Zoya Intriguing Holiday 2020 Swatches & Review!

*Sent for review*

We're right in the thick of the holiday season now! It's been quite the year, but I think a lot of us, myself included, are taking some comfort in holiday traditions right now. The Zoya Intriguing collection this year is definitely bringing me some comfort. It's a perfect mix of traditional holiday colors and some unexpected and interesting colors for the season! All swatches in this post are shown with one layer of Vibrant Vinyls Fast & Hard Quick Dry Glossy Top Coat, unless otherwise stated.

Zoya Koley is a glowing red-pink metallic shimmer. For some reason, this reminds me of the ribbon candy my grandma always had out for Christmas. Shiny and brightly colored! I love this one, so festive feeling and great if you want something slightly different than a classic red.

This is three coats, but two coats offered good coverage. I did the third for a little extra pop of shimmer. The formula was a little thin and wanted to wander towards my cuticles, so just don't load up the brush too much.

Zoya Nisha- is it blue? Purple? Blurple? This is another glowing beauty, so vibrant with little sparkles peeking out. Blue is my favorite and most worn polish color and I am such a sucker for this one. Stunning!

Nisha had a great formula. Perfect consistency and easy to apply. This is two coats and it was perfectly opaque.

Zoya Meredith is a deep sapphire with twinkly silvery blue shimmer, like stars in the night sky! The shimmer is little flecks of sparkle, not a smooth ribbon of shimmer. My blue loving soul is feeling this one too. My swatching notes say "Magical! Can't wear to wear".

This is two coats. Meredith was a little uneven on the first coat, but it smoothed right out and is perfect in two coats. 

Zoya Eunice is an awesome metallic chartreuse with yellow gold shimmer. I love that this is so different for a holiday collection. Unique and still feels festive and bright! 

On a side note- one of the first orders I ever placed with Zoya included Zoya Midori. Back then, weird green shimmers were fairly uncommon and I just had to have it. Eunice kind of brought me back to that excitement over Midori. Anyone else remember that one? That was a cool time in nail polish, lots of new and groundbreaking (at the time) stuff.

This is two coats and it was a great formula. Easy to apply and nice consistency. It does have some visible brushstrokes if that bothers you. I enjoy the color so much, I'm not even noticing them.

Zoya describes Nico as a "celadon-toned pearl with a touch of silver shimmer blended in". It's another unique shade, a fun green leaning pale gold. The shimmer is very glowy here too. This definitely screams "holiday" without being your typical metallic gold. From some angles, the green is more obvious, and others it almost looks like a pale yellow. 

Nico was very sheer on the first coat, but built up in three coats. The formula was a nice consistency and easy to apply.

Zoya Regina is THE perfect Christmas green shimmer. Velvety looking and smooth, this one is a winner for Christmas nail art or just to wear on it's own. 

This is three thin coats. The formula was a little uneven on the first coat, but evened out nicely for a rich pigmented finish.

Zoya Lottie is a pale sparkling champagne. It reminded me a bit of one of my favorite Zoya PixieDusts, Godiva, but in sheer shimmer form. I didn't think I would like this too much, colors this pale are not usually my cup of tea. But I enjoy it a lot! I think it feels fresh and snowy for winter.

This is three coats of Lottie. It was pretty good to apply, not streaky like some pale shades. But I will mention, even with quick dry top coat it seemed like it took a really long time to dry. I did try it as a topper over Regina, but seems like a little too dense of a shimmer to be a good topper. Maybe over black it would be better.

I am so happy to see a new PixieDust shade! I love my PixieDusts, and good news for those of you who don't like a lot of texture- this one is pretty smooth! Zoya Isti is an icy blue PixieDust with pops of royal blue glitter. My notes say "like sparkly denim!".

This is three thin coats with no top coat. Thinner coats help prevent this from feeling too chunky. It was super easy to apply, I didn't need any clean up. That's one reason why I love PixieDusts, I used to call them "nail pajamas". Removal wasn't too bad either!

Below is Isti with one layer of top coat. This looks great shiny too!

Zoya Brett is the perfect slate blue creme. A nice mix of deep blue and deep charcoal grey.

This is two coats. Nice formula and application. 

Zoya Avi is described as a "smoky greige cream with a hint of red-brown". This is a classic color perfect for pretty much any occasion at any time of the year. This is a little more grey/brown than my pictures look. I had a hard time capturing it without it looking more purple-y. 

