Here is a Pretty Summer Peach: Zoya LC!

I love Zoya.  And I love when they have sales with free shipping, haha!  I picked up Zoya LC when they had their Valentine's Day Sale along with Ivanka and Charla!  I'm waiting to see if they have another Earth Day Promotion, it was awesome last year!

Check this beauty out:

I normally don't wear reds, but LC has just enough pink in it for me to love it.  I was slightly disappointed with the formula, though.  It just was a bit thicker than Zoya's normal formula, but still went on nicely in 2 coats.  I don't have many of their creams, but from what I can tell, their formula isn't super consistent.  LC was thick, Pippa was kind of runny, but Whitney was pretty good ;) But I may be biased for that one, haha.

Have you guys tried LC? Or any of the other ones from the "Hills" collection? 

<3 Whitney

Zoya Ivankaaaa!

Top of the morning to you!  :) Happy St. Patrick's Day lovelies!  I've got a GREAT green to show you today!

A few days ago I told you guys I picked up Zoya Ivanka when I got Charla, and even though Charla wins in my book hands down, Ivanka is still a very pretty color that I'm glad I purchased!

It's another one of those polishes I was a little late on picking up, so if you're like me, I'd add this to your wishlist next time Zoya has a sale :)

Artificial Light

Initially by the picture, I thought this polish was going to be similar to Zoya Apple (hehee that links to the 31 day challenge I realize I never finished...), but it's much more vibrant than Apple when I compare them.  Not to mention that Ivanka has the obvious green/teal/gold duochrome that Apple just doesn't have.  The only thing similar is their shimmer!  Ivanka is very much a "jeweled" shade of green that has a certain vibrancy to it that really appeals to me.  The formula is a little less opaque than Charla, which only needs 2 coats, and needs at least 2 coats for full coverage, but I preferred 3, at least on most nails. 

Do you guys own Charla and Ivanka?  Or any others from the Sparkle Collection?  I have Gilda, the pink one from that collection, that I got off a blogsale a while back, but still have never tried!  Whoops!  Maybe with the success of Charla and Ivanka I'll put it closer to the top of my list of polishes to try :)

<3 Whitney

Featuring My New Favorite: Zoya Charla

Hellllloooooo girlies!  I am so PSYCHED that this time next week I will be in Florida at Disney World!  Horray!  I am planning on taking fun, bright polishes, but if all goes as planned I won't even have time to do them :)  Zoya Pippa is definitely on my list lol.

So I'm always the last person to jump on the bandwagon for pretty much anything, Zoya Charla being one of them.  I've seen tonnnss of swatches and jewelry made from Charla and I always kind of wanted it, but I refuse to pay Zoya shipping.  So when their Valentine's Day sale came around for a free red polish and free shipping with any other polish purchase I grabbed both Charla and Ivanka!

Holy. Moly. God. Almighty.  I can't believe I missed out on this beauty for so long.  If you're like me and don't buy things that everyone else likes, forget that you're like that for 5 minutes and order this immediately because it's gorgeous!

I understand that all of these pictures are nearly identical, but I probably took 40 of them and had a hard time choosing, lol...

Charla is a super gorgeous blue/teal/green duochrome (triochrome?) shimmer polish that flashes all sorts of pretty sea-worthy colors in the sun.  Zoom in on that sparkle, seriously, it's worth it.  Charla went on opaque in just two coats and followed suit with all of the other Zoya polishes with great formulas!

I never used to wear cool colored polishes, it was just pinks and reds, and boy am I glad that changed.  Do you guys have Charla?

<3 Whitney

Bright Yellow! Zoya Pippa

Ahh Zoya Pippa is another polish that had been on my wishlist for foreverrrr!  I love, love love yellow and regardless of how it looks on me, I will continue to wear yellow polish, lol.

Check it out: 

Artificial Lighting

Oh goodness, I love this so much!  This is a perfect color for spring or summer, and I am super psyched to bring this with me when I go on vacation :)  Zoya Pippa is a lovely bright yellow cream.  It has kind of a thin formula and took 3 coats to become opaque.  Normally China Glaze Happy Go Lucky is my go-to yellow, but I think I'll be switching it to Zoya Pippa from now on!

