Friday, February 10, 2012

An Introduction to Zoya

Several weeks ago, Zoya held a 2-free-polish promotion (just pay shipping). I was, of course, on that like bread on butter. Zoya is an incredibly popular 4 free (no DBP, toluene, formaldehyde, or formaldehyde resin) polish company in the blogging sphere, but there's no place to get them nearby, and at $8 apiece, they're a little more than I want to spend on polish (at least, when I'm not actively nursing a broken heart). But they have a truly staggering array of colors (more than 300!), and are known for having a great formula. Some of their shimmery/glittery shades are really breathtaking (go here and here if you have some time to drool) and they're equally, if not more, well-known for their creams and classic colors. I decided I needed to go outside my normal preferences, so I steered myself away from the pretty sparkly duochromes and opted for a couple of more demure shades.
Left to right: Pandora, Neeka, Zara
Pandora is a cool nude, not quite mannequin-hands but pretty close, certainly as close as I am comfortable getting! Neeka is a dusty dark purple with big gold shimmer, really beautiful and dramatic, but still muted. They join Zara, the Zoya I bought from Steph's polish sale, making up a trifecta of Zoya goodness in my collection.

Zoya polishes have been known to chip with base and top coats containing cellulose acetate butyrate, a common ingredient, especially in fast-dry top coats. The issue seems to be more with base coats, though, so you can either use theirs (Zoya Anchor) or another that doesn't have that ingredient. My go-to base coats, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails, Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle, and Brucci Miracle Nail Hardener, are lacking it, so it's not been a problem for me.

Zoya Spoons for the True Collection
One great thing about Zoya is their spoons program. You can order a "spoon" of a polish, which is a small piece of plastic painted with the polish, so that you can better tell how it will look applied. Spoons are $0.50 each, with free shipping, and the best part? Any money you spend towards spoons goes into your account to be spent on future polish orders. It's risk-free testing! Gotta love it.

I'll be reviewing each of the shades I have in the next couple weeks––I've worn them all, I just have to get around to writing up the reviews! Have you tried Zoya polish? Which shades are your favorite?

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