Zoya PixieDust Collection Swatches!
Disclosure: Products in this post were provided by the manufacturer, their PR firm or retailer for my review.
Yay! Zoya PixieDust Collection swatches! This collection has been one of the most highly anticipated in a long time. It consists of six matte, textured, sugary, sparkly polishes. I love this trend in nail polish. It’s super snazzy, yet there are a few in here I can still wear to work. And congrats to the “We Love Our Readers” Giveaway winner! She’ll have her own PixieDust Collection very soon!
I didn’t use a basecoat or topcoat for these swatches per Zoya’s instructions. I found application to be a little tricky – it requires an adjustment to how I’m used to applying dense glitters. (See my thoughts on that at the end of this post). Also, you won’t reach full sparkliness until the polish is completely dry. I waited about 15 minutes after the last coat before I took these pics. I’m not gonna lie…these were tough to capture on “film”. Even though my blog jumps around, I’ve linked the full-sized versions to each photo – so click to enlarge. Without further ado…
Vespa: (3 coats) a soft mint (and a touch warmer than my pics show). Dare I say this is office-worthy?
Nyx: (3 coats) a pretty periwinkle; more lavender than blue and very sugary.
Dahlia: (2 coats) a dark charcoal gray/black with silver sparkle. This looked like diamonds in the rough! My pic looks almost artificial – but seriously, it’s like diamond dust in real life. My camera was majorly confused.
Godiva: (2 coats) a soft nude. For me, this is mannequin hands with sparkle. Definitely work-worthy. I love that Zoya went this route with one of these polishes. Smart move, in my opinion.
Chyna: (2 coats) a dazzling, cool red. This one was the hardest to apply. To get it to work (after 3 tries), I had very little polish on my brush. If the coats are too thick, you end up with a semi-shiny, orange peel texture instead. It was worth it though. This one turned out to be my favorite. Waaaay sparklier in person. In the lights of my kitchen…gorge!
London: (3 coats) a warm, medium gray. Zoya describes it as “fog gray”. I’m a sucker for gray, so this was a shoe-in for me.
My take on application…
As I said, application is different than I’m used to. Typically with dense glitters, I use thicker coats…my goal is to suspend the glitter in the base for a shiny smooth finish. With PixieDust, you want to reveal the glitter instead. So the thinner the coats the better. This will allow the glitter to “stick out” from the base, which gives it that textured finish. Likewise, don’t “hover” the brush and polish with a light hand to get coverage. Really pull the brush over the nail. Just don’t overwork it or you’ll have pixie dust bald spots. You may need more coats, but the finished product is better. I don’t know if that explanation is technically correct…but it worked for me.
Even though I found these a little harder to apply to get the intended finished product, I’m still in love. Godiva will be on my digits tomorrow (office is closed today – woot!) and I’ll sport Chyna my next night out. So what do you think? Do you have them yet?
Disclosure: Products in this post were provided by the manufacturer, their PR firm or retailer for my review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.
I almost bought one when I placed a Zoya order today but I didn’t! I would love the nude!
I have a question, do you swatch these all on the same day? If so I have further questions (hehe) how do you manage to remove the glitter polish? I find I would rather just chop off my hands then struggle with glitter removal, and my last question… How do you prevent your nails from looking crappy after using so much nail polish remover? I wrap my hands in baby oil to help but it doesn’t really.
All great questions! I swatched these over two days, but it’s not unusual to do a whole collection in one. To remove glitter polish, I use the “one cotton ball method” (Here’s a good link – http://www.ifeelpolished.com/2012/07/one-cotton-ball-polish-removal.html). It’s less messy, keeps the acetone off your fingers and for me, it works better than foil. As for the dryness…I really struggle. I oil my nails and cuticles between each swatch, then clean the nailbeds with Zoya Remove+ before polishing. At night I’ve been coating my hands in Aquaphor! (A tip from the manicurator!) It’s been helping! Thanks for reading! :)
That’s fantastic advise thanks so much xx
Godiva and Chyna are my favourite. They’re all beautiful though, loving that texture right now. Definitely one of my favourite nail polish “fads” :)
ils sont MAGNIFIQUES, j’adore
Thanks a million for the application tips! My Pixie Dust sampler is still languishing in “pending stock availability” for almost two weeks now. Sadness. :-(
I contact Zoya and they are supposed to start shipping the samplers today, I am anxiously awaiting mine too!!!
Beautiful! I love Godiva. I wasn’t sure I wanted to try these but now I do!
They all look great! To bad they don’t sell any zoya here…
Great swatches!
These are gorgeous, perfect swatches
Wow, your swatches are gorgeous! I think you may have convinced me to pick up a couple of these :)
I really want London (partly for the name, and partly because I love gray polishes too).
i just bought 4 of these after admiring them on a couple other blogs, but I hadn’t heard any tips about application. thank you for that! they look amazing! can’t wait to try them.
Chyna looks so pretty, love red haha :)
These are beautiful swatches and I can’t wait to try them. Have you tried OPI’s Liquid Sand? If so, how do the Zoyas compare?
Reading your blog is very bad for my bank account!! After seeing your gorgeous swatches, I ordered Vespa, Nyx and London. Can’t wait!