Zoya Tallulah Rocks my World Once Again

This color...

  Ugh this color!! It's just sooo amazing. The other day Zoya had a question up on their Facebook. If you could have a car in ANY Zoya color, what would it be? I answered Tallulah. Could u imagine a car in this color?!

 I love me some Tallulah. Majorly!! This color is everything a bright, Summery Blue should be and more. For this one I stamped the polka dots from plate BM19 in Konad SP Black polish and then with a craft scissor I cut some tape strips and did accents in Orly's Dazzle. I really like this look. It's edgy and fun.

Thanks for stopping by,

<3 Cristina

Muffin Monday!! China Glaze Virtual Violet

Happy Memorial Day Muffin Monday!

  Muffin is in a mood lately lol. She is giving the hardest time when it comes to picking a polish haha. She will just sit there and stare at them and when I least expect it she will sneak up and pick me one in stealth mode. Then I end up with pictures like this one...

So first off, I want to appologize for changing my pictures so much recently. I've been playing with a light box and figuring out what I like best and all that jazz. I have new lights coming my way so there might be one more change in some evetuality but I didn't want to stop posting so I'll show u guys what pretty pics I do get.

I have shown you lovelies Virtual Violet before so I won't say much about the polish itself other than I freaking love it. It is not a strong holo, or very holo at all really but it is still a beautiful tone of Purple and the subtle holo sparkle makes it special to me. Granted, it is a very Silvery holo, but holo non-the-less. Let's not be ungrateful ladies hahah! I know we wanted stronger, more linear holos but they get a B+ for effort haha. For the stamping I used a Silver Sally Hansen Chrome Pen and BM plate 219. SV as a top coat.

Happy Muffin Monday!!

<3 Cristina

Zoya Touch Collection LE Swatches

Hello lovely people!

  Today I have swatches of Zoya's new Touch Collection. This lovely Trio consists of full coverage Nudes with a "metallic kiss" as described by Zoya. These Three pretties were inspired by the custom colors created by Zoya for the Runways of New York Fashion Week. These are currently available for pre-order and will be shipping in June. These are limited edition polishes and I suggest jumping on these if you know whats what! lol. Also, I'm doing extra large pics for this one to show that finish in these beauties and because they fit in the blog lol! Sorry I have to show you these on my nubs but I could not wait to see them on the nail.

 Minka. This Nude has strong Yellow undertones and a beautiful soft Silver shimmer that makes it more pearly than metallic in appearance. Maybe not the best color on my skin tone but someone with darker skin could really do this justice. The application of this color is dream like. Two coats, no top coat.

 Pandora. This is my favorite out of the group because I believe she is my "match". Some may say it is too matchy-matchy with my skin tone but personally I LOVE it. This one is a more Rosey- Nude with some Mauve undertones and that same Pearly swirl throughout. This was Two easy coats. No top coat.

 Shay. This one is a pretty nude with Peachy tones and that same lovely pearly finish. In Sunlight this one has Goldie- look to it. This one gave me a slight case of the lobster- hands but I can't help but enjoy it. This was two coats, no top coat.

 Personally, I am all about these! Scrangie describes them as "foundation for your nails". I couldn't come up with a better way to describe them myself. Basically you get to find which shades are a "match" for your skin. This is where those neat little Zoya Spoons come in handy. The formula on all Three colors is slightly thick but very manageable. They really deliver on the promise of "full coverage nude. They dry quick and to a high shine but adding a top coat really brings out the Silvery shimmer that makes these so stunning. I love how subtle but unique they are. I can really appreciate a well done Nude and these are really pretty and they have a "match" for every skin tone.

Which one are you loving?

