Author Archives: Mary S.

Essie Spring 2017 Collection Swatches & Review

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Essie Spring 2017 Collection Swatches Review

Spring for a new nail polish!

While the mercury drops and the snow accumulates here in Toronto, how does this Canadian choose to warm up? Not with a scarf, a homemade knitted hat, or cozy cashmere gloves, but with nail polish, of course! That’s beauty blogger logic for ya. 😉

Launching worldwide on February 21, 2017, the Essie Spring 2017 Collection may help you forget the cold and make you think months ahead.

The Essie Spring 2017 Collection landed at Swatch And Learn headquarters yesterday, and the moment I locked eyes with each of the six shades, it began an undeniable spring fling!

  • On the Roadie is a green that makes my heart race towards the checkered flags and secure first place.
  • Blue goes all the way with All the Wave, a royal indigo that’s a crowning glory.
  • Designated DJ will take you for a spin or a midnight stroll on the wild side.
  • Dive into the deep end of the pink spectrum with B’aha Moment!, and leave nails exclaiming, “Eureka!”
  • No pardons or apologies are necessary with a stunning soft coral mango shade like Excuse Me, Sur!
  • Finally, we have the sixth shade in the collection, Backseat Besties, which will be a frontrunner for those who are BFFs with pink.

Overall, the collection offers a variety of colours that will appease those who enjoy statement nails and delicate manicures alike.

I used two coats of colour for all of my swatches (except for Excuse Me, Sur and Backseat Besties, where I used three coats).

The two coaters provided excellent, full opacity with a creamy formula that was easy to apply. The three coaters had a slightly milky consistency, so to cover up streakiness, that third coat was needed.

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How to Get Free Zoya Nail Polishes & Zoya Lipsticks

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Zoya 4 Free Promo 2017

Zoya is the fearless leader when it comes to commanding the colour charge! Offering one of the most consistent formulas and serving up so much shade variety in many different finishes, it’s easy to see why Zoya nail polish has earned a special place in this nail enthusiast’s heart!

For those who are making conscious shopping decisions to cut out certain ingredients, you’ll be happy to know that Zoya boasts a 10-free formula! What does that mean?

Zoya nail polish contains:

  • No Formaldehyde
  • No Formaldehyde Resin
  • No Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)
  • No Toluene
  • No Camphor
  • No TPHP
  • No Parabens
  • No Xylene
  • No Ethyl Tosylamide
  • No Lead

When I heard about the latest Zoya promotion, I had to tell all my fellow nail-polish lovers.

Get 4 Free Zoya Nail Polishes or 4 Free Zoya Lipsticks on Canadian and US orders from the Zoya website beginning tomorrow (Monday January 9) until January 16 at 11:59 pm EST. Use the coupon code ZOYA4.

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Zoya Saint Swatches & Review

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Zoya Saint Swatches Review

There was always a halo shining brightly above the head of Zoya Saint from the Enchanted Collection! It was the one polish that was calling out to me like the orchestra from the La La Land production! (The movie was very sweet and enjoyable, but I think it had more potential. This is coming from someone who has watched and loved a lot of musicals, so take it with a grain of salt…and a dash of sugar.)

*Breaks out into song* “Here’s to the dreamers!” 😉 Who else saw that movie? Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling shone in that film, and I keep playing the songs “Planetarium”, “City of Stars”, and “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” when I’m out and about. Those songs give me the feels, as they say! 🙂

During the holiday season, I wore it twice, and once while in an elevator, a stranger approached me and complimented me on my nail polish. I knew that Zoya Saint was amazing, but when a stranger points it out, it reinforces everything!

The Zoya Enchanted Collection is my favourite Zoya nail-polish collection in a long time. Can’t even pick my favourite polish from the bunch. But, I knew from the first moment I saw the colours, Zoya Saint would be the first one that I’d review in-depth for a separate post.

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Congratulations to the Zoya Enchanted Collection Giveaway Winners!

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Zoya Enchanted Collection Giveaway Winners

Congratulations to the Zoya Enchanted Collection Giveaway winners:

  • 1st Prize: Cynthia R.
  • 2nd Prize: Kim P.
  • 3rd Prize: Ashley T.

I e-mailed the winners on Tuesday January 3, 2017. You have 48 hours to reply to my e-mail to claim your prize. Failure to do so will force me to choose a new winner.

