Mini Zoya Haul & More!

During one of Zoya's most recent promotions where they offered a free 8 oz. bottle of Remove+ with purchase, I picked up a few polishes I'd been ogling: Neeka and Yara from their newest Fall collection, as well as Jules from the Spring colors.

Zoya Neeka, Yara, Jules, and Remove+

I've also been trying to expand my pinks as I have very few, and found a couple cute polishes at Claire's as well.

Sinful Colors Cream Pink, Claire's Mood Color Changing Nail Polish in Lonely/Loved, & Claire's Glitter Top Coat

The first of my new Zoyas that I tried was Jules, which is a gorgeous shimmery, dusty taupe/gold; a color I've been rather obsessed with since the purchase of my newest and most beloved purse. Yes, I wanted my nail polish to match my beautiful bag. Silly? Maybe. Awesome? I think so!

Pretty stunning, right? The formula was excellent and easy to apply, and the color is so unique and entrancing. And the purse! I bought at a Coach Factory Outlet store, so it was an amazing deal. *Love!* Yara and Neeka certainly did not disappoint either, I never imagined I'd like an olive green like Yara, but Zoya knows the way to my heart. And Neeka-- dark, greyed, gold-glittered violet? Uh, yeah. I'll have swatches up of those soon, too, as well as the Claire's & (if I woman up to it) Sinful's shimmery neon pink!

Maybelline Sunlight

I picked this up a few weeks ago at Walgreens, it was part of Maybelline's Springs 2011 Sweet Thing Collection. This particular shade is called "Sunlight," and it's a kind of dusty, shimmery white gold. Honestly, I looked at the bottle and thought, "Please look just like Moxie." (à la Rescue Beauty Lounge) which is currently sold out but will be returning soon, along with a few others, in the "Bring It Back" event.

Here is Moxie:

(clipped to polyvore.com)

And here is Maybelline's Sunlight:

I really love the pale, dusty gold color, although the formula is quite sheer, and I believe this was four coats. From what I can tell, the shade is similar to Moxie. However Moxie's formula is supposed to be excellent where this one took more coats than I'd like to achieve opacity, and still had visible nail line.

Scrangie has a gorgeous swatch of the real Moxie here, and you can see the formula looks more opaque and the color more luminous. But hey, for five bucks it was worth trying anyhow!

Physicians Formula Baked Bronzer in Baked Tan

This is the first bronzer I've tried actually, and so far I've been quite pleased with it. I'm rather fair-skinned and didn't think I'd find a bronzer that would suit my complexion. Lately I've been really into mineral powders (and "baked" blushes and such) for my face; I like the subtle, dewy glow they give, especially for the summer. This can be used wet or dry, and blends very nicely, with a nice little shimmer in it to give a touch more summer glow.

I'm still learning what the best application is, but I like to lightly sweep it across my cheeks to give them a bit more depth. It's suggested to apply it where the sun would naturally give your face more color.

Blended, Unblended

I picked this up at WalMart for ~$10, and I believe I saw it at Target as well. They also carry a slightly darker shade called Baked Bronze.

Zoya Zara

One of my favorite Zoya polishes, which combines my love of purple and gold shimmer. Zara goes on a little sheer but looks lovely after three coats.

I think it has a very "Spring" feel to it, but I'll definitely being wearing her all year round. The gold and purple compliment each other so nicely. I've been a bit obsessed with gold shimmer recently, in my polishes, lipsticks, and even blushes. I love the warmth and sparkle it adds in the Summertime.

I also made my first attempt at striping with tape, but I don't think the color I chose (Nubar's Indigo Illusion) contrasted enough with the orchid-plum purple. And as you can see I didn't clean up around my nail much either! There are some pretty cool designs you can create with just tape, although I'd really like to try nail stamping, too.