 |
| My sweet niece Eleanor, the inspiration for this blog, communing with her new ipad mini |
So I had the chance for a quick trip to Charlottesville, VA over the holidays to deliver Christmas presents and visit with my sister's family. While I was there I made a point of stopping by their local Ulta, where I was delighted to find several Zoya polishes from my wish list on sale. I snatched them up and wasted no time swatching several of them during my visit, taking photographs so that I could share them here.
As far as manicures go, these are not shining examples. I was a little over enthusiastic in my application and more than a little lax with my clean up. But the pics turned out well enough to show you and I made a few mental notes about the polishes to add. So here, for your viewing pleasure, are Zoya Carter, Chita and Dream.
Carter and Chita were released as part of Zoya's PixieDust collection for fall 2013 and Dream was released as part of Zoya's Zenith collection for holiday 2013.
Judging from the reviews I've read online, Carter has turned out to be most folks' star of the fall PixieDust show. Zoya describes it as a "royal purple in a matte, textured, sparkling metal finish." The overall effect is of the color of the flannel bags that Crown Royal Whisky comes in, or the color of Cadbury's chocolate wrappers. A true royal purple. Being a PixieDust polish, it comes with benefits, one being the handsome sandy-textured matte finish (I don't think I'd call it metallic, though) and the other is the abundance of fuchsia microglitters that are eye-catchingly highlighted and sparkling against the darkened purple matte base.
 |
| Zoya Carter |
 |
| Zoya Carter |
 |
| Zoya Carter |
 |
| Zoya Carter |
 |
| Zoya Carter |
 |
| Zoya Carter with glossy topcoat |
 |
| Zoya Carter with glossy topcoat |
 |
| Zoya Carter with glossy topcoat |
 |
| Zoya Carter with glossy topcoat |
I had enough awkward moments applying Carter for the first time that I took it off and had a do-over. Suffice to say that thin, careful coats are the only way to go with this polish. Precise, firm brushstrokes help also. Anything else and the polish becomes noticeably and inelegantly lumpy on the nail. I think I applied two coats for the photos above, with two coats of Seche Vite on top of that for the glossy photos.
Chita is described Zoya as "a forest green in a matte, textured, sparkling finish." This turned out to be my surprise favorite of the new polishes I tried during my visit. It's a somewhat muted blue-based medium green, blue-leaning enough not to fall into the sage or loden categories but with that same sort of feeling. Washed and very soft. Sparkle comes from a plethora of silvery microglitters, and adds an unexpected sort of languid glamour to the look. I think this dichotomy is what captured my heart, the bright silvery sparks against the flannel-y softness of the beautiful green color.
 |
| Zoya Chita |
 |
| Zoya Chita |
 |
| Zoya Chita |
 |
| Zoya Chita |
 |
| Zoya Chita |
 |
| Zoya Chita |
 |
| Zoya Chita |
Having learned my lesson with Carter, I had no problems with Chita. I believe I used two coats for the above manicure, and liked it so well as it was I wore it au natural for a couple of days without ever having the desire to try it with a glossy topcoat.
Dream is a"deep space blue with holographic glitter" according to Zoya. Hmm. I think I agree more with Temptalia, who describes it as "a brightened, medium-dark blue with an assortment of sparkle and shimmer." To be honest, although I really love this color and the beautiful speckled look of the finish, I was a little, just a little, disappointed with Dream. I was expecting a composition similar to the scattered holo polishes of a england and Chirality, and found the holo glitters in Dream lacking the strength of prismatic quality that I was hoping for. Still, it is a lovely flattering polish that applies beautifully and looks great on the nail.
 |
| Zoya Dream |
 |
| Zoya Dream |
 |
| Zoya Dream |
 |
| Zoya Dream |
 |
| Zoya Dream |
 |
| Zoya Dream |
 |
| Zoya Dream |
 |
| Zoya Dream |
 |
| Zoya Dream |
Dream joins Payton, Aurora, Blaze and Storm in Zoya's foray into the field of scattered holographic polishes. This field is well-populated now with multitudinous excellent indie offerings and mainstream scattered holos as well. To me, Zoya stands out among mainstream polish makers offering this kind of polish composition for keeping their colors deep, rich and saturated, so props to them for that! But for color AND prismatic display, indie scattered holos have my heart.
Zoya's matte sparkle finish, aka PixieDust, is another matter. As far as dedicated texture polishes go, Zoya's are primo in my book. I think they have been wise to avoid glossy textures (I'm a little squeamish about those). The contrast between the matte finish and the sparkle of glitters included in the composition of the PixieDusts is always strikingly beautiful and replicates what often can be seen in nature with unrefined crystals and minerals.
The metallic PixieDusts, such as Dhara and Solange for example, are also gorgeous. Matte metallics have a light capturing glow to them that provides a lot of visual interest and to me they have an almost irresistible appeal. Anyway, my point here about the success of Zoya's PixieDusts is that they've followed a keep it matte rule that I appreciate and that I personally find attractive and eminently wearable.
Ok I'll stop waxing on about Zoya for the nonce. Hope you enjoyed the photos!
love,
Liz
No comments:
Post a Comment