Refined and Polished: zoya

Showing posts with label zoya. Show all posts

Friday, October 26, 2012

Zoya Gilty

Hey dolls! Over the last few days, I've been wearing a gorgeous combo - Zoyas Gilty and Natty. As soon as I heard that Zoya was putting out a LE gold leaf top coat, I immediately pre-ordered even though I wasn't sure that I would like it. I'm glad to report that I love it! Gilty is pretty dense, so I only needed one coat over Natty.

I love the way this pair looks together! I am looking forward to pairing Gilty with other cremes. I'm envisioning some great holiday looks. Zoya just announced yesterday that the Gilty trio is available again for a limited time. Head on over to get yours while they are still in stock!

Have you picked up any of the gold leaf top coats yet?

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Breast Cancer Awareness - Skittles

Hey dolls! Today I have for you the BCA mani that I wore to my local Making Strides walk. This look was inspired by Marta of ChitChat Nails. She always does the cutest skittles looks (where each nail is different) and I wanted to give it a try. I pulled out Barielle Eli's Magic, Barielle Cotton Candy, Zoya Kimber, and OPI Excuse Moi. I received Excuse Moi as a surprise gift from my polish friend Lola over at Burb Beauty (thanks doll). Two coats of Excuse Moi was used over one coat of Eli's Magic while two coats were used of the remaining polishes.

As Marta inspired this look, I had to take a few pictures with some BCA jewelry!

I loved the way this turned out! I finally got a chance to do the "saran wrap" marbled look. I started with a base of Cotton Candy, added stripes of Kimber and Eli's Magic, then dabbed with the saran wrap. I'm ready to try this look with other colors!

Here are a few pictures from the BCA walk. I have more, but they are with my high school mentoring group and I don't want to put them on the net all willy nilly. :)

Happy hump day dolls!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Zoya Ornate Collection

Hey dolls! I have an amazing collection for you tonight! Several months ago, the Zoya fairies posted on their facebook page that holos would be coming to us soon. Well, they are finally here in the winter collection! The Ornate collection consists of three scattered holos (which you all know I prefer over linear holos), a shimmer, a foil, and a bar glitter. The formula on the entire collection was great and all applied well. The Ornate collection is full of win, so let's get to the photos.

Blaze is a cool-toned medium mulberry red with a high concentration of micro fine diamond holographic glitter. I know I love a color when I'm constantly telling my hubby how pretty it is as I apply it. Two coats were used.

Storm is a holiday black with a high concentration of micro fine diamond holographic glitter. This color is absolutely stunning! You all know I've been into dark colors lately, so Blaze is right up my alley. Two coats were used.

Aurora is a medium sugarplum purple flecked with a high concentration of micro fine diamond holographic glitter. Holo lovers, this is the one you NEED! Once again, I was saying out loud how gorgeous this polish was. By this point, hubby was probably tired of hearing me say it! The sparkle is crazy in this polish. Aurora is not quite as pigmented as the rest of the collection, so I used three coats.

Electra is a micro fine diamond holographic glitter mixed with large silver holographic bar tinsel in a clear base. Oh Electra. I would have been perfectly fine with this collection if Electra was not included. I'm sure those who like bar glitter will be pleased though. Electra surely provides the bling factor. I am not a fan of bar glitter; especially bar glitter that is this dense. Only one coat was used over Aurora.

Logan is a yellow-toned forest green with dense, foil-like yellow-gold and blue-green duochrome shimmer. This is one pretty green! I love how heavy the gold shimmer is. I didn't realize until I went outside that there was a little balding in some areas, so three coats (as opposed to the two I did) are needed for opacity.

Ziv is a yellow-toned metallic gold foil with silver highlights and warm gold flake glitter accents. I adore Ziv! This gold foil is so complimentary to my skin tone. I love the depth that the flakes add, which makes this a really unique shade. Two coats were used.

Excluding Electra, I absolutely love the Ornate collection! The best thing about the three holos is that the sparkle is visible in all lighting. Zoya has really impressed me this time around! If you'd like to purchase any of these Zoya polishes, you can find them here for $8 each.

