Dupe Check: Zoya Ginni and Zoya Bar against Zoya Tomoko, Zoya Godiva, Zoya Cosmo, Zoya Lux, and Zoya Miranda

Hello my lovelies,

I know it's hard to rationalize buying polish when you know you have something similar sitting in your stash at home. And when I looked at both Ginni and Bar from their Summer 2014 Magical Pixie collection, I have to admit that I was a little surprised that they were doing two polishes so close to others that they have already made. Then they arrived on my doorstep, and I realized that they aren't really dupes, and that I probably should prove that to you all, since I know I was worried about that, myself. I mean, at $10 a pop, I myself wonder if it's really necessary to have three "nude" polishes, and three in the pink family.

Miranda, Ginni, Lux, sunlight

I compared Zoya Ginni against Zoya Miranda and Zoya Lux (from the Summer Texture PixieDust 2013  collection and Spring 2014 Magical Pixie collection, respectively). I didn't think that Miranda would be too close to Ginni, in all honesty. That being said, however, Miranda dries pretty light, and I wear it most often with only one coat, so I thought it might be good to really rule it out as a dupe once and for all.

Miranda, Ginni, Lux, natural light

Miranda, Ginni, Lux, artificial light

The photos are as follows: From pinky to index, we have Miranda, Ginni with two coats, Ginni with only one coat, and Lux with two coats. I know I'm going to be wearing Ginni with only one coat pretty frequently, so I wanted to show that it still has a lot more pink pigment than Lux, even with only one coat. See how silver Lux is in tone? I still think Miranda is a stunning color, personally. There are only a select few polishes that I have a backup bottle of, and Miranda and Godiva are among them.

Zoya Miranda, Zoya Ginni, Zoya Lux, natural light

Zoya Miranda, Zoya Ginni, Zoya Lux, artificial light

Zoya Miranda, Zoya Ginni, Zoya Lux, sunlight

Cosmos, Tomoko, Godiva, Bar, natural light

The next pics are comparing Zoya Bar against Zoya Godiva, Zoya Tomoko, and Zoya Cosmo. I threw in Cosmo in the last minute because they have always called Tomoko a champagne silver, and Cosmo a real silver, and I thought I'd set that to rest once and for all. I'm just going to step up off the bat and say that there are no dupes here, either. Not even a little bit. They're all pretty distinctive in their own way, even the two I've always felt were the closest: Tomoko and Godiva. Bar is certainly very different from both Tomoko and Godiva, and Cosmo is almost white in comparison with the other three. It sort of doesn't belong in the dupe check, but I want it here, so it's staying.

Cosmo, Tomoko, Godiva, Bar, artificial light

Cosmo, Tomoko, Godiva, Bar, sunlight

The colors are as follows from pinky to index: Zoya Cosmo (one coat), Zoya Tomoko (two coats), Zoya Godiva (two coats), and Zoya Bar (one coat). Note that both Cosmo and Bar only have one coat versus the others. This is because I think both of these Magical Pixies actually lend themselves to single coats really well, particularly Bar. Cosmo with two coats is very opaque, and almost white-silver in color. Bar is more opaque and darker, as well, but I'm pretty sure that in my everyday wear, I'll mostly be using just one coat of Bar. Again, I really don't think there's a single dupe in the bunch here. Tomoko is much more yellow than all the others. Godiva and Bar are the most similar, but Bar is darker, browner, and the holo glitter really sets it apart, so I don't see it as a dupe in any way. Cosmo is just in its own galaxy.

Zoya Bar, Zoya Godiva, Zoya Tomoko, Zoya Cosmo

Zoya Bar, Zoya Godiva, Zoya Tomoko, and Zoya Cosmo, artificial light

Zoya Bar, Zoya Godiva, Zoya Tomoko, Zoya Godiva, sunlight

The moral here is that you really can buy these with confidence, my darlings. Bar and Ginni are nothing like the other PixieDusts and Magical Pixies before them. The Zoya fairies? They did some very nice work with this Magical Pixie collection.

As always, I feel obliged to tell you to head on over to Zoya's blog and follow @ZoyaNailPolish on twitter, as they have frequent promos, contests, and giveaways. They're pretty awesome like that.

I'll be back soon, my lovely ladies. Until then, happy polishing!

