Zoya True Collection Review

   For Spring 2012 Zoya has brought us a gorgeous collection of 2 nudes and a set of 4 greyed shades that could have come straight from Monet's garden.   I'm just going to let the pictures do most of the talking.  All swatches are 2 coats over China Glaze Strong Adhesion base coat.  I did not use any top coat with these.

Cho

   Cho is a warm toned beige with a barely there silver shimmer.  The shimmer shows up slightly more in person, but it is definitely  extremely subtle.  The formula on this one is a little thinner than normal for Zoya and I recommend wiping the neck of your brush off as well to avoid unexpected extra polish falling onto your nail.

Direct Sun

Shade

Indoor

Farah

   Farah is a cool toned light greige creme.  It dries just a touch darker than the bottle.  I'm thinking this might be a good base for a newspaper mani.  

Direct Sun

Shade

Indoor

   Looking at separate pictures Cho and Farah look very similar.  Here's some shots of the bottles side by side:

   Cho is on the left, Farah on the right.  Even in the bottle, these two look very similar.  So here they are side by side on the nail so you can better see the differences:

   Cho is on my thumb, middle, and pinkie fingers.  Farah on my index and ring fingers.  On you can really tell the difference in tone and base better.

Bevin

   Bevin is a greyed mint green creme.  In the bottle it looks like mint choco chip ice cream, but dries darker and loses that ice cream feel.  I like the dry version better.

Direct Sun

Shade

Indoor

Skylar

   Skylar is slate blue with silver and gold shimmer.  The formula is a little thin again here, so make sure to wipe the neck of your brush before applying.  Skylar dries darker and more grey on the nail than in the bottle, in a very nice way that really lets the gorgeous shimmer shine.  The shimmer does like to stay on your skin.

Direct Sun

Shade

Indoor

Tru

   Tru is a very red based orchid purple shade with red and gold shimmer.  The shimmer gives this polish an amazing depth and warmth.  It's what really makes this polish for me.

Direct Sun

Shade

Indoor

Lotus

   Lotus is a blue based medium light purple with pink shimmer.  Like Cho and Skylar, the formula is a little thin.  This one also dries greyer and darker than in the bottle.

Direct Sun

Shade

Indoor

   Final thoughts:  The two nudes feel a bit out of place in this collection, especially after the recent Touch collection, but I enjoyed them more than I expected.  It seems Zoya can make me like just about any color.  Anyone who's read this blog for a while would probably guess that Tru and Lotus are my favorites of the collection.  You'd be half right.  My favorites are Tru and Skylar.  I just love the shimmer and depth of these.  Even though the formula on half of these is a little thinner than you'd normally find from Zoya, they are still completely worth the tiny extra wiping and application is as smooth as always.  

   

Disclaimer:  The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the company for consideration.

Butter London All Hail The Queen

   For months now, I've been hearing lots of talk about Butter London polishes.  The majority of which has been extremely positive so I was curious to try the brand, but didn't want to order online.  Then, a little over a month ago Ulta started carrying BL in their stores as well as online so I decided to splurge a little and pick up a bottle.  

   There are MANY lovely shades to chose from, but for my first purchase I decided to try All Hail The Queen (AHTQ).  There was a bit of controversy around this polish when it first came out.  The original name was All Hail McQueen, but was changed for legal reasons.  I don't know all the details, but I'm sure they can be found with a little google-fu.  

   AHTQ is a beige holo.  Yes, I said holo and beige in the same sentence.  The holo is very subtle even in direct sun, but the shimmer that shows indoors gives interest to what could otherwise just be another beige polish.  

   One of the most consistent things I've read about BL is how incredible the formula is and how it seems like the polish almost applies itself.  I don't know about any of the other colors, but that is definitely the case with AHTQ.  My only complaint is the size of the brush handle.  Not that it's too big, but because it feels too small to me.  You see, the rectangular top you see above comes off to reveal a smaller round brush top that's about the length from the tip of my thumb to the first joint.

   If the cap was just a little wider or taller I would like it better.  At the size it is, the brush feels just a little awkward in my hand, like I'm about to drop it.  

   Opacity was good, I only needed 2 coats for coverage.  For my base coat I used Seche Restore and Barielle Manicure Extender as my top coat.  Now I'll stop teasing and get to the on nail pictures.

Indoor

   In this lighting AHTQ looks like a beige with a bit of silver shimmer.  You can pick up just a hint of the holo under my CFL lightbulbs, but most bulbs won't bring this out.

Shade

   Pretty boring in the shade.

Direct Sun

   As I said above, this is a subtle holo and a scattered one.  But I think anything stronger would have been too much for the color.

   I was very impressed with this polish.  I even like the color.  It's nice for when you want something simple but with a little extra to it.  Based on AHTQ, I plan to buy more BL polishes in the future to try.  I already have a wishlist going in my head.

   The other downside to BL is the price.  The polishes retail for $14.00 each on the website and at Ulta.  Now depending on your Ulta, or the SA you check out with, you can sometimes use coupons on these.  I say sometimes because while I was able to use a $5 off a $10 purchase coupon on this one, other people have run into issues trying to use them.  It seems to depend on if your Ulta or SA considers BL a Prestige brand or not.  But either way, I think the BL polishes are worth a try at least once.