Love & Beauty Nail Polish in Aqua

Hello!

I'm showing you a nail polish now, Aqua, by Love & Beauty, an inexpensive, trendy cosmetics company sold at Forever 21. I love these nail polishes for trendy knock-offs that I don't want to spend an arm and a leg on. Missed out on Chanel's Jade, Nouvelle Vague, and Peach Fizz? What about Essie's Tart Deco? Love & Beauty's got you covered- as long as you're not *too* picky about finding an exact dupe. Aqua is in the same vein as Chanel's Nouvelle Vague and China Glaze's For Audrey, but brighter. It's a great summer color, and for $2.80 (for a .47 ounce bottle), you don't have to feel guilty if this is a color you'll only wear a handful of times.

I find Love & Beauty's wear time to be about average; I get a couple of chip free days if I use a base coat and a top coat, and then a few random chips here and there through the next couple of days, and then by the fifth day it starts looking a little ragged. I have this problem with just about every drug store nail polish; salon brands afford me a day or two better wear, and a day or two more when going up to designer brands. I find Love and Beauty's nail polish to wear just as well as drug store brands that are a few bucks more expensive, although the formula is sometimes uneven, streaky, or not very glossy. Aqua's formula was a little thick (usually Love & Beauty runs too thin!), and not incredibly glossy, but it went on opaque in two coats and with no streaks. I'm not going to say it applied itself, but I didn't find it especially difficult to work with.  I swatched the polish without a base or top coat; as such, I got a chip in one of my nails within about six hours, which you can see in the pictures. I'd definitely recommend wearing these with a base and top coat if you want a couple of days of picture-perfect out of this line of polish.

The bottle:

Love & Beauty Nail Polish in Aqua 

The Back of the Polish

Swatches! Notice the chip on my top pointer finger- this is why you need to use Love & Beauty with a base and top coat.

Love & Beauty, Aqua. How many bottles of nail varnish do you think it took to paint my boyfriend's bathroom this color? 

With flash:

Aqua, with flash

Rating: 5 out of 10 

This polish gets a solid 5/10. While there's nothing outstanding about the formula, it's certainly workable, and the color selection is great. You can't beat the price, either, with this $2.80 polish performing at least as well if not better as some drugstore brands that come in closer to the $5 price point. I'm not sure about the ingredients in this polish; it doesn't say on the bottle if this is Big 3-Free (or 4, if you're watching out for formaldehyde resins!), so it may not be. But if you don't worry about using polishes with these chemicals in them, this is a budget-conscious, fashion-forward alternative to dropping $10-$25 on seasonal nail polish colors. Aqua is great for spring and summer, and would look great on toes in metallic sandals!

p.s., if you can't find it in stores, Aqua is also available on Forever 21's Website ;)

p.p.s., I got two compliments on this color in my little 5 hour shift at work today! From Real Live Strangers! Must be eye catching!