*press sample
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| Zoya Naturel Satins |
When Zoya announced a new Naturels collection for winter 2015, and in a brand new Satin finish, I was super stoked at the spills and bottle shots. The palette is soft and delicate, and the finish looked to be something similar to the Essie Cashmere Mattes (are these ever going to land in stores?!?). The Naturel Satins (not to be confused with The Satins) left a little to be desired once I actually got them on my nails.
The finish is not matte. It's more of an eggshell semi gloss, with a physical feel that is somewhat soft to the touch. It's not velvety, like a true matte, not hard and smooth, like a high gloss creme, but, like the finish itself, somewhere in between. These aren't self levelling so careful application is a must; it "gums up" pretty quickly so don't go over your second coat after your initial application or you just have a big mess on your hands. Literally. Certain factors, application, dry time, etc. appear to vary by individual, based on snippets I've read here and there. Seems to me it's chemistry. These don't work so well with mine; they simply would not dry and I woke up with sheet marks every single time. So, lol, on that note, let's get started with my gritty true reality swatches.
Zoya Leah
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| Zoya Leah |
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| Zoya Leah |
Leah is my favorite of the bunch, and the one I'm most likely to wear again (maybe with topcoat). It's a light lavender-taupe, really quite gorgeous. Two coats.
Zoya Sage
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| Zoya Sage |
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| Zoya Sage |
Sage is a little bluer than a true Sage green, to me. It dries glossier than the other Satins. If you read what The Polishaholic has to say about them regarding crying out for a topcoat, I feel it applies very strongly to Sage. I don't much like this semi gloss limbo in the first place, to be honest, but this one just kind of bothered me. Two coats.
Zoya Rowan
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| Zoya Rowan |
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| Zoya Rowan |
Rowan is a putty greige. It's kind of a perennially edgy neutral, and one I picture looking fabulously chic on blondes (of which I am not). Two coats.
Zoya Ana
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| Zoya Ana |
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| Zoya Ana |
Ana is my second favorite, another one that I'd wear again, just to try and get it right. I love colors like this and the semi-gloss finish is set off to its best advantage in the palest colors. Three coats; the plus side to three coats with these formulas is that the thickness is not there and there is also no topcoat necessary to mess with your tips.
Zoya Tove
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| Zoya Tove |
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| Zoya Tove |
Tove is a medium blue toned pachyderm-esque grey. I expected to love this one because I love grey polishes. It reminded me of my ill-fated layering attempt with a grey creme and a satin finish topcoat back last fall (and I'm pretty sure I was silly enough to share it in one of my swatch spam posts). This finish and this color just don't jive in my book, and it's unfortunate because I just want to wear this happily and belt out "Toves (sic) of Hades, lit by flickering light" lol. NERDS!! Two coats.
Zoya Brittany
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| Zoya Brittany |
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| Zoya Brittany |
Brittany is a dusky, rosy mauve. It's a pretty shade, very wearable if you can get the application right. Two coats.
Word is, the pigmentation on these makes them stampable but I don't care about that. Unless you're into such things, and if you want to try something different, choose your favorite color, try it on as a full manicure, and decide what you think. Wear time is nice and you might love the novelty. I would have loved these colors in a Matte Velvet formula. What do you think?
The Naturel Satins are available on zoya.com and where Zoya polishes are sold for $9 each.
Where to find Zoya
Thank you for reading and have a lovely day!! ♥
*press sample
These are gorgeous colors and I commend you for trying to make them work. After the first I would have give up at that formula! I'm glad I know more about them now so thanks for saving me a ton of moola!
ReplyDeleteHey, you bet! lol. They're really not terrible, though. I've already got a hankering to wear Leah again :)
DeleteI love Sage and Tove shade-wise, but there is SOMETHING about this finish that I'm not a huge fan of. Either mattify or glossify, I say LOL.
ReplyDeleteIt just looks rather unfinished to me.
DeleteThat's such a bummer that these are so difficult to work with. Especially when the colors look so pretty!
ReplyDeleteSeriously. If only they self levelled....
DeleteThey do look nice, shame about the application :-(
ReplyDeleteIt is... The lightest ones are still worth getting, in my opinion :)
DeleteYesssss to us posting these on the same day! <3 I am so sad these wouldn't dry on you!! I know you didn't like Sage...but it looks kind of great on you! You're right, though, that these would have been ah-mazing in the matte velvet finish!