I think I like this color so much because it reminds me of when I lived in Ohio.  This is similar to the color I had painted my room, lol.  It was kind of abrasive to others but I loved it and it made me happy when I was in there! I'll definitely be taking this with me next Saturday when I leave here for DISNEY!!!

Do you guys like yellow polish? I know it's kind of hit or miss with people, but if you're a yellow fan, I urge you to pick this up!

<3 Whitney

Zoya Kissy Review! :-*

Sooo I totally forgot I'd picked this polish up when I was out Christmas shopping!

I remember seeing Zoya's Gems and Jewels promos and really liked all the colors, but since I hate paying shipping, I was super excited to see these in a beauty store in Ohio! I really didn't have any other polishes with bar glitter so I picked up Kissy to try.

Nowwww Zoya kind of describes this polish as a "red" but I think on the nail, it's definitely more pink, but I'll let you ladies decide:

Okayyy soo this looks kind of reddish...I still claim it's pink lol

Wow!  I really was impressed for my first bar glitter polish.  It went on relatively easily, but needed 3 coats to be opaque.  I really liked that the bar glitter incorporated yellow, green, orange, and red, all into the polish.  It was really pretty!

My only issue with this polish was that the bar glitters can extend over the edge of your nail and they try kind of sharp.  Sooo you either have to clean up really well, trim them, or maneuver them with the brush so they don't hang off.  It also is a SUPER top coat eater!  I put a coat of my normal top coat on, and you couldn't even tell!  Zoom in on the second picture...it really IS that rough.

Now I didn't use Seche Vite or Poshe, so it may be able to be smoothed over with those...or even Gelous (which I've never tried), but I didn't leave this on long enough to try.  As you can see, I forgot I hadn't taken pictures of it and started taking it off before I realized, which is why there are only 2 fingers in the pictures haha.

Did you guys like the polishes from the Gem and Jewels collection?  Did any of them eat your top coat too??

<3 Whitney

P.S. Want a chance to win 2 Zoya polishes?  Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

31 Day Challenge, Day 4! Zoya Apple!

Don't think I've forgotten about this challenge, ladies!  I'm still here.  It's hard for me to update during the week with my crazy job, but I HAVE been painting my nails!  I've got a few days worth of posts done today, so horray!

I am really liking this challenge though, because along with the 31-day challenge, I am also doing my own "never tried" challenge and using polishes I've never used before to complete it!

Along with my never tried challenge, I've finally tried the last of the Zoya Sunshine Collection: Apple!  I am not too keen on green nails, but I'm glad I tried this because I liked it a lot!

I initially tried to have an accent nail of a CG Happy Go Lucky with Kermit the Frog painted on it, but after trying to paint him FOUR times (twice on each hand), I gave up.  I ended up with mixing my own lighter green polish (That I had hopefully named Kermit) and using that as a base with some flower stickers I had:

Happy Go Lucky accent nail...sans Kermit :(

Accent nail of my own mixed polish (Kermit) with some stick on flowers!

I ended up liking this mani okay and wore it for a few days.  The people at work were confused by my accent nail, but I don't care!  And sorry for my picture quality...I did this at night time and ended up having to take indoor pictures--lame salsa!

Anywho--this is 3 coats of Apple and three coats of HGL/Kermit.  I tend to do three coats of everything regardless if it's necessary, haha.  I love the Sunshine Collection, they're great!  Zoya polishes only tend to work well (and by that I mean last more than a day) with certain base coats and now that I've found some, I like them a lot.  I'm glad I bought the whole collection!

Wellllllll I hope you guys are enjoying my challenge posts--I'm enjoying doing them!  I've got a surprise for you all later in the week, so stay tuned!

<3 Whitney

Whitney loves Zoya Whitney!

Oooh like I said recently, I've been having great luck with Zoya lately! 

I've been lemming hardcore for Zoya Whitney...specifically on the basis that it's named "Whitney" haha but once I got it and tried it, I loved the color, too! 

