Zoya Gloss NYFW 2012 Collection Review

My favorite time of the polish year is upon us, and that is when the fall collections start rolling out.  Even though it's hotter than blue blazes outside, on my nails, I can pretend that I'm wearing sweaters and watching football.  :)  And Zoya's fall releases are always some of the ones that I look the most forward to.  This year, Zoya has 3 collections, each of which are " 'haute' off the New York Fashion Week Fall 2012 Runway".   These collections consist of a set of six creme polishes (Designer), a set of six metallic/shimmer polishes (Diva), and a small set of three jelly polishes (Gloss).  Today, I have for you the Gloss collection.

I chose this one to be my first to review because I have fallen in love with jellies.  I love the squishy quality and shiny finish to jellies, and these babies are no exception...

Frida - dark teal jelly.  Frida was my problem child of the bunch.  I loved her in the bottle.  On the nail, she took the longest to reach opacity.  The above picture is 4 coats and I still have nail lines.  Also, I'm just going to throw it out there that at one or 2 coats, it kinda has the color of green-death NyQuil.  :/  So, you are probably going to want to use more coats with this one, if you use it alone.  That said, Frida is amazing (AMAZING!) when layered...

This is one coat of Zoya Frida layered over 2 coats of Zoya FeiFei (a blue shimmer metallic from the Diva collection).  I absolutely love this one layered.  It changes FeiFei from a slate blue to a gorgeous aquamarine.  So, so pretty.  

Katherine - aubergine jelly.  Katherine was created for Peter Som and was previously offered as part of a limited edition set.  So for all of you that didn't pick her up back in the winter, now's your chance.  Katherine is very pretty color.  I say it's aubergine, but there is a lot of brown in the base.  The formula on this one was a little thicker than Frida.  The above picture is 3 coats, and while there are thin spots in the macro picture, they weren't noticeable in person.  Like Frida, Katherine is amazing when layered...

This is one coat of Katherine over 2 coats of Zoya Daul (a plum shimmer metallic also from Diva).  The bases in Katherine and Daul were relatively similar, so while it didn't transform the color, like with Frida and FeiFei, it is a beautiful combination.  

Paloma - mulberry jelly.  Okay, so I know that berry shades in fall collections are not original.  But, this one is fantastic and my favorite of the collection.  Maybe it's the jelly finish or the super-shiny finish, but there is just something about this one that had me at hello.  I also really liked it with my skin tone.  The formula is perfect and I was able to reach total opacity in 3 coats.  And yes, like the other 2 in this collection, Paloma perfect for layering...

This is 2 coats of Zoya Paloma over 2 coats of Zoya Song (a bright blue metallic from Diva).  I had already used the 2 shimmer metallics from Diva for layering, so I wondered what would happen if I used Song.  The answer?  Awesomeness!  :P  I really, really love this combo.  It's a little hard to see in my photo, but in person, the sparkle within Song pops as red and purple flecks because of the color of Paloma layered over top.  

I really like this small collection of jellies from Zoya.  You jelly-fans will not be disappointed.  Also, I wanted to mention that a lot of comparisons have been made between these polishes and OPI's sorbet polishes from last year.  The finish on them is similar, so if you loved the sorbets (which were essentially jellies with a slightly thicker texture), you will love these.  

If I had to pick favorites, I would say Paloma, Katherine, and then Frida, but honestly, for layering, all of these are amazing.  You could transform just about any polish with a simply coat or 2 of one of these polishes.  And they self level well, which is great for layering.  

Zoya Gloss, as well as Diva and Designer, will be available at Zoya.com starting in mid-July.  Zoya polishes retail for $8 a bottle.  

Zoya Gloss was sent to me for review.  The above link links to Zoya.com and is affiliated with my Share the Love account.  When you use the above link and create an account, you will receive a free polish, and I will receive points that can be used for promotions through the Share the Love program.  If you prefer not to use my Share the Love link, please go to www.zoya.com.  

