Zoya Flash and Sparkle Collections Summer 2010

Well well well what have we here!? Another double collection from Zoya, which to me seems like bright cremes for summer days and shimmery jellies for summer nights. Hot, just like the season! I like that they went with deeper colors for the season, not light shades or pastels. By making the Flash brights, they keep the summer feeling for the cremes, and by making the Sparkle shimmery they catch a "night out on the town" summery feeling. Hot days, hot nights, hot nails.

Let's start with the cremes - the Flash collection. These remind me of the OPIs of last year which were inspired by those dumb tight pants which make everyone look fat except supermodels and wimpy boys. The Zoya creme formula is nice, maybe a touch thick, thin it with Zoya Renew or another thinner like my favorite, Poshe Polish Reviver, which is like 2 bucks or something for a pretty big bottle.

The sky blue, Zoya Robyn, is very close to OPI No Room for the Blues and Creative Hot Pop Blue (which was my better/cheaper alternative to OPI No Room for the Blues), but it is actually a shade darker.


Zoya Jancyn is a smooth citrus orange, I like it even though I don't, as a rule, like orange. I know OPI had In My Back Pocket - very similar though I believe that was a shade darker than Jancyn.


Zoya Perrie is a medium purple with some red in it, so it isn't much like Zoya Malia or OPI A Grape Fit. It's like a lighter Creative Studio 54 or MAC For Fun.


Zoya Jolene is a pretty standard candy pink. Very very close to China Glaze summer offering, Sugar High, which is much cheaper. It's a lot like Black Phoenix Croquet also, but hotter pink.


Zoya Maura is your standard hot red. I actually kinda like it, even though it's not my style, and is that kind of red I always shreik at when I see it on people's lips. It's a tad bluer than Zoya America, but not so different I see the point, really.


Zoya Dana: fuchsia pink. What's more to say? Cute. It's the same fuchsia pink we see everywhere but it's mercifully free of the omnipresent blurple shimmer, which makes this a kind of relief.


Onto Sparkle Collection - the SHIMMERS!!! The size and style of shimmer reminds me very much of OPI's Winter 2009 Collection I loved so much. These are nice, easily applied shimmery jellies (except for Zoya Nidhi, which is a creme). DELUMPCIOUS!!! They loosely follow the color array of the Flash Collection, with a couple replacements, but in a darker shade. Love!

Zoya Gilda is probably Dana's match, and even though it adds that tired blurple back to the fuchsia, it manages, with the jelly and the shimmer grain size, to be fresh and yummy. I guess it could be Jolene's match if Zoya Alegra is Dana's match, but Gilda matches Dana better than Jolene (see below).


Zoya Mimi is a deep royal purple shimmer jelly. Sweet.


Zoya Alegra, Dana's match? Who knows. Anyway this is a magenta with blurple shimmer. I like it.


Zoya Charla is, in my opinion, the masterpiece. It's like looking at tropical waters. It's an absolutely stunning teal my camera could not do justice. I just stared and stared at this, it is so beautiful. It absolutely glows on the nail, with an almost metallic shine. An instant addition to my top 10 polishes of all time.


Zoya Ivanka is, thankfully, NOT dark green. I am fucking sick of dark greens. I don't think it's the greatest green ever, but it's nice, shimmery, and I love the jelly!


Last but not least Zoya Nidhi is a cream with large blue shimmer. I wish the shimmer showed up more because this counterpart to Zoya Maura is an absolute STUNNER because of the blue shimmer in it. It's hot and original and a must have. LOVE.


Enjoy them, you shouldn't be disappointed with any of them unless you already have a close dupe. But BUY CHARLA!!

ZOYA SALE!!!!!!

Just got this email from Zoya!!

In honor of NYFW(New York Fashion Week) Zoya, The New Color of Fashion,
wants to give a "Fashion Reward" to all our followers and fans.

Place any Zoya or Qtica order of $10 (on http://www.zoya.com, http://www.qtica.com or http://www.artofbeauty.com/) and get any 2 Zoya Nail Polish shades (0.5oz bottles) as our Free gift to you.

Simply add all the items that you want to purchase online to your shopping cart.
Enter the code NYFW in the "code" field and press the "update" button.
A $14 discount will appear in the shopping cart for the value of the 2 Zoya Nail Polishes.

