CSN Giveaway #2 - Update

Just so everyone knows, I'm still giving out the gift certificate to the winner - the problem is I don't have the gift certificate just yet.  There was a tiny problem with CSN that I was able to fix immediately, but I still haven't received the gift certificate from CSN to send to the winner...


I do want to thank the 38 people who signed up... some left secrets, others didn't.  Some of the secrets were amazing, some I totally related to, and some made me laugh really hard.  Now I truly see why PostSecret is so addicting - this was a total adrenaline rush to read people's secrets.


Being this is Labor Day weekend, I'm not sure if I'll hear back from my CSN contact until Tuesday, but there will be a winner!  Promise!

Cheeky Monkey Damn I'm Hot vs China Glaze 2030

While applying Cheeky Monkey Damn I'm Hot, I kept thinking it looked like China Glaze 2030 from the Khrome Collection.  Now, side by side on the bottle, you can't really tell that they are as similar as I think they are.  2030 looks much more gold than Damn I'm Hot.


For Damn I'm Hot, I used a base coat of Cheeky Monkey Get Wet, and for 2030 I used a base coat of Seche Natural.  I have 2 coats of Damn I'm Hot, but only one coat of 2030.  I topped both with Seche Vite.

The difference is very subtle.  I almost have to walk back from my monitor to really see that Damn I'm Hot is more silver and 2030 is more gold.  They both have the metallic sheen going on but there are 2 big differences... (1) Cheeky Monkey is $15, and China Glaze is $4 and (2) 2030 is MUCH more opaque than Damn I'm Hot.  Can you live with one and not the other?  Probably - depends on what you're looking to wear that day.  ^_^

Cheeky Monkey Damn I'm Hot

Another reader request (actually, it was the same reader) today - this time it was for Cheeky Monkey Damn I'm Hot.  This is listed as a streaky pewter on Cheeky's website and it does paint like a metallic except more sheer.  Also it was kind of a yellowed pewter with some shimmer.  As you can see, the weather turned icky, so I didn't get any nice sun pictures. ;__;


I used a base coat of Cheeky Monkey Get Wet, 2 coats of Damn I'm Hot, and a top coat of Seche Vite.  The formula was just a tiny water on here and I did have to shake it quite a bit as the color had settled.  

I think this would be a good base color but overall it's just too bland for me to wear alone.  I'd like it with some crazy glitter on top, personally.


Cheeky Monkey can be purchased on their website [official website] for $15 a bottle.

Zoya Spoons in Red

My UPS guy is interesting.  He never sticks around to chat, literally just puts my package on my front porch, rings the doorbell and BOLTS.  Like a high school kid.  Currently, my desk faces my front porch and due to an ... unfortunate accident of Hulk Like strength, I pulled my mini blind OUT of my window about a month ago... and never replaced it.  So when I see someone run up to my porch, hear the door bell, and then see them sprint off, I'm thinking I'm having a Family Guy moment (Season 4, Episode 7... better to just say it that way) and am slightly worried what will be at my front door.


So you can imagine my surprise and shock when I saw it was from Zoya.  I thought maybe it was my backordered items that I got last month?  No, I would have received a shipping email from them (so far, Zoya has been the best at sending me emails that detail my shipping/ordering status).  So I tore it open.

SPOONS.

Yes Zoya, I want to spoon with you.  Badly.  I said so last night and I can't wait to say it again.  THIS is why you spoon.

Here are 6 different Zoya Reds.  I don't even KNOW which is which, because me, being the genius I am, forgot to take a picture of them laying down to get the labels.  (Smart, aren't I?)  But can you tell which one is a melon red?  Which one has gold sparkles?  What about the satin finish bottle?  I try very hard to get all my swatches (and bottle pictures!) as close to actual real life color as possible, but this right here shows you that it's not always easy!

My set of 6 spoons came in this cute case, perfect for storing your spoons flat.  However, as I mentioned last night, all the spoons have a hole in the top side, so you can easily put them on a keyring or string.  The nails stack perfectly against each other and frankly, they look awesome.

The spoons are teardrop shaped and are medium sized for nails.  While the spoon doesn't fit over my entire nail on my middle finger or thumb, it does fit well on both my index and ring fingers.  Now you can see that Carmen is a cherry red creme.

This is Zoya Jade.  Looks how you can see the glitter goodness that is just barely visible from the bottle, just POP at you on the spoon!


