Free beauty tips: Zoya

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Jack O'Lantern Nails

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

It was time for a color change, so today I did another Halloween manicure since I might not have a chance to change it tomorrow. Since I haven't done the obligatory black and orange combination yet, I figured I'd do that today with the jack o'lantern pattern from nail stamping plate D03, one of the two Halloween D-Series plates.

I wanted a bright orange, and for that I chose Zoya Paz. It took three coats, and I thought I'd extend the theme and cut the stamping by 60% by alternating nails between Paz and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out, the two coat black creme that was nearest Paz when I was gathering supplies for this manicure. After allowing the base colors to dry, I stamped Paz with the Jack O'Lantern face in Konad Black Pearl. I'd planned on stamping some additional Halloween patterns on the black, but after placing the first one on my pinky I thought the better of it and removed the stamp (this is the rare occasion when the decision that less is more was made at the front end of a manicure...). I sealed the stamping and shined up the manicure with Sally Hansen Salon Speed Shine and called it finished. Here are my Jack O'Lantern nails.

Jack O'Lantern Nails with Stamping Plate D03

This is probably my favorite of this year's Halloween manicures. It really doesn't leave open any questions about what the intent is!

That's another Halloween manicure and all I have for today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Zoya Gems and Jewels Swatches

Good evening, Dear Reader!

What I have on tap for you tonight is swatches of Zoya's Holiday 2011 release, the Gems and Jewels Collection, which Zoya sent for review. It's six polishes total, three shimmers and three glitters (which they call "glitter glazes"), and although Zoya suggests various layering options, I figured I'd show you swatches of each of the six at two coats so you have an idea of what each looks like before getting into any layering. I used artificial light for today's pictures because there's no sunlight, which is never my favorite but sometimes shows glitters a little better by not washing them out.

I'll start with glitters, and with generalities about all three in the collection. They're all a clear base with colored glitter of two types, powdery-fine regular glitter and particularly small bar (stringy) glitter. I'm really picky about bar glitter, and this is a good one because it is so small - there are no giant stringy bits anywhere. All three provided good coverage at two coats, and with glitters like this I use slow brush strokes on the first coat to avoid essentially wiping off all the glitter as I go. Since these are swatches and I have not worn any as a full manicure, I don't know how much top coat they'll need, but it doesn't seem like it would be a lot with how fine the glitter is. The dry time looks promising as well, and I'll let you know for sure when I wear them.

Kissy might be my favorite of all here. It's a kind of fuchsia bright pink glitter with holo-y bar glitter.

Zoya Kissy Nail Polish, Two Coats

Twila is a striking vivid blue glitter with matching bar glitter.

Zoya Twila Nail Polish, Two Coats

Rina is a bright evergreen glitter with matching-but-reflective bar glitter.

Zoya Rina Nail Polish, Two Coats

I think these are great holiday glitters - they bring to mind throwing glitter and streamers at a party. I don't think they'll be of the sandblaster removal variety either, because of how fine the glitter is - I find that the size of glitter tends to make a pretty big difference in how tough it is to take off, but again, I'll confirm that after I wear one for real.

That brings us to the three shimmers, which are also quite good. All three were completely opaque and even in two coats, were super easy to apply, and they're full of the kind of shimmer I expect Zoyas to have, where it's strong but not too out there.

Noel is a good kind of silvery blue.

Zoya Noel Nail Polish, Two Coats

Holly is the epitome of a holiday green.

Zoya Holly Nail Polish, Two Coats

Izzy is a hot pink glowy shimmer. I'm kind of hoping bright pink takes off as a permanent holiday color (in general, not just for nail polish!).

Zoya Izzy Nail Polish, Two Coats

I really like each one of these quite a bit individually, and all together I think they make a very cool holiday collection. If there's only one in your budget, my vote goes for Kissy - it's a New Year's Eve party in a bottle!

Those are my Zoya Gems and Jewels swatches and all I have for you today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Blue , Fuchsia , Glitter , green , nail polish , Pink , Zoya , Zoya Gems and Jewels

Zoya Fire & Ice Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Zoya sent me samples of their Fire & Ice Collection for Holiday 2010 for review, and I have swatches of them for you. There are six shades in the collection, all of which were just fine to apply, all good in two coats. I took the pictures in the sun, and they're just in alphabetical order.

