Zoya Urban Grunge Cremes

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have the cremes portion of Zoya's Fall Urban Grunge Collection. These are all touted to be one-coater cremes, and although they did have fabulous formulas across the board, I used 2 coats for all of them (though it is likely I could have gotten away with 1 coat for a few of them). They also watermarble fantastically as I have already shown you with my watermarble in the 31 Day Challenge. These are available now at Zoya.com and everywhere Zoya products are sold.

Zoya Seashells Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! I'm still catching up on Zoyas and today I have the Seashells Collection to share with you. Zoya has released some of my favorite texture polishes ever with their Pixie Dust line but the past few texture collections from them have not lived up to the sugary texture of the originals. The Seashells Collection totally took me back to the originals with a little extra interest of some added glitters/shimmers. If you loved the original Pixie Dusts and haven't nabbed these yet, do it now! I know this is a Summer Collection, but these sugary sparkle polishes are perfect for the upcoming winter too!

31DC2016 - Watermarble - Zoya Fall Watermarble

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today is Watermarble day in the 31 Day Challenge and I thought I would showcase my newest fall creme collection! Let's take a look!

31DC2016 - Galaxy Nails - Classic Galaxies

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today is always one of my favorite day in the 31 Day Challenge, Galaxy Nails! I love a design that you just can't mess up and that is exactly what galaxy nails are. I love the classic galaxy mani look, so let's check out my design.

Zoya Petals Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! If you haven't figured it out, this week is going to be Zoya week on the blog and I have a long overdue post to share with you, the Zoya Petals Collection. I have had these swatched for ages, but have totally neglected to post them. Luckily, Zoya keeps their collections available year-round so you can easily pick these up on their site and they are beautiful colors that can be worn anytime. Stay tuned because I will be sharing the other Summer Collection (Seashells) as well as the Fall Urban Grunge collections over the next few days!

Zoya Sunsets Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have the first part of Zoya's Summer 2016 offerings, the Sunsets Collection. I always look forward to Zoya's Summer cremes because they are so bright and happy and these did not disappoint. I've worn several of them on their own this summer on my tips and toes and they are just gorgeous. These are available now on Zoya's website.

Paint All the Nails Presents Monochrome

*Press Samples*
*Purchased by Me*

Hi everyone! It's time for another link-up from the ladies of Paint All the Nails and today we are presenting Monochrome manis! Now monochrome can mean doing all of any color family, but for our purposes this week we chose to stay to greyscale.

Paint All the Nails Presents Pastel Geometric

*Some previous press samples included*

Hi everyone! Today I have the March edition of Paint all the Nails Presents and today we decided to have a double doozie: Pastel Geometric. As soon as I saw this prompt I knew what I wanted to do because it's a nail art design that I've had on my list to try for years! It's a very simple technique using striping tape, but it can be a little time consuming. The end results are totally worth it though!

Zoya Whispers Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have Zoya's newest transitional collection, the Whispers Collection. This collection contains 6 wearable, muted shades that I didn't find to be your typical neutrals (which was very refreshing, so thanks for that Zoya!) This collection is available now in stores where Zoya polishes are sold and online.

Paint All the Nails: Secret Santa Edition

*Press Samples Included*

Hi everyone! Today we have a very special edition of Paint All the Nails...Secret Santas! For this link-up, we were all randomly assigned a Secret Santa and instead of a gift we recreated one of their nail art looks! I was super excited to get the fabulous Lucie from Lucy's Stash as my Secret Santa and I had a blast looking through her nail art looks! There were SO many fabulous things to choose from because Lucie is a nail art master. I decided focus on her winter/Christmas designs because I have barely been able to do nail art for the season so far this year and I fell in love with two of her designs...so I did them both!

Zoya Holiday 2015 Matte Velvet Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have Zoya's Holiday 2015 Collection to share with you and it includes 6 additions to the popular Matte Velvet line. These are gorgeous wintry shades that look gorgeous both in their intended matte form as well as with a coat of topcoat. These are available now on Zoya's website and at retail locations where Zoya is sold.

Guest Post at Be Happy and Buy Polish

*Guest Post*

Hi everyone! I'm so sorry that I have taken so long to do this, but I remember when this post went up I had a bunch of life craziness going on and I totally forgot to post this! I did a guest post on Oct 2 over at Be Happy and Buy Polish showing a simple distressed look for fall. Jessica is a total sweetheart and I was honored to be able to post for her. Please check out the post and check out her blog too and show her some love! Thanks!

*See Post Here!* 

Zoya Flair Collection for Fall 2015

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have the second half of Zoya's Fall 2015 offerings, the Flair Collection. This collection contains 6 metallic polishes in rich fall colors. These are available now on Zoya's website and should be hitting stores soon!

Zoya Focus Collection for Fall 2015

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have the creme half of Zoya's Fall 2015 offerings, the Focus Collection. This collection consists of 6 fall cremes that will definitely get you feeling warm and cozy. I feel like several of these would be great fall colors as well as good to wear year-round, so it's always good to see some versatility in seasonal collections. These are available now on Zoya's website and should be hitting stores soon!

