Hey strangers! It actually hasn’t been that long I guess, but it feels like it. I was so stinkin’ busy this week, most of the posts that went up were my “in-case of emergency” posts that I was trying to save for a rainy day. If you missed my last post, I’m in charge of a hoard of 6th graders. They’re exhausting, funny, unique little people. I guess I shouldn’t say “little” when some of them are taller than me (what are people feeding kids these days? One day I can pat them on the top of their short little heads…then they go home for a short holiday break and when some come back, they’ve sprouted up and can pat me on my head). I’m also still working my part-time job at a beauty store – pfff, like I could give that up. No way, Jose. Anyways, 7 day/60 hour weeks leave little time for swatching and/or typing. But I’m gonna work my rumpus off to be on my A-game for you guys (plus I love blogging!). My week /weekend was hectic, but good – I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!
Anyways, rambling aside…today I bring you a polish that I wore last week and looooved – Zoya’s Vespa, one of the six new shades in the PixieDust Nail Polish Collection. PixieDust polishes are textured, matte, and sparkling. Be still, my heart! I thought that about OPI Liquid Sand too though, when I first heard about the ones in the Mariah collection…and then I swatched them and was like “…ew.” So it was with great hesitation and much hope that I carefully selected only one Zoya PixieDust to order. Vespa is described by Zoya as “a Mint Kiss with a sugared sparkle.” I like mint! Into my shopping cart it went (along with several other non-Pixie shades. How’d that happen? Oops…).
Zoya’s instructions for PixieDusts are not to use a base or top coat and to give layers up to 10 minutes of dry time before the next coat. I kind of listened to their instructions. My nails have been peeling lately and I wasn’t sure how a gritty polish would affect that, so I put a base coat on first. Then I applied my first coat of Vespa and waited about 15 minutes for good measure. I refuse to use Seche so I’m used to waiting for layers to dry. Then I applied a second coat and let that also sit for about 15 minutes. No top coat!
Natural light
Natural light
Indoors, no flash
Indoors w/ flash – blurry but it shows a touch of the sparkle!
Hello, beautiful! Here are the pros and cons, for me at least –
The pros:
- The sparkle was surprisingly strong and so beautiful! I kept turning my nails to catch the light – any neighbors who caught me taking photos outdoors probably think I’m nuts now. Whatevs.
- The matte texture isn’t hideous looking – very much the opposite! It’s like a fine, sparkling sugar is coating my nails. It feels really cool.
- The wear time was great (and I know this because I wore it until it chipped and I had to remove it).
- I got a lot of compliments on it – always a pro in my books!
- The polish is matte, so Zoya made the bottle handle matte – and I like it a lot better than the usual shiny, slick bottle handles. Maybe this is a strange pro, maybe some of you will be like “me too!”
- This is probably a stunner top-coated (although also probably a top-coat eater). That’s on my to-do list.
The cons:
- I don’t think this is mint. It’s darker, more like a sage. Not a huge deal to me, but if you’re basing your purchase off of the expectation that you’re receiving a true-mint color, well…you’re not.
- I waited over the ten minutes suggested dry time between layers. My nails felt dry. Then I scratched my head and the polish on my middle finger pushed back – I was like “noooooo!” and kind of pushed the polish back into place. If Vespa was a cream polish, you would’ve spotted my patch job in a heartbeat – it’s a little trickier since it’s textured (phew!). My point is, be careful with your dry time – even when you think your polish is totally dried and set, it may not be. Sneaky pixies.
- Cameras can’t do this polish justice. My nails were sparkling and twinkling outside and my camera was just like “nope, I don’t see it.” Which means that you, my readers, don’t see the sparkle. Sigh. I caught a touch of it in the blurry photo, but you have to see this for yourself to see it fully.
My verdict? I love Vespa! I probably won’t get the darker shades (I’m just like “eh” towards the colors), but may end up with Godiva. And I already have some colors I want from the summer PixieDust release whenever it hits stores 🙂 You can purchase Vespa and/or the rest of the spring PixieDust Nail Polish for $9 each on the Zoya website or at a major beauty retailer that carries salon brands (like Ulta).
What do you guys think of textured polish – hit or miss?
Related articles
- Blu Skies Ahead – Zoya Blu Swatches & Review (wayfaringbeauty.com)
- Zoya PixieDust Nail Polish: Summer Edition Announced! (zoyanailpolish.blogspot.com)
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