NOTD: Charla & New Zoyas!

I GOT MY FREE ZOYA POLISHES!  

Hooray!  I ordered Gwin, Charla (in spite of its many dupes), and Pippa.  I tried Charla first... it's still a little too grey and rainy for Gwin and Pippa, I think.  I'll try to swatch them, though, if I have time.

I've been wearing Charla for 4 days now with my normal base and topcoats, and only have minor tipwear.  There's a little VNL (Visible Nail Line) in the picture... I didn't really notice it in real life.  I did only put on two coats, though, so I'm sure that's the reason for it.  I've gotten several compliments on the color, and I feel like the polish must be made of ground mermaid scales to be as watery and sparkly as it is.  Even the Friend-Boy was fascinated by the color when I got it... he kept picking up the bottle and turning it over in the light.

Macro/angle shot to show the duochrome effect... it is there, really, although it is rather subtle.

I'm going to change my polish tonight anyway, so this morning I decided to mix things up a bit by stamping with one of the odd Bundle Monster designs and China Glaze's "For Audrey."  I also finished it with a matte topcoat.

Another closeup for duochrome.  Meh.  I am not a huge fan of completely matte looks... I prefer my polish shiny.

Materials:

• Sinful Colors basecoat
• Zoya "Charla" (FREEEEEEeeeee!  Charla is a greenish teal with a blue duochrome effect. It has a half-dozen dupes, but this color is amazing.  Use it for all your mermaid-ing needs.)
• Seche Vite topcoat
• China Glaze "For Audrey" (also FREEEeee when I got a backup bottle of Seche Vite.  I've been interested in this color for a while, and I'm happy to have it.  More info when I actually try to do a mani with it.)
• China Glaze "Matte Magic" (This matte topcoat slightly lightens the color it is applied over.)
• Bundle Monster Image Plate BM20, stamper, scraper, and other required goodies.

Method:

• Start with clean, dry nails and a well-ventilated space.
• Apply basecoat to all nails, let dry.
• Apply Charla to all nails, letting dry between coats.  I ended up only using 2 coats, but probably 3 is better.
• Top with Seche Vite.
• Wear for several days, until you are bored and want a change...
• Stamp nails with For Audrey and the funny wiggly design from BM20. My nails are so short that I only had to stamp once with the shorter direction of the image!
• Let dry and top with a thickish swipe of Matte Magic.  I found that Matte Magic wanted to smear much more than my usual Seche Vite.