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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Wet n Wild Pop Art Craze: A Regular at the Factory

Swatches & Review

The latest drugstore craze has been over Wet n Wild's new Pop Art Craze Collection, which consists of six eyeshadow trios. For the past week, I have been searching high and low for the new palettes & I was finally able to find the three that I wanted yesterday. The one I wanted the most was A Regular at the Factory, which is what I will be reviewing first.

A Regular at the Factory consists a sheer shimmery yellow, a bright medium blue, and a bright orange.

All were applied over Too Faced Cosmetics Shadow Insurance
Browbone: Shimmery yellow. This color is super sheer so it took about five layers for this to actually show up a bit for me. In the pan, it looks like it would be a lot more yellow, but it comes off more as just shimmer. This one was super chalky and even with just two layers of it, not much showed up, not even much of the shimmer, so it was a bit disappointing.
Crease: Bright medium blue. This blue had a slight sheen to it, but it was incredibly pigmented & applied the best. I only had to use one layer of this for swatches. Since it is smooth, there is a bit of fallout with this.
Eyelid: Bright orange. The orange also had a slight sheen to it, but it was more on the matte side. This was also pigmented, but it was a tiny bit chalky.

Overall, I liked two out of the three shades in this palette. I was hoping the yellow would actually show a bit more, but with the yellow being super sheer, it would work well together with the other two shades in the palette. I think that for the price, these are worth checking out if you are experimenting with bright colors, but if you have a big collection, you might be able to find similar colors in your collection, which isn't worth searching everywhere for these. This retails for $2.99 at most locations, but I purchased mine for $3.49 at Walgreens (Walgreens here in the Bay Area always marks everything more than it's supposed to retail).

If you are interested in these, nouveaucheap (link) has a sighting map for these.

What do you think about the new limited edition Wet n Wild eyeshadow trios? Have you purchased any?

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NARS Voulez Vous Eye & Cheek Palette

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Zoya Summer Irresistible Collection

Swatches & Review

Zoya's Irresistible collection is one of their three releases for the Summer season. I have previously reviewed some of the Summer PixieDust, as well as the Stunning collection. The Irresistible collection has the similar colors to the ones in the Stunning collection, but unlike the Stunning collection, these have shimmery, metallic-foil finishes.

Zoya's Irresistible consists of six metallic foil-like finish shades.

Kerry: A shimmery golden yellow with a foil finish. It is definitely shimmery. For the swatches, I used two coats. This was the shade I did not like at all from this collection. The yellow looks weird against my skintone, and it was a pain to remove because of all the shimmery golden flecks.

Amy: A fiery red-orange with golden shimmer. Two coats were used for the swatches. The formula on this was great, it applied smoothly and was pretty pigmented.

Tinsley: A rose gold pink. The golden shimmer finish is very strong. This applied sheer, so I used three coats. The formula was great because it was not too thick, or too thin. This was a surprise favorite for me because it did not look that great in the bottle to me, but once it was on the nails, it was amazing! This is definitely a unique color and a stand-out from the collection because at some angles, you see the pink more, and at other angles, you can see the gold more. It's pretty awesome, I love it! This will slightly stain your nails, so I would recommend using two base coats before applying this. (& of course I had to include more pictures since this was such an amazing color!)

Bobbi: A magenta with a foil finish. Bobbi was very pigmented. I used two thin coats for swatches, but you could easily get away with one thick coat. This is a nice bright pink color for summer,but it is not a color I would choose myself because of personal preference. This stains a lot more than Tinsley does so two base coats would also be recommended for this.

Hazel: Icy blue with a foil finish. I used two coats for the swatches. The icy blue reminds me of the holiday season. This kind of reminds me of FeiFei because of the gold flecks, but this definitely looks more foil-like than FeiFei.

Rikki: A pine leaf green with a metallic foil finish. I used two coats for the swatches. This makes me think of FeiFei, but a green version because of the golden flecks in it. This applied easily and the formula was great.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this collection because I am not too big on shimmery foil finish nail polishes because they are a bit hard to remove. I felt that out of the six, Kerry, Bobbi & Rikki were the hardest to remove because it the golden shimmer spreads everywhere! However, I really like some of the shades in this, such as Amy, Tinsley & Rikki. These took a while to dry for me, which is how it usually is for me when I use Zoya nail polishes. Compared to the Stunning collection, I think I like the Stunning collection more because the creamy finish is what I would usually go for. If you were to get a few from this collection, I would definitely recommend Tinsley because it is such an amazing shade!

What do you think about Zoya's Irresistible Collection? Have you purchased any nail polishes from their summer collection?

These are available for purchase on Zoya.com now, and they retail for $8 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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Rimmel London Show Off Lip Lacquer: Big Bang

Swatches & Review

Today, I will be reviewing Rimmel London's Show Off (Apocalips) Lip Lacquer in Big Bang.



These are packaged in a plastic tube with an asteroid-like cap and the color of the shade is shown through the tube.


The Show Off Lip Lacquer has a soft doe-foot applicator and there is a little hole in it where the product falls into.



Big Bang is a bright red. When I first heard about Rimmel's Apocalips, Big Bang was one of the most talked about shades. The lip lacquers are like an opaque lip gloss. They are glossy, but the lasting power is not that well, so you may have to reapply these after a while. Big Bang last about four hours for me, and the glossy finish lasted about an hour and a half. Even without eating, I find that these start fading within the first two hours, but there's a slight stain that stays around until you wipe it off. I did not find any bleeding/feathering from Big Bang and this was applied without any base or gloss on top.