Unfortunately I did this mani at night and didn't take pictures until the next evening, so you can see a bit of tip wear (from working...and putting together a book shelf...), but other than that, I loved it!

Normally I don't think pinks are that unique...you can pretty much find a dupe for any pink since they're pretty generic.  However, I don't think I have any pinks as "bubble gummy" as this!  I was thinking one of my Funky Fingers was similar, but it's kind of different.  I suppose I could compare them in the future!

This polish went on great and opaque in only 2 coats, which I am always ecstatic about! The formula is great...I really don't have a Zoya whose formula I don't like!  And with my lack of time I have to paint my nails, a nice formula and less required coats makes it a GREAT polish in my eyes!  Like I said, you can see some tip wear, but I've been using normal Sally Hansen top coat and quick drying cuticle oil drops on top instead of Seche Vite or Posche, so that probably could've been avoided.

Do you guys have this color?? How do you like it?!  Do you own a polish named after you? :)

<3 Whitney

Zoya "Jem" from new Smoke and Mirrors Collection!

Oooh dear.  SO I've been meaning to post, oh I don't know, maybe like 5 different polishes I've taken pictures of during my moving/unpacking process, but I just haven't got around to it!  Sorry! 

I have been sent some Barielle polishes to review...but I still have one left and I'd like to do them all at once.  So then I was going to update with one of my new fav polishes, Zoya Whitney (biased much? hah), but I tried Zoya Jem today from their Smoke and Mirrors Collection and it's so fabulous that I want to show you all NOW! 

Soooo excuse me for the amount of pictures...they are all kind of similar but I wanted to show you guys all the color you can see in this fabulous dark purple.

Love love love.

I've been having great luck with Zoya.  I took advantage of their buy one get two free...even though shipping costs the same as a polish.  I've been wanting Whitney and another Kimmy, so I thought I'd try this as well!

Anywho, this lovely, what I would call duochrome, went on great in 2 coats and could be a 1 coater if you're in a rush.  It shows a lovely array of purples, reds, and bronzes in the sun light and it looks decent on my nubbin nails.  I've broken a bunch during moving and unpacking, which is a bummer, but with a little cuticle TLC they look a bit better already. 

The only downside was that since I'm not used to wearing darker colors I thought I'd be able to clean up quickly after slapping it on--but even with acetone it turned my skin a little purple.  I'm assuming it'll wash off, though!

Wooo so have any of you guys tried the Smoke and Mirrors collection?  I haven't found any place around here who sells Zoya (no Ultas, sad story!) so I probably won't be ordering any unless they have a really great promo :)

Okay, hopefully I can update more this week now that my photos are edited!  Hope you all are greaaat!

<3 Whitney

Double Pink Wednesday!! Ulta Polishes + Haul :)

Okay. So. I have a lot to say in this update.

I've reached 100 followers!!!! Woo hooo!!  I'm at 103--this is great!  I never ever thought in a million years that anyone would care or even read what I wrote here, so I'm SO beyond thrilled.  This makes me feel really good, guys, I appreciate each and every one of you and I love reading all your comments!

Now, I can finally tell you about my epic haul from last weekend!! Take a look:

Dum dum dum duuuummm!

So my BF Jenn sold me a bunch of Bath and Body Works stuff she had for super cheap!  I got two cute clip on air fresheners for my car, three lotions, a candle, two lip glosses, and some soap!  Then we hit up Ulta and I used two $5 off coupons, a 20% off coupon, the free ORLY coupon again and got all the polishes (Buy 2 get 2 free), and burt's bees stuff for $20!  Then I wanted to try the new Wet n Wild eye shadows so I stopped by CVS and got some of those.  

I stocked up on my pinks for Pink Wednesdays by getting the ORLY Oh Cabana Boy, and Ulta Fuschiamania, Princess, and Heirhead (seen L to R on the bottom left).  The rest of the stuff I'll tell you in the next post right after this 'cause all the stuff in the right is part of my GIVEAWAY!!! YAY!!!

