Zoya Kotori, Crystal, Charla Comparison

I did this at someone's request but I thought I'd post it. I don't have Charla, so I used Orly Halley's Comet instead.

L to R: Kotori, Crystal, Halley's Comet

One coat:


Two coats:


Three coats:

At this point Halley's Comet was opaque so I didn't add any more.

Four coats (three coats of Halley's Comet):

At this point Crystal was opaque, so I didn't add any more.

Five coats of Kotori, four coats of Crystal, three coats of Halley's Comet:


With top coat:


As you can see, they are very different. Kotori, the sheerest, is a dark charcoal base with lots of blue microglitter. Crystal is a metallic light blue with lots of gold flecks. Halley's Comet is teal with yellow-green sparkle. From what I have read, Charla is slightly more blue and more sparkly, but they are very close. All of these formulas were very easy to work with and dried fairly quickly.

In conclusion, these three colors really aren't similar at all and it's worth having all three!

Essie One Day Without Blues

A couple of weeks ago Toms shoes had a sweepstakes to win a free bottle of Essie polish to push their "One Day Without Shoes" event. It's a special color made especially for the collaboration, One Day Without Blues. I guess I was one of the 5,000 winners! I received my bottle today.


It looks like Coat Azure to me (perhaps a bit less green-toned), but I don't have it to compare. It's a dusty cornflower blue cream with subtle silvery shimmer, a bit brighter than in the picture. Formula was great, very easy to work with, on par with high-end brands. I am wearing two coats, but you might be able to get away with one. Very pretty color, but not particularly unique. Still, I'll never complain about free polish!

Color Club Volt of Light

I haven't seen many swatches for the Zoya Mod Mattes, so I was a bit hesitant to buy them. I love the idea of matte brights, though, so I thought I'd do a little experimenting with a matte top coat.


This is Color Club Volt of Light with Essie Matte About You on top. VoL is a neon yellow with green flash. I've read other reviews that said the formula on this was great, but I am wearing five or six coats and there's still some visible nail line. I still love the color, though, bright highlighter yellow. The green shimmer gives it a bit more depth but I think it looks a bit shinier than intended under Matte About You.

It's rainy and cloudy out so the neon yellow feels a bit out of place, but I love my neons!

BIG Zoya Promo!

Be sure to have or make a Zoya account by 5 p.m. EST TODAY to qualify for their big promo coming up! To sign up, just go to zoya.com and click "CREATE AN ACCOUNT" at the top, near the center of the page. I wonder what it is? I'm excited!

Full details here.

Handwriting Tag

I saw this on various blogs and I thought it looked so fun! I wanted to use some fun stationery so I used some that is star-shaped (from Morning Glory, a gift from a friend) and my ramen-cup pen, hehe. (Please click to enlarge.)

This was a lot of fun and I'd love to see everyone's posts!