My Top 5 Best and Worst Polishes of 2015

Happy New Year! I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on the polishes of 2015 I’ve reviewed that I felt were the best and worst.

The Best!

#5 Julie G Tangerine Dream

Textured polishes may be on their way out, but I think they’re awesome. Tangerine Dream was a great find that performed well. For bonus points, it’s also a near exact duplicate of a more expensive polish.

#4 Ulta Blue Holiday

I am such a sucker for a good blurple. This one is a go-to polish for me. It does everything I could ask of a crème polish; it stamps, it water marbles, and it has staying power. This is the polish I reach for when I want to test out a top coat.

#3 Bonita Golden Girl

Currently the blingiest holo polish I own. Golden Girl looks fantastic, holds up to abuse well, and only costs $1.49!

#2 Color Club Cash Only

This choice was a toss up between this beauty and Color Club’s Burnt Out. Both polishes are from the Oil Slick collection. While Burnt Out is gorgeous and an attention getter, I went with Cash Only. I think it’s just as pretty, in a more subtle way, and it’s good for nail art, which Burnt Out isn’t.

#1 Sinful Shine Prosecco

This polish blew me out of the water by lasting a record five days before I had to remove it. If you need a polish that will last, you need Prosecco.

The Worst!

#5 Claire’s Ombre Top Coat

As a top coat, it was pretty good. However, it was not good at fulfilling its purpose of creating ombre nail art. Throw in the fact that the bottle has no directions on how to use it, and you end up with the frustrating feeling of having wasted money.

#4 Claire’s Mood Nail Polish

I love the concept of mood polishes. I had hoped this would be fun to watch change color since I’d bought it in the winter. Sadly it self destructed pretty quickly. It also made my nails look dirty, which didn’t make me happy.

#3 Walgreen’s Beauty Bin $2 Four Pack

I know CVS’ Pop-Arazzi polishes have a reputation for smelling bad, but compared to Walgreen’s set, they smell like perfume. Easily the worst smelling polishes I’ve dealt with so far, their quality overall was as bad as their stench.

#2 Republic Nail Gel Effect Coral

Garbage, through and through. The color was streaky and the top coat was goopy. This polish supports my theory that if the manufacturer can’t put a good photograph of their product on their own box, the results are going to be disappointing

#1 Profusion Sugar Lacquer Set

This edges out Republic on my list because of the poor quality bottles. The polish was okay, but the main problem is that the brushes wouldn’t stay in the caps. Imagine if you were getting ready to go out, decided to throw on some fresh polish before heading out, and had a brush fall out and wreck your outfit or shoes? The potential for damage cemented its position as the worst on my list.

And that closes out 2015! I'm looking forward to discovering more new brands and types of polish in 2016.  Thanks for reading!

Nail Polish Stress Test: Broadway Sand In Heaven

So the other day I was killing time with my friend before we had to go to work, and she suggested I check out Dollar General. Me being me, I sought out the nail polish. I came across a whole display of a brand I’d never heard of before; Broadway. I chose one, because, hey, it’s $1! That polish is today’s subject, Sand In Heaven.

I was hoping this was going to be textured due to the name. Nope! This is an almost neon greenish yellow pearl, with some sparkle in it. I had to color adjust my pics as this one photographs more green than it truly is. Another problem is that this looks different on my nails than it does in the bottle. I’d picked this color because my polish collection doesn’t have many yellows, so I’d been hoping this would make a nice addition

The formula was nice and smooth, yet after three coats it definitely did not look good on my nails, and I found the results far from heavenly. Who named this? The polish itself is on the sheer side, so the color of my nails affected how it looked on me. What looked like a fun greenish yellow in the bottle, ended up looking like vomit on my nails.  I applied my usual layer of Seche Vite and let it ride. This looked ugly enough that a couple people actually commented negatively about it!  

Sand In Heaven didn’t stamp or water marble.

So, how did it hold up?

 It only lasted a day, and honestly, I’m glad of that. I was over this color pretty quickly. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see my polish chip!

Verdict: Loser Polish

Maybe they should have named this one Toxic Waste Beach instead. It’s a moot point though, because this polish just isn’t worth buying. 

Stamping Styrofoam Christmas Ornaments

A while back, an awesome friend of mine sent me some Styrofoam star shaped ornaments. I really wanted to do something cool with them. Me being me, I wanted to do it with nail polish.

