Zoya Naturel Satins for 2015 Swatches and Review

Hey guys! Today I have the Zoya "Transitional" Naturel Satin collection review! Finally! :) These were provided by Zoya for my review and my opinion is definitely my own-yall know that ;)

These are meant to be a transition from the dark colors from fall/winter to the pastels of spring. These were highly anticipated by all of us! For one, I was (and am) a HUGEEEE fan of the Matte Velvets Zoya put out last year. You can read my review of them here! I figured if these were half as good as those then I would be a happy camper. And look, more frosty bottles! GAH they are just so pretty!


Zoya Naturel Satins

So let's get in to it!


A few words on the formula......sigh. I'm still on the fence. It seems the blogging community is split right down the middle. Several people had issues with the formula being thick and not leveling out and some just absolutely loved these at 2 coats.  My thoughts will be at the end of this post! I
I tried to have one core swatch of each and some of them I  played   around with, I'll mention those specifically when I get to them. I'm not sure if you're not "supposed" to wear base coat with these like the mattes but I pretty much always use a Ridge filling base coat. Below are the 3 Zoya base/topcoats I used in this post, all purchased by me.

From L, Get Even (Ridgefilling basecoat), Armor (topcoat), and Matte Velvet topcoat.

Zoya treatments, all purchased by me

First up is Ana. Zoya calls this a "toasted almond" color. It's a light creamy neutral that can lean pinkish or beige depending on your skin tone. Mine didn't pull much pink out of it. I really like this color! The formula was ok, this was 2 coats. And these definitely dry slower that the Matte Velvets but faster (to the touch) than a regular polish.



Ana

Next is Leah, which Zoya calls a "lavender tinged taupe). This one is a really interesting color! Is it lavender? Is it gray? Is it taupe? I could really see the lavender as I was applying it but mostly it leaned gray on me. This is 2 coats, and you can see how it's a little uneven.


Leah

For this one I thought I'd show yall the difference in the finishes. On my middle and pinky fingers is the satin finish. On my index finger I added matte topcoat and on my ring finger I added glossy topcoat. The satin finish really is right in the middle!



satin, matte and glossy finishes

This is Rowan. Zoya calls this a "suede taupe". Another really interesting color-- kind of a grayish brown? This is the only one I didn't use ridge filling basecoat on, just to experiment. And let me tell you...it was a nightmare. I'm honestly surprised the picture doesn't show how bad I thought it looked in real life! The coats definitely dried faster  I felt with no basecoat, but I still needed 3 coats on this one. It was ridgey and bumpy and uneven. I will try it again soon though, you'll see why at the end!



Rowan

Next is Sage, which Zoya calls a "mossy sage green" (haha!) Guys. I just. This one. I LOVE IT! This one saves the lot for me. Is it a coincidence that my absolute favorite herb is Sage? And before I became obsessed with turquoise this shade of green was one of my favorite colors? I don't know. This is such a pretty color and the satin finish makes it even more special. This is 2 coats. I had the same issue as the others which is some trouble with them leveling out, but as they dried they seem to correct themselves.



Sage

I felt drawn to add glossy topcoat to Sage. I loved this so much I could barely bare to take it off and finish swatching. GAH! I used Zoya Armor.



Sage with glossy topcoat

This is Tove, a "misty slate gray" which leans dusty blue in most lights! So pretty! This is 2 coats.



Tove

This is Tove with (Zoya) matte topcoat. It looks ok, but I didn't love it as much as I thought. I feel like the matte topcoat accentuates the unevenness in the polish the same way the glossy topcoat hides them.


Tove with matte topcoat

Tove is so crazy, sometimes it looks blue, sometimes it looks gray! I just wanted to show it next to some of the others.

Last is Brittany a "rose mauve cream" . This one I had the hardest time with, after 2 coats it just did not want to level out for me! I will give her another go though because I really love dusty pinks like this. I think they are universally flattering on most people.



Usually I would make this next part a separate post, but I just wanted to go ahead and include it here this time. Sorry for the longest post ever!

When I got done swatching these (and after the SuperBowl was over) I wanted to do a little wear test. I chose Ana and wore it on all 10 fingers for 4 days! This is on day one. This time, I took the bottle of Ana, told her how pretty she looked that day and told her she looked skinny in those jeans. I held my breath and waited an extra long time in between my 2 coats. I had much better results! Before I was mostly frustrated with the unevenness and I think the trick is to just go slow and take your time.

wear test

Below is after 4 days. The wear time is EXCEPTIONAL I thought! Those 4 days consisted of  regular house stuff, cleaning, cooking, changing diapers, bathing children, washing dishes (with out gloves), laundry, putting my toddler in and out of his carseat multiple times. I am really impressed! My only complaint is, I don't feel like they ever really dried. It took about 20 minutes before they were dry enough to do stuff, but every few hours and every day I pressed one thumbnail into another to see if I could still dent it and I could. They dry to an almost rubbery soft finish and never really fully cured on me. I didn't have any dents on them from activities, but you know. I could dent them myself.

wear test day 4

wear test day 4

Overall, I'm pretty happy with these. I don't love them like I thought I would, but I had unreasonable expectations of them ;) Just take your time applying them and you will be good to go! These are available right now on Zoya.com for $9