Zoya Summer 2014 Tickled Collection (Part 2)

Swatches & Review

Hi everyone! A few days ago, I posted the first part of the Tickled Collection, which is part of Zoya's Summer 2014 line. Today, I have the last three shades in the Tickled collection, which consists of six creme shades.

The shades from left to right:
Rocha, Tilda & Ling

Rocha: Orange with very subtle shimmer. This is the only shade in the Tickled collection that I noticed shimmer in when I was applying it, however, it really is not noticeable at all once it is dried on the nails. The formula on this was good. It applied evenly and was opaque in two coats.

Tilda: Bright apple green. Tilda was a bit on the thick side and looks very goopy when too much is used to apply so I recommend using thin coats for this. I used three thin coats for the swatches to make it look less goopy, and more even.

Ling: Medium blue creme. The consistency & formula on Ling was great. It was very opaque in one coat, and applied very smooth and evenly. I used two coats for my swatches.

Overall, I feel like the Tickled Collection is a great addition to creme finishes. Before, I always found that creme finish nail polishes would be very streaky, however, I did not experience that much in this whole collection with the exception of Kitridge, which did not have the best formula. In this part of the review, I found the color with the best formula was Ling, and it did not stain my nails, which surprises me every time a blue is not staining my nails since they usually stain my nails. Although the colors are bright, I did not experience any staining with any colors in this collection.

What do you think about the Tickled Collection for Summer from Zoya?


*Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided to me for my honest opinion/review from the brand. I was not paid for this review & all opinions are my own.

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Zoya Summer 2014 Tickled Collection (Part 1)

Swatches & Review

Hi everyone! I'm back with posting nail swatches and the reason why I have not been painting my nails much both on my blog and instagram is because I had a funky nail infection, so I had to stay away from swatching for more than few weeks because constant painting and removing the nail polish would have only made it worse. Anyway, for Summer 2014, Zoya has sent me their collections to try and review. One of the three collections is the Tickled Collection, which consists of six creme finish shades, and I will be reviewing three of the six in this post.

The shades from left to right:
Kitridge, Wendy & Rooney

Kitridge: Bright bubblegum pink creme. The color on this was a bit hard to capture in natural lighting because with any camera I used, the pink will be super washed out and lighter than it appears. Indoors with a lamp lighting, it shows a more accurate shot of the color. I found that this was watery and applied streaky, however, the streaky-ness of it evened out in three coats. I also noticed that this dried semi-matte.

Wendy: Bright melon/coral creme. The formula on this was great. It applied evenly and smooth. I used two coats for my swatches of Wendy.

Rooney: Medium magenta creme. The formula on this was also great, and it applied pretty opaque in just one coat. I used two coats for my swatches, but you could definitely get away with one thick coat.

I feel like these dry better than many Zoya nail polishes that I have reviewed before, and Kitridge and Wendy dry semi-matte, with Kitridge being more noticeably matte without topcoat. My favorite color from this is Wendy because I do not have many coral shades like this in my nail polish collection, and my favorite formula was Rooney because it applied very evenly in just one coat.

What do you think about the Zoya Summer collections? Have you purchased any to wear for summer? :)

Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided to me for my honest opinion/review from the brand. I was not paid for this review & all opinions are my own.

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Influenster Uni VoxBox

Swatches & Review

I have received the Uni VoxBox for free from Influenster to review. My package was delayed getting to me, and after receiving it, I did not really have a chance to test out the products until this past week. Anyway, Influenster is a site that sends out complimentary products from time to time depending on the badges and questionnaires that each individual has taken. If Influenster feels you are the right match for the box, they will select you to take an additional survey to see if you qualify for the box. I have qualified for the Uni VoxBox, which is perfect because it includes some cosmetics, and essentials for me as a college student.

The Uni VoxBox includes: imPRESS Press-On nails, NYC Cosmetics Expert Last Lip Color in Forever Fuchsia, Pilot Acroball pen, Rimmel Stay Matte Liquid Mousse Foundation, Playtex Sport Fresh Balance tampons, and Red Rose REAL TEA Premium Water Enhancer.

If you follow me on Instagram, or know me personally, you know that I absolutely love, and hoard pens. I can never have one pen in class, I need variety, and color. Ball-point, gel, liquid, I have tried them all. The Pilot Acroball PureWhite pen retails from $4.59 for a 3-pack to $7.49 for a 5-pack. The Pilot Acroball pen has a nice grip for your fingers to hold onto the pen, and the ballpoint is not very thick, which makes the writing easier to control. Although it claims that it is smooth writing, I feel like it does cut in and out whenever I am writing in class. Some letters sometimes end up having no ink, while some do. For the price, I would probably skip out on this one because the writing feels like the free pens that are frequently passed out for free on campus. The grip itself is nice though, but not worth the price.

