Zoya Feel Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I have the last of the Zoya Feel Collection to show you today, and that's Zoya Megan.  Zoya describes it as "taupe gray cream," and I can sign on for that.  I also see a bit of a lavender tinge in the bottle, but that really doesn't show up nearly as much on my hands.

This manicure is slightly different than the prior five in terms of the base used.  I cracked a couple nails on my right hand putting clean sheets on the bed over the weekend, so I did the long term repair of gluing the cracks and adding soak off gel.  With the weather changing, I figured I'd ward off additional cracks by just using one thin coat of Nubar Gelicure base coat and one of their soak off sealer on all ten nails.  It ended up being a really good ridge filling base, and I just applied two coats of Zoya Megan, which went on just as well as the previous five, and a coat of Essie Good to Go to dry it.  Over a very smooth base, Zoya Megan is even shinier than the others were.  I applied the color when I did the repairs yesterday, and it's raining today so I took this morning's picture under artificial light.

Zoya Megan Nail Polish, Two Coats

As promised, I'll put all of them in one place so you don't have to flip between pages to compare any.  To summarize, I'm just putting Zoya's color description, the picture, and a link to my full review of each, and I've tried to order them so similar colors are close together.

I think Carey is closest to Megan, and that's the "periwinkle gray cream."

Zoya Carey Nail Polish, Two Coats

Kristen is the "gull gray cream."

Zoya Kristen Nail Polish, Two Coats

Kendal moves us to the beiges, a "rose quartz beige cream."

Zoya Kendal Nail Polish, Two Coats

Kennedy is the "pale french beige cream."

Zoya Kennedy Nail Polish, Two Coats

The last is Avery, the "blonde beige cream."

Zoya Avery Nail Polish, Two Coats

The review summary is that I found all six to be exceptionally easy to apply and control, even, opaque, and super glossy in two coats, and to have a better than average drying time.  I think making choices from this collection really boils down to which colors seem like they'd work best for you, and even though Avery isn't great with my coloring, I think all six are solid updated versions of good neutral basics.

Wearing neutral cremes was a good break from glitter, just what I needed!  I'm ready for something more exciting though, and fortunately, I have good things to show you.  Until then, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

These products were sent by the manufacturer for review.

Zoya Avery

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today brings Zoya Avery from their Feel Collection, the second to last of the collection that I have to show you.  This one's pretty much a Band Aid beige creme, and I think it's my least favorite in terms of color.  However, I think on different colored hands, it would be a good neutral, just not on mine.

Like the others in this collection, application was very easy and two coats of color gave a very even, opaque, shiny manicure.  Here's Avery under a cloudy sky with base and top coat, about twelve hours after I applied it.

Zoya Avery Nail Polish, Two Coats

You can see in the picture that it's really shiny and even, but it's just not the most flattering shade on me.

That's Zoya Avery and Part Five of our look at Zoya's Feel Collection, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

This product was sent by the manufacturer for review.

Zoya Kristen

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today brings another installment in the Zoya Feel Collection series with Kristen, the light blue creme in the collection.  Zoya describes Kristen as " gull gray cream," and it's definitely a very grey blue, maybe halfway between grey and blue.  The overall impression I get from it is still blue though, and relative to Carey, the grey I showed you yesterday, it's much more blue.

Like the others in this collection, Kristen was super easy to apply and control and exceptionally well pigmented without sacrificing shine.  I used two very thin coats of color between base and top coat, and one coat of color was almost sufficient.  I applied it last night and took pictures under a cloudy sky this morning, so the manicure was completely dry for the picture.

Zoya Kristen Nail Polish, Two Coats

You can see the color of Kristen falls into the "kinda grey, kinda blue" category, and also that its shine is really outstanding.  For me, Kristen is far more appealing than a plain grey (even though I'm a big fan of greys) just because the blue in it makes it more interesting to look at.

That's Zoya Kristen and Part Four of a look at the Zoya Feel Collection.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

This product was sent by the manufacturer for review.

Zoya Carey from Feel

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm continuing to work my way through the Zoya Feel Collection with Carey.  Zoya describes it as "full coverage, periwinkle gray cream," but I don't really see any periwinkle in it, I think it's just a good grey creme.

As with the other Zoya Feel shades I've tried, I found Carey to be really easy to apply and control, and two coats over base coat were all I needed for it to be even, opaque, and very glossy.  After topping it off with quick dry top coat, I gave it some time to dry before taking pictures in natural night that's dimmed by some clouds.

