Zoya Pandora

The name Pandora always makes me think of Samantha's mother from Bewitched. Her name, however, was Endora. Regardless. I always think of that. I don't know why.

Pandora is what I wound up wearing for my most recent interview and it was a good choice. It wore amazingly, which is what this post is about: a review of Zoya Pandora the polish.

This is Pandora one week old. Not bad, right? Some wear but nothing ridiculous. Nothing you'd take the time to repair. It's a pretty pearly pinky neutral, it suits my coloring very well.

You can see the creamy pearly finish here, it really takes the light but it's not overpowering. It's a pretty shade.

There is a slight shimmer, you can see a hint of it here, but overall it's a very subtle color. It's pretty without drawing attention to itself. It's the kind of color that finishes a look.

I can't believe this wore this well for an entire week. I am notoriously hard on my nails, and I have very bad luck with Zoya on the whole. I know that it's a very popular brand and I really love the colors and I have quite a bit of it, but I have never got this kind of wear out of it. Maybe it really is a product of my own nails being stronger, maybe I found the right combination of supporting strengtheners, top and base coats to really make it last. I'm not sure. I was very surprised, though. This went Sunday to Saturday and was still going when I had my manicure.

The right, just so you can see. You can tell this is getting ready to lift and chip here, but it hadn't yet. I think I may have gone over the tips once on this manicure. I believe I did. It's been awhile now. I'm just getting around to blogging it. I've been having a lot of wifi problems so I'm taking advantage while I can. It's up and running right now. May not last!

Zoya Pandora - a very reliable color, good for the office, no matter how conservative, and for interviews. Good wear.

Happy Talons!

Interview Nails

I had been happy at my last job for several years. I had my own office, not with a view, mind you, but I had doors, and while my work space was relatively small, it was mine and I was allowed to make of it what I would. Then that went to hell in a hurry and I found myself in the unhappy position of searching for another situation. I don't like job hunting and what to wear for an interview on my nails was stressful.
Yes.
I recognize how stupid that may sound.

However. If you are a die hard nail hound, you devote a lot of your time and energy and at least one day off a week to writing a blog about nail polish, then trying to decide what to wear to an interview is a stressful thing. I searched online. Certainly, I scoffed, I have enough colors and there are enough blogs out there, I will get some good ideas and be able to narrow this down. HA. I say. HA.

All I really found were nonsense threads about the value of just going bare, little buff and off you go. I'm guessing, if you are reading this, that you are sitting there, mouth agape, as I was. Bare??? As in...NAKED? NAKED NAILS?? It simply isn't done. I wouldn't feel myself. I wouldn't feel groomed. I would feel out of sorts. This is not the right thing. I had to search on my own. Hopefully this post will save you similar stress.

For the first few interviews I wore a really lovely combination of two colors that BMWWU put together. On their own they are pretty and not quite right for one reason or another, but together they created a softly nude look with depth that didn't draw attention. Excellent. However, no jobs came from those and so for the next interview I wanted to try something else. Do I think the manicure kept me from getting the job? No. Call it superstition. So here is that look, plus the other things I tried. I'll show you a shot of that look on its own because it will do and I will do it again. If you're as fair as I am then you may like it for yourself as well. I don't know that it would be as interview suitable on olive or darker complexions, though. It's pretty light.

I had a flash of brilliance and remembered I had the Summer 2011 Zoya Touch set. Three soft nude polishes that might just do. In digging that out I found Zoya Uma, as well.

 These are from left to right: Zoya Uma, Rescue Beauty Lounge Sheer Nude, Nails Inc. something. I can't find it to get you the name, but I discarded the color so it'll hold. It was too purple, too grey...no. Zoya Minka is on the index finger.

