Sunday, November 22, 2015

Zoya - Matte Velvet, Holiday Collection: Swatches & Review

press sample 

Hello, all! I have the new Zoya Matte Velvet Holiday collection to share with you today! I am always excited when Zoya releases a new matte collection as they usually manage to do a great job of it and this time is no different.

The shimmer in each of these polishes keeps them exciting and fun while on the nail and the flat matte finish really lends itself to the overall frosty, wintery feel of this collection. Let's take a look!

Aspen is a sparkling snow white polish. It seriously looks like snow when dry! It's quite entrancing. The formula was pretty easy to work with though it was a tad on the thick side and slightly streaky. Because of that I've shown 3 coats, though based on your application technique, you might be able to get away with 2. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a good shot of the shimmer :(


Sue is a champagne gold which a multi-chrome opalescent shimmer mixed in. This is such a soft and elegant shade and perhaps the perfect polish for a wedding. This one was more sheer than Aspen but was thinner and easier to work with...so even though I've shown 4 coats in these photos, those are thin and smooth coats that don't feel like 4 coats on the nail.


Amal is a ruby red creme with a classic pearl shimmer. This reminds me a bit of CG's Ruby Pumps and it's really fantastic mattified. This is absolutely perfection for Christmas time. Lovely formula and shown is 3 coats, though 2 was very nearly perfect.


Iris is a rich amethyst with a magenta shimmer. While it's a very love shade of purple, I don't love this one mattified quite as much as the other shades in this collection just because the shimmer doesn't shine through quite as much. Regardless, this has a great formula and shown is 2 generous coats.


Yves is a deep navy to indigo blue with blue pearlescent shimmer. This blue hue is quite stunning! I'm always a fan of nice blues like this, though, as with Iris, I wish the shimmer had shown through a tiny bit more. Shown is 2 easy coats. Be cautious with this one, too. In the time it took to swatch this one, it managed to stain my nails so take the necessary steps to avoid that for yourself.


Honor is probably my favorite of the collection and is an emerald green creme with the same pearlescent shimmer of the rest of the collection. When this one dries matte, you can still see the shimmer well enough, but it's not overpowering. It's my goldilocks polish of the collection ;) not too much shimmer, and not to litter shimmer - just right! Shown is 2 easy coats.


Overall, I think this is a pretty successful winter collection. Each shade will work nicely for various holidays in the coming months. Sometimes matte finishes don't turn out great, but the fact that each of these contains a nice shimmer keeps them really interesting in the flat color look.

You can purchase the entire Matte Velvet Holiday collection as a whole sampler, or as individual shades directly from the Zoya website. Be sure to follow Zoya on your favorite social media site to stay up to date with the latest collections and releases!

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Which of these is your favorite?? Let me know in the comments where you can see yourself wearing these! Happy polishing :)