Lacquer Slacker Liz: Zoya

Showing posts with label Zoya. Show all posts

Saturday, March 24, 2018

Zoya Tawny

Tawny was released in mid-October this past fall by Zoya as part of the Party Girls collection for winter/holiday 2018. It's officially described as "a deep, coppery rose sparkling metallic," which I think is quite accurate except that I would add "shimmer" after "metallic." The base is a translucent, medium-dark, rich, rosy Indian red kind of color, a little brighter, pinker and not quite as heavy as rust although it does have a rusty aspect. Superabundant, highly-reflective metallic microflake shimmers read in shades of gold, flame and pink from within the base, giving the polish a finely-grained visual texture with a radiant semi-metallic quality that has a fine, piecey sparkle.

Application was most satisfactory once I'd clipped a few wonky bristles from my brush. The consistency of Tawny is fluid, light and smooth with a medium consistency and a plush, self-leveling glide over the nail. Pigmentation is a little sheer and streaky on the first coat but will build to wearable opacity with the second if you're using medium to thicker coats. I added a third to ensure the absence of any sheer spots in my photos, and the color seems richer and more fiery that way. Cleanup is easy. Tawny dries naturally in fairly good time to a smooth, shiny finish.

Photos show three coats of Tawny over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite. The polish is darker and more red in my pics than it appears in person.

Zoya Tawny

I think this is gorgeous! The color is uncommon, a fiery mix of red, rose, and flame with a dash of magenta for good measure. It's especially brilliant in the sun where it's alive with fine, twinkling sparkle and a bright swath of coppery pink along the axis of light.

love,
Liz

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Different Dimension Blizzard over Zoya Natty

Blizzard was released just last month by Indiana-based indie polish maker Different Dimension as part of the Homespun Holidays collection. It's a glitter topper, a nice surprise as we don't see many polishes of this kind these days. As creator Missi says, it's meant to represent freshly fallen snow, with a clear suspension base bearing a mix of silver holographic glitters, iridescent microglitters and white glitters in various sizes.

As a base for Blizzard, I chose Zoya Natty, a dusky dark steel blue creme with grey overtones and aspirations to indigo, along the lines of dark blue-grey. I haven't used this polish in a long time but I do love it. It's an edgy color with a mellow twist, a softer, gentler stand-in for navy that has the chic glamour of a dark polish and the congenial bonhomie of a neutral. Years of storage in my big rack o' polishes has not affected it at all, it was in perfect condition, a fluid, creamy crelly formula with a thin-to-medium viscosity that slips on like satin lingerie, is opaque in two coats and dries naturally to a slick, glossy finish.

Over this I applied one coat of Blizzard, which went on beautifully. It has a fluid and remarkably smooth consistency for such a glitter-laden polish, with a medium viscosity and an easy, fluent glide over the nail. Glitter payoff is excellent and disperses evenly, no extra fussing required. You could certainly layer this over itself to true glitterbomb opacity, a la Alicia of De-Lish-ious Nails, if you wished, especially if you sponged it on as she did. Blizzard dries naturally in very good time to a textured finish. I used a glitter-smoothing layer of gel effect topcoat followed by a layer of quick-dry for a glossy, glitter-under-glass look.

Photos show one coat of Blizzard over a base manicure of Zoya Natty. I started with a coat of UNT Ready for Takeoff peel-off basecoat and finished with a topcoat of Pretty Serious Plump Up the Volume followed by a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Different Dimension Blizzard over Zoya Natty

I love this look, it reminds me of some kind of magical snow globe! I think it is at its most beautiful in indirect light where you can best see all of the glitters, as the holographic ones tend to have an overpowering prismatic sparkle in direct sun. I especially like the iridescent ones with their delicate glints of blue and purple. Of course, the white glitters make this polish. Over a dark base, it's like the nighttime snowfall of your imagination. You can almost hear the flakes pattering softly against your window.

©Stan Pustynlik

love,
Liz

Friday, December 2, 2016

Zoya Britta

Britta was released in mid-August this year by Zoya as part of the Urban Grunge collection for fall 2016. It's a shimmer polish with a deep plummy magenta base, sort of a blackberry jam color, bearing superabundant golden microflake shimmers that read in shades of red, magenta, pink and purple. These tiny gleaming flakes sparkle from within the base as light travels over them and serve to create a dimensional, lit-from-within kind of glow, especially in direct light. They also give the finish a foily look. There's a showy, more metallic duochromey look to it as well, in low indirect or reflected light, where a plummy fandango color switches out with a brilliant reddish telemagenta. Very rich and dramatic!

