Nail Polish Reviews – Page 34 – Adventures in Polishland

Category: Nail Polish Reviews

Brand Power: Tip Top Nails South Africa

Posted on July 28, 2012August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

Tip Top Nails is a brand from South Africa that creates vegan and 4-free polishes made from natural ingredients. Today I have four polishes from their NailChic line to show you. I really loved all of these polishes, especially the brush! The flat brush applies polish perfectly, distributing it evenly with every stroke. The formula in each polish was also outstanding. More detailed comments to come in the color descriptions!

First up is Sitting Pretty, a bright pink jelly polish. The color was a bit brighter on my nails than I thought it was going to be, but I really like it. With two coats the color was opaque. The one thing I really did not like about this polish, was that even after wearing it for two days, I woke up to impressions on my nails from my blankets. I can understand that this happens when polish is not completely dry, but it was strange that it still occurred forty-eight hours after application. It must just be the formula. Besides this one issue, I love Sitting Pretty and can’t wait to wear it again!

Traffic Lights is a metallic red polish with a beautiful shimmer. I am not usually a big fan of red polishes, but this one is stunning. I did apply two coats, but you could honestly just use one! My only complaint with Traffic Lights is that removal took a bit more effort than usual, but other than that I am happy with it. I definitely plan on using this color again during the holidays. It is perfect for Christmas!

Next up is Jitterbug Lime, a metallic lime green. This is also a shimmer polish, with green and gold undertones. I was very surprised by how pretty this color is. Upon first look, it has a frosted finish, but in the light the color truly shines. I used two coats of Jitterbug Lime, and both were necessary to achieve opacity. Brush strokes are visible with this polish, as with almost all other metallics that I’ve used, yet this does not take away from the polish at all. Similar to Traffic Lights, removal of this polish was more difficult that I would like. Otherwise it is stunning!

The last polish I have to show you is Gold Drop Glitter. I assumed that this polish could easily be worn on its own as the bottle read “Apply 2 coats of colour” on the bottle, just as it did with the other three polishes. But as soon as I applied one coat I realized that Gold Drop Glitter is best used as a glitter top coat. I was determined to use this on its own, so I started painting with hopes that I would achieve full coverage. Four coats later I was satisfied with the look. Gold Drop Glitter is a clear base with fine gold grains. If you’re willing to apply four coats you can wear it on its own. Otherwise, it would go great on top of another color. One day I’ll use this in another mani to show you what it looks like as a topcoat.

All in all, I really loved these polishes from Tip Top Nails. I wore each for 2-3 days and only experienced minimal wear along the tips of my nails. I definitely recommend these polishes. Those in South Africa can purchase Tip Top at their local Clicks store. The rest of us can follow the Tip Top Facebook community HERE and on Twitter HERE. You can also view all Tip Top products on their website: http://www.tiptopnails.co.za.

Have you tried this brand before? What do you think of these polishes?

The products in this post were provided to me for review. All opinions are my own.

In a Rush? Try This Quick Mani Upgrade!

Posted on July 23, 2012August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

One of my personal nail polish rules is to never paint your nails when you’re in a hurry. I just don’t want to deal with the stress that comes with smudging wet nails! But let’s face it. There are often times when we at least want to add a little something to our manicures before we head out the door for the day. I found myself in that position just the other day. Even though I loved Your Web or Mine? from the OPI Spiderman Collection (see post HERE), it needed to be revamped a little.

Because I didn’t have much time, I grabbed a glitter polish from my stash and added an accent nail. With two coats of Julep Yumi, my manicure was instantly upgraded! Just a flash of sparkle changed the entire look of my mani, and made my three-day-old polish shine. Since I was using Yumi as an addition, I didn’t even need to use topcoat. Plus, Julep polish dries really quickly, so I was ready to go in no time. Looks great, right?!

It gives it a little something extra, don’t you think?

You can really see the sparkle in the bottle here!

OPI Spiderman Collection: Your Web or Mine?

Posted on July 21, 2012August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

I was extremely lucky to receive the OPI Spiderman Mini Collection through a special blog sale a few weeks ago. I will tell you more about that sale in a future post, but today I have one of the colors to show you. Your Web or Mine? is a beautiful, frosty pink polish with a hint of shimmer. It applied very well. I used two coats to get full opacity. With this formula, you can see the brushstrokes when you apply the polish, but I really like to look it has. This pink is not too bright, but not drab either. It is a classy color that you could wear in a professional work setting, and enjoy all year round.

