Category: Nail Polish Reviews

Coterie Grand Opening & Butter London Review

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

I am extremely excited to tell you all about a brand new website called Coterie. Similar to HauteLook, Coterie is a website that features flash sales on beauty brands. Its grand opening is today, but I was lucky enough to hear about a preview sale they were having last week featuring the nail polish brand Butter London. This brand usually retails for $14 a bottle, quite a bit out of my price range. With Coterie’s preview sale, I got 3 Butter Londons plus a matte topcoat for a total of $11 shipped! That is a $60 value for just $11! Let me show you the polishes I got. I’ll show you the polishes on their own, and then with the matte topcoat.

First up is Knackered. This is a duochrome polish with holographic glitters in it. Knackered is a purple/blue polish, and looks amazing in the bottle. I was a bit disappointed when I tried it out, though, because it is really sheer. It is definitely best used as a layering polish. In the photos above I am wearing three coats of Knackered. I love the glittery look, but definitely need to try this over another polish since I am not a fan of the sheer look. Besides that issue, I had no problems with the formula whatsoever.

 

 

Above is Knackered with the matte topcoat over it. It does look neat, but the matte took away the look of the holographic glitters, my favorite part of this polish. The best part about the matte topcoat is that if you don’t like it, you can apply a glossy topcoat right over it and restore the look of the original polish. No harm done!

 

 

Up next is West End Wonderland, a gold glitter nail polish with hints of orange. Luckily this polish lived up to how it looked in the bottle, and I got full coverage with just two coats. I have used gold glitter polishes before, but West End Wonderland is truly unique with the incorporation of the orange shade. It gives the polish more dimension. I also have to note that this glitter polish was the easiest to remove! I used the tin foil method, but only had to wait 3-5 minutes for the polish to come right off. Definitely a time saver!

 

 

Here is West End Wonderland with the matte finish. I have been dying to try out a matte topcoat over glitter, and I’m so happy I got the chance! The glitter is more subdued and not as shiny, but instead has a cool, grainy look. I can’t wait to try this finish over square/hexagonal glitters!

 

 

Last up is All Hail the Queen, my favorite polish of the bunch. This polish is a neutral shade with lots of shimmer, including holographic shimmer! That means this beige polish reflects all colors of the rainbow when it reflects light. My photos just don’t do this polish justice! All Hail the Queen is a great polish to spice up any neutral look. I used two coats of this polish to achieve opacity.

 

 

Finally, here is All Hail the Queen with matte topcoat. Just as with Knackered, this polish loses its holographic shine with this finish. To be honest, I applied my glossy topcoat to this manicure as soon as I could. The matte looked too much like sand for my liking! I also finished up my manicure with Julep’s Yumi. I couldn’t resist adding more glitter!

 All in all, I am still super excited about Coterie! I got an amazing deal on these polishes, and I can’t wait to see what sales they feature in the future. Make sure you join Coterie HERE. The Butter London sale is still available for a limited time. Enter code ZOEREPORT at checkout to get $25 off!

Monthly Haul: August Edition

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

At the end of each month, I like to look back at my nail polish purchases and see all of the great deals I got. For the month of August I was on a “low buy” after my collection had grown so much in July. Even though I splurged on a couple polishes, I was able to still get amazing savings! Let me show you what I bought.

 

From left to right, here are the new polishes I purchased in August:

  • I continued to grow my China Glaze Hunger Games collection with Smoke & Ashes and Agro. I heard through the nail polish community that Sally Beauty Supply stores had these on clearance, so I asked my followers to see if they could find me any. I got these for a total of $4.50! The original retail price of these polishes was $8.99.
  • Next, I got two mini polishes from the indie brand Dollish Polish. I saw a listing on Copious for the complete Mario Collection, and asked my followers if they wanted to participate in a group order so we could each get 2 polishes. I got 1-Up and The Koompa King for $11.93. The retail price would have been $12.15, so I did save a little bit. Don’t forget you can join Copious HERE and get a $10 credit now!
  • This month I did splurge on two Illamasqua polishes. I paid retail price for these at $14 each. Sometimes it’s nice to treat yourself! I chose the colors Riveting and Optimist.
  • As usual, I got my two new Juleps in my August Julep Maven box. I got the box for free again this month because I had a free credit! That’s $28 worth of polish! Join Julep Maven today and get your first month for one penny with code MAVENINTRO at checkout HERE.
  • I got this Layla Magneffect on Copious using credits, and only paid $0.92 of my own money! It is in the color Metallic Sky.
  • This pumpkin is a glow-in-the-dark nail polish. I did pay full retail price, but it was only $2.99! Find these at your local Rite Aid store.
  • Last but not least, while I was at Rite Aid I found this Wet ‘n Wild Chrome polish in the clearance bin for only $1.00! This line sells for $3.99, but the bottle was a little banged up. The polish is perfect, though!

