Zoya - Zuza

     Well, hey there, lovies! Hope everyone is doing well. Super busy past week and a half here. I made a quick last minute trip back home to see my mom while she was in the country. I also got to hang out with my dad on Father's Day and spend time with my delightful little nephew. It was a good couple of days. :) My restaurant reopened after its remodel. The bar is completely different. It's beautiful, but we're still working out the kinks in its functionality. Between making some major adjustments and having the bigwigs from corporate hanging around, work has been pretty stressful, and I've just been wiped out. All I want to do is paint my nails, but I get home from work and pass out...

     Today's polish is one I wore a little while ago to brighten up a dreary day. Zoya Zuza is from the Summer 2012 Surf Collection. I love this one! It's such a beautiful, beachy, summer colour.

     Zuza is described by Zoya as a "deep, saturated, oceanic turquoise with gold and silver metallic shimmer and a foil-like finish." I absolutely adore this shade. Such a perfect mix of blue and green! I can see this one being flattering on most skin tones. I have a bunch of aqua/turquoise polishes, but Zuza is unique to my collection. The formula is wonderful. Coverage was really good with one coat. Photos show two coats, topped with Seche Vite. (I know that I previously mentioned occasional shrinkage with the Zoya/Seche combo, but no problems this time!) I didn't have any issues controlling the polish, but if you're like me and have ADD when it comes to application, beware of leftover shimmer particles post clean-up.

 

     Sadly, I only got to wear this beauty for two days. I blame it on a busy night at work, but a weird thing happened. I didn't get tipwear in the traditional sense. It didn't chip, either. It just kinda shredded off. That's the only way I can describe it. Random jagged little pieces tore off my tips. I tried to patch up my mani, but the same thing happened after the second night. Sad panda. I'll have to wear this one again when I'm not guaranteed to wreck it.



 

     I'd normally babble on more about this polish, but seriously? Look at it! It's gorgeous. The pictures should be enough to convince you. Also, I'm currently watching/listening to the director's commentary on the Les Misérables DVD. So, yeah, I'm a little distracted. To make it up to you, how about a pic of the always adorable Luna? She's always around for my polish related activities. She loves "girl time." Lol. Little princess usually falls asleep by my feet while I'm snapping away with the camera. Below is her normal napping position of choice. <3



     Zuza is available for purchase from Zoya for $8. Zoya is always doing awesome promotions, so you should follow them on Facebook so that you don't miss out.

XOXO,
Riotbettyx

Pretty & Polished - Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

     Hope everyone had a great weekend and made it through Monday with a smile. I personally love Mondays. Nothing like a fresh start to the week! (It also doesn't hurt that I have the day off from work. Lol.) One more green mani to show you today and some general blabbing about the blog.

     Pretty & Polished Kiss Me, I'm Irish! is the polish I was wearing on St. Patrick's day. I also wore it to work the day before, on "St. Practice Day." I figured the pretty green would help distract from when my hands inevitably got dyed green from the food colouring we were putting in the beer. ;) It's a fun holiday to bartend but certainly has its downsides.

     Kiss Me, I'm Irish! consists of small matte green and white micro glitters in a clear base. I had originally planned on wearing it layered over a green base to make removal easier, but I was hopped up on cold meds and didn't trust the steadiness of my hands. I figured that wearing the glitter by itself would result in a more forgiving application. So, this is three coats of polish. You can still see a little bit of nail peeking through, but it wasn't noticeable in person.

     Application was easy. The polish went exactly where I wanted it to and didn't require any clean up. It definitely had some texture to it. I used a coat of Gelous and another of Seche Vite to smooth things out. By the second day of wear (when these pics were taken), my nails were feeling bumpy again. Oh, you hungry little glitters. Including base coat, this mani consisted of 6 layers, so I'm surprised that I only got one chip while at work. It did start to lift on one of the fingers on my dominant hand by the end of the night, but managed to not peel off. Removal was, well, not fun. I'll be trusting my first instinct and layering this next time.

     You can see the glitters better here. From a distance, they combine into a kinda grassy look. Up close, you can see white glitter (which sometimes looks silvery), green glitter, and slightly larger more cool toned green glitter. So pretty! As much as I like sparkle, I'm honestly a fan of matte glitter.

