Nail Polish Stress Test: Whim Gone Glamorous

As my search for a wannabe gel polish that doesn’t suck continues, I’ve come across a couple brands where I’ve balked at buying them. This is because in my opinion the cost is too high versus the odds of them being any good. One of those brands is the Ulta Exclusive, Whim. However, my friend came across a shade she really liked from that collection and offered to let me borrow it, along with the necessary top and base coat. I never turn down an opportunity like that, so today’s subject is Gone Glamourous.

Gone Glamorous is a dark vampy red jelly that has iridescent flecks in it. The flecks look awesome in the bottle, but once it’s on, you really can’t see them. I found the formula to be on the thin side, and while it applied okay, I had problems doing it neatly. I think this is partly because of the formula of the polish itself and partly because of the base coat, appropriately named Cover Your Bases. It’s supposed to act as a “magnet” for the polish and it certainly did that. When I went over it with Gone Glamorous, it adhered and dried very quickly.

I also found this polish was on the streaky side, so I used three coats to get full opacity. I finished off my mani with the recommended top coat, On Top Of It. I had to use a heavy coat as it dragged the color off otherwise. It dried pretty quickly. It looked pretty nice, but I really prefer the shine Seche Vite provides.

This is another polish that almost water marbles but dries too quickly to pull it off successfully. To my surprise, it stamped beautifully. It did well enough that I was able to use an image with fine lines for my ring finger accent nail. The sparkly bits didn’t interfere with stamping at all. Since I knew by this point that using On Top Of It would wreck the design, I used Seche Vite on that one nail.

So, how did it hold up?

Business as usual, it was wrecked in one day.

Verdict: Party Polish

The polish, top coat, and base coat cost $10 each. For $30, I want better results than that.This is exactly why I didn't buy them myself. However, if you came across Gone Glamorous in the clearance bin and were into nail stamping, it might be worth picking up.That's the only thing that saves Gone Glamorous from being Loser Polish.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Revlon Artsy

Blue is my very favorite color, and it seems like it’s been ages since I reviewed anything in that shade. I’m going to take care of that today by reviewing Artsy by Revlon.

Y’know, it’d be funny if there was a companion shade named Craftsy.

Aaaaaaanyways, Artsy is a dark blue jelly base packed with large hex, small, bar, and micro royal blue glitter. So gorgeous!  It reminds me of Revlon’s Scandalous, except I think the glitter in Artsy shows more as the base and glitter match. It was easy to apply. The glitter distributed nicely, no need to patch up bald spots with this one.  I used three coats total. They dried to a somewhat rough finish. One coat of Seche Vite helped with that for the most part. A second coat might have been helpful, but I want to keep testing conditions consistent.

This one isn’t useful for stamping or water marbling because of all the glitter.

So, how did it hold up?

Not so great.  Unfortunately, this is the type of polish that’s on the brittle side, so it chipped big time on the first day.

Verdict: Party Polish

I was really hoping this one would do better. At least it’ll still be a good weekend polish.

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: KB Shimmer Ruby

I love checking out independent nail polish makers, or “indies” as they’re called. They seem to drive the innovation of the nail polish world, and make more fun polishes than traditional brands like Revlon do. I don’t actually buy many because they’re also pricier. This is fair and understandable, yet I hesitate because I don’t want to spend $$$ on loser polish. However, I’m finding as I blog that if I’m wondering if something is any good, other people are too. So, let’s find out together if today’s polish is any good; KB Shimmer’s Ruby.

Ruby is from their recently released Birthstone collection. It’s an incredible looking polish! They put metallic flakes in a cool toned red base, with a little holographic glitter added for spice. Photos do not do this justice! It is much shinier and sparkly in person! I used the recommended two coats with one coat of Seche Vite on top. It’s not quite smooth when it dries, but top coat takes care of that.

As you can see, this polish can stamp. Before you try this yourself, I want you to be advised of a couple things. First of all, the flakes in this polish are actual metal, so you do run the risk of scratching your stamping plates. This didn’t happen to me, but if it concerns you, maybe don’t use this polish for that purpose. Also, Ruby doesn’t play nice with every stamping plate.  It didn’t work with any of my Bundle Monster plates, but I had pretty good luck with my Pueen Stamping Buffet plates. The ones with the deepest etching seemed to work the best. The results to me are totally worth it. All of the sparkle transferred to my nails. This is as close as I’ve ever come to the look of stamping with glitter, and I totally love it!

