Zoya - Skylar

Hi everyone! First things first: IT'S SUMMER. I'm very excited obviously. Still waiting to see how my class grades end up, but for now I'm just enjoying my freedom. Hopefully with all this free time I'll be able to post more frequently.

Zoya Skylar is a nice subdued blue that reminds me of faded denim. It's deep but still soft and gentle and is flecked with an interesting sort of shimmer that isn't really in the polish but more on top of it.. honestly, it reminds me of hard water spotting, haha. It's pretty though. The formula was pretty good, only two coats, but you can see that I had some tiny thin patches on my index finger. I'm not going to complain though.

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Zoya - Adina

Hello everyone! Today's polish is a definite oddball.. in a good way. I've never seen anything like it! After wearing such a traditional color like my last post, you know I had to put on something a little wild. :) Adina definitely fits the bill! It's a super-flashy purple/green duochrome that makes me think of space and beetles and those really cool custom cars with duochrome paint. The purple base is a little more reddish than it shows here but the green is just about spot on! It looks so cool in both bright sun and low light. Since it's a duochrome, the formula is a little thinner but no problem at all. This was three quick coats. I bet it would look awesome over black! Please excuse the tipwear, I apparently had a bit of shrinking with this.

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Zoya - Sarah

Hello everyone! Here's a little surprise for you.. a red! I've spoken before about how infrequently I wear reds. It's not that I don't like the color, there are just so few that catch my eye. Sarah definitely did, though. I got this when Zoya had their Valentine's Day promotion this year where you got a free red polish and free shipping with any order. They're one of my favorite companies so I knew I'd find a great red.

Sarah is a multifaceted red, full of subtle color changes that make it a joy to look at in all lights. It's especially vibrant in sunlight, though! You can see the sparkle and liveliness on my middle nail and a hint at how it looks in indoor light on my pinky nail. There's also a subtle golden flash that emerges sometimes in bright light. The formula was superb, very smooth and easy. I only needed 2 coats. Just be careful with your application and cleanup! It's so pigmented that you can have a tiny bit of staining and some of the sparkle might stick on your skin after you go over it with your cleanup brush.

I think I'm going to stay at this shorter length for a while. I do miss having my long nails but this is more manageable for sure!

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Zoya - Kiki

Hello everyone! First of all, I hope that if you're celebrating Halloween today that you have a fun day. I'm not doing anything for the holiday, unfortunately. But I am bringing you a great swatch today! Zoya Kiki is a very bright pink full of blue shimmer, almost bright enough to be a neon. I felt like wearing something eye catching and this sure fits the bill! The only downside is that it is somewhat sheer, being shown here at 3 coats with some nail visible. However, I do very thin coats so perhaps you other ladies with long nails might have better luck. Overall this is a really nice polish for when you want a pop of pink with a cool twist. :)

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Unfortunately, this is the last you'll see of my long nails for a little while. I had a very severe break earlier in the week on my right hand that went into my nail bed and even after I repaired it, it was fragile enough to require me cutting it and the rest of my nails down to nubbins. I hope you'll stick around with me while I grow them back out.

In happier news, thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway! I'll be posting the winner later in the week. :)

Zoya - Marley

Hello everyone! Today's polish is a story of lessons learned. I first got Marley as part of Zoya's International Women's Day Promotion in March. The promotion was for the entire Intimate collection for $25 with free shipping! I loved all the colors so I bought it. When I first tried Marley, though, I was disappointed. It was thick and streaky and just didn't want to play well. I figured it was due to it being a pastel, shrugged, and sent it off to swap. Then I heard of thinner. After buying a bottle for some old, thick polishes I bought and seeing how it revived them, I realized that I could use it to thin uncooperative polishes like Marley! So I went on the hunt to try and get Marley back. I ended up finding a nice swapper on MakeupAlley that sent me a bottle. I thinned it well and waited. This time around, Marley was MUCH better. It applied smoothly in two coats with no problems. It's a light, dusty lavender color with very subtle silver shimmer that gives it a pearlescent look. I'm very, very happy I was able to learn my lesson about taming difficult polishes and keep Marley in my collection.