All in all, I got 11 new polishes and spent $49.34 of my own money. The total retail price of all these polishes was $105.11! That is a savings of $55.77! On average, I spent $4.49 for each polish! How fabulous!

 

I also did some swapping this month! I got these four polishes by trading with other nail polish lovers. It’s a great way to git rid of unwanted polishes & save some money!

That’s it for my August Haul! What do you think of my new polishes?

Try it on Tuesday: Wet ‘n Wild Fergie Collection in Miami Spirit

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

I have always been a fan of Fergie, so when I found out she was joining forces with Wet ‘n Wild to create a nail polish line, I couldn’t wait to try them! I received Miami Spirit in nail mail from Polish Monster, and had every intention to use it right away. Well, for some reason weeks have passed and I hadn’t even opened the bottle. I decided to try it this week, as it is a perfect fall color.

 

Miami Spirit is a teal polish with green and blue shimmer. It was opaque with two coats of polish, and the formula was great. I didn’t experience any problems whatsoever! The brush that comes with Fergie polish is really wide, and at first I thought it would make things more difficult, but I found that it was easy to use despite how big it was. In fact, it holds a lot of polish! I am also happy to report that Miami Spirit dries rather quickly. All around it is a great polish!

 

Though I was loving the color and shimmer of Miami Spirit, my manicure just needed a little something extra. I went to my nail polish stash and grabbed Maybe I’m Crazy from the indie brand Absolutlacquer. You can read my full review of Maybe I’m Crazy HERE, but this polish is basically a glitter top coat with as many different colors and shapes of glitter as you could imagine. Last time, I wore it on top of a red polish, and some of the red glitters blended in. I wondered what it would look like on a shimmery teal. It turns out that it looks fantastic!

 

 

What I love about Maybe I’m Crazy is that you can achieve a different look with it every time you use it. That’s because the base color changes which glitters stand out. Plus, each nail is going to have a different combination of glitters on it. With the added shimmer from Miami Spirit, my nails are super shiny, and lots of fun! I’m so glad I tried this combination on together.

 

You can purchase the Wet ‘n Wild Fergie collection at your nearest Walgreens for just $3.50 a bottle! That’s pretty fabulous and affordable. Have you tried this brand yet?

Illamasqua Optimist: It’s Okay to Splurge (Sometimes)

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

While Adventures in Polishland is all about fabulous nails at an affordable price, there are times when it is okay to splurge on a special polish. After seeing beautiful swatches of the Illamasqua Limited Edition Rubber Finish Nail Varnish over at LacqueredLover.com, I decided to treat myself to a polish from the collection to celebrate my start of law school. I headed over to Sephora’s website, and chose Optimist, what Illamasqua describes as “warm yellow.” I was a bit surprised when my new polish came in the mail and it was a bright orange! At first I was a little bummed, but I paid $14 for my new Illamasqua and the least I could do was try it on.

I have never tried a polish with a rubber finish before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The formula is easy to work with, but you can definitely see any imperfections and brush strokes. I began with two coats, but I added a third coat just to make sure the finish looked the way I wanted it to. I knew that I wouldn’t be using a top coat with this polish, because the whole point is to showcase the rubber finish! It took a little while for me to get used to this new look, but after a few hours I came to love Optimist!

 

The color of Optimist actually reminds me of the Crayola crayon “Macaroni and Cheese.” I love how smooth and creamy the finish looks. I have been looking for the perfect orange polish, and I found it here with Illamasqua’s Optimist even though I thought I was buying a yellow polish. This color is great for fall, and even reminded me a bit of a pumpkin. I like how the color is bright, but not a neon.  That way it a bit more subdued, and not as “in your face.”