Today's Nails - Glitter Layering

As you all probably know by now, I am currently in a glitter-obsessed phase.  I can't seem to wear anything on my nails that isn't covered in glitter in one way or another.  Today's manicure is no exception.  If you are anything like me, you may think about possible manicure ideas before going to sleep.  Sad, but I guess that's goes with the territory.  Well, this idea came to me last night, as I was falling asleep.

This is actually a combination of 5 polishes, but it's not as involved as you'd think.  Here are the polishes I used...

1. Color Club Bewitching (my go-to black creme)

2. OPI Your Royal Shineness (a bright silver)

3. OPI Paris Couture for Sure (a holo top coat) - this is the bottle pic

4. OPI Crown Me Already! (a silver glitter top coat with large, mirror-finish hex glitter)

5. OPI Gettin' Miss Piggy With It (a mostly red glitter top coat with a little bit of silver glitter in the mix)

I started with a base coat of Bewitching.  I then added a thin coat of Your Royal Shineness and a thin coat of Paris Couture for Sure.  I then added another thin layer of Your Royal Shineness and Paris Couture for Sure.  So there are 2 coats of each but they are layered.  I then added a coat of Crown Me Already! and Gettin' Miss Piggy With It, and sealed the whole thing in with Diamont.  Sounds like a ton of coats, right?  Well all in all, it was 8 including topcoat, but being that I used extremely thin coats of each one, with the exception of Bewitching, which was just a normal coat, they were almost like half-coats.  I used dry drops so it was dry within minutes.  It only took me about 30 minutes, too.    

Maybe tomorrow, I should step away from the glitter.  

Nina Ultra Pro Hard Candies Collection

Like I mentioned Wednesday, before I received my samples of OPI Shrek Forever After, I was working on swatching and reviewing the new Nina Ultra Pro collection, Hard Candies. My NP ADD kicked in and I had to stop and review the OPIs, but I didn’t want to wait too much longer to review the Ninas, so here goes…

I stopped in my local Sally Beauty on Wednesday to pick up French mani guides and I walked out with 9 new polishes… this new collection and 3 new Fingerpaints glitters, that I will review in the next few days. So much for restraint. ;) Does it help if I mention they were Buy 2 Get 1 Free? LOL.

As soon as I saw this collection, I was immediately drawn to it. The bottle colors are absolutely amazing and really do remind you of hard candies. And the colors on the nail are just as awesome. Unfortunately, the opacity in the bottle does not translate to the nail, but let me show you the swatches before I get too ahead of myself.

Guava is a juicy orange shimmer. All the colors in this collection are named after various types of fruits, save for one. Anyway, the color on this one is so pretty. Like I mentioned, it’s an orange shimmer, though it would need more red it in to be a true guava color. Compared to another recent sheer orange I reviewed, CC Turn the Other Chic, I like this color, though it didn’t necessarily work with my skin. This pic is 3 coats and I still have VNL, so it is rather sheer.

Dragon Berry is a bright reddish purple shimmer. The shimmer in this one is more silver than tonal. Also, this one has more of a metallic appearance in the bottle, though it is still definitely a shimmer, which is what gives it a slight frosty appearance on the nail. Right after I put this one on, I didn’t really like it. Then I left it on while I typed my review and it started to grow on me. This pic is 3 coats and it did reach opacity, although there are faint VNLs in bright light. This one could definitely be worn without layering, however.

Tutti Frutti is a bright pink shimmer with a hint of coral. Unless I’m mistaken, outside of children’s programming, there is not a “Tutti Frutt”, so this is the only one not named after a real life fruit.  :P Of the 6 of these, this is the one that really reminds me the most of ChG’s 2009 summer collection, Summer Days. This picture is 3 coats and I do still have VNLs, though it’s not nearly as pronounced as with Guava or Star Fruit, so IMO, if VNLs don’t make you completely OCD, you could wear this one alone.

Soursop is a sheer turquoise blue with blue, green, and purple shimmer. When I googled “soursop”, because I had no clue what it was, I found pictures of a weird bumpy green fruit with white flesh, so I have no idea why they put that name with this polish color.  :S Anyway, the color on this one is beautiful and the shimmer is mesmerizing. But you'd have to put on a gazillion coats to get bottle color, unfortunately.  And while it’s the prettiest of the lot, IMO, it’s also the sheerest (though it looks amazing layered - see below). Pic is 3 coats.














Pomegranate is a magenta shimmer and like Dragon Berry, it has more of a metallic appearance. The shimmer is purple, pink, and silver. Also like Dragon Berry, this is one of the more opaque colors in this collection and could definitely be worn without layering. This pic is 3 coats.

Star Fruit is a bright yellow lime shimmer.  Like Guava, this one looks very "juicy".  This one is also sheer and like Guava did not work with my skintone. Pic is 3 coats.

While the sheerness may send you running in the other direction, IMO, the beauty in this collection is in the layering. I layered it over 2 coats of white and over one coat of black.

This is two coats of each of the four sheerest polishes in this collection over white (ChG White Out).

L-R: Guava, Tutti Frutti, Soursop, and Star Fruit.  (FYI, Tutti Frutti was not streaky IRL, not sure what happened w/ the pic).

And the same 4 colors over black (Zoya Raven)

L-R: Guava, Tutti Frutti, Soursop(sigh), and Star Fruit.

And for continuity’s sake, though it's not as necessary, here are the other 2, Dragon Berry and Pomegranate, over white and black.

L-R: Dragon Berry over white, over black, Pomegranate over white, over black

Okay, I like them over white. I think it really makes the color pop, and I especially like Dragon Berry and Pomegranate over white. It really takes the frostiness out of the finish. That said, I looooove them over black. My favorite has got to be Soursop over black. It looks very close (I will have to do a comp post in the next few days).

Like I mentioned above, the finish, save for Dragon Berry and Pomegranate is very similar to the ChG glass-fleck polishes And other than being super sheer, for the most part, I had no application issues.

When I first swatched this collection, I was disappointed. The colors on the nail just did not live up to expectations when you saw them in the bottle. However, if you like to layer, I definitely think it’s worth picking these up. Guava, Tutti Frutti, Soursop, and Star Fruit are so beautiful over black. Right now, these are B2G1F at Sally Beauty and with a Sally’s card, they are $3.79 each. I haven’t seen the collection online, either through Sally’s or another e-tailer, and there is no contact information either on the bottle or online. So it looks like these are in-store only for right now.

Another Layering Experiment... OPI La Paz-tively Hot Matte with CC Strawberry Candle

In my previous post, I mentioned trying La Paz-tively Hot Matte and loving it on it's own.  If I hadn't been trying another layering experiment using my matte collection as bases, I would have probably left it as is. 

I'd previously used RN Matte as a base for Merry Midnight, so I figured I'd try the same with LPH Matte.  I had swatched with Merry Midnight and I liked the results, but I wanted to try it with one of my LE CC Japanese Glitters (which unfortunately, I didn't love on their own).  After comparing the bases, it looked like Strawberry Candle was the closest match.

I did one coat of the OPI and one coat of Strawberry Candle.  Here's the result:

I couldn't get the sparkle to show through true-to-life in the picture, but I think you can get the idea.  I liked the CC LE glitters on their own, but the felt a little sheer to me.  Layering it allowed the sparkle to really shine through without having to apply multiple coats. 

As for the CC itself, Strawberry Candle is a strawberry pink base with tons of fine multi-color (pink, blue, green, purple) and holo glitter.  The glitter looks to be different sizes, but I'm a horrible judge at that, so don't hold me to it.

The konad is Special Polish in White and plate m55.  Sorry for it being upside down, but I totally forgot to flip the pic before I uploaded it. 

The LE glitters are still available at VNS, and perhaps H2T (I think I've seen them there in the past, but I didn't check before I posted).