Tuesday, May 31, 2016

NOTD: Do you believe in happy endings?

(Press samples and affiliate links ahead!)

Hello!

Recently fellow Instagram nail fanatic @fiercefirefly challenged me to a little nail-art storytelling...She did a manicure that had a dragon, a princess, and a castle as the beginning of the story, and we were each supposed to come up with a mani that told the end of it.


In her version, the princess survived the vicious dragon, and became a queen. Ah...happy endings are so beautiful...


I decided to go another way.


Dragon's bane 


Let's take a closer look at that carnage:

Dragon's bane!



Yeah, in this version, the princess didn't come out of things quite so well...


To make the mani I started with a base of Zoya Cam on all fingers and Zoya Dory on my thumb. Next, I stamped flames on my fingers with Sally Hansen Rapid Red, using the fur image from UberChic Beauty Fairytale 01. I stamped the skull from Cici&Sisi 16, and made a decal of the dragon from UberChic Beauty's The Far East 02 plate (stamped with Messy Mansion Chalk and Carbon. Finally, I made the castle wall decals by stamping the bricks from Bundle Monster BM-422 with Messy Mansion Chalk, and I filled it in with two coats of Zoya Yuna so the decals would be nice ad thick. Then I ripped pieces of of them to show where they'd be crumbling from the attack--I love how you can see the ridge on the nails.


What do you think? I'm sure you prefer the happy ending, but you gotta admit, the art is pretty cool...;-)

Happy stamping,
M.

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Before & After: Memorial Day mani with Zoya Seashells & Wistonia W107

(Press samples and affiliate links ahead!)

Hello!

Memorial Day is a complex holiday for me. It's the unofficial start of summer and all kinds of summer fun, but it's also a time to remember all of the men and women in uniform who made it possible for us to have the lifestyle and freedoms that we have. I do believe that they would find barbeque feasts with families and friends a proper way to celebrate those freedoms by embracing them, but I also like to make sure I remember them in some concrete way. Part of that usually involves a manicure for the occasion.

This year I started with a skittle of Zoya Seashells pixies (see my full review of these polishes by clicking here), because I'm currently obsessed with them and they have soft version of red (Zoya Linds), white (Zoya Tilly, actually a pewterish silver), and blue (Zoya Bay):


Zoya Seashells skittle with Zoya Linds, Zoya Tilly, and Zoya Bay
Zoya Seashells skittle with Zoya Linds, Zoya Tilly, and Zoya Bay

Zoya Seashells skittle with Zoya Linds, Zoya Tilly, and Zoya Bay
Zoya Seashells skittle with Zoya Linds, Zoya Tilly, and Zoya Bay


Next I stamped images from Winstonia W107:

Winstonia W107
Winstonia W107


I stamped with Messy Mansion Chalk; here's how it came out:


Memorial Day mani with Zoya Seashells pixies, Zoya Linds, Zoya Tilly, and Zoya Bay
Memorial Day mani with Zoya Seashells pixies, Zoya Linds, Zoya Tilly, and Zoya Bay
 
Memorial Day mani with Zoya Seashells pixies, Zoya Linds, Zoya Tilly, and Zoya Bay
Memorial Day mani with Zoya Seashells pixies, Zoya Linds, Zoya Tilly, and Zoya Bay

I hope you have a wonderful long weekend, with lots of good fun, good company, and happiness!

Happy stamping,
M.

Friday, May 27, 2016

Review: Zoya Seashells summer 2016 collection (Pixies!!)

(Press samples and affiliate links ahead!) 

Hello!

I'm back today with the second half of Zoya's summer 2016 offerings, their Seashells collection of summer pixies!

Zoya Seahells summer 2016 Pixies


I love myself some pixies--they combine texture and glitter and awesome colors into one amazing melange of gorgeous. They apply like butter, don't need basecoat or topcoat (mostly), and they remove almost as easily as normal polish, a great benefit for those who love bling but hate the struggle to remove it.


Let's jump in with Zoya Bay, a bright cornflower blue with slightly darker holo glitter and a gold shimmer that gives a teal-ish duochrome effect:

Zoya Bay
Zoya Bay
Zoya Bay
Zoya Bay

This is two coats of Bay with no topcoat. In all cases these polishes applied like a dream and had excellent formula--they're almost goof-proof.

I love how the color on this has a subtle green-teal flash effect--it makes for a gorgeous beach/sea polish. It also makes me think of crushed blue aquamarines...sigh...

