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.

Click to read more!

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.

Click to read more!

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.

Click to read more!

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.

Click to read more!

Zoya Summer PixieDust

Swatches & Review


Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates, but it has been a crazy last month of school & it's almost over, which means I will have more time to blog! Anyway, Zoya has provided me with their Summer PixieDust to review & I was definitely excited because the original line of PixieDust grew on me & the Summer PixieDust has amazing vibrant colors.


Left to right: Solange, Beatrix, Destiny & Miranda.

To apply these, you apply a thin first layer, wait until it completely dries & then apply a second coat. If you want to add a third coat, wait for the second coat to completely dry.

Taken Outdoor -
Pointer: Solange
Middle: Beatrix
Ring: Destiny
Pinky: Miranda


Taken Indoor:
Solange is a yellow gold with golden shimmer and it is very sparkly.
Beatrix is a tangerine orange with golden shimmer, perfect to match with cuties tangerines before you eat them all! haha :)
Destiny is a coral-pink with golden shimmer.
Miranda is a raspberry-red/pink with silver shimmer.

When I first tried the PixieDust from the Winter release, I was not too big on it, but after testing them for a week, I ended up liking them. Although the texture is a bit rough after it is first applied, it will start feeling softer (like sugar) after running them through water. Like the previous PixieDust nail polishes I have reviewed, these last a good 6 days on my left hand with minimal tip wear, and about four days on my right hand (the hand I use the most) until noticeable tip wear.
The removal was easy on these as well. I used Zoya's nail polish remover and placed the cotton with it onto my nails for about a minute. After having the cotton ball there for a minute, the PixieDust texture nail polish came off very easily without sticking to my nails & my skin.

Overall, I like the shades from the Summer collection a lot, but from these four, my favorites are Solange & Beatrix because I love yellow & orange for summer & Solange is super flashy when it is outdoors!
What do you think about Zoya's Summer PixieDust collection? Have you tried Zoya's PixieDust collection? Do you think they should come out with more shades?

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

Click to read more!