I think the obsession began with Dior Bond Street this past spring. It was cemented in place by Dior Perfecto and NARS Galion this fall. And it’s run amok with Chanel Blue Rebel, Nubar Dark Wash Jeans, and Essie Bobbing for Baubles.

This is Zoya Cynthia, from the brand’s fall 2011 collection. If I were to split hairs, I’d say I think it’s a slightly greener blue than Galion and Perfecto. It’s dark and autumnal, but way chicer than black. I may never emerge from my blue phase!

Zoya polishes are $8 each, available in Ulta and Whole Foods, and on their website.

Holy cannoli, this polish is glorious! Glorious! For those of you who have been engaged, you know the initial temptation to keep admiring your hand? That’s just what this polish is like. It’s utterly dazzling, especially in sunlight. People kept asking me if I was wearing a gel.

I painted… I think 4–5 coats (because I’m a magpie and couldn’t stop myself). I had basically achieved full coverage in 3, but I wanted to make sure everything was absolutely perfect for my photo. If you’re really worried about gaps in the glitter, you could also start with a coat of solid-color polish.

Of course there’s always a flipside to glorious, and I wanted to talk through those issues.

First, bar glitter is tricky. I tried to keep an eye on the edge of my nail as I was painting (pushing the glitter back down the nail when it wanted to stick out), but when I finished, my manicure still had a fairly rough free edge. (Little pieces of bar glitter catch on everything!) I had to wait ’til my manicure was completely dry, then file the edge to make sure it was totally smooth. Putting this polish on half an hour before you intend to put on pantyhose? I wouldn’t recommend it.

Second, this polish is ROUGH. The two types of glitter make for a fairly “chunky” manicure, so if you don’t want sandpaper nails, you need topcoat. I used my failsafe combination of Seche Vite and Color Club Vivid.

Third, glitter is tough to remove. Different people have different solutions to this problem. Some people swear by the “foil method” for removing nail polish (soak a cotton ball in acetone, place it on your nail, and secure it in place for a few minutes with aluminum foil wrapped around your fingertips). The foil method has never worked very well for me.

Soaper1 is fond of a product she found in Target: a Studio Tools tub of acetone with a little scrubby, nubbly plastic insert (which scrubs off the glitter). My nails are pretty weak, so I’ve been hesitant to try this one.

My advice? Wear the glitter polish for as long as possible. Polish is thinned by your normal daily activities, so it’s less thick/strong after 5-7 days, and easier to remove.

Next, it’s better if your acetone-conveyance-vehicle is a bit coarse. Cotton balls will stick to the glitter and shred. If you use felt (which you can pick up at the craft store), the process will go a little faster. Deborah Lippmann also makes a fabulous product called The Stripper to Go. Each single-use packet contains an acetone-soaked quilted felt mitt (like a finger-tip puppet). These are excellent.

Zoya provided this polish for swatching purposes.

Gems and Jewels is a six-piece collection, and the first three shades aren’t my favorites (I’m not a huge fan of the finish). Also, once you see the glitters, it’s hard to focus on anything else.

Holly, Noel, and Izzy are all very fine shimmers — so fine they’re almost frost-finish — which made for a kind of satin-ribbon look in my photo. Holly is Christmas-green. Noel is a steelier blue than it looks in this photo. Izzy is fuchsia, and a great toenail color.

And THEN! Three glorious glitters! Rina, Twila, and Kissy each feature a dense monochromatic microglitter in a clear base PLUS holographic bar glitter.

When I wear glitter, I don’t just want a few pieces as decoration, I want sky’s-the-limit full glitter nails. You CAN wear the glitters over the frost shades in this collection, but the glitters alone will also give you full coverage in 3–4 coats. And if you really don’t want to see any nail between the sparkle, you could always wear them over black.

So by all means, buy the whole collection, but don’t feel limited to pairing the matching shades.

Rina is grass-green with blue-green holographic bar glitter. Twila is aqua blue with blue holographic bar glitter (so the bar glitter is most subtle in this one). Click here for an on-nail swatch of Twila. Kissy is fuchsia with silver holographic bar glitter (so this one is the most rainbow-y). Remember the way Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers flashed the first time the camera came in for a close up? Kissy is just as magical.

Zoya polishes are $8 each, available on their website and in Whole Foods and Ulta.

Zoya provided these polishes for swatching purposes.

Zoya nail polishes are $8 each, available on their website, at Ulta and Whole Foods.

Anyway, I must not be alone in my color cravings, because Zoya released a mini collection of three whispering summer neutrals, the Touch collection.

All three shades are opaque, with a deep, subtle shimmer that gives them a “satin ribbon” finish. Minka was my favorite, a shell-beige cream (it reminds me of women’s suit material). Shay is a pale warm peony pink. Pandora is pastel purple, a soft orchid.

These polishes are also a bit thicker than other Zoyas I own, which made executing a perfect manicure slightly more difficult. Also (presumably a result of the polish consistency), my manicures tended to crack, vertically, at the edge of my nail after a few days of wear.

Until I tried these on my nails, I hadn’t consciously thought about the fact that when I choose neutrals, I tend to choose sheerer shades. The opacity was weird at first, but I got used to it.

