Zoya Magical Pixie

 press samples 

It's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of textured polish.  I've worn enough of them by now to know what I like and what I don't within the trend.  Zoya's Pixie Dust textures so far have been some of the ones I've liked the look of the most.  I prefer them (all textures really) top coated, but even before that, they're not as harsh or lumpy as many other textures.  That was then.  This spring Zoya's got a new twist on Pixie Dust, adding small and medium holographic glitter to the delicate texture of the previous ones.  I had to see how it turned out...


Cosmo has holo glitter in a clear base with coarse metallic silver shimmer and texture pieces.

Disco concrete!  I have to give Zoya a serious nod for actually using the word "holographic" to mean holographic and not iridescent.  The glitter in this is actually holo.  Nifty!  This is two coats, but because it's very thick and gloppy, I had to touch up a few thin spots after the second coat.  It's difficult to work with.  It's all of the glitter, shimmer, and texture in it.  It's too much for the base to handle easily.  I had some dragging when I applied the second coat, but the texture makes it pretty forgiving.  The texture also causes the glitter to stick out at all kinds of angles, sorta along the same lines as Essie Belugaria on a smaller scale.  The result has a lot of visual impact.  It's a bit much for me really, but I know there are people who will love it.  I tried layering one coat over a different color, but the translucent white texture bits show up too much.  Damn.

I topcoated it and it makes it a lot more obvious that the base is clear.

It's odd, but it's so aggressively textured that you can still tell under copious top coat.

Lux has holo glitter, coarse metallic silver shimmer, and texture in a sheer rose base.

Here's something I never would have guessed in a million years...this is my favorite of the three.  I usually hate pink.  It's every bit as tricky to work with as Cosmo, but the soft pink base is more flattering and tones down the intensity of the finish.  This is two coats too.

It's not something I'd really wear, since I'm not really a pink person or a texture person, but I think it looks kinda cool as these things go.  It's one I think I'll love on other people.

Topcoated, it looks...interesting.  The sheerness of the base becomes more obvious and my nail line became visible through all of the sparkling stuff.  Like Cosmo, it manages to still look obviously textured.

Vega has a light dusty blue base with holo glitter, silver metallic shimmer, and texture pieces.

The color of Vega is less sheer than Lux's, so it was almost good to go in one coat.  I used a second just to shore things up and get rid of VNL.  This time around, I tried letting the first coat dry for a few minutes before adding a second.  It didn't help.  I still had all of the dragging, glopping, etc that I had with the other two.  These really aren't easy to apply, at all.  The results come out ok though, because of the forgiving nature of the finish.

Of the three, Vega looks the best topcoated.  Because the base has a fair amount of color it hides the nail line very well, even when glossy.

One last photo because I caught some of the glitter doing the rainbow thing.  They tend to just look pastel or iridescent in photos, but they are genuinely holographic.

Bottom line: If you've liked previous Pixie Dusts for their more subtle texture and uniform microglitter, the new Magical Pixies may come as a bit of a shock.  The larger glitter pieces make these much more textured than the others.  They're decidedly rough to the touch.  As far as the shades themselves, Lux was my surprise favorite.  The pink is much softer and rosier than I had expected.  Cosmo is very in-your-face, but I know a lot of people love that.  It's eye-catching, for sure!  Vega is the only one I think is worth top coating, though I think they all look better as-is.


I'm resenting winter extra hard for holding up the spring Zoyas.  I only just got these three on Tuesday and Awaken and Monet haven't even shipped yet.  I'm dying to try some of them already!  Bet you can guess which...