Cheeky Monkey Cosmetics Preview

The ridiculously awesome team from Cheeky Monkey sent me this freaking rocking package of polishes for review, and let me tell you, AMAZING things come to those who wait.  I caught A on her trip to Florida and we BSed a bit about kids (kids, man - my little boy just turned 3 last month) and let's just say I wanted to go grab a margarita and "People Watch" with her.  I have the biggest heart (and soft spot) for small businesses, I guess because my parents have always owned their own business (construction and real estate).  I love helping others out - it's just in my nature.  (We won't talk about the business that I helped create a lot of PR items for, in exchange for food - let's say I ate REALLY well for a year.)


Anywho, I know there are a few reviews out there already on the polish and I must agree that the packaging MUST be noted.  Inside that plain (probably U-line!) brown box was this dolled up bag, tissue paper and all!  But what really made my day (and I had a crappy one) was the sticker on the front

Anytime I can get away with saying F'N, I'm a happy camper.


Pretty pink ribbon with their website - love my cat haired couch arm?

Open the bag (polka dotted and pink tissue paper) and I had this pretty box of polish!

YEAH, another sticker, more ribbon, a nail file and some business cards ^_^

Sneak peek at the polish (I was too excited to really take pictures, I've already put a color on but you'll have to wait for the official swatching post)

 Bite Me (medium pink), Staggette (orange red) , Hangover (mouse's back), Raunchy Bitch (dark metallic blue), Wet Dream (sticky base coat), I Like It On Top (shiny shine topcoat).

Cheeky Monkey Cosmetics is based out of Canada and you can order right from their website [official website] and are starting to infiltrate the US as well.  The awesome polish names, the Italian glass bottles (!), the adorable black tags on each bottle with their own unique message - yeah this is what polish should be about - fun and love.

Disclosure: The product[s] in this post was [were] provided to me by the company for consideration.  For more information, please read this post.

Color Club Ultra Violet

I've only seen Color Club [official website] on blogs, never in person but after checking out Scrangie's post on Ultra Violet [link to Scrangie's post] I wanted it badly.

Oddly enough, this is a neon, although I didn't know it.  It's a light purple that had an awesome blue shimmer to it.  I enjoyed looking at my hands in the bright light (not the sun, today was a RAIN day again) but then I was done.  This was a super sheer for me.  I used 3 coats and probably should have gone 4 since I had a bit of VNL especially on my middle fingers.  The other thing that irritates me is that Scrangie's posts CLEARLY shows a PURPLE.  My bottle is definitely more pink than purple.  Bad color run?  I don't know just yet.  Polish or Perish [link to PoP's post], Kris Primps [link to KP's post], and Polish Me Happy [link to PMH's post] all look like mine, so what happened?!  Arg.


I got my camera to actually behave!  Turns out, I have this "program" option where I can manually change my lighting source.  /rolls eyes.  Little background: I have a degree in TV and currently work for a local station.  You'd THINK I'd know how to do this but I just got all kinds of confused with my little P-S camera (point and shoot) since I lost the stupid manual.


These pictures aren't very clear though because I took them in the studio after a VERY long day of work and I was Ms. Crankypants.

And a flash to see the shimmer - and I guess I see a bit of the neon here.  I used a base coat of Seche Natural and a top coat of Seche Vite.  Despite my Seche Vite, this polish liked to chip on me quite a bit today, but again I had a long icky day, so that may not have helped.

Color Club is located on several etailers, including Head2Toe Beauty which has it for $3.00.  You can also Like them on Facebook and Follow them on Twitter.

Polish Bloggers Network: Lacquer Link Love 3/5/10

Tuli's Nails shares her festivities during Purim with us and creates a colorful manicure that's perfect for the celebration.


Chromatic Misadventures brings us a host of Models Own swatches this week in an array of colors


Phresh Mentality found a little inspiration in Rihanna's Rude Boy video for the phresh design she's brought us this week.


