Zoya Week Wednesday: Meet Rue and Jolie

You know that I love Zoya polishes, but I haven't told you why. Well, there are a few reasons.  I have strong brand loyalty, so once I latch on to a brand, it's full steam ahead.  And when I'm consistently impressed with a brand, my loyalty grows.  Zoya has never let me down yet.  If I find one I'm unimpressed by, I'll let you know.  Little things build my brand loyalty.  The shape of the bottle, type of brush, the name of the company and the names of the colors.  The more creative the polish names, the more I'm inclined to be drawn to a brand.  I admit that I have purchased a polish just because of the name.  A little obsessive, I know, but for me, it makes my polish experience all the more pleasant.  Zoya polishes usually have female names.  Or names that you could choose for your daughter. I love the simplicity and the added feminine touch the names bring to the brand.  There are other reasons why I like Zoya polishes. They are 5-free, meaning that they are free of 5 not-so-healthy chemical ingredients that are often found in nail polish.  Those are Tolulene, Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde resin, DBP and Camphor.  Most likely, wearing these chemicals in small quantities on your nails won't harm you, but many companies are jumping on the 3-free and 5-free bandwagon so that they can advertise the natural and healthy qualities of their polishes.  Go green. Now, you understand why I love Zoya polishes.

I have two great polishes for you.  No glitter or sparkles today.  Instead, I have two soft neutrals that are versatile and appropriate for all occasions.  One is a cream, the other is a sheer pearlescent.

Rue

The first polish I want to show you today is one that I bought just because of the name. It's a beautiful soft blush cream called Rue.  Usually the color draws you to a polish, followed by other attributes, but I never considered the color of this polish until I got to the counter and really looked at it.  I thought, "Hmm, this might be cute". And it is.  The name attracted me because of the Hunger Games character, Rue.  I'm a Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Divergent fan (Yes, I admit to enjoying a few YA books) and anything that relates to my favorite book/movie series is a definite no-brainer for me.

For this design I used Born Pretty stamping plate BP-13 and Your Touch by China Glaze.

Jolie

Jolie is a sheer pearlescent ivory polish.  I used three or four coats to achieve this look and you can still see a hint of a smile line peeking through.  To avoid having a visible smile line, you can use a white base coat.  However, it works perfectly as a sheer top coat to tone down an otherwise overpowering polish.    I used a gold stamping polish (probably Konad Gold) for the design. Tomorrow we'll look at a couple more neutrals. Ciao for now.