Press Release: Zoya Focus and Flair Collections for Fall 2015

*Press Release*

Fall collections! Is it really that time already? I've already been showing you some amazing collections to transition you to fall and now I've got Zoya's fall offerings to share. Which ones are you excited to see? At first glance, I'm really excited to see Charli, Desiree, Aggie, and Ember!

From Runway to Real Life!
ZOYA FOCUS & FLAIR
Two exciting new Zoya Nail Polish collections arrive for FALL 2015

Zoya Paradise Sun Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have swatches of the shimmery half of Zoya's summer collections, the Paradise Sun Collection. For the most part, these colors pair up really nicely with the creme shades in the Island Fun half of the summer collection, so they would work really nicely for some tone on tone nail art. All of these polishes are packed with shimmery glass flecks which really pop in the shade, so I tried my best to capture them in all their glory in my pictures.

Zoya Island Fun Collection

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! Today I have the creme half from Zoya's summer releases, the Island Fun Collection. This collection consists of 6 saturated creme colors that are perfect for summer. These aren't as bright as you would traditionally expect for a summer collection, but they are all rich saturated colors that read more like summery jewel tones. I generally love Zoya's cremes, so let's take a closer look at these!

Press Release: Zoya Island Fun and Paradise Sun Collections for Summer 2015

LIVE THE LIFE!
ZOYA ISLAND FUN & PARADISE SUN

Born Pretty Store Exquisite Water Marble Water Decal

*Purchased by Me*

Hi everyone! I'm working on swatching some things this weekend that I will begin sharing on Monday, but for today's post I'm actually sharing a mani I did a pretty good while ago (back in February, I think?). I had forgotten about it until I ran across these pictures in my pile of unposted mani photos. I only have two photos of this particular mani, but it really doesn't need too many pics to get the idea. ;)

AGES ago, I purchased these Exquisite Water Marble Decals from Born Pretty Store because I just loved the color scheme and I was intrigued by something that would mimic a water marble without all of the work. Since they were so colorful, I decided to use neutral base so they would really pop (I used Zoya Rue here). Now...I thought these ended up looking very cute but as far as them looking like an actual water marble was going on...I don't think they quite met the mark. On these decals one side of the design was flat so it was designed to lay up against the edge of your nail and the other side had the lovely marbled ripples. As you can see, my nails are quite wide so when they were placed against the side of the nail they only reached a little over halfway across my nail leaving a pretty wide expanse of my base color on the other side (thus detracting from the "marbled illusion"). I gave some thought about just centering them on my nails, but the one flat side of the design just hanging out in the open space looked extremely awkward. All of that being said, it still an extremely cute look but I just wanted to point out that I didn't think you were going to fool anyone into thinking you did a real water marble with these.

Aside from the design, I found that the quality of these decals was great and on par with other water decals I've purchased from Born Pretty Store. Since they are on the larger side, you do have to take care not to let them fold in half when you remove them from the paper because they will stick to themselves and you don't want to have to pry them apart with tweezers if you don't have to (though soaking them in water again really helps with this if it occurs. They were plenty long enough for my my nails and would also work for nails a bit longer than mine. The excess at the tips and cuticle melted away easily with my clean-up brush and acetone leaving a clean edge. These were really fun to wear and almost gave me a retro vibe. I think I wore them for a few days actually and had no issues with them lifting or peeling. Just writing this post has made me want to go pull out some water decals to wear from my stash, so you will likely see some more soon! I always love using them because they really jazz up a plain mani and very limited skill is required to use them.

Be sure to check out Born Pretty Store for all of your nail art supply needs (you can use my coupon code JCX31 for 10% off your order).  I've always had great experiences with ordering from them at very reasonable prices. Also, you can't beat free worldwide shipping! You can also follow Born Pretty Store on Facebook and Instagram. 

Thanks for looking everyone! 

Floral Stamping with Zoya Harlow and Elevation Polish Cloud Peak

*Some items in this post were provided previously for review*

Hi everyone! Today I have a simple stamped mani for you. This mani was born out the need to jazz up a mani for another day of wear (I get bored easily) and the desire to see how well the Zoya Matte Velvets stamp. I ended up wearing Elevation Polish Cloud Peak after I got done swatching the Wyoming the Wild Collection because I couldn't bring myself to take it off (it's sooooo pretty!). I recently saw someone on Facebook (I wish I could remember who, it was in my newsfeed) stamp with one of the Zoya Matte Velvets and I had pulled out Harlow to try it out when I got a chance. I thought the purple flecks in Cloud Peak paired so well with the pinky plum of Harlow, so the stamping commenced. I used a floral image from the MoYou-London Pro XL Plate 10 to stamp and I tried to vary the placement from nail to nail so that the flower wasn't exactly the same every time. Overall I was really impressed with how crisply Harlow stamped and I love that the gorgeous shimmer comes out when topcoat is added. I've used the Matte Velvets as bases for stamping before because they dry so quickly, but now I'm definitely going to be pulling them out to stamp with quite often!

Zoya brought back the Matte Velvet Collection this past fall and they are still in stock at Zoya.com if you haven't picked them up yet. Elevation Polish's new Wyoming the Wild Collection goes on sale tonight at 9 PM CDT in their shop so you can pick up Cloud Peak and the other beauties in that collection.

Don't you love it when you find new ways to use polishes in your collection? Thanks for looking everyone!