If you’re going to grab one colour from the Zoya Petals Collection, I highly recommend that you go for Zoya Aster because this periwinkle is the star.
Cute and demure, this nail polish has a soft, dreamy appearance laced with lullaby glitter that combine for a sweet spring manicure.
It’s a pastel that’s turned up a notch, and there’s a gracefulness about it that I appreciate.
With the new OPI SoftShades 2016 Collection and OPI Infinite Shine Spring 2016 Collection I recently posted on here, you probably didn’t expect that today’s review would be on a nail polish from 2012.
Well, Zoya Logan may be from a few years back, but it’s a polish that certainly deserves the spotlight.
It’s an old favourite of mine from the Ornate Collection that I have worn countless times. (Heck, if I weren’t a blogger, I’d unquestionably wear Zoya Logan for back-to-back manicures for several weeks!)
Only recently when I shared with you my St. Patrick’s Day nail art did it dawn on me that I never showcased Zoya Logan on the blog! (Shame on me! *Tsk tsk*)
This is one of my favourite sexy greens to wear, and I love how, even though it’s an older nail polish, it’s still very easy to get hold of today!
Although I have a blast showing you all the new and pretty nail polishes that have just come out or that will be released in the future, I also enjoy showing you older polishes. Hope that you like these types of posts as well! (Sometimes, we all need a reminder to ‘shop our stash’ and revisit the beauties we already have.)
Can you please take a few seconds to participate in my quick Twitter poll?
I’m curious to learn more about my readers. All you have to do is log into your Twitter account and vote.
Which of these #socialmedia platforms do you use the most? #SwatchAndLearn
— Swatch And Learn (@SwatchAndLearn) March 29, 2016
The OPI Infinite Shine Spring 2016 Collection officially launches in April, which is just a wink away, but today, I have some quick swatches to whet your appetite! (For the full colour story, check out the official press release I published earlier.)
Hey, is it just me, or is time zipping by? I can’t believe that it’s already going to be Easter tomorrow!
Will you be doing any fun and festive Easter nail art? I have some ideas, but I’m not sure if I’ll have enough time to sit down and execute any. We’ll see!
If I’m unable to blog on Sunday, I want to wish you all a Happy Easter now! Whether you celebrate the holiday for religious reasons or for the yummy chocolate bunnies and candies, I hope that you have a great time.
HEYYYYYY!
That’s Odin the Owl, and he’s flying off with my nail polishes!
Catch him – quick!
Thanks so much for convincing Odin the Owl to return them!
We sat down, and he apologized. Life for owls is rough these days. He said, “Nobody gives a hoot about us!” 😉
After I consoled him and told him that there are lots of people (myself included) who love owls, we ended up talking about nail polish. One thing led to another, and I ended up painting his talons with a few flattering shades. Odin’s now sporting a spiffy pedicure!
And now…onto the rest of the post where I share with you swatches of all eight colours and some bottle shots!
Stay tuned for a detailed review on at least one colour from this collection in a future post.
In general, these polishes applied easily and were smooth and shiny (even without a top coat). I used three coats for all these swatches, however, the darker shades (Olive for Green, Don’t Provoke the Plum!, and In Familiar Terra-tory only required two coats).
My favourites from the OPI Infinite Shine Spring 2016 Collection are Olive for Green (obviously!), Reach for the Sky, and In Familiar Terra-tory.
Which colours are you itching to try first? Or will you be skipping them completely?
Although OPI suggests that you use their special Infinite Shine Primer (base coat) and Infinite Shine Gloss (top coat) in conjunction with the Infinite Shine colours, I’ve found that I still get great wear when I use my usual base and top coats. So, don’t think that you have to commit to a whole new polishing system.
If you do decide to get the matching set, know also that you can use the Infinite Shine base and top coats with your other regular polishes. (I’ve tried it, and it works fine. Of course, manicure results vary based on your unique nail chemistry.)
With Easter just a bunny hop, skip, and a jump away, it’s only fitting to share OPI SoftShades 2016 Collection swatches!
Start dreaming up fun spring manicures and pedicures because the OPI SoftShades 2016 Collection officially launches in April, according to the press release I posted earlier this month. (For the colour story, click that link to get all the juicy details.)
As the name would suggest, the colours are pastel, and I found that they were heavily white-based. However, they still had just enough saturation to keep them from looking washed out.
A lot of lighter shades like these tend to require three coats to reach full opacity, and these were no exception.
The formula on all of them were consistent in that they were smooth and easy to apply. The first coat was streaky, but the coverage builds up effortlessly with the second and third coat.
Based on my quick swatches, my favourites are the green (This Cost Me a Mint) and yellow (One Chic Chick). However, I’ll wait to reserve final judgement when I wear them as full manicures. (Later, I’ll do at least one in-depth review on here with multiple photos of a single shade, as per usual.)
A special mention needs to be given to It’s in the Clouds because I was expecting a stark white, but it’s a bit softer…hehe, like a cloud. 😉 Usually I’m not crazy about white nail polish, but I liked the way this one looked. I think it’s because it’s ever-so-slightly off-white, yet it still looks clean and fresh.
