[Comparison] Color Club Lavendarling v. Zoya Malia

Although I had previously never tried a Color Club nail polish, the Spring 2012 colors from Color Club caught my attention, and I purchased a few polishes from the Blossoming Collection.  When my order arrived, I realized that Color Club Lavendarling looked awfully similar to another polish, Zoya Malia.

Color Club Lavendarling versus Zoya Malia

Zoya Malia is one of my favorite nail polishes.  It is a creamy medium grape purple.  Its formula is perfect - self-evening, not streaky, and looks fabulous in one to two coats.  However, Malia costs $8, and I purchased Lavendarling for only $3, so I would be happy to find a more affordable dupe.

In the picture below, I am wearing two coats of Zoya Malia on my middle and pinky fingers and two coats of Lavendarling on my pointer and ring fingers.

Zoya Malia (middle, pinky) | Color Club Lavendarling (pointer, ring)

While the colors of the two polishes are indeed identical, the Zoya formula far outshines the problematic Color Club polish.  As you can see, Lavendarling was thick, streaky, and did not even out on my nails.

I'll stick to Zoya Malia.

[Review] Maybelline Express Finish Nail Polish for Fashion Week Spring 2012

A couple weeks ago, I wandered around CVS looking for the new Maybelline Express Finish nail polishes for the Spring 2012 Fashion Week Collection.  I had given up when I spotted the display in an odd location, placed above eye level (and I'm 5'10") and pushed back on the top shelf above the beauty tools.  My local CVS places make-up displays all over the store, so if you can't find them, look all around your store.  I bought five of the six Maybelline polishes in the little display, so I have five out of the total eight limited edition polishes (two more colors are showcased on the bigger Maybelline Fashion Week displays).

[Maybelline] Love Me Lavender, Tulip Tango, Orchids Oh My!, Peachy Petal, Posy Pink

Maybelline Express Finish Nail Polish for Fashion Week Spring 2012

I bought the colors Orchids Oh My!, Tulip Tango, Love Me Lavender, Posy Pink, and Peachy Petal.  I love all of the colors on me, but I don't love all of the formulations.

[New Maybelline Polish] Love Me Lavender (pointer), Tulip Tango (middle), Peachy Petal (ring), Posy Pink (pinky), and Orchids Oh My! (thumb)

Orchids Oh My! :: This is my favorite of them all.  This polish has a medium-to-thin consistency, and looks opaque in two coats.  It's not at all streaky, and it almost looks like it has a jelly finish.  It is a gorgeous vibrant raspberry color.

Tulip Tango :: This has a similar consistency to Orchids Oh My!  It is a bright pink coral.

Love Me Lavender :: This has a similar consistency to the last two.  It is a bright medium lavender color. It looks very similar to Essie Splash of Grenadine, which I already own (whoops!).

Posy Pink :: This is one of the problem polishes.  It is very chalky and streaky.  I needed at least three coats to fix the streakiness, and even then, the texture looked uneven on my nail.  The color is a lovely light bubblegum pink which isn't too harsh against my skin.

Peachy Petal :: This suffered from the same problems as Posy Pink: chalky and streaky.  The color is a bright light pink-leaning peachy tangerine, which I think I might actually be able to pull off.  I'm a cool-tone, fair-skinned girl, and normally I look sickly in peaches or tangerines.

I do highly recommend Orchids Oh My!  Tulip Tango and Love Me Lavender are great quality polishes if you don't already have similar colors.  I don't regret buying Peachy Petal because it is a unique color, but I could do without Posy Pink.  Because these polishes are hits or misses, I haven't bothered picking up the rest of the collection.

[New Maybelline Polish] Love Me Lavender (pointer), Tulip Tango (middle), Peachy Petal (ring), Posy Pink (pinky), and Orchids Oh My! (thumb)

Overall, these polishes are great colors, but they are hits or misses with the formulations.

[Review] New Wet n Wild Megalast Nail Polishes

I bought five of the new Wet n Wild Megalast nail polishes.  I think some of the colors are new, and the entire line has new packaging.  The sturdy new bottles and pretty colors grabbed my attention.

[New Wet n Wild Megalast Nail Polishes] Undercover, Sugar Coat, On a Trip, Disturbia, Candy-licious

The new bottles contain .45 ounces of product instead of .3 ounces.  The new bottles are square(ish), are made with a thicker glass, and have "Wet n Wild" inscribed in the sides.  However, some of the bottle bases are not flat, so they may wobble a bit.

