Zoya Dream Dupe (and a discount code)

I recently received the 6 piece Zoya Zenith collection from nailpolishcanada.com. One of the clear winners of the bunch is the scattered dark blue scattered holo called Dream.  It’s stunning, but yet it kind of reminds me of another polish that I’ve had for about a year now.   Could Zoya Dream be a dupe of last year’s L.A. Girl Brilliant Blue (old swatch found here)? Let’s look!

indoor lighting

Can you tell the difference?  Honestly, I cannot.  I asked my boyfriend (he has a trained artist’s eye) and he thought that Zoya looked more green in the bottle, while the L.A. Girl looked more purple.  But once I got them on the nail I could not tell them apart.  He agreed.

I’m wearing no base coat, two coats of blue, and no topcoat.  I’ve seen other bloggers say they needed three coats of Zoya Dream, but I definitely only needed two.  Same with the L.A. Girl-two coats does the trick.  The formulas on both are very similar, but if I had to pick my favorite I’d choose the L.A. Girl.  But I’m partial to bigger brushes, so I found application easier with that one.

outdoors in natural light

If you’re interested, Dream can be found here on the Zoya website.  Meanwhile, the old L.A. Girl 3D Effects collection is still available at cherryculture.com.  Cherry Culture has low prices on these and China Glaze.  Their shipping is a lil bit of a mystery though since I don’t think they emailed me when my order was on it’s way.  But I’ve placed some big orders and they are always accurate, timely, and are packed up really well.  So just have faith.  Check it out! They have a coupon code (JTV14) for 20% off your entire cherry culture order through Feb 6 2014.  Brilliant Blue is on sale right now too so after the discount code it’s only $1.92  !  I’m tempted to buy a back-up bottle of the Black Illusion since I love it so much!  Feb 6th is almost here so hurry up.. and happy shopping!

UPDATE on Feb 6th, 2014—   I just bought more L.A. Girls online woot woot !  Ground shipping within the U.S. was $6.85…  but be aware that international shipping is pricey on cherryculture.com!

Batik Galaxy Nails with Moons and Stars

Today’s nails are inspired by the cute hippie curtains that I have hanging on my bedroom windows!  Here’s a pic of them- they’re batik tie dye panel curtains…

I think I did a good job replicating them!  I started with two coats of my L.A. Girl 3D Effects Hologram Nail Polish called Brilliant Blue.  Then I sponged on a bit of a black holo from the same collection called Black Illusion and also some NYC called Black Lace Creme.  The moons were dotted on with a large dotting tool and some white wet n wild polish.  Then I overlapped half of that white dot with a Brilliant Blue dot to make the crescent shape. That was easy!  I made the stars with white polish and my smallest dotting tool.  I was afraid they’d be difficult, but the tiny head of the dotting tool worked really well to shape the five points of the stars.  I added some seche vite topcoat and now I’ve got some awesome galaxy nails!  The only thing that would make them cooler is if the moons and stars glowed in the dark!

L.A. Girl Brilliant Blue Swatch

Today is day 5 of the 30 Day Nail Challenge and the theme is BLUE.  I’m wearing L.A. Girl Brilliant Blue and it’s about as blue as you can get!  This polish amazes me.  I want it in every color!  The scattered holo effect is very intense and my boyfriend said it’s like ‘looking at the cosmos’.  I dunno, maybe he said it just to humor me.  Hahaha.   Shown in the pics is two coats without a topcoat.  One thing I love about this polish is that it looks like a glitter, but it’s oh so smooth upon application.  It’s easy to remove too. 

I love this blue and there’s nothing more to say about it.  The pictures speak for themselves!   I’m thinking of ordering some more online since my local Rite Aid hasn’t restocked their L.A. Girl 3D Effects display.  Their website has free shipping in the US if your order is over $25 and most of their polishes are $5 right now.  (I can’t find any international shipping info on their site though :(.)  They carry metallics, textured, neons, glitters, scented polish and a whole line of french manicure colors too.  Check ’em out here: L.A. Girl/Nails.