Zoya Designer- Fall 2012

I sold off all my Zoya a couple years ago- only kept this smoky dark cream collection that was a birthday gift from my international birthday group- of which 90% of the dozen girls are still corresponding with each other! Good times, good chat, sweet ladies. I always forget some of these need two coats, they may get some art later.

excuse the patch on my ring finger- trying to grow out a tear

I'm missing the red, Rehka, probably sold/gave it away because I never wear red....

NOTD Zoya Ombre Natural Deux- Mauves

I've got three of the second (Deux)  neutral Zoya Natural collection in a quick skittle/ombre. Best part is the application, these all started a little sheer but the second coat makes them dense and creamy. The Polish is a tad thicker than usual Zoyas and that makes it perfect for me! 

Nail Rehab is working!!

Sorry for the gruesome "before" picture, but this is what I was dealing with after three months of packing and two weeks of moving. I didn't think there was any reason to move my polish, after all, these things would never grow back and be pretty again, would they? Well, after eight weeks, I am happy to report I've got a bit of free edge on all but one nail now and my cuticles have stopped bleeding! Hurrah for small victories!
My first foray was last weekend when my daughter Grace got married. That's the pale gray and glitter number, Priti Silver Birch accented with RUS polish in SN 01 (yeah sexy name for holo silver glitter) I followed that with LVX Azzurum, risking Smurf hands for a glorious navy cream. Heavily oiled cuticles before removal helped a bunch with that! And today brings us to Zoya Spencer, from the Naturel Deux collection. I'm not normally a nude fan, but these colors are deeper and creamier than their first collection. Spencer is the palest of the browns, a warm mocha color that's opaque in two thin coats. I have learned from experience, that Zoya really really does wear best with her own base and topcoats.

BEFORE

More New Zoyas

full post here

Swatching some of the New Zoyas- Tickled and Bubbly Collections

full post here BL Bride

Glitter, glitter, glitter

My latest review on Beauty and Lifestyle Bride magazine

Trying to bring a little sunshine inside

It's been raining....and raining and raining. Around 10 inches in the last few days (yeah, be quiet, UK-ers, this is supposed to be FLORIDA!) So three coats of Zoya Arizona accented with my #1 favorite glitter Utopia Hibiscus and I am feeling the heat! HK Girl over. (Gelous on glitter first) ALl pictures under Ott light.

Yeah macro on new phone!

30 Days of Untrieds- again

 Everyone else in the family has worn Zoya Wednesday since I got it last summer, except me. And now that I put it on, I can't remember why I hadn't tried this earlier. It's a Zoya creamy two coater- slightly muted greenish mint- aqua-ish. Very lovely and even goes OK with my skin. I layered one coat of Ninja Polish's Love, Lace 'n Lawsuits over it, a mix of many white matte glitters with a shimmery base.
Sorry for the two pics- hard to get the light blue and tiny holo shimmers to show up.

blurred to try to catch those shimmers!

Thanksgiving Nails

My nails are hacked up from glitter and glitter removal- I broke my rule of every-other-mani being glitter due to all the new glitters in my stash. I wanted a cream easy manicure that would be kind to my nails for a few days.
I settled on an untried, Zoya Tamsen, and WOW! application on this was a dream- a dense tomato red/orange crelly with absolutely no brushstrokes, even when I had to touch up a few places. I wish every polish was this smooth.  I did two coats then dotted with Zoya Envy and Jancyn, (my fave Zoyas) A bit of vnl in pics, but not irl. Topped with HKGirl, my new go-to topcoat.

Mani plus Recycled

Thanks to the precious Bee at BeePolished, I was able to snag the Zoya Gilty trio with the 18K gold flake- every manufacturer and their sister is making these this year- I wanted to pick a worthy undie, not the black and white it came with, so I decided on China Glaze Glittering Garland, a deep emerald green with a gold/green glassfleck. And it was glorious. I had to daub the gold flake a bit, and was worried about it being chunky, but it lay down nicely and was nearly smooth with one layer of HKGirl alone.

THEN I got some new polishes in the mail from Darling Diva and just HAD to try Fa ra ra ra ra ra over the green- like so:

What makes this unique isn't the red/green/silver/holo mix, although large red matte is interesting and most of the larger glitters are square, it's the silvery shimmer base- this should be opaque in three easy coats but just made me happy with one very thin coat over GG. And as you can see the micro shimmer even flashes blue!!

I have GOT to get all these glitters swatched!

Nail art is on the back burner for me while I get caught up playing with all my new creams and glitters from my birthday club girls and swaps- up today are Zoya Creamy, a clear yellow that took three full coats to be opaque, as well as Zoya Dove, three also. Dove is a pale gray that is what I call a true gray, white with a touch of black, not putty, greenish, just pretty gray. I dabbed on the amazing GlimmerbyErica Muy Caliente, a clear based glitter of shiny and matte glitters- red hexes, squares, maroon and yellow glitters too. Ole'!!
Zoya Get Even base and Zoya Armor TC.

Sunshine for my Fingers!

Don't know if anyone is following, but there is a hurricane south of Florida right now and although it isn't going to hit near me (this time) it is bringing a crapton of rain. Last week we didn't see the sun the first three days of the week, and this looks to be the same. So I decided I would paint some sunshiney goodness on my nails! I was *hoping* Zoya Pippa would be my two-coat yellow wonder, alas, it was not, from the close up you can still see a bit of pulling, even though the polish was a bit thick and even though I waited a good 3-5 minutes between coats. Not being happy with imperfect three coat coverage, I added a little design with SH Mint Sprint, a truly one coat minty aqua that applied like  a dream. And i have FINALLY realized that quick dry topcoats WILL SMEAR YOUR ART no matter how long you wait. The TC melts the polish and makes the colors run. I was pretty quick "floating" the Cult Nails Wicked Fast TC but not fast enough. :( But the brightness makes me happy and that was my plan!

The One That Blows Crumpet's Mind!

PURPLE!! TWO PURPLES!! Well, they're only on four nails, but she has NEVER seen purple on me at all! I thought I would dip my toe into the amethyst waters wearing a skittles mani using 5 of the 6 Zoya fall Designer colors a couple of my birthday gals sent me! (thx Bee and Claire!) All the colors are creamy, deep and smoky- Evvie (lighter gray/green on middle fingers) might have used a third coat but I am very happy with application and coverage.  Watch this spot closely, there MAY be glitter happening here soon....Poshe to cover. (oh, and there is a patch on my left hand pinkie in case you were wondering)

Purple Crumpet Fairy Challenge for 3/23

 Because I am SO GOOD at reading instructions, I did this fabulous mani for the "Super subtle glitter/flakie bomb" theme day- Zoya Paz under Barry M Croc Effects (I really need to try this again with a regular polish- this Zoya has a rubbery finish) and because it was too plain, a thick coat of CND Gold Sparkling from Christmas 2010. Color Club topcoat over.

Fruity Tooty and 3 Untrieds down!

Was feeling the need for something summery after doing all these light artworks for my daughter and darks for me. This makes me want to order something fruity in a pineapple and put my feet up on the railing overlooking the beach- China Glaze Lemon Sour topped with Zoya Manhattan Mixer (sounds like cocktails have already started) then the new China Glaze Riveting from the Hunger Games collection finished with Cherimoya Emerald 3. (nasty stuff to apply, foamy and bald spots- I kinda had to dab it on) but I love the shimmer! Out the Door topcoat. btw Riveting is my new favorite polish.