Zoya Carey Nail Polish, Two Coats

I like a good grey creme, and this is a good one.  I picked grey for today because I got some sad news today - my college minor advisor, one of my all-time favorite professors and women ever, passed away early this morning.  She was just a super cool, quietly brilliant lady, and she had the cutest little Pillsbury Dough Boy laugh you could ever hear.  The world was a better place with her in it.

That's Zoya Carey, part three of Zoya Feel, and a good shade for a kind of sad day.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

This product was sent by the manufacturer for review.

Zoya Kennedy from Feel

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today brings another polish from the Zoya Feel Collection, Kennedy.  It's described by Zoya as "pale french beige cream," and I'll sign on for pale beige.  It's got a hint of a blush tone to it that keeps it from being all-out Band-Aid beige, but the overall look of Kennedy is pale beige.  Since Feel is all neutrals and I'm showing them to you one at a time, once I've reviewed all six I'll assemble a summary so you can see all six together to help with decision-making.

For this manicure, I again used base coat, two coats of color, and top coat to dry it.  Like Kendal, Kennedy is well pigmented without sacrificing gloss and easy to apply and control.  Two coats made it opaque and perfectly even and shiny.  Another similarity is the better than average drying time.  After allowing a few minutes for the manicure to completely dry, I took pictures in sunlight.  This manicure got a test of thorough dryness when I went out for pictures - it's cold out so I put on a jacket, and I knocked two nails into each other putting my left hand into the sleeve.  I expected a good dent at the very least, but there wasn't any evidence of the little collision at all.

Zoya Kennedy Nail Polish, Two Coats

I like it - it's one of the more basic colors in the collection, but it's got that muted element that seems to update the color and it's so shiny that it's a really outstanding rendition of a basic.  The other thing I like about a good beige on long nails is that I associate them with Barbra Streisand, so I can pretend I'm Babs as I go about the rest of my day.  I might even burst into song a few times.

That's Zoya Kennedy and part two of six as we look at Zoya Feel, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

This product was sent by the manufacturer for review.

Zoya Kendal from the Feel Collection

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Zoya sent a sample set of their Feel Collection for review, and today I'm trying out Kendal.  Rather than swatches, actually wearing these to review them seemed like a better choice since I'd be able to tell you about their drying time this way.

The press info tells me that "FEEL by Zoya Nail Polish delivers six new, highly pigmented, full coverge neutrals." That doesn't sounds anywhere near as cool as it is, to tell you the truth.  All six shades are very modern, pale neutrals, and I waffled on a few to pick out which to try first.  I settled on Kendal, described as "full coverage, rose quartz beige cream," and I can't really think of a more accurate way to describe the color.  It's definitely an opaque version of the color of rose quartz, which is just difficult to describe.  My hat's off to whoever came up with the description Zoya gives!

For my Kendal manicure, I used base coat, two coats of color, and Tout de Suite to dry it.  I found the color very easy to control and apply, and one thin coat was almost opaque and exceptionally even in general, let alone for a very pale creme.  I added a second coat of color because it added a lot to the gloss of the polish, but I think one moderate coat could easily do the job.  Kendal dried quickly, with each coat being close to dry when I came around for the next, and after giving it a few minutes to finish drying I took pictures in sunlight.

Zoya Kendal Nail Polish, Two Coats

In the picture, you can see that it's very even and very glossy, and also that it's a tough shade to put words to.  I think the timing of this release, which went online at Zoya on November 15th, is perfect.  Although I enjoy all the glitters, duochromes, and dramatic holiday shades that have come out in recent months, some modern seasonally appropriate neutral cremes are a refreshing change of pace.  I have more glitters around to show you, but they feel kind of like I'm eyeing a Snickers after a big bag of Halloween candy - just way too much.  Zoya Feel's shades, however, seem just right.

I'm quite pleased with Kendal, and looking forward to wearing the remaining five shades this week.  With the very opaque coverage and high shine combined (normally, it seems one of those suffers a lot when the other is great, but not here), there's an elegant simplicity to these shades that I find very appealing.

That's the update for today and the start of my Zoya Feel series, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Incredible Ivanka

Hello everyone~ I'm sure you know what the star of this post is going to be - I'm a sucker for alliterations, what can I say? :P I've had Zoya's Ivanka in my untrieds for such a long time so I thought it was time to bring it out and wear it. Plus, I was in the mood for some green after my three weeks of work appropriate shades!

This is two coats of Ivanka. Under direct sunlight, there is visible nail line but it looks fine and gorgeous otherwise. For my accent nails, I applied two coats of OPI Jade is the new black and applied a glitter gradient at my tips. The glitter is none other than Fresh frog of Bel-Air from OPI's recent Muppets collection. It's a sheer green glitter polish so I thought it was better fit for layering. I love the accent it gives, and it matches Ivanka so well too!

