Q&A Nail Polish Brands

OMG, it's been so long since I've sat down to blog! I just realized I hadn't even opened my netbook since my last post! What a slacker! A lot to catch up on! But first, I know a lot of you were interested in my doing more Q&A times. (if you have a question, just tweet me @GlossandGlaze or email me at glitterglossandglaze@gmail.com; I promise to answer each and every one of them!)

Q. Dear K, what is your favorite polish brand? Do you think the expensive ones are actually better and last longer? ~Emily


A. Dear Emily, I'm really glad you brought that up. Nail polish comes in all different colors, textures, types, brands, prices, etc. You don't have to be rich to have a lot of bottles! I'm going to give you some thoughts of what I think, but keep in mind, these are just personal opinions and you might think other ones are better for you. I'd say all my polish falls into about three price ranges: cheap (I prefer to say "affordable"; as cheap has some negative connotations:); average; and expensive (and really the "expensive" ones to me are not THE most expensive on the market!)

Affordable
So for affordable, there's Sinful Colors (which you'll see in a lot of my pictures!). You can pick it up at Walgreen's, CVS, etc. for about $1.99. It comes in a variety of fun colors and doesn't get gloopy at all. Also, N.Y.C New York Color and Wet 'n Wild (which I talk about a lot too!) and are both about $.99-$1.99, and they have come a LONG way since when I started polish back in the 90's. With the proper base coat and top coat, these polishes work great and don't look cheap at all! Because they're cheap, you can pick up a whole bunch of them and still stay well within your beauty budget!! :) I have found that they may take a few extra coats to get the strong color that you're going for. Because of that, sometimes they cheap a little more 'cause there's so much polish layered on. (or I'm more tempted to pick at them 'cause it just peels right off!)

Average
This is where I'd put polishes that are in the $4-$6 range--Sally Hansen, Revlon, etc. I have one Revlon polish--it's a scented polish (which I plan to do a whole post on!) It's fab, but very light and chips pretty easily. Now, I can't say this about ALL Revlon polishes because I only have this one. Sally Hansen on the other hand is pretty much a-maz-ing! There's a bunch of different kinds in the line (there's the Hard As Nails, Diamond Strength, etc.) and they are heavy duty! My one complaint with Sally Hansen is their sorry excuse for a crackle polish--it was clumpy, didn't crackle at all. I ended up taking it back to Walgreens. Good try, Sally, but I'll pay a little extra. Which leads me to the...

Expensive
Now as I already stated, these are "expensive" to me (since a lot of my polish is from the "affordable" section) lol, but I know a lot of girls buy only the "expensive" kind, and that is totally cool. These are your $7.50 and up polishes. The O.P.I, Essie, Zoya, etc. My favorite thing about O.P.I is all the different kinds they have--the different lines they come out with (still haven't gotten the Muppets yet, but I reallllllyyyyy want to!!!). It's a smooth polish that doesn't need a lot of coats and lasts for a long time. I only have one Essie and I'm pleased with it, but I'm not sure I'd say it's THAT much better to be worth what it costs. I have yet to use a Zoya polish (how sad, right??)

So, what are the bottom lines? What are my favorite polishes? Here's the breakdown, my base coat is always O.P.I. Partly because I got a bottle for free when I bought my shatter polishes this summer, but I really do think it works extremely well! Even using cheaper base coats, I would still sometimes get that orangey, dingy look to my nails; since using this one, my nails always look natural and healthy:) For color, Sally Hansen wins this category for me--especially the Hard As Nails. I think it's the longest lasting (for the price)! My top coat that I've been using for a while now is N.Y.C super shiny; but mostly because my Nicole by O.P.I. is getting too low to get any on the brush! I'm really not picky about my top coats (but I'm sure if I were even the cheaper polishes would last longer!)

I know I got all rambly, but I hope that answers your question!!

(note: I know I didn't discuss ALL of the nail polish brands out there; I have some ORLY ones, Nicole by O.P.I; but I focused more on some of the more popular ones in my collection:)

xoxo