CoverGirl Limited Edition Outlast Stay Brilliant Glosstini Collection
(retail: $3.99 each at CVS, 0.11 oz)
NOTE: If I could find a similar shade in the core (permanent) line, I included a side-by-side comparison below. If you don't see a side-by-side comparison, that means there are no similar shades in the core range.
Appletini - two coats, no top coat
Appletini is a lime green jelly-creme that borders on chartreuse. As you can see, this one had some self-leveling issues and never quite leveled out after the second coat. The first coat went on sheer and streaky but the second coat eliminated all streaks. Dry time was very good on the first coat and average on the second coat. If you get this polish, I would definitely use a good top coat afterwards, just to level things out.
Pina Colada - three coats, no top coat
Pina Colada is a buttery yellow pastel creme. Bubbles. Goop. Bubbles. Goop. I don't recommend this one at all. The first coat was very streaky and got a little bit better by the second coat, but this polish really requires three coats for decent opacity. The problem is, I kept getting bubbles on the third coat, because this polish really gets goopy on the third coat. After my third attempt to get this streak-free and bubble-free, I finally gave up and the result is what you see above. Pass.
Lemon Drop - three coats, no top coat
Lemon Drop is a bright, goldenrod yellow jelly-creme that reminds me of the color of a No. 2 pencil. Sheer and streaky on the first and second coats, better on the third coat. The formula of this one is thinner than any of the others. Because it's a thin formula, I had some struggles with getting enough polish on my brush to cover my nail before the polish on the brush started drying out. I had to keep stirring the bottle with my brush in order to get enough polish on the brush to coat my nail--a few times I ran out of polish and was left with drag marks on my nails. On the other side of the coin, sometimes colors like this dry to a matte finish, but this one was beautifully shiny without top coat. Dry time was excellent on all three coats.
Orange Oasis - two coats, no top coat
Orange Oasis is a bright tangerine jelly-creme. Great at two coats. Nice consistency and an easy-to-work-with formula. Dry time was excellent for both the first and second coats. No complaints about this one at all (except for the fact that my camera freaks out whenever I photograph oranges--sorry if this photo looks a little distorted).
Go Go Mango (permanent) vs. Orange Oasis
I took the above pic with my phone so the color's a bit off, but trust me, these are not even close--Go Go Mango is much darker.
Bahama Mama - three coats, not top coat
Bahama Mama is a coral creme with tons of silver shimmer. This is one of those colors you really need to see in person to appreciate. It's probably my favorite of the bunch because it's packed with that chunky silver shimmer that ends up looking like an overlay once on the nail (it's in the same vein as Milani Beach Front and Sail Away, but with a peach base of course). I did need three coats to eliminate the streaks with this one, but it was an easy formula to work with. Dry time was very good on the first coat and good on the second and third coats.
Pink-finity (permanent) vs. Pink Lady
It's hard to see in this pic but, in real life, Pink Lady is a bit more vibrant and not as "dusty" as Pink-finity. Pink Lady also has that very subtle sparkle to it, and I don't believe Pink-finity has any sparkle.
Purple Freeze - two coats, no top coat
Purple Freeze is a lavender creme with very, very subtle fine silver shimmer. Just as the fine glitter in Pink Lady is almost imperceptible, you really need to look closely to see the whisper-light silver shimmer running through Purple Freeze. It adds a tiny bit of dimension to this creme, but in most lights it just looks like a straight-up creme with no shimmer. Two coats was all I needed for full coverage and the formula was very easy to work with. Dry time was good on the first coat but a bit slow on the second coat.
Coral Silk (permanent) vs. Bahama Mama
These colors are identical aside from the addition of silver shimmer in Bahama Mama.
Sangria - two coats, not top coat
Sangria is a neutral red jelly-creme. Apologies for the distortion in the above picture (my camera hates oranges and reds). This one is a pretty standard red that has a touch of pink to it. It's not too warm or too cool. The formula was good and it covered well in two coats. Dry time was also very good for both coats.
Ever Reddy (permanent) vs. Sangria
It's hard to see but, in real life, Sangria has a touch more pink to it, whereas Ever Reddy is more of a true tomato red.
