#zoya nail polish

[hazeltailofficial]

ST. PATRICK’S DAY FLASHBACK

Zoya Nail Lacquer in Tilda

hazeltail on youtube / hazeltailofficial on tiktok / hazeltailofficial on ig / @hazeltailofficial

[m4g0rtz]

Today's polish is different, that's for sure! I actually bought this polish on a whim 4 or 5 years ago and never wore it until now. I don't know why I waited so long cause it is really beautiful! It has a textured finish and it's designed to be worn without topcoat. The texture is like fine grit sandpaper. I thought the rough feel of it would bother me but I really loved it! The formula is VERY thin, but I got great coverage in 3 coats. As pretty as it looked textured, I was dying to see what it looked like glossy. I loved that too, although I think I prefer it without topcoat. I don't know if this brand is still making this "PixieDust" formula but if they are I would definitely recommend it. This is Bay from Zoya.

[blanketprint]

Color: Ashby (Zoya) Retail Price: $12.00 (USD)

Ashby, Zoya's Color of the Month for September, is a rich burgundy metallic infused with shimmering microglitters in gold and bronze. It's the perfect shade for fall��deep, warm, and with just the right amount of sparkle to capture the cozy, festive spirit of the season.

Here, I'm wearing two coats of Ashby, which gave me full, even coverage and really brought out the richness of the color. The formula is smooth and easy to apply, drying down with a gorgeous metallic sheen. Be sure to top it off with your favorite glossy top coat to complete the look. I tend to love maroons, so it's not a stretch for me to be in love with Ashby. If you want a fall nail color that stands out but still feels classic, Ashby is a must-try!

Disclosure: Product sample provided by Zoya.

[thekimdelacreme]

Zoya "Barbie" - a cool-toned light pink with subtle hot pink shimmer. This is 2 coats. From the Spring 2009 Twist collection.

[farshootingstar]

Posting a few recent nail polish looks I did. The first and last are character-inspired.

First one is based on Saffron from YOU and HIM. The cream color with black speckles is Vanilla Bean from Cirque Colors and it's cute, but I really don't recommend that color since it's crazy streaky and doesn't level well (it might work out slightly better with a wide, flat brush but mine has the old skinny brush since that hasn't phased out entirely). I needed to put some glitter-smoothing top coat on to salvage it a bit by filling in the ridges. The other color, Saffron Jelly (also from Cirque Colors), is great.

The second pic (that somehow jumped to the bottom of this post, so disregard my numbering; it's the blue one) is the Zoya nail polish Sparrow, which isn't a character based look, but I really like the look of that color. It has so much shimmer and holo glitter in it.

The last pic and video are for a look based on Krow from The Krow's Nest. The purple is Guilty Pleasure from Cirque Colors and the matte top coat with shimmer and flakes is Tarya's Birthday 2020 from Anchor & Heart Lacquer (they're who all of my matte top coats are from, though the other 2 are plain but scented).

[cantoaundiosmineral]

We praise green nail polish in this accidentally Satanic blog. This one is so gorgeous and men love it. I don’t always wear nail polish and manicures are getting increasingly more intricate but, when I do, I like it for the colors to be different but sexy. Is this sexy? Maybe not in an obvious way yet, like I said, men like it on my nails. It’s very pretty.

[not-a-nail-artist]

Zoya

Yardley

2 coats

[nanmo-wakaran]

Zoya PixieDust textured nail polish

[lesmotsdemoi]

Therapy 💅🏻💅🏻💅🏻

Matching mani with Maggie! @m4g0rtz We both had the same stamping plate and an inspo graveyard image. So much fun as always! Keep an eye 👁️ out for her post 🪦🦅🪦

1️⃣ Glam Nails Challenge October 2024

Theme: Graveyard 🪦🪦🪦

2️⃣ My A2Z Untried Challenge

Mani # 90

Featuring

Zoya Storm

Zoya Lena

Glisten & Glow Shoot for the Moon

🪦Stamping Plates

MoYou London Gothic 01

🪦Stamping Polishes

Painted Polish Midnight Mischief

Moyra SP 23 Gray

[kentonanamisupremacy]

mission: find a Sukuna color nail polish

(they look a little cooler normally but I also like the warm tone during the fire attacks)

options I found at ULTA--

-OPI infinite shine 2 in Turn on the Northern Lights

-Zoya nail lacquer in Anaka

-essie Expressie in Mic Drop-It-Low

UPDATE:

Here are a few drugstore options as well!

