Re-swatch: Zoya Valerie

Again, another long lost re-swatch I forgot to post... Zoya Valerie. My favourite undies for Lynnderella Very Pretty Vampire.

Zoya Valerie


Man, my application was so nice back in the day... haha, I don't think I'd have the patience to do such a good clean-up job these days!

A few Zoya swatches and comparisons (Evvie, Natty, Dree, Blaze)

I picked up 3 Zoyas from their last promo (3 for $10, shipped), and got another bottle in a swap. Here are the swatches and comparisons:

Zoya Evvie - 2 coats, excellent formula. A dusty green with a tiny bit of blue in it. This reminds me of Avon Olive Green (the RBL ONS dupe), but I purged that a while ago. I think the Avon was darker and more saturated, though.



Comparison: Zoya Evvie and Essie Power Clutch - The Zoya looks quite a bit bluer compared to the Essie. They don't look as close IRL as they do in this picture. If you are into greens like the Essie, I think it's worth having both :D


Zoya Natty - 2 coats, also excellent formula. A dusty cool blue. I love polishes that have a greyish quality to them!



Comparison: Zoya Natty and Orly Sapphire Silk (both 2 coats) - The Orly has quite a bit more green than the Zoya. On the nail, I think I like the Zoya better than the Orly (which is one of my favourite cremes!) They are different enough to own both, but I'm thinking of purging the Orly because I think I like the Zoya on my skintone better.


Comparison: Zoya Natty and Misa Office Polish-tics (both 2 coats) - The Misa is quite a bit more grey and almost purpler. This Misa is one of my favourite cremes too; it is very nice :D


Zoya Dree - 2 coats, a pretty-ugly greenish brown. This is actually more flattering than you might think!



Comparison: Zoya Dree (2 coats) and Illamasqua Hectic (3 coats) - Illa Hectic is one of my favourite cremes as well, and it is just a bit greener than the Zoya. They are not dupes, but they are very very similar. I like both of these more than RBL No More War, on my skintone.


Zoya Blaze - 2 coats. A pinky-red scattered holo. I don't even like scattered holos and this is gorgeous IRL. I'm glad I let someone talk me into getting it! The formula is excellent.

Zoya Song and Frida

Sorry for disappearing over the holidays! I meant to put up a few posts over the last week while we were up in Canada, but time just got away from me. There was almost 3 feet of snow in Canada where I'm from, and I was happy about that... but also didn't bring any pants. I wear leggings and tights everywhere here in NJ, and that doesn't really cut it in Canada, lol. I needed thigh warmers, or something!

We got back last yesterday and the roads were super clear all the way down. It was a good thing we left a day earlier than planned, because it has been snowing and drizzling all day in NJ here! It would have been a slippery mess had we stayed another day.

Anyhoo, here are two Zoyas I picked up during a recent promo. I'm a bit on the fence about them, but I will figure out whether I want to keep them later. Much later.

Zoya Song (1 coat) - Amazing 1 coater. It looks darker IRL. I noticed it doesn't dry smoothly, even with a coat of SV. It must be all the pigment in it? I mean, it does not dry bumpy, but it's definitely not a glass-like finish with 1 coat of topcoat, so that is something to consider.




Comparison: Zoya Song (1 coat) MAC Ming Blue (2 coats) - The MAC is a little dustier and more neutral, and has blue and purple (or pink? it's hard to tell) shimmer, whereas the Zoya just has a blue/aqua shimmer throughout.


Zoya Frida (4 coats) - A lot sheerer than I even expected for a jelly. The flash I use totally washes it out - the second pic shows without flash and is more representative of how opaque it is at 4 coats IRL.




I leave you with a picture of a cherry cheesecake I made for DF's family (which I do every year):


Happy New Years, everyone! :)

Reswatch - Zoya Caitlin

Another quickie post in between indie spam, one of my favourite Zoyas:

Zoya Caitlin - 2 coats, gorgeous formula. A darker version of Essie Cocktail Bling, another favourite of mine <3

I highly recommend getting this polish in your next Zoya order, if you don't have it already!

I hope all my Canadian peeps had a nice Thanksgiving this weekend. I totes forgot about it. I'm a bad Canadian :(

Reswatch: Zoya Neeka

A reswatch here to break up all the indie posts :)

My original swatch of this from last year was super sloppy because I was so excited to post it.

IRL, the gold shimmer is only really apparent in direct light, but the polish is gorgeous anyways. If you don't already have this, I strongly recommend it for fall/winter! :D

Zoya Neeka - 2 coats, gorgeous perfect formula.

Reswatch: Zoya Veruschka

Although I haven't worn this polish in a while, it's still one of my favourite Zoya polishes. I tried the other matte polishes from Zoya, but none drew me in the way this one did.

I highly recommend this polish, the next time you order from Zoya! It's way better than OPI HTAT Suede.

Zoya Veruschka - First three pics without topcoat, last three pics with topcoat

Zoya Bevin, Skylar, and Lotus

I picked up a few polishes from the Zoya Spring 2012 collection. Lately I haven't had much of a polish "itch" where I need to haul like a madwoman, but that's good, right? I think after I get back from my trip, I want to take a look at my stash again and see if I can weed out any more I don't love. Addicted to purging! :D

Zoya Bevin - 2 coats. Really nice, no complaints.