BUT for now, onto Pink Wednesday :)

I decided to try out Ulta's Heirhead, the light pink one in the picture!  I really liked it.  This was my first time using a non-glitter Ulta polish and I was impressed.  For how cheap you can get them (Buy 2 get 2 free is an AWESOME deal...that's 4 for $10...and if you use a $5 off coupon, it's 4 for $5!!), the formula is quite good.  Anyway, check it out:

Shade

Sun

I really liked this!  It didn't compliment my skin tone too well but the color is nice anyway.  It'll be good later in the summer I think.  This is three coats!  I like how smooth and opaque the polish is, I probably could've done just two! 

Jenn came over today, too, and painted her nails with me!  She thought we could do a double Pink Wednesday and take some pics of hers too.  What she did was she combined the dark pink Ulta polish, Fuschiamania, with Zoya's Rica (Sunshine Collection)!  Looksie:

Fuschiamania by itself...it is a little more pink rather than red in person

I like how it turned out.  Zoyas are pretty opaque for glitters and normally overtake a base color but this combo looks really good in person.  Rica looks really orange-y normally by itself, so with a dark pink base it really brings out the pink in it.  She's so creative :)  And I liked having someone to paint my nails with today, it's usually just me!

Oh, and those pics of Jenn's nails are 2 coats Fuschiamania (it went on really opaque, if you were running out the door, you could go with 1 coat and be okay), and 1 coat of Rica!

Like I said before--super impressed with the Ulta formula.  I didn't think the "generic" polishes were going to be that good, but the cheap ones have been impressing me for a while!  I still love Sinful Colors, and when they're on sale for 99 cents, I take advantage of it!

Anywho, stay tuned for another post regarding my 100 follower giveaway!!

<3 Whitney

PS Jenn gave me a real cute idea for a nail polish "series"...I'll have to work it on in my head a bit, but I'm hoping to try something weekly like Pink Wednesday but allll me!

Zoya Kimmy and Giveaway Update!

Hey all!  Oh my gosh I can't believe I'm ONE person away from 100 followers!!  How exciting :) Hopefully tomorrow along with my Pink Wednesday post I'll be able to post pictures of my haul from last weekend and talk about my giveawayyyy!

I FINALLY took pictures today of Zoya Kimmy!  I think it's my favorite polish in my entire collection.  I've never been into the reds, but this color is so classic with just the right amount of sparkle and shine to it that it just makes me feel super foxxxy when I wear it, hah!  I think I'm going to have to buy another bottle of it.  Speaking of Zoya real quick, they are giving away a FREE polish today only from their Summer, Sunshine, and Mod Matte Collections with the code SUMMER1 on their website.  You have to pay S&H, which I personally don't think is worth it, but if you're already planning on buying from their site, you might as well go ahead and add a free one to your order!  I suggest Kimmy ;)

Outdoor, shade

Oooh Kimmy I love you

You can see the gold glitter undertone in this one

Zooming in lets you see the sparkle a bit better.  I just love this.  It's 3 coats, but you can get away with 2, and I've got Seche Vite on top.  I didn't wear a base coat this time.  Whoops.  I actually have been wearing Kimmy w/o a base coat since Saturday and it didn't really matter much (my nails are already a little stained from other polishes).  Actually, Zoya's don't stick to the base coat I normally wear anyway and peel off within a day, so it stayed better without the base coat!  This obviously isn't after that long of wear, I re-did Kimmy today so I could finally show you all.  I've worn it like 3 or 4 times since I got it! 

Annnnnnnnnnd I wanted to do this today since I've seen quite a few other bloggers do it lately!  It's the ABCs of ME!

A. Age: 
23...I think somewhere on my profile it may say 24, that's a lie...I round up like a little kid lol

B. Bed size:
I brought a twin with me when I moved in with my boyfriend...but it's in the spare bedroom and since then we have made our first big purchase together: a queen size mattress!  Wee!  He had one before but it was the suck so we went in on a new one.

C. Chore you hate:
I hate putting away laundry...

D. Day:
Well I like Sundays because it's the only day my boyfriend and I both have off...but Saturdays are usually better!