Emily, the Manic Paintress

Zoya Godiva

Zoya Godiva, outdoor, shade

I really can't believe that I haven't given this polish its own review before now. I have mentioned it, and what I consider to be its magic ability to make any major color misstep -particularly of the blue persuasion- better (i.e. essie's in the cab-ana and Zoya Crystal). Yet, I was shocked that I hadn't given this polish its own feature. Zoya Godiva is one of my favorite polishes on the market today. It was part of Zoya's Spring 2013 PixieDust collection.

Zoya Godiva, outdoors, sun

Zoya describes Godiva very accurately on its website, as "a soft nude with a sugared sparkle, in the exclusive Zoya PixieDust Matte Sparkle formula." It's a beige-y base color with silver glitter. It's amazing. Seriously gorgeous. In the sun, it sparkles like diamonds on your fingertips.

Zoya Godiva, indoor, natural light

Gah. I'm just going to gush about this polish. Godiva is adequately opaque in two or three coats. In some lights, this almost looks a bit taupe on my nails, but it really is a lovely nude. Ideally, I would love a touch more pink in it, but it's much more neutral than Tomoko, which reads as rather yellow on my nails.

Zoya Godiva, texture close-up

This polish is in my top five all-time favorites. It's a clean, fresh look for your nails, that makes you look a bit more put together. The texture is not overwhelming, but is present enough to make it a bit more interesting. The glitter in Godiva is actually muted in softer light, but really sparkles in direct lighting. For me, that's perfect--I love the nail bling.

Zoya Godiva, indoor, artificial light

I learned a very important manicure lesson this week, guys. Interior paint (latex) and manicures don't mix. At all. Because of this, I have to admit that my time with Godiva was cut far too short. I'm so sad. On a more positive note, this means that I had to change color earlier than usual, so I shall post again really soon with a new manicure. I'll post what I did to make my pedicure nicer in a very short while.

Zoya Godiva, flash

You won't even have time to miss me. Seriously.
Emily, the Manic Paintress

Lady Godiva in the cabana

If you read my last post, you know that I was very unhappy with essie's in the cab-ana nail polish. I wanted to like it. Really, I did. It just looked odd on my nails, and they were driving me nuts. So I did what anyone who hates to waste nail polish that costs $8 a pop would do: I painted over it and hoped to make it palatable.

I was seriously successful. I present to you Lady Godiva in the cabana!

Lady Godiva in the cabana, indoor, natural light

After deciding that I didn't want to look at in the cab-ana for a couple or few days, I looked into my stash. I could have put a glitter polish over it. I had a couple of contenders lined up: OPI's Lights of Emerald City, Pirouette My Whistle (which are two of my all-time favorite glitters), and Gone Gonzo all had possibilities. Essie's pure pearlfection was a definite option. I debated whether Zoya's holographic top coat Maisie, or their new iridescent blue glitter top coat Mosheen (available in winter, 2013) would be nice, but I really wanted to tone down the blue, not add a ton more. I should note that Maisie is no longer available on Zoya's website, but I did find a bottle for sale on Amazon.com. Then I looked at Zoya's PixieDusts in my arsenal. The Spring 2013 collection of PixieDusts tend to be more sheer than the Summer 2013 collection, so I gravitated towards them. I wasn't sure if Vespa would be too much of a clash with the bright blue, and Nyx is a bit too purple since in the cab-ana is almost teal-like. Then I looked at Godiva.

essie pure pearlfection

O.P.I glitters: Lights of Emerald City (left), Pirouette My Whistle (center), Gone Gonzo (right)

Zoya PixieDust in Godiva (left), Vespa (center), Nyx (right)

Zoya Mosheen (left), Maisie (right)

One time, I decided to layer Godiva over Zoya's Crystal, and was quite happy with the results, so I tried to see if Godiva would work its magic once again. It really did. I think that Godiva is the cure for any nail polish that you aren't terribly fond of. It's a bit sheer, so you still get the character of the original polish shining through, but it's not too overpowering. Godiva is amazing on its own, but it plays well with others. After this, I've decided that Zoya's Godiva PixieDust is the cure for any nail polish that I don't like. I may have to get another two or three bottles.

Lady Godiva in the cabana, outdoor, sun

The combination creates a twinkly, sparkly, textured polish that is less blue than in the cab-ana on its own, but becomes a really pretty teal color. I think that Zoya should create a PixieDust that is teal. It's really gorgeous, particularly in the light. And Zoya fairies, if you're reading this, if you DO make a teal PixieDust, Emily is a fantastic name to use, and you've yet to make an Emily. Just saying.

