Paint Those Piggies!: Zoya Awaken Spring 2014 Collection: Swatches and Review

*Press Samples

Hi everyone, happy Thursday. One day closer to Friday! :) I'm going to make this post right to the point since I'm writing it before heading in the field for work. I was really excited when I saw the original press release for this collection. I am a huge fan of pastels and Spring collections always seem so cheerful during the gloom and darkness of Winter.

This collection features seven polishes. Two of the polishes are creams, one polish is a frost, one polish is a glitter topper, and the remaining three are Zoya's classic shimmer finish that they do so well. Let's get right into it! All swatches below are without topcoat.

Zoya Cole-

First up is Cole, which is a full-coverage peach cream (originally released during NYFW as Stella for Peter Som's SS14 Collection). Yes, please! Oh man do I love this polish. Cole is a peach cream, maybe a crelly formula so it is slightly sheer but buildable. I used three coats and I think the resulting color is absolutely stunning. It's so soft and delicate, a perfect Spring color.

originally released during NYFW as Stella for Peter Som's SS14 Collection - See more at: http://zoya.com/content/item/Zoya/Zoya-Nail-Polish-in-Cole-ZP721.html#sthash.SzVYlZks.dpuf

Zoya Brooklyn-

Next up, Brooklyn, which is the only one I don't care for in this collection. Brooklyn is a frosty pale gold polish. It's very brush-strokey, even if you are careful, and I just didn't care for the final look of the polish. There was nothing wrong with the formula, it's just my personal color preference. I used two coats.

Zoya Hudson-

Third of the group is Hudson, which is a medium cool-toned purple with silver shimmer. This is one of the shimmers that Zoya does best. The formula was slightly thin, but I did manage to use two coats for my swatches. The color is very pretty and fits in nicely with the "purple orchid" Pantone color of the year.

Zoya Dot-

Dot is the final cream of the collection. This polish is a pale pink petal cream. Like Cole, the formula is on the sheer side, but it does build up to be opaque in three thin coats. I think the color is worth it. I am really into pale opaque pinks this Spring and this fits the bill perfectly!

Zoya Rebel-

Rebel is another shimmer polish, a blue sky metallic with silver shimmer. The color is perfection again and I used two coats for my swatches below.

Zoya Dillon-

Second to last is Dillon, which is a mint metallic with shimmer. Zoya says the shimmer is silver, but on me it does lean gold so I'm not exactly sure which one it is ;) I am in love with this color! The formula was good and I used two coats below.

Zoya Monet-

Last but not least is Monet, which is a iridescent cellophane glitter topper. Zoya describes the glitter as holographic but I would have to disagree on that one. I did find this polish to be a little bit thick and gloopy which made it slightly hard to apply. I found that if I blobbed the polish in the center of my nail and spread it around from there, it worked better than trying to apply it like a regular polish. I used one coat over Dot.

Overall I was quite pleased with this new collection. The formulas weren't completely typical of the normal Zoya formula, but I didn't find that the application issues deterred me from any of the polishes, some just require some extra work. My favorites from this collection are Dot, Cole, Rebel, and Dillon. These polishes are on sale now and can be found here.

Will you be picking up any of these polishes? Which are your favorites?

*Polishes provided for review in exchange for my honest opinion.