Zoya Nail Polish Review

Storm, Mimi, Neve, Arianna

Well, I know I’ve been absent for quite a long time. The longest since I’ve started the blog, I’m pretty sure. Thomas had a 7 week work trip down in Long Beach, and we also went home to FL for Thanksgiving, so we were out of town a lot in the last two months. Which brings me to a little detail that I should probably throw in…

We got engaged! The day before our 4 year anniversary in October. And we’re getting married next October.

Now onto what has definitely become my favorite nail polish brand! (And, well, there’s another ring shot too.) 🙂

Arianna

I picked this red glitter (Arianna) Zoya polish on a visit to Vegan Haven right before our trip home last month. This was my first time trying one of the Pixie Dust colors, which leaves a matte glittery finish. It literally looks like real glitter on your fingers, instead of glitter polish. Let me try to get a better picture…

Detail (sorry, I’m not known for my polishing skills!)

I wasn’t sure about how I’d like the texture when I bought it, but ended up liking it, and I thought it was fun and festive in red for the upcoming holidays. It lasted almost a week during our trip, which was about what I expected based on previous experiences. Last year was my 1st time using their polish, and I tried Storm (black shiny glitter polish) and was shocked that it lasted a week without chipping, and I even worked in it! I’m normally the type of person who starts chipping the next day. I’m curious to see how the pixie dust will stand up to the rest of my skating and work week, and will report back with more.

Storm on Day 5!

The best thing about this polish, besides the long wear and nearly infinite amount of colors and finishes available, is the super high quality of the polish. (It also has a super comfy rubberized cap/handle!) Zoya is not only Vegan, but also free of toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and DBP (dibutyl phthalate). One, or any combination of those nasty ingredients had clearly been an issue for my nails in the past, because whenever I had my nails painted with let’s say OPI, it ALWAYS caused tremendous damage to my nails after. They would always start to peel and get brittle, even after just one polishing. That combined with always working a lot with my hands, and for most of the last 10 years of being in the medical field = a lot of hand hygeine, I had pretty much given up fingernail polishing entirely.

Zoya also runs a lot of nice, affordable specials too. The regular sized 0.5 oz bottles go for $9 or $10 each, and mini sized 0.25 oz for $5, when available, which is not terrible. But they often have specials going on which is how I got my initial 3. It was a get 3 polishes for the price of shipping deal that they do once or twice a year, and today I was able to get in on a good one for an 8 oz bottle of remover and 3 polishes with free shipping, for $20!

So I’d highly recommend to follow them on some social media to get some good deals and check them out. I think they do that 3 free polishes deal around the beginning of the year too. Here is their facebook, twitter, pinterest and instagram!

Mat & Nat Vegan Handbags, A Review

I posted a while back about the awesome Gunas bag that I got, but failed to fill you in on the awesome deals I scored on 6pm.com for Matt & Nat bags! These have certainly become my favorite bags over the last few months.

I was particularly lucky that I was able to find their previous season bags at discount because they were much more in line with my aesthetic than their current, more brightly colored, and plainer line. These had nice luxe fabrics including quilted patent and velvety textured fabric, as well as attractive and versatile bronze colored, metal hardware. And if you read my previous post about vegan handbags, then you know I’m a stickler for good hardware! (Helen from Vegtastic! has a larger, but very similar style of  bag to the wristlet below, and I had thoroughly checked the quality of her’s while we were out to dinner one night, prior to purchasing!)

Even though I adore this purse, it’s obviously not all purpose due to its diminutive size. That being said, it has totally filled my need for a dressy vegan wristlet perfectly! The short metal chain can be detached completely, worn as a short strap, or doubled over for a wristlet loop. It also came with a long, lightweight crossbody strap made from the same crinkly patenty fabric as the lining under the flap. I adore it! The lining is made from 4 recycled plastic bottles.

The above bag has become my favorite everyday bag. It comes with an extremely long and fairly heavy metal chain strap (with patent fabric woven into it a la Chanel) that I have not been using much lately due to the weight. It is really convenient to have a strap though for things like grocery shopping, so I keep the strap close to where I keep my keys, in case I think I’ll be needing it. It’s designed to be worn a number of ways besides the obvious cross body shown here. I use it most often as a hand held using the built in handles, but it can also be folded over as a clutch, or worn as a strapped folded baguette type of purse with the additional attachment rings on the back. (See below!)

Those two bottom corner zipper pockets are actually functional, but can only hold something really small like a lip balm. The inside of this one is made from 10 recycled plastic bottles. 🙂 This one is much roomier in comparison, but the zippered portion is still only about halfway up in this bag, so I’d kind of been thinking it’d be nice to have a shoulder bag to fill the gap between the two.

