Wearing the new Zoya Tickled summer 2014 collection with my favorite scarf…

Giddy-up, little darlin’! We’re living in the Wild West of the nail polish frontier, where anything goes when it comes to tips and toes.

Once upon a time, not so long ago, when the lacquer landscape was tamer territory, most gals stuck to one shade of polish at a time, and if you felt like pushing the envelope, maybe you’d get a French manicure or a small dangly charm for your pinky.

These days, we’re way more adventurous than that! Whether it’s nail art in your team’s colors, Skittles manis, accent nails, glitter gradients, bumpy textures or ombre effects, anything it goes.

You can even match your nails to your accessories, which is what I’m doing now with the new Zoya Tickled collection ($9 per bottle).

With the six-piece summer release of creamy shades, it kind of seem like Zoya’s channeling Essie (in a very good way). Here my multicolored mani matches my favorite scarf, which I picked up on sale at Anthropologie last summer.

On my nails clockwise from my thumb: Rooney, Tilda, Ling, Rocha and Wendy; nail polish bottles clockwise from the blue bottle: Ling, Rooney and Wendy

On my nails clockwise from my pinky: Kitridge, Tilda, Rooney, Wendy and Ling (two coats each); bottles clockwise from the green shade: Tilda, Rocha and Kitridge

I’m wearing two coats of each creamy, pigmented shade with Guerlain Le Gel topcoat (two words: shiny, sturdy) on top.

The smooth colors are packed with pigment (no streaks, BTW, not even with Kitridge, the pale pink polish), but a word of caution…

I’m just wearing them with a topcoat here (lazy girl says what now?), but you may want to go all out with these and also wear a base coat.

Then, in addition to that, you’ll probably also want Siri to remind you to reapply your top coat every other day.

Since I skipped the base coat this time around, I started seeing small chips around the edges of four fingernails by the end of the second day…

Wearing a multicolored mani with a matching scarf is one of the quickest fashion tips/conversation starters I know, and an easy way to gussy up a basic outfit like jeans and a tee, or a simple black dress (I do it all the time).

With multicolored manis, I get out of glancing down at my nails as I’m typing. Highly recommended if you spend a lot of time at a computer.
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The new three-piece Zoya Magical Pixie Spring 2014 collection

The new PixieDust polishes in Zoya’s Magical Pixie collection sparkle like Ryan Gosling’s pearly whites on the red carpet, *zing!*

Hexagonal flecks of iridescent goodness combine with finer flecks of shimmer to create a dazzling effect more powerful than the gravitational pull of J. Lo’s butt.

You have no choice but to stare…

Ain’t no party like a glitter party, so of course I had to go there. And this glitter does not mess around.

I think Zoya’s regular PixieDust formula is pretty flashy on its own, but the addition of extra hex pieces here takes it to the next level. Totally worthy of a bacchanalian bachelorette par-taaaaay in Vegas, or perhaps a cat fight on Real Housewives of Atlanta.

Rosy Lux, silver Cosmo and blue Vega are all full coverage, and Zoya recommends 2-3 coats on clean nails (no base coat needed), although, I bet if you could get away with a single layer if you were in a hurry.

For each of these swatches below, I used two… Force of habit, ya know?

Vega, a cool-toned shimmery textured blue (two coats)

I love the way cool-toned blue Vega, my favorite of the bunch, shimmers… It takes me back to when El Hub and I had just started dating.

We’d visit his family in Hawaii over the holidays, and I’d wake up early in the mornings to sneak in a pre-dawn surf session. Vega glimmers just like those teal blue waters sparkled as the sun came up.

Lux, a cool-toned textured glittery pink (two coats)

Can you see the purple pieces of glitter in cool-toned pink Lux (my second favorite one)? I think they give it a dainty, feminine touch.

Cosmo, a glittery textured silver (two coats)

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The Zoya Naturel Collection

I’ve always felt like pale, creamy nail polishes were Essie’s domain, but Zoya’s been staging a creamy coup. They’re quickly becoming my favorite line when it comes to colors in the same vein as Ballet Slippers.

Zoya’s famously potent pigments are totally MIA in Naturel, the brand’s new six-piece spring collection, as are the streaks that often accompany light, creamy polishes.

It’s Naturel, with an “E”

Nudes, rosy tones (the “in thing” right now, as my mom would say) and cream finishes abound! — and not a speck o’ glitter in sight.

These shades are easy like Sunday morning…even on a Monday afternoon.

Chantal (two coats)

Is it just me, or has the whole rose-toned trend sort of jumped the shark? Almost? Between this collection and Urban Decay’s Naked 3 palette — I don’t know — I feel a little burned out on rose (file that under “Things I Never Expected To Say in Print”).

Not that I don’t like the shades in Naturel, because I do. I think they’re beautifully…subdued.

Taylor (two coats)

In musical terms, I would not call Naturel a rock opera. The colors definitely do not remind me of Bohemian Rhapsody, and if you only like nail collections that hit extremely high and/or low notes, Naturel probably won’t make you hear and see thunderbolts and lightening (very, very frightening! — ungh! Galileo!).

Rue (two coats)

Instead, it’s like a pleasant mid-tempo pop song on the easy listening station. Sure, you can bob your head to it and hum along. Or, you can fall asleep… Totally your call.

Brigitte (two coats)

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The six-piece Zoya PixieDust collection for Fall 2013

Some textured nail polishes make me feel a little queasy…

Oh! — especially the flat matte ones that feel extra gritty (eww, my skin just crawled).

But even if textured lumps and bumps aren’t your cup o’ tea, I think the six polishes in Zoya’s new PixieDust fall collection are worth a look/feel.

Why?

Because they glisten with gallons and gallons of glitter and cray-cray pigment!

Yeah, and not just cray pigment, but cray². In fact, four of the six — orange Dhara, magenta Arabella, green Chita and blue sunshine — only need a single coat.

The other two — Golden beige Tomoko and purple Carter (my fave!) — are two-coaters, but that doesn’t make me like them any less. Both still coat my nails completely, covering them in opaque color and buckets of glitter.

The intense jewel tones in the release remind me so much of fall that I almost feel like putting away my flamingo shorts.

Carter PixieDust

Dhara PixieDust

Arabella PixieDust

Chita PixieDust

Sunshine PixieDust

Tomoko PixieDust

Carter

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Getting down to the nitty gritty with two layers of $9 Zoya Pixie Dust in Godiva, available now at Zoya counters and also online

I had a very long, very beauty nerd-seque conversation with a friend a while back about nail polishes with unconventional textures, ala bumps and grit.

I was wearing Zoya’s $9 Pixie Dust in Godiva on my tips at the time, walking around with nails that looked like they’d been dipped in sugar.

New for spring, Godiva’s brimming with fine bits of gritty glitter.

My buddy said the feel of the finish gave her the heebie-jeebies — like clawing a chalkboard or sandpaper — and I can see where she’s coming from. I mean, why purposefully put something lumpy and bumpy on a smooth set of nails?

But then there’s also the question, “Why not?”

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