Art Of Beauty (Zoya) International Distributors

I have good news! I've been informed by Art of Beauty that there are international distributors!
Art of Beauty Customer Service (United States) 1-800-659-6909 x9

Nail Care Club (United Kingdom): 0208 752 1924
http://www.nailcareclub.com/

Art Of Beauty Australia: 1300 855 644
http://www.artofbeauty.com.au

Metro Beauty Supply (Canada): 800-263-2365
http://www.metrobeauty.ca
EDIT: Please call Metro Beauty Supply -(800) 263-2365- with your selections to order.


Hope this helps!!

(And yes, I'm still working on the leftover posts from last week... ooops!)

Special Surprise From Zoya: FREE POLISH!!!

Hey guys, I have a special treat for you!

Zoya is giving away my three favorite polishes- Yasmeen, Ki and Trixie- FREE with any purchase!!

Visit http://www.zoya.com/scrangie for details or enter code SCRANGIE3 at checkout for your free polishes!

If you think of Zoya just for polishes, you might also want to check out Zoya's lip gloss, Hot Lips! I recently picked one up in Blog (a great coral shade for summer!) and it's PERFECT- smooth, moisturizing, not sticky at all!

Hope you all enjoy :D

Thanks, ZOYA!!!

Turquoise Swatches, Part 1.

The sun is interfering with my swatching this week, but I promised reader Carla G. some turquoise swatches! Uh oh! Special thanks to all the lovely ladies (and the occasional man!) at Makeup Alley's Nail Board for turquoise suggestions!

I'll post these turquoise colors that I've previously swatched, and when I have some nice, bright sunlight I'll do the rest.



China Glaze For Audrey


CND Hotski To Tchochki


CND Turquoise Tint


Color Club Bizerk Turq


Color Club Emerald Depths


Misa Blue Over A Boy


OPI Blue Moon Lagoon


China Glaze Sexy In The City



Nicole Turquoise Joys


More to come!

REVIEW: MAC Volcanic Ash Exfoliator

I know, I know. I've put this off way too long. Like I said, I'm easily distracted! I need to make a to-do list!

Ok, so, what's this MAC Volcanic Ash Exfoliator all about? MAC describes it as,

"A highly effective, dual-purpose, foaming and exfoliating scrub blending natural Volcanic Ash with fine sugar crystals from the islands of Vanuatu. Adds moisture: leaves skin feeling soft and comfortably clean. Mineral-rich. Good for absorbing skin’s natural oils. May be used on any part of face or body. Rinses off with warm water. "

I'm not exactly sure where Vanuatu is (a quick google of it tells me that it's somewhere in the middle of the ocean to the west of Fiji...?) but it sounds exotic. Exotic. Maybe that's what is enticing about this product- it's made of the ash from a volcano on some tropical island... And you rub it all over your face! Yes, that's exactly what I want to do!!

When you open the jar, you're presented with some wiggly black sludge. Lovely. Actually, I think it looks pretty freakin' awesome. The scent is kind of strange- like a mix between burnt sugar and weird, pungent men's cologne. Not gross, but not really good either.



You can easily scoop the product from the jar- it's not too runny, though it's definitely not firm. It sort of reminds me of the texture of Cream of Wheat. Loose, grainy, not too drippy.

When you apply it to your skin, it forms a small amount of lather. Lathering scrubs bother me- they lather all over and go up my nose and in my eyes an mouth... NOT FUN!! But this one only lathers a little bit- not enough to make bubbles but enough to lighten the dark black to a grey.

It's really nice and scrubby. The sugar crystals give that satisfying scratchiness, and once they dissolve the ash gives a smooth feeling. It exfoliates quite well- leaves no flakes behind, but it doesn't dry your skin. It rinses clean, but you may want to use a bit of toner afterwards to make sure all the black is gone.

After I rinse it off, my skin feels a little tight, but not dry. I like the sensation. It feels clean! It hasn't made me break out- very important! A lot of MAC skin products make me break out, but this doesn't. I love it.