Your Web or Mine? also dried very quickly, which I loved! I’ve been wearing it for three days already and have only experienced slight wear on the tips of the nails. To be honest, I’m quite surprised with this color! I usually go for brights or pastels, but this pink is gorgeous. I definitely recommend it!

Stay tuned for more Spiderman colors! I have three more to show you in the future. Have you tried out any of this collection?

Try it on Tuesday: Half Moon Edition

Posted on July 17, 2012August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

Try it on Tuesday is all about finally putting on a color or two that you have in your possession, but that you haven’t used yet. This week I decided to not only use new colors, but to try out a new nail trend as well. I have seen people trying out the half moon design using binder reinforcement stickers, and I wanted to do the same. Most of us have some of these stickers laying around the house, so why not put them to good use? The trick is simple, but does require some practice. I’ll tell you how I achieved the look, and show you two Anise polishes along the way!

Anise polish can be found as DSW stores. That’s right– at your favorite shoe store! When I found that out I was very surprised. How had I missed them before? Well, you can find these polishes right at the register. They are $6 each, but they are typically on sale for buy one get one half off, so you get two for $9. Not too bad, especially since I had a bit of a gift card to put towards my purchase. I bought two complimentary colors– Miss Inspector and Bronzed Babe. I knew that I wanted to use them both together.

For this half moon mani, I began with Bronzed Babe. This is a gorgeous shimmery gold. Its formula and look is very similar to Celeb City from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear (one of my favorites!), except that it is gold and not silver. I used two coats, but it looked good with just one! It was very easy to apply, and dried rather quickly. I actually wore it alone for a few hours because I didn’t have the time to finish this mani all in one sitting, and I loved it! This is one of my new favorites!

Next, I applied a sticker to each nail. This method is very similar to the scotch tape trick, so be sure to press the stickers firmly down on dry polish. Once the stickers are in place, paint your next color. I used Miss Inspector, a creamy brown. Though this color looks very nice, I am not overly thrilled with the formula. Of course, this is the first time I’m using it, so I’m not sure how it would look without Bronzed Babe underneath it. The first coat was streaky and thin, but the second coat was much better. The worst part was the smell. Phew! So stinky! I’m not sure why that was, but it turned me off a bit. I’m not sure I’ll be using this color too much.

Just as you do with scotch tape manis, be sure to peel off the stickers of your half moon mani while the polish is still wet. Finish up with your topcoat to even out any imperfections. While my mani didn’t come out perfectly, I am pretty happy with my first half moon attempt. I can see that I positioned the stickers a little too high on the nail, especially on my right hand. I’ll be more careful about that next time.

Miss Inspector by Anise in half moon style!

What do you think of this mani? Have you tried the half moon style before? What about Anise polish? Let me know!

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway HERE!

Ride the Waves with Elle Surfer Babe

Posted on July 13, 2012August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

Here at Adventures in Polishland, I focus on bringing you nails that are fabulous and affordable. Typically, I don’t like to spend over $5 for polish. I never expected to pick up any of the Elle line new at Kohls stores, which retails for $10. However, I have the best mom, and she let me use her Kohls Cash to get a free bottle! I picked up Surfer Babe, a beautiful light blue. Even though I got this bottle for free, I was still a bit skeptical about it. Why is this polish $10 when it is sold at Kohls? Isn’t Kohls supposed to be inexpensive? I’m very happy to announce that this bottle of polish surprised me and turned out to be fabulous!

Surfer Babe is a light blue a bit on the teal side, with a shimmer running through it. I was a bit nervous with the first coat of polish. It applied evenly, but was very sheer. Luckily the second coat worked like magic. My nails look exactly as I hoped they would! The color is now opaque and extremely gorgeous. I am honestly impressed with Elle’s formula. At the same time, I am not sure that I would spend $10 regular price for this polish. If it was even $6 I might purchase them every once in a while, but I would rather go for a drugstore brand that is comparable in quality. Do you think $10 is a lot for Elle polish? Have you tried this brand yet?

