Zoya Awaken for Spring 2014 - Swatches and Review

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Happy Friday, loves!  It's the end of another crazy week.  Do you all have any plans?  Because I don't, and I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with myself!  Probably swatches.  ;)  

Today I have the last of my Zoya reviews.  This post is all about the Spring Awaken collection!  Usually Zoya splits their collections into half cream, half shimmer/metallic/glitter.  This is kind of like that, but has two creams, one metallic, and three shimmers.  I like almost all of these, so let's take a look! 

Brooklyn is the single metallic in this collection.  It is a light gold/yellow with an almost frosty look. I used three coats here.  I would like it a little more if it didn't almost look frost.  As it is, there was some brush streaking.

 Dot is a super delicate pink cream.  The formula is almost crelly, and I needed three coats.  It is a little lighter even than my picture shows and would make a good work safe color, or possibly even a nude/neutral on some skin tones.

Cole reminds me of Julep Hayden.  I didn't like Hayden, and the jury is still out on this one.  It is a bright orange-sicle cream polish.  I used three coats to fully even the polish out.

The next three are the shimmers, and the ones I really love!  Each one has a gold shimmer that pops out and ties them all together.

Rebel is a pretty sky blue polish that almost glows!  It reminds me of Skylar, and I love this one just as much.  This is two coats.

 Dillion is a mint green polish with gold shimmer.  Another gorgeous one!  I need all the mint green.  :)  This is two coats.

Finally, Hudson.  The name of this one gets me because every time I hear Hudson, I see the Hudson Hornet from Cars.  lol  However, Hudson is a gorgeous pale lilac shimmer polish.  I love how the gold looks in this one!  This is two coats as well.

Overall this is a nice collection.  The colors definitely say Spring!  I wouldn't have bought the first three (Cole, Dot, Brooklyn), but the shimmers (Rebel, Dillion, Hudson) are right up my alley!

These are $9 each at zoya.com.  Keep caught up with Zoya and their releases on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube, and the Zoya blog.

What do you think of these?  Thanks for looking!

*polishes sent for review.  full details can be found on the disclaimer page of this blog 

Zoya Monet - Swatches and Review

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Good morning, lovelies!  Today I have Zoya Monet to show you!  This very pretty "holographic" polish has a clear base and beautiful iridescent hexes that look good over a variety of polishes!  I decided to give it it's own post so I could show it over the entire Spring collection (which will be on the blog tomorrow) without weighing the post down with too many pictures.

Each picture shows 1 coat of Monet over a colored base.

 Monet over Brooklyn.

 Monet over Dot.

 Monet over Cole.

 Monet over Rebel.

 Monet over Dillion.

Monet over Hudson.

I like the whimsical look that Monet gives to the polishes you layer under it.  It reminds me of bubbles, or maybe pixie dust.


Monet can be found for $10 at zoya.com.  Keep caught up with Zoya and their releases on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube, and the Zoya blog.

What do you think of this one?  Thanks for looking!

*polishes sent for review.  full details can be found on the disclaimer page of this blog 

Zoya Bubbly for Summer 2014- Swatches and Review

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Good morning!  Today's post is going to be short on words, with lots of pretty pictures!  I got behind on my Zoya reviews due to nail breaks and whatnot, so the rest of the week I'll be getting caught up on those so I can start showing you other things!  Today is Bubbly for Summer 2014.

These polishes all have the same application and formula.  They are jelly polishes with the same type of "holographic" (i.e. iridescent) glitters that you find in Monet.  All pictures show three easy coats and top coat, but they can also be layered.

 Staasi is a grass green base with a gold shimmer in addition to the glitter.

 Alma is a yellow-orange polish with golden shimmer.   This is not my favorite.  I wouldn't wear it on it's own, but it is very pretty layered on top of other colors.  It makes hot pink into a gorgeous coral!

 Jesy is described as coral by Zoya, but on me it is an orange with that same gold shimmer.  This might look good on other people, but as you know, I'm not a fan of oranges, and this one just doesn't look great on me.

 Muse is an absolutely stunning blue.  It has a darker true-blue base and the glitter makes it really unique.  Almost like mermaid scales.  I think of this as Charla's sister.

 Binx is a raspberry shade with gold shimmer.  I like this one, but it isn't my favorite.  I wish it had been purple instead!  Just a little darker and this would have been absolutely stunning.

 Finally, Harper.  I love Harper!  It isn't truly unique in it's color, but bubblegum pinks happen to be my favorite.  It makes a great base for art!

