Nail Polish Stress Test: CND Vinylux Black Pool

CND is a new to me brand that a friend and coworker of mine discovered at Ulta. As a fellow lacquerista, she was curious about it, so she picked up Black Pool. She was nice enough to offer me the chance to try it out too, and that’s an offer I can’t refuse!

Black Pool is from CND’s Weekly Polish line. It promises seven days of wear. That puts it in the wannabe gel category as far as I’m concerned.  As the name implies it’s a black crème. The first thing I noticed when I opened the bottle is that it’s got a pretty strong smell to it. Anyone who is sensitive to stinky things should consider themselves warned. It’s not the worst thing ever, but it’s definitely a thing.

Application was pretty nice. It went on in two easy coats. That’s nice to see in a black polish. I used one coat of the Weekly Top Coat to seal the deal. That’s where things got tricky. I found I needed to use a pretty heavy coat or it would drag some of the color off, which it did in places. Yet, if I used too much, which I did on my other hand, I got air bubbles that stuck out quite a bit.

Water marbling with this polish did not go well. It spread okay, but when I tried to do the actual marbling it got goopy and stringy. Stamping didn’t go much better. It can potentially work, but I had a lot of trouble picking up the image on the stamper. I’d say this one is not good for nail art.

So, how did it hold up?

It made it two days, which is well short of the week it promises, but pretty good for this type of polish, especially considering it’s black.

Verdict: Good

Based on how expensive it is, I wouldn’t get this unless you’re on Team Office Job. Otherwise I’d say it’s another polish that doesn’t stand up to the retail or warehouse world. This was $10.50 at Ulta. The Weekly Top Coat goes for the same price. 

Nail Polish Stress Test: Orly Color Blast Wonder Woman

I used to be really into superheroines as a kid. I thought Batgirl, Wonder Woman, Supergirl and such were awesome. I even had this sleeping bag! So, when I saw the Orly Color Blast Wonder Woman collection, it definitely hit me in the nostalgia. There was one polish that stood out to me from the collection, and that’s today’s test subject, Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman is a polish comprised of small metallic red glitter, matte yellow stars and matte blue hex glitter. As an Orly Color Blast polish, I would normally wait until it went on clearance before buying , but anyone who knows me is aware I have something of an obsession with stars, so I was really interested in trying this baby out.

Be prepared to shake this up a LOT, as all the stars tend to sink down to the bottom of the bottle and stay there.  Once I had it properly mixed up, it wasn’t too hard to fish the stars out. The red and blue glitter covered evenly without having to be patched up.The finish was pretty smooth although the stars stuck up bit in places. I used four coats to get full coverage, with my usual coat of Seche Vite on top.

As this is a glitter polish with big glitter pieces in it, water marbling and stamping is out of the question.

So, how did it hold up?

Not so great, I wrecked it in one day. The main problem is the stars. When they catch on things, they get pulled off, taking a big chunk of polish with it. *sigh*

Verdict: Loser Polish

I hate, hate, hate, to give it that rating, but I can’t let personal bias get in the way here. I think if a member of Team Office Job wore it, it’d last longer, but those of us with retail or warehouse jobs should save this for a day off, or use it as a topper.  I bought mine from Walgreen’s for $7.99.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Bonita Leaf Me Alone!

Bonita Colors is my favorite budget priced nail polish. The only store in my area that sells it is Rite Aid, and they’ve been known to miss entire collections. Grrrr! Imagine my delight when my friend surprised me with a full set of their new Candy Fix collection which she found by going to a different Rite Aid. Today’s subject is from that collection, Leaf Me Alone!

Embarrassing story; the first time I ever heard of Bonita, I was experimenting with making my own color changing polish by adding thermochromic pigment to existing nail polish. I bought some Bonitas to sacrifice. I figured they were cheap enough it wouldn’t matter if I ruined them, which I did. Had I known what I was destroying I wouldn’t have done that! The extra pigment eventually turned into goop at the bottom of the bottle, and I ended up tossing them. I’ve learned some things since then. I’ll be writing a post about that before too long.

