Zoya Blaze

Hah, after a month straight of an indie, it almost feels a little odd to post a commercial polish! But this one is an absolute stunner. Zoya Blaze is from the Ornate collection, Zoya's offering for this past holiday season. The Ornate collection had the distinction of containing Zoya's first holos: Storm, Aurora, and Blaze. Predictably enough, I'm not crazy about the purple, but I was surprised to find that not only did  I not care for the black, I fell for the red/pink/berry/whatever you want to call it!

Prior to this, I had been having some trouble with my manis. Lots of disappointment. Unlike Eclectic, Valerie, and Kelly, Blaze was just delightful to work with. Smooth formula, with a good drying time. I found that Blaze was even in 2 coats, but a third added depth. Here it is in the sun:

I did apply top coat before taking these pictures, but I want to point out that it was quite shiny alone! You could forego the topcoat if you were so inclined. It's weird and unexpected how much I like this color. When I wore it, I even did my pedicure to match. That almost never happens.

Oh, and for the record, the holographic bits are a lot more rainbow-y in person. More camera problems...

So, my 3 year-old niece has picked up on my ever-changing nail color, and always grabs my hands to inspect them when she sees me. She seemed to really like this one, because when she looked at it she grinned at me and said, "Naz! Pretty color!!"

I can't think of any dupes for this. I know Picture Polish recently released Shocked, but that is a lighter and brighter pink. There's Ozotic Pro 621, which is definitely red with slightly orange-y undertones, Picture Polish Monroe, which is a vampy red. Not to mention, 621 and Monroe both have different kinds of scattered holo finishes! They are all pretty colors in their own right, but I'd still choose Blaze over them.

Have you tried Blaze, or any of the other Zoya Ornate colors? Thoughts?

Zoya Valerie

Zoya Valerie was from the Fire and Ice collection released in Winter 2010/2011. It's a warm, dark purple foil. I've had this color for about 2 years, and I remember it being one of my favorites, especially for pedicures. Then again, I was also a huge purple fiend, and I seem to have cooled off of purples quite a bit. It's not an ugly color or anything, it's just not really my kind of color anymore, I guess. I will say though, that it is very opaque, which is definitely a good thing. 2 coats, plus top coat.

And in the sun:

The formula is weird though. Like I said, very opaque, but I noticed that if I don't let the first coat dry completely before starting the second, it got sort of lumpy. It also dries a bit more slowly than most other polishes I've tried, but not by a whole lot. And oddly enough, it seems to have a bit of an appetite for top coat? I mean, nothing like a glitter of course, but I initially used one coat and noticed that it sort of sunk in, so I added a second and it was perfect. Wasn't expecting that though. At least it's got interesting shimmer- in the shade, it's ever so slightly duochrome.

Like I said, very slight. But it's enough to add interest to the color.

I believe there are a few dupes, or at least colors that are very close to Valerie. Zoya Jem, for one thing. Why did Zoya release 2 colors that are so close? There are some subtle differences, but they're pretty much imperceptible to me, and I imagine they would look the same at arm's length. There's also Color Club Winter Affair, which is warmer, but still quite close.

Have you tried Zoya Valerie? What do you think?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Zoya Kelly

Zoya Kelly is from the Wonderful Collection released in Fall 2010. It's a lovely dark grey with purple undertones, making it distinct from the many other dark greys out there. Kelly is solid in 2 coats.

The formula had an oddly sticky feel to it, but at least it wasn't streaky.

I can't remember whether or not I used top coat for these pictures, but I do remember noticing how glossy Kelly is on its own. In addition to the stickiness, I noticed that this polish dried more slowly than usual, but not at an unreasonable pace...I changed my mind the next morning. I did this manicure at about 11 AM, and the next morning there were dings and some sheet marks. What.

I left it on for 5 days anyway because I didn't have time to fix it or change my manicure, so I have the results for you.

You can see some of the weirdness at my ring and pinky fingernails. No major chipping, which is good, but it's much much duller, and the tipwear was disappointing.

It's not the worst wear I've ever experienced, but it still looked pretty beat up after 5 days.

I'm not sure if it's my base and top coat combination, but I just don't seem to be compatible with Zoya cremes. I had lots of trouble with Pinta, and now Kelly's giving me similar issues. My go-to base coats are Essie Fill the Gap and Sally Hansen Hard as Wraps, and my top coat is pretty much always Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat.

I haven't come across any exact dupes for Kelly, but there are lots of dark greys out there. They seem to mostly have greenish undertones, like Essie Power Clutch, but there is also China Glaze Concrete Catwalk, which seems like a pretty neutral dark grey. If Zoya cremes don't give you trouble, and greenish greys don't suit you, I'd suggest Kelly. Despite the formula woes, it is a very nice color.

