A Zoya A Day - Viper and Shayne

Hi Friends

Today I'm sharing my swatch and review of the wonderfully sparkly Viper and Shayne.

Available on the website - Yes
Brush used - Z Wide.
Name - Shayne
Year - 2024
Number - ZP1244

Does it stamp - No

Coats - 2

Finish - Glitter
Collection - Luxe Nior

Colour - Grey
Topcoat - No

Shayne is described as a warm putty gray with a dazzling display of holographic glitter.

Available on the website - No
Brush used - Z Wide
Name - Viper
Year - 2024
Number - ZP1235

Does it stamp - No

Coats - 2

Finish - Glitter
Collection - Polish of the Month

Colour - Black
Topcoat - No

Viper is described as black jelly base jam packed with holo sparkling glitters.

Shayne is gorgeous, the base is a very delicate grey, almost like Dove and then they dumped vast amounts of holo glitter in, great formula, the glitters spread out nicely, no running or pooling and I did two coats for my manicure, this dries down gritty and a bit dull so topcoat is needed for full sparkle.

Viper is really pretty, its kinda weird but there doesnt seem to be as much sparkle in Viper as in Shayne, Viper has a great formula, its not thick to apply, no running or pooling and I did two coats for my manicure. This also dried down gritty and you'll need two coats of topcoat for that smooth finished look.

I'm waiting on my last Fancy Gloss order of the year as well as an order of the last of the Whats Up Nails stamping polishes I was missing, I also grabbed a plate and a new magnet tool.

A Zoya A Day - Jett

Hi Friends

Today on the blog I'm sharing my manicure of the silvery Jett.

Available on the website - Yes
Brush used - Original
Name - Jett
Year - 2019
Number - ZP1024

Does it stamp - Not really

Coats - 2

Finish - Pixie Dust
Collection - Twinkling

Colour - Silver/Grey
Topcoat - No

Jett can de described as a frosty silver with a textured finish.

I find it interesting this is listed as a pixie dust on the site, however, it is not in a pixie dust bottle or matte cap, nor is it a *normal* pixie dust, the only texture is the super large shard flakies.

This is such an interesting polish, its a silver base that reminds me of darker Trixie but its got these large shards of silver in it, so it does have a texture to it. My comparison shows Jett, Tilly, Trixie and Troy, not a dupe to be seen, all different finishes and colours.

Jett has a good formula, no running or pooling and I did two coats for my manicure.  I've had to cute my right ring finger down as I broke it yesterday. I've filled the other nails on that hand down.

A Zoya A Day - Connor

Hi Friends

Today on the blog I'm sharing my swatch and review of the gorgeous Connor.

Available on the website - No
Brush used - Z Wide
Name - Connor
Year - 2023
Number - ZP1206

Does it stamp - No

Coats - 2
Finish - Glitter
Collection - Polish of the Month

Colour - Grey
Topcoat - No

Connor is a discontinued polish from Zoya and can be described as a mid-toned grey with holographic flakes and micro-glitter.

I did debate sharing this polish or not but I figured I should as it could always show up in a destash or ebay listing.

Connor had a great formula, no running or pooling and I did two coats for my swatch, you may be wondering at those long nails, yeah they are fake, I am not the biggest fan of glitter, its annoying to remove, even with a peel off basecoat and when I use Unt Ready for Take Off it usually lasts 4 or 5 days.

Last but one photo is Connor compared to London a pixie dust Zoya did in 2013, you can see that London has a brown undertone to the grey but theyre a similar texture. The last photo is some 3D printed stands my hubby did for me, he is still to print me a stand for them so that I dont knock them over while the polish dries.

A Zoya A Day - Abigail

Hi Friends 

Today on the blog I'm sharing my swatch and review of the gorgeous Abigail.

Available on the website - Yes

Brush used - Original

Does it stamp - Yes
Name - Abigail
Year - 2023
Number - ZP1173

Coats - 1
Finish - Cream
Collection - Toasty
Colour - Grey
Topcoat - No

Abigail can be described as a medium elephant grey, with cool undertones in a full coverage cream formula.

Abigail is such a chameleon grey, the bottle shot is the most colour accurate, this has a great formula, no running or pooling and opaque in one coat, Abigail also stamps.

