Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Comparison Before & After: Zoya blues sing the blues :)

Hello there!

This has been a hectic weekend and week, and it's not going to get any better tomorrow, so I decided rather to do a two-fer post today. Recently Katrina asked to see a comparison of my Zoya blue cremes, and I wanted to get that up as soon as possible. I'm also overdue for my Cheeky Challenge Twin Post with Dina of Secretary's Nail Art, so I thought I'd combine the two. :)

As it turns out, I only have three Zoya blues, and one of them has a green undertone to it, so I decided to round out my four fingers with a very light green that almost feels blue in some lights. So today I'm going to compare for you these 4 polishes:


Zoya Neely, Wednesday, Rocky, and Breezi
 From left to right:

Zoya Neely
Zoya Wednesday
Zoya Rocky
Zoya Breezi


Here is how they compare on the nail, in the same order:

Zoya Neely, Wednesday, Rocky, Breezi



Zoya Neelie is technically described as a light green. However, the only reason I know that is because the Zoya website tells me so--most of the time I have an on-going debate with myself when wearing this about whether or not this is a green-leaning blue, or a blue-leaning green. So I guess it sort of depends on what you want it to be and what you wear it with. :)

On my middle finger is the lovely Zoya Wednesday. This is a turquoise with a 'green undertone'. It's a soft turquoise, so if you like the color but don't want to go all the way out with a bold, bright turquoise, this is the color for you. I love it, and I'm not usually a turquoise fan.

On my ring finger, we have Zoya Rocky. This is a sky, robin's-egg blue that screams happy summer day. It's a keeper for wearing on its own, but I particularly love it as a base for nail art.

Finally, on my pinkie we have Zoya Breezi. This is a slightly muted cerulean type of blue; this is more of the type of blue I'm likely to have in my wardobe, so this is a complete winner for me.

More often than not, I struggle with the formula on Zoya cremes. But something interesting happened when I swatched these today. Because I'm trying everything I can to get my nails to de-nub, I used my Sally Hansen Hard As Wraps as my base polish...and the cremes went on smoothly. So if you also struggle with Zoya cremes, you might want to try changing up your base polish, and maybe try the Hard As Wraps. :)

Okay, so. The next thing I wanted to do here was a manicure with Cheeky summer plate 51, for my twin post with Dina. The image we agreed on was the one with different symbols on it for fast-forward, play, stop, etc., like you find on a DVD player, VCR, or in the case relevant to my mani, a cassette player (back in the day). For some reason, though, I just couldn't get inspired, and I think my final design reflects that. It's cute, but it's nothing super special.

I started by masking off slanted strips of nail, and stamping the image over them. Then, to create a music theme, I stamped cassette tapes, a boom box, and a guitar onto the bottoms of the nails (these images are from the same set, on Cheeky plate 30). I used Konad Black for the target image (I'm starting to really despise Konad Black because it's just too smeary, no matter what I do), and Barry M Silver Foil for the other images:



Zoya blues sing the blues




Seriously, I give up on Konad black. GGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrr.

Hope you enjoyed the polish comparison and the spirit, if not the execution, of the nail art! And I hope your week is going well. Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
M.

16 comments:

  1. There all lovely blue colors :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ha, from the first picture I thought "Neely" was white, lol, and was really confused when you were talking about blue-green undertones and what not. Anyway, I do quite like "Wednesday".
    And I can appreciate the nail art, too, shame that Konad black is so uncooperative.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Even when I'm 100% careful, it will still streak. I don't think I've ever had it fully cooperate! It normally gives great opacity, but this time it was even picking up a ton of fibers it doesn't normally give up, and my patience was completely gone, lol.

      Delete
  3. Awesome. I love those Zoyas, only Zoya blue I got is "Jo" a light sky blue.
    "Wednesday" almost looks like CG - For Audrey, or is that just my eyes tricking me?
    Cute idea to stamp the cassette and cassette player with our stamp of choice. I like it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmm...I'm not sure, that's one China Glaze I don't own ::hides head in shame::...I think it might be a titch more green, because if I'm remembering correctly, For Audrey is the Tiffany blue, right? This one is just a teeeeeeny bit off from that. :)

      Delete
    2. Yeah Tiffany blue. :)
      Nice nice, good to know for further reference, when going to show Zoya's :)

      Delete
  4. Those Barry M foil polishes are brilliant for stamping. I know that Zoya weren't going for a whole Addams family vibe but it really annoys me that Wednesday isn't a gothicky black sparkly colour! I love the look of Rocky.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They really are great for stamping (even if I didn't do them justice here). And I agree about Wednesday!!! It should have been something like a black polish with some silver glitter or something (because of her white collar and skin, lol). Ah well...Who knows, maybe there's even some copyright infringement thing we aren't aware of...

      Delete
  5. Very cute!! I love all these blues!! I gave up on Konad black a long time ago!! I am african american and it stains my skin so bad. It also as you stated smears so bad. I have managed to obtain two great blacks that I love to stamp with that don't stain or smear!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please share what they are! I use Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris, and it does a good job, but sometimes isn't as thick as I'd like it to be. Konad black: grrrerrrreeerrrrrgggrrrrr

      Delete
    2. I have two that I live by and they are Kleancolor Black (I can get it for $1 at a flea market by my house) and Wet n Wild Shine Black Crème. Both are my favorite and you can also paint your nails with it if you want. I have several more that I have tried and will use as well and they are Rimel Black Satin, American Apparel Hassid,Finger Paints Black Expressionism, Sinful Colors Black on Black and I have good luck with Ebony Hates Chris. I agree with you though its not that thick all the time and some bottles are hit and miss. If you can get your hands on Kleancolor that is by far the best in my opinion! Doesn't smear at all!

      Delete
    3. Thank you thank you! I'm going to try out the Kleancolor Black. I have Wet n Wild Black Creme, but I don't think I've ever tried to stamp with it--must change that! Also I think I may have to pick up Black Expressionism and Black on Black...:)

      Delete
  6. Thank you! I'm wearing Zoya Robyn right now, and it's fabulous! It is vibrant, darker than Rocky and bluer than Breezi. I have Breezi and I love it; now I really want Rocky.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My pleasure! Thanks for requesting it, it was fun to do. Hmmm...Why do I feel like i bought Robyn? Maybe it's hiding in my untried...grrr, sorry if I missed it!!

      Delete

Make my day--leave me a comment!