Have you purchased any of the Rimmel London's Lip Lacquer? Which shades are you most interested in?

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Zoya Summer Stunning Collection

Swatches & Review

Zoya always has amazing summer collections and this year, they definitely delivered by having three collection sets. The Stunning collection is a part of their 2013 Summer collection.


Zoya's Stunning collection has six creme-like shades. The reason I say it is creme-like is because although they look like they have a creme finish, some of them actually have very subtle shimmer in them, however, it is not very noticeable unless you are in direct sunlight.


Darcy: Bright mustard yellow with subtle shimmer. I found that this applied very streaky, so I used three coats to even it out. I did not like Darcy too much because it seemed to clash with my skintone.


Thandie: Bright orange coral creme with subtle shimmer. This applied smoothly and even, so I used two coats for the swatches. The color of this reminds me of the orange Prius C.


Micky: Bright medium coral pink with silver shimmer. This applied sheer, but the color was build0able. I used three coats for the swatches. This is one of my favorites from the collection.


Yana: Hot pink creme with subtle shimmer. Yana is super bright and pigmented. I used two coats for the swatches, but you can get away with one coat.


Josie: Bright medium green creme. This kind of reminds me of summertime grass. Like Yana, this was very pigmented. I used two coats for the swatches, but this can definitely be a one-coater.


Rocky: Sky blue creme. I absolutely love this blue! Every time I buy a blue off Zoya, I wanted it to be this blue, but it always ended up too dark (Yummy & Breezi). This is the perfect blue and does not look bad against my skintone. This was a bit streaky, and three coats were used in the swatches.

Overall, I like this collection. All the colors except Darcy looked nice. Like cremes, they apply kind of streaky, and I think that Yana and Josie were the two that applied the best without being streaky. I initially thought that these were all creme-finish nail polishes, but four out of six of them are cremes with subtle shimmer. To me, I feel like these looked brighter in the bottle than on the nails, but these are perfect summer colors. My favorites are Micky, Josie & Rocky. The downside is that these take a while to dry on its own, but with a fast-dry top coat, you are good to go!

What do you think about Zoya's Stunning Collection? Have you purchased any nail polishes from their summer collection?

These are available for purchase on Zoya.com now, and they retail for $8 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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NARS Pierre Hardy Blush: Rotonde

Swatches & Review

Rotonde is one of the two blushes released for NARS x Pierre Hardy Summer 2013 collection. When I first saw the blushes online, I thought that they looked amazing, but the price tag on these made it hard for me to order them immediately. When they were released at Sephora, I swatched them at the store and I knew I had to have them. NARS Rotonde is described as "tiger lily."


The front of the packaging says Pierre Hardy on it.


This blush was incredibly hard to capture on capture, no matter what lighting I used indoor or outdoor. It is definitely brighter in person. It is a bright orange with golden over-spray to create a pattern on it. It was too pretty to touch so I waited a week before messing it up :P


On the left, it is swatched without the over-spray and on the right, it is swatched with the over-spray. It is a bit hard to see, but you can kind of see some shimmer with the over-spray. Without the over-spray, it is a matte vibrant orange.


Left is without the over-spray and right is with the over-spray.

Although it is $41 the one thing that made me have to have this was it was incredibly pigmented. This blush is very very smooth, pigmented, and easy to blend. When I swatched these, only one swipe was used and it stained my finger. I have tried these on my cheeks and on the cheeks, it looks a bit like a bronze-ish orange, which does not look bad at all. It is important to use a light-hand with these because it can easily be overdone & just a dab with a brush onto the pan is enough. After using it twice, the golden over-spray on the parts I have been using is pretty much gone. It lasted about seven hours on me before it started fading, which was really good for a blush.

For $41, you get 0.45 oz of product, which is not bad considering one NARS blush is $29 for 0.16 oz of product, so this is about three times the amount of a regular NARS blush.

What do you think about NARS x Pierre Hardy collection for Summer?

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Rimmel London Show Off Lip Lacquer: Comet

Swatches & Review

Yesterday, I reviewed Rimmel London's Show Off (Apocalips) Lip Lacquer in Aurora. After that wore off & I completely removed it, I tested out Comet next. Comet seems like one of the Lip Lacquers that may be exclusive to the US since I have not seen it listed on Rimmel's website.



Like Aurora, it is packaged in a plastic tube and the bottom indicates the color of the product.


The Show Off Lip Lacquer's have a doe-foot applicator.


For the first lip picture, I took it in direct sunlight. The other two were taken indoor, with the middle one being in front of the window. (These were taken after sunset so the lighting is not as good).

Comet is a rosy brown creme. Normally, I am wary about buying "neutral" lip products because some products make my lips look dead, but this was a perfect neutral for me. This also has the Asian salty dried plum scent. These have a glossy finish and felt comfortable on the lips. For Comet, I tested it out with no drinking or eating and I felt that the glossiness of this wore off in about an hour and a half, which was faster than Aurora. Comet also felt very drying after the glossiness wore off. With a slight stain, I had about three hours of wear until it was pretty much completely off. I would recommend using a balm underneath Comet because it is drying. I did not experience any bleeding or feathering from this, which is good.

Overall, I like that this shade is the perfect everyday shade for me, but I am not a fan of the scent and I wish that this lasted longer because it felt incredibly drying after the glossiness wore off. It is kind of like a love/hate relationship with Comet because I absolutely love the color, but not the wear.

These retail for $4.99 and can be purchased at Walgreens and online at Walgreens.com and Drugstore.com (but they are currently sold out).

What do you think about Comet? Do you have a go-to neutral shade for everyday wear?

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