Nail Polish Stress Test: KB Shimmer Ruby

I love checking out independent nail polish makers, or “indies” as they’re called. They seem to drive the innovation of the nail polish world, and make more fun polishes than traditional brands like Revlon do. I don’t actually buy many because they’re also pricier. This is fair and understandable, yet I hesitate because I don’t want to spend $$$ on loser polish. However, I’m finding as I blog that if I’m wondering if something is any good, other people are too. So, let’s find out together if today’s polish is any good; KB Shimmer’s Ruby.

Ruby is from their recently released Birthstone collection. It’s an incredible looking polish! They put metallic flakes in a cool toned red base, with a little holographic glitter added for spice. Photos do not do this justice! It is much shinier and sparkly in person! I used the recommended two coats with one coat of Seche Vite on top. It’s not quite smooth when it dries, but top coat takes care of that.

As you can see, this polish can stamp. Before you try this yourself, I want you to be advised of a couple things. First of all, the flakes in this polish are actual metal, so you do run the risk of scratching your stamping plates. This didn’t happen to me, but if it concerns you, maybe don’t use this polish for that purpose. Also, Ruby doesn’t play nice with every stamping plate.  It didn’t work with any of my Bundle Monster plates, but I had pretty good luck with my Pueen Stamping Buffet plates. The ones with the deepest etching seemed to work the best. The results to me are totally worth it. All of the sparkle transferred to my nails. This is as close as I’ve ever come to the look of stamping with glitter, and I totally love it!

Water marbling didn’t work. I so wanted it to, but this polish dries way too fast. Such a pity, that would have looked amazing!

So how did it hold up?

Not so well, it got big chips in one day.

Verdict: Party Polish

This may be Party Polish, but this is one party you want to be invited to! Realistically speaking, Ruby is not something I would normally wear to my warehouse job.  This is something I would totally wear for special occasions, and because I know it has stamping potential, I would absolutely wear it for nail art. This is a polish I will enjoy using in the appropriate situations.

I paid $8.75, and I have no regrets about it. You can order it from kbshimmer.com or Amazon.com. It’s available outside the US through Harlow & Co.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Wet N’ Wild Pretty Peas

I consider wannabe gels to be polishes that claim to wear at least a week, but rarely survive one day on me. I know it’s possible to have this type of polish perform well, so I keep trying them. Therefore, today’s subject is Wet N’ Wild Pretty Peas.

Pretty Peas is from their new 1 Step Wonder Gel collection. It’s a nice frying pan pastel green creme.

See?

The label on the bottle does accurately represent the color of the polish, which is a nice change. The formula was a bit of a pain. It was very easy to get too much polish on the brush. I had to do over my first couple of nails because I sloshed too much on them. Streakiness was an issue as well. I ended up using three thin coats and no top coat. I felt it could have used one because I didn’t think it was all that shiny.

This took a long time to dry, upwards of half an hour. Clearly I’m spoiled on quick dry top coats, but traditional polish doesn’t take that long! It also has a fairly strong smell. I didn’t find it overly bothersome, but it’s enough that I feel it’s worth mentioning.

Pretty Peas is too sheer to stamp with. Water marbling was interesting. I attempted it with traditional polish, but was too goopy. It also left a film on top of the water that was hard to get rid of. I’m not sure if this was a result of two formulas not getting along, or because of Wet N’ Wild’s formula. I think it’s sheer enough to make it not worth it.

So, how did it hold up?

It didn’t go well. I wrecked it in one day.

Verdict:  Loser Polish

I have a feeling this one is better suited to Team Office Job. At $4.99 a bottle (which you shouldn’t be paying because Wet N’ Wild goes on sale at least once a month) the price is very reasonable for this type of polish. However, between the tricky formula, long drying time, and uselessness in nail art, I can’t recommend it.

Top Coat Stress Test: Claire’s Holographic Top Coat

I’ve tried a fair amount of Claire’s nail polishes at this point. The results have been consistently disappointing.  I keep purchasing them because they keep tempting me with interesting looking polishes, and having good sales on them. So, today’s test subject is their Holographic Top Coat.

This looks like their version of the well regarded Northern Lights top coat, which I have yet to try. The gimmick here is there’s fine holographic glitter in a clear base that all completely sinks to the bottom of the bottle. You need to shake it up before you apply it.

