superb - 2 coats went on flawlessly.  Might be able to get away with 1 if you are careful!  Super-quick dry time because of the foil finish.

My Lifesaver is a mint green that doesn't seem all that unique, but it has just the right undertones to be flattering on those who mint is usually a problem for.

I have to admit, I ordered this because of hype.  Lots of people on the NB were saying how great it was and I caved.  It's pretty, but I didn't super-love it.  The formula seemed a bit thick and you can tell in the application.  :P

It's not an exact match for anything in my collection, but I think I might like the squishiness of Turquoise & Caicos better.

Next is One Less Lonely Glitter, a pretty lavender glitter-bomb...

Wow, look at all the sparklies!  A unique color too, at least in my collection.  I don't have anything even remotely similar to this one, so here's a close-up where you can see the different shape/sizes of glitter.

Can you think of anything this might be dupey to?  *stumped*

And finally I've got Me + Blue.  AKA Me + Lumps.

So when I re sized this, it made it not look so bad.  I should post another close-up so you can see how lumpy this one is, but I won't... it's too scary and gross.  Me + Blue is a gorgeous blue with silver holographic glitter, but the glitter sinks to the bottom and just makes everything look rough and bumpy.  Here it is again with 2 coats of Gelous:

Me + Blue + Gelous = still bumpy.  :P  Maybe if I thinned it?  It's pretty danged thick, so maybe that's the problem.  I'll let you know after I try it.

Nicoles also introduced a new brush with this line - it's very similar to the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure brush, but the stick is short!  I was super-excited when I saw this because I do like the CSM brush, but hate the long funky sticks SH puts everything on.  I think the new brush works great on everything but creams - i.e., My Lifesaver.  Maybe my brush is a bit wonky, but it seemed to bring out the flaws in the polish and make it really hard to get an even coat.  No problems with the others though - I will have to try another cream and see if I have the same problem.

Apparently My Lifesaver is from the second round of these polishes, but it was available before the rest of the collection, which is kinda weird.  I have to talk myself out of Step 2 the Beat of My Heart every time I see it.  I have Honey-Dew You Love Me?, which is a teal version of the same thing and I haven't had much luck with it, so I keep saying NO to S2tBoMH, but I know I will eventually cave.

Did you pick up any of these?  What were your faves?

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: none (Gelous on Me + Blue)

Number of coats: 2 for all but One Less Lonely Glitter - that was 3

Zoya Zara & Black Shatter

I'm kinda short on time today, so here's a quick post featuring Zoya Zara and OPI's Black Shatter.

Zara was one of the free polishes I picked from Zoya during their recent promotion.  I had decided to pick up polishes that I liked, but wasn't sure I $7.00 liked them, know what I mean?  So I got Zara. Colbie, and Sloane.  I'll talk about those more soon.  Anyway, Zara was my favorite of the three and the first I wore.

As you can see, it's a light warm purple with heavy amounts of gold shimmer.  It's a great polish to make you feel a little flashy, but still "normal" enough looking that you don't get weird looks at work meetings - trust me, I tried it!  :)

Zara isn't the most opaque polish in the world, I think this was around 4 coats?  It applied very smoothly though and I didn't have trouble with dry time after I topcoated it.  It even held up pretty well, at least for a Zoya... I still haven't found the right combo to get them to last more than a couple of days.  I think I had this one on for at least 4 with only tip wear, no chips.

It was starting to look pretty rough though and I was going to a family function and didn't want to show up with so much tip wear, so I decided to try out Black Shatter.  I wasn't totally sold on the crackle idea, but I wanted Serena Williams' Simply Smashing and Black Shatter comes with it, so I have it.

I really liked it once it was on!  The shatter effect was perfect on my index and middle finger - I didn't get the coat thick enough on my ring finger and you can tell by the brushy-looking part on the left edge.  I loved how the shimmer from Zara just peeks through a bit to warm it up.  Application on Shatter wasn't as difficult as I had heard - a medium-to-thick coat gave the perfect look.  If you apply too thin, it will just look like you messed up something.  Apply too thick and it won't shatter.  It dried in about 2 seconds too.  That's what I think I love the most!