The first thing I did was try to paint polish directly onto one of them. BIG MISTAKE. Nail polish will cause Styrofoam to melt. Crud. Lesson learned. At this point I actually abandoned the whole decorating with polish thing for several months until I happened to stumble across a blog post explaining that if you coat Styrofoam with Mod Podge, you can paint it with whatever you want. The important thing is to check the bottle or their website first to make sure it’s the right type. I went with the glossy kind to I could make sure I could see where I’d painted since Styrofoam is not shiny.

The process of coating the ornaments with Mod Podge took a couple days. I painted one side of each ornament at a time, let it dry for several hours, and then painted the other side. It only really needs about half an hour, but I found if I waited a while longer, they didn’t feel so tacky. I used two coats to ensure I didn’t miss any spots. I didn’t want to ruin any more of these babies! I used some cheapo paint brushes, and had no problems.

 I tried painting the remains of the one I wrecked with polish to see how it looked. It was okay, but I knew I could do better. What would look better? Stamping!

I busted out the Metallic Red Cherimoya polish I reviewed a little while a got and gave it a try. It worked without a hitch! I stamped directly onto the Mod Podge using a non sticky rectangular stamper I got from Bundle Monster. This really worked well, and made it easy to keep the designs lined up. I used stamping buffet style plates for the most part, and used designs where it was okay if there was some overlap. I also used a couple Bundle Monster stamping polishes for the others as I wanted nice vibrant color. Each star took about half an hour to stamp. I did have some empty spaces, which I filled in by dabbing on polish with a makeup sponge – the same kind you’d use to do a gradient.

Here’s how they all looked when I was done.

I’m really happy with how these came out. I think I’m going to hate taking my tree down!

I hope you all have a great holiday, no matter what you celebrate.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Pretty Woman Turks and Caicos

If you’ve ever looked at my tag cloud, you can tell blue is my favorite color. I have more blue polishes than anything else. The only reason why I will pass on a blue is if it’s a duplicate of something I already own. I’m also a big fan of textured polish, so when I came across Pretty Woman’s Turks and Caicos, I had to have it!

Was that a wise purchase? Let’s find out!

Turks and Caicos is a stunning light blue metallic textured polish with larger pieces of light blue glitter. This has a ton of sparkle to it. I spent more time than I want to admit just staring at this beauty. The only polish I have like it is Zoya’s Vega. It’s a bit of a toss-up, but I think I like the look of Turks and Caicos better.

This polish was easy to apply. I only needed two coats, and it dried pretty quickly. Its texture is fairly rough, but a little bit of wear will smooth it out. Did I mention it’s gorgeous?

As a textured polish, it’s not something you want to use for stamping or water marbling.

So, how did it hold up?

It made it two days before it was game over. That’s a bit short for a textured polish. This goes a bit beyond tip wear, and into overall polish loss.

Verdict: Good

I was hoping this would last longer than it did, but since it only needed two coats, I was able to nurse it through a full week by adding another coat on top. I love that about texture polishes. I can’t recommend buying this at its full price of $7.99. I bought mine from Ocean State Job Lot for $1.50, which I think is a fair price for the quality. If you can score a good deal like that, go for it. This brand is available at select Rite Aid and Walmart stores, or it can be ordered directly from their website. If you’re really interested in this brand, I recommend following their Instagram account. They occasionally announce sales there.  

Nail Polish Stress Test: Bonita You’re My Lobster

Today I have another polish from Bonita’s Forget Me Not collection, You’re My Lobster. I scored this baby from my local Rite Aid for only $1.49. I was lucky to come across this display just as it came in as it was wiped out very quickly!

You’re My Lobster is a festive bright red jelly with loads of small and micro red glitter. I used three coats. I did not love the finish on this one when it dried. It was pretty coarse and semi matte, to the point where it reminded me of some of the final Pixie Dust polishes Zoya came out with like Oswin. One coat of Seche Vite helped somewhat. I think two coats of You’re My Lobster with two coats of Seche Vite might be a better way to go, but I felt that in this case keeping the testing conditions the same as everything else I’ve reviewed was more important. 

As you might expect, this polish can’t be used for stamping. It can almost water marble. I found it did spread nicely, and the results look really pretty in the cup. However, there’s sooo much glitter in there, that the results ended up being rather lumpy on my nails.

So, how did it hold up?

