Pretty Woman NYC

Here are the last of the polishes I received from Pretty Woman NYC, I do want to take a moment to thank the brand for their generosity. I had tried their polish on my own and fallen in love with their product so I am very grateful to have this opportunity to share just how great this brand is. 

I have five different polishes to share with you today and there were was one thing I wanted to bring to your attention. If you read my original post about Pretty Woman NYCs polish called "Pouty" you would know that one of the reasons I loved the polish was because of the brush, it was a medium sized brush but it was very dense and applied the polish quite easily. The story is not the same with these polishes unfortunately, I do not know if their standard brush is as dense as Poutys brush was or if they are all of regular density. If you own any polishes from Pretty Woman NYC, leave me a comment down below about their brush!

Three coats of Neverland Chrome

This polish if from their chrome collection and it is fully opaque at two coats, however the third coat does deepen the color a good amount. The formula on this was a little thicker than the usual consistency of polish but it was still easy to work with.

Three coats of Fairy Chrome

This stunning polish is also from the chrome collection and is absolutely beautiful. I really love green chrome and this one is no exception. Similar to the one above, this is opaque at two coats but the third coat deepens the color. It was fairly hard to photograph but the polish does have a pink, almost fuchsia shift to it.

Three coats of Pale Yellow Ceramic

Pale yellow ceramic has a "ceramic" or demi matte finish to it, so it is not a flat matte. Matte polishes are always fairly hard to work with since they dry so quickly that you don't have enough time to make your strokes even. I found that while two coats made the color fairly opaque, the third coat was really needed to make everything nice and smooth. I do want to make a disclaimer that the bristles on my brush were slightly bent which made it a little harder for me to get rid of the streaks. So you might be able to get away with just two coats. And this is from the ceramic collection.

Three coats of Relationship Goals

This bright bubblegum pink is from their valentines days collection and is stunning. It is very vibrant and I did not have to layer it over a white for it to be bright. This is a lovely color and I just love the way it contrasts with my skin tone.

Two coats of Cherry Bean 

I like to save the best for last and this polish from the Nude collection really stuck out to me. First of all, I enjoy the concept of having a nude collection and while this is not the "proper" nude for my skin tone I find that it still flatters it very nicely. This is almost a smokey taupe, it has more grey than purple and some brown as well. This had a great formula and was really easy to apply. 

Overall, even with the difference in brushes, I still enjoyed these polishes. I would have to say my top two colors have to be pouty and cherry bean they are fairly unique and have amazing formulas. If you have tried any Pretty Woman NYC polishes that you think I should try, leave me a comment down below.

Pretty Woman nail polish

Hello all,I hope you are having a great day. So in my April Ipsy glam bag, I received a beautiful fuchsia nail polish called "Pouty" from a brand named Pretty Woman. And I have to tell you, I was blown away when I saw the polish. On Ipsy's website, the color looked similar to another color I owned and simply wasn't exciting me. However, when I got the polish in my mail, I fell in love. Pouty turned out to be a bright fuchsia that practically looks neon on your nails and screamed summer.

Two coats of Pouty

Lets talk about the application of the polish and the formula. I have tried plenty of nail polishes before but I feel like the brush on this one was fairly unique. In terms of size, I would say it was a medium brush but to me, it felt more dense than a typical nail polish brush. This density helped the brush fan out a bit more so that you could coat most of your nail with one swipe. Something interesting I noticed about the formula was how much it reminded me of a neon. But if you visit Pretty Woman's website, this polish is not specifically labeled as a neon.

However, after the first coat I noticed that the polish dried down matte similar to a neon. And so I tried layering this over a white base to see if the color would change, however it stayed the same. Therefore I would have to say Pouty is a bright fuchsia that borders neon. This polish was opaque in two coats for me and surprisingly it dried shiny. In some lights or angles I could still see my nail line but I was alright with it.

As for the wear of this polish, I did conduct a wear test on my Cinderella hand. Some things to keep in mind as you view the pictures is that to truly test the quality of the polish itself, I wear no base or top coat. In addition, this is my dominant hand and I don't wear gloves when I do the dishes.

Day three

After wearing the polish for three days, I only had tip wear on all of my nails. This is fairly natural and doesn't speak against the quality of the polish.

Day four 

My troubles with this polish began on day four. I found my first major chip on my middle finger. Now since my middle finger is my longest finger, the fact that it chipped first was not surprising to me. However, it is important to note that the polish chipped four days into my manicure. As you can see in the photo, I also broke my middle nail but that is not related to the nail polish.

Day five

I ended my wear test on day five because I was unhappy with my thumb, pointer and middle finger. Now I did file down the nail on my middle finger which left some tip wear but it just seemed to keep chipping off, even after I took my picture. I had a chip near the middle on my pointer finger that also kept increasing and too much wear on my thumb. 

Overall, I would say that the Pretty Woman nail lacquer in Pouty is good. The color is fairly unique and application was very easy. This polish did last five days on my nails by itself, if you used your favorite base and top coat you would probably be able to get a longer wear. Now these polishes retail for $7.99 USD but they offer free shipping on all orders which is amazing and is something I don't see often. However, if you are a part of Ipsy, you can get these beauties for $5.99 USD! If you aren't signed up for Ipsy, feel free to use my referral link here. Hope you enjoyed this review, and if you have a favorite Pretty Woman nail polish, tell me in the comments below.

Wet n Wild 1 Step Wonder Gel swatch and review

(L-R Left Marooned, Condensed Milk, Stay Classy, Pretty Peas, Lavender out Loud)

Hello everyone, hope you are having a wonderful day. Two weeks ago, I wandered to my local Loblaws Superstore and found that they had the new Wet n Wild 1 Step Wonder Gel for $6 CDN and of course, I grabbed as much as I could.These polishes are supposed to mimic a true UV cured gel polish without the use of a UV light. So if you are interested in seeing my swatches, pros and cons, as well as the results of my 2 week wear test, just keep reading!

