The Manic Painteress: Zoya Arabella

ZOYA ARABELLA (inside, flash)

Today, I shall discuss Zoya's Arabella. It's from their newest collection of Pixie Dust (textured matte sparkling) nail polishes for Fall 2013. They describe it as a "rich fuchsia pink in a matte, textured, sparkling finish."

I describe it as off-the-charts gorgeous. It might not be the most attention-getting nail polish when you look at the collection as a whole. I find that when searching for a textured polish, people like to go somewhat strange. That's what I would get Sunshine or Chita (Van Gogh blue or forest green) for. They're quite beautiful in their own right, but I think that there are some times when you just can't rationalize wearing something that funky. They're great if you work in a record store, or in a makeup counter, or maybe stretch it into business casual, but if you have a stricter dress code, blue nails really are a hard sell. Fuchsia, on the other hand, is totally defensible. It might be on the sparkly side, but I feel like offices don't mind a bit of flash, as long as it's not too overwhelming.

I'm getting a bit off track here. I could kiss Zoya for this polish. I'd look a bit strange kissing an entire company, but I'd do it if they keep creating things this incredible. First off: the formula is amazing. The following pictures are ONE COAT of Arabella. Glides on with ease, and covers beautifully. I have mentioned that I'm a medium hand when applying, so if it takes you two coats, I wouldn't freak out, but I was more than happy with one. I should note that I did use Zoya Anchor as a base coat. Zoya says not to use base or top coats on their website with the Pixie Dusts, but I like the extra strength of their base coat. It's a strengthener as well as smoothing and adhesive; I credit Zoya Anchor with the length of my nails--they've never been this long. Ever.

Arabella is what they say--a rich fuchsia. Only, it's so much more. It has some silver glitter to catch the light. It has pink glitter throughout, and true fuchsia running throughout. Depending on the lighting, you can see so many colors in this polish. In artificial lighting, I think it's more raspberry, but in the sunlight, you really get the purple hues. I just can't say how much I love this color. It looks sophisticated, but has a lot of personality and depth. I really can't imagine that I'll get tired of Arabella before it starts to chip--and with Zoya's propensity for creating polish that stays on my fingers for six or so days, that's saying something. I have Zoya's Tomoko and Carter waiting for me to try them, as well as Destiny, Liberty, and Nyx on their way, and you'll all have to wait for write ups on those polishes, seeing as I have no intentions of taking this off until I absolutely have to.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that I see this color as fairly perfect for most seasons. It's definitely perky enough for spring, I'm wearing it without qualms for summer, as it's pretty darn happy, and it's dark enough for fall. I'm not sure about winter, but I think you could get away with it, especially closer to the holidays, or if you need a pick-me-up. It's exceptionally versatile and wearable. I think this is one of my top nail polish purchases. No one is more surprised about that than I.

Generally, with a textured polish, I have no desire to put a top coat over it, but I can see myself doing so over Arabella in the future some time. When wet, it looked a lot like a really stunning holographic polish. There was so much dimension before you got to the textured part. I would buy a non-textured polish that looked like Arabella does while wet in a baby's heartbeat. I took a picture because I was so impressed: