Perfectly Polished Tips 243 - Zoya Designer Collection for Fall 2012

And I saved the best for last :) It is no secret that I love creme finish polishes. When I opened the box containing the Zoya fall collections I felt like Designer was made for me. I love every single one, even the red! Zoya does cremes so well, the formula is amazing and their brush is the only one that I can work with and not get frustrated. I know some people are probably getting sick of the smoked out grey that is being added to a lot of colors but not me. I live for them.

When Evvie was released during NYFW I had missed out on it and I was so upset. Evvie is a Peter Som custom shade and I thought that once it was gone that I would never get my hands on it. I am so happy Zoya decided to release it again because it is just as gorgeous as I had thought it would be. I think Natty has cured my MAC Blue India lemming, not to say that I wouldn't like to own the MAC. I haven't looked on ebay in a while but last time I did it was too much to justify buying. One day!

Evvie - smoky green

Monica - dark mulberry

Natty - smoked navy blue, has anyone compared this to Blue India? I would love to see pics.

Noot - charcoal green/grey

Rekha - blood red (Bibhu Mohapatra custom shade) this was slightly on the jelly side but perfect

Toni - dark maroon. I love shades like this but I suck at applying them, no idea why.

The Designer collection is available now at Zoya.com, the polish retails for $8 each.

(these were sent for review)

Perfectly Polished Tips 242 - Zoya Diva Collection for Fall 2012

Here is the second set from Zoya's fall release. The Diva collection was inspired by the magic of NY fashion week. This set is made up of 6 gorgeous metallic polishes. I was really surprised by the Diva collex, normally it's not my thing but wow. The formula was awesome on all of them. FeiFei and Daul would be perfect with three coats, I did two but in the sun I could see they were a bit spotty.

Daul - magic purple with amazing gold flecks

Elisa - true red. I am so not a red gal, especially a shimmery red gal..this polish made me gasp. It is truly beautiful

FeiFei - Zoya calls this a magic blue and it is. The color shifts a bit, a little blue, some purple, a tiny bit of gold.

Ray - deep forest green, my least favorite. I had a bit of trouble with brush strokes with this one.

Song - I feel like this is going to be the star of the entire Fall release. An amazing, bright, royal blue.

Suri - deep purple with slight pink and blue sparkle.

With the exception of Ray these all applied like a dream. I love Zoya's brush and I love that they branched out a little with the Diva collection. I hope they continue to do so!

These are available now at Zoya.com, they retail for $8 each.

(these were sent for review)

Perfectly Polished Tips 225 - Zoya Beach

Here is the other half of Zoya summer.

I kind of hated the formula on these, especially Shelby. It was thin but goopy, I had many bald spots. I was most looking forward to Wednesday and it is still my favorite from both sets. I know I always always always say this but I really wish Zoya would do other colors than pink and red. Three pinks in this collection is almost as bad as the three neutral shades in the last collection. What about yellow, blue, brown, gray? I do recall saying that I had wished that the last collection had a pastel orange. This set does, most of the colors in the Beach collection remind me of spring but I guess since polish is not seasonal to all it does not really matter.

As usual two coats of polish, no base or top coat.

Reagan-Lara-Shelby-Arizona-Tracie-Wednesday

Reagan-Lara-Shelby

Arizona-Tracie-Wednesday

I saw a little bit ago on Zoya's facebook page that these are available NOW. You can get them from Zoya.com.

(these were sent to me for review)

Perfectly Polished Tips 224 - Zoya Surf

I am having a really hard time accepting the fact that it is the end of March. Time is flying and I don't like it one bit. We didn't have much of a winter or spring here in NC! Not that I am complaining, well maybe a little. I don't like highs of 83 degrees in March.