Conveniently, 6pm happened to have one left of that exact wish, which I ordered as I sat down to write this. It’s basically the bigger version of the wristlet, but in that lovely quilted patent. I figured it was too perfect to pass up, especially since M & N are no longer making it, and 6pm only had 1 left in stock! Given how much I’ve already been loving these bags, I think I would’ve been rueful had I not jumped on it.  I do hope Matt & Nat go back to some dressier, gothier styles again once fall/winter roll around. Their quality is excellent, and I love buying from vegan, eco conscious companies.

They still have some of the aforementioned style, the Santogold (same as Helen’s!), left on their site in that super cool crinkly patent, if you’re interested. (And two of the three colors are black & purple!) What’s even better is that they are on sale, along with the matching wallets of the same type, including my favorite style which is this one or maybe this!, so I may have to snatch that up while I still can. (And replace that hello kitty one from Vegas with something a little nicer!) 🙂

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Do you ever shop on 6pm.com for vegan stuff? It’s basically the close out for Zappos.com and if you type vegan into the search bar you’ll find great deals on everything from vegan nail polish, to shoes and handbags. Definitely worth checking out.

GUNAS – Hostess Bag, A Review

My focus for 2013 has definitely shifted from vegan cooking to vegan lifestyle integration. The most major cause of this was the move from Florida to Seattle. Since we got rid of most of our earthly possessions to come here, now that I’ve been working for several months, I’ve been able to start shopping for new vegan versions of things that I parted ways with. I’m the type of person who buys really high quality or unique things and keeps things FOREVER, so when I switched to a vegan diet, the rest of my lifestyle items just lingered around. The sheer expense of doing a complete overhaul was absolutely prohibitive, so I figured it would happen slowly over time as things wore out.

In my pursuit of vegan handbags, I’ve been a stickler for fashion and quality. I like shiny and black, with nice heavy hardware, and classic designs. I wasn’t about to give up my high end purses for some cheapie bag that looked terrible and fell apart in a few months. The replacements would have to be knock outs, vegan or not.

And then I found GUNAS… I was immediately fixated on this Hostess bag. Not only was it black and patent, it had a top handle as well as a nice sturdy looking shoulder chain, and the hardware was NOT gold. Plus, it was on sale. I figured it was worth a shot. Though you can’t really tell quality through internet pictures, I was hoping at this price point I’d get the kind of craftsmanship I was looking for.

After a little bit of a wait, my bag came and completely met [and even exceeded] my expectations! Celebrity vegans like Anne Hathaway carry Gunas bags, and now I know why. These limited edition bags are either made by hand in house or in socially responsible factories elsewhere, depending on the materials. They try to be as eco conscious as possible and have won awards for sustainability in fashion.

It has a beautiful red lining with a zippered pocket and 2 pockets of varying sizes for organization.

It even has feet, which is a touch I really appreciate in my patent bags.

The only con is due to the soft structure of the basket portion of the bag. Trying to get the magnetic snap closure to connect on the bag can be a little tricky. The top flap is sturdy patent, and the body gives with pressure, so you just have to let it slide down onto it. There’s a learning curve there, but I think it’s gotten a bit easier with time (I think due to the slight outward squashing, see below). It is nice and secure though, once it’s closed, which initially was a concern of mine since the points of carrying are all on the top patent piece, but it’s been fine.

Due to the soft body of the bag it has gotten a little squashed. That’s mostly user error though, I tried putting it into my work backpack, and subsequently stuffing them into my work locker. Maybe not the best idea. (Since then I’ve been changing bags and using a wristlet with just the essentials in there.) I don’t think it’s gotten any worse since, and it closes easier now!

Here’s a pic to give you an idea of the size worn on a 5’4″ person. This was its first trip out 5.5 weeks ago. It was right after my humerus fracture (that was one of the only shirts I could fit over my splint!) and it was really convenient to have a purse with a shoulder strap at that time!

Overall Impression:

I’m thrilled with my bag! They have a lot of variety in the styles they offer, so even hard to please people like me should be able to find something lovely to carry. The only thing that bummed me out a bit was that I found it on VeganCuts a couple of weeks after for $30 cheaper! So awesome for you, if you’re thinking about picking one up! (Here’s the link for all the GUNAS bags on vegan cuts!) And I’ll definitely check on there 1st for future purchases. (Which would probably be this wallet. It’s not the matching wallet, and it’s got gold hardware, but I don’t care. I think it’s ADORABLE!)

Thank you GUNAS! : )