It's so nice to have some green on my tips after all this time! What do you think of this mani?

Thanks for reading!
~Sharon

A product was provided for consideration. Please refer to my disclosure policy for more information.

Jack O'Lantern Nails

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

It was time for a color change, so today I did another Halloween manicure since I might not have a chance to change it tomorrow.  Since I haven't done the obligatory black and orange combination yet, I figured I'd do that today with the jack o'lantern pattern from nail stamping plate D03, one of the two Halloween D-Series plates.

I wanted a bright orange, and for that I chose Zoya Paz.  It took three coats, and I thought I'd extend the theme and cut the stamping by 60% by alternating nails between Paz and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out, the two coat black creme that was nearest Paz when I was gathering supplies for this manicure.  After allowing the base colors to dry, I stamped Paz with the Jack O'Lantern face in Konad Black Pearl.  I'd planned on stamping some additional Halloween patterns on the black, but after placing the first one on my pinky I thought the better of it and removed the stamp (this is the rare occasion when the decision that less is more was made at the front end of a manicure...).  I sealed the stamping and shined up the manicure with Sally Hansen Salon Speed Shine and called it finished. Here are my Jack O'Lantern nails.

Jack O'Lantern Nails with Stamping Plate D03

This is probably my favorite of this year's Halloween manicures.  It really doesn't leave open any questions about what the intent is!

That's another Halloween manicure and all I have for today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Zoya Gems and Jewels Swatches

Good evening, Dear Reader!

What I have on tap for you tonight is swatches of Zoya's Holiday 2011 release, the Gems and Jewels Collection, which Zoya sent for review.  It's six polishes total, three shimmers and three glitters (which they call "glitter glazes"), and although Zoya suggests various layering options, I figured I'd show you swatches of each of the six at two coats so you have an idea of what each looks like before getting into any layering.  I used artificial light for today's pictures because there's no sunlight, which is never my favorite but sometimes shows glitters a little better by not washing them out.

I'll start with glitters, and with generalities about all three in the collection.  They're all a clear base with colored glitter of two types, powdery-fine regular glitter and particularly small bar (stringy) glitter.  I'm really picky about bar glitter, and this is a good one because it is so small - there are no giant stringy bits anywhere.  All three provided good coverage at two coats, and with glitters like this I use slow brush strokes on the first coat to avoid essentially wiping off all the glitter as I go.  Since these are swatches and I have not worn any as a full manicure, I don't know how much top coat they'll need, but it doesn't seem like it would be a lot with how fine the glitter is.  The dry time looks promising as well, and I'll let you know for sure when I wear them.

Kissy might be my favorite of all here.  It's a kind of fuchsia bright pink glitter with holo-y bar glitter.

Zoya Kissy Nail Polish, Two Coats

Twila is a striking vivid blue glitter with matching bar glitter.

Zoya Twila Nail Polish, Two Coats

Rina is a bright evergreen glitter with matching-but-reflective bar glitter.

Zoya Rina Nail Polish, Two Coats

I think these are great holiday glitters - they bring to mind throwing glitter and streamers at a party.  I don't think they'll be of the sandblaster removal variety either, because of how fine the glitter is - I find that the size of glitter tends to make a pretty big difference in how tough it is to take off, but again, I'll confirm that after I wear one for real.

That brings us to the three shimmers, which are also quite good.  All three were completely opaque and even in two coats, were super easy to apply, and they're full of the kind of shimmer I expect Zoyas to have, where it's strong but not too out there.

Noel is a good kind of silvery blue.

Zoya Noel Nail Polish, Two Coats

Holly is the epitome of a holiday green.

Zoya Holly Nail Polish, Two Coats

Izzy is a hot pink glowy shimmer.  I'm kind of hoping bright pink takes off as a permanent holiday color (in general, not just for nail polish!).

Zoya Izzy Nail Polish, Two Coats

I really like each one of these quite a bit individually, and all together I think they make a very cool holiday collection.  If there's only one in your budget, my vote goes for Kissy - it's a New Year's Eve party in a bottle!

Those are my Zoya Gems and Jewels swatches and all I have for you today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Skittling the purple

Hi everyone! Boy, Uni life sure is hectic even during a break. I finally completed my second assignment for the break and guess what? I have a third one to do. Yipee! :( My life will be absolutely crazy until November 25th, which is when my last exam for the year is scheduled to be. So until then, what with assignments, prac and exams, I have no idea how often I will be painting my nails, let alone updating this blog.

