Some Like It Hot

Hello all! I'm actually on a plane to Orlando, Florida right now but I just needed to keep the posting momentum going =) Which is why I love that Blogger lets you make posts but actually post them in the future.

Now, some people aren't very adventurous with their polish but for those who are, I've got a great yellow polish for you. Even though I'm not wearing yellow for this trip (my nails and toes are China Glaze For Audrey), there's going to be lots of sunshine in Florida! My issue with yellow polish is that it tends to draw out the yellow in my skin and sometimes makes me look jaundiced. But this yellow is bright but also soft at the same time, so my fingers don't look entirely sickly.

L.A. Flare can be found at Forever 21 and Walmart.

Zoya Wonderful Collection

Sorry, I know these swatches have been a long time coming and I actually don't have the swatches for the Wicked part of the collection yet. But these pics were taken with my new camera and are pretty gorgeous if I do say so myself =)

First of all, my materials for swatching if anyone's interested...cut up pantyliners work better than cotton balls or cotton pads in my opinion. Nail polish remover is a must, as well as paper & pen for taking notes.

Burke is described as a sienna red cream, and I really love this as a basic red. It's super glossy, and this is two coats. It's a good, everyday red.

Stacy is described as a mahogany red cream. This is two coats, and it reminds me a bit of Icing Redwood so I definitely love it....I'm all about the vampy reds

Kelly is described as a paynes gray cream. I'm usually not a huge fan of grays because they can be hit or miss but I love this color. Two coats here.

Kristi is described as a crimson red cream. I found that you only really needed one coat for a fresh pop of color, but two coats (as shown here) evens it out more and just gives more gloss

Cola is described as a desert sand red cream. I actually really like this color, it really reminds me of Coca-Cola (my favorite soda!) but it really draws out the yellow in my skin, ick. So I wouldn't really recommend it for Asians with similar coloring as mine. It's a brownish red and it kind of has a bit of a tricky application. It could definitely benefit from a few drops of thinner. This is still two coats too.

Finally, my favorite for last: Shawn, a myrtle green cream. I thought it was gong to be disappointing because the bottle color is nothing to get excited about. BUT it's darker on the nail than in the bottle and it's the perfect green to try if you've never tried green before. It's a lovely shade, but I did have one problem with it: make sure you have a REALLY good basecoat because it left intense staining upon removal. I wasn't wearing my normal topcoat though.

And I will definitely try to post the Wicked collection soon but I was very impressed by the Wonderful collection. I'm normally all about the shimmer, sparkle, and glitter but these were all gorgeous creams and I really love them all. They're SO glossy without topcoat too, so just imagine the shine magnified with a good topcoat. Here are the spoon samples of both collections though:

I've been playing around with a new watermarking software so my address is a little wonky, sorry! Also, are we liking the new camera? It can be finicky at times but the quality is amazing I think.

Thank You ecoTOOLS!

Thanks so much to ecoTOOLS for giving me body mists for my first giveaway! I hope everyone had fun and congrats to April, Sharon, and Kiki for winning!

ecoTOOLS Body Mist Giveaway!

It's no secret that I love EcoTools...they're actually the only brushes I use to put on makeup. I've talked before about how I love their new skincare stuff and now three lucky readers have a chance to win an EcoTools body mist! I have two of their Blooming Planet and one Passion for Change body mist available to give away.

First, my review of the products:

As I've said before, body mist is a hit or miss for some people. I like it because it tends to not be as strong as regular perfume and the EcoTools body mists have a pretty decent lasting power


Blooming Planet has been reformulated to be more soft, floral, and feminine. EcoTools says that this mist now has notes of organic peony and passion flower...I don't have a very good nose but it definitely smells more earthy and floral than before. Unfortunately, it also smells heavily of honeysuckle, which I'm allergic too. So it's not the best for me but if you love honeysuckle with floral scents, this may be for you!

6 fl. oz/177mL, retails for $5.99 in stores





Passion for Change is more up my alley. EcoTools describes this as a "mixture of organic ginger, sage, and sparkling citrus." I'm a huge fan of citrus scents and the ginger and sage seem to balance the fragrance out so you don't smell too much like citrus. It's a bit citrusy but with a zing, if that makes sense. I'm terrible at describing fragrances but I really liked it.

6 fl. oz/177mL, retails for $5.99 in stores





How to Win:

• Follow me on Twitter @ballzandthinner
• Retweet me once! To make it easier, please no extra RTs. One entry per person anyway through Twitter
• You can also increase your chances of winning if you ask me a question through Formspring.Me and include your Twitter name
  
• I'll pick out names from a hat on Wednesday, September 15th and mail out the prizes on Thursday, September 16th through USPS with a tracking number
• I will also pick out who gets which body mist through the hat method =)
  
• I will contact you through DM on Twitter
  
• No international shipping this time =( But maybe I'll do an international giveaway soon =)

I hope everyone has fun and participates in my first giveaway! Much thanks to Rebecca from ecoTOOLS for these products!

Thank You Zoya!

Even though I haven't blogged in a while, Zoya so very generously sent me their Wicked and Wonderful collections for Fall 2010. Of course, I could never receive something and NOT share, right?

Expect pictures tomorrow even though I just did my nails yesterday. The California sun has been very generous, so there should be some great pics!

Toy Story 3 nails

Someone posted this on LJ and I couldn't help reposting it here! I'm so excited to finally see it next week, it should be amazing

Apparently there's more nail goodness here: http://nailcrazy.tumblr.com/

What are your favorite and least favorite brands of nail polish?

