Zoya Spam: Midori, Zuza, Valerie, and Kimber Swatch And Review

Good morning my dears! I hope you have a wonderful hump day. I've got some more Zoya spam in case your still waffling on what colors to order during their yearly Earth Day exchange promo. It's the best time to take advantage of their sale to stock up. Zoya makes endless colors in all finished, and shimmers are a particular favorite of mine.  I've swatched four for you today.

Who doesn't love a Midori sour? This is nearly an exact shade of that wonderful drink, and is a thirst quenching melon green shimmer. Formula was thin so make sure to work quickly to avoid streaks.  I used three coats here with no topcoat.

Zoya Midori

Zoya Midori

Zoya Midori

Zoya Midori

Zoya Midori

I'm in need of a tropical vacation and the closest I can get is Zoya Zuza, an aquatic teal blue with silver shimmer. This reminds me of white beaches and clear tropical water.  No trouble at all with application, and I only needed two coats here with no top coat.

Zoya Zuza

Zoya Zuza

Zoya Zuza

Zoya Zuza

Zoya Zuza

I've been long overdue in swatching this shade, but it was well worth the wait.  Zoy a Valerie is a stunning jewel tone dark plum shimmer with lighter tonal shimmer.  This one glows from all the summer that's packed within.  Two coats here with no topcoat.

Zoya Valerie

Zoya Valerie

Zoya Valerie

Zoya Valerie

I adore any color base with gold shimmer, and this vibrant dark pink is no different.  This is a lovely transitional shade for spring going into summer and does a great job of making me appear tanner than I am. Gotta love that! Again, two easy coats with no top coat.

Zoya Kimber

Zoya Kimber

Zoya Kimber

Zoya Kimber

Zoya Kimber

Zoya Kimber

How perfect are those shades? This is only a sampling of the huge variety that Zoya had to offer. Have you narrowed down your list yet? Do yourself a favor and make sure you order all the shimmers!

Zoya Pixiedust Carter Swatch And Review

Purchased

Happy Monday!  I hope you all had a great weekend and are ready for the first full week of 2014.  Hopefully we're all sticking to our resolutions, if we made any.  As for me, it's the same as always - purge the collection(shoes, bags, polishes), buy less, eat healthier, and work out more.  Hopefully if my life isn't as chaotic as it was last year I'll be able to stick to some of those promises.  What have you resolved to do this year?

There's a current Zoya promo that starts today and it's for three free polishes with $12 shipping and handling fee(why can't it be three polishes shipped for $12?).  The code is COLOR2014 and starts January 7th through 13th.  See details here, as it seems that it might be worth it to spend $25 to get free shipping.  From what I heard, it's working right now!!

If you're looking for polishes to add to your collection, may I suggest Zoya Carter?  Carter was released during the Fall 2014 Pixiedust collection and it is amazing!  It's a sparkling dark fuchsia glitter in nearly black base that dries to matte textured finish.  The black and fuchsia come together and gives the polish a purple appearance once dry.  The sparkle factor is off the chart, and makes for a blingy vamp.  Love!  I used four super thin coats here because I heard the polish dries super slow.  I had no trouble navigating the polish onto my nail thanks to the easy to maneuver Zoya brush, and I had no pooling or clumping or dragging, as long as I let the polish dry in between coats.  It does dry super slow too, in fact once I finished I managed to ding a nail quite a while later. Of course, no topcoat here in the pics.

Zoya Pixiedust Carter

Zoya Pixiedust Carter

Zoya Pixiedust Carter

Zoya Pixiedust Carter

Zoya Pixiedust Carter

Zoya Pixiedust Carter

Thankfully despite the ding, textured polishes are really forgiving and hide imperfections well.  Once dry, the texture itself isn't as gritty as other texture polishes I've tried, which I'm thankful for because I worry that it'll be too rough for LO when it rubs against her baby soft skin.  Carter is definitely a must have Zoya IMO, and I hope that you pick it up if you don't already have it!  Are you going to jump on this sale, and if so, what are you planning on getting?  I'd love to hear about your haul! (Says the girl that is on a low buy)

ETA this is off topic but I just got an email that Barielle is having a whopping 40% with free shipping. O.m.g. Today only! 

Purchased

I Love Nail Polish Cygnus Loop Swatch And Review

Purchased

It's Tuesday and I'm back at work.  Yesterday was a lovely day, and I was sad to see the minutes tick by knowing that it would be over soon enough.  I didn't get to do any shopping, but I did go to the park with LO and helped her crawl up the jungle gym for the first time.  We went down the slide together and she had a blast, and was eager to do it again, and again, and again.

I'm on a multichrome roll, so tonight I pulled out another color changing polish that I ordered a few months ago but didn't get a chance to swatch.  This is I Love Nail Polish Cygnus Loop, released as part of breakthrough Ultrachrome collection that was released early this fall. Cygnus Loop is a stunning fuchsia to purple to blue multichrome shimmer that reflects mostly eggplant purple but turns race car blue and berry red at odd angles.  The formula on this was slightly sheer and I needed three coats to achieve opacity.  If you look closely enough, you can see some brush strokes as well, which is typical for shimmers but the multichrome properties disguise them well enough.  I did experience a little shrinkage with my Poshe/GFC topcoat mix, a first for me with this topcoat combo.  Next time I'll remember to wrap my tips!

I Love Nail Polish Cygnus Loop

I Love Nail Polish Cygnus Loop

I Love Nail Polish Cygnus Loop

I Love Nail Polish Cygnus Loop

I Love Nail Polish Cygnus Loop

I Love Nail Polish Cygnus Loop

I Love Nail Polish Cygnus Loop

I Love Nail Polish Cygnus Loop

Strangely, on camera the fuchsia and blue are easy to capture and the eggplant purple is more elusive.  I love the dark color of this polish - it's like a vampy multichrome, perfect for the colder months.  I Love Nail Polish still has this collection available and have since added holographic versions of the Ultrachromes.  I'm tempted to get them but I think I'll try adding a holographic topcoat instead to help maintain the color integrity.  With the multichrome explosion, have you picked any up?  Or are you not a fan?

Purchased

YSL Bronze Aztec Swatch And Review

I've got a quickie for you tonight and that's Yves Saint Laurent Bronze Aztec, a dark blackened bronze shimmer.  The formula was consistent with YSL polishes that I've tried in the past, which is smooth and with the perfect consistency.  The polish was highly pigmented, so I only needed two coats for full opacity.  I used topcoat to hasten drying and add some shine.

YSL Bronze Aztec

YSL Bronze Aztec

YSL Bronze Aztec

YSL Bronze Aztec

YSL Bronze Aztec

The color is not terribly unique, but it's still a gorgeous color.  There's something terribly sexy about a darkened bronze polish.  It leans slightly vampy but not quite.  The only gripe I have is that I ordered this without realizing that I already own it in the Holiday Trio that was released a couple years ago.  Ooops.  Have you double purchased a polish that you already own?