Zoya Flash and Sparkle Collections Summer 2010

Well well well what have we here!? Another double collection from Zoya, which to me seems like bright cremes for summer days and shimmery jellies for summer nights. Hot, just like the season! I like that they went with deeper colors for the season, not light shades or pastels. By making the Flash brights, they keep the summer feeling for the cremes, and by making the Sparkle shimmery they catch a "night out on the town" summery feeling. Hot days, hot nights, hot nails.

Let's start with the cremes - the Flash collection. These remind me of the OPIs of last year which were inspired by those dumb tight pants which make everyone look fat except supermodels and wimpy boys. The Zoya creme formula is nice, maybe a touch thick, thin it with Zoya Renew or another thinner like my favorite, Poshe Polish Reviver, which is like 2 bucks or something for a pretty big bottle.

The sky blue, Zoya Robyn, is very close to OPI No Room for the Blues and Creative Hot Pop Blue (which was my better/cheaper alternative to OPI No Room for the Blues), but it is actually a shade darker.


Zoya Jancyn is a smooth citrus orange, I like it even though I don't, as a rule, like orange. I know OPI had In My Back Pocket - very similar though I believe that was a shade darker than Jancyn.


Zoya Perrie is a medium purple with some red in it, so it isn't much like Zoya Malia or OPI A Grape Fit. It's like a lighter Creative Studio 54 or MAC For Fun.


Zoya Jolene is a pretty standard candy pink. Very very close to China Glaze summer offering, Sugar High, which is much cheaper. It's a lot like Black Phoenix Croquet also, but hotter pink.


Zoya Maura is your standard hot red. I actually kinda like it, even though it's not my style, and is that kind of red I always shreik at when I see it on people's lips. It's a tad bluer than Zoya America, but not so different I see the point, really.


Zoya Dana: fuchsia pink. What's more to say? Cute. It's the same fuchsia pink we see everywhere but it's mercifully free of the omnipresent blurple shimmer, which makes this a kind of relief.


Onto Sparkle Collection - the SHIMMERS!!! The size and style of shimmer reminds me very much of OPI's Winter 2009 Collection I loved so much. These are nice, easily applied shimmery jellies (except for Zoya Nidhi, which is a creme). DELUMPCIOUS!!! They loosely follow the color array of the Flash Collection, with a couple replacements, but in a darker shade. Love!

Zoya Gilda is probably Dana's match, and even though it adds that tired blurple back to the fuchsia, it manages, with the jelly and the shimmer grain size, to be fresh and yummy. I guess it could be Jolene's match if Zoya Alegra is Dana's match, but Gilda matches Dana better than Jolene (see below).


Zoya Mimi is a deep royal purple shimmer jelly. Sweet.


Zoya Alegra, Dana's match? Who knows. Anyway this is a magenta with blurple shimmer. I like it.


Zoya Charla is, in my opinion, the masterpiece. It's like looking at tropical waters. It's an absolutely stunning teal my camera could not do justice. I just stared and stared at this, it is so beautiful. It absolutely glows on the nail, with an almost metallic shine. An instant addition to my top 10 polishes of all time.


Zoya Ivanka is, thankfully, NOT dark green. I am fucking sick of dark greens. I don't think it's the greatest green ever, but it's nice, shimmery, and I love the jelly!


Last but not least Zoya Nidhi is a cream with large blue shimmer. I wish the shimmer showed up more because this counterpart to Zoya Maura is an absolute STUNNER because of the blue shimmer in it. It's hot and original and a must have. LOVE.


Enjoy them, you shouldn't be disappointed with any of them unless you already have a close dupe. But BUY CHARLA!!

OPI Alice in Wonderland Collection

Meh. Not much else to say. After the winter's incredible reds, these are lackluster and boring. Winter's glitters were more interesting too. I love glitter, especially microglitter, and these are nice ones but they just don't wallop me over the head. Dunno why. Maybe I am over glitter tossed in clear polish unless it totally covers the nail? Who knows.

