(Sort of) free "luxury" beauty sample box from Amazon for Prime members (plus Zoya deal)

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I'm working on a swatch-a-thon right now, so please accept this small offering in the meantime. Amazon is selling a box of samples for $20 (which probably isn't worth $20), but then you get a $20 credit to use in their luxury beauty department. So if you were planning to buy something from that department anyway (Stila, Mario Badescu, Jack Black, Oribe, OPI, Bioderma, La Roche-Posay, L'Occitane, theBalm, LORAC, etc.), you would basically be getting the box of samples for free with your purchase. Here are all the products that are eligible. Note that they say the samples in the box "may vary," and that this offer is only available for Prime members.

Also, Clara reminded me that Zoya is doing their usual deal where you get 4 "free" bottles of polish (or lipstick, this time) with $15 shipping. Or, as I like to think of it, 4 bottles for $3.75 each with free shipping. Use code 4ZOYA, ends Jan. 16.

Obviously, I will not be indulging in these deals, because of my No Buy, but if you decide to go for one of them, please allow me to live vicariously through you.

Zoya raises prices to $10 a bottle

Hope you bought any Zoya polishes you wanted in their last sale, because they are now $10 a bottle! Sorry, as much as I love Zoya, that's way too much for me. They've raised the price $2 in just over 2 years--that's pretty steep when you think of it in terms of percentage.

I know there are much more expensive polishes out there, but I've never been inspired to buy them. I've tried some out and read lots of reviews, and I don't see a big (or any) difference that can be correlated to price. What's your upper limit for polish?

Four "Free" Zoya Polishes

Zoya does some version of this sale every year, and while it's a good deal, I kind of hate the way they promote it. According to them, you get 4 free polishes of your choice (some products excluded), but you have to pay "promotional shipping" of $15, which is higher than their usual shipping cost. So really you're getting 4 polishes for $3.75 each with free shipping. At least that seems to me a better way to think about it. Great deal, still--last time it was only 3 polishes for $15!

Details here. Use code 4YOU. Ends Jan. 13.

Are you going to get in on it? Zoya is probably my favorite nail polish brand. You can see some of my swatches in my Zoya tag.

Is your 3 or 4 or 5-free nail polish really free?

By now you've probably read the NYT article about nail salon and human trafficking/exploitation (if not, get on it). There's been lots of interesting discussion stemming from the article as well. I would recommend, as usual, skipping the Jezebel commentary on the topic, in which the author goes apeshit in the comments - as she's been doing in the comments of other articles, including ones she didn't even write herself (I am hesitant to link from here to such ridiculous antics, but let me know if you want some directions to the train wreck). But Wondegondigo has a thoughtful discussion, for example.

As part of describing the poor working conditions of salon employees, a link in the NYT article pointed to a study done in 2012 on 3(+)-free nail polishes that showed that many of them still included the chemicals that they were supposedly free from (including formaldehyde, DBP, and toulene). In fact:

"Toluene was found more frequently, and in higher concentrations in products with toxic-trio related claims than in traditional products. Ten of the twelve products with “toluene-free” claims did, in fact, contain toluene."

You know that I am not overly concerned about "chemicals," but if these particular ingredients, which do pose potential health risks when used frequently or in the wrong way, are a concern for you, well . . . maybe you should still be concerned. Or you should be extra careful to paint your nail in a very well-ventilated space.

It was nice to see that the Zoya they tested in that study did turn out to actually be 3-free, so I can blissfully go on loving my Zoyas.

Zoya Dream

Zoya Earth Day promotion: 50% off 6-24 bottles of polish + free shipping

For Earth Day, Zoya always does this promotion where you can get a discount in exchange for sending unwanted bottle of polish to them for proper disposal. You're not supposed to throw nail polish in the trash, since it counts as a hazardous material, so this is a way to get rid of it properly.

But you can get the deal even if you don't send them anything back. They say it's on the honor system, and they suggest that you might also donate some nail polish instead of disposing of it. You'll get each bottle for $4.50 with this deal.

Use code EARTHLUV from April 21-28. All the information is here.

