Zoya | Sophisticates

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Hey everyone! Well, it has been a ridiculously long time since I've written a blog post. I am definiltey a little bit out of practice but hoping to get back into the swing of things. I've moved, I'm working like crazy, and I'm studying for a crazy test at the end of October...but I needed a bit of a break from all that so I finally got to swatch the Zoya Sophisticates to share with you all :)

Swatches: China Glaze - Spring Fling

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Hey everyone! I've got swatches of the new China Glaze Spring Fling collection to share today! I am seriously loving these colors together, and while some of the individual shades aren't necessarily my style, I think all of these work great for a springtime adventure.

Zoya Enchanted - Swatches

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Last, but certainly not least in this epic swatch-shara-thon, is the Zoya Enchanted collection! This was their Holiday 2016 collection and is another set of polishes that I got waylayed in posting due to the wedding, recovering from the holidays, and just general "getting back into the swing of things".

This collection has 4 pixie dusts finishes and 2 shimmers. On the whole it's a really pretty collection, and very much evokes the holiday spirit. That being said, I do think any of these are wearable year round. Let's take a look :)

Zoya Naturel 3 - Swatches

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Hey, hey! Happy Friday :) I've got the Zoya Naturel 3 to share today! I'll keep it short and sweet and get to showing you my nudes :p

Essie Gel Coutour Collection - Swatches

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Hey, friends! Hope everyone's week is going smoothly and as you all hoped! Today I have a brand I have known and loved for ages, but this is the first time reviewing it - Essie! This is their "new" line, Gel Couture, which is a no-cure gel collection.

Essie claims up to 14 days of wear with these polishes when combined with their top coat and there are 48 polishes available in the line. While I did not wear any of these for 14 days, I did wear Flashed for about 4 days with the top coat and it latest fairly well, though not without chips and pealing. I also found that the top coat took AGES to actually dry which, coming from someone who is used to a quick dry top coat, found this mildly infuriating.

That said, I absolutely love the brush and handles that these new bottles boast, and the application for each of these polishes was beautiful - easy to use on both the dominant and non-dominant hands. I did receive 2 packages of these for review...however, the first arrived with a broken bottle. I decided to still swatch all of them, but you'll notice some of the bottles have polish all over them, and I wasn't actually able to open some of the bottles that had polish on them.

Since all these pretty much applied the same, I'm just sharing the polish number, name, and number of coats needed for each shade. Let's take a look!

Delush Knights of Thrones - Swatches

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I hope everyone is having a great week so far! I can't believe we are already into the last Wednesday of January!? Where did the time go?

Today I have swatches of the Delush Polish Knights of Thrones collection to share with you all! This was actually Adrianna's Fall collection, but when I received it, I was dead in the middle of all my wedding planning chaos and wasn't able to share until now...but with these pretty polishes, better late than never!

For those who don't know, all Delush polishes are 5-Free, Vegan, and Cruelty Free, and the founder, Adrianna, always draws her inspiration from fantastic sources and comes of which such clever names. I'm always excited to see what she's dreamed up each season. This collection is her second Game of Thrones inspired set, but unlike her previous Dames of Thrones collection, this time she's giving the Knights of Westeros their time in the spotlight.

Cirque Metropolis - Swatches & Nail Art

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Hello, hello! Happy Tuesday! I've got swatches from one of my all time favorite brands today - Cirque Colors! These 6 shades are the next installment of their popular creme polishes, the Metropolis Collection. I can honestly say that the Metropolis collection as a whole is one of the best selection of polishes I've seen. I'm a die hard fan of creme finishes and I feel like Annie does an incredible job each month curating new and exciting shades.

So let's take a look at the polishes that were apart of the tail end of last year's collection!

Sienna Byron Bay - Swatches

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Hello, my friends. It's been awhile, hasn't it? I've been busy with life and work and struggling to balance my day to day duties...but I'm so missing my blog! So I've got a few sets of swatch posts to share with you all to get back into the swing of things! Today I've got a new to me brand to share, Sienna Byron Bay! They are an Australian based brand (Byron Bay!) that boasts a 7-Free formula which is both Vegan and Cruelty Free. Always nice to see brands that value this!

Right off the bat, these bottles are the most striking feature of this brand. They're squoval glass bottles are all topped unique (and stunning) wood caps. I LOVE the look of these. From a marketing standpoint, these are spot on. So how do the polishes do?...let's dive in!

Zoya Urban Grunge: One Coat Cremes - Swatches & Review

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Hi again! I've got another favorite brand to share today - Zoya! This is the first half of their Fall 2016 Urban Grunge Collection and are an extension of their One Coat Creme shades. The shades in this collection are very reflective of the colors I've been seeing all fall and I like that! Let's take a look!

LVX Fall Winter 2016 - Swatches & Review

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Hey everyone! Well, I have been MIA for awhile now because I GOT MARRIED WHAT!? :D My husband (okay, still so weird to call him that!) and I have been together for 11 years and now we've been married for almost 2 weeks! Pretty exciting next step of our lives :)

I've been super busy with wedding stuff and wasn't able to share swatches but I'm making up for that now! So today, let's take a look at one of my favorite brands, LVX, and their new 2016 Fall Winter Collection. LVX is easily one of my favorite brands and I never fail to be impressed by the beautiful shades they curate each season. So, get to it!

