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Zoya Delight Collection Spring 2015

Posted on 10 February, 20159 February, 2015 by Cynthia

I meant to have this post up on Monday, but it just didn’t happen. My parents are visiting so everything went to hell. On Friday I had the worst stomach bug ever, and I’m still wondering if it was stress or something else. Fortunately it was gone by Sunday because I would have missed out on my mom’s cooking the first day–oh man my mom is the best cook in the world. So besides my parents being in town and my getting some extra time with the Peanut Brat, everything has been going ok. My nails are still in recovery mode. The damage is growing out rather quickly, but I’m nearing the point where the most severe damage is near the tips of my nails now so I’m expecting a lot of breaks and issues in the next couple of weeks. My nail bed is horribly uneven still so I’m experiencing issues with applying polish evenly since it always looks off because my nails are jacked up. Oh well…I’ll just have to deal with it and take my punishment for being dumbass. This weekend I managed to squeeze in some time to swatch the Zoya Delight Collection and boy was it a…delight? Read on to find out what I thought!

Zoya Eden

Zoya Lillian

Zoya Tiana

Zoya Leslie

Zoya Rayne

Zoya Daisy

Saying that I really enjoyed the Zoya Delight Collection isn’t enough–I really loved it. The combination of 3 creamy and delicious cremes with 3 metallic shimmers is genius because it gives us almost two collections without being overwhelming. I loved the delicate colors and really enjoyed the welcome pop of shimmer in one half of the collection. I didn’t have problems with the formula despite the light color which is really exciting to me. I’ve also been caught up in my own watermarble world that I used the three cremes for an accent watermarble nail:

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A post shared by Cynthia (@oflifeandlacquer)

I think that it turned out really nice. What do you think?

Overall, this collection gets a big thumps up from me. What do you think if these polishes? Will you be picking up any of these colors? If I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be Leslie for sure! The Zoya Delight Collection can be purchased on zoya.com where they retail for $9 a bottle. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Zoya Naturel Satins Collection

Posted on 3 February, 20152 February, 2015 by Cynthia

I can’t believe how much swatching I got done this weekend and now I have tons of stuff saved up to show you. I was in a swatching mindset and things were just going my way so that’s how I managed to get so much done. One of the collections that I swatched this weekend is the Zoya Naturel Satins Collection. To be perfectly honest, I was totally expecting to hate this one so hard because I just kind of hate dealing with most matte/satin collections because the formula on them ends up being a huge pain in the ass. Well, I know you are dying to hear what I thought (not), so let me show you my swatches before I get into it.

Zoya Tove

Zoya Sage

Zoya Rowan

Zoya Leah

Zoya Brittany

Zoya Ana

Ok, let m just say that I really like how these look. They are the perfect in between finish–everything that was promised. Surprisingly, the formula is not horrible but it’s not perfect either. For all of these I applied 1 regular coat and 1 thick coat to smooth everything out. The polish doesn’t set up lighting fast, so you have a little time to play with the polish, but it is also very easy to overwork it and get a super lumpfest. I findt he shades here very lovely and perfectly transitional as they were meant to be. I’m a little torn on these. I guess I can say that I don’t love them, but I don’t hate them either. If these had been regular cremes, I would have lost my marbles over them. I guess I can just top coat them, but I just don’t want to have to fiddle with the finicky formula. If I had to pick a favorite, I would go with Sage or Tove. Overall, I am pleasantly surprised with these and can recommend them if you don’t mind the formula and the finish. You can find these on Zoya.com where each polish retails for $9. What do you think about these? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Zoya Wishes Collection Holiday 2014

Posted on 3 November, 20142 November, 2014 by Cynthia

Hi! How was your weekend? Mine was way too short as usual, so here I am lamenting the start of another work week. I didn’t manage to get through my swatching pile so now I’ll have to do a few polishes every night to catch up–at least that’s what I always say and then get too lazy. I did manage to swatch the Zoya Wishes Collection for Holiday/Winter 2014. I was so looking forward to this collection because last year’s collection was a total winner in my book. How did this year’s offering fare? Let’s find out.