<3Cristina

(**These were sent by Zoya for review**)

My Best Friend's Wedding Series: Pt. 1

Hi my lovely gals (and boys too :),

  I was re-organizing my stash recently and came across NOPI's Take a Stand. An awesome color that made it to my collection thanks to my awesome Mr. LTHP. Well I was sitting there with the funky bottle in my hand and loving the Fuchsia tone of it so much and this idea just hit me for my Besties Wedding nails series. You guys may remember me mentioning that I would be doing her nails on that day as well as the rest of the bridal party so I have two designs to come up with. I also have to convince her that CG For Audrey just HAS to be her pedi color.
  Anyhow, she has the best color palette to work with. Black, White, Fuchsia and hints of Silver. Her pattern is polka dots and her accents are bows! How cute is all that? She is going for a mix of traditional and edgy. Some of you may have seen my awesome polka dotted dress and pink heels I'll be wearing as her maid of honor on Twitter. So for this design I went pretty edgy. This could be the brides nails if she's feeling playful of the bridesmaids.

For this first mani in the series I used Take a Stand as my base and stamped polka dots with O.P.I Black Onyx (wanted to used Konad SP Black but it's such a pain to clean up sometimes and I didn't want to ruin this mani) from plate BM19 out of the original BM set. I find that this is also less "severe". Then I added bows in Konad SP White to my Ring Finger and Thumbs from Konad plate M59. I think a Pink or Black rhinestone would also be cute in the center of the bows for this.

For fun here is some swatches of NOPI Take a Stand. I looooove this color so much!

I really ended up loving this look. I would wear this any day lol. I'm going to be doing a lot of designs for this so I hope you are up to the task of picking my dear sister!! haha! But, I am so excited!! I'll be working on some traditional nails, some edgy, some girly, some simple and all that jazz. 

Thanks for stopping by and happy Saturday!!

<3 Cristina

Bettina Haze & Ocean

OMG!!!OMG!! OMG!!.. Ok... I'm done

  I know these two are some of my new colors from the Miami Beauty Show and I said yesterday I would not show u guys new colors until my nails grew out but I did this mani before making that decision lol. I really love these two colors and they are easily in my top 20 favorite colors of all time. I have been seeing the Funky French a lot lately and wanted to partake in the trend so I followed in ALU's footsteps and decided to do it in an alternating pattern. This mani is an Epic WIN for me. Nubs and all!

Haze is the light lilac creme and Ocean is the beautiful Aqua/Green/Turquiose creme shade. Haze is soft, pretty and completely out of pastel territory which is part of why I love it so much. It remains soft and girly but vibrant and present. Ocean is absolutely spectacular. I don't even know the proper way to describe this color. It's somewhere in between Green and Turquiose and Aqua. It's vibrant and unique and extremely flattering. Well both of these shades are. And how great do they look together?! The formula on both colors is great, solid two coaters.These Two colors come from their newer Nature Collection. I have one more color from this group to show you which is also lovely. This whole collection is full of muted yet somehow vibrant colors that are totally up my alley and I wish I had picked them all up now lol! 

Thanks for stopping by,

<3 Cristina

Zoya Stacy Revisited

Hi loves!!!

  So since I have some serious nubs going on I decided that instead of swatching my pretty new colors on my short ugly nubs that I would save them until the nubs grow out and show you guys some of my older colors instead. Today I decided to wear Zoya's Stacy because I love vampy shades on short nails.
   Also, I'm playing around with my lightbox. It is not going as well I was expecting because I cannot get the lighting right. I'm having to make do with what I have and the pics are not 100% to my liking but I hope you guys will still enjoy them and bear with me while I figure out the stupid lightbox.

 I have shown you guys Stacy before, it was my very first FAIL post lol. Not because of the color but because my attempted nail art sucked majorly lol. Stacy is a lovely vampy Burgundy creme with some slight Plummy undertones. The formula on this one is not your typical Zoya creme formula. This one is a bit runny and hard to control IMO. I needed Three coats to get it to even out. Once this color is on and you get the hang of it it's so freaking beautiful. This color is rich, classy and super lady-like - All the things I am not loool! Maybe that's why I don't wear it more often. I have to be in a mood for this color and my short nails were definitely calling for Stacy today.

