Comparisons: Strawberry Fields/Kimber & Smooth Sailing/Sklar

Ok, so I haven't ever done a comparison post before, but I've decided to do one and to kill two birds with one stone. Two recent purchases reminded me of other colors in my stash at first glance. So I figured someone else might be thinking the same thing without seeing them side by side.
First off is the last color I swatched, Skylar. I thought that this looked a lot like Essie Smooth Sailing (one of my favorites)! The are similar but after putting them next to each other I instantly knew these were very different. Skylar is more cornflower blue and SS is more periwinkle. Both have shimmer that is quite noticeable. Skylar has iridescent shimmer that shifts from gold to silver to pink; the base is lighter and more dusty. Smooth Sailing is more saturated, brighter, and its shimmer is silver.

The next two I thought looked like they might be alike are China Glaze Strawberry Fields, and Zoya Kimber. Even next to each other these look strikingly similar, not dupes, but close. That is, until you put them on... Both are warm medium pinks with gold glass fleck. Kimber has substantially more

 pigment, it's nearly a one coater. SF is pretty sheer needing 2-3 coats, and still coming out lighter. The formula on Kimber is wonderful, while SF is slightly watery.

So without further ado...pictures. Please forgive the state of my nails (I wasn't leaving them like this so I was a little lazy).

Left to Right: Skylar, Smooth Sailing, Kimber, Strawberry Fields

Top to Bottom: Skylar, Smooth Sailing, Kimber, Strawberry Fields

I have reviewed all of these except SF, so there are full swatches and write ups n the others. Being the polish collector that I am I have no problem owning all of these. The are all different enough to justify buying. My favorite blue between the two is Smooth Sailing, and pink is Kimber.

Zoya- Skylar

Hi guys, I hope you are all having a great holiday weekend. We are camping in the NYS finger lakes, eating, drinking wine and relaxing with the family...what could be better? It is an issue that two of my favorite summer pastimes are at such odds with my nails: gardening and camping. Neither are kind to my hands, so my nails will most likely be kept short in the near future.
Anyways today I have another Zoya polish I just picked up, Skylar. I remember opening this and thinking that it was pretty close to Essie Smooth Sailing, but although they are in the same color family, they are different enough that I need both. I will post some comparison pictures here shortly.

Skylar is a dusty cornflower blue with shimmer that I believe is iridescent. The shimmer shifts from gold to pink to silver, and really makes this polish interesting. It applies like a creme. These pictures are with two coats and SV. I had significant shrinkage at the tips and needed touch up after one day. I will attribute that to the topcoat, but am only guessing at this. Skylar is one of those season-less colors that I feel works well with my skin tone, I will be keeping her handy...

Zoya- Rica

Ok, so Rica is a polish that was on my wishlist for a loooong time! I remember seeing this and how badly I wanted it. At the time, I didn't realize I could still get Zoya polishes after the collections left the store shelves, and was so very sad at the thought that I had missed the boat. How happy was I when I realized I could still get them off the website? Well lets just say I may have done a little dance in my living room, lol! I have not resolveds my computer issues yet and this week my 2 year old son decided to hide mommy's camera card, so needless to say I was lost as to what to do, until today he walked up and handed it to my husband. He still wont say where it was, but I guess it was never really lost after all since he knew exactly where it was the whole time!
Anyway here is Rica:

I am not satisfied with the pictures I have here. None of them really capture the beauty that Rica has. This is three thin coats, with Sv topcoat. It is a orange, copper, pink, gold color glass fleck. I don't really want to call it a foil but it kind of a glass fleck-foil hybrid. If you look at the bottle, the formula looks pretty thin, but it builds to opaque nicely. To truly appreciate how much this glimmers you have to see it in the sun. If you like colors in this category, this is a MUST! I promise you will not be sorry.

Zoya -Kimber

Hi Guys! How is everyone doing? I have exciting news...I got a promotion at work! Yay!!! I really wanted this position but wasn't getting my hopes up just in case... I start next Thursday and am already planning my nails:-) Anyways back to the point...today I have another new Zoya polish, Kimber. I love this color, its a bright warm pink with pink and gold glass fleck. A rich saturated color that screams summer:-)

This is two coats, the formula was pretty much perfect. I have it shown here with topcoat. This reminds me very much of a slightly darker China Glaze Strawberry Fields. I'll post a comparison soon! My poor nails had to be filed down, my middle fingernail broke so short! Hopefully my nails will grow fast...I don't want talons, but these nubbins are a little short for my taste!

Zoya- Rory

Hi Guys! Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful mommies out there! I am spending the beautiful day with my family, and it couldnt be more perfect! I hope you are all having a great weekend!!! So if your a polish addict, chances are you have bought a polish strictly because of the name. I am guilty of this on a number of occasions, and this is another. I know most of your minds will go straight to Gilmore Girls when they hear Rory, but Rory is my step dad. When Zoya released their summer collection, I instantly liked a few of them and this one was a fringe one for me. Sometimes I have to go for the fringe ones or else I would never try anything different, so that is how I ended up getting Rory. I was lucky enough to catch Zoya's Earth Day Sale (half off!) and 6 new polishes came to live with me:-) I really hope they do this sale every year, because I am already planning for 2013!
So here we go...

