Once again Zoya has graced us with two beautiful collections for fall! The two collections are called Focus, which are 6 creme polishes and Flair, which are 6 shimmery polishes.
I tend to go for more of the shimmery colors over the cremes, but after watching some reviews, I decided to pick up a couple from the Focus collection. We'll start with those first.
First up is Zoya Sia. This is a beautiful bright cobalt blue creme. The formula is thick and smooth like a perfectly blended milkshake. The downside is that it stinks like a skunk. A lot of purples and blues have that kind of awful smell I'm assuming because of the type of pigment used. I guess the color payoff is worth enduring the smell.
This is two coats.
Now, upon seeing this polish, of course some ideas for comparison came to mind. A lot of cobalt blues have more of a purple-y base, and aren't as true blue as Sia is. I did find some in my collection that were comparable. The first being the infamous OG Sally Hansen Pacific Blue. The second being Essie Mezmerised. These were the two that reminded me the most of Sia, so I did a quick comparison shown below.
These are the bottle shots. From L to R: Sally Hansen Pacific Blue, Zoya Sia, Essie Mezmerised. (P.S. Isn't Mezmerised spelled Mesmerized? Am I crazy?)
So from the swatches you can see that Pacific Blue is a lot lighter and brighter than Sia, however they both have the same kind of dusty blue hue to them.
I think it is closer to Mezmerised, although Sia is slightly brighter, I think they are the same tone blue. Sia definitely has the beter formula of the two.
The next polish is called Charli. This is a beautiful khaki green creme shade. This is a unique polish to my collection. I didn't have any camo colored greens before this polish! Like everyone before me has said, the formula is a one coater. It distributes evenly and smoothly. The below picture is just one coat.
Now on to the Flair collection. I picked up Estelle. Estelle is a deep royal sapphire blue with a slight purple flash.
This first shot is in direct lighting, but you can't see much of the purple flash through the blue.
You can see the shift a little better in this light. Please forgive my plastic-y looking fingers, I had to slather them in cuticle oil during this swatchfest, they were looking pretty bad. lol.
This is the best shot I had to see the shift the most clearly. It's really stunning in person.
Now, this color is certainly not unique. I picked out three more polishes that looked pretty similar in the bottle, so I did a swatch comparison.
From L to R: Revlon Super-Powered, Zoya Estelle, OPI St. Mark's the Spot, OPI Miss Piggy's Big Number
Somehow I flipped the swatches around, so swatces from L to R:
OPI Miss Piggy's Big Number, OPI St. Mark's the Spot, Zoya Estelle, Revlon Super-Powered.
Basically, these are all blue polishes with a purple flash or shift. Super-Powered is more of a multi chrome; the bottle shot shows the slight gold-green flash in it. MPBBN seems to have more purple in the base and is a bit more sheer than Estelle. Finally, St. Mark's the spot is pretty much an exact dupe. Conveniently, this came out as a limited edition polish for OPI's fall collection, so you could pick up one or the other and be covered. They even have the same shimmery glitter in them. I'm just a sucker for this kind of deep blue, I guess.
Next up is Tris. This is a shimmery gunmetal silver-gray. I didn't find any exact dupes for this polish, but I did add some comparable gunmetal shades that I had in my collection. The formula is amazing and the coverage is beautiful. Any streaks or brush strokes that are visible dry down when the polish dries. Something about this shade makes it look like its cool and warm at the same time. I'm starting to think the shimmer has a slight gold to it.
Below is two coats.
These are some gunmetal shades I pulled as a comparison. Shout out to the clearance aisle! haha.
L to R: Sally Hansen Shoot the Moon, Zoya Tris, Zoya Loredana, OPI Warm Me Up.
The color is probably closer to Shoot the Moon, but the glitter is a lot larger and more dense than Tris. The same is true for Loredana, except this one has purple and blue microshimmer in it. Finally, I thought Warm Me Up had the same shimmery flash in it, but it is a lot more taupe-y.
Next up is Cinnamon. This is a deep bronze-copper shimmer. It makes me think of some kind of luxurious chocolate every time I see it haha. Coverage is nice and silky. It is also one that will show brush strokes, but the shimmer helps it be a little more forgiving.
Below are some similar shades I scrounged up from my collection.
L to R: OPI Brisbane Bronze, Zoya Cinnamon, Kiss Sapphire Dust
Brisbane Bronze is more on the coppery side although it does generally have the same type of formula. Sapphire Dust is probably a hint darker or a bit more brown, but in person they are harder to tell apart. They have the same really good coverage and formula. The biggest difference is Cinnamon is more appropriately named than Sapphire Dust. :P
(P.S. I have a separate post on more Kiss polishes if you are interested!)
Lastly, is Aggie. This is a gold to green to almost blue duochrome. Although this is the most unique polish out of the collection, sadly, it's not a unique polish. I'm sure there are exact dupes for this polish throughout the entire realm of polish. I was able to pick out three from my collection. Actually, I'm not quite sure what's worse: the polish not being unique, or the fact that I now have 4 polishes that are pretty much the same.
From L to R: OPI Just Spotted the Lizard, China Glaze Rare & Radiant, Zoya Aggie, Revlon Chameleon.
Here is the swatch comparison. JSTL and Rare & Radiant are dupes for each other, and they have more of a yellow-gold tone to them. Their blue shift is also a lot stronger. Chameleon, on the other hand has the deeper warmer gold color yet also has a deeper blue-green shift. Aggie does have a tad more shimmer to it, but it's safe to say that formula and color wise, Chameleon is an exact dupe. And it's a little cheaper!
Comparison shot again in more direct light.
Here's a bonus shot of geometric freehand nail art I did using Aggie and Charlie.
Generally speaking, the Focus and Flair collections are stunning collections with beautiful colors, but the unique edge that Zoya normally has is slowly fading. When I first started collecting Zoya polishes, they were unique colors with flawless formulas. The formulas are still a dream to work with, but other companies have caught on to incorporating more edgy, dynamic colors. I normally get excited when I find dupes for polishes in my collection, but to find so many comparable colors for this collection was a bit disappointing. I would recommend buying the cheaper alternatives and saving your money for something more unique from Zoya.
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