Overall, my first impression is that these colours are a nice change of pace from OPI’s SoftShades collections from previous years. Instead of sheers, we have cremes that can be built up for full coverage, which is what I prefer. Also, all the colours make me think of cute Easter eggs!
Edit (March 25, 2016): Scroll to the bottom of this post to see comparison swatches of OPI It’s a Boy! and OPI What’s with the Cattitude?. It was requested by Jessica, one of my awesome readers.
Smith & Cult She Said Yeah is a nod to nail luxury at its finest with a muted periwinkle that whispers sweet manicure lullabies!
Depending on what kind of lighting you’re under, Smith & Cult She Said Yeah can lean purple or blue, but it always falls under a charming periwinkle that I feel is great for spring, easter, or whenever you want an easy-to-wear colour.
Smith & Cult is a new-to-me brand that has a 5-free formula. I’m very excited to share my first review on it!
Interesting tidbit: Smith & Cult’s founder, Dineh Mohajer, is the same person who started Hard Candy!
I can’t remember ever seeing Smith & Cult nail polishes sold in Canadian stores, but maybe one of the merchants I linked to will ship to Canada. (Note: None of them are affiliate links.)
Edit: I inquired about places in Canada that offer Smith & Cult nail polishes. I’ve updated the ‘Key Notes’ section to include Canadian salons where you can find Smith & Cult nail polishes, along with the links to each that I’ve researched and that are current at the time of posting this.
If you follow me on Instagram and my other social media, you will have seen that I’ve already shared a few swatches of other Smith & Cult colours. (More are coming soon!)
Although I prefer to wear full manicures and do these in-depth review on my blog, I realize the value of quick swatches. That’s why you may have noticed that for a few weeks now, I’ve been sharing many more swatches of nail-polishes from my collection (new and old) that haven’t made it onto the blog. So, if you ever want to see more colours than what’s on here, head over to my social media!
OPI I’m Sooo Swamped! from the New Orleans Collection is the type of Kermit the Frog green that I enjoy wearing because it’s fresh and a ‘Comfort Colour’ to me.
“But wasn’t St. Patrick’s Day last week?” I hear you ask. Well, yes, but just because the festivities are over and you’ve already caught the leprechauns doesn’t mean that you have to shun a cute green nail polish!
You know me – I pull out green all year long. It’s my favourite colour to wear on my nails, but interestingly enough, I don’t have too many green clothes. (Maybe it’s because clothing manufacturers don’t tend to make as many shirts in green, compared to, say purple or blue.)
OPI She’s a Bad Muffuletta! from the New Orleans Collection is a sassy creme, and as you’ll see later in this post, it sometimes pulls red and other times pink on me. It made me check my nails out in different lighting often because I was curious which way it would lean.
While OPI She’s a Bad Muffuletta! has a name that suggests it wants to be bad to the bone, I think it’s a very easy-going and wearable shade for virtually any occasion. A big ole softie! 😉 It’s bright, but at the same time, it’s also nothing wild and crazy.
In other news…
Today, I’m participating in the #KeepInstagramChronological campaign, and I urge you to also join the cause and take a stand. (Search the hashtag on Twitter or Facebook. There’s also a petition you can sign, which, at the time of me writing this, already has 142,963 supporters.)
It’s simple. To participate, don’t use Instagram on Friday March 18, 2016.
Why? Recently, Instagram unveiled their strategy that they plan to roll out sometime soon. It will change the order of your feed and what shows up based on an algorithm that decides for you what you’re more interested in seeing. Yeah, it’s similar to what Facebook did, and there was a huge backlash because of it.
From what I understand, Instagram plans to tweak the feed so that instead of seeing what’s being posted in the chronological sequence, you’ll see the more popular posts with higher “Likes” and views. What does this mean? More exposure for the “Big Guys” and less exposure for the “Little Guys.”
The beauty of social media is its ability to communicate news as it happens. Live. But messing with the order manipulates that.
Instagram claims that all the posts will still show up, but just the order will be different. I still think that will have negative repercussions for the Little Guy who doesn’t have a huge following and counts on exposure and an equal playing field to gain traction.
Not everyone is going to sift through dozens of Instagram photos. Most will scroll through a few, and since the first few will be the more popular posts, the rest will be ignored.
Maybe Instagram could have a toggle feature in the app, so that people could choose which viewing mode they want to use.
Forcing the algorithm on us seems like a step towards turning Instagram into another advertising platform where small businesses and accounts will be cornered into having to pay for exposure in order to compete with the corporate giants. I don’t like that, and since I use my social media for personal reasons and as a hobby, I would never pay to boost my exposure or to increase the number of people who follow me.
I strongly believe that everyone matters, not just the popular people and brands, which is why I’m participating. Also, I prefer organic engagement instead of artificial engagement.
If you don’t want to turn on notifications for people you follow on Instagram, start “Liking” more of their photos and/or videos now so they will show up in your feed later when Instagram rolls out their plan. If you don’t, it’s possible that you may have to really hunt to see those posts in the near future.
Hopefully, through the power of the people banding together and not using Instagram for one day, we can show them that the algorithm is just a popularity contest. Maybe they’ll rethink the strategy and listen. Time will tell.
