Zoya Isla and Courtney

Today on the blog I have two stunning reds for you.

I have a lot of untried reds, I think mainly because I dread cleanup with reds and I am not the best painter due to only seeing out of one eye, however, I've made a real effort to wear the untried ones this last month.  Todays pair are divine.

Courtney is a lush dark red with that hint of brown undertone to give it that oxblood vibe, perfect formula no running or pooling and opaque in two coats. Also it should be noted that in person Courtney is totally opaque in real life, mot entirely sure hows its showing my tips.

Isla, oh Isla I am so sorry its taken me so long to wear you! This is utterly stunning, its deep but bright, vampy but Christmasy, no idea how Zoya do this kind of polish but they do it very well indeed, think Giada, Cinnamon etc. Perfect formula and opaque in two coats.

I can report than I've been wearing the gel overlays on my nails for 2 weeks and I am very happy, this is the longest my nails have gotten before breaking, I do have a break on my middle right nail but the gel and silk patch are really holding it together amazingly well and the nail feels solid and safe.

A Zoya a Day

Name - Isla

Year - 2009
Number - ZP495
Coats - 2
Finish - Metallic

Collection - Truth
Colour - Red
Topcoat - None

A Zoya a Day

Name - Courtney

Year - 2016
Number - ZP856
Coats - 2
Finish - Creme

Collection - Urban
Colour - Red
Topcoat - None

Zoya Yves with some Christmas nail art.

Happy Christmas Eve!

Today on my blog I have the stunning Yves for you.

This is a deep dark inky blue in Zoya's matte velvet finish.  I did three coats which were super easy as it dries quite quickly. I could have gotten away with two but I wanted my nails to be super deep dark blue.

I then decided to so some minimalist snow flakes, I used my clear jelly stamper big bling stamper and a El Corazon plate and I did alternate fingers wikth snow flakes and then trees on my thumbs.  I never know whether to do the trees with the stumps facing my or away though lol I then used Love Angelina top coat on the stamping and the Matte Velvet topcoat on the rest.

The clean up was a bugger though and I'm going to have to be very careful when taking this off or I'll end up with smurf fingers!

A Zoya a Day

Name - Yves

Year - 2015
Number - ZP818
Coats - 3
Finish - Matte Velvet

Collection - Matte Velvet
Colour - Blue
Topcoat - Love Angelina and Zoya Matte Velvet

Zoya Ash and Sheri

Today on the blog I have two stunning reds for you, one a creme Miss Sheri and one a metallic Miss Ash.

A Zoya a Day

Name - Ash

Year - 2016
Number - ZP863
Coats - 2
Finish - Metallic

Collection - Grunge
Colour - Red
Topcoat - None

A Zoya a Day

Name - Sheri

Year - 2017
Number - ZP922
Coats - 2
Finish - Creme

Collection - Party Girls
Colour - Red
Topcoat - None

These both had perfect formula opaque in 2 coats. I'm also really enjoying having the gel overlays on my nails as it makes it quicker for me to do a manicure and I dont have to worry about these reds staining my nails either.

Zoya Eden

Today on the blog I have the stunning Eden, she's a lighter medium pink creme.

A Zoya a Day

Name - Eden

Year - 2015
Number - ZP777
Coats - 2
Finish - Creme

Collection - Delight
Colour - Pink
Topcoat - Love Angelina

Eden had the perfect formula, no running or pooling and opaque in two sweet coats.

I then decided to add a bit of bling so on my left hand I used Wikkid Polish Star Dust and on my right hand I went for Starrily Unicorn :) 

Second picture is a comparison showing Eden next to two iconic pinks from Zoya, Shelby and Sweet and you can see that Eden is much darker then Shelby and sweet has a slight peachy undertone that you dont notice until you put her next to pure pinks :)  

Gel overlays and review of SunOne LED/UV Lamp.

Happy Saturday!

Today on the blog I have a review of a SunOne LED/UV lamp and Gelish structure gel.

Below is a picture of my naked nails and the nail highlighted is broken, way low down past the free edge, infact its so far down that I couldnt even cut the nail to a nub and get past the break, so I decided to give me nails some help by using gel.  I asked the question in a facebook group about a good lamp and which gel to use and decided on Gelish structure gel and a SunOne lamp.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUNone-48W-24W-LED-UV-Lamp-Nail-Dryer-For-Curing-Gel-Polish-Fingernail-Toenail/283129502410?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=583535481259&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

This is the link to lamp I got, reasonable price and its a UK seller which means a UK plug and no worries about it coming from China and possibly hitting a customs charge.

The lamp is very easy to use, its got an on/off button along with a 5second, 30 second and 60 second buttons, the other nice thing is it also has a sensor so then when you put your hand into the machine it auto starts.  You can also select it to work at 24 or 48 watts. The unit is quit compact and sits nicely on my desk when not in use.

To prep your nails remove all old polish with polish remover, I then wash my hands and dry them, then I use one coat of the PH Bonder to dehydrate the nails ready for the gel.