Have nail issues or questions you'd like to discuss with a nail specialist? Well get your questions ready because polishSWATCHES is starting a new blog series called "Nail Talk"... with celebrity manicurist Tashina, from Poochiez Nail Studio in Atlanta. Submit your questions by using the contact form at the top of the blog page.


Polishg the Nails shows off Adore from China Glaze. Have you ever seen this color from the 2009 Romantique collection?


Naive Nails channels the orient to bring us a a very pretty konadicure she's called the Jaded Tiger.


The Swatchaholic was able to get her hands on the Essence Cute as Hell collection and brings us some wonderful swatches of all the pretty pastel colors.


Travel with Euridice is sharing a Color Club Color that you absolutely have to get your hands on this spring. Or should I say on your hands?! :)


Polish Galore is showing off some hologram goodness. Hint: This color is sure to have you LOL. ;) <- That's me!


Manicure Mommas shed a little light on the new fun and quirky polish brand called Cheeky Monkey.


and Polish Freak is showing off a color that has set the polish world on fire.


Helen's Nice Things wants you to know they have a brand spanking new site AND a new web address at.... Just Nice Things! So have a visit and change your blogrolls accordingly from http://www.helensheenie.wordpress.com/; to http://www.just-nice-things.co.uk/

And now.....Giveaways!!!

Check out...

The Konadomania Giveaway in honor of her gaining 100 blog followers

and

The Chromatic Misadventures Giveaway in honor of her gaining 300 blog followers

Congratulations Ladies!!!

Zoya "Flash and Sparkle" Summer 2010 Collection

I saw this email this morning and whoaaaaaa.  I love glitters like I love my son (heh) so this makes me happy.


Please click on the pictures to view them bigger.

Zoya Flash Collection
Robyn (ZP513) - perfect turquoise cream
Perrie (ZP514) - soft lavender cream
Dana (ZP515) - american rose cream
Jolene (ZP516) - summer pink cream
Maura (ZP517) - electric crimson cream
Jancyn (ZP518) - soft tangerine cream

Zoya Sparkle Collection
Ivanka (ZP507) - mermaid green sparkling metallic
Charla (ZP508) - tropical blue sparkling metallic
Mimi (ZP509) - royal purple sparkling metallic
Alegra (ZP510) - fuchsia pink sparkling metallic
Nidhi (ZP511) - rich red sparkling metallic
Gilda (ZP512) - fashion pink sparkling metallic


CREAMS AND METALLIC GLITTERS FOR SUMMER?  Whoa awesome.  Very different from China Glaze's neons.  Flash and Sparkle by Zoya will be available April 1, 2010. Zoya [official website] can be purchased on their website.

China Glaze LOL

lolololololol I absolutely love this color.  China Glaze LOL is from the OMG! collection and is a medium dark purple with holographic rainbows inside.  Yeah, that's my official review right there.


This was the second color I wore after I started wearing polish again (last year) and I just am in love with this color and don't nearly wear it enough.  As with most of the OMG! collection colors, in the shade or indoor light, the color comes off with a bit of a shimmer, but out in the sun, WOW.  Just wow.  Wow in a bottle.  To compare, the purple is lighter than China Glaze Grape Pop (2010 Up and Away) but darker than China Glaze Grape Juice (2009 Summer Days).  I'm only talking the purple base, not the finish of the polish.


PICTURE HEAVY!  I'm telling you, I love this polish!  First some old pictures - notice the old water mark!

Horrible, huh?  Now the bottle.

And a few blah shade pictures

And then the BAM!

Absolute yum.  I also threw on some different finishes for you.  In the above pictures I'm wearing Seche Natural as my base, two coats of LOL and a coat of Seche Vite top coat.

In the following picture, the base is Seche Natural, two coats of LOL, but different tops.  The index finger has no top coat, the middle finger has Seche Vite and the ring finger has China Glaze Matte Magic.  Matte Magic totally kills the holographic goodness.

China Glaze [official website] can be found online through several etailers, including my favorite Head2Toe Beauty [official website], Sally's Beauty Supply [official website] as well asTransDesign [official website].