In two more weeks Summer will have officially hit the northern hemisphere, in Australia? Winter! Though you’d be surprise at the sheer difference in climate between Sydney and Melbourne. I step off the plane in Sydney with t-shirt attire and am forced to rug up the minute I land back in Melbourne at the end of the week.

But enough about weather, we’re here to talk about Zoya’s latest Summer collection, which consists of two mini collections. One called Surf, and the second called Beach which is what today’s post is dedicated to. You’ll find that the majority of these polishes are crème, except for Tracie that has the slightest amount of shimmer.

As always all swatches are 2 coats with no top coat.

Arizona

A soft bright citrus orange crème, OPI’s Mummy Knows Best is a very similar shade, only the formula is a bit thinner and the opacity is far less.

Lara

A medium magenta-rose pink with subtle yellow undertone crème finish. Essie’s Tour de France is a pinker and darker version.

Reagan

A deep, cool fuchsia pink with subtle blue undertone and an opaque crème finish. Zoya’s Areej is a lighter dupe, and Ulta3′s Footloose Fuchsia is a plummier version.

Shelby

A soft but colourful cherry blossom pink with an opaque crème finish.

Tracie

A faded, yellow-toned pistachio green with delicate silvery shimmer for a frosted pearl finish. I found Ulta3′s Lagoon to be a more yellow toned version.

Wednesday

A faded dirty medium turquoise with green undertone and an opaque crème finish. Another shade I couldn’t find a dupe for, and likely my favourite from this collection Rather unique. From the photo it almost looks like Tiffany blue.

Chanel’s Rose Ultimes de Chanel collection appears to have been an interim release between Chanel’s Spring and Summer collection. It contained six beautiful pink based new glosses and as featured below four new polishes that followed in the same colour family. I will note that all the colours are highly wearable, then again nothing jumped out as a must have in my opinion.

All swatches are two coats with no top coat. The entire collection is currently available in Australia from your local Myer or David Jones at $39AU a pop.

Tentation

A deep magenta shade with micro shimmers, its lip gloss equivalence would likely be Jalouise. I found Essie’s Super Bossa Nova to be extremely similar, and China Glaze’s Ahoy! to contain more shimmer.

Frisson

A soft fairy floss pink with iridescent micro shimmers, the Chanel gloss in Amour is the closest match. Essie’s Like to be Bad is a non-shimmer version, OPI’s Suzi & the Lifeguard is a pinker version with a metallic finish.

Attraction

My least favourite from this collection, a pearl white metallic polish that is incredibly streaky. Even when careful it’s hard to avoid creating streaks in the finish, so unless that’s something you like I’d avoid. I think it’s a pure white version of OPI’s Birthday Babe, which appears more silvery.

Distraction

A watermelon / coral pink crème polish with Volupte to be the corresponding gloss. ORLY’s Coquette Cute is a slightly pinker version, very close dupe however. Essie’s Cute as a Button is a less opaque version and is slightly pinker. Mecca’s Katherina is also a crème with a more orange tone.

Spring is coming for the northern hemisphere, and with it, the season for weddings. At least that tends to be the most popular season! Essie’s Wedding collection for 2012 contains all soft tones, pinks, purples and a mystery green / blue shade. It’s a lovely collection, but not one I feel is overly unique (and hence easily dupable). Personally I think I still preferred last year’s collection.

Like always, two coats with no top coat.

Instant Hot

A light pink/ nude crème polish with iridescent medium sized shimmers, they aren’t really visible on the nail in the photos (though in person they are if you stare hard), but they appear to be far more obvious in the bottle. Unfortunately the shimmers can make the polish appear a bit gritty on the nail as the polish tends to coat the shimmers. OPI’s Step Right Up! is a sheerer version and Essie’s Vanity Fairest is an ultra sheer version with micro shimmers.

Like to be Bad

A fairy floss pink crème polish perfect for everyday wear. Essie’s Vandigo has more pink tones.

Love & Acceptance

A soft lilac crème shade, I found Essie’s Lilacism to be a very similar dupe with more pink tones.

Who is the Boss

This was a hard colour to label, was it a blue or a green? In some lights it appears to be a dark grayish green, then others a lighter blue. Anyways you can clearly see the swatch here and draw your own conclusion (I’m leaning blue).

Introducing Zoya’s Spring 2012 collection called True, I’m going to go out and just say it, I wasn’t too fond of the neutrals in this collection. They weren’t the best performers and really why have neutrals in a Spring 2012? Especially neutrals with these particular undertone. The last three shades listed below are my favourite from the collection, they are a much truer representation of Spring, and not to mention they are very unique!

As always, all swatches are two coats with no top coat.

Bevin

A dusty, medium sage green with teal tones, reminds me a lot of ORLY’s Jealous, Much? (which is actually lighter) or OPI’s Mermaid Tears which was actually the first polish I thought about without even referencing it.

Cho

Probably my least favourite from this collection because of the bubbly finish I got from it. I do admittedly tend to shake up my bottles before using them, rather than rolling but I almost never get any bubbling. Cho is a yellow toned light soft peachy beige with an ultra fine shimmer, and while the shade itself isn’t too bad, the finish wasn’t for me. Zoya’s Minka is a darker version.

