Zoya Smoke Swatches and Review

Zoya Smoke is one half of Zoya's Fall 2011 collection set, Smoke & Mirrors. Smoke is made up of creme polishes, and Mirrors is made up of shimmers and glass-flecked polishes. I really like the concept for this collection, and there are several that I'll be adding to my "take to college" list - which, at the rate it's going, will be far too long come August 24. And now, the polishes! I did not use top coat in any of these pictures, and as you can see, they're all very shiny without it.

outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Jana is what Zoya calls a "smoky mauve quartz cream" - frankly, I'm quite sure where the quartz part comes from, but it's a very pretty color. It's not a particularly unique color, but it stands out from all the other trendy mushroom taupes for its opacity. I used one coat on all nails except the ring finger, because I dripped acetone on that one and it dulled the polish. As you can see, there's absolutely no difference in opacity between the finger with two coats and the rest. A classy, one-coat-and-done taupe? I'm definitely taking this one to college.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Petra, a "smoky eggplant mauve cream," is a very pretty purpley, greyish, brownish, mauvey polish that's hard to define when you see it in person - and I think that's partly what I like about it. In some lights it looks mostly grey, but in different light, it takes on different tones. I did use two coats with this one, but it barely needed the second.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Look at that shine! If I didn't know this didn't have top coat, I'm not sure I'd believe it. Anyway, Codie is a "smoky brown taupe cream," though I'm not sure I agree with Zoya on the taupe part - taupe is grey tinged with brown, and if this has any grey in it, I'm missing it. This is probably the darkest brown I own, and I think I prefer them a little lighter, à la Barielle Coco Bar. I used two coats.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Zoya calls Anja a "smoky palatinate purple cream" - I call it lovely. Though it doesn't really have any relevance to the polish itself, I do like that they used "palatinate" in the description. I used one coat of Anja here, which suited me just fine. My only (slight) complaint is that I had one too-long, slightly wonky bristle in Anja's brush, but I trimmed it down and the brush works perfectly normally now.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Cynthia is a "smoky Prussian blue cream" that reminds me of a considerably more blackened American Apparel Peacock. I keep getting this one mixed up with Anja, because I feel like the one that's described as Prussian should have the Russian name. Anyway, that's irrelevant as well - Cynthia is a lovely color, and perfect for those of you who are particularly fond of vampy polishes. It's a bit too dark for my taste, but I like the touch of teal it has. Cynthia is opaque in two coats.

 outdoors, sunlight

outdoors, shade

Dree is the final polish in Smoke, and by far my favorite. A "smoky camouflage green cream," Dree is the kind of color I just can't resist - I just can't resist a good khaki green, so I'll definitely be carting this one off to SLU as well. Dree reaches opacity with two coats - I baaarely needed the second, but it is a tad sheer without it, so I do recommend two coats. Like all the others, it's uncannily glassy without top coat. I'm in love.

I planned on doing more Harry Potter nail art today, but when the Smoke & Mirrors package arrived, I ended up spending all my free time at home swatching them instead. I will still be doing the nail art I'd planned (even though it's almost 11:00...eek!), but I'm not sure I'll be able to get it up tonight.

Also, I'm planning on doing a comparison post for these polishes at some point (I'd do one for Mirrors, too, but I honestly can't think of any really similar colors in my collection), so if you have any suggestions, please put them in the comments, shoot me an email, or sent me a tweet. Thanks for reading!

These samples were provided to me by the PR company for review. However, this will never influence what I say in a review. For more information, see my disclosure policy.