Oh this is hard! Ummm well in terms of higher-end polishes, I love Misa, Essie, and China Glaze. China Glaze has amazing color variety, great application and staying power. The same goes for Misa. Essie used to really bore me but they've really started to branch out (color-wise) and I think their reformulations without the Big 3 bad chemicals are really great. Not to mention that when it comes to classic and classy colors, Essie really delivers. The application of Essie polishes can be iffy at times but it has great staying power on me.

For drugstore brands, I love Wet N Wild, Sally Hanson, Sinful Colors, and NYC.

As for least favorite...I can't really think of any that I really DISLIKE. I haven't had much luck with Revlon or Creative Nail Design polishes. I really only buy CND if it's on super sale (I only have one, and the drying time drives me insane), and I stopped buying Revlon because it's just not worth it. They would always be streaky and bubbly no matter what and the color selection was never something to get excited over. Not to mention I could get the same results with a Sinful Colors, WnW, or NYC polish that's 2 or 3 dollars cheaper. I did see that Revlon has a mint green coming out (or out right now) that looks really cool though, so I might have to check that out.

Ask me anything

Formspring Me!

I love the internet because it can make people as accessible as they want to be. So, I've created a Formspring! This obviously won't replace my blog but feel free to ask me ANY questions about nail polish, makeup, clothes, any other products, or just about life =) It's pretty fun and no account is needed to participate, I will take anonymous questions!

http://www.formspring.me/BATpolish

LoL Takeover

I had never heard of Liberty of London before about a week ago, when news began popping up about their collaboration with Target. Everything I've seen of their Liberty of London for Target collection I've loved though, it really seems like bright colors and florals are staples for the brand, which is great for spring.

Well, Liberty of London has teamed up with MAC for a limited edition collection for spring, and I'm really excited about their polishes:

On the left is Blue India, a dark green blue with pearl, while on the right is Vestral White, a creamy white limited edition color that they are re-releasing. I love, love, love the darling bottles, but I wish they release a fun bright color instead of re-releasing a boring write. I know for sure that I'm going to pick up Blue India already, so I guess it's better for my wallet that there's only one must-have instead of two!

EDIT: I guess it's out already, so I know what I'm going to do after my final tomorrow! Luckily I still have a bit left over on a Macy's gift card

EDIT 2: Thanks to commenter Cali 369 for this info! "Liberty of London is a relatively new accessories brand inspired by Liberty's, the iconic department store in London which has been open since 1875."

Warning

Hi guys, this news has been making the rounds on MUA and other nail polish blogs so I thought I would share my thoughts on the matter.

A blogger and frequent nail board member on MUA, ManateeMama, has been accused of scamming several nail board members out of a lot of money by having the rare Essie Starry Starry Night polish as a "Buy It Now" option on ebay for $50. The problem is, once the money had been taken, no polish was ever taken out. It's calculated that she has stolen more than $500 which is considered internet fraud.

This is ManateeMama's response:

"After a sleepless, terrified, and torturing night I have gotten to the bottom of this "little" mistake you have all made.

I am seriously PISSED off that nobody even bothered to message me at ALL before posting...because it would have saved me a lot of detective work and heartache.

Since nobody messaged me telling me what "linked" me to all this mess I had to call everyone I know asking around and dig through my entire email box, pm box etc. SO, I am guessing Dina and Don are the people you have used to link me to this CRIME?

These people are my degenerate cousins BY MARRIAGE so don't get confused and think I am actually related to them by blood. I set up Dina's Paypal account for her about a year ago. Dina is a [edited] and owes me A LOT of money. A LOT. They have run similar scams to this before, on ebay and forums, which i DID not know about when i helped her!

So, the reason you witch hunting bandwagoners have incorrectly ruined my reputation FOREVER is because Dina sometimes pays for things for me out of HER pay pal balance because she can't afford to pay me back in cash... SO, I have gotten some things from the NB marketplace with the paypal account [email address removed] before, also ebay etc.

I haven't ever sold anything to any of you as I don't even have my OWN paypal account and I dont have access to Dina's I just CALL HER and tell her the info, who to pay, how much etc.

I dont want them to have my address so I ALWAYS USE MY FIANCES WORK ADDRESS. So that is the reason for that. Otherwise they would be knocking on my door asking me for money all the time.

SO how was I victimized when I dont have a paypal account? well i called my cousin and asked her to buy SSN, she said ok, obviously since she was the seller she didnt buy it and lied and said she did. I called her and told her to open an ebay claim when Things went sour. The End.

I have called and cussed out my cousins who obviously got this idea from me from overhearing me talking about rare polish and how much it sells for on ebay. So that part is my fault. I told them to fix this now. The people they ripped off are people that used to be my friends. I told her she has until this weekend to fix it before I call the cops on her myself! I have her ACTUAL address.

Now, that I have had to get into these very personal family details I really would rather not have shared I advise any of you that have filed FALSE POLICE REPORTS against me to rethink your actions!!!

I am in total shock how fast you all turned on me without even a note of doubt. WOW.

If you think I am a liar fine, what reason you have is a mystery to me but fine"

Obviously, there are two sides to each story and no, I don't know ManateeMama personally or have had any interaction with her even on the nail board. From an objective point of view, there is just something really shady about this. From a personal point of view, I just don't trust this explanation. This is beyond simple scamming, this is fraud. If anyone frequents the nail board on MUA, you will know that the nail board is full of the nicest people around and it's sickening how someone could take advantage of that. Choose what you want to believe, but please be careful when it comes to the internet and in buying anything that is rare and hard-to-find. If you ever run into an issue of scamming or any other internet crime, be sure to report it to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (or IC3), which is a joint venture between the FBI, National White Collar Crime Center, and the Bureau of Justice Association.

And for anyone who asks why anyone would ever pay $50 for a nail polish...Essie Starry Starry Night is gorgeous. End of story.