Huge Zoya Haul | This 'n That

I've amassed quite the Zoya haul in the past couple of months, and I've decided to add them all in one collective haul post. Most of these are from the holiday sale, but some I've picked up here and there. You can tell I've put this blog off for a while by the differences in my nail length! 

I'm going to try to put them in chronological order by collection and release date to try to keep them a little more organized. 

The first polish is a serious throwback, but I knew that I had to pick it up. Aurora is from the Ornate collection back from 2012. It has the fabled holographic scattered glitter - similar to Dream and Storm. This polish is a medium purple packed with the holo glitter. The formula is great with really good coverage. 

Aurora with bottle shot in indoor lighting.

Aurora bottle shot with flash

More flash goodness of Aurora

Next up is the beautiful Kerry. This polish comes from the Irresistible collection back in 2013. I remember picking up a few polishes from that collection, but I passed on this one. I saw swatches of this on Instagram some time in the fall and it made me stop in my tracks! I had to add it to my list to grab!  

Kerry is a bright yellow gold foil. It lays on the nail so nicely with no brush strokes. It literally looks like liquid gold on your nails. 

Here is another shot with flash - I think. The formula is awesome, you can get full coverage with 2-3 coats. 

Last shot of Kerry in all her golden shimmery glory. The perfect glitzy polish for parties or celebrations!

This is Zoya Wyatt from the Urban Grunge Fall 2016 collection. One half of the collection are cremes under claims of them having one coat coverage. 

Wyatt is a bright springy green. the formula goes on thick, but very smooth. I think with more careful application I could have gotten away with one coat, but I went back and covered some bald patches in two.

Zoya Wyatt up-close with bottle shot in indoor lighting.

Zoya Wyatt under indoor lighting.

Zoya Wyatt up-close with bottle shot with flash.

Zoya Wyatt with flash.

From the other half of the Urban Grunge collection, we have Alicia. I bought this polish on recommendation of Jessface90 on Youtube. I think this polish was part of her 2016 favorites. This is a beautiful silver holographic polish with a slight gold shimmer. This is such a delicate polish, but it really packs a punch on the nails.  

Macro shot of Zoya Alicia. You can really get a good glimpse of the holo and gold shimmer in this shot.

Bottle shot of Alicia. Gold shimmer is shining through in indoor lighting!

Shot of Alicia from a further angle. The holo at the base mixed with the delicate gold shimmers just makes me so happy.

Bottle shot of Alicia with flash.

Last shot with flash.

Merida rounds out the Urban Grunge collection. This is a beautiful deep emerald green with a slightly black base with scattered holographic glitters. The same make-up as the classics Storm, Dream, and Aurora.

This is such a rich, deep polish. Zoya is so good at capturing depth and dimension with these scattered holographic polishes. And the color selection with the green was an excellent addition!

Here is Merida again with flash.

Another shot again with flash. Look at the depth of that polish! It's like a green galaxy! 

Next up we have the eye-catching Olivera from the Enchanted collection for Holiday 2016. This polish was used in the promo shots and what really peaked my interest for this beautiful collection. 

Olivera is a really deep indigo with a green to blue flash. Without flash or daylight, it makes it really hard to make out the flash of green. The polish ends up looking like a blackened teal color, but beautiful nonetheless. 

This bottle shot is used with indoor lighting. The green/teal flash is super strong here.

Here is a far away shot. The shimmer is less pronounced and now it just looks like a shimmery blackened teal.

Here is a close bottle shot with flash. The green and indigo really stand out here.

And from far away, it looks so glowy! Almost like the northern lights!

Here is another shot with indoor lighting and no flash from another angle. Trying to capture all the different hues in this polish.

I did get inspired with this polish's glowy-ness and try to do some kind of galaxy dry marble topped with some holo glitter. But the polish is just way too dark and kind of blended with the black. It didn't turn out as I had planned, but the color still manages to stand out with flash.

Next up from the Enchanted collection is Alice. This is a beautiful periwinkle with the Pixie Dust formula. It also has some slight silver shimmers in the polish as well. 

Here is a close up bottle shot with indoor lighting. You can get this opaque in 1-2 coats, depending on application. The Pixie Dust formulas tend to be more on the thicker side.

