Pink and Undecided: nature republic

Nail Diary 01 : Nature Republic Manicure Color Waltz GR 605 (Lime Green)

Hi everybody :)..

How's your weekend so far?? I've sooo much fun tonight ^.^! It's finally our birthday celebration (part 1, LOL) with my BFFs (and spouses who became hunny's bromances haha!)-i wish you were there, Shasha! Laughed our asses off with each other's craziness, as usual :p. Will be blogging about the dinner with #Undecided soon ^.^!

Anyway, i decided to stop calling my nail polish reviews simply "review" and change it into Nail Diary instead. I probably gonna change what i call my other products reviews (and call it .... Diary) soon. I know it's not exactly that original *LOL*, but it seems to be very fitting. I do see my reviews as my personal diary as well because of the amount of stuffs i've tried over time, i often forget which product i've used and which i have not (similar to how having haul posts keeps me on track of which stuffs i already have so i don't double buy-happened before in the past but it was in a form of a novel haha, i gave the double to #Undecided who enjoys a good novel as much as i do).

So, the first nail polish to be featured in my new series is Nature Republic's Manicure Color Waltz in shade GR 605-Lime Green (the name is quite literal!) :

Picture from Google

The picture that i found from Google seems a tad darker than it really is in real life. Here's a picture of my nails using this nail polish :

Oh ya, i got this cutie from Nailbar2013 event's goodie bag ^.^. Even though i got this for free, i definitely will review this honestly as usual, obviously! Don't worry! And also, you can see that in my ring finger, the gel nail art from that event's still going strong haha (i wrote this a few weeks ago hehe)... Since it's still well shaped (and because it's so cute!) i decided to leave it on undefinitely, until it peels off lah hahaha. That's the only nail art left on my fingers, btw :p. The rest already peeled off one by one..

This was actually the very first Nature Republic nail polish i've ever had (i'm racking my brain trying to remember if this actually the first NR PRODUCT i own??? I can't really remember but i think so!) so i was more than a little excited when i saw this cute baby inside the goodie bag hehehe. I was also happy to get such a bright and cheerful color! Again i don't remember if i already have this kind of color in my stash, i do have a lot of green colored polishes-i will check okay. Maybe i'd even bite the bullet and show you guys all of my nail polish collection soon. I might even *GASP* count them and all :p.

Lina actually told me she's jealous of this shade i got because she got a "boring" pink one that she already have a lot in her stash hehe... I guess i was lucky, Lina!

I totally love how this polish came with such a cute stem/top!

My camera's auto focus' kinda broken *ya lah, the whole thing actually falling apart pfffffttt* and i had to struggle very long to be able to capture this picture. It kept on blurring and going out of focus zzzz. I dunno why the stupid camera's not making me insane and threw it away yet. Probably my stinginess got in the way...

Made in Korea, of course...

Not very apparent in the picture, but this polish's brush is a bit rounded at the tip. The brush was also a little thicker and wider than the other polishes i'm used to. That's not a bad thing-this wider brush meant i need less strokes to cover my nail bed

As usual, i started with one coat of Revlon's Top Speed as a base and proceed with one coat of Lime Green :

1 Coat of Revlon Top Speed + 1 Coat of NR's Lime Green

As you can see from the pictures, it was really streaky and uneven with one coat. Color payoff is quite good actually, very similar with the bottled color. The texture of this polish was thick and could be a bit gloopy but nothing unmanageable. If you draw too little polish it can drag on and created messy, uneven texture so make sure you draw enough :)!

And because of its thick consistency, they tend to be quite gloopy (yeah, i just mentioned it, didn't i???) and dry on the brush after a few fingers. I had to close the polish and shake it well before continuing on with the other fingers. The polish dried fairly fast so i didn't have to wait forever for them to dry off, which is always a great point!

1 Coat of Revlon Top Speed + 2 Coats of NR's Lime Green

Second coat-if you draw enough (the amount of polish you draw each time is crucial here!)-will be enough to completely cover any patches that one coat couldn't cover, it's immediately opaque and even. I did draw less polish when doing my right hand, therefore the result was not as nice as the left hand and i had to add a third (light) coat to even the colors of both hands. Completely user's incapability lah, not the polish's fault hehe.

