Zoya Mystery Trio! - Anais, Severine, & Charlotte - Peter Som A/W 2014

It took nearly a month, but my Zoya Mystery Trio package finally arrived! These came with my three free polishes from their New Year New Hue promotion. This is a rather large promotion tactic and I expected some stunning shades, perhaps even new textures on the level of their amazing Pixie Dust line.

Alas it was not to be.

They're cute shades, but hardly living up to the anticipation, of a month no less! To make it worse, they are old shades, from the collection created for Peter Som A/W 2014. That and I suppose that as the collection wasn't put up for individual sale, this is one of the few chances to get it. Free polish is free polish, so here we go.

First up is Charlotte, a rather standard neutral beige creme. It's a bit cold for my nails, and I wish it had a bit more warmth to work as a neutral for me. It had a bit of a streaky application and required three coats to cover well. Looks like a good base for nail art for those of you interested.

A frost, oh man. Severine is a desaturated metallic gold. Application was pretty standard for a frost, runny but solid formula that covered in two coats. Still, a frost, but a lovely one! I actually would have liked to have this for the New Year's season.

Last but not least is Anais, my favorite of the collection. It's a black base with the gold shimmer found in Severine that lights it up and saves it from being a a standard black frost. Two coats leaves bald spots, so I suggest three to get it all nicely covered. It's beautiful.

Not bad for a free set, really.

Zoya Holo Jellies of Awesome - Dream, Aurora, Storm, Payton

Dream (Zoya) is a brilliant cobalt blue jelly filled with holo glitter. It applies smoothly and covers at two to three coats. It's absolutely phenomenal, I have no complaints about it!

I love this polish as much as I love its cousins. I realized that I had Storm and Aurora but for some unearthly reason never swatched them! I did have Payton already swatched, here it is.

Payton

Aurora and Storm have the same composition as their gorgeous cousins. Jelly bases of their primary color and lots of holo glitter packed in. I think the only one of this kind from Zoya that I don't have is Blaze and that's just because I didn't like the red so much at first sight. To be honest with myself though, there's a high chance I acquire it before the winter comes (if Zoya doesn't give us more goodies... preferably in greens!). The best part of these polishes is that they aren't rough or textured and go on quite smoothly. Love em!

Aurora

Storm

21. Belugaria (Essie) from Essie's Encrusted Treasures Winter 2013 - A Polish Was Hated But Is Now Loved

Now this one's an odd blast from the past!

How do I even begin to describe this?

Named after Beluga caviar (and I shall happily remain ignorant in my sampling of this particular dish), Belugaria (Essie) is very rough textured polish composed of black granular glitter and large holo hex glitter in a black base. Pictured above is two coats, I could have used three. I am completely on the fence about this polish. It's so ugly it's gone right around to intriguing and I still can't bring myself to rid myself of it (and keep in mind this is from Essie's Encrusted Treasures collection for winter hols in 2013!).

What do you think?
What are some of your favorite so ugly it's cool polishes?

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Polish that:

was hated but is now loved


reminds me of a special day
is sexy
is a pastel
is hard to apply
i can't pull off
would be worn to a wedding
is blue
is new
is from a favorite brand

has a name that describes me
is a glitter

is easy to apply

is vampy

was coveted
is from my favorite collection

has never been worn

is boring

is inexpensive

makes me happy

is my favorite
is my least favorite 
is "so me"
is worn often
was gifted to me
is from a least favorite brand

was loved but is now hated
is overrated

hasn't been worn in some time
matches my favorite outfit

L'Oreal Paris Colour Riche Gold Dust: The Statement Piece & Hidden Gems

This lovely champagne looker here is The Statement Piece from L'Oreal's new Gold Dust textured polish collection. It applies with no issues at all and is perfect at two coats. I made a sound when I first got it on my nail because it's so pretty! I'm kind of sad that the holiday season is over because this would have been absolutely perfect but you best believe I'll be rocking it at the first opportunity in-season or not! If you get one bottle from this collection, grab this one.

Hidden Gems is a deceptive one.  In the bottle, there's a "hidden gem" of a purple sheen in all the black, teal, and silver glitter that sold me on buying the bottle but unfortunately, it's nowhere to be found on the nail. The teal is kind of cool, mixed in with the black glitter and the silver gives it extra pop, so it does redeem this polish but after The Statement Piece my standards were set pretty high. Application was not that great at three coats and it dried pretty quick though I find that to be so with most textures.

Black Magic aka Purple/Gold (Forever 21) Sand Lacquer

I sincerely hope the texture trend doesn't end any time soon. I feel like it forces brands to get more inventive with their glitter/shimmer combos, and that can transfer to non-texture shades- it's certainly evident every time I put around two coats of topcoat on these polishes to get them smooth and they are just startlingly gorgeous.