Lady Godiva in the cabana, closeup, shade

I have to say that I really do love essie nail polishes. They generally have a great formula, and I like a lot of their shades. Most of the essie in my stash are more winter colored, with the occasional fall inserted. I'll be posting about them later, when they are more seasonally appropriate.

Lady Godiva in the cabana, artificial light

Lady Godiva in the cabana, natural light

Okay kiddies, I'm signing off for now. Go and take advantage of the Zoya buy one get one free promo that they have going. It's amazing beyond words.

Until next time,
Emily, the Manic Paintress

Playing with Zoya

I need a day to gather my thoughts on one of my most recent additions to my polish stash: Zoya's Arabella. I need sunlight for pics, and to actually SEE it in the sunshine. So... that post will come tomorrow. In the meantime, please enjoy my cure for boredom.

So, last week I was wearing Zoya's Crystal nail polish. After day four, there was some almost unnoticeable tip wear. Although I loved that the blue of Crystal reminded me of water and sand, it was a bit dark for a summertime manicure, in my opinion.

Zoya's Crystal is a metallic blue with flakes of metallic gold in it, giving it this really interesting foil-like finish with a lot of character. I'll admit that I wasn't as fond of the formula in this one as I have been in most of Zoya's polishes. It wasn't streaky or anything, but it didn't hide my sometimes less-than-perfect nails. I had a slightly uneven nail where a layer of my nail had sort of... peeled off. I'm sure someone else out there has had that happen to you. When it next happens, I'll try Zoya's Get Even ridge filler, even though it's not really a ridge. It's the closest thing to ridges that I really get, anyways. Since I don't have that yet, I just used Zoya Anchor as a base coat, and then put Crystal on. It didn't really hide my slightly wonky nail.


After four days, I did what I do best: I got bored. It wasn't that Crystal wasn't pretty. It was a truly stunning color. But it was a bit dark for summer, and I do have the attention span of a goldfish, so I needed a change.

I didn't, however, want to waste any perfectly good polish...so I got a bit creative. I looked at my stash, and had a light bulb moment. Zoya's Godiva was staring me in the face, and I followed my urge to play. Godiva is one of Zoya's Pixie Dust polishes from their first collection. It's a textured matte sparkle formula. Their website describes it as a "soft nude with sugared sparkle." It's quite accurate. When I first tried Godiva, I noticed that it's a bit less opaque than the other Pixie Dusts I've tried... which led to me layering a coat of Godiva over Crystal.

*THUD*

It was so incredibly beautiful I couldn't even stand it. I felt like such a genius, you cannot believe. I think there may have been a happy dance thrown in somewhere. After I did this, I got tons of compliments on it. Only a few of them were from myself. Seriously. It lightened Crystal in a really neat way, while keeping the water-like quality alive. It went from looking like water in the deep ocean to something like a sandbar. I don't really know how to describe it, but I was so thrilled with the result that I took pictures. I'm not even kidding. It possibly looks a little like Zoya's Nyx, which is their periwinkle Pixie Dust, but with more gold and no purple. Sometimes, since it was a blue polish with a layer of a beige-like color, it almost looked a little green. Doesn't the ocean do that, too? It wasn't as green as Zoya's Vespa, though. It was definitely distinctive, and incredible. It was super sparkly and lovely in the sun, too.

Here are a couple of the pics I took:

 These were both taken inside...this was next to a window in a shady spot. The shade made this look darker than it did in real life.

This pic was taken by a window in a sunny spot. It looks a bit greener than in reality, but the lightness is really accurate.

This lasted three extra days, which I view as seriously impressive. Zoya suggests to not put a base coat or top coat over the Pixie Dust polishes. I didn't add a top coat, but I had put Zoya's Armor on when I applied Crystal, so I had a base coat, two coats of polish, and a top coat on UNDER the polish that doesn't need a base coat. Zoya polishes just last and last.

Also, I hope you realize that although I fangirl about Zoya, I don't work for them. Not even a little bit. If I did, I wouldn't have spent upwards of $150 on their polishes and Color Lock system in the last month. Well... I may would have, but I would have been paying with a paycheck from them, which I promise I don't get.

As always, if you love what you see, and don't have a Zoya account, you can follow the link below to their site where you can create an account, and then get a promo code for a free bottle of polish. If you buy two more, you get free shipping.

This is that promised link.

My advice to you? Play with your polish. Sometimes the results are just incredible.

Until next time,

Emily, the Manic Paintress