Zoya Paz

I had my nails done at a salon for my friend's wedding this past weekend. It was a Girls Day Out and I wanted to join in the fun even if that meant giving my nails to someone else to polish... well, I loved the awesome cuticle pushing but I'm still in the process of reshaping my nails back to a more matching length and shape. What's up with salons filing my nails diagonally? This is the third time this has happened to me - are my finger tips crooked or something??

After a few days of wearing a sheer shade for the wedding, I couldn't wait to wear one of my favorite neons.  Zoya Paz is from the Summer 2009 La-Di-Da collection - this was the bright cremes counterpart to the Ooh-La-La metallics. La-Di-Da has been spotted at Ulta recently, so keep an eye out for it if you want the polish but don't want to pay the online S&H.

Paz is an ultra bright fluorescent safety neon orange - aka new traffic cone bright! I used three coats of Paz because the formula felt thin for a creme, but that thinness helped make application completely foolproof. No chance of dragging, uneven patches, or pooling with this polish.

Paz dries quickly to a semi-matte finish, which reminded me of a glowing ember. I prefer Paz with a shiny top coat because it really amps up the shade to full traffic cone brightness. Of course, the neon intensity is hard to capture in a picture - I think the bottle in the bottom pic would be closest to color accurate if the orange was just a bit brighter.

This polish glows in all lighting - it is truly intense and not for the timid polish wearer. Paz is one polish that definitely makes me happy - its brightness, unique color, super easy application, even its name! I wholeheartedly recommend it for a daring pedicure if the glowing highlighter brightness is too much for your hands.

OWWWP - BB Couture Hermosa Surfer Girl

I finally have one of those comparisons I mentioned before!

Hermosa Surfer Girl is from the BB Couture California Beaches collection. This reddish pink jelly is packed with multicolored glitter and happens to be BB Couture creator Cindy Scott's favorite shade.

I don't think I could achieve full opacity with this jelly because it is on the sheerer side. From swatches online, I've noticed that people will use four coats to achieve a darker raspberry shade with Hermosa Surfer Girl.  I used three coats because I think the pink looks brighter and more summery.

The absolute best thing about this polish is the incredible glitter. This shade is packed with tiny silver microglitter and slightly larger multicolored glitter. You can see gold and green and red and orange - like an explosion of pixy stix sugar!

Zoya Lindsay is a pretty pink jelly with a lovely silver-lavender shimmer running through it, but I think Hermosa Surfer Girl spoiled me. Shimmer is nice, but I love that multicolored glitter... shall we compare on the hand?

 Lindsay, HSG, Lindsay, HSG

These two polishes are definitely similar with minor differences - Lindsay needs that fourth coat (either full or touch up) because it's that sheer, Lindsay dries faster and smoother, Hermosa Surfer Girl has a slightly redder base and it needs a top coat to smooth the fine grit finish that it dries to on its own. I like them both on their own, but side by side, I prefer Hermosa Surfer Girl.

I'm in a Project Runway mood (counting down the days to the new season premiere) so to paraphrase Michael Kors - it's like someone took the volume dial on Lindsay and *zhoosh* cranked it up to get Hermosa Surfer Girl. Maybe I could layer or add something to Lindsay for a *zhoosh* boost?