NARS: Old Zulu versus New Zulu

You know... I don't know if I've ever reviewed Zulu all by itself! I suppose that will have to wait until I'm done with this post!

As you all may know by now, NARS has listened to all of us begging them to bring back the beloved green polish and has re-released Zulu along with a few others that were discontinued around the same time (like Mash and Midnight Express).

My first thought when I heard that was "WOOHOO!", but my second thought was "Oh no, I hope it's still the same."

So, I grabbed my original bottle of Zulu and compared:

With flash
Left: Original Zulu, three coats
Right: New Zulu, three coats


Different angle. You can see a bit of a difference in the bottle color.



Left: New Zulu
Right: Old Zulu

Flash shows a slight shade difference.
Left: New Zulu
Right: Old Zulu

The question is, "are they different?" Yes and no. For one, the new version has received a formula update and is more opaque and less streaky than the original. But, color-wise, I detect a small deviation from the original color. It's most apparent on the first coat, but the original is a more saturated color and has a touch more blue. You can see in the bottles that the original looks slightly richer and more jelly-like. The new one isn't quite as jelly-like or as rich of a green.

Is it totally different? No. They're nearly spot on with only minor differences. And, unless you're like me and can see the difference between nail polishes that seem identical to 'normal' people, you probably won't even notice a difference. Especially not at three coats.

And just for fun, here's a really old picture of me wearing the original Zulu, two coats I believe:

You can really see the rich green base color here. At three coats it's near-black, which I love, but at two it's quite green. And yes, a bit streaky, but if you're careful and don't rush (like me, I rush, patience? What's that?) you can get a smooth even coat each time.


Very happy to see one of my favorite colors of all time return. I know everyone's been looking forward to this, myself included. And it still amazes me how almost no company has been able to duplicate this color. I've seen two that are close, but one is already discontinued and very hard to find. I supposed that's irrelevant now that it's actually back!

(The new Zulu was sent to me for review.)

Comparison: SpaRitual It's Raining Men vs. Orly Sky Blue Pink

It just dawned on me what that Meow Skeptic shadow reminds me of- Orly Sky Blue Pink!

I don't know if I've ever posted that color here... It's an old one but it's really, really pretty.

I was getting ready to edit some of those China Glaze photos so I was trying to clear out all the pictures I hadn't edited yet, and this comparison was one of them! Yes... it has been open and unedited for months... that's how far behind I've gotten. Yikes! I mean, when did I take these pictures, January or something? O_o

Anyway, the reason I did the comparison was that while I was swatching my Orly collection, I noticed that a lot of the SpaRituals I had in the same drawer seemed identical to Orlys... and you know what? They were. This is one of them:

Index and ring finger: SpaRitual It's Raining Men
Middle and pinkie finger: Orly Sky Blue Pink

Very slight differences in formula and intensity, but still the same color. I'm sure Sky Blue Pink has received a formula update since I bought my ancient bottle, but mine's very thin and needed four coats. I did four coats of the SpaRitual too, just to be even. The SpaRitual seemed more opaque. I might have to pick up a new formula bottle of Sky Blue Pink one of these days to see if they thickened it at all.

And this is what reminded me:



It's totally the same color! Periwinkle blue with a really strong pink-gold duochrome! Sweeeeeeet. I love when I have an eyeshadow the same color as an awesome nail polish.