Zoya Color Lock System Revisited

The Zoya Color Lock System is essentially a set of treatments that is meant to make your manicure last dramatically longer. It consists of a nail prep (Remove+), a base coat (Anchor), a top coat (Armor) and some quick-dry drops (Hurry Up).

The first two times I used the Color Lock System, I did get extremely good wear time out of my polish, but I also had a lot of bubbling. Since then, I obtained the 'new' Color Lock System, the big set with all the extras and decided to give it another try. This time, my results were much better, and I think I've pinpointed the cause of the bubbling.

Day one. Nothing worth noting.

Day two. Looks the same as day one. I added another coat of Armor.


Day three. One more coat of armor. No tipwear yet, but I was beginning to see where tipwear was starting.

Day four. Now we have minor tipwear. Nothing noticeable from a distance. Added another coat of Armor, but in hindsight that was a bad idea. I'll explain why in a moment.


Day five. Looks pretty much the same as day four.


Day six. Here's where I started to have very obvious tipwear. I think that if I hadn't done all those extra coats of Armor, I wouldn't have this much tipwear.

Day seven. Slightly more tipwear than day six, but now the polish was lifting up at the edges, like what happens when you apply Seche Vite on dry polish.

Here's what I did this time. I prepped with Remove+ and waited for it to dry. I made sure I wasn't by a fan or vent, and that I wasn't next to a window with the sun shining in. I did one thin coat of Anchor and let it dry for one minute. I did two thin coats of Zoya Roxy and let them dry one minute in between. On top of that, I did one thin coat of Armor. I waited five minutes and then applied a drop of Hurry Up to each nail. Total drying time was about fourty-five minutes. The polish was set at around 20 minutes, but very dentable and soft until around the fourty-five minute mark.

This time I had no bubbles. Looking back at it, a glitter polish probably wasn't the best choice if I was trying to detect bubbling.... But I inspected each nail closely under multiple kinds of lighting and from every angle and didn't see any signs of bubbles.

The main difference between this try and the last two was that this time my Anchor and Armor were noticeably thinner. Almost watery thin. The first two times they were both about the thickness of regular polish- not thin but not thick like Seche Vite either. I'm thinking this is why they decided to add the Renew Polish Rejuvenator (basically a three-free thinner) to the Color Lock System. So, if you're having problems with bubbling while using the Color Lock System, try adding a little Renew to your Anchor and Armor.

I was also sure not to apply my polish in direct sunlight. Even with the windows closed, being in direct sunlight while applying can sometimes cause bubbles. I noticed this while swatching one day, and since then I've made sure my hand was in the shade while polishing.

This time around, I also did an additional coat of Armor for the first four days. I'm positive that this was a mistake. Around day five or six, the polish started to pull away from the tips- it very closely resembled the 'shrinkage' that you get when using too thick of a coat of Seche Vite. I think I did too many coats. The more coats of polish you have on your nails, the more likely it is to chip, shrink and peel. On the last day, the polish lifted at the edges where it had worn, exactly like what happens when you use too much Seche Vite or put quick-dry on top of dry polish. If I had only done a coat of Armor every other day, I could have probably extended my wear to around eight or nine days.

On the seventh day, I decided to try a little experiment. I broke the corner off my ring finger nail, so I filed down the rest of them to match. This removed the tipwear from the seven days of wearing Roxy. I added one additional coat of Roxy, since I think it looks best with three coats. Then I did this:

Matte Roxy.

I found an old bottle of Maybelline Matte Maker topcoat!! Since I found it, I've been mattifying every polish I put on. Matte Roxy is truly breathtaking. It looks so much better in person, though. Each little glitter particle now looks like a shiny metal plate. You can see it trying to reflect from under the surface of the matte topcoat. When it's matte, the glitter in Roxy looks like perfectly smooth river stones. This is so ridiculously cool. Tiny platelets of metal suspended in a purple sea. Gorgeous. I don't know if I'll ever wear Roxy glossy again, this is just too mesmerizing!

(That was the polish experiment I mentioned on Twitter the other night! Matte glitter. )

So, overall, I had great results with Color Lock. A full five days without major tipwear and a full week without chipping. And this time, no bubbles! Again, if you're experiencing bubbles, thin your Anchor and Armor. That fixed my problem. I also did Color Lock manicures on my Mom and on my brother's girlfriend over the weekend (Mom got Audrina, girlfriend got Paz) and didn't get bubbles. It had to be the texture of the Anchor and Armor.