I think Minka could launch my hand modeling career. It’s just so professional.

I didn’t like Shay as much, on me. Maybe the pink is too close to my skincolor. Sorry my too-late-in-the-day photo probably over-represents that shimmer (it’s really only visible in sunlight).

I also didn’t instantly connect with Pandora. It’s a complex and interesting color, but my skintone turns the shade into a pale, dusty beige-rose (which borders on “lifeless” in some lighting). Pandora is unquestionably purple next to Shay, but on its own, it’s more of a Volvo-beige.

I think the darker your skintone, the more easily you’d be able to wear any of these three shades.

Zoya polishes are $8 each, and if you’re not sure about a color, you can order a “spoon” (a nail-shaped plastic color swatch) for 50 cents. Not only does this let you “try on” a color before you buy it, but it also puts a 50-cent credit in your account, good toward a future purchase. Zoya is also sold in Ulta and Whole Foods.

These three mattes are 90s bright, and even without a themed party to attend, I’m visualizing a funky two-tone manicure (I’m thinking zig-zags, using scotch tape to make my stencil).

Phoebe is intense, electric blue. Mitzi is chartreuse (yellow-green. You might call it neon lime green). Lolly is hot pink.

Zoya nail polishes are $8 apiece, but if you created a Zoya account before Sunday, March 20th (yesterday at 5 pm), then you have a special, limited time opportunity to pick them up for less. Sign in at Zoya.com, visit “My Account” and you’ll see a single-use, non-transferable code to buy-one-get-one free (up to 7 free polishes). This code is valid for any of the Sunshine, Summertime, or Mod Matte shades.

Even better: shipping is just $2 — and if you order $55 or more, shipping is free.

Your code is good until March 25th. Happy shopping!

These polishes were provided by Zoya for swatching purposes.

Let’s get down to brass tacks. Microglitter is one of my favorite nail polish finishes, and no one does it like Zoya. Not everyone uses the same terminology; when I say “microglitters,” I mean nail polish packed with very dense, very tiny glitter particles, so it’s a textured, glittery metallic that feels smooth under topcoat.

The Sunshine collection reminds me of Indian wedding saris: rich, opulent color packed with gold thread (well, gold sparkle). Reva is berry-wine-colored with gold sparkle. Kimmy is warm red with gold sparkle. Apple is sour apple green with green sparkles. Tanzy is copper-peach with gold sparkles. Rica is pink with gold sparkles. Faye is lilac with gold sparkles.

I’ll be nail swatching these as quickly as I can, because they are even more beautiful to the eye than an on-tape photo was able to capture.

The Summertime collection features six bold, bright, saturated cremes.

It’s hard to see with so many incredibly saturated colors in close proximity to one another, but Sooki and Tamsen are not actually that similar. Sooki is bright blood red; Tamsen is tomato red. Areej is orchid purple. Kieko is Crayola-purple. Mira is blue purple, and I feel like I’ve been looking for blue-purple for soooo long. Breezi is bright cerulean. It reminds me of Greece, or St. Tropez, or a million other places I’d like to take a vacation.

Zoya nail polishes are $8 apiece, but if you created a Zoya account before Sunday, March 20th (yesterday at 5 pm), then you have a special, limited time opportunity to pick them up for much less. Sign in at Zoya.com, visit “My Account” and you’ll see a single-use, non-transferable code to buy-one-get-one free (up to 7 free polishes).  This code is valid for any of the Sunshine, Summertime, or Mod Matte shades.

Even better: shipping is just $2 — and if you order $55 or more, shipping is free.

Your code is good until March 25th. Happy shopping!

These polishes were provided by Zoya for swatching purposes.

I usually find Zoya polishes very easy to paint, but Caitlin was a little bit finicky. It’s one of those where you have to keep your calm through the first coat — don’t try to go over it, just trust that the second coat will even it out.

What do you think? Love it or hate it?

Dannii is a royal purple with gold microglitter. Jules is a cool, dirty, beiged gold microglitter. Caitlin is a muted, medium, purpled blue creme. Dove is a surprisingly industrial grey creme (and I’m so tempted to mix in a little Caitlin!). Marley is a satiny lilac; it literally looks like a satin ribbon. Gemma is swamp green with tiny blue (and purple) shimmers.

Zoya polishes are $7 each, and are always free of toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, and dibutyl phthalate (DBP).

Does this collection inspire you to attempt your own color customization?

Tiffany is peachy-pink frost with gold sparkles. Gloria is rose frost with gold sparkles. Crystal is ice-queen blue with gold sparkles. Lisa is scarlet with scarlet sparkles. Sarah is crimson (deeper, a little more violet) with crimson sparkles. Valerie is deep, rich purple with purple sparkles. They’re $7 each, or you could buy the set for $36 at Zoya.com. Zoya polishes are vegan and big-three-free.

Want to win them all? Of course you do! And I have a set to give away.

To enter this contest, leave a comment on this post and tell me what country you’re in. You may enter this contest only once; duplicate entries will be ignored.

A winner will be selected at random from among the valid entries. This contest will end Tuesday, October 19 at midnight.

This nail polishes were provided by Zoya for swatching purposes.