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.

Top Coat Stress Test: Revlon Matte Pearl Glaze

Matte polishes aren’t my favorite things in the whole world, yet I keep trying them. Up to this point, every one I’ve tried has ended up being party polish. Then I learned about Revlon’s Matte Pearl Glaze.

Matte Pearl Glaze is a part of Revlon’s Transforming Effects collection. What attracted me to this one is that it’s a matte top coat and it has a beautiful pink shimmer. I’ve never seen anything quite like it, so when Rite Aid recently had Revlon polishes on sale 2/$4, I made a point to acquire it.

I decided to test it over Ulta Blue Holiday, a polish I rated as excellent. My hope was that testing Matte Pearl Glaze over a solid foundation would tell me whether this was going to be a good topper, or $2 I’ll never see again. I used one coat over two coats of Blue Holiday.

 

I really love how this looked. The matte finish would have been nice enough on its own, but the pink shimmer really is fantastic 

So, how did it hold up?

Pretty well! I suspected it wouldn’t last as long as it would have if I’d used my usual top coat and I was correct. With that said it definitely did better than straight up matte polishes have. Just a couple chips and some loss of texture.

I did try stamping with it. It can be done but I don’t think it’s really worth it. It came out looking like adhesive that was left behind, and only showed up on really dark polishes. Pity that. I found it dried out too quickly to be used in water marbling. I think its best chances in nail art would be to use it with nail vinyls.

Verdict: Good

If you’re like me and you want your matte manicures to survive more than six hours, definitely give this top coat a try. I am looking forward to playing around with it some more. If Revlon came out with the same thing in different colors, I would absolutely buy them.

Nail Polish Stress Test: Everglaze Don’t Grape About It

Is it me or does it seem like extended wear polishes are cropping up everywhere? I have not had good luck with the ones I’ve tried so far, but I keep hoping one of these will actually work for me the way they claim. This time I’m trying China Glaze’s Everglaze, bought during one of Sally’s buy one get one free sales, of course. I’m not paying full price for potential broken dreams!

Don’t Grape About It is a lame pun is a lavender crème. The formula was easier to work with than the Endless Wear polish I tried. I had full coverage in two coats, which dried very quickly. I used the Everglaze top coat afterwards. It had a really nice shine to it. Could this polish be the one that survives the warehouse?

Nope. While I didn’t have catastrophic polish failure this time, it was pretty much trashed in one day. 

I didn’t have any luck water marbling or stamping with this polish. It dried too darn fast to do anything with it. 

Verdict: Loser polish

Fellow warehouse workers and retail people, I’m sorry to report this is not the polish we’re looking for.  I do recognize that any manicure of mine will die an accelerated death, BUT I do expect it to last longer than traditional polishes. With that said, people with office jobs might be able to get this to work. Everyone else should steer clear.

Nail Product Stress Test: Kiss Nail Dress

It really sucks when I get sick. I’m never ever seen with naked nails. When I can’t stop sneezing and blowing my nose, it is really hard to work with nail polish, never mind doing any nail art. Lucky for me, I had a set of Kiss Nail Dress nail wraps handy!

My last attempt to wear nail wraps didn’t end well at all, so I was worried this was going to be another epic fail. However, it was either this or naked nails, so I went for it! 

One thing I liked from the get go is they give you two full sets of wraps to work with, one for French manicures, and one for full nails. They also provided a nice range of sizes, so these should pretty much fit anyone. I think they might even work for pedicures, but I’ll leave that for someone else to try. 

I absolutely love the design. I am a sucker for anything with suns, moons, and/or stars on them. These could not be more “me”!

I had a tough time applying these wraps. Since we're talking decals as opposed to pre cured nail polish, they don’t stretch nor can they be easily repositioned. I was able to do a passable job, but I had a bunch of wrinkles I couldn’t get out. Lucky for me, the design hid a lot of that. Well, in IRL at least. The camera never lies, and in this case, I wish it did!

 According to the package, the wraps are supposed to last up to a week. Did they?

No, but in this case, operator error is a factor. The nails where I got the wraps on properly held up well, while the ones with wrinkles took more damage. I believe if I’d done a better job applying them it would have lasted longer. This went three days before I needed to take them off. 

Removal was surprisingly easy. I was able to peel them off with no problem, no residue, no nothing left over.

Verdict: Good

Of everything I’ve tried that’s promised to last a week so far, this one has done the best. These were a gift from my friend, so while I don’t know what the cost was, I’d say they were definitely worth it. If I come across this brand in my travels, I’m definitely buying more. I’m hoping my results with improve with more practice.

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: Candie’s My Kinda Teal

Ever have a store you visit on a regular basis, never buy anything there ever, and then wonder why you bother going? For this lacquerista, that store is Kohl’s. I stroll through their nail polish section every time I’m in there, but they never seem to put any on sale. I’m not familiar with most of the brands they sell either. Imagine my surprise on my last pass through when I saw actual genuine for reals clearance! I’m wary of trying $8 polish for science. $2.40 clearance polish? Sure!

My Kinda Teal is…well… my kinda teal! It’s pretty close to the bottle of Head Over Teals I picked up recently, My Kinda Teal is more green. The cap makes me think of Ring Pops.  

Application was easy enough, although this polish appeared to be on the crelly side. I went with three coats plus my usual layer of Seche Vite on top. I kicked in some glitter on my ring finger just for fun.

As for wear, it didn’t do well at all. I lost a good amount of polish over the course of my shift. By the end of day one it was definitely game over for this mani! I found it stained my nails somewhat when I took it off.

I had no luck stamping or water marbling with this polish. 

Verdict: Loser Polish

Had I paid full price, I would have been super pissed instead of merely disappointed. I expect more from $8 polish. I'm sorry to say this one’s another bottle of fail.

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!