Here is Alice with flash - featuring my acetone dried cuticles (sorry!) With the flash, it is sort of reminiscent of Alice's dress color in Alice in Wonderland, right?

Lastly, here is Alice with a couple of coats of topcoat to get it smooth and shiny. It looks spectacular and the silver and blue shimmers really shine through! It gets another layer of depth with the help of some topcoat!

Next is Zoya Saint, also from the Enchanted collection. This is a light blue base with a flash of pink shimmer. 

Here is a bottle shot of Saint in lower indoor lighting. 

This polish went on very smooth with a slight brush strokes. You can get opaque within 2-3 coats. 

Zoya Alice with flash. The pink shimmer is absolutely beautiful!

Another close shot with flash. 

Zoya Elphie is also from the Pixie Dust side of the  Enchanted collection. This is also a deep foresty green with silver glitters. It also seems to have a blackened base to it as well. It is very very similar to Zoya Merida in color, although this polish does not have the holographic glitter. 

Here is Elphie once more with flash. 

Moon Shine Mani Debut Elfing Around Collection

I am super excited to be posting about this next collection! I always love to see some of my favorite Youtubers come out with their own collections! I discovered Phoebe Moon's channel over a year ago. I love her live swatching videos, and the fact that she performs her own background music. I just fell in love her creativity and originality.

She has recently started her own handcrafted nail polish line called Moon Shine Mani. The first collection debuted in December. It is called Elfing Around - inspired by the movie Elf. Don't judge me, but I have never seen the movie, but I've seen many memes and gifs to get the jist of it.

The collection is six polishes - three holos and three shimmers in nice range of colors.

This is the full collection in natural lighting.

This is the full collection with flash. Clockwise from top we have: Jovie (pink), The Naughty List (silver), Buddy the Elf (green), Very Purpley(purple), Swirly Twirly Gumdrops (teal), Smiling's My Favorite (gold).

Jovie is a bright medium pink with holographic shimmer. I wore this over the Christmas holidays in an attempt to be festive without having to do nail art. 

Here are a couple more shots in the sunlight. I got a lot of compliments on the polish. My mom was in love with this, so I'll probably have to lend it to her so she can wear it.

The formula was smooth and the coverage was very good.

Next up is The Naughty List, which I think is my favorite of the bunch. The silver/gunmetal base is so rich and the holo came out so strong in normal lighting.

Pictured above with flash.

Buddy the Elf is the next polish.. I guess this could be considered the flagship polish of the collection. This is a bold green with tiny gold shimmers sprinkled throughout. 

Buddy the Elf with flash. It does go on a bit streaky, but it dries down smooth. I really like the effect the gold gives the green. It's like gold tinsel peeking out from a Christmas tree!

I know I said the Naughty List was my favorite, but Very Purpley is right up there with it! This is a light purple with a strong flash of gold shimmer. Soooooo lustre-y and beautiful! Please excuse my application - I think I nicked it in a few places before I took the pictures. This is really reminiscent of the Native War Paints Sweaters collection polishes that I could never seem to get my hands on. The gold shimmer just gives this polish a dynamic effect.

Very Purple-y with flash.

Next is Swirly Twirly Gumdrops. This is showing up very blue in the photos, but it is a very blue leaning teal. Like the other two holos, it has a great formula and a super strong holo. 

Swirly Twirly Gumdrops with flash.

Lastly is Smiling's My Favorite. This is a beautiful deep gold with scattered holographic shimmers. This is super opaque and it looks so good against my skin tone! I wore this for the New Year's celebrations this year!

Smiling's My Favorite with flash.

This is a wonderful debut collection from Phoebe! It offers a wide range of finishes and colors - which is a probably a good indication of what's to come from Moon Shine Mani. 

Check out this collection here: http://www.moonshinemani.com/

and check out Phoebe's page on Youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/user/phoebeamoon

Sephora Formula X $5 Clearance Haul

I was perusing the Sephora in JCPenny the other day, and I stumbled upon the large stash of Formula X polishes on sale for $5 each! I know I've tried to put myself on a limited no-buy, but I couldn't pass on the chance to get some polishes for 60% off. I could never convince myself to buy very many for full price, even though they always had some eye-catching shades!

