Nail Polish Society: Colores de Carol Valentine's Day Trio Swatches, Review and Nail Art

I am taking a break from nail art today, but not from Valentine themed nails! I have some lovely swatches of the Colores de Carol Valentine's Day trio to show you. Let's start with some details before we get to the photos.

Formula and application:

Colores de Carol polishes are all 5-free (meaning no Formaldehyde, Toluene, DBP, Formaldehyde Resin, Camphor). The trio is made up of two different formulas. The first is a linear holo with jelly consistency. They look very sheer upon the first coat but reach good coverage after the second. These applied smoothly and I had no issues with application. I do recommend a base coat for these shades to prevent staining. More about that later. The second formula is a creme/jelly base with glitter. These glitter polishes take a little more skill to apply, but didn't have any issues.

Bottle and brush:

The bottles contain .5 fl.oz./ 15ml. The brushes are skinny and round. The length is medium sized and flexes well for application.

In Love is a medium fuchsia pink linear holo with blue shimmer. Out of the two holographic polishes from the trio, In Love shows it more prominently. This is two coats, no top coat.

Velvet Kisses is a vibrant magenta red linear holo. This is two coats, no top coat.

Cuddles is a fun and sweet white crelly base with a variety of shapes, sizes and colors of glitters. My favorite part is the tiny neon pink glitters. This is three coats with top coat.

Okay, I lied when I said I was taking a break from nail art ;). I just had to create something simple with this trio that coordinates so well together. I did this very quickly after I had finished my swatches. I threw it on without base coat or top coat in hopes that my cutting corners would afford me the last rays of sunlight. Unfortunately, by the time I got outside the sun hid behind the clouds and never came out. So this photo was taken the next day.

My first reaction was, "Wow! It looks perfect after a whole day without having applied a top coat!". My second reaction after I removed this mani was, "Oh crap, I should have used a base coat." There was no staining issues while swatching without a base coat. But after 24 hours In Love left a pink stain on my middle nail. Velvet Kisses didn't stain me at all though. So there you have it. I should have listened to the advice printed clearly on the website- "***I highly recommend wearing base coat as this polish may stain your nails***"