NARS Zulu Nail Polish Swatches, Review & Comparisons

She’s here – the mythical, mysterious, much coveted NARS Zulu!! I have had to sit on this literally for a few months now, and it’s been killing me since I know lots of you have been wondering about it!

Zulu came out a few years ago as a limited edition color. This was a color I missed and from what I have heard it sold out quickly, started selling on eBay for astronomical prices and has been a “holy grail” polish ever since. Well now NARS has brought it back as part of their Vintage Nail Collection for Fall 2010. The colors in this collection include:

• Mash – Army green with gold shimmer (my swatch here)
• King Kong – Copper brown with gold shimmer
• Midnight Express – Dark navy creme
• Zulu – Dark forest green jelly
• Full Metal Jacket – Gunmetal grey metallic

This collection is limited edition. Stores will sell it for 3 months and NARS will sell it on their website until they run out of stock.

I have to say I was pretty impressed with Zulu. Normally when I hear about something for years, whether it’s a movie, restaurant, book, I am usually disappointed with it once I watch/eat/read/wear it. But Zulu is really an amazing color and texture.

Something else kind of funny is when I unpacked it then applied it, Mr. VV was like “Oooh, that’s a really cool color” and he RARELY says anything about my nail polish. 🙂

Zulu

Zulu is a deep, dark green jelly. It doesn’t look black indoors, but most definitely very dark. It’s soooooooooo shiny also! This is with no top coat and look at that shine. I had zero application issues. It flowed really nicely and was very smooth, no streaks or patches. Of course since it’s a jelly you are going to need to build up the color and after three coats I had this color above.

This is with the flash on so you can really see the green jelly.

And now for some comparisons. It’s long been said that Zulu is a dupe for Nfu Oh 569. I recently purchased 569 and did some comparisons.

L to R: 569, Zulu

Zulu on pointer and ring and 569 on middle and pinky

Zulu on pointer and ring and 569 on middle and pinky

Now that you have seen them compared, what do you think? I think it’s pretty safe to call them dupes in my book. The one thing I can say is the formula of Zulu is much better, but it is also more expensive. Both required three coats but Zulu was much more even and less patchy than 569.

Overall:

I am very pleased that this color, for me, lived up to all the hype. It’s so rare that happens!

Ok so now that we have seen it, what do we think?

-VV