What do you guys wear when u have nubs going on?

<3 Cristina

Color:

Zoya Stacy

Stamp: Essence Just in case

Plate: BM221

TC: Seche Vite

O.P.I Glam Slam England and Nice Stems Press Release

Hi again loves!!


 It's PR day here at LTHP loool!! The emails keep coming in so I'll keep sharing hahah! Please enjoy the following press release from O.P.I

Get “Unbeatable” Sparkle!

OPI Unveils Three New Shades from

Serena Williams’ Glam Slam! Series

OPI joins tennis superstar Serena Williams in announcing the latest three lacquers in the Glam Slam! collection.  To celebrate the world’s oldest, most prestigious tennis tournament,Glam Slam! England features two duo-packs filled with sparkle.

The first Lacquer set includes Your Royal Shine-ness, a metallic silver shade, paired with Servin’ Up Sparkle, a shimmer-packed silver glitter. The second Lacquer set also features Servin’ Up Sparkle, along with Grape…Set…Match, a metallic purple.

Grape Set Match

Your Royal Shineness

Servin' Up Sparkle

Nice Stems! by OPI Revamps Nails with
Vibrant Pink Hues for Summer 2011

Stop and see the flowers with summer’s Nice Stems! by OPI, a limited edition collection featuring four new nail lacquers in stunning shades of pink.

With whimsical names based on their floral inspirations, these vibrant, flirty colors range from pale, frosty pink to rich fuchsia. Nice Stems! offers fingers and toes a perfectly pink shade for all of summer’s looks.

“These vibrant, feminine hues complement 60’s ladylike fashions, 70’s glam looks, and bold color-blocking, which are the season’s staples,” says Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director. “The Nice Stems! collection also offers an interesting contrast and feminine accent to the punk and biker looks on the runways.”

Nice Stems! by OPI shades include:

Play the Peonies
We’d put our money on this lovely soft-pink.

Come to Poppy
Surrender to shine with this shimmering coral-pink.

Be a Dahlia Won’t You?
Give the gift of fabulous fuchsia—to yourself!

I Lily Love You
Fall head over heels with this light pink sparkle.

“Using different micas and glitters can give lacquer a 3-dimensional look,” adds Weiss-Fischmann. “I Lily Love You is a glitter coat that can be layered over any of the other three shades to add a bright sparkle; or, it can be worn on its own for a subtle tint of pink with strands of glitter.”
The Nice Stems! Nail Lacquers by OPI contain no DBP, Toluene, or Formaldehyde, and feature OPI’s exclusive ProWide™ Brush for the ultimate in This limited edition Nice Stems! collection will be available beginning June 2011 at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, JCPenney, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, and ULTA, for $8.50 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each Nail Lacquer.

For more information, please call 800-341-9999 or visit www.opi.com.

Follow OPI on Twitter @OPI_PRODUCTS and become a Facebook fan!



Enjoy!!
<3 Cristina

Pink Wednesday!! Bettina Pink Bikini + O.P.I Red Shatter + O.P.I White Shatter

Hi loves!!

  For this Pink Wed. I have some majah layering. I decided to use one of my beauties I scored while at the Miami Beauty Show. I flippin' love this color so much! It's Pink, it's bold and it makes me happy to look at it.

 So, Pink Bikini is a beautiful bright Pink creme unlike anything I own. This color reminds me a bit of O.P.I Pink Flamenco but give it a hint of dustiness and you get Pink Bikini. This color comes to us from their newest Summer Resort Collection. I only picked up two colors from this group but I'm thinking based on the Two I own that I'll have to find a way to score the rest of the colors. Pink Bikini has the typical Bettina formula that is made of awesomeness and pigmented goodness, two coats. I really love it with Red Shatter layered over it. Reminds me of Valentines Day. Again... Thinking waaaay ahead lol. After I added the White Shatter I did a top coat of Hard Candy's Matte-ly in Love because I love me some matted down shatters.

