Zoya "Zara" -- It Glows, It Glows!!

"He had yellow eyes, so help me...yellow eyes!" -- adult Ralphie, narrating ¨Christmas Story."

As I was looking at Zoya´s ¨Zara¨---both in the bottle and on my nails---I kept marveling, "it´s got a golden glow, so help me...a yellow glow!" and that reminded me of the line from my favorite Christmas movie above. Only this case is much more pleasant since we are talking about a lovely purple polish with this golden shimmer, not a mean yellow-eyed bully!

I was determined to pick up this golden shimmer in pictures, and it took me a little while. First I tried holding it under my desk at work, with a little success:

See? It's there. But how about this:

I did not photshop that, I swear! That's the lovely golden glow, and I couldn´t tell which of the three pictures I have are the best so I am just publishing all of them!


Here is how the Zoya website catalogs this beautiful nail polish:

Duochrome metallic violet with gilded sparkle highlights and a foil finish.

Zoya Nail Polish in Zara - ZP463 has the following properties:

Tone:Cool
Finish:Frost
Color Family:Purples
Intensity:5(1= Very Shear to 5= Very Opaque)
Original Collection:

They left the collection blank but I believe it was ¨Flourish" from winter 2008.

The purple color in the pictures of my nails are a bit washed out but close enough. The plentiful light in my office washes things out a bit.










Some of these pictures show the golden glow on my nails. I just sat there and marveled at it, it was so amazing. I am really loving the polishes I selected for my first order, which include Zara and also the equally or perhaps even more stunning ¨Ki."

Meet Teddy!

My cats don't usually pay too much attention to the television, but every now and then I might notice one of them intently watching. Teddy, my spotted brown and white tabby British Shorthair, loves to nap or look out over the room from on top of the bedroom TV. I happened to catch him trying to play with someone on the picture!! So cute!!



He is such a cutie! He is alternately silly and funny, then regal and dignified!! You just want to pick him up and give him a hug! Unfortunately, like many British Shorthairs, he hates to be picked up. He actually goes quite psycho and thrashes about wildly, paws and claws flailing perilously, when I try it. Sigh. Not fair!

The Many Sides of Zoya "Ki"

Please don't forget to click on all pictures in this blog for larger versions!

The bottle reminds me of a mood ring. The color is predominantly dark purple but you can see a green glow around the edge, with some thin lines of blue and yellow....those other "moods" waiting as your finger starts to warm up (uh, I mean, as your mood changes!).


At any rate, according to the Zoya website, this polish is a "Super unique, duochrome plum with blue and green metallic highlights. Best-Seller!" It is definitely super unique!!

The site also lists the following properties, which the cataloger side of me loves:

"Tone:Cool
Finish:Frost
Color Family:Purples
Intensity:5 (1= Very Shear to 5= Very Opaque)
Original Collection:Suede"

I am not sure I see the blue, but I noticed the dark green tones in the bottle edges immediately. The formula seems nice---thin but not super-runny, and easily manipulable. The first coat goes on a bit sheer and dark purple. I messed things up a bit, but I chalk that up to getting used to a different brand of polish.

I first applied this in the evening, and it showed purple with maybe a slight tinge of the green. I was then driving somewhere and at one point, a lot of streetlight was shining into my car, and I was fascinated that my nails at a certain angle were purely green! Wow! Very cool.

In daylight, the chameleon properties of this polish come through more strongly. In direct sunlight, the color is a nice shiny muted purple. Held it at various angles, though, Ki appears to be different colors. I found a post on Scrangie that expertly captures the nuances of this mysterious polish.

Below are my non-expert pics, including my attempt to mattify....not recommended! Please excuse the deplorable shape of my cuticles and application issues. My fingers have taken a beating lately with all the nail polish play and removal, and they weren't great to begin with. My next hobby should be testing cuticle oils and treatments!! :-)


Above and below, indoors by the window in daylight you can see purple but also the greenishness! Above silvery grayish green, below, purple.

More green:


Outdoors in the sun, the colors look purple-eggplant, except when they look green or silvery gray!




With an application (below) of Essie "Matte About You" it appears kind of a charcoalish brown, although you can see some purple in the light shining on the index finger. It looks kind of cool, but I don't really recommend mattifying Zoya Ki---it defeats the purpose of wearing this interesting and beautiful polish!!

You can order this polish directly from the Zoya website. If you haven't tried it, I don't care if it isn't new at this point: you have to see it in person to really appreciate it!!!

Just a Glitter Before I Go - China Glaze Fortune Teller

Now I have the song "Just a Song Before I Go" in my head! I am leaving for a vacation in Europe but before I go, one more post on China Glaze glitter nail polish! This polish is "Fortune Teller," the quintessential Halloween glitter polish.

"Fortune Teller" has a sheer black base and metallic orange glitter. I made a bit of a mess when trying to apply it! Hee hee. If one leaves too much polish on the brush, it gets really messy and may run or pool. If one wipes off too much polish from the brush, then the glitter does not go on. I think that, as a novice, I will get the hang of it with some practice.

It's quite cool:


Don't forget to click on pictures to see the large version, by the way.

I am not really into Halloween, but I can't wait to have some fun with my nails at the end of the month. The real reason I bought Fortune Teller, however, is the way it looks with a matte topcoat. AWESOME!



I think that the best way to wear the polish for Halloween is with my sloppy application! Yes, it is really scary and like something from a horror movie!! Like my fingertips have been bludgeoned or something. Eeeeek! Boo!


"I'm gonna get you my pretty!" (cue up the Psycho shower scene music):


I know I would be scared to see my hand with that polish like that coming at me!! Seriously, I do think with a little practice and careful application and cleanup, I will be able to rock this Halloween polish, but I will most likely stick with the awesome matte!!

