Loreal Walk on the Beach 300: Review

 

I'd call this a cool leaning to neutral light tan. Basically I saw it, and thought, "Ohhhh... I've got the perfect color to go with this." I had gotten Pure Ice Viva Las Vegas a few days before and had already done my nails with it. So this was just sitting there, looking all creamy and pretty, and I knew what I was going to do with it.

On it went, and I do like the way it looks as the tips of the nails, but for the beds, it went on kind of streaky. It took two thick coats to get a smooth surface, and it still looks a little uneven.

Oh well, that'll happen sometimes when you layer polish A over polish B, and the tips looked quite good.

Next came the on it's own test, where I took off that look, and went for Walk on it's own.

I needed three coats to get true to bottle color.

That's sixteen hours after I put Walk on. You can see there was a tiny bit of bubbling on my ring finger, and there's some tip wear on the first finger. This is my left hand, and I'm a righty, SAHM, and writer, so it's not like those fingers were doing anything all that strenuous. (I should probably also mention that 9 of those 16 hours were spent in bed.)

Close up after sixteen hours:

Now, when I test a polish, I don't use a top coat, and only use a base coat if I think it'll stain. I don't want to test how well my top and base coat work. I already know how well they wear. So those pics are Walk all on it's own.

Still that's more tip wear than I like, so I decided to camouflage it with a second color combination I had planned for this. Walk on the Beach x OPI I've Got A Herring Problem. It's a basic, put on one color (Walk) let dry, apply tape, paint second color (Herring), remove tape, volia, you have a manicure type of thing.

Pretty combo, yeah? Well, I think so. But still, why is one finger all blue, and why is there some sort of weird goopy thing on the thumb?

Here's what happened when I took the tape off the first finger:

Yeah, that's pretty ugly.

Remember, Walk had been on for more than sixteen hours at that point. So, it's not like I didn't give it enough time to dry, and it just peeled right off.

I honestly don't know why this happened to the thumb. It wasn't like that before I put the top coat over the manicure on, but it was after. (Yes, I use a top coat when I'm not testing for wear.)

I left my right hand with just Walk on it. I wanted to see how it did on a longer test. This is 40 hours after I put it on.

 

So, that's a bit more wear and chipping than I like in a nail polish. Anyway, I like this color, but I'm not terribly impressed by the wear or the application. 

Other reviews:

http://kittypolishnbags.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/loreal-walk-on-the-beach/

http://prettysquared.blogspot.com/2012/10/notd-loreal-colour-riche-polish-walk-on.html

http://www.allaboutthejoy.com/2012/10/loreal-walk-on-the-beach/

Pure Ice: Viva Las Vegas

Pure Ice Viva Las Vegas

Pure Ice Viva Las Vegas is the sort of color that makes me squee with joy. It's a purply-taupey-white-gold-shimmery little bottle of joy. I love, love, love this color.

Two coats provided pretty solid color, and three got me to to true to bottle level. Depending on how I hold my hands, and how the light hits them, I get everything from taupe to shimmery gold, to an almost blue-tinged light dirty-purple (that absolutely refused to be photographed). Did I mention I love this color?

I am somewhat less impressed by the dry time.

So, I put it on, skipping the top coat because I wanted to see how it wore on it's own. And the correct answer was, great, once it fully dried. Now, I used OPI's drying drops, because I just don't have hours to lay about without moving my hands. Most of the time I plop on the drops, give my hands a good twenty minutes of down time, and I've got bullet-proof nails.

Not so much for this shade. An hour after I put this on, I was getting dings and scratches. Two hours later, and I had bullet-proof nails. There's a tiny scratch on the middle finger, and I ended up with a large ding on the thumb, that also refused to be photographed.

Once it dried, I got two days of no visible wear or tear. Little tip wear by day three. On day four the nail was showing through on the tip. No chips or fading. 

Other Press:

http://beautybycrystalstore.blogspot.com/2012/11/mani-monday-pure-ice-viva-las-vegas.html

http://lizzysblogplace.blogspot.com/2012/12/pure-ice-underwear-4-viva-las-vegas.html

http://glitterandunicorns-angiebee.blogspot.com/2012/11/pure-ice-swatchfest.html 

Other Shots: