Day 17: Nail Polish Advent Calendar

Day 17! I need to make this short and sweet as I have a busy day tomorrow.

Today, my color was Zoya Julieanne

Here is the macro.

Until tomorrow.

I'm Back with Zoya Julieanne on top of the Üetliberg

Hello fellow nail polish lovers. As you may have noticed I've been on an extended break from blogging. I'm now moved into my little apartment in Chicago. It was a bumpy ride moving back to the USA.

Finding an apartment in Chicago in the right neighborhood was difficult! So I spent two days looking at apartment after apartment before finding the one I am in now. I moved in Halloween weekend and so far I've been settling in to my life here. Getting used to living in a big city is the main one. This is nothing like my hometown and nothing like Zürich!

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So on to the nail polish. I'm going to show you some pictures of Zoya Julieanne. It's an old NOTD I had way back in August when my mom was visiting me in Zurich. I used two coats and it covered really well.

As you can see Julieanne is a dark purple. It has a glass flecked finish that's really gorgeous. This photo was actually taken up on top of the Üetliberg mountain in Zurich. It's a 20 minute train ride from Zurich main station. It has really lovely views of the city and I recommend going if you're ever in the area. I'm actually at the top of the lookout tower they built.

Here are some close ups of the glass flecks! The color shifts a bit too.

So here is the tower on the Üetliberg. It's pretty easy to climb and the view is even better up there!

This is the main area of Zurich. By the lake are most of the main tourist attractions. Most of the stuff around it is where the locals are going about their day-to-day business.

Further down the lake there are a lot of cute villages. There are also farms and vineyards mixed in around. It's really pretty and peaceful down the lake in the little villages.

This picture shows how long and vast the lake is. It stretches even further down to the left. I've even taken a train to the end of the lake to the city Rapperswil which is actually in a different Canton so it's pretty far away!

And no trip is complete without meeting a friendly local cat while out. This guy walked down the path from the top to where the train was. He was so affectionate and let me give him some ear scratches. 

Zoya - Fergie & CND - Amethyst Sparkle

Wohoo! Two posts in two days. I'm trying to be more on top of this. I really need to because I have tons of polish to wear and show off on here.

So today I wanted to show you something quick. Zoya Fergie is a mix of purple and pink creme. Fergie is really shiny on the nails and I used two coats for coverage. I really love this shade very vibrant and perfect for summer. Going to add this polish to my list of possible pedicure colors.

The next day I decided to spice up the color a bit with a CND Effect top coat. I used two coats of Amethyst Sparkle for this look. The effect is a shimmer with a hint of amethyst color to it. I love CND effects it's a great way to spice up your manicure without completely changing it.

Hopefully I can go three for three tomorrow. :)

Zoya - Nidhi

Zoya Nidhi came out last spring in the Sparkle collection. I would say that the Sparkle collection from Zoya was the first recent push towards the mico flecked glitter. You can see this finish now in there Fall 2010, Winter 2010 and Summer 2011 collections. I love the finish and some people call it a glass flecked finish too.

Nidhi is a tomato red with gold glassed flecked glitter. If your really looking up close you will notice a small bit of fuchsia pink flecked glitter mixed in there too. This applied nicely in three coats.

The best part of this polish is that the glassed flecked glitter is fairly noticeable. I took all three pictures out of direct sunlight and I was still able to capture all the different angles of the flecked glitter.

Speaking of spring colors. I saw a display of the new Essence trend collection today. I picked up three of the five colors. Going to try and find the mint green one latter this week.

I Like, Forget-Me-Not, My Yellow Fellow

I put on I Like this evening and I must say I love it! It applied so nicely!

Zoya - Gloria

I'm traveling back to Zurich Thursday afternoon. I had a nice month in the US, but I'm excited to be back home in Zurich. Hopefully, I'll get around to writing a post on Friday after I take a nap. :)

Zoya Gloria is from the Flame Collection. The Flame Collection was a set of 6 shades released by Zoya for Winter 2010. Gloria is a rosy red with bits of small gold micro glitter.

 

Gloria applied nicely in three coats. I really love the color. It's so unique and the gold micro glitter really looks amazing against the rosy red base color.

This is the first color from the Flame Collection I've worn so far. I have four other colors left. Anyone else  grab any colors from the Flame Collection?

Green Nail Polish

My favorite shade of nail polish is green. Which is odd because my absolute favorite color is red. Currently I have just as many green polishes as I do red and I thought I would show off some of the ones I have swatches for.

The first one I am going to show I have a lot to talk about...It's an OPI Suede called Here Today… Aragon Tomorrow. I have the original color in my collection but I have yet to take a picture of it when I've worn it. But it is an extremely dark black green creme that looks nothing like it's Suede counterpart. This version is a sparkly matte and the application is amazing!

Here it is in the sun with two coats.


And here it is in the shade.

Next, I want to show you what it looks like glossed with a top coat.


Now before I purchased this I didn't even think about that I might possibly have a dupe for this and once I put it on last night I automatically could tell this was a very close cousin to Zoya Veruschka.


On my left two fingers is OPI Suede - Here Today… Aragon Tomorrow and on my right two fingers is Zoya - Veruschka

To most people they look almost exactly the same. I think Veruschka on the right has more sparkle and is more pigmented but just barely. If I was going to recommenced one over the other it would be the OPI Suede. The brush is much better, the formula is way better and it is not gloopy.

Here is a full swatch of Zoya Veruschka


And another swatch with a top coat gloss.


This is OPI - Damone Roberts 1968 and it can only be purchased at a Damone Roberts salon but your able to order it for there online store. It's a creamy mint shade. I did this with three coats.


I have a similar shade of mint green. It's an OPI called Hey! Get in Lime! from the 2006 Brights Collection.

Here is Zoya Ivanka from the Spring 2010 Sparkle Collection. It's a very beautiful polish color and the sparkle of the glitter is amazing.


OPI - Green-wich Village is from the Brights Summer 2008 Collection


Sinful Colors - Show Me the Way


Essence - All Access (I purchased this in Switzerland in Summer 2009 but it's a German company)

OPI - At Your Quebec & Call is from the Canadian Collection of Fall 2004


OPI - Jade is the New Black is from the Hong Kong Collection Spring 2010


These are all the green polishes I own.

Green One (Click to see which colors are what)
Green Two

Zoya Polishes

I have a few Zoya polishes and I like them a lot because they have a wide variety of colors. The bottles are very sleek and classic. While I love the polish when it is on my nails... I hate the formula when I am applying it. Maybe it is just me but I find it to be very thick which makes it hard to do thin coats. The good thing is that once it is on I love it!

Well I have three polishes that I have worn recently.The first one is called Roxy and it is from the Masquerade Collection. It is packed full of glitter and the color is a Magenta Purple.


Next up is Harley a very light gray with a little shimmer to it. It's very pretty and very nice for occasions where you cannot wear outrageous colors. It's from Zoya's Spring 2009 collection called Twist.

The last polish is from the newest collection called Sparkle. I bought all six polishes but this is the only one I have worn so far. It's called Mimi and it royal purple with flecked glitter.