-L.A. Colors in Euphoric, Dare Devil, and Blast

-Sally Hansen miracle gel in Vamplified, Hunger Flames, and Purplexed

[hazeltailofficial]

ST. PATRICK’S DAY FLASHBACK

Sinful Colors Nail Polish in White On White Color Mates Nail Polish in Tokyo Magic Zoya Nail Polish in Meg Butter London Nail Lacquer in Swinger Sally Hansen Mega Shine Top Coat

hazeltail on youtube / hazeltailofficial on tiktok / hazeltailofficial on ig / @hazeltailofficial

[bitterwaters]

Lacquer Brands

so one day I went to a fugue and wrote a 2000 word essay on nail polish brands

We got four tiers of nail polish brands: overpriced luxury bullshit, drugstore, boutique, and indie. 

Overpriced Luxury Bullshit

Don’t buy these! Just don’t! You’re paying for name, not quality. Chanel charges $32 for an 11 ml creme, the second cheapest polish type there is. That’s ludicrous. Every review I’ve seen of a “high-brand” from a real swatcher has been negative. Fuck ‘em all.

Drugstore

This is every other mainstream brand, whether it’s from CVS, Walmart, or Ulta. Wide range of price and quality. In general, you’ll probably get what you pay for. Sally Hensen Insta-Dry is classic and Acceptably Okay; if you don’t have the patience for a full manicure, just slap some of that on. Look for brands that are 3-free or 5-free--that means that won’t have a few nasty chemicals. Anything over 5 is fake and doesn’t matter.

My preferred drugstore brands:

Zoya: Jellies, glitters, shimmers. Tends to have a very thin formula--leave the cap off for a few minutes to thicken it up.

Orly: Cremes! The absolute best, well-pigmented, buttery smooth cremes. Persistent Memory is my perfect dark red. The bottles are generously sized, they have a nice paddle brush, and I love the big rubberized cap. They’re just really pleasant!

OPI: I only use their matte top coat but I use a lot of it. It’s the best! Get their matte top coat! I’ve seen recs to use their polishes over Essie’s, but I’ve never tried either.

Boutique

Now we’re getting into the Good Shit. There’s a price jump here, but there’s also a huge jump in quality. These are small- to medium-sized online-only businesses with semi-industrial production and ample stock. They’re big enough to ship within a few days. They use a LOT more pigment and glitter than drugstore brands, and have far more variety in finishes.

You might see them on Amazon or Etsy--skip it and go order from their sites instead. Shipping costs the same and you can save up reward points.

Charmed Lacquer: Brand new, recently announced, will open in a week or two. Started by a streamer named Janixa. I’m not familiar, but her followers seem excited enough to check it out.

Cirque Colors: CONTROVERSY! I like Cirque. I have a ton of their polishes. A little pricey, but they have frequent small sales and are high-quality. Best known for the jellies and some really stunning magnetics like Mood Ring and Black Swan (which have since been rampantly duped). So why the controversy?

Mystery bags: idk people get het up about ‘em. I kind of feel like if you gamble on a bunch of polishes you don’t choose, you risk pruglies.

Coronation: This is a purple polish with a red-green shift shimmer pigment called, I shit you not, Unicorn Pee. UP was made unavailable for public sale years ago (the suspicion is that it’s now used in some currency). Cirque keeps finding stashes and re-releasing Coronation. There have been complaints that it’s not the same shade as the original, that it’s over-priced ($18.50 is a LOT for a polish), and the FOMO marketing. It always sells out fast. I have a bottle. It’s okay.

Jaritos: The current teapot tempest. Cirque just put out a Jarito-themed line of jellies that’s FOURTEEN FUCKIN FIFTY a bottle. Their regular jellies are two bucks less because JELLIES ARE CHEAP. They have less pigment than other finishes. Cirque has also been caught editing pics from swatchers. Some of the Jaritos shades are outright dupes of existing Cirque colors--but when Cirque reposted swatcher pics that compared them, they changed things to make them look different. Little shady!

I still got Mxcn Cola

Holo Taco: I don’t go to this school. It seems fine. Owned by a YouTuber with a pretty big following, Simply Nailogical. The brand has devoted followers, but I’ve never been real impressed. I feel like I can get everything they do somewhere else for a buck or two cheaper. Lots of limited-time bundles.

ILNP: MY LOVE! Shimmers, glitters, holos. Their formulas are just fantastic. If you follow lacquer reddits you’ll see a TON of posts featuring Flower Child and Fairy Dust; they aren’t for me but I see why people love them. They’re really good with shimmers--Flicker glows like a candle in a dark window. I also like their flakie toppers and magnetics. You really can’t go wrong with anything from ILNP. 