Offer valid from Wednesday, 2/17/2010 until Friday, 2/19/2010, at 5PM ET. Standard shipping charges apply. Offer valid for consumer online orders only. Free ground shipping for orders over $55 in Continental USA only. Not valid with any other coupon code or offer.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enjoy!!

Zoya Reverie Spring 2010 Collection

I love pink/green duochrome shimmer. I LOVE it. And every single color in Zoya's Reverie Collection for Spring 2010 has it. Oh sigh. It's so fucking purty.

This is a kind of "Valentine's Day" collection, made up of two pinks, two red/oranges, a purple and a silver all in incredibly thick rainbow microshimmer, so thick it's nearly a frost in application. You might see streaks when you put it on, but let it settle and it goes back to a sleek coat. Just try to be a bit even in your application and you should be okay. It's a good formula, Zoya pretty much always is, so it applies nicely and two coats did me for a nice opaque polish job. This absolutely needs topcoat though, for you non-topcoat wearers, as I found it dried a bit dull, but you should wear topcoat anyway. It brings out the full beauty of a nail polish (except a matte, of course).

You can't always see the duochrome effect in my pics, I think the purple, Adina, shows it well, and I think Reece shows the pink aspect okay. Just know it has it.

Zoya Happi, the light pink:


Zoya Reece, the dark pink:


Zoya Gwin, the orangier red/orange:


Zoya Lana, the redder red/orange:


Zoya Adina, the purple:


Zoya Laney, the silver:

A Couple Green Zoyas

Remember that very cool "Buy $20 worth of polish" or whatever it was and get seven free green Zoyas? Here are a couple of them I had not already posted. For some reason they sent me two Veruschkas and didn't send me one of the other greens, and I cannot remember which one it was. Anyway enjoy these two beauties!

Zoya Tangy:


Zoya Irene:

Zoya Matte Velvet Winter Collection 2009

This is the last late post I have for 2009 Collections. Thankful sigh! And there's little to say about these except that I think Zoya perfected the suede/matte formula. These have sparkle even when matte, tons of color, great texture, apply easily, and are colors we didn't have before in matte. Great collection. I love them, even if they do remind me of Vegas casino Mardi Gras beads. I mean these colors are exactly the beads they give you.

Zoya Sativa is a gorgeous deep purple.


Zoya Harlow, yummy red grape? I dunno. Very pretty whatever you call it.


Zoya Veruschka is complete perfection. FOREST green, not the everpresent yellowish greens we get, and full of tiny sparkles.


And like I said a month or so before, if you already have FingerPaints Evergreen Dream (sold at Sally's and a lot cheaper than Zoya) if you slap a matte topcoat on it (here shown with Essie Matte About You)you have an exact dupe for Zoya Veruschka. I needed both, obviously.


What a great year it was eh?? Within the week I will post my 2009 Polish mayhem Awards for 2009, so stay tuned!!

Free Green Polishes at Zoya Today Thru Tomorrow Afternoon!

http://zoyanailpolish.blogspot.com/2009/11/zoya-nail-polish-creates-green-friday.html

ZOYA GREEN FRIDAY
"It's just our way of sending some green back to you!" While other retailers taking all your green, let Zoya give you some FREE green!

Spend $20 or more and recieve 6 of our favorite greens for FREE*.


That's right, Zoya Tangy - Zoya Envy - Zoya Midori - Zoya Irene- Zoya Suvi - Zoya Veruschka all 6 for FREE on Zoya Green Friday Only with any purchase of $20 or more at www.zoya.com.

Code will activate on Thanksgiving (11/26/09) at 5 PM (EST). So you will have plenty of time to gobble your turkey and then gobble up our great greens too (who needs football anyway). Code will expire on Friday (11/27/09) at 5 PM (EST).

CODE: GREENFRIDAY

*Promo code valid online at http://www.zoya.com/ only. Offer valid in continental US only. Consumer orders only. Offer begins at 5 PM (EST) on 11/26/09 and expires at 5 PM (EST) on 11/27/09. Offer not valid in conjunction with other promotions, discounts or offers. One code per order. Allow 2 -4 weeks for order processing.


WOW What an order!!! Of the greens they are offering I have these, for info purposes:

Zoya Suvi:


Zoya Envy:


Zoya Midori:

Zoya Color Lock System!

