Manicure Monday: Charisma, Lara and Monica

Just a few weeks ago I wrote about Zoya's three free nail polish special and told you that I'd chosen Charisma, Lara, and Monica as my three polishes of choice. Well, I received my polishes last week and I'm so pleased with my selection.

The first color I went looking for immediately was Charisma. Allure named it a Best Beauty Buy in 2011 and I was way behind on getting my hands on it. It's a beautiful shade of super bright neon magenta that leans more toward purple than pink. I didn't even read the description. I saw the color and loved it. To my surprise, I discovered it dries down to a matte magenta purple (sans the neon brightness). Can't say I'm crazy about how it looks in matte, but finishing it off with a shine top coat brings it back to the color you see in the bottle.

Check out what it looks like when it dries down on its own. By the way, it looks a lot more pink in this photo than it does in real life when it dries down. It's much more purple when it dries matte, but for some reason my camera wasn't picking it up.

And here it is with a coat of China Glaze Fast Forward on top.

In my opinion, the top coat makes all the difference. It's such a beautiful, vibrant color that when it dries down matte it sort of zaps the life out of it. Throwing some shine on it gives it almost a candy-like finish that I think works best with this particular shade. I honestly think this is going to be among my favorite nail polish colors ever. I sense we'll be spending a lot of time together in the warmer months.

Lara, on the other hand is still a bright magenta, but it's more on the rosy-pink side and has a creme finish. When it dries down on its own, it still has a beautiful shine. I'd describe it as a candy pink. It's kind of like a cousin to bubble gum pink -- a bit darker but still has that candy-coating feel. It's absolutely beautiful.

Finally, Monica is more of a moody shade and I'd describe it as a deep, sultry blue-toned grape hue. She's the winter alternative to a happy bright grape color you'd wear to the beach. You might rock her out to the bar after a day at the beach.

What do you think of the polishes I chose for Zoya's three free special? Did you take advantage of the great deal? Which colors did you choose?