REVIEW of Prevail's Nolita Lolita with SWATCHES

Hi lovelies!

Yes, I bought another Prevail nail polish. How could I resist? I live in NYC and many (if not all) of their polishes are named after NYC locations. Of course, I went for Nolita Lolita. I'm not telling you where I live but it's pretty much my neighborhood. 

Color: Nolita Lolita is a dark polish with green microglitter. It's difficult to tell if it's a dark gray polish or a dark green polish because it can look like either depending on the lighting. I find that the green comes out more indoors under artificial lighting and the black/gray comes out more outdoors and under direct sunlight. The glitter gives the polish a great deal of depth. 
Formula: This was yet another Prevail polish with an impressive formula. It was very smooth, especially given the glitter. I wouldn't call it a real glitter polish because it does apply so smoothly. The glitter particles are very tiny and not gritty at all. 
Application: Application is very smooth. It was even great when I was using my non-dominant hand to paint my nails. It was perfectly opaque in 3 coats. 
Wear: I did get a little bit of tip wear a few days in. 

CONCLUSION: If you like the color from the swatches below, I would absolutely recommend this formula based on the formula. 
SWATCHES (important to look at all of them)

REVIEW of Prevail Botanical Gardens

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

REVIEW of Prevail Nail Lacquer in Gramercy Park with SWATCHES

Hi chickadees!

So I finally got around to testing out one of my Prevail nail polishes and...I have mixed feelings about it. First of all here's a link to my post about the sale on Prevail polishes at Duane Reade from now until June 2nd. http://smartandsarcasticwithdashesofinsanity.blogspot.com/2012/05/prevail-polishes-25-off-at-duane-reade.html Now, for $4.50, I'm pretty happy with this polish. I knew what I was getting into when I chose Gramercy Park. I specifically went for a shade that looked like it would apply a little bit sheer because I wanted to try and dupe the O.P.I. 2012 Ballet Collection that came out recently. Gramercy Park is a sheer light pink polish so it's closest match from that collection should be O.P.I.'s You Callin' Me a Lyre?. Unfortunately, Gramercy Park is nowhere near a dupe. Fortunately, that means it'll appeal to an entirely different crowd.

Color: Sheer, cool-toned light pink
If you have pretty bare nails (not stained yellow from polish testing like mine) I would definitely suggest wearing this super sheer with just one coat for a more natural look. I have a swatch below to show what that would look like. I did 3 coats to try and alleviate that patchiness (more on that later) and achieve opacity. In 3 coats, this polish is still pretty sheer but you can definitely tell what the color is. Gramercy Park is a sheer, very light, cool-toned light pink. It's almost more of a white base with pink instead of a pink lightened with white if that makes any sense.

Application: Smooth, patchy
This is going to sound like a contradiction but I thought the polish applied smoothly but it was also patchy. That is, the formula wasn't too thick or watery and the polish glided over the nail really nicely without any drag. However, because it was so sheer, I had a problem with patchiness. I usually hate large brushes, but I think a large brush to cover the whole nail at once, might have helped here. The paint job on my pinky and ring finger nails look fine but you can see some uneven patches on the other two nails in the swatches below. 3 coats to medium opacity.

Conclusion: Because it applied patchy I can't recommend this polish but I will say that it probably performs as well as most sheer, light-colored polishes so you might as well spend a few dollars less buying it this month for $4.50. I do like the color and I will probably wear this on days when I want a natural nail and I'm not obsessed with how perfect the paint job is.
SWATCHES (continue reading for swatches)