Steely Spark - Zoya Crystal

I've been trying to be good lately and going back through my stash and trying out lots of shades that I haven't. Oh deaaaar, soooo many untrieds! It's embarrassing...

[Bottle to nail: Zoya Crystal (3 coats)]

Anyway, here's a lovely one from Zoya's Fire and Ice collection - this is Zoya Crystal. This first photo here is without my makeshift diffuser and it was just too sparkly so the rest of the photos are under diffuse lighting to show how beautiful the flecks are in this polish!

[Bottle to nail: Zoya Crystal (3 coats)]

Basically, Zoya Crystal is a blackened blue base with tones of blue and gold foil particles. The result is a foil look with lots of gold flecks, giving an overall steel blue shade on the nail from afar.

[3 coats: Zoya Crystal]

Up close you can see all the gold in there and it's just gorgeous! This was a thin watery formula though, and required three coats for full opacity. You could possibly get away with two, but I think it looks best at three. Good thing is, it dries super fast so it doesn't take that long to do even with three coats.

[3 coats: Zoya Crystal]

I've heard that Zoya Crystal is a dupe for OPI Reflecting Pool which is great since the latter appears to be pretty hard to get your mitts on. Jme has also previously posted a gradient manicure featuring Zoya Crystal and China Glaze Emerald Sparkle so check it out!

[3 coats: Zoya Crystal]

I actually finished off with shiny topcoat as usual but after taking these photos, it looked so good under diffuse lighting that I added a matte topcoat (Essie Matte About You) over the top so it would always look like this! Awesome decision, and a great reminder of how different (and work-safe!) polishes can look with a matte topcoat - I think I'm gonna mattify lots from now on!