A bit of Zoya to brighten up your day

I found these all in the clearance section of my Ulta. Good thing, too, as I was ready to shell out retail for Yara and Neeka! Avery is pretty and nude, though a bit too cool for me, I think. Yara photographs beautifully but I'm not as enamored in person. Still pretty, though. Neeka's going to be my pedicure for all of summer, I bet. So gorgeous.

Okay, this is pretty cool...

I got these in the mail a few days ago and let me tell you, I was EXCITED. I had seen swatches on a blog or two and had no clue how on earth these new crackles worked. Well...

Firstly, they all come in two packs, one white base and one crackle. The crackle is where the magic happens (to prove it, I've swatched over silver in the second pic. That's Zoya Trixie, by the way). One crackle's purple (Remix), one's green (DJ Spinner), one's yellow (Emcee Me), and one's orange (Rave). They all appear as their respective colors but with black crack on top. It's hard to explain, so just look at the pictures!

The idea with these is to create art: rough, 80s street style art. You can apply them a whole bunch of ways and in any combination. 

My verdict? I kind of adore it. Yes, it's a bit gimmicky and yes, you've seen crackle polish 10000x before, but this seems new and different and the result is actually really cool. I've worn them out a bit and no complaints here!

 Items in this post were provided for review. This did not change my opinion of the product at all.

GIVEAWAY :D

Hey everyone! Lani from a lovely hair salon in Pittsburgh has generously offered to send ONE reader two polishes from Zoya's spring collection, Skylar and Lotus. I don't own either, but one of you could.

If you're in the continental US and are interested in winning some polish, follow me and comment on this post! Make sure to include your email address so that we can contact the winner. Yes, it's really that easy. For a bonus entry, tell me your favorite Zoya polish ever.

So, get commenting. I know these are GORGEOUS polishes (I'm tempted to run out and buy them myself) and I wouldn't want you to miss out. Giveaway ends April 28th at 10:00pm Pacific time.

Zoya Spam

Received all of these today from my polish date with the lovely Lavender Parfait . She doesn't like Zoyas, so I don't like her (I kid, she's ah-dorable. Such a sweetie and SO much fun to shop for polish with).

3 coats each.

Dove. Dove is a soft grey creme. Pretty polish, but I messed up the application (darn me and my clumsy fingers). I will DEFINITELY be wearing this soon, it's a beautiful, soft color.


Gemma is murkier than my photo, I swear, and less blurry. Sorry! It was IMPOSSIBLE to get a good picture of this one. Pretty, pretty, pretty- but not my style. I wouldn't have purchased it, but I will wear it, as it's unique in pretty much every way.


Tanzy's just what I needed, a pretty, sparkly orange. Zoya Sienna was a potential cousin, in my mind, but Sienna has shimmer the same tone as the base (as opposed the the gold in Tanzy) and a brighter orange base, if I remember correctly.


Venus. You can skip this. Seriously, worst formula on a Zoya I've ever found. Thick and sheer and GROSS. I did get it used from a nail salon, maybe something's happened to it? I hope this isn't actually a representation of this color as ordered from the Zoya website. BLEGH.


Caitlin. Ah, Caitlin. MUCH redder in real life. MUCH. A purple with some grey, a lovely color that's unique to my stash and pretty on my hands. I adore it, but it broke my camera! NO setting would get this true to life, none.


Rica was my favorite. I think. Well, I'm pretty sure that at least for now, Rica is my true Zoya love. A STUNNING pink with gold shimmer, that wonderful shimmer, too, that Zoya does so well. So, so pretty.


And Apple, the most beautiful light green in my stash. Zoya hit the mark on this one. I own a few Zoya greens and I'm more than "meh" about them. To give you a hint, haven't worn some of them at all, and the others I threw on TWO YEARS AGO just to swatch. But this beauty... I'll wear it a LOT. Especially on my toes :D

Dannii

What a lovely polish. Really, stunning. Purple with that awesome gold shimmer that Zoya does so well... Microflakies? Just about, I think. The shimmer's large and irregular.

A lot of (random) swatches

All are labeled!

Ki

Zoya Ki. Three coats? Pretty, very duo-chrome-y.

Lots of Pink (and a purple too!)

First off, I think I'm really getting this blogging thing down. I have a pose, a watermark, and I really like my background on blogspot. Is there anything that I should change?

The first mani, an unnamed Color Club with ChG Doll House on top, is old and doesn't have my pose. Sorry!


Next was yesterday's mani, Zoya Adina. Beautiful color. Three coats.


Sinful Colors sent me some polish from their new Valentines Day collection to review! I received Scandal and Pink Forever.
Pink Forever is pretty straight forward, a medium cream pink. I can't think of dupes off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are some. Three coats because of balding, which was only due to my hurried swatching. Terrible picture because this would not cooperate for the camera! Silly polish, you're supposed to look just as good on the computer screen as you do on my nails!


Tomorrow's mani is Sinful Colors Scandal. This one SHOCKED me. I expected a bright-to-neon pink. Nothing special or unique. Boy was I wrong. It's a bright pink JELLY! A jelly finish from a drugstore! It's oh-so-gorgeous on. 5 coats to eliminate VNL.

A tame polish for an excited teenager

Zoya Erika. My new favorite light pink. Seriously, this one is stunning on. It's mostly opaque with gorgeous gold and green shimmer. I added SEVERAL close-ups just to (hopefully) adequately capture the beauty. I'm having a pink moment (with several more pink polishes on their way here), and this fit the mood perfectly.
I needed a tame polish because.... TOMORROW'S STATES! Tomorrow is the debate competition that I've been studying for since June. Since September, I've met 5-6 days a week and did over an hour of homework a night. And it's all been for the competition tomorrow. If we win, we'll fly out to Washington DC for Nationals. Wish me luck!

Random SPAM

Uh, this is because I'm going to be a horrible person soon and blog infrequently. But it'll only be for a month. No, I'm not trying to bribe you with pretty colors *shifts eyes suspiciously*

RBL Under the Stars


A Franken (Martha Stewart glitters)


Zoya Harlow with topcoat


Revlon Perplex. Sadly, this was the best pic I got (I need to wear this again soon)


Lippmann Supermodel. Super juicy, jelly orange red. LOVE.

Moar bling!

Skittles! With Happy Birthday gradient! Pretty!
Pinkie to thumb:
Essie E-Nuff is E-Nuff (Stupid name!)
SH Sunkissed
Zoya Pippa
F21 Hunter Green
AA Peacock

My Soul-Mani

I used Asami's basic idea but with different polishes and achieved a really different result.
I used OPI Russian Navy for a base color then I dabbed on with a barely wet brush (not in this order, sorry, I didn't take notes while painting)
*Zoya Kotori
*DS Mystery
*LA Girls Punk
*Sinful What's Your Name
*ChG Kaleidoscope Him Out
*ChG Fairy Dust
*A random Japanese sheer polish with shimmer
The pictures don't do this justice at all, in real life it has depth and shimmer of all colors with just a twinkle of holo. The pictures make it look flat, trust me, it's much better in real life. I'll take more pictures in the morning when it's sunny, okay?
And I know that this is a lot of pics (11!) but I really want to show you as much as possible so maybe you can comprehend this gorgeousness.

mermaid nails

Zoya Charla + Nfu Oh 54. These are HOT! The flakies are subtle and just enhance the micro-flakies already in Charla. I'm proud to say that this is my own creation, I for one have never seen this combo before. So pretty!





Also, my giveaway ends tonight! So enter before 6AM tomorrow morning (that's when I'll stop counting entries).