I have no idea why I waited to long to publish this particular stream of consciousness. Nail polish is my absolute most favorite makeup related thing in the history of makeup.
A few years ago my meager collection 50 or so bottles exploded into what how now become a vast ocean of glitters, creams, and metallics. This ocean runs about 400 bottles deep (no hyperbole there). I purchased a DVD display case just to house them all, and have recently run out of room.
Before any of you entertain thoughts about "excess," "duplicates," or "waste," just stop thinking. Mostly because I don't care about your opinion, but also because I ensure that my nails are in immaculate condition. This means that I never ruin them with fake nails or acrylics and I paint them every other day. The idea of chipped polish makes me uneasy. I don't have a single duplicate color and I rotate through my collection regularly. That said, I think I am in a position to make a a judgement call for everyone regarding the best brands on the price spectrum, so prepare yourself.
Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro ($2)
Seriously. $2 nails. Correction: $2 PERFECT nails.
I stumbled across this nail polish with scouring the clearance bins at Target. I didn't have many coral colored polishes in my collection and there happened to be a pretty coral polish by Rimmel marked below a dollar. The color served me no particular purpose as I didn't have an outfit it would round out or anywhere that it needed to go; it was cheap and I love nail polish, end of story. I swiped it on one evening with my usual two coats of color. The lacquer didn't bubble (a most dreaded occurrence), smudge, or appear dull after a few hours. Perhaps its most important quality was that it didn't chip. At all. For a week. A WEEK. I was astounded that an inexpensive product could produce such results. I bought several more bottles over the course of the next few weeks and was met with the same results. Furthermore, some of their colors were completely unique and unmatched by other brands. One additional perk of this polish is the rounded tapered brush. I have yet to meet a person with uncurved cuticles and don't understand why polish brushes remain squared off. The Rimmel brush follows the curve of your cuticle and keeps the less dexterous among us from messy fingers.
To truly show my passion for how great this brand was, I chose a few bottles to go with me on a three week trip to the UK. I new that they would last me for long periods of time without having to be changed, and therefore, would keep my nails in top condition during the trip. I wasn't disappointed.
Get it here.
Essie ($8.50)
The nail polish game jumps pretty quickly in price when you are searching for the good stuff, hence the jump in cost between Rimmel and the next lowest brand, Essie.
I have absolutely no idea when I was introduced to Essie polish; it just always seemed to have a place in my collection. I always thought the bottles were so delicate looking, so maybe that had something to do with it.
Essie is my go-to brand when it comes to what I would deem "lady-like" colors. In other words, traditional polish colors like reds, lavenders, pinks, and ivory are always top notch when manufactured by Essie. What makes these colors so perfect is how that color translates outside of the glass bottle. Reds, pinks, and purples can easily take on orange or blue hues under different lighting and may disappoint. Essie's varied versions of these colors, in my experience, have always been true to what's in the bottle and what's on my nails. Another issue with the lighter colors, like ivory, beige, and white, is that it takes 3+ coats to get the color opaque enough for the nail bed not to be visible. Unless you have four hours of dry time available and a climate controlled room to paint your nails, the numerous coats aren't particularly feasible.
In a single phrase: Essie does demure right.
Get it here.
OPI ($9)
You knew it was coming. OPI is the standard nail polish which all other polishes are compared to. I'm not sure what it is that has skyrocketed OPI to the top of it's market, but it has a strong hold on everything related to nails. I am willing to bet that everyone knows what the phrase "I'm Not Really a Waitress" means.
OPI was my first venture into "big girl" nail polish. In other words, it was my acknowledgement that sometimes cost and quality do correlate. What OPI had that others seemed to lack was a constant stream of new colors, textures, and finishes. Every few months I could expect a cute new polish line with clever titles to be released. While some of the shades would be eerily similar to colors I already had, there was always promise that the colors would never be perfectly identical.
This brand is, what I would call, the ultimate package. It really delivers in every possible category for the best price. The colors are always fresh, the formula is always consistent and easy to apply, and there is always something new around the corner. OPI often does celebrity collaborations for their upcoming lines and this leads to some interesting creations. For example, last year OPI released a James Bond line of polishes (my favorite to date) that were tied to the theatrical release of Skyfall. This collection featured an 18k gold top coat. This year, Mariah Carey's second line with OPI featured an 18k white gold top coat. Who comes up with something like that?! OPI, that's who. The brand has also teamed up with Disney to create a Minnie Mouse line, and coming soon is the Gwen Stefani polish line. Get. Excited.
Get it here.
Illamasqua ($18)
This brand is my wildcard, mostly because no one has ever heard of it. I came across this color while browsing Sephora. I had never used the brand before but was drawn to it's "speckled" colors (think a robin's egg). It was unique, new, and cute, so of course I bought three.
This brand wouldn't be featured on my blog if it the results of my impulse buy weren't positive. I found that this brand mixed casual wear with statement flair. The colors were bold, but not loud. They were attention getting without being juvenile. To me, they said, "I want to be professional, but I also don't want this stick up my ass."
The wearability was fantastic and I was able to make it quite a few days without a top coat when using Illamasqua. The speckled effect was charming and translated brilliantly from bottle to nail. Colors with non-textured finishes or formulas are equally as impressive from this brand.
Get it here.
Deborah Lippmann ($20)
I first came across this brand a few years ago, but never indulged because I was a broke college student and $20 for nail polish was too much for me. The bottles were chic and the colors were flawless; I was tempted but my willpower was too much.
One fateful day I went to get my haircut and my fabulous hair stylist at Jiva Aveda in Cedar Falls, Iowa (shout out to Sara Durrwachter, seriously, girl is a hair sorceress) pulled out a new polish she found that she thought I would like to see. She pulled out a beautiful square bottle that was filled with blue liquid and blue, green, and teal glitter ("Across the Universe," I mean who doesn't love that name? Idiots, that's who," Sara Durrwachter). Clearly, I was enamored with the polish. My day was made when she let me take home the bottle to try out when she hadn't even used it herself (talk about self-less love, no one uses my polishes first but me). I tried it on immediately that evening so I could return it to Sara ASAP. I feel anxious when I know one of my bottles is being held hostage and I didn't want to cause the same emotional distress.
As expected, the color and glitter was distributed evenly and cleanly. One issue that glitter polishes always seem to come across is uneven distribution of sparkle (this is a real life issue). Sometimes it looks like you dove, nails first, into a third grade art project and other times it looks like you barely swept your hand across a glittered Christmas ornament. Anyway, I applied two coats of Deborah Lippmann's polish and had a truly perfect manicure. The color was vibrant and dried without air bubbles. Perhaps what has kept me committed to Deborah Lippmann nail products is the "after" effect. As I stated before, I change my nail polish every two days. Lippmann's nail color lasted me well over a week before I needed to change it.
One of my favorite things about Deborah Lippmann's colors is the uniqueness and variety. The line of colors are truly one of a kind (especially her glitters). This is one of the products that I, without hesitation, think is entirely worth every penny.
Get it here.
And there you have it. My nail polish manifesto.