ReplyDelete♥♥♥ :) I was bummed, too! Waking up to sheet marks is always annoying. Sage seems to have extra shine, more so than the others. It's a great color, though, for sure... It just needs to be mattified or glossified... Well, they all do, lolol.
DeleteGreat swatches and review on these! I actually really like how soft and wearable the shades are.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lisa ♥♥ They are totally wearable! I just wished I liked the finish a little more.
DeleteI just got a few of these yesterday. I expected Leah to be more beige from the way it looks in the bottle. Sage doesn't look that blue on me, I don't think, which is weird. It dried pretty fast on me. I tried some nail art with them, but it only looks good if I topcoat it, like with mattes, because they dry so fast and don't self-level too well.
ReplyDeleteSage definitely seems like one that would pull in different directions based on skin tone. You should check out POlish Hound! Cait did some lovely art with these as they are and her application is impeccable. She also used a ridge filling topcoat. I think next time I feel like wearing one of these I'll use my OPI Ridge Filler and see if it makes a difference.
DeleteLeah looks so lovely on you, but honestly I don't think I'll pick any of them up. The finish puts me off. :/
ReplyDeleteThank you, doll ♥ I get it, totally. I think it's fun to have one of a novelty finish, at least for posterity, lolol. One of these days I'll wear my China Glaze Crinkle Chrome again ;)
DeleteNever thought I would be so giddy to find Chemistry lyrics in a nail blog. Keep it up LG!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kevin :) You're so cool!
DeleteSee my experience was the opposite. Mine dried really quick and were easy to work with. I loved this collection. I have heard such mixed reviews with this collex, it's really quite funny!
ReplyDeleteI've heard great reviews, too! That's awesome these worked for you. When they're good, they're very good... I'm certainly going to keep trying, at least with one of them :)
DeleteI love all these colors! The closer to spring we get, the more I crave pastels.. I'm not too crazy about the finish though, I would probably wear them all with a glossy topcoat.
ReplyDeleteI really should throw some glossy topcoat on, I'd probably love them all :)
DeleteI love ana, it's so chic and feminine. It's a shame about the finicky textures though, I'm not so great at mani's so I'd probably really goof these up lol
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of high maintenance finishes, either-- I think it might be a patience thing on my end, lol. Ana is gorgeous, though, and looks the best with this finish... Might be worth trying out ;)
DeleteAw that's a bummer these were difficult for you! I had the opposite experience, they applied easily and dried fast. I didn't expect to love them as much as I do!
ReplyDeleteLuckyyyy!!! I wanted to love these. They did dry quickly to a certain point... I'm not sure they ever fully dried on me, though. Le sigh.
DeleteI've been reading such mixed reviews! Makes me want to try one or two for myself, curious how they'll perform on me :)
ReplyDeleteYou should! Pick your favorite color and go from there :)
DeleteI like how soft and subtle the colors are but IDK about that finish.
ReplyDeleteIt's novel, at best, I think... But it really does work nicely with the lightest shades.
DeleteI agree... I would have loved these with a Matte Velvet finish. I do like them but I most likely would never wear them without top coat. The finish is just too... odd.
ReplyDeleteHopefully Zoya is listening! :) Honestly, I'm a little surprised they didn't do a Matte Velvet reprise, with the success of the fall set.
DeleteI think I'm going to try these both shiny & matte...haven't put them on my nails quite yet!
ReplyDeleteRight on! I'm excited to hear your thoughts & see your swatches!
DeleteI love Zoya, so I really wish I was more excited about this collection! They're all so pretty, but I'm just not interested. :/ I think I need to see them in person!
ReplyDeleteI hear you! I can tell you the blemishes aren't so noticeable in person and if I wasn't blogging these I'd probably say they're fine... not perfect by a long shot, but fine. And since you're an artist, you might appreciate that they stamp :)
DeletePretty swatches! Agree with the application issues. These dried okay for me, but they definitely don't self level properly.
ReplyDeleteThanks, SL ♥ Your swatches are much prettier. I thought about doing mine over in a swatch session but I didn't want to, lolol.
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