Zoya Prim

Zoya Haven

Zoya Willa

Zoya Imogen

Zoya Nori

Zoya Thea

Where to start? Well, it’s safe to say that I dislike this collection. It would be an understatement for me to say that I am OVER the super magical ultra super duper Pixie Dust formulation. They never dry down matte which is what I think would make them look a little more special. Thea and Nori are very pretty, but Imogen is kind of a snoozefest. Now for the other three…Prim, oh Prim! Metallic, frosty, brush strokes. Enough said. I didn’t care for Haven either because it’ kind of metallic as well, but it doesn’t show brustrokes like Prim. The color isn’t something that I’d go out of my way to wear again. Willa is a good basic black with a nice formula, but that’s about it. You guys know I really love Zoya, but this collection is just a miss for me with the exception of Thea and Nori. What do you guys think? Will you be picking up any of these shades? You can purchase these polishes for $9 each (or $10 for the Pixie Dusts) over at zoya.com. Thank you for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Stamping Saturdays #43

Posted on 1 November, 2014 by Cynthia

I’ve been super frustrated with my pictures lately which has made me not even want to swatch. I just hate how they are turning out lately and even though I take like 30 shots of each mani, I feel lucky if I even get one shot that I am mildly satisfied with. I don’t know if I’m being extra picky or if I’m just having a really bad run with my new camera. Anyway, today I am posting SUPER LATE for Stamping Saturdays even though I got this mani done late last night. Let me show you what I came up with.

Zoya Willa (press sample) is a full coverage black creme. Nothing fancy about this polish, but it is one of those nice staple polishes to keep in your arsenal.

For this design, I used plate Bundle Monster 308 and Color Club Halo-graphic. It stamps pretty well over black, and it looks really pretty in the sun.

So what do you think about this mani? Did you do anything fun for Halloween? I spent my evening with Peanut and taking him trick-or-treating. He was a cute little dragon as you can see below.

I can’t believe that he will be 1 year old next week! He is such a freaking cutie pie. Well, I hope you’re having a nice weekend, and I will talk to you soon.

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The Lacquer Ring – Inspired By Frosso

Posted on 23 October, 201422 October, 2014 by Cynthia

I had totally forgotten about today’s The Lacquer Ring post. I am such a spaz that I didn’t even realize that we are almost at the end of the month, so when Amy mentioned it last night, I had to scramble. At first I was going to pass on the post, but today we are posting manis inspired by Frosso. In case you don’t know her (duh!), she is the hands behind the now retired Lacquer Me Silly. Now, I am still refusing to acknowledge that she officially retired from blogging because she is one of the first bloggers I became friends with. It’s like the end of an era! She will still be around on IG so it’s not like she stopped liking nail polish, blogging just wasn’t a priority in her life anymore and I totally get that. There are days when I want to shut it all down because I think there are a million blogs out there that are better or have more followers or blah blah blah. But you know what? I am unique…uniquely crazy. There is no one out there like me so I will continue to hoard my polishes and hopefully entertain anyone who stops by. Since Frosso is the queen of gunmetal, I took out Zoya Marina. Is this considered gunmetal? Maybe. Kinda. It didn’t matter because I wanted to use it since it’s my mom’s namesake polish and I was thinking of calling her today to bug her for a recipe. Anyway, let me show you what I did for my mani.

This is three coats of Zoya Marina. It was a little thinner than I am used to with Zoya polishes, so I ended up applying three coats to cover up bald spots. This is almost frosty, but I think they color saves it for me. I was going to stop there because I was just going to keep it simple and classy, but I had to bling it up.

As an accent, I used OPI Muppets World Tour. I lurve this. Seriously. LOVE. I think it’s such a pretty glitter and it goes great with this color.

So what do you think about today’s mani? I know it’s simple, but I just really like it. Don’t forget to check the other manis linked below. Thanks for the visit, and I will talk to you soon!

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Zoya Matte Velvet Collection – Re-released!

Posted on 13 October, 201412 October, 2014 by Cynthia

I was a big fat swatching failure this weekend. I thought that I would have time to do a lot of swatching, but I ended up just being lazy and watching tons of movies. Hey, it was a relaxing weekend, sort of, so I guess it’s all cool. On Saturday I picked up my new camera and shed imaginary tears of frustration because I am a tech dunce and have been having a lot of issues trying to get all the settings just right. It’s not a complicated camera, but it’s complicated to me! So I’m sorry if my pictures look off or different–you let me know what you think. One of the collections that I did swatch is the Zoya Matte Velvet Collection because I had been looking forward to playing with the colors that I didn’t have and boy this collection does not disappoint. Don’t you hate it when companies discontinue colors that everyone wants? Well, now we don’t have to complain about not being able to get these beauties because the whole collection is being re-released! Woot! Let me show you just how gorgeous these polishes are.