Overall, I really like this. The only thing I don't like is the scent. I like rubbing black sludge all over my face. Did you ever see those commercials where the guy has "engine gunk"? It's like that, BUT BETTER!!

Swatches That I Forgot To Post: Sally Hansen

I was so excited when I heard about these that I want to 15 different stores looking for them. I finally found them, brought them home, swatched them and forgot about them!

I don't know the name of the collection. All these colors are extremely pretty and definitely worth getting.


Flair. OMG Amazing purple! It's stunning- can you see the tiny blue and red sparkles? They're there, I promise!


Flash. Bright, luminous blue with little sparkles that flash in the sunlight.


Glow. Fantastic bright green with golden glow. One of the best light greens available, in my opinion.


Spark. A deep, bold navy with hints of purple and lots of shimmer when the sun hits it.


Vivid. Strange name for this color, don't you think? I love this color- it's a rich mahogany, or maybe it's cherry? It reminds me of some kind of wood. Red-tinged brown with red and hints of black. Looks amazing in the bottle AND on the nails!

I got mine at CVS, but now that they have been out for a while I've seen them in every major drugstore and grocery store. One caveat- it was pointed out to me that the bottles hold a deceptively tiny amount of polish- only 0.3 fluid ounces! For comparison, an OPI is .5 fluid ounces. The size and shape of the bottle makes it look like it holds a lot more.

Essie Ulta Exclusives, Summer 2008

Sorry I'm a little late on this! I swatched these a couple weeks ago and got so distracted that I forgot to post them! Whoops!

Anyway, here they are. I was at Ulta this week and they still had a bunch of these, so they should still be available.


Lifeguard. A creamy pink sort of color that leans red. I'm not sure what to call this color. Raspberry? Salmon? I have no idea, but it's pretty.


Pool Boy. Hot nearly-neon purple! So shiny!


Surfer Dude. Bright but not-quite-neon pink.

They're all pretty nice, and they seem like a toned-down sister collection to the Neon shorts collection polishes. These also surprised me by drying super fast. Normally when I'm swatching, I can wipe off the polish when I'm about to switch colors, but these were dry by the time I was done taking the picture!

Coming up this week...

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been around much this week, I've been on a "mini-vacation"- barbecues, fireworks, nature walks, bike rides and family fun! Thanks for sticking with me!

To all of my fellow Americans, I hope you all had a safe and fun Independence Day! To everyone else, I hope your weekend was great as well!

I ended up doing a patriotic themed makeup look- eyes were MAC Crystal Avalanche, MAC Basic Red pigment and Urban Decay Liquid Liner in Radium. Nails were Rescue Beauty Lounge Underwear with Love My Nails Glory on top.

I didn't get a chance to take a picture before I left for the fireworks, but my nails didn't look too good anyway - that stringy glitter is SHARP! It pokes out everywhere and scratches you!! OUCH!!

Anyway, I'm writing out my plans for this week so I don't forget. I'll be doing:

Reader Requests:
Turquoise swatches for Carla G.
Essie Fall dupes for Diann_co
(Anyone else I may have forgotten?)

Reviews:
Benefit Erase Paste VS Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer
MAC Volcanic Ash Exfoliator
Qtica Natural Nail Growth Stimulator

...and a bunch of random swatches! I like doing random swatches. I have nail polish ADD.

Just so this post isn't too pointless, I'll leave you with a picture.

This is the Rescue Beauty Lounge "New French Manicure." It's Medium White on the tips with two coats of Clear Pink on top.



You can see that the white isn't stark white- it's a little cream or even bone colored. The Clear Pink just adds the barest hint of tint and milkiness to the rest of the nail. This is actually really natural looking for a French.... This is what my nails look like when they aren't stained blue or red or yellow. Very natural, pretty, clean and delicate. I'm not generally a fan of the traditional French manicure, but I would wear this.


And with that, I'm off to catch some frogs and try not to melt!