Zoya Summer 2012! Beach and Surf!

I always adore Zoya's collections. Their Summer collections are almost always my absolute favorites. I just received the preview email, and I thought I would share.




New nail color - coming soon to a salon near you and Zoya.com!

Summer 2012 is going to be a super stylish season for nails with the latest offering of nail polish collections, Beach and Surf, from the new color of fashion, Zoya! This new splash of color, designed by the Zoya color experts, is kissed by sea and sand translating beautifully onto the nail in the famous, full-coverage Zoya formula.

Dive into the creamy shades of the Zoya Beach Collection or the shimmering sea foils of the Zoya Surf Collection. The choice is yours – this color palette is sure to be a splash!

Zoya BEACH Collection
Reagan (ZP614) - deep cerise pink cream
Lara (ZP615) - vivid cerise pink cream
Shelby (ZP616) - soft pinky pink cream
Arizona (ZP617) - soft coral orange cream
Tracie (ZP618) - sea grass metallic
Wednesday (ZP619) - soft aqua cream

Zoya SURF Collection
Rory (ZP620) - lotus pink foil metallic
Carly (ZP621) - thalia purple foil metallic
Kimber (ZP622) - magenta pink foil metallic
Myrta (ZP623) - coral orange foil metallic
Meg (ZP624) - mermaid green foil metallic
Zuza (ZP625) - aquamarine foil metallic

Zoya is the new color of fashion...

The Zoya BEACH and SURF collection was designed and inspired by resort runways and tropical get-a-ways.

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 BEACH and SURF 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.

BEACH and SURF by Zoya Nail Polish - 12 new colors:
Available April 1, 2012 (USA)
www.zoya.com

Sug. Retail $8.00 per 0.5 fl.oz. bottle (US).

A few NOTD pics to get back in the swing!

I adore the following two manis, and I very much wish my nails were in better shape so that I could truly do these polishes justice. Unfortunately my poor nails have been through the ringer over the winter months. I just can't seem to find the right combination of moisturizers and base coat to get the peeling to stop. That said, these polishes are still gorgeous!

First up Lynnderella Lilacs in Love over Zoya Malia, a match made in heaven!







Next up is Lynderella Billet Doux over CND Winterfire







I am hoping to get my poor nails back in shape so that I can begin sharing photos more regularly again. We shall see!

Another Favorite (Non-Nail) Thing!

Aside from my obsession with nail care and nail color, I have one other obsession, perfume oils! I've been collecting oils created by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab for over two years, and I absolutely love them! The inspirations behind their scents are unique and creative, and the scents themselves are incredible. The lab is always creating new scents. They celebrate the changing of the seasons, comic book artists, authors, and holidays such as Halloween, Yule, and Lupercalia (during which Valentine's Day falls). That is by no means an exhaustive list of their miriad sources of inspiration. The lab also maintains an enormous general catalogue, and is constantly adding new scents to it, in addition to all their limited edition offerings. Since I began using perfume oils, I've rarely returned to alcohol based scents.

Within the past year or so I have also begun exploring the offerings of other perfume oil retailers. I've had wonderful luck with oils made by Conjure Oils, Arcana Soaps, and Solstice Scents. One recent favorite is Manor Perfume by Solstice Scents. It is a gorgeous vanilla musk warmed by beautiful woodsy notes and sweetened with a vanilla accord. I absolutely LOVE it! I also ordered Thornwood Thicket, and it too turned out to be fabulous! Rich amber and a woodsy incense vibe wonderfully balance the juicy blackberry note. I am so pleased with both scents, and I love the value I get with Solstice Scents perfumes. The perfume oils are packaged in beautifully labeled, cobalt blue glass vials with a roller ball dispenser. Each vial holds approximately 0.35 oz (10ml) of perfume oil, and a little goes a long way! Manor perfume and Thornwood Thicket Perfume are both offered as part of the Solstice Scents Autumn collection. I definitely recommend that you check them out!

If you happen to be interested in more perfume oil reviews, please comment here! I am happy to include reviews of my perfume oil purchases, along with all the nail stuff. I have an order of several bottles from the Halloween update coming from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, and if there is interest I will gladly review them here!

In addition, I am still working my way up to 200 followers so I can do a grand Zoya giveaway! I'm still 75 followers shy, so please bring your friends over. I have one set each of Summertime, Sunshine, Smoke, and Mirrors to giveaway! 

Finally, Zoya Mirrors Swatches!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, especially with the weather. We lost power for quite a while this weekend, when I had intended to get the post online. We were more fortunate than many of those in neighboring states, my thoughts go out to them as they work on recovering.

I've only had time to get photos of the Mirrors collection so far. Hopefully I'll get the Smoke collection taken care of soon! I am still looking forward to doing a big Zoya giveaway in celebration of 200 followers, so send you friends over to have a look and click follow!

