Zoya Kieko

Kieko was released by Zoya as part of the Summertime collection for summer 2011. Officially described as a "warm, red toned dusty light purple with berry tones," Kieko is a medium-dark nicely saturated true purple. This one is a good match for Munsell purple, and a great addition to the color palette for Pantone's color of the year, Radiant Orchid. It's a lively inviting color that is flattering to both warm and cool skin tones.

Application was primo Zoya. The consistency is fluid, creamy and dense, easily manipulated with excellent flow over the nail and superb self-leveling properties. Pigmentation is also excellent -- this polish can provide completely opaque coverage in one coat. I used two for the usual reasons, and experienced no ghosting, patching, pooling or any other shenanigans. Just a beautifully behaved lacquer that's a pleasure to apply. Cleanup is pretty easy for such a well-pigmented polish. Kieko dries naturally in average time to a shade slightly darker than bottle color with a nice glossy finish. If using a fast dry topcoat that is not 3-free, apply it ensuring coverage of the entire surface of the polish or it will develop a corona along the edge of the topcoat, as you'll be able to see in the pics.

Photos show two coats of Kieko over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite and a few bonus water droplets. :-)

Zoya Kieko

Zoya Kieko

Zoya Kieko

Zoya Kieko

Zoya Kieko

Zoya Kieko

Zoya Kieko

Zoya Kieko

Zoya Kieko

Zoya Kieko

I appreciate the red, berry and claret tones in Kieko, they make it much more of a true purple than the violet that usually passes for purple in polishes and elsewhere. Although it's a bit more subdued than I was expecting, it holds its own with other bright colors, especially green. It has a nice, rich feminine vibe on the nail, with a floral aspect that is quite welcoming and personable. I think this color is one every nail polish enthusiast would welcome into their stash. I know I do.

love,
Liz