Category Archives: Nail Polish Swatches & Reviews

Zoya Bay Swatches & Review

Zoya Bay Swatches Review

Navigate the waters of sparkly blue nail polishes with Zoya Bay at your fingertips!

As one of the newest additions to the PixieDust family, it hails from the Zoya Seashells Collection that breathes life back into the textured trend. (I never stopped being a fan of it!)

If you want to read the official colour story with details of the entire summer 2016 collection, be sure to check out the Zoya Seashells & Sunsets Collection press release that I published not long ago.

In the rest of this post, learn why this aquatic wonder makes a splash, and see how it incorporates your love for beach sand.

By the way, Zoya Bay sparkles much more in person. No photos can do this beautiful nail polish complete justice!

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Zoya Zooey Swatches & Review

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Zoya Zooey Swatches Review

Magical nails need no wands! 😉

Although it’s hard to narrow it down, if there’s just one new PixieDust nail polish from the Seashells Collection that you grab, make it Zoya Zooey!

It’s like a Disney princess in nail-polish form!

Normally I’m a green nail enthusiast, but Zoya Zooey takes the victorious first place this time because it spells summer to me as strong as picnics, swimming, and homemade lemonade.

Pink with gold is a classic combination, and as I’ve come to expect from Zoya, their PixieDust formula has a lot of visual interest with its textured finish and saturated pigmentation. Plus this one has sparse holographic hexagonal glitter, which adds to its multi-dimensional nature.

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OPI Retro Summer 2016 Collection Swatches

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OPI Retro Summer 2016 Collection Swatches

Like cotton candy at carnivals and fruit-flavoured sorbet, the OPI Retro Summer 2016 Collection officially launching on June 1st has a roundup of six shades that beckon back to those lazy, hazy days!

(To view the full colour story, check out the OPI Retro Summer 2016 Collection press release, which goes into the details and background information.)

All the colours in the OPI Retro Summer 2016 Collection glide onto the nails easily, but the formula is on the thin side, which is streaky on the initial coat. Since the consistency is watery, I suggest that you use thin coats for greater control and also wait a few minutes in between coats to reduce any dragging.

To achieve full coverage, I needed to use three coats for all the colours. Even though I prefer polishes that need just two coats, this extra coat wasn’t a big deal, since the polishes went on easily.

The darker colours in the mix, SPF XXX and Flip Flops & Crop Tops were a smidgeon more pigmented than the rest, but they still required that third coat to completely cover the nail line.

My favourites in the collection are SPF XXX (orange), Towel Me About It (yellow), and Sailing & Nailing (blue).

See the rest of this post for swatches of all the colours, bottle shots, and photos of the collectible box I received.

Additionally, I show bottle comparisons of OPI Sailing & Nailing from this collection and OPI The I’s Have It from the OPI Alice Through the Looking Glass Collection, in case some of you were curious.

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OPI The I’s Have It Swatches & Review

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OPI The I's Have It Swatches Review

One of my favourite childhood movies is Disney’s 1951 classic, Alice in Wonderland. And even if you’re a new visitor to Swatch And Learn, you probably gathered that much, considering that I’ve got a little Cheshire Cat lurking in the blog header. 😉

Needless to say, the OPI Alice Through the Looking Glass Collection appealed to me right away, and although I shared swatches of the entire collection on here already, I was compelled to wear OPI The I’s Have It as the first full manicure!

The eyes are the windows to the soul, and according to this nail polish, The “I’s” Have It!

It screams Alice like books with nothing but pictures. (Remember that scene from the movie? Hehe, being a hardcore writer down to the bone, that was the only part in the film that gave me an internal “Nooooooo!” A book with only pictures lacks the mental imagery that only words are powerful enough to conjure. I firmly believe that the pen is mightier than the sword.)

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Essie Coconut Cove Swatches & Review

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Essie Coconut Cove Swatches Review

Essie Coconut Cove from the Summer 2016 Collection is one of those rare, impressive light nail polishes that took me by surprise.

Going nuts for coconuts!

At first glance, the colour appears white, but it’s softer and not a stark hospital white.

My photos in the sunlight later in this post really show how it’s more of a creamy French vanilla, which is probably why I found it to be more flattering against my warm skin tone.

When it comes to most white nail polishes, I have infrequently wore them as full manicures because they reminded me way back of those early school days when I used to play around with White Out as a makeshift nail polish.

Learning that I really enjoyed Essie Coconut Cove was novel to me and shows that the nail polish is in a league of its own. However, there’s another major reason why I’m giving this polish two painted thumbs up. Why? Find out in my review!

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Zoya Sunsets Collection Swatches

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Zoya Sunsets Collection Swatches

Just add some butter because I’m on a roll with the collection swatches! 😉 (In case you missed it, check out my swatches of the OPI Alice Through the Looking Glass Collection and the Zoya Seashells Collection.)

Today, I’m sharing swatches of the Zoya Sunsets Collection, which includes vibrant creams that spell summer like picnics and swimming pools.

They claim to be one-coaters, and while they are certainly very pigmented, I found that to get full coverage, I needed to use my usual two coats.

If you’re thinking about using them for nail stamping, you’ll be excited to know that they stamp well! 🙂

The blue (Dory) is my favourite out of the bunch. Yeah, check my forehead. I must be sick because I didn’t choose green as my top pick!

I also am digging the orange (Cam). It’s such a lively colour that I don’t see many people wearing. For some reason, orange nail polish isn’t too popular. Let’s change that!

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Zoya Seashells Collection Swatches

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Zoya Seashells Collection Swatches

If you’re still riding the textured trend like I am, you’ll be excited about the new PixieDust nail polishes in the Zoya Seashells Collection!

(To see the details of the colour story, check out the official Zoya Seashells Collection press release that I posted on the blog earlier. This collection is currently available for sale on Zoya’s website.)

The formulas on all of these are exactly what I expected from Zoya. They cover well, are easy to paint with, and you won’t need more than two coats to reach full opacity.

Additionally, they dry exceptionally fast, which makes them the ideal choice when you’re in a pinch and need a fresh manicure.

Which ones are calling out your name?

One of my favourites is Cece (the green), which should come as no surprise. Another favourite is Zooey (coral pink), which surprised me because I liked it way more on the nail than in the bottle.

The swatches in this post were taken in artificial light, but when I wear them as full manicures, I’ll be sure to review at least one in a separate, detailed review because you really need to see them in natural light! They look even better!

I love how there’s a light sprinkling of holographic glitter in the Zoya Seashells Collection! There’s just enough to make it twinkle a little extra without being a disco ball.

Edit (May 21, 2016): If you’re interested in the creme polishes, check out my Zoya Sunsets Collection swatches!

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