Crystal is a foily blue with gold bits, a really cool winter blue.

Zoya Crystal Nail Polish, Two Coats

Gloria is a very warm rose pink foil with gold.

Zoya Gloria Nail Polish, Two Coats

Lisa is a very bright, slightly pinkish red that has the sort of sparkly finish we've seen a good bit of lately.

Zoya Lisa Nail Polish, Two Coats

Sarah is also red, a bit deeper and cooler than Lisa. Note: Thre press release calls this Sarah, the label says Sara.

Zoya Sarah Nail Polish, Two Coats

Tiffany is a peachy foil, and although I normally shy away from peach, I really like it with this finish.

Zoya Tiffany Nail Polish, Two Coats

The last one, Valerie, is a great sparkly wine shade. I haven't been able to compare them yet, but I think it's similar to Nubar Vino.

Zoya Valerie Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's Zoya's Fire & Ice Collection, which is available today. I'm quite a fan of them - I really like the colors, the finishes, and how they work together, and the polishes are easy to work with. There's nothing I would call a dud in this collection.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader. Until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Blue , nail polish , Peach , purple , red , Zoya

Zoya Reveals "Spooning"

Zoya has come up with a revolutionary way to "try before you buy" at virtually no cost to you! Read about their new idea which allows you to purchase "spoons", or nail polish sample swatches at a minimal cost, which will be credited to your account for future polish and product purchases. The shipping is free on spoons, so it's a great way to "see" the color before you buy it.

Zoya Nail Polish wants to Spoon with you!

Do you REALLY love nail polish? Have you ever purchased a color online or from a color chart only to find that it doesn’t match the picture? Have you always wanted to be able to try on nail polish the way you do clothing?

Well, what if you could see EXACTLY how any Zoya color would look on YOU before you buy it? What if you could make sure you ALWAYS get your perfect pink? Or perfect red. Or purple! ANY color! Any shade, EVERY TIME! Well now you can...

Zoya presents a new way to shop for nail color - The Zoya Color Spoon!

Every incredible Zoya nail color made will now be available as a spoon so you can try it before you buy it! This is a revolution for the online nail polish consumer and salon and spa buyers alike who previously only had online color representations or printed color charts as a guide. Never before have you been able to try so much color for so little money out of pocket. This is same Zoya color that comes in the bottle poured into small nail shaped wells to create a tester color spoon - you can see every subtle detail of the color and hold it up to your nail to see exactly how it will look. Plus, the amount you pay for the spoons will be added to your account in the form of code that will be available for use on a future Zoya purchase and BONUS Zoya will ship the spoons to you at no charge. “It’s amazing that we will be able to do this for our customers - there really is nothing else like it in the nail polish market today” stated Leo Reyzis, VP of Marketing at Zoya.

So quit the color guessing game when purchasing nail color online and try any one of Zoya’s over 300 formaldehyde, toluene, dibutyl phthalate and camphor free, vegan friendly shades. Now you can be sure that the color you try is the exact same color you buy!

See it - Try it - Buy it!

Zoya Nail Spoons - $0.50 ea. (free shipping on all spoons - value of spoon(s) will be added to your account for a future zoya.com purchase).

Zoya Nail Spoons will be available at www.zoya.com starting September 1, 2010.

Here’s how it works...

Simply visit http://www.zoya.com/, select a color(s) to try, click on the coordinating Zoya Color Spoon option in the product ordering area to add the color spoon to your shopping cart. Order as many as you would like. After your order has been approved and processed, zoya.com will ship your selected color spoons out for you to try and email you a confirmation along with your spoon value code (code will also be available under the “my account” section of www.zoya.com so you never have to worry about losing it).*

* All Zoya Color Spoon sales are final. One time personalized spoon value code. Zoya Color Spoon value code can be applied to any polish or treatment item at www.zoya.com. Code cannot be used to purchase additional spoons.

Posted in Zoya

NOTD: Zoya Posh & Trying To Contain My Excitement Over Their New Mattes!

