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: Del Sol Twice As Ice

Well, it’s been a full year since I started this blog, so happy blogoversary to me! To celebrate, I’m doing a couple extra reviews this week. Today’s target is Twice As Ice from Del Sol.

Twice As Ice is polish that changes color when exposed to sunlight. Indoors, it’s a very slightly orangey tinted base with holographic shards.

In sunlight it turns purple, and looks like a jelly polish. The transition takes 10-15 seconds or so.

It can change somewhat indoors or in overcast weather, but for the best results, you need to go actually 

outside.

I used three coats with my usual layer of Seche Vite on top. It went on as if it were a normal polish. I recommend applying this very carefully; you won’t be able to spot any mistakes until you’re outside. I found the holographic shards just didn’t distribute well on the nail. They don’t really lay flat and were a bit scratchy. However, I didn’t buy this for the bling; it’s all about the color change!

In fact, since the shard payout was so poor, I thought I might be able to use this polish for stamping. I tried stamping on my ring finger, and as it turns out, I’m right! There are some special challenges in using Twice As Ice for that, namely you have to do it while it’s in its indoor state. I used the spiderweb design from this plate, and as you can tell, the spider got left off because I couldn’t tell where it was on my stamper. However, if you used a design where orientation didn’t matter, the results would be impressive!

I didn’t try water marbling with it. The shards would be a problem, not to mention the color change aspect makes it impractical.

 So, how did it hold up?

It did pretty well. It’s hard to tell, but it went two days before I noticed enough damage to make me want to take it off. The shards started sticking up more which was a bit annoying as well. I would have taken that pic in sunlight, but this polish seems to make the weather turn overcast.

Verdict: Good

I think this is really meant to be a top coat unless you’re the kind of person that spends a lot of time outdoors. Still, it’s pretty good quality, and the fact that it actually stamps makes it an even more interesting find. I ordered mine from Del Sol’s website. As of this writing, it goes for $7.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Claire’s Purple Mood Polish

Every so often, I’ll see a gimmicky polish that looks like fun, even though I know it might not work. Claire’s Mood Polish would be a good example. Being as it’s winter, I figured this would be the perfect time to test it out.

Although the label on the bottle says Purple, it never really looks that way on. It starts out looking like a darker pink, and turns to neon pink when warm. I didn’t really like how it looked in its transitional state. Normally I like how mood polish will create a French manicure look. This just looked like my nails were dirty. Meh. 

Here's how it looks all the way warm.

 

It’s a crelly, with a matte finish, so if you hate visible nail lines, turn back now. I used three coats, plus my usual one coat of Seche Vite on top to make it shiny. This doesn’t wholly come as a surprise to me, but this polish will not water marble or stamp.

Here's how it looked after one day.

I adjusted this photo to get the polish color accurate. This is its cold state.   

This particular morning, I did little more than get dressed and head out the door. No washing dishes, cooking, anything that might accelerate the doom of a manicure. Just as I started my car I noticed I already had some chipping. It only went downhill from there. Even with low expectations, this was a bottle of fail. 

Verdict: Loser Polish

While the color change effect is neat and all, what’s the point if it’s going to chip if you so much as look at it wrong? This one’s a waste of money.