Before receiving the Rimmel London Stay Matte foundation in the VoxBox, I have already tried and used the foundation before. The color I chose for this is Classic Beige because I already own True Beige, and Sand. Classic Beige seems like a good fit for me in the winter because it is lighter than the other two I own. The foundation comes in a squeeze tube, which makes it easy to control the amount that comes out of the tube. It comes out pretty thick, and mousse like, which is what the foundation is described as. Be careful to not put too much because it becomes hard to blend, feel heavy, and look cakey. I feel like this foundation would be best for those who have normal to oily skin because this shows every single dry spot that I have on my face, but definitely moisturize before using this.

NYC Cosmetics recently released their Expert Last Lip Color in new packaging, but the colors are the same as when they were in the black packaging that has been recently discontinued. The Expert Last Lip Color has a sweet fruity scent, which I am not a fan of. Although the product itself looks a bit dark, it applied lighter on me than it appeared. Forever Fuchsia has silver shimmer in it, which is very noticeable on the lips. The formula in this shade felt drying, and needed the lips to be exfoliated before applying. I have tried other shades that I have liked, but this shade and the formula just did not work for me. Forever Fuchsia looked like a Nicki Minaj/Barbie Pink on me.

The last cosmetics item I received was the imPRESS Nails in First Date. It is like a light brown shade. I am not a fan of false nails, but I decided to try this. However, I wasn't able to really use it since the "biggest" nails for too small for my nail beds. The middle picture is the nail on my pinky, and the one on the bottom is on my index finger. Although there's 12 sizes, none worked for me at all, so if you have big nail beds, avoid this!

Have you received any VoxBoxes from Influenster? What are your thoughts about these items if you have tried them before?

Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided to me for my honest opinion/review from the brands via Influenster. I was not paid for this review & all opinions are my own.

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Studio Gear Cosmetics Hydrating CC Cream: Wheat

Swatches & Review

Hi everyone! Today, I have a review of Studio Gear Cosmetics Hydrating CC Cream for you today as part of a campaign with BrandBacker. I have never tried any CC Creams before so I was curious to try it. I also have not tried much from Studio Gear except their lipsticks so I was curious about their face products as well.

The CC Cream is packaged in a squeeze tube packaging, which I like because you are able to control how much you squeeze out, and bacteria does not get into it as easily since there's no double dipping or having a wide opening. This CC Cream also contains SPF 20.

When I first squeezed the product out, I was like "wow, this is really pale," but after blending it out, I realized that the shade gets darker. According to the packaging, this product is supposed to adapt to the skin of the person using it. Although it looks like it adapts to the skin, I feel like it just always results in the same color because I have tested it on my mother, who has a lighter skin complexion than I do and when we compared the color that it was once it's blended, it was the same color. It was pretty cool seeing the color show up and change though.

So the reason why I did not show the product on my face is because when I decided to try it last week when I received it, my face immediately started to feel itchy and red bumps were starting to form on my face so I took the item off after applying it. During the time it was on my face, it did not feel very lightweight and felt greasy, which was not a good feeling at all. I also noticed that the coverage was very minimal so it did not cover the red spots on my face, and there was a strong floral detergent-like scent to it. I do not know if it really does hydrate for 72 hours since I didn't even have it on for over half an hour, but if you are sensitive to scents and break-out easily, I would not recommend the Studio Gear CC Cream.

The Studio Gear Cosmetics CC Cream retails for $34 and comes in three shades.
You can view the CC Cream directly here:
http://studiogearcosmetics.com/shop/best-sellers/hydrating-cc-cream/
If you are interested in the Studio Gear CC Cream, or any other Studio Gear products, Studio Gear is offering 10% off your next purchase at studiogearcosmetics.com with the code: bloggercc.

Disclaimer: The products in this post were provided to me for my honest opinion/review from the brand via BrandBacker. I was not paid for this review & all opinions are my own.

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Zoya Magical Pixie Dust: Cosmo

Swatches & Review

For Spring, Zoya released three new Pixie Dust shades in Cosmo, Lux, and Vega. Although Zoya has had many Pixie Dust shades in their textured nail polish line, the Magical Pixie's are different because they contain holographic glitter, which the previous textured shades did not have. The first shade that I tried from the Magical Pixie line is Cosmo.

Zoya describes Cosmo as a "silver crystal sparkle."

I used two coats for the swatches. These swatches were taken indoor.

These swatches were taken outdoor.

To me, Cosmo is exactly how Zoya describes it, which is a silver crystal sparkle. Although it is a bit hard to see in pictures, Cosmo was very very shiny and sparkly in real life. Wearing it made me feel like I had princess nails because it was shiny like Cinderella's glass slippers. If you have tried the regular line of Pixie Dusts before, these feel grittier than the sandy texture that the regular line has, but the gritty feeling wears off after showering. Cosmo applied nicely because it was not too thick, or thin and it dried quickly, which made it fast and easy to put on a second coat.

These are available on Zoya.com now and retails for $10 per 0.5oz bottle.


**The products in this post were provided to me for my honest opinion/review. I was not paid nor compensated for the review.

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Zoya Fall Cashmeres Collection

Swatches & Review

In addition to the Fall PixieDust collection, Zoya also has two additional collections for fall called Cashmeres and Satins. The Cashmeres part of the collection consists of six creme finish nail polishes for fall.

