Weekend Bits and Bobs: October 26, 2014: Burberry and Chanel

Nothing to Disclose 

*These products may not be Cruelty Free 

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Hi guys! It's been a LONG time since I've done a Bits & Bobs post so I figured it was time. Today I have a couple of new purchases to show you - Burberry Nail Polish and a Chanel Shadow Duo.

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Which Matte Top Coat is Best?

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*These products are Cruelty Free 

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Hi guys! Ever since Zoya released their new matte top coat, I've had a lot of requests for a comparison. So how could I not?

First, I'll say that I have tried a few more than I'll be showing here. For one reason or another I didn't like the others, so I gave them away. One was Essie. Just didn't love that one at all. Also didn't like the NYC one. So the only three I have left are the 3 I'll show you.

Matte Top Coat Comparison

For a long time, I've used nothing but the butter LONDON Matte Finish top coat. I'm perfectly happy with it and even have a back-up. Retails for $19 for .6 oz. Available at butterlondon.com and Ulta.

Wet n Wild WildShine Matte Top Coat is new. It retails for 99¢ for .43 oz. Available at drug stores nationwide.

Zoya Matte Velvet Top Coat is also recently released. It retails for $10 for .5 oz and it's available at zoya.com and Ulta.

So which is best? Let's take a look.

As you can see, butter LONDON and Wet n Wild have about the same amount of "mattification" while the Zoya is clearly much more matte.

I've never had an issue with butter LONDON having "white bits" but I have friends who have had this experience.

I didn't have any issues with the Wet n Wild until I used it after a water technique - there were white bits then, but I think I used it too soon before the water dissipated. No issues before or since.

I haven't had ANY issues with the Zoya.

So my pick for the winner is Zoya.

If you don't care if it's not quite as matte, then you really can't go wrong with the Wet n Wild for 99¢ but I prefer the extra matte and I'm willing to pay for it. And it's $9 cheaper ($7.95 cheaper when you factor in 17.5mL vs 15mL) than the butter LONDON I've been using.

What do you think? Does this help?

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HPB October Halloween Mani Link-Up

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Happy Halloween Week! Yes, I celebrate it the entire week. Okay, FINE. The entire month. I like Halloween. What?

So this weekend, HPB (Hobby Polish Bloggers) is getting together to post our Halloween manicures and there's a link-up at the bottom where you can see all the great Halloween manis from the other members.

Hobby Polish Bloggers is a group for bloggers who blog primarily just for fun or more casually. It's a resource for feedback, support and guidance on your current blog or information on how to get your blog started.


Today I decided to do a simple spray marble. My long-time readers know I have let water marbles defeat me time after time and while I haven't given up that good fight just yet, it's nice to do a quick and easy fool-proof mani once in a while.

Well, NEARLY fool-proof. When using a matte top coat over nail art, be sure and use a regular top coat first that doesn't smear. Matte top coats will almost always smear. Oops!

I've used a base of Zoya Rocha and spray marbled with black and purple (Kiko #292). Slap on a quick coat of matte top coat (I used Wet n Wild WildShine Matte Top Coat for 99¢ and it's just as good as my former favorite, Butter London Matte Finish) and BAM! Happy Halloween!

You've probably seen tutorials on "spray marbles" already but I used distilled water at room temperature, put one drop of polish and sprayed it quickly with just plain rubbing alcohol from one of those little spray bottles you get in the "travel section" at Walmart. Once it makes a cool design, I dip my nail in like a water marble. Protip: You NEED tape or glue or whatever you normally use or cleanup is just as bad as you'd have with a standard water marble.

What do you think? Is this something you would try?

Thanks for checking it out and remember to have a look at the great manis linked below!

Happy Halloween!

An InLinkz Link-up

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China Glaze TWINKLE for Holiday 2014 - Press Release

Press Release

*These products are Cruelty Free 

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China Glaze has just released their new Holiday 2014 collection called Twinkle! There are cremes, shimmers, metallics and glitters, including one glitter topper.

Yeah it's not even Halloween yet. But I'm about used to seeing Christmas stuff out before Halloween. Nothing like getting a jump-start. And I need a jump start because I haven't started my shopping yet. Maybe this will get me in the mood?

China Glaze

Twinkle Collection - Holiday 2014

I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at CosmoProfNA in July! Sorry it's a cell pic.

Leslie over at Work/Play/Polish got some much better shots of the display as well. Check them out!

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