CND Colour and Effects Bottle Problems

In my recent purge, I've noticed a major problem with a good 25% of my CND polish bottles.  They are leaky, seriously leaky.  This allows a great deal of air into the bottle, and volatiles out. 

The result is that tightly closed bottles of polish are drying out, and stinking up my house (my SO kept complaining, and I could not find the loose bottle cap ... turns out that was not the problem).

Needless to say, while I love CND's Colour and Effects lines (the combinations are amazing!) as well as their awesomely quick dry time (out and about in an hour!) AND longevity (manicures lasting for a week!) ... I'm not buying any more CND polishes.

And another savings to my wallet!  I'm practically down to China Glaze, Color Club, and Misa as my only polish purchases. 


Ah, it is just as well, CND rarely bring out anything new and interesting, having spent most of their time on the Shellac line ... which I strongly urge people against due to the UV light exposure for curing.  UV light is dangerous, whether on your body as a whole or your hands as a part.  The lighter your skin, the more you should run away.  I don't care how long it lasts or how great it looks ... because skin cancer is not worth the pretty or the longevity.

Nubar "Walnut" Swatch

Ah Nubar, what can I say ... your color developer has a interesting/unusual/backwards eye.

Nubar Walnut appears perfect in the bottle, until you look closely. Walnut is a warm reddened brown lacquer, with the slightest hints of red and silver microglitter. Yes, silver.

It's savings grace is that the microglitter pretty much disappears once the lacquer dries.

Walnut appears to apply fairly evenly and dry very quickly. However, when the nail is backlit, you can see an extraordinary streakfest along the free edge. It is not at all obvious when looking at the color in any other lighting conditions.

Within 24 hours, I had a pretty chippy manicure. Between the chippies and the cool silver mixed with warm red color, this has landed soundly in the donate pile.

Nubar is another company that is getting placed mostly in the donate, rather than keep pile.  I believe I have less than 5 bottles of their polish remaining after my recent purge.

I do not like cool and warm mixes in my nail polish colors, and that is what I consistently see with Nubar.  If Walnut was a cool color, such as chocolate brown, I could understand the silver addition, but it is a warm color and should have gold added instead.  Harumph.

BB Couture Butt-Naked Bronze Swatch and Review

BB Couture Butt-Naked Bronze is almost a light cocoa.  Depending on the light source, it can appear cool or warm, and neither source makes it look good with my skin.

It is lightly pigmented, slightly streaky, and sparsely populated by holographic glitter that flashes red, green, and gold.

I saw this on another blogger, and absolutely fell head over heels.  But her skin was more pigmented, and now that I have this color on ... I am not drawn to it.

 

Bye-bye BNB.  I'm starting to get very low on BB Couture polishes.  I think this is another company that does not cater to my skin specifics.  Much like cult nails, they simply do not have a large enough hold on the market to create for warm skinned individuals.

Zoya Rica Swatch and Review

Ah, the last of the sunshine collection, and like the other two before it: Apple and Faye ... Zoya Rica is heading directly to the give away pile.

I started with two base coats and a first lacquer layer at night.  Let it dry for over an hour before going to bed.  No problems.

Wake up in the morning, and add a second lacquer coat (nothing too thick, just a thin second layer).  No activity for over an hour.  Get in the car to drive ... smudge and dent four nails in short succession.

These truly are the polishes that refuse to dry.  I don't know what Zoya did wrong, but it sucks.

I may eventually forgive Zoya for this travesty ... but it may take a long while.  I still haven't purchased anymore from them, even a year after this collection was released.

I would describe Rica as a slightly coraled rose pink with heavy gold glitter.  Depending on the way light catches it, the polish can seem quite warm or quite cool.  It was a fun experiment, but I don't like dents in my polish, so I've given up on Zoya for the time being. 

I had this same issue with Orly polishes.  Hm, what a darn shame, it really cuts down on my polish spending!  I still see swatches to drool over, but the drying issue is a major irritation.  So I continue to sit and wait for dupes to appear (hey, it worked for that Peridot polish from way too expensive-ville, China Glaze released Rare and Radiant, and it now has a home with me - I am patient ... next up is hoping CG releases a Zoya Faye duplicate).

OPI DS Jewel Swatch

OPI DS Jewel ... an elite designer series lacquer, guaranteed to make your mouth water in some nail polish induced joy ... right???

