Zoya Carly

I'm slowly but surely getting swatches of the Zoyas I own posted. I figure they'll come in handy when Zoya is having its next promo - which I'm sure is just around the corner. Plus, if you're anything like me, you'll be ordering a ton of Zoyas during the Earth Day promo!

Look at the foily goodness! The silver looks prominent in the bottle but it's a perfect foil on the nail, so don't worry about your bottle being unmixed.

This pic does not do Carly justice!

Slightly better, but nowhere near as beautiful as it is in real life.

Ok, I tried. Carly is a plum colored foil that is opaque in one coat if you do thick coats, but I tend to do thin coats, especially with Zoyas, so this is two thin coats. No topcoat here, and it still dried shiny. Is Zoya awesome or what? This is like the foil version of Zoya Keiko, just darker. Keiko and Carly would look good together...perhaps in a tape mani? 

Happy Polishing,

Janelle

Nail Art Say What?

I apologize in advance for the quality of these pictures! My camera was on the wrong setting (for some strange reason) and these pictures came out grainy and I didn't realize until after the design was removed from my nails. I plan to have more nail art on the blog in the future, so I will make sure the settings on my camera are right before photographing next time. =)

So, Valentine's Day is coming up and I figured it was a good excuse to do some nail art! I started out with a base of Zoya Pippa on my nails and my accent nail was one coat of Deborah Lippmann Ray of Light over 2 coats of Color Club In The Limelight (a supposed dupe for DL I Know What Boys Like). The hearts were drawn with acrylic paint and then topped with topcoat. Pippa had a decent formula, a little streaky, but if you let it dry a little between coats, it evens itself out. It was very strange. I used 3 coats here but it was fine with 2 to the naked eye.

I really wish I had better quality pics to show you. Well, that's all for today, have a wonderful weekend and since it's a three-day weekend for me, I'll see you all on Tuesday! 

Happy Polishing (and MLK day!),

Janelle

So Many Photos, So Little Time...

I couldn't decide what to post today, I figured I'd show you the gross swatches now and the nice ones later. I feel like I've been showing a lot of work-appropriate polish here lately, so why break that streak? I promise I'll have something brightly colored later on this week! I have no idea why I took so few photos, so hopefully, you get the gist of this polish - Zoya Erika.

Erika is a light pink with gold shimmer that sort of looks green at certain angles. It's like the pink version of Zoya Gaia! This photo is a little too pale but the bottom two are more accurate. I've shown it at two coats in all the photos. There is VNL at 2 coats but I liked how it looked. If you would like to build it up more, I believe it was opaque in 4 coats the first time I wore it.

I love gold shimmer....sigh....

Very work-appropriate, and not boring at all! And I'm sure you could use it for jelly sandwiches! It's very versatile!

Hope you like pink polish, because I've got another one for you tomorrow!

Happy Polishing,

Janelle

Zoya Happi

It's the last day of 2012! Hurrah! Today I'm showing you a polish I lusted after for a while, bought during Earth Day, and didn't wear until November. But goodness gracious, it is gorgeous! I'm talking about Zoya Happi!

I'm drooling over this macro of the bottle! Happi is a gorgeous medium pink with tons of gold/green shifting shimmer. It's kind of  an everyday duochrome!

This is how the pink looks when you can't see the shimmer. It's a very pretty color, but the shimmer is what really makes it stand out.

And here, the shimmer is coming out!

When the shimmer is more prominent, the color looks more coral because of the golden tones. Ugh...so pretty!

I know it looks a little brushstrokey, but I promise it's not! It's just the shimmer and the way I polished my nails. If you polish straighter than me, you won't have any issues.

Oh yeah, I used 4 thin coats here because it is kinda sheer, but so are most duochromes. Here you can see the shimmer shifting to green on my middle finger. It's a lot more noticeable in real life.

I think that was enough pic spamming of one polish for today! I'll see you tomorrow with an extra special polish for New Year's!! Hope you ring in 2013 with a bang!

Happy 2013,

J

Zoya Midori

I meant to use this polish a long time ago, I really did. I just got caught up with other polishes. After all, I do have over 800 polishes in my stash...I really need to destash. I wore Midori with accent nails of Cult Nails Nevermore, my all time favorite black. It dries so shiny and it's so sexy! Seriously, as pretty as Midori is, I couldn't stop staring at my nails that had Nevermore on them.

Both polishes together.

The deliciousness that is Midori! Look at that gold shimmer!

As if you weren't already drooling over this polish...

Check out the clean gap on my black nail! Ok...back to the polish now.

Golden shimmer....ermahgerd!!!

Ignore the weird tipwear and just enjoy the polish.

I used 2 coats of each polish. Nevermore was almost opaque in one coat, but I lean towards really thin coats, so I did 2 even though some nails didn't require 2 coats. If you usually do medium or thick coats, you won't need more than one coat. Midori is a 2 coater, but I flubbed up my index finger so I did 3 coats on that nail. Both polishes are topped off with one coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast. I hardly had to do any cleanup, and I highly recommend both polishes for their phenomenal formulas.

