Zoya - "DARE" Fall 2009 Collection

Ok guys, after all the giveaway alerts here's a "real" post to keep you interested!

As promised, I swatched out the Dare collection (sooner than I was anticipating, I'm rather proud of myself. Actually, since this is study-procrastination kicking in I really shouldn't be proud of myself at all... :P)

All of these were 2 coats, without a top coat or base coat. Excuse any bumpy-ness I have some rough patches on my nails that I'm working on... Also you'll notice that the corner of my index finger has broken off since my last post :(


Zoya - "Vanessa"
This is a berry red creme. It's a red that has more violet in it. I found this to be thicker than the rest of the collection, but it still applied smoothly. (Sorry I did not get a picture of "Vanessa" with flash.)




Zoya - "Ciara"
This is also a berry-toned creme, but this one is not as red and much more....purple? It is a slightly more muted tone. For me, "Ciara" applied a bit easier than "Vanessa" since it wasn't as thick.




Zoya - "Demi"
In these photos, "Demi" looks much bluer than in real life. It is a purple toned color, but much more red than blue. Probably somewhere between "Demi" and "Ciara" is the actual color. Application wise was similar to "Ciara".




Zoya - "Pinta"
In these photos "Pinta" looks much, much bluer than in real life. It is definitely a blue-toned, indigo/purple, but it is not quite as blue as these photos would suggest. I had a bit of difficulty applying this polish, it dried out on me more quickly and did not smooth out as well as the others.




Zoya - "Envy"
Now this is a gorgeous, dark foresty deep mossy green (that's a long string of adjectives, I know). Apologies for the unfocused non-flash picture. I'm still getting the hang of taking swatch photos...with a dying camera that's about 8 years old. (Also, I honestly start to get impatient and my nails start to get all cruddy about halfway through swatching. I'm trying to go fast in order to catch the last few minutes of bright daylight as well.) Anyways, I love this color but I don't really see a lot of opportunities for me to wear this on my fingers at work.

NOTE: If you look veeerrry closely, you will notice a hint of shimmer. It is barely there, however, and "envy" basically passes as a creme.




Zoya - "Ibiza"
Ibiza is beautiful! Similar to how "Anaka" had the unique finish out of all the polishes in the Truth collection, "Ibiza" is the only polish in the Dare collection that has a noticeable shimmer (other than "Envy", but the shimmer is very subtle). A dark blue with a hint of shimmer that gives it that little bit of glow.


So that's the Dare collection! Out of all six, obviously the 3 red toned are the safest and most wearable, but I found "Envy" to be very unique and I also loved "Pinta" even though I had some issues with application. "Ibiza" is very nice, but it reminds me of an old Wet n' Wild nail polish that was also a dark, shimmery blue. The Wet n' Wild was one of the first nail polishes I ever bought (back in grade school!).

Also, since I did not swatch "Salma" in the Truth collection last time here it is:

(I will also update the last post so that it will be complete with the entire collection).



Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more swatches! I've already got the pictures but just need to mark them and post :)

Zoya - "TRUTH" Fall 2009 Collection

UPDATE: "Salma" has been added!

Here are swatches of Zoya's Truth collection. For some reason, I did not swatch "Salma" but did the other 5 polishes in this collection (Penny, Kalmia, Drew, Anaka, Isla).

Again, I realize that I'm a season or two late since this was the Fall 2009 collection, but I didn't really feel up for a ton of swatching and photo-taking until today. I was on a roll today and did a bunch of swatches (to be completely honest I'm trying to study for the MCAT's right now, but have had a difficult time focusing and this was a good way to pass some time :P. I'm happy now...but won't be in May when I have my exam :(...)

I also did a couple of China Glazes and the two other holos I mentioned in my last post (Milani and Color Club). I'll get to those later. For now:


Zoya - "Penny" This is a nice coppery-orange, I think the name suits it fairly well.


Zoya - "Kalmia" A darker, redder version of penny. It has a nice golden shimmer to it as you can probably see.

