An Introduction to Zoya Polish, Part II

For Part II of my intro to Zoya polish, I have seven lovely colors- Colbie, Penny, Felicity, Katy, Vegas Freeze, South Beach Ice, and Manhattan. For more Zoya colors and more information about the company, see my post An Introduction to Zoya Polish, Part I. Application on all of these was a cinch. Zoya polish is very thin, so it never gets uneven or lumpy.

Colbie
First up we have Colbie, a gorgeous shimmering dark red. This has a blackened look to it, but it never looks black. I don't wear red polish often, but I LOVE this one. This is two coats. I took one picture with flash to show the shimmer.
Colbie, with flash

Katy
Next we have Katy. This is a gorgeous blue-based deep pink shimmer. Katy was hard to capture on camera, it is more shimmery than in the pictures and the blue base doesn't show up as much in person. I have seen a lot of this color polish, but with a creme finish. The shimmer in this one definitely sets it apart. I love this on my nails and think it would also make a great pedi color! This is two coats.
Katy, with flash

South Beach Ice
Ahhh South Beach Ice. I definitely was not expecting this to be so sheer. The picture on the website and on the Zoya brochure I have made this look opaque. South Beach Ice is a basically clear base with lots of very fine greenish blue glitter. This is five coats (yes, five) and it is not opaque. However, I love the color and am wearing it over a plain old navy blue from Sally Hansen right now! The combo reminds me of oil in a puddle on black asphalt. If you are a two coat only person, this will be very sheer. It's perfect as a glittery top coat though!
South Beach Ice over Sally Hansen navy blue, with flash

Felicity, with flash
Normally I don't like colors like Felicity, but there's something about this one that I really do like. Felicity is a grayed-out pink with loads of shimmer and sparkle. This is definitely work appropriate, but interesting enough for me to wear often. Felicity definitely goes with the whole neutral skin-matching polish trend that seems to be emerging for spring. I think the dusty, gray look is what I like about this one. This is three coats.

Vegas Freeze
Vegas Freeze is another polish that I didn't expect to be so sheer. This polish is a violet-tinted clear base packed with iridescent violet shimmer. I had to do five coats with this one as well. I think I'll wear this when I have shorter nails, so there is less white showing. I had to angle the camera very oddly to capture the real color of this polish, so excuse the weird positioning of my fingers. Vegas Freeze would also look fantastic as a top coat. I'll wear this over blues, purples, black, white, etc. The iridescence is really beautiful.
Vegas Freeze- bottle in this picture is the real color of the polish

Manhattan
Manhattan is this totally odd yellow-green base filled with iridescent yellow-green shimmer that I'm sure some people would HATE. Naturally, I am completely in love with it. This is also five coats, but it is five coats of TOTALLY WORTH IT. Besides, Seche Vite dried all five coats in about two minutes. This is just such a weird color, I love it. The iridescent shimmer in this one is gorgeous!
Manhattan

Penny
Manhattan is a close second for my favorite of this bunch. My real favorite is Penny, a metallic, shimmery copper. It looks exactly like a shiny, brand new penny. Even though this is kind of a metallic finish, the added shimmer made brushstrokes disappear. I don't own anything else like this, and I do own quite a few copper polishes. It's the finish on this that is different. Even when it's completely dry, it's very liquid looking, if that makes sense. This is two coats. The light was going away when I took this picture, I'm going to try to get a better one soon.


That completes my current Zoya collection. When Reverie (the Zoya Spring 2010 collection- see my post here) comes out, I'll have a bunch more for you! I am really loving Zoya, it's creeping up on China Glaze as my favorite brand. Zoya polish is available online at Art of Beauty.

Remember to enter the contest to win Essie Mint Candy Apple!!!!

Review: Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Seche Vite is a much written about top coat in the world of nail blogs. I bought this product at my local Sally Beauty Supply store after realizing that almost every nail blogger out there uses Seche Vite as a top coat. It isn't the cheapest top coat around, with some places selling it for $8.99 or even $9.99.

The Good News about Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat:
Seche Vite really lives up to it's "Dry Fast" name. It dries to the touch in about two minutes and seems to dry completely (to the point where you can resume all normal activity) in about 20 minutes or less. Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat is also very shiny and smooth. Polish immediately looks better with a coat of Seche Vite. Glitter polishes lose their chunky, bumpy feel with a coat (or two coats if it is a super chunky glitter) of Seche Vite.

The Bad News:


Tip wear after about 36 hours!

This is a picture of my nails with three thin coats of OPI Shim-merry Chic and one coat of Seche Vite. This picture was taken after only 36 hours of normal wear. I find this to be pretty typical wear time for Seche Vite. If you're looking for your manicure to last for 10 days or even 5 days, this is not the top coat for you. I have found that Seche Vite seems to last the longest with Essie nail polish. I have no idea why that would be, but my manicures with Essie polishes and Seche seem to last about 3 days, whereas OPI/China Glaze and Seche last about a day and a half. You can see in the picture that the tip wear isn't horrible, but I can't stand tip wear or chips at all! If I see tip wear, the polish comes off ASAP.

Overall, I see why this is a popular top coat amongst nail bloggers. It dries very quickly and is super shiny. Nail bloggers (myself included) change their polish daily or more often, so they aren't concerned about wear time.
For the average nail polish consumer, I'm sure there is a better option for long-wearing manicures! I will be testing several other top coats in search of a longer lasting mani, so I'll keep you posted.

Seche Vite is available at a Sally Beauty Supply near you or online at Transdesign.