On to the pretties :)

First up are Nimue and Marina, which were surprisingly less brush-strokey than I had thought they would be. The formula for both of these was really nice, and I found Marina to be a wonderfully flattering and neutral blue.


Sun:




Shade:




Next up are Tao and Yara. I found the formula of Tao to be a bit more problematic than Nimue and Marina. Although all three are similar in finish, Tao's formula was runny and more difficult to work with, which did result in slightly more visible brushstrokes. Yara's formula is wonderful and the finish is amazing. I'm not a big on for greens, but this one is surprisingly flattering and a bit more neutral than most green polishes tend to be.


Sun:




Shade:




And last, but certainly NOT least, Neeka and Jem. I am absolutely in LOVE with Neeka. I could absolutely hoard this amazing purple. The formula is fabulous and the finish is stunning (both Neeka and Yara have the same finish). Jem is also quite lovely, but very close in color to one of my earlier favorites, Valerie. I find that I prefer Valerie since the formula applied a bit more smoothly and the finish had a bit more sparkle. Nevertheless, Jem is a lovely color!


Sun:




Shade:




Thanks so much for stopping in to check out these gorgeous colors! Keep checking back for news of the giant Zoya giveaway!

Zoya Fall Swatches Coming Soon!

Finally have the Zoya Smoke and Mirrors collections in hand and I'm preparing a swatch wheel and some mani pics. So, photos of these lovelies coming very soon. I also want to give a head-up to my followers. I will be doing a huge giveaway once the blog reaches 200+ followers. I have one set each of Sunshine, Summertime, Smoke, and Mirrors to giveaway! I will be posting more details when I hit 200. Check back soon for swatches, and get your pals to follow so I can reach my goal and celebrate by giving 4 lucky winners some gorgeous Zoyas!

SpaRitual Sacred Ground, Fall 2011

Good afternoon, my darling readers! I know I don't stop in and post as often as I used to, but I am trying to do so with more regularity. I couldn't resist stopping by to share with you one of my newest polish purchases, SpaRitual Sacred Ground, from the Fall 2011 Wilde collection. This one is an instant favorite, top ten material for me. I predict it will be a highly sought after rare polish one day. Although that could just be the crazy polish fanatic in me talking. I think I may hoard multiple bottles though, just to be safe. It is seriously that awesome. Pictures are one coat Essie Grow Richer (trying to combat the remaining peelies from vacation), two coats SpaRitual Sacred Ground, one coat Instant Artificials (for durability), and one coat Poshe.


Indoors:






Outdoors (full sun):






I know these aren't perfect, by any stretch of the imagination. Take it from me, this polish if amazing, and I would recommend it to any of my fellow polish fanatics out there! It would definitely make a fantastic first SpaRitual purchase, so if you haven't tried them before, consider giving them a try!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Hello there readers! I've just returned from vacation. My nails had to be nubbin-ized due to spray sunscreen and sand damage. So in lieu of swatching (won't be doing that for at least another week or two) I thought I'd post about some of my favorite nail, cuticle, and pedicure products. I've been obsessed with nail care and color for nearly 5 years now, so I've definitely amassed a list of products that are must-haves for my mani-pedi tote.

1. Fast-Dry Top Coat: I alternate between three major players: Seche Vite, Poshe, and Out the Door. I love Poshe because it tends to play nicely with some brands (Zoya!) that do not play nicely with Seche Vite. Poshe dries very fast, but I don't find it quite as shiny as Seche. Out the Door is another one that seems to work well across the board, and it doesn't seem to thicken quite as quickly as Poshe or Seche Vite. Last, but not least, is Seche Vite. It was my gateway fast-dry topcoat. It is still the shiniest. It does have issues with thickening quickly, and sometimes I find bubbles unavoidable, but the shine is unbelievable. Seche Vite is NOT big-3-free.

2.Alpha Hydroxy Cuticle Cream: I use either Poshe Cuticle Care or CND Cuticle Eraser. I find them to be evely matched in effectiveness. With everyday use, I rarely find myself needing to use an actual cuticle remover. And I never, ever cut my cuticles!

3. Cuticle Balm: My hands-down favorite is Qtica Intense Cuticle Repair Balm. Super moisturizing, and I love the smell!

4. Cuticle Oil: Again, I have one hands-down favorite, BB Couture For Nails Cuticle Oil. It is a blend of super moisturizing oils and has an amazing fragrance.

5. Ridge Filling Base Coat: Most definitely Zoya Get Even!

6. Nail Strengthening Base Coat: Gelous. Actually my favorite base coat PERIOD. It makes my manicures wear like iron, and it is amazing as an additional layer over glitter to help prevent a bumpy finish.

7. Favorite nail color brand: Zoya. I love the bottle shape, I love the brushes (perfect for my tiny, short nails), and I love the amazing variety of colors. I only wish they'd make a collection of holo colors!

Thanks to all of you for reading! I hope this post encourages you to try some new products and maybe find something new to love!