Zoya Valerie, Jem, & Karina, Sarah Comparison

Recently Zoya had yet another promo in their never ending string of polish promos, and of course I participated! How could I not? They offer beautiful nail polish that is healthy for you, well as healthy as nail polish can be, and they have the most amazing customer service. Seriously, there are many companies out there that could take some advice from them (ahem, OPI...ahem, ahem). I found out about Zoya in January, I believe? And since then, I have had the opportunity to participate in 3 of their promos, and every single promo is worth participating in. The last one was a free Big Flipper bottle of Remove+ polish remover with the purchase of one other item, can't really go wrong. Not to mention, that polish remover is simply incredible. With just a few simple swipes my polish is gone. Yes, even heavy glitter polish. But this is a whole other blog post that I am wasting here so I will save the rest for later!

Anywho, this most recent promo was buy one original priced item and get 2 free bottles of polish free. I purchased Blair, & got Jem and Karina free. Within 2 days of Zoya charging my credit card, these beauties were waiting on my doorstep. When I opened them, I instantly noticed that both Jem & Karina looked suspiciously like 2 Zoya's I already have. Namely, Valerie & Sarah. Jem & Valerie are both purply, eggplant colors with just a subtle hint of a brown undertone. Sarah & Karina are crimson reds with a slight gold sheen. I immediately broke out all 4 bottles, swiped my polish off with Remove+ and Shiseido Facial Cotton (amazing stuff, I've done a blog post on them hint, hint) and did a swatch comparison.

Jem & Valerie are so close to being dupes it is insane. They are NOT dupes, but polish both hands, alternating colors and no one is going to tell the difference. Unless they look very, very closely. I definitely like Jem over Valerie and I use to love Valerie. The reason I love Jem more? She has noticeably less glitter. Valerie also has a little more of that gold undertone to it.

But Sarah & Karina...I think they are dupes. I have looked at them both in every light imaginable and I cannot see an extremely distinct difference between the two. Sarah looks like she has more gold glitter in her than Karina but on my hands I don't see it. I'm waiting to see what other bloggers say, but in my opinion they are dupes.

Bottom line? I wouldn't get all 4 colors. They are too close to spend the money on having them all. For me personally, I wouldn't care which of Sarah or Karina I keep although I think I will keep Sarah just because I have had her longer. But as far as Jem & Valerie? Jem is definitely staying...Valerie is going to swap.

Thanks for tuning in! Until next time:

Never go through life without a passion for beauty & fashion!

Green Bay Packer Inspired Manicure, Zoya Midori, Trixie, & Pippa

So, I haven't given you the beautiful Charla yet, simply because I haven't had time. School has been keeping me so incredibly busy, my house is suffering. I am surprised my poor boyfriend hasn't spontaneously combusted from living in the mess! I guess that's when you realize that it's true love. Awwww, isn't that sweet?

Instead of giving you Charla, I am preparing for the Super Bowl this Sunday! The very one that the Green Bay Packers will be participating in. Being a born & raised Wisconsin resident, and a Packer fan probably while I was still in the womb, I can tell you that it is slightly embarrassing how crazy about Football I am. Well, not really football if I am being honest. I just love watching my Green Bay Packers play!

So, I have a Green Bay Packer inspired mani featuring Zoya's Pippa, Midori, & Trixie. I wanted to have a little bit of glitz and glam, seeing as it is the Super Bowl. Read application instructions below the photo, and if you have any questions, please post them in the comments section.

Application Instructions

1. Trim & shape nails to desired length/shape.

2. Swab nails with polish remover to remove oils & residue.

3. Apply base coat of choice. Allow to dry. (I used Seche Vite)

4. Apply Midori & Pippa on alternating nails. Dry. (I used 2 coats.)

5. On nail with Midori base, apply Pippa to half & vice versa. Dry.

6. Using Trixie, place 3 dots down the center of each nail with the

exception of your pinky if the nail is short. I did two.

7. Apply top coat. With Zoya do not use a quick dry top coat.

I used China Glaze No-Chip Top Coat. Dry.

Voila! You have a beautiful Green Bay Packers inspired manicure!

So here's the nitty gritty on the polish:

Pippa: a creamy yellow, perfect for cool skin tones. Goes on thick, and when I mean thick I don't mean a nice thickness. It almost seems like I have had this polish for a few months, when in reality it's only been a little over a week. I have some Renew drops coming that will hopefully help the situation. I'll do a review on those when I get them, and I am thinking Pippa will be the first to get the treatment. On the plus side, it is nearly opaque in one coat, applies pretty nicely and is very versatile. I can see getting a ton of use out of this during spring/summer. Final verdict? If you like yellows and creams, GET IT. It's totally worth it.

