Review & swatches: Cosmetic Arts Professional Nail Lacquers from Ross

Cosmetic Arts Professional Nail Lacquers, made by Forsythe Cosmetic Group (makers of Color Club) are pretty much sold exclusively at Ross. I've heard they've also been spotted at a few regional drugstore chains, but for the most part you'll need to go to your local Ross to find them.

The price at Ross for these polishes is $1.99 each. The formulas are Big Three Free and these polishes are made in the USA. I've been seeing more and more Cosmetic Arts polishes at my local Ross stores lately, with large displays that can be found either in the beauty aisle, or sometimes at the checkout counter.

The thing that kind of bothers me about these polishes is that they do not have their shade names printed on the bottles. I know that, for a while, you could find the corresponding shade names on the Cosmetic Group website, but I don't think they're available there anymore (I tried to find them the other day but couldn't--if you have a magic link to these polish names, please share in the comments!).

So, as many other bloggers have done in their own blog posts, I'm going to make up names for these polishes, just for fun:

NOTE: these are made-up names and NOT official shade names

Blue shimmer: She Wore Blue Velvet

Glitter: Smoggy City Lights

Coral: We Can't-A-Lope

I named the blue shade She Wore Blue Velvet after the song, but also because, in the bottle, this shade has a gorgeous, smooth velvety look to it.

I named the glitter shaded Smoggy City Lights because it reminds me of the way that city lights can peek out through a layer of smog (living in S. California, I've seen my share of smog).

I named the coral shade We Can't-A-Lope because it's such a pretty cantaloupe shade, and I was also channeling my inner OPI with a little bit of tongue-in-cheekiness.

So let's start with "She Wore Blue Velvet" (in quotes because it's my made-up name for this shade):

Like I just mentioned, "She Wore Blue Velvet" looks like velvet in the bottle. It is so smooth and velvety and it's such a gorgeous shade of steel blue. HOWEVER, I do not have swatches of this polish for you because I could not get this polish to work for me, even after several hours of trying.

Specifically, this polish has so much shimmer to it that it leaves bold brush stokes on the nail. But as most of us know, when a polish leaves strong brush strokes on the nail, you need to be gentle with it, and often you need to lightly go back over your brush stokes to eliminate those harsh lines. HOWEVER, because this polish is thick and goopy,  it practically demands the  "three stroke technique" (paint a stripe in the middle of your nail, then one on either side and STOP).

Bit of a catch-22, eh? The finish dictates that you go over your strokes to smooth out the visible brush strokes, but you CAN'T go over your strokes because the polish is so thick and goopy.

If you DO go back over your brush strokes, this polish leaves bulges and lumps on the nail, much like if you were to paint almost-dry nails with a thin layer of polish. It just drags and wants to make your entire nail a big, bumpy mess. I had so much frustration with this polish that, if it were that time of the month, I would have surely been in tears by the end of the ordeal. PASS on this one, folks. As beautiful as it is, it's not worth the trouble.

PS: I also tried adding a few drops of polish thinner to this one, in the hopes that that would solve all of my problems. THREE applications of polish thinner later, and I STILL encountered the exact same issues. I'm afraid this one cannot be saved!

So let's move on to the two polishes that totally worked for me:

These two photos were taken indoors without flash.

These two photos were taken indoors WITH flash.

The photos above were taken after one coat of Gelous base coat, two coats of polish and one coat of Seche Vite top coat. 

First let's start with "Smoggy City Lights" (my made-up name for this shade). LOVE the vaguely-mauve base color of this scattered holo polish. Two coats yields perfect coverage and it's not too thick or goopy. This one does feel bumpy on the nail and dries to a bit of a matte finish, but I have a tip for you to eliminate bumpiness caused by glitter! I wish I could remember who gave me this tip (I must have read it on one of the hundreds of nail blogs I subscribe to) but after you apply your glitter polish, add a thick layer of ridge-filling BASE coat to your nail before you apply your top coat. This will help to fill in the bumps caused by the glitter and make the surface of your nail much smoother.

So that's what I did with "Smoggy City Lights". I applied a coat of Gelous base coat, then applied two coats of polish. After that I applied ANOTHER layer of Gelous, and finished it off with a layer of Seche Vite top coat. The result? An almost perfectly smooth nail! (There's still a tiny bit of bumpiness, but nothing like it was before the layer of Gelous).

Moving on to "We Can't-A-Lope" (my made-up name), PURE PERFECTION. This lovely canteloupe jelly creme glides on the nail with ease and practically paints itself. Consistency is perfect, and I could stop at two coats if I'm not feeling like a perfectionist when it comes to opacity. Three coats would be perfect, but I can totally get away with two (you really have to strain to see the streaks after two coats). 

Dry time on these polishes is not stellar, but of course applying a quick-dry top coat cuts the dry-time down considerably. 

As for wear, well, what I neglected to tell you at the beginning of this post was that my swatches were taken on the THIRD DAY of my manicure. Just a teeny-tiny bit of tip wear and that's it. I am seriously impressed with the wear-time on these polishes!

FINAL VERDICT: I don't want to say that you should avoid the shimmery shades from  Cosmetic Arts because "She Wore Blue Velvet" is the only shimmer I own from this brand. However, the performance of that shade really makes me hesitant to buy another shimmer from this brand. But the creme and glitter polishes I own are FANTASTIC. I am currently on day four of my manicure with zero chipping or peeling. Plus, "We Can't-A-Lope" is such a gorgeous shade for summer--I haven't been able to stop looking at my nails since the moment I put it on. Definitely worth $1.99 and I highly recommend picking up a few bottles the next time you're at Ross (just be cautious with the shimmers!).

What are some of your favorite colors from Cosmetic Arts? Do you own any shimmers? If so, did they perform better for you than the one I purchased?

PS: I just have to tell you about the other thing I bought at Ross this week. They had Cobian flip flops for $9.99! If you haven't heard of Cobian, it's an apparel brand based here in San Diego (San Marcos, to be exact) and I argue that they make THE MOST COMFORTABLE FLIP FLIPS ON THE PLANET.  I have worn nothing but Cobian flip flops for over ten years now, and I usually have to go to a local surf shop to buy them (they retail for about $25). Well, I almost cried when I spotted Cobians at Ross the other day for $9.99! Luckily they had my size, and I'm telling you, it was the score of the century for me. The ones I bought look similar to these and I love, love, love them!