E. Essential start to your day:
Shower.  I have to shower in the morning.

F. Favorite color:
Yellow! 

G. Gold or Silver:
Silver. I am definitely not a gold girl.  Unless it's white gold.

H. Height:
Last I checked it was 5'3"...I don't think you grow much after 18 lol

I. Instruments:
Piano...I played violin for a long time, too, and I taught myself guitar.  Actually, I taught myself piano, too.  I like music haha

J. Job title:
Engineering Graduate Research Associate...just for another week :)

K. Kids:
None, thank goodness.

L. Live:
Central Ohio!

M. Mom’s name:
Patti

N. Nicknames:
Whit is the main one people use....sometimes my friends and my parents call me really weird shit though lol let's not discuss it

O. Overnight hospital stays:
I don't think I've had any...

P. Pet peeve:
Ignorance.  But my list of pet peeves is a mile long.  But that's a big one.

Q. Quote from a movie:
"I hope you like prison food.  And penis"  Ahahaha I heard that when we watched The Other Guys' yesterday and about died laughing.  Inappropriate lol, sorry ladies :) Not my favorite quote, but the first one that came to mind.

R. Right or left handed:
Right

S. Siblings:
I have a younger brother who is 19 named Sean

T. Time you wake up:
My boyfriend's alarm usually goes off about 7...I get up between 7 and 9 depending on when I have class

U. Underwear:
I'm not sure what this is asking...yes I wear underwear? Yes I have on some right now?  They're white from VS with a map on the butt lol

V. Vegetables you dislike:
I don't like a lot of things, but usually I just eat around it.  Like onions...I don't like the texture when they're in my food but they give things good flavor.  Mushrooms though I can't eat or be around in any context.  I want to barf thinking about mushrooms lol.

W. What makes you run late:

Everything...me procrastinating in the mornings getting ready.  Or just not waking up.

X. X-Rays you’ve had:
Oh goodness...I broke my arm in kindergarten so that one, abdominal a few times, lots of dental, my knee...there's probably more.

Y. Yummy food you make:
I love to bake...so we'll say cookies.  My favorite are oatmeal with butterscotch chips!

Z. Zoo:
I love the zoo.  The Columbus Zoo is number 1 in the nation right now, I highly recommend it if you haven't been!

Hah! Okay that is all for today, I'm not tagging anyone for the ABC thing, but feel free to do it if you want! I'll see you tomorrow for PINK WEDNESDAY!  Wee  :)

<3 Whit

P.S....just in case you're wondering...I had my thesis defense on Monday...I passed!  WOO HOO!!

Sinful Colors and Zoya Combo! Plus a Get to Know You!

Hey everyone, what a busy week I've had.  And there's four morrree ugggh!

Sorry about the lack of update yesterday, and this one is going to be short and sweet.

I've been testing out my glow in the dark polishes, the boyfriend got me a second one!  It's a blue glitter but it goes on very sheer.  I put the blue glitters over ORLY's Sterling Silver Rose and it worked pretty well!  I need to wait until I'm headed over to my parents to use it again...my bro has some black lights that I need  to use to get some photos of them! 

I tried a REALLY neat but REALLY nerdy nail art thing today with the glow in the dark, but it failed miserably because I can't free hand for crap.  I'll try again some other day if I get a good tool.

Anyway...today I tried one of my new Sinful Colors: Big Daddy!  It got sunny for 5 minutes so I got to get some pics:

Shade

Sun

So I like it...it's super bright and orangey!  This is three coats, though, and you can still see visible nail line, but that's okay.  I had another idea of putting Zoya Tanzy on top as funky French tips, but I was feeling impatient after my first nail art fail and decided just to put it on top.  I thought Tanzy was a little more sheer, but I hadn't tried it yet, so it wasn't as sheer as I thought it'd be!  This is just one coat of Tanzy over Big Daddy:

I wanted to leave a little bit of Big Daddy around the edges, but it didn't really work out that way.  I still like this a lot!

