Nail Polish Stress Test: L’Oreal Too Dimensional?

The other day I was cruising through Rite Aid looking for new polishes, when the L’Oreal display caught my eye. It had several items, including nail polish on 50% off clearance. I bought a couple including today’s test subject, Too Dimensional? Was that a good idea? Let’s find out!

Too Dimensional? is a hard polish to describe. It looks significantly different depending on the lighting. It’s a textured polish that seems to have duochrome properties. It can look more purple or gray depending on the light. It has iridescent shimmer and purple hex glitters mixed in to make it even more interesting.  I never got tired of looking at this one.

Here it is in LED light.

Here it is in sunlight.

And here it is in the indirect light I usually use.

This was easy to apply and I had full coverage in three coats. I let each layer dry completely before I added the next one. I did not use any top coat. The texture was somewhat abrasive but not distractingly so, and that always wears down a bit as soon as I start living life.

As a textured polish, it can’t be used to stamp or water marble. I bet it’d be fun to use with nail vinyls though!

So, how did it hold up?

It did pretty well. It made it two days before it was time to take it off.

Verdict: Good

This was a good find. I love textured polishes and unexpectedly finding this one makes me happy. You should pick this one up if you come across it. 

Nail Polish Stress Test: Color Club Rays The Bar

I love color changing and other gimmicky polishes. When Color Club came out with their new Heat Index collection, I had to try at least one.  I chose Rays The Bar. Was that a good idea? Let’s find out!

Rays The Bar is a thermal polish that is supposed to change from pink to orange depending on temperature. Looking at the label on the cap, that color change is supposed to be pretty distinct. It isn’t. Most of the time it looked like a bright coral to me. Occasionally it’d look slightly more orange or more pink. If you’re looking to buy this polish for the color changing aspect, don’t do it. 

The formula was on the streaky side, not to mention sheer. It took three coats to get everything looking even, which dried to a matte finish. There was still visible nail line afterwards. I used one coat of Seche Vite over it to make everything nice and shiny.  I used a different color changing polish on my ring finger because I wanted to see some color changing action darnit!

Stamping is possible with this polish, but I found it to be very frustrating to work with. I had a lot of trouble getting images to fully pick up to the point where I eventually threw in the towel. Water marbling was a complete fail as the polish wouldn’t spread.

So, how did it hold up?

It did pretty well. It made it two days before I had to take it off.

Verdict: Loser Polish

I can’t recommend buying this. If it was ordinary polish I’d rate it Good. However, it fails at its job of being a color changing thermal polish. There are better options out there. If you must try it, at least do what I did and wait for a sale as it usually sells for $10 on Color Club’s website.                     

Nail Polish Stress Test: L.A. Colors Ever After

I was cruising through Walmart the other day when I happened on a new L.A. Colors display. One of polishes stood out to me as being really pretty, so I thought I’d give it a try even though it’s a wannabe gel. That polish is today’s test subject, Ever After. Was this a good idea? Let’s find out!

Ever After is from L.A. Colors’ Color Last collection. In the bottle, it looks like a lavender polish with a really nice iridescent shimmer. Heck, the bottle design on this line has the cap matching the polish, so I was all set for a knockout mani. However, it turns out this polish is quite sheer. It still looks pretty, but not what I was hoping for. Application was easy. I used three coats hoping for opacity that never happened, and used one coat of their Crystal Top Coat as recommended.

This polish is too sheer to stamp. It can potentially water marble but it’s so sheer I don’t know that I’d bother with it.

According to the sticker on the cap, this polish is supposed to last ten days. Did it?

Of course not. This polish chipped big time on the first day. It’s easiest to see on my index finger where I have polish missing all around the edge of my nail down to the cuticle, plus big chips at tip. The same thing happened to my middle finger. I’d say this stuff is pretty brittle.

Verdict: Loser Polish

I was super disappointed this polish came out as sheer as it did. It’s shades of Hurt No Living Thing all over again, without the excellent wear time. With that said, I think this would look good layered over other polishes, and I’ll keep it around for that. Otherwise it’s another polish that makes promises of long wear that it can’t keep. You don’t need this one.  

Nail Polish Stress Test: Hard Candy So So Sequin

Ever have one of those busy weeks where you want to do your nails and need something that’ll get you through the rest of the week? When that happens to me, I reach for a glitter polish. This time around I went for So So Sequin from Hard Candy. Was that a good choice? Let’s find out!

So So Sequin is a very sparkly polish made of silver holographic microglitter, with large blue hex glitter and medium holo glitter. It’s another case where photos don’t do it justice. This is bling in a bottle. 

I am not a fan of the brush this polish comes with. I felt like I was using one of those cheap watercolor brushes you used as a kid. As a result, I found this polish was difficult to apply neatly. I was able to get full coverage in three coats in spite of the challenges. I used one coat of Seche Vite on top. It was still a tad rough, nothing a second layer of top coat couldn’t have fixed.

As a glitter, stamping is out, and the larger hex glitters make it less than idea for water marbling. I think it’d be fun to use with nail vinyls though.

So, how did it hold up?

Badly. I had major chips on the first day, and I’d barely even started working!

Verdict: Loser Polish

Considering I paid $1.50 at Ocean State Job Lot to get this, I can only complain so much. I think it’d be fun to use in nail art, or making Christmas ornaments, but I don’t see me using it on its own again.