Manicure (and Pedicure) of the Week

This week's manicure is Essie Eternal Optimist, one of the shades they made for JCrew this year. It's a very natural pink beige. My toes are Zoya Roxy, a deep magenta with magenta glitter. Even though it's absolutely frigid here and my feet spend most of their time in boots, I always think it's nice to have a fun color on your toes (even if you're the only one who knows about it)!

Manicure of the Week

Another Zoya this week! I used Pru, a metallic plum with a gold sheen and metallic sparkles (not glitter). The first coat goes on sheer but it builds nicely and I was satisfied with the opacity after two coats. The shimmer and sheen is beautiful! Unfortunately the sun has already set here in NYC so I couldn't get a picture of it in the sunlight. The flash made this shade appear a bit more pink/violet than it is is real life.
Getting closer...
Extreme Close Up!

Manicure of the Week

After wearing this season's vampy berries and glittery charcoals for the last few weeks, I was ready for a change and opted for a breath-of-fresh-air creamy, non-shimmery mauve. Zoya Zanna applies opaque with one coat, but I went with two mostly out of habit. Zoya updated the classic mauve by adding a dose of lavender, making the shade modern but easy to wear.

Zoya Nail Polish

I've heard a lot of hype surrounding the Zoya brand. All of their polishes ($7) are formaldehyde, toluene and DBP free and there are raves about how long the polish lasts without chipping. I was eager to try the brand but I couldn't find it locally and didn't want to order online without seeing the colors first. As luck would have it, Zoya has since twice offered 3 bottles free (just pay $6.95 shipping) and I now have a little Zoya collection of my own!

Nail polish does not last on me. At all. I've tried every magazine and manicurist trick--wipe nails down with polish remover immediately before polishing, use cuticle oil nightly, wear gloves when doing the dishes, use OPI Chip Skip, don't use OPI Chip Skip, avoid quick-drying top coats, etc--but my apartment has no dishwasher, I spend half my life on the subway so I am constantly washing my hands trying to avoid whatever communicable disease half the subway riders seem to have at any given time, and I type all day for work. I average about 24 hours before my polish starts chipping and I was eager to see if Zoya would be as miraculous as its devotees claim, but the truth is, it last just like any other polish on my nails. I am hoping one day to be independently wealthy with nothing to do but eat bon bons and watch General Hospital (at which point I'll do a proper study compairing how long various brands of polish last) but until hat happens, even with Zoya, I'll have to repolish every few days.

Even though I wasn't blown away by the brand's lasting ability, I have to say that they have a vast color selection (over 300 in all), many of the shades unique. The come out with new color stories each season so your nails can always be on trend!


Mischa is a sheerish mauve with gold shimmer and tiny silver sparkles
Erika is a sheer coton candy pink with heavy gold shimmer
Lola is an iridescent fuschia with light blue pearl and a matte finishZanna is an opaque mauve with no sparkle and shimmer
Pru is a purple wine frost wit heavy gold shimmer and iridescence
Roxy is a deep berry magenta with magenta glitter

Pru and Roxy in the sun.

Zoya is sold at www.artofbeauty.com (typing in zya.com redirects you to this site).

Overall, I would definitely purchase Zoya nail polish but would not do so expecting miracles.