A Word About "Cheap" Nail Polish

So I decided to do a post on "cheap" nail polish.  I say "cheap" because the bottles/brands I will show you today were between $.99 and $1.99 each, and most were bought at my local drugstore. 

The first photo shown is of my small-but-growing Sinful Colors collection.  Next to China Glaze, which is 3 times the price (but my favorite), this is my preferred brand now and I intend to get every color they make!  And at $1.99/bottle, how can I not?!

One of the main differences between cheap, moderately priced and expensive polish is the amount of pigment in the paint.  Obviously the more pigment that's there, the more opaque the color will go on. 
This is why many times you're often able to get one-coat coverage with a good polish, like OPI, for example, but a .99 cent polish could take up to 5 or 6 coats for full opacity.  However....don't turn your nose up at the cheaper polishes.  One coat of basic black polish (or white, under light colors) used as a base coat will allow you full opacity from your "cheap" polish with just one, maybe two coats at most.

So here are some of my cheapy polishes that I actually LOVE, and believe it or not, I use more than my NARS, Chanel and other high-end brands. 

That right there ^ is $3.00 worth of nail polish.  3 bottles at $.99 each...can't beat that!!  And get this...the purple and periwinkle colors went on with ONE COAT over black and I got full opacity! 

Ahhhh...Pure Ice.  Grabbed these at my local Walmart for $.98 each.  The first one - the purple - is a gorgeous duochrome.  The other 2 are glitters in clear bases.  These require tons of coats for opacity, but I love them anyway!

The nail polish people must know that to get me to buy something, all you need to do is slap a "NEW" sticker on it, and you've got me...hook, line & sinker!  With that said, the second bottle from the left ended up being my surprise bonus of the year....A MULTICHROME!!!  Yes, you heard that right.  That little $1.99 bottle of pure magic shows as purple, green and gray.  In fact, the color name is Gray's Anatomy.  I had no idea....I saw the purple & green and thought "hmmm...a duochrome?  Coolness!"  Imagine my surprise when I found that third color in there.  Again...don't turn your nose up at the cheap brands.  OK, you CAN, but then the only one missing out is you!  :-P

And finally....Chelly.  These are on a big bottom-shelf display at Walgreens, and are 2 for $3.29.  These require tons of coats for opacity when worn alone, but thrown on over black, well....two coats do the job.  I like using these for nail art because the formula is a little thinner than other brands...I can build up color as I go, which is nice.

So that's about it for my cheapy collection.  The rest of my polishes are the higher end brands like OPI, Orly, Essie, China Glaze (my fave!), NARS and Chanel.  But like I said...I have no problem picking up a cheap old bottle of polish at the dollar store (don't laugh...they have polish!!) because I know what that cheap little bottle is really capable of!  ;-)  Happy painting!