Review: My picks from the Zoya Satins

Hello!

I'm back with my picks from the second half of Zoya's fall offerings, the Satins. I love Zoya shimmers, and there were plenty in this collection I loved...

Let's start with what might be the quintessential fall polish, Zoya Channing. This is a rusty pumpking/yam/burnt sienna sort of color that epitomizes fall leaves and holiday deserts:

Zoya Channing

This is two coats, and the formula is wonderful and applies perfectly. I suspect this will be getting worn at least once on this last stretch of time leading up to Thanksgiving. :)


Next is a Zoya Giovanna, a shimmery teal that leans a greener than I expected it to:

Zoya Giovanna

This is again 2 coats, with a wonderful formula and application. When I wore this, and in my pictures, it leans far more green that I'd seen in other pictures, so I'm not sure if I just got a strange bottle or if there was an issue with the pictures I was looking at. In fact, in some lights, this is almost emerald. For my part, I have a ton of blue-leaning teals, so I'm very glad to get one that hits the other end of the teal spectrum. :)


Next up, Zoya Neve, an extremely rich royal blue that goes to violet around the edges:

Zoya Neve

Again 2 lovely coats. :) This is one of my favorite polishes of the fall, I adore it--it's rich, it's mysterious, it's a blue that reads pure elegance. But maybe you're thinking you'd like to see it with a little glitz...


So let's have a look at it with Maria Luisa, a gold flake topper:

Zoya Maria Luisa over Zoya Neve

If you've been wanting one of the gold-flake toppers that have been all the rage, but don't want to pay the price for real gold (I admit, it's not one of my top priorities to pay $30 for a topper...), this is the perfect solution for you. I think this is a gorgeous alternative for an extremely reasonable price.


And last for today, Zoya Mason, a magenta purple shimmer that fills me with joy:

Zoya Mason

2 coats, perfect application. What I love about this polish is the complexity--there is a blueish flash and little flecks of pink and blue, that keep the surface of the polish interesting. This is a very versatile color that will flatter lots of skin tones. :)

I loved the formula on all of these, and the range of colors, even if not incredibly adventurous, is well done. I'm really happy with both the Cashmere and the Satin collections. Something for everyone--another great season from Zoya, with tons of happy happy joy joy in every bottle. :)

Hope you found something you enjoy!

Hugs and love,
M.

Review: My picks from the Zoya Cashmeres

(All polishes in this post were purchased with my own money.) 

Hello!!

I have some lovely fall colors for you today, my picks from the Zoya Cashmeres fall 2013 collection. Cremes, cremes, cremes!! Okay, now I want desert. Sigh...

First up is Zoya Flynn, a soft latte brown creme:

Zoya Flynn, artificial light

This is two coats of Flynn, with topcoat. I am very happy to report that the formula on the cremes in this collection (at least the ones I got) is really good--I had a bit of dragging on the first coat with some of these, but it all evened out on the second coat. That was great news, since I've sometimes struggled a bit with Zoya cremes in the past. I'm hoping this is a change that will continue on--the formula has never stopped me from buying their cremes in the past, but this makes it a lot nicer. And this is a great neutral to add to your polish wardrobe if you've been looking for one. :)

Next I have Zoya Pepper, a spicy brick red creme that has a ton of sass:

Zoya Pepper, artificial light

This is a favorite in the collection for me. I know you know I love reds, but I have a special place in my heard for the deeper reds like this. Add that to a great formula, and I'm in heaven. :)


Next is Zoya Hunter, a foresty-fern-green creme that is slightly muted:

Zoya Hunter, artificial light

I love this shade of green so much, and it's such a perfect fall color. Again this is 2 coats, good formula. No complaints, just fall loveliness. :)


And finally, Zoya Sailor, a navy blue creme:

Zoya Sailor, artificial light

This blue almost goes into International Klein blue in some lights, and that makes me happy inside. This is two coats, same good formula, another winner in my opinion.


When you initially look at the cremes in this collection, it can be tempting to say 'Same old. Classics yes, but nothing new.'. I'm not so sure. Zoya has a habit of taking a color and doing it juuuuust a little bit differently, or sometimes a lot differently, from how others do it. Sailor is just a bit more on the rich jewel side that I'd expect for a navy, but still has a fall muted feel to it. Same thing with Hunter--just a touch more mossy fern than I normally would have expected, and I love it. And pepper has that little bit of fire-y, edgy spice that elevates the brick color just enough to make it special, I think. And, this collection works really well together for nail art.

If you've stayed away from Zoya cremes in the past because of formula issues, don't be afraid of these, give them a try. And stay tuned for my picks from the Zoya Satins collection...:)

Hugs and love,
M.

(All polishes in this post were purchased with my own money.) 

Review: Authority Cosmetics polish (Part 2!)

(The polishes in this post were sent for my honest review.)

Hello again!