Zoya - "Salma" Should go here, as it is the next step up from Kalmia. It is a darker version of Kalmia, more of a red and less of an orange/copper. At the time I was taking pictures, I felt that Kalmia and Salma were so similar that I didn't feel like swatching Salma :(. It may have just been the lighting in my room, but I was lazy. Sorry! I will try to remember to swatch it another day and update this post.

UPDATE:
Zoya - "Salma" This was a very pretty, red with a hint of copper/orange/brick. While swatching I looked at it and wanted to keep it on. I feel stupid now for not including it the first time.


Zoya - "Drew" This is a nice, mauve polish. It's fairly neutral, and has a muted quality to it. Kind of a "dusty rose" perhaps?


Zoya - "Anaka" This is a very pretty fuschia/magenta polish. Unlike the other polishes in this collection, Anaka has unique glass-flecky shimmer particles in it that really give it some depth. I'm not really a fuschia person but I like the glass-flecks.


Zoya - "Isla" This is a beautiful dark red polish. It has that dark, blackened shimmer to it that really gives this polish a lot of depth.

And that's it for now! I think that Penny is a unique color, but Isla is probably my favorite of the bunch.

Apologies for not including "Salma".

I also have the Dare collection, and will swatch that as soon as possible!

Thanks for reading ^_^

Zoya - Harley

Here is Zoya Harley I got from the polish exchange. As with the others, this was taken outside with no direct sunlight. I was really excited about this before getting it, but was kinda bummed because I don't think it goes with my skin tone too well. I'll have to try it again later I guess and see.

Two coats? Maybe 3. It is pretty opaque in one coat already so I'm pretty sure this was just 2 coats. I'm not used to swatching a lot so excuse any bumps or smudges :)

Zoya - Elodie

So we're currently having a wind/rain storm here...I dunno why I'm still up but I just don't feel like sleepin :)

Here are more of the Zoya pics I took a while ago. Again, I got this with their exchange program.

2 coats. Elodie is super pigmented, and the 2nd coat was more just to make sure things are even. This reeeaallly changes color depending on how/where you're looking at it. In these pics it looks super pink. Sometimes it looks almost like a red, other times more coral-y.

Earth Day - Part II (Zoya Irene)

So I ended up doing a blue + green mani of Zoya Irene layered over Zoya Akyra for Earth Day, but it was rainy and shady poopy weather all day so I didn't really get a chance to take a pic.  

Instead, in honor of this wonderful green holiday, I will post my pics I took of Zoya Irene a while back, which I got from their exchange deal.  There was also no sun at this time, but they were taken outdoors.  Three coats, pretty good application imo, on the sheer side though.

On a different note, I know that I have zero readers, maybe the random passerby every once in a while.  I feel a little bit strange and silly writing stuff...i tend to ramble a lot and be wordy.   Right now, however, I am basically talking to myself. hmm..

Asian Polish - Yellow & Zoya - Erika

This first one is a random yellow creme I got in China. (I get a lot of polishes from China, usually pretty crappy quality and probably full of toxic goodness..but cheap and comes in lots of colors).  This is one coat, and I think there are two coats on the pointer and pinky.  The polish really becomes a nightmare to apply after 1 or 2 coats.  I did the yellow with the intention of layering Zoya Erika over it, however, so excuse the sheerness.  If I feel up to it I might post a separate swatch showing the true potential of this "Chinese Yellow".  

Like I said, the second pic is one coat of Zoya Erika layered over the yellow.  I discovered this combo by accident and really liked the effect...which may or may not be apparent in these photos.  It started out with me wanting some cute yellow nails..but after 2,3 coats they got all streaky and not smooth at all.  That's when I decided to experiment with the pink over it to try to smooth it out, and the result was this nice peachy color that seemed to glow (probably from the yellow peeking out of the edges).  It was still kinda chunky so I wanted to recapture the effect in the 2nd pic, but maybe I was being too careful because the glowi-ness isn't really showing up.  Instead, I just look like I have nasty yellow cuticles.  Still, I really like the color

Oh, and these were taken outside...in the "brightest" of shady days.  No sun at the time.  There is sun now, but I cut my nails again recently after these pics were taken.  That made me sad and I don't really want to take new pics.  Plus I have two exams tomorrow which I should be studying for right now...