The Disney Villains 2013 Collections are back again this year, and they're once again a Walgreens-exclusive. In addition to Disney Villains lashes by Ardell, makeup bags by SOHO, nail art kits by Kiss and hair accessories by Scunci, e.l.f. has two collections this year: Looks Books and a 12 Piece Nail Polish Set. I purchased one of the Look Books (review coming soon) and today I'd like to show you the Nail Polish Set:
e.l.f. Limited Edition Disney Villains 12 Piece Nail Polish Set
(retail: $9.99 at Walgreens)
inside of box, after removing top layer of packaging
For size comparison:
As you can see, these bottles are minis, but they're not extremely small. They're easy to work with, and the brush is a good size for a mini polish:
I didn't find any of the brushes to be "wonky" but I did notice that some of the bristles seem a bit rough, which can lead to minor brush marks. Overall, these polishes do self-level, so the brush marks aren't noticeable after your polish dries and you apply top coat.
Ursula
Sea Escape, Mint Cream, Coral Cream
Sea Escape
Sea Escape, Mint Cream, Coral Cream
(two coats of each polish + top coat)
Maleficent
Bubble Gum Pink, Mod Mauve, Gina Girl
Gina Girl
Gina Girl, Mod Mauve, Bubble Gum Pink
(two coats of each polish + top coat)
Gina Girl is a glitter topper. The purple base is super sheer on the first coat, and if you wanted to wear this without a base color underneath, you'd need three or four coats to beef up the opacity. The glitters in this polish are purple (large and small hex) and multi-colored (small hex) and this polish dries to a bumpy finish. Mod Mauve and Bubble Gum Pink are cremes.
Evil Queen
Pot of Gold, Cranberry, Thunderstorm
Pot of Gold, Cranberry, Thunderstorm
(two coats of each polish + top coat)
Unlike quite a few metallic foils I own, Pot of Gold was nearly opaque at one coat, and perfect at two coats (and no visible brush strokes!). Cranberry was the biggest disappointment in this set. It's thick, goopy and chunky. I could not get it to apply smoothly no matter what I did (I actually re-did this nail four times and this was the best I could get). Thunderstorm is not nearly as dark as it appears in this photo. In real life, it's actually very close to the bottle shot (above).
Cruella De Vil
Nude, Smokin' Hot, Smoky Brown
Nude, Smokin' Hot, Smoky Brown
(two coats of each polish + top coat)
FINAL VERDICT: Of the twelve shades in this set, I only had issues with two: Gina Girl and Cranberry. Gina Girl is sheer and the glitter isn't dense, so it takes a lot of dabbing with your brush (and multiple coats) to achieve a nice look. Cranberry is goopy and chunky and it applied quite unevenly on the nail. Other than that, I was very happy with the performance of these polishes, and almost all were perfectly opaque in two coats (some were almost one-coaters). Most of these polishes dry to semi-dull finish, so that's why I swatched them all with top coat (they all look much better with top coat). Unlike some other e.l.f. nail polishes I've owned in the past, none of these had an odd or strong scent to them, and the brushes were pretty consistent across the board (and easy to work with given the fact that these are minis). Dry time was average for all twelve polishes. There's nothing groundbreaking here in terms of colors, but you get a nice assortment of shades in this set and, if you're a Disney fan and/or collector, this is something that you can actually use, as well as admire.
The e.l.f. Disney Villains 2013 Collections are Walgreens-exclusives and they're only available in-store. If your local Walgreens does not yet have these collections, keep checking back. Last year, some locations didn't get them until well into October, so just because your store doesn't have them now does not necessarily mean they will never get them! Hopefully e.l.f. puts another Disney Villains store locator on their site like they did last year.
The products featured in this post were purchased with personal funds. For more information, click here.
I bet Gina Girl would look amazing over black, I would imagine that's how it's intended to be worn. Honestly I might just buy the set for that one polish, it's so pretty!
ReplyDeleteThe only issue with wearing it as a topper is that the glitter is quite sparse and it requires a LOT of dabbing with your brush for glitter placement. So it's easy to mess up your base color if you dab too much (I did that a few times when trying to wear it as a topper). I hope you have good luck with it if you get it!
