May 19, 2019

Maple Holistics Silk18 Conditioner Review!

*Sent for review*

I'm excited to introduce you all today to a new to me brand, Maple Holistics, and their fabulous Silk18 Conditioner. I have been using this conditioner for over a month now and am really loving it. I took the picture above after using it for all that time, so you can see this will be a long-lasting product. Let me start off by being honest about my current hair situation. I haven't had it cut since January and it is a wild and unruly mane right now. I am WAY overdue for a cut, but have been feeling very uninspired in the hair department. Despite all of this, I have received several compliments on my hair in the last few weeks and I suspect I have Maple Holistics to thank for that!



When Maple Holistics first contacted me to see if I'd like to try this conditioner, I visited their website and was pleased to find that they are PETA-certified cruelty-free. All of their hair products are sulfate and paraben free, and the Silk18 Conditioner is silicone-free too! This was great news for me, as my skin is very sensitive to silicones of any kind and I try to avoid them at all costs. Maple Holistics says the Silk18 Conditioner contains a blend of eighteen silk amino acids that "are enhanced with a nourishing blend of argan oil, shea butter, organic pomegranate, and jojoba oil which deliver nutrients to promote softer, smoother, more lustrous looking tresses". I have definitely noticed shinier hair in the weeks since I started using this conditioner and I normally would not describe my hair as shiny.


Aside from my hair feeling softer and looking shinier, this conditioner smells AMAZING!! The soft, natural vanilla scent is incredible and makes me want to eat it! I don't notice a lot of the scent lingering on my hair all day, but that's fine with me as I prefer to not have a strongly scented hair product. Here's a pic of the wild, yet shiny, mane in the wind yesterday 😂. Now I'm off to make a hair appointment so I can see how great my hair looks when it's been cut and I use this conditioner!


Maple Holistics Silk18 Conditioner is available here through their website and is actually sold by Amazon. Maple Holistics also has a great blog on their website with useful beauty tips and info, including this article on damaged hair. I spent awhile perusing the blog and came away with some good info. I have several other products I plan on ordering from Maple Holistics, so stay tuned for more reviews!

May 11, 2019

Zoya Innocence Collection Spring 2019 Swatches!

*Sent for review*

Happy spring! I have the Zoya Innocence Spring 2019 collection today and it's a great mix of soft neutrals and pops of bold colors. First up is Zoya Birch, a gorgeous soft grayed-out lavender creme.  This is a a perfect neutral for spring, soft, but still a little edgy looking thanks to the lavender tones. 


This is two easy coats. Birch was very pigmented, if you do thicker coats, it may be nearly opaque in one coat. I like to do thinner coats to prevent chipping. Really great coverage and effortless application.



Zoya Theo is an interesting dark gray slightly textured polish with silver flakes and black/dark blue glitters (Zoya says they are dark blue, but they are so dark they look black to me). Zoya says this is like "a spring thunderstorm in the night", love it. If you're not a fan of texture polish, this really isn't one. It feels mostly smooth and doesn't eat topcoat like a regular textured polish. But you can kind of see the texture, even under the shiny topcoat.


This was three thin coats of Theo. I had a little sheerness at the tips with two coats, so I added the third. It was easy to apply and only needed one layer of topcoat.



Zoya Agnes is a warm neutral pink creme. It's right about halfway between beige and pink, depending on lighting and skin tone it may lean more one way than the other.


This is two coats. Like Birch, Agnes is very pigmented and has fantastic full coverage. It was also easy to apply and streak-free.



Zoya Fern is a really interesting color and perfect for spring. If you've ever wanted a neutral green, here it is! Fern is a mixture of green and gray, with a hint of blue, with pearly gold shimmer. The shimmer is a little more obvious in the bottle than on the nail, but it still adds a nice element to the polish. Very unique and beautiful color!


Happily, this is also two easy coats. Fern was lovely to apply and had a great consistency, I didn't even need to do any clean up on this one.



Here's one of the two pops of color in the Innocence collection. Zoya Evette is a saturated grape creme with a hint of pink undertone. It's not too bright or too dark, just a nice bold purple. I think the slight pink undertone makes this one different from other purples in my collection.


Two coats again here. Evette is nicely opaque, great coverage. I did manage to flood my cuticles twice so don't load too much polish on the brush with this one.



I saved my favorite of the collection for last! Zoya Aire is a deepened periwinkle blue creme. This shade of blue is just absolutely perfect. It has the elements of a periwinkle, but in a bold dark color. This is the first polish I wore in the collection and I will be wearing it many more times this spring and summer!


I'm always happy when my favorite shade in the collection also performs well and Aire meets that challenge! Two effortless coats, fully pigmented, and no troubles applying. Love it!!


My top two in this collection are Aire and Fern, but honestly you can't go wrong with any of these polishes. The two neutrals have fabulous formulas, so those are a great pick if you are a neutral fan or just need to add some to your collection. Theo is such a unique polish and Evette is a stunning color. Well done Zoya!!

The Zoya Innocence Spring collection is available now on zoya.com.