I have not yet used the Color Lock system on non-Zoya polish, but I don't see a reason not to. I would assume that any big three free polish would work. I'm going to try it with a variety of three-free brands (Which is... like... all of them now...) and report back.

Zoya polishes and the Color Lock system can all be purchased directly from Art Of Beauty. Keep an eye out for special deals from Zoya on Twitter as well!

Restoring Polish: Quite Possibly The Most Important Post Ever

I want to talk to you guys about the shelf life of polish. How long does polish last? Do I have to throw it out after a certain amount of time?

To put it bluntly, the polish will outlive you. Seriously. There is no reason to ever throw away polish. It doesn't spoil, it doesn't get moldy, it can't 'go bad.' It can separate, but that is fixed by shaking before use. It can thicken or, in some strange cases, thin. That doesn't mean you have to throw out your polish.

I want to show you how to fix a completely dried polish. This will come in handy some day.




I saw this poor bottle of L'Oreal Bijou Crystals in B.Shocking on a store shelf and thought it would be the perfect chance for me to demonstrate this point. Look at it. It's completely dry. People would never buy this because they think it's garbage, but it's not! It's just a wilted flower, waiting to be watered.


Tip it over- it's so dry, it stays put. That's a solid mass of dried polish in the bottom. The brush is embedded in the dried polish. Tug gently to remove it.




My secret weapon: Seche Restore. I am in love with Seche Restore. I've gone through bottles and bottles of this stuff. Most people will tell you that it doesn't make a difference which polish thinner you use. While all polish thinners will thin polish, Seche Restore contains Toluene- a wonderful, magical substance that turns finicky polish into smooth, quick-drying chemical loveliness. This is especially handy for restoring older polishes because it's the toluene that has evaporated from them. Adding Seche Restore can also improve the texture of gooey three-free polishes. No, I don't work for Seche- I just freakin' love this stuff.


All you have to do is pour in some Seche Restore. I don't bother with a dropper when I'm using this much, but if you have some disposable pipettes, those work quite well. I try to add as much Restore to the bottle as I can- I try to picture where the polish would be in a full bottle and I add Restore to create that amount of liquid. Place the cap back on the polish.



You can see that the the Restore starts to dissolve the dried polish immediately. Once the cap is on tightly, shake the polish vigorously. Don't be alarmed if some Restore leaks out of the bottle. It's much thinner than polish and can sometimes make it out of the bottle. And to all of you out there who are gasping in horror when I say to shake your polish: Don't worry. It's okay to shake your polish. It absolutely WILL NOT HARM your polish. The worst it can do is cause bubbles, which settle on their own within five to ten minutes of shaking. So please, be kind, shake your polish. Much safer than rolling, because without a firm grip on the bottle, you could potentially drop the bottle and break it. I speak from experience.



If the polish is completely dried, like this one was, you may have to loosen the dried polish from the bottom of the bottle. I use a toothpick to pry the dry polish lump away from the bottom and sides, and then I stir it a for a little while to break up the dried lump.



After a little while of stirring and shaking, voila! Good as new. The texture is perfectly smooth- or it would be if it didn't have so much glitter in it!- and all of the dried polish has dissolved. You would never know that this was a reconstituted polish. It goes on smoothly and dries quickly. Now you have a full bottle of amazing polish that someone would have thrown in the garbage!


Here's the polish on my nails. It applied like a dream. However, I can't say I really like the color that much- streaky silver metallic and loads holographic glitter don't play well together. If you want a holographic silver metallic, it's best to use a holo topcoat, like China Glaze Fairy Dust or Piggy Polish Sunshine On Snowflakes on top of a silver polish to avoid the lumpy look that mixed-in glitter causes.



Here's another bottle that I revived from a dried clump of polish. It's CND Pucker Up. I ordered it online and when it arrived, the bottle was actually open and the polish was completely dried. I don't know how they didn't notice that when they packed my order, but somehow it did. I wasn't worried, I knew how to fix it and now I have a perfect polish that would have otherwise been trash!

Here's my message to you: DON'T THROW OUT YOUR POLISH! It can be fixed. I wonder how many old, rare, wonderful polishes have been chucked in the bin because they had thickened, separated or dried. The thought of it breaks my heart! To me, the older the polish, the better.

I hope this was helpful for you. I consider this to be very valuable and useful information. When I was younger, I never knew that polish could be fixed and I threw away so many bottles of gorgeous polish that I really regret getting rid of now. I wish I had them. Beautiful, unique, irreplaceable polishes that had separated or thickened. I am positively kicking myself for not holding onto them. Don't be like me!