Monday Haulage!

Woo hoo, a triple delight was waiting for me when I got home last night. My new Chuck Taylors had arrived, along with my Zoya "Roxy" (shipped separately from the rest of my order) and my China Glaze glitters from Victoria Nail Supply.

Okay, I ripped into the Zoya Roxy padded envelope on top first, and WOWWWW! I liked to have swooned over this gorgeous glittery goodness!! I got a bit distracted from the overal haul. I popped it open and painted over the Zoya "Zara" on the index fingernail. Oh my, what a lovely dark pinky purpley glittery thang!!


I regained my composure and forged ahead. Yay! My China Glaze glitter polishes made it intact! Yay! Thank you Victoria Nail Supply!


I got a free bottle of Color Club's Loosen Up Cuticle treatment (boy do I need that! My pictures of my own nails are starting to freak me out!) and a free bottle of the fast drying topcoat.


Ooh! I see some glitter!!

I played around quite a bit with the glitters, and having these waiting for me when I return from vacation in a couple of weeks will be nice. I only opened up my shoes before going to bed; the Chucks are a dark gray and look awesome.

Yay!

Rachel Zoe is the Worst Boss!

Well, it's almost time for the Rachel Zoe Project. I have been really enjoying this season, but last week was a bit of a let-down. No fashion weeks, fashion shoots or styling sessions with stars, lol! I really like the whole styling aspect, and my favorite is searching for the perfect dress for each individual celebrity. This time we got Rachel diagnosed with vertigo, convalescing at home and pulling out jewelry for a special charity auction, and a good demonstration of how NOT to manage your employees!

I don't know why this conflict struck such a chord for me, but it really bothered the heck out of me for a least a day or two. Zoe informs her associates, Brad and Taylor, that she can take both of them to Paris fashion week. Then, she realizes that they will need to do three jobs that week so one of the associates must stay. She says she hates conflict and wants to make everyone happy, so she proceeds to try really hard to make everyone VERY unhappy and cause a BIG conflict out of what is essentially an everyday situation in her business.

Zoe sends an email to Brad and Taylor saying they need to decide who can't go. Brad ignores it, Taylor can't get him to talk about it, but apparently Zoe is expecting Brad to step up and offer not to go since Taylor is the senior one and should go. Uh, hello, has she not noticed that Brad thrives on fashion shows, getting his pic taken with celebrities, meeting designers....he eats that stuff up. He isn't going to offer not to go, are you kidding me?

When he doesn't man up, Taylor clues Brad into what Zoe is up to, and Brad is furious and insulted. I can't say I blame him. He calls Zoe, who doesn't have time to talk with him. Taylor ends up being instructed by Zoe to decide, and she lets Brad go.

Ridiculous! Zoe has a chance to make up to Taylor for all her stress and annoyances, such as being dragged to New York fashion week but having to work hard the whole time and then pulling a gazillion outfits for a photoshoot that did not require it because Zoe forgot to tell Taylor....oh, and of course how about the promises Zoe has made and not produced on, making Taylor even more super-grumpy than normal.

Zoe then misses yet another chance to set things right when she finally talks with Brad, who tells her he is unhappy with how the whole thing was handled. You know that Zoe really wants to take Brad, with whom she can gossip and shop and pick out outfits!

So, tonight we get to go to Paris with Zoe and Brad while Taylor stays home and toils on difficult problems. And apparently, Zoe is having chest pains. Yawn.

Uh, I love the Rachel Zoe Project, and obviously Zoe is very talented and creative or she wouldn't have become this uber-stylist. But she is the major source of all the vaunted stress and drama that is supposedly making her sick!

Well, hopefully we will get to see some excellent fashion and maybe meet Mr. Armani and Karl Lagerfeld!

Fun With China Glaze Chromes

At this point, I am not 100% sure exactly which polishes are in the official Sally Beauty "Glitters and Chromes" collection from China Glaze. I do think, however, that I now have them all!! Yay. I feel so....complete.

Front, l-r: Dreamsicle, Nova, Atlantis, Cleopatra, Glacier. Back, l-r: In Awe of Amber, Millennium, Metallic Muse, Twenty-Four K. Missing from pic is Medallion, a greenish-gold glitter.

Let's take a look at the chromes, since I have already reviewed the glitters.

L-r: Twenty-Four K, Millennium, Metallic Muse.


First up: Twenty-Four K, a yellow gold chrome.



My newest acquisition: Millennium, a silver chrome. So pretty and shiny! In some pics you can see kind of a reflection of the camera! I had some issues applying it though, with streakiness and a little spot on it, kind of like a little bump in the surface.




My other newest acquisition, Metallic Muse, is a lovely silvery green. Also very pretty!! I had no issues with the application.

Finally, I am also showing "In Awe of Amber," which isn't really a chrome. It needs 2-3 coats to be opaque. It doesn't have the chrome metal-like finish of the others. I could swear I picked it up from the "Chromes and Glitters" display at Sally's, but since it also is contained in the regular China Glaze rack, I could have gotten mixed up?

It's really a fairly sheer, shimmery dark copper color that goes nicely in my collection with my more orangey China Glaze "Cruisin'" and "Free Love." In Awe of Amber is a great color to wear in the fall!


Finally, a comparison on the nails with index = Metallic Muse; Middle = In Awe of Amber; Ring = Millennium; and pinky = Twenty-Four K. Taken with daylight coming in, but the one with index, ring and pinky taken indoors in the evening as an attempt to show the three true chromes together (please do not think I am flipping a bird!!)


These chromes plus In Awe of Amber should tide me over but the October 5 release of the China Glaze Khromes collection provides more chrome options. I believe that Millennium and Metallic Muse are part of that collection, as well, so I am already making progress on acquiring it! I am curious to see more of the other chromes---anticipation!