Zoya's one of my favorite nail polish brands. Possibly my very favorite. They just make such fucking interesting shades and they have a million of them. I've been happy with almost all the ones I've bought, and I've never paid full price, because they frequently have good sales. I'm going to have to sit this one out this year, because I just can't afford any more polish, but if anyone goes for it, show me what you get!

Here's one of my favorites, Giovanna (more here):

And here are links to some of my other Zoya swatches: Evvie, Neely, Ibiza, Arizona, Odette, Song, Lotus, and Fei Fei. And those aren't even all the ones I own.

3 full size and 3 mini Zoya nail polishes for $15 shipped

Use code NYNH. You get to choose the full size ones, but the minis are mystery shades that have never and will never be for sale (???). And this deal is also open to Canada! Expires Jan. 14. More info here.

(Someone remind me I already have too much nail polish. Zoya is probably my favorite brand . . . )

Zoya Earth Day promotion on now (50% off almost everything)

Disclosure: This post contains no affiliate links.
You can get all the details here. The gist is that you order a minimum of 6 bottles and maximum of 24, and you get them for $4.50-$5 each with the code ZDAY2014. Then, because nail polish counts as a hazardous chemical and you're not supposed to just toss it in the garbage, you can mail them back as many bottles of old nail polish as you want, and they will dispose of it properly. Or you can skip that step - it's not required.

Here are a couple of swatches of Zoya polishes I have on Instagram: Neely, Evvie, and Ibiza. You can see others by clicking on my Zoya tag. If you're indecisive, I also highly, highly recommend Dream and Crystal.

Dupe update

Full-size bottles of Zoya nail polish are probably my favorite things to get in an Ipsy bag. A recently-released $9 nail polish in a $10 subscription (along with 4 other things)? Yes please. And Zoya is one of my favorite nail polish brands. This month, I got my third bottle from Ipsy. Fuck yeah!

Except remember how I recently bought Wet N Wild Bite the Bullet to quench my desire for Zoya Odette? Sure enough, Ipsy sent me a bottle of Odette this month. How could I have known? How could they have known?

Oh well, now I can do the comparison that I couldn't do a month ago. Check them out:

Wet N Wild Bite the Bullet and Zoya Odette.

Messy swatches of Wet N Wild Bite the Bullet on index and rings fingers,
and Zoya Odette on middle and pinky fingers.

That's two coats of each without topcoat. As you can see, they are really very close. Odette is a bit darker and maybe a touch browner. The formula/application is pretty much identical. The comparison between my index finger and middle finger above is the most accurate, since the flash seems to have washed out my ring finger a bit, for some reason. They're not exact dupes, but I think that if you are interested in one, you'll be happy with the other.

If you're interested in signing up for Ipsy and would like to use my invite link, that would be pretty cool of you. But you're still cool if you don't do it, I promise.

A not-so-radiant orchid: Wet N Wild MegaLast in Bite the Bullet (a possible dupe for the new Zoya Odette)

Before you scroll down any further, let me apologize for the grainy photos. It's January and so the lighting is terrible - and so is everything else, because it's January.

But I thought I would post about this $2 nail polish in case anyone else had been eyeing Odette from the new Zoya Naturels (so frawnch) collection that has appeared on pretty much every nail blog around in the last month or so (here's one). Odette was the only one in the collection that really appealed to me, but because I am mega-broke at the moment, I didn't even get it during their 3 free polishes offer this month. I am also mega-weak, though, so I did pick up Wet N Wild Bite the Bullet at the drugstore for $2. I really like it. I can't tell you for sure if it's a dupe for Odette, but it looks pretty similar to the photos I've seen. (Odette might actually be somewhere in between Bite the Bullet and Wet N Wild Megalast Undercover, since in some photos, it has a little more rose in it. It kind of looks like a different color on every blog.) Dupe or not, Bite the Bullet is pretty polish. Two coats with topcoat below.

Swatch of Wet N Wild MegaLast nail polish in Bite the Bullet

Swatch of Wet N Wild MegaLast nail polish in Bite the Bullet

In addition, if you're into this whole Pantone Color of the Year thing, this might work for you. I don't totally get the idea behind that, except that Pantone picks a color and tells us that we're all supposed to like it for a year. This pronouncement does lead to makeup products at Sephora in colors we might not otherwise see, so sure, that's cool. This year, it's "Radiant Orchid," which is a specific Pantone code. The online roundups of shit in this color that I've seen, however, have been anything roughly in the medium-light pinkish-purple range. So here is my contribution, even if it is not-so-radiant. You'll be oh so super trendy for $2.