It did pretty well. It went two days before it started to noticeably chip. At first I thought I could push it a third day, but once the chips started there was no turning back.

Verdict: Good

It turns out You’re My Lobster is a bit on the brittle side. Still, it’s a good polish for the money. I have no regrets about buying it. I’ll definitely double down on top coat next time I wear it though. 

Nail Polish Stress Test: Dance Legend Albatross

I love stars. Really love them. I may actually take my love of them a bit far. I say that, because when I found out Dance Legend was coming out with their Indistar collection, I got a little….excited. I ordered mine from Llarowe just before they cut back to only selling their own brand. A lot of new polishes tended to sell out on launch day there, so by excited I mean OMG DON’T LET THEM SELL OUT BEFORE I GET HOME FROM WORK!!!!! Thankfully, that didn’t happen.  I was able to snag the ones I really wanted, including today’s test subject, Albatross.

Albatross is a sheer light gray polish with lots of holographic goodies. It’s got holo stars, small glitters, microglitter, and sequins. There’s silver microglitter in there too. I felt like it looked more white than gray when I put it on. I used three easy coats, with one coat of Seche Vite on top. The stars and sequins you see here are what I got without deliberately fishing anything out of the bottle or moving stuff around. Overall, I’m pleased with how that worked out although the three sequins on my index finger look a bit odd.

Even though this is without a doubt a sheer polish, it did a good job of hiding visible nail lines. Normally I don’t like that, but it definitely worked for me in this case. This polish looks magical!

My nails have a good amount of curve to them, so this can lead to stars easily getting knocked off or being scratchy. My one layer of top coat largely took care of that. I’m sure an extra coat would address it for sure. The sequins are fairly thick, but they were pretty secure on my nails without me doing anything special to keep them there. I suspect the hole in the center may have something to do with it.

It should come as no surprise that this polish is not suitable for stamping or water marbling.

So, how did it hold up?

It made it a solid two days before it took noticeable damage. It's not easy to see, but I lost a couple sequins, and when they came off, they took a fair amount of polish with them. There was some lifting near my cuticles too. I have a feeling this may be the type of polish that might pop off too much is used at once.

Verdict: Good

I believe people who don’t work in warehouses will be able to get more wear out of this polish than I did. Good thing too, at $9 a bottle, I want it to stay on my nails! I’m glad it did so well considering how easily I can potentially catch the big stuff on things. Even if you’re not into sheer polishes, this would work well as a top coat. If you love starry things like I do, you should pick up a bottle of Albatross if you get the chance.

Top Coat Stress Test: Claire’s Ombre Top Coat

Claire’s is an interesting place to shop for nail polish. From what I can tell, they’re one of the few brick and mortar places I check that put out some fairly innovative polishes. They’re the first place I ever encountered thermal and solar polishes. The quality of their polishes can be hit or miss, but I’ve bought enough hits over the year to justify buying more for science. Good sales don’t hurt either. That’s how I ended up picking up their Ombre Top Coat.

It’s not completely clear (no pun intended) how this is supposed to work. I asked the associate on duty, who genuinely had no idea either. There are no instructions on the bottle to provide guidance. She thought it was supposed to change like a thermal polish once it was applied based on the sticker on the cap.

That's a reasonable guess. However, it turns out this is a sheer white polish that’s meant to be layered to create an ombre effect.

I got out my bottle of Ulta Blue Holiday, my go to polish for testing out top coats. I used two coats of Blue Holiday, and then applied three coats of Ombre Top Coat.

Here’s what it looked like after I tried making an ombre mani.

It took me three tries to get these mediocre results. I started out with two coats of Blue Holiday, then layered three coats of Ombre Top Coat over that. The polish really doesn't really start building up until at least the second coat, and the glossiness of the finish makes it ever harder to see. I had hoped the darker polish would make the effect more pronounced, but no such luck. 

This is not a fast dry top coat, so it took ages for it to dry. I’m so spoiled on using Seche Vite on everything that I forgot I actually had to wait with this one. Whoops! I also found I needed to let each coat dry before I applied the next one. This stuff definitely requires patience. It does look nice and shiny though.

So, how did it hold up?

It did pretty well; it made it two days before the chips started. When it did, it actually started happening near my cuticles instead of at the tips of my nails.  