Midori: A spring-y shimmering green. I think this one will work on a lot of different skin tones successfully. It applies like a dream, not thick at all just the perfect consistency. The gold shimmer in it is tantalizing. I just love it. Again, this will be a wonderful spring/summer color. It does require 2 coats for full opacity.

Trixie: A silver foil. This is my absolute favorite of the three. It is thick, but still applies really nicely. It is opaque in one coat, and looks so much like tin foil on the nails. It's really sparkly and shiny and will have a variety of different uses, but I think it would be especially great as a surprising choice for Prom and absolutely for New Year's. I would highly suggest this color to anyone and everyone.

Zoya has been a huge hit for me, I am really happy with all the colors I have gotten so far. So, what do you think of the mani? Have you gotten any Zoya polishes yet? If so, let me know which ones and what you think of them. If you're compiling a wishlist, let me know about that too!

Gonna sign off now, but thanks so much for reading! Chat with you soon.

Never go through LIfe without a passion for BeaUty & FashIoN!

PMBB

Rosebud Lip Balm & Moisturizer

Okay, so yes...I am lazy. And I am so far behind it's insane, and I am once again writing a review about something that is NOT on my blog's to-do list. You can beat me later. But right now, you're going to thank me. Maybe you've heard of this balm already, in which case you should share your experiences. In any case, this was my very first time using this lip balm, and I can tell you now that it most certainly will not be my last.

Let me start out by saying, that I don't really have dry, flaky lips by nature. My lips are pretty smooth and smoochable (heehee) but in the winter they do tend to get a little more dry. That's usually the only time I really need to use any type of lip balm. I came across this wonder, sort of by accident. I think I might have typed in lip balm or something of the sort. I saw this, it didn't really call to me. What DID catch my attention was Cake Beauty Lemon Chiffon Lip butter. That was a colossal disappointment! It was waxy, a teeny tiny container, it smelled faintly of lemons, but tasted of nothing, left a terrible coating on my lips, and the price was a whopping $9. I think in my review on Sephora's website, I might have even mentioned that Chapstick would be better. That's not a lie...Chapstick is better.

For a price comparison on the Rosebud Lip Balm & Moisturizer, it is $7. You get quadruple the product, plus it pulls double duty. You can use this fabulous stuff on your lips, but also: your hands, any scrapes, burns, cuts you may have. It also smells addictively like strawberries. It doesn't leave a greasy residue on your hands, and it truly is moisturizing. It kind of reminds me of what my Strawberry the Shortcake toys smelled like as a kid. Talk about nostalgic. After using this miracle product on my lips, even just the first time I felt a distinctive difference. My lips felt much softer, supple, and more moisturized. It lasts quite a while too, not through eating and drinking but the good part of the morning without reapplication.

There is no color to this, but there is a very subtle sheen. It's amazing, because I am a huge lipgloss/lipstick girlie and I didn't even feel the need to apply either this morning. It does however, layer quite well with lipgloss. Yes, I've tried it. I personally do not think you will regret this purchase, so go buy one! :)

You can buy this at Sephora, Ulta, Anthropologie, or drugstore.com. I'm sure there are other retailers that carry it, but I am not in your area. So you'll have to do the leg work if you want to see it in person. Have personal experience with this HG product or questions? Leave them below. :)

Until then!

Never go through life without a passion for beauty & fashion!

Zoya Polishes!!!

Excitement ladies! Excitement. That's all I have to explain how I feel right now. I have some stunningly gorgeous polishes to review over the next few weeks. Whoo!! My plan is to do 2 manicures a week, that way I can get through all of them in a timely fashion.

For those of you who haven't read my previous posts, these polishes are Zoya. They are 3 Free plus Camphor free, and one of the healthiest nail polishes around. Even Whole Foods Market carries them, how exciting! The polishes are very highly pigmented, typically true to color and some really beautiful & unique colors to choose from.

I got my first 3 polishes by participating in Zoya's free giveaway. For the price of $6.95 shipping, they gave away 3 polishes to every person who placed an order. It's now over, but they gave away almost 1 MILLION polishes, for just over 300,000 orders. Just incredible, and something you don't see very often from retailers anymore.

So, which beauties did I get? I got Starla, Gloria, Casey, Kelly, Sloane, Ibiza, Riley, Pia, Melanie, Anthea, Layla, Ki, Anastasia, Trixie, Yummy, Rea, America, Pippa, Midori, Charla, Robyn, & Valerie. I am going to randomly choose 5 of the polishes and let you wonderful ladies choose which one I swatch and polish my nails with first. I will post tons of photos for you so you can get a good sense of what each one looks like.

