Zoya Alicia

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 The sun is out after some grey days, so it's HOLO TIME!

indoor, bright CF lighting

Zoya  released Alicia as part of 2016's "Urban Grunge" collection, and up front I gotta say that it made my head spin when the 90s were a trendy fashion thing a couple of years ago.  Side story - it reminded me of the time in high school where my mom made me a super cute 70s trapeze dress for a Halloween costume, using one of the patterns she'd worn herself back in high school.  I'm floored to realize that those faraway 70s are roughly the same distance from the 90s as the now faraway 90s are to today.  Ahem.

outdoor, bright direct daylight

Alicia can only be named for Ms Silverstone, she who broke big during the aforementioned grunge era, though I don't remember her having anything to do with grunge per se... which then again, this whole collection didn't really scream plaid & combat boots to me.

outdoor, shady/overcast daylight

Instead of any dark or gungy colors, Alicia is a very bright true-silver holo.  Some of the original swatchers called this one linear, but it's definitely not - the holo here is created by a rather small silver micoflakie.  While this flake holo finish can sometimes get swamped by the base and end up looking like plain silver flakes, nope, in Alicia it truly does give off a nice scattered rainbow. 

outdoor, bright direct daylight

I'm showing two smooth coats here, with my typical single layer of topcoat.  Zoya's brush is fairly small compared to what a lot of indies are using right now, and frankly I'm just fine with that (I loathe the monster-size flat paddles that are steadily gaining popularity). 

indoor, bright CF lighting

In addition to the holo flake, there's a gorgeous pearlescent metallic champagne gold shimmer overlay in here that contributes nicely to the opacity without masking the holo effect.  Alicia is a good bit lighter/brighter than my old friend Femme Fatale Mirror of Dawn, and is flake holo instead of linear holo, but the two are sisters of a sort. 

outdoor, bright direct daylight

indoor, CF lighting

Rating:  a pretty pearly metallic-y 4 out of 5 stars.  This went on nicely, wore nicely, and shone in the sun quite nicely.  It'd be a great base for some bold black & gunmetal nail art, or add a neat silvery pop to a fluid mani, too, if wearing it solo wasn't enough.

Where to buy:  anywhere you typically pick up Zoya - Ulta and similar beauty stores are my go-to. 

~Michelle 

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