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.