Happy Pink Wed!!

<3 Cristina

Zoya Touch Collection Press Release.

2011 limited edition, full coverage nude nail colors

TOUCH

soft  sensual  sexy

Zoya Nail Polish presents 3 new, full coverage nude nail polish shades designed to coordinate with a variety of skin tones ranging from light to dark. Each softly kissed with a bit of metallic to make them ultra wearable.

To watch a short video about the colors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cFodNwgZnQ

Zoya TOUCH Collection

Minka (ZP561) - latte beige cream with a metallic kiss

Shay (ZP562) - desert rose sand beige cream with a metallic kiss

Pandora (ZP563) - mauve beige cream with a metallic kiss

Zoya is the new color of fashion...

The Zoya TOUCH collection was designed to recreate the custom looks developed for and inspired by the runways of New York Fashion Week.

Ultra long-wearing, glossy nail lacquers by Zoya are free of harmful industrial chemicals like toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Find Zoya TOUCH as well as over 300 other ultra high-fashion Zoya shades at www.zoya.com. As always, each and every Zoya color is made for women so we name them after women.

TOUCH by Zoya

PRE-ORDER May 25 - May 31, 2011

shipping JUNE 1, 2011

Sug. Retail $8.00 per 0.5 fl. oz. bottle (US)

Are you guys excited about this collection? I sure am since I hace discovered my love for Nudes!!

<3 Cristina

China Glaze Kaleidoscope Him Out

Holos make me happy!

  Today I have another beauty from my [swap] with Gilded Nails. This is a color I didn't know I wanted :). The second I saw it I was in love. This color is so pretty. It is a holo so by default it is amazing but it is also a pretty shade of Blue.

So Kaleidoscope Him Out is a pretty light Blue holo. As you can see it's not quite linear, not quite scattered, but somewhere in between. Indoors this color looks close to Milani's Cyberspace except the sparkle is much finer in KHO. The formula for this color is great. Very easy tow work with and only slightly sheer. For this mani I used Three coats. For this one adding a top coat doesn't change the holo effect. I'm interested in seeing this layered over darker Blues and Black. I bet it's even more beautiful. This is from CG's Let's do it in 3D collection.

Thanks for stopping by :) 

<3 Cristina

Color:

Stamp: Konad Black SP

Plate: M77

TC: Seche Vite

Muffin Monday!! Le Beauty Sparkling Wine

Hi loves!!!

  Look who's back!!! Muffin missed you ladies so much!! For those of you who have started following recently Muffin Monday is the reason a lot of people follow this blog in the first place lol. It's not the manis or the polish but this awesome polish picking kitty! She had been on a little extended break but now she is back and ready to pick!!

 Muffin fell right back into rhythm and picked something straight away. This pretty color does not have a name. Well, I couldn't find one so I came up with Sparkling Wine. You'll see why...

Perfect name right? This one is another beauty from my [swap] with Gilded Nails. I loved it immediately. The color is a beautiful Wine toned jelly packed of holographic glitter. I really love the sparkle in this one a lot because it looks like it's suspended in the jelly base. The formula on this color is great as jellies usually tend to be. For this I used Three coats of color. The smell on this one was also pretty strong. Adding a coat os SV only enhanced this beauty even more.

Muffin is so happy to be back!

<3 Cristina

China Glaze Recycle

Grey.

  Grey is amazing.... And Gilded nails is awesome for killing this lemming for me. The reason why I don't have Sunlight pics is because I am typing this at 1:44 AM... About 10 minutes after I was done with this mani... Yeah, it was a LATE nite mani...

