The Nail File

Last week, I was fortunate enough to be invited by OPI to be one of the first to trial the new OPI GelColor (this was also my trial for wedding nail polish – eek, it’s so close!) GelColor won’t be in salons until January, but it’s truly worth getting excited about, especially if you’re a gel polish fan.

Let’s go over the important stuff in point form so I don’t forget anything:

• While most hardening polishes (Shellac, Orly GelFX etc) are a combination of gel and polish, OPI GelColor is 100% gel
• Each layer cures in just 30 seconds – this means your right hand is dry before your left hand has even been painted. If you do the math, that’s 4 minutes curing time for an entire mani
• There are 30 shades to choose from, all of which are OPI classics – Big Apple Red, I’m Not Really A Waitress, Lincoln Park After Dark, Russian Navy, You Don’t Know Jacques, Miami Beet, Samoan Sand, Alpine Snow, and Bubble Bath, just to name a few
• Fun fact: the polish is in the iconic OPI bottle but the glass is black to stop it being activated (i.e. set) by light
• The light used is an LED light. When I was having my mani done, there was the strangest sensation in my finger tips for the first 3 seconds, and then it was fine. Perhaps my fingers were just excited
• According to OPI’s Education Director, Karon McKendrick-Taylor, you can do nail art with GelColor – you will need three coats of colour, but you can pop nail tattoos or diamantes on and then seal with the GelColor top coat. Win
• If you treat it well, GelColor can last up to four weeks (although, honestly, who wants to wear the same colour for four weeks), and even longer on toes – expect to get about two weeks though
• OPI also do Expert Touch Remover Pads, so you can take your GelColor off at home without having to go into the salon

You might have seen Scandal polishes before – they’re the supercute bottles with the corset lid (including boobies for extra grip). I have no idea where you buy them from, but they’re a Korean brand and I have seen them in various little shops around Chinatown and whatnot.

I picked my Scandal polishes up a few months back at the Sydney International Spa and Beauty Expo – they had a huge stand with walls and walls of colours, all with the black, silver or gold corset tops. The range is huge – cremes, metallic, glitter, and decorative (with floating chunks like stars and hearts). I was drawn to Bling Orange because it’s a creamy melon colour – not quite coral, not quite sherbet. Definitely not orange though, and certainly not blingy, so the name is perhaps a little off the mark.

Two coats gave great coverage and the polish looked nice, but it was the weirdest thing – the polish literally rubbed off. No chipping or cracking (although it takes a while to really dry, as evidenced by the ding in my middle finger, below) , but it rubbed away all around the edges. I painted in the afternoon and by the next morning it was like someone had taken the eraser from the end of my pencil and just rubbed the colour out. Very weird.

Scandal – Bling Orange

Price: I paid $2 at the Spa and Beauty Expo but they retail for around $6
From: You’ll have to go exploring!
Three free? Based on the label on the bottle, I think it is, but I can’t be certain

This polish purchased by The Nail File for review – for more details, please see our disclosure policy

If you haven’t been into a Priceline store recently you might have missed the Hello Kitty range of cosmetics. Every product is emblazoned with our favourite fashionable feline, with a huge range of products – lipstick, eyeshadow, lipgloss, powder, pencil, mascara, blush and, of course, nail polish.

Taken in artificial light

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I don’t often wear black polish. From the bottle I couldn’t tell if Nubar Dark Castle was inky navy, charcoal or black, but…yep…black. This polish is from the Nubar Fortress Collection, which makes me think of castles and suits of armor.

Taken in artificial light

In the bottle it looks like it has charcoal shimmer, albeit subtle, but on the nail it looks much more like leather. There are definite blue undertones there though, so maybe my initial ‘it could be navy’ isn’t far off.
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Warning, obvious statement ahead…

Priti polishes are pretty.

I have been interested in this brand since I got my first bottle about a year ago. They’re a non-toxic 3-free range of nail polish, and while 3-free isn’t exactly a unique selling point these days, the fact they are organic does help them stand out on shelves.

Taken in sunlight

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I love a good cheap and cheerful polish. This little baby was in the goody bag from an event I attended last week and I instantly fell in love. It’s just the right shade of seafoam green but it’s also quite bright – no muted pastels here!

Taken in natural light

Taken in natural light

Price: $5.95
From: Priceline, KMart, Big W, Target
Three free? Yes

This polish was received by The Nail File as a gift in accordance with our disclosure policy

I have to admit I know nothing about Twilight. Well, that’s a lie, I know that Kristin Stewart and Rob Pattinson (not Patterson, like I originally thought) are on magazine covers every week, but I got about 20 pages into the first book and had to give it away because it bored me senseless (if you’re reading this, sorry AJ and Nikki!). When I first posted about the Nox Twilight Nail Polish I was like ‘the press release says something about the “powerful Cullen coven”, do I include that? I should probably include that because it will make sense to someone’.

Taken in sunlight

So while what I know about Twilight could fit in a thimble, I do know a lot about nail polish, and when I recently spied this bottle in the showroom of the PR company who looks after Twilight cosmetics, I practically started salivating right there (I’m so classy). Disco Darling is a fabulous silver holo polish. Fabulous. 
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The MAC Posh Paradise collection landed on counters a few weeks ago and it’s really gorgeous. There are only three types of products in the range – mattene lipsticks, pigment paint pots and nail polish. I wore one of the mattene lipsticks – Rare Exotic – out last week, and got loads of compliments (pic here), plus it has insane staying power. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up. But this isn’t about the lippy, it’s about the lacquer.

There are two polishes in this collection – Immortal Gold and Rain of Flowers. Immortal Gold is a brassy, yellow toned gold that can look a little greenish in some lights and against some skin tones.

Taken in natural light

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The Essie Spring 2011 French Affair Collection is lovely. Six retro pastels that are all opaque, Essie Weingarten designed them to be an unapologetic homage to 1960′s French Glamour. Tres chic.

Taken in natural light

Now I know it’s impolite to play favourites, but from the moment Eva Chen of Teen Vogue tweeted a sneak peak of this collection almost 12 months ago, I was in love with Coat Azure. While the other 5 colours in the collection are quite neutral, with pink, cream, beige, tan etc etc, this is a stunning French Riviera blue. I’ll post the rest of the collection next week, but this deserved its own post.
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Fact: Sportsgirl polish is awesome.

Fact: Bright nail polish awesome.

You see where I’m going with this, right? Bright Now is not quite a bright coral – it’s almost there, but not as vibrant as a true coral. It’s more of a washed out bright coral, or coral-lite, if you will.

Taken in natural light

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