Dot Mani

Guest Post on CaseyLane Loves Polish

9:00:00 AM

Hey everyone!  Today I'm the guest blogger over at CaseyLane Loves Polish.  As you may know, Miss CaseyLane was my first ever Nail Artist of the Month back in May.  Ever since she did the amazing kitchen sink manicure for my blog, I began pestering her to create her own blog.  A little while ago, she finally caved and created one!!  I couldn't be happier posting over there today, and hope that you all head over and follow her!  She's one of the nicest people you will ever meet, and she has some amazing swatches and nail art designs.

Here's a sneak peek of the manicure.  Casey picked the colors out herself.  To see what those colors are, head on over!!!


Until next time, <3.

Tribal Print

Simple Art with Zoya Belinda, Dream, & Seraphina

9:00:00 AM

Hey everyone!  Hope you're doing well!!  I've been enjoying some gorgeous Fall weather we've been having the last few days.  I'm hoping it lasts through the weekend so I can possibly get some apple picking in so I can start baking with fresh apples.  Nothing is better than apple pie or apple cookies.  Mmmm I want an apple pie now.

Today I'm bringing you a manicure I did using polishes from the Winter 2013 Zenith collection by Zoya.  A week or so ago, I posted a Press Release from Zoya introducing everyone to the gorgeous colors in this new collection.  I was quick to fall in love with the collection from just from the promo pics, and when I received the polishes last week, I was head over heals.  I posted a picture of them on Instagram, along with a little video of the sparkly beauties.

For this manicure, I wanted to use Belinda, the gorgeous purple, and Dream, the blue sister of Aurora.  These two stood out to me the most, especially since purple and blue are my favorite colors.  I grabbed Seraphina, the silver metallic of the collection, and began painting.

Here's the simple design I came up with.




Colors Used:

  • Zoya - Belinda
  • Zoya - Dream
  • Zoya - Seraphina
Gorgeous, right?  Sorry that the coloring is off in the last photo.  Since it's now Fall, even though it's sunny out here, the sun is in a different position in the sky, and everything seems off.  Still, you can see the sparkly gorgeousness of Dream.

Before I start talking about Dream, let's talk about Belinda.  I kind of hate the name (no offense to Belinda's out there), but when I hear the name, for some reason I think of Glenda the Good Witch from Wizard of Oz, and I think of pink.  Weird how my mind works, but that's how I'm wired.  I can best describe this polish as the purple sister of Zoya Neve from the Satin Collection.  Both are deep colors with gorgeous shimmery flecks.  Where Neve was blue with purple and pink flecks, Belinda has blue and pink flecks.  Just as Neve, Belinda applied very easily with two coats.  If you wanted a deeper color, you could have used three, but I really didn't see the point.  With a top coat of Out the Door, the polish was just as shiny as Neve also.

Now it's time to talk about Dream.  How gorgeous is that sparkly beauty on my middle finger?  I was most excited for Dream because as I said, it's the sister of Aurora from last years winter collection.  In all fairness, it's the sister of Storm and Blaze as well.  Last year, I purchased Aurora and Storm and was never regretful of that decision, if you can find them, buy them.  I believe everyone needs dream as well, especially if you love Blue polishes.  I applied so well in two coats and was so holo glitter packed.  This polish is perfectly named, it's a dream.

Seraphina is the metallic silver on my ring finger.  Just as the other polishes, it applied very well in two coats.  I could have used three to make the silver stand out a little more in this manicure, but since I was planning on covering it with some form of art, I decided two was enough.  I'm excited to use this for more winter manicures.  It reminds me of snow.

For the design, I followed this tutorial I found on Pinterest.  I wanted something simple so it wouldn't take away from the beautiful colors.  I was overall pleased how it turned out, as it looks kind of tribal to me.  I need more practice with making straight lines using a nail art brush.  Next time, I may use an Orly Instant Artist if I do this design again.

What do you think?  Like the colors from the Zenith Collection?  Like the design?

These colors, along with Cassedy, Payton, and Mosheen (all gorgeous, head on over to my Instagram to see bottle shots), will be available October 1st on Zoya's website.  If you like glitter, I highly suggest picking up Dream, Payton (which is the darker version of last years Blaze), and Mosheen (the glitter top coat).  All are perfect for winter!  Who am I kidding, the whole collection is perfect for winter.

Until next time, <3.

**Zoya Zenith Polishes were provided by Zoya for promotional purposes.  Expressed opinions are my own.  Please see my disclosure policy**

Zoya

Zoya Camo Nail Art

9:00:00 AM

Hello everyone!  It's officially Fall, and well I couldn't be happier!  Do not get me wrong, I love Summer, and it's sad to see it go, but I really really love Fall.  Honestly, I think it's my favorite season.  The changing of the leaves, the cooler temperatures, being cozy inside, baking apple and pumpkin treats, ahhhhh Fall, how can you hate it?  Now wait, I bet when Winter and Spring comes I'll start off a post with how much those are my favorite seasons.  Guess we shall wait and see!

Today I'm bringing you a camo manicure I posted a sneak peek of on Instagram a few weeks ago when I really wasn't feeling the manicure.  After so many of my lovely followers said they loved the manicure, I decided it can't be that bad and I would post it here today!  This manicure was done using a few of the Zoya Cashmere polishes along with one other random Zoya that I have had for awhile.  When I first received this collection, I knew I wanted to try a camouflage manicure of some sort since the colors were perfect for it!

