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 :)

O.P.I. - "Osaka-to-Me Orange"

Today was another beautiful sunny day so I'm honoring that with a nice, sunny (kind of) color. I looove orange (even though this is my only true orange polish ;P) so this works.

This is kind of a pain to apply properly and get the right color. At 2+ coats it becomes kind of a Halloween-y pumpkin orange, at 1 coat it's a nice, kind of sheer, orange that's not too bright. But VERY hard to control that 1 layer and get it smooth and the same color across all nails.

For swatching purposes this is just 2 thick coats, to make things easy.

(BTW, these pics were taken a few weeks ago, my nails are currently super short and stumpy due to the ultimate frisbee incident. They are growing back, slowly but surely...probably surely to be broken again anyways. Eh oh well, I must set a good example for my piano students =P)

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.

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...

Asian Polish - Nude Pink

This is a random mini polish I got in China. It's a nice, neutral beige-pink-nude kind of color. Will post pics of bottle if I get a chance. These were one of the first ever pics I took of my nails with the intention of showcasing nail polish. The color is pretty good, the quality is poop though. Consider this a test post.

It's also been a while since I've been able to grow out my nails at all. I teach piano, so technically I'm REALLY not supposed to have long nails...bad influence for the kids ^-^ oops. (I couldn't resist though, I've ALWAYS loved long nails since I was a kid, but my mom was always making me cut them. )

A while ago I was able to grow 'em for about 3-4 weeks after these pics were taken due to no lessons. I tried to squeeze in as many swatches as I could in that period. Ok that was a tangent. I'm done now.

This was indoors, taken under my desk-lamp (...) , I think it was 2 or 3 coats..not important.

Any tips on picture taking? I don't know how all those girls get such beautiful pics of their nails. I guess my camera skills are pretty shitty.