Zoya Introduces "FEEL" - The New Neutrals.

New Zoya Collection preview!

FEEL Beautiful!

Every season the color experts at Zoya create dozens of new color collection options. This
year, one of those “secret collections” just had to be seen now rather than later. FEEL by Zoya
Nail Polish delivers six new, highly pigmented, full coverge neutrals for right now!


Zoya FEEL Collection

• Kristen (ZP591): Full coverage, gull gray cream
• Carey (ZP592): Full coverage, periwinkle gray cream
• Megan (ZP593): Full coverage, taupe gray cream
• Kendal (ZP594): Full coverage, rose quartz beige cream
• Kennedy (ZP595): Full coverage, pale french beige cream
• Avery (ZP596): Full coverage, blonde beige cream

Zoya is the new color of fashion...

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

Find Zoya FEEL 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.

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

www.zoya.com

 

Available November 15, 2011. 

These are actually really pretty. I'm really loving Carey and Megan, Kristen and Kendal next and maybe Kennedy...not sure about Avery, but I think I need these! What do you think?

Apologies

Hi everyone,
I sure do miss posting and sharing pictures of all the manicures I'm enjoying...I just haven't had a lot of blog time since the house "blew up."
I keep thinking I'm going to get some posts up of my AMAZING time at CosmoProf LV, but I just haven't had the time...I'll keep working on it. I did have a very, very special time there.
I think though, I shall take a little longer of a "hiatus" and work on some other things that are pressing in life. While at the same time taking time to enjoy some of what life has to offer as well.
For starters: I'm meeting up with Jen of http://www.thepolishaholic.com/  and Jackie of http://candycoatedtips.blogspot.com/  tomorrow for a dusty hunt and then a visit to The Painted Nail!  I can't wait to see Jen again and meet Jackie!
I hope to be back to posting soon...in the meantime, I'll still be checking out your blogs and commenting.
Hugs!
The Lizard

CosmoProf Las Vegas - Blogger Meet-up and Show Day One

By now, I'm sure many of you reading this have seen other blog posts about the amazing gathering of beauty bloggers that converged on the CosmoProf tradeshow in Las Vegas, Nevada.  So much to see, do, touch, feel, and experience there!  This is my take in summary with more to follow in detail as the days pass.

The show was HUGE. The only way to see it all was to go down every row and have a plan. I didn't have a plan when I first arrived at the show and I quickly realized my folly. So, I wandered a little aimlessly that first day and found the Nubar, Zoya, Color Club, China Glaze booths and checked on a few others that looked like fun. Then I bumped into Beauty Judy!

We chatted for a bit and, this being my first show, I asked her how to go about it, she gave me some pointers when I asked for them and she was so nice and helpful and that woman has some gorgeous skin. To me, it looked absolutely flawless. She was heading over to and appointment over by the OPI booth so I tagged along to see what OPI had going on. We parted ways as I approached the OPI booth where I learned lesson #1.  Take business cards for the BLOG too!

This is "Eggplant Mosaic." Please ignore the dry skin. :)

It looks like this before you apply it over silver foil polish:

I was there to learn about the business and the channels for marketing Fashionista Nails, which is how I labeled myself with my badge...this made the booth guardians at OPI nervous and they denied me access. "Manufacturers Only" I was told. When I left, I bumped into Judy again who mentioned two other bloggers had just tweeted that they were inside the booth.  Kind of gave me one more reason to remember that OPI isn't my favorite brand. I like them well enough, just like others more.  Those other bloggers names I shall not mention, but they had a BLAST in there so you'll have to read about that should they tell me I can share. I don't want to share before they do and I'm soooo behind on my blog reading!

After a few hours of the "crazy zig-zag pattern of silliness," I headed back to the hotel, got out the laptop and my notebook and made a plan. (Lesson Learned #2 - use the tools provided to make a plan to see the show.)  I put together a list of the booths I had to visit and then revisited the list and put them in numerical order. This made the next two days sooooo much nicer.

Krystal of Polish Galore took it upon herself to organize some fantastically unbelievable cool things for all of the bloggers to do together.  Monday Morning we met with Deborah Lippman who told us about her upcoming collections - full post to follow shortly.