Let's take a look!  Reason I don't like Fall, back to the lightbox I go.....




Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Flynn
  • Zoya - Hunter
  • Zoya - Louise
  • Zoya - Avery
Mehhhhh, still not feeling this manicure.  I'm not huge on earth toned colors being combined like this all in the same manicure.  Separately, the colors are gorgeous.  It's nothing against the polishes, seriously they're all great, it's just my personal preference.  I am super impressed with how rich the colors were in Flynn, Hunter, and Louise.  

Flynn is the base, which applied so well in two coats.  I almost could have gotten away with one coat since I was planning on doing the design on top, but I decided to put two since there were a few bald spots.  Hunter and Louise were very saturated with color as well.  I swatched them individually before doing the nail art and I could have again gotten away with one coat.  These polishes are what a nail artist dreams of when looking for the best nail art polish.  When using a doting tool, as I did in this manicure, you never have to worry that the polish will transfer too light like some thinner polishes do.

To get the look, I started off with my base coat of Flynn.  When it was dried, I took my dotting tool and added random splotches of Louise, the chocolate brown polish.  Oh boy, do I have ideas with this polish for Christmas (reindeer anyone?).  I then took Hunter, the green polish, and again dotted on random splotches.  This is a perfect green for leaves or forest-y manicures.  I then took Avery, a nude polish I purchased awhile ago, and did the same thing.  I went back through with Flynn to fill in any weird areas, and called it a night.

What do you think?  Have you used the Zoya Cashmeres yet?  Ever done a camo manicure?  Any suggestions how to make them look more camo-ed?

Can't wait to play around more with the Cashmere polishes a little more with some nail art designs!  I wonder what I could do!  If you have any ideas, feel free to send me a message!

Until next time, <3.

**The Zoya Cashmere polishes were provided to me by Zoya for promotional purposes.  I purchased Zoya Avery.  Please see my disclosure policy.**

Flowers

Zoya Mason & Neve Dot Flowers

9:00:00 AM

Good morning polished world!  Hope you are all doing fantastic today!  It's supposed to be a gorgeous day here, so I know I will be having one!  This weather is weird though, a few days ago it was barely 60 degrees and now today the high is 84.  Mother nature needs to make up her mind about what season it is.  Doesn't she know that she is making it hard for this little old blogger who is trying to figure out what type of manicure is appropriate to post?

Despite still having one more neon manicure to show you from my collection, I decided to go with this lovely manicure which I believe to be almost a transitional manicure.  The colors are from the new Zoya Satin collection which are gorgeous Fall shades, but at the same time are appropriate for the end of summer.

When I first received these polishes, I was unsure about them.  I really liked the Satins more than the Cashmeres but still wasn't 100% head over heals for them like I have been over previous collections.  This is mostly due to the fact I tend to gravitate towards bright, cheery colors most of the time.  The more I played around with these polishes though, I started to see how truly gorgeous darker colors can be.  Does this mean I'm going to start gravitating towards darker colors?  Well, for this season, let's hope so!

For today's manicure, I used Zoya Mason and Neve, and accented with an Orly from the Hope and Freedom Fest Collection.  I have to say, I think this is one of my first manicures where I didn't use a white accent nail.  Kind of forgot lighter colors can do the job just as nicely.

Enough of my babbling, time to look at the nails!




Colors Used:

  • Zoya - Mason
  • Zoya - Neve
  • Orly - Boho Bonnet
Kind of loving this manicure.  I kept it on for days, and even touched it up once or twice to keep it on a little longer.  I found that the darker colors made my nails look longer than what they really were.  Also, do you see how shiney Mason and Neve are?!  Literally, they were the shiniest polishes I have worn in a long time.

Zoya describes Mason as a "exciting red violet or Fandango Pink metallic" polish.  It truly is gorgeous.  I wasn't sure about this shade since I have a Sinful that is kind of similar that I never used and kind of kicked myself for buying.  Before doing this mani, I decided to use this polish for a Summer/Fall transition pedi with a top coat of Northern Lights and fell in love.  The polish applies very easily in two coats.

Zoya Neve also applied very easily with two coats.  Zoya describes this polish as a "sapphire blue metallic."  As a lover of blue polishes, I couldn't get over how gorgeous this one is.  In the light it has a pinkish purple shimmery flecks which give it such amazing depth.  My only complaint was that my brush is a little wonky and bends weird where it connects to the stick thing.  Probably just a manufacturing issue, and I would not say it made or break the polish.  I just had to be a tad more careful with it when applying, but again, two easy coats with no need for a third.

For the accents, I used two coats of Orly Boho Bonnet which is a grey blue polish.  Rather gorgeous, I've used it once before when I did my dandelions and it had such great wear time.  With my dotting tools, I created the little flowers using the Zoyas, and just like all other Zoya polishes, they work great for nail art.  I didn't have to go back over the dots to make the more pronounced and they didn't dry super fast that I couldn't work with them.  Loved them

What do you think?  Love Neve and Mason?  Have you picked up any of the polishes from the Satin collection?

If you follow me on Instagram, you can take a look at a swatch of Zoya Giovanna from this collection which is the emerald green shimmer polish.  I really liked this one as well.  Sadly, like all greens, I had a bit of a staining problem, but it came off after one shower.  Just like these two, it was super shiny.

Well, I am off!  Have a great day!  Until next time, <3.

**The Zoya polishes were provided by Zoya for promotional purposes.  The Orly was a prize in a contest.  All opinions expressed are my own.  Please see my disclosure policy**