Comments on: Dollar Store Nail Polish vs. Name Brand?

By: Gill

Gill — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 01:35:51 +0000

This is the gf speaking here… I would like to ask how you can get no streak marks on your nails. I have only used Dior and Chanel colours before, but I really want to cut down on expense so I went to the dollar store to try these polishes out. They caused streaks through the colour. It seems really bad, but when I see your nails (the first and second are not so good but the rest are beautiful!) there are hardly any streaks. I put on base coat as well as 1-3 layers of colour (depending on opacity) and a top coat. But the dollar store ones seens to be very… streaky. Help please? Thank you!

By: Rebecca C

Rebecca C — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:59:51 +0000

Just wanted to say that most reds wills stain nails. Use a basecoat on nails before using color to prevent this. then use a topcoat over them so you don’t get red streaks on your walls or bathtub when you accidentally brush them with your fingernails, like is what always happens to me.

By: Gesina

Gesina — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:19:47 +0000

Great post I just got a pack of three that has an awesome gunmetal dark gray a dusty gold and a sparkely soft pink great buy for a dollar lol

By: Valerai

Valerai — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 22:31:44 +0000

Omigosh, A Valerie has every color? I just got every color of the Regular LA Color nail polish from my Dollar Tree and I really do love them. I didn’t know they have an art Deco Line. Thanks for the warning about the drying time. I though I was doing something wrong when I got dings 5 min later! These polishes are better than the set of Playboy nail polishes I got last year for much more per bottle! they would peel off after a day or leave stains, the LA Color from the $ store lasts forever and comes off clean.

I don’t indulge in too many cosmetic things like makeup and stuff but these were a treat for only a dollar each. Each week when I feel I’ve earned it,I open a new color to try out.

Oh, I got my topcoat there also. Works much better than the $2+ one I got from a regular store!

By: Valerie

Valerie — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:42:40 +0000

I have EVERY color of the L.A. Colors Art Deco line! The thin brushes are perfect to do lots of fun nail art. YouTube has tons of tutorials if you’re so inclined, but I also like to just freestyle a fun pattern on my nails. You’d be surprised how easy it is. And they are a dollar! Gotta love that.

As far as nail polish in general goes, I have some good old NYC that I bought for 89 cents, and I have a couple of bottles of Butter London polish that retails for $14 a bottle. Most people are not going to be able to tell if your polish is fancy or not. I’d say the key is having a base coat (that keeps the yellowing to a minimum when you wear reds…and Revlon Red is one of my all-time favorites), plus you need a good top coat. My favorite top coat is Seche Vite; you’ll pay about $8 to $10 for it, but it dries your nails in maybe five minutes or less. If you use a fast-dry top coat, it doesn’t really matter if your polish chips because repainting them once a week or so becomes much quicker. Some folks also recommend painting the tips and just under the tips to minimize chipping.

By: Caitlyn

Caitlyn — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:42:39 +0000

I’m with Metis – I’d be worried about heavy metal content in the non-brand name polishes. It’s probably more or less okay for occasional use but I wouldn’t want that on my for any period of time! And of course it’s fine for crafting.

(Incidentally, you aren’t Metis Black from Tantus, by any chance? The name plus the worries about heavy metal content kinda made me wonder…)

They often have makeup and polishes from name brands, though, which presumably went to the dollar store because the package got dinged up or the color was discontinued. Those are probably fine.

By: Esther

Esther — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:20:35 +0000

Has anyone tried the relvon nail polish? I tried a brown one and it worked very well, smooth and dries quickly, BUT when I used the colour firey red, and removed it from my nails, I realised that it actually STAINED my nails to an orangy colour!

Has this happened to anyone else??

By: Pen

Pen — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:48:15 +0000

I really love NYC brand nail polish. At Target it sells for 94 cents! I actually like it much better than most of the more expensive brands. It covers well,last just as long or longer, dries quickly and comes in lots of wonderful colors. My favorite is 111 Fushia Shock for my toes.

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:40:40 +0000

I can’t remember if I’ve used LA colors recently to know about the quality of it, but I DO know from experience that Jordana brand nail polishes (another brand commonly found at dollar stores) always start to chip away *really* quickly (like after a day, and in the weird middle-of-painted-nail, crackly kind of way).

By: Fire

Fire — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:50:34 +0000

I’ve also tried many of the L.A. Colors polishes. I used thin coats and didn’t have any trouble with drying time – it took the same time as my much more expensive polishes. Two things should be noted, however.
First isn’t a big deal: the image of Aqua Crystals is of it LAYERED over another colour. That, or about a dozen coats of it. It’s a gorgeous polish, but if you put it on your unpainted nail it looks like clear polish with blue glitter on it.
Second: I wore L.A. Colors polishes for a couple weeks (always 4 days polish/3 days without for me) and my nails began peeling. Not the at-the-tips-you’ve-been-too-rough peeling, but like the middle of my nail had little bits coming up. So at the very least use a very strong base coat and don’t wear it for weeks on end.