P.S. My Kohls store was offering $1 off coupons for Elle polish! The coupons were located right next to the display. Make sure to keep an eye out for those if you’re going to buy this brand!

Second Chance Purple with e.l.f. Polish

Posted on July 11, 2012August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

I was so disappointed with yesterday’s manicure that I took it off the first chance I got. Sorry, Revlon, but I’m mad at you! Because I was still feeling purple nails, I tried out the polish I recently got by e.l.f. (eyes, lips, face). After yesterday it was a dream to use this color! I am much happier with the formula, the shade of purple, and the overall manicure.

This is the first product from e.l.f. that I’ve ever used. I purchased it off Copious using credits, so I only paid $0.54 of my own money! (Don’t forget, you can get a $10 credit when you join Copious HERE). Normally, these polishes retail for only $2 anyway, so they’re super affordable. The color I purchased is called Royal Purple, and it is a beautiful, shimmery hue. It’s a bit lighter than I thought it would be, but I really like it. I would say it is a more on the magenta side than a deep purple.

In terms of application, the first coat was a little streaky, but still applied evenly. The second coat took care of any problems I had and looked great! I also really liked the brush for this polish. It was very full, and easy to use. I think the one drawback I have with this polish is that it’s very similar to an OPI I already own called Lourve Me Lourve Me Not. It’s always hard to shop for polish online!

You can really see the shimmer in the bottle here!

All in all, I am MUCH happier with this purple than I was with Revlon’s Impulsive. Sometimes you just need to give your mani a second chance! Have you ever needed to give yourself a second chance mani? What was wrong with the original polish you used?

Try it on Tuesday: Revlon’s Impulsive

Posted on July 10, 2012August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

For today’s Try it on Tuesday I went with a purple from Revlon that I purchased a couple weeks back at CVS. I’ve never tried Revlon before, and to be honest I am a bit disappointed with it. Let me tell you why.

CameraZOOM-20120710200442614 — Impulsive by Revlon

The formula on this polish was definitely off. My first coat came out streaky and uneven, with some areas thicker than others. With a second coat the polish looked much better, yet I still wasn’t won over with the color. I think it just isn’t right for my skin tone (although my mom likes it on me). The real problems occurred when the polish was drying. For some reason I now have tiny, little air bubbles on almost every nail. I know this can happen when you shake the bottle before using the polish, but I didn’t do that so I’m not sure what happened! Tomorrow I am going to try another coat on top to see if that evens everything out. I sure hope it does!

Even though I wasn’t happy with this bottle from Revlon, I won’t give up on the brand just yet. I have another polish that I purchased at the same time as Impulsive that I will try out, too. I do have to say that I am surprised with the lack of quality in this formula. It retails at about $5 at drugstores, and there are plenty of polishes that are cheaper that are much better. What do you think? Have you tried Revlon polishes?

Get Off Me, Glitter!

Posted on July 5, 2012August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

Back in April when I first started Adventures in Polishland, my friend Steph requested a post about how to successfully remove glitter. Though I sport glitter polishes rather frequently I have never needed to seek out alternate methods of removing glitter until today. My beautiful Julep America was practically glued onto my nails. It took quite a bit of effort to remove, but now I know the trick that works, and will share it with all of you!

I first tried to take my glitter off with THIS method that I found on Pinterest. I’m not going into too much detail here, because sadly it did not work for me! Basically, you’re supposed to take a cotton ball, break it into pieces, dip it in remover, and set it on your nails for 1-2 minutes. The polish (any polish is the claim) is supposed to magically slide off your nail. I don’t think so! Here is what my poor left hand looked at after trying this out three times! That’s right– I repeated this three times.

Not for anything, but you can see that my regular nail polish on my ring finger didn’t come off completely either. Boo!

Onto method number two– tin foil glitter claws! I was hesitant to try this out because it uses a lot of materials at once, but alas, I needed clean nails. Basically take a cotton ball dip it in remover, and wrap it up with your finger in tin foil. Repeat on each finger and let sit for about ten minutes (yes, that long). The good news is that this really does work. You look a bit silly, but who cares?! The important thing is the glitter WILL come off. In case you’re wondering how these glitter claws look, I snapped a photo.

