Nail Polish Stress Test: Finger Paints Endless Wear I Louvre You

Any time I hear about a polish that is allegedly long wearing, I find myself both curious and suspicious. The last one I tried didn’t fare well at all. Even so, when I learned Finger Paints had come out with their own line of long wearing polish I figured I’d give it a shot. Was that a mistake? Let’s find out!

I picked up I Louvre You, a bubblegum pink polish with a very pretty shimmer and microflakies. I’d say this is a jelly, but it can be opaque in three coats, which is what I went with. I used the matching Endless Wear top coat to finish it off. 

   This polish dries very quickly, which is great in the sense that you can move on to doing other things in the meantime, but also renders this polish useless for stamping or water marbling.

On to the critical part; how well did it hold up?

It didn’t. At the end of the first day I had noticeable tip wear, but I decided to push it to a second day. That was a mistake as I had catastrophic polish failure.

Verdict: Loser Polish

I’m being a bit harsh here as I’ve rated other polishes that have lasted one day higher than this, but they didn’t promise to last up to ten days either. Save your money and buy something else instead.

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: Finger Paints Violaceous Vase

Ever see a polish in the store, and want it, even when it’s not on sale? That was my reaction to Violaceous Vase, a recent release by Finger Paints. Was this a foolish and impulsive move? Let’s find out!

Violaceous Vase is a purple shimmer with small and large hex glitters. I would argue this is almost a duochrome in nature. I noticed it looked more pinkish or bluish depending on the light. This would obviously make a killer topper, but I was able to get full opacity with three coats. Is it ever pretty. This is one of those polishes where it’s hard not to keep staring at it. The shimmer is almost luminous!

The only downer is that polishes like this are no good for stamping or water marbling. Ah well, someday maybe. 

As for durability, it did great. I was able to wear it for three days before it got noticeably damaged. 

Verdict: Excellent

I feel totally justified for jumping on this one as soon as I saw it at Sally’s. I can’t speak to the chain as a whole, but I find waiting for my local store to get in polishes I want (if they ever do!) is no end of frustrating. I’m glad I don’t have to regret my impulsiveness!

Nail Polish Stress Test: CVS Pop-Arazzi Surf or Turf and Head Over Teals

CVS recently came out with their own exclusive line of nail polish called Pop-Arazzi. I haven’t heard much about it. What little I have heard has been overwhelmingly negative. When I heard it was on sale for $.99 instead of the usual $2.99, there was only one thing to do – go get some for science!

I figured the polishes’ reputation was in full play when I got to CVS on the last day of the sale. I was expecting to find little more than top coats and boring colors. Instead I found a pretty good selection to work with. I was tempted to load up, but the knowledge that I was potentially buying loser polish made me hold back. I chose Surf or Turf which is a minty pastel green with a slight shimmer, and Head Over Teals. Betcha can’t guess what color that is? 

Both these polishes have a stronger smell than average. I can see where this could be a problem for some people, but after the misery that was the Walgreen’s Four Pack, I really didn’t think it was bad at all. I definitely didn’t feel like I needed to air out my apartment afterwards this time. I was able to get full coverage in two coats. One odd thing is that after they both dried, they smelled kind of like candy for a few hours. The next day the smell was completely gone though. 

Head Over Teals will stamp no problem. Surf or Turf was a bit odd. When I was testing it out on a practice wheel, it stamped quite well. 

When I tried stamping something else on myself, not so much. I threw a coat of Seche Vite on top and left it at that. 

I had no luck water marbling with these polishes.

So, how did it do?

 Pretty well all things considered. 

I noticed after it dried (but before I top coated) it had the same finish as Zoya Thea, and Republic Nail Gel Effect Monaco, two polishes that didn’t do well, so I was expecting epic fail time. I did have some noticeable chips and tip wear by the end of the day, but nothing outside the norm.

Surf or Turf Verdict: Good

This one held up pretty well. I have no regrets spending $.99 on it. Would I spend $2.99? Probably not, especially since it’s not as versatile as other polishes I’ve bought in that price range. 

Head Over Teals Verdict: Good

Like Surf or Turf, I think this is best purchased on sale, although this one has the added benefit of being good for stamping. I was also pleased that it didn't stain.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Walgreen’s $2 Beauty Bin Four Pack

As I continue on my journey to find out which polishes are worth buying, and which are not, I’ve learned that some cheap polishes are excellent. That’s enough to encourage me to buy more brands I’m not familiar with in the hope of finding more good bargains. That brings me to today’s subject; a four pack of no name polishes I found in the beauty bin in the back of my local Walgreen’s. Was this a good purchase? Let’s find out!

 

There were a couple varieties to choose from. I went with a set with orange, pink, blue and green polishes. The first thing I noticed once I hacked the package open was the caps. They looked as if they were missing something. I guess I'm just used to solid black or white ones. 

 

The second thing I noticed is that these polishes smell bad. I mean really bad. It was as if they’d gone rancid or something. I was seriously regretting attempting this test in mid-winter. Being able to open a window would have been really nice right about then! Breathing shallow, I foraged on ahead.

These polishes applied okay, the pink polish was a bit thicker than the others. All of them took three coats for full coverage. That terrible stink didn’t ever really go away, even several hours after it dried and a coat of Seche Vite on top! At least they did dry quickly.

Did the wear justify the smell?

Simply put, no. One day of work and it was the end of the road for this mani! Amazingly enough, none of the polishes stained.

Water marbling was a complete fail. Even if it did work, I’d recommend against it because of the stench factor! As for stamping, it’s doable, but difficult. These polishes dry pretty quickly. I had trouble with finer lines and details drying out before I could transfer it to my nail. It’s not worth the struggle. 

Verdict: Loser Polish

Anyone would be within their rights to give up on this set based on the smell alone. Its overall poor performance insures it’s not worth even the $2 I spent on it. The only use it might have is as a diet aid. That stink is definitely an appetite killer.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Bonita Penny for Your Thoughts

Bonita is yet another drugstore brand I’m not familiar with. I’ve only seen them for sale at Rite Aid, and they range in price between $2 and $3. One color that recently caught my eye was Penny for Your Thoughts, from their Greetings Earthlings collection. Time to get to know Bonita a little better!

 

Penny for Your thoughts is a gorgeous copper foil. I found the formula to be quite a bit thicker than the average lacquer, but that’s not a bad thing at all! It’s a lot easier to apply that way. Had I been more careful putting this one on, I could have done it without having to do any cleaning up around my nails afterwards. This was nearly a one coater, but not quite. I used two coats plus my usual layer of Seche Vite on top. 

I do have to gripe about the bottle design a little. It’s the tall, narrow, and easy to knock over kind.

Anyways, how did it hold up?

 It did pretty well. After one day of work it was showing signs of wear and tear. I think people who don’t work in a warehouse like I do would get it to last much longer.

It won’t water marble, but stamping? Oh yes! 

  

Verdict: Good

While it’s not the most durable polish out there, it’s still worth buying at $2, especially since it stamps.

I was so happy with how well it stamped, I went back and bought more from this collection. Most of it works equally well, specifically; Truth Fairy which is pink, Greetings Earthlings which is blue, and Sea Me which is green. These are also pastel foils like Penny for Your Thoughts.