It's got that fantastic formula that is quintessential Zoya: liquid but dense, smooth, creamy, self-leveling and eminently user-friendly. My only snit about Gwin is that it seems to have a very long period of vulnerability, ie dry time and takes impressions very easily for a long time after you apply it, even with a fast drying topcoat. Makes it hard avoid a visit from the dent gremlins! Don't know what's up with that but it doesn't make me love it any less.
Application was an easy two coats with a topcoat of Seche Vite.
Chagrin big time: nail breakage, two casualties. Shock and devastation! I'm still a little shocked but got over the other part by deciding not to file all the rest of them down to nubbins. That's right, for the time being I'm going to subject you to UNEVEN LENGTHS. Consider it a new feature, how's that? To make it worse, the losses weren't even on the same hand AND they were both the result of carelessness and rough treatment. Another lesson learned and believe me it's one that will stick.
 |
| Zoya Gwin |
 |
| Zoya Gwin |
 |
| Zoya Gwin |
 |
| Zoya Gwin |
 |
| Zoya Gwin |
 |
| Zoya Gwin |
 |
| Zoya Gwin, with bonus bubbling |
 |
| Zoya Gwin |
 |
| Zoya Gwin |
 |
| Zoya Gwin |
 |
| Zoya Gwin |
Gwin reminds me of persimmons. Such a yummy color with it's ripe creamy glow, I just love it!
Destiny was released as part of Zoya's Summer PixieDust for 2013. Like others in the recent additions to their PixieDust line, Destiny has Zoya's "exclusive" matte foil twinkle formula, meaning that it has a textured metallic finish similar to Solange and Dhara, which I reviewed a couple of months ago. I loved both of those two PixieDusts so it'll come as no surprise that I have warm fuzzies for Destiny as well.
For some reason I can't quite cotton to the classification of Destiny as a coral even though I know that's how many venerable polish bloggers and the marketing writers at Zoya itself describe it. The closest I can figure is that this is because my archetypal image of coral as a color, for better or worse, has a creamy pink aspect to it that is not present in Destiny. It's similar to Gwin in this way, Gwin being another Zoya polish classified as a coral that, to me, is an orange. Gwin and Destiny both look like red leaning oranges to my eye.
I'm willing to concede that all of this wordiness is a pack of nitpicking semantics (it walks and quacks, after all) except that coral as a color has particular personal connotations for most people and I think that's important.
Oh blah blah blah. Destiny, to me, is the reddest of the orange Zoya PixieDusts that I'm familiar with, those being Beatrix, Dhara and Destiny. It is also the sheerest of the three, which is why I thought it would layer well over Gwin. And I think it does, but to be fair to the complexity of Destiny's coloring this combination does probably flatten out some of its nuances. It's still gorgeous though, richly reflective and full of sparkle.
Application over Gwin was trouble free. I used two coats for this look and let it dry to it's naturally sandy textured finish, which I'm a big fan of.
 |
| Zoya Destiny |
 |
| Zoya Destiny |
 |
| Zoya Destiny |
 |
| Zoya Destiny |
 |
| Zoya Destiny |
 |
| Zoya Destiny |
 |
| Zoya Destiny |
 |
| Zoya Destiny |
 |
| Zoya Destiny |
 |
| Zoya Destiny |
 |
| Zoya Destiny |
The PixieDust "sand art" look doesn't translate well in still photographs, especially for the metallic PixieDusts. They always look too "wet" and you don't get good representation of the crytalline sugared look that is a big part of the appeal of this look for me. Be that as it may, I love Destiny for its brilliant colorful pop and its lively energetic feel.
Once I had this on my nails I had to try it with a glossy topcoat as well. In my experimentations with topcoating textured finishes, the glossiest "glitter under glass" look is best achieved by layering different topcoats, being sure to wrap the tips with each to avoid shrinkage. For Destiny, I started with a layer of Seche Vite. Then I added a layer of Different Dimension Glitter Food, then another layer of Seche Vite. The result is a glasslike surface under which the color and sparkle are magnified to within an inch of their lives.
 |
| Zoya Destiny with glossy topcoat |
 |
| Zoya Destiny with glossy topcoat |
 |
| Zoya Destiny with glossy topcoat |
 |
| Zoya Destiny with glossy topcoat |
 |
| Zoya Destiny with glossy topcoat |
 |
| Zoya Destiny with glossy topcoat |
 |
| Zoya Destiny with glossy topcoat |
 |
| Zoya Destiny with glossy topcoat |
 |
| Love! |
 |
| Zoya Destiny with glossy topcoat |
 |
| Zoya Destiny with glossy topcoat |
See what I mean? It's almost like you took a crayola red-orange crayon, freeze dried it, crushed it, added some gold dust and then encased it in resin. This is traffic-stopping color intensity, bold and firey and celebratory. It's wearing very well too. With so many layers, I was expecting shrinkage and possibly chipping but there's been no sign of either after a day of typing and various household chores.
You'd think after all this orange that my itch would be sufficiently scratched but no, I'm still craving it so expect perhaps to see a few more while the flavor lasts. At least it's October, a month that is suitably celebratory of this hue. I wonder what I'll do if I get a craving for pastels in January. Hmm....
love,
Aunt Liz
No comments:
Post a Comment