11 May 2009

Laquer Lundi

I tried out a couple of new (to me) polish brands this week - Essie and GOSH. Being a collector at heart (have you seen my fabric stash stats?), I always love a fresh conquest. Just recently I found some nifty olive metallic polish at a local dollar store - I almost bought it until I noticed it had no ingredient listing. Heaven only knows what was in it. Fearing the worst - heck, it could have contained every carcinogen and mutagen known to science - I left it on the shelf. Sometimes being a chemist can really take the fun out of things!

On to the pretties:

Essie - Mesmerize

- purchased at Trade Secrets for $9.99 CDN

This is the first Essie polish that I have used. Typically Essie polishes do not interest me - it seems like most of the collection offered by my local source is various shades of pink (blech!) which are more girly than I can handle. Lately, however, Essie has come out with some amazing, fashion-forward colours - blues and greens and neons that are more up my alley. I spotted Mesmerize at a local Trade Secret and I knew I had to try it and I have to say if the formula is this good for the rest of the Essie polishes, I may be a convert.

This polish slid on easily and covered beautifully in two coats. It held up well for the three days that I wore it, with only minor tip wear. My only complaint is with the brush - it is miniscule - I prefer a wider, more substantial brush for a quicker, less brush stroke-y application.

This colour truly is mesmerizing. I have several blues in my stash, but nothing quite like this one. I even got a compliment from a 20-something woman from a local spa - she said (and I quote), "Woah, that colour is, like, freakin' amazing!" I think that means she liked it too.


BB Couture - Tangerine Scream
- purchased from overallbeauty.com for $8 US

I love a good bright orange polish and Tangerine Scream certainly fits the bill. This polish is certainly not for the wallflower - it basically grabs all passersby around the throats and demands to be gazed upon.

Tangerine Scream went on streaky at first, but became completely opaque with a second coat. I wish I could say that it wore like iron, but it was chippy within 24 hours. So on a scale of 1 to ten, colour gets a 9, application gets a 6 and wear gets a 4 - all in all, okay but not stellar.

If you don't want to pay BB Couture prices, but still want this type of colour, look for China Glaze's Japanese Koi (scroll down in this post to see a swatch).


GOSH - Wild Lilac

- purchased at Shoppers for $6.00 CDN

I had seen GOSH cosmetics at my local Shoppers Drug Mart over the years, but sadly the offerings had never included nail polish. The other day, I noticed a Tropical Passion display for Summer 2009 that had three pretty polishes. I picked up Wild Lilac and Peachy.

The Wild Lilac formula is good. The polish went onto the nail easily, however it was very streaky for the first coat. The second coat essentially evened it all out, but a third coat probably would have been ideal to eliminate all the bald spots. I had minor tip wear and no chipping over the two days that I wore this polish. Not bad for a "cheap" drug store polish!

Unfortunately, trying to get colour accurate pictures of this polish was impossible. I have included a flash (above) and a non-flash (to the right) picture, but neither fully captures the Wild Lilac colour. In real life, it is a darker, more dusty purple and it is absolutely gorgeous.

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Lightening
- purchased at Zehrs (local grocery store) for $5.99 CDN

First off, let me get one thing straight - Lightening is SH's spelling, not mine. I'm not sure what the deal is with this name. Did they mean the name to be "Lightning", as in a discharge of electrical energy normally associated with a storm. Or were they actually going for "Lightening", which means to make less heavy (not likely), to make lighter in colour (maybe) or other things I don't want to think about (um, yuck). I guess we'll never know.

Grammar aside, this is a great colour - fun, bright and full of super summery goodness. However, excellent colour comes at a price - this yellow (like all the other yellow polishes I've ever tried) goes on streaky, streaky, streaky. Even after two carefully applied coats (I typically only need one coat with these SH Insta-Dri polishes), I still have streaks. Alas, I think I'm more aware of the streaks than anyone else - my husband thought the colour was cool and didn't say a thing about the streaks. So, I have decided to just adore the colour and get over the application issues.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry your blog has turned into a fingernail polish review. Please go back to sewing!

gwensews said...

Love, love, LOVE those nails! My favorites are the orange and the lilac. Keep on blogging about nail polish.

Question. You were concerned about the polish which had no ingredients listed. If you wear base coat--does it matter what the polish contains that you wear on top? I am thinking the colored polish doesn't touch the nails. ????

cidell said...

I've been looking for a Mesmerize type color. I was specifically considering Orly's Calypso Blue. I did end up buying some basic Essie's becase I realized I needed some boring colors for specific occassions.

I give you credit for trying a yellow. Trena wants one and I talked her out of it :)

Mary Beth said...

Love the colors esp the blue, it's amazing. I am also helped by the polish reviews so that when I do get to shop I've had someone else's experience to guide me.

I've been playing with using nail color that matches or coordinates with the fabric I'm sewing at the time, not necessarily what I'm wearing (I don't go out much LOL). It's the juncture of Nail Color and Sewing Color, right?

kiltsnquilts said...

I have obviously lived a very sheltered 'nail polish' life, Lol!! What great colours, didn't even know half of them existed until you started your Laquer Lundi - I love it!! It doesn't matter to me if you blog about nails or sewing, I love reading what you write, and I love getting an education in polishing my nails :-)

Maggie said...

Shannon, just wondering if yu try to coordinate your polish with your outfits? I do my toes, but not my nails. I am inspired though to experiment now that you have posted such great info. I like the look of wine shades on people. have you ever tried that shade family? (Something for next week!)

Gretchen the Household Deity said...

Another set of great colors! Cidell is going to have to relent and let me get yellow and orange.

Meghan Chapman said...

I love the nail polish! When not seeking sewing blogs I seek nail blogs... yours is both, yay!

Since you are trying new brands, Nubar makes some excellent polishes.

Looking forward to Monday...

Kitty Couture said...

I love you lacquer lundis! I never stray from pinkish/cream transparent polish, because whenever I've tried bolder colours my hands disturb me with their bright tips - it makes me feel self-conscious ;) but I do love to see pretty and bold and simply different polish on anyone else's hands. So, I love your lundis!

Maybe I should try it again? After all I'm a big girl now ;) It's been years since I last tried a brighter polish, and I feel so different and more confident now in many aspects of my life.

Do keep these coming, Shannon! I love seeing this festival of colours!

Rachel said...

I am a nail polish collector, too. I have about 150 bottles of OPI. Unfortunately, I have not done my nails lately, but this inspires me.