Above & Below: Zoya Posh is shown above indoors, with flash. Below photos are outdoors, no flash.

Below: Zoya Posh with Color Club's Milky White Base Coat used as a top coat. The texture is really brought to life and I love it both matte and shiny. The first picture is indoors, no flash, the second is indoors, with flash.

Above & Below: Zoya Posh finish alternatives, close up.

Below: In anticipation of their upcoming release, I used a Franken color I mixed up with a matte top coat. I cannot contain my excitement over their new collection, so I'll make due with this until I can have the real thing! This is 2 coats of my Franken and 1 coat of matte top coat. Theirs will allow me to do just one coat and achieve a similar look.

As most of you have probably heard, Zoya is taking pre-orders (September 15 ship date) for their new Matte Velvet Winter Collection. There are 3 shades in this collection, a gray, a rose, and an evergreen, all shimmers. I am excited to see these and I can't wait for their release. The evergreen is the one I'm most excited about, because simply put, I love greens. I don't have any matte polishes other than their Matte Velvet collection, which I love. These apply so nicely and I've only used one coat every time I've used them. They are very versatile, because when I put a top coat (or a base coat, in my case...I use Color Club's Milky White Base Coat as a top coat, on occasion) on them, the bit of shimmer, which actually adds a look of texture, comes to life. I do use a matte top coat quite a bit to achieve my matte look, but I love the application of Zoya's mattes, so I'll be adding these to my collection every time they come out with more. I would love to see them come out with a dusty, medium to dark teal shimmer matte.

Check out their blog for more information on this new collection and also on their latest Twitter offering. Starting next week, they'll be giving away 50 of their Color Lock Systems to 10 'Twitterers' every day. That's 50 winners! I have and love the Color Lock system, so if you've been wanting to try it, follow them on Twitter and you could be a winner! They are planning a price increase on their polishes (a $1.00 increase) in October, just to let you know.

Posted in Green , Matte or Matte Top Coat , Red , Zoya

Zoya Wonderful Part II: Burke, Stacy & Kelly

The rest of the Zoya Wonderful Collection for Fall 2010! I used 2 coats on these as I did on the first three I showed you earlier today, with the exception of Stacy, which was three coats.

Below: Burke is a sienna red creme that is a slightly toned-down classic red shade. We live in an area with a lot of farms out in the country, and for some reason this reminded me of the color of a slightly faded red barn. That's kind of an odd comparison, but that's what I thought of!

Below: Stacy is described by Zoya as a mahogany red cream. I'll take that description and add to it by also calling it a vampy, rich, delicious, ultra-shiny, deep burgundy with purple under tones and a near jelly-like finish. But for the sake of limited space on a press release, I guess you could call it a mahogany red cream!

Below: Kelly is a darker stormy grey creme that has deep lavender and slate blue tones to it. This is an unusual shade of grey, and unusual is a very good thing in this case. You can see the various ribbons of color in the bottle.

The Wonderful Collection has a nice assortment of colors for Fall, and the application on all of these was excellent. I opted to go with three coats on Stacy because I had a bit of streaking that the second coat didn't quite cover. I generally prefer using two coats whenever possible, but the third coat added a much deeper dimension to this particular shade. I don't mind going with an extra coat one bit if it's going to turn out looking that nice!

*Products featured were provided by the manufacturer or PR firm for review.

Posted in Burgundy , Creme , Fall 2010 Collections , Jelly Finish , Red , Silver/Grey , Zoya

Zoya Wonderful Part I: Shawn, Cola & Kristi

Zoya offers 6 creme shades in their Fall 2010 Wonderful Collection which are available now on their web site. All three of the shades I'm showing you covered very nicely using 2 coats. Photos were all taken indoors using an Ott lamp.

Below: First up is Shawn, a solid olive green shade as a general description, or a myrtle green as described by Zoya. This applied a little darker on the nail than it appears in the bottle, but I'm not complaining. It's still green!

Below: Cola is a rich russet or chestnut brown shade that appears to have fewer red undertones in darker lighting.

