Zoya Focus and Flair Haul/Review

Once again Zoya has graced us with two beautiful collections for fall! The two collections are called Focus, which are 6 creme polishes and Flair, which are 6 shimmery polishes.

I tend to go for more of the shimmery colors over the cremes, but after watching some reviews, I decided to pick up a couple from the Focus collection. We'll start with those first.

First up is Zoya Sia. This is a beautiful bright cobalt blue creme. The formula is thick and smooth like a perfectly blended milkshake. The downside is that it stinks like a skunk. A lot of purples and blues have that kind of awful smell I'm assuming because of the type of pigment used. I guess the color payoff is worth enduring the smell.

This is two coats. 

Now, upon seeing this polish, of course some ideas for comparison came to mind. A lot of cobalt blues have more of a purple-y base, and aren't as true blue as Sia is. I did find some in my collection that were comparable. The first being the infamous OG Sally Hansen Pacific Blue. The second being Essie Mezmerised. These were the two that reminded me the most of Sia, so I did a quick comparison shown below.

These are the bottle shots. From L to R: Sally Hansen Pacific Blue, Zoya Sia, Essie Mezmerised. (P.S. Isn't Mezmerised spelled Mesmerized? Am I crazy?)

So from the swatches you can see that Pacific Blue is a lot lighter and brighter than Sia, however they both have the same kind of dusty blue hue to them. 

I think it is closer to Mezmerised, although Sia is slightly brighter, I think they are the same tone blue. Sia definitely has the beter formula of the two.

The next polish is called Charli. This is a beautiful khaki green creme shade. This is a unique polish to my collection. I didn't have any camo colored greens before this polish! Like everyone before me has said, the formula is a one coater. It distributes evenly and smoothly. The below picture is just one coat.

Now on to the Flair collection. I picked up Estelle. Estelle is a deep royal sapphire blue with a slight purple flash. 

This first shot is in direct lighting, but you can't see much of the purple flash through the blue.

You can see the shift a little better in this light. Please forgive my plastic-y looking fingers, I had to slather them in cuticle oil during this swatchfest, they were looking pretty bad. lol. 

This is the best shot I had to see the shift the most clearly. It's really stunning in person.

Now, this color is certainly not unique. I picked out three more polishes that looked pretty similar in the bottle, so I did a swatch comparison. 

From L to R: Revlon Super-Powered, Zoya Estelle, OPI St. Mark's the Spot, OPI Miss Piggy's Big Number

Somehow I flipped the swatches around, so swatces from L to R:

OPI Miss Piggy's Big Number, OPI St. Mark's the Spot, Zoya Estelle, Revlon Super-Powered.

Basically, these are all blue polishes with a purple flash or shift. Super-Powered is more of a multi chrome; the bottle shot shows the slight gold-green flash in it. MPBBN seems to have more purple in the base and is a bit more sheer than Estelle. Finally, St. Mark's the spot is pretty much an exact dupe. Conveniently, this came out as a limited edition polish for OPI's fall collection, so you could pick up one or the other and be covered. They even have the same shimmery glitter in them. I'm just a sucker for this kind of deep blue, I guess. 

Next up is Tris. This is a shimmery gunmetal silver-gray. I didn't find any exact dupes for this polish, but I did add some comparable gunmetal shades that I had in my collection. The formula is amazing and the coverage is beautiful. Any streaks or brush strokes that are visible dry down when the polish dries. Something about this shade makes it look like its cool and warm at the same time. I'm starting to think the shimmer has a slight gold to it. 

Below is two coats.

These are some gunmetal shades I pulled as a comparison. Shout out to the clearance aisle! haha. 

L to R: Sally Hansen Shoot the Moon, Zoya Tris, Zoya Loredana, OPI Warm Me Up.

The color is probably closer to Shoot the Moon, but the glitter is a lot larger and more dense than Tris. The same is true for Loredana, except this one has purple and blue microshimmer in it. Finally, I thought Warm Me Up had the same shimmery flash in it, but it is a lot more taupe-y.

Next up is Cinnamon. This is a deep bronze-copper shimmer. It makes me think of some kind of luxurious chocolate every time I see it haha. Coverage is nice and silky. It is also one that will show brush strokes, but the shimmer helps it be a little more forgiving. 

Below are some similar shades I scrounged up from my collection. 

L to R: OPI Brisbane Bronze, Zoya Cinnamon, Kiss Sapphire Dust

Brisbane Bronze is more on the coppery side although it does generally have the same type of formula. Sapphire Dust is probably a hint darker or a bit more brown, but in person they are harder to tell apart. They have the same really good coverage and formula. The biggest difference is Cinnamon is more appropriately named than Sapphire Dust. :P 

(P.S. I have a separate post on more Kiss polishes if you are interested!)

Lastly, is Aggie. This is a gold to green to almost blue duochrome. Although this is the most unique polish out of the collection, sadly, it's not a unique polish. I'm sure there are exact dupes for this polish throughout the entire realm of polish. I was able to pick out three from my collection. Actually, I'm not quite sure what's worse: the polish not being unique, or the fact that I now have 4 polishes that are pretty much the same. 

From L to R: OPI Just Spotted the Lizard, China Glaze Rare & Radiant, Zoya Aggie, Revlon Chameleon.

Here is the swatch comparison. JSTL and Rare & Radiant are dupes for each other, and they have more of a yellow-gold tone to them. Their blue shift is also a lot stronger. Chameleon, on the other hand has the deeper warmer gold color yet also has a deeper blue-green shift. Aggie does have a tad more shimmer to it, but it's safe to say that formula and color wise, Chameleon is an exact dupe. And it's a little cheaper!

Comparison shot again in more direct light.

Here's a bonus shot of geometric freehand nail art I did using Aggie and Charlie.

Generally speaking, the Focus and Flair collections are stunning collections with beautiful colors, but the unique edge that Zoya normally has is slowly fading. When I first started collecting Zoya polishes, they were unique colors with flawless formulas. The formulas are still a dream to work with, but other companies have caught on to incorporating more edgy, dynamic colors. I normally get excited when I find dupes for polishes in my collection, but to find so many comparable colors for this collection was a bit disappointing. I would recommend buying the cheaper alternatives and saving your money for something more unique from Zoya. 

Halloween Haul & Nail Art Extravaganza!!!

I literally have had Halloween nail polishes since August, but somehow I'm just now getting around to posting Swatch pictures. This has allowed me time to come up with some awesome holiday nail art at least! Hehehe.

So I'll get started with the collection I've had the longest: China Glaze Ghouls Night Out

I think there were 6 polishes in this collection, but I only picked up the 3 glitter polishes.

The first polish is called Cackle if You Want To. This has purple and  black matte glitter in a clear base. The purple glitters even have some darker purple stripes across them, which gives it a unique look. The glitters range from micro hex glitter to large hex glitter and bar glitter. For the below pictures I used OPI's I Just Can't Cope-acabana. I feel like this polish had the least glitter payoff of the three. It still is decent coverage though!

The macro shot lets you get a better look at the striped glitters!

The next polish is called Something's Brewing. This has light almost lime green and black matte glitter in a clear base. It is similar to Cackle if you want to, except the glitters aren't striped. I used this as a topper over China Glaze Budding Romance. 

Macro shots. Look at how dense that glitter is!!

The last polish is Ghostess with the Mostess. This has green, orange, black and striped purple matte glitter a clear base. This has excellent glitter payoff and I think it's the perfect Halloween glitter. It has every color you can think of when you think of Halloween!

Sorry, I can't remember what I used as a base. I'm guessing it's China Glaze Japanese Koi based on how bright it is in the photo.

I even did a sponge nail art look and used Ghostess with the Mostess to top it off. It looks like Halloween threw up all over my nails! haha. I love the patchwork look the base has.  

Next collection comes from Sinful Colors. Though I'm not actually sure it's a collection, if not just Limited Edition Halloween Polishes.

The first polish is called Go Batty. This is a blue glow in the dark polish with tiny holographic crescent moon glitter. You're going to have to do some serious glitter fishing on both these polishes, unfortunately. Go Batty isn't so bad. The formula is pretty sheer, so I had to put down a white base so the blue would show up. You'd need really thick coats for the blue to get opaque. 

If you want to go through the trouble, the glow in the dark looks really great! I've never messed with glow in the dark polishes before, so maybe I'm just easily impressed.

Here is a side by side comparison from daylight to no light. 