The OPI Alice in Wonderland Collection is small, and I bought the mini set.

OPI Thanks so Muchness! is red. It's a nice blue red shade. It's no world shaker

OPI Absolutely Alice is a neat dark blue that seems somehow to have black in it. It has gold micro glitter mixed in with the blue, for interest and dazzle.


OPI Off With Her Red! is oranger in person than the picture. It reminds me of burnt carrot casserole or something.


OPI Mad As a Hatter is a mainly dark purple microglitter with opalescent/pastel rainbow microglitter. If it had better coverage I'd probably be in love. This is four coats.

Zoya Reverie Spring 2010 Collection

I love pink/green duochrome shimmer. I LOVE it. And every single color in Zoya's Reverie Collection for Spring 2010 has it. Oh sigh. It's so fucking purty.

This is a kind of "Valentine's Day" collection, made up of two pinks, two red/oranges, a purple and a silver all in incredibly thick rainbow microshimmer, so thick it's nearly a frost in application. You might see streaks when you put it on, but let it settle and it goes back to a sleek coat. Just try to be a bit even in your application and you should be okay. It's a good formula, Zoya pretty much always is, so it applies nicely and two coats did me for a nice opaque polish job. This absolutely needs topcoat though, for you non-topcoat wearers, as I found it dried a bit dull, but you should wear topcoat anyway. It brings out the full beauty of a nail polish (except a matte, of course).

You can't always see the duochrome effect in my pics, I think the purple, Adina, shows it well, and I think Reece shows the pink aspect okay. Just know it has it.

Zoya Happi, the light pink:


Zoya Reece, the dark pink:


Zoya Gwin, the orangier red/orange:


Zoya Lana, the redder red/orange:


Zoya Adina, the purple:


Zoya Laney, the silver:

Zoya Matte Velvet Winter Collection 2009

This is the last late post I have for 2009 Collections. Thankful sigh! And there's little to say about these except that I think Zoya perfected the suede/matte formula. These have sparkle even when matte, tons of color, great texture, apply easily, and are colors we didn't have before in matte. Great collection. I love them, even if they do remind me of Vegas casino Mardi Gras beads. I mean these colors are exactly the beads they give you.

Zoya Sativa is a gorgeous deep purple.


Zoya Harlow, yummy red grape? I dunno. Very pretty whatever you call it.


Zoya Veruschka is complete perfection. FOREST green, not the everpresent yellowish greens we get, and full of tiny sparkles.


And like I said a month or so before, if you already have FingerPaints Evergreen Dream (sold at Sally's and a lot cheaper than Zoya) if you slap a matte topcoat on it (here shown with Essie Matte About You)you have an exact dupe for Zoya Veruschka. I needed both, obviously.


What a great year it was eh?? Within the week I will post my 2009 Polish mayhem Awards for 2009, so stay tuned!!

S'More China Glaze Glitters!

Yay! I can has moar glitar?? I has a glitar!! I can no has long fingarnalez, tho. U forgiv?

China Glaze Dynasty is kind of a dark rose. But it has a bit of red in it, sometimes I almost think this is brick red. It has small rainbow glitter.


China Glaze Techno, large rainbow hexagons and small rainbow glitter in a clear base. Dab this one on, don't stroke it, so you get good coverage on the hexagons.


China Glaze Sour Apple - what else? Apple green jelly with small opalescent glitter in it. Nice! This is two coats I believe.


China Glaze Mahoganie is on the browner side of brick red. It has small rainbow glitter.


China Glaze Shooting Stars, I think this is indispensible. It's got tons of microglitter in nice opalescent shades, and big opalescent hexagons. It layers so beautifully over other polishes!! This is only two coats, it has great coverage!


Ther is moar glitar in teh futur!!