Monday Night we dined and talked with Katie Cazorla of The Painted Nail and The Nail Files reality television show. She was fun, funny and truly enjoyable. She'd be a delight at any party. I sat way at the other end of the long table so I didn't get to chat much with her, but that's ok. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Melissa, Katherine, Jen, Michelle, Maria and her bestie Ana. Suffice it to say, we were having our own fun at the far end of the table. Katie seemed to enjoy the time with us and I sure hope she did as much we enjoyed having her join us. There were pictures taken, but I don't have any. :( Help!

Tuesday

Kreativ Blogger Award

Thanks to my dear friend over at (im)properly polished, for passing this award on to me. Not sure how I qualify for it, but I am so moved by the sweet things she said about me on her blog. You made my day sweet sister. (hehehee!)

So the award includes having to tell 10 things about myself and then tagging 10 other blogs.

10 things about me:

1. I sing. Like a bird. No really. It took me years to believe in my talent, and now that I'm 50 and it's beginning to be more a challenge to keep the chords tuned up, I know now what I didn't know then. I'm good!
2. I LOVE to ride my bike. I experience true joy pedaling around town.
3. I have a few other blogs. I have been ignoring them all for a while, but it's time to write again - another thing that brings me joy.
4. I raised my son on values and beliefs I wish I had the conviction to truly believe and now he is my greatest teacher in showing me that those tools truly work.
5. I love people. I really enjoy getting to know them, learning what makes them who they are and understanding where they are coming from.
6. I want everyone's deepest dreams to come true. What a wonderful world this would be if that happened. Not those fleeting deep dark dreams - those pass - I'm talking about the dreams that sometimes we keep from ourselves or dare not to dream.
7. I used to only wear light colors when my nails were short, thought I had to have long nails to rock the fun stuff. The blogosphere has shown me the error of my ways and now I rock whatever I'm feeling, regardless of nail length. (Thank you to EVERYONE in my blogroll for that one!)
8. I have recently learned to enjoy good scotch and fine whiskey. I guess that makes me old.
9. On top of the blogs I already have - and will begin to write again - I'm considering adding another...but I could incorporate this next idea into an existing blog too.
10. I'm over saturated with nail polish colors. There, I've said it. I've not seen a color that I don't already have some version of in over a year. I love nail polish, but 15 of the exact same blue I don't need.

Blogs I tag:

Well, I tag back the blog that tagged me even though she's already gotten the award and tagged me. She's amazingly creative and kind and I look forward to every post or email we share. I am so happy we're friends! (im)properly polished

The Daily Nail - and I am so sorry I never posted about our meetup. :( I had so much fun and your nails are even more amazing in person.

Emerald Sparkled - Trincess, I miss our chats, hope to chat again soon. Your nail designs are so inspiring and fun and cool! I mean, check out the Parrots! You are such a sweet person, thanks for letting me call you "friend."

Random Landa - The nails are great, love the blog, and the cookies??? I could never eat them...I'd just want to look at them all the time. So Talented! And the fact that you served our country gets you a very special place in my heart.

Short Wide Nails - I've just enjoyed getting to know you! You do some beautiful Konad designs. Another lady I am glad to call "friend."

And all the ladies I'm excited to meet at CosmoProf LV!!!
~The Lizard

almost 400??? How did that happen? And life's little upheavals -Picture heavy

This poor little neglected blog is still getting new followers and I'm so grateful for every single one of you!

Life has tossed a few challenges my way of late, but we're resurfacing slowly and there are some exciting changes in the works for me and my family.
On June 5th, as I was travelling home from a wonderfully relaxing visit with my son who lives in Seattle, a power line came down and fell on my little gypsy home...and blew it up. Not literally, and yet, literally.

 It actually MELTED the metal - and apparently it bounced.

 This is a huge burned out hole in the siding...water was coming in like crazy...we had huge buckets under to catch it, but still had to empty them every 2 hours or so.

 There's a small hole in the siding to the left and down a bit from that orange light...the electrical flow blew out of there too.

 Those black marks aren't dirt, they are burn marks.

 and there are MANY.

 Inside: the fuse box...the lid sits where it landed. (sorry for the hairy rug, it's where we kept the dog's water and food.)