Now if your glitter seems to be easily peeled, I wouldn’t go through all this trouble. Instead, gently peel off the polish. Don’t dig into your nail or you might take off some layers, but simply peeling it off is fine. Most importantly, always be sure to apply base coat! You want to provide a protective layer between your nail and the glitter.

There you have it! The best method to removing glitter is tin foil claws. Now you don’t have to fear the sparkle.

P.S. Julep is having a sale on HauteLook today! Lots of discounts. Go shop HERE.

Monthly Nail Polish Haul: June Edition

Posted on June 30, 2012August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

I’ve noticed that many other nail bloggers include this type of post at the end of each month, so I decided to do the same. This June has been a very special one for me and Adventures in Polishland. Though the blog began in April, it wasn’t until this month that I really took it to the next level. I got involved with the nail blog community, created a Facebook page, and even made it to 73 followers and over 1200 page views. I am so grateful for all of the wonderful support I’ve received! With that said, I would like to show you the polishes I purchased this month, and the deals I got on all of them. Don’t forget, Adventures in Polishland is dedicated to fabulous and affordable nails!

Left to right, here are all of my June scores!

Jordana Glitters in LA City Nights. I purchased this for just one penny on Copious because I had $10 in credit for signing up. You can sign up HERE and read my post about the polish HERE.
Fabulous Nails in 104 (white). I purchased this for $2.95 on HauteLook after applying a credit I had earned. You can sign up HERE and read my post about the polish HERE.
Julep in Susie (a beautiful mint green) and Niecy (a creamy bright pink). I got both plus pedi creme for just one penny! Julep Maven is a monthly subscription that typically costs $19.99, but you can get your first month for a penny be entering COLOR2012 at checkout. You can always skip a month if you don’t like the selections or don’t have room in your budget. Join Julep Maven HERE. You can read all about my first Maven box HERE.
Revlon in Impulsive and Siren. I got these just a few days ago at CVS. Both are originally $5.99 each, but with coupons I only spent $4.98 plus I got $4 in Extra Care Bucks to spend on my next purchase. I haven’t tried out these polishes yet, but stay tuned for them in coming posts!
Sally Hansen HD in Byte and Laser. These were also a CVS purchase, getting both polishes on clearance for a total of $3.47! Read my post about Sally Hansen HD HERE.

In all I purchased eight polishes and paid a grand total of $11.69! How awesome is that?! All I did was use discount websites, special sales, and coupons. That’s what I call fabulous.

What polishes did you purchase this month?!

Try it on Tuesday: LASplash Polish & Glitter

Posted on June 26, 2012August 12, 2015 by Adventures in Polishland

I recently received some products from LASplash to try out and I am very pleased with them! Today I am wearing a beautiful peachy pink color dressed up with nail glitter in One for Fun style. I had never tried this polish before, and saw it on a fellow blogger’s site. I knew I had to have some! Even though it retails for just $3.99 (go HERE to shop!), it looks and applied like a more expensive brand! The polish had a nice texture that was not streaky. It took only 2 coats to look the way I wanted it to. The brush size was also the perfect– not too big or too small. I really enjoyed the color, too. It is called Blowfish Pink and has a slight shimmer to it. I would call it more of a peach than a bright pink, so it’s very pretty.

In addition to the polish, I also got some nail art glitter. It comes in a little pot, and to apply you just dip your finger into it. Make sure your nail polish is wet so the glitter sticks. Carefully press the glitter into the polish a bit and be sure to finish with a generous layer or two of top coat. LASplash even has a special glitter top coat, but you can use any kind that you already have. The glitter I used for this mani is called Spring Fling, and is a beautiful mix of pink, blue, lime green, yellow, and clear confetti. It goes perfectly with Blowfish Pink! My tip for using the glitter is to make sure you have newspaper or wax paper on the table for easier cleanup. I didn’t experience too much runaway glitter, but it’s better to plan for a mess!

What do you think of my mani?! I love it! LASplash is another brand that lets you have fabulous AND affordable nails! But the most exciting thing is that you can try out LASplash polish and nail glitter, too. Because I have reached 50 blog followers, I am having my first giveaway! Stay tuned for another entry today with the details.

This product was sent to me for my unbiased review. All opinions are my own.