Zoya Veruschka

Zoya Savita

Zoya Harlow

Zoya Posh

Zoya Loredana

Zoya Dovima

Sooooooo? Was I right? Aren’t these freaking gorgeous? I know that mattes aren’t for everyone, so you can definitely top coat them and transform them into shimmery gorgeousness. I prefer to leave them matte since that’s what’s special about them. The formula on all of these is pretty easy to work with if you just work quickly and don’t overwork the polish. For my swatches I used two coats of polish, and they all dried lightning quick. Which color is your favorite? I can’t make up my mind between Veruschka and Savita. This collection can be purchased on zoya.com for $9 each but they will only be available for a limited time so don’t drag your feet if you want them. You know how polish freaks roll and they will all disappear.

In celebration of this gorgeous collection, I am introducing a new rating system today to give you an overall idea as to how strong the polish boner is for each collection I review. The rating system will tell you how much my brain was thinking, “Shut up and take my money!” and is based on a scale of 1-4.

It should be no surprise that my final rating is:

You really nailed it with this re-release, Zoya.

Zoya Ultra PixieDust Collection Fall 2014

Posted on 22 September, 201421 September, 2014 by Cynthia

I think that for the first time I am uttering these words in a sincere manner: HAPPY MONDAY!! I am taking a couple of days off from work, and I am enjoying the crap out of them. Instead of doing nothing all day which is one of my favorite things to do (sleeping being another favorite), I am babysitting my little Peanut. He turned 10 months old and is now crawling and getting into EVERYTHING. I am planning on taking him to the mall for a ride on the carrousel and then maybe a trip to the toy store because his auntie loves to spoil him. Besides the Peanut/Auntie time, I don’t have much planned today. This weekend I did some swatching and a lot of Netflix watching–namely Sons of Anarchy. I am not up to season 4 but I kind of want to stretch it out because I don’t want it to end!!! I know this is the last season so I’m going to be sad. Well, one of the collections I swatches this weekend is the Zoya Ultra PixieDust Collection for Fall 2014. To be honest, I first thought that these polishes looked like Valentine’s Day threw up in my polish. They are all red…? Before I get into it any further, let me show you my swatches.

Zoya Oswin

Zoya Arianna

Zoya Noir

In the bottle, Arianna and Oswin look almost exactly alike. On the nail, they do look slightly different: Oswin is more red while Arianna leans more berry. They are both nice but they don’t make my heart skip a beat. Enter Noir…ahhhh, Noir. You are such a gorgeous, sexy bitch. I absolutely love the dark base on this polish. These polishes are supposed to dry super matte but only Oswin dried completely matte on me. Zoya did share a video about how to apply these. When I first saw the video I snickered because how many of us need a video in order to know how to apply polish? However, I now know why my polish didn’t dry completely matte:

After the first swatch, I used OPI’s Glitter Off which is why I think the polish didn’t dry completely matte. I also didn’t allow enough time in between the first and second coat. Matte or not, these are pretty. Am I all excited about this trio? Nope. The standout for me is Noir and I can’t wait to wear it again. To purchase these polishes, you can go to zoya.com where they retail for $10 each. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Zoya Ignite Collection Fall 2014

Posted on 19 August, 201418 August, 2014 by Cynthia

I am such a turd when it comes to scheduling posts. I actually stayed up late on Sunday writing up my post for Monday and accidentally scheduled it to post on Tuesday. hahaha. I guess I wasn’t paying attention to the date until I got home and realized my post hadn’t been published. I am being extra careful about this post because I don’t want a dum-dum repeat of yesterday. Yesterday I showed you my swatches of the Zoya Entice Collection so today I have the other half: the Zoya Ignite Collection. Ignite..IGNITE. They got that right because this collection is explosive. I am so surprised by how much I love this half of the collection because I usually prefer the cremes, but how can you resist these? You can’t. Don’t believe me? Let me show you what I’m talking about.

Zoya Remy

Zoya India

Zoya Yuna

Zoya Teigen

Zoya Sansa

Zoya Autumn

Seriously gorgeous on every level. Not only is this the most amazing collection of Fall shimmers that I have ever swatches, but the formula is out of this world. It is so easy to control and applies perfectly. You will need two coats for most of these if you want a completely opaque look. I had a hard time deciding which one was my favorite but I think I finally made my decision: Yuna, come to mama. I don’t think that I have anything quite like this and I just adore the unusual quality of it. Sansa is my second favorite because I just love that dark purple base and of course I’m pretending that it’s a whole Game Of Thrones reference. Don’t burst my bubble, ok?