 It caught fire, but fizzled out (thank goodness!)

The explosive force blew the fuse box out of the wall. 

So we're working on a few things (housing for one) and getting our lives back in order. It's been interesting!

I'm still in awe of the number of followers I have now...I've been away a while and had no idea people were still finding this lil' blog of mine. I've got some stash for a giveaway and when I reach 400, I will make that happen.  I'm also REALLY excited to be attending the upcoming CosmoProf show in Las Vegas with quite a few other really talented and fun bloggers! Krystal over at www.polishgalore.com has been very busy getting us all coordinated to get together and have a good time. She also published this little delight: http://www.polishgalore.com/2011/06/cosmoprof-bloggers.html  so get over there and take a look, if you aren't following ALL of these blogs, you're missing out on some GREAT stuff.

I'll end this post with my Independence day mani:

 I was going for fireworks in an evening sky...missed the mark, but it was still pretty!

Sally Hansen Crack overcoat in Distressed Denim over Nfu Oh 61.

More posts coming...soon too!

~The Lizard

20% off Fashionista Nails? Oh YEAH!

Big sale starts today!  20% off on 3 or more sets. Just enter the code "MAY2011SPECIAL" at checkout!
Sale ends May 21, 2011 at midnight PDT.

There are so many new designs than you see above too, check em out!

LOVE

Gorgeous! (comes in a variety of colors too!)

This goes with my new dress PERFECTLY! <3

So get on over to www.fashionistanails.com asap and enter that code!

Happy shopping! What will you pick?

~Lacquered Lizard

Happenings and changes! Fashionista Nails

Something New on the Horizon!

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for sticking around this almost dead blog...I'm resurrecting it, but Lacquered Lizard will be a bit different in the near future.

You might first notice that the post is written by "Fashionista Nails!" and not "Lacquered Lizard". Don't fret, it's still me, just making some EXCITING changes as I begin a fun path down a new venture in Nail products - Maria, you inspired me.

I'll be posting here and everywhere nail related as Fashionista Nail

s! because I've joined the team and will be the marketing person for this super cool product that I love. I'll also be sharing more of the designs here, tips on how to use them best and fun things you can do with them besides the basics.

I'll post about other nail products still, so don't run away thinking I'm going to be all "salesy"...I just want to share how much I love the product and help anyone who is considering trying them to use them with ease from the start. (There IS a learning curve...just like Konading.)

So, I hope you'll stick around still as I ramp up the posts, share what I've learned and continue to learn about the nail world. Please know that I'll still be reading other blogs and commenting under this new "identity" to help get the word out.

There will be some fun contests and such coming up too, so that you all can have a chance to try Fashionista Nails and love them like I do! Watch Twitter and Facebook...fun times ahead, fun times.

This is the start of something new, something fun and something I will truly enjoy every moment of...and hopefully it will open doors to doing more marketing for other great Nail products!

Brand New Blog! (im)properly polished

I'm really excited about this one. She's been following many of us for a while now and just a couple months ago she emailed me and we have become fast friends. I would like you all to meet Tamy  and her blog: (im)properly polished!

Tamy is just delightful and her frankening skills are something I am jealous of (She frankened Space Cadet NLTM people!!!)  Her photos are simply beautiful. (I get them via email often!)

Visit her brand new blog and if you like it, follow it. :)

http://improperlypolished.blogspot.com/


Welcome to the blogosphere Tamy!

A Rose By Any Other Name

This is a really cool polish bottle. My BFF's daughter picked it up at a "Spirit Super Store" during Halloween and I think it's way cool. Apparently they only had this pretty red with gold shimmer and of course Black.
Click 'em to make 'em BIG!

What a cool bottle. I want one! What about you?

Fashionista Nails Monday Madness Sale

Been thinking about trying them? Now's a great time!

Monday Madness SALE at Fashionista Nails!  Use the coupon MONMAD at checkout to get $5 off orders of $19 or more!

Today only! Nows the time to check 'em out!

Make up for older women

I found a new blog I like, so I thought I'd share it. :)
http://www.makeupforolderwomen.com/ 

What I like about it: She isn't about the "standard" make up beliefs about what colors older gals should/shouldn't wear. She's about teaching you how to use what you love in better ways.