For summer Zoya is releasing two bright and fun collections. One half is cremes (with a lone shimmer) and the other is foils. Today I have the foil half, Surf, to share. Each swatch is two coats of color, no base coat or top coat

Carly-Kimber-Rory-Myrta-Meg-Zuza

Carly-Kimber-Rory

Myrta-Meg-Zuza

The formula on these was a little thick but it dries quickly. I found that if I tried to do too many brush strokes it got goopy. All of the shades are very vibrant. My camera made Kimber a little too red, it's more on the magenta side. For once I actually like each shade in a collection. Meg gives me lobster hands and I don't love green but it is still a nice polish. I love the little shimmer bits in the polishes. I remember reading some where that these were foils like Rea & Kotori. I am wondering if the ones available now are similar. My Rea & Kotori are nothing like these polishes. I actually hate Kotori because it is such a pain to apply and so sheer. I didn't have sheerness issues with any of these.

I am waiting for the sun to be over my deck so I can swatch the Beach half. I will hopefully have those up later on today or tomorrow.

Beach & Surf will be available on April 1st. They retail for $8 each.

(these were sent for review)

Perfectly Polished Tips 217 - the Balm Hot Ticket Collection

the Balm nail polish is a new to me brand. I have used their lip products before but I had no idea they sold polish as well. I found the Hot Ticket Collection on a dusty shelf in TJ Maxx and decided to give it a shot. I think this may have been a holiday collection of sorts, mostly because of the colors that are included. I liked it though because all of the colors were different! No similar reds or pinks, or beige that you can't tell apart.

My cuticles are so raggedy looking, I though the TIPS for Toes nail conditioner was going to be a miracle worker and that I would have gorgeous hands by now. You are not supposed to push back your cuticles as it does more harm than good. I will just have to deal for now but I feel like my pictures look so unappealing. Sorry!

Better Off Red - pink based red creme, always a classic color IMO. Best part about this one? It's a one coater!

Counterfeit - Dusty teal creme, possibly a dupe to OPI Jade is the New Black

Disco Ball - The name says it all. I kind of sponge painted it on. I can never seem to find a proper time to wear silver glitter. Any tips?

Dodged a Bullet - This polish was really the only one I wanted out of the whole collection but since they were a package deal I had to take them all (boohoo right?). Steely grey with blue, pink, and purple shimmer. Of course my camera did not pick up the awesomeness of the shimmer. It's there though I swear!

Goldfinger - Metallic, shimmery gold. I always have a love/hate relationship with gold polish. I want to wear it but I feel like it doesn't look great on me. 

I love the brush on these polishes. It's a nice normal size! The formula was awesome for the most part. Counterfeit was a little on the thin side and I had a bit of a drag. I was surprised by Better Off Red, in a good way! I also adore the pin up girl on the bottle. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging.

I checked the Balm's website and they have a few colors that look very interesting. The names are questionable LOL but worth looking into. I got this set at TJ Maxx for $10 but it looks like each bottle retails for $10 on the Balm.

Perfectly Polished Tips 197 - Perfect Formula Holiday 2011

The holidays are over you say? Well good thing this collection is made up of such versatile colors! For their holiday collection Perfect Formula chose, what are in my opinion, classic shades. They can be worn year round, they aren't over the top or in your face loud. Of course there is nothing wrong with loud polish, it's just not my style. Perfect Formula's polish is B3F, which means it is free of Toluene, Formaldehyde, and Dibutyl Phthalate. I think I gushed about the brush in my last post on the brand. It is perfect for my nail size. It reminds me of the Carolyn New York polish brushes (RIP CNY, I still miss you!) The formula on these was very nice, I happen to need more practice in applying polishes with a jelly like texture. In the photo below of Invite Only you can see some of the bald spots. That is completely user error, it happens to me every time I use a plum color like Invite Only. It sucks because it happens to be one of my favorite manicure colors! Practice makes perfect, right? In the photos I applied the polish in two coats, except for Invite Only which is three. I did not use a base or top coat.

Black Tie

Caviar

Invite Only

There is another color in the collection, Tulle, which appears to be a soft light pink. I was not sent that one so that is why it is not included. You can purchase Perfect Formula on their website or QVC. Each bottle retails for $15. This brand is fairly new to me and I have been very impressed with what I have seen so far and I cannot wait to see what is coming up next.

(these were sent to me for review)