The first 5 will be: Charla, Pippa, Valerie, Midori, & Robyn. See below for manufacturer swatches of each color. You can also order your own at www.zoya.com

Charla:



Pippa:





Valerie:






Midori:





Robyn:








See? I totally told you! Exciting. :) So, I will give it until Thursday night and Friday I will do my mani and post with the winning polish for you wonderful ladies. Post your comments below and be sure to tell me what you think. I am dying to hear your feedback. Thanks for reading!

Until later, "Never go through life without a passion for beauty & fashion!" :)

PMBB

OPI Give Me Moor! Photo

As promised, a photo of the beautiful OPI, Give Me Moor! Still not as satisfied with the photo as I would like to be, but I am new and a work in progress. Bear with me!! :) This photo was taken in natural light. It still doesn't show off the depth of the purple or the red, but you can kind of see it. It's also a base coat, 3 coats of polish, and top coat. What are your thoughts?

OPI Give Me Moor! Polish Review

So tonight at school, I am polishing a classmate's nails and what happens?? I drop the -open- bottle on the ground, it bounces about 5 times, splattering nail polish in a helter skelter pattern all over the floor, me, and a neighbor's bag. Thank goodness the bag was just a .99 T.J. Maxx bag, or I honestly think I would have cried! Anyway, I felt very responsible for wasting 1/4 of a bottle of polish, so here I am replacing it. Bringing me to OPI Give Me Moor! I figured I would make good use of the situation and review the polish.

Tonight, I did a test run...just polished myself with no base or top coats. My thoughts are kind of mixed, while the color is stunning, the polish itself leaves a little to be desired. There's quite a bit of cuticle drag, it's still sheer with one GOOD coat, which from a very dark, vampy polish I would expect better. It took me 3 coats, some nails took 4 to get a nice, even coverage. That was the other issue! Some nails took well to the polish, and others it took a bit to cover. So strange!

So the color! OMG, so gorgeous it's insane. As previously mentioned, definitely a vampy polish. Very dark, almost black looking. A solid purple base with an almost violet hue, and the teensiest hint of shimmer. My nails are currently a pretty good length too, and it doesn't look like too much, as some darks can. This would definitely look wonderful on shorter nails, but I have no issue with it being on my longer nails. For reference, my nail overhangs my finger by about 1/4".

So, now you're probably wondering: Where are the pictures? Well, I want to do this first photo RIGHT. So I am going to give myself a proper manicure tomorrow, complete with base & top coats, then take a photo and blog. So, you'll get 2 blog posts. :) Fun times. See you beauties tomorrow!!

Until then, Never go through life without a passion for beauty & Fashion. ;)

PMBB

Zoya Nail Polish Customer Service Review & Rating

So my most recent blog post was about Zoya's Facebook reward for reaching 20,000 fans. They gave us the opportunity to get 3 FREE polishes for the price of $6.95 shipping. I originally ordered Ki, Anastasia, & Ibiza, but unfortunately that first order didn't go through. Zoya's website was experiencing some technical difficulties, which is understandable due to the volume of traffic their website was experiencing. For me, it ended up being a really good thing because I looked closer at the polishes and ended up choosing different ones, and adding one additional. I will eventually get Ki & Anastasia, but for the time being I got some different ones that I was more excited about. I ended up getting Casey, Riley, Sloane, & Ibiza. After placing that order (and it successfully going through) I filled up my cart with my "wishlist" of polishes and now have over $130 in polish in my cart! Whew! Talk about turning into the polish addict.

The ones I am most excited about getting are Ki, Pia, Shawn, Yummy, & Pinta. I want them all, but those 5 will be the first out of my cart when I place my next order.

Zoya ultimately ended up giving away almost 1 million!!!!! bottles of polish, which equates to over 300,000 orders. Amazing! Unfortunately, they only ended up with just under 40,000 fans, so if you get a chance, head on over and fan them. They'll hopefully be doing an Earth Day promo this year, so it will be worth it!

The most amazing thing about Zoya? Not the quality of their polishes, not the turn around time, but their Customer Service Team. Amazing, to put it simply. They are professional, attentive, detail oriented, and so very helpful! If you doubt that real customer service still exists, look again. There are companies who value their customers still, and Zoya has proven to me that they're one of them. They are all over their Facebook wall, offering help & assistance to their fans & customer base, planning new promo's & give-aways, and also have a special area where you can suggest your favorite names for nail polish.

That's also one of my favorites about Zoya, they give their polishes names. I now know what I will be buying my girlfriends for birthday presents and thank you gifts! Zoya polish with their names on them. What could be better!?

So, if you're interested in trying a new, healthy way to express your personality, wander on over to Zoya. Check out their Facebook fan page too! I think you'll be amazed, as I was, at the level of attention they give their customers. It's exceptional, they are exceptional and I will absolutely be sending their company a heartfelt thank-you card for their efforts!

Thanks for tuning in! Until next time, "Never go through life without a passion for beauty & fashion!" :)

PMBB