Forever 21 came in extremely late with their texture polishes but they made up for their lack of punctuality with some great shades. Black Magic (called Purple/Gold on the bottle) has to be my absolute favorite. I missed it the first go round, but they recently revamped their line, down to the bottle shape, and they brought this lovely darling back (so if you missed the Sand Lacquers the first time around, they have even more shades out now).

I had no application issues; I used two coats but a careful single coat could have done. The color is fascinating. In low light, this polish looks black with gorgeous sparkle; in indoor lighting, it looks like a very dark purple base packed in with all kinds of multi-colored fine glitter; in sunlight it comes absolutely alive and reminds me of NASA pics of galaxies.

I was in somewhat of a rush, so I put a layer of quick dry topcoat on  but trust me, that made no difference and it was still as textured as ever, it just dried faster. As for wear, these pics were taken after two days of wear and I did experience some tip wear; I'll add that I don't keep nail polish very well, and that I am a recovering (badly) nail biter. I definitely recommend checking out the rest of the line. Forever 21 surprised me here, even if they were a little late to the party.

What brand do you think did texture best this past year? What do you think of the texture trend's persistence?

Alex By The Books (Nicole by OPI) and Ink Splatter Crackle (Sally Hansen) Swatch & Review

Alex By The Books (Nicole by OPI) is a pastel mint creme from their Modern Family collection. It took three coats to get it passable and it had the classic pastel mint trouble formula. It's pretty, but it was released a bit late as far as releasing pastel mints go. In honor of not caring how late a trend is, I release the crackle! Excuse my geeky moment, I'm was watching Clash of the Titans earlier. I went with Ink Splatter (Sally Hansen).

Bats My Eyes (China Glaze) from the Monster's Ball Halloween Collection

Now this is a cool one. Bats My Eyes is from China Glaze's Halloween collection. I completely passed on this collection as largely uninteresting but the more I saw swatches of this particular one, the more I thought I should get it. I'm really glad I did. It is a confuddling black jelly with gold glitter; the glitter is pretty great too, made up of multi-size gold glitter and gold to orange reflective bar glitter. The black jelly base is also not so sheer that I can't build it up and it was all good in three coats. The sparkle is great, practically lightning up in the sun while still being visible in the shade and indoors. Love it!

Inkwell (Sinful Colors)

This is Inkwell (Sinful Colors). It's popped up in various collections, last year in the Enchanted/Muse collection and this year with the Haute Rebel and Colors to Die For collections. This is not a black polish; it's an extremely dark brown/purple eggplant creation that is in fact perfectly reminiscent of the not quite black nature of writing ink. It's a great creme formula at two coats but it looks squishy despite its vampiness after two coats.

Elusive (Revlon) from the Evening Opulence Collection for Fall 2013

 Elusive is from Revlon's Evening Opulence collection for fall 2013. It's a dark blue base packed in with multi-size teal hexagonal glitter. It took around 3 coats of very careful application to gain opacity. The polish is extremely thick and it requires some drying time between coats. The final payoff isn't as impressive as it looks in the bottle; the dark base dulls down what would have been a truly impressive glitter polish. About the only way to really enjoy this polish is to get a topcoat on it.

Sinful Colors Leather Luxe Collection: Leather Loose (Sinful Colors) & Laced Up (Sinful Colors)

One of my favorites from the Leather Luxe collection, Laced Up (Sinful Colors) is a lovely coral red matte though it presents a lot redder in the bottle. Two coats and it was all opaque. I'd recommend a thinner as you go along using this polish, it can get a bit goopy. Letting the the polish dry between coats is a basic requirement of applying matte polishes in my opinion.

I wore this for Halloween. Leather Loose (Sinful Colors) is a dark brown base with coppery gold shimmer all throughout. Interesting in its matte form and brilliant with a topcoat. Three coats for opacity; it is a bit sheer, but it is worth that extra coat. Gorgeousness!!

Secret Admirer (Sinful Colors)

There's a reason Sinful Colors keeps re-promoting this shade. This season it's popping up on the Halloween displays as well as the Decorate Decadently: Based In Style collection for Winter/Holiday 2013. Secret Admirer is a dark grey base with full of silver shimmer that results in a lovely gunmetal shade. In fact, the silver shimmer is so dense plentiful I'd be inclined to call this a foil! I am in love with this gorgeous shade. Application was absurdly easy and I could have been alright at one coat but a second coat just gave the silver edge it has to it more depth.

Totally In The Dark (Nicole by OPI)

I don't even remember how to begin again, it's been so long. So let me just delve right into it. 

I love black polish, there's something gorgeous about really great black polish that somehow manages to have depth without changing the fact that it's black. Case in point Totally In The Dark (Nicole by OPI). It's a black polish chock full of silver glitter that doesn't take away from the fact that it's a black based polish. Better yet, the shimmer is present indoors and out in the sun!