Check out her Shiny or Matte Foundation video...what an eye opener!

So glad I found this blog...are there other's out there for us older gals that I can follow.. I got Evil Angel on my blog roll and I love her looks too. :)

Fashionista Nails Review

Recently, a dear friend I met a few years ago in another world (yes, another world) contacted me to let me know she was creating a product I just might be interested in.  Since we met in that other world, we've become friends in this one and she's seen the many photos of my fingernails I post up at Facebook, and she joined the "Nail Polish Collectors" group there. Fantastic group by the way, join us! Erin of the Tropical Mind Blog started the group and we share photos, lemmings, whatever. If you haven't joined that party, you are missing some fun (and maybe missing out on contributing some fun too!)

I digress.

My friend Esther and I chatted a bit and she offered to send me some rough samples.  I'm talking about something I've been tweeting and facebooking about for a few weeks now. Fashionista Nails!  

Ok, I know what you're thinking: "Everyone is doing nail covers. I've seen them, don't need to see anymore." Let me tell you and then show you what's different about these.

1. They are water decals, not stickers. Full nail coverage in a water decal. This means easy removal folks, this means you can move them around until you get them placed where you want them without messing them up.

2. They are precut so you just do a little snip snip and they're ready to play with.

3. They wear like regular nail polish, so if you keep the tips touched up, they'll last for a few weeks providing you stay out of water and all the regular things you want to avoid to keep your manicure looking nice.

4. And this is the best one: They are sheer...but not so sheer that you can't see the beautiful designs on your nails, but oh the fun I had with this part! You put them on over nail polish 

The first set I tried was named, "Seduce" and I wasn't crazy about it on the paper, but I put it on over Orly Glitz and Glamour to make the lines pop and it worked. I'm rogue like that...I read the instructions and then interpret them my own way.  Take a look: (and you can click pics to make them larger)

I will tell you now, that manicure is a week old there. :)  I got lots of compliments on this manicure.

So, I wore some other colors and took my time cutting out the next set...so that when I sat down, I could do them all and see how long application would take in the new format (precut!)  After laying down the polish bases, it took me about 20 mins to do the whole decal application/sealing thing. So it adds about the same amount of time as a basic Konad design, but you get a bit more...and you can konad over this stuff, add bling or what ever the creative muse tells you to do.

For the second set: "Fever" I decided to play around with the base color. On my pinkies I used a Pink Foil from Europe that has no name, ring fingers got Orly Glitz and Glamour again, Middle got Nfu Oh #61, forefingers got a coat of Sally Hansen Celeb City (or some similar silver foil) and the thumbs were a base of China Glaze Millenium.  So you can see how the different base colors can change the overall look. Check it out (and remember to click!)

These photos were also taken about a week into the manicure...so I remain impressed. I couldn't see the wrinkles that the macro setting sees.
I love how the ring finger looks more festive in a holiday kind of way...and the holo underneath the design is just amazing. My favorite one.

See?

Overall, I will probably get a few more to keep around for special occasions when I want to rock something completely different that allows for me to add my own twist. 

I think the price is right there with the "norm" for manicure items similar to this, but this is more versatile and honestly, it was fun to have a different base color under each one...kind of an artful skittle. 

I made a video and when I figure out how to post it to my Youtube from my phone, I'll post it up. You have to see the holo in action.

Fashionista Nails has a Facebook Page and a Twitter account in case you want to follow them. Last week they gave away a couple sets to followers. But you can see the designs here: http://www.fashionistanails.com/designs

What do you think of these?

Raging H&M - from the vault

From Last Summer when my nails were long, I give you H&M Fashionista with Orly Rage on the tippy tips:

Sorry for the sideways shots, I guess I uploaded without straightening them out. I really love the 2 H&M polishes that I own thanks to swaps with friends in other countries...Now I know I can send my son to the Seattle store and just pick them up when I go visit. :) 

Enjoy!

I've joined the Cult! (Warning Picture heavy!)

Cult Nails that is...I have to be brutally honest here, because we all know Maria, the lines creator/owner, is a fellow blogger and a friend to many of us.