Wow. This is once seriously ugly nail polish.

 

DS Jewel has a streaky, corpse pale, smokey base that causes the first coat to give you slightly shimmery dead nails. The second coat does not improve things much. The third coat does give it some depth with the red-violet glitter, but that semi-translucent smokey base curdles the shimmery goodness.

No wonder you do not see swatches for this. Who would pay good money for this crappy polish when given an option? OPI "Teasy Does It" is a much better warmed red-violet glitter option.

I love a good jelly, and VNL rarely bothers me. However, the juxtaposition of this warm shimmer riding on a ghostly ugly cool base is a definite turn off.

Maybe DS Jewel would make a good layer polish ... but that is what CND Effects are for, yup.

Zoya Faye Review try 2

Apparently the great blogger outage is only going to repair certain posts ... I would choose the day before the outage to upload four posts of information.


I thought Zoya Faye was going to be my color from the collection. A beautiful plum with gold glitter,  just perfect.   However,  it just does not grab my eye.  I'm not sure how a semi-translucent base with gold glitter smorgasbord can be boring, but this Zoya Sunshine certainly fits the definition in my case.  I've even tossed Apple into the donate pile.  It is almost like they made a collection, didn't like it, and tossed in glitter to liven it up.  But not enough. 

 

Additionally, it is as slow drying as everyone says. I have never had a Zoya dry so slowly. Even with 15 minutes between coats, I banged up two nails after a quick drying topcoat was added.

In the light of the setting sun.


I guess we should have realized, if Zoya was putting this brand-new superduper set of collections on discount sale, something about the formula was going to be crappy.

Base coat - Nubar NuNails
two layers lacquer
quick drying topcoat - Nubar Diamont (old formula)

In the shade.



Too many issues - it is not worth it.

There is a minor bit of VNL present in certain lighting conditions, but I'm surprised that bothers anybody. It is hardly noticeable at two coats.

It has held up quite well to five days of abuse, with chipping only along peeling nail layers.  Minor tip wear.

Regardless, I prefer Zoya Pru,  and will be gifting Zoya Faye to another.

I caved, OPI "Take the Stage" Swatch

After my high dungeon speech about OPI turning on its customers and requiring full price sales only, I was inundated by Burlesque swatches.

I was grabbed and shaken about by "Take the Stage" a strongly red copper almost glass flecked shimmer.  Being that I also came across a sale, I purchased it ... and perhaps "Rising Star" and "Tease-y Does it!" came along as well.

Now that I have applied "Take the Stage" I cannot understand all the gushing OPI love I keep reading for Burlesque.  This thing is almost a nightmare to work with.  It doesn't have enough pigment and the first coat is a streaky, smeary mess.  The followup with a second coat just reveals all the cuticle drag and bare spots from the first coat. 

Take the Stage is basically a heavy micro glitter in clear coat.  As such, the streakyness is very bothersome to me.  I do not see it so much in photographs, but in person the problems are obvious.  In the photograph, the outer edge of my pointer finger has a long streak (left side in the picture).

It probably needs a third coat, but I don't have that much patience.  Especially since this dries really, really slowly.  It is not as bad as an Orly for me, but it is close.  I ended up having to redo two nails after 30 minutes of drying resulted in severe smudging.  I don't know what I caught them on, but they looked horrid.

So even though the color is spectacular, the formula is horrendous.  Just not worth it.

AND, obvious VNL at two coats.

Tossed into my give away pile.

Luckily, very little from the "Texas" collection is calling to me.  I feel a slight need to defend the state against such a poorly thought out color story.  I will only say that it is obvious a native was NOT consulted.  We would never have given approval.

Additionally, OPI's "Smok'n in Havana" re-release keeps whispering to me.  But everytime it "pssts" in my ear, I look back to my Take the Stage photos and think, "Naah."



I still haven't tried "Rising Star."  I figure it will have the same issues as "Take the Stage."  Luckily, "Tease-y Does It!" has a pigmented base, making the wearing experience far more satisfying than "Take the Stage."  Weather did not co-operate for photographs.  Next time.

Conclusion, OPI really lets the warm toned down collection after collection.  It is either nothing but bad colors, or a good color with a craptastic formula.  Hey, Zoya, whaddya got goin' on?

