Hi bunnies,
It's happened. Quarantine boredom has inspired me to revive this blog. Of course, if you're interested in more regular updates, you can always just follow me on Instagram.
Before I get into this review, I want to acknowledge that this is pretty old bottle of polish. It's not as old as other polishes in my collection but it's at least a few years old because aside from some Kiko polishes that I bought on vacation, I haven't bought any new nail polish in years. I was actually going to try this with the recommended Essie top coat but my bottle has fully dried up.
COLOR: Model Citizen is a blue-toned medium pink. I would call it a Barbie pink. I can't recall if it's the same shade as her lipstick but one of my Barbies definitely had heels in this exact color. It makes me think of summer vacation but the blue tone mutes it so it's not quite a tropical color. This shade of pink is bubbly and perky and hard to ignore but it doesn't aggressively shout its presence. It's very Elle Woods.
FORMULA: Again, I want to acknowledge that this is an older bottle of polish. But I found the formula very smooth and liquidy. I want to say it's maybe a little thicker than the Essie formula of the older bottles but it's still much more liquidy than most other polish brands.
APPLICATION: Applying the polish with my dominant hand, I found the first coat applied very smoothly. The brush did create some streaks but they mostly self-leveled. The polish was also already very shiny without top coat. The second coat also applied smoothly but I noticed the brush catching. When I worked the polish with the brush too many times, it would catch and look uneven from the brushstrokes. Two coats was fairly opaque for my short manicure but I applied a third coat to cover up the streaks that weren't covered evenly. I applied the third coat a little more thickly and it smoothed out a lot of the issues.
With my nondominant hand, the first coat went on smoothly but more streaky and uneven than painting with my dominant hand. Because the polish isn't too thick, the ridges weren't pronounced but there were thinner patches where the bristles of the brush had lifted the polish instead of painting it on evenly. I applied three coats, not bothering to make sure the polish was flush with my skin. Doing this, I ended up with a smooth, even surface over most of the nail but you can see the uneven overlap of polish towards the sides.
Because my Essie top coat was dried up, I just used Poshe. It did seem to lighten the polish a little. I'm not sure if it was the Poshe or if this polish takes a long time to set but I already wait at least 5-10 minutes between each layer and ten minutes after that I got some damage on a few nails when I tried to do things (open doors, pick up objects, etc.).
CONCLUSION: If you like the color, I'd recommend this polish. Application is relatively easy. I'm being a perfectionist but if you concentrated, I think you could achieve a very nice manicure. And you could certainly do a good job if you were working on someone else's nails. I like the high shine finish. I would just be a little careful about making sure it's totally dry. Maybe do your nails while watching a long movie.
SWATCHES:
It's happened. Quarantine boredom has inspired me to revive this blog. Of course, if you're interested in more regular updates, you can always just follow me on Instagram.
Before I get into this review, I want to acknowledge that this is pretty old bottle of polish. It's not as old as other polishes in my collection but it's at least a few years old because aside from some Kiko polishes that I bought on vacation, I haven't bought any new nail polish in years. I was actually going to try this with the recommended Essie top coat but my bottle has fully dried up.
COLOR: Model Citizen is a blue-toned medium pink. I would call it a Barbie pink. I can't recall if it's the same shade as her lipstick but one of my Barbies definitely had heels in this exact color. It makes me think of summer vacation but the blue tone mutes it so it's not quite a tropical color. This shade of pink is bubbly and perky and hard to ignore but it doesn't aggressively shout its presence. It's very Elle Woods.
FORMULA: Again, I want to acknowledge that this is an older bottle of polish. But I found the formula very smooth and liquidy. I want to say it's maybe a little thicker than the Essie formula of the older bottles but it's still much more liquidy than most other polish brands.
APPLICATION: Applying the polish with my dominant hand, I found the first coat applied very smoothly. The brush did create some streaks but they mostly self-leveled. The polish was also already very shiny without top coat. The second coat also applied smoothly but I noticed the brush catching. When I worked the polish with the brush too many times, it would catch and look uneven from the brushstrokes. Two coats was fairly opaque for my short manicure but I applied a third coat to cover up the streaks that weren't covered evenly. I applied the third coat a little more thickly and it smoothed out a lot of the issues.
With my nondominant hand, the first coat went on smoothly but more streaky and uneven than painting with my dominant hand. Because the polish isn't too thick, the ridges weren't pronounced but there were thinner patches where the bristles of the brush had lifted the polish instead of painting it on evenly. I applied three coats, not bothering to make sure the polish was flush with my skin. Doing this, I ended up with a smooth, even surface over most of the nail but you can see the uneven overlap of polish towards the sides.
Because my Essie top coat was dried up, I just used Poshe. It did seem to lighten the polish a little. I'm not sure if it was the Poshe or if this polish takes a long time to set but I already wait at least 5-10 minutes between each layer and ten minutes after that I got some damage on a few nails when I tried to do things (open doors, pick up objects, etc.).
CONCLUSION: If you like the color, I'd recommend this polish. Application is relatively easy. I'm being a perfectionist but if you concentrated, I think you could achieve a very nice manicure. And you could certainly do a good job if you were working on someone else's nails. I like the high shine finish. I would just be a little careful about making sure it's totally dry. Maybe do your nails while watching a long movie.
SWATCHES:
