Blogs of Note

Happy Sunday!  I have 3 more blogs for you today!

First up is All You Desire.  One of the few bloggers that swatches with a black background, she has medium squared nails and great cuticles.  She has a lot of purple/blue/greens in her collection and also does some Konad as well.  She does live in the Czech Republic but gets a lot of the US products in a very timely manner to swatch.


Next is Also Knows As.  Blog owner Kellie is one of my favorites and I'm really proud of how well her blog has grown.  She has a variety of nail lengths from nubbins to long but always includes large pictures of her swatches for great polish accuracy.


Last today is Another Nail Blog.  Her nails also vary from nubbins to long and has good color accurate pictures.  She also makes some frankens!


Enjoy!

Essence Black & White

I've always loved the classic black and white in fashion.  It's elegant and timeless at the same time.  Please enjoy the following press release from Essence.

essence trend edition “black & white”

Introducing one of the most popular trends from the international catwalks: the black & white look! In all combinations, shapes and patterns and, above all, for your make-up! From January to February 2011, essence begins the year with the awesome “black & white" trend edition – a breathtaking range of products that provide extraordinary styles with just two colors! Graphical designs and contrasting black and white shades give every look that extra special touch for a guaranteed trendy start to the year!


essence black & white nail polish
Neither matt nor glossy – these new black & white nail polishes have a soft touch effect! No matter whether you go for black or white – it’s sure to give your black & white styling that extra special touch. 

Black Out

White Hype

essence black & white top coat
Exciting, unusual, different: totally black & white à la essence! The top coat with a white holographic appearance gives your nails a special look. An absolute must-have in white for extra extravagance this winter! 

White Holo

essence black & white nail fashion sticker
Now you can conjure the popular cracked look to your nails faster and easier than ever before! Absolutely no waiting times and guaranteed to be error-free – simply select your favorite image, stick onto clean nail and file into shape using the nail file.

Envy My Nails

Paralyzed

essence black & white nail fashion file

Create the ultimate nail design in just a few seconds: The nail fashion file in a gorgeous black and white design is an essential accessory for perfect nails! It files the nail fashion stickers to the desired length in an instant to complete your amazing black & white look.

China Glaze How About A Tumble

Mmmm old school goodness - I decided to wear China Glaze How About A Tumble to go out in.  Oh please polish companies, make some holographic polishes for 2011!


How About A Tumble is from the Kaleidoscope collection and is a light purple holographic polish that looks like glitter but isn't one (yay)!  I used a base of Seche Natural, three coats of How About A Tumble and no top coat.  Dry time on this is super fast - less than 5 minutes.  I wish I had some sun pictures for you, but these are all indoors under "Natural" 6500K white lighting.

I also grabbed one flash picture for you.

Oh how I do love this color.  It is currently discontinued but sometimes you can get lucky in your local dusty salon or on eBay.

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].

Nicole by OPI Love Your Life

I am a sucker for hearts and stars, so when I saw this bottle of Nicole by OPI Love Your Life, I knew it had to be mine.  It's a clear base with rainbow sparkles and pink flat glitter hearts.  I used a base coat of OPI Natural Nail Base Coat, three coats of Love Your Life which included fishing out the hearts with the side of the brush, and a top coat of Seche Vite.


I'm thinking in the future, it might be easier to use an orange stick or dotting tool to get the hearts out and place it onto my nail as opposed to attempting to brush the hearts on my nail with the brush.

I tried to get about 2 hearts per nail but it wasn't easy.

So you can see the glitter a bit better, I put 1 coat of Love your Life over CND Blackjack while getting as many hearts as I possibly could onto my brush.

I can't wait to use the heart glitter during Valentine's but it is a bit of work to get them and place them on the nail.


Nicole by OPI is available beginning at ULTA, Meijer, Harmon, HEB, Sears, Wal-Mart and more for around $8 a bottle.  For more information, visit their website, follow Nicole by OPI on Twitter or become a Facebook fan.

Zoya News!

I'm really glad that I was introduced to Zoya this year.  They are a small, independent cosmetics company that really does appreciate their fans.  I wanted to share some of the news coming out of their offices this week. 


First up, the Cleveland Plain Dealer had a really nice article about their founder, Zoya Reyzis in their Style section.  I absolutely love this picture of Zoya.

Photo Credit: Lynn Ischay

Secondly, there has been a race this year for Facebook Pages.  As some of you know, my actual day (and night) job is working for a Facebook Application, so I've learned way more about Facebook's policies, changes, rules and everything else in the past three years.  When Facebook switched from "Fans" to "Likes", it was a small change but at the same time, made a difference.  Several companies are holding incentives to gain x amount of Fans (or Likes), and Zoya is having one themselves!

Now unlike some companies that are holding product giveaways for a very small number of their fans, Zoya will be holding a promotion for all USA followers to get 3 free bottles of nail polish.  How awesome is that?  As of press time, their Facebook page has 8,300+ followers so please do invite your friends - the deadline is January 3, 2011 - exactly one month from now.