Sammi the Beauty Buff: Review: Zoya Nail Polish in Blu

Hi, everyone! Today I'd like to talk more about the nail polish I received in this month's Ipsy Glam bag. If you'd like to learn more about Ipsy, you can click that link, which leads to my blog post all about it. If you like it, you can click here to sign up for a monthly Glam Bag. Yes, this is a referral link, and if you want to sign up I would appreciate if you did it through there. :)

Anyway, on to the nail polish! I present to you, Zoya Nail Polish in Blu.

For starters: how pretty is this color? I love it for spring and summer. Zoya's whole Lovely Spring 2013 collection is full of gorgeous pastels. Ipsy members received a code for "Buy 2 Get One Free," which was a little tempting to pass up. However, I really don't need to be buying three polishes right now. But for those who did, good for you! Sometimes I wish my self-control wasn't so strong. Especially since Zoya is one of few "Big 5 Free" companies that have eliminated the five harmful chemicals that most nail polish companies still use (Dibutyl Phthalate, Toluene, Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resin, and Camphor). It's nice to have an affordable, healthy option, since many Big 5 Free polishes are expensive (ex. Deborah Lippmann, whose polishes generally run for $14-$16 each). Thanks. Zoya!

As for the formulation, I sort of have a love-hate relationship with this polish. On the plus side, this color was almost completely opaque with one coat. I just did a second to play it safe, but you might have been able to get away with just one. Also, the resilience of this polish was excellent--it's been three days so far and not a chip is in sight. I'm really happy with the strength of the polish! However, I'm not so happy with the way it applied. I found it a little hard to paint thin, neat coats, which made it a pain to work with. I had a lot of clean-up to do afterwards, but I would do it all over again for the result!

The brush is thick and fat, which is my preferred kind of brush. However, I found that it picked up a lot of polish, almost too much. This might have been a reason for the difficulty I had in applying it. I had to wipe one side of the brush against the tip of the bottle, and then kind of dab the brush a little on another nail or a napkin, just to get the excess off. Besides that, the color applied smoothly and there was no problem with streaks. I also liked how before I even applied a top coat, there was a glossy finish, but I'm sure it would adhere to a matte top coat if you so chose.

All in all, I'm really happy with this polish. I've heard that the formulation of this collection is a little different than their permanent line, so in the future I'll probably purchase one to compare. In the end, I really enjoyed the results of painting my nails with this, and I would recommend the Zoya Lovely Spring 2013 collection to anyone who loves pastels as much as I do! All Zoya polishes can be purchased online on their website or in Ulta stores (no longer online) for $8 for .05 oz of product. I'd say it's a good price, since O.P.I. costs the same and can sometimes be streaky and chip more easily.

What are you wearing on your nails right now?