I did find that Bay was a little too scratchy for my taste without topcoat--textured polishes normally don't bother me, so if you're not a fan of the feel, you'll want to wear this one with topcoat. Here's how it looks with a coat of Seche Vite:



Zoya Bay with topcoat
Zoya Bay with topcoat

Zoya Bay with topcoat
Zoya Bay with topcoat

I found that one coat was enough to give this a smoother feel for me. I generally prefer to wear my Pixies with topcoat anyway, because it brings out the color and shine.


Next up is Zoya Cece, a grass-green pixie with a gorgeous gold shimmer:

Zoya Cece
Zoya Cece

Zoya Cece
Zoya Cece

Cece is crushed Peridot for your nails--which is awesome for me because that's my birthstone! I love how much the gold shines through; it's touches like these that make the Zoya textured polishes a cut above most others.


Zoya Cece
Zoya Cece

Zoya Cece
Zoya Cece


Next up is Zoya Levi, a gold pixie with lots of gold glitter:

Zoya Levi
Zoya Levi

Zoya Levi
Zoya Levi

Oh Em Gee you guys, this polish is crazy gorgeous! It makes me feel like my nails are paved with gold, like I'm some sort of majestic ancient Egyptian princess. This is rich and blinging without looking too flashy or overdone. LOVE, and I'm not normally one to flip for gold.


Next up is Zoya Linds, a cherry-red pixie:

Zoya Linds
Zoya Linds

Zoya Linds
Zoya Linds

Zoya Linds

This is tied for my favorite of the collection--SO gorgeous and rich, this polish is crushed rubies on your fingertips. This is the smoothest of the bunch by far, so you probably won't need topcoat even if you're not big on the feel of textured polishes. But, I love that shine on my red, so here's a shot of it with topcoat.


Zoya Linds with topcoat
Zoya Linds with topcoat


Zoya Tilly is a gunmetal silver pixie with blue glitters:


Zoya Tilly
Zoya Tilly

Zoya Tilly
Zoya Tilly

I love that they threw enough color in here to give this silver dimension as well as sparkle and shimmer! This has an icy quality to it that will cool you down on those hot summer days, and will star in your holiday manis come winter.


And the piece de resistance of the collection, is, in my opinion, Zoya Zooey:


Zoya Zooey
Zoya Zooey

Zoya Zooey
Zoya Zooey

In the bottle, I wasn't super impressed with this, since I'm not big on pink. But when I put this on, the golden shimmer leapt out, turning the pink into a gorgeous coral/pink combo! This is feminine and bright and fun. The glitter and the texture and the shimmer all work together to produce magic.

This is one of the scratchier colors in the collection, so here's how it looks with topcoat:


Zoya Zooey with topcoat
Zoya Zooey with topcoat
Zoya Zooey with topcoat
Zoya Zooey with topcoat

I think the topcoat brings out the gold shimmer even more, and makes this the ultimate in soft feminine bling.


Also, I've been playing around with some different hand poses--what do you think of these? Do you like them more or less than my normal poses above?


Zoya Zooey
Zoya Zooey

Zoya Zooey
Zoya Zooey
 
Zoya Zooey
Zoya Zooey

So what do I think of the collection overall? This is an A+ for me, no question. The colors are bright and fun for summer, and the PixieDust look can't help but make your nails look like they're paved with crushed gemstones. I love that Zoya adds a little accent in the shimmer or the color of the glitter so the polishes are just that little extra bit special. And I love a polish I can apply in no-time flat with no mistakes and remove almost as quickly--perfect for any vacation you're going on.


Finally, Zoya sent me two lipsticks to review along with the polishes, Zoya Candy, a bright pink, and Zoya Mellie, a bright fuschia:



I have to be picky about the lipsticks I wear, because for some reason the skin on my lips dries out and starts to peel within hours with many brands, especially drugstore brands--including gloss. It's crazy bizarre! So I wore these for three days in a row to see what would happen. Both applied like silk, and had reasonable staying power--they stayed put until I ate. They also stayed color constant--I hate it when I buy a blood-red lipstick and as soon as it starts to wear off it leaves behind a pink stain. If I wanted pink lips I woulda put pink lipstick on! I didn't have any color shift with these. But the most important factor for me is they actually conditioned my lips--I had no peeling or drying, my lips felt almost as good as when I wear balm. These two colors are a little bright for me, but I was so impressed with how they felt on my lips that I'll be buying Frankie, their scarlet-red shade.

You can find all these lovely polishes and lipsticks directly from Zoya's website; you can also find them on Amazon, and in any retail store that carries Zoya products. And don't forget to follow them in Instagram and Facebook!

Happy polishing,
M.

Monday, May 23, 2016

Review: Zoya Sunsets Summer 2016 collection!

(Press samples and affiliate links ahead!)

Hello!