Much cheaper alternative to Zoya's nail polish remover (from Lace and Lacquers)

Disclosure: This post contains an Amazon affiliate link.
People seem to think Zoya's $10 nail polish remover is super fucking special. I don't know, because I haven't tried it. But apparently it's not as super fucking special as this super fucking special $2-3 Cutex shit. Check out an awesome comparison of the two here.

3 Zoya polishes for $12 including shipping

Technically this is 3 free bottles of polish and you pay $12 shipping. Oooookay. Since when does shipping cost $12? It's still a good deal, since they are usually $9-10 a bottle (so now $4 a bottle: math!) . . . wait, $9? I guess the prices went up. Zoya has always been $8, for as long as I can remember. Sigh. Still, 4 bucks is reasonable enough.

Use code COLOR2014 when you checkout. Good until Jan. 13. If you don't have an account, you can sign up using my link and get another free bottle. You can't combine it with this deal though - you'll have to save it for later.

There are tons of Zoyas I like. It's one of my favorite brands, though I never buy it full price. I recommend Dream, Giovanna, Zuza, and Crystal.

Two Cheap but Awesome Polishes: ULTA Lav-ish and Spoiled Jewelry Heist (picture heavy post)

I'm going to try to do the nearly impossible, for me and make this post light on the words. Let the pictures do the talking, etc. There are lots of them!

The first cheap polish I want to show you is ULTA Lav-ish. I think ULTA's store brand nail polishes are underrated/overlooked in terms of quality as well as the unusual options they offer. They go on sale all the time for super cheap. Right now they are 3 for $9, but I've got them for $2 in the past, too. Lav-ish is a dusty light purple with gold shimmer that looks pink in some lighting. It reminded me of the kind of something Zoya might make, so I compared it to Zoya Lotus. Obviously it's not a dupe, but it's in a same ball park - the Zoya is darker and just has pink shimmer, no gold. Check it:

Swatch of ULTA Lavish

Ipsy has a new points system for earning free shit (plus: swatches of Zoya Giovanna)

Disclosure: This post contains referral links.

Zoya Giovanna, from my Glam Bag this month
(see more below).

Birchbox has had a system for a long time now where you could earn points a variety of ways, the easiest of which was to rate the products you got in your box. Those points can be used toward purchasing things from their shop. It was really the only thing I liked about Birchbox. I kept getting annoyed by the crap in my boxes, but I also earned enough to get a few free full-size products from the store.

I like the Ipsy Glam Bags much better Birchbox, since I prefer the larger sizes and the fact that there is more makeup than skin care. I got so many moisturizers from Birchbox. So many. I AM MOIST ENOUGH OK? (Though Ipsy's customer service could use some definite upgrading.)

Anyway, blah blah. My point is that Ipsy now has a points-earning system in place too. You earn 250 points for a referral, and 10 points for each review. Since you get 5 items per bag, you can earn 50 points per bag. When you collect 1000 points, you can redeem it for a free gift. Right now there are three to choose from: a Benefit mascara mini, some of those stupid hair ties, and the NYX Bronze Smokey Look kit. Obviously it's going to take a while to get to 1000 point at 50 point intervals, and it's not as good as Birchbox's deal, but hey, it's better than nothing.

Free shipping from Avon today only, plus Zoya BOGO offer

Get the details from Nouveau Cheap, and check out my Avon tag for recommendations.

Royal and navy blue nail polish swatches and comparisons (picture heavy post)

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link.

Left to right (in natural light): Ma = Maybelline Color Show Denim Dash, CG = CoverGirl Outlast Out of the Blue, SH = Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue, ES = Essie Butler Please, SC = Sinful Colors Endless Blue, CG = China Glaze ManHunt, RR = Revlon Top Speed Royal, ZI = Zoya Ibiza, SH = Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Co-bolt Blue, ORN = Orly Royal Navy, ZS = Zoya Song, OSC = Orly Stone Cold, SH = Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Freeze! (and pretty brooch just because it's blue and sparkly)

Remember when I posted about a (near) dupe for Essie Butler Please, Sally Hansen Pacific Blue, which is even better? Well, I recently picked up Sinful Colors Endless Blue, which I would also put in the near dupe category - and it's even better than the other two!