Water marbling didn’t work. I so wanted it to, but this polish dries way too fast. Such a pity, that would have looked amazing!

So how did it hold up?

Not so well, it got big chips in one day.

Verdict: Party Polish

This may be Party Polish, but this is one party you want to be invited to! Realistically speaking, Ruby is not something I would normally wear to my warehouse job.  This is something I would totally wear for special occasions, and because I know it has stamping potential, I would absolutely wear it for nail art. This is a polish I will enjoy using in the appropriate situations.

I paid $8.75, and I have no regrets about it. You can order it from kbshimmer.com or Amazon.com. It’s available outside the US through Harlow & Co.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Color Club We’ll Never Be Royals

I’m gradually test driving all the polishes from Color Club’s Oil Slick collection. So far I’ve tried Burnt Out, It’s Raining Men, and Cash Only. Today’s subject is We’ll Never Be Royals. How will this one stack up next to the others? Let’s find out!

We’ll Never Be Royals is a gorgeous duochrome which shifts from a metallic red, to pink, to a deep magenta with a strong purple flash. The color shift is very noticeable. This is one of those polishes where it’s fun to walk around and see the colors change.

The formula is on the thick side and went on smoothly. I only needed two coats, to which I added my usual coat of Seche Vite on top. I was a little worried when I put it on, as the application reminded me an awful lot of my experience with It’s Raining Men, which turned out to be party polish. 

I didn’t have any luck water marbling with this polish, but it stamps very nicely. The stamping does retain some shimmer. I can see me doing some nice Valentine’s Day nail art with this one.

So, how did it hold up?

Not well. It had substantial tip wear in just one day.

Verdict: Party Polish

 I love the color shift, and I’m totally doing nail art with it, but its poor durability is a major disappointment.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Sinful Shine Royal Flush

A little while ago, I reviewed my first Sinful Shine polish, Prosecco. It ended up being the highest scoring polish I’ve ever reviewed, so the natural thing for me to do was buy a couple more when they were on a buy one get one free sale at Rite Aid, including today’s subject, Royal Flush. Is it as good as Prosecco? Let’s find out!

Royal Flush is a fuchsia purple crème. I was a little worried as I applied it. While it went on fine and all, the formula reminded me of previous wannabe gels I’ve reviewed. It had that same lacquer like texture when it dried. I used two coats here, with one coat of the Sinful Shine topcoat.

This polish will water marble. I used another Sinful Shine along with it, Diamond In The Raw, which I will be reviewing at some point in the future.

It turns out that Royal Flush also stamps, although I had some issues with that. Royal Flush is opaque enough to stamp over darker colors. However, you can see from this picture that the silver underneath makes it look different. More importantly, the top coat smudged the design somewhat. The formula has some “grip” to it when it’s applied, even when I used a fairly heavy coat to avoid that problem. I don’t want to make a judgement call based on my experience with one polish, but I’m kinda thinking this kind of polish may not be ideal for stamping.

So, how did it hold up?

It didn’t, and that makes me very sad. It was wrecked after one day.

Verdict: Party Polish

Looks like we’re back to standard wannabe gel performance. Phooey. I really wanted this to be another polish on par with Prosecco, but that definitely didn’t happen here! I’m not giving up on this product line yet though. I have three more Sinful Shines to check out. I hope they’re more like Prosecco, and less like Royal Flush. Being usable for nail art is no good if it’s not going to last. Definitely skip this one.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Vernis Classique by Cherimoya Metallic Red

On a recent polish hunt in TJ Maxx, I came across a new to me brand of polish; Vernis Classique by Cherimoya. They were only $1.99, so I picked one up for science. I chose Metallic Red.

Metallic Red definitely does what it says on the bottle. It’s metallic and it’s red, although the way it looks in the bottle is a little misleading. When I put it on, it was a more intense red than it first appears. This went on nice and easy, nearly a one coater, but I went with two coats to get full coverage. I used one coat of Seche Vite on top.

I had no problem stamping with it. While it’s possible to water marble with this, it’s a bit tricky to use. It likes to spread out a LOT, not unlike the polishes I used to make Christmas ornaments last year. If you’re determined to use this polish for that purpose, you’ll want to experiment a bit.

So, how did it hold up?

Not well. I trashed it in one day.

