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Today I have a full review of a new one-step gel polish from Purjoi Nail Studio (pronounced “pure joy”). Joi is the name of the founder and creator of this new polish line. As a licensed technician she saw the need for a product that would allow techs to save time and money, but still provide a high quality service. The Purjoi polishes are an all-in-one application, and don’t require a base or top coat which saves time during application. They are also designed to have a thicker formula which allows for easier application with no pooling or shrinkage, and the polish also maintains its form for nail art effects. I put these claims to the test as you will read below.
Application
The Purjoi polishes do have a much thicker formula than any other gel polish I’ve tried. At first I tried applying very thin layers, but that didn’t work so well. I found that it actually was easier to apply in thicker coats, and two thick coats were all that were needed for perfect opaque coverage. The polish didn’t shrink or pool, it stayed exactly where I put it.
With this one-step polish you simply have to prep the nail (shape, buff, etc) and cleanse off any excess dust, dehydrate the nail bed with alcohol or a special cleanser, and then polish the color directly onto the nail. The curing time is 60 seconds with an LED lamp, or 120 seconds with a UV lamp. The cured polish is shiny and tacky-free, so there’s no cleansing or wiping needed. And I have to say that the shine really impressed me. It’s definitely the shiniest one-step polish that I’ve tried.
Wear
I conducted my wear test with this medium pink shade called I’m So Pretty. Not only is Purjoi the shiniest, but it also provided the most strength of any one-step gel polish. My nails still had a slight bit of give to them, but they didn’t feel flimsy like they have with some others I’ve tried. I wore the polish for 10 days, and didn’t experience any chipping or lifting, and the tip wear was minimal. Below is a picture of what my nails looked like after the 10 days were up. The shine did seem to dull a little, and there are a few visible scuffs. On the middle finger there was also a crack right in the middle of the tip. Even though the polish cracked somewhere around the 5-6 day mark, it never chipped. I actually attribute that crack to damage from a previous wear test. The nail had already bent in that exact spot before I applied Purjoi so it was vulnerable.
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Removal
Purjoi claims that the polish will remove in 8-10 minutes. After 10 minutes of soaking in acetone (with my Nail Mates) it looked like the photo below. One-steps seem to sort of disintegrate and come off in tiny pieces, which is what this one did. I was able to push most of the color off of the nail after the 10 minute mark.
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But, I was left with this film. I tried soaking longer to see if it would push off, but it didn’t. After another 5 minutes of soaking I decided to just buff the film off of my nail. That worked fine, but I wasn’t really happy with having to buff. When I applied this polish, I did apply a very thin layer for the first coat so I wondered if that might have attributed to the film. I conducted a second removal test with two thick coats of polish instead of a thin layer as the base, but I had the same results.
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This is what my nails looked like after buffing off the film… good to go for the next wear test!
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Colors & Swatches
There are 50 colors total in the Purjoi line. There is also an optional clear coat that is meant for use with the French kit, but it can also be used to seal your color to provide extra strength, or seal your nail art designs. I received three Purjoi colors to try, so below are swatches of these three shades. Each swatch is two coats of color.
This is the color that you’ve already seen above. This bright, medium pink cream is called I’m So Pretty. This polish actually had the thickest formula of the three.
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Till Next Time is a very pretty teal blue/green shade. This was my favorite of the three colors, and it had the best formula.
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Rock It is a dark grey polish with fine silver glitter flecks. It has some blue & purple undertones, which makes it really hard for me to accurately describe and define the category of this color. I paired it with the blues in my swatch sticks.
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Nail Art
Since Purjoi claims to work well for nail art, I had to also put that to the test! I was so pleasantly surprised that I was able to draw some freehand art work with this gel polish and it stayed in place and didn’t spread. I’m not very good at freehand art normally which is why I stamp a lot, so I consider this an accomplishment. I used a very fine tip brush to apply the floral shapes, and a dotting tool to add the three dots on each nail. I’m so impressed with how crisp the lines are.
You can see that doing nail art with a one-step polish creates a dimensional look since the art is raised. I kind of liked the effect. But if you prefer a smooth finish, you can apply the optional clear coat over the whole design to seal it in.
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Where to Buy
Purjoi One Step Gel polish can be purchased at www.purjoi.com, or through a distributor. While the product was designed with nail professionals in mind, it is also available at the retail level for at-home users. The product retails for $17.99 a bottle, and licensed professionals receive a discounted price of $14.99 and are eligible for special promos. Professionals must provide their credentials upon registration to be eligible for the special pricing.