Minka. Wow. Um. NO. Too yellow, too beige...not working on me at all. Look how it washes me out. Yes, you do see a streak of green on the ring finger, that's Wet n Wild Glowstick hanging on. Ignore it, that's the LAST thing you're going to want to wear to an interview.
Uma...that has promise. Pretty but not attention grabbing and Sheer Nude is pretty and neutral on it's own but a bit...hard, on my coloring.

Here they are next to their respective bottles, just for more color.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Sheer Nude plus Deborah Lippmann Dream a Little Dream. DALD is a sheer shimmer pink, it's lovely and light and it brings depth and softness to Sheer Nude, which is a little...serviceable. It's like a pair of plain black pumps. It'll do it but it's not going to light up your world. On me I thin it's a tad harsh so adding a little softness gives it just the right feel. It's pretty and elegant this way. DALD on it's own would be too girlie to be taken seriously. Serious interview, you need serious nails.

Zoya Uma and the Rescue Beauty/Deborah Lippman combination. A tad similar in feel, aren't they? Only the RBL/DL combo is about $34 to achieve while Uma is just a little $8 vegan gem. uh-huh

I have it down to these right now, but I'm going to try the others from the Touch collection. Minka was a nightmare on me. Let's see what the others do.

Left to right: Zoya Uma, Dream a Little Sheer Nude (as I've elected to shorten it to), Zoya Shay and Zoya Pandora.

OK. Now we're talking. I had thought, going off Scrangies swatches that Shay, in the middle, was going to be my girl. It's pretty and it was really pretty on Scrangie. However, our coloring must be just different enough that while it's nice enough on me, it's not a YEAHHHHH kinda color. Honestly, any of these will do. Nice and nude, pretty enough but not vampy, sexy or grabbing.

*sigh*

What to do.

We know I don't really want to do Dream a Little Nude again. Wasn't lucky. So what does any self-respecting girl do? She shoots this off to her girlies and waits for opinions. Plus MDAMO, because, as we know, male opinions can be interesting and informative as they have a whole different perspective.
I got one vote for Uma, One for Shay (Ruby Pumps said Uma was too pink and Pandora is "trying too hard". ? ) and MDAMO liked Pandora. I felt Shay was a touch too yellow. Just a hair. It would be fine for every day, but when I need to walk in feeling my best...that wasn't going to give me that feeling. I was really torn between Pandora and Uma. Either would do...which would make me feel the most professional, the most capable, the most...hireable?

Either.

And my third girlie simple said "Looks Good", which means she saw no difference. Abstaining. Interesting.

Ultimately, I went with...Pandora. It was a tad more neutral on me. And it got more votes. MDAMO and Mom went for that one so I did too. I think ultimately, I could have easily done either. Really any of these. I walked in to the interview and the recruiter was wearing burgundy. So there it is.

Next up, how it wore. You won't believe it. I didn't.

Happy Job Seeking Talons!

Zoya Tanzy – It’s the Sun!

WOW.

 
Fire for your fingertips.



This is…orange. It's the color of the sun. It's really very pretty, and striking.

 
This was outside on the railing of my back porch in the sun. This might have been the shade…but I think it's sun. Look at that. It looks like stained glass, but opaque. It's a lovely sparkly jelly kind of polish that was oh so sheer and scary when I put on the first coat. I was like…what is this hot mess I just wasted all those base coats on. Which, we'll get to that in a sec.



I loved wearing this. It's gorgeous. It's sparkly and rich and just a more sunshiney color of a tourmaline, which I know because I have tourmaline earrings. I think they're tourmaline….the tag didn't say, just that they were real stones and they're this color, or a hair darker.

 
Here's another one:

Ooooo! **does happy polish dance**


Check that out. Orange with a gold glitter? Heck yeah! And I have to say, on my cool/neutral skin tone it looks OK. A little lobster pawly, but nothing you can't handle.