Verdict: Party Polish

I think this polish is best used for stamping. However, if you do that, you might want to use a double layer of top coat. I noticed the design I’d stamped wore off pretty easily, and that’s a bit unusual. If you’re not into nail art, maybe skip this one.

Top Coat Stress Test: Dance Legend Sahara Crystal

I’ve made no secret of my love of textured polish. I love the finish, the wear time is frequently excellent, and it’s fun to use in nail art too. Sometimes I wish it came in certain colors that seem to be hard to find, so when I learned Dance Legend made a top coat that would make any polish textured, I had to check it out.

Sahara Crystal doesn’t look like something that’s textured in the bottle. It reminds me of Milani Sardina with smaller flecks. Once you put it on and it dries, there’s no questioning that it’s textured. I had a lot of fun trying it out on different polishes. I found two light coats gave me the best results. I let the first coat completely dry before I added the second. 

One thing I noticed is that this polish is thicker than average. Over the course of using it in a couple full manicures and a bunch of swatches I noticed I’ve already used up a good quarter of the bottle!

This top coat changes how polish looks depending on what type it is. Here are some swatches I did over some polishes I’ve already reviewed. In all cases, the swatch on the left is the polish in its natural state, the one on the right has Sahara Crystal over it. 

First, here's Claire's Money Bags. I really like how this one looks.

Next, we have Color Club's Burnt Out.  This looks okay, but the duochrome properties of this polish really don't show through very well.

Here's Colour Prevails Date Night. I think this one is my favorite.

This is Color Club Beyond. It turns out that holographic polishes don't play nice with this top coat. I tried this on a couple other holos and had the same result. Pity, a textured holo would have been awesome. 

Finally, here's Sparitual Intention. This one looks pretty nice too The glass flecks in Intention add a little extra sparkle over and above what Sahara Crystal does.

I didn’t try water marbling with this. It almost seems like you could stamp with it, but I was afraid to try. I don’t want to risk scratching up my stamping plates.

Now, on to the actual stress test. I used my beloved Ulta Blue Holiday. This is one of my very favorites.  I know this polish is excellent, and what to expect from it, so I put the same two coats of Sahara Crystal over it to see how it’d do. As you can see, this top coat lightens it up a bit and adds sparkle.

So, how’d it do?

Turns out this top coat significantly reduced the wear time on this one. That was a bit disappointing. It was done in after one day.

Verdict: Party Polish

I was hoping this would have the same wear as a full on textured polish, but that definitely isn’t the case here. It goes for $9, so that's something to keep in mind if you decide you want it.

Still, this top coat is fun! I look forward to using it to get textured colors I can’t find.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Color Club It’s Raining Men

As you may have noticed, blue is my very favorite color, with purple being a fairly close second. When I saw It’s Raining Men from Color Club’s Oil Slick collection, and they just happened to have a 30% off sale at the same time, I decided I’d give it a go.

It’s Raining Men is a blue jelly with a strong blue shimmer. It occasionally shifts to purple, but not often. Sometimes the shift looks pink, and I’m sad to say it doesn’t look as pretty as I’d hoped. Most of the time, it looks like the dark blue polish with blue flash every collection has. I used two coats here, with my usual layer of Seche Vite on top.

This polish will stamp, although it’s a bit…smudgey. Interestingly enough, the shimmer does show a bit in the design. A tiny bit. It didn’t work for water marbling.

So, how did it hold up?

Not well at all. It was a one day affair.

Verdict: Party Polish

I was really disappointed in this polish. After the awesomeness that was Burnt Out, I was expecting more of the same great color shift and durability. I don’t think you really need this one.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Pretty Woman Love Boat

One of my favorite places to go hunting for nail polish is Ocean State Job Lot. They’ve blown me away more than once with unexpected bargains on polishes like OPI, China Glaze, Sparitual, and more. On occasion, they’ll get in a brand I’m not familiar with. That leads me to today’s test subject; Love Boat from the brand Pretty Woman.

According to Pretty Woman’s website, their polishes can be found in select Wal-Mart, Rite Aid, and Party City stores.

Love Boat is a beautiful textured red polish. It’s got an awesome iridescent sparkle to it that is hard to stop looking at. I used three coats with no top coat.

As a textured polish, it’s a no go for stamping or water marbling. I can’t help thinking this would be fun to use with nail vinyls.

So, how did it hold up?