Being as this is a top coat, and a sheer one at that, it's useless for stamping and water marbling. I tried using it with nail vinyls to see if I could get the ombre effect to be more pronounced. Nope! The only thing that was more distinct was how hard this polish fails. If I used more than one coat, it built up too much and pooled in the vinyl and by my cuticle. Air bubbles, yay! No nice clean lines either. 

 

Verdict: Loser Polish

If I were to rate this strictly on the basis of durability, this would be Good. However, I don’t recommend buying it, especially at its full price of $5.50. If you want to do an ombre effect mani, I would say either use a regular sheer polish that has a use on its own, or go with three shades of the same color. This top coat requires too many layers to do its one job, and by that point it’s just not practical. Pass on this one. 

Nail Polish Stress Test: CVS Pop-Arazzi Lovely In Lilac

Earlier this year I reviewed a couple of CVS’ Pop-Arazzi polishes. They were Good.  Since it’s been a while, I thought I’d try another one that’s been in my stash of untested polishes; Lovely In Lilac.

This one does what it says on the bottle. It’s a lovely shade of lilac. It has a slight shimmer to it in the bottle, but the reality is that this is a crème polish.

Pop-Arazzi polishes have something of a reputation for being foul smelling. It definitely smells stronger than most polishes. If you’re sensitive to this kind of thing, it’s worth being aware of, but I found it to be well within my tolerance level. I’ve dealt with worse for sure.

I used three coats here, with one coat of Seche Vite on top. The formula was nice and smooth. It was a bit streaky but it went away with that third coat. I have to say, I really liked how this looked when I was done. My collection doesn’t have a lot of pastels, so I was hoping this one would do well.

Sadly, it’s too sheer to be of any use in water marbling or stamping.

So, how well did it hold up?

Unfortunately, it didn’t do well at all. It was game over after one day. Normally I get better wear out of lighter colors, but that definitely didn’t happen here. I also got a surprisingly large amount of chipping on my thumb for some weird reason. That's unusual for me.

Verdict: Loser Polish

Lovely In Lilac doesn’t wear well, stamp, or water marble.  It’s a crying shame because it’s such a great color. At $2.99 (which no one should pay for this brand ever), it’s just not worth it. Hopefully I can find something better in the same color.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Sinful Shine Royal Flush

A little while ago, I reviewed my first Sinful Shine polish, Prosecco. It ended up being the highest scoring polish I’ve ever reviewed, so the natural thing for me to do was buy a couple more when they were on a buy one get one free sale at Rite Aid, including today’s subject, Royal Flush. Is it as good as Prosecco? Let’s find out!

Royal Flush is a fuchsia purple crème. I was a little worried as I applied it. While it went on fine and all, the formula reminded me of previous wannabe gels I’ve reviewed. It had that same lacquer like texture when it dried. I used two coats here, with one coat of the Sinful Shine topcoat.

This polish will water marble. I used another Sinful Shine along with it, Diamond In The Raw, which I will be reviewing at some point in the future.

It turns out that Royal Flush also stamps, although I had some issues with that. Royal Flush is opaque enough to stamp over darker colors. However, you can see from this picture that the silver underneath makes it look different. More importantly, the top coat smudged the design somewhat. The formula has some “grip” to it when it’s applied, even when I used a fairly heavy coat to avoid that problem. I don’t want to make a judgement call based on my experience with one polish, but I’m kinda thinking this kind of polish may not be ideal for stamping.

So, how did it hold up?

It didn’t, and that makes me very sad. It was wrecked after one day.

Verdict: Party Polish

Looks like we’re back to standard wannabe gel performance. Phooey. I really wanted this to be another polish on par with Prosecco, but that definitely didn’t happen here! I’m not giving up on this product line yet though. I have three more Sinful Shines to check out. I hope they’re more like Prosecco, and less like Royal Flush. Being usable for nail art is no good if it’s not going to last. Definitely skip this one.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Bonita Golden Girl

I’m finding I like Bonita polishes. They’re affordable, and generally of good quality. I suspect this is why every time my local Rite Aid gets any in, they blow out quickly. I was fortunate to grab a couple from their winter 2015 Forget Me Not collection, including todays test subject, Golden Girl.

Golden Girl is a gold jelly with small holographic glitter. This is easily the blingiest polish in my collection now. If I were going to be stranded on a desert island, I could probably use this to signal for help. It almost seemed like it was too much for everyday wear. That totally didn’t stop me!

Application was easy. I probably could have achieved full opacity with two coats, but I used three here as I hate seeing visible nail lines. It dried slightly rough, but one coat of Seche Vite took care of that.

