Recently, I got the opportunity to test out a new, USA-made line of nail polish called LuxeCoat.
Left to right: Bordeaux, Mint Chip, and Velvet
LuxeCoat is a brand based in Los Angeles that offers a monthly membership style program, offering you vegan nail polish colors in beautiful shades, as well as “everything you need” to create a beautiful manicure or pedicure at home.
Yeah, “everything.”
Every LUXECOAT® subscriber receives a durable black and steel carrying case that comes equipped with everything needed to create a complete nail transformation. The carrying kit includes: Three vegan and cruelty-free LUXECOAT® polishes in the season’s hottest colors, LUXECOAT® acetone-free dip-in nail polish remover, ten salon-quality LUXECOAT® nail files, an advanced two-in-one cuticle care tool that comes with a brush for softening oil application and a rubber tip to gently treat cuticles, all-natural quick-dry moisturizing spray, and all-in-one deluxe basecoat and topcoat. And, to ensure a flawless set of salon-quality nails every time, the kit comes with a quick fix pen with three replaceable tips.
Everything-y enough?
Then, every month, they’ll send you three new LuxeCoat polish colors to add to your collection. When they asked if I wanted to try out three of their colors, I couldn’t turn it down! Luxurious, ethical polish from a company who is clearly on a mission to revolutionize at-home beauty days? Yeah, I’m game.
I fell in love with the Mint Chip as soon as I saw it on the site. It was just cool enough and just light enough that it could be the most perfect mint polish… This was the color I saw on the site:
I had a feeling it didn’t have the radioactive glow in person that it seemed to have online, and I decided that, if it did, I would be totally okay with that. Neon Mint Chip? Not only something I’d wear, but something I would probably eat.
When the ‘Chip arrived, I was oh-so pleasantly surprised to find that it was not neon, but more of a vibrantly pastel (is that possible?) teal color that was exactly what I was looking for. It’s pigmented enough to pop out against my skin, but not so much that it’s obtrusive. Make sense?
Okay, don’t make fun of my budding nail art (or, um, application) skills. This is what I did with my minty friend:
Middle & Pinky Finger: Mint Chip with Butter London’s Matte Topcoat.
Ring Finger & Thumb: Mint Chip with Butter London’s West End Wonderland.
Not horrible, right?
I remember being in junior high school and the rigorous, daily nail-painting rituals that held such priority for me. Every morning, I would paint my nails a new color by diligently selecting and then violently shaking a Wet’n’Wild bottle – coveted, as they’d just started releasing badass colors like blue, black and green! I’d glop (technical term) one, gigantic dollop of nail polish onto each nail, quickly spreading it out before it started to dry and make weird lumps and rough patches all over my sure-to-be-perfect-looking nails. After 10 minutes or so, it was just dry enough to be on the touchable side of “tacky” and my beauty & makeup routine was over.
Throughout the day, it would slowly peel off (OF COURSE IT WOULD, IT’S A DOLLOP OF POLISH) and by sixth period, I would have a really exciting, ADHD-calming activity of picking the rest of it off in as large of sheets as I could. Bliss.
These days, though, I am a bit more… economical with my nails. I want it to look as good as possible for as long as possible, and if that means I have to take the time to do it right (in this instance, thin layers of fully dried polish – the nemesis of impatience), then fine. I’ll do it.
Frequently, though, that means that I have to get picky about the consistency of polish. If it’s too thick, right off the bat, it’s not going to work. I like polish that is moderately thin, but still provides a clear layer of color over the nail. I don’t know if anyone else is this meticulous about useless information, like me, but on the off chance that there are other neurotic shoppers – here is the consistency:
This is definitely a two-coat polish, I think. I could barely tell the difference between two coats and three coats, and the consistency of the polish was nice and thin – easily controllable.
That being said, it dries pretty fast. This is both a blessing and a curse because, if it starts drying while you’re still applying, that makes weird and annoying patterns and patches that are, simply put, not cute. Do not want. So apply a thin-ish layer each time and wait for it to dry – not long!
I also fall hard for dark, deep colors that err on the side of vampy. I knew as soon as I saw Bordeaux that it would have to join the rest of my “dark red slash maroon slash crimson” collection of colors that are basically the same, but different. Different enough for me to justify keeping all of them. Dark red nails make me feel like an Important Lady. One of those HBICs but without the IC because I don’t like being in charge of things. So a tough gal. Smarmy chick. But it’s also red, so I’m still a lady. Hashtag communicating though nail polish.
Anyway, the Bordeaux polish was even thinner, but that didn’t make me love it any less. Here’s what the layers looked like:
This one, I would recommend 2 or three coats, otherwise there are some transparent patches. As you can see, this polish is ultra glossy. I put a matte topcoat on everything, as I’m not a huge gloss fan, but this looked amazing with a coat of matte over it, also. I got compliments on the color within 6 hours of putting it on! (No one ever compliments my nails. Ever. Look at them, for goodness’ sake! I can barely open the polish bottles much less put the contents on myself without making a huge mess.)
On top of the Bordeaux, I have Butter London’s Matte Topcoat and “Hilary” from Julep.
Matte makes everything better, even when you start out with something good.
If I had to come up with one criticism of Luxe Coat, it would be that I noticed the bottles get kind of messy. After the first use of Mint Chip, I realized that nail polish had gotten on the outside of the bottle somehow, just by using the brush. It might be the design of the brush/cap. It dried and crisped up, so it was easy to remove, but it could easily get messy if you’re not careful!
As for the price, each polish is $15 on their own, but the membership program is a bit more involved. With an initial payment of $99.99 (which achieves you the gigantic case full of everything you could need to create spa-worthy manicures at home, plus tutorial videos, plus three polishes right off the bat), you become a member, and after that, your monthly payment for the three polishes you receive is $29.73 (which is basically like getting one of the polishes free!). You can see more about the monthly program, including the case and what’s in it, here.
Check it out!: LuxeCoat Nail Polish & Monthly Membership Program
What nail colors are you searching for lately? Would you invest into the LuxeCoat program?