Nail Polish Stress Test: Azature Coral Diamond

Azature is one of those brands that is hard NOT to be curious about. Curious as in at $25 a bottle, how good is it? Since I managed to score a couple bottles during their $6 sale, we’re gonna check out one today; Coral Diamond.

Coral Diamond is a really nice coral creme. It’s not too orange, not too pink, nice and bright without being neon. The formula was nice and smooth. I used three coats with my usual coat of Seche Vite on top. I gotta say, I really liked how this one looked on me.

As you can see, it stamped no problem. It also water marbled well too. This was one of the more cooperative polishes I’ve tried to use for that purpose. My brain was screaming “DON”T WASTE IT! THIS STUFF IS EXPENSIVE!” while I was testing it. I need to cover all the bases though, right?

So, how did it hold up?

I was impressed. It lasted a solid three days before the damage was noticeable.

Verdict: Excellent

At $25 a whack, it better be excellent, right? I’m definitely happy with this one. This may be my go to coral polish. Would I spend $25 on it? Nope. At that price I expect it to last at least two weeks and give me super powers!

IMPORTANT!  I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating; whatever you do, be careful about interacting with this company from work. Azature puts out some sexy pics to advertise their polishes. I’ve seen the same racy images on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even in emails. One of them was flat out NSFW. Here’s a link to Coral Diamond that’s safe. 

Nail Polish Stress Test: Color Club Sorry, Not Sorry

I’ve been having a lot of fun reviewing Color Club’s Oil Slick collection. I’ve been gradually working on completing the set every time Color Club has a sale. So far I've reviewed Burnt Out, Cash Only, It's Raining Men, and We'll Never Be Royals. Next up is Sorry, Not Sorry.

Sorry, Not Sorry is a duochrome that shifts between pastel pink, peach and gold. I actually managed to get a good shot of the color shift on my nails without a fuss this time!  I’d say this is the most conservative polish of the collection, yet it’s still fun to look at. It looked mostly peach to me indoors. Outdoors the color shift was more pronounced. I think this would look great with a tan. The formula was nice and smooth. Only two coats were needed to get full coverage. I used my usual coat of Seche Vite on top.

This polish stamped and water marbled beautifully. I mattified it so it’d be easier to see here.

So, how did it hold up?

Fantastic! It made it a solid three days before I needed to take it off.

Verdict: Excellent

I think everyone needs a bottle of this polish. This is good for any occasion, and I love the fact that it’s nail art friendly. I’m totally not sorry I bought this, and you won’t be either! It's available from Color Club's website.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Color Club Cash Only

I’ve been super curious about Color Club’s Oil Slick collection. So far, I’ve tried Burnt Out, which was excellent, and It’s Raining Men, which was party polish.  Next up is Cash Only.

Cash Only is a duochrome with a lot of color shift to it. This one shifts between a cool brown, gold, silver and green. I saw the brown shift the most. I would almost call this one a neutral. I’ve never seen a polish quite like this one, that’s for sure.

The formula is a bit thicker than average, but goes on smoothly. I used two coats with my usual layer of Seche Vite on top.

This polish is great for stamping. It looks absolutely amazing on black! Even better, it water marbles!

So, how did it hold up?

It did great! It went a solid three days before I needed to take it off.

Verdict: Excellent

Cash Only is definitely a worthwhile addition to anyone’s polish collection. I’m especially happy that it stamps so well. It’s not every day I come across a duochrome polish that does!

Nail Polish Stress Test: Claire’s Money Bags

Last year I tried Sally Hansen Color Foils nail makeup. Color Fail would have been a better name. They sucked at everything except water marbling Christmas ornaments. I still haven’t given up on the concept though, so when I found the Liquid Metal polishes at Claire’s, I figured I’d give it a go. Was that a bad idea? Let’s find out!

Money Bags is a terrific minty metallic green. It seems very similar to the Color Foil polishes in that it comes in an opaque bottle and has the same chrome finish. However, unlike the Sally Hansen polishes, it doesn’t say anything about not using base or top coats. The formula is more like traditional polishes and dries in the same amount of time as the average lacquer. I strongly recommend using a base coat or buffing your nails before you use this as it’s going to highlight any ridges you have on your nails. I buffed mine a couple times before I was ready to take pics with this stuff on. Spoiler alert: This polish will stain too.

I used two coats with one coat of Seche Vite on top. Since this polish was so similar to the Color Foils, I strongly suspected it wasn’t going to hold up well, so I decided to try this one out on a weekend as well. 

 

The very best thing about this polish is that it stamps beautifully and reliably. It has yet to fail me in this regard. It will watermarble, but care has to be taken with what polish you pair this up with. Money Bags spreads out a lot. I’d pair this with polish that spreads out just as much or you’re going to end up with goopy results. 

 

So, was I right to test this on a weekend?

Yep! It got wrecked by the end of the day. I’d even made sure to do all my housework and cleaning before I put it on! I guess this breed just isn’t very hardy.

 Verdict: Party Polish

If you’re not into nail art, I wouldn’t bother with this. If you’re into stamping, you need this polish, and the other colors in the series; they all work the same way. They’re a decent price at their regular price of $5.50. I’ve found them on sale more than once at $2. That’s awesome for stamping polish! Honestly, I wish they’d make these in a few more colors. I’d totally buy them!

Nail Polish Stress Test: OPI Orange You Going to the Game?