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Zoya - Edyta

Hello everyone! As I mentioned earlier in the month, I'm trying to post one green polish a week to promote depression awareness in the month of October. I have Zoya Edyta for you today, a great smoky green that's perfect for fall. The photo I have here is unfortunately not the best but it's been terribly cloudy here lately. I may get an Ott-Lite for indoor swatching soon. Edyta is a deep forest green that's full of greenish-gold shimmer. It makes me think of big, lush, old forests. I know this was really popular last year when it was released and I can see why! It went on very smoothly in just two coats. Zoya continues to be one of my favorite brands for putting out great colors like this.

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Zoya - Zara

Hi everyone! I'm trying to get back on a twice a week update schedule so here's hoping. Today's polish is one of my new favorites! Zara is a milky purple full of gorgeous golden shimmer that just glows in the light. It's a really cool combination and I fell in love with it right away. I haven't counted but I think I have more Zoyas than any other brand, simply because they make a great variety of shades and always seem to be having some sort of sale or promotion. The formula on this was good, slightly thinner than I expected. It needed 3 coats but went on really smoothly.

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And just so you all know, I haven't forgotten about the giveaway! I'm currently at 51 followers so it will be going up soon. :)

Zoya - Penny

Hi everyone! I'm sorry I wasn't on time with this update, Florida's weather is still finicky. I may get an Ott-Lite if this keeps up. I apologize in advance if these pictures aren't the best, I took them in fluorescent light and had to adjust them quite a bit. I just wanted to give you an idea of it. Honestly, the best swatch you could see of Penny is, well, a nice new copper penny! It really does look like your nails are covered in shiny copper, it's a great effect. Since it's metallic, it does have some brushstrokes, but it's nothing terrible. It covered evenly in two coats. I got this from Zoya's recent buy one get two free promo. The other colors I got were Shay and Zara, so expect to see those up in the near future.

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Zoya - Rica

Hi everyone! After the quick foray into Fall from my last post, I'm bringing it back to Summer today. It's still plenty hot and bright here in the Sunshine State, after all. :) Rica is from the recent Sunshine collection to which Faye also belongs. Both are great, sparkly shades for whenever you need a little sparkle in your life. Rica really screams Summer to me, though. It has a juicy coral pink base full of golden shimmer that is almost blinding in the sunlight. Zoya always does an amazing job with these glass-fleck type finishes. It does take 3 coats to become opaque but it's for the best, thin coats mean the sparkle comes out better in my experience. I'm trying to swap for the rest of the Sunshine collection, I want them all!

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Zoya - Faye

Hello everyone! Here's another swatch for you. This polish should have gone up the other day but I just couldn't get enough sunshine to show it off properly until now. Faye is a new summer release from Zoya and it is GOOOORGEOUS. So sparkly! It's a pretty grape-ish purple base loaded with gold flecks of shimmer. Zoya always does these kinds of finishes the best. It went on really nicely in 3 coats and is perfect for summer because it has to be seen in the sun to be fully appreciated. Sometimes I'm wary of micro-glittery polishes like these because they can be tough to remove but Faye came off easily with my normal non-acetone remover. It did leave my fingers covered in gold glitter though, but that can be washed off.

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A look at the base color.

Zoya - Harley

 Hey, look at that, I'm on time! Harley is a real winner and I love it so very much. I wanted a nice neutral but something cool so I grabbed Harley.. with a little trepidation. I tried out Marley from Zoya a few weeks ago and took it off almost immediately because it was streaky and dragging and just applied like a mess. It's similar to Harley in that they're both light colors with shimmer so I was concerned about how Harley would behave. So before the polish even touched my nails, I thinned the heck out of it! It applied PERFECTLY. Smooth, even, pigmented, no dragging, no problems. 2 quick coats and I'm done. It's not just grey, either. The shimmer seems to be a mix of silver and teeny bits of pink and blue that make it pull ever so sliiiiightly lavender. It's like pretty shimmery fresh concrete to me and I'm a big fan.

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Zoya - Kelly

Kelly was a huge hit last year, showing up nearly everywhere as a big fall color. So what do I do? Put it on in the middle of a standard Florida June summer, duh. :) I've never been a traditionalist and I don't plan on starting now. I wanted something neutral and dark but not black, so I reached for Kelly. I am very, very pleased with it! Highly pigmented and went on in two easy coats. It's a deep grey with a definite blue hint in the base. In the shade it even looked like a straight up dusty deep blue but in the sun you see that it's genuinely grey.

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How do you feel about wearing dark colors in the summer or bright colors in the winter? Do you stick to the general rules or do what you feel like?

