Zoya, How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways...

Recently, this fabulous nailcare company, Zoya, had a promotion on Facebook. If their fan page got over 25, 000 fans, they would give away three bottles of nail polish (retail value $21) to whoever ordered and had the special coupon code. All you had to pay was $6.95 shipping!

Of course I had to partake! I had such a hard time choosing colors, they have so many beautiful ones to choose from. Pastels, brights, sparkles, glitters, creams, mattes, duochromes...you name it, they've got it! It was like nail polish overload!

I decided that to make the most of this opportunity, I needed to get the widest variety of polishes I could. I chose Veruschka, which is a beautiful matte, yet sparkly, emerald green. Then I chose Shawn which is a creamy, hunter green. Last but not least, I got Adina. Adina is a duochrome and has a purple base. When you look at it in one light, it has an aqua/green shimmer to it. Shift your hand slightly and it has a pink shimmer. It's a real stunner!

When the polishes arrived today, I was so excited that I couldn't wait to swatch the colors. I had already planned to drive to my Mom's house for the weekend, so I swatched a nail every time I had a few moments at a stoplight. Now this is a practice I do NOT condone or advocate. Do as I say, not as I do, right? As a result, the polish job is a little messy. Adina went on the easiest, but it's more of a sheer color, so you have some room for error. Veruschka was the next easiest. It's so interesting to watch the color dry down to the final matte finish. Shawn took the most coats (3) and required the most concentration. In the end, the color is beautiful and I'm sure that it was purely my painting my nails in my car that was the issue.

My Mom got in two of her polishes today. They are lovely! I will swatch those and post photos later this weekend.

In the end, Zoya's promotion was a great success. I am curious to know how many orders were shipped out as a result of it. It's a lot, just gauging from their frequent Facebook posts of how another 10,000 orders were shipped out.

Would I recommend Zoya? Oh yes. They have such a wide variety of colors, there is something for everyone! You can also get on a mailing list to be made aware of new promotions and deals. Here are a few things you should know about Zoya, from their fan page:

"Zoya Nail Polish - Formaldehyde, Toluene, Camphor and Dibutyl Phthalate Free Nail Polish and Treatments. Choose from over 300 fashion shades. Zoya is the new color of fashion."

Veruschka, Shawn and Adina


The colors I got are the top row.
My Mom got the ones on the bottom row.

Sunny and Jordana

Adina (Detail)

Covergirl NatureLuxe Gloss Balms

I am a huge fan of colored lip balms. I like to be able to apply a color that doesn't look like it's wearing off, when it is in fact wearing off. I like to be able to just grab a tube and apply, without the aid of a mirror. So, when I saw the new Covergirl Gloss Balms, I figured I'd give them a shot. I wasn't really drawn in by the "NatureLuxe" name. I have a hard time thinking anything put out by the major companies is all that natural. But that's just me being cynical.

The two colors I got are Coral and Sandstone. They both are colors that would look natural on, of course Coral is more of an orange shade and Sandstone is a warm, medium pink.

Sandstone applies with a lot more pigment than Coral. It also has a good amount of sparkle too it that makes it feel a little bit gritty on the lips. Coral was barely visible when I swatched my fingertip. I had to rub and rub to get it to show up. In a way, this sounds exactly like what I want from a colored balm, but I expected a little more. Perhaps I should've tried a darker shade like Clove or Peony. It's just such a gamble trying to figure out if a company is going to make something too sheer or too pigmented. I'd say Sandstone was the closest to a happy medium.

If you like washes of color, then this is for you. If you want a more tinted balm, then I would recommend shopping around. I know Madd Style Cosmetics makes some lovely ones, as does Sleek Make-Up, MAC, Tarte and Deluxe Beauty.

Sandstone

Coral

Sandstone on the top finger.

Coral on the lower finger.

Hello, Hard Candy!

I have been coveting this adorable make-up bag from Hard Candy for a while now, so I recently broke down and bought it. I love the zipper pulls, the fabric, the zip pocket inside the top and the size. It's bigger than what you would carry in your purse, but not overwhelming. Perfect for a vacation.

While I was at the store, I came across these beauties, Eye Def cream eyeshadows. The green color, algae, totally sold me! It's full of sparkle and shimmer and once you put it on, it pretty much stays in place! I got the neutral brown so I would have a foolproof basic, but there is an aqua color I see myself owning sometime soon! You apply the color to your lids with a wand, very much like a lip gloss wand. It's quick and easy and dries really fast. I even used my finger to blend it out before it dried completely.

Hard Candy is one of those companies that is reasonably priced, but there are SO many nifty things, I am not sure when I will get around to trying them all! (Hint, hint if you'd like to send some product my way, Hard Candy!) And for you nail buffs, I noticed that they have a clear top coat that makes any polish matte, which I know is a big trend right now. I can't wait to give that a spin!

It's really funny, I was looking at new make-up today on Sephora.com and while I my interest was slightly piqued by Tokidoki, Hello Kitty and Kat von D, I found myself even more excited about my latest Hard Candy acquisitions. I'm all about bang for your buck. And I really adore my sparkly, Eye Def shadows. I do believe that there are drugstore companies that give boutique companies a run for their money and Hard Candy definitely falls into this category.

Last but not least, I've been wearing my Sleek nail polish on my toes for almost 3 weeks now and it still looks awesome...so while I have some issues with Sleek as a company, I still have to rave about their products.

Madd Style Cosmetics Part II

So, I got another order from Madd Style Cosmetics last Saturday. I was very excited for this shipment! I got a few different lip bombs, a lip gloss, a lip scrub and the pigments inspired by the Rocky Horror Picture Show!



As you can see the colors are really phenomenal. The black has a multi-colored sparkle in it that is so stunning in person, you can see some of it in the photo, but the photo doesn't do it justice.


Above, you can see the Chibi Moon lip gloss and it is the most beautiful rosey-gold color. It smells wonderful and has a slightly fruity flavor too! Below are the lip bombs! I got one tinted one called Miss Muffcake. It's a very pretty, wearable color for most skintones.


And in this shipment I got a free clamshell of a new color! You can't beat freebies! I am so excited to be getting more stuff from Mo Love, the fabulous mastermind behind MSC. The colors are always fun and playful. And once I get some, I crave more. SO watch out, it is habit-forming! But only in the very best way!

Response from Sleek

Here is an email I received today:

"Hi Courtney,

Thank you for your email.

I have investigated this with all employees in our warehouse and cannot find any evidence to suggest that any member of Sleek staff was responsible or involved. All employees within our warehouse have been with the company for many years and thus are known to be wholly responsible individuals. During the period your package was shipped we were extremely busy therefore there was even less opportunity for such an act because of the volume of packages being shipped. The entire warehouse is also covered by CCTV and thus I am confident that this image was not drawn at Sleek.

I would point out that in our entire company history (over 20 years) we have NEVER had such an incident or even anything remotely similar where an order or packaging was scribbled on or defaced in way. We ship thousands of packages each month and recently many orders have been shipped to the US and not one package has been defaced. On the contrary we regularly receive compliments on the careful packaging. Something we have spent much time and effort on training our staff on.

I can understand your alarm at the image however for the reasons stated above I can assure you this was not the work of any Sleek employee.

As a gesture of goodwill I will be sending you our new Molten Metal Eye shadow which has just been released.

Regards
Saif Pathan
General Manager"

Thoughts?

(I am currently at the hospital while my dad has surgery, so I will reflect more on this when I am in a better frame of mind.)