Like I said, application on all of these was great.  If you don't want to build to three coats, these look very nice over the Tickled collection.  I prefer mine on their own, though.  My favorites are Harper and Muse.  I could definitely do without Staasi, Alma and Jesi.  The glitter mix is unique, and makes each polish take on an unexpected hue when viewed at different angles/lights.  Overall, nice collection, but could have been improved with a purple or maybe a true coral.

These are $10 each at zoya.com.  Keep caught up with Zoya and their releases on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube, and the Zoya blog.

What do you think of these?  Thanks for looking!

*polishes sent for review.  full details can be found on the disclaimer page of this blog 

Zoya Magical Pixies for Summer 2014

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Hi lovelies!  I almost forgot to post again today, but never fear!  Tonight I have the Magical Pixie Dusts for summer to show you!  If you were a little disappointed by the spring options, maybe you'll find something here to fix that!

The application on these was similar to the Spring collection, and the texture is the same.  For all of these I used three coats.

 First up is Bar.  This is the "magical" version of Tomoko.  Sort of.  It has a similar tan colored base, but all the chunky holo goodness of the Magical Pixies.

 Ginni is what I wanted Lux to be.  The base color is a lot more pink, and actually shows up against my skin!

Last, we have Arlo.  This is a beauty.  The "violet amethyst" of the group (I call her berry) is actually my favorite.  It has the richest color of all the Magical Pixies.

Magical Pixie Dusts retail for $10 each and can be found on Zoya's website.  To keep up with everything Zoya, you can follow on Facebook, instagram, or Twitter.

What do you think of these!  Thanks for stopping in!

Summertime Sadness

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Hi, lovelies!  I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful weekend.  Mine was pretty low-key.  I didn't even get pics of fireworks this year!  I really wish I had, though.  There were some pretty neat ones!

I thought I would start the week with some fail-art since I didn't join in with a holiday mani.  I wanted to do a toothpick marble like the one Shelia at Pointless Cafe did a tutorial for earlier in the week.  I have no idea how, but I totally messed it up.  Royally.  I think maybe my polish dried before I dragged it?  No clue.  So, take a look!:

See that mess?  I have no clue why it didn't work, so I don't know how to fix it!  I also don't really like the colors together like I thought I would.  

Look at that macro!  I figured out the macro setting on my camera and found a good way to use it without getting blurry pics.  YAY!  Coincidently, this was the only nail I liked.  I actually really like it.  I just wish the rest had come out like this one!  

I will be trying this again.  It is easy (when it works), and it takes little to no time at all, so I won't be investing much if I keep screwing them up!  So what do you guys think?  What's your favorite "quick" art technique?  Thanks for stopping in! 

 

Zoya Spring 2014 Magical Pixies

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Good morning, lovelies!  I'm a little late to the party on these, but today I have the Spring Magical Pixie collection from Zoya!  I am so glad I'm finally getting around to my Zoyas!  The last two collections have just been fab!  So let's take a look, shall we?

First up is Cosmo.  A super chunky silver texture polish with large silver holo hexes.  This is so much prettier than a regular silver texture polish!  The holo pieces add a lot!

 Vega is basically blue Cosmo.  So pretty!  Two coats cover perfectly.

Last up, Lux.  This is two coats.  I feel like my bottle wasn't as pink as some others?  I'm not sure, because I see swatches that are WAY more pink, and swatches that look like mine.  Either way, in the bottle this reminds me a lot of OPI Teenage Dream!  On the nail, it's the opaque (and chunky) version!  Super pretty.

I have mixed feelings about the Magical Pixies.  They are so pretty, and I LOVE the holo pieces!  On the other hand, they are much chunkier and the texture is much more apparent on the nail.  The feel kind of skeeves me out a bit (especially when they rub against something!).  They are gorgeous, though, and I feel like they will be worn quite a bit.

Zoya Magical Pixie polishes are available on their website for $9 each.

What do you think about these chunkier textures?  Let me know!  Thanks for dropping by!

Gradient Fail

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Hi everyone!  Today I have fail art!  WOOHOO!  lol  I saw this in a dream.  No, seriously.  I dreamed of a teal (specifically Zoya Zuza, which I used) and purple gradient.  The difference was, it had white dots in the dream.  It was spectacular!  However, I tried the white dots and it just didn't work.  Maybe when my nails get longer and I can space them out better?

First up, I love showing how messy nail art can really be!  The next two pictures will be of the actual mani after cleanup.  I used a kitchen sponge, and I can tell you... Those don't work!  Off to buy more makeup sponges I guess! :)

This was a fail for many reasons.  I saw in my head something much better and Zuza and Mimi just didn't cut it.  Also, I messed up cleanup BAD.  I don't know why I can't get the hang of it!  Any tips?  

 While the colors went well together, I'm just not loving the mani.  At all.

What art should I try next?  Help me out!  Thanks for stopping in! :)