KBShimmer - Fall 2016

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Hello, hello! Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend :) I have another Fall collection to share with you today, this time from KBShimmer! It never fails, each season I love seeing what Christy and her crew have dreamed up this time. They really excel at capturing the feel of the different seasons and I'm always swooning over their crellies. Always just the right amount of glitter to creme.

Anyhow, I'm always excited for the KBS collections as they help me feel like the seasons are changing. So, let's dig in!

Spell Polish - Time Traveling Collection: Swatches & Nail Art

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Hello my friends! I have a new to me collection to share with you today - the Time Traveling Collection by Spell Polish! I have been so busy lately but I've been dying to share these. This fall collection is inspired by memories from the past and I love that, while the memories are personal to Heather, the lady behind Spell Polish, they are also universal in one way or another and things that each of us can relate to in our own way. 

I did not realize until working with Heather, that she writes poems to coincide with each shade. She then includes a cute little trading card with the polish name and poem with each polish purchased. How cool is that? So let's get started and take a look at the Time Traveling Collection! 

China Glaze - Rebel: Swatches & Review

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Hello, all! I have a great set of polishes to share with you today from China Glaze! Fall collections are by far my favorite - partly because I love the fall season so much, but also because it's an opportunity for brands to create vampy, moody, edgy, beautiful shades.

Cue the China Glaze Rebel collection. *insert heart eyes* :D as one of the first fall collections I saw this year, I was immediately drawn to the colors but was then even more excited for the inspiration. I was born in 1990 so I wasn't quite old enough to appreciate a lot of the good (and bad!) things about the 90s. But even still, I know almost many of the references made in this collection which made the Rebel collection all the more fun. As always, there are 12 shades in various finishes in this collection so let's take a look!

Zoya Seashells Collection: Pixiedust - Swatches

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Alright! Yesterday was the first half of the Zoya Summer collection (the Sunset cremes) and today is the Seashells set! Guess what they are!? Pixiedusts! Yay! In my opinion, Zoya makes the best textured polishes and this set is yet another fun take on them. Let's jump in and enjoy.

Zoya Sunsets Collection: One Coat Cremes - Swatches

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Hi again! Happy Monday to you all! Is the weekend getting shorter and shorter for anyone else? ;)

I've got the Summer Zoya collections to share today and tomorrow so let's start with the Sunset Collection! I so enjoy the fact that Zoya always does two versions of their collections - a creme set, and a special finish set (shimmer, texture, holo, etc.). This season's cremes are being marketed as "One Coat Cremes" which, for someone without nail ridges (or who uses a ridge filler), could probably get away with. Since I have ridges however, I ended up applying more than 1 coat on all my swatches.

LVX Summer 2016 - Swatches & Review

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Hello, my friends! I hope that everyone had a great weekend :) Sundays are always bitter sweet as I feel the impending start of my work week all to much...but I try my best to keep my worrisome thoughts at bay...and what better way to do that than with nail polish!?

Today brings the lovely LVX Summer 2016 collection! I especially love LVX because they seem to always do mostly creme collections. As a die hard creme finish lover, this is ideal for me! Plus, their shades seem to always be spot on for each season. LVX is 7-Free and Vegan friendly/Cruelty Free polish that comes in a 0.5 fl oz bottle (so you get your money's worth).

Winstonia Store - Bambooristic Brush Set: Review & Nail Art

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Hi, friends! I hope everyone had a lovely week! I'm so thankful we had a short week here in the States - I'm exhausted! But! I wanted to share with you my thoughts on a few different brush sets that I've recently gotten to try out from Winstonia Store. I've worked with them a few times in the past and really love the quality of products they put out at an affordable price.

I'll have 3 different brush sets to share with you over the next few days, but I'm going to start with one that I surprisingly really loved as well as show you the nail art I was able to create using the brushes in the set. Let's take a look at the Bambooritic Set!

Wrenn Polish - Nail Polish by Wrenn Jewelry: Swatches & Review

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Hi all! I've got some swatches of some Wrenn polishes to share today! If you'll recall, I had the honor swatching a few of the polishes from Wrenn's initial launch and I absolutely loved them. They're 5-Free, Vegan friendly and cruelty free which is always great. So, today, I've got the rest of the polishes in the Wrenn line to share with you :)

Bella Bosio Polish - Swatches & Review

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Hello, all! I’ve got another round of swatches to share with you all today! I have 4 more shades from Bella Bosio Polish and these glitters are packing some serious sparkle!

This is my second time working with Bella Bosio’s polishes and I’m enjoying them just as much this time around. They apply smoothly and are very opaque. Nice formula and all around fun shades to work with. Let’s get to it!

Wet N Wild, 1-Step Wonder Gel: Swatches & Review

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Hey, all! I have a beyond EPIC post to share today! I think this is the most swatches I've ever done of a brand and I'm pretty excited to share with you all! I have the entire Wet n' Wild 1-Step Wonder Gel line swatched and I have to say, I am pretty smitten with these polishes.

The idea behind this line of shades is that you don't need anything but the bottle of polish you're using to complete your manicure. So no base or top coat required. While they're calling them a "gel", it isn't a true gel and doesn't require a light to cure it. So how does it stand up? I'll share my swatches and then let you know my thoughts at the end.

Since they're all very similar in application, I've just mentioned the shade description and how many coats I used in the photos. True to how the polish is meant to be worn, I'm showing these without base or top coat.