Lowest toxicity Nail Lacquers or Nail Polish

In my search for less toxicity and better health, everything has come under scrutiny.  Including my polish collection.  I started collecting more than the typical bottle or two of polish about four years ago.

When the 3-free (toluene, formaldehyde, and dibutyl phthalate free ... perhaps it goes to show my own obsessiveness that I didn't even have to look up the spelling for those) craze started up several years ago, I tossed all my old lacquer formula (gave them away) and started collecting 3-free only.

Now the new 3-free formulae have reached the point where there is a big difference in toxicity levels. 

I run the ingredients list through the Skin Deep Cosmetics Database, http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com, and use that as a basis for my opinion of the lacquers.

According to ingredients lists, the lowest toxicity lacquers available today are: CND Colours & Effects, Nfu-Oh, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics, and $ephora by OPI.  All four companies have a 3 out of 10 toxicity rating according to Skin Deep.

I think it is time for all those other companies to re-think their new formulas - Diamond Cosmetics, Ginger + Liz, Illamasqua, NARS, Orly, and SpaRitual ... along with anyone else who hasn't yet converted to a 3-free formula.

CND Ingredients
butyl acetate; ethyl acetate; nitrocellulose; acetyl tributyl citrate; phthalic anhydride/trimellitic anhydride/glycols copolymer; isopropyl alcohol; titanium dioxide; adipic acid/fumaric acid/phthalic acid/tricyclodecane dimethanol copolymer; adipic acid/neopentyl glycol/trimellitic anyhydride copolymer; sucrose acetate isobutyrate; stearalkonium hectorite; citric acid; ethyl tosylamide; iron oxides

I have found the new CND polishes to be fairly opaque with one coat and have little to no cuticle drag.  They dry quickly.  Longevity is a bit of a crap shoot, some last for close to a week, some last only two days before tip wear is obvious.  I have not had chipping problems with this new formula.
 

Nfu-Oh Ingredients
Ethyl Acetate; Butyl Acetate; Nitrocellulose; Acetyl Tributyl Citrate; Isobutyl Acetate; Isopropyl Alcohol; Adipic Acid/Neopentyl; Silica; Styrene-Acrylates Copolymer; N-Butyl Alcohol; Cl 26100

Nfu-Oh are a weakness inducing polish.  They have a huge amount of finishes and an absolutely astounding array of colors.  It is a good thing that more of the line is not carried here in the states, or my collection would be much bigger (and I've got plenty as it is TYVM).

I have had good luck with the Nfu-Oh formula.  It is fairly quick drying and long lasting.  I usually get a minimum of three days without tip wear.  I rarely experience chips with this polish.

However, their holographic polishes, in the low/mid 60s number range, have the same poor wear that every other company's holographic polishes display.  Nfu-Oh's holos are unique due solely to color range.  The seafoam, 66 is really too cool for my skin tone.  The peach, 62, is perfectly beautiful ... for about a day.

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics
Ethyl Acetate, Butyl Acetate, Nitrocellulose, Isopropyl Alcohol, Acrylate Copolymer ; Iron Oxides, Titanium Dioxide, Ultramarines, Bismuth Oxychloride, FD&C Yellow #5, D&C Red #7, D&C Red #34, Ferric Ferrocyanine, Mica

I've only worn two OCC polishes, but they do have fairly good longevity, I think I got four days before tip wear became an issue.

I've had one polish dry very quickly, where another gave me sheet marks after drying for an hour.  So the formula is tweaked from one to the other.  The sheet marks weren't obvious to a casual glance.

I do have a problem with the brushes.  I had one replaced because it was so flyaway that application was practically impossible.  The other brush I tried was just of poor quality.  So application is a bit messy. 

Also, the formula on OCC polishes smells very strongly.  Much different from any of the other three on this post.

$ephora by OPI
butyl acetate, ethyl acetate, nitrocellulose, tosylamide/epoxy resin, acetyl tributyl citrate, isopropyl alcohol, stearalkonium bentonite, benzophenone-1, silica, trimethylpentanediyl dibenzoate, polyvinyl butyral, cl 77891, cl 15850, cl 77491, cl 77120.