Happy Polishing,

J

Zoya Nidhi

Happy Voting Day! Hope you're heading out to the polls and exercising  your right to vote! It just so happened that I painted my nails red, so it worked out perfectly for today's post. I bring you Zoya Nidhi, which is a gorgeous glass-flecked red that only took 2 coats for full opacity. I have a feeling that if your nails are longer though, you may need 3 coats. Enough blabbering from me, pictures!

That is one delicious bottle shot, if I say so myself.

I know you wanted to see this macro...look at those flecks!

Of course, I wouldn't be able to capture the pink flecks on my nails.

It's ironic that I could see the pink flecks the most on my nails, but the camera only captured the gold flecks. I think the flecks are color-shifting (duochrome) though.

Ok, that's enough pics for now, so I hope you enjoyed this, and if you're a fan of red polish, Nidhi is a must-have! It's gorgeous!

Happy Polishing,

J

Delicate Elegance

I love the combo I'm wearing today. I could wear it forever...and that's saying a lot. I have an entirely full Helmer with overflow into 2 Melmer drawers...and one Helmer drawer is entirely dedicated to indies! So today's combo is seriously that beautiful, although I'm sure you wouldn't be able to see all the beauty just from my pics. Enough blabbering from me, you want to know what's on my nails! The pics are 2 coats of Zoya Avery, one coat of Sonnetarium Snowfall, a coat of Glitter Food from Nail Pattern Boldness, all topped with Cult Nails Wicked Fast. It came out a tad thick for my liking, especially since I had to file my nails down to complete nubbins, but I still love it!

Hope you like this combo as much as I do! And apologies for the shoddy cleanup...I did this at work this morning at about 4 AM...before I managed to get sick.

J

Apologetic Rainbow

So I really wasn't planning on posting today, but since I made a boo-boo this morning, I figured I'd oblige you guys with a post. Just be aware, these are really terrible pictures from last summer, taken under indoor light, and I have some chips. Ok, here we go:

I don't really remember what polishes I used, but I know the yellow is by Diamond Cosmetics, the peach is Barielle Blossom, the pink is by OPI, the red is Wet n Wild Red Red, the blue is from the LA Girl Color Addict Line (possibly Idol?), the green is Zoya Apple, and the holo glitter is Covergirl City Lights. I have no idea what brand or color purple I used. Hope you enjoyed!

Happy Polishing,

J

Zoya Kieko

It's been a week filled with Zoyas, but I'm sure you guys don't mind. Today I bring you one of my favorites, Zoya Kieko. This polish is seriously sexy. I put it on and couldn't stop staring at my hands because it was so pretty! Kieko is a red-toned purple creme, and I'm in love with it. Pics are 3 thin coats, no topcoat.

I hope you enjoyed Kieko, because I most certainly did. And if you don't own it, get thee to the Zoya Website and order it now!

Happy Polishing,

J

Zoya Perrie

Good morning, and yes, I'm writing this at 5 AM California time because I'm at work right now. I hate morning shifts...but at least I got enough sleep last night. Today I'm showing you Zoya Perrie, and sorry for the grainy pics, but at least I got the color down...I'm pretty proud of that. I would describe this color as a lavender of medium intensity, it's not too pastel. And it's super pretty. I used 3 thin coats and no topcoat in the pics - and it dries quickly like the other cremes I've tried from Zoya.

I promise it's not streaky in real life, I just didn't have enough polish on the brush when I painted my pinky.

I think the pics have said it all, so I bid you adieu!

J

Zoya Zara

Hello ladies...imagine me saying that in Demitri Martin's voice. If you don't know who that is, google his Jokes with Guitar routine. I'm pretty sure you'll love it. Anywho, I bring another Zoya purple to you today, but today it's not a creme! Zoya Zara was on my wishlist for a while and I bought it during the Zoya Earth Day Exchange Promo this year! It is on the sheer side, but I noticed that's common for Zoya polishes with this finish. The formula is really thin, and a little runny to me, so be careful not to flood your cuticles. It took me three coats to get to opacity, but if you have longer nails, you may need 4 or more. No topcoat in the pics below.

No idea why my camera made it appear to have bald patched on my ring and pinky nails. I told you guys the polish was sheer! 

Shimmah!!!!

I'm a sucker for anything with gold shimmer, so of course I love this polish, regardless of how thin it may be!

Happy Polishing,

J

Zoya Mira

Purple, purple, why did I not own more of you before? I realized that purples look freakin boss on me this weekend! Zoya Mira is an awesome medium purple that definitely comes from the bluer side, but it's awesome! I think blue-based colors, especially red lipstick, look better on me anyway! Ok, enough of me rambling, I'll just post some pics for you guys to see. And my camera did a totally awesome job at picking up the color pretty accurately...I gotta test out some neons with it soon! The pics are 3 thin coats of Zoya Mira. Those of you who prefer thicker coats will only need two! And I did absolutely no cleanup here!

One more crazy comment, but I noticed that Zoya cremes tend to dry slightly darker than their bottle color. Not that it bothers me, I just thought you guys might like to know. And I'm totally getting used to my nails being short! They're even kinda cute to me now!

Happy Polishing,

J