The formula is very watery. I felt almost like I’d bought a snow globe in a nail polish bottle! I put one modest coat over my beloved Ulta Blue Holiday. I wasn’t really happy with how it applied. As I put it on, it actually messed up my polish a little. This top coat seemed to drag the polish off my nails.  Even though I had three coats on, and it was completely dry before I put the holo top coat on, it ended up making my mani look patchy. I know it’s hard to see because it’s shiny, but trust me; this didn’t look so great in person. It’s most noticeable on my pinky. This is not something I would use over nail art; it’d get ruined for sure. On the positive side, the glitter distribution was evenly scattered and added a nice sparkle.

So, how did it perform?

A good hour after I’d put it on, when pretty much anything should be completely good to go, I got a fingerprint mark on one of my nails. I fixed that, thought I was all set. Within an hour of starting work the next day, I had catastrophic polish failure. It was like this top coat never really “cured”, and scraped off as I was working.

Verdict: Loser Polish

Wow. I have never seen a top coat act like this before! I don’t know what is up with this one, but the results speak for themselves. Save your $5.50 and do not buy this! Buy a proper snow globe instead.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Color Club We’ll Never Be Royals

I’m gradually test driving all the polishes from Color Club’s Oil Slick collection. So far I’ve tried Burnt Out, It’s Raining Men, and Cash Only. Today’s subject is We’ll Never Be Royals. How will this one stack up next to the others? Let’s find out!

We’ll Never Be Royals is a gorgeous duochrome which shifts from a metallic red, to pink, to a deep magenta with a strong purple flash. The color shift is very noticeable. This is one of those polishes where it’s fun to walk around and see the colors change.

The formula is on the thick side and went on smoothly. I only needed two coats, to which I added my usual coat of Seche Vite on top. I was a little worried when I put it on, as the application reminded me an awful lot of my experience with It’s Raining Men, which turned out to be party polish. 

I didn’t have any luck water marbling with this polish, but it stamps very nicely. The stamping does retain some shimmer. I can see me doing some nice Valentine’s Day nail art with this one.

So, how did it hold up?

Not well. It had substantial tip wear in just one day.

Verdict: Party Polish

 I love the color shift, and I’m totally doing nail art with it, but its poor durability is a major disappointment.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Azature Pink Diamond

Happy New Year! Let’s start 2016 with some bling, shall we?

The first time I'd heard of Azature nail polish was in 2013 when they featured a bottle of polish costing one million dollars created to raise money for charity. I later learned they sold more affordable polishes costing $25 apiece. That’s WAY out of my price range, so I passed on them until I learned they occasionally do some nice sales. I was able to score a few bottles for $6. One of them is today’s subject, Pink Diamond.

The gimmick behind Azature polishes is that each bottle contains a real black diamond. This does not impress me as common sense says nobody is going to grind up a valuable gem and dump it into nail polish. What does impress me is the sparkle this polish has. Pink Diamond is a really pretty bubblegum  pink jelly with tons of silver microglitter. It’s the blingiest non holographic polish I have, and was just about as challenging to photograph as Bonita’s Golden Girl. The formula was very smooth and easy to work with. I was able to get full opacity in three coats. It was a little rough when it dried, but after I added my usual coat of Seche Vite, it was nice and glossy. 

Pink Diamond won’t stamp, and as a lighter colored jelly glitter, it didn’t water marble either. It’s a shame; that would have looked awesome!

So, did black diamonds make this polish last longer?

Nope! It only went two days before I had some big chips.

Verdict: Good

Had I spent $25 on this, I would have been pissed. At that price, I expect more. Lots more. At $6, I’m a bit disappointed it didn’t do better, but at the same time, I’m really not their target customer. This polish is selling a concept of luxury in a bottle. It's still beautiful and I'm totally keeping it.

Also! If you plan to shop for their polish, maybe don’t do it online from work. If you go through their main page, it looks like they’re selling something else that might get you in trouble with your boss! Here’s a direct link to Pink Diamond that’s safe.

EDIT:  Use caution when viewing their Instagram page too! Yowza!

EDIT 2: Er, use caution following them on social media in general! I saw the same racy pic hit Instagram, Facebook AND Twitter this week.