Zoya Sunshine Summer 2018 Collection Makes Me B-A-N-A-N-A-S

The Not So Sunny Side

Dear readers, before I amaze and astound you with the beautiful and bright Zoya Summer 2018 Collection, I have some news. Some rather life-changing news. Some rock your world, or at least my world, kind of news. 

Since the beginning of Nailed It, you've seen posts and words about my life, which involved a long-time boyfriend. As of late March, that's all changed. That boy and I have broken up, after a decade of being with one another. I've ridden and will continue to ride the rollercoaster of emotions that comes with terminating such a big part of my early adult life. There's good times and bad, but I know this needed to happen. I won't bore you with the nitty gritty of it all, and if you're dying to know, I can be reached by email. Ultimately, I'll be ok. Just know that this has been the focus of my life, and it's been all-consuming. Sorry about that. Friendships have been tested over it. Belonging have been lost over it. Tears have been shed over it. Gallons and gallons of tears. But it's happened and I'm coping. Healthy or not, I'm coping. 

A wonderful, special, serendipitous client of mine suggested I read Tiny Beautiful Things when she learned what I was going through. To those of you who are, have, or will soon be going through something equally world-shattering, I couldn't recommend this book more. If you're familiar with Wild (the book-turned-movie starring Reese Witherspoon), you're familiar with Cheryl Strayed, whose excerpts from an advice column make up Tiny Beautiful Things. This book has helped me learn things about myself and everyone around me that I was otherwise blind to, willingly or obliviously. Her words aren't perfect, and her advice stings sometimes, but both provided a lot of insight I needed. 

One coping mechanism gained through Tiny Beautiful Things is to focus on the things you have, and the triumphs you have achieved. My coworkers constantly remind me that humble or not, I have achieved some pretty amazing things in my life as a nail blogger. After listing those things for myself, I know that pouring my empty heart into something I love is what will help fill it again. Nail art does that for me. 

So bear with me as I go through construction of a new life, and let me know you enjoy this. I certainly do, and nothing can change that but me. There you go, and there you have it. 

Now some nail polish.

The Sunny Side

Today's review is full of bright pinks that make me smile - the Zoya Sunshine collection for Summer 2018. There was lots of things I could do with the organic gradient of pinks it offers, but all I've been wanting to do is bananas. Every single home decorating store I've walked into or Googled has some accent of banana leaves or similar fern. So I used a few colors as the basis for my tropical getaway and ran with it. For the base of the leaves, introducing Jack. For the base of the fruit, introducing Minnie. 

I used an entire Zoya palette (except the black) for the nail art too. Darcy is the tireless yellow. I've accented the greens, Ness and Wyatt, with Snow White. Freehand, of course.

Swatches of Zoya Sunshine

Zoya - Clementine

Clementine (2 coats) is a warm peachy pink with gold shimmer throughout, warming it up even more. Like a fresh sunburn slathered up with shimmering aloe gel. 

Zoya - Delia

Delia (2 coats) is a rich and bold lilac creme. And speaking of lilac, the bushes in Boulder are all in FULL bloom right now. It might be the most intoxicating smell that's ever passed under my nose.

Zoya - Ellie

Ellie (2 coats) is a very vibrant fuchsia that was almost a one-coat polish. And speaking of flowers, I recently learned that the word "fuchsia" not only describes a color, but also a genus of flowering plants named the same. I ask, which came first, the genus or the color?  

Zoya - Jack

Jack (2 coats) is a nude creme, a bit on the fair side. And speaking of Jack, Zoya must be running out of girl names for their polishes. May I submit "Katy" for consideration? 

Zoya - Karen

We all know at least one Karen in our life. You KNOW the one. Dane Cook said it best. Luckily, this Karen (2 coats) is not "a bag of douche", and is a great cherry poppin' red creme. 

Zoya - Marigold

Marigold (2 coats) is aptly named, because this red-orange creme is swimming with gold shimmer.

Zoya - Minnie

Minnie (2 coats) is a really fun neon salmon creme, and used for the banana base in my coco loco nail art. Ok, and this is something specific I noticed immediately about this color. It's so very similar to an old OPI color from the Couture de Minnie collection, which was a collection inspired by, you guessed it, Minnie Mouse. The color, Chic from Ears to Tail, is practically a dupe!

Zoya - Missy

Missy (2 coats) is Minnie's cool sister, literally. Same finish, just a few drops cooler. 

Zoya - Nahla

I've labeled Nahla (2 coats) as a "gold glitter bash with some holoness". I think that covers it. And speaking of coverage, it looks great at 2 coats!

Zoya - Saldana

Saldana (2 coats) doesn't cover as well as Nahla, but it's a similar idea. A layerable light blue glitter mix with a festival of different sized glitter chunks. Very Frozen-esque. 

Zoya - Sandy

Sandy (2 coats) is my favorite creme from the collection, even if it does scream "HEY PEPTO-BISMOL!"  

Zoya - Virginia

Last but not least, Virginia (2 coats). Which is maybe 0.2348797 percent lighter than Karen. But for all intents and purposes, Virginia and Karen are twins. Maybe separated at birth, but still twins. 

The products in this post were given for review purposes. The reviews are based entirely on my experience with the products and were in no way influenced by anyone.