Zoya Bobbi and Binx

Bobbi was released by Zoya as part of the Irresistible collection for summer 2013. This collection featured a series of bright and soft colors for summer sharing a sparkling foily finish courtesy of gold or silver shimmers. Bobbi is a medium rosy magenta washed in silver from the superabundant foily silver shimmers it contains. To my eye, it looks a little anemic in the bottle but I was pleasantly surprised with this polish on the nail, where it evolved into a rich sunset color with hints of hot pink and salmon in indirect light. Like its stablemates, Bobbi has a bright, sparkling semi-metallic finish that at a glance appears to be more of a metallic shimmer than a foil, but in the shade you can see the nature of the foily particulate shimmers standing out from the magenta base.

I had a particularly bad shaky hands day today so application was more difficult than it would be normally. I found the consistency to be fluid and fast drying, so I had some dragging as I had to go slowly to control my shakes. Pigmentation is very good with even, opaque coverage in two coats. I may be the only polish enthusiast who didn't experience one-coat coverage with this polish, but after the first coat I really needed another to smooth things out. This is one of those polishes that sets its shimmers free to disperse around the nail environs at the touch of acetone, so you may notice some extra sparkle where it shouldn't be in my photos. Cleanup of the base color was easy and non-staining. Bobbi dries in very good time to a smooth, shiny finish.

Photos show two coats of Bobbi over Seche rebuild treatment and Pretty Serious All Your Base basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Bobbi

Bobbi is what I call a "gift wrap ribbon" kind of polish. The color is very floral and girly. It may be too girly for me, I feel sort of like the incredible hulk compared to the bright pink on my nails!

Binx was released by Zoya a year after Bobbi as part of the Bubbly collection for Summer 2014, a collection of glitter jellies in bright summer colors. Each polish had a tinted jelly base bearing iridescent gold hex glitters and abundant golden particulate shimmers. Binx is described by Zoya as a "spicy orchid purple," but reads more pink than purple once on the nail. I think many felt let down by this polish, as they were expecting, rightly, a purple. But it's still quite beautiful and makes a fabulous topper for any number of shades in the pink/red/purple spectrum.

Over Bobbi, Binx softened the sharpness of the magenta. The golden shimmers, in particular, did a lot to mellow out Bobbi's brightness into a color that I want to call a warm rose with purple undertones. The iridescent hex glitters are simply gorgeous, I think, glowing in shades of gold, salmon, pink, pale blue and green amidst the sparks of gold from the shimmers.

Zoya Bobbi (l) and Binx (r), bottle shot

I applied two coats of Binx over my Bobbi manicure. Despite it being a jelly-based polish, I found Binx to be much more forgiving of my slow pace even though it has a slightly thicker formula than what I'm used to from Zoya. It was more the sort of polish where you're spreading it on as opposed to painting. But I had no problems with it, no dragging and no stacking or protrusions from the glitters. This is another polish that sets its shimmer components free at the touch of acetone, so my nail surrounds got another dose of shimmery goodness at the few points where cleanup was needed. Binx dries naturally in very good time to a mostly smooth finish. One layer of topcoat was all it took to get a glassy-smooth, glossy surface.

Photos show two coats of Binx over the Bobbi manicure above with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

Zoya Binx over Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Binx over Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Binx over Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Binx over Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Binx over Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Binx over Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Binx over Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Binx over Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Binx over Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Binx over Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Binx over Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Binx over Zoya Bobbi

Zoya Binx over Zoya Bobbi

The golden shimmers in Binx really override the silver in Bobbi, providing a sparkly salmon look in the last light of the sun here in my office. I like these two together more than I do Bobbi by itself. The overall color is warmer and more complex, and the glitter gives it a spry, springy feel on the nail that reminds me of jelly beans. 

Mmmm, jelly beans....

love,
Liz