Zoya Daul

This is Zoya Daul, the second of three polishes I ordered from the recent Zoya promo.  Frankly I'm kind of disappointed.  I was hoping Daul would look like it does in this pic:

Picture is from here:  http://killerlipgloss.com/zoya-diva-collection-for-fall-2012-swatches/zoya-daul/

But instead it looks like it does in this picture, which is color accurate:

Picture is from here:  http://www.theshadesofu.com/2012/07/zoya-nyfw-2012-diva-collection-swatches.html

The first picture is mine, the other two above are not.  Daul is a grape polish with tons of gold glass fleck shimmer.  Sounds great on paper, right?  Daul looks like a mauve-y bronze in real life.  At some angles the grape color is more prominent, but mostly it looks exactly like the picture directly above.  This color is not the best on my pale skin.  I'm hoping I'll like it better in the summer when I'm "tan".  (I'm pale and always wear sunscreen, so it hardly counts as tan.)  It is still pretty, just not what I wanted or expected.
EDIT:  I tried Daul again in the summer.  In direct sunlight Daul looks like the 2nd picture.  In fact it looks much better then the second picture.  The gold glass fleck shimmer positively glows in the sunlight.

On a whim, I thought I'd try to do a gradient with Zoya Rica.  The colors don't go together, but the finishes do.  It was kind of cool, despite the clashing colors.  Rica, an orange toned coral with gold glass fleck shimmer, did manage to make Daul actually look purple.   I had to brush Rica on for the gradient.  When I tried to sponge Rica on with a make-up sponge, all that showed up was the gold shimmers and not the color.  I did sponge where the two colors meet to blend them together.

 After a while, I had to admit that the colors really didn't go together.  I was going to remove it, but instead I tried stamping it with Wet 'n Wild Black Creme and Konad M60.  It helped disguise the clashing colors.

Zoya Rica

Direct Sunlight

Shade

This is Zoya Rica.  It was my free "red' polish in last years Zoya Valentine's Day promotion.  Rica is not red at all, but I'm glad it was listed under reds because I didn't need a red polish.  Rica is a orange leaning coral with gold shimmer.  I don't have a picture of Rica in indoor light, but it is more orange indoors.  I like this on my nails but love it on my toes. 

Wet 'n Wild Spoiled Shrimp on the Barbie

This is Wet 'n Wild Spoiled Shrimp on the Barbie.  Spoiled polishes are a CVS exclusive and 2$ each.  They do go on sale pretty often.  I have some other spoiled polishes.  With two of my other spoiled polishes, the brush was wide, but nice.  With this bottle, the brush is just a mop.  This brush is not tapered properly at the end.  I like the color.  It changes depending on the light.  It is decidedly more orange in indoor light.  Unfortunately for me, this goes on more orange then the bottle.  I was looking for something that was a pink version of Zoya Rica, which I love.  As it turns out, these polishes are pretty similar in indoor light and shade. In the pictures below Zoya Rica is on the ring and index finger and Shrimp on the Barbie is on the pinkie and middle finger.  Rica is oranger and has more gold sparkle.  Rica looks much better on my skin tone. 

Indoor Light

Outdoor Shade

Outdoor Sunlight

Hunger Games Manicure, The Girl Who Was on Fire Nails

Why didn't I take this picture with the Hunger Games book?  It is currently out on loan.  Catching Fire is the second book in the series.  If you haven't read The Hunger Games, you should.  In the book they mention a manicure the main character, Katniss, got in her Hunger Games makeover.  It is described in the book as flames carefully painted on her nails.  Here is how I did my version.

This will all sound way more complicated then it is.  I did a yellow/coral/red gradient nail with a make-up sponge.  Then I used a dotting tool to add black over the top to make flames.
Step 1-  Base coat.  I used Essie All in One Base.
Step 2- One coat of white or milky colored ridge filler.  Most yellows take several coats.  Over a white polish, you need less coats of yellow polish.  I used Sally Hansen Whirlwind White.

Step 3-  Do as I say, not as I do.  Add one coat of yellow to the entire nail.  I used Wet n Wild Spoiled Mind Your Own Beeswax.  I only added the yellow halfway on the nail, but the orange/coral polish will cover better over yellow then it will white.
Step 4-  Add a 2nd coat of yellow halfway up the nail.
Step 5- My only polish color that didn't have shimmer was the yellow.  So I added a coat of Essie Pure Pearlfection halfway up the nail over the part that will remain yellow.  If none of your polish colors have shimmer, wait until you are done with the yellow/orange/red gradient, and then add a coat of shimmer.  You will want the entire gradient to have shimmer. This part will eventually become the fire.

Step 6-  Sponge an orange or coral polish beginning half way and ending 3/4 of the way up the nail.  I use a small section of a make-up sponge to do this.  If the orange/coral ends up being sponged on the entire last 1/2 of the nail, that is perfectly fine.  You will go over it with red anyway.  I used Zoya Rica.

Step 7-  Sponge a red polish onto the last 1/4 of the nail.  I used Zoya Jade.

Step 8-  Paint squiggles on the nail with a black polish.  I used Wet n Wild Black Cream.  Ideally you want a cream finish to contrast with the shimmery fire gradient.  You can either use a dotting tool or a nail art brush to paint the squiggles.  I used a dotting tool.  When I was trying this out over an old manicure a few weeks ago, I used a art brush and that worked fine too.
Step 9-  Paint black in a fine line along the edges and cuticle of the nail using either a dotting tool or a nail art brush.  Paint closed any areas at the top (by cuticle) that seem like they should be connected.  I connected a few too many squiggles.  The video shows how to do step 8 and 9 and shows an alternate way to do a fire nail. 
Step 10- Top coat.  I used Seche Vite.

I'm obviously a nail art beginner (see above pictures :)).  But, anything I can do, you can do.  I have the art skills of a second grader.  This looks complicated, but isn't.  It does take a bit of time, but probably less then you think it will take.  You could do this with other colors as a base (blues?) to look like cars or bikes painted with flames.  And remember...

May the odds be ever in your favor.