Zoya Oceane swatch

I was at Ulta yesterday to use my first of two coupons for the month, and I was all set to buy a reasonable amount of products when my sister spotted the new Zoya summer display off on the more hidden, forgotten shelf in the drugstore section, where they used to keep the Kardashian line (which has now been moved to a much more prominent position next to Maybelline, I believe, God help us). So I impulse-bought Genesis and Oceane and went $20 over budget. Oops! I had been thinking beforehand about getting Genesis despite the lukewarm online reviews, and Oceane had been only secondary, but it was looking very pretty and ocean-y in the store. All the shimmers in the collection (besides Genesis) have prominent glitter flakes in the bottle, and it's very enticing.

I don't think any of my photos captured the color correctly. It's a vivid aqua foil-metallic, blue with a green tint. It looks very similar to the L'oreal teal eye liner I just picked up. I believe my photos don't depict it with enough green, and they also don't capture the larger flakes. The sky has been overcast and will stay overcast throughout the weekend, I think, so this is as good as my lighting is going to get!

The closest colors in my collection are OPI Yodel Me on My Cell (darker, moodier, different finish) and two oldies, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Marine Scene and Cover Girl Electric Blue (both much, much thinner, and with a different finish). Zoya Oceane requires only two coats, and is covers well with one, which is very unusual with marine shimmers in my experience. No visible brushstrokes. If you like gorgeous, glowing jewel tones with depth, I highly recommend this shade!

My last manicure [not pictured] was Zoya Katy, a fuchsia with purple-ish subtle shimmer that makes it more purple than the average fuchsia. I own a lot of fuchsias, and this is unique! But of course I only got it when I excitedly stumbled upon Zoya for the very first time in a Seattle nail supply store because it has my name. They even spelled it correctly. It was obviously named after the pop star with a color that matched her then-current pin-up girl aesthetic, but still. It's designed for me.Two very, very, easily controlled coats and good dry-time. I used this for a rare matching toes and tips last weekend because I was going to a very special event and needed something easy. It matched my Mac Viva Glam Miley, so I was high-rolling like a boss. Katy is a lesser-known Zoya; check it out!

Christmas Manis and Top Polishes of the Year

First, an end of the year recap:

One of my favorite new polishes this year was Zoya Rebel, a sky blue shimmer that I only got to wear for a single day because I suddenly had a job interview scheduled the next day. This color made me sooo happy to look at, and it was a pleasure to apply. Other favorite blues was the not-new Zoya Blu (powder blue, dream formula!!! unbelievable for such a pale pastel), Essie In the Cab-Ana (bright pool liner blue, super summery), and China Glaze So Blue Without You (bright blue foil, gorgeous, but stains like a mutha).

I loved funky greens this year: Urban Outfitters Gotta Have It (you really do gotta have it), China Glaze Highlight of My Summer, China Glaze Be More Pacific, Finger Paints Margarita Mambo, and China Glaze It's Alive! I believe I was also a fan of China Glaze Grass is Lime Greener and China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard.

My favorite collections were China Glaze's Spring Flourish and Crinkled Chrome. I may very well be the only person in the world to say either. I got all the Crinkled Chromes I saw on clearance (use two coats and apply a top coat to prevent chips; the aluminum foil texture will stay intact). I eventually got almost all of the Spring Flourishes besides the ones that weren't ultra bright. My favorite was Lotus Begin; I went nuts over it. I was also a huge fan of Spring in My Step, a peachy-pink I believe China Glaze will come very close to replicating a few times during their 2015 spring collection.

And assorted: OPI Do You Have this Color in Stock-holm? and Snow Globetrotter.

Other older ones: China Glaze High Hopes (electric guava, perfect formula), OPI Mrs. O'Leary's BBQ (finally I swatched this! my new favorite vamp, and it doesn't require 2 coats, praise), and Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Diamonds and Rubies (easy and opaque, perfect retro red).

And dun-dun-dun, favorite indies: KBShimmer Pine-ing for Yule (sure to be a Christmas favorite for years to come) and Sand in My Stocking (a summer fave, despite being a Christmas glitter). Speaking of...

