[EH] Juicy Cocktail Gradation Nail Polish

Earlier on I posted about my haul from Etude House which included the Juicy Cocktail Gradation Nail Polish set. They had some of the sets for testers in the boutique so I tried the pink one and from there I didn't even hesitate getting two of the sets available.

The one I'm presenting now is the orangey-peachy-coral-y, or specifically the color in #1.

So the set has three polishes, one coral-cream polish which goes on semi-opaque in an almost creamy-gel consistency. (Think milk+original Jell-O).

One coat of first color.

I was pleasantly surprised with this polish because it wasn't streaky at all and even alone, with another coat, it would have gone completely opaque and left me with a nice coral-cream finish. Haha my hands are pretty wrinkly. It's a combination of genetics and ethanol drying (because I do molecular biology labwork).

The second polish is definitely more of an orange color and this is really what gives the polish set the name "Juicy Cocktail" because it really reminds me of orange sherbet or something. The polish itself is a gel polish, meaning it's translucent with an orange tint, but it's the orange glitter fragments that give it the extra 'oomph' and color.

Again, this polish, for its cost and marketing, is pretty decent. Most gradient polishes, especially those with glitter tend to go on like a thick gloop because of the adhesion forces between the particles (sorry, chemistry mode). This however went on thinly and evenly and when it dried it didn't leave that characteristic 'bump' of nail polish only applied to the tips. You can't really make out the gradient in the picture, but it's pretty obvious IRL becaue of the light bouncing off it.

The last polish was definitely the cherry on top. Or should I say orange on top? It was more a deep-orange, almost red color and like the last one, its consistency was more of a gel than a cream. But at the same time it was also more opaque than the last sparkle polish

One thing that really brings out the gradient with this last polish is that the glitter in it is much finer and smaller than that of the last, so it packs on denser upon application on the tip. Again, no problems with the application of this. No streaking, to clumping of glitter and no bumps/bubbles in the polish. I think a lot of this product's success can be attributed to its brush tip, because while other brush tips tend to make the glitter stick to them, this set's brushtips allow the glitter to glide on smoothly to the nail.

After the final application, I decided to spice the entire thing up with some nail jewels I bought for 25php (about half a dollar) in some sidestore on the street, and then topped it all of with a generic topcoat (although unnecessary had it not been for the jewels). The contrast between blue, purple and the orangey-coral really gives my ring finger a nice pop to it haha. These pictures are much more vibrant and true-to-life because I adjusted the lighting for these.

For all those beginners out there, I strongly recommend this set out. It's almost a no-brainer applying this and at the same time you get a beautiful, professional looking result, whether you have long nails or short nails like mine. It's even left-hand (right-hand if you're actually left-handed) friendly as well.

So all in all it's a pretty good set for the price (about 8 USD). All the polishes can go stand-alone so you really don't need to do gradient nails and just use them as is.

The only real qualms and cons I have for this (and any gradient nail set) is that they take ages to dry, so while  it's a really easy nail piece to do, it takes quite long for each layer to finish drying completely before the addition of the next (which is the best process for gradient nails). But I guess it's patience. Everything would be much easier if I had my own nail dryer haha.

I'll get back to you guys on the wear and tear of this polish, especially chipping wise.

Like a lot of polish lines, just because one color is good doesn't mean the other is as well, so I'll do a second review on the #3 polish later on, but so far so good. I highly recommend this set ;)

That's it for now. Sorry again for all my male readers. Maybe you can take this as a cue for a nice just-because present for your girlfriends or something. Haha. See you guys soon!

Ada xoxo