$OPI is a fairly new brand for me.  I find their price too high to justify ... unless they are on clearance, or a deep discount.  As such, I do not expect to acquire a large or even medium sized stash of Sephora by OPI colors.  I have not yet worn one for a full manicure.

China Glaze Peace on Earth

I've just about killed my lemming for NARS Mash with China Glaze's new "Peace on Earth."

A true medium Olive green with gold shimmer, it is the much lighter brother of Wagontrail.

It applies beautifully in two coats with lovely coverage.  Exactly what I was hoping for.  Now I need a color in between POE and WT.  :)

It has no Avocado leanings.

CND Urban Oasis swatch and review and Teal Sparkle

CND's new "Urban Oasis" polish is a pretty, though dark, blue-green/teal leaning further to the blue side than green.

I expected to dislike the polish once I saw how much blue it had, but I've gotten several compliments and it is beginning to grow on me.  Kinda like a fungus actually ... but I'll still switch to CGs "Peace on Earth" when it arrives.

After adding the second coat, I almost immediately crashed my pointer fingers together.  Go figure, I tend to read between polish coats and books can be a challenge to pick up and put down.  With no small amount of dread, mostly because this is a creme and cremes just don't do passable touch-ups as well as shimmers/glitters, I looked at my nails.

No damage.  Wow, these dry as fast as OCC Chlorophyll.  No surprise, the formulas are very similar.

Two days later, I applied the Teal Sparkle top coat as a funky french.  I was noticing the slightest bits of tip wear, and decided to hide them rather than change.

Teal Sparkle has a great deal of green to it, so the combo is unusual, to say the least.  It does have a duo effect, with the plastic bits flashing from clear to green so the base color shows through.  It has also been growing on me.

These photographs were taken on day four of the mani, I believe.  Or day five, but I'll be safe and say four.  There was some minor tip wear, which is very common for me.  I'm always dragging my nails across something. 

Removal of these did turn my fingers blue for a bit, and I used three cotton balls to remove all the lacquer ... a bit more than is typical.  I was able to remove the vast majority of the polish, so I wasn't wandering around with asphyxiated fingers for long.

Barielle Ridge Filling Base Coat
Two coats polish
One coat Nubar Diamont

My refill bottle of Diamont seems to play more nicely with polishes than the original bottle.  It still dries as quickly for me, but the layering is easier and lasts longer.  I had massive peeling problems with the first bottle if I layered anything on top of Diamont, even a second coat of Diamont ... if you change your polish daily or every two days, no biggie, but I like to get at least four or five days from a mani.  This refill is definitely working better, but it is an older bottle.  Probably close to a year old or more.  I've read that Nubar changed the formulation of Diamont, and some bloggers were having a lot of problems.  If so, CND still makes "Air Dry" and I've had great results from that quick-dry as well.

OPI "Who the Shrek are You?" swatch

OPI, I am very disappointed!  (Fifth Element Oldman flash!)

Who the Shrek are You? is so ugly, you want to like it for that alone.  You want to reassure the color, "While others may turn away, I will wear you with pride!"  Except, WTSAY? is not just the green monster, but the green pigmentless monster!  RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!!!

Probably the worst balding color I have ever seen, except for a couple of sheer nudes ... Zoya Lulu and Revlon Sheer Nude spring to mind.

Three mid-thick coats later, and I still have bald spots ... with a pea green nail polish.  Ick.  Unfortunately, this color is a waste of time, energy, and money.

I can only see it being used in nail art ... preferably as a background color, NOT a base color.  Foliage perhaps?

This is being jettisoned from my collection as I write.  I'll try China Glaze's "Treehugger" instead.

I could not imagine taking a photo of my right foot.  From five plus feet away, you cannot tell much.  But inch a little closer and baldzilla rears its head on my big toe ... "Aarrrggg!"  Can Mothra be far behind?

Bye, bye, baby, bye, bye ...

China Glaze "Far Out" Swatch

"While the last rays of the sun lay dying ..."  I feel like I'm writing my dime store novel.


It is that time of year where the media is hyping Fall!  Fall color, fall texture, fall temperatures.

Houston does not feel very fallish, mid-summer perhaps, but NOT fall.  Not even fall anticipatory.

So I'm caught in a Fall mood, without a Fall environment with which to back it up.  Enter, China Glaze "Far Out" - a color I've never worn, and cannot now explain why.