Leaf Me Alone! Is a Granny Smith apple green with a pearly shimmer to it. At first I thought it looked a lot like Bonita’s Honey Dew Your Thing from last year’s Turq It! Collection, but next to each other I’d say the difference is strong enough to merit owning them both. In this picture Honey Do Your Thing is on the left, and Leaf Me Alone! on the right.

I like how Leaf Me Alone! is right between being a bright color and being a pastel. This went on easily and was opaque in three coats. I put my usual coat of Seche Vite on top.

I found when I tried to stamp with this one that technically it works, but it’s really sheer. I wouldn’t bother using it for that purpose. Water marbling is a different story. I’ve found Bonita polishes are generally very cooperative, and Leaf Me Alone! is no exception. It worked beautifully!

So, how did it hold up?

It did quite well. It went three days before I felt it was time to take it off. I was happy to see this one didn’t stain my nails.

Verdict: Excellent

This is another worthy polish, and at $1.49 a bottle, there’s no reason to let it get away. If you live near one of the Rite Aids that has this collection, buy it! Grab the rest of the collection too!

Nail Polish Stress Test: Claire’s Spring Fever

If you’ve ever stopped in a Claire’s, you may have noticed their layered polishes. If you did, I bet you wondered “what does that look like on?”  Let’s find out together!

I chose Spring Fever, a nice combination of pastel pink, blue and lavender cremes. The pink and blue make me think of Pantone’s 2016 colors of the year. I figured I’d go with colors that would go well with each other. 

Application was interesting. The polish came out predominantly pink, with a few faint blue streaks.  I didn’t see any lavender until I’d almost finished the last coat on my right hand. I’d consider the formula to be on the thicker side. It took three coats to get full coverage. I used my standard coat of Seche Vite on top. All in all this didn’t look like I’d used some groovy polish. It was more like I’d painted my nails with a brush contaminated with a different color. I’m assuming the streaks would look more colorful and pronounced over time, but you only get one chance to make a first impression. This did not impress.

Spring Fever didn’t do well water marbling. I suspect the thicker formula that allows it to stay layered in the bottle is the reason. It was just too goopy to work, but it came close! Stamping didn’t fare much better. It didn’t do well with fine lines and details. Even the designs that did stamp okay were ruined as soon as I applied top coat. That’s a major bummer.

So, how did it hold up?

Better than I expected. It lasted a solid two days before I decided it had to come off.

Verdict: Good

I’m not crazy about how this polish looks by itself. I guess if you wasted some or just kept on using it, you’d get more interesting results eventually. I think this would best be used as a backdrop for nail art. It usually sells for $4.50. If you’re really curious about this one, hold out for a good sale first.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Revlon Sky’s The Limit

This week’s test subject was an impulse buy. I was cruising through Rite Aid the other day when I saw they’d put a bunch of cosmetics on clearance. Of course I had to scope that out. As I did, I saw one bottle of Sky’s The Limit marked down to $4. The poor thing looked lonely so I thought I’d give it a home. Was that a good idea? Let’s find out!

Sky’s The Limit is a really pretty sky blue microglitter polish. (Okay, I say that about most blue polishes. I love the color and make no apologies for it.) Depending on the light it’s possible to see some purple glitter scattered in there too.  Application was a breeze. Three coats gave me full opacity. I like that it was thick enough to be able to apply it evenly, but not so much that it went on too thick. It’s part of Revlon’s Gel Envy line, so I used one coat of Gel Envy top coat over it. This is not a quick dry, so it needs more time to set up.

Stamping was a no go with this one. Technically it does work, but it’s so sheer you really can’t see it. It’s possible to water marble with it but it never really dried. I think it ends up being too much polish.

So, how did it hold up?

It did okay. I got two days out of it before I noticed damage. Considering this is a wannabe gel, that’s quite respectable.

Verdict: Good

Being as I already had the right top coat and I got this on clearance, I’d say this was a good pickup for me. However, I can’t recommend buying this at full price. This product still falls well short of the long wear this line promises. People on Team Office Job would get the most out of this one.