Ocean State Job Lot is one of my absolute favorite places to buy nail polish. For those of you that don’t live in the Northeast, think of it as a regional Big Lots. They get a lot of drugstore polishes like Sally Hansen, Wet n Wild, Revlon and Milani. Occasionally, they’ll get in some China Glaze. Sometimes, they’ll completely surprise me with something I wasn’t expecting, and in this case it was OPI’s Are You Going to the Game? Turns out Ocean State got in a bunch of OPI’s Major League Baseball collection, and this particular color caught my eye – enough to make me buy two; one for me, and one for my friend. The fact that it was on sale 3 for $10 sealed the deal.

Orange You Going to the Game?  is a beautiful orange (duh) pearl color. I don’t recall ever seeing anything quite like it. It went on nice and smooth, taking only two coats. I’ve used quite a bit of OPI in the past, but this one was especially nice to work with. I applied my usual coat of Seche Vite on top and waited to see how it would hold up.

As it happens, it held up really well. It went a full three days before I felt the need to take it off. I try not to have preconceived notions about how well a polish will do, but this really impressed me.

But wait, there’s more!

It turns out this polish will also stamp and water marble! 

Verdict: Excellent

This one does it all. It holds up well, it stamps, it water marbles, and it’s not like all the other oranges out there. The only thing I can possibly complain about is that question mark in its name makes Word think I’m making a grammatical error.

 Grab this one if you come across it!

Nail Polish Stress Test: Orly Color Blast Snow Queen

I like Orly polishes a lot. It seems like I’m buying something from most of the collections they’ve come out with, so when I saw the Color Blast line at my local Walgreen’s, I thought I’d pick one up. Was this a good idea, or was my brain frozen from the eternal winter we’ve been enduring here? Let’s find out!

Right off the bat, this polish had something to prove. It’s $6.99 a bottle, yet it’s half the size of a bottle of standard Orly polish. I couldn’t help looking at the two together and thinking “O RLY?”.

 Snow Queen is from the Frozen collection. It’s a white crème with a blue flash that only seems to exist in the bottle. I found that to be quite frustrating because that’s what attracted me to this one in the first place. It definitely didn’t show up on my nail, and I couldn’t get it on camera either. The formula wasn’t the easiest to work with either. It was patchy as heck even though I let each coat completely dry before I added the next one. In the end I used three coats, and tried to patch up the bare spots as best I could before I finished it off with my usual coat of Seche Vite. 

 

I had pretty low expectations considering my application issues, but it turns out Snow Queen will stamp and water marble! I did not see that coming!

 As for wear, this looked pretty bad after one day. The tip wear was super obvious because of the bright white, so off it came. Bummer.

 Verdict: Party Polish

This would be loser polish if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s good for nail art. Even so, I wouldn’t buy this again unless it was on sale. A good one.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Ulta Blue Holiday

If you happen to meet a courier out of New Vegas offering polish, say yes, because they find awesome things! Case in point, Ulta Blue Holiday, a creme polish she scavenged for the ridiculous price of $.47!

Blue Holiday is more blurple or indigo than straight up blue in my book. Whatever color you want to call it, it’s one of my favorites, and I was overjoyed to receive it! It went on in two easy coats. It looks a bit darker on than it does in the bottle to me, but nothing major. I put my usual coat of Seche Vite on top.

 

Did it last? Yes it did. It went a solid two days before I felt the need to take it off. I could have pushed it to three if I'd touched it up. I'm definitely pleased with how this did.

A color this dark should stamp, right? Right! I was able to successfully water marble with it as well. 

Verdict: Excellent

It did well considering its color. It stamps. It water marbles. This is definitely going to be a go-to polish in my collection!    

Nail Polish Stress Test: e.l.f. Fire Coral, Misty Haze, and Midnight Mystery

e.l.f. is another brand I see around a lot, but have never tried. I came across a set in T.J.Maxx I liked for $3. I can justify $1 a bottle, so I pulled the trigger and bought it. This set contained Fire Coral, Misty Haze and Midnight Mystery.

Fire Coral is a darker orange creme.  Misty Haze is a gray creme, and Midnight Mystery is a silver glitter topper.

The bottles annoy me. Most polishes with this design have a removable cover over the cap. Not these! Maybe it's so you can tell if anyone tampered with it before you buy it? More importantly, the brushes are chintzy. The brush in Fire Coral was not securely attached to the inside of the cap. I fully expect it to fall out at some point, likely when I’m wearing something it’ll clash with the most.

The polish itself went on okay. It was a little streaky at first, but it looked fine after two coats each for Misty Haze and Fire Coral. Midnight Mystery was another story. The glitter itself is pretty, but it’s also shy and doesn’t want to leave its bottle home. I ended up using two coats of Fire Coral and Misty Haze with two coats of Midnight Mystery on top, with a coat of Seche Vite. Because reasons.

 Cheap bottles and glitter issues aside, how did it do? 

Quite well! It held up great at work. This was after a full day. It performed better than LAColors Animate did, which I did not expect. Since it went on in two coats, I decided to see how it would do with nail art. It did water marble, although it did take a couple tries to dial it in, and stamped just fine.

Fire Coral and Misty Haze Verdict: Good

In spite of the poor quality bottles, the polish within did quite well, turning out to be both versatile and durable.

Midnight Mystery Verdict: Loser polish

I know there are ways to get more glitter out of the bottle. I would accept this if we were talking large or unusual shaped pieces, but when it comes to the standard kind, I shouldn’t have to. This is a bottle of fail.

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.