The lovely people at Zoya kindly sent me a Color Lock System after they stumbled upon my blog during May's Month of Zoyas! It's nice to get that kind of helpful offering from a company, buying polish in the quantities it takes to keep my fetish satisfied and be useful as a blog does take money, and everything helps. I don't think I really need to mention I am an honest reviewer, do I? Well okay I'll mention it anyway. I consider Zoya's gift a kindness, and I will review the product honestly, and I cannot imagine they would expect anything less. I am horribly embarassed it took me so long to finish this review, and it isn't quite finished, but it's SO past time to post it I am going to anyway.



The Zoya Color Lock System comes in a very large plastic ziplock bag, which was surprising. I expected a little package. While it was lovely and impressive I have to ask if it is truly necessary. I doubt I will use the bag again, and all of the separate bottle packaging save the polish remover was very large plastic boxes with plastic inserts to hold the bottles. Not very "green" and I felt kind of gross throwing all that plastic out. See pics below.



Okay now that has been said let's move on. The Zoya Color Lock system is a nice little set. It is numbered to let you know when to use each product, and comes with a nice placard with directions, and nice artwork. It's easy to understand and the directions are simple. Use the Remove+ to remove polish and clean and prep the nail, choose one of two offered base coats (Anchor or the ridge filler Get Even), use two layers of nail polish in your choice of color (not included), then use the Armor topcoat. Then use one drop drying solution per nail for quick 5 minute drying. A small bottle of Renew polish reviver is included for refreshing clumpy old polish.

Let's start with the Zoya Remove+ 3 in 1 polish remover. This is a low acetone formula. It is designed to remove Zoya polish. It doesn't remove glitters as easily as pure acetone, of course. But Remove+ is also meant to clean the nail and prepare it. And my nails felt FAR cleaner after using Remove+, and my skin did not need lotion like after using plain acetone. What I ended up doing after I used half the bottle was mix it half and half with acetone. This left a nice clean nail and no whiteness on nail or skin. After using it over a series of days, I grew more and more impressed with this. It was far easier to remove polishes than I had hoped, even glitters. It had a great herbal smell, and it left my nails feeling great! The only drawback I see for me is the price, when I factor in how much polish I remove. For a non-blogger, a large bottle should last you a long time and be very worth it. I really liked this product a lot. If I could afford to use it all the time believe me I would! This product gets an A from me. I bought a big bottle of this and love the crap out of it. I hope I can always afford this incredible polish remover. IMO, it's a must buy.




My plan: use the Zoya Color Lock System on both hands for three full days and review with pictures the condition of my hands and nails every day.

Day One: I applied one coat Zoya Anchor basecoat, two coats Zoya Jo, and one coat Zoya Armor. I did not use drying drops, I don't like them and planned to test them separately. Initial thoughts - Zoya Armor feels like a plastic protective coating. It seems to hug the nail, which I don't really love. It flows around the ridges and bumps and imperfections, rather than filling them in. So the feeling is not much like the glasslike feeling of Seche Vite, though it does feel slick. Slick and bumpy. The shine is very nice, but once again is not a glasslike shine because of the imperfection of the surface. But my nails DO feel very protected. Another unfortunate problem - lots of little bubbles. I know Scrangie had this problem too, and lessened the bubbles, here.
My Nails on Day One:


Day Two: Tiny bit of tip wear on one nail. Forgot to photograph.

Day Three: Absolutely the same. Part of the Color Lock System is you should use the topcoat "Armor" every two days. I think this strategy is going to give you the advertised results, VERY long polish longevity. My nails on day three looked exactly the same on Day Three as Day Two, in fact I can't tell the difference between Day Three and Day One. Unfortunately I failed to photograph them. I have no idea why. I'm a doofus? I wanted to do this again, but you know, I keep forgetting and I'd rather get a partial review up than wait longer. Take my word for it there was very little wear. The set does what it claims.

So is it a good buy? Yes. Just know you'll have perhaps some bubbling, maybe you can work out a technique that minimizes or eradicates this. You'll also get that plastic coated feeling, but you might not even mind it at all, it's a subjectuive thing you may not even notice, and may be completely acceptable for the polish longevity you will recieve in return.

The other two products, the Hurry Up 5 Minute Drying Drops and Renew are easy to make a decision on. I hate drying drops. i don't think they work. These are like every other drying drops I have ever used. If you like drying drops, these will make you quite happy. The Renew does the job just fine, but I only got to use four drops. Reason: The entire bottle sublimated out right through the too-small dropper cap, which was badly seated. The four drops I used seem to do the job. The only solution to this I can see, is with both products, leave the dropper caps off and only use them when you need them, leave the regular caps they come with on. Annoying and messy solution? Yes, but necessary.