Space Nails!

So if you've been paying attention to the US space program lately, you'd know that yesterday was the attempted launch of STS-134, Endeavour's last flight. I was there! Unfortunately the launch was canceled due to some mechanical problems, but I'm hoping I can make whatever the rescheduled flight date will be. In my excitement for the launch I did these space-themed nails. I started with 2 coats of Zoya Raven (black with faint silver shimmer), then used 1 coat of Nicole by OPI Let's Get Star-ted (clear base with big holo glitter and purple stars), 1 coat of Nicole by OPI Pitch-Black Glimmer (black glitter with micro silver and holo glitter) and 1 coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust (clear base with holo glitter). I wanted something shimmery with depth that represented the tons and tons of stars in the sky and I think I got it! If I were to do it again I wouldn't use the Fairy Dust, it adds a little too much rainbow to it and obscures the stars more than I'd like.

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Zoya - Jules

Today's polish is another selection from Zoya's Intimate collection for this spring. Jules is really something else! It's a soft warm grey beige packed with gold shimmer. There's even the tiniest hints of pink and green shimmer in there which isn't obvious unless you catch it in the light. I've honestly never seen a color like this before and I just really, really love it. It makes me think of the color of wood that's been left outside and sun-bleached, that soft grey with a touch of brown. This was two coats.

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Zoya - Blair

So I know I wear a lot of blues and greens. Today I have a very rare appearance of a red polish! I'm not generally a red polish girl but sometimes I'm in the mood. Zoya Blair is a cousin to Zoya Suvi in that both have a smoky, blackened base. This makes Blair a beautiful, deep garnet color with great shimmer and depth. It's very vampy but still a classic. It only needed two coats and that's always a plus.

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Zoya - Dannii

Hello all! I've got a nice, current swatch for you today. Dannii is a polish from Zoya's recently released spring collection called Intimate. I got the whole collection and decided to start with this pretty, sparkly purple. It went on great in 3 coats, but if you were more careful you could do two. The shimmer is a mixture of pink and a sort of champagne or beige, it really gives Dannii depth. 

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Bejeweled

This is somewhat of a swatch, but more like me playing around. I've been thinking about ruffian/moon/reverse French manicures a lot lately (more info here) and decided to do one with my existing Zoya Happi manicure. To do this, I placed adhesive French tip guides on my nails to give the black a nice clean line. Then I added my first coat of Zoya Raven, a beautiful inky black with subtle silver shimmer. It's very important to remove the tip guide immediately after painting this first coat. If you remove it when it's dry, it can ruin the polish! After that dried, I carefully painted on a second coat of Raven and I was done!. But that wasn't enough, oh no.. I had these Cina nail art decals (available at Sally Beauty) that are essentially rhinestones on a sticky back. I stuck them along the black line, smothered the whole nail in top coat to help the decals stay on longer, and presto! They're kind of edgy princess nails, I think. 

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Zoya - Happi

Hello there! I have another fun polish for you today. I noticed I've been leaning towards these iridescent colors lately, they're so pretty and fun. Zoya Happi is a light sort of blush pink with an amazing yellow-gold iridescence to it. It really just flashes and glimmers in the sun. The effect almost reminds me of mother of pearl or a pretty beetle wing. Even in low light you can see the yellow sheen on the pink, it's really very pretty. This is 4 thin coats. I could likely have done 3 and been okay but I hate having my nail line visible, even a tiny bit! 

I also want to say hello to all my new followers! Thank you so much for joining my little blog. I'm hoping to have a giveaway when I hit 50 followers. Please don't hesitate to comment or email me, I'd love to hear from you.

Zoya Get Your Green On Promo

Hey! I'm hoping to have a new swatch up tomorrow, sorry for the silence. Busy busy week. Anyways, wanted to let you know about Zoya's Get Your Green On promo, running until March 7th. I HIGHLY recommend taking advantage of this if you like greens, I own both Ivanka (the glittery green) and Suvi (the blackened emerald green) and can't praise them highly enough. A note: Zoya always gets slammed with orders during their promotions and it may take your order quite a while to be shipped, but I think the savings are worth it. :) Click here for the promo item page. Add it to your cart and you're good to go! This offer doesn't include free shipping but it's still a good deal.

UPDATE: According to Zoya, this promotion is now sold out!