Now, remember how I said this was a really blingy polish? Well, it’s so much so that I had a heck of a time getting a picture of that. Sunlight, fluorescent light, lightbox, no matter what I tried, as soon as the picture was in focus, the holo effect went away. I really wanted to convey how awesome this polish looks though, so I deliberately took a terrible out of focus shot. It might be blurry, but it definitely captures the bling.

As a glitter, it’s no good for stamping. It’s not worth water marbling with either. The base is so light and the glitter spreads enough that you might as well just use it as a top coat after you marble with something more worthwhile.

So, how did it hold up?

It did great! It lasted a good three days before I decided it had to come off. With all that holographic sparkle going on, it’s almost too blinding to spot any chips!

 Verdict: Excellent

At $2, this is a must have polish, especially if you love holos. If you come across it, grab it!

Nail Polish Stress Test: Color Club Cash Only

I’ve been super curious about Color Club’s Oil Slick collection. So far, I’ve tried Burnt Out, which was excellent, and It’s Raining Men, which was party polish.  Next up is Cash Only.

Cash Only is a duochrome with a lot of color shift to it. This one shifts between a cool brown, gold, silver and green. I saw the brown shift the most. I would almost call this one a neutral. I’ve never seen a polish quite like this one, that’s for sure.

The formula is a bit thicker than average, but goes on smoothly. I used two coats with my usual layer of Seche Vite on top.

This polish is great for stamping. It looks absolutely amazing on black! Even better, it water marbles!

So, how did it hold up?

It did great! It went a solid three days before I needed to take it off.

Verdict: Excellent

Cash Only is definitely a worthwhile addition to anyone’s polish collection. I’m especially happy that it stamps so well. It’s not every day I come across a duochrome polish that does!

Nail Polish Stress Test: Vernis Classique by Cherimoya Metallic Red

On a recent polish hunt in TJ Maxx, I came across a new to me brand of polish; Vernis Classique by Cherimoya. They were only $1.99, so I picked one up for science. I chose Metallic Red.

Metallic Red definitely does what it says on the bottle. It’s metallic and it’s red, although the way it looks in the bottle is a little misleading. When I put it on, it was a more intense red than it first appears. This went on nice and easy, nearly a one coater, but I went with two coats to get full coverage. I used one coat of Seche Vite on top.

I had no problem stamping with it. While it’s possible to water marble with this, it’s a bit tricky to use. It likes to spread out a LOT, not unlike the polishes I used to make Christmas ornaments last year. If you’re determined to use this polish for that purpose, you’ll want to experiment a bit.

So, how did it hold up?

Not well. I trashed it in one day.

Verdict: Party Polish

I think this polish is best used for stamping. However, if you do that, you might want to use a double layer of top coat. I noticed the design I’d stamped wore off pretty easily, and that’s a bit unusual. If you’re not into nail art, maybe skip this one.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Revlon Parfumerie Autumn Spice

I was sifting through a bin of Revlon’s Parfumerie polishes at Ocean State Job Lot, when I came across Autumn Spice. I was really taken by the color, and it was only $2. How could I resist?

Autumn Spice is a really pretty glass fleck polish that looks either brown or burgundy depending on the light. It was really easy to apply and went on smoothly. I only needed two coats for full coverage. I added my usual coat of Seche Vite on top.

This polish is also scented. As you might have already guessed from the name, Autumn Spice really means pumpkin spice. Once this polish dries, it smells really good. Maybe too good. The scent is definitely pumpkin spice, in a perfumey kind of way, if that makes sense. The perfume in this polish has crazy staying power and didn’t really fade much. I found I was acutely aware of how often I pushed my glasses up my nose because any time my hand got anywhere near my nose I could smell pumpkin spice and it made me hungry! If you’re attempting to lose weight, don’t buy this polish! Using top coat didn’t diminish the effect at all.

It turns out Autumn Spice is good for stamping too, and the results are really pretty. The glass flecks transferred over to the stamped design, adding a little extra sparkle. The scent carried over strongly as well. It was nearly as strong as it was when I used it on its own. Sadly, it doesn’t do well in water marbling.

So, how did it hold up?

It did okay. It made it two days before I felt it needed to come off.

Verdict: Good

This polish is a really nice color, and the way it stamps was a pleasant surprise. This is definitely worth getting if you can resist the scent’s hunger inducing evil powers. 