Whining over, on to the nails :) I went for purple this time but I'm not sure I like what I did.

I applied two coats of Sportsgirl Baby elephant onto my index and fifth fingers. It is a greyed out purple with a lovely shimmer - beautiful! For my thumb and middle finger, I applied two coats of OPI Parlez-vous OPI?. Decorated my thumb by placing some 3D objects on it and using my Glossyblossom nail art striper in white for the white lines on my middle finger. Zoya Dannii was applied on my fourth finger and also used to dot the flower on my middle finger.

My friend gave me some of the flat 3D decorations to play with for my birthday. She knows me too well ;)

What do you think of this mani?

Thanks for looking ^^
~Sharon

Yet another spring mani ^^;;

Hello lovelies~ I'm totally on a roll with these spring-inspired manis :P Can't help it, it's September and springgggggggg :D Although it was a tad cooler today and cloudy. Hopefully the sun will come back soon!

I applied two coats of Ulta3 watermelon onto my index and fifth fingers and then used Ulta3 lily white for the dots. Two coats of Zoya Tiffany was applied onto my fourth finger. For my middle finger, I applied two coats of lily white and layered on two coats of Jordana Disco days. Finally, I applied two coats of Ulta3 spring fling onto my thumb and dotted with lily white. For some extra sparkle, I applied one coat of Disco days.

I don't usually wear orange shades so I thought I'd try it out again, especially since it's (meant to be) getting warmer. What do you think of orange on your tips? Also, have a look at my Blog Birthday giveaway, it's ending in 10 days!

~Sharon

Zoya Gems & Jewels Collection Preview

Gems and Jewels




Zoya Nail Polish presents 3 new jewel toned metallic shimmer polishes
and 3 glitzy, glitter glazes (featuring unique bar glitter) for an extra special holiday and winter 2011 season!

Zoya Gems and Jewels Collection
Rina (ZP576): Full coverage, rich green metallic shimmer.
Holly (ZP577): Gorgeous green glitzy, glitter glaze (with unique bar glitter).
Kissy (ZP578): Full coverage, party pink metallic shimmer.
Izzy (ZP579): Vivid pink glitzy, glitter glaze (with unique bar glitter).
Twila (ZP580): Full coverage, icy blue metallic shimmer.
Noel (ZP581): Bold blue glitzy, glitter glaze! (with unique bar glitter).

Mix it up... The Zoya Gems and Jewels color assortment allows
for multiple layered nail polish looks! Have fun…
• Wear the full coverage, jewel toned shades alone for a classic metallic shimmer look!
• Wear the glitzy, glitter glazes alone for a hint of glitz.
• Wear several layers of the glitzy, glitter glazes for a unique textured glitz nail look.
• Layer the glazes over the shimmers to a totally glam nail jewelry look.
• Layer the glitzy, glitter glazes over other colors to create a totally unique look that is
all your own (hint - hint: silver, gold, white and black totally rock under the glazes!).

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

Find Zoya Gems and Jewels as well as over 400 other 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.

Zoya is the new color of fashion...
Shipping September 15, 2011
Sug. Retail $8.00 ea.

So what do you think about this collection? I can see I'm going to be needing the green ones :)

Why I love purple

Hi everyone~ I'm still sporting my spring pastel mani so this one's from the vault :) I'm sure you all know of my love affair for purple by now, I harp on about it so much :P Zoya Mimi was no exception to my love and you can see why! ♥ I applied two coats of Mimi onto my nails and sealed it with a top coat. And oops, the flashes of red you see are a reflection of my top!

This is a gorgeous shade of purple, I love it loads <33. The only thing is that the polish does stain, so definitely double up on your base coat. Do you love purple as much as I do? ^^ And have a look at my Blog Birthday giveaway as well!

~Sharon

Zoya Anja

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm still working my way through the Zoya Smoke Collection, today with Anja.  While I was at it I removed that fake tip I've been wearing, which meant losing more length than I care to, but it's nice to have even nails with no repairs again.  After taking care of that I put on Anja, which Zoya accurately describes as "smoky palatinate purple cream."  It's really nice to apply and one coat was almost good enough, so two made it perfect.  I finished it off with top coat, let it dry for a bit, then took a picture.  You'll see Anja darkens a bit as it dries.

Zoya Anja Nail Polish, Two Coats

It's another very nice, updated, very Fall appropriate shade.  That's the news of the day, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!