The new brushes are wider, which may be a good or bad aspect depending on what your prefer.  I generally prefer more narrow brushes.  Unfortunately, the new brushes are very fluffy, making it difficult to precisely apply the polish.  Also, the brushes have inconsistent quality.  A couple of my brushes are symmetrical while others are asymmetric, twisted, or have irregular length brush hairs.

New Wet n Wild Megalast nail polish brush

The consistency of the nail polishes is the same, from what I can tell.  They have a thick consistency, and most of these polishes go on opaque in one or two coats.  (Sugar Coat needs three coats because it is a little streaky and lighter.)  I do like wider brushes with thick polish, so that is a good match.

Here are a few of the Megalast manicures I've worn already.  All are shown over my Orly Bonder basecoat with a coat of New York Color Grand Central Station on top.

Wet n Wild Megalast Undercover (2 coats, sunlight)

Wet n Wild Disturbia (2 coats, sunlight)

3 coats Wet n Wild Megalast Sugar Coat topped with 1 coat Essie Kisses & Bises (sunlight)

The polishes I have tried have all lasted me a few days without chipping.  Undercover lasted five days!

I bought these polishes for only $1.19 each at RiteAid when they were on sale.  Normally, they cost $1.99, which I think is still a good deal.

Overall, I think the Wet n Wild Megalast polishes are excellent quality nail polishes for the price as long as you don't mind the brushes.

[Review] Zoya Feel Collection

My favorite winter nail polishes are light blues, grays, dusty pinks, and dusty purples.  The Zoya Feel Collection embodies these colors.

Zoya Feel Collection

I own 5 out of the 6 polishes in the Feel Collection.  Pictured above are (left to right) Kristen, Carey, Megan, Kendal, and Kennedy.  (The pale pink at the end is Portia, not part of the new collection.)  I do not own the final color Avery, but I do have a Zoya spoon (aka swatch) for Avery, and I'm glad that I didn't buy it because it is a peach that makes my cool-tone skin look sickly yellow.

All of the polishes in the collection are dusty (grayed / desaturated) colors.  All of the polishes have a cream finish - no sparkles or glitter here.  All of the polishes have a thick consistency.  Kristen, Carey, and Megan go on smoothly and look great in two coats.  Megan could probably be a one-coater if you apply a thick coat.  However, Kennedy and especially Kendal are more goopy and apply somewhat streaky.  I didn't have any problems with these chipping; they were all long-lasting mani/pedicures.

For all the pictures below, I used Orly Bonder as my basecoat and New York Color "Grand Central Station" as my topcoat.

Manicure: Zoya Megan, pedicure: Zoya Kristen (tungsen lighting)

Zoya Megan is a blue-leaning dusty light purple.  The application is a dream, and it evens itself out nicely.  I could almost get away with one coat (see below).

Zoya Megan (1 coat, indoor lighting)

Zoya Kristen looks bright compared to the rest of the collection, but it is a dusty baby blue.  I absolutely love this color.  This polish is very thick, but I could still apply it easily.

Zoya Kristen (2 coats, sunlight)

Manicure: Zoya Carey, pedicure: Zoya Malia (tungsten lighting)

Zoya Carey is the darkest color of the collection.  It is a gray-blue.  Again, I had no problems with application.

Zoya Carey (2 coats, indoor lighting)

Zoya Kennedy is a weird color, the color of Silly Putty.  I do like the color, but I'm not sure I like it on my nails.  The polish itself is chalky, and you can see below that it looks somewhat goopy and uneven on my nails.

Zoya Kennedy (2 coats, sunlight)

I never took a picture of Zoya Kendal on my nails.  That's not surprising since I hated it.  Kendal has a terrible formulation.  It is very thick, goopy, and streaky.  It is a lovely color - a pink-leaning dusty light purple polish.  In the bottles, Kendal and Megan look alike, but they are distinctly different on my nails since one looks pink and one looks blue.

In conclusion, I love Carey, Kristen, and Megan, and I would highly recommend them, especially Carey and Kristen since they are more unusual polish colors.  I'd recommend Kennedy with some reservations because it is a very unique color.  I do NOT recommend Kendal though because of its terrible formulation.

Oh, one more positive aspect of the Feel Collection: the colors are all soft pastels and would also be great colors for spring.