Zoya for Peter Som Collection Review & Swatches

This year for NYFW FW 2012 Zoya collaborated with designer Peter Som to create custom shades of polish. Zoya color director Rebecca Isa created three shades--


Evvie is described as "rich, decadent, smoky eucalyptus cream". It's a beautiful green (leaning more towards blue than yellow) with smoky undertones. The formula is to die for it's perfectly opaque and even in 2 coats that go on like buttah!

Audrey is a "warm, semi-opaque cream". It's a lovely peachy pale pink nudey color, but fairly sheer. Might even be nice for French manicures if that's what you're into. Personally I like it layered. It goes well over white, or under...

Katharine is a special shade. Katharine is a new formula that Zoya calls "nail gloss". Nail gloss has half the color and double the shine of regular polishes. A vampy dark wine purple in the bottle, Katharine goes on sheer like delicious grape jelly. Worn by herself, Katharine gives the look of juicy candy nails. For a bit more oomf, she also layers beautifully over Audrey. I love this! As soon as I read about this color and formula I raced to the Zoya site to buy.

Evvie, Audrey, Katharine

The Zoya for Peter Som NYFW FW 2012 set was only available on one day from Zoya and of course sold out fast. It came in a sweet little gift box and I really love the colors! Zoya nail polishes are some of my favs and I'm really glad I was able to get my paws on this trio! 

Here's some swatches on my nails...pardon the mess, I'm hopped up on asthma meds and they make it hard to paint with a steady hand. I wanted to just get these up so you could see them right away! 

Top to Bottom - Audrey, Evvie, Katharine

Top To Bottom: Katharine, Evvie, Audrey, Katharine over Audrey

Peter Som runway NYFW FW 2012 - photo from Vogue

What do you think of this collection? Is it your cup of tea? I'm dying to know what you all think of the new nail gloss. I loooove it and want MORE shades!

Lead in Lipstick

If you have access to any kind of news outlet, you have probably heard about yet another study released announcing "hazardous" levels of lead in red lipstick. And as same as the last time one of these reports was released, people are in all kinds of uproar and running to throw out their lipsticks. So let me tell you why I'm not concerned at all.

Lipstick vs. Candy

One of the biggest points raised as to why this is dangerous and scary is that the acceptable amount of lead in a lipstick is "more than the acceptable amount in candy". People are freaking out about that when, uh, hello, that means there is an amount of lead that is acceptable in candy. CANDY. That is designed for FOOD. Yes, some lipstick is inevitably ingested just by the very nature of the fact that it is worn on the lips, but it is a very tiny amount. There are some crazy urban legends that suggest a woman eats as many as 7 pounds in her lifetime or something, but that is insane when you consider that an average "bullet" of lipstick is about .1 oz. There being 16 oz in just a single pound, do the math. That's a f'ing lot of lipsticks and even if a woman wears lipstick every single day of her life from the time she hits puberty to the time they put her in the ground, she's not going to ingest that much lipstick. Point being, the amount of lipstick itself being ingested is minuscule compared to all sorts of other stuff you're ingesting that probably has far more "bad" things than the lipstick on your lips. You're far more likely to die of high cholesterol, cirrhosis, cancer, diabetes, or all sorts of other conditions that can be caused by what we eat and how it is made. Fun thought, huh?

Not convinced? Other things to consider...

* The FDA considers anything with under 20 ppm (parts per million) of lead to be of no safety risk. The lipsticks in the most recent study published average about 5 ppm. 

* The lead in lipstick is not an added ingredient. It's naturally occurring due to the composition of the pigments in the lipstick. That's why the lead is only showing up in red lipstick shades, and that's why the more sheer the pigmentation of the lipstick, the lower the ppm. 

* There have been no deaths linked to lead in cosmetics. None. 

* Cancer of the lip is much less frequently found in women than in men, and much of that can be attributed to the pigments in lipsticks. Though the SPF in most lipsticks is not tested and certified, some form of coverage over the lip is better than no coverage of the lip. 

So don't count on me throwing out my lipsticks any time soon. I've read some articles that even go as far as to claim the FDA doesn't regulate cosmetics. What a load of BS. They regulate ingredients, especially pigments (colors), and no cosmetic product sold legally in the US can incorporate any colors that aren't approved. When you see a certain shade of a product is "not eye safe" or "not lip safe" that is because the FDA has not approved a pigment in that product for use on the eyes or use on the lips. The brands aren't just trying to break your balls over using red blush as eye shadow. Really. 

Updated: What's In My Shower?

I don't know if it's the voyeur in me or if I'm just super nosy but I love "what's in my..." type posts, like what's in my bag, etc. I did a what's in my shower post previously, but the contents have changed! So let's take a look at what we've got, mkay?

The Storage Itself - 

The corner suction basket/bucket thing and the mirror next to it are from Target. I love the bucket thing because it looks attractive, holds a surprisingly large amount of things, and also seems to be able to hold a lot of weight. It gets crap reviews on Target's website, but whatever. I like it. I actually have another similar container that recently fell off the wall (see the lone suction cup stuck to the tile?) so I'm figuring out a solution for that...might have to get another one of these! I love that it has a hook on the corner, perfect for hanging a bath pouf or in my case, comb. There's also a little tiny side pocket on the other side that I keep a razor blade refill in. I don't know about you, but I never remember to change my razor blade until I'm actually in the shower. D'oh.

I really like having a mirror in my shower. I find it's helpful to make sure I've removed all my eye makeup, and also helps me decide if there's any specific areas I ought to target w/ my Clarisonic when I'm using it in there.

Hanging on the Mirror - 

My razor of choice is the Venus Embrace. Not to say I haven't tried other razors and liked them (the Schick Intuition is also pretty good, especially if you have dry skin), but I always go back to the Venus Embrace. It has 5 blades and gets such a close shave. I don't like to mess around when it comes to shaving. I don't wanna have to go over the same place a million times. This gets the job done!

In The Basket - 

One product has remained constant this entire time-- Kiss My Face Moisture Shave. I prefer the Peaches & Creme scent (SO yummy!) but I am not sure if they still make that as I can't find it on their site. If it's discontinued I'll be kinda devastated (even though let's be honest you KNOW I have like 6 bottles of it under my sink - I bought it in bulk from Amazon). However, I'll use what I have and (in 20 years) switch to a different scent. If you have sensitive or dry skin you NEED to try this product. Not optional. NEED.

Other body-related yummies in my shower are the Bath & Body Works Supercharged Body Scrub in Coconut Lime Breeze that I reviewed previously and B&BW shower gel in Winter Candy Apple (one of my fav B&BW scents of all time - so glad momsy got me some for xmas!).

I change up what facial cleansers live in my shower (because I have lots, and also because I change depending on how my skin is acting). Right now I'm back to loving on Caudalie Instant Foaming Cleanser. I've been using it more than my Neaclear because I've been wearing a lot more makeup and Caudalie's cleanser is better at removing makeup. 

Peeking out in the back of the basket you can see my shampoo & conditioner of choice - Alterna Caviar Moisture Shampoo & Conditioner. Ever since I first tried Alterna in 2010 I have loved these guys. Others I have tried and enjoy very much are Redken (Color Extend) and WEN.

A couple products mentioned in this post were originally given as samples by PR, but I have since repurchased (or plan to) on my own.