Happy St. Patrick’s Day! This week I have a final project and final project papers due, but I still wanted to do a green mani to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. I just picked-up Zoya’s Bevin at Whole Foods a few days ago. It’s a pretty sage green crème from Zoya’s spring True Collection.  In some of the pictures I took of the bottle it looks similar to the walls in my living room, but in real life Bevin is a bluish-green and my walls are a yellowish-green.

Did you do a special mani or pedi for the holiday? What are your favorite green polishes?

Zoya Bevin in natural light

Application was very good. Two coats and a top coat shown.

Zoya Bevin

Izzy is a deep pink shimmer from Zoya’s holiday Gems & Jewels collection. It is such a happy, festive color. Looking at it on my nails really brought a smile to my face. Since I seem to have been infected with holiday glitter this year, I decided to add Kissy on my ring fingers as an accent. I figured that if I only use glitter on accent nails my pain will be greatly reduced when it is time to take it off! First I tried Kissy over Izzy. It looked good, but I noticed that in addition to pink and holographic bar glitter, Kissy was also full of fine red glitter. I tried it over Butter London Knees Up, and boy did they work nicely together! When it came time to take my polish off, my plan worked and I was rewarded with a fairly easy removal Please note that because  Izzy was so shimmery it was difficult to find lighting that equally flattered it and Kissy. Izzy looks much better in person!

Zoya Izzy in sunlight (with Butter London Knees Up and Zoya Kissy on accent nail)

Application was excellent. Two coats with a top coat shown (two coats of Butter London Knees Up and one coat of Kissy on accent nail).

Are you loving any of this year’s holiday glitters? Which ones?

Butter London Knees Up, Zoya Izzy, and Kissy

Recently I went to visit a friend that I had not seen in awhile, and it turns out that he had been saving a birthday gift for me. It was nn adorable little silk purse. It was handmade and provided good jobs to women in Vietnam. I liked those aspects for sure, but it also is almost a perfect match to Zoya’s Rica How cool is that?!? It is a warm orangish coral with a gold sheen a a slightly color shifting quality. Although I am not usually into matchy-matchy things, I do sometimes love to match my polish to something else I am wearing.

Do you have any polishes that you match to clothing or accessories?

A polish colored purse how cool is that!

Zara is a cool light purple with a strong golden shimmer (their website identifies it as a cool color, but it is much cooler in the bottle than on the nail where it really warms up).  The color went on pretty sheer, and after three coats I still have a bit of a visible nail line. My first reaction to this was the the golden shimmer was too warm for my skin tone. It is a lovely color, but I wish the shimmer was silver or maybe rose gold! I am a sucker for pretty much anything in rose gold. After wearing this around for a day, it is growing on me. However, I still think I would have preferred it with a different shimmer color. I think this would look great on someone who is darker or more tan than I am.  :-)

Zoya Zara in sunlight

Application was very smooth, but a bit sheer. Three coats and a top coat shown.

Zoya Zara

Tanzy is another beauty that I picked-up in their year’s polish exchange. It part of Zoya’s Sunshine Collection. I am not usually that into orange, but Tanzy is an exception. The bright juicy orange and gold flecked finish is gorgeous! While offering opaque coverage, this polish seems to have an almost translucent glow. Tanzy is such a beautiful, summery color!

Zoya Tanzy in sunlight

Application was excellent. Two coats and a top coat shown.

Zoya Tanzy

Tiffany is one of the polishes I got in Zoya’s recent polish exchange. It is from the winter 2010 Flame collection, but it is not really a color I would associate with winter. To me this pretty peach seems like more of a spring and early summer color. Tiffany is a peach foil finish with gold flecks. In some lights it looked coppery. Some peaches are too orange for my skin tone, but I think that Tiffany was pretty flattering on me.

Zoya Tiffany in sunlight

Although the formula is a bit sheer, it dried quickly and application was excellent. Three coats and a top coat shown.

Zoya Tiffany (picture is a bit more red than in real life)

I reviewed the first half of Zoya’s Intimate collection before Spring Break. The new quarter started yesterday, and I am finally posting the second half of the collection.

Caitlin

Caitlin is a lovely bluish gray purple crème. Is similar to Kelly from last fall but much lighter.

Application was very good. Two coats and a top coat shown.

Zoya Caitlin

Dove

Just as the name would imply Dove is dove grey crème. It is a soft, elegant spring color.

Application was very good. Two coats and a top coat shown.

Zoya Dove

Marley

Marley is a pale lilac with a subtle silvery shimmer.

Application was a bit streaky, but it mostly leveled out by the third coat. A top coat took care of any remaining uneven spots. Three coats and a top coat shown.

Zoya Marley

Overall these are beautiful choices for spring. Zoya makes some of my favorite polishes, and these don’t disappoint!

Zoya Intimate Collection

Gilda is a hot pink/fuschia glass flecked beauty from Zoya’s Sparkle collection. In the bottle I see some gold flecks too, but I don’t see them on the nail. Today the Bay Area is experiencing some amazing 80 degree weather. It is the kind of day that really calls for something bright and summery. Gilda fits the bill nicely! I really, really like this as a mani but I think it is even better as a pedi color! Today I am wearing sandals, and enjoying the bright pink polish sparkling back at me

I usually order my Zoya online, but on my last trip to Whole Foods I noticed a Zoya display in the cosmetics area! Although it can be nice getting packages in the mail, I love instant polish gratification! Score!

Zoya Gilda in sunlight

Zoya Gilda

Application was a bit sheer, but otherwise very good. Three coats and a top coat shown.

Sheesh, it feels like it has been forever since I wrote a blog entry! I have snapped a few manicure pics, but I have been really busy with school and they have not turned into blog posts At any rate, the weather has been quite spring-like here this week. I have been dying to try Intimate, Zoya’s new spring collection. So here are the first of the six new shades. I will try to get the other three up in a few days.

Gemma

Gemma is a murky greyish-blue green with a blue and dark pink shimmer. It is a really cool color! I don’t really love it on me though.

Application was very good, but a tad on the sheer side. Three coats and a top coat shown.

Zoya Gemma

Jules

Jules is a soft muted gold. I was unsure if I was going to like it or not since many golds are a bit too warm for me. This is cooler and softer though. I was surprised at how much I liked Jules! For me is a much more wearable gold.

Application was very good, but  this one was also a tad on the sheer side. Three coats and a top coat shown.

Zoya Jules

Danni

Danni is a lovely violet with a pinkish shimmer. Mmmm, this is such a yummy spring color! I love it!!! I got some other new polish today too, but this was a swatch that turned into a full manicure. The other colors will have wait a day or two

Application was excellent. Two coats and a top coat shown.

Zoya Danni

Zoya Gemma, Zoya Jules, Zoya Danni, Zoya Caitlin, Zoya Dove, Zoya Marley

I should not complain. We have such good weather here in the Bay Area, but the last week and a half or so has been rainy and overcast. We need the rain, so that part is good but it makes it hard to take good nail polish pictures (I prefer to take them in natural light as I think it provides a more accurate representation of the colors). The sun decided to poke out from behind a cloud, so I took advantage of the brief photo opportunity.  Although I have a ton of bright new polishes lined up on my coffee table waiting to be swatched, I decided to do a stormy grey instead. Zoya’s Kelly is from their fall Wonderful collection. It is a beautiful bluish-grey and reminds me of a storm cloud! I love it! If I can’t have sunshine, I will happily take Kelly instead! It looks a little darker in the picture than it does in real life, but the lighting conditions were not ideal.

Application was excellent. Two coats and a top coat shown.

Zoya Kelly in natural light

Zoya Kelly