Tag: Zoya

Zoya Enchanted Collection – Winter/Holiday 2016

Zoya Enchanted Collection – Winter/Holiday 2016

 

 

If there is one thing I look forward to just as much as my mom’s Christmas tamales, it’s the Zoya holiday collection. You may think I’m exaggerating but I am not–I love the holiday collections with a passion. This year is no exception because there are some lovely shades that I’m sure many of us will love. I have a LOT of swatching to get through before the end of the year so I’m hoping to pump out a lot of these reviews in the last week and a half because I do not want to start off 2017 with a backlog. I’m having a nail crisis currently because I’m just so unhappy with the length of my nails. I have to really find a happy medium between swatch length and work length. I am lucky to have long nail beds so my nails will normally look longer than they are, but any length bothers me. I love having super short nails, but I think that my swatches look better when I have some length. Ugh…I’ll just have to deal with it and cut my nails way down to a length I’ll be happy with. Anywho, let’s get back to the pretty polish. Check out my swatches of the Zoya Enchanted Collection below.

Zoya Saint

Zoya Olivera

Zoya Waverly

Zoya Elphie

Zoya Lorna

Zoya Alice

Let me just break this down for you: you need these. I have always been a big fan of the PixieDust formula and the four included in this collection are gorgeous. My pictures don’t do just to Saint which I think is the prettiest and most delicate shade from this collection. I really don’t have any complaints about this collection which is kinda new for me–Zoya really has a winner here. Have you picked up any of these beauties? Do you have any favorites? You can pick up the entire Zoya Enchanted Collection on zoya.com for $60 or $10 each. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

 

Zoya Urban Grunge Collection – Metallic Holos

Zoya Urban Grunge Collection – Metallic Holos

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Zoya Urban Grunge Collection

 

Holy crap…it’s almost September! By now most of the Fall collections have dropped and we’re starting to look forward to the next season of shades. Personally, Fall shades are my favorite because I just love dark and moody shades. I’m pretty much caught up on all of my swatching so it feels like I can start just enjoying wearing manicures longer than a couple of days. This weekend I finally got the chance to swatch the last few polishes in my swatch pile and they are goygeous. Last week I showed you the creme half of the Zoya Urban Grunge Collection, and today I have the Metallic Holos. Let’s move forward with my swatches…

Zoya Urban Grunge Collection Alicia 1

Zoya Urban Grunge Collection Alicia 2

Zoya Alicia

Zoya Urban Grunge Collection Troy 1

Zoya Urban Grunge Collection Troy 2

Zoya Troy

Zoya Urban Grunge Collection Britta 1

Zoya Urban Grunge Collection Britta 2

Zoya Britta

Zoya Urban Grunge Collection Ash 1

Zoya Urban Grunge Collection Ash 2

Zoya Ash

Zoya Urban Grunge Collection Finley 1

Zoya Urban Grunge Collection Finley 2

Zoya Finley

Zoya Urban Grunge Collection Merida 1

Zoya Urban Grunge Collection Merida 2

Zoya Merida

Welp, these are beautiful; there’s not much else to say about these polishes. I know that everyone is losing their marbles over Finley and Merida, but my surprise favorite is Alicia. Yes, I do think that Finley and Merida are gorgeous, but there is something unique about Alicia that just makes me love it. It’s not really a typical silver holo–it has a gold sheen to it that makes it look different. The holo is scattered and very delicate. The only thing about Alicia is that it does require 3 coats of polish for full opacity because it has a very sheer formula. I actually really liked the look of Alicia at one coat because it looks very neutral in low light but comes alive in the sun. For all of my swatches above, I applied 2 coats of polish and a glossy top coat. So what do you think? Have you picked up any of these beauties? If you’re interested, head over to zoya.com where these retail for $10. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon! Zoya Urban Grunge Collection

 

 

Zoya Urban Grunge Collection – Cremes

Zoya Urban Grunge Collection – Cremes

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Hello, good Monday morning (if you’re reading this as soon as it was posted)! I’ve had some pretty uneventful days recently, and somehow I feel that in a way it is exactly what I needed. It hasn’t been as unbearably hot lately either so I think that has helped out with my mood. I get so grumpy when it’s so hot that I just don’t want to do anything. Not having AC in my apartment is kind of annoying, but being this close to the beach means that I don’t really need AC for most of the year so I guess I shouldn’t complain. Things have also gotten back to normal since my parents went back home; I love them to death, but sometimes I just need some peace and quiet. This weekend I tried to get a bunch of things done but pretty much failed: story of my life! One thing that I did do, is that I got the creme half of the Zoya Urban Grunge Collection swatched. Yipppeeee! At least I got one thing done that was on my list. Let me show you my swatcheroos before we dive in.