FingerPaints Holiday Collection

I like FingerPaints. They have a good formula, easy to apply, looks great. Their holiday collection is six shimmers. I did not get the medium red with very fine subtle gold shimmer (Snowman's Scarf), it just looked like a ton of other stuff to me. Also I did not get Sparkling Snow, which is your standard silver shimmer. IMO if you have one you have them all.

The other four are pretty nice, though! the shimmer in most of these is large grain, almost like clear sheets. It's neat. It manages to be subtle and yet impactful. If glitter is a rhinestone covered dress, and shimmer is a sequinned dress, this is a satin dress. If you get me. It shines yet it is not on your face. If you can wear these color shades to work, you won't be worried they'll be too bling and get you a raised eyebrow. I think they're sophisticated.

FingerPaints Candy Cane Shimmer is a medium red with smaller shimmer than the other polishes. The thing about this is it really does kind of have a satin sheen, rather than any shimmer. And the genius of this polish is that it looks EXACTLY like the red ribbon you buy at the store to wrap presents with. Not the new prismatic or mylar ones, the old style. Go check it out and see! I think it's so cool.


FingerPaints Decked With Dazzle is my least favorite. It's a reddish purple, kinda a red grape look. It has very nice chunky shimmer, but it's very sheer. It's pretty but I am not wowed. But you may be and the quality is nice, just the sheerness was unwelcome.


Gorgeous deep purple with the same chunky shimmer, FingerPaints Icy Iris is absolutely taking a place in my "keep" pile.


The clear queen of the bunch is FingerPaints Evergreen Dreams. Wow, a green not named after Envy. Imagine that! It's a gorgeous emerald green shimmer. One incredibly cool thing about it is when you apply a matte topcoat, it looks EXACTLY like Zoya Veruschka, which I will be demonstrating in the next couple of days when I review the Zoya Matte collection which came out a while ago, which I somehow neglected to be sent review copies of. :disgruntled and horrified face: Grin. Anyway this is a winner.


Here's FingerPaints Evergreen Dream first topped with Hard Candy Break Up, then FingerPaints Evergreen Dream topped with Hard Candy Break Up and Essie Matte About You topcoat! What I won't do for fun, eh?

MollyHell's Turkey Day Grab Bag

I hope everyone who celebrated had a happy and safe Turkey Day. I'm not any major religion, and I couldn't give two farts in a crowded theater about Pilgrims, but I celebrate the day as a day of being with family, and making an incredibly delicious meal. So basically a day of sitting around stuffing my face.

Anyway because it's Turkey Day, the polish is BB Couture Cranberry Crush!

Black Phoenix Claw Polish

I was the very lucky recipient of some of the illustrious Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's nail polish, which they call Claw Polish (love it)! BPAL doesn't just make hundreds of incredible artisan perfume oils in "magickal, pagan and mythological blends, Renaissance, Medieval and Victorian formulas, and horror / Gothic-themed scents", they do jewelry, Tshirts and assorted neat stuff which fortunately includes a growing offering of nail polishes (under the Black Phoenix Trading Post arm of the site). Mostly now it is blacks and browns, deep reds and a few pinks, and one glow in the dark. I hope to see them branch out! They certainly have enough inspiration.

First thing that is notable is the formula was quite surprising. It was terrific. A polish line in which the CREMES are more manageable than the jellies??? Wow. Dries fast, hard and just like glass. It's incredibly shiny stuff. I would use topcoat for protection but it is in no way needed for a glossy finish. It's kickass. The brush may be a bit stubby for you long brush lovers, but otherwise is standard. Anyway all due accolades to the talented people at Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. Thank you!!

I tried a different style photograph for these polishes, inspired by the "Claw Polish" name. Yes, Napoleon, I have large talons. If you hate it feel free to call me an asswipe.

You're going to have to take my word for it that Destroying Angel is not black. it's a dark chocolate, but it's browner than the picture. I am sure I will try again at some point.


Smokestack is actually a very dark blurple jelly with a ton of very fine subtle shimmer. It packs far more punch than you think it will. Very nice.


