For many years I bit my nails (terrible habit!!!), so I was not much of one for polishes, but with the advent of Duane Reade carrying essie and opi, I began to be lured in. While there is certainly nothing wrong with drugstore lines and I still buy them from time to time, there was something One of my favorite polishes to this day is
Essie Mademoiselle. Its a pretty shade of pink that goes on sheer for a "french manicure" effect. It leaves a light pink tinge but is close enough to natural that chipping is not too noticeable. This picture was taken in natural light. I have on ULTA base coat, two layers of mademoiselle and Essie shine top coat. I think the base and top coats both work well, although honestly I am not a diehard fan a specific brand. Essie generally retails for $8, but I have found periodically retailers like beauty.com and ulta.com will have sales like 3 for 2.
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Since then I have broaden the types of polishes I sample and am a big fan of deeper colors and glitters. My current favorite brands are Butter London and Julep. I blame the
nail subforum at purseforum! The lovely members have open me up to the world of polishes of many shades, finishes and brands. I think my #1 nail polish goal is to find a glitter polish that finishes very smooth--I hate bumps. I find while wet n' wild and milani (two drugstore brands) have a lovely assortment of colors to play with at reasonable colors, the finish is so sandpaper that even two layers of top coat doesn't fix the issue. Last month I picked up this gift package of holiday glitters from the
Butter London website. At $17 a piece these polishes are not cheap, even the value
"holiday trio" pack price was a $42. But I loved all the colors and while not perfectly smooth they do dry far less bumpily than other brands I have tried. I purchased during their friends and family sale (20% in early December), so that helped a little with the cost at least!
I can also thank the nail subforum for introducing me to
Julep. Another premium brand, these slim bottles run for $14 a piece (20% discount for mavens). The maven loyalty program is a fun way to get a sample of polishes (typically 2-3 and a few other nail related gifts) for $20 monthly. Introductory boxes can be had for $5 (coupons are easy to find, currently MAVEN5), in case you are interested in a maven box this is my
referral link (you can earn "free" boxes with referrals, although at least thus far I am okay with the price). So far I am happy into my foray into Julep. The colors that I like have gone on very well. But I'll admit I did get the pink color penelope in my mystery box (separate promotion that they ran in December), and I hate it! But I hate all opaque light pinks so that was a big of a given. I can't wait to get my February box. Although I'm technically a boho chic gal, I opted to switch to It Girl because I'm loving both the copper and dark blue. While not cheap, Julep is often running promotions. Also I was able to score further discounts by applying my
livingsocial $50 for $102 of product deal (no longer available). I am sometimes overwhelmed by the volume and underwhelmed by the variety of offerings of the various daily deal / coupon sites, but I was pleasantly surprised by julep because I had been thinking about trying it.
Truth be told I'm not a big OPI fan. The color variety is fantastic, but I don't really have the application skills to deal with the thick consistency I have found the OPI brand to have. I've heard it varies color to color, but everyone has felt thicker and less manageable than my essie. On the other hand, that may translate to fewer coats for those more polish-dextrous than I. I also happily will select OPIs when at the nail salon which goes on fine when you have a skilled technician. Recommended retail price is $8.50 (i.e. at Duane Reade), but
Sephora by OPI runs for $9.50. Drugstore.com however carries it for $8.00, as does randomly Nordstrom Rack (if your local Rack carries polish at all).