Not so great. It was pretty beat up after one day.

Verdict: Party Polish

This definitely is on the disappointing side. I’m used to textured polishes holding up way better than this, but Love Boat is so darn pretty that I’m keeping it in my collection anyway. I don’t have a textured red quite like it. I paid $1.50 for my bottle, which I’d say is a fair price. It sells for $7.99 on their website. No way should you pay that much. Only buy this one on a good sale.

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.  

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: Physicians Formula California Goddess Set

Physicians Formula is one of my favorite brands of makeup. I use their products on my face on a daily basis. I've never seen them do much with nail polish…that is except for this one line called Endless Color.

The idea is to mix and match the three colors in the set in different ways. The packaging suggests layering the polishes to make custom colors, or doing nail art like French manicures. The set I chose was California Goddess, which came with a pink, light orange and dark orange polish. I actually bought it last year from TJ Maxx for around $5. I found I didn’t like them and consigned them to my bag of loser polish until recently when I saw them at Ocean State Job Lot for $3. I figured I'd give them one more try.

 The other gimmick with this set is that the three bottles can be connected to each other. I suppose if you bought enough sets you could make a giant totem pole of polishes if you wanted.

I wasn’t overly happy with the formula. It’s seriously streaky, yo. I used three coats of the pink and dark orange. The light orange needed four. I used a combination of the pink and light orange on my thumb. They never really blended.

They will stamp okay, which was a nice surprise. You can see that on my ring finger here. While it’s possible to water marble with them, the color is so weak I’d say it’s not worth it.

As for durability? Yeahno. I had a huge chip on my middle finger by the end of the first day, and noticeable tip wear on all my other nails.

Verdict: Party polish

This is another case where if it didn’t have a use in nail stamping, I’d say it was loser polish. With that said, I don’t plan to use these ever again. I have polish in similar colors that will do a better job overall.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Ulta XOXO

Ulta recently had a $2 sale on their nail polishes. Being as they’re normally $6 I had to jump on that. One of the polishes I got was XOXO.

XOXO is an interesting polish in that you really can’t tell what it’s like until you actually wear it.

When I saw it on the website, I thought it was pink and red glitter in a clear base. 

 When I got the bottle, it looked like a red jelly with pink microglitter. 

When I applied it, it turned out to be a red jelly with scattered holographic microglitter!

This polish is really really pretty. Every so often I had to stop and admire it. I was able to get full coverage with three coats. I added my usual coat of Seche Vite on top.

So how did it hold up?

Eh. It was pretty banged up after one day.

I didn’t have any luck watermarbling or stamping with it.

Verdict: Party Polish

I really wanted this to do better, but it is what it is. I still love it and will keep it, but as a weekend polish. I still want to try it in a French Manicure or layered over something else.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Wet n Wild Wildshine: D’oh!

So I just had to move my polish collection from storage bins to a storage cabinet. In the process, I discovered that yellow polishes comprise a mere 1% of my collection. I have nothing against yellow.  It’s just that I’ve found yellow polishes seem to be problematic for me. That brings me to today’s polish: Wet n Wild D’oh!

D’oh! is one of the recently released Wildshine polishes that are supposed to be new, improved and even come in a redesigned bottle, yet I found this one for $.49 in the clearance bin at Walgreen’s. It’s a Simpsons yellow crème. I definitely like this shade. It’s not too bright, dull, or obnoxious.

I’m not a fan of the bottle redesign. I don’t like tall skinny bottles; they’re just too easy to knock over. Furthermore, the brush seems flimsy. It kind of reminds me of the e.l.f. polishes I reviewed a while back.

Application was a problem. Even though I let each coat dry before I applied the next one, my nails were patchy and streaky after three coats. I thought it might have been operator error, so I took it off and tried again. Nope, same results. I decided to leave things as they were, put a coat of Seche Vite on top, and called it done. 

So, how did it do? There was some pretty noticeable tip wear by the end of the first day, so I decided to take it off. No major destruction, but it didn't look presentable in this condition.

One thing that surprised me big time is that it stamps! It actually does better than the yellow stamping polishes I own, so I’d say that justifies my $.49 purchase right there. No luck watermarbling.

Verdict: Good

I wasn’t terribly impressed with the application and wear of this polish. My hunt for a good yellow creme continues. This is definitely worth tracking down if you need a yellow stamping polish though!

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.