Zoya August 1

Zoya August 2

Zoya August

Zoya Noah 1

Zoya Noah 2

Zoya Noah

Zoya Courtney 1

Zoya Courtney 2

Zoya Courtney

Zoya Tara 1

Zoya Tara 2

Zoya Tara

Zoya Wyatt 1

Zoya Wyatt 2

Zoya Wyatt

Zoya Mallory 1

Zoya Mallory 2

Zoya Mallory

Oh, where to start? You all know I love myself some delicious creme polishes, but I am not super in love with this half of the collection. These are marketed as one coat cremes, and I can tell you that these are much better cremes than the Sunsets. You can definitely get away with one coat on some of these if you use a thick enough coat, but personally I prefer to use two thinner coats because I feel like I get better results. The formula on these was not bad–with the exception of Noah. Oh, Noah, you traitorous putty creme! It was really difficult to work with Noah and even after 3 coats, it just looked streaky and off. I do like the color and I can see it working on many skin tones, but it was just a big fat nope for me. As for the rest of the colors, I used 2 thin coats of polish and 1 coat of glossy top coat. If you want to hear the honest truth, save your doubloons. These are nice creams if you don’t already have something similar, but let’s be honest: you probably have a few dupes of all of these. However, if you are kind of normal and don’t have numerous dupes of these colors, I feel that Wyatt and Mallory are definitely worth picking up. You will also need your doubloons for the other half of this collection: the metallic holos. Be still, my beating heart! (Swatches coming soon.) If you’re interested in picking up any of these cremes from the Zoya Urban Grunge Collection, you can head over to zoya.com where they retail for $10 each. What do you think of this half of the collection? Are there any shades that you are interested in getting? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope you have a great day!

Zoya Sunsets Collection Summer 2016

Zoya Sunsets Collection Summer 2016

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Hey there. Happy Monday. It certainly is a happy Monday for me because I’m finally feeling better. I was feeling all kinds of messed up for the last week and a half ever since I started taking a new medication to help with my blood sugar. I’m sorry, but Actos is the devil. If you thought getting used to Metformin was hard, Actos is like it’s psychotic sibling. I couldn’t sleep, I had severe weakness and muscle pain and all-day nausea. I dealt with that for about a week and a half before I decided to stop taking it. Anywho, I’m starting to feel much better now so I’m thankful for that. Now that I feel a little more normal, I can get back to showing you all the pretties I had swatched. I know I’m super behind on stuff so I’m going to try to catch up in the coming weeks. I currently only have the OPI Infinite Shine Summer Collection left to swatch so I’m happy about that. Today I have the Zoya Sunsets Collection which is made up of 6 beautiful cremes. This is the second part of the Summer Collection; the first part is all about PixieDusts and you can check out my review here. Let’s get on with the swatches!

Zoya Brynn 1

Zoya Brynn 2

Zoya Brynn 3

Zoya Brynn

Zoya Cam 1

Zoya Cam 2

Zoya Cam 3

Zoya Cam

Zoya Dixie 1

Zoya Dixie 2

Zoya Dixie 3

Zoya Dixie

Zoya Dory 1

Zoya Dory 2

Zoya Dory 3

Zoya Dory

Zoya Liv 1

Zoya Liv 2

Zoya Liv 3

Zoya Liv

Zoya Ness 1

Zoya Ness 2

Zoya Ness 3

Zoya Ness

This collection is marketed as “one coat cremes,” but I did not find that one coat was enough unless you applied a super thick coat. I have always preferred to apply thin coats even if that means I will have to do 2+ coats. For these polishes, I did two coats of each polish and top coated them with NYC Grand Central Station. By the way, I was really into this polish as a top coat, but it has gotten incredibly stringy and thick after only 3 weeks of use. I’m going to try to  thin it out to see if it will continue to work for swatching purposes. Overall, I really love these cremes. I’m not cool with the one coat claims, but there aren’t that many true one coaters out there anyway. Zoya has always put out really great cremes that marble beautifully, so I’m glad to have these in my arsenal. What is your favorite polish finish? Did you get any of these? Let me know below. If you’re interested in purchasing these, check them out on the Zoya site where they retail for $10 each. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Zoya Seashells Collection Summer 2016

Zoya Seashells Collection Summer 2016

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Lately I have been trying to rework my lighting situation when it comes to swatching. I am not happy at all with the way my pictures have been turning out lately, so I’ve purchased a few new bulbs (that are on the way to me), that I hope will help me get crisper images. I think that I’ve reached a point where I just need to bite the bullet and invest in a decent camera. I have been using a cheap point and shoot for years so maybe upgrading my equipment will give me some motivation. For today’s post, I have the Zoya Seashells Collection which is the Pixie Dust half of their Summer 2016 Collection. I’ve always liked the PixieDust formula so I was glad to see these. Even though there was a period of time where I was on PixieDust overload, I am happy to see this finish return. Let me show you my swatches below.