So I hope I answered your questions. I DO think this set is worth the money, and you will at very least be pleased with the longevity it gives your polish. It's designed to help you keep better looking nails monger, and it keeps that promise.

Zoya Holiday MatteVelvet Polishes Winter 2009/2010

Here's what I got from Zoya today!



The ZOYA color experts have done it again!
Introducing three new LIMITED EDITION, exclusive MATTEVELVET* shades for Winter 2009/2010...


MATTEVELVET WINTER

Savita (ZP504) - plum gray matte shimmer
Harlow (ZP505) - rose matte shimmer
Veruschuka (ZP506) - evergreen matte shimmer

The incredible Zoya MATTEVELVET* shade collection has been expanded with three new LIMITED EDITION beauties. Get all of the color, none of shine with MATTEVELVET*, Zoya’s exclusive blend of matte base and subtle shimmer resulting in utterly wearable and truly stylish nail polish.

Zoya nail lacquers are free of harmful industrial chemicals like toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Find Zoya MATTEVELVET* as well as over 300 other ultra high-fashion Zoya shades at www.zoya.com. As always, each and every Zoya color is made for women so we name them after women.

*MATTEVELVET nail color by Zoya is not intended to be worn with a base coat, top coat or speed dryer of any kind. Due to the unique matte formulation, color is not as long-wearing as traditional nail color. A completely clean, dry nail surface yields the best results for matte nail color wear. For best results make sure to always prepare nail with Zoya Remove + (3-in-1 nail polish remover, nail plate cleaner and new color prep.) prior to applying color.

MATTEVELVET by Zoya available September 15, 2009.

PRE-ORDER NOW!
Sug. Retail $6.00 per 0.5 oz bottle. U.S.

A Comparison for EnEmDee and a Few Words about Comments.

I slipped behind on my comments! I am sorry. Rest assured in the future I'll check more for new comments and answer in a more timely manner! But you can always get me fast by emailing me, and comparison requests or questions are always welcome. The below is a recent comparison request from EnEmDee!

She asked me to compare some polishes to Zoya Hope and Pure Ice Rio. Is Creative Heiress a dupe for Zoya Hope? What about Pure Ice Rio? Is Creative Kitten Has Claws a dupe for Pure Ice Rio? Let's see!

Left to Right:
Creative Kitten Has Claws
Pure Ice Rio
Zoya Hope
Creative Heiress



As you can see, Creative Heiress is a bit lighter than Zoya Hope, and I think Zoya Hope has a bit more shimmer. Pure Ice has a purple shimmer but is much lighter, sheerer, and has larger shimmer. Creative Kitten Has Claws is a similar color to Pure Ice Rio but is a tad lighter, opaque and has much less shimmer. Thanks for the request and hope it helped!!

Another Month of Zoyas! - Zoya Jade

Well today is our last day in the two month daily Zoya-Fest I have been throwing. I only have two more Zoyas you haven't seen, Jade and Jo, and Jo isn't swatched. So that's it my dears! For now. Thoughts on Zoya - good formula. Pretty much universally all of their polishes have a good formula, not too runny, not too thick, and their thinner, Renew, works in a jiff for any thickness. It's easy to apply and while I'd like a thicker OPI type brush, the brush is just fine, basically.

I'd love to see more glitters in the future, more of their stunning mattes, more color exploration (they definitely seem to be going that way so I expect a super future). I'd LOVE more large grain shimmer polishes like the Truth Collection! And I would die for a glass fleck collection from them. Maybe a couple holographics in their hottest colors, like Paris, imagine a hot VAMPY HOLO. And a blue glitter like Roxy but medium blue, like say China Glaze Blue Sparrow-ish?

Anyway it's been a hell of a ride. I still have to review their Color Lock System, I already have about 4 paragraphs written but I need to do the wear test over a few days and I have a lot of swatching. I'll try to get to that within a week.

Tomorrow sees the start of July, and a new daily polish! Every Day an Essie starts tomorrow, so join me!

As for my last daily Zoya, I picked a real beauty, a sumptuous red jelly stuffed with red glitter. Jade is delumpscious.

Zoya Jade:

Another Month of Zoyas! - Zoya Hope

Zoya Hope is what Mac's new Violet Fire should have been. Big, juicy, shimmery and full of spark. A favorite.

