Lacquer or Leave Her!: Review: Zoya fall 2015 Focus collection

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Review: Zoya fall 2015 Focus collection

(Press sample; affiliate links)

Hello!

I took a couple of days off to celebrate my birthday, and wow was it a cool one--while hiking a path that ran along the ocean, I saw a pod of humpback whales feeding in a cove. Amazing!

Now I'm back, and I have the second half of Zoya's fall offerings for you: the 2015 Focus collection of lush fall cremes (if you missed the first half, Zoya's Flair collection, you can see it here). Let's jump on in!

To start, we have Zoya Charli, an olive gray creme:

Zoya Charli

This is two coats; you can get away with one if you're careful. Application was effortless and the formula was perfect. I love this color, it's my favorite in the collection; olive enough to go with anything involving green, but muted enough to act as a neutral. LOVE.

Next up is Zoya Desiree, a deep espresso creme:

Zoya Desiree

This is two coats, but again could be one if you're careful. In lower light situations, this polish takes on more of a gray cast, which gives it a slightly edgy feel, I think. This is such a cool neutral for almost any fall outfit, and I love it for nail art.

Then we have Zoya Hannah, a chili-cherry red creme:

Zoya Hannah

Hannah will definitely put a little heat into your life during those long cool fall days! This is an almost universally flattering shade of red, with just enough pin-up kick to it. This is two easy coats, no problem with formula or application.

Then there's Zoya Janel, a brick red creme:

Zoya Janel

If Hannah is pin-up, Janel is flat-out vamp. This is a darker, cooler shade that has an elegant, adult feel to it. It's also my ideal Christmas red. :) Two coat, excellent application and formula.

It's unusual for a collection to have two reds; red is my favorite color, so I'm not going to complain, but I was surprised by it, and I thought it would be a good idea to do a comparison shot of the two reds to help you choose which you want (or if you definitely want both!):

You can see that Hannah is lighter and warmer, while Janel is deeper and more of a brick tone.

Next up is Zoya Lidia, a regal aubergine creme:

Zoya Lidia

Yes yes yes yes yes! Oh, most beautiful of eggplant cremes, vampy, rich, and mysterious! This is part of why I love fall so much, these deep, bold jewel tones. This is two coats; I had a bit of streaking on the first coat, but that went away completely with the second coat.

And finally, we have Zoya Sia, a muted cerulean blue creme:

Zoya Sia

This is two coats, but you might be able to get away with one; formula and application were excellent. I didn't have any problem with staining, but I'd definitely recommend using at least one coat of base coat with any sort of saturated blue polish. I love this color; it has a European sort of feel to it, just a little bit muted but still with a rich pop of color. Sophisticated but still fun.

Overall, I think this is an top-notch collection in terms of quality and application, with a solid selection of choices to get you through your fall wardrobe needs, that will transition you into winter; Charli and Desiree give two unusual neutrals while Hannah, Janel, Lidia, and Sia give bold jewel-toned color. This collection matches about 90% of my fall/winter wardrobe.

Oh, and by the way--these are great for stamping. :)

You can find the collection on Zoya's site, or anywhere else Zoya is sold, including Amazon.

Happy Polishing!
M.