Zoya Bay 1

Zoya Bay 2

Zoya Bay 3

Zoya Bay

Zoya Cece 1

Zoya Cece 2

Zoya Cece 3

Zoya Cece

Zoya Levi 1

Zoya Levi 2

Zoya Levi 3

Zoya Levi 

Zoya Linds 1

Zoya Linds 2

Zoya Linds 3

Zoya Linds

Zoya Tilly 1

Zoya Tilly 2

Zoya Tilly 3

Zoya Tilly

Zoya Zooey 1

Zoya Zooey 2

Zoya Zooey 3

Zoya Zooey

The PixieDust formula remains incredibly easy to work with. For all of my swatches, I applied two coats of the polish. I find that the second coat works well when it is lightly dabbed on which can help you avoid any bald spots if you haven’t waited enough time in between coats. I’m sure you are all intimately familiar with the PixieDust formula so I will leave it at that. Hopefully I will have the creme half of the Summer collection up tomorrow so stay tuned. Anywho, thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Zoya Whispers Collection – Transitional 2016

Zoya Whispers Collection – Transitional 2016

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Hi there! Oh my! I have really slacked on my first post for 2016, and it kind of makes me sad. I keep telling myself that I’m going to try to be better about planning out my posts, but it just never seems to happen. In my defense, 2015 did not end on a high note only because I got sick. I ended up at urgent care right after Christmas with a vicious UTI but that ended up being the least of my worries. Due to a combination of being dumb, skipping my meds and eating/drinking like a fool, my sugar was at such an unacceptable level that the urgent care doctor threatened to admit me to the hospital. After additional blood work, I was allowed to go home but not before being “educated” about how to take care of myself. It’s not like it was news to me, but I think that it was a big wake up call. I have diabetes. Diabetes is no joke. Diabetes will kill me if I continue to ignore it. Soooo…I’ve been back on my meds AND I am making slow and manageable changes to my diet. I’m not going to go crazy all of a sudden and not eat any carbs because I know I’m just going to set myself up for failure. I’m making smarter choices about what I eat and when I eat; if I mess up, I’m not going to beat myself up about it and will just resolve to try harder next time. So you see, I have not started 2016 with a resolution to lose weight but to try harder and make better choices when it comes to food and my life all around. Despite not being in good health, I feel in good mental health which is half the battle. I am almost afraid to say that I am content because I don’t want life to jumpkick me in the face, but I feel good! It might just be the whole cheesecake I just ate (kidding!), but I’m really excited and looking forward to this year. Yeah, I know you’re thinking, “I’m here for the polish, not for your medical TMI!” Ok, ok…let’s move on to the polish. For my first swatch session of 2016, I sat down and swatched a dozen polishes and it took me forever because I was binging on Netflix at the same time. Today I have the Zoya Whispers Collection which are the transition shades for 2016. I know so many people were not excited about these because they’re not exactly vibrant, but what you call boring I will call…boring? Let me show you my swatches below and then I’ll give you the deets.

Zoya Whispers Collection Eastyn 1

Zoya Whispers Collection Eastyn 2Zoya Eastyn

Zoya Whispers Collection Lake 1

Zoya Whispers Collection Lake 2Zoya Lake

Zoya Whispers Collection Ireland 1

Zoya Whispers Collection Ireland 2Zoya Ireland

Zoya Whispers Collection April 1

Zoya Whispers Collection April 2Zoya April

Zoya Whispers Collection Cala 1

Zoya Whispers Collection Cala 2Zoya Cala

Zoya Whispers Collection Misty 1

Zoya Whispers Collection Misty 2Zoya Misty

Let’s talk about formula right off the bat. I almost felt like a polish newb because I had a hard time applying these in the beginning. Come to think of it, I think it was due to the fact that my apartment is colder than Siberia. I did notice that when the polish warmed up a bit, the application went a lot better. Still, these light shades can always tend to be streak-arrific. For all of my swatches I applied one thin coat and a second thicker coat to even out the color and finish. I followed up with a generous coat of my bff Seche Vite. I’m not gonna lie: these polishes are really pretty but kinda ho-hum. If you like soft and clean colors, you will really like these. Since I rarely meet a nail polish I don’t like, I do like these and do recommend at least 2 of these: Eastyn and Lake. Those are my top two favorite shades from this collection and now I’m wondering if you have any favorites. Let me know! Well, I really hope that your 2016 is starting off right and I want to thank you for stopping by today. I know I haven’t been very consistent with my blogging so I hope that I haven’t lost you! Talk to you soon.