Recycle is an awesome medium Grey creme.Think of a cloudy Sky and you get Recycle. I really really love this color a whole lot. I thought it would be a perpetual lemming. The formula on this is great as China Glaze usual. For the mani above I did Two coats of Recycle. For the dots I used the other colors I own from the CG ECOllection. Shower Together, Solar Power and  Tree Hugger. I initially did the dots with a larger dotting tool and realized I didn't love it so I switched to a smaller dotting tool and then I was really getting the effect I wanted. This mani is so cute and fun even with it's neutral Grey base.

Are you into dotting?
<3 Cristina

BYS Matte Grey

Hai!

  Today I have another BYS polish from my [swap] with Gilded Nails. This one is an awesome Matte Grey.

So this is how this polish dries. Not very Matte lol. It more so reminds me of a more shiny Orly Plastix finish. Kind of shiny satin? It's really pretty cool. The formula on this is good. A bit thick maybe? But I'm sure that's only because it is a "matte" polish. Here I did Two coats of Matte Grey. 

However.... I really wanted to see it go fully matte so I added two coats of Hard Candy's Matte-ly in Love, matte top coat which gave it a super neat sort of rubberized look. Now this is more like it!

It's Grey, it's matte and super awesome. Carina really outdid herself with this swap package and the amazing polishes she sent my way. I can't wait for you guys to see the rest!

Thanks for stopping by,

<3 Cristina

Zoya Promo Time!

Limited time only
Get Zoya Dove and Zoya Caitlin FREE with ANY** purchase on Zoya.com! 

Special Promotional Offer*!

Try the Zoya "French Twist" manicure created by Haven Spa for the Joy Cioci presentation at NYFW! For a limited time with any** purchase (excluding Zoya Color Spoons) on Zoya.com you get Zoya Nail Polish in Caitlin and Zoya Nail Polish in Dove for free!! Just enter the code ZB52 when you check out! These trend setting spring colors are MUST have in any collection! This offer is only good until Monday May 23 (11:59PM EST)! Act now and try the "twist" everyone is talking about!

*Online only, cannot be combined with any other offer , promotion or coupon. US ONLY. Promotion ends Monday May 23 at 11:59 PM EST. Offer good for 1(one) open stock .5 oz bottle of Zoya Caitlin  and 1(one) .5oz bottle Zoya Dove with the purchase of any NON-SPOON item on Zoya.com. Art of Beauty Inc. will not honor promotions that are submitted after promotion has ended - No exceptions. No exchanges. No returns. Worst case scenario please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Comments, videos and pictures posted about this Zoya Nail Polish Exchange outside of Zoya.com or zoyanailpolish.blogger.com are not representative of the opinions of Zoya Nail Polish, Art of Beauty, Inc., Qtica and Qtica Smart Spa and we do not confirm the accuracy of any postings. Customers are responsible for maintaining active accounts. If username or password have been lost we (Art of Beauty, Inc.) are not responsible for restoring accounts or giving out any account information. S/H not included. 

**offer excludes Zoya Color Spoons. 

© 2011 Art of Beauty Inc. All rights reserved

Enjoy!

<3 Cristina

BYS Kung Fu Blue

Hi loves!!

  Today I have one of my Aussie goodies that came in my [swap] package from Carina from Gilded Nails. I am LALAloving this color soo much! It's Blue, it's playful and Summer perfection. It's Kung Fu Blue!

The last picture is the most color accurate. So, Kung Fu Blue is an amazing Sky Blue creme with just the slightest touch of Green. This is completely out of pastel territory. It reminds me of a more Blue CG For Audrey, with a better formula. The formula for this color is really good. It is creamy and had great pigmentation. For this mani I used Two coats of Kung Fu Blue. The smell on this polish was quite... Different... lol. I don't even know how to describe it but it was pretty strong. Who cares though?! Look at this color!! It's beautiful! I think this needs to be my next pedi... 

Thanks for stopping by :)

<3 Cristina

Color:

BYS Kung Fu Blue

Stamp: CG Little Drummer Boy

Plate: BM212

TC: Seche Vite