Far Out is a lovely in-between color.  It is not as deep as a vampy, nor is it a light spring or summer color.  It is a muted rust color, neither too bright, nor too deep, nor too bronzey.  A Goldilocks color, or, perhaps more accurately, a baby bear color.

This almost fits my definition of Chestnut.  A deep reddened orange brown with a flash of fire.  The flash made obvious by the setting sun.

Far Out is usually quite tame and serene, until that sun lights it from within.

It has held up well with very little tip wear.  The first day I wore one coat atop Nubar NuNails (to retard any staining).  I finally got a second coat of lacquer on the third day (this semester is just really weird, I cannot settle into the schedule) ... a bit of tip wear on the first coat.  Here is two days after second coat application and four days after first coat application.  I applied CND "Air Dry" after the second coat of lacquer.

I do like to space out my coats if possible, which I believe leads to greater longevity.  However, the second coat took way too long.  I'm pleased with the wear I've gotten from this odd application schedule of mine.

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Chlorophyll Polish Swatch

I have a first look at Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics (OCC) new lacquer, Chlorophyll.   As if I could turn away from something with that name ... though I originally placed the order for Swamp Thing.  The new Chlorophyll just jumped in the cart to ride along ...

They have very low toxicity, some really unique colors, but still a fairly narrow color range in toto.

My first order arrived with five bottles of polish and one lip tar side by side and surrounded by pop-corn. Needless to say, not every bottle arrived intact. Chlorophyll broke and oozed onto and in every other part of the order.

What a stinky, icky mess!

I emailed OCC and requested that they replace the entire order and refund my shipping (I placed my order with their emailed free shipping code, and they charged me for shipping anyway).

I got a lightening fast response from Anthony at OCC that they would replace the order at no charge, and refund my shipping due to circumstances ... Huh?

So my replacement order arrives today and I am thrilled to tear into my package. This time the order arrives properly protected in a cardboard lacquer shipping box surrounded by popcorn. I paper swatch all of my new colors and try out Chlorophyll.

All my new colors have beautiful flow on the swatch, except for Chlorophyll. It is a thicker polish and the brush is a nasty flyaway mess (it looks like it was caught in a blender on the way out). However I was able to swatch my left hand and I am impressed.

Chlorophyll is a lovely, highly pigmented, medium blue-green that rests just a touch on the greener side. It also dries to a satin finish. Considering how thick the polish was and the funky problems the brush added to the mix, I did one coat and settled down to await a long dry time ... And promptly rammed my pinky nail into the table. No dent, no smudge. Wow, quick dry time.

There is the slightest hint of VNL with this one coat. I would not expect any trace to remain following a second coat (and a second coat does indeed eliminate all VNL). Brush issues aside , I love this color and its application (and dry time, do not forget that). With the satin finish, you have the option to gloss it up with a top coat or leave as is.

 And I believe this polish has a future date with an Nfu-Oh flakie ... which ones to try?!?

How about Nfu-Oh 41, a yellow glitter based red/orange flakie topcoat?

I've been awaiting the shipping refund and decided to check my account one last time before complaining about how those no good so and so's still have not refunded my shipping costs. Only to find out they comped the entire order. Oh OCC, mea culpable for all those little irritating notions I mentally sent your way. Honestly, this is the best customer service I have ever gotten from a domestic cosmetic or lacquer/polish company. I've sent dozens of emails to nail polish and other cosmetic firms (usually regarding ingredients or color suggestions), and if the company is US based, I'm blown off 90% of the time. This goes for other companies as well, btw.

I will contact OCC and see if they will replace the brush, none of the other polishes has a wonky brush, so I suspect it is the luck of the draw that landed me with this unusual issue (the only other wonky brush I have run into was an RBL polish).

I cannot begin to explain how thrilling I find the short ingredients list in OCC polishes.  So while their packaging may leave a bit to desire from time to time, I cannot complain at ALL about the level of customer service OCC extended this new customer.

Consider me a happy to return customer, OCC.


Update:  OCC quickly replaced the brush for Chlorophyll.  I did have some difficult detaching the existing brush from the handle but I am not very strong in my hands and have some nerve issues.  Once I finally popped it out, the new brush slid into place without too much difficulty.  Much better application with a non wonky brush, btw.