Comparison: Zoya Bevin and OPI Mermaid's Tears (both 2 coats) - I wanted these to be close so I could purge the OPI, but looks like all I did was just add another polish to my green collection. LOL.


Comparison: Zoya Bevin and Essie Greenport - Greenport looks so light compared to the Zoya!


Comparison: Zoya Bevin and Misa Dirty Sexy Money - If you don't have the Misa, you really should get it.


Zoya Skylar - 3 coats. Really love this. Do you think Zoya-peeps watch Breaking Bad? Because from my understanding, "Skylar" is not the traditional way to spell that name. Anyways, this colour is great.




Comparison: Zoya Skylar, Zoya Crystal, and Essie Smooth Sailing - I don't own OPI I Have A Herring Problem, but they are very close according to thepolishaholic.


Here's a bottle pic comparison with RBL Catherine H, since my friend had asked for it:


Zoya Lotus - 2 coats. Sort of a dusty purple with a bit of depth. I'm sort of on the fence about this one. The formula is nice, though!




Comparison: Zoya Lotus and Zoya Neeka (both 2 coats) - I am a FREAK for Zoya Neeka, so I feel like I would always pick Neeka over Lotus.


Comparison: Zoya Lotus and Nina Never Glum Plum (both 2 coats) - I thought Lotus was kind of greyed out, but it definitely is not when compared to Nina NGP (dupe for Essie Smokin' Hot, SH Grey Area, and Zoya Petra).


I like Zoya. I wonder if they are going to do their Earth Day promo this year? I will probably pass on that, though, since there aren't any other Zoyas I'm interested in right now.

Zoya Jana, Petra, and Neeka

Hey guys! Hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was very low-key and lazy... as usual.

Early last week, I caved and ordered 3 Zoyas using the 2-free-polishes code (the promotion is now over!). I didn't plan on it. It just happened. You know how it goes.

I ordered Jana, Petra, and Neeka. They are all from Zoya's fall collection, Smoke & Mirrors.

I placed the order on Tuesday, it shipped on Thursday, and arrived on Saturday. Do you know why? Because it shipped USPS First Class Mail. None of that Fedex Smartpost crap that usually happens with my Zoya orders. WOOHOO!!

Before I post the pics, apologies for a) the uneven nail lengths and b) the lack of clean up.

I accidentally cut the free edge of my pink nail last week, so had to nubbinize it to the quick. The rest of my nails looked way too long, so I filed them down as best I could. Unfortunately, I have a long nail bed on my index finger, so that is protruding (rudely) in these pictures. Since I will need to reswatch these again anyways, I decided to be lazy and not clean up! But then I wanted to share the comparisons... so here we are. I hope you can forgive me O_o

Ok, disclaimer aside, here are the pics:

Zoya Jana - 2 coats, nice formula


I was hoping it would be a dupe for SH Concrete... I mean, bottle pics look promising, amirite?


Comparison: Zoya Jana and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Concrete


Um, no, wtf?! The Zoya dries SO much darker than bottle colour >< More than usual!!

It's actually closer to Revlon Stormy / SH Commander in Chic / Rimmel Steel Grey / Confetti Moonstruck / China Glaze Below Deck / Essie Merino Cool / ... you get the picture

Comparison: Zoya Jana and Revlon Stormy


Since Revlon Stormy is basically my HG taupe, I don't need to keep Jana in my stash. I don't like it when taupes pull purple on me (without being straight-up purple) so out this goes.

Zoya Petra - 2 coats, the formula is a little thinner than Jana, but it's still pigmented. Sorry about the cuticle drag on the middle finger. I was antsy.


So this, I was hoping would be a dupe for Nina Never Glum Plum, my only Nina polish. I don't like having single bottle brands in my stash, so I was hoping to replace it with a Zoya! Tell me I'm not crazy for thinking this way.

Comparison: Zoya Petra and Nina Never Glum Plum


I don't think it shows in the pics, but Petra is a tiny bit darker and more purple than the Nina. The formulas are nearly identical, but I prefer the colour and brush on the Nina. So no luck getting rid of that single bottle!!

Essie Smokin' Hot and Sally Hansen Grey Area should both be very close to Petra as well, so I would pass on this if you have either of those (or the Nina).

I have already swapped my bottle of Zoya Kelly, but it's really different from Petra. Here's a comparison at Haute Lacquer if you can't find a comparison!

Okay so... 2 are already in my swap pile. *facepalm* BUT, not all is lost...!

ZOYA NEEKA!!! - 2 beautiful, smooth pigmented coats.


HOLY SHEEZ, MOFOOOOO, AMAZEBALLZ, etc.


As you probably realized, pretty much all my pics are taking with diffused flash, so it shows off the polish a bit better than under regular lighting.

However, I took a pic with my new P&S camera to show you that even using a worse camera and under awful lighting, the polish is still very special:

(Ugh, I swear, this picture looked perfectly exposed on the LCD, but then I transferred it to my computer and it looks like this dark, broody mess! Sorry guys!!)


So yes. I whole heartedly recommend Neeka. I was going to compare this to RBL Catherine, but I have already swapped it. This is better than RBL Catherine, just trust me on that.