Shadow and Shimmer: July 2012

Monday, July 16, 2012

Zoya Vanessa Swatch and Review

Up next is Zoya's Vanessa from the Dare Collection! Zoya describes Vanessa as a soft but saturated dark pink berry creme with red undertones. It is truly a beautiful color! It leans on the vampier side of berries, and has a tendency to look darker in the shade/indoors and lighter and more red in the sunlight.

Zoya Vanessa

Vanessa is listed as a 5 on the opacity scale by Zoya (1 = sheer, 5 = completely opaque) which is accurate as it was completely opaque in 2 coats.

Zoya Vanessa

Vanessa's formula was definitely on the thick side, which made application a little tricky. I have since added some of Zoya's nail polish rejuvenator to it and it is MUCH easier to work with.

Zoya Vanessa

One thing I did notice about this formula, which I am hoping has been fixed since I thinned it out, was that it took fooooorever to dry. I was still smudging it like 2 hours later. I think it's because the layers went on so thick because of the formula. I will try it out again now that I have thinned it and let you guys know if it is any better. I know that creams do tend to take longer to dry than foils, but this one was pretty bad.

Zoya Vanessa

In a few of the pictures above you can really see how the color varies depending on the lighting. This is a beautiful color and I am going to getting a lot of use out of this come fall and winter. I do think it's a little vampy to wear in the spring and summer... but if you are like me then you won't care and you will wear it anyway.

Overall opinion? The color is to die for. The formula could have been a little better on this one, but I will let you guys know if thinning it out helped that or not.

Zoya Gloria Swatch and Review

Today we have Zoya's Gloria from the Flame Collection! A beautiful foil pink that Zoya describes as rose, mauve-pink and magenta foil particles with gold and subtle red metallic accents. This is a very pretty pink with strong foil particles that seem to sit on the top layer of the nail.

Zoya Gloria

Zoya rates Gloria as a 5 on the opacity scale (1 = sheer, 5 = completely opaque), which is pretty true. The polish was completely opaque in 2 coats, though I used 3 out of habit.

Zoya Gloria

Gloria's formula was perfect. Incredibly smooth and fluid with an easy gliding application. One think I have found that I also really love about Zoya's foil formulas is that they all seem to dry very quickly. Gloria was no exception.

Zoya Gloria

I think Gloria would work well for either cool or warm skin tones, though it definitely leans on the warm side.

My overall opinion? I love it! I will most likely be sporting it more in the spring and summer, though it think the rosey-ness of it could work well for fall as well.