I wasn't going to purchase this nail polish. Another purple gray I didn't need. Not even really a fan of gray polish, but it's starting to grow on me thanks to my son's color preferences and I have to say he's right...desaturated colors look best with skin. I digress.

I purchased this polish because I've been following Maria's blog almost from the beginning post and I didn't want to NOT have it. Like Landa over at Bright Lights Big Color, I too wanted an Autographed bottle to have in my collection to enjoy as Maria's star rose into the limelight.

I got my bottle last Monday and applied it Tuesday night. At first, I found the formula a bit thick, but as I learned to work with it, I really began to appreciate it! It stayed RIGHT where I put it and, as so many other reviews have pointed out, it just about applied itself. And I have to say, this polish wears like IRON. The pictures you are about to see are from Saturday afternoon (sun) and Sunday afternoon (shade).  I've worked them too, filing at work, pushing plenty of paper - and we all know what that can do to tipwear! I've torn boxes apart, plenty of typing and dishes too...without gloves...I had to know. :)

I wasn't a huge fan of the price, but it matches the quality so I'll not complain any more! I do believe she's created a formula to rival that of Rescue Beauty Lounge. Yes, I said it and I mean it.
Ok, enough gushing, here are pictures after 4 and 5 days of wear. This is three coats over base coats with top coat of Seche Vite. On my left forefinger I have added a coat of Lippmann's On a Clear Day and I think it's love. It's subtle in the photos, but it's noticeably shinier to my eye.

 These are all of my left hand.

 And here is the right hand

Chanel Black Pearl...Ho Hum

I swatched the mighty lemming last night at Nordstroms and left it there after comparing it to real black pearls in the jewelry department.  I love black pearls and so I was excited to see if it was worth the hype.

I have to say, for me, it isn't. But then I really wanted it to look like a black pearl on my nails. In my opinion, this color is too green. That would be ok, but there should be some brown duochrome in there to make it work like a real pearl.

I realize that the black pearl comes in many tones, from gray to brown to green and even almost silver, but they all have a duochrome that is, sadly lacking in this polish.

So today, while trying to cram all the new polish in with my existing stash, I rooted through the stash to find comparable shades that might make my fussy ass happy!  I found it in Misa's "It's You!"  It's got the right balance of green/brown duochrome with just a little too much sparkle to completely pull it off but, I can keep my 25 bucks and have the color I want don my nails anytime I want it to. :)

That makes me happy!

Here are a few comparison shots: Thumb is always Chanel Black Pearl. (I realize my cuticles look like hell, just look at the pretty colors!) But first, let's begin with a few pictures of some ACTUAL Black Pearls:

Source

With Gosh Purple Heart (too much like Nubar Peacock Feathers and Borghese Stellar Notte ie: too much purple)

With Nubar Moon Shadow (thought the brown might work, but nope, it shows up very purple too.)

Sally Hansen Prisms Emerald Amethyst is actually very close, just reversed, but I can live with that.

And with Misa "It's You!"  is an almost perfect dupe only better! It shows the duochrome better in the shade, the sunlight brings out the shimmer and it's a bit more sparkly than the Chanel and/or a real Black Pearl. This one actually has the green in the middle with the purple around the edges. It's gorgeous!

I also compared it to the new Estee Lauder Wild Storm, very similar, but WS is more silver...still, I think I see a trend here. :)

And since I swapped my untried Lippmann Hit Me With Your Best Shot, I had to swatch that (I'll replace it with my Apothica gift cert won from Evil Angel) Love this color so much!

This is what my hands looked like after all the swatching. :) And again, please ignore the horrible condition of my cuticles. I've been doing a bunch of house cleaning and it's time for a deep moisture treatment. That week in Las Vegas was hard on my skin!

Why yes, that IS Lippmann Marquee Moon...which shall be mine one day. I love it, it's so different! The sparkles is me comparing Lippmann Happy Birthday with Milani Gems. I know they're not exact, but they're similar enough I can live without HB.

All in All, this Lizard gives Chanel Black Pearl a rating of Chilly. I'd say Tepid, but for the price...it's definitely chilly!

Which color do you like best or do you have an even better "Black Pearl" color? Tell me about it please!