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: L.A. Colors Dare Devil

It seems like everyone’s getting into the wannabe gel scene these days. Today’s subject is a from  L.A. Colors new Color Craze Gel line, Dare Devil.

Dare Devil looks like a blue toned purple crème in the bottle that’s supposed to have a high shine. The reality is it’s more of a red toned purple jelly on the nails. I used two coats as per the directions. I thought it looked a bit streaky. It also wasn’t particularly shiny. I used one coat of their top coat, which did help somewhat.

This polish will stamp, but not easily. It didn’t do great with finer lines and details. Larger designs came out much better. It water marbles pretty nicely. The color did bleed somewhat, so I don’t recommend using this with contrasting colors.

So, how did it hold up?

 This only lasted one day, which seems to be par for the course when I test wannabe gels.

Verdict: Party Polish

This might be worth picking up if you’re into water marbling, or if you’re on Team Office Job. It actually performed the same as other wannabe gels I’ve tried, and this is one of the least expensive ones out there. This line of polish can be found at Family Dollar and is $2.49 a bottle.

Nail Polish Stress Test: L.A. Colors Animated

I’ve seen the L.A. Colors brand quite a bit lately. They had a display in Walmart over the summer, T.J. Maxx gets in sets of it from time to time, and Dollar Tree stores sell it as well. I have no idea how good this brand is, so I decided it’s time to find out. I went with Animated. I’m not sure how they chose that name for a bright tomato red polish, but eh, whatever.

I had a bit of trouble applying this one. I prefer to apply thin coats when I’m doing my nails, but I had to use thicker coats with this one or it would start getting globby on me. This ended up being a three heavier coat operation. I used one coat of Seche Vite on top. 

The results were pretty good, considering this is $1 polish. I did get significant tip wear after one day, but that’s par for the course for me when it comes to the average lacquer. Someone with a desk job would get more mileage out of it. I could have covered that up with glitter, French manicure style, but I figured I’d see if this polish could be used for nail art instead. 

Turns out, it’s great for nail art. Animated has a lot of pigment in it, so it’s great for nail stamping and gradients. It’s even easy to use for water marbling, although the color does bleed, so you should plan accordingly.

Verdict: Good, especially for nail art

I was impressed by what this polish could do for the money. I will definitely pick up more of these to try in the future.