     So, I'm sure you've noticed that my hands look lobstery in these pics. A little about that... I don't really have any photo editing software. I can do some basic colour correcting, but that's about it. My camera isn't fancy. I have some art training, but no photography background. I know that there are blogs out there with fantastic, flawless photographs. This is not one of them.

     My photos have been taken in daylight so far, but I don't see that being the norm. It's just not practical for me. I normally polish my nails after I get off work, which is anywhere between 2 and 4 AM. Yes, AM. Gotta love that bartender vampire schedule. Taking daylight pictures means snapping a bunch of random pics right before I leave for work and praying that some of them end up being usable. I plan on working on some sort of lighting set-up that I can use at night, when my manis are still fresh.

     Also, I don't plan on doing much actual "swatching." I love when bloggers do posts showcasing full collections, but it's just not something I can do. My hands get beat up enough at work as it is. They wouldn't survive swatching. :( My posts will show you the polishes that I actually wear. On the plus side, I'll be able to comment on how they hold up in the real world. Still, I'd be totally down for doing posts with comparison requests.

     Well, I think that's enough for today! I'll leave you with one last picture. :)

XOXO,
Riotbettyx

Mint Chocolate Chip Nails: Zoya Neely w/ Dollish Polish Creme De Menthe

Well, lovies, here we go...

     I've been considering starting a blog for a little while now and have decided to just dive on in, sink or swim style. I really want a spot to share my love of my "colours" (my boyfriend's term for my ever expanding stash) and interact with people who love nail polish as much as I do. There are a couple of girls (and one guy) at work that have shown interest in my ever changing manicures and nail polish in general, but I've been hesitant to "out" myself as being a little obsessed. Mostly, I just interrupt my boyfriend while he's playing xbox and force him to look at my nails. He politely assesses them because he loves me, but I suspect that he secretly thinks that I'm crazy. Anyway, more about the blog and what to expect from me later. On to the polish!

     My idea here was to create "Mint Chocolate Chip" nails. I love anything sweet. Chocolate, cake, cookies, candy, pastries, ice cream... I have a sweet tooth of Buddy the Elf proportions. Mint chocolate chip was my favourite flavour of ice cream as a child, so it gets the honour of inspiring my first published manicure. (Please excuse the tipwear and cuticles. I bartend long shifts, which is really rough on my hands. I'd already worn this for two days at work before I took these pictures. I kinda figured that if I kept waiting for the perfect opportunity to start this blog, it would never happen. So, yeah, I've set the bar low.)

     I started with a base of Zoya Neely from this spring's Lovely Collection. Zoya describes it as a "full coverage earliest spring green in a glossy creme finish." I'd say that's pretty spot on. Two coats was all I needed. The formula was wonderful, and I had no problems with streaking. All my recent Zoya purchases have been a joy to apply and wear time has been impressive.



     The glitter topper is Dollish Polish Creme De Menthe from the 2013 Valentine's collection. It's a sparkly mix of different sizes and shades of green and brown glitter with some white bars thrown in. I know it's not available anymore, but due to some issues, I wasn't able to get it before Valentine's Day and am only now wearing it. It's super shiny and also pre-St. Patrick's Day appropriate, so I don't mind that much. (Sidenote: Dolly's customer service is pretty wonderful.) Application was easy. The glitter payoff great, so I only needed one coat. I didn't even have to do any dabbing to get the large hexes or bars!

     I do have to mention that I've worn this combo for four days now without any chipping and only some inconspicuous tipwear. That's pretty miraculous considering the 30 hours of bartending I did in that time period. The constant handwashing, contact with cleaning chemicals and alcohol, endless amounts of glasswear to wash, and banging my fingers against numerous glass, metal, plastic, and rubber surfaces... CND Stickey kept it anchored, a coat of Gelous smoothed the glitter, and Seche Vite was, well, the chemical filled awesomeness that is Seche Vite.

     Well, that's it for now. I'll leave you (my currently non-existant audience) with a picture of my darling Luna, who is the partial inspiration for the title of this blog. :)

XOXO,

Riotbettyx