I've been on a mission to get more nail treatments, like conditioners, brighteners, etc. and luckily their The System polishes were included in the sale. I picked up the Prime Strength strengthening base coat, Color Corrector base coat, Prime Condition base coat, and Brightening Treatment stain-removing treatment. 

I have only tried the Prime Strength base coat so far, and it goes on very nicely. I'm pretty interested in putting the brightening treatment to the test after I'm done swatching some new collections. My nails aren't badly stained, but it would be nice to get the yellow tinge out and lose the dullness. I would probably be less embarrassed to go out with naked nails.

Now on to the actual polishes...There were loads of the white-capped polishes, which I'm pretty sure were all just cremes, and they all looked pretty boring to me...haha. Then I moved over to the black-capped polishes; there was far less selection, but the ones that were left were amazing! Check the HOLO!! 

Polishes from Top to Bottom: Hera, Artemis, Aphrodite, and Sci-Fi.

First off is Sci-Fi. In the bottle, it looks like a glittery light sea foam green with gold shimmer. I thought it would be like a sheer ethereal topper, but it turns out it is actually a texture polish. The above picture is two coats with flash.

Two coats with no flash.

The first coat was a bit thin, but two coats covered nicely. 

I alo went ahead and threw a topcoat on top of it. I added two thick coats, but it still wasn't entirely smooth. It did take away the gold shimmer that is more prominent when it is matte.

Next up is Hera.This is a rose gold shimmer holographic. The formula was very smooth with good coverage. The above picture is two coats with no flash.

Pictured above with flash. The holo was very strong even without direct light.

Last close up with topcoat and flash.

Second is Artemis. This is a medium silver with holographic shimmer. This is a classic silver holo, so it's not super unique, but the formula and coverage were both solid.

Close up with flash and topcoat. It's way out of focus, but the holo still shows up nicely.

Last up is Aphrodite, which is a gunmetal with holographic shimmer. In the pictures it does seem to have a sight purple tinge, but it could just be the flash.

Close up with flash.

Formula overall was the same as the others with the same holo intensity. 

These polishes overall were a really great find. There has been speculation that Sephora could be discontinuing the Formula X line; there was virtually nothing in the usual display at my store. I will have to check back to see if they do a restock of new colors. I'll also be on the lookout at discount stores to see if any of the pop up there! 

Nine Zero Holiday 2016 Collection

I've taken a bit of a break from nails for the past few months, but Holiday collections this year were enough to bring me out of the hiatus. The first collection up is Holiday 2016 from Nine Zero Lacquer. It is a beautiful selection of colors that give you that wintry, holiday feeling. I think it offers a nice spectrum of finishes and colors in a well-rounded collection.

First off is Frost.  This is a greeny teal with holographic glitters. This has a great formula that doesn't get clumpy.  The picture below is two coats. There is a little visibility of the nail line, but the shimmers conceal it in person. 

Next is Midnight; this is a beautiful deep purple holographic microglitter. I don't have anything like this in my collection. It is twilight sky-looking! In the bottle, it also looks like it has a slight golden flash, but it doesn't translate on to the nail unfortunately. It's still a beautiful polish.

Next is probably my favorite - Sugar Cookie. I have a weird obsession with white crellies stuffed with glitter. Sugar cookie has red and green metallic shards with gold hex glitters. The shards dry kind of sticking out, so a couple of coats of topcoat are needed to smooth it out.

Next up is Golden Lights, who is the little sister to Twinkle Lights. It's gold holographic base with red and green translucent hex glitters. I don't know if it's due to the formula, but it really showed the ridges in my nails. I might have to go with a ridge filling base coat next time. It is so sparkly and magical for the holidays!

Next is Balsam, a beautiful light, piney green holographic. There are also tiny golden flakies that give it more of a glowy look. The formula is great and has good coverage with 1 coat. Pictured below is 2 coats. 

Lastly is Pink Christmas. This is a light pink with a golden flash. This also has a slight holographic in it. The color is really great, but I had a little bit of trouble with the formula on this polish. It didn't go on as smooth as the others and got a little clumpy.