A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

You can keep your Andrex puppies and their loo roll-pulling antics because Zoya Kendal has super-softness in the bag.  This beautiful polish from the American brand is simply perfect.  A gorgeous greyed-lavender creme that incites visions of mist-swirled candyfloss.

The formula is also divine, reaching full opacity in two fuss-free, streak-free coats. You may be able to tell that this is my favourite polish of the year so far…. making me want to retrospectively check out the rest of the Zoya Feel Collection from last winter (thank heavens for eBay).

If you’re finding Zoya Kendal a little too simplistic or cold for your tastes, these kind of muted pastels are my absolute favourite for enhancing with a little glitter.  In this case, Butter London’s Tart with a Heart did the honours…

Ethereal, delicate, beautiful and blinging to the max!

Zoya Kendal is available to buy online from beauty4nails-body.co.uk, priced at £7.99

I pounced on the Zoya spring collection, probably my favourite of all the spring offerings this year – it’s subdued, with its muted softy pastels and delicate shimmer.  I could have bought so many more but stopped myself at two, here is the first that made it into my basket, Lotus.

Of the two purples in the spring collection, this is the one that had the dustier edge.  And I’m all about dusty edges… both when it comes to nail polish, and bookshelves.  Lotus has a soft pink shimmer that catches the light but sadly failed to pick up very well in my swatch photo – you can see it in the bottle though yes?  It’s not a glaringly obvious shimmer but gives the shade more depth and prevents it from sitting flat on the nailbed.

Formula was fine, the above photo shows three coats but you could get away with two… I applied my second coat with too much impatience and caused a bit of drag, hence the need for the third.  My fault, not the polish’s.

Zoya Lotus is priced at £7.99 and available online from beauty4nails-body.

The third polish in my mini Zoya haul was Neeka from the Fall 2011 Smoke and Mirrors collection.

A pretty purple/grape polish with gold sparkle, this wasn’t as dusty as I hoped.  Not that there’s anything wrong with the base colour but I expected something a little greyer from Zoya’s description of the shade.  Never mind, I’m not adverse to any kind of purple on my nails!

The formula of this was very similar to Yara and I achieved excellent coverage with two coats.

Zoya Neeka is available to buy online from Beauty4Nails-Body priced at £7.99

It’s been a long time since I fell so heavily in love with a nail polish shade.  Zoya Caitlin isn’t even a sparkler.  It doesn’t shift colour and it doesn’t glow in the dark or create funny patterns with the help of a magnet.

Zoya Caitlin is just a beautiful creme that has enough edge to make it different to all my other cremes.  I’m smiling as I write this because I think that half of you are gonna be with me on this and the rest are gonna be like “uh what?”

I won’t build it up any more…

Zoya Caitlin is the duskiest blue I own.  I don’t know how it manages to look so soft yet still be so bold.  It looks like a breath of dusty serenity and I’m completely smitten.  It was released as part of their Spring 2011 Intimates Collection as one half of a duo “french-twist” manicure.  Everywhere I look, I see this described as a purple or a violet.  I just don’t see it.  On me, it’s an out and out cob-webby, deep cornflower.

Uniquely beautiful, I have nothing bad to say about this nail polish.

Zoya Caitlin is available in the UK online at Beauty4Nails-Body priced at £7.99 – I have no personal experience with this website, I bought my bottle from eBay U.S.

I went on a bit of a Zoya splurge a few weeks ago, admittedly… it was a small one.  Those lovely people at customs and excise weren’t gonna get me.  Not that I object to paying my duty, I just object to Royal Mail’s hostage handling fee.

Grumbles aside, I was pleased to receive my little Zoya beauties and I’m looking forward to showing them.  It’s an expensive brand to buy in the UK and not one too readily available from sellers I trust on eBay either.  Shipping was quite slow (about 3 weeks), I’ll keep looking for a supplier I like for these I think.  In the meantime, meet Yara from Zoya’s Fall Smoke & Mirrors Collection.

Ain’t she purdy?

Yara is an olive green with distinct leanings toward army greens.  The gold sparkles thankfully don’t get hidden too well in the depths of the murk and shine through beautifully!

I don’t wear too many greens but I’m delighted to include this one in my collection.  Texture was great on this, I was done in two coats.

Zoya Yara is available to buy online in the UK from NailCareClub and is priced at £9.98 not inc. postage of £3.50.  I paid £6.50 inc. postage from eBay U.S.  Yeah.  I’ll stick with eBay thanks.

EDIT: It’s also here for £7.99 w/free shipping.

I awoke to a surprise parcel last Saturday…

Courtesy of a very sweet friend, this beautiful chocolate milk of a nail polish now holds pride of place in my collection.  I’d been lemming Zoya Pasha for the best part of a year and with such long-term longings inevitably comes a touch of pedestal placement!  I have to say, it didn’t disappoint.

3 coats for a smooth finish, Pasha is a silvery milk chocolate with a slight metallic sheen.  It applied beautifully with no dragging at the cuticles, my only slight issue was with a couple of bubbles which I think had more to do with my impatience at wanting to see it applied, like NAO! as opposed to any formula problems.

I’m so happy to finally have this in my hands, thank you liloo – your generosity delighted me and I may have been bitten by the Zoya bug!