I really like this color with my skin tone, until a girl I work with said "hmmm, mauve?" What does she know anyway! Now when I see it, all I see is grandmas mauve polish. Not cool! I really liked this, so I am not happy about that turn of events.

Rory was a 2 coater, easy and smooth. This is shown with a topcoat. She is a lavender leaning pink with silver shimmer. Very cool toned, and almost icy. So what is your opinion, mauve or not?

Zoya, Neeka

Hi guys, I hope everyone had a nice weekend! I can't believe tomorrow is Monday already!! I spent the weekend taking care of my very sick little boy:-( At least I got to be home with him and he's feeling a little better.

So today I have Zoya Neeka, I know this is not new but it is to me and I was really excited to try it! It has the same finish as the lovely Yara, only in purple form. Also these pictures are taken in my lightbox, which is wonderful! It makes it so much easier to take them when I want instead of waiting for sunlight! I hope you are happy with the way they came out.

This applied like a dream, so creamy, and it flowed on exactly where I put it. It covered in 2 coats. This is a dark, dusty, blue toned purple. It is a very nice color and complimented my skin tone well. The only issue I have with this color is that the beautiful gold flecks that show so prominently in the bottle, do not show up very well on the nail. They are there, but very very subtle.

So what do you think of the pictures? I like the way they are coming out.And my lightbox is homemade! It cost me nothing to make and if anyone is interested, here is the link to the site where I found the directions showing how to do it:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=strobist%20lightbox&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CD4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstrobist.blogspot.com%2F2006%2F07%2Fhow-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html&ei=FC4KT7bjG8by0gG1-dW-CA&usg=AFQjCNEPhjHIBVfoTTCrMOeDw1OFhrW8xg&sig2=K8NzDNh_VmbieD0wtVkKCg

Zoya- Kissy

Hi guys:-) Today I have for you Kissy from Zoya's Gems & Jewels Collection. This is what I chose to wear on my nails for my party and brunch last weekend. I know it's not your traditional red or green but I think it is still a festive holiday color, not to mention very unique! I did not have the corresponding base color Izzy, but I had a Revlon polish that was so similar you would never know the difference! Funny story about that one, last Christmas I got 2 Revlon polishes in my stocking, Lava and Evergreen. The day after Christmas I thought i had accidentally thrown them away, I found Evergreen but tore through the garbage looking for Lava to no avail. Soo anyways, this year when I pulled out my decorations and started trimming the tree... ta-da Lava! Ok, maybe it's not that funny, but I got a little laugh out of it:-)
On to the polish! I really loved this one in the bottle and bought it for my sister, who nicely let me borrow it. It looked so amazing until I got it on my nails...booo! The base of Lava was a pleasant surprise, a one coater! It went on like butter, smooth and creamy. Then I went for Kissy... it was a nightmare. It was thick and gooey. It was drying as it went on so you couldn't move it at all. I had to get a blob, plop it on a nail and quickly spread it out. As much as I loved the random bar glitter in the bottle it felt like a furry mess on my fingers. I really did not expect it to be as textured as it was. I don't mind the gritty feel of glitter as long as it isn't catching, but I didn't like this. The color itself didn't look smooth, it looked like I had dented and smudged it a bunch of times and kept painting over the top. I used two coats of Seche Vite and could still feel the bumps. I don't know if this is a fluke and I bought a bad bottle or if some thinner would help? I hope that is the case because these colors are too pretty to be completely unwearable. I have never had any issue with Zoya's formula, they have always been near perfection, so I wont hold this against them!
I do have a plethora of pictures here. I have Kissy, Lava and the Kissy label that is misspelled:-)

Is it funny that after looking at these pictures, I think I may have judged too harshly? I do not take what I said about the formula back, but maybe it doesn't look as terrible as I thought? I always feel bad when I say anything negative about a polish! Kind of like how I felt when I was little and I got rid of a stuffed animal...as if I was hurting their feelings! I'm not right???

Zoya Yara

Ok so I had to do snatch up one of this fall's hot colors, olive green. I grabbed this one last week on a little shopping trip to Ulta. It's Yara from Zoya's Mirrors half of their Smoke and Mirrors Collection. This applied like a dream. This is my first Zoya nail polish, and if this is typical of their formula, I'm hooked! Its a medium olive creme, not dark, not light, just right; and its packed with gold microglitter. In certain light the glitter is hard to see, but when the light hits it, wow!

See how pretty the gold glitter is? It really made the olive a little more interesting!

I also got Seche Vite for the first time, I had to try it since so many people rave about it. I really liked how fast it dried, but my manicure chipped really fast. I'll have to see if that's the polish or topcoat. I'm guessing topcoat, based on what I've read...we'll see.