Zoya Hope:

Another Month of Zoyas! - Zoya Beyonnce

Zoya Beyonnce is a kind of rose/bronze duochrome with gold shimmer. It's very pretty and fun. I love polishes with something special in them like this. I don't see any reason Beyonnce couldn't be worn at work as well as be super hot out on the town. My picture does not do it justice.

Zoya Beyonnce:

Another Month of Zoyas! - Zoya Faith

Faith is a dark rose with blurple shimmer. It's quite pretty.

Zoya Faith:

Another Month of Zoyas! - Zoya Mikka

Mikka is a deep burgundy-purple with, for a nice change, a silver shimmer. Very sophisticated and classy!

Zoya Mikka:

Another Month of Zoyas! - Zoya Renee

Renee is another one of those hot pink neons my camera just cannot cope with. It has a decent formula, easily thinned down so you don't get that nasty neon clumpage, and packs a lot of color. It's one of the Summer 2009 La Di Da Collection, and one of the prettiest in that Collection, I think!

Zoya Renee:

Another Month of Zoyas! Zoya Emanuelle

Emanuelle is a reddish rose color with gold shimmer. Very understated.

Zoya Emanuelle:

Another Month of Zoyas! - Zoya Sloane

I'm not quite sure I have to do anything about Zoya Sloane but show you the picture. It speaks for itself.


Zoya Sloane:

Another Month of Zoyas! - Zoya Anthea

Anthea is a red with gold shimmer. Zoya calls it a duochrome copper rose, but I don't get that. It is pretty though.

Zoya Anthea:

Another Month of Zoyas! - Zoya Jacy, Zoya Eve and Zoya

I posted so much past few days I didn't want falling by the wayside that I didn't do my daily Zoyas! So today you get three!

Zoya Jacy is REALLY nice. I liked this one especially. It's a slick dark berry creme with purple shimmer:


Zoya Eve is a hot bright red with a HUGE amount of purple shimmer:


Ah, too bad Paris didn't get her own post. A beautiful shiny vampy red jelly. Utterly chic and soooooo sexy:

Zoya Truth and Dare Fall 2009 Collections!

I am VERY happy with these polishes. Rich jewel tones are exactly my style, and I love these. The formula is Zoya's usual one, it's decent and easily controllable if you don't overload your brush. These needed only two coats for full coverage, both shimmers and creme/jellies. They were easy to apply and beautiful.


Let's start with the Dare Collection. These are six warm dark shades mostly based on purple. These are supposedly cremes, but I think they are mostly jellies. There is one shimmer, Ibiza, a midnight blue. These apply easily. I added a bit of Zoya Renew to Ciara, but most were fine without thinning.

Envy, the green is a very dark jungle type green. It has a bit of brown in it, it kind of reminds me of a rubber tree plant. I think the green fans will really like it, though it is NOT a Nars Zulu dupe. I would have preferred an emerald green more in keeping with the other jewel tones, but Envy is pretty.

Zoya Envy:


Zoya Ibiza, the midnight blue sapphire, is the only shimmer in this collection. It's an understated shimmer but is noticeable:


Zoya Ciara is a juicy berry shade:


Zoya Demi is a rich warm purple with some red in it:


Zoya Pinta is a deep glowing royal purple:


Zoya Vanessa is the red of the bunch, but it has some blue in it, so it is somewhat like a garnet or a raspberry:




The Truth part of the double Collection is just flat out stunning. It is all shimmers in warm coppery reds, gold and pinks, and not only is it heavy on the shimmer, but it also has flecks like microglitter in there for big spangle effect shimmer. Not only that but I bet there is aluminum powder or something in there to make them a bit metallic. WOW these are HOT. Maybe a tad more color range would have been nice, I can't help imagining how beautiful Envy would be with this shimmer, and maybe a blue not as dark as Ibiza. But I'll settle for these.

Zoya Penny is a lovely coppery gold:


Zoya Kalmia is more a true copper with plenty of gold shimmer:


Zoya Salma... what can I say. My picture cannot do it justice. It's like Kalmia but redder, and i swear I see a faint dark pink and gold duochrome on it sometimes. It's simply stunning and I wish I could capture it better:


Zoya Isla, a hot burgundy red:


Zoya Anaka, a deep magenta full of big flecks of shimmer and a blurple shine to it that complements it beautifully:


Zoya Drew, a pinky mauve with tons of shimmer that I expected to be meh about but turns out to really like a lot:


If you are like me, you'll want them all! I hope I helped make your selections!