Nail Polish Stress Test: Del Sol Twice As Ice

Well, it’s been a full year since I started this blog, so happy blogoversary to me! To celebrate, I’m doing a couple extra reviews this week. Today’s target is Twice As Ice from Del Sol.

Twice As Ice is polish that changes color when exposed to sunlight. Indoors, it’s a very slightly orangey tinted base with holographic shards.

In sunlight it turns purple, and looks like a jelly polish. The transition takes 10-15 seconds or so.

It can change somewhat indoors or in overcast weather, but for the best results, you need to go actually 

outside.

I used three coats with my usual layer of Seche Vite on top. It went on as if it were a normal polish. I recommend applying this very carefully; you won’t be able to spot any mistakes until you’re outside. I found the holographic shards just didn’t distribute well on the nail. They don’t really lay flat and were a bit scratchy. However, I didn’t buy this for the bling; it’s all about the color change!

In fact, since the shard payout was so poor, I thought I might be able to use this polish for stamping. I tried stamping on my ring finger, and as it turns out, I’m right! There are some special challenges in using Twice As Ice for that, namely you have to do it while it’s in its indoor state. I used the spiderweb design from this plate, and as you can tell, the spider got left off because I couldn’t tell where it was on my stamper. However, if you used a design where orientation didn’t matter, the results would be impressive!

I didn’t try water marbling with it. The shards would be a problem, not to mention the color change aspect makes it impractical.

 So, how did it hold up?

It did pretty well. It’s hard to tell, but it went two days before I noticed enough damage to make me want to take it off. The shards started sticking up more which was a bit annoying as well. I would have taken that pic in sunlight, but this polish seems to make the weather turn overcast.

Verdict: Good

I think this is really meant to be a top coat unless you’re the kind of person that spends a lot of time outdoors. Still, it’s pretty good quality, and the fact that it actually stamps makes it an even more interesting find. I ordered mine from Del Sol’s website. As of this writing, it goes for $7.

Top Coat Stress Test: Dance Legend Sahara Crystal

I’ve made no secret of my love of textured polish. I love the finish, the wear time is frequently excellent, and it’s fun to use in nail art too. Sometimes I wish it came in certain colors that seem to be hard to find, so when I learned Dance Legend made a top coat that would make any polish textured, I had to check it out.

Sahara Crystal doesn’t look like something that’s textured in the bottle. It reminds me of Milani Sardina with smaller flecks. Once you put it on and it dries, there’s no questioning that it’s textured. I had a lot of fun trying it out on different polishes. I found two light coats gave me the best results. I let the first coat completely dry before I added the second. 

One thing I noticed is that this polish is thicker than average. Over the course of using it in a couple full manicures and a bunch of swatches I noticed I’ve already used up a good quarter of the bottle!

This top coat changes how polish looks depending on what type it is. Here are some swatches I did over some polishes I’ve already reviewed. In all cases, the swatch on the left is the polish in its natural state, the one on the right has Sahara Crystal over it. 

First, here's Claire's Money Bags. I really like how this one looks.

Next, we have Color Club's Burnt Out.  This looks okay, but the duochrome properties of this polish really don't show through very well.

Here's Colour Prevails Date Night. I think this one is my favorite.

This is Color Club Beyond. It turns out that holographic polishes don't play nice with this top coat. I tried this on a couple other holos and had the same result. Pity, a textured holo would have been awesome. 

Finally, here's Sparitual Intention. This one looks pretty nice too The glass flecks in Intention add a little extra sparkle over and above what Sahara Crystal does.

I didn’t try water marbling with this. It almost seems like you could stamp with it, but I was afraid to try. I don’t want to risk scratching up my stamping plates.

Now, on to the actual stress test. I used my beloved Ulta Blue Holiday. This is one of my very favorites.  I know this polish is excellent, and what to expect from it, so I put the same two coats of Sahara Crystal over it to see how it’d do. As you can see, this top coat lightens it up a bit and adds sparkle.

So, how’d it do?

Turns out this top coat significantly reduced the wear time on this one. That was a bit disappointing. It was done in after one day.

Verdict: Party Polish

I was hoping this would have the same wear as a full on textured polish, but that definitely isn’t the case here. It goes for $9, so that's something to keep in mind if you decide you want it.

Still, this top coat is fun! I look forward to using it to get textured colors I can’t find.