Now I only have one small gripe about the spoons.  The label is a clear label that contains the barcode of the bottle, the ZP number (which can help you in ordering), Zoya's name, and the actual name of the polish.  I would much rather prefer a white label with black writing, instead of a clear label, but if you just put your hand behind the spoon, you can read the name without any problems.  I was having issue with the spoons being on my wood desk and not being able to see the names through the wood grain.


Back to the spoons.  I double checked with a Zoya Fairy and it's true... if you order a spoon for 50 cents, the shipping is free AND you receive a coupon code for your 50 cents to be applied to your next purchase.  So, essentially, if you purchase 14 spoons ($7), that's the same price as a Zoya polish ($7).  Hello, no brainer here.  ^_^  Get to Zoya now and order your spoons!


Zoya [official website] can be purchased on their website for $7/bottle.

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

Zoya Wants To Spoon With You!

When I first started with nail polish, I was irritated that I couldn't remember what a color looked like outside of the bottle, or how many coats I used, so I spent way too much money getting plastic nail wheels and painting one nail with a color, listing the bottle number and how many coats it took.

As you can see, it wasn't the easiest to do - plus there were many flaws.  Because they were clear nails, I had to make more coats to get the opacity up.  I should have bought white nails.  Worse, some of the nails have had the polish chip off completely.  I ended up throwing them all away and just not looking back.

I've always envied Sally's Beauty Supply for having these little spoon swatches of China Glaze and even asked China Glaze if I could buy them, but they aren't for sale for the consumer.  Imagine my GLEE when I got this email in early August from Zoya.

Zoya Nail Polish wants to Spoon with you!
Do you REALLY love nail polish? Have you ever purchased a color online or from a color chart only to find that it doesn’t match the picture? Have you always wanted to be able to try on nail polish the way you do clothing?
Well, what if you could see EXACTLY how any Zoya color would look on YOU before you buy it? What if you could make sure you ALWAYS get your perfect pink? Or perfect red. Or purple! ANY color! Any shade, EVERY TIME! Well now you can...
Zoya presents a new way to shop for nail color - The Zoya Color Spoon!
Every incredible Zoya nail color made will now be available as a spoon so you can try it before you buy it! This is a revolution for the online nail polish consumer and salon and spa buyers alike who previously only had online color representations or printed color charts as a guide. Never before have you been able to try so much color for so little money out of pocket. This is same Zoya color that comes in the bottle poured into small nail shaped wells to create a tester color spoon - you can see every subtle detail of the color and hold it up to your nail to see exactly how it will look. Plus, the amount you pay for the spoons will be added to your account in the form of code that will be available for use on a future Zoya purchase and BONUS Zoya will ship the spoons to you at no charge. “It’s amazing that we will be able to do this for our customers - there really is nothing else like it in the nail polish market today” stated Leo Reyzis, VP of Marketing at Zoya.
So quit the color guessing game when purchasing nail color online and try any one of Zoya’s over 300 formaldehyde, toluene, dibutyl phthalate and camphor free, vegan friendly shades. Now you can be sure that the color you try is the exact same color you buy!
See it - Try it - Buy it!
Zoya Nail Spoons - $0.50 ea. (free shipping on all spoons - value of spoon(s) will be added to your account for a future zoya.com purchase).
Zoya Nail Spoons will be available at www.zoya.com starting September 1, 2010.

Here’s how it works...
Simply visit www.zoya.com, select a color(s) to try, click on the coordinating Zoya Color Spoon option in the product ordering area to add the color spoon to your shopping cart. Order as many as you would like. After your order has been approved and processed, zoya.com will ship your selected color spoons out for you to try and email you a confirmation along with your spoon value code (code will also be available under the “my account” section of www.zoya.com so you never have to worry about losing it).*
* All Zoya Color Spoon sales are final. One time personalized spoon value code. Zoya Color Spoon value code can be applied to any polish or treatment item at www.zoya.com. Code cannot be used to purchase additional spoons.

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So I had the privilege of speaking directly to a Zoya Fairy who explained to me that this is an amazing way for us to seriously see what a color will look like on our nails.  Each spoon has the equivalent of 2 coats of nail polish so if a color is more sheer (like Vegas Freeze), that's what you're going to see.  If a color has a hidden shimmer or duochrome that's not quite apparent online, you'll see it in a spoon.  As you can see in the promo picture, each spoon has a hole at the top of the spoon so you can easily keep track of them on a keyring or just a simple string loop.  I think I'm going to start by buying spoons of all the colors I currently have, for my reference and then start buying spoons of those colors I've wanted to buy.  How about you?