Nail Polish Stress Test: Bonita Green Crush

I really like Bonita brand nail polishes. The only store near me that sells any is the Rite Aid next door, but they don’t have a dedicated store display for them. I have to wait for a new collection to be released and hope Rite Aid gets it in. My friend and I checked there nearly every single day for months to see if anything new came in. Our vigilance was finally rewarded when we found Bonita’s latest Gel On collection display. We nearly bought all of it, including today’s test subject: Green Crush.

I was particularly interested in Green Crush because my polish collection doesn’t have many neons in it. Even though the color suggests this is green, I see it more as a highlighter yellow neon creme. As you can tell from my tag cloud, I don’t do much with yellows in general, so I’m happy to be able to give the warm side of the color wheel some love.

The Gel-On! label suggests this is a wannabe gel polish. Wannabe gel is my term for polishes that claim to last as long as actual gel polishes, and frequently need a specific top coat to go with them. More often than not, they also suck. However, since this display didn’t contain any top coats at all, I’m treating this like it’s traditional nail polish.

Application was a bit tricky. The formula is on the thick side. I found it was hard to apply evenly and neatly near my cuticles without flooding them.  Still, I was happy I was able to build it up to full opacity in four coats. I am not a fan of neons that require me to use a base coat or white polish underneath, so this was fantastic! I used my usual coat of Seche Vite on top.

Green Crush doesn’t really stamp well. It’s too sheer and dries too quickly, so I’d say don’t bother trying to use it for that purpose. Water marbling is another story. I used it with the other cremes from the collection and found it worked beautifully!

So, how did it hold up?

It did great! It made it a solid three days before I felt it had to come off.

Verdict: Excellent

All those days of stalking the polish displays for this Bonita was totally worth it, even if the cashiers at Rite Aid think I’m a weirdo. I think this is one of the best neon polishes I’ve ever used, in spite of the tricky application. If you see this polish, grab it! For $2.99, you really can’t go wrong.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Orly Color Blast Follow Your Path

Orly Color Blast polishes haven’t exactly blown my socks off yet. I feel that at $6.99 for a bottle that’s half the size of a standard bottle of polish, the quality had better be up there. However, when it goes on clearance for $1.65? Bring it! That leads to me today’s test subject, Follow Your Path from the Disney Dare to Dream Pocahontas collection. Was it a worthwhile purchase? Let’s find out!

Follow Your Path is a neon purple crème. I don’t have many neons in my collection, so I was hoping this one would do well. This went on in three coats. The finish was kind of on the matte side, which isn’t unusual for a neon. I threw my usual coat of Seche Vite on top and rolled with it.
 

I was a little concerned about the durability of this polish early on. As you can see from this pic I took as I was leaving for work, there’s already tip wear. That’s not a good sign.

It only got worse from there. This is the damage I got from half a day of not that much work.

I didn’t have any luck water marbling with this polish, but it does stamp nicely.

Verdict: Party Polish

Well, that’s another Color Blast polish that falls short. I can recommend it for stamping, but that’s about it. It’s a shame; I was really hoping this one would do well.