Which shades are you loving from the Ornate collection?

*Products featured in this post were provided by PR for review.*

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Breast Cancer Awareness ~ Glequins

Hey dolls! Today I have for you my first of several breast cancer awareness manis, which will take the place of Pink Wednesdays this month. Most of my long-term readers know that my mom is a two-time breast cancer survivor, so these looks are near and dear to my heart.

I recently received a set of loose glitter, affectionately known as "glequins", from BornPretty to review and I knew immediately that I wanted to use them for a BCA look. I started with two of my favorite Zoya pinks: Gilda and Flora. Three coats of Gilda were used and two coats of Flora for the accent. After Flora was dry, I applied the glequins individually by dipping a small dotting tool into top coat and placing them on the nail. I must admit that this process was extremely tedious. It took about 30 minutes to complete the accent nails.

Although this took way more effort than I expected, I love the final product! The glequins are small, but still very easy to apply to the nail. The pots are jam packed with glitter, so they are well worth the price. I barely made a dent in the glitter that was just stuck to the lid with this mani. This set comes with 12 different colors of glitter for $6.45. If you'd like to order this set from BornPretty, feel free to use my coupon code of TPJ61 for 10% off your order.

Ladies, please take the time each month to complete your self-examinations. Early detection is the key! For more information on breast cancer, how you can make donations, and to get involved locally, please check out Susan G. Komen and Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.

*BornPretty products in this post were provided by PR for review*

Monday, September 10, 2012

Reader's Choice Mondays ~ Zoya Crystal

Happy Monday dolls! This week's winner was Zoya Crystal with 60% of your votes. Crystal is a gorgeous metallic, wintery blue that is filled with gold flecks. The formula was sheer, but not problematic. I applied 3 coats for the pictures below.

I like Crstal! The gold flecks make it a unique color. It is similar to Zoya FeiFei, but the base is lighter and doesn't include pink and blue flecks.

For this week's Reader's Choice, I have three SpaRituals for you to chose from. Please take a second to vote. The poll will close on Friday, September 14.

Shooting Star, Deep, Revere

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Monday, August 27, 2012

Reader's Choice Mondays ~ The Hungry Asian Sneeze Breeze

Happy Monday dolls! I hope and pray that all of you who are in the path of Isaac remain as safe as possible. I'm thankful that northern Florida got passed over this time. The winner of last week's poll was The Hungry Asian Sneeze Breeze with 40% of the votes. Sneeze Breeze is a matte blue and black glitter. The base was relatively thin, but easy to apply. Sneeze Breeze dries to a textured finish, but was easily smoothed out with one coat of Nubar Diamont. I used one coat of Sneeze Breeze over Zoya Carey in the pictures below. I chose to use a light gray base in order to show off the glitter best.

I really like the way Sneeze Breeze looks over Carey. The fine blue sparkle is super pretty! I enjoyed wearing this combo for a few days.

I realized that I haven't worn any purple polish in some time, so I have three untrieds for you to choose from. Please take a second to vote. The poll will close on Friday, August 31.

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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Polish Days ~ Olympics

Hey dolls! The theme for this month's Polish Days is the Olympics. I'm a huge fan of the games. I've been watching it all from the very beginning. My favorites are track, gymnastics, swimming, basketball, and volleyball. I had so many different nail art ideas in mind when I first heard of the theme. I tried them all on nail wheels, but none of my ideas were speaking to me or turning out the way I envisioned. I decided to go with something simple and tried and true for me - dots. My inspiration was the three medal colors: gold, silver, and bronze. For the base, I used Orly Au Champagne. The dots were Zoya Goldie, OPI Your Royal Shine-ness, and Diamond Cosmetics Decadence. My index finger got horribly smudged as I was taking pictures, so they didn't make the cut. :)

Au Champagne is just the most gorgeous white ever! I love the way the dots turned out and how the design is not super literal. I'm looking forward to seeing what all of the other ladies came up with for this theme.

What's your favorite Olympic game?

Here are the other participants: