Zoya Beachy Brights 3 for Summer 2026, Swatches and Review

Press Sample

Oh hey! Over here sharing Zoya's summer collection. I love a bright neon collection for summer because those are the colors I crave! This is a cohesive collection that has all the colors of the rainbow with a few shimmers and glitters thrown in, so let’s check it out  

Returning Favorites are marked with an asterisk. For 5 of the returning polishes, I reused swatches because it's the same color and I am frankly tired of swatching them lol. You can see those five in my post here. I am also sharing my same review. I literally kept my nails long just so I could have a similar nail line when I swatched the rest of this collection and then I chopped my nails off directly after lol.

Alora*: 2 coats. A summer maraschino red. This is the third or fourth release of this one. While it is a nice red, nothing stands out to me with this color to constantly re-release it as something special. I am assuming this color must go over well with a mainstream crowd. From 2024, "I saved swatching this one for last because the mini version of this stained me so bad that I was really nervous. A couple of colors did leave some staining such as Avani and Marisol but a lint-free wipe fixes it. This did not stain as badly as last year, but I will admit that I was very quick with this swatch because I didn’t want to risk it. It’s a great red, but not some thing I gravitate towards."

 

Rio: 2 coats. A molten red-orange shimmer. Yes, you can see my visible nail line, but this polish was never going to cover it. This shimmer reminds me of older polishes from when I first got into Zoya like 2012’s Myrta, or 2015's Ember, or Marigold in 2018. The shimmer is super strong and really pretty and I really think this is a throwback to older Zoya polishes that we haven’t seen in a while. Just to mention, I did try a third code and the picture still showed my nails so I kept it at two because that’s more realistic of what I would do in person.

 

Aja: 3 coats. A sun-washed pastel neon orange. I could tell that this would be my favorite of the new colors. It reminded me of Bodie which released in a previous summer collection and I absolutely love that color and have a huge dent in that polish. This one is a gorgeous creamsicle color and reminds me of other pastel neons that indies have released and then discontinued. In fact, colors like these are my favorite for pedicures. I really love this one and I’m happy to have another pastel neon orange like this in my collection for when I run out of the others lol. I do wish it was a little more opaque, but I’m just happy to have the color.

Taji*: 2 coats plus top coat. A vibrant yellow cream. I happen to love yellows so I do reach for this a lot with nail art, but I do not wear it on its own. This has the slightest hint of shimmer, but it is so slight that Zoya calls it a cream. From 2024, "This one needed a topcoat because it really wasn’t leveling out on its own. This one has ever so slight shimmer. I’m down for a good yellow and this will definitely be something that I use in my nail art because it’s vibrant with a decent formula. Just be careful with applying because I was a little sloppy, which is why it isn’t as leveled. Also this one isn’t really neon compared to the other colors."

 

Avani*: 3 coats. A key lime ice-cream green. Again, this is constantly re-released. Like Taji, I reach for it a lot for nail art, but I do not love it on my nails on its own. From 2024, "I love this green, but it is definitely patchy. So you want to be careful as you put on the coats to make sure you don’t get lots of bumps and certainly wear a ridge filler. I don’t wear green nails like this, but this is definitely a color I will use for nail art."

 

Marisol*: 3 coats. A bold turquoise cream. This was the August 2024 color of the month and I believe it sold out. It is a great blue and I recently used it for nail art. Do I need two? Not really. But it is a great color to wear on its own. From 2024, "This one also is a little patchy, but it is a beautiful, brilliant blue and I love it. I think if the weather were a bit cooler, that two coats is all you need, but it was a little patchy probably because of the heat in my room. Marisol was the first ever color of the month and I thought it looked strangely close to Pluto, which was part of the original Beachy Brights. You’ll see in my comparison that they are not the same and Marisol fits the motif much better." 

 

Cruz: 2 coats. A radiant clear-water blue holographic glitter.  This one reminds me of Cove from the Beachy Brights in 2024. I did compare them and Cruz is definitely a darker more sapphire-like blue.

 

Soraya*: 2 coats. An ultra-bright orchid purple. Another color I already have 3-4 of. It is a fine purple, but again, not sure it warrants yet another re-release. The good news is that the older versions have not faded yet, unlike similar colors in this color family. From 2024, "This one could also be a one coater because it is so opaque. It is a true neon and dries completely matte so I’m showing that as is. Two coats is all you need. My post last year mentioned that the polish stained, but I did not experience that this year."

 

Leeloo: 2 coats. An orchid pink holographic glitter. I do like that this one has the slightest tint of purple to add to the pink and I think it makes it really pretty. I think Zoya has been using this glitter shimmer combination for a lot of polishes and I’m not mad at it. I definitely wear these colors more as a gradient or an accent now than a full manicure, but it is so awesome and sparkly.

  

Coralie: 2 coats. An electric watermelon pink. This color is definitely electric watermelon and pulls more red than pink on my nails. I did two coats and there is a little bit of visible nail line, but I don’t mind for colors like this because usually a third coat doesn’t make a difference. This is definitely a nail art color for me or a pedicure color. It’s really fun for a pink as it has that nice hint of red to make it special. I wore this for a few minutes and it’s stained my nails so be aware.

 

Pinkie: 2 coats. A tropical pink cream. I can see where they call this a tropical pink because it definitely is a perfect island color. Again, nothing groundbreaking, but it has a great formula and is really effective as a super bright pink with a nice formula.

 

 

Zelli*: 2 coats. A punchy hot pink. I actually don't have this one as it was the July 2023 Color of the Month and my records show I started receiving CotMs in November 2023! There’s nothing that’s absolutely groundbreaking about this pink, but it is a great hot pink. Again like many of the pinks and reds, these colors never fully cover in two coats, but they still don’t cover in three coats so I usually call it a day at two.

I love a bright and fun summer collection. But 3 of the returning favorites are literally always "returning" and I have three bottles of it, so we can just stop re-releasing those. It would have maybe been better to just have the new shades as a smaller summer collection. 

These colors retail for $14 each. There are always sales, so I would personally hold off until that. They sell them individually or as a whole set, but there is no discount for the set and you risk re-buying colors you may already own. 

Products in the post were provided for honest review.

Ehmkay Nails on Facebook.
Ehmkay Nails on Instagram.
Ehmkay Nails on Pinterest.
Follow Ehmkay Nails with Bloglovin