Yves Saint Laurent’s Summer 2011 vision gives us two equally vibrant nail lacquers, ‘Utopian Turquoise’ – a rich crème and ‘Surreal Yellow’ – a trendy shimmer. Seeing as how yellow shades are so ‘IN’ right now, I was interested to see how it would be interpreted by YSL, and I am pleased to say that ‘Surreal Yellow’ does not disappoint. Seeing how turquoise shades are still riding high on the wave as well, ‘Utopian Turquoise’ is most definitely an eye-catcher. All swatches are with Sèche Natural base coat, two coats of lacquer and Sèche Vite top coat.
‘Surreal Yellow’ is probably the most flattering hue of this family that I have seen to date. A cross between egg-yolk and lemon with super fine pearly shimmer throughout, this polish was a dream to apply. With two coats, you still some hints of nail line, but I wanted it to look more like a ‘wash’ of colour as I thought a third coat would take away from it’s delicacy. Exceptionally smooth with no brush strokes, you can see from the center photo how much depth the shimmer imparts to this shade. Gorgeous!
In the bottle, ‘Utopian Turquoise’ reminded me of my beloved Agean Sea. Not quite a blue, nor dark enough to be considered a teal, this is a deeper version of a “Tiffany Box Blue”. On the nails it comes off as a vivid sky blue, but the green tinge in the base lends it an incredible lushness of colour. Opaque almost from the first coat, this had the thicker formula of the two and was completely self levelling on application. On the downside, I found that there was definite staining to the nail bed after removal, so I recommend at least two layers of base coat go on first. But what a colour…brilliant!
Final thoughts: While YSL polishes run on the steep side price wise (approx. CAD $29.00), I have yet to be disappointed in either the unique shades they release or the formula. They apply easily and smoothly, dry relatively quick and are always almost ridiculously glossy. The fact that ‘Utopian Turquoise’ left some slight staining behind, makes it my first YSL ‘fail’, but this is the colour that drew me to the collection more than the yellow, and seeing as how I have nothing even remotely close to it in my stash, makes me want to believe in it nonetheless. I mean… just look at it!
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