Zoya’s Anchor Basecoat, the miracle I’m searching for?

My job is hard on nail polish. Nitrile or latex gloves are a must and we are constantly changing into fresh pairs. The constant off and on of the moisture sapping protective layer, as well as liberal use of hand sanitizer, leaves nail polish chipped and worn. Sometimes you can get lucky and have your polish last 2-3 days looking lovely, but usually it’s only a matter of hours until your polish that you painstakingly applied the night before is looking like a mani you received a week ago! The search for a nail polish solution is never ending at my workplace, and I’m out to find it!

I follow Zoya polish on Twitter and keep an eye on their specials. When they anounced a BOGO sale I decided it was finally time for me to step up and try some out for myself. I admire Zoya’s commitment to a good quality product as free from extra chemicals as possible. They also have a selection of colors that is mindblowing, with 300+ regular colors and numerous other colors from collections. You’re sure to find whatever color you’re looking for, plus several that you just HAVE to have. Along with some fun new colors, one of the items I added to my cart was the Anchor Basecoat, since a good base is the logical first step in  getting decent staying power.

Anchor Basecoat is part of the Color Lock System from Zoya, a 5 step system that claims to keep polish on for 7-10 days.According to their info it contains a polymer that helps form a tight bond between your nail and your polish. It took longer to dry than I expected and seemed to stay sticky for a while until completely dried, but it wasn’t a huge imposition on my schedule. Otherwise it seemed like a pretty standard clear base coat, just paint on and wait. But you want to know how it worked, right?

My coworker Michelle volunteered to try out the base coat and a polish so I could take pictures since I had artificial nails on at the time. This is Zoya Ultra Glitter polish, over Anchor Basecoat on the right and without base coat on the left, after only 3 days of wear at work. The edges of the polish with Anchor base coat look more worn than the polish without, which looks like it just chipped off jaggedly, but ultimately they both just look pretty torn up.

In fairness, glitter polishes usually chip faster than typical polishes. And maybe the color would have lasted longer had we tried the entire Color Lock System, but the system as a set is $48, and to me that seems like an awful lot to pay without even getting a color.  Among the holiday gift offering is a “minicure” set that offers a scaled down version of the Color Lock System for only $16, definitely much closer to my price range.

So far I’m not ready to declare this drool worthy, but I want to love it, I really do. Maybe once I get a hold of more Color Lock products I’ll have more impressive results to share.
The search for polish permanence continues!