Stuntin’ With Zoya’s Summer 2013 Stunning Nail Lacquer Collection

Bright colors and summertime go together like a wink and a smile. When it comes to nail lacquers, then, you’ll be hard-pressed to find deep burgundies, haunting gunmetal and stormy gray hues, muted lilacs and taupes, and oxblood or deep hunter green shades when temperatures are nearing 100 degrees and everyone has beach locales on the brain. Instead, you’re likely to gravitate toward colors that convey energy and brightness, like corals and yellows, along with sunny pinks and aquatic turquoise, teal, and mint shades. Zoya has traditionally done an excellent job at capturing the exuberance and buoyancy of the summer season with its nail lacquer hues and, for Summer 2013, the company once again upped the ante, delivering a six-color collection of creamy nail lacquers in perky hues that seem ready too party. If you’re not in the mood for polishes with glittery, matter, or metallic textures, then you’ll appreciate the clean and creamy finish of the six lacquers in the Zoya Summer 2013 Stunning Collection. All the lacquers are saturated with color to deliver an excellent degree of opacity and, as with all Zoya polishes, they last quite long without chipping, cracking, or losing their luster.

The six shades in the Zoya Stunning collection are:

Rocky: A lovely light blue shade that feels like it hits a midway point between aqua and sky blue

Yana: A geranium pink that might remind you of watermelon-flavored candy

Josie: A punchy green reminiscent of the color of a praying mantis, albeit slightly deeper.

Micky: A medium honeysuckle pink

Darcy: A creamy yellow so bright that it feels like a pocket full of sunshine, reminiscent of the color of the egg yolk inside a boiled egg

Thandie: A coral orange reminiscent of a Sunkist orange’s ring or of a shrimp’s tail

Below, you’ll find swatches of all six shades. Prepare to be stunned!

ROCKY

I adore this color so much! It’s definitely one of my favorite shades in the collection since the blue, while being a lighter shade, is also so saturated with pigment that it makes a striking statement. What I love most is that the color seems to take teal, aqua, turquoise, and sky blue elements and fuses them to create a shade that feels unique and simply lovely.

THANDIE

Orange is one of the staple nail color hues for the summer season. This shade, while not revolutionary in any form, is undeniably lively and appealing, plus the creamy finish makes it unlike the plethora of nail lacquers infused with gold glitter and metallic swirls.

DARCY

Finding a fun yellow color — one that isn’t too pastel-like but also doesn’t tread into mustard territory — can be a feat. This Tweety Bird yellow is as bright and effervescent as the Zoya Pippa (my other favorite yellow nail lacquer) but, while Pippa has cool undertones that make the color more lemon-like, this one has warmer undertones that make it even sunnier and give it more of a burst of electricity.

YANA

All I can think about when I se the Yana color is watermelon ice cream (or watermelon sorbet, if you will). This shade, then, is fascinating in that it’s not quite a pink hue but it would be hard to qualify it as a red hue. If you’ve seen red geranium blossoms, then you’ll find a striking similarity to that as well.

JOSIE

Another one of my favorites, Josie is one groovy gal! This creamy green polish is as close to a praying mantis shade as you can get. It’s a remarkably unique shade — not a kelly green or a hunter green, not a spearmint or fern shade, not a moss, olive, or sage green. There’s a slightly retro vibe to Josie but, because the lacquer is so saturated with pigment, its boldness will make it feel modern and confident.

MICKY

This is perhaps my least favorite color in the collection. For one, it’s the most predictable of colors: a medium honeysuckle pink with a creamy texture. It’s a pretty enough shade but it just feels like something we’ve seen before. Also, I’m pretty sure I got a dud (which happens from time to time with any nail lacquer from any brand) but this particular lacquer was so goopy and clumpy that it was almost impossible to apply two coats without them being too thick, runny, and gummy. If there’s one color I would skip, it would be this one. But, again, since the bottle I got seemed to be defective, that may have influenced my opinion, and perhaps I’d have a different stance had the polish boasted the desired consistency.

To purchase any of the colors featured here, visit Zoya.com. All nail lacquers retail for $8 each.