However, with that second coat added, the color would darken visibly, so the end result us a tad darker than the bottled color. That didn't bother me but if you're expecting the exact result as the bottled color, then it might be an issue since it's impossible to reach that shade without the result being very thin, patchy and streaky.

This polish result as you can also see from the picture above, was already glossy on its own so you might not need a top coat if the only reason for you to use some is to reach a glossy result. I, however, always use at least one coat of top coat to make the polish lasts longer and also out of habit hehe.

Final result : 1 Coat of Revlon Top Speed as a base, 2 Coats of Lime Green and 1 coat of Revlon Top Speed again as a top coat

The finished color actually reminds me of my JB/SG gel polish nails, only less neon-ish!

Sadly, the top coat didn't help much with the staying power of this polish hehe. For a Korean branded polish, the staying power's on the weak side *i'd say it's similar with The Skin Food's Nail Vita, which also has a weak staying power*. I find brands like Etude House and The Face Shop are a lot superior when it comes to their polishes' staying power.

The polish actually started to chip a little as fast as ONE day, i noticed some tiny chipping at the top of my nails the very next day after i applied them. Chipping got worse on the third day and by the end of the of the day, i noticed huge chips on several fingers. They totally fell apart today, which is the fourth day and i'm gonna have to remove them ASAP. For comparison, Etude House and The Face Shop's nail polishes stays for about five days on my nails. Chipping usually won't start before at least the third day.

I don't know if it's related at all, but i think The Skin Food and Nature Republic seems to be the brands that are more into natural (er) ingredients, and that might be why their polishes are not as strong as other Korean brands? Hehehe, it's a stab in the dark, a wild guess so don't attack me if i'm wrong la!

Price-wise, i have no idea how much it costs since it was gifted to me. Please check with the seller :p!

In short, i find this polish to be quite so-so. Nothing very special except for the vivid, true to the bottled (if a bit darker if you want a perfect finish) color. But keep in mind that it's easy to use and dries quite fast!

I'd recommend this polish for those who likes errrr... interesting, feminine looking nail polish packaging (their floral stem is definitely more pleasing to the eyes than your regular ones!), wants their polishes to look as similar as possible as how it appeared on the bottle, dries fast and easy to apply. Oh, and also won't lose their temper if their manicure's start to chip on the next day hehe.

I won't recommend this for those who are looking for a long lasting nail polish, for sure!

Would i purchase another Nature Republic nail polish? Yes, if they have an interesting color that i gotta have!

If you're interested in this nail polish (or any other Korean brand nail polish and other products!), you can get them from Beauty Bar 2010 which is the sister company of Nail Bar 2013.

What, i already provided you with their Facebook page which you only need to click to go to, not enough huh? Okay lah i'm nice and all so here's Siska's (one of the owner) contact, you can reach to her directly to place your order okay :

Fransisca 0821 4249 7799 (BB Pin 261D2FAD)

Thank you again for Nail Bar and Beauty Bar for giving me this nail polish so i can try it out! Toodlee doo!

I forgot to cam-whore with the nails, this pic was actually taken to show off my neon pink skull necklace but my nails were pretty visible as well lah, right? Oh yeah, excuse the pale face, it's taken after almost 12 hours day out!

#Pink

PS : I want to update you about my customized Vanity Trove that arrived in an absolute mess. Although i was very pleased that they gave me feedback really speedily (like, less than an hour after i e-mailed them, at night!), i was quite disappointed by their answer :(. It clearly was not my fault if their box arrived half-drowned in product, but instead of replacing the whole box-they actually asked if there's anything i could salvage from the box (i don't think i should be the one who's making any extra effort here. I should be able to chuck the whole mess into the bin without having to go through the crazy mess :(... Instead i spent a lot of time washing everything like a crazy person zzzz). I told them i could save two items only, all of the full-sized products were half empty, and i was afraid that the contact lenses voucher (which was super super soggy and looked scarily frail) wouldn't be redeemable. Yet they claimed there's nothing they could do about the voucher (because they ran out of it) and would only replace the TressMe products. How is that fair for the customer? I dunno, i'm seriously bummed :(...