Wellll that's it for tonight.  BUT I wanted to do a little survey to find out more about my readers!  SO if you guys would comment and fill out this form so I can get to know you all a little better, that'd be great.  Then during my next post I'll fill it out and tell you some more about me!  You can add questions to the list in your comment if you have something specific to ask me!

Elemental Styles Reader Survey

Name:

Age:

What is your favorite nail polish brand (and color if you want)?:

What is your favorite make-up brand?:
What is one product you can't live without?:

Are you in school? Tell me about your educational background:

 What's your favorite food and drink?:

What do you like to do in your spare time, (besides nail polish and make up)?:

One interesting fact about you: 

Do you have a blog? Leave me a link!:

Any suggestions for the blog:

Questions for me:

Thanks lovelies!  Have a great weekend :)

Late Night Zoya Update!

So. I've been watching this wedding. All. Day.  I didn't think I would be this fascinated by it but seriously I've been on my couch most of the day working on my thesis with it in the background.  AND I just sat here and did my nails and it's on again.  Kate looked fabulous, she's super gorgeous.  But seriously, I'm 100% positive if you had any interest in this wedding you've already watched it or Googled it a million times today, so I'm not going to talk about it anymore :) But gosh, what a fairytale for her!  P.S. I could totally move to England and do this whole funky British hat thing...except maybe this one:

lolomgwtf!?  Seriously, what were you thinking Beatrice?  It looks like a toilet seat with a bow.

Anyway, sorry this is super late.  I had plans of finishing my thesis draft around 4 but then I decided to eff up my computer code and drew it out to about 6 pm.  Then the boyfriend won Jon Stewart tickets on the radio this morning (seriously the FOURTH (or fifth..?) thing THIS YEAR he's won from the radio, he should play the lottery), so we got to go to that show tonight.  I don't really follow politics super closely nor do I care much about either party (unless it has to do with the DOE, my potential employer), but he was a funny guy and we had a nice time!  That was my something NEW for today...we hadn't seen a show together! 

I ALSO tried two more of my Sunshine Zoyas!  Faye for my fingers and Reva for my toes!

Faye (Zoya.com)

Reva (Zoya.com)

Faye is described as "a bronzed mauve with purple and brown undertones flooded with bright gold sparkle" while Reva is a "cool toned strawberry red with glowing golden metallic sparkle."

I think Faye's description is pretty accurate.  It seems like the gold sparkles definitely dominate the color that you see.  I'd say it's a gold sparkle with a mauve underdone.  I really like this color because, like all Sunshine polishes, it changes completely depending on the lighting and angle you see it from.  Beautiful!  I used 3-4 coats, can't remember.  I think 4.

Reva and Faye

Faye

Outside! It's SUNNY!

I didn't clean up my nails much, sorry about that.
Reva, on the other hand (or foot hahaha...ha..), I can't decide if I like.  I usually have a super bright pink on my toes so this is a little blood red for my taste.  And not to mention I completely SUCK suck suck at painting my toe nails.  My utter lack of flexibility is most likely the cause (which hopefully gets better with my new yoga regime)...that and the fact that my vision is le poop so I can't see what I'm doing unless the lighting is super bright, which my living room is not.  So even though clean up on my toes took longer than painting them it still turned out looking like crap

(WARNING: toe pictures...in case you're weirded out by that sort of thing):

I photoshopped some of the FUG out, but it's still not very good.  Don't zoom in, it's a bad idea.

It's fascinating how ugly your feet can look under a 14 MP zoom.  You really see all your polish (and skin) flaws that way, haha.  I also conveniently cut out my funky deformed pinky toe.  Let's not talk about it.

The Reva looks a little darker in side  I only did two coats 'cause I slathered them on pretty thick not on purpose.  Hopefully it's dried before I go to bed. I also didn't really clean up my toes at all.  I photoshopped it a little to make it look better so you focus on the color and not how terrible I painted my toes lol.

I hope you guys had a FABULOUS Friday and enjoyed all the wedding coverage.  I know I did :)

Catch ya on the flip
<3 Whit

P.S. I added two new Giveaways to my page!