[Purchased, affiliate links used]
Hey friends! I am kinda struggling with trying to decide in which order to post things. I feel like I am drowning in new releases despite me telling myself that there was going to my a slowdown of releases in March?
Since I couldn’t decide, I had Wayne pick and he said to go with this one first so here we are. So today I am sharing Zoya’s Toasty collection which is their transitional collection for the year. I will fully admit, I bought this collection thinking that the color story wasn’t going to be for me and that there were duplicates a plenty. I’ll throw in some comparisons with each polish.
I’ll save my thoughts for later but this collection is available right now. If you would like to pick up the collection at a discount, do check out BeyondPolish. Use my affiliate code NicoleLovesNails to save an extra 10% on your order.
Live Swatch Video
My live swatch video for this release will be live to the public Saturday March 18th, it is currently live for channel members.
Zoya is a US based mainstream brand. Their polishes are in 15ml bottles, 10 free, vegan and cruelty free.
Ora
Description: A dark, chocolate tinged blackberry
Ora had a great formula. It had that perfect Zoya creme application and self leveled perfectly.
With thin coats, you will definitely need a second coat. If you go in for a really thick coat, this should be passable in one coat. I accidentally did a really thick coat on my thumb and it was like 95% opaque.
Colorwise, I didn’t see a single drop of chocolate/brown in this polish. It is a very dark purple shade.
My photos show Ora in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
For comparison, I pulled out Zoya’s Constance (Cafe Creams Fall 2022) (middle and pinky). In my mind, these were going to be MUCH closer but alas they were not. I was surprised that I didn’t have any more similar colors but then again, I don’t buy dark colors so all of mine have been acquired since I started blogging.
Elowen
Description: A spicy, rich Cabernet
Elowen had a fantastic formula. This was very opaque on the first coat, but not quite a one coater. It’s applied buttery smooth and has a perfect Zoya creme polish formulation.
The color of this one is not something that I would normally pick up for myself, but I was really enjoying how it looked on me. This reminded me A LOT of Zoya’s Dagmar. Like with the previous polish, not nearly as close as I thought.
My photo show Elowen in two coats plus glossy topcoat.
As I was saying, I thought Elowen was going to be SO similar to Dagmar (Classic Leathers Fall 2022). I also pulled out Orly’s Wild Abandon which again, seemed similar but Wild Abandon had a stronger purple tone and was lighter.
Hattie
Description: A rosy, Tuscan pink
Hattie had a fantastic formula. It felt just slightly and I mean slightly on the chalky side but overall it was great.
I will admit that I do not like the shade of pink that this polish is one bit. I would say the official description was as described.
My photos show Hattie in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
Rae
Description: A dusty rose suede, with subtle warm and tan undertones
Rae had a great formula. This polish is a slightly lighter shade in comparison to Hattie.
And like Hattie, I would say the brand description is accurate. It has a very slight tan tinge whereas Hattie didn’t. This was another polish that I would say based on color, isn’t for me.
My photos show Rae in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
I thought for SURE this was going to be a dupe for Orly’s Parcs Ad Parasols (Impressions Spring 2022). This has more rose/pink tones to it. It also isn’t a dupe for Roam With Me which is a very pale shade. Unrelated, me prior to blogging never owned any colors like these so it is surreal seeing them in my stash.
Crystal
Description: A greyed, muted grey mulberry with warm undertones
Crystal had a really great formula. It applied perfectly. Crystal is one of the colors that I expected to love and I did!
This is a very greyed out pale purpley shade. It also has a bit of taupe to it which I am guess is what Zoya means by warm undertones.
My photos show Crystal in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
I pulled out China Glaze’s Thistle Be Amazing from their Eco Glaze line. (Review is coming soon btw) TBA was not nearly as similar as I thought. OPI’s Incognito Mode (Me Myself & OPI Spring 2023) was also a completely different shade.
And yes I am aware that I spelled the polish name wrong in that photo. I will fix it tomorrow.
Abigail
Description:A medium elephant grey, with cool undertones
Abigail also had a fantastic formula. This was the second polish that I was pretty sure that I would like from this release.
Where Crystal is purple toned, Abigal is all light grey. It also feels cooler in tone on the nail. As a sucker for a good grey, I loved this color.
My photos show Abigail in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
So I had just finished swatching Under The Palms from the Eco Glaze line when I put this one on and I was so convinced that these two were dupes. In my studio lighting and in natural light, there are clear differences. UTP is cooler and darker. However, I found in the lighting in my tv room, there was no differences in tones. I would recommend Abigail over Under The Palms though.
Final Thoughts
This collection was fantastic but just not for me. All of the formulas were great and I didn’t have any issues with any of them. As I mentioned earlier, I bought this collection knowing full well that this was not the collection for me.
The color story was a little boring for me. I feel like 4 of the polishes were fairly similar to each other and I don’t love having them in the same collection. However, I also recognize that most people likely do not buy full collections. So having a warm tone and a cool tone of similar colors makes things better for the non-nail polish collecting consumer.
My top picks are going to be Crystal and Abigail. Also just a note, I did use the Z Wide brush for all of my swatches.
Zoya
15ml, 10 Free, Vegan & Cruelty Free
Website | Instagram | Twitter | Amazon
Sale Information
The Toasty collection is available right now on the Zoya website. Zoya retails for $12 USD for 15ml bottles. Zoya does sales fairly often so if 12 bucks for a creme is too steep for you, wait for a sale. Or pick these up from Beyond Polish if you are in the US.
On BeyondPolish.com, Zoya is priced at $7.70 per bottle which is the cheapest that I have found the brand outside of sales. If you use my affiliate code, NicoleLovesNails you can save an extra 10%. All money generated from affiliate codes go back into buying collections to review so that helps me out a ton.
