Review & Swatches: Nonie Creme Colour Prevails Nail Lacquers in Socially Awkward and Frock Star

Purchased by Me

As I mentioned in my previous post (click here to see the full Nonie Creme Colour Prevails display now popping up at Walgreens stores), I purchased some products from this new beauty brand a few weeks ago via the Walgreens website. It's always difficult to order online when you've never seen a product in person (and there were absolutely zero swatches or reviews online at the time of my purchase), so I took a chance with these two polish shades. I decided on a glitter and a creme (you know me and pale greens!), so let's take a closer look.

 

Walgreens-Exclusive Nonie Creme Colour Prevails Nail Laqcuers

Frock Star and Socially Awkward

(retail: $8 each, 0.32 oz.)

Keep reading for my full review...

Before I get into this review, I want to mention once again that Nonie Creme is the former founding Creative Director of Butter LONDON. From everything I've read about Nonie Creme (and by following her Instagram), I have to tell you that I'm kind of in love with her. Here's a quote from an interview she did with Yahoo Beauty, where she explains how she came up with the name "Colour Prevails": 

So, how did she come up with the name? ”I was doing a little bit of a soul searching mission after leaving my first company and thinking about what makes you and what breaks you. Essentially, it came down to this: when you know what makes you and/or breaks you, know who you are, and commit to being that person, you will succeed. It’s a hard lesson, because we all try on different hats as we move through life. At 43, I know who the hell I am and I’m dedicated to being that person. You can wear a Mohawk, you can wear grey hair: I’m committed to all these things about me as an individual every single day.”

image source: Yahoo Beauty

Nonie Creme

See what I mean? She rocks. But I assure you, no matter how much I adore Nonie Creme, I'm completely objective when it comes to everything I review here, and these polishes are no exception. So with that, let's get on with this review...

Both polishes arrived to me fully wrapped in plastic (safety sealed). That purple thing in the background is the Colour Prevails eyeshadow palette, which I'll be reviewing (very) soon.

Frock Star, Socially Awkward

I know that those of you who are OCD-ish about your nail polish storage are probably getting nervous just thinking about these handles and how you'll be able to store these bottles in your Helmers, Melmers, racks, etc. Well, the good news here is that you CAN remove them:

To remove the handle, pull straight up (don't twist)

But before you rush to remove these little butterfly-inspired handles, let me explain a few things. Here's a 360 view:

Michelle over at All Lacquered Up has some great photos HERE of her holding the handle in the correct position. G'head. Take a look, and then come back for my thoughts. 

Waiting....

Oh, hi! You're back! OK, so yeah, I totally agree with Michelle. This handle fits so perfectly in the hand, and your index finger just naturally follows the curve on the top. Basically, what happens is that the handle allows you so much control with the brush that it almost feels like you're writing with a pen instead of painting with a brush. VERY ergonomic. It's a pretty cool feeling that you just have to try for yourself to fully understand. Oh! And before I forget, check out Nonie's "prototype" for this handle (so cute) HERE.

Another cool thing about this bottle is the little slanted side (you can see that slant clearly in the pic below). I'm one of those people who likes to hold my polish bottle in that little area between my thumb and index finger when I'm painting my nails. I like to wedge the bottle right in there on the hand that I'm painting at the time. And the thing is, that slant makes it so this bottle fits PERFECTLY in that little nook. 

Hold your right hand out in front of you right now like you're admiring your nails. Now spread your thumb away from the the rest of your fingers, like you're making a backwards "L" with your hand. You can kind of see how the round part of the bottle would fit so perfectly there, with that little slanted part perfectly resting against the base of your index finger. Again, something you have to experience for yourself to truly understand, but trust me, it's pretty great.

Here are the ingredients, but I'll just save you the trouble and let you know that these polishes are all 5-Free:

Made in USA

The brush is a standard, narrow, round brush. The stem is pretty short, but it doesn't feel short or awkward to use, thanks to that awesome handle.

Three coats of Socially Awkward, no top coat

Socially Awkward (love that name) is a light sage green creme with a strong yellow undertone. I had to use three thick coats for this one (the first two were very streaky) and even after three coats, I could still see some light streaking. I also had some leveling issues with this polish (you can see that above if you look closely). Overall, this was not an easy polish to apply because of the streakiness and lack of self-leveling, but all three coats did dry quickly, and there's a very nice shiny finish to this polish. 

The formula itself was nice--not thin or watery but not thick or goopy. But I want to mention that I has absolutely ZERO need to wipe down my brush when removing it from the bottle. I have a natural tendency to wipe down at least one side of my brush every time I dip it into the bottle (because there's ALWAYS too much polish on my brush, no matter what polish I use). But I did not have to do that with this polish. I mean, if I wiped it down, even a tiny bit, I didn't have enough polish to coat my nail. So I had to force myself to go against my instinct/habit of wiping down the brush and just go for it, straight from the bottle. 

One coat of Frock Star over Socially Awkward, no top coat

I THOUGHT that Frock Star was a topper, but I was wrong. See how I have about 85% coverage after one coat on top of Socially Awkward? Yeah, I didn't see that coming! Here's a much closer look at Frock Star:

macro of Frock Star

This polish is loaded with metallic rainbow micro-glitter (hexes) in a clear base. There's no other kind glitter here. It's straight up teeny tiny metallic hexes.

Two coats Frock Star, no top coat

So here's two coats of Frock Star (on bare nails--no base color). See that coverage? Pretty good, right? Here's another look, in lower lighting:

Two coats Frock Star, no top coat

And here's a close-up of my index finger, just because:

Two coats Frock Star, no top coat

This polish applied pretty easily. You can brush it on if you use a light hand and only use about three brush strokes total per nail. Any more than that, and you're going to get some bald spots as the glitter starts to migrate. But the nice thing is that you can very easily go back in and fill in any bald spots by just dabbing extra polish onto the nail. The dry-time on this polish was good on the first coat, average on the second coat.

FINAL VERDICT: I obviously can't give you a final verdict on the entire Colour Prevails polish line, because I've only tried these two shades. However, I can tell you that I was disappointed with Socially Awkward (leveling issues and streaks after three coats) but quite happy with Frock Star (two coats for full coverage and easy to apply). Do I think these polishes are worth $8 per bottle? It really depends on how the other shades perform. I'm bummed that you only get 0.32 oz in these bottles (for perspective, Essie polishes are $8.50 and you get 0.46 oz), but I love the bottle and that handle rocks my world. I can see myself buying additional shades when these go on sale at Walgreens, if a color catches my eye (I haven't seen the entire line in person yet). I probably won't buy at full price again, but on sale? Yes. And I would definitely use my Balance Rewards on these to save even more.

Does your Walgreens have a Nonie Creme Colour Prevails display yet? If not, you can always check out the entire line on the Walgreens website (free shipping on orders $25+) HERE if you're interesting in trying any of these polishes for yourself.

The products featured in this post were purchased with personal funds. For more information, click here.