Thursday, January 27, 2011

Nfu-Oh #61

Confession: I've had Nfu-Oh #61 for months and have never even swatched it.  I love the pics I've seen of it, but was a little disappointed with how it looks in the bottle when I got it.  I was looking for something fun and crazy on New Year's Eve, so I decided to give this one a try.  And umm... I'm dumb for waiting so long.  Just because it didn't look amazing in the bottle doesn't mean it isn't amazing!


First off, let me apologize for the tip wear you are going to see in these pics... secondly, let me explain.  I painted these on NYE, so I was kinda in a hurry.  This dries fast, but kinda matte, so I grabbed a top coat to make it shiny.  You may have heard that top coat dulls holographic finishes.  I had heard that and had never had a problem.  However, this was the first time I put a top coat on such an amazingly linear holo.  And it did dull it.  It wasn't a major difference, like one was just flat silver and the other was all rainbows, but there was a difference.  I could not figure out how to take pics of both hands at once to show you though - I'm sorry!  And to be honest, I am not 100% sure which top coat I used on this.  I will guess it's my new fave Beauty Secrets one from Sally Beauty Supply.  Anyway, I put top coat on my left hand (which is normally the one you see) and it dulled the holo a bit.  I did not put top coat on my right hand.  It was NYE though and I had stuff planned, so I ran out of the house after taking just a few pics of the left hand.  When I looked at them the next morning, they weren't all that great, so I took pics of the right hand without the topcoat so you could better see the holographic finish as it's supposed to look.  However, this polish does not hold up well and I had some major tip wear in less than 24 hours!

It's totally awesome though, isn't it?


This is a close up of my left hand, with topcoat.  I know my cuticles and the surrounding area looks awful... like I said, I was in a major hurry!  I had been wearing You Don't Know Jacque Suede and took it off with my scrubby tub, which left everything dry dry dry.


It's like rainbow stripes!


This is what had me staring at my nails non-stop for 24 hours.  Little rainbows on each of my nails!  This is my left hand, so the holo is dulled a bit.  Sorry for the funky hand position, but it was the only one I could capture this with.

Pros on this polish - first off, just look at it!  Secondly, it dries super-fast.  You really don't need a topcoat, so it's an awesome one for when you are in a hurry!  And again, just look at it!  :)

There are many cons though - as you can see, it does not hold up well.  Chips and tipwear in less than 24 hours.  Even my left hand, which had topcoat, didn't fare much better.  This polish is also kind of a pain in the butt to apply evenly.  I have the Aqua Base that Nfu-Oh recommends for their holos and I can't imagine how people apply this without it or something similar.  Aqua Base is kind of like glue - it's a thick whitish base coat this makes this apply more smoothly and opaquely (is that a word?!).  Even though it is thick and it does hide some imperfections on your nails, if you have any ridges or anything, #61 is going to show them.  I buff my nails on a semi-regular basis, so ridges aren't too much of a problem, but this polish made my nails look terrible!  I don't know if it's because the holo is so linear that you can see every flaw or if it's the matte finish that does it, but you will see dips and imperfections in your nail that you never saw before!  The bad part about polish that dries super-fast is that often times it dries before you finish the coat and then it gets all uneven and bumpy.  That was a real problem for me on this one.  It was also thick and almost...stringy?  Does that make sense?  There were like strings of polish going between the brush and the bottle.  I probably should have thinned it, but I wanted to try it out before I started messing with it.

So yes, this polish is absolutely stunning, but it does come with a price.  Speaking of price, Nfu-Oh is available for $12.50 a bottle (and free shipping) on FabulouStreet.  This is the only place I know of to order, unless you see them on eBay or something.  I have had no problems and I have ordered several times.  Items are out of stock often, but if you email their customer service, they will put you on a waiting list and let you know when the products become available again.  Awesome CS there!

Recently it has been mentioned on the nail board that there has been a problem with the holographic pigment and people are receiving duds.  I purchased this in August, so they might be different now... I make no promises!  And I noticed now that I posted this that is says "SOLD OUT" on #61, instead of the usual "Out of Stock", so maybe the opportunity to own this one has passed?

Basecoat: Nfu-Oh Aqua Base
Topcoat: Beauty Secrets Fast Finish (I think?!)
Number of coats: 2ish

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