Zoya Renee & Astra!

Hiiii guys! Here is one of my Zoya polishes which I feel so mixed about - Renee. I decided to give it another shot to see how I feel about it, since I haven't worn it since about April. Zoya describes Renee as "Ultra-bright red-toned medium neon pink creme. Bright and eye-catching, perfect for showing off a deep summer tan." I guess I didn't bother to read the description well before I ordered it, because I really thought it would be more along the lines of a nice not-too-bright pink. Well, I also ordered Ali, another neon-y pink color, so I was a little frustrated when I got them (at the same time) and realized how similar they look, both in the bottle and on the nail. They seriously are almost identical in the bottle. Renee is slightly less neon than Ali. 

I will say, though, Ali is very blinding on the nail (in a good way, haha!) and Renee is a little more toned down, which is nice. Renee seems to photograph a little more muted than it really is, so I've made a note by the one which I feel is most accurate to the color in real life!

Seems to photograph kind of muted, but in real life it's very bright and very pink! It shows up a little coral here, which it's definitely not.

This is a fairly color accurate picture, probably the most similar to how it actually appears. Nice and bright. It's definitely grown on me since the last time I wore it. I still don't think you need both Ali and Renee, though. Pick one.

Again, very color accurate. A nice juicy pink! Again I do want to stress it is pretty neon, though. Don't get fooled like I did, lol!

Typical gorgeous Zoya formula, I did three coats here because I felt like I needed that third one, but I think it was just because it dries a little matte thanks to the neon. It was a little thick on the brush and hard to control, so I just made sure to wipe the brush off well before applying on the nail which helped a lot.

Then I decided to spiffy it up a little bit with some tape and Zoya Astra, a beautiful ultra sparkly pink glitter! I've never done a tape mani before so I was a little apprehensive, but mostly this mani is just for a day or so, so I figured it was ok if it didn't work! (But it did, great success!) I cut some random tape strips and did mostly one diagonal line but a couple of the strips were very skinny so I doubled up on a couple of the nails just for fun! My middle finger makes me think of a candy cane!!

One more view of my first tape mani! It looks a lot better in real life, not such a stark contrast between the colors like it seems in the pic. Renee is much brighter in person so imagine it that way :)

And because I saw it in my bag and thought it matched, here's my new Starbucks cup sleeve!!! It's a red glittery fabric and I love it! It was $2.99 with my discount and I normally would have saved my money but we only had two of them and it just called to me! And it matches my Astra :) Here you can see my thumb glitter, which I think is my favorite!

What do you guys think of Renee, Astra, and my first tape mani?! Have a great day!! :)