Third (and final!) April Nail Polish Haul!

Whew! I bought so many nail polishes last month! This is definitely the last nail polish haul for April and there probably won't be another one for a while~

A friend of mines tipped me off to a local beauty supply store near my house (Thanks, Juliet!) that I had never noticed before even though it's only 5 minutes away. [Can my excuse for not noticing the shop be that the sign is blocked by a gas station from the main road? No? Okay...] Curious, I stopped by one Friday after getting off work early and picking up my sister from her university.

L to R: Color Club's Nature's Way , Essie's Brooch the Subject, and Essie's Matte About You

I'm constantly on the lookout for polishes that I can wear to work in an office environment. While I absolutely LOVE the neon nails trend and cute designs, I have to be respectful of my company's dress code policy. Surprisingly, the two polishes pictured above are my first nude polishes ever!
This particular beauty supply store is owned and operated by a Vietnamese family. They supply the local nail salons with pretty much everything that would be needed ranging from pedicure chairs to, of course, nail polish. They carry the most of the permanent lines from the popular nail polish brands like Essie, Color Club, China Glaze, OPI, etc. Unfortunately, no prices were listed for any of the nail polishes so I only picked up a few to get a gauge on what their prices would be like.

And guess what? I purchased all three of the above polishes for only $9!! What a steal! I'm not sure if the polishes are that cheap because they were purchased wholesale and the store can afford to cut prices or if the prices for the Essie polishes were low due to old packaging. Either way, I'm super happy with my purchase.

The one thing I don't like about Essie polishes is the price. To me, $8 for a nail polish seems a little steep. This is actually my first Essie nail polish purchase ever (if you exclude my Essie Grow Stronger base coat)!! As you can tell from the photo above, the polish is in Essie's old packaging with an embossed "e" on top of the cap and an embossed "essie" on the side of the bottle. All the Essie polishes at this store were packaged the same way. Being new to the Essie brand, I was skeptical of the authenticity of the polishes but later realized that they are real.

• I purchased Brooch the Subject which is a cream nude color. I've tried it on one of my nails the other day and it definitely needs at least two coats before it's opaque. Most of my lighter shades, in any brand, tend to require at least two, if not three, coats to get the polish to an opacity that I like. 
• Nature's Way is also a cream nude color. It has a peachy undertone which makes it very wearable. I have never tried Color Club polishes before this one and was curious try them. After all, this blog is about stepping out of my comfort zone and experimenting with new things, right? Looking at the bottle, I knew this polish was going to be sheer. It's significantly more sheer than Brooch the Subject and needs at least three coats before completely opaque. This polish is also less viscous than Brooch the Subject. 

Here's the gem of my purchase. I've honestly been looking for Essie's Matte About You for the past few months. The only time I had seen it in stores was at a random K-Mart I was at with my parents about half a year ago and it was the last one on the shelf. I didn't purchase it that trip and had regretted it since. I checked multiple local Walgreens, Rite-Aids, Targets, Walmarts, etc. for this matte finisher but had no luck finding it. There wasn't even a spot on the shelves for it! 

Near impossible to find in stores like Target, Walmart, Walgreens, etc near me!

Matte About You is basically a matte finisher for any nail polish you may already own. Some people don't like the matte nails trend but I personally think its something different and exciting. I'm currently wearing it over China Glaze's Smoke and Ashes from my last haul. I was surprised by how this finisher applied and worked. I originally thought it would be like a topcoat and be a protective layer over my nail polish. However when I applied it, the finisher looked like it was absorbed into my nail polish leaving behind a matte  texture. Mind-blown! I still have no idea how this and other matte topcoats work.

I have noticed that over time (3-4 days) my nails have started losing intensity of their matte finish. None of them are glossy by any means but it looks like my nails have picked up oils from my hands, moisturizers, serums, etc. from everyday wear and tear. The tips of each of my nails are definitely glossier than the rest of the nail. It's quite an interesting phenomenon. Of course, I can always just apply more of the Matte About You on top if I really wanted to keep the completely matte look.