Below: Kristi, a gorgeous red described as a crimson shade by Zoya, gets added to my list of perfect red cremes.

I love Shawn and Kristi, but I don't think Cola gets along with my skin tone as well as I would have liked it to. The application on all of these was nothing short of excellent. They're very opaque, and even though I had a few spots after the first coat that were fairly sparse, the second coat perfected them. These also have an extremely high gloss finish.

*Products featured were furnished by the PR firm or manufacturer for review.

Posted in Brown , Creme , Fall 2010 Collections , Green , Red , Zoya

Zoya Anja

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm still working my way through the Zoya Smoke Collection, today with Anja. While I was at it I removed that fake tip I've been wearing, which meant losing more length than I care to, but it's nice to have even nails with no repairs again. After taking care of that I put on Anja, which Zoya accurately describes as "smoky palatinate purple cream." It's really nice to apply and one coat was almost good enough, so two made it perfect. I finished it off with top coat, let it dry for a bit, then took a picture. You'll see Anja darkens a bit as it dries.

Zoya Anja Nail Polish, Two Coats

It's another very nice, updated, very Fall appropriate shade. That's the news of the day, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in nail polish , purple , vampy , Zoya , Zoya Smoke Collection

Zoya Dree

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Continuing with the Zoya Smoke Collection for Spring 2011, today I have Dree for you. Before I move on to Dree, I had one quick note about the removal of Zoya Cynthia to pass on to you. You know how dark blues often leave Smurf fingers in their wake? Well, I removed Cynthia with the pink Beauty Secrets acetone-based remover, and there was literally zero staining of my skin or nails, so that's a huge plus for a dark blue.

Back to Zoya Dree... That's the olive green creme in the Smoke Collection, and my initial reaction was not particularly thrilled just because I have olive green cremes. Once I started applying it, I became far more enthusiastic about it for several reasons. First, the shade is a good one - it's not as yellow as RBL No More War nor as washed out as Chanel Khaki Vert. The application is very good, although a little bit slow for me since the brush is small and my nails are not, but that comes down to making the color change take 14 minutes instead of 8-10, which is completely reasonable. Dree's dry time is exceptionally good - when I was painting the seventh nail, I bumped the freshly painted third nail and only made a tiny fixable mark in it, and it was completely dry very fast using everyday base and top coats for me. The polish is very pigmented so two thin coats were all that I needed and it dries very shiny. Here's Zoya Dree with base and top coat in the sun.

Zoya Dree Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's what I know about Zoya Dree. So far so good on the Smoke Collection, and I'm looking forward to the other four. Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

*This polish was provided by the manufacturer for review, that fact has no bearing on the review itself.

Posted in green , Long Nails , nail polish , Zoya , Zoya Smoke Collection

Zoya Cynthia

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm wearing Zoya Cynthia today because I swatched Zoya's Smoke Collection for you at the same time that I swatched Zoya Mirrors, but in the time it took me to swatch twelve polishes the light changed and I wasn't pleased with the swatches so I figured I'll just show you the Smoke colors one at a time this week. Why not start with Cynthia...

Zoya's description of Cynthia is that it's a "smoky Prussian blue cream," and that sounds just about right. Cynthia 's application was very good, and two coats were plenty to make it perfectly even and opaque. Here it is after the manicure dried (two coats of color with base and top coats).

Zoya Cynthia Nail Polish, Two Coats

I like Cynthia - it's like an updated navy blue and it's nice and shiny.

That's the beginning of Zoya Smoke and just about all I have for you today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

*This polish was provided by the manufacturer for review, that fact has no bearing on the review itself.

Posted in Blue , nail polish , Zoya , Zoya Smoke Collection

Zoya Mirrors Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

After I thought I was all done yesterday, a set of Zoya's Mirror Collection sent for review arrived, and I have swatches of them for you today. This is a really cool collection - each of them applied really beautifully, the one I'm wearing dried well in reasonable time, and they're fun to look at.

All of these are base coat, two coats of color, and top coat, and I let each dry for a few minutes before taking a picture in sunlight. There's no real significance to the order of the swatches. Now that you know all of that, let's look at pretties.

Tao, which Zoya describes as "smoky slate gray metallic", is what I'd call a light gunmetal shimmer, and a good one.

Zoya Tao Nail Polish, Two Coats

I'd agree with Zoya that Marina is "smoky steel blue," but I say it's a shimmer and not so much metallic.

Zoya Marina Nail Polish, Two Coats

Nimue is called "smoky rich thistle metallic", and and strange as it sounds, I think "smoky thistle" is the best description of Nimue, a shimmer. A technical difficulty resulted in less nails swatched for this one.

Zoya Nimue Nail Polish, Two Coats

Zoya says Neeka is "sparkly amethyst purple metallic," it's a bit deeper purple than Nimue and has little gold glitter. Neeka is right along the lines of Sally Hansen Salon Arabian Night from a collection Tracy Reese did with them a few years ago.

Zoya Neeka Nail Polish, Two Coats

The other with glitter just like that in Neeka is Yara, where it's in an olive green shimmer base.

Zoya Yara Nail Polish, Two Coats

These five are all lovely, but I think almost any polish would pale in comparison to Zoya Jem. It's described as "sparkly fandango pink metallic," but mine's nothing like fandango pink at all. It's a fantastic red plum shimmer, and there's something about the shimmer in it that makes it look just like cool custom car paint. It makes me think of a neighbor I had when I was a teenager who was terribly proud of his IROC-Z. The custom paint job even included his name on the driver's door - too bad it was spelled wrong... Anyhow, this is Zoya Jem - see if it transports you back to the days of watching a whole bunch of guys trying to construct an entire car out of Bondo.

Zoya Gem Nail Polish, Two Coats

I think the whole Mirrors Collection is excellent (Zoya's really been making great colors), but Jem put it over the top. Jem is one amazing nail polish.

That's what I know about Zoya Mirrors, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

Posted in Glitter , green , grey , nail polish , purple , Zoya

Zoya Wicked-The Reds: Karina, Carrie Ann, Kym

These aren't necessary all true reds, but they're close in color and I wanted to show them altogether so you could get a better idea of their similarities and differences. As you likely know, the Wicked set from Zoya's Fall collections (Wonderful includes 6 cremes) are all sparkly glitters. These all covered very nicely in 2 coats, and you can find the other 3 shades (Edyta-green, Julieanne-purple, Cheryl-brown) if you scroll down over the past couple of days.

Above & Below: Karina is a lovely jewel-toned red, and the most true red of these 3. The mostly red and slight gold glitter combine with the polish shade to give it a look like plush velvet with a glow. In the shade (below), I detected hints of China Glaze Ruby Pumps.

Below: Carrie Ann has a slight rust/orange tone to it, and the glitter is primarily the same color as the polish. This also has gold glitter in the mix, but it's slightly more evident in the bottle than on the nail.

Below: Kym is my personal favorite of these 3 shades, and has a strong glow factor at work! To me, this is a light cranberry shade of red with what I would describe as a toned down look. I don't dare call it a dusty look, because something with this much glitter and glow would not allow it.

Now that I've had a chance to swatch all of the shades in the Wicked collection, I can say that I think this is a fantastic set of shades for Autumn. The polishes themselves all applied very well in 2 coats, and the glitter definitely livens up each one, without giving your nails a look of glitter overload. Not that there's anything wrong with too much glitter, but these are workplace-safe, while being elegant at the same time. Of course, if your workplace is extremely conservative, you may get a raised eyebrow or two if you wear Edyta, but don't let it bother you. They just don't appreciate your sense of style, because that one is an especially gorgeous shade in my opinion.

I'll be working on the Wonderful collection this week, which looks promising, based on the bottle colors. I noticed that both of the Wicked & Wonderful collections have versions of the same colors--each has a green, a purple, and a brown, as well as 3 shades of reds. The reds are more varied in the Wonderful collection, with Stacy bordering on a wine/deep fuchsia shade. I've already let you know (several times!) that Edyta is my favorite from the Wicked collection--what's your personal favorite in this set?

*Products featured were furnished by the manufacturer or PR firm for review.

Posted in Fall 2010 Collections , Glitter , Red , Zoya

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