Christmas manis:

China Glaze Phat Santa
I know you love my indoor, nighttime, flash-lighting photo. This is pretty color-accurate. A much darker red than SH Diamonds & Rubies, but still glamorous. I was very frustrated to find that it requires 3 coats, but the application wasn't difficult, and now I find the 3 coats tolerable.
 

  
OPI Christmas Gone Plaid topped with Urban Outfitters Champagne Toast
 Christmas Gone Plaid is a very dark cool green, I daresay a bit too dark for me. Champagne Toast is a glitter topper with white in varying sizes and large gold. The gold sometimes sticks out, so I would use two layers of top coat next time. I was going through a "evergreen with popcorn garland" look, and I believe I accomplished that.

Jindie Nails Candy Cane
Sheer white with red and green glitter.  I used 3 coats on most nails, but my right middle and ring have 4. You may notice that those look the most white. Next time I would layer this over a white polish. A white polish may require as many coats to get looking decent, but I would rather have that than covering up the glitter. I would prefer a glitter topper in a clear base, but overall it was a really cute peppermint bark look, even though some of the nails looked more pink up close.

Jindie Nails Noel over China Glaze Holly-Day
Noel is micro glitter in red, white, and sparkly light green, easy to apply. Holly-Day is a comfortably dark green creme that needed 2-3 coats. Together they were a subtle, but suitable Christmas look. I associate this manicure with a failed attempt to have an ultra-Christmasy night out. Nothing went my way! I missed out on the hours that the Willard Hotel sold their amazing mulled wine (it is pure heaven that cannot be explained), the White House Christmas tree was fricking turned off by the time I got there (what the frick!), and the Four Seasons hotel bar did NOT stud the orange peel in my drink with cloves. Those cloves were the reason I ordered it! None of the drinks I ordered that night were worth the luxury-level prices, but the one my friend got at the Four Seasons was. Of course now I can't remember what the name of it was, but it was a dessert, and it was luxurious.

Wet 'n' Wild 2% Milk
Another gorgeous nighttime indoor photo. This was for another job interview. Whether or not I got it is still up in the air.  3 coats, and the streaks were pretty minimal for a sheer. My bottle leans towards beige, I believe, and it comes out as lighter and brighter than my natural nail color, though conservatively so.

My go-to Christmas manicure! OPI In My Santa Suit with silver stripes (Sally Hansen striper), China Glaze Jolly Holly and Mingle with the Kringle topped with Party Hearty. The OPI and the gold are among my favorite polishes, Party Hearty is something I use every single year, I love the wrapping paper look it has over the gold here, I love the candy cane look, aaaaand I need to use Jolly Holly way more this season because it is a wintry green that does NOT look black under any light.

Zoya Ginessa (silver shimmer that is a lovely sheer at 1 coat, and completely opaque at 2) topped with KB Shimmer Pine-ing for Yule. PfY, which was a Christmas gift, has smaller red stars, holographic green triangles, and holo silver glitter in various sizes. Two layers of top coat made the pointy edges not stick out off of the nail. This was worn post-Christmas during NYE, because guess what? That's still the Christmas season. I loved it. Another KBShimmer I received for Christmas and wore the weekend after the holiday was All Decked Out; next time I would layer that over another green, because it requires many coats for an even, opaque color, and use two layers of top coat.

China Glaze Peace on Earth topped with Urban Outfitters Midnight KissPeace on Earth, a Christmas gift, is a metallic shimmer that varies between bronze and olive. Easy formula. It feels very similar to the base color of all those Chanel Peridot types from recent times. Midnight Kiss is glitter topper with gold hexes and holographic silver shards. The mixed metal was a good combo with the warm tone of Peace on Earth, and the two together are carrying on a holiday festiveness (both are holiday polishes) without being too overt.

Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Diamonds and Rubies

Only one photo because the bottle shot color was inaccurate

I figured I had enough red cremes, and only purchased Diamonds and Rubies on clearance at Ulta as a Christmas present for a friend last year. A few days later, she complained to me about how a monthly subscribed cosmetics box had sent her "another red", which she was tired of. I thought, "Oh?" and went back to Ulta and bought her some snazzy Zoyas and kept Diamonds and Rubies for myself.

