NOTD: Zoya Holly & Zoya Opal

Hi, you guys! How was your weekend? Mine was pretty uneventful. It was raining and gray the whole weekend, so I mostly holed up inside and caught up on tv shows and movies, emerging outside only in search of food. :)

In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, I thought I'd show you a recent gorgeous green mani of mine:

This is one coat of Zoya Opal over two coats of Zoya Holly. Holly by itself is already one of my favorite green looks, but adding Opal on top made it catch the light from every angle and just glow from within. Up close, you can see the individual flakes in the green, but from an arm's length, it gives the impression of dancing green fire on the nails... totally amazing! :D

Do you guys like flakies as much as I do? If so, what's your favorite combination? :)

** Zoya Opal is a press sample.

Zoya Maria Luisa

Hi, you guys! Happy hump day, as camels would say! :)

Today, I've got another color from the Zoya Satin Collection to share with you. While the other colors in the collection are all vibrant jewel tones, Maria Luisa is a topper comprised of warm golden flakes in a sheer base.

This is such a pretty topper. The gold flakes instantly jazz up any color, and you can use it for a full-on mani or for just an accent nail. What amazed me the most about this polish though is its formula. The flake density in here is amazing! What you see in the swatches is just one coat over Zoya Mason, and it's already at the perfect coverage. The flakes go onto the nails so evenly and smoothly that it feels like I'm applying a creme polish. There are no bald spots or clumps, just perfectly even distribution of flakes. :-)

You can find Maria Luisa on Zoya.com for $8 for 0.5 fl oz. If you are new to Zoya, you can get your first two bottles of Zoya for $8 - $9 total and free shipping! More info HERE.

** This post contains product(s) provided for honest consideration.

Barielle Elle's Spell

Hope everyone is having a relaxing and fun weekend! :-) Today, I have another lovely polish from Barielle. It is Elle's Spell, a red jelly packed with tons of multi-colored flakies.

Elle's Spell looks to be a rich, dark red in the bottle, but it applies much lighter onto the nail, likely due to the jelly finish. What you see in the pictures is two coats, but you will probably need to do four coats if you want the color on the nail to be closer to what you see in the bottle. It's fun to see a flakie polish with a dark base color, so that it can to be worn by itself and not just as a top coat over another color. But in this case, if you want to take a shortcut from the four coats needed, layering it over a red polish will work just fine.

The red base does temper the shininess of the flakies a little bit compared to a clear base, but overall they are still quite noticeable. The flakies in Elle's Spell are various colors, ranging mostly from gold to orange to red. Occasionally you will even see some blue and green flashes, though those will be mostly at the outer edges of the nail.

You can find Elle's Spell on Barielle.com for $8 for 0.45oz, but there is an ongoing sale for buy one get one 50% off.

** This post contains a product that was provided to me by the company for honest consideration. How I obtain the products does not influence my opinion. For more info, please view my Disclosure Policy.

Zoya Maisie

Today, let's wrap up Zoya's Fleck Effect Spring 2012 Collection with Maisie! Maisie is a sheer blue base filled with shimmering blue and green flakes.

Just like Chloe and Opal, Maisie's base is mostly sheer, so you will see only a hint of blue on the nail when applied by itself. All the polishes in this collection are especially lovely as top coats, applied over another color. I tried Maisie over Skylar in my swatches, and Maisie's large mylar flakes plays perfectly off of Skylar's muted shimmer.

One thing to keep in mind is that Opal and Maisie are very similar. It looks to me like they have the same blue-green flakies. The difference is in their base colors. Opal's light green base shifts the color of its flakies to the greener side of the blue-green spectrum, while Maisie's light blue base shifts the color of its flakies to the bluer side. If you are a polish collector like me, of course you have to get all three! But if you are looking for the more unique ones in this collection, then Chloe and either Opal or Maisie will be just great! :D

What do you think of this collection? Are flakies the most awesome polishes or a passing trend? Which polishes from this collection will make it onto your wish list?

You can find Maisie on Zoya.com for $8 for 0.5oz.

** This post contains a product that was provided to me by the company for honest consideration. How I obtain the products does not influence my opinion. For more info, please view my Disclosure Policy. 

Zoya Opal

Mondays feel so long and dreary to me, with the end of the weekend and five whole days until the next one. It takes me a day to get out of my relaxing weekend mode, and to adjust to getting up early for work again. So to cheer myself up, I thought a sparkling flakie polish should do the trick! :-) Opal is another one from Zoya's Fleck Effect Spring 2012 Collection. It is a sheer green base filled with lots of green and blue flakes.

Just like the other two polishes in the collection, Opal's base is mostly sheer, resulting in only a hint of green on the nail when applied by itself. It really come alive when it is applied over another color. I tried Opal over Bevin in my swatches, and you can see that the green and blue flakes look sparkling and interesting on Bevin's more muted green color.

One of the reasons I reach for flakies when I am looking to add a bit of sparkle on my nails and not for the more traditional glitter polishes is because of the effort involved in removal. Flakies are so much easier to remove than glitters, and are almost as easy as a metallic or glass fleck polish. They don't need the foil method. If you have held back from glitters in the past because of the painful removal process, flakies just might be the substitute for you. :-)

Do you have Opal? What colors have you worn it on top of that you particularly like? Do you find flakies easier to remove than glitters?

You can find Opal on Zoya.com for $8 for 0.5oz.

** This post contains a product that was provided to me by the company for honest consideration. How I obtain the products does not influence my opinion. For more info, please view my Disclosure Policy.

Zoya Chloe

Hi you guys! Isn't it lovely that it's the weekend? Today has been such a lazy and relaxing day for me. I really relish the rare day when I get to sit around and do absolutely nothing. Hope the weekend has been treating you well, too! <3

Today, I have another lovely polish for you! :D It is the shiny flakey goodness of Chloe, from Zoya's Fleck Effect Spring 2012 Collection. It has a sheer pink base loaded with lots of duochrome red, orange, gold, and green flakes.

Isn't Chloe gorgeous?! You can see from the swatches that the pink base is pretty sheer, and it does not translate too much onto the nail. It is mostly a pink-tinted sheer with lots of flakes once on the nail. I also tried Chloe over Tru in my swatches. The dark purple of Tru compliments and brings out all the lovely sparkles in Chloe. It would be very fun to try Chloe over other colors. :-)

I didn't have any trouble with the application. The flakes spread themselves out pretty evenly. Any bald spots can be taken care of by dabbing on some extra polish and then lightly brushing over them a few times. Chloe is a little thicker and the drying time is a little longer than typical Zoya. This is probably because the polish itself needs to be thicker to keep all the flakes floating evenly in the polish.

Do you own any sheer flake polishes? Do you wear them by themselves or as a top coat over another polish?

You can find Chloe on Zoya.com for $8 for 0.5oz.

** This post contains a product that was provided to me by the company for honest consideration. How I obtain the products does not influence my opinion. For more info, please view my Disclosure Policy.