Rain by Colortrends Nail Polish | Nirvana

The nail polish I am about to share this Monday was part of the 3 bottles I bought at a marketplace back in November (2012). This brand - Rain by Colortrends - was a surprise to me, because it was the first time I learned such a brand, and when I saw that it was manufactured by Chic (the same company behind trusted brands like Chic and Bobbie), I decided to buy one, just to test it out. There were a few available shades, and I went to buy the purple one, called "Nirvana." At first I thought it was something about "being in the state of Nirvana," but I later found out this was part of the Metallic Band Collection. Some shades in the collection are called "Guns N Roses" and "Metallica."

When I got home, I sort of regretted choosing this dark purple shade because very recently I just bought a bottle of African Plum shade, and this one looks quite close to it.

the awful-looking first coat

The more I regretted buying it when I first swatched it and realized it was such a difficult nail polish to use! The formula was thick, and the brush drags the nail polish as I glide it across my nails! Worse, much of the lacquer clumps at the tip of my nails, and dragging it to cover the bald patches resulted in more bald patches! I tried different approaches, but neither very thin coats nor thick coats gave me the result I wanted.

Last February, I decided it was time to do a full mani/pedi using this nail polish (so I can finally throw it out), and the solution I came up with was to use the sponge to dab the nail polish on my nails. Since sponging normally produce uneven coverage, it turned out to be good... though there was something missing - the glittery effect. Last week, I gave it another shot, trying to work with a very difficult formula.

in the shade

First coat was truly horrendous, but I stayed with it. After letting the first coat dry, I went on to add a very thick coat, dabbing the brush on to the bald patches then very lightly glided the brush across to flatten the surface. It turned out to be good, but of course, very close inspection revealed some uneven coverage, but because it's not seen from afar, I thought it was okay.

under the sun

I used a second very thick coat, which meant drying time would be longer. Good thing about it was that it was glossy and had this jelly-like look, that I didn't feel the need to add a top coat.

taken with flash - was watching "new moon" when i took this pic, that's taylor lautner on the background

In the end, I'd say I have come to love it. I didn't toss away the bottle, I think I'd just add a few drops of nail polish thinner next time and see if it will help with the application.

This isn't my favorite shade of purple, but I loved that this looked purple compared to African Plum, which is already close to being black. The shimmer in it is also something I loved, but working with the formula made me second guess if I'd still go for this brand.