Zoya Ember

Ember was recently released by Zoya as part of the Flair collection for fall 2015. Zoya describes this one as a "deep, fiery red liquid metal." It's got a bright medium crimson base that's absolutely packed with micronized golden shimmer. The two combine to produce a brilliant vermilion or coquelicot color, a brilliant orange-tinted red, with a glowing, satiny semi-metallic finish that reminds me of gift wrap ribbon. It's a modern version of the pearlized, lit-from-within old school shimmers with a smoldering dimensional look. The orange influence is more or less prevalent depending upon viewing circumstances, but generally lends a noticeable degree of warmth to the red that places it on the warm side of the warm/cool spectrum, as is fitting for a fall polish. The nicely-saturated red color and radiant finish will take it on into the holidays as well -- it would make a wonderful Christmas manicure. 

Application was ok. The consistency of Ember is fluid, smooth and dense with a velvety glide over the nail and excellent self-leveling properties. I found it to go on most easily in medium as opposed to thinner coats -- the extra polish helps to melt away brushstrokes, most of which will gradually disappear as the polish sets up. Pigmentation is excellent. It's opaque in one coat, although I think the finish is best served by two. That being said, I ended up adding a third coat to minimize the appearance of nail bed irregularities such as dents and washboards that have a tendency to be accentuated by metallic finishes. Cleanup was straightforward with a degree of pigment travel such as you'd expect from a well-pigmented red and some faint residual staining. Ember dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat further reduces the appearance of any remaining brushstrokes.

Photos show three coats of Ember over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Zoya Ember

Zoya Ember

Zoya Ember

Zoya Ember

Zoya Ember

Zoya Ember

Zoya Ember

Zoya Ember

Zoya Ember

Zoya Ember

Zoya Ember

Zoya Ember

Zoya Ember

Other reviewers have remarked on the similarity of Ember to other pre-existing semi-metallic red shimmers from Zoya, such as Chelsea, Kamilah, Salma and Nidhi, and Michelle Mismas of All Lacquered Up helpfully included a swatch stick comparison of Ember with the first three (all of which are now retired) in her excellent review of the Flair collection, here. Nidhi has larger, chunkier shimmers, so the finish is different from Ember but they are both bright warm reds. 

Although I think Ember a gorgeous polish, I like it better on others than I do on myself. The warmth of the red isn't as flattering against my pinkage as cooler reds and it's uber-extroverted personality make me a little uncomfortable. It's definitely a "look at me!" kind of polish. But if you want to see how magnificent Ember is on someone who wears it well, check out Michelle Chouinard's amazing photos of it in her Flair collection review on Lacquer or Leave Her, here. Those pics inspired my purchase of this polish -- see if they don't give you an itch to grab it too!

love,
Liz