This inspired me to do a mega-comparison of blues. I have so many blue nail polishes, you guys. So fucking many. Almost as many as I have greens or teals or purples. I didn't swatch all my blues here - I decided to limit this to just the ones in the royal-to-navy range. I hope this will be useful for some people in deciding if a blue you have is actually almost the same as something you are lusting after. None of the ones I had were dupes, other than the three mentioned above, though some are sort of similar. I'm not going to review each polish in detail; I'll let the swatches speak for themselves. Feel free to ask questions about any of them in the comments.

Oh, the other reason I did this? Because swatching nail polish is so fucking soothing and fun. It's like making a craft with the lowest skill level possible and lots of pretty colors. You can get the wheels at bunch of different places for cheap, like these ones from Amazon (I've also found them at Sally Beauty and on ebay). I also really like arranging things by color - which means that on my wheel, I kind of find it annoying that the order isn't exactly right. The CG and RR toward the middle should be switched, and so should the ORN and ZS on the right side, right!?

On to the swatches!

Buy Zoya PixieDust in Liberty, get two other polishes free (through July 5)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Add a bottle of Liberty to your cart along with two other bottles. Use code LIBERTY when checking out. You still have to pay shipping, and they will begin shipping orders July 8.

Zoya BOGO free sale now until June 16

Zoya has a code to buy one get one free from their Summer Flashback Page (invite link). Use code FLOGO. If you buy 4 bottles, you also get free shipping.

I have Arizona, Carly, and Zuza from this batch and they are all lovely (especially Zuza). There are a bunch of others there I'd like to get my hands on too. Charla in particular is always a good bet. All the shimmery ones are. (Here's an argument for why Zoyas on sale are a particularly good deal.)

If you don't already have a Zoya account, creating one after you click this link (same as above) should also add a free bottle of polish to your account. I'm not sure if you can use it with a BOGO order, but it will be there in the future, at least.

Got any of these you'd recommend? Going to pick up any more?

Tricky tricky! Which package contains more product? (Nail polish edition)

Which bottle contains more nail polish: a mini Zoya or a regular-size Maybelline Color Show?

Mini Zoya Neeka vs. Full-size Maybelline
Color Show Denim Dash.

In the photo, they look nearly the same size, though in person, the Zoya actually looks comparatively tiny. Still, if I were judging only from the photo, I would guess that the Maybelline bottle contains just a bit more polish the the Zoya bottle.

Cheap dupe (but better!) for Zoya FeiFei and OPI On Her Majesty's Secret Service: CoverGirl Midnight Magic (with review and comparison photos)

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

I recently added a few CoverGirl Outlast Stay Brilliant nail polishes, ahem, nail "glosses", sorry, to a drugstore.com order. I'll do a more thorough review of the formula and performance of them generally soon (spoiler: great), but I wanted to alert you to a dupe first. I ordered the shade "Midnight Magic" suspecting that it might be a dupe for Zoya "FeiFei", and it turns out I was right! The difference is really negligible, though I think the CoverGirl might be a exact match for OPI "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", which is itself for all intents and purposes identical to FeiFei, but I don't own that one to compare here.

In natural light, left to right: one coat of Zoya "FeiFei", one coat of CoverGirl "Midnight Magic",
three coats of Zoya "FeiFei", three coats of CoverGirl "Midnight Magic"

Zoya Earth Day Promotion: $4 per bottle (i.e. 50% off) + shipping AND they will dispose of old polishes safely for you

Did you know you can't just throw nail polish in the trash? You can't! Well, you shouldn't. It's toxic. But today through April 26, you can exchange old bottles of polish for Zoya bottles and pay $4 each plus shipping (i.e. 50% off). You have to buy at least 6 polishes, but . . . you don't actually have to send them anything back, technically. I'm going to, because I don't want to go to the toxic waste disposal place thingy just to get rid of a few bottles of nail polish (like my old bottle of Seche Vite with some chunks of some pink shit in it that ruin everything).

The code is ZOYAEARTH2013. All Lacquered Up has all the details here.