Saturday, July 14, 2012

Glitzy *and* understated? Zoya Luna and Essie Matte About You

I am a sucker for white-based polishes, and I live for glitter.  So when I participated in the Zoya Earth Day half-price sale, I jumped at getting Luna, which is a white creme packed with silver glitter.

Adorable cat not included.
*coughs* it's blurry to show off the twinkling, I swear




















Luna is interesting.  In the bottle, it actually seems really restrained and twinkly, but as soon as you get it on and in direct light, the glitter really picks up the light like crazy.

A side effect of this is that it wears almost more like a silver than a white.


This is in indirect outdoor light, and you can get a bit of an idea of how dominant the glitter is.


To be honest, I'd actually prefer a bit more white in this mix, but that's me.



Here's a picture in brighter light, but my camera actually had a lot of trouble capturing all the sparkle.

You can really tell here that the glitter takes up over half of the polish.

This is not an understated look, by any means. 








































Another shot in full sun






























Even in the shade, this is a blingy manicure







































In the end, though, I really wanted a more subtle look that foregrounded the white.  I've been really loving all the milky whites the indies and even some of the standard brands have been putting out lately, like OPI's NY Ballet Don't Touch my Tutu and Dollish Polish's Expecto Patronum, and was kind of hoping for a sort of similar look with this polish. The almost foil-like sparkle is gorgeous, but wasn't quite the look I was going for, so I grabbed Essie's Matte About You, my go-to mattefying topcoat.










Matte About You is pretty much awesome over every glitter I've tried it on.  It's great with jelly sandwiches and glitter topcoats and can substantially change the look of a manicure in five minutes. Highly recommended!











Because the matte effect subdues the silver elements in the glitter, the manicure comes out much more restrained and foregrounds the white quite a bit more.


It's almost like the matte coat reverses the prominence of silver and white, and they take on this really soft sheen that I love.


It's sort of a pearly effect, with the speckles of darker silver glitter that comes off almost as pearly with a silver sheen.





This is one of my favorite quick manis that is a little out of the standard polish color range but not so in your face that I would feel uncomfortable wearing it almost anywhere. It's definitely a more subtle way to wear glitter.








































I suppose that this should be more of a winter look, because it really is reminiscent of sun on snow, but I love the cooling effect of whites in summer :)
eep!  dry fingers!  acetone is harsh.  Definitely time for some lemony flutter ^^;









































One thing I would warn about--Luna is seriously prone to giving you the dreaded glitter pox after you remove it.  I think I was still finding silver glitters on my skin, clothes, and furniture for a week after this mani.

It's so pretty, though, that I didn't really mind









































Zoya polishes can be purchased at Ulta stores or directly from Zoya.  Essie's Matte About You can be found at Target and Ulta stores, as well as some drug stores.

1 comment:

  1. Is it weird that my bottle of Matte About You looks totally different than yours? I mean, it just looks like a regular bottle of Essie with the engraved name and stuff, not with the big black E on the front.

    Also this will probably be the last Essie matte that I buy, since a domestic brand started making one for around $3 cheaper than they retail around here and it seems equally good. I did cave in and buy Dive Bar though!

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