Pink Lady - three coats, no top coat
Pink Lady is a mauve-leaning pink creme with almost-imperceptible, sparse, fine silver glitter. Almost a bubblegum pink but not quite, Pink Lady is pretty but not terribly original. The sparse silver sparkle is mostly invisible unless you view it at just the right angle. I needed three coats to eliminate streaks but the formula was easy to work with. Dry time was good for all three coats.
It's hard to see in this pic but, in real life, Pink Lady is a bit more vibrant and not as "dusty" as Pink-finity. Pink Lady also has that very subtle sparkle to it, and I don't believe Pink-finity has any sparkle.
Vio-Last (permanent) vs. Purple Freeze
As far as lavenders go, these are on opposite ends of the spectrum.
Blue Hawaiian - two coats, no top coat
Blue Hawaiian is a bright blue creme that borders on teal. This is a lovely shade but I'm pretty sure I have a dupe somewhere in my never-ending collection of blues and teals--and if you're a teal-lover like me, I'm guessing you probably do too. Also, this polish was thin and streaky on the first coat, but then got goopy, thick and hard to work with on the second coat. It dried quickly on the first coat but it took a while for the second coat to dry (no doubt due to how it thickened up on the second coat).
Mint Mojito (permanent) vs. Blue Hawaiian
In this pic you can really see how blue Blue Hawaiian is--it's not even close to Mint Mojito.
FINAL VERDICT: This is a cute collection but, for me, not a must-have. Most of the shades in this collection seem pretty easily dupe-able and several required three coats for good opacity. The brush is small (duh, they're minis!) and it allows for precision application, but there were a few instances where I found it too small to allow me to get enough polish on the brush for a full coat on the nail. Dry-time was generally quite good for the entire collection (with the exception of the last two shades swatched above). And all of these polishes dry to a beautiful, very shiny finish, with pretty much no need for top coat. So in that respect, they'd be good for travel due to the size, quick dry-time and super shiny finish. You can literally just paint and go. But because of the price ($3.99 for 0.11 oz) I just can't wholeheartedly recommend this collection. Even at the CVS promotion price (buy three and the price drops down to $3.50 per bottle), you're still only getting 0.33 oz of polish for $10.50. Compare that to a Wet n Wild Megalast polish ($1.99 for 0.45 oz) and it's just not worth it if you're on a tight budget. If the colors were a bit more unique and the price was maybe $1.99 per bottle, I'd probably be a lot more excited about these.
Do you own any of the Limited Edition Outlast Stay Brilliant Glosstini Nail Colors? Thoughts?
The products featured in this post were purchased with personal funds. For more information, click here.
I was disappointed by these I guess the L'Oreal Miss Candy jelly nail polishes made me think the Cover Girl "Glosstini" collection would be a collection of similar jellies. Silly me! The colors are nice, but like you said not very original and so very tiny!
ReplyDeleteYour photos are really looking good, whatever it is you're doing keep it up ^_^
ReplyDeleteLove the orange and lavender!
ReplyDeletecute colors! these mini's with small brushes are excellent to use for toes.
ReplyDeleteThe colors in this collection are nice, but requiring 3 coats and the bottles are tiny? I think I'll pass!
ReplyDeleteI am bummed that Blue Hawaiian doesn't have great application. I love the color and generally am compelled to have every one. So based on your review I plan to pass this one up. I wonder how gloss this us to Teal Envy from Ruby Kiss (es). I died over your post on that a few years ago and thus began my first official "hunt". I love that polish!
ReplyDeleteMe 2 that was the one I was drooling over but I'd rather buy another brand at a higher price for a full size bottle.
DeleteI bought all of them as well, $2.99 each at Target. I'm still working through swatching them all, they're so cute!! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat I was trying to express in my post above is I wonder how it compares to Ruby Kisses' Teal Envy? Thoughts on this anyone? P.s. My tablet has the worst auto correct ever! Hahaha!
ReplyDeleteThese are so cute, like nail candy, but I have colors that are already close to all of these, so they're not must-haves for me.
ReplyDeleteOh thank goodness these don't WOW me. More play monies for other things!
ReplyDeleteI really like Pina Colada's color but that's too bad that it required so much work and so many coats...I am on the hunt for a similar color and pigmentation but without having to apply 3 coats...I have yet to find one I like =(
ReplyDelete