As many of you know,
AMC's Mad Men is my absolute favorite show on television. So back in July, when I
mentioned here that a collection of Mad Men-inspired polishes were on the way to CVS Beauty 360 and Duane Reade stores this fall, I could hardly contain myself! Especially when I read that Janie Bryant, Mad Men's costume designer, was partnering with
Nailtini to create four lacquer shades inspired by the fabrics used in 60s-era cocktail dresses (think velvets, satins and lamés). Oooh la la! The potential was enough to have me pre-swooning (yep, I just made up a word).
Just like the television show, these polishes unleash their power slowly and steadily, until BOOM! Before you know it, you're absolutely obsessed. There's a beauty to these polishes that really creeps up on you, and I have to say that the fabric-to-polish translation is truly brilliant. Let's take a closer look:
Nailtini Janie Bryant Limited Edition Nail Lacquers
(retail: $14 each, .5 oz)
UPDATE: I had originally written that these bottles were .25 oz, because that's the size I received for this review. Since then, a lovely reader emailed me to let me know that she purchased Stinger at Duane Reade and it was 0.5 oz for $14. So please forgive me--the full-size bottle is $14 for 0.5 oz (the same size as a Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure bottle).
Let's start with French 75:
The true beauty of French 75 is its texture. If you've ever felt a vintage piece of gold lamé in your hands, you know that there's a bumpy, almost rough feel to it. The brilliance in French 75 is that it perfectly captures the texture of the fabric, but in polish form! From a distance it looks like liquid gold on the nails, but once you get closer, you see the interesting texture that mimics real gold lamé. This polish applied quite easily with two coats for total opacity, and I think it's one of the most unique colors I've ever seen. Be sure to enlarge the above pics so you can really see what's going on in the bottle. Stunning!
Next, we have Deauville:
Deauville, aka the "lady of the French coast", is probably one of the most prestigious and elegant seaside resorts in the world. Think James Bond, Coco Chanel, high-stakes casinos, horse racing, sailing, and other activities never mentioned on this blog. Ha! So when I think of Deauville, I think opulence. And there's no more opulent a nail color, really, than pure silver. According to the
Nailtini website, "
Deauville drapes nails in sparkling, white-hot liquid platinum". I would absolutely agree with this. I swear to you, this is the most streak-free metallic foil polish I have ever used. The formula is pure perfection. I mean, look at it! It looks like my nails are wrapped in smooth aluminum foil, right? No brush stokes, and only two coats for complete opacity.
Next, we have Bourbon Satin:
Let's not mince words here. Bourbon Satin is mind-blowing. I have never seen a polish that mimics the look of satin quite like this. But guess what? It also mimics the look of actual bourbon whiskey. Look closely at the above pics and I think you'll see the swirls of amber in the bottle. This absolutely reminds me of what bourbon looks like when it's being poured into a glass (which then leads me to think of Don Draper, and oh you Don Draper, always invading my thoughts!). Anyway, I tried to show you Bourbon Satin in three forms of lighting so that you can really see the richness and depth of this shade. In person it's even more amazing, and it doesn't stop there. The formula! This polish applies like buttah. It's smooth and just effortlessly covers my nails with one coat--I really didn't need a second coat, but I applied one anyway. I think this may be my favorite shade of the collection.
And last but not least, we have Stinger:
As is always the case with dark duochromes (or multi-chromes) this polish was difficult for me to photograph accurately. So please know that there's much more to this polish than what you see in these pictures. The
Nailtini site describes
Stinger accordingly: "Like a peacock's finest plume, this shimmering shade wraps nails in black spiked with iridescent hints of blue, green, red and purple." I absolutely agree with this description because, depending on the lighting,
Stinger can look blue, purple, green or red. But all the while, it stays connected to its black base. On my hands, it never looks like a plain black polish though--there's always
something going on with it, but that
something keeps changing. I absolutely adore this complex shade and I have a feeling it's going to be the runaway hit of the collection.
In fact, the day after I painted my nails with Stinger I had to bust out my camera in different lighting just to try once more to capture the duochrome effect of this polish. By the way, Stinger applies like buttah, and you only need one coat for opacity, though I used two for these pics.
So here are some of my "second round" shots of Stinger:
Do you see the purple on the left side of my nails?
In this pic, the green really comes out
I hope this review has helped you to determine whether or not you'd like to invest in one (or more) of these new Mad Men-inspired nail lacquers. For $14 per bottle, they're a little more than what most of us are used to spending on a polish, but I think that their unique qualities completely justify the splurge. And if you're a Mad Men fan, well, you need these. Period.
Are you a Mad Men fan? What do you think of this new collection? Any must-haves that are jumping out at you? I'd love to hear from you!
A sample of this product was given to Nouveau Cheap for editorial purposes, either directly from the manufacturer or from the agency that works on behalf of the manufacturer. All reviews on NouveauCheap.blogspot.com are the honest opinion of its author and editorial samples do not, in any way, affect the outcome of product reviews.