I'm back with part 2 of my review of Authority Cosmetic's nail polish line. If you missed part one, check it out by clicking here--there are some awesome polishes there, and you don't want to miss them. :)

But now, let's turn out attention to the remaining lovelies in the collection, starting with Paradise, a beautiful, bright sky blue creme:

Authority Cosmetics Paradise, artificial light

The formula on this, and the other cremes, is amazing. They apply easily, not too think or too thick. They self-level beautifully on the second coat and, and are smooth and shiny--you don't really need topcoat with these, but I am a topcoat junkie and am showing them to you with topcoat anyway. I adore this shade of blue--it's bright, fun, very wearable, and just happens to perfectly match one of my tops. So of course I love it. :)

And you know I have a soft spot in my heart for reds, so you'll probably guess that this next one is one of my favorites, and you'd be right. This is Saint Valentine, a perfect pin-up cherry red creme:

Authority Cosmetics Saint Valentine, artificial light

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes! This is, in my opinion, the perfect red creme. Want that Hollywood-glam pin-up look? You got it. Need a heart-red for Valentine's Day? Check. Need a red that looks like fresh blood for Halloween? Here you go. Want that bright, happy Christmas red? Yup-a-rooni! (yes, that's right, yup-a-rooni. Don't judge me.) You'd never think that the same red could play all those roles for you, would you? ::does happy dance::.

This is two coats, and just like the other cremes in the collection, it's absolutely amazing to work with and wear, with or without topcoat.

Next let's look at a polish that's out of this world...Authority Cosmetics Cosmic (sorry...I just couldn't help it...). Cosmic is a ocean blue metallic shimmer:

Authority Cosmetics Cosmic, artificial light

This is two coats of cosmic, and is one of several shimmers in the collection. This one flirts with the line between shimmer and metallic, but is still very easy to apply--I didn't have any visible brushstroke issues, and had the same experience with formula as with the cremes. No pooling, not dragging, smooth application and self-leveling on the second coat. This blue is also very wearable, and I love the sparkly, shimmery shine, even without topcoat.


The next polish, Surf's Up, is a bit of a chameleon; a bright, almost neon, coral, this polish travels the range of coral from the pink side to the orange side depending on the light you're in. For the most part, this is how it looked on me:

Authority Cosmetics Surf's Up, artificial light

This is 3 coats, but you will likely only need two; my problem here was again that annoying white bang mark on my middle finger. The formula was great, as with the other cremes. I love how vibrant this color is; it makes me feel like I have beautiful hibiscus flowers on my fingers. I mentioned that this comes close to being a neon--it doesn't quite cross over that line, and has none of the issues that go along with neons (like flat finish or application issues). If you love corals and/or bright colors, this is for you.


And I've saved one of the best for last: Emerald Sky. This is a blackened teal shimmer, very blue-leaning, with a hint of gentle purple duochrome:

Authority Cosmetics Emerald Sky, artificial light

I've varied the artificial light here so you could see how the polish looks in direct light and indirect light. You can see that it looks almost metallic in direct light, with a bright flash of light. When the light is indirect, it looks almost like a blue-and-black flecked finish, with a gorgeous visual texture. While the duochrome shows more strongly in the bottle, you do get gentle hints of purple around the edges, enough to make the polish unique and special. This is one of the prettiest teals I've ever seen.

And so, we come to the end of the polishes in this line--for now. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next, but for the time being, I think this is a wonderful set of polishes to release for a first collection. Over only 10 polishes, she has polishes which are representative  of each season, and of almost any mood you're in. Almost ever single one is highly wearable without being boring or 'same-old'. While she could have easily put out a collection of safe colors, she made some careful but interesting choices, I think--an avocado green instead of a grass green, a teal duochrome instead of a typical blue-purple one. It's not an easy balance to avoid the 'typical' colors while still remaining wearable, I think.

In terms of formula, I remain very impressed at the top-quality, major-brand-worthy quality of the formula on polishes that are 5-free, vegan-friendly, and of course cruelty-free (all made in the US). As I mentioned yesterday, in my experience, it's not easy to take all of that stuff out and still have a good formula, let alone a great formula, and I've tried plenty of such polishes that left much to be desired. I believe that this is an impressive line of excellent polishes that will keep your conscience clear and your fingers pretty. I am very happy to recommend them to you.

You can find these polishes in her shop by clicking here. She also has a Facebook page here where you can follow her and get notice about any news regarding her line and her shop.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a wonderful Hallow's Eve Eve...
M.

(The polishes in this post were sent for my honest review.)

Review: Authority Cosmetics (part 1!)

(The polishes in this review were provided for my honest opinion.)

Hello!

A while back, I was contacted by Kristy from Authority Cosmetics, a new Independent maker, about the possibility of reviewing her line. I was very intrigued by this, because Kristy shares my passion for cruelty-free, vegan-friendly products; as you know, one of the missions of this blog is promote products that allow us to have our fun, pretty nails in a way we can feel good about. So, I agreed. 

I did so, as always, with a lot of hope, and a little trepidation...Making quality polish is not easy, particularly once you cut out the nasty toxins (her polish is big 5-free), and cut out non-vegan-friendly ingredients. I've recently discovered, for example, that deep, saturated reds are very challenging for vegan polishes because they typically use carmine...and trust me, if you're squeamish like me, you don't want to know what's in carmine. Anyway, point is, once you cut out these things, coming up with good formula while keeping beautiful colors is not at all easy. And in my 1.5 years of blogging experience, I've tried out a number of vegan-friendly polishes that had, well, failed to provide user-friendly fomulas.  

Spoiler alert: I am happy to report that Authority Cosmetics is a wonderful product in every possible way. So great, in fact, that I want to make sure to give all 10 colors full attention; so, I'll show you bottle shots of the full collection today, take a look at five of the pretties, and the be back tomorrow with the remaining five. :)  

There is an impressive array of colors among her inaugural ten:

Authority Cosmetics Disco, I Heart You, and Gumdrop

Authority Cosmetics Mermaid Tail, Saint Valentine, and Emerald Sky

Authority Cosmetics Surf's Up, Khloe, and Paradise

Authority Cosmetics Cosmic

Ready for some dancing? Let's get started with Disco, one of my favorites in the collection. Disco is a bright avocado-green creme with a fun, funky feel to it that I just adore:

Authority Cosmetics Disco, artificial light

The formula on this polish was wonderful--not too thin, not to thick, spread well and self-leveled well. As with most cremes, it didn't give complete coverage on the first coat, and I needed two coats; I am showing three here because of the big white ding on my middle finger, which needed three coats to cover. But for most people with normal nails, two coats should be fine. I do have topcoat here, but didn't really need it; the finish on all of these polishes was smooth, silky, and shiny. :)

Need a snack? Let's take a look at Gumdrop, a vibrant Rocker-Barbie-type pink creme:

Authority Cosmetics Gumdrop, artificial light

 

You know I'm not a lover of pinks, but this looks so glorious on my nails I might have to change my mind. This is two coats, and that even covers the white bang mark on my middle finger. I don't want to be too repetitive, so I'll just say that again the formula was excellent, and I had zero issues with application. Smooth and self-leveling by the second coat--for 5-free, vegan-friendly cremes, this is just amazing to me, better than most of the non-vegan, non-3-free-let-alone-5-free polishes I've tried. 

Next up is the glitter in the collection, and it's an extremely versatile glitter at that. Meet I Heart You, an iridiscent glitter in a coral-tinted base, with a sprinkle of pink and red heart glitters:

Authority Cosmetics I Heart You, over Gumdrop, artificial light

This is one coat of the glitter brushed on, with the hearts placed directly where I wanted them. To get this many hearts, you will need to fish a bit, but they're easy to get out. These hearts are a little smaller than I've seen in other polishes, which makes them sit a better on curved nails like mine, eliminating annoying gaps. As with the cremes, the glitter is shiny on its own, and you could go without topcoat, and I show it here without.

What if you're not a big heart fan--you know I'm certainly not. While I will almost certainly use the glitter for Valentine's day manicures, I admit that for the rest of the year, I probably wouldn't care for the hearts. The good news is, if you like the iridescent part of the glitter, the hearts are very easily avoided; also, while the base is tinted coral, the polish works very well over a variety of base colors. To demonstrate, here is is over Disco:

Authority Cosmetics I Heart You, over Disco, artificial light

This again is one coat, and it applies easily with a simple brushstroke, no dabbing needed. :)

Next up, we have the lovely Khloe, a purple shimmer with just a tiny flash of blue to it:

Authority Cosmetics Khloe, artificial light

This is two coats of Khloe, and again...it's smooth, silky, shiny even without topcoat, and applies like a complete dream. I had no problem with brushstokes showing, didn't have to be careful at all. No hint of frostiness, just beautiful shimmery goodness. I love purple, so I'm biased, but...isn't this beautiful? It's the sort of purple that normally is made into a blurple, but I promise you it is not. Even though there is a slight blue flash to it (even less than you see here in most lights), it is pure purple goodness, through and through. :)

And finally for today, we have Mermaid's tail, a sweet, turquoise creme with a soft southwestern feel:

 Not even gonna take the time to repeat it all--let me just say this has the same fantastic formula as all the above polishes. This is two coats and I didn't want to take it off.

So, here's my summary so far (although it applies to the ones you'll see tomorrow, too). It makes me happier than I can say to find an indie line with a range of beautiful colors that is big 5-free and vegan-friendly while maintaining an amazing, major-brand-worthy quality and formula. Kristy does recommend using a basecoat to protect against staining; I always use basecoat, and didn't see anything out of the ordinary with respect to staining. In addition to this, I must take a moment to rave about the bottles/brush handles--they are softly rubberized and concave in shape,which makes them very comfy to hold and easy to control. I know this sounds like a simple thing, but when you have kitties and puppies that come and bang up against you ever few seconds, every bit of comfortable control you get while polishing your nails is much appreciated.

I highly recommend these polishes, and encourage you to go check out her store by clicking here. She also has Facebook page where you can keep up with her. In addition to being big-5-free, cruelty-free and vegan-friendly, her polishes are U.S. made; whether or not you care about cruelty-free issues, you will find these to be top-quality, prestige polishes that will make you happy on the inside and pretty on the outside.

Check back tomorrow to see the remaining 5 polishes in her collection; in the meantime, big hugs and much love. :)

M.

(The polishes in this review were provided for my honest opinion.)