Thank you to everyone for participating in my giveaway! 

Hope that you all had fun and that you’ll visit Swatch And Learn again soon. Also, stay tuned because there will be more fun nail-polish giveaways coming up! 🙂

P.S. In case you’d like to see larger photos of my Zoya Enchanted Collection swatches, click the link or the image below.

Zoya Enchanted Collection Swatches

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Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year 2017

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wishing you an exciting 2017 that’s full of love, adventures, and great memories!

Remember, it’s not always what the world holds for you, but it’s what you bring to it.

Let’s make every moment count with a fresh start to a new year that will challenge us to achieve personal goals and be our strongest and best! 🙂

Nail Polishes Shown:

Also, I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to each and every single one of you who participated in my Zoya Enchanted Collection worldwide giveaway! 🙂 It ended on December 31, 2016. As stated in the blog post with the giveaway details, I will be announcing the three Zoya Enchanted Collection winners on January 2 or January 3, 2017. Stay tuned, and good luck, everyone!

Disclosure: This post contains press samples provided by PR.

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Swatch And Learn’s #2016BestNine

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Swatch And Learn Best Nine 2016

As another year draws to a close, it’s a time of reflection about the accomplishments and challenges  that punctuated 2016.

Thank you for joining me on my blogging journey since 2010!

I look forward to sharing more swatches, reviews, and sprinklings of humour in the coming year. I’m excited to plan new goals for 2017 and to see where the ongoing adventure goes!

Because of the support and encouragement from readers like you, I am happy to say that a lot of my blogging dreams have come true in ways that I never imagined! Thank you so much for visiting and for leaving comments.

I have learned a lot from all of you, and I hope that Swatch And Learn has become a place on the internet that provides you with a little sunshine, especially on those difficult days! *Hug* Together, let’s continue to improve and grow while sharing our passion for nail polish. 🙂

If you’re addicted to Instagram like I am, you no doubt have seen the trend of posting the #2016BestNine collage, which depicts an Instagram user’s nine most-popular images based on the number of likes.

Above is the collage generated by the 2016 Best Nine website, which shows my most-liked images on Instagram.

I am so honoured that, in 2016, I received 59,935 likes on my Instagram!

Also, for my Pinterest for 2016:

  • 1,616,971 people saw my pins
  • 10,422 people saved my pins to their boards
  • 6,170 people clicked my pins

It really floors me, and I’m so pleased that you have been enjoying my photos!

In this post, check out the links. They’ll lead you to the reviews and/or swatches that I published on here earlier, in case you want more information and details about a certain nail polish.

Reminder: Today’s the last day to enter my worldwide giveaway!

Be sure to get your entry in by tonight at 11:59 pm EST for your chance to win my Zoya Enchanted Collection worldwide giveaway! (3 winners! See that blog post for the full details.)

Zoya Enchanted Collection Giveaway

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Wearing Zoya Mary to see the Nutcracker

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Zoya Mary The Nutcracker National Ballet of Canada

I’m popping in briefly to say hi, and that I hope that your holiday was peaceful and full of happiness with loved ones!

May the New Year bring you new challenges that will propel you to fulfill your dreams! 🙂

Before Christmas, I went to see The Nutcracker, which was one of my favourite childhood Christmas stories that I still hold near and dear to my heart today. Imagine how happy I was to finally see the live ballet performance for the first time this year!

To add the icing on top of the cake, the seats were amazing, as I could see every minute detail on the costumes and the elaborate sets very clearly. It was such a treat to be close to the stage and to witness the magic unfolding in front of me.

It was held at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, and it featured many talented dancers. It came as no surprise that every seat was filled!

This was one of the items that I can now cross off my bucket list. 🙂

On my nails, I wore Zoya Mary, which is one of the shades in the new Naturel 3 Collection. (Check out my review and swatches of the collection that I posted earlier, if you missed it.)

Also, I’d like to remind you that on the days when I don’t blog on here, stop by my Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media because I usually post swatches and more on there on a daily or almost-daily basis.

P.S. My worldwide giveaway is still going on. You have until December 31, 2016 to enter for your chance to win the Zoya Enchanted Collection! There will be three winners. See that post for all the details.

Disclosure: Zoya Mary is a press sample provided by PR.

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