 

 

Though I can’t spend $14 for nail polish on a regular basis, I am sure glad I splurged on Illamasqua. If you are looking to try out a great, higher end brand be sure to stop by your local Sephora store. After buying this polish online and being surprised by the color, I definitely suggest looking at these in person first. That way you will find the perfect color for you!

Have you tried Illamasqua polish? What do think of Optimist?

Favorite Friday: Cloud Manicure with Julep Polish

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

It’s Favorite Friday! That’s when I use one of my favorite nail polishes, or recreate one of my favorite manicures! I’ve been wanting to do something fun with my nails, but I am not very good at nail art. I decided that this week I would recreate the cloud manicure I did a couple months ago. My nails were already painted with Julep’s Claire, so I used two other Julep polishes to upgrade my mani.

 

Not only do cloud manicures look really cool, but they are easy to achieve! All you need is three colors of nail polish, and some patience. With a steady hand you can easily master this technique. The best part is, people will be so impressed with your nails! You can get full instructions from my original cloud mani post HERE.

 

For this mani, I began with Julep’s Claire (blue) and then added on Morgan (purple) and Blake (yellow). Too be honest I’m not so sure how I feel about this color combination together. I think the clouds look great, but the yellow on the tips was a bit off for me. I will definitely do this manicure again with different colors!

What do you think of my cloud manicure? Have you tried this technique?

Try it on Tuesday: Layla Magneffect Metallic Sky

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

A couple weeks ago, I was lucky to score a bottle of Layla Magneffect nail polish on Copious. I have been wanting to try magnetic nail polish for a while, but the price kept me away. I did not want to pay $10 and up just to try it! Luckily, I had Copious credits at the time of my purchase, so I only paid $0.92 for this Layla that usually costs $15! That’s pretty affordable!

For those of you who may not have used magnetic nail polish before, it is basically a metallic colored polish that has a special formula that reacts when a magnet is placed over it. Depending on how the magnet is shaped, you can get different 3-D designs on your nail! I couldn’t wait to try out the Layla Magneffect I got in the color Metallic Sky, a deep navy blue. I read the directions on the bottle, and got painting. At first, I didn’t achieve good results, so I tried again, and it came out much better. Let me explain how I got this look:

 

First, apply a thin coat of polish on each nail. If you want, take the time to practice applying the magnet now, so you know what to do for the next coat. Once your first coat is dry, you will have to work on each nail one at a time. Be sure to work as quickly as possible. Paint a thick coat of polish and immediately turn the brush around so the magnet is as close to your nail as you can get it without touching. Hold it there for about five seconds. When you pull the magnet away, you will hopefully have a funky design on your nail! How cool is that?! Now, repeat this process on all of your nails, one by one. It sounds tedious, but it actually moves rather quickly. Layla Magneffect dries extremely fast, so you don’t have to worry about smudging your manicure in the process.

 

Another tip I have when using this particular magnetic polish is to give the bottle a good shake before you use it. Typically shaking polish creates air bubbles, but you want to make sure this formula is mixed well before you use it. That way the magnet will react well to the polish.

 

All in all, I really enjoyed this polish from Layla Magneffect. Once I learned a good technique, it was easy to use. I won’t be buying magnetic polish on a regular basis because of the price, but if I spy another good deal I will be sure to go for it. A lot of the newer polishes coming out have really cool designs, such as hearts! I will keep my eye out for those. Don’t forget, if you want to get great deals on nail polish, join Copious HERE. You will get a $10 credit just for signing up!

Have you tried magnetic polish? What do you think of it?

Michael Marcus Paradise Pink

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

It’s not that I don’t love sparkly and funky manicures, but for my first day of law school, I thought it would be more appropriate if I toned it down a little bit. At first the idea of a neutral tone popped into my head, but then I realized a pink would probably be okay, too. I decided to try out one of the Michael Marcus nail polishes that I received in my July Little Black Bag.

Paradise Pink is a gorgeous color that I would label a true pink. It isn’t too bright, and it isn’t too dark. It’s just pink! The formula of Paradise Pink is like a dream. It is so easy to apply, and I didn’t experience any problems. The brush was easy to hold and use as well. I was good to go with two coats of this polish.