So I got Black Shatter thinking I probably wouldn't use it much, but after trying it out, I think I'll be using it on those manis that are past their prime, but I don't have the time to redo.  It will give them a totally fresh look without me spending any time!

I haven't totally jumped on the crackle bandwagon - I didn't (and don't plan on) buying any of the China Glaze ones, but I will continue to pick up the Serena Williams' sets, so I will get the White Shatter and Red Shatter for sure.  I also have seen that there is a Silver Shatter coming out with the Pirates of the Caribbean collection, so I'll be getting that one - who can resist Silver Shatter?!

Basecoat: Instant Artificials

Topcoat: Poshe

Number of coats: 4 of Zara, 1 of Black Shatter

Revlon Top Speed - Violet, Sugar Plum, Grape

Ugh, sorry again for the lack of posts... crazy-stressful work + horrid winter weather = no Normal Girl!  Fortunately we didn't get it quite as bad downstate as Chicago did, but it still was not good!  Nothing was open here - even the University of Illinois closed and apparently they have only closed like 3 times in their 144 year history!  The stupid bank decided to open a few facilities at noon, but only the drive thrus, so, being the manager, I had to go in.  It was too dangerous for ALL employees to come in, but it was ok for the tellers - WTF?!  *grumbles*  My street had not been plowed of the 12+ inches of snow we got (not to mention the freezing rain we had the two days prior), so it took my husband doing a lot of shoveling and creative maneuvers with the car for us to make it in.  >:P

Anyway... you aren't here to listen to me complain. Since I have been so short on time lately, I think I'm going to do a couple of series of different lines of polish.  I'm going to start off with the Revlon Top Speeds that have come out in the last couple of months.  I don't have the entire collection, but I do have quite a few.  Walgreens was giving $5 Jingle Cash with every purchase of one of these, basically making them $1.99 each, so I acquired some that way, then Meijer put out a smaller display with $1.00 off coupons on it, making them $2.99 each... so I've ended up a bunch of them.  I'm sure by now you've seen a million pics of Royal, but have you seen the others?  I couldn't find swatches of most of them, so hopefully this series will be helpful to you.  Today we're going to look at a few of the purples.

First off is Violet.  Let me tell you, this beauty is very shy and doesn't like her picture being taken!

This was as close as I could get to true-to-life color.  It's actually warmer than this, but still violet, not pink-leaning at all.  Something about the color is kinda mesmerizing - there is some serious depth to what appears to be just another violet shimmer. 

This is Sugar Plum... and to be honest, I don't know how to describe this one.  It's purplish, but more burgundy than purple... is there a name for this exact shade?  Whatever it is, it's amazing.  I looked at this one numerous times before I gave in and finally bought it.  I was afraid it would be a little frosty and brush-strokey, but it isn't either of those - it is one amazing shimmer.  It's got little bits of pink and green shimmer in there.  I wore this one for about 5 days and could not stop looking at it.  I think this is my favorite of the entire collection.

And last today is Grape.  It's a deep purple shimmer, kind of a lighter/warmer version of China Glaze's Let's Groove.  The blue and red shimmer are there as well, but they aren't as obvious as Let's Groove.  My camera did not like this color and every picture came out slightly blurry, but you get the idea.  This one didn't wow me as much as the other two.  I wore it for just a couple of days before I was over it.

Application-wise, these are pretty danged nice.  I have to tell you - I LOVE the Revlon brush.  Not sure why - it seems pretty standard - but it is my favorite out of every brand I've tried.  The formula varies by color and finish - Sugar Plum was amazing and practically applied itself, while Grape was patchy and I struggled to get it even.  Violet fell in between - not great, but not horrid.  These are a fast dry formula and they actually do dry pretty fast - better with a fast dry top coat.  Some of these, like Sugar Plum, you can get away with one coat if you are careful, others will need at least two, if not three.

