With flash inside:
Yay! Product review.
I was sent polishes from
Sula Cosmetics for review. Sula is a Canadian company based in Toronto and carries a cosmetics line that ranges from scents to polishes.
I found Sula by accident. I was researching Canadian brands and they popped up in my search - which is funny because I've actually seen their bottles in some stores around the city. However, Sula distributes their polishes in
Canada, the UK and can be found in many ULTA stores in the US.
This is Sula's mission statement:
"Sula is about highly wearable products designed to compliment you, not define you. Your look and mood changes throughout the day so your products should too: two Sula fragrances in one day? Yes! Two different nail colours in one day? With Sula Paint and Peel, Yes! And Yes!"
The Colours:
I was sent two polishes: Slate Paint and Peel and Azure Paint and Peel.
Slate Azure
Slate is a medium brown colour, it goes on lighter and I thought it was going to give me mannequin nails but it actually dried to this creamy brown. It reminds me a lot of coffee with a lot of creamer in it.
Azure is a gorgeous blue creme that reminds me of robin's eggs. Again it goes on a little lighter and dries with a deepening of pigment.
Both colours are true to what you see in the bottle.
Bottles with flash:
Bottles without flash:
The Application:
The bottles boast a fairly thick brush with the bristles coming to a bit of a round at the tip. The polishes themselves are quite thick and definately have a lot of pigment.
Azure took 2 coats to become fully opaque without streaking.
Slate took 3 coats to become fully opaque without streaking and visible nail line (VNL).
I would say to get the maximum effect from this polish you would have to put 3 coats of any colour but I still needed to put about 3 coats on for complete opacity with no streaking. On the browns I did have some visible nail lines at 2 coats.
One of the great things about this polish is that despite how thick the actual polish is when applying, it actually dries lightening fast without topcoat. I was good to go and apply nail art on top within 3 minutes of applying the last coat of colour to my nails.
One more thing to note - smell. What smell? Some polishes I have literally burn my eyes - not Sula. The formula is water-based so there is no crazy headache-inducing odor to put up with.
Here are both colours applied and rotated with flash:
And without flash:
The Staying Power:
Here is the thing - in the world of polish we're all about staying power. We all constantly use polish helpers like base and topcoats to keep our polish on for days. However, Sula is the brand you want if you WANT your polish to change on a whim. If you're the type of person who can't ever decide on what colour they want, or if you have to do a quick change from work wear to evening wear and don't have time to break out the remover - then Sula would be a great product for you.
In fact - that is what Sula is all about:
"Sula is about having the freedom to play with different scents and styles. Save structure for work if you must, not for your beauty products.
Break rules,
Set Trends,
And always play pretty."
I actually find it really liberating - knowing that you can literally shed your colour away at anytime and change it without messing around with remover.
That being said - I applied this first thing at work. And after about 4 hours of typing away on the keyboard this was my tip wear:
pointer and middle (without top coat), ring and pinky (with 1 coat Seche Vite)
As you can see the tip wear was about the same with and without a topcoat. What I would suggest for staying power is to not only use a topcoat but a basecoat as well - which will interfere with the peeling - but at least it won't look like you've been wearing your mani for 4 days opposed to 4 hours.
The Fun Part:
Ah yes, PEELING! I actually found this fun - peeling away nails without reaching for the remover. Here is a little video. This was 2 coats and I sped the process up a bit. I think with more coats the faster you'd be able to peel this away since it would be thicker.
Here are some more pictures of the peeling process:
The Nail Art:
I thought it would be fun to see how far this polish could go - and so I tried some Konad'ing. Unsuccessful.
Azure konaded over Slate
As you can see, despite its opacity going on the nail - its too thin for nail stamping. But its okay since with a nail polish you can change at a whim - why would you want to spend that time konading over it?
Sula however work's great with dotting! (See first picture of the review above)
without flash inside:
Sunny outside:
The Scale:
Pros:
- It's the perfect travel polish!
- When I first peeled this off I immediately thought: WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I WAS IN MEXICO!!?? Because you can just peel it off, you never have to worry about packing remover and possibly getting it tossed because you forgot it was in your carry on. Yes, it happened to me.
- The colours are true to the bottle and come in a nice range
- Isn't it nice to know that what you see is what you get? I only got to sample 2 colours, but there are many colours that make me lemming. You can check out their full line here: http://www.sulabeauty.com/catalog/15/collection
- Its a water-based formula that has no odor and doesn't damage your nails coming off
- I have a lot of friends who have teen's and tweens who worry about being around so many chemicals in cosmetic products. Not only will this change with your tween's attitude but you also won't find them passed out on their bedroom floor after changing their polish
- Cleanup is a snap!
- no more messing around with brushes or q-tips...you just peel the excess off your cuticles!
Cons:
- Beware the habitual picker!
- If you pick your nail polish already then this polish is not for you. Unless you like changing your nail polish on the hour
- Not designed for lasting wear
- Unless you're willing to slather on topcoats every other day - Sula polish is built not to last but that's the point!
- Nail Art limitations
- Okay so you can't Konad - but you can dot and swipe for sure!
The Conclusions:
All in all Sula Paint and Peel polishes are awesome - because they accomplish what they're supposed to: give you the ability to change your polish with your mood without having to carry around remover with you where ever you go. They're very flexible - and sometimes that's exactly what you need!
For more information on Sula Nail Polishes you can visit their website
http://www.sulabeauty.com for a list of stores and also instructions on how to purchase online.
Niki*
Please scroll down to the bottom of my blog for a full disclaimer regarding nail polish reviews.
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