Zoya Fall Collection - Smoke and Mirrors Swatches and Review. Part 1 - Smoke.

I was recently lucky enough to be one of the winners chosen by Zoya Nail Polish and Treatments on Facebook to win the whole (very generous) Smoke  & Mirrors Collection. 

All I had to do was comment on their status stating my favourite colour from the collection. 

But I read it wrong, I thought the competition was to comment with your favourite shade from the collection and you could win that Polish. So you'll imagine my surprise when a couple of weeks ago the whole Smoke & Mirrors Collection arrived at my door.

 At first I thought it had been a glorious mistake, (like I was going to complain), but it turns out I had just been a complete bint and misread it.

Left to Right: Jana, Petra, Codie, Anja, Cynthia and Dree.

Looks like Zoya Cynthia (Dark Blue Grey) has been hitting the bottle, hahrharhar, I crack myself up....no one? Really?

So enough babbling already, lets see some swatches!

Jana is a muted dusky mauve. 
It was almost opaque in one coat, but two coats would be perfect. 
Jana really has a lovely creamy quality to it. 

Petra is dark purple eggplant cream with grey tones. Again, this was opaque in two coats. 
As you can see Petra and Jana are very similar, though Jana is more pinky.

Codie is a Brown/Black with cool tones. 
I've never seen a colour like it, and I don't have anything similar in my collection. 
I can't wait to use it properly, and I think it would be perfect for leopard print nail art. 
In real life this colour is creamier and a touch lighter than on my nail. The bottle is a truer representation of colour. Almost opaque in one.

Anja is deep burgundy wine. 
It's a very vampy colour, that was opaque in one coat.

Cynthia is a creamy and intense Prussian blue with grey tones. 
Cynthia is the only colour from the collection that had tiny, almost unnoticeable micro shimmers. It's not as dark and black in real life as it is in the swatch, again the bottle, is a truer representation. 
Add two coats for a cleaner finish.

Dree is a creamy olive-khaki green. 
It has to be one of my favourite colours from the collection because it's so unique. 
I used this last week for Halloween Frankenstien nails and the colour is amazing. 
Almost opaque in one, add two coats for good measure.


I love all of these colours. The whole collection has an intense creamy finish, and I really do get the "smokeyness" that Zoya were trying to portray.
 Although some of the shades are quite different and deep they are also really wearable and classy. 
All of shades were almost opaque in one coat, but a second coat would add the perfect finish. The polishes were extremely smooth and easy to apply, they also dried fairly quick. Zoya polishes also have a generous 15ml. 
Unfortunately this is wear my obsession with Zoya starts and ends.
The whole collections would have cost me at nearly £50 from here, and the cheapest I could find the single polishes were £5.95 from here. (Both excluding delivery).If you were buying the collection I would only buy either Jana or Petra, not both, as they are pretty similar.
They really are lovely polishes in every way and I do recommend them, but they are out of my student budget. 
If money was no object, I would definitely pick up some more, but until I win the lottery I will just have to use every last drop of these.


Have you ever tried Zoya Polishes? What is your favourite from the Collection?
Will you be buying any Zoya Polishes in the future?
Look out for my Mirrors Review from the Fall Collection coming soon.

M x

Make-Up... For Men?

I have to admit, I am partial to a man wearing nail polish, but:
- It has to be black
- It has to be chipped
- It has to look like they couldn't care less about wearing it
- And it has to fit in with their look (Indie/Rocker)

I'm telling you this, not because I'm having a ManPerv moment, but because EvolutionMan have launched a Nail Polish specifically marketed and made for men.

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There are five nail polishes in the range, 2 sheers, and three "manly" colours:

- "Pavement", a soft grey

- "Alter Ego", a metallic purple and

- "Stand Out" a gunmetal metallic grey.

All of the colour shades are matte as seen below.

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Nevermind the men, I want these bad boys for myself! 

The only price I could find for these were $14 (£8.77), so they are reasonably mid-priced.
However my main problem with nail varnish isn't that men are wearing it. My one problem is that men can buy a wider colour range at a cheaper price (Barry M, Gosh), and I can't help but wonder, is there is really a market for this? As surely if you are comfortable wearing nail polish, then you would feel just as comfortable buying your everyday high-street brand.

Surprisingly, when I surveyed my male friends they said, although they have worn Nail Varnish before (Blacks, Browns and Blues were most popular) and would do again, buy they wouldn't buy from this brand. 

I don't blame them, why pay more for something just because it's "made for men", nails are nails.

Before you knock nail varnish on men, here's a man who is most certainly rocking it.

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Offft, Johnny Depp, you're so worth the drool on my keyboard. 

I think Nail Varnish on a man shows he's confident, he obviously doesn't care what people think, and that's sexy.

Speaking of Johnny Depp, he has been partial to a bit of guyliner in the past, much like another celeb crush of mine Russell Brand. (Scroll to end if you wanna see a very stalkerish picture of me and the man himself ).

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These men, and their make-up, make me act like a skeezy Builder perving from Scaffolding (lots of "Phoarring" and "Wheeeeey, Hello Sunshine" were involved while searching for pictures). 

On the right man, a little bit of make-up can turn up the sex appeal. 

Also, why shouldn't a man be allowed to use a teeny bit of concealer? 

I'd hate to have to go on a date, or even out of the house, if I had the spot of the century living on my forehead. 

If a man uses a skin-care regime and looks groomed, it shows he takes care of his appearance and want's to impress you, both of which, sound good to me.

Make-up, for me, is also about experimenting and I genuinely enjoy using it and changing my looks to suit my mood, so I do feel a bit sorry for men, they don't have that chance.

However, I do think men's make-up can be taken too far. Eyelure have recently started selling false lashes for guys at £4.75 a pair.

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This confuses me for 2 reasons:

1) For me, flutterey lashes are a very feminine feature.

2) Every guy I've ever seen has had eyelashes that could make Kim Kardashian herself jealous.

So what do you think, Is your man partial to a bit of cosmetic help? 

Or do you think Make-Up should stay in a girl's handbag?

Now, as promised, here is a picture of me and Russell Brand's Armpit. 

If you judge me on one thing, please do not make-it this picture. 

I turned into a fangirl that could rival a 13 year old Belieber. And no, I'm not proud.

M x