One of the rare lacquer companies that doesn’t do FOMO. They never remove anything from their line-up. New collections get a 10% discount for a week at release, and they have an annual Black Friday sale.

KBShimmer: They’re pretty good! They don’t get as much love as I think they deserve--probably because they aren’t quite as flashy and highly-marketed as other brands. They also aren’t as heavily pigmented/glittered. Still pretty good though! I really love All Fired Up. They have big 15 ml bottles for only $12, no matter what finish. KBShimmer is a great place to start if you’re just dipping your toe beyond drugstore brands. Pick up their polish thinner (suitable for every brand except Orly) and glitter smoothing top coat. 

Lights Lacquer: Don’t. They have some nice shades, though they tend to be as subdued as drugstore polishes. I was really disappointed by their cremes--the formula isn’t at all self-leveling. That’s just weird in this day and age. And then I found out that black swatchers refuse to work with them because the owner has been openly racist. Her non-apologies did not improve relations. Skip it.

Mooncat: CONTROVERSY! I have over a dozen Mooncat polishes and do love most of them, but it's getting harder to recommend the brand. They specialize in intense shimmer/glitter/holo/flakie/magnetics--all the fancy stuff. They have a few unique polishes that I haven’t seen duped elsewhere. Their formula can be gloopy, especially their flakies; easily fixed by a few drops of thinner. Why controversy?

they’re fukkin expensive bro. Like $15 a bottle. I do feel that you get what you pay for--it’s good stuff. I’ve never been disappointed by a Mooncat. But part of what you’re paying for is brand aesthetic.

they’re fukkin annoying bro. Their site, marketing, and even customer service emails are all lower-case dramatic gothy stuff. Never “nails,” always “claws.”

Their bottles keep shattering. This has happened occasionally in the past, then become more frequent starting in April. Seems like there was some supply change that thinned the glass. Mooncat was also filling about 14 ml instead of the promised 12 ml. Temperature and air pressure changes during shipping started to cause a lot of bottles to break. One person ended up in urgent care to get her hand stitched. Mooncat has promised to make changes and has been quick to refund/replace broken bottles, but there’s still a lot of ill-will simmering in the community. I think we’re past the tipping point--I’m no longer seeing broken bottle posts, just love for their new Power Puff Girls collab--but if you like something, I would wish list and wait another month. That should be enough time to make sure the bottles are safe and the weather has cooled.

Indies

Every single indie nail polish company is one or two people working out of their basement. That is not a joke. They hand-makes every small batch, fill the bottles, pack, and ship by themselves. That’s in addition to designing and testing polishes, and just living their lives. 

That means that if you order from an indie, expect to wait. Most list a turn-around time of up to a month (they usually say 7-21 business days--people read three weeks but it’s a month). That’s padded to give them safety--nearly all will ship within a week, maybe two. But if they get hit with life stuff or a ton of orders, it really can take a while. My longest order took over a month arrive. It was entirely worth it.

Indies tend to have a big focus on fancy finishes. The biggest trend right now is sheer lacquers that are loaded with aurora shimmer. They’re color-shifty and glowy, and a lot of fun. That’s starting to stagnate a bit--every base color/shimmer combination has been done, so a lot of dupes are emerging--but it’s also starting to evolve. I’m seeing more and more shimmers that also have holo, flakes, or reflective glitter. I’m betting we’ll get some thermal shimmers as fall rolls in and temperatures drop.

Indies have some phenomenal variety and creativity. They’re doing the coolest stuff with the most love. Many also rely heavily on FOMO, and some are just plain not open much of the time. Instead, they have monthly or seasonal release windows. They usually drop a new collection and may retire old ones.

How do you keep track? The Reddit Laquerists (sic) Nail Polish Release Calendar. You can also subscribe to brand newsletters--most give a small coupon on your first order. A lot are on Instagram and Facebook.

There are at least two dozen indie brands, and it’s hard to know where to start. I highly recommend Lyn B. Designs. I love her lacquers, absolutely flawless formula. She has big bottles, fast turn-around, and lots of variety. Get her top coat! It’s the best. But most importantly, she has a 50% off code for ALL products every time she launches a new collection. You can get top-quality lacquers for $6 each, and the big top coat refill for $12.50. No brand of any size can match that value. You can either follow her on Facebook for the code or check the calendar on launch day.

