Zoya Micky & Tinsley (Summer 2013 Stunning & Irresistible Collection)

I was recently contacted by the Zoya UK distributors and asked if I would like to review a couple of their polishes from the recent Stunning & Irresistible Summer 2013 Collection. Of course I jumped at the opportunity. I love that Zoya is 5-free, their formulas are great and they have such a lovely and extensive range of shades.

The colours I'm sharing with you today are Micky (Stunning) and Tinsley (Irresistible).

Mickey (2 coats) is a vibrant coral pink with a slight shimmer to it only visible in direct sunlight. Formula wise, it's a little bit streaky and goopy which I didn't expect of a creme. However, three coats and careful application would sort out the streakiness.

Tinsley (2 coats) is a rosey gold foil like shimmer. I'm, so glad they sent me this colour from the Irresistible collection, it's my favourite. The formula is a bit on the thin side but still gives great coverage in two coats.

What are your favourites from the Stunning and Irresistible collections?

Ladies in the UK can buy Zoya polish from www.zoyapolish.co.uk. It retails for £10.50. You can also keep updated via their twitter page.

*The product featured  in this post was sent to me for review.

Asymmetric Periwinkle Bandit

As I haven't done a scotch tape mani in a while and today I had a little extra time on my hands, that's exactly what I went for. I should probably have the Union Jack or some sort of red, white and blue on my nails today since it's the Queen's Diamond Jubilee but to be honest, we're not really celebrating. In fact, we are going to the theatre to watch Rock of Ages, hopefully it's a good one.

Today's design is inspired by one of my favourite girls on IG, Nicole. If you have an IG account and want to follow her, search @nic_tchelly.

I started with Collection 2000 BMX Bandit which is a periwinkle blue much like CG Secret Periwinkle and Essie's Lapis of Luxury. Collection 2000 is usually a shelf I don't go near when I am in Boots but every now and again they do put out a mini collection that has some amazing colours. BMX Bandit (I love that name) is part of the Dynasty, Hoola Hoop, Wham collection which has been around since circa summer 2009 but I still love it.

For the asymmetric lines I also used Zoya Trixie which is one of my favourite silvers and the black with blue micro glitter is a franken I made a while ago called Starry Midnight Sky.

And here is a look at BMX Bandit on it's own! Isn't it beautiful? And gotta love the price too, £1.79 or 2 for £3!

Dotted Tristam

I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of St George and Dragon which should be here tomorrow (hurry up Royal Mail!), so in the meantime as we had an inkling of sunshine today, what better way to welcome the 2 new pretties into my collection that to adorn my hands with Tristam!

Tristam, from The Mythicals collection is a deep blue packed with a ton of holo micro-glitter! There isn't really anything I can say about this polish that hasn't been said all over the blogosphere! For many of us it was THE polish of 2011 and a must have!


Here is Tristam dotted with Zoya Trixie and on it's own! And check out the " A la Glitta Gloves" hand positions on the pics! It was the only way my hand didn't look weird in direct sunlight!

And a somewhat blurry picture showing all that holo goodness:

Victoriana Teal Chevrons

I wasn't sure what to do with yesterday's mani. I fell in love with Victoriana so much that I didn't want to "ruin" it with nail art. Then again, I can't leave a mani alone, especially if I'm in the mood to do my nails again but don't yet want to remove my good polish! So I went for the safe option - tape! I was going to just go for french tips but instead decided on french tips with a twist!

Keeping with the blue, green, teal, silver micro-glitter, etc, theme; here are some Victorian(a) inspired teal chevrons. Additional polishes used were Zoya Trixie and Nails Inc In Style free polish in Teal.

Orly Blue Suede & Silver Shimmer French Tips

For the past couple of days I've been wearing Orly Blue Suede from the Fall 2009 Orly Matte Couture Collection. As the name suggests, this has more of a suede, satiny finish but I still consider it a matte because of the way it look on the nail!
I know a lot of people still haven't embraced the matte look, others think it's horrendous (my cousin compares it to felt tip pens) but I have to say that I quite like it. It's not as versatile as a regular gloss finish polish, but for me, it serves it's purpose.

Blue Suede is nothing like OPI Russian Navy Matte, which I don't own but have tried. This is a gorgeous navy with a dusty satin shimmer.
I actually wore a base coat with this polish as I was afraid to stain my nails and it still applied smoothly, without major dragging or patchy problems.

I then added some Zoya Trixie french tips and some rhinestones. I couldn't think of what else to do with a matte polish. I did consider some stamping but I was sure it wouldn't hold without a top coat and it would probably make it look like chalk board!

I was curious to see what this particular colour looked like with a glossy finish so I added a top coat of SV, but concluded that this matte should be left as it is:

Glittery Pop Fiction!

I painted my nails with Miss Sporty Pop Fiction yesterday (and ended up doing my toes as well) but this morning before I went out I had to fiddle around with it. Why oh why can't I leave a pretty colour alone!!

I sponged some Zoya Trixie half way up and then some Orly Glitz & Glamour on the tips before stamping with BM01. To be honest I have no idea what I was trying to achieve! Usually when I start a mani I already know what I want to do with it but sometimes when I'm pressed for time, my ideas are all over the place and then this happens:

xxx :-)

Pink Wednesday!!! - Medieval Shields (Checkered Mani)

For this week's Pink Wednesday I wanted to show you a checkered mani I did some time ago which was inspired by Erica of course. Her tutorials are detailed and so easy to follow and I love, love, love tape manis because of how easy they are and what you can achieve with them!!!

I was browsing through Jane's blog some time ago and she also mentioned that these look like Shields! They really do actually - Medieval Shields, but maybe not in pink and silver. I doubt ancient worriers would be very fond of these!

For the base colour I used Zoya Trixie. This is a light silver with a sparkling metallic foil finish. It's probably the closest you can get to the Minx or some sort of nail foil look, with a polish! Application was so easy with this one and there was no clean up whatsoever!! One coat of this would probably be sufficient but I applied 2 and removal is nowhere near as arduous as glittery polishes. In fact, it came off like regular polish.
As my CND Raspberry Parfait is a perfect 1 coater, I used it to create the checkered pattern :-)

xoxo