The second polish is called Skele-bration. This is a green glow in the dark polish with matte black skull-and-crossbones glitter. As with Go Batty, the formula is thin and you'll have to do some serious fishing. With this one, I found it was easier to just place them on the nail one at a time, otherwise you'd never get any out. :(

Here is the side by side shot:

Overall, I think even though they are a lot of trouble to deal with, they're still cool polishes to have for Halloween. They're Sinful Colors, so they're an inexpensive way to decorate your nails.

Another Sinful Colors polish I picked up is called Devil's Stare. This is an absolutely beautiful glitter jelly polish. It has gold and red glitter in a red jelly base. The application was so smooth and it most definitely can be built up to be worn on its own! The pictures below are two coats with no base. The nail line is visible just a tad bit, but I think in person the glitter deflects that.

This shot is in indirect lighting. The super-glowyness stands out the most here!

Here is the shot in direct light. 

Here is a shot it with some freehand bats on top. The bats started off looking good, but they got more and more obese as I went on lol. 

Finally for Sinful Colors is Stone Cold This has black and silver micro glitter in a stone gray base. So beautiful! It does start off sheer and gritty, but it also builds up nicely. If you put a topcoat over, it basically eliminates any grit. The below shots are two coats with no base and one coat of topcoat.

Indirect light:

Direct light. Look at all that silver microshimmer!!

Here I used it as a background to what I would like to call a glam graveyard. Normally graveyard nail art backgrounds are void of glitter except for right now. I even used the moon glitters from Go Batty for my moon. And I tried really hard to Bob Ross the heck out of those trees, but alas I just have to settle for them looking like happy accidents. 

Lastly, is the Halloween trio from Nine Zero Lacquer. This is the indie nail polish brand from Jessface90 on Youtube! I've been watching her videos forever and was so excited when she launched her brand. I have bought several more polishes from her, so I'll have a separate post for the rest.

The first polish in the trio is called Candy Pillowcase. This polish is multi-shape and multi-color matte glitter in a creamy, bright white base. The white is not sheer or streaky at all, it was nice and smooth all the way through. 

Some glorious macro shots!!

The second polish is called Holo-ween. This has orange holographic glitter in an orange jelly base. This is sooooo beautiful! The sparkle in this is unreal, I couldn't stop taking pictures! It just looks like your nails are encrusted in orange sparkly goodness!

Shot in direct sunlight.

Macro shot in indoor lighting:

Macro shot in direct sunlight:

Just to give my mani a more Halloween feel, I layered Formula X polish in Blast Off between coats of Holo-ween. It actually came out looking pretty good!

I also did a fish tail accent nail on my thumb. In addition to Holo-ween, I used Zoya Darcy and Sinful Colors Snow Me White.

The last polish is called Swamp Thing. This is a light yellow-green shimmer with a golden flash. At first I was kind of "meh" about this polish, but seeing it on the nail floored me!! The golden flash really puts this over the top for me! 

Shot in natural lighting. The gold really stands out!

Macro shot in indoor lighting:

Macro shot in direct sunlight:

The name inspired me to do some creepy looking monster eyes as a mani. I just hope it didn't freak anyone out at work! 

I couldn't decide which looked better - with the green in the middle or without, but I figured I could just post them both. 

Now I just have a couple of other nail art designs I've done for the Halloween season. 

First is a devil/angel combo. I guess inspired by Halloween costumes. Please forgive the angel's wonky eyes; I guess she spent too much time with her devil neighbor. 

Polishes used for devil: Yellow - Zoya Darcy, Orange - OPI Juice Bar Hopping, Red - OPI Big Apple Red

Polishes used for angel: Yellow - OPI I Just Can't Cope-acabana, Gold - Julie G More Karats Please, White - Zoya Genesis, Blue (eyes) - DJ Blue My Mind, Blue (background) - Zoya Oceane,

Somehow I still felt like I hadn't done enough eyeballs so I decided to do some more. Basically, it's just like doing a reverse half moon manicure and adding more dots.

Base used on all nails - OPI Samoan Sand, Green - Zoya Tilda, Red - OPI Big Apple Red, Blue - DJ Blue My Mind, Brown - Suzi Loves Cowboys, White - Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Black - Sinful Colors Black on Black

I had such a great time putting all these different looks together! Halloween is my favorite holiday! I think I may even put up a blog of my house decorations. I followed a bunch of Pinterest ideas, and I'm pretty proud of how they turned out!! That could be coming soon.