Zoya Dree

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Continuing with the Zoya Smoke Collection for Spring 2011, today I have Dree for you.  Before I move on to Dree, I had one quick note about the removal of Zoya Cynthia to pass on to you.  You know how dark blues often leave Smurf fingers in their wake?  Well, I removed Cynthia with the pink Beauty Secrets acetone-based remover, and there was literally zero staining of my skin or nails, so that's a huge plus for a dark blue.

Back to Zoya Dree... That's the olive green creme in the Smoke Collection, and my initial reaction was not particularly thrilled just because I have olive green cremes.  Once I started applying it, I became far more enthusiastic about it for several reasons.  First, the shade is a good one - it's not as yellow as RBL No More War nor as washed out as Chanel Khaki Vert.  The application is very good, although a little bit slow for me since the brush is small and my nails are not, but that comes down to making the color change take 14 minutes instead of 8-10, which is completely reasonable.  Dree's dry time is exceptionally good - when I was painting the seventh nail, I bumped the freshly painted third nail and only made a tiny fixable mark in it, and it was completely dry very fast using everyday base and top coats for me.  The polish is very pigmented so two thin coats were all that I needed and it dries very shiny.  Here's Zoya Dree with base and top coat in the sun.

Zoya Dree Nail Polish, Two Coats

That's what I know about Zoya Dree.  So far so good on the Smoke Collection, and I'm looking forward to the other four.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



*This polish was provided by the manufacturer for review, that fact has no bearing on the review itself.

Zoya Cynthia

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I'm wearing Zoya Cynthia today  because I swatched Zoya's Smoke Collection for you at the same time that I swatched Zoya Mirrors, but  in the time it took me to swatch twelve polishes the light changed and I wasn't pleased with the swatches so I figured I'll just show you the Smoke colors one at a time this week.  Why not start with Cynthia...

Zoya's description of Cynthia is that it's a "smoky Prussian blue cream," and that sounds just about right.  Cynthia 's application was very good, and two coats were plenty to make it perfectly even and opaque.  Here it is after the manicure dried (two coats of color with base and top coats).

Zoya Cynthia Nail Polish, Two Coats

I like Cynthia - it's like an updated navy blue and it's nice and shiny.

That's the beginning of Zoya Smoke and just about all I have for you today, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!



*This polish was provided by the manufacturer for review, that fact has no bearing on the review itself.

Zoya Mirrors Collection

Good morning, Dear Reader!

After I thought I was all done yesterday, a set of Zoya's Mirror Collection sent for review arrived, and I have swatches of them for you today.  This is a really cool collection - each of them applied really beautifully, the one I'm wearing dried well in reasonable time, and they're fun to look at.

All of these are base coat, two coats of color, and top coat, and I let each dry for a few minutes before taking a picture in sunlight.  There's no real significance to the order of the swatches.  Now that you know all of that, let's look at pretties.

Tao, which Zoya describes as "smoky slate gray metallic", is what I'd call a light gunmetal shimmer, and a good one.

Zoya Tao Nail Polish, Two Coats

I'd agree with Zoya that Marina is "smoky steel blue," but I say it's a shimmer and not so much metallic.

Zoya Marina Nail Polish, Two Coats

Nimue is called "smoky rich thistle metallic", and and strange as it sounds, I think "smoky thistle" is the best description of Nimue, a shimmer.  A technical difficulty resulted in less nails swatched for this one.

Zoya Nimue Nail Polish, Two Coats

Zoya says Neeka is "sparkly amethyst purple  metallic," it's a bit deeper purple than Nimue and has little gold glitter.  Neeka is right along the lines of Sally Hansen Salon Arabian Night from a collection Tracy Reese did with them a few years ago.

Zoya Neeka Nail Polish, Two Coats

The other with glitter just like that in Neeka is Yara, where it's in an olive green shimmer base.

Zoya Yara Nail Polish, Two Coats

These five are all lovely, but I think almost any polish would pale in comparison to Zoya Jem.  It's described as "sparkly fandango pink metallic," but mine's nothing like fandango pink at all.  It's a fantastic red plum shimmer, and there's something about the shimmer in it that makes it look just like cool custom car paint.  It makes me think of a neighbor I had when I was a teenager who was terribly proud of his IROC-Z.  The custom paint job even included his name on the driver's door - too bad it was spelled wrong... Anyhow, this is Zoya Jem - see if it transports you back to the days of watching a whole bunch of guys trying to construct an entire car out of Bondo.

Zoya Gem Nail Polish, Two Coats

I think the whole Mirrors Collection is excellent (Zoya's really been making great colors), but Jem put it over the top.  Jem is one amazing nail polish.

That's what I know about Zoya Mirrors, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!