I had fun swatching this. I was outside in the yard, I was enjoying the sun because it was bright but not hot…

 
Oh holy blurriness…oh well. Check out the color of that sparkle on the index fingie…see that darker rust sparkle? See the yellow and gold? This was just what I wanted. Something that screamed SUMMER like a heavy metal hair band singer. Ha…check the grass in the background there. Can you say "Drought"?

OOFA. I'm serious, this is the sun on my talons. It's the color of the sun…I thought that every single time I looked at it.

 
One more, just because we can:


 

Hm. The grass is lovely and focused. Check it out! I found some that's green!

New phone…new camera….I will have some faux pas, I'm afraid.



Obviously, this is sunlight. Look at how it lights up! It looks like fire. I love it.

Is the last one in focus? We wonder…

Oh, a dream shot. Now that is a true on swatch. It do'na get any better'n that, lass. Yes. This is it exactly.



OK, so…I got this for free on a Zoya promo. If you like Zoya's colors, want to try them, or have been wearing it a long time and buying it at Ulta or something…you need to know. They have the most awesome promos. Seriously. Get on their blog and subscribe or whatever you need to do. I just check them periodically, but if you love the brand you need to know about this. Maybe this wasn't a freebie…well, regardless, great deals. I hit the Buy the colorlock system for approximately $50 and get your choice of the sparkle or crème summer collections free promo. Not a bottle, the COLLECTION. So, you got the colorlock system and SIX polishes for $50, roughly. I was thinking no way. When it comes it will be minis of the colorlock. Nope. And it comes in an easy to tote little ziplock baggie. In case you were curious, it's full size, two basecoats, a full size remover…pretty awesome. (Sheilie, might send you the ridge filler. I don't need it and it might help you, plus it's vegan, which I know you support.) I went a little apeshit on that sale, I have to tell you. I picked up a bunch, which is weird of me as I don't have the best of luck with Zoya, and sadly, colorlock was no different in that regard. I did great until it came to dry time. Suck. Even with the drying drops, I wound up completely screwing one nail about an hour later and had to do it over from basecoat on up. After that, no problems and it wore well. This was an in-between mani for me, I put it on for a couple days before my real manicure so I didn't get to really test the wear but in that time, maybe 4 days, it wore beautifully. I did Seche it, though. After the not really drying drops didn't really dry it, I was afraid to leave it nekkid. Now, in it's defense, I did not use the colorlock system purely according to their specs. I did Nailtiques 2 and Rebuild and maybe that jacked it up. Don't know.


 
K, so the mechanics:


 

1. 1 coat Zoya Anchor
   
2. 1 coat Nailtiques 2
   
3. 2 coats Seche Rebuild
   
4. 3 coats Zoya Tanzy
   
5. 1 coat Zoya Armor
   
6. Zoya Fast Drops
   
7. 1 coat Seche Vite topcoat
   

I didn't wear it long enough to have need of the Zoya Renew, which is a renewing top coat. I also didn't take this off so I didn't get to try the Remove+ that came in the set.


 
Overall, gorgeous color, great sparkle, good wear. A little weird going on and definitely needs layers, I recommend 3, but see what happens when you do this on your own nails.


 
I hope you like it!


 
Happy Polishing!

Deborah Lippmann Naked, Zoya Uma and Priti Rabbit Tracks

Sorry for the delay. Life doesn't always belong to me. I've been through the ringer lately. No excuses!

Last week? I went for the Deborah Lippmann Naked. It's a new Spring Lippmann and I really loved it in the bottle. I'm still completely in love/hate with it on ME, however.

Take a look:

It's pretty...but I'm not sure it doesn't further wash out my translucence.

I had some trouble with it, too. I had some light chipping, which was annoying, and I fixed it. I slapped some Seche Vite over it and...yeah. All kinds of peeling at the cuticle end, and I was trying to be careful not to go over the polish line, I seriously was! And yeah. Check it out:

Look at that pinky!! Augh! **SHAKES FIST AT SECHE VITE** CURSE you! Also, note the chippage on the birdie..yep. This was a problematic mani for me. And I just wasn't sure on that color! It's gorgeous...but I am not convinced I like it on me. Any thoughts out there?