My only woe with Paradise Pink is that it already began chipping not even twenty-four hours after application. I did apply top coat, but a few nails had slight wear around the edges. I am rather surprised by this, as Michael Marcus retails for $15 a bottle. Since this is the first time I’ve used it, I’m going to say the chipping occurred because of something I did, and not because of the polish. We will see how future manis with this brand turn out!

What do you think of Paradise Pink? Have you used Michael Marcus nail polish before?

Favorite Friday: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

Happy Favorite Friday! This week I am using another polish from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear. I know I blog about this brand a lot, but it’s because the polishes are great quality at an amazing price.  Plus, there are dozens of colors to choose from, and you can buy them at almost any drugstore or department store. I decided to use Celeb City this week because it is one of my all time favorites. Not only is my bottle half full, but my roommate from undergraduate school loved it so much she bought her own bottle! I think one day I’ll end up purchasing a replacement of this one.

 

Celeb City is a silver metallic polish with lots of shimmer. Unfortunately my photos are not going to do the polish justice today, as they were taken from my iPad. I promise only camera photos from now on! Anyway, the formula of Celeb City is perfect. I do need to apply two coats, but it goes on smoothly and evenly. It also dries really quickly. The best part about this polish, though, is that it lasts a really long time without chipping. If you want a polish that lasts over a week, this is the one!

 

Even though Celeb City looks amazing on its own, I decided to add an accent nail with Hollywood Walk of Fame from the new Wet ‘n Wild Fergie collection. I recently got it in a nail polish swap, and thought it would be fun with silver. I’ve never tried star glitter before. It looks great, but it hard to apply. A full review of Fergie polishes at some point in the future.

 

What do you think of Celeb City? Do you like silver nail polishes?

Try it on Tuesday: Orly Rock Solid

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

I wasn’t planning on participating in Try it on Tuesday this week, as I had hoped to do a mani upgrade with a gradient. Unfortunately, my last mani got all messed up (my fault!), and I couldn’t stand to look at it anymore. Thus, here I am! I asked my Facebook followers which brand I should try out today, and they voted for Orly. I think they made a great decision!

Rock Solid is my first Orly polish. I bought it on HauteLook using credits and only paid $0.45 for it! This polish is actually from the Mineral FX Fall 2011 line, so it’s like I went dusty hunting online for this one. Rock Solid is a dark grey polish with small holographic glitters. I used two coats to achieve full opacity. The formula is a dream to work with– no streaks whatsoever! It also dries rather quickly. For once I didn’t use a topcoat, either, as I love the look Rock Solid has. The finish is a bit textured. This may sound silly, but it looks and feels like a rock, only not in the “I found it in my backyard” sort of way. Instead, it is stunning! The glitter shines in the light, and changes color as you move your hand. The grey also has a silver undertone. It’s beautiful!

Look at that bottle!

 

Rock on!

 

I’m not usually one for dark colors, but I’m loving this one! I can’t wait to wear it more in the fall and winter. I also love the Orly cap and brush. The cap is a soft, grip material. That way it doesn’t wiggle around in your hand when your painting your nails. The brush is also awesome. It’s thin, but holds a lot of polish. No mistakes or globs here! I hope to get more Orly polishes in my stash.

If you’re not an HauteLook member, make sure you join HERE. They have sales on nail polish all the time!

Favorite Friday: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mint Sorbet

Posted on by Adventures in Polishland

It’s Favorite Friday! That’s when I wear one of my all time favorite polishes that I haven’t used in a while. Today I have Mint Sorbet from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear. I absolutely love mint polishes! I bought this one after I had seen many girls rocking mint nails on the NYC Subway in the spring of 2011. Not only is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear affordable at just $3 a bottle (or less at some stores), but the quality is rather good. You can read more about this brand HERE.

Mint Sorbet is not my all time favorite from this brand of polish, but the color is so pretty. This is definitely a two-coat polish, as the first coat comes out streaky and uneven. Luckily a second coat usually fixes everything and smoothes the color out. Today, I was pleasantly surprised with how beautiful my mani turned out. I don’t know if I’ve just gotten better at painting my nails, but Mint Sorbet is at its best ever! I even did something I never do — I did not apply a topcoat! The polish looks so glossy on its own that I didn’t bother. What do you think of Mint Sorbet?

 

 

I’m sure you can see why this is one of my favorites! Have you tried this color or brand before?