So to protect my nails I decided on one coat of the foundation gel which you cure for 10 seconds on full power (48w) then I did two coats of the structure gel each layer being cured for 30 seconds, I also added a small silk wrap patch to the broken nail for extra strength when doing the foundation layer.  Once I had done the layers I rubbed the sticky layer off with isopropanol, you can use pure acetone as well, the second picture shows the results.  The gels are quite thick and you dont need a lot of product to cover your nail, plus you can manipulate it a lot because it wont cure or dry until you put into the lamp.  You just have to be careful, to not get any on your skin and if you do wipe it off before curing using pure acetone.

If you have weak nails I highly recommend this method of adding strength and protection to your nails.

Botox for Migraine

Yesterday I had my 4th treatment of botox for migraine.

I'll point out here that it isnt to stop wrinkles although that is an added benefit.

You get approx 30 to 40 injections to your head, neck and shoulders. To me the injections are not painful but everyone's pain tolerance is different.

Below is an image showing where botox can be injected, I dont get any in my cheeks or the top of my head but i o get extra down the back of my neck as this is where I carry tension.

All in all yesterday procedure was great, pain free, although the consultant was running approx 1 hour 45 minutes behind schedule, luckily I'd made sure to eat well before going. The hospital was very very warm though.

Zoya Jace and Tracie

Today for you I have two of my favourite greens from Zoya, Jace and Tracie.\\

Jace was my base a lush mid-toned green with an awesome formula, no running or pooling and opaque in two coats, I then decided to see if Tracie would stamp as she was very opaque.  She did, I used the Lovely Leaves plate from Uberchic and my trusty Clear Jelly Stamper, I'm pretty sure Tracie will be a one coater as my swatch stick was. I really love how versatile Zoya polishes are, a lot of the cremes which are one coaters will stamp for you.

A Zoya a Day
Name - Jace

Year - 2015
Number - ZP796
Coats - 2
Finish - Creme

Collection - Island Fun
Colour - Green
Topcoat - Love Angelina

A Zoya a Day
Name - Tracie

Year - 2012
Number - ZP618
Coats - 1
Finish - Shimmer/Metallic

Collection - Beach
Colour - Green
Topcoat - Love Angelina

Zoya Kateri and Gilty

Today on the blog I have a super chic and easy mani using Kateri and Gilty.

I fancied something chic but easy to do, so I decided on Kateri as my base, this is a one coat very dark brown, perfect formula, no running or pooling, then I added 2 coats of Gilty, this was a limited edition real 18karat gold topper, Maria Luisa is the equivalent if you cant find Gilty.  I love the idea of wearing real gold flakies, this is a tiny bit base heavy but you dont have to fish for the flakies.

The Gilty gift set comprised Raven (black), Purity (white) and Guilty.

A Zoya a Day
Name - Gilty

Year - 2012
Number - ZP90005
Coats - 2
Finish - Metallic

Collection - Gilty Gift Set
Colour - Gold
Topcoat - None

A Zoya a Day
Name - Kateri

Year - 2018
Number - ZP966
Coats - 1
Finish - Creme

Collection - Jubilee
Colour - Brown
Topcoat - None

Zoya Areetha and Suri

Today on the blog I have two stunning purples for you.

A Zoya a Day
Name - Areetha

Year - 2000
Number - ZP288
Coats - 2
Finish - Metallic

Collection - Classic
Colour - Purple
Topcoat - None

A Zoya a Day
Name - Suri

Year - 2012
Number - ZP633
Coats - 2
Finish - Creme

Collection - Diva
Colour - Purple
Topcoat - None

First up Areetha, an interesting spelling of Arethea I think, this didnt appear in any collection so must have been part of their core range, this reminds me of Models Own Chrome Mauve but with a slightly bluer undertone.  Brush strokey going on but they mostly went away once dry, good formula opaque in two coats with no running or pooling.

The other purple is Suvi from the Diva collection, not to be confused with the Divas collection from 2004, Zoya have a habit of reusing names both for collections and polishes, we've had two Sunshine collections and several reusing of names like Chloe, Kylie, Danielle and Tabitha. This again had a great formula almost a one coater just was a midge sheer at the tips of my nails so did two coats. I was expecting this to be sheer like Suvi from the Downtown collection in 2007, no idea why, maybe it was just the similar name.

Bonus pic at the end of Miss Rosie in the sink, which was damp from being used but she didnt appear to mind, strange cat, she loves to drink out the sink but not from the tap.

Zoya Kristen

Today on the blog I have the stunning Kristen, last weekend we meet up with some friends from the USA and I made a new friend called Kristen so I had to see if Zoya had a polish with her name on and they did!

A Zoya a Day
Name - Kristen

Year - 2011
Number - ZP591
Coats - 2
Finish - Creme

Collection - Feel
Colour - Blue
Topcoat - None

The Feel collection was a winter collection of six polishes and I also own Carey and Megan from this set, Megan is a light lavender with a grey undertone and Carey is a grey with a blue undertone, Dove is similar to Carey but without the blue undertone.

Zoya's description of Kristen can be best described as a gull grey nail polish with a mild bluish hue, now I would not say that Kristen has a gull grey undertone, I put this polish up against Lake and its more a sky blue, gull grey to me is a darker med toned grey like August.

The polish was the perfect formula, opaque in two coats and I think in time it could be a one coater.

I then decided the mani needed a little something extra so I grabbed my Clear Jelly Stamper and their plate CJS LC19 which is a mandala plate and added a little flourish to my nails, I used Zoya Blake which tamps like a dream.