Zoya Spring 2016 Petals Collection Swatches & Review

Hi everyone! Today I have the Zoya Spring collection to show you. It's called Petals and the shades are "inspired by the gardens of spring, this fresh and vibrant collection invites you to revel in the beauty of the season!" There's six polishes in the bunch and they're great for the season!

Press Sample

Tulip is a "pure pastel salmon cream with the slightest hint of sheen to mimic a petal soft finish." I found the color delightful, but the formula was a tad streaky and I needed three coats for opacity. The shimmer is subtle but noticeable.

Aster is a "fresh periwinkle with flecks of fuchsia to create a dewy finish, mimicking the look of spring flowers in the morning." This was excellently formulated, fool-proof application and I had full coverage on two coats! What a pretty color too eh? Similar to OPI Show Us Your Tips but more opaque and slightly more purple toned.

Laurel is "a warm pastel pink with the slightest hint of sheen to mimic a petal soft finish." This one was on the streaky side and needed three coats. However, with the slightly crelly-like formula I wasn't surprised. I would choose a formula like this one or Tulip's over something like Zoya Eden which has a chalkier type of feel. I suppose it would come down to personal preference.

Azalea is a "classic spring pink with a captivating white and fuchsia flash". I found the sparkle in this to be so pretty, the same type that Aster has with a similar formula. Very opaque, two coats here. 

Zahara is described as "a brilliant shimmering coral made modern with an opalescent effect." This polish was similar to Aster & Azalea in finish and formula, but was a little less opaque so I needed three coats.This is SO pretty, maybe my favorite in the collection.

Leia is a "sheer, opalescent white with flecks of fuchsia, green and gold". Zoya says this can be worn on it's own or layered over the other shades in the collection. This is it by itself at two coats. I like it but probably wouldn't wear it like this. I bet it would build up a little more with one or two more layers though.

I layered one coat of Leia over the other shades here. You can't tell very well from this photo but there was significant sparkle and a bit of that flash of color. (P.S. my thumbnail is rounded for some unfathomable reason, don't mind her)

These are available right now on the Zoya website for $10 each. I've heard a bunch of people say this collection isn't their favorite because the colors are too similar and they don't like the formulas, but I really enjoyed them! Different strokes for different folks I guess! What do you think? Is this collection a winner for you?

❤ Kellie

The products mentioned were provided for an honest review.

Black Luna Lacquer Auroras Swatch & Review

Howdy good folks! Awhile ago I saw an awesome photo of a opalescent pearl glitter polish on instagram a while ago and I knew I had to have it. It's actually the type of glitter I'd been looking for for a long time, but you usually can only find it loose and not in a nail polish. The polish is called Auroras from the indie brand Black Luna Lacquers. I layered two coats here over a white crème.

I love this glitter, it looks so ethereal and I love the color shift it gives at different angles. I can't wait to layer it over more colors. This is the first polish I've tried from this brand. I don't care much for the bottle shape and the clear base smelled quite strong. Not a deal breaker for me, but worth mentioning. I bought this from the Black Luna Lacquer website for $8.50. What do you think of this angelic glitter polish? Would you rock it?

I'll see you again soon!

❤ Kellie

My Valentine's Nails

Hey folks, hope your Valentine's day was sweet and full of sugar and luuuuuvvv. I'm not big into the holiday, never have been much of a romantic. Plus I'm single haha :P Thought I'd make it a fantastical nail day anyway and I wore this set of falsies from Icing. They remind me of Ke$ha or Gaga. Really impractical and gaudy. I loved them instantly.

These were fun but I had a hard time fitting my nails perfectly as there were only 10 nails total and um I have 10 fingers and guess what not every person's nails are the same size. So that was a little lame, filing almost everyone of the nails. I doubt I'd buy another set from Icing like this, even though they were fun. I wasn't too concerned about showing accurate color like I am most of my swatch photos, so I put some vignette on the edges. Sickening, no?

3 Misa Wishes

I decided to buy some of the Misa Wishes collection sight unseen. For a polish blogger, this is unheard of. Shows you just how much I love Misa ;) Turns out, I had no reason to worry, the colors I chose were beautiful, in typical Misa fashion.

The first is Never Say Never, and despite having the nasty habit of giving me a Justin Bieber earworm, makes me quite happy to look at. It's a shimmery granite grey whiteish color with a special finish. In fact, all the Wishes polishes have a unique finish that I've never seen before. It's not shiny but it's not matte, not quite satin either. It's like soft? Almost like frosted glass. It's very hard to describe. This is two coats, which for a pale color is really awesome.

Touch the Rainbow is a frosted glass blue ethereal polish. This one surprised me, as before I said, not knowing what to expect, the color is quite slight but still very present. It's a whisper of a tint, but the blue is still there. This is also two coats. These covered remarkably well.

Genie in this Bottle is by far my favorite out of the three I chose, an opalescent pinky purple shimmer floating in a frosted pale purple base, so angelic! This is also two coats. These polishes were a bit thicker but not hard to paint on or streaky, just thick enough to get opaque. Very nice!

What do you think? I love this understated Spring collection! So unexpected! I purchased these from www.head2toebeauty.com and they are also available on www.transdesign.com and www.misacosmetics.com now.

xoxo,
kelliegonzo

Randoms

Here are a few lacquers that I've swatched but haven't posted yet so now's the time I suppose :)

BB Couture Seashells is a light pink crème lacquer that is very sweet and dainty. I enjoy sporting a modest nail look like this every so often, but I count myself lucky that I don't have to wear "work appropriate" colors such as this every day at my job. We have a pretty lax dress code. This is three coats.

Colorama Hippie Chic is a polish Miss Sarah B. picked out for me from her home country of Brazil. This is a bright teal a shade or two lighter than I've seen before. Very nice with two coats.

Girls Will Be Girls by MAC is a polish I got in a swap a few days ago. A pretty pink and coral opalescent lacquer. This is four coats.

Pin Up is another Brazilian lacquer from Sarah, by Impala. It's an awesome dark pink metallic, interwoven with some silver. Two coats for this hawt mama!

xoxo,
kelliegonzo

Deborah Lippmann I Dreamed You

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, everyone. I have been under the weather for a few days, blargh. I suffer from migraines and have caught a bit of a bug so those two conditions piggy-backed equal no fun for me. Also I have not gotten my camera back yet so I haven't been able to take any quality photos. However, a lovely family member let me borrow her camera so I have been able to do some photoshoots this weekend with some of my new polishes.

I Dreamed You is a lacquer from our favorite celebrity manicurist, Deborah Lippmann. It was recently seen on the fingertips of none other than Anne Hathaway on the red carpet at the Golden Globe awards. This kind of polish is not usually my style and even though it looks lovely and demure in the bottle, I probably wouldn't choose it out of all the other creative and visionary products that Miss Lippmann has produced. Nevertheless, sometimes you need a nice neutral mani to detox from all the crazy glitters, dark polishes, and kooky shimmers that we usually wrap our tips in huh.

I used three coats for this manicure and while this is not a polish that you'll get opaque, it doesn't need to be. The opalescent shimmer fools the eye into seeing it as a full coverage lacquer! Ladylike and girly sexy. J'adore!

xoxo,
kelliegonzo

This was sent for review.

guest hands and glitter

this is a pic of an old manicure my friend, coworker, and polish addict Mickelle did last winter.  this is china glaze emerald sparkle with hard candy break up glitter polish layered over top. her nails are so lovely :) i loved this combo, very christmasy! i have a ton of back swatches i need to post haha. i'm so bad!