Croquet they call a flamingo pink, I think it's a bit softer and a great deal prettier than flamingo. Bet the Sissies will love this one!


Malediction is simply black, with that stunning super-gloss that China Glaze Patent Leather has. This is a jelly, not a creme.


Sed Non Satiata is a smooth, sleek berry.


Robotic Scarab is a gleaming bronze shimmer. I drool on this.


Bordello is a beautiful lightly metallic raspberry shimmer. Suckable!

MollyHell's Grab Bag! - Rimmel Blood Red

Picked this one up cheap after Halloween, there may still be some around.

Rimmel Blood Red:

MollyHell's Grab Bag - Jade Red Ruby

Jade Red Ruby is a great ruby red glitter with a bit of gold, in a clear base. this is two coats I believe. I think it'll be a super holidays standalone or top coat. There's a place called Spa Beauty Supply that sells this, never bought from them though.

MollyHell's Grab Bag! - Chanel Metal Garnet

I have loved Chanel Metal Garnet since high school. I think it's better than a naked male model. Lasts longer, too!

Chanel Metal Garnet:

China Glaze Wizard of Ooh Ahz Returns!

I got a great package today! Whee! Wizard of Ooh Ahz Returns! Here is what China Glaze has to say about it:

"Click your Ruby Pumps and come travel with China Glaze down the yellow brick road to meet "The Wizard of Ooh Ahz"! Just in time for the holidays, China Glaze is re-releasing the ever-so popular Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection! Very similar to the original version that was released in 2001, these colors will remind you of exactly why China Glaze glitters are always in the forefront! Colors in the 6 piece acetate include:
Ruby Pumps: An all time red glitter favorite!
Good Witch: Pink Frost with specks of pink micro-glitter
C-C-Courage: Purple Frost with specks of purple micro glitter
Dorothy Who?: Blue polish with massive amounts of silver and blue glitter!
Cowardly Lyin': Gold frost with specks of gold micro glitter
the Ten Man: Silver frost with specks of silver micro glitter

China Glaze will take you to that special polish place, some where over the rainbow with these gorgeous glitter polishes!"

The formula is good, stays in place. This stuff is a bit sheer, all of these pictures are three coats. It dries quickly. VERY sparkly. These pix are on glue-on nails (except Ruby Pumps). All have topcoat, which I think the frosts need as they dry semi-matte. Without further ado, the polishes:

Let's start with Ruby Pumps, ruby red jelly with red glitter. This has not changed from the Ruby Pumps they always sell, so it's of course gorgeous.


The Ten Man, frost with tiny bright sparks of silver. Glitterier than the picture. The tip of the bottom finger is how glittery the polish actually is, also the gold and pink and purple.


Cowardly Lyin' is also far glitterier than the picture. Rely on the bottle to see the flash, as somehow this and the silver kinda photographed more showing the frost base than the micro-glitter.


China Glaze Dorothy Who? is a nice medium blue jelly, kind of a light cobalt, with silver and blue tiny glitter, and I also see light purple micro glitter in there too. Even blingier than in the picture.


Good Witch is a very pretty medium rose frost with tons of pink micro glitter. Once again go look at the bottom finger tip of The Ten Man picture to know how sparkly this really is.


C-C-Courage is my favorite. A dark grape purple frost with a somehow dusky tinge to it, it has not only great little micro-stars of purple glitter but a super all-over purple sheen to it.


So there ya go. I do not know if these are glass flecks or not, the insert I quoted only says they are glitters. I will email China Glaze and ask, then update this post. Also there is no appearance of the rumored on Twitter redo of Emerald Sparkle with gold glass fleck. I know they re-released Emerald Sparkle recently in a sort of themed re-release of old colors for the Holidays, called "Love You Snow Much", which also had Ruby Pumps in it. Maybe the redo of Emerald Sparkle is a fiction, or maybe it'll come later. I'll try to see if I can get an answer on that.