Zoya Carter

Monday and no Mani Monday, it feels a little weird. But than again, this entire month feels weird (even if it's only 6 days old), because it's January and it's 10 degrees outside (Celsius). It should be freezing, snowing or something like that! Not that I like the cold, but still, this warm weather just doesn't feel right! I think it's trying to compensate for the extreme cold in the US. Hopefully you are keeping warm if you are in that area. Anyway, I have a great polish to show you today.

I've had my eye on a few Zoya polishes for a long time, especially the Pixie Dust polishes, but Zoya isn't available over here. I wasn't willing to pay the rediculous shipping fee on eBay, but I really wanted to try them. So I finally just bit the bullet and ordered some. As soon as I unwrapped this polish, I knew I did the right thing!

Zoya Carter is a deep purple polish with a lot of pink sparkle. It's a Pixie Dust polish, which means it has a textured finish. This was part of the Fall 2013 collection, so it's fairly new and is still widely available if you are lucky enough to have access to Zoya.

The formula was really nice. When I applied the first coat though, it was a little on the sheer side. I was preparing myself for a 3-coater, but it was completely opaque on the second coat and I didn't need the third. Because it's a texture, it can be a little hard to apply and I did find that it dragged a little if you go over the same spot too often. The dry time was fast, but not as fast as other textures I tried. Once it is dry though, this thing doesn't come of! I've been wearing this for 3 days now without even the slightest bit of tipwear.

Just look at that! Isn't it gorgeous? I am so happy to finally own this polish. I love it! Still... I.m not the biggest fan of the gritty feel on my nails. It snags on my  hair and clothing and it just feels... wrong... I can deal with it for a couple of days and than it just has to come off!

This is such a vibrant polish, I can't stop staring at my nails and I can't wait to try my other Pixie Dust polishes.

What's your favorite texture and have you tried the Pixie Dusts?

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Kiko Sugar Mat 451 Apricot

Do you all know those t-shirts that say "My best friend went to *fill in appropriate destination here* and all she brought me is this stupid t-shir"? Well, I wanted to name this blogpost "My best friend went to Italy and all she brought me were these 21 Kiko polishes!" Yes, that's right, 21 polishes! I have the best friends :D

Today I have the first of those polishes for you. I decided to start with the one I actually like the least, to safe the best for last... kind of...
Kiko Sugar Mat 451 Apricot is a textured polish that has, like the name says the color of apricots. I'm not quite sure if Apricot is the name of this polish, because on the bottle they just have numbers, but this was part of a Sugar mat set and this name is on the box.

Sugar mat is the Kiko textures line and they have several colors. This is a peachy pinky salmon color (I know, bad description, but it's the best I can do for this color), with a hot pink shimmer.

It looks really nice in the bottle, but I was afraid it would make me look dead and unfortunately, I was right. The shimmer does translate on to the nail, but not as strong as in the bottle. I'm not the biggest texture fan, but this seems to be a bit finer than the OPI Liquid Sands and I think I just might like these better.

The formula was nice, this is 2 coats on my nails, but I should have done a 3rd. Last night it looked opaque, but in daylight, I can still see some bald spots, althoug it is less noticable in person than in my pictures. It dried really fast, like most textures and because of the shimmer, it sparkles on the nail. This is a nice neutral color, appropriate for every occasion, even job interviews. I like that they include a neutral sugar mat in the set and I do like the color, it just doesn't like me back.

Have you tried Kiko polishes and what do you think?

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Mani Monday's: Texture

Happy Monday everybody! Today's theme is texture and since I already showed my favorites (Solitaire and Alcatraz), I decided to try the newest edition to my texture stash.

OPI Kiss me at Midnight is a bright iceblue base with silver glitter. It has the liquid sand finish and is part of the Mariah Carey Holiday 2013 collection.

Because of the stupid weather and lack of good picture taking light, I had to get creative... this is taken while balancing of the door handle on my front door, lol

The formula is really nice, easy to apply and completely opaque in 2 thin coats. The dry time is, like all the liquid sand polishes, extremely fast. I love the color, but I could have done without so much of the silver glitter. It gives depth to this polish, but that could have been achieved with a bit less silver.

I like this polish, but I have to admit, I'm not the biggest fan of textured polishes. They annoy me just a little bit... every time I run my fingers through my hair, it sticks to the stupid grittiness of this polish, I just don't like the way it feels when I touch anything to be honest.

What do you think about the textured polish trend and what is your favorite?

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