Summer is right around the corner, peeking out at us with lighter skies in the evening and warmer temperatures during the day. Soon it'll be time for picnics, days at the beach, and long weekends frolicking in the warm--and that means it's time for bright, happy, fun polishes! The first summer collection I have to show you is Zoya's Sunsets summer 2016 collection, a set of six saturated cremes designed to cover in one coat.


Zoya Sunsets summer 2016 collection
Zoya Sunsets summer 2016 collection


First up, we have Zoya Brynn, a bright rosy pink creme:


Zoya Brynn
Zoya Brynn

Zoya Brynn
Zoya Brynn

Zoya Brynn
Zoya Brynn

This applied well, with good formula; you should be able to get coverage with one coat if you're careful. If you get a teeny bare spot, the polish will most likely level to cover it as it dries; if you get a larger bare patch, take a quick second stroke over it and you'll be fine. I did that in some places, so I'm calling these two coats in all of the pictures here and below.

While this is a bright pink, it has an elegant rose quality to it that I love--it makes me think of azaleas or pink hibiscus blossoms. Perfect for the season without going full-on bubble gum.


Next up is Zoya Cam, a tangerine orange creme with a slightly burnt quality to it:


Zoya Cam
Zoya Cam

Zoya Cam
Zoya Cam

Zoya Cam
Zoya Cam

The formula on this was fine, and I didn't have problems with application, however, Cam didn't cover for me in one coat. This is two coats, and even with that you can see a little patchiness on my ring finger, although to the naked eye, it wasn't very noticeable.

I love the luscious tropical feel to this orange--it reminds me of bird of paradise flowers and yummy dried mango (Trader Joe's has some coated in chili which is amazing, btw...but I digress). Super pretty with a sophisticated edge.


Next is Zoya Dixie, which I can best describe as a muted cherry creme:


Zoya Dixie
Zoya Dixie

Zoya Dixie
Zoya Dixie

Zoya Dixie
Zoya Dixie

This is a red for people who like the dash of sass that comes with a red, but not the over-the-top-more-likely-to-get-pulled-over-by-a-cop quality of a red. It's sexy, it's subtle, it's summer. I love it.

The formula on this was excellent, and application was good--you can get coverage with this one in one coat if you're careful, as with Brynn.


Next is Zoya Dory, a sky blue creme:


Zoya Dory
Zoya Dory

Zoya Dory
Zoya Dory

Zoya Dory
Zoya Dory

Great formula and application, you should be able to get coverage in one coat, with care. This color is a go-to for summer--it's bright summer skies and robin's eggs and cool swimming pools. 


Next is Zoya Liv, a smoky lilac creme and one of my favorites from the collection: 

Zoya Liv
Zoya Liv

Zoya Liv
Zoya Liv

 Good application and formula with this one as well--with a little care you can use one coat with this. The color is flirty and flowery with a touch of elegance--I love how Zoya adds a little touch of smoke to some of their colors, it gives them that added oomph. This is orchids and fields of lilac and somehow--just somehow--it makes me think of unicorn kisses. So there.


And finally, we have Zoya Ness, an avocado creme and another of my favorites from the collection:

Zoya Ness
Zoya Ness

Zoya Ness
Zoya Ness

Zoya Ness
Zoya Ness

Zoya Ness
Zoya Ness

The formula on this one was approaching the thick side--nothing bad but not quite as free-flowing as the others, and certainly not enough to make application difficult. I did also have difficulty getting coverage with one coat on this one, although two coats evened everything out perfectly for me.

And the color--oh, the color. Fields of clover and ferns in botanical gardens and meadows. It's soft and fresh and free, like running until your legs can't go anymore. If you love greens, you'll love this.


Because these polishes are so saturated, I figured they'd be good for stamping--so I tested them out:

Zoya Cam, Zoya Brynn, Zoya Dixie stamped over black and white

Zoya Liv, Zoya Ness, Zoya Dory stamped over black and white

Each of these stamped brilliantly over white. They were less successful over black, although Ness and Dory worked beautifully over black, too--so you can definitely work with all of these over lighter colors and can use the green and blue over dark colors, too.


So, what do I think of this collection overall? The colors are saturated and they do cover well, better than most cremes. You may have to finesse a single coat a bit, but with an extra stroke or two, you can make most of them work. The exceptions are Cam and Ness, which both needed two coats for me--but they were two easy coats that leveled easily, and you'd have to do at least that with most cremes. I also think these colors hit a full range of tropical fun colors that will keep you going through the season.

You can find these polishes on Zoya's website, on Amazon, or any retail store that sells Zoya polishes; they're on sale now. You can also follow Zoya on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.


I'll be back soon with the second half of Zoya's summer offerings--the Seashell Pixie Dust polishes!

Happy polishing!
M.