Venique Skating on Thin Ice

Yesterday while I was out with my friend, she bought me a polish. :,) The brand is Venique and is fairly new. It can be found in salons, as it is a professional line. From the company:
Venique nail lacquer brings long-lasting color to salons. Every Venique nail polish formula, as well as the top coat, contains Sil-Tek, a silicone-based ingredient that creates flexibility within the polish to guard against chipping and flaking. Nails expand when they get wet and contract again when they dry. Sil-Tek's flexibility enables the polish to accommodate those normal variations. Diamond dust inside the topcoat makes it extra shiny! Takes a full 10 minutes to dry. Nails looking dull? You only have to buff a little and the shine will come back. Choose from 78 colors.

I have the color in "Skating on Thin Ice". Here are the ingredients from the bottle:
Butyl Acetate, Ethyl Acetate, Nitrocellulose, Acetyl Tributyl Citrate, Phthalic Anhydride/Trimellitic Anydride/Glycols Copolymer, Isopropyl Alchohol, Stearalknoium Hectorite, Adipic Acid/Fumaric Acid/Phthalic Acid/Tricyclodecane Dimethanol Copolymer, Citric Acid, Mica (CI 77019), Ferric Ammonium Ferrocyanide (CI 77510), Iron Oxides (CI 77499), Red 34 (CI 15880), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), Violet 2 (CI 60725)

I used Zoya Anchor base coat, followed with two coats of color, and topped with Orly Sealon. Application was smooth, and their semi-wide brush helped. It's not as wide as OPI, but noticeably wider than your average polish brush. The conisistancy was like frosting a warm cake. Nothing ran, and it was a nice consistancy. The finish on this is metallic. Now I know people cry about metallics going streaky. I have a steady hand, and never minded the lines of streaky-ness on a metallic. I feel it gives it dimension. When I first polished these, there were noticeable lines. After it dried (and I don't know if it was the Orly Sealon topcoat, or just the polish) it dried smoother looking. There are still some lines, but much less than before.

This is a really pretty color. I haven't had a chance to wear-test this yet, but I hear it wears really well. I'll let you know!

ETA:  This wore very well.  I wasn't using the company's base and top coat, but I can attest that with the base and top I did use, this polish held up very well.  I only had very minor chips at five days, and instead of chipping, it seemed to start to lift around the free edge.  Almost like it was trying to peel, but it didn't.  This is definitely different than anything I have used before.  

Click the pics to view larger!

A.S.P. Nail Whitening Paste Review

A few days ago I bought the A.S.P nail whitening paste from Sally Beauty Supply. I've never used a whitening paste. I sometimes have stains on my nails due to polish pigment, but never tried the paste. For St. Patty's Day I used an orange color on three nails that left a bit of a stain. I decided I'd give this a whirl. Click the pics for bigger images!

Before:

This was enough for both hands:

And After:

Overall I would say I noticed a difference. My nail tips did appear whiter, and the stain, while not removed, seemed less severe. The texture felt smooth, not gritty. It says right on the box it is non abrasive. This is nice, because I do not want to scrub my nail plate with an abrasive. It would be just as effective to use a buffer, if that was the end result. lol

Overall I would say give it a try if you'd like. I probably won't repurchase this, as my whitening toothpaste may give similar results. I think if you have yellow stains from food like curry, or tobacco, this may be more effective. It has a nice mellow scent, hardly noticeable.

Well, that didn't work. (An ongoing work).

From now on, whenever I try something and it doesn't work, I'm going to post it with the above title.

Now, usually I like to use the Zoya Anchor and Armor with my Zoya color, followed by the Hurry Up (or Fast Dry Drops as they are called now). However, I for some unknown reason have at least three top coats opened, and more than four base coats opened. I don't know how this came to be. I think as some of them got thick I decided to keep them for swatching purposes and opened a new thin one for actual polishing.

I have yet to master the art of successfully thinning polish. I know it sounds simple. Add 2-3 drops and mix well. Sometimes it seems as though that it isn't enough to make a difference so I add more than that. Here's what happens when you over thin: The polish seems to take longer to dry or feels tacky. (When touching nail to nail). Or, when you've really overshot it: It dries dull. I suppose if I wanted to go for the Plastic finish that was popular for 5 seconds last year, this would be a cheap way to go. lol

Subsequently, I need to throw out my old thick topcoats, or just mark them with an X.

I tried a new combo two nights ago. American Classics Gelous base coat, Zoya color, and Orly Sealon top coat. WTDW. (Well, that didn't work). Did I just make a new acronym?

Yesterday I noticed hairline tip wear. By the evening I had peeling on my middle finger and pinky. I must note that I have used the Gelous base under Zoya color and Armor with great success.

I'm guessing it's the Sealon, but I'm going to try it again. This time with Anchor base, and Zoya color of course.

The Sealon did dry very shiny, but with barely-noticeable brush lines. You wouldn't see them unless you had your nails right up to your face examining the nail for any imperfection.

For curiosity sake, here are the ingredients of the base and top I used:

Gelous base:
Butyl Acetate, Ethyl Acetate, Nitrocellulose, Phthalic Anhydride/Trimellitic Anhydride/Glycols Copolymer, Acetyl Tributyl Citrate, Stearalkonium Hectorite, Camphor, Etocrylene, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Calcium Pantothenate.

Orly Sealon topcoat:
Ethyl Acetate, Butyl Acetate, Nitrocellulose, Adipic Acid/Neopentyl Glycol/Trimellitic Anhydride Copolymer, Isopropyl Alcohol, Tosylamide/Epoxy Resin, Triphenyl Phosphate, Propyl Acetate, Trimethyl Pentanyl Diisobutyrate, Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer, Acetyl Tributyl Citrate, N-Butyl Alcohol, Stearalkonium Hectorite, Stearalkonium Bentonite, Trimethylpentanediyl Dibenzoate, Benzophenone-1, Polyvinyl Butyral, Mica, Citric Acid, Dimethicone, Trimethylsiloxysilicate

And there you have it! :,)

Zoya Beach and Surf Summer 2012!!

I am happy to introduce the latest shades from Zoya! They are sure to be amazing in person! From Zoya:

Summer 2012 is going to be a super stylish season for nails with the latest offering of nail polish collections, Beach and Surf, from the new color of fashion, Zoya! This new splash of color, designed by the Zoya color experts, is kissed by sea and sand translating beautifully onto the nail in the famous, full-coverage Zoya formula.

Dive into the creamy shades of the Zoya Beach Collection or the shimmering sea foils of the Zoya Surf Collection. The choice is yours - this color palette is sure to be a splash!

Zoya BEACH Collection

* Reagan (ZP614) - deep cerise pink cream * Lara (ZP615) - vivid cerise pink cream * Shelby (ZP616) - soft pinky pink cream * Arizona (ZP617) - soft coral orange cream * Tracie (ZP618) - sea grass metallic * Wednesday (ZP619) - soft aqua cream

Zoya SURF Collection

* Rory (ZP620) - lotus pink foil metallic * Carly (ZP621) - thalia purple foil metallic * Kimber (ZP622) - magenta pink foil metallic * Myrta (ZP623) - coral orange foil metallic * Meg (ZP624) - mermaid green foil metallic * Zuza (ZP625) - aquamarine foil metallic

Zoya is the new color of fashion...

The Zoya BEACH and SURF collection was designed and inspired by resort runways and tropical get-a-ways.

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 BEACH and SURF 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.

BEACH and SURF by Zoya Nail Polish - 12 new colors: Available April 1, 2012 (USA) www.zoya.com
Sug. Retail $8.00 per 0.5 fl.oz. bottle (US).