Zoya Gemma

Hello, Dear Reader!

This morning I put on Zoya Gemma, which was a nice change from the OPI Teenage Dream and Black shatter I'd had on for a couple of days.  I'd mentioned in the first post about Black Shatter that  the old crackle polishes were agonizing for me to remove, but that wasn't the case with Black Shatter - it came right off.  Teenage Dream, on the other hand, was a project to remove.  Anyhow, Gemma's a good one after that!

Zoya Gemma is one of the Intimates Collection for Spring 2011, and it's another that's a good rendition of a pretty standard color with an exceptional finish.  The base color is an olive drab, of which there have been many in the past couple of years, but Gemma's twist is that is has a strong blue flash that's distinctly visible even in indoor lighting.  Although thinner than Marley, it only took two coats to be even and opaque and had an average dry time.

I took about a million pictures of Gemma in different lighting conditions, but I had the poor judgment to start outside in natural light (of which there is terribly little today) so my hands got really cold and pretty red.  The drab greens tend to accentuate redness, so please forgive my poor cold lobster hand.  The pictures that ended up most accurately showing the polish were under artificial light (so freezing my hand until it was red was entirely unnecessary), and this is Zoya Gemma completely dry.

Zoya Gemma Nail Polish, Two Coats

That blue shimmer really does show this clearly in indoor lighting, it's super cool.  For me, Zoya's two for two on the Intimates - I really like the subtlety of both that I've used so far.  They're like new and improved versions of the base colors.

That's what I have for you this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  

*This polish was sent to me by the manufacturer for review.

Zoya Marley

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This week Zoya sent me their Intimates Collection for Spring 2011 to review, but I was scurrying about with Black Shatter to give you a look while it was available and haven't told you about them yet.

As you can see from the title, I only have Zoya Marley to show you today.  The reason for that is when I opened the Intimates and looked at them in the light, I was really struck by how cool the finishes on many of them are (two are cremes), and since they're already for sale on Zoya's site, I'm not hurrying to give you a peek before they're online.  The thing is, some shimmers look different when wet and completely dried (like SpaRitual Steel Magnolia, a frostfest wet and strong shimmer dry), and the Intimates look fabulous enough to warrant dry mani pics.  For pre-release swatches, that's not reasonable since it would take several hours, but I have the luxury of doing them one at a time.

My first choice was Marley because it's a very pale, muted lavender with the most subtle pearly finish.  It's a very delicate color with a delicate finish, and I think it works really well.  The application of it was excellent and I only needed two coats, while for a shade this pale three would not be unusual.  I took the picture of this one a couple of days ago, in natural light with the sun fading in and out.  Ideally, I would have had strong sunlight to show the shimmer, but since I wanted to show these to you before May, I made due with what was available.

Zoya Marley Nail Polish, Two Coats

The shimmer shows best where the light is reflected.  Isn't that cool?  It's barely there, yet easily visible.  The shimmer reminds me  of Chanel Peche Nacree.  My hand is a little pink here because it was super cold out, and this was the 10th picture I took.   I didn't realize it was quite so cold, so I was out there in a t-shirt.  At least a whole bunch of neighbors drove past and saw me wandering around outside without a coat on taking pictures of my hand.

That's Zoya Marley, and it's far prettier than I had anticipated.  Although the color isn't unusual (it's here in front of me next to a SpaRitual creme almost the same shade), that finish really is something special, and for me it's perfectly paired with the color.  I'm a big fan of this one.

I don't have much else to tell you this morning, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!