NARS Limited Edition Vintage Nail Shades

Early October saw NARS releasing five more shades from their vaults and as described on their website, they are as follows:

• Zulu – a deep vine green
• Midnight Express – navy blue
• Mash – army green with shimmer
• Full Metal Jacket – gun metal grey
• King Kong – brown with gold shimmer

For the past couple of years, I had been hearing about this mythic nail polish from NARS called ‘Zulu’, a deep almost blackened emerald green.  It was held up as the Holy Grail of dark green nail polishes, as NARS was one of the first, if not THE first to come out with a deep green shade….then, the word no nail polish lover ever wants to hear, especially about a beloved shade: DISCONTINUED. Even though it was reputed to be one of their top selling nail polishes of all time, it was pulled from their lineup.  Since that time, beauty afficionados everywhere clamoured for its return and…..it’s back! I don’t have the original Zulu to compare it to, but from what I’ve read and seen online through the blogging community, not only is the newly released shade still as deep and vibrant as the original but that the formulation has changed slightly for the better.

As I was hearing about these polishes, I was fortunate enough to have had an early heads up from my favourite NARS consultant, Kim, that the range had come to her counter where I promptly secured myself three of the five shades: Zulu (of course!), Midnight Express and Mash.  Full Metal Jacket is the one I’m still thinking of and seeing as how I don’t have anything like it in my collection, something tells me it’s next on my hit list, while King Kong is the only one that didn’t impress me as much, primarily because I don’t usually wear coppery shades, even though on the NARS website it’s described as a ‘brown’ (it’s not).

Now about the application…..

 

 

Mash can best be described as a mossy, almost military shade of green with obvious dark gold undertones and very fine shimmer.  It is a metallic shade and as such, can have a tendency to leave brush strokes if you’re not careful.  Of the three, I found this one the most opaque, being true to colour even with the first coat.  It flowed very easily with the type of brush I love (thin and tapered) and had an excellent shine to it. All pictures are with base coat, two coats of polish and Seche Vite top coat.

 

 

Midnight Express was the one I had the most trouble with as it is rather thinner than I expected and therefore experienced a bit of blotchiness with my first coat.  That was easily resolved with the second coat but I found that it definitely needed a third to be fully opaque with no bald spots.  It is a deep midnight blue, almost inky and has a jelly-like finish giving it an almost ‘squishy’ look.  One thing I must say is that the shine on this was amazing and that was even before I applied my top coat.

 

 

Zulu was the one I had the highest expectations of, seeing as how I had been hearing about it for so long now and it definitely did not disappoint, I’m happy to say! This has such a deep emerald tone, that it’s like looking into the very heart of a jewel.  As with Midnight Express, I found that Zulu needed three coats to give it that dense opaqueness this colour deserves but it never comes out looking black, like so many other deep colours can.  Even in the shade, you can definitely tell that this is green.  This one has that jelly finish as well, and the gloss was extraordinary…..it almost always looks ‘wet’, that’s how shiny it is.  I am absolutely in LOVE with this shade and I find myself staring at my hands when wearing it!

All in all, I do love the application, unique colours and lasting power of NARS nail polishes, and always look forward to what they will be coming out with next.  In my opinion, and if you love deep jewel-toned colours like I do, the standout colour of this collection to pick up has got to be Zulu….get your hands on it before it disappears again! NARS nail polishes retail for US $16.00/CAD $21.00 for 0.5 oz/15 ml and can be purchased on the NARS website and Sephora.com or check with your local NARS counter to see if they carry the Vintage shades in store.