Work has been just... terrible lately. I really need to find another job. I have been there nearly 10 years, but things have changed so much and it's just not a place I am comfortable working anymore. :( It's really sad, but it's the truth. I had mentioned before that we switched our focus from service to sales, and with that came a daily sales requirement that is... well, I won't say it is unreachable, because it isn't impossible, but it isn't likely to happen. My department started off very well with the new program and put a lot of effort into it, but then the bank decided to change the rules of the program and did not reward for the hard work like they had promised they would. As a result, most of the department quit putting in the effort. Since I am responsible for them, if they don't do it, I lose my job, so everyone is breathing down my neck. I am basically begging the staff to put some effort into it, with hardly any improvement. I asked the other day what would motivate them to their original efforts again, and was told nothing was going to do that. Um... so basically, they have gotten me fired, along with themselves. *sigh* I love my staff and I absolutely understand their feelings, but they don't seem to understand that if they don't follow along with the program, we are all getting fired!!
In other life news... anyone in Illinois (or anywhere else that we can get her to!) willing to take in a very sweet and loving cat? Sydney is my parents' cat, she is around 13 years old, black and tan tiger-striped and will be your very best friend. She has had a few potty problems lately and my parents have decided to put her to sleep, even though otherwise, she is healthy and happy. Recent vet visits have proven she has no diseases, but my parents do not want to deal with the inconvenience of these litter box problems and are going to have her put down. I have begged them to let me have her and they refuse, same with taking her to the local humane society. They claim they don't want her to be anyone else's problem, but that is not fair - someone else could love her and understand that there are potty issues with age. I am so angry, hurt, disappointed, and disgusted with them. I'm also not speaking to them, which does suck because we are normally very close. I am hoping if I can find her a loving home, my parents would be willing to try that instead of killing her because she is inconveniencing them. I wish I had a good picture to show you - if you look in her adorable little face, it is impossible to not love her. Sydney is tiny, weighs maybe 3 lbs?, has a tiny short tail that is all wonky and weird at the tip (we believe it was caught in something when she was young - we picked her out at the vet's office when she was a couple of years old, they found her roaming the streets), and is missing a bottom tooth (not sure when that happened, I just noticed the last time I was there that it was gone!). She is extremely quiet - she actually is unable to make sounds! When we first got her, she made little creaky sounds instead of meows, but within the last few years, she has lost the ability altogether. She still tries, but no sound comes out. She has the biggest green eyes and the sweetest little face. Sydney wants to be everyone's best friend. She will do anything for attention, including walking on her hind legs just trying to get you to pet her! She currently lives with another cat and they get along great - he thinks she is his mother and she treats him as her own. If anyone has any suggestions for anything else I can do to try to help her... please let me know. I am heartbroken over this. Here are a couple of blurry pics of Sydney with my hubby... she adores him and as much as he hates to admit it, the feeling is mutual:
So... moving on now to what you came here to read about - Zoya Intimate Collection. I've had this for awhile... basically, since Cilucia at Spaz & Squee posted swatches and I HAD to have it! She has a great post with them and great comparisons - check it out here. I've done different comparisons than her, so hopefully between the two of us, you'll figure out what you need and what you can skip!
Dove is a light grey creme that leans neither blue, brown, or green - just a true grey. Not too many of those around! Similar in color to China Glaze's Pelican Gray, Cilucia compared them - PG has shimmer. I tried another pale grey I had, Avon's Urban Grey. Definitely not a match!
Compared to Dove, Urban Grey looks off white!
Marley is a shimmery lavender that is surprisingly opaque in two coats. I dunno if I would classify it as a shimmer... it's more like a hidden shimmer, but it's not so hidden as, say, Essie Sew Psyched. I don't have much in the way of lavenders (lemming Rumples Wiggin' bigtime!), but I do have this, Avon's Luxe Lavender.
Umm... again... no match. Not even close.
Gemma is a dusty army green with a blue shimmer - totally unique, I haven't seen anything else like it! I decided to try to make it myself with a similar colored polish topped with CND Ice Blue Shimmer. Here are my results (resluts!):
From left to right: Essie Sew Psyched, American Apparel Army Jacket, and Gemma. As you can see, Army Jacket topped with Ice Blue Shimmer comes close - if you have both of these, you might be able to skip out on Gemma.
Caitlin is a beautiful periwinkle cream and honestly, I have nothing even close in my 700 +/- stash. Others have said it is an exact dupe to Petites Periwinkle, but that polish is not available to me here, so I haven't gotten to see for sure. All You Desire compared it to Spa Ritual's A World of Compassion and has stated they are dupes as well - check out her post here. Then don't forget to come back - I know her, blog is AMAZING!
Dannii is a purple umm... I don't know what to classify this finish as! Any suggestions? It's kinda foily, but not a foil, and the little particles in it kinda remind me of a glass fleck, or something like Charla... but it's not really any of those things. This is the one I was most excited for and I really love it.
In the bottle, the color seemed similar to Zoya Zara, but as you can see, totally different!
Finally we have Jules, another weird finish like Dannii, but this time in a gold/silver blend. I like this one a lot more than I thought I was going to, it's pretty unique. I heard rumours that it was dupe-ish to Wet 'n Wild's Shield and China Glaze's Swing Baby, but it really isn't... at all!
Left to right: Swing Baby, Shield, Jules. The other two, besides being different colors, are way different in finish to the Zoya.
Overall, I was very pleased with this collection. Nice range of colors, nothing is a total dupe to something in my stash, and application was great. I think I did 2-3 coats on each (depending on color), which is pretty standard, especially for Zoya.
I've got to wrap this one up for tonight, as lots of other things are waiting on me (like hubby, who needs me to pick him up from work!), but please leave your thoughts in the comments. I have switched over to Disqus because it is SO much better for replying to comments and keeping track of conversations, so please, comment away!
And any suggestions on the Sydney situation would be much appreciated. *sniffles*
Basecoat: none
Topcoat: none
Number of coats: 2-3
