I know I shouldn’t say anything and jinx it, but so far this winter, my nails look pretty darn good. I’m continuing to take 10K mcg biotin every day (my favorite is Natrol strawberry flavored Fast Dissolve tabs reviewed here), and I know without them my nails would be a cracked mess. In the winter, I often get a vertical crack on my right hand thumb nail, and I can see it a bit this winter. But if I file my nail with my favorite Mont Bleu crystal nail file, I can keep it in check till it heals completely in the warm weather of spring.
So this winter, my nails are much longer than they usually are at this time. It’s kind of the chicken and egg syndrome: are they long because I’ve been keeping them polished, or am I keeping them polished because they’re longer and look better? Guess it doesn’t matter.
I’ve been making my way through the new polishes that I bought from Zoya on Black Friday when they had the special $9 deal for their quads. Using Morgan Taylor REACT Base Coat and Cuccio 7 Second Top Coat, my manis have been lasting at least 5 days, so I haven’t been changing my polish more than once a week. As much as I love reds and that’s why I bought a quad of reds as well as neutrals during the sale, neutrals and pastels have been grabbing my attention in January. So today I have two more Zoya polishes to show you: Caresse and Lauren.
Zoya Caresse
Last week when I posted about my pretty artisan-made knit, crochet and embroidered fingerless gloves, a number of you commented on how my nail polish matched the embroidery on my gloves. Why yes it did! I was wearing Zoya Caresse.
But frankly, I’m a little confused. Zoya’s description of Caresse doesn’t really match what I saw on my nails, nor does it match other swatches I’ve seen online. Zoya describes Caresse as “muted, icy frosted light pink with mauve tones and soft silver shimmer.” It says it has a metallic finish. Au contraire. What I wore was a cool-toned light pink with mauve tones, but it was a cream. Oh well. Either way, it’s super pretty!
Zoya gives it a 3 on a scale of 5 for opacity. Again, I didn’t have any issues with it. I got full coverage in two coats.
Zoya Lauren
Lauren is a lovely rather metallic nude. Zoya describes it as “a warm pink-kissed light beige with very fine gold and copper metallic shimmer”. Again, I see it somewhat differently. It is a pinky-beige. On my cool-toned skin it appears cool-toned. It has a definite metallic finish. Although Zoya talks about “very fine gold and copper…shimmer”, it doesn’t have any visible flakies or glitter – it just has an icy sheen. Perfect for the icy weather outside my door!
Although Zoya rates Lauren a 4 in terms of opacity, I got pretty much complete coverage in one coat. I gave my nails a second coat just for good measure.
Final Thoughts
I love the 3 shades including Zanna that I swatched for you a few weeks ago (here) that were part of the All Snuggled Up quad. I gave away the fourth shade, Jill, because it looked so similar to one of the Zoya Naturelle shades that I already own, and I thought Jeff’s daughter might like it. I made Ruthie (swatched here), that I purchased separately, the fourth shade in my “customized” quad.
Though the quads are no longer on deep discount for $9 on Zoya’s website, I happened to find All Snuggled Up for $15 on Amazon in case you’re interested. I think the shades are perfect for pink/neutral lovers all year round.
Also, I just noticed that all the quads are on Amazon for $15 including the gorgeous red quad, Fa La La La La, that’s perfect to give as a Valentine’s Day gift or get for yourself to wear for Day!
Last Minute Urban Decay Giveaway from My Beauty Bunny on Instagram!
Jen from My Beauty Bunny is holding a giveaway on Instagram right now. She is giving away iconic Urban Decay All Nighter Long Lasting Makeup Setting Spray to 5 lucky winners! I believe that the giveaway ends in a day or two, so don’t delay. Enter now!
Your nails do indeed match your gloves! Really pretty!!!! Maybe it’s stealth shimmer in that first one. Aren’t Dior and Chanel known for doing that? Having shimmer particles so fine that they only show a little bit, just sometimes, and in very certain lighting? Caresse is just being high-end. 😉
I’m glad I bought the Cuccio topcoat you recommended. It’s nice and shiny and it does indeed wear really well. Odd thing though, while the initial set-up time is really fast, the actual dry time on me is really long. More than an hour and a half later and I could still press a fingerprint onto my nail. Granted I could then still smooth it back out again, but weird. So no nails right before bed for me with that one! Could be that it doesn’t like the base I’ve been using most often lately (not everything plays well with sticky bases, yes I’m looking at you, Dior…) so I’ll do a little more experimentation. Even if I can’t get it to dry faster, the wear time alone definitely makes it worth keeping. I just have to polish earlier in the day. 😛
Darn, darn, darn, Rachel!I mostly only do my nails literally in bed, and I rarely (like 9 times out of 10) don’t have any issues with Cuccio as long as I let the polish dry fairly well before applying the topcoat, but I’m sure you’re doing that already. I’ve been devoted to Morgan Taylor REACT Base Coat, and I’ve only been using Zoya or Morgan Taylor polishes probably since I bought the topcoat. So sorry about that! I’m glad at least you’re getting some extra wear time. BTW, do you wear sparkly powder eye shadow? asking for a friend 😉
My Sherlockian sense is piqued. I love sparkly powder eyeshadow. I like the idea of mattes and own a few nice ones, but mostly if it isn’t shiny I can’t see it way back there behind my glasses! LOL
And it’s totally not your fault my nails are squishy. It probably is just a base/top combo thing. I’ve been wearing a lot of Zoya colours lately, like you, so I don’t think it’s a reaction with the colour layer. Probably a base issue. Unless of course it’s just a weird thing with my own chemistry and the same sort of reason why I’ve historically never been able to wear Revlon polish. I’ll have to do more polishing to find out! Shouldn’t be too terribly difficult given how much nail polish I own. hehehe
I hope you’ll keep me posted if you discover a cocktail of base coat, polish brand that works better with Cuccio so you don’t get smushed polish! 😉
Caresse is really pretty – I’d wear that!
I think Zoya Caresse would look great on you!
That is so odd that their description of Caresse is so different from the actual polish, but I REALLY love that shade nonetheless! It looks gorgeous on you and perfect with those beautiful gloves!
Thank you, Helen. I agree that it is odd that their description is so far off on Caresse than what I see on my fingertips! Oh well. It’s pretty regardless.
Such pretty neutral shades!
Yeah that most certainly does look like a creme!
Lauren is a great pick! I haven’t given my bottle love in awhile and this post makes me want to pull her out and give her some time to shine. I feel like mine has a more obvious shimmer but maybe I’m thinking of a different one.
Lauren is such a lovely palette cleanser! I need to see if I have in my stash!
I have Lauren, it’s such a pretty pinky nude, I haven’t worn mine in forever. Those gloves are so cute btw!
Thank you, Lauren! The fingerless gloves were a Hanukkah gift, and I adore them 🙂