Nail Polish Swatches & Reviews: Claire's Icing, China Glaze, SH & Orly

There are so many things I want to post, but I have been kept busy

Thank you for being patient though - I will try to update blogger more regularly again ;) 

As promised two posts ago, here are swatches for some of the nail polishes Dale picked up for me last month. 

The first swatches are from a limited edition set of Icing Nail polishes from Claire's

There is no name for the set nor for the individual nail polishes.
Note that the bottles in the set (12 mL each) are a tad bit smaller than the standard 18 mL nail polish bottles

So from left to right here are the swatches (all the swatches are two coats, no top coat)

This magenta colour has a really nice iridescent sheen to it

I like this blue-green colour more than I thought I would :)

This blue nail polish dries matte

I really like how bright this orange shade is....it reminds me of palm trees and tropical weather ;)

This colour is really why I wanted the set - the bright purple looked so pretty in the bottle. The formula came out thinner than expected though

Although the Claire's Icing Limited Edition nail polishes do not have any names, the regular sized individual nail polishes do have names.

Here is Claire's Icing nail polish in "Laura's Fave"

I was on the hunt for a nice turquoise-blue nail polish colour....and the colour of "Laura's Fave" caught my eye when I was walking past the store!
It's a nice colour but I wish it was more opaque...so it might be "Laura's Fave" but it's not Karen's Fave LOL


The next nail polish was along the St. Patricks' Day themed shelf

This is Claire's Icing nail polish in "Green with Envy"

This is two coats...but I find that three coats gives a nicer finish

This was my St. Patrick's Day manicure of the week with three coats
I really like it! It took me half a day to get use to it since I tend to be more demure with my choice of colour with longer nails...but it grew on me quickly and I'll be wearing this even during the year

Overall it was my first time using nail polish from Claire's. And they're quite good. There wasn't any streaking that could not be covered after two coats of nail polish, and the only one requiring a third coat was the green glitter one (for intensity preferences). The colour has lasted me 3-4 days without major chipping, and that's pretty decent wear for me


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Here are several other nail polish swatches from a few other brands

This one is China Glaze "Innocence"

I really do not understand the great reviews on this nail polish colour
I personally think China Glaze is slightly overrated (sort of like MAC eyeshadows)
Basically, this is any other light ballerina-ish pink colour - I can find at least two others like this at my local pharmacy drug store for half the price. I thought the formula would be slightly more opaque....but what really bothered me was how long it took for this nail polish to dry. It seriously took much longer than other nail polishes to dry.


Next up is China Glaze "Flip Flop Fantasy"

Unlike China Glaze "Innocence", I do recommend China Glaze "Flip Flop Fantasy" if you're looking for a hot pink colour. There just isn't a hot pink colour nearly as bright as this one (that I could find), which is nicely opaque with two coats and applies well. Dale picked out this colour - good one Dale ;)


The following two are nail polishes are from Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri line

If you know me, you'll know that it's difficult for me to resist anything of nude or taupe colour - that's high heels, dresses, tops, lipgloss, lipstick and even nail polish....

This one is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Quick Sand"

I should have read some reviews prior. I must say that the negative reviews regarding the brushes for this line of nail polish is quite accurate as you can see

Honestly, if you're going to design a nice wide brush (like OPI) please ensure the opening of the bottle is substantially wider than the brush width!!!

For some reason the formula for "Quick Sand" sadly comes out looking like sand on my nails each time I've used it. I keep getting a ton of air bubbles for this nail polish colour. I'm not sure if it has something to do with this particular nail polish formula since the following nail polish is also from the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri line and it applied very nicely

This is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Sonic Bloom" 

With the exception of the strange combination of a wide brush and small nail polish bottle opening, I quite like "Sonic Bloom". The formula applied very smoothly.

I find that the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri nail polishes dry just as fast as the Claire's Icing Nail polishes. In fact, the China Glaze "Flip Flop Fantasy" dried a tad bit faster than the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes....so I do not agree with many reviewers that said the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes dry much faster than other brands


The last one for this post is Orly in "Passion Fruit" from their Hot Neons collection

This was my first Orly nail polish and wow! I'm really impressed with the formula and I absolutely love the rubberized handle on the brush:

If the rest of Orly nail polishes are anything like this one in terms of formula, application and even the rubberized handle, then this might very well become my favourite brand of nail polish. I know China Glaze gets a lot of love, but sometimes the formulas are not to my liking. And yes, the OPI nail polish brush is quite nice, but I found the Orly one great to work with too. We shall see!

Do you have a favourite nail polish brand? 


What have you been up to lately?? :)