You know you want these. You know you want them all. I’m just raving about these like a crazy polish hoarder, but I swear you will not be disappointed. I liked the creme half of the Fall collection, but I don’t need all those cremes. I do want, need and love these shimmers. You can purchase the Zoya Ignite Collection on zoya.com where they retail for $9 a bottle. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Zoya Entice Collection Fall 2014

Posted on 18 August, 201418 August, 2014 by Cynthia

Well, well…the Fall collections are out in full force and it’s still sweltering outside. To be honest, this Summer hasn’t been horrible for me which is surprising since I’m the queen of the summer haters. Even though I’ve been feeling kind of physically craptastic lately, a lot of good things have happened to me in the last month or so–namely good work stuff. I made a conscious decision not to talk/complain about work anymore on my blog because I felt that I was carrying around stress from my job all the time so writing about it made it feel even worse. I am not even sure if I mentioned that I left my old job and started a new one a few months ago. Well, it has been a huge change for me and I’m a million times happier because now I feel like I have a more balanced life where I don’t have to constantly stress about work and have a normal work schedule. Now that I’m getting used to my new routine, I think it’s about time that I start incorporating the gym into my life because I think that is going to make me feel better both mentally and physically. Now I just have to actually get started–isn’t the first step always the hardest? Yesterday I mentioned that a major swatchfest occurred this weekend and part of it included the Zoya Entice Collection (the Ignite Collection is coming tomorrow!). This half of the Zoya Fall 2014 Collection is full of yummy and traditional cremes which never disappoint. Let’s take a look at my swatches before I share my thoughts with you.

Zoya Genevieve

Zoya Ryan

Zoya Claire

Zoya Margo

Zoya Veronica

Zoya Nyssa

I had zero application issues with this collection. They are all very creamy and opaque 2 coat polishes. You may think that there isn’t anything super interesting about these polishes and part of me agrees with that, but you know that in my polish heart, I can’t resist a good creme. I love that these have a muted almost smokey feeling to them–especially Genevieve. Since that’s my grandmother’s name, it’s my favorite. My grandmother turned 100 this year and she’s currently not doing very well health-wise, but he is surrounded by family and they are taking good care of her. At first I thought that Ryan looked a lot like Cynthia (yay for my namesake!), but Cynthia is much darker. Out of the whole collection, I think Nyssa is the only one I didn’t like.

Are you ready for all the Fall colors? I quite enjoy the darker/richer colors that have been released lately. While I liked this half of the collection, I think that the second part really blew me away. I’ll have that review up tomorrow if you want to check in. You can purchase the Zoya Entice Collection on zoya.com where they retail for $9 a bottle. Let me know if you have a favorite. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Zoya Naturel Deux Collection

Posted on 17 August, 2014 by Cynthia

I’m really annoyed right now because I had all these plans to write up all my posts for the upcoming week today. Want to guess if that happened? Well, I made a mess today in the kitchen so I was in there all day cleaning stuff out and then I finished the last 6 episodes of Orange Is The New Black (OMG OMG OMG the van!!!!) Since I managed to swatch about 30 polishes Friday and Saturday, I am not behind on swatching but I am behind on editing photos and writing up my posts. Once I get home from work, I get so lazy about that stuff. One thing I’m going to try really hard to do, is plan my posts in advance so that I actually have time to not only respond to comments (I am being such a turd about this lately–I’m sorry!), but to also visit and comment on all my favorite blogs. One of the collections that I finally swatched is the Zoya Naturel Deux Collection which I will be showing you today. I realize you’ve probably already seen a billion swatches of this collection, but maybe not so much on girls with my darker skin tone. Let’s take a look at my swatches…

Zoya Madeline

Zoya Aubrey

Zoya Marnie

Zoya Spencer

Zoya Chanelle

Zoya Emilia

I don’t know if I really love these. I mean, on me. The colors are really nice and of course the formula on all of them is spectacular which is something I can count on when it comes to Zoya’s opaque cremes. Out of all of these, Spencer and Madeline are my two favorites and will totally be using them to death. I don’t know if it’s the two browns that are throwing me off, but I just don’t feel like I enjoyed this collection as much. I think that maybe I’m just still in a very summery bright polish mindset so this was kind of a shock to my system even though this was meant to be a transitional collection. I’m just all over the place today, huh? Still, if you’re looking for creamy, glossy and opaque cremes, you can’t go wrong with this collection. All of my swatches show 2 coats of polish and 1 coat of Seche.

So what do you think about this collection? Did you get any of these polishes? They are available now at zoya.com and retail for $9 each. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you had a nice weekend.