So after that, because I was trying to be so interview appropriate for a job I'm not going to get, what a joke, we chose for my actual professional mani Zoya Uma. This is truly pretty. Now...I don't have the best of luck with Zoya. I really don't. Great colors and inspirations...not so great wear, at least on me. My first Zoya lasted almost 24 hours and I gave it away I was so disgusted. This one did slightly better. It lasted about 5 days.

 Isn't that pretty? It's a little pinker and so I think looks better on me than Naked. Here's another which shows the pearliness of it better:

Wow is the lighting weird on that. I apologize. But you can see what I want you to see, at any rate. The slightly shimmery pearly niceness. It was really pretty. It just didn't have a chance against about 4 sink fulls of dishes plus cleaning my brother's bathroom which...really, sandblasting would have been a lot simpler and likely more effective, but anyways...


Interview being over, essentially, barring the two phone ones I keep getting threatened with that never happen, I went teal. I had just read somewhere that a good Summer change from all the neon-coral-red-bright-cornea burning colors is a nice classy teal. I had Priti Polish Rabbit Tracks burning a hole in my acetone bottle so I went away from the beiges for awhile. Lord. Am I sick of beige! I need color! So here we go:

Believe it or not...that's not black. It's teal. This is just a rubbish swatch and I did a crap paint job. I'm heading over to the picture leopard for a better one...hold please!

While we are waiting on those, some more shots of Naked, just because I can:

 Nice tip shrinkage, there. That's a Seche issue...And yeah, I know, that ring is fab. Please don't ask what it cost. I try not to think about it.

Yeah, see what happens on me? It looks slightly baby poopy....meh!

Look at that! Look at those cuticles. I could scream.

Don't even...I just did a crap job on this manicure, obviously. This is why I pay someone.



OK, We have Rabbit Tracks on board now:

Note the tips...this isn't wearing well. In it's defense, my Poshe top coat is cooked. You'll be getting reviews of China Glaze's fast dry top coat now. I'm not replacing the Poshe until I've burned through that. It stinks to high heaven so we'll see how well I hold out.

Yeah....looks black again. You can see a hint of color there in the bottle. I wonder why this is photographing so dark. Granted, I'm still using my phone here...but. Hm. At any rate, I would like to point out, after complaining that this isn't wearing well, that this polish did a load of dishes tonight so..all told, it's not really doing that badly. I just did note that it took about 2 hours at work to get tip wear. No real chipping yet, though. I have one small one on one finger...that's all. Nothing to get excited about, it's not very visible.

AH! There we go. This is pretty true to color. It's very true, actually. My desk...the best place for color shots. Please ignore that drunken space monkeys (aka me) did the paint job. Ack, those cuticles. **embarrassed** I usually do much better. This pic was the next morning, incidentally, not as recent as most of the other pics, which were while I was writing this post, so there is no wear yet.

OK. Now we know what color it is and how it's wearing, let's talk about application. It was good. A bit streaky, but it clears itself up after the second coat. It goes on rather thick and it's highly pigmented. I liked putting it on. It was an easy apply, if I'd been paying any real attention to what I was doing and not using only one lamp that was across the room. Oops. Applies well, no complaints there. I like the color. One friend called it "Vampy", and I suppose it is.

So here's what I did:

1. 1 coat Poshe base
2. 1 coat Nailtiques 2
3. 2 coats Seche Rebuild (still love it!)
4. 2 coats priti polish Rabbit Tracks
5. 1 very thick coat of Poshe quick dry top coat, which is cooked, peeps. It's just flat done. It's downright goopy. Some of the wear issues I am having may well be its fault.

And now you're all caught up! Sorry for the long post and random rantings. I'm a bit tired and stressed out so hopefully the next post will be better.

Happy painting!!