Have you tried Kelly? Did you have the same issues that I did?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great week!

Zoya Neeka

Whoops, has it really been a week since I last posted (or even checked Blogger)? I could've sworn it was two days ago.......

Anyway, Zoya Neeka is from the Mirrors half of Zoya's Smoke & Mirrors collection from last fall. Given the Zoya Smoke collection and some of their offerings for this fall, I feel like those murky cremes, while gorgeous, have been done to death. Not the case with this type of finish!! Neeka is just awesome, and unlike a lot of the polishes I've posted lately, IT'S ACTUALLY OPAQUE AND EVEN IN TWO COATS. CAPS LOCK IS TOTALLY NECESSARY FOR THIS. 2 coats, with top coat, in the shade:

It photographs a little cooler than it is, but don't let the bottle fool you. Neeka does dry fairly dark. In the sun:

I love the mix of ultra-fine purple shimmer and the flecks of gold. So. Freaking. Cool.

I believe Zoya Yara has a similar finish, but I'm a little hesitant to try olive greens. There are definitely no dupes or near-dupes to Neeka, at least not that I can think of. Zoya really needs to put out more colors with this finish, because it is probably my all-time favorite finish. It's not often that I buy & wear a color, pull it out a year later, and love it just as much as I did then.

Zoya Pinta + Finger Paints Asylum

Happy Friday, everyone! Today I've got for you a combination that I wore a few days ago.

Zoya Pinta is a "blurple" creme from the Dare half of Zoya's Truth or Dare collection from Fall 2009. It's supposedly a dupe for the long-discontinued OPI Sapphire in the Snow, which I wanted for a while. It's definitely on the purple side, but there's enough blue in it that I can't call it a plain purple creme either. In direct sunlight:

See what I mean? It's not blue, but it's not purple either...I'm not usually a fan of random portmanteaus like that (or needlessly shortened words, for that matter), but it's just...blurple. Indigo doesn't really seem like the right word for it either, lol. Either way, it's a great color!

There is a "but" though, and it's a pretty big but. Heh, butt. I'm so mature. Anyway, the formula. The formula is awful. I've read on NB that Pinta is a smooth one-coater for many people, but I think I got a bad bottle or something, because the formula is just terrible. I know a lot of people have issues with Zoya's formula in general, but I have 6 or 7 Zoya polishes, and this is the first one to give me trouble. The rest are wonderful.

Pinta feels sticky, is super prone to dragging and pooling in my eponychia, and takes ages to dry. And then by the time it dries, it bubbles. I don't get it. Usually, with cremes and jellies, I'll wait for each coat to dry completely before the next to keep things as smooth as possible, but Pinta streaked anyway, so it needs anywhere from 3-4 coats to become fully opaque. Mind you, I took these photos immediately after applying top coat, so it looks nice and smooth and glossy here....

My top coat couldn't fully disguise the flaws in my mani, so I added a thick coat of Finger Paints Asylum, which did the trick.

The blue flakes in Asylum actually show up pretty well over top of Pinta! Yay flakies. They fix everything. In direct sunlight:

It was pretty late in the afternoon, which is why the sunlight photos are so warm, but aside from the freakish yellow tinge to my hands, they're fairly accurate depictions of the polish.

Have a great weekend, and I hope that everyone in areas with a Tornado Watch stays safe! I spent most of the day in the basement while it stormed, haha.

Zoya Faye

Faye is from Zoya's Sunshine collection, the sparkly counterpart to the Summertime collection. It consists of gold foil-y flecks of sparkle in a dark pink/mauve base. Sounds weird, but it's actually really pretty. It's also identical to OPI Rally Pretty Pink and nearly identical to Orly Ingenue (which is the tiniest bit more purple). Here it is under artificial light:

Here you can see the base color really clearly, but in the shade, the gold is really prominent, and Faye looks coppery with pinkish edges.

Here's the bad news: Faye is super sheer. I used four coats for these photos, and you can still see my nail line in person, though I'm not sure just how visible it is in these photos. It could definitely use a fifth coat, which is kind of disappointing since Zoya has shown us several times how good they are with these foil/jelly-type colors. Just look at Ivanka and Charla! Those have a very similar finish, but they're good in 3 coats, not 5.

Yep, there's that visible nail line. Boo. I do still prefer this one to OPI Rally Pretty Pink, just because I hate the Pro-Wide brush. The Zoya brush is also a little tricky for me, but nowhere near as bad as that ridiculous mop that OPI provides for us. Still a lovely color though!

Thanks for looking!