Zoya Matte Velvet Collection Winter/Holiday 2015

Zoya Matte Velvet Collection Winter/Holiday 2015

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It’s Wednesday which means that we are halfway through the workweek…yasss! I am really looking forward to having some time this weekend to do some major swatching because I need to catch up with a lot of gorgeous stuff. I also have to do some shopping for my nephew’s birthday. I can barely believe that he will be 2 years old next week, and of course Auntie wants to buy him errrrrything. Today I’m excited to share with you my thoughts on the Zoya Matte Velvet Collection for Winter/Holiday 2015. This 6 piece collection is the perfect representation of what a Winter/Holiday collection should be: you get some icy shades and some gorgeous jewel toned polishes. Let me show you my swatches, and then I’ll let you know what I think below.

1

2Zoya Aspen

3

4Zoya Sue

5

6Zoya Amal

7

8Zoya Iris

9

10Zoya Honor

11

12Zoya Yves

I am a huge fan of the MatteVelvet line that Zoya has gotten so good at, so I was definitely excited to get my hands on these. I can tell you that the only two I had any issues with were Aspen and Sue because they can get patchy and apply unevenly. I think that the best way to approach these is to apply thin coats and let the coats dry thoroughly before applying another.  The rest of the shades are gorgeous jewel tones that are perfect for the holidays. The standout shade for me is Yves because who doesn’t love a gorgeous blue? Someone had warned me that Yves was a stainer, but I didn’t get any significant staining. So what do you think about these beauties? You can purchase this collection now on zoya.com where they retail for $10 each. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

 

Zoya Paradise Sun Collection Summer 2015

Zoya Paradise Sun Collection Summer 2015

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Hi everybody. I hope that you’re taking some time to think about all of the men and women who have bravely served this country. It doesn’t matter what your politics are, our men and women in the military deserve our respect and gratitude and today is a day to remember their sacrifices. I’m spending my day at home babysitting the Peanut Brat and we’ve just had a grand old time. Currently he’s taking a nap so I’m taking advantage of the free time to write up this post. Today I’m posting the second half of Zoya’s Summer Collection. I’ve already posted the Island Fun Collection which is the creme half of the Summer collection. The Zoya Paradise Sun Collection is about metallic shimmer which isn’t really my favorite finish, but Zoya always manages to really pull off this finish. On to the swatches!

Zoya Selene  1Zoya Selene 2Zoya Selene

Zoya Isa 1Zoya Isa 2Zoya Isa

Zoya Genesis 1Zoya Genesis 2Zoya Genesis

Zoya Oceane 1Zoya Oceane 2Zoya Oceane

Zoya Mae 1Zoya Mae 2Zoya Mae

Zoya Aphrodite  1Zoya Aphrodite  2Zoya Aphrodite

These polishes are SUPER shimmery which made them a nightmare to swatch. I had shimmer all over my fingers and had to use a scrub in between each polish. These are all really nice polishes if you like metallic shimmer, but Genesis was a horrible pain in the ass. It took like 4-5 coats to even it out and I would curse it to hell if it wasn’t so pretty. I love white polish so much and this one is so gorgeous and shimmery. My least favorite polish here is Aphrodite because it’s a jelly that still shows VNL despite 4 coats. I am satisfied with these, but I’m not as enthusiastic because this is not my favorite finish. So what do you think about this half of the collection? Do you prefer the cremes or the metallics? Let me know! Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Zoya Island Fun Collection Summer 2015

Zoya Island Fun Collection Summer 2015

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Hey you. Are you enjoying your weekend so far? I basically have not left the house since Friday, and I’m enjoying it more than I should. There are tons of things that I could be doing, but here I am in my sweats watching movies and swatching tons of polishes. Have you been doing anything fun this weekend? I’m currently watching the movie Chef (for the 3rd time), and now I want a crazy delicious grilled cheese. Anyway, today I’m going to show you my swatches of the Zoya Island Fun Collection which is the creme half of their Summer Collection. If you read my blog regularly, you know creme polish is life to me so I’m always excited to try these out first. Let me show you my swatches, and then I’ll let you know what I think.

