Mani Monday - Cosmetic Arts April Showers

Hi Readers! Mondays are such tough days.  The snow and rain today have made this Monday exceptionally hard.  I mean, snow in April? I know I live in Canada but really, this is like a cruel practical joke.  Anyways, I thought I'd talk about a little Christmas gift I got.  As a stocking stuffer I received a pretty Cosmetic Arts nail polish.  Trouble is, when the price tag was removed, so was the name of the polish.  Well, my strong investigative skills have concluded that this polish is probably Cosmetic Arts' April Showers (appropriately named for today).  Anyways, if you recognize this polish as some other colour let me know in the comments section!

Cosmetic Arts' April Showers is a sheer polish.  With this said, I used it overtop of four colours.  Because this polish is a shimmery blue-green, I wanted to show how a both green and blue make a significant difference in the final look.  I also used light pink and a creme coloured bases to show a more accurate representation of Cosmetic Art's April Showers.


For the picture on the left, I used Essie's Turquoise and Caicos on my index and middle finger followed by two coats of Cosmetic Arts' April Showers.  This really brought out the sparkly green tones in this nail polish.  For my ring and pinky fingers, I used two coats of Essie's Fiji followed by three coats of April Showers.  Three coats was needed to ensure even coverage because Fiji was so sheer.  The pink base colour caused April Showers to have a shimmery blue appearance.  Honestly, I don't think that either of these colours bring out the true appearance of CA's April Showers.  With that said, I really like how April Showers looks overtop of Essie's Turquoise and Caicos.

For this picture, I used two coats of Zoya's Sadie as a base colour with two coats of April Showers overtop.  This was the truest representation of April Showers.  Depending on the light, both the blue and green tones really popped.  For my index and pinky fingers, I used two coats of Nicole by OPI Nothing Kim-pears to Blue with two coats of April Showers overtop.  I feel like the blue tones overwhelmed April Showers.  This was the combination that I was the most excited for but I was the least impressed with.  With this said, my favourite combination for this picture is Zoya Sadie with CA's April Showers.  I feel like the true colour of April Showers aren't drowned out by the base colour.  Overall, my favourite colour combination was CA's April Showers overtop of Essie's Turquoise and Caicos.

Finally, this is what three coats of Cosmetic Arts' April Showers looks like with no base colour.  Though the picture doesn't show it, without a base colour the coverage is really spotty and streaky.  Overall, application is decent.  The formula is a little thin and you have to be careful to ensure brush strokes aren't left behind.

I love using this polish as a top coat to add a little shimmer to otherwise less dynamic polishes.  This polish was bought at Winners in Canada for around 7 dollars.

Let me know what you think.  Is this a polish you would use? Do you have this colour? If so, how do you use it?

Keep those fingers pretty!

Mani Monday - China Glaze Prism

Hi readers! Hope this brightens up your Monday morning.  This weekend I made a trip to my local Sally Beauty and picked up some neat polishes that I'll bring showing you this week.  First off, I just wanted to let you guys know that they are still having their buy two get one free sale so it's a perfect time to pick up a few new polishes.

So this weekend, I picked up China Glaze's Prism.  Prism is from the Prismatic Chroma Glitter collection (Spring 2012). As a glitter addict, this was a must have.  I thought that it had the greatest variety of colours compared to the other polishes in this collection.   This polish is a solid mix of ultra-fine purple-pink glitters along with larger hexagonal multi-coloured glitter pieces.  I was truly impressed with how densely packed this glitter polish is.  For the pictures, I used two coats of Zoya's Sadie and then two coats of China Glaze's Prism.

Throughout the application I was impressed with how it went on.  It naturally dispersed the glitter evenly and it only took two coats to get superb coverage.  Prism does require two good coats of top coat to get a nice smooth finish (I'm really finicky with finishes so I always use two coats of top coat on top of my glitters).  In order to make removal easier, soak a cotton ball in acetone, place it on top of the nail, and wrap the nail with tin foil.  Let this sit for a good 5 minutes and it will make removal a breeze.

Honestly, I really like now this polish turned out though it is hard to capture the duo-chromatic properties of this polish through pictures.

Let me know what you think! Have you fallen in love with glitter polishes? What is your favourite glitter>

Keep on polishing!

Welcome! - Zoya Kissy

Welcome to my blog! This is a little bit of a stretch for me as I am a super sporty chick who's just fallen in love with nail polish!  Anyways I hope to use this blog to review some nail polishes and to expose people to some up and coming nail polish brands.  I'll be posting bi-weekly and I hope you will follow along.


Zoya's Kissy is a dark pink glitter polish from the gems and jewels collections that came out during the holidays of 2011.  It is a clear polish base that combine bar glitter with purple, pink, and red hologram particles.  I used two coats of Zoya Sadie as a base colour and two coats of Kissy.  I really loved the thickness of this polish and it went on quite evenly. To bring this polish up to the current trends, try using it on top of Zara's Lara polish from the Beach and Surf collection that came out for summer 2012. 

Zoya is a 4-free brand meaning its better for you and better for the environment!  Though this nail polish may feel rough at first, after applying two top coats it will feel as smooth as a baby's bottom.  A tip for getting glitter polish off: soak cotton balls with nail polish remover, set it on top of the nail, and then wrap with tin foil.  Let it set for five to ten minutes and voila! the nail polish will come off quite easily.

Zoya Kissy is available through www.zoya.com, Trade Secrets, Sally Beauty Supply, and through many online ratailers.

Have fun glamming it up!