Others I like, in no particular order:

Bee’s Knees, Dam, Polished for Days, Great Lakes Lacquers for fantastic shimmers and reflectives. Garden Path and Rogue Lacquers have great flakies. Lurid Lacquer is pretty new, and she’s doing some really interesting things with intense shimmers and color-shifty chromes. Sassy Sauce keeps a small, tidy line-up, but it’s all quality and creative stuff. She’ll also have some nice thermals once October hits--she doesn’t ship them during summer, which I respect. 

Cupcake is kind of a workhorse brand like KBShimmer: nothing too spectacular, but everything is solid and reasonably priced. Likewise, Glisten & Glow isn't too exciting but IS cheap and high-quality. Emily de Molly is Just Good. Drunk Fairy has really nice jellies and cremes. Wildflower Lacquers is closed for rebranding, back 09/06; I don’t have any from her yet but I gotta give props for big bottles, a fan brush, and surviving in Oklahoma. 

Death Valley Nails is a little pricey but they’re doing the weirdest, most absolutely unique shit out there. They’re making polish out of rocks and wildflowers. One looks like the sink after your boyfriend shaves. It’s great.

Clionadh gets some hype but IMO they’re overpriced and overrated. They definitely up the saturation on swatch pics. I’m unimpressed by Femme Fatale’s formula and teeny 9 ml size. Shleee polishes don’t self level at all. Stella Chroma still sells Harry Potter themed polishes and I'm very over that.

But really, the best way to check out indie brands is…

Indie Preorders

There are two big indie collabs every month that work on a pre-order basis: Polish Pickup and Hella Handmade Creations. They open for a week each month and feature unique, one-time only products from a ton of indie brands. They can cause major FOMO. If you feel that might not be healthy for you, stay away! But if you’re okay with the possibility that you may never be able to replace a bottle you finish off, you’ll find some great stuff. They’re an excellent way to explore new brands, and creators get to be a little experimental. PPU has fun monthly themes; HHC doesn’t have a general theme, but many creators do a series of fandom-themed designed. Indie polish creators tend to be pretty nerdy.

If you want to try non-US brands, go to Color4Nails.They’re a stockist that carries several brands, drugstore, boutique, and indie. They also have monthly pre-orders for a few Brazilian brands like Phoenix Indie Polish and Penelope Luz. I find the Brazilian brands to be a little pricey, with smallish bottles and fairly thin consistency, but they’re doing some interesting stuff. I’m pretty consistently impressed with Phoenix; PL less so.

[blanketprint]

Color: Candy (Zoya) Retail Price: $12.00 (USD)

Candy, Zoya's April Color of the Month, is a playful white pink candy creme. If you like neons and pastels, this nail polish with cool undertones is the best of both worlds.

Here, I am wearing two coats of Candy. It dries matte, so I find that also means it dries quicker, making application a little easier since there's less chance a second coat will "pull" on the first coat. And due to the matte finish, be absolutely certain to pair it with your favorite top coat to ensure maximum wear.

Disclosure: Product sample provided by Zoya.

[thekimdelacreme]

Zoya "Dhara" with topcoat - a red orange textured polish with gold and red shimmer shimmer. This is 2 coats. From the Fall 2013 PixieDust collection. The topcoat makes the polish shiny.

[nightshadehasblorbos]

Dallas Stars as Zoya Nail Polish

Zoya is a nail polish brand that use real names for their nail polish. I saw someone had one named Wyatt so... *gestures at this post*

Starting off strong with Stars fans' most hated Star: Ryan Sutter

Paired with our other blue: Tyler Seguin

And we might as well move on to Tyler's first Stars boyfriend: Jamie Benn

And Tyler's current boyfriend: Mason Marchment

In similar color family: Sam Steel

Finally: Wyatt Johnston

And his brother: Logan Stankoven

[rabbitzclawz]

10/9/2023

Glow Tips

I did these last year but I'm using them as my icon here so I may as well post them :) I'm fuzzy on the exact details, so hopefully my polish list is correct. Doing the little pattern on the tips was really fun, I love doing organic shapes and swirls. Stats, polish list, and extra photos below.

Polishes

OPI Natural Nail Base Coat

ZOYA Naked Manicure Perfector - Buff

Sinful Colors Quick Bliss - Bite

LA Colors Glow in the Dark - Be Weird

OPI Top Coat

Nail Stats (at the time)

Medium length

Almond shape

Don't think I had any breaks then!

Worn for probably two weeks max.

Extra Photos

Blurry, of course. I took this in the dark lol.

Lil progression into total dark. I charged these under a grow light because... we have a lot of grow lights. As you can see, I got little bits of glow in places I didn't realize until I photographed them. Classic me.