Zoya Jace 1Zoya Jace 2Zoya Jace

Zoya Nana 2Zoya Nana 1Zoya Nana

Zoya Serenity 1Zoya Serenity 2Zoya Serenity

Zoya Cecilia 1Zoya Cecilia 2Zoya Cecilia

Zoya Talia 1Zoya Talia 2Zoya Talia

Zoya Demetria 1Zoya Demetria 2Zoya Demetria

Well, you know I’m gonna say it: these are all gorgeous cremes. Lately I have been super obsessed with green nail polish so I was super excited about Jace, but it was super thin. I like the color, but it took 3 coats to get the color opaque. All of the other colors were opaque with 2 coats, which is typical with the Zoya creme formula. I had minor staining with Cecilia and Talia, but I’m sure that with a good base coat, you shouldn’t have too many problems. Overall, the colors are really nice and very Summer appropriate but they’re staples that you probably have dupes for already. If you don’t have something similar, then I can definitely recommend these. What do you think of these shades? Are there any that you are planning to pick up or have purchased already? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

 

Watermarble Tips

Watermarble Tips

I will be the first one to admit that I have a really hard time with different nail art techniques. I really started out as a swatcher, so that is what I am most comfortable with. However, I don’t want my blog and passion for nails to stagnate so I do try to do things that are outside of my comfort zone. Stamping was one of the first things that I tried so it became something that I have continued to enjoy because I find it easy and fun. Enter watermarble. I have been dealing with trying to watermarble for probably a year if not longer. I went through phases where I tried, gave up for a while, tried again and gave up again. It was just so frustrating because it seemed that no matter what I did, nothing worked. Finally, I am here to tell you that you can master this technique because if I can, anyone can! While there is no one technique that will guarantee success, I will be sharing with you what worked for me.

Water

You would never think that choosing the right water would make such a huge difference. There are people who will say that tap water works just fine or that you have to use distilled water. I’ve tried both and tap water never worked for me. I guess it could be that tap water differs from region to region, but distilled water is the only thing that has worked for me. The temperature of the water was also important because only room temperature water seemed to work well.

Polishes

Once you have the water issue figured out, you have to figure out what polishes work well for marbling. This is all about trial and error because not all polishes work well and some don’t work well together. Personally, the best polishes for marbling that I have used are OPI cremes. They spread well, are very pigmented and don’t dry too quickly. I’ve tried some cheaper polishes and they seem to dry out quickly. Certain holos and shimmers work very nicely as well, but to be honest, you just have to play around with polishes to see which ones will work best.

Creating your design

So you got the water right and your polishes spread nicely into rings. YAY! This is where my next womp womp moment occurred. I could not, for the life of me, get a nice even design. The easiest and most common design is the flower design where you drag your needle from the outside in and join the petals at the center. Well, I could not get this right. I figured out that my issue was that I was trying to drag from the outermost ring which was already beginning to set so I was breaking up the rings and just ruining everything. This might seem like common sense, but I was constantly messing up on this. I also wasn’t cleaning my needle/toothpick in between each drag so the excess polish on the tool wasn’t letting me create clean lines. Why must this be so hard???

The Big Dipper

You’re almost there, right? WRONG. Now you have to figure out how to dip your fingers into the design and not mess it up. I also managed to mess this up time and again. It’s easy enough to line up the design, but if you dip your fingers like a dumbass, you can get a big old mess. I also always got a billion air bubbles on my design which would then pop and ruin the design. The only solution for this, in my experience, is to dip your fingers at an angle and pull out your fingers very slowly.

After all this, why would anyone want to even bother with watermarbling? Well because when you get it right, it looks awesome. Let me show you what I did for my last watermarble.

1First you will want to paint your nails a solid color. White works well most of the time so I’ve used one of my favorite whites: Sation Strumming My Nails (press sample) which is a dupe for OPI MBSW. I think the formula on this one is slightly better than the OPI.

2Then you are going to want to tape up your finger to protect your skin from all the mess. I also applied a little glue around my cuticle area that would still be exposed to make clean up easier–especially because the polishes I chose have a lot of shimmery particles.

4For this watermarble I used the three shimmers from the Zoya Delight Collection (press sample): Daisy, Leslie and Rayne which work beautifully. In fact, the cremes from this collection also work perfectly.

5Imagine if you didn’t tape up your finger…you would have all this polish on your skin.

6With the glue and tape, this is what my clean up job ended up being. Not bad, right?

78And this is the finished mani after all the clean up was done. This looks like Easter exploded on my nails, but I think it looks pretty.

So do you think this technique is worth all the fuss? Do you have any other tips that might help others who are watermarble challenged? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

 

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