It's a nice red! A classic retro shade with a very easy formula. One coat for a bright and almost completely opaque color, two for deeper (but not deep) and full coverage. This is my first time using the Diamond Strength line, and I love the firm, skinny (that's what she said) brush. Normally while applying a red creme, the polish would run everywhere and stain my skin, but not so with this brush. It led to a very easy application.

The most similar red in my collection is Zoya Sooki; Diamonds and Rubies is darker, though perhaps not substantially. I may be the only person in the nail cult world who isn't a fan of Sooki despite its cool cherry tone, because my bottle has a jelly formula requiring three coats for an even color, and 2 coats versus 3 leads a very different shade, so god help you if you get your polish amount uneven nail to nail.

Diamonds and Rubies chipped during my second day of wear after two hours of book-handling at work. That job is often hard on nails (I make sure I keep them painted partially to protect them), though the OPI manicure featured in the last post held up strong against it. OPI is tuff.

In addition to this, my other favorite retro red creme is Zoya America, which is lighter and brighter.

China Glaze Wrinkle the Sheets swatch, from the Crinkled Chromes collection

My poor fingers!

China Glaze Wrinkle the Sheets with Zoya Raven accent and Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art black striper

Haterz gonna hate, but the crinkled chromes are pretty badass. This one right here looks like crinkled foil, not like dirt or air bubbles got in your polish. The trick is loading your nail up with glitter. You want a lot of glitter, especially the bars, for maximum crinkle-potential. I used one coat, but multiple strokes over the individual spots. The color of Wrinkle the Sheets is also an awesome shade of light green, and that combined with the texture reminds me of the ~click here for more pale~/"pastel" side of Tumblr.

My right hand was already chippy after one day of work. Some of the bar glitter popped out as well. My left hand was fine... until I tried to unbutton a very difficult cardigan in a Gap outlet store changing room. One of those buttons flat out CHIPPED a nail of Raven. Bastards!

Next time I'm going to try out Wrinkle the Sheets with two coats and top coat. I hope is stays wrinkly and doesn't just look like lumpy sludge.

More old swatch photos

 Christmas 2011, China Glaze Jolly Holly and Party Hearty
This is my go-to Christmas manicure. Still doing it every year. This time I skittled it up and only did it on certain nails, so I could fit in more varieties of Christmas tackiness all in one manicure.

 China Glaze Phat Santa with Party Hearty
Phat Santa is a really nice, slightly dark red creme. I should really wear it more often.

NYE 2011-12 China Glaze  First Mate with China Glaze's silver crackle
 First Mate is a perfect navy creme. Perfect!!! This manicure is exactly what I had wanted for NYE that year. The color of the navy in the photo looks a bit too light.

 Zoya Pinta with Essie Shine of the Times
I think Pinta is one of those notoriously hard-to-photograph "blurples". It's a dark creme indigo, and it's a pretty great color for the winter. Notice that it looks purple on the thumb and navy blue on the finger in the background.

Zoya Yasmeen with Essie SotT
Yasmeen  is a highly hyped warm purple shimmer, and it didn't do much for me at the time.

 China Glaze Ingird
 Taupe with subtle shimmer. I believe it's a dupe of a Dior, so to me it feels very ~expensive~.

Finger Paints Military Green
Awesome sage green creme. Love! The pigments separate very easily in the bottle, and FP have a cap that's very difficult to open, so that's my one complaint.

Essie Mint Candy Apple
A bright mint with a lot of blue tone. Surprisingly easy to apply. When I wore this that winter, I felt it looked very summery aqua and seasonally inappropriate for the winter, even though it was originally released for the holidays.

 Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City
Silver foil, three coats. Classic.

 China Glaze Jitterbug with China Glaze Some Like it Haute
 Jitterbug is a charcoal foil, a bit blue-toned, and Some Like it Haute is a slightly glitter version with chunky holo glitter. Jitterbug is alright. Some Like it Haute was a pain the first time I wore it, requiring loads of top coat and then chipping off in chunks, but layered over Jitterbug, those problems are taken care of.

Zoya Kennedy
 A slightly purple pink fleshy nude creme. This looks good on me.

Miss Sporty Raindrop
A tourist purchase from England! A teal creme, that takes maybe three coats, so it gets darker than it looks in the bottle (and probably darker than in the photo). Essie Go Overboard is lighter and more pigmented.