So lets start with some swatches, the range of this product consists of 18 different shades however, I only picked up 5.

Starting with the lightest shade I picked up, this is condensed milk. I did use three coats for this swatch and if you look carefully, you will see that there are still some spots where the polish is not completely opaque. Furthermore, the color that you see on my nails is lighter than the color you see on the bottle.

Next we have pretty peas, which is a beautiful seafoam green. I did use three coats for my swatch and I was able to get it fully opaque but I tried not to overwork the polish. On the first and second coat, I found that the more I brushed the polish, the streakier it got. Therefore I would recommend using the three strokes method with this particular color.

Stay classy is a wonderful mauve shade, and had the best formula of the bunch. It was almost opaque in one coat, however I did use two. This is the shade I chose for my wear test so you will be seeing it again soon.

Lavender out loud is probably the second best of the bunch but did need two coats to be fully opaque. It is a light and sightly dusty purple.

Last we have the worst of the bunch, left marooned. This was opaque in two coats but the formula was really tricky to work with so you might need three. This was incredibly hard to photograph using my regular lights, so I also took a picture in the sun.

 Nope, I did not change my polish. Left marooned is a cherry red. This color did not deepen on a third coat, and as you can see the color is nowhere near the same as the label. Also as I mentioned, the formula was tricky; it was goopy and hard to work with.

Next, lets talk about the wear test I did; I wore stay classy for 2 whole weeks with no base or top coat.

Say hello to my Cinderella hand, this picture was taken 9 days later. I do have a disclaimer, I hit my hand while closing a cabinet and I bent the nail on my middle finger which resulted in the chips you can see on the side. So please keep in mind that those chips have nothing to do with the formulation of the polish itself. Overall, I have to say I was definitely impressed by this polish. I do have a good amount of tip-wear, but this my dominant hand  and for nine days, it really held up well. As for the shine, I felt like I had the same amount of shine as the day I applied it.

Day 14, as you can see the chips on the side of my middle finger have gotten worse. I have more tip-wear and some chips on the sides of my other nails. However, the shine is still pretty prevalent and after fourteen days, I'm still impressed.

Overall, this polish by Wet n Wild has three main claims; color and shine for up to 2 weeks, no base or top coat needed, and easy removal. It has been my experience that all of those claims were true. After two weeks, it's still on your nails and it was a easy one step process. A lot of the time, if you don't use a base or top coat to extend the life of your manicure, your polish won't last for even a week. Also it did remove as easily as regular nail polish.

To wrap up, lets talk about some pros and cons, starting with the cons. $6 is expensive for Wet n Wild, their regular megalast polishes retail for about $3 CDN. This polish is really prone to bubbling, you really have to let it sit before you go in to paint your nails. The bubbles show up easy and since there is no top coat, you can't smooth out the polish is you do get the bubbles. No top coat also means that the shineyness of the polish itself is all you have, so if it's too dull for you, this line doesn't have a top coat for you to add on top. My major con with this line, is that since the bottles are opaque (the lacquer is light sensitive) you really depend on the sticker to depict the color. And while I can overlook the variation on condensed milk; it was a little lighter than the label, left marooned was really off. The label showed a classic maroon shade and the polish itself turned out to be a cherry red. So, what you see on the sticker, is not necessarily what you get.

To end on a positive note, I have a lot of pros for you. As you could see from my wear test, the polish did last a really long time. I got tired of the color long before I thought the manicure looked bad. For four out the five polishes I used, they applied really smoothly, self leveled nicely, no issues. The brush is the same as their megalast brushes so you can cover your nail easily. The polish also dries really fast! It is supposed to cure from regular ambient light or sunlight and I found that I only had to wait a handful of minutes in between coats and in the end.

While $6 is expensive for Wet n Wild , if you consider the other brands in the drug store, none of them have this kind of gel formula. To name a few, Sally Hansen Miracle Gel is a two step process; the polish and the top coat. Loreal Gel-Extraordinaire is a three step process;  base coat, polish, and top coat. Even Essence, gel nail polish has a base coat and top coat in addition to the colors. Therefore, since you only have to purchase the color you like, it is still an affordable polish.

Overall, I think this product is a 4/5 and my favorite color is pretty peas. Thank you so much for reading my review, if you've tried any of these comment below and let me know your thoughts!

Olivia Palermo x Ciate London Nail Polish

Hello all, today I will be reviewing a Ciate polish which is from their Olivia Palermo collection. I received my polish from my February Ipsy bag but the polish is also sold at Sephora and directly from Ciate London.

This is two coats of "Hutch- my go to red" and I have to say, this polish is beautiful. First, even though this is a mini bottle, the brush is large and perfectly rounded at the tip. Application was amazing, there were no streaks, no patches, it applied evenly. It was almost opaque on one coat, but I did have to do two. The polish also dries down darker than when you apply it.

I did a wear test to test out the quality of the polish and so I wore it without a base or top coat. I kept this on for 6 days with regular tip wear and the only reason I took it off was because I had to clean up a nail polish spill. The quality of this polish really impressed me and the only downside is that I found it took longer than normal for the polish to dry down. This can be easily solved with a fast drying top coat or some dry drops. Overall, I would definitely recommend this shade and hope to try out more Ciate nail polish.

Leave me a comment down below about what your favorite Ciate nail polish is, or which one you really want to try! If you are interested in signing up for your own Ipsy bag, feel free to use my referral link:  https://www.ipsy.com/new?refer=vfxwa