Flynn: A camel nude creme. It is a nice nude that is not too light so it actually works well with my skin-tone. I used two coats for the swatches.

Louise: Dark brown creme. This applied kind of streaky, but it evened out by the time I put on the third coat.

Hunter: Dark green creme. I did not really like apply this because it was super watery, so I had to use very very thin coats. I used three coats for swatches.

Livingston: Bright cherry red. I feel like this is a sheer creme, almost jelly-like because it is sheer. I loved the formula because it applied smooth & gave me no problems at all, but you can still see my nail line after three coats. This also stains the nails so I recommend using a base coat.

Pepper: Brick red creme. This has the perfect formula and everything! This is actually my favorite from the whole collection & will be my favorite for the fall season. I used two coats in the swatches.

Sailor: Dusty navy blue. This was a bit on the sheer side, so I used three coats. After three coats, I was still able to see my nail line so I think four coats may have been best for this.

Overall, I felt that this collection is okay. The only color that stood out to me that I loved was Pepper because it does not look like a lot of the nail polishes that I already own. The other colors does not seem too unique like Pepper was to me, so I can easily have done without some of the colors from this collection. What I actually liked from this collection as a whole is that it actually dried quickly for me, which normally does not happen when I use Zoya creme finish nail polishes.

These are available for purchase on Zoya.com now, and they retail for $8 per 0.5oz bottle.

What do you think about Fall collections? Do you think they come too soon since it's not even the end of summer yet?


**The products in this post were provided to me for my honest opinion/review. I was not paid nor compensated for the review.

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Zoya Fall PixieDust

Swatches & Review

We're still in the middle of Summer & Fall collections are out already? Yes, this is how it normally is, but this just reminds me that Fall semester for school is coming closer and closer. Anyway, Zoya always has amazing Fall collections and this year, they decided to also make a PixieDust collection for Fall. The new Fall PixieDust collection has been provided for me free to review from Zoya, and just when I thought I was over the textured nail polish craze, some of the new colors have got me hooked again!

Like the previous two PixieDust collections, the Fall set also comes with six shades. Although some of the shades look similar than ones from past seasons, they actually aren't exactly the same.

Tomoko: Champagne nude with a silver glitter. This shade is very soft looking & is super sparkly when it is out in the sunlight. This was a bit on the sheer side so I used three coats for swatches.

Chita: Forest green with light green glitter. Chita was very pigmented and it can definitely be a one coater, but I used two for swatches. To me, Chita was very thick so it is best wait a bit longer to add on the second coat if you plan to do so or it will drag a bit on the nails. This stained my nails so I would recommend using a base coat with it.

Sunshine: Denim navy blue. Sunshine was also very pigmented and this was easier to apply than Chita. I used two coats for swatches and to my surprise, it did not stain (since blues normally stain on me).

Carter: Royal purple. The first coat applied very sheer & uneven, which is not what I expected from this since I have never had a PixieDust apply sheer on me for the first coat like this one has before (picture below).

With one coat, it looked like it had a black jelly base with a bunch of glitter packed together, like a confetti. Indoor, it looked a bit darker, but outdoor, it was lighter. With the first coat, you were able to see all the glitters clearly.

Since the first coat applied sheer, I thought that I would need more layers, but by the second coat, it looked just like how it does in the bottle, so I used two coats for the swatches. This was a surprise favorite for me because like I have said before, I am not a big fan of purple, but this was absolutely amazing on the nails. It is like a blackened purple with lavender, magenta & silver glitter. The color kind of shifts in different angles, and it was just gorgeous! Removing this was a bit harder because the glitter gets everywhere around the nail & I assume it might be because this has more glitter than the other ones do.

Here's an upclose picture of Carter to show you the multi-glitters in it. Doesn't it look super pretty?

Arabella: Zoya describes this as a rich fuchsia, but to me, it looks more raspberry. This was very pigmented & I used two coats for swatches. Out of the whole collection, this was the only color I did not like because it did not look to well with my skintone.

Dhara: Juicy bright orange. This looks like a nice shade to transition into fall because the orange of this reminds me of pumpkins. This was also super pigmented & I used two coats for the swatches.

I liked most of the colors in this collection. If I were to choose a few, I would choose Carter, Dhara & Tomoko because they were three of the most sparkly ones that looked amazing in different lighting. The feeling of these are exactly the same as the ones that Zoya previously came out with, which is textured/gritty when it dries, but if you want it softer, you can run it under water a few times after it is completely dry and the gritty texture ends up being more of a sugary texture feeling instead of a hard gritty feeling. These are also easy to remove like the previous PixieDusts as long as you hold the cotton ball with remover on top of the nail for about a minute before wiping it off.

These are available for purchase on Zoya.com now, and they retail for $9 per 0.5oz bottle.

What do you think about the new PixieDust collection? Do you still love the textured finish nail polishes? What fall collection are you most excited for?

**The products in this post were provided to me for my honest opinion/review. I was not paid nor compensated for the review.

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