Swatch & Review - Zoya's "Tru"

So as you can see, I went and shortened my nails earlier this week. I had one nail chip weirdly, others were weakened, and I saw that they weren't all quite the same shape anymore.

Since I'd gotten my week's challenge done early, I used this opportunity to try one of my newer polishes that I'd picked up from Ulta in my most recent polish haul.

The lovely Tru by Zoya. These were taking in the morning of Day 3 of wear, so forgive any imperfections you may see. :)

Skylar on the left, Tru on the right. Taken in-doors to capture the shimmer effect.

Color Family: Purple
Color Finish: Metallic, Shimmer, Glossy

Tru is part of the True Spring 2012 Collection by Zoya. Tru is a lovely deep purple with a subtle gold shimmer. What you see here is three coats.

Click to make images bigger!

Here is a close-up of my thumb to give you a better idea of the gold's distribution/presence. The gold shimmer is much more obvious outside and barely noticeable in-doors (but still there if you look closely)

Application: 5 of 5, three coats.
It applied beautifully and was easy to work with. What you see in the pictures is three coats. I'd say it's 95% opaque with just two coats but I noticed some subtle thin/bald spots in places, so a third coat was applied just to be sure.

Color Intensity (Initial): 4 of 5, one coat
This color is color only really needs two coats to be opaque enough that no one will notice unless they look closely. Though I put three coats on my left (photographed) hand, I let myself be lazy with only two coats on my non-dominant hand since I was tired and had errands to run. :)

Color Intensity (Final): 5 of 5, shown with three coats.
As I said before, you could get away with just two coats if you wanted to. Three coats is just for good measure and to guarantee even application.

Additional Comments:  I've really enjoyed wearing this color for the past few days and it even got me a couple of compliments!This polish seems to me like a way toned down, non-flakie version of Orly's Fowl Play.

Overall Score: 5 of 5

Now the only polishes I'm missing from this collection are Farah and Lotus... maybe next time that I am at Ulta? :)

Quick Swatch & Review - "Sooki" by Zoya

My right hand from my Week 29 - Inspired by Fashion manicure.

This hand was admittedly a little rushed because it was 3 or 4am I was really wiped out (and had somewhere to be at 10am). But you still get a really good idea of the color / polish quality, enough so that I feel I can do a quick review of it.

Color Family: Reds
Color Finish: Cream, Glossy
 

Two coats. Shown with Seche Vite top coat.

Application: 5 of 5
Color Intensity (Initial): 4 of 5
Color Intensity (Final): 5 of 5, shown with two coats.
Additional Comments: Beautiful bright color and great, smooth formula. Oh how I love Zoya. :)
 
Overall Score: 5 of 5

Week 20 - Valentines Day (February 13, 2012) and Review of CG's "Go Go Pink"

Second time dotting, first time stamping. My Hot Chocolate polka dots are supposed to bring to mind a box of chocolate, and for the record, it is THE PERFECT milk chocolate color. My first time using this color and I am so pleased.

And let the records show that Elsbeth's Rose transfers beautifully as a stamping polish. My first stamping success!

Review for China Glaze's Go Go Pink.

Color Family: Pink
Color Finish: Cream

First time using this beautiful pale cream pink that I got from a swap. When the bottle arrived, I was initially annoyed that a fair amount had been used up already (while the bottle I traded was completely brand new; an accidental extra). But it all made sense once I sat down to use it.

Application was a pain. It took at least five coats on each finger to get this level of opacity, something that really surprised me from China Glaze as their formulas are usually opaque in three coats or less, easy. In addition to being sheer, it was stubbornly streaky and took forever to dry between coats.

Once you get past the application, the color itself is gorgeous. I'm not sure if its from all the coats I used to reach opacity, but it ended up feeling delightfully squishy, as if gel.

Over all, I would give this color a 3.5 out of 5.0. While the end result is arguably worth it - you'd never guess it was such a pain in the butt to work with - I'm sure there are plenty of other pale pink creams out there with much easier application. I don't want to end up using 1/4 of the bottle every time I feel like a light pink manicure.

Application: 2 of 5
Color Intensity (Initial): 2 of 5
Color Intensity (Final): 5 of 5
Color Tone: Cool

Additional Comments: Streaky, Inefficient, Sheer, but you'd never know if all you saw was the final result.

Overall Score: 3 of 5