Do you have any Top Speeds?  What are your favorites?  I think retail on these is $6.99, but you can find them cheaper at discount stores like Meijer ($3.99) & Target ($4.99) - they haven't shown up at my Wal-Mart yet, but maybe they will soon and even cheaper than Meijer's?  Also look out for $1.00 off coupons on some of the displays!

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: Beauty Secrets Fast Finish

Number of coats: varies by shade, 2-3

Sally Hansen XTreme Wear - Purple Gala

I've been polish-obsessed for as long as I can remember - I honestly think the obsession is more about color than about actual nail polish, but it ends the same way - me with a huge collection of polishes!  I had 150+ in Jr. High and High School, but it seemed like I wore the same 10 over and over again - some Wet 'n Wilds called "Blackest" - there was Blackest Blue, Blackest Green, Blackest Red, and my fave, Blackest Purple.  I'm pretty sure I even wore it to prom.  (But to be fair, it perfectly matched my prom dress!)

I wore polish all the time until I started working at the bank, 8+ years ago.  I started off wearing it, but contrary to popular belief, working at a bank involves physical work!  I was tearing up my manis within hours of doing them, breaking nails constantly, and just plain making a mess out of my hands.  I finally got fed up with it and quit wearing polish.  (And unfortunately, threw away my stash!)

I met my husband a couple of years later, still in the non-polish phase, so he was completely shocked and floored when I began wearing polish again last year.  He thought it was something new, but really it was an old love that never died.  I became the manager of my department a couple of years ago and wasn't doing the same amount of physical work that I had previously been doing.  I had picked up a couple of new polishes for our vacation so I could have gorgeous pedis and it suddenly occured to me that I could start painting my fingernails again!  I have to admit... I did kinda go crazy.  There were so many beauties I had lost, I had to completely rebuild my stash!

One of the first polishes I bought when I started collecting again was Hard Candy's Mr. Wrong.  It's a gorgeous dusty purple with gold foil flakes in it, and a Nail Board favorite.  I loved the color, but the danged thing would not dry on me!  I tried it for 2 manis with no success, even with Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Topcoat.  (Side note: I was totally obsessed with Hard Candy polishes in high school, but couldn't afford them - now they are at Wal-Mart?  Dirty, ghetto Wal-Mart, for $4 each?  *shakes head*  That makes me just a bit sad...)

When the nail board was all aflutter this summer/fall talking about the new Sally Hansen XTreme wears, I honed in on Purple Gala.  It's not an exact dupe to Mr. Wrong, it's a little bit brighter altogether, but I personally like it better.  I picked it up the first time I found it and have not regretted it!

I chose this picture first so you can see its bling!  It's shiney, sparkley, and catches every bit of light. 

You can really see the gold foil flecks coming out here.  They really stand out against the purple in bright light, but in low light, the whole thing kinda takes a gunmetal/silvery look to it.  I wore it to one of the Illini games and couldn't stop staring at how different it looked!



I tried to replicate the lighting, but it didn't really work out... I do think it looks a lot less purple here than it does in bright lights.  The gold really came out in this pic too, which goes against what I said earlier about it looking silvery!  Anyhoo, you can really see the irregular flecks of the gold foil.

Overall, I loved this polish.  It held up really well and applied easily.  It's a bit sheer, I think this was 3 coats.  I generally like the XTreme Wear line (just hate the name!  SO EXTREME!  *snortle*), I just hate the long stick the brush is on, like so many other Sally Hansen lines.  When are they going to figure out how much easier application would be if the stick was shorter?!

I'm pretty sure Purple Gala was a limited edition shade, but it's still out there (and probably on clearance!), so pick it up if you see it!  If you prefer dustier hues, you might like the Hard Candy a bit better - it's a little more subdued.  Purple Gala is cheaper (even full-priced at $2.99) and you get more (.5 oz compared to .35 oz), so if you don't have a preference, I suggest it.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Purple Gala retails for $2.99 and can be found at a variety of retailers, including Walgreens, Target, and Meijer.

Number of coats: 3

Basecoat: Gelous

Topcoat: Out the Door