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Monday, November 12, 2012

Review & Swatches: pa nail color in AA66

Before I get into this review, I'd like to mention that lately I've been receiving requests to review affordable Asian beauty products. For those new to this blog, I have actually reviewed several Asian beauty products in the past (with many more to come). You can view them all by selecting the "Asian beauty" catagory on the right-hand sidebar of this blog. Hope that helps, and expect more Asian beauty reviews in the weeks to come!

Now, for those of you who are already aware of my love of Asian beauty products, you probably already know that I love me some pa. Dear Laura is a Japanese cosmetics company, and one of their lines is pa, which includes nail polish and other beauty products. These adorable little pa polishes retail for about $6 at most Asian markets here in the San Diego area (I purchased this polish at Marukai Living) and I know from other bloggers that you can find them in just about any major city that has a Japantown or Little Tokyo type of district--sometimes they can even be found at Asian grocery stores.

pa nail color in AA66
(retail: between $4-$6 in the US)

Keep reading for more info and swatches...

The thing I love about pa is that, after a nail trend becomes popular here in the US, I can almost count on the fact that the pa displays here in San Diego will add versions of the trend-of-the-moment. They did this with flakies a while back (remember my pa flakie polish?) and when I was at my local Maurkai Living store recently, I just about fell over after I noticed that they had added about six new milky-glitters to the regular pa display! If you saw my post from last week, you know I've been obsessed with milky glitters ever since the Nails Inc. Sprinkles came out and I was super excited to find a drugstore version here.

Back to the pa display: the one I really wanted (pastel pink) was already sold out. I contemplated getting the milky nude, blue and white glitter polishes but ultimately ended up getting just the white (it was the one that really stood out to me--I love the cookies-and-cream vibe to it).

I don't know know the weight of these polishes, but here's a pic for comparison:

I told you, they're small!


I love that they embed holo glitter into the caps.





All swatches were photographed after three coats of AA66, no top coat:





I heart milky glitters!

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I will say that this polish isn't perfect, but I think it's worth a purchase if you're looking for a milky white with black glitter and you happen to find a display. The first coat basically deposited zero glitter onto my nails. But don't let that scare you--you do have to fish a little bit for the glitter, but it becomes more apparent and more abundant with the second and third coats. You'll definitely need three coats for good opacity and a decent amount of glitter on each nail, but I want to emphasize that the overall look gets better after each coat and I think it's definitely worth the extra trouble.

Another thing I want to emphasize is that the glitter in this polish is very small. The large hex glitter you see above is deceiving--it's actually quite small when compared to the chunky hex glitter we see in lots of US drugstore polishes. And the small hex glitter in this polish actually just looks like specks to the naked eye. In fact, in person, my nails sort of look like speckled eggs (which makes me love this polish even more).

Dry time is average; just be sure to allow each coat to dry before you apply the next and you shouldn't run into any problems.

Do you own any pa polishes? How do you feel about milky glitters?  Do you already own some? Is this a trend you're currently embracing? 
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24 comments

  1. This looks so different and pretty! I wish I could buy pa polishes where I live! I'm getting into the milky glitters, but don't have any... yet :)

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  2. This looks so amazing! I'm not sure where I can buy pa around here, but if I ever see it - I'm sure I'll go crazy!

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  3. ohh this is so pretty!! thanks for sharing!!

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  4. :( Maybe I need to venture out to the Asian markets closer to my home. I have found zero nail polishes at the Chicago Chinatown.

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  5. I don't think I could wear this. It reminds me too much of cookies and cream ice cream. I might be trying to eat my fingers! :)

    I like some milky glitters, but not too many. The color combo has to be just right for me to be interested.

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  6. loove, i think i might have to head to my local Japanese haunts here in chicago to find that, i want my nails to look like speckled eggs

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  7. i love PA polishes! first discovered them in japan town in san francisco -fell in love

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  8. G, have you seen the China Glaze Cirque Du Soleil collab? There's a milky white jelly with multi-colored and sized hex glitter. It's called It's A Trap-eze. I ordered it on Friday. Should be here soon. I'm excited!!!

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  9. This looks pretty! :) I have never heard of the milky glitter trend, but I may get into it if I see some here.

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  10. This is a super pretty look on you! I have a few Asian nail supply stores here in Florida, but I've never ventured into them yet. This polish may give me the impetus I needed, LOL!

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  11. This polish is so adorable. Love milky glitters! :)

    The speckled egg look sounds really cute too.

    I haven't heard of this brand. I hope I can find it at my local Asian stores.

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  12. This looks really cute! I wonder how it would do over a coat of white plus a coat of black glitter-that seems like a good option to conserve polish. Fyi, China Glaze is releasing a milky white rainbow glitter as part of its Cirque collection, due in stores at the beginning of December.

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  13. Ooh, this is so cute! I've seen Pa around, but not this shade.

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  14. I love how it says stop using if "something is wrong with your nails." lol. How vague. This reminds me of a Sweet Georgia Brown polish my friend has... it's called Cookies and Cream and it's actually scented like so! I can't find this polish on the internet but it's soooo cute. Similar to this but with some little green speckles, too. I'm positive that Sweet Georgia Brown was doing milky glitters wayyy before anyone else!

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  15. That's a sweet color. I too like a good milky glitter, and this is so pretty.

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  16. Thank you! I live in Japan, and I have a hard time getting excited about beauty products since there's not much of them on the (English) blogs. I can't wait to check out some pa polishes!

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  17. OMG, this is so pretty and kind of unique! But now you have made me very-very curious about the other milky shades. I. NEED. SWATCHES! :))

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  18. Oh my, my eyes nearly popped out of my head when the photos came up! I just love this! The white looks really smooth and not streaky either! Too bad there is no Japanese markets in my town. I think I would love to have one of these! Thanks for the photos G.

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  19. Thats actually far cuter than I anticipated!

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  20. I really like that look. I might just have to go out and get it. But I really can't bring myself to spend $6 for such a tiny bottle (it's about 5ml btw).

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  21. I bought two, a dark base with different color glitters and a pink flakey one, omg they're so beautiful !! I found mine in LA - the valley - at a store in the mall called Tokyo Life, they even carry Canmake makeup which I will absolutely purchase soon

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  22. nice.....loved the look..just like i liked those missha bb cream to add to my list of must haves..:)

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