Totally In The Dark was released as one Nicole by OPI's Spring 2013 shades (odd choice for spring, I know). Application was alright, a bit sheer but full coverage at 3 coats. Or you can get around that by using a really well formulated black polish to start with. A great choice for when you want black polish with a starry kind of kick.

Rich In Heart (Sinful Colors) - A Polish That Is Vampy

For my vampy choice I went with Rich In Heart (Sinful Colors). With it's a black base filled with burgundy micro-shimmer it is an easy choice for lush vampy nails. Application was extremely easy and it was opaque in two coats with no issues. Sinful Colors did good with this one!

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Polish that:
is my favorite
is my least favorite 
makes me happy
is "so me"
reminds me of a special day
has never been worn
is worn often
was gifted to me
is vampy
is boring
is from a favorite brand
is from a least favorite brand
is blue
is inexpensive
has a name that describes me
was loved but is now hated
is overrated
was coveted
is from my favorite collection
is a glitter
is a pastel
was hated but is now loved
would be worn to a wedding
hasn't been worn in some time
is easy to apply
is hard to apply
is sexy
is new
i can't pull off
matches my favorite outfit

Liquid Leather (China Glaze)

I can't believe I hadn't swatched this yet. Liquid Leather (China Glaze) is one of the most loved black cremes in the polish world and with good reason. It does require three coats for the perfect opaque build up but it feels like no bother when the result is gorgeous and shiny black as black nails. It's glossy on its own, which was quite impressive but a top coat only improves it. I love this polish as a base or worn by itself.

No Limits (Nicole by OPI)

This is No Limits from Nicole by OPI. It's supposed to be an almost black blue creme but for some reason I can only see the blue in the bottle and on the outskirts of the polish application. Regardless, application was very easy and was great in two coats. I'm a little sad about the dark blue but it still looks great, so hey! Silver linings :)

Bowery Nights (NOTD)

I really liked my On The Chinatown mani and wanted to try it out with a darker polish. So because I was lazy, I just layered over some Bowery Black (NYC) over the Chinatown and Hot Pink (Milani) on the accent finger and went with it.

Stone Cold (China Glaze)

This is the wonderful Stone Cold (China Glaze). I adore this polish. Application was smooth, but I do warn you it dries QUICK. The shimmer in the polish is present whether it's matte or it's glossy. If you don't have it, acquire it.

Stone Harvest (NOTD)

I got impatient and wanted to see what Stone Cold looked like.

Oh, and I bite my index fingernails, ignore the minute chip.

 I'd forgotten Stone Cold was a matte! How appropriate of a name is Stone Cold? The matte as is looked amazing with the shiny gloss of Harvest Moon.

I was absolutely too lazy to do all ten of my fingernails so I just did an accent on the ring finger and left it at that. I then messily added a topcoat because I remembered falling in love with Stone Cold like this and yes! This was a matte made to turn shiny. There is a certain warmth to how the shimmer in the dark grey glimmers.

Spellbinding (Milani)

Spellbinding (Milani)
Price: $3.74
MSRP: $4.49

Helloooooo beautiful.

This is a gorgeous polish from Milani's Black Magic collection in fall of 2009, I believe. It's a black based jelly with tons of red glitter in it. I'm pretty sure it's a good candidate for a dupe for Lubu Heels (China Glaze) which I wanted to get but decided to try this brand to see what it could offer. I'm pleased with my choice, I've got nothing like it in my collection and it's so beautiful and what a great idea to stick bright primary colors in a black base, especially red. Application was a breeze though it did take 3 to 4 coats to get to prime color. I still love it.

We Run The Night (NOTD)

Chinatown (NYC)
Price: $1.24
MSRP: $1.99

I'm calling this mani, We Run The Night, because it makes me wanna go out and do some dancing.

After the base coat, I used NYC's Chinatown which is a great violet almost-black which surprised me because I'm so used to seeing blue or green almost-blacks. It applied easily and sweetly and had a really nice subtle purple shimmer all throughout that brought some life to what could have been a boring color.

Cheatin (Pure Ice)
Price: $1.35
MSRP: $1.99

To pump it up I mixed two glitters that could be a bit blase on their own, Big City Dazzle (NYC) and Cheatin (Pure Ice). Individually the glitters are all right and it takes about two/three coats to get some real play out of them but together they lit up my dark polish and made me want to get under a strobe light.

I'm going to have to try it at as a matte to see what shines through, Cheatin or Big City Dazzle because under a clear glossy top coat, they shine about the same.

Big City Dazzle (NYC)
Price: $1.24
MSRP: $1.99

Here's some blurry pictures for the funtiemz!