Hi chickadees!
It turns out I do have a little bit of battery life left and no self control. Honestly, it's been so hard to have nicely filed nails and not use any polish for the last month or so. Anyway, since I'm going to be taking my MCAT soon, I wanted to go with a nice neutral color that would be easy to take off so I can switch to O.P.I. You Callin' Me a Liar which has become by go-to test taking nude nail polish. Therefore, I decided on Prevail Botanical Gardens.
You can read my review of Prevail's Gramercy Park here: http://smartandsarcasticwithdashesofinsanity.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-of-prevail-nail-lacquer-in.html
Now, I didn't hate Gramercy Park, but I thought it was just a basic sheer nude and applied rather patchy. I am super impressed with Prevail Botanical Gardens. First of all, I'm predisposed to like it for the name alone. The Bronx Botanical Gardens are one of my favorite places and I try to never miss the orchid shows. But I was kind of stunned by how well this polish performed.
Color: I call this a my-nails-but-better color. I did 3 coats to medium opacity so you can still see my nails underneath. Botanical Gardens is a very light beige color. It reminds me of a very light skintone color with slight yellow and pink undertones but with more yellow than pink. I'd say it's more cool-toned or neutral than warm-toned but the pink does give it a bit of warmth.
(Note: If you'd like, the next time I use this color, I can try and get it fully opaque. Let me know if you'd be interested in that in the comments.)
Application: A large proportion of what I found so impressive was the application. It was a very smooth paint job. I used medium thick coats (about the same as I'd use with an Essie polish) and had no problems. The polish glided over the nail beautifully without making even a hint of a mess. There really wasn't any patchiness while painting. I did notice afterwards that there is a slight stripe on my pinky nail where the polish is uneven but that's such a minor thing, it was probably a personal error.
Formula: Very smooth. It is a sheer polish so it's obviously going to be a little more watery than a creme polish but I had no problems with it running into the cuticles or making a mess.
CONCLUSION: Overall, I'm really happy with this polish. I would recommend it. When I run out, I'm probably going to repurchase it and I think to conserve my bottle of OPI You Callin' Me a Lyre?, I might use this as my regular nude polish when I don't have a test or special occasion.
SWATCHES
It turns out I do have a little bit of battery life left and no self control. Honestly, it's been so hard to have nicely filed nails and not use any polish for the last month or so. Anyway, since I'm going to be taking my MCAT soon, I wanted to go with a nice neutral color that would be easy to take off so I can switch to O.P.I. You Callin' Me a Liar which has become by go-to test taking nude nail polish. Therefore, I decided on Prevail Botanical Gardens.
You can read my review of Prevail's Gramercy Park here: http://smartandsarcasticwithdashesofinsanity.blogspot.com/2012/05/review-of-prevail-nail-lacquer-in.html
Now, I didn't hate Gramercy Park, but I thought it was just a basic sheer nude and applied rather patchy. I am super impressed with Prevail Botanical Gardens. First of all, I'm predisposed to like it for the name alone. The Bronx Botanical Gardens are one of my favorite places and I try to never miss the orchid shows. But I was kind of stunned by how well this polish performed.
Color: I call this a my-nails-but-better color. I did 3 coats to medium opacity so you can still see my nails underneath. Botanical Gardens is a very light beige color. It reminds me of a very light skintone color with slight yellow and pink undertones but with more yellow than pink. I'd say it's more cool-toned or neutral than warm-toned but the pink does give it a bit of warmth.
(Note: If you'd like, the next time I use this color, I can try and get it fully opaque. Let me know if you'd be interested in that in the comments.)
Application: A large proportion of what I found so impressive was the application. It was a very smooth paint job. I used medium thick coats (about the same as I'd use with an Essie polish) and had no problems. The polish glided over the nail beautifully without making even a hint of a mess. There really wasn't any patchiness while painting. I did notice afterwards that there is a slight stripe on my pinky nail where the polish is uneven but that's such a minor thing, it was probably a personal error.
Formula: Very smooth. It is a sheer polish so it's obviously going to be a little more watery than a creme polish but I had no problems with it running into the cuticles or making a mess.
CONCLUSION: Overall, I'm really happy with this polish. I would recommend it. When I run out, I'm probably going to repurchase it and I think to conserve my bottle of OPI You Callin' Me a Lyre?, I might use this as my regular nude polish when I don't have a test or special occasion.
It skews a little more pink in these pictures but it's more light beige as you'll see below.
This is indoor lighting. It's not quite this pale either. It really falls between the pictures here and above.
I wore it with an accent nail of Essie's Penny Talk and DarlingDivaPolish in Rose.
It never looks this pink. I just wanted to show you the pink undertones.
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