Application was very nice considering I had extra shaky hands today. The consistency of Britta is fluid, smooth and slightly fluffy from all of those shimmers, with a medium viscosity and a plush, self-leveling glide over the nail. Pigmentation is excellent, delivering wearable opacity in one medium coat, although I think the shimmers are denser and more prominent with two. There is a tiny bit of pigment travel with cleanup and a moderate amount of sticky, freed up shimmers, but it's not too bad. Britta dries naturally in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish. Topcoat really highlights the presence of the shimmers.

Photos show two coats of Britta over basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Zoya Britta

I like this polish a lot more than I expected to. It has a beautiful blackberry-colored foily look in my pics with a nice bit of sparkle from those shimmers, but I wish I'd been able to capture that metallic duochrome look with my camera, it's pretty glorious and really lets you see the purple in the polish. Overall, I think this is a great everyday kind of polish, a little vampy but not too much, with a boatload of panache. There's also a festive, welcoming feel to it that makes me think of wreaths and garlands and other Christmasy stuff -- it's that time of year, I guess. Christmas is everywhere!

love,
Liz

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Zoya Dixie

I enjoyed Liv so much yesterday that I just had to wear stablemate Dixie today! Both polishes were released in May this year by Zoya as part of the Sunsets collection for summer 2016. Dixie is officially described as a "juicy watermelon red." I'm of two minds about this color. Approached as a red, it has this softened, washed quality, an ever-so-slightly faded aspect that is extremely appealing in a bold shade like this -- gives it a sweeter disposition and makes it less brash. But if you think of it as a coral, which is perhaps in fact closer to reality, it's bold, joyful and radiant, a perfect mashup of red and deep pink with a kiss of orange that really comes to the fore in shade and under incandescent light. In either case, it's a gorgeous polish, with a creaminess that shows off the beautiful bright color to its luminous best.

Application was luscious. As with Liv, Dixie has a fantastic, eminently paintable formula. The consistency is fluid, very creamy and dense with a medium viscosity and a plush, self-leveling glide over the nail, a pleasure to work with. Pigmentation is excellent. Dixie is also a creme/jelly hybrid, so there's a degree of built-in translucence that while providing wearable opacity in one medium coat, is still translucent enough to be deepened by the addition of a second. Two coats is best, I think. There's some pigment travel during cleanup but little trace staining, which is great for a such a dense, saturated color. Dixie dries naturally in good time to a beautiful glossy finish.

Photos show two coats of Dixie over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Zoya Dixie

This really makes my eyes happy! It's just an exuberant, playful color and so flattering on, seems to elongate the fingers and makes the nails look like little jewels. I love it!

xo,
Liz

Friday, October 21, 2016

Zoya Liv

Liv was released in May this year by Zoya as part of the Sunsets collection for summer 2016. Zoya describes it as a purple, but it surprised me when I first saw it in the bottle by how very pink it looked. Despite my initial, idiosyncratic (I don't think anyone else thought it was pink) confusion, it actually IS a purple, a very creamy medium-toned orchid purple. It has a certain berry-ish aspect, specifically mulberry (although it's creamier), and a case could be made that it is a good match for Crayola's fuchsia as well. Bright and tropical, it's a flirty, eye-catching shade with a bit of a bon vivant sort of attitude, definitely at its best in natural light. It becomes a bit muddy under incandescent light

Application was fantastic. Zoya's "One Coat Cremes" tagline for this collection isn't far off the mark for Liv. The consistency is fluid, ultra creamy and dense with a medium viscosity and a luscious, velvety, self-leveling glide over the nail that has a tiny bit of pull to it. It has a high-end, luxurious feel that adds something of an artistic sensibility to the application process, which I love. Pigmentation is excellent for a creme/jelly hybrid. It really does deliver wearable opacity in one medium coat with some slight sheerness around the shoulders of the free edge perhaps, but no VNL. I used two to avoid that bit of sheerness in the photos, and if you regularly paint in thin coats you'll want two coats as well. Cleanup is easy. Liv dries naturally in good time to a beautiful glossy finish.

Photos show two coats of Liv over KBShimmer Love You Strong Time treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Zoya Liv

Isn't that pretty? Liv was created for summer and certainly has that bright summer vibe, but it really feels quite wearable for fall as well, especially a warm fall like we're having here. It has the oomph for it. Love, love, love the formula. I also purchased Dixie from this collection. I think I'll wear that one tomorrow.

love,
Liz