Farah

A light khaki-beige with subtle sandy greenish undertones, I’d almost go so far as to say it is slightly muddy. Essie’s Sand Taupe is a very comparable polish.

Lotus

Love this shade and Tru, they are very much in the same family in terms of consistency and texture. Lotus is a very soft blue-toned amethyst purple with gold shimmer flecks that reflect pink. I found Chanel’s famous Paradoxal to have a very similar shade, minus the shimmer. And Zoya’s Meeka to also be in the same family.

Skylar

This is the stand out (and not necessarily in a good way) of the collection, a medium steel blue with a softened dusty look, infused by both gold and silver shimmers. It’s an interesting shade, but something about it doesn’t make me love it even though I’m a big fan of blues.

Tru

A saturated red-toned grape purple infused with gold shimmer that reflects gold, orange and red. OPI’s Funky Dunkey is very similar in shade, but with no shimmer.

This collection from Zoya was released for Winter 2011, which for Australia is quite appropriate as we’ll be moving into Winter in a few more months. A general theme throughout this collection were taking colours and combining them with gray to turn them into more wearable colours, which I really loved! I work in a more conservative environment so I love that I can get away with shades like these.

All swatches are two coats with no top coat.

Avery

A blonde beige crème, a cool neutral shade perfect for most skin tones. Dior’s 220 is very similar only with more shimmer.

Carey

A periwinkle gray crème, Essie Cocktail Bling is just a tiny bit darker and Zoya’s Clove is a lighter version.

Kendal

A lavender beige crème, I was surprised that I wasn’t able to find any dupes in my own collection despite it not appearing to be the more unique of shades. I think this shade is much more suitable for medium to lighter skin tones, not sure how it would be for very dark skin tones.

Kennedy

A lovely pale french beige crème, being a sucker for nudes I can see this being great for the work environment. Essie’s Demure Vixen is a similar dupe with shimmer.

Kristen

A gull gray polish with a mild bluish hue, like a dusty blue. Eyeko’s Rain polish is similar (through now discounted) and Essie’s Sag Harbour has more green.

Megan

A taupe gray crème, this is a pretty unique shade and I couldn’t find anything similar.

I’m a bit late to the party with this collection, I did a review on the actual makeup from this collection almost two months ago but only got around to swatching the polishes lately~ I’ve always been a fan of Chanel polish, but to be honest I can’t really tell if it’s because it’s “Chanel” or whether the quality is really that great. I’m a bit of a marketing pawn But if I was trying to be as objective as possible, if you can find these shades in a cheaper brand, I don’t see why you wouldn’t go for them (unless you’re a marketing pawn too!)

Anyways without further ado, swatches! As always two coats with no top coat (so you can see the natural finish)

533 April

I’m not sure how the colour is appearing on your screen, but April is a very pigmented deep red shade with some gray throughout it to give it a more mauvey-like result. I found the shade quite flattering against my skin tone, going through my collection I found Essie’s In Stitches is a lighter dupe and OPI’s Hoodoo Voodoo is almost exactly the same! So might be worth taking a look into that shade if you are keen.

535 May

Probably my favourite from this collection because I’m a sucker for nudes and subtle pinks! Universally I’d think this shade is flattering and I know it was one of the more popular shades from this collection. Ulta3′s Silver Pink is a slightly darker version with shimmer, whereas Chanel’s version is a true crème.

539 June

A beautiful light-ish tangerine crème, another favourite from the collection because despite being an orange shade, it is still very flattering. Essie’s Haute as Hello is a pinker matte version.

ORLY’s latest collection Cool Romance is one of the releases for Spring 2012. The collection mostly consists of cool pastels and if you watch the promotional video, it has a very Parisian feel. As always, all swatches are two coats with no top coat.

Artificial Sweetener

As per the name, this is a sugar sweet pink shade with very sparse micro silver shimmers, barely visible if visible at all in the photo. Zoya’s Zanna is a darker version.

Faint Of Heart

A true taupe crème, I wouldn’t consider this a dirty shade, though I know certain taupe polishes seem to be viewed under that light. OPI’s French Quarter for Your Thought is a similar shade.

Jealous, Much?

A soft mint green crème with medium opacity, I found the formula to be a little on the more liquidy side. Essie’s Absolutely Shore is a lighter dupe and Essie’s Mint Candy Apple is similar with more aqua tones.

Prelude To A Kiss

A light peach crème, Face of Australia’s Cotton Candy is a very very close dupe.

Steel Your Heart

A metallic gunmetal shade with medium sized silver shimmers infused throughout, there are a ton of dupes for this in the market. This isn’t a unique shade at all, to name a few I’d say Ulta3′s Metal, Face of Australia’s Party at the Gap and China Glaze’s Attraction. But I’m sure you can find a ton more with other brands.

You’re Blushing

A mauve purple / pink crème, surprisingly was not able to find a similar dupe in my collection!