Deletewow thank you for the detailed review, i saw this collection yesterday and was debating if i should get it :)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I hope this helped you decide whether or not to take the plunge!
DeleteI have this set, and while I've only tried out the three Ursula colors, I did find that one had an uneven brush, and one actually did not have a brush at all! Just a plastic stub under the cap. Hopefully the other bottles/brushes will be better...
ReplyDeleteArgh!! I was hoping that the brushes would be consistent given that all of mine were good! :( Did you exchange it for another set? Since Walgreens accepts returns/exchanges on used products, I would definitely take it back and try another set. Good luck!!
Deletethat bubblegum pink mixed with that nude color might get you close to your coveted Molly Ringwold shade ;)
ReplyDeleteHa! That's so funny that you say that, because I thought about that when I was swatching those two colors! ;)
DeleteI'm loving the look of "pot of gold", so pretty! :)
ReplyDeleteHey Gloria! I was very happily surprised with the formula of that one! :)
DeleteThought I'd pick these up but... after seeing the swatches, I'll pass. The glitter shade was the most interesting to me but it's a mini and the formula is a fail -- Orly Ultraviolet is close enough! Thanks for saving me $9.99! :)
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your review and swatches SO much! I was immediately intrigued by the fact that it features the Disney villains being such a HUGE fan of all things Disney. However, the colors don't really wow me, and I actually have a bunch of colors that are close enough to those in the box that make it a bit of a waste for me. I guess I won't be picking this up. You really saved me a ton of trouble, so thanks!
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'll use the money on a Disney villains makeup bag instead ... haha.
Thanks for the great review! Do you know if the Disney Villains line will be sold at Duane Reade stores? I think they're part of Walgreens right? Haha I'm not really sure.
ReplyDeleteI have a regular-size bottle of Cranberry that I bought 1-2 years ago, and it's one of my favorites from e.l.f. It's a one-coater and just shimmery and beautiful. I wonder what happened here! You're not the first person I've seen complain about its formula in this set. I hope they didn't change that polish completely, and that it's still so wonderful if you get the full-size bottle!
ReplyDeleteI think she must have gotten a bad bottle. I bought this set and I thought Cranberry was very smooth. I had the same problem with brush marks on several of the polishes, but other than that I think the formula is just fine.
DeleteI also didn't think they dried to a "semi-dull" finish. They're not the shiniest nail polishes I've ever seen, but I definitely wouldn't call them "dull." Either we have different ideas of what looks "dull" or we didn't get the exact same formula. Hmm...
I'm kind of bummed that the colors don't have names to match with their respective villains. After you take it out of the box its basically impossible to tell which polish went with which villain- which totally takes away the novelty of them being villains polishes. Am I the only one who thinks that?
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing--I actually double checked to see if "Gina Girl" referred to a villainess I had not heard of! A lot of these could be interchangeable--not unique to the specific character at all.
DeleteThanks for including the ingredients: these are all 5-free (6-free if anyone can't use benzophenone).
ReplyDeleteOoh I do love Disney. I'm glad to hear these were overall worthwhile. i'll keep an eye out.
ReplyDeleteThese are cute, but nothing really stands out for me to make it a must-purchase.
ReplyDeleteOh, bad me! I'm just not feeling the love with these.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for posting the swatches; I purchased this last week at my local Walgreens, and ended up returning the box, unopened after seeing the swatches. Honestly, the colors just aren't that special, so I used my refund to help buy ALL the polishes from the WnW "Pick your Poison" collection! I'm so glad I did; IMHO there's no comparison!
ReplyDeleteWhat does e.l.f. mean by "revolutionary bristle design"? I don't see anything revolutionary. ???
ReplyDeleteMarketing prose! ;) Nothing unique about these brushes....
DeleteI love the fact that these are mini bottles, in all honesty. While paying 2 dollars isn't horrifying by any means, it kinda sucks to be stuck with a bottle of nail polish you don't like. I looked through the names of these, and compared them to E.L.F.'s essential polishes, and Gina Girl was the only one that didn't have a full size bottle (which is a bit of a bummer, because I think it's a lovely color and I will work with an icky formula for the sake of color). I picked this set up Thursday morning, and I'm in loooove. I think the box is adorable and I love the color selection.
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