At the weekend as it was so lovely weather wise, we headed off to the beach at Sutton On Sea, we walked along the boardwalk to Maplethorpe, had fish and chips from Saltys then icecream from The Coral Café, I had the raspberry pavlova and hubs had the salted caramel, so good. I had to get a pic of the stunning poppies blooming along the side of the walkway and there was a rose garden in Maplethorpe that has some stunning roses.  I also had to have a bit of a paddle in the sea, it wasnt as cold as I thought it would be!  I also share the manicure I wore, it was a coat of Fancy Gloss Witchcraft followed by a coat of Box Polish Violet Thermal Top coat, I was very warm when I took the pics hence its in its warm almost clear state.

Zoya Toasty Collection - Bottle and Swatch Stick Comparisons

Hi Friends

Today I'm sharing my comparisons for the Toasty collection for spring 2023, this is a six piece collection of all creams and their names are as follows, Abigail, Crystal (a reuse of a name), Elowen, Hattie, Ora and Rae.

This was a strange combination of colours for a spring collection and we also have dupe colours.

As always, new polish is first left, pictures are taken in natural daylight and I do not colour correct, only crop and add my watermark. So lets take a look. Comparisons after the promo artwork. Be warned there a lot of pictures in this post and I have thoughts on this collection.

First up left to right we have Abigail, Dove and Carey, no dupes, Abigail has a peachy brown undertone compared to Dove and Carey.

Left to right Crystal, Rowan and Eastyn, so they describe Crystal as a greyed, muted grey mulberry with warm undertones in a full coverage cream formula. Er except it isnt a grey, the blanket the polishes are sat on is grey, Rowan is described as a taupe cream, Eastyn is discontinued but was described as a greige purple if I remember correctly. 

This is all my Zoya greys and look how pink nude Crystal looks.

This is the new Crystal with the original gorgeous Crystal.

Left to right Rae, Joss, Hattie and Meadow. no dupes, this was interesting, I was sure I'd have more to match, Rae has a very peachy undertone and matches Meadow more than Joss although Meadow has that golden shimmer, you can also see how close Rae and Hattie are, I dont think these two should have been in the same collection.

Left is Elowen and right is Dagmar and here is were I'm kinda disappointed, these are incredibility close if not direct dupes. When I do my wear review I'm going to wear both together and see if I can see any differences.

Left is Ora and right is Gabi, again almost dupes, theres maybe a hint more blue undertone in Ora than Gabi but unless you are a collector or obsessed with nail polish you arnt going to notice the difference in these two, or need both.

I also got my order of the Daydreaming collection, plus free Z Wide brushes and another bottle of Qtica Nail Growth Stimulator.

The garden is starting to finally burst into life as well, I had to cut back my Alpina Helsingborg clematis as the wire holding it up had pulled the post being used for it over, thankfully I didnt kill it and its sprouting back nicely and we've got lovely new trellis for it to climb on.  The spiky thing in the bed is actually Crocosmia Lucifer from my mums garden.

This bed has a Japanese anemone in the left corner in white, plus I have more Crocosmia and a red hot poker in yellow and my favourite allium Nectaroscordum Siculum aka Sicilian Honey Garlic, pic below of them when in flower.

Sicilian Honey Garlic in flower, so funky.

My Queen of the Night tulips are really stunning this year.

So what are your thoughts on this collection, for me it doesnt quite hit the mark, I really like the tones of Rae and Hattie plus I love a grey polish but I'm not sure we needed Ora and Elowen and they arnt spring shades for me. I'm also very disappointed at how close in tone they are to two very recent colours they'd already released.

Monday Manicure

Hey Friends 

Well I figured I better post something while I still wait on the UK getting a hold of the Zoya collections that have been released since September. I've messaged both stockists and they say they are having supply issues.  I do hope this doesnt mean I'm about to lose the ability to buy Zoya as I do collect them.

Anywho on to the nail art manicure for today.

Items used are as follows

Zoya Anchor 1 Coat, Zoya Dove 2 coats as the base, stamped with Zoya Tommy, the sparkles are Zoya Eclipse, the green is Zoya Evvie the black is Barry M Black Forest, the stamping plate is Noel Collection 16 from Moyou London.

Base colour on its own then the finished manicure, I'm quite pleased with how these turned out but I think I should have used a slightly more opaque green.