This was two coats with easy application. Fantastic formula. If you need this kind of classic shade in your collection, you can't go wrong with this one.

Zoya Beverly is a dusty cranberry creme. It's a nice purple-toned red, a little different and edgier than your average red. It's a great holiday color, but also fabulous for any time in the fall or winter.

This also had a lovely formula. Two easy coats and effortless application.

I almost never wear red polish 11 months out of the year, but then we get to December and colors like Zoya Soko are suddenly so appealing. This "wintery poinsettia" creme is a classic Christmas red. Nicely balanced in undertones, this will look great on a wide variety of skin tones. This will definitely get some use this season!

This is two coats and it was a little thinner formula. Just don't put too much on your brush to avoid flooding your cuticles. It also seems like it might possibly stain, so definitely wear a good base coat. 

I think Zoya really offered something for every taste in this holiday collection. If you want the classic colors, they're there. If you want to wear a bright shimmery chartreuse on Christmas, that's there too. I love the variety and have some new favorites now, like Nisha, Meredith, and Eunice.

The Zoya Intriguing collection is available now at Zoya.com!

Zoya Whispers Collection Swatches & Review!

*Sent for review*

How's everyone's weekend going so far? Mine is good and I am finally going to go see the new Star Wars today, so I am super excited about that. I hate going to the movies when it's really crowded, so I had to wait awhile to see it! Today I have swatches of the lovely new Zoya Whispers collection. Whispers is Zoya's transitional collection for that period in between the holidays and spring. It is both fresh feeling in anticipation of spring and cozy feeling, for those chilly winter days! First up is Zoya Ireland, a soft dusty sage green creme. Zoya describes Ireland as "A uniquely wearable green that is muted enough to make it subtle yet still interesting. This green is well balanced between blue & yellow so it’s flattering on all skin tones.". I think that's a good description- Ireland is definitely green, but it doesn't scream green, but reads more as a neutral touch of green. I think it leans a little more on the yellow side, but not too much, so it should look great on lots of people!

This is three coats of Ireland. A few words about the formula on all of these so that I don't sound like a broken record- I did three coats for all. The finish leans towards the crelly side of things, so they have some VNL left at two coats, but three is nicely opaque while retaining that squishy feel. I did find that these had some troubles self-leveling. It seemed like I could sometimes where the brush had touched the nail, which is odd for a creme. The consistency of all of these was good though and they were very easy to apply.

Zoya Lake is a soft greyed out blue creme. The official description calls it "A softened blue that gives the effect of serene water with just a hint of vibrancy to preserve its luminosity.". It has that soothing feel that being near the water gives me for sure. The paleness of the color reminds me of a frozen winter lake.

I think the picture above shows best what I mean about the lack of self-leveling. It was mostly smoothed out with top coat, but still a little visible when you are up this close.

Zoya Misty is an interesting sandy taupe creme with hints of gray and green. It is a great neutral that will be perfect for polish fans who have to wear professional colors at work.

This one seemed to go on the most even out of the collection. It looks nicely smooth.

Zoya Eastyn is a light purple-y taupe creme. Purple-y taupes are my favorite and this is unique in my collection because it is so much paler and lighter than others I own. It's like a lavender taupe. Zoya says it is a "subtle grayed grape that is more interesting than mauve". It is much more modern looking than mauve, almost an edgy neutral, but still work appropriate.

I probably could have done two coats of Eastyn. It was the most pigmented of the bunch.

Zoya April is a mannequin hands shade for me. Less so in these pictures where I have some lobster hands going on, but in person it matches my skin almost exactly. April is a vanilla rose creme, a bit pink toned, but I think it also has some yellow, like vanilla ice cream, hints in it, which is what make it match my skin! Zoya calls this a "modern take on blush". 

I think you can see below how this can lean a little yellow-y. It's a good balance though, so I think it will flatter a lot of people.

Zoya Cala is a super pale neutral yellow creme. It's like butter and cream mixed together when you start making Alfredo sauce (mmmmm yummy!!). Zoya says it's a "soft nude with a kiss of warmth". 

*Sent for review*

The Whispers collection is a really nice bunch of soft and cozy work appropriate colors. They are great for this time of year, but would work year round as well. My favorite is Ireland (not a surprise), but Lake and Eastyn are close runners-up.

The Zoya Whispers collection will be available on zoya.com, hopefully soon!