Entity (as well as Gelish and Artistic Color Gloss)

This was totally random.
I went to get new Shellac colors today and I ended up picking up a few Entity colors too :o

 To see more images and descriptions click below:


From left to right you see:
- Off The Cuff
- Fashion Forward
- Divalicious
- Fashion Icon
- Denim Diva

Quick description:
Entity reminds me of Gelish and Artistic Color Gloss. I'm pretty much sure that it is the same product private labeled by different companies.
The bottles are pretty generic with a small color circle on the front and small "lable" on the fside of the bottle. Brushes are wide but nice. The consistency of the product is quite thin and little runny but it depends on the color. The finished look is quite nice actually, very thin and the nail doesn't look bulky.
Off The Cuff- this one REALLY reminds me of Vogue (ACG). It's a shimmery, dusty, greyish lavender.
It applies like a dream (so does Vogue), very thin, covers well, and it never wrinkles.
Fashion Forward- Taupe with a creamy finish. Actually this one is almost the same as the new Shellac "Rubble". Rubble is little, tiny bit darker and little cooler. Application was good, the color looks little watery on the first coat but covered well on the second coat. No wrinkling.
Little update on this color. In the bottle (uncured) the color looks much more grey/purple. Once cured, the color changes quite a bit. It becomes warmer, more beige. I'm not very happy about that.
Shellac is a winner because the color stays true.
Both are also similar to OPI "You Don't Know Jacques". OPI is darker though.
Divalicious- beautiful, bright tangerine with gold shimmer. I love it! It covers very well and it applies beautifully.
Fashion Icon- nothing new, it reminds me of Shellac's Masquerade. Applies very well.
Denim Diva- this color looks darker in reality. Medium blue with a greenish shimmer. I was hoping for the color to be darker. Application spot on.
Update: I checked at the salon and the color is a total dupe of ACG "Contempo". Total bummer. I now have 2 complete dupes.
I also bought Peignoir, a light white shimmer and Under The Lights- a very light multicolored shimmer. They can be used for layering. They both look good over Denim Diva and Fashion Icon.
For some strange reason the above colors were more expensive then the regular colors. Strange.

PS. OK, I'm not a "messer" but I used the Entity colors with OPI base and top coat. It worked out great.  I didn't get any shrinking from the cuticle or free edge.

Overall, after giving this little bit of thought.... I'm disappointed that all 3 companies (Gelish/Harmony, Artistic Color Gloss and Entity) didn't even try to change the colors just a bit. Many of them are complete copies. Be aware!

WEAR and SOAK OFF:
I have used Gelish and Artistic Color Gloss in the past. Other then colors the line consists of:
PH Bond - a brush on dehydrator in a bottle.
Foundation - base coat that is "gel based". It doesn't smell like it contains solvents. It is suppose to be applied very thin, cured 10-20 seconds in LED or 1 min in UV and then "dry brushed".
Foundation comes also in a polish bottle and it's brush is tiny and rather stubby. I'm not a fan. I find it little difficult to get close to the cuticle. After the cure, you are supposed to take a dry gel brush and brush the uncured layer of the gel off. If that's not done the color might not go on as evenly as it should. It might also shrink from the cuticle and the free edge.
Gel Sealer- gel based top coat in a bottle. It's quite thin and personally I don't like how it "glows in the dark". Place your hand into a UV lamp and you see what I mean. It leaves the nail with a visible, white brush strokes. I don't know what the reason of this "optical brightener" is, I guess to prevent the polish from yellowing.
Cleanser- alcohol based cleanser. Designed to clean the nails before the application of Gelish/ACG/Entity and also to remove the sticky layer from the finished nail. To be honest I have never used it. I use 99% alcohol instead.
Gel Remover-  this, on the other hand is a fantastic product. I have used Gelish "Remover" and Artistic Color Gloss "Remover". Both are pink and have a nice, rosy frangrance. I have never used Entity "Remover" but I suspect, it's similar. The soak off solution is an acetone based product. I find that it actually does better job removing the product then pure acetone.
It seems to be less drying too. The lable lists acetone as a first ingredient and propylene glycol as a second ingredient. Interestingly enough MSDS for Gelish Remover lists acetone as a main ingredient (94-96%) and Fragrance as remaining 4-6%. That's all.
According to EWG's Skin Deep Cosmetic Database:
Propylene Glycol's Function/use(s) are: Fragrance Ingredient; Humectant; Skin-Conditioning Agent - Humectant; Skin-ConditioningAgent - Miscellaneous; Solvent; Viscosity Decreasing Agent; SKIN CONDITIONING; VISCOSITY CONTROLLING

Removal of Entity, Gelish and Artistic Color Gloss is-  you guessed it- very similar.
They recommend to remove the shine with 180 grit file and then soak cotton with Remover and wrap the nails in foil. The recommended time of the removal is 10 min.

Personally I find the 10 minutes not be enough. I have tried 15 and I still had to scrape the product off the nails. Mind you, I didn't use heating pad. The product doesn't come off in flakes like OPI GelColor. It kinds of breaks off a little but scraping is necessary. I'm not a fan of scraping.

The recent posts by Doug Schoon point to the removal (scraping) to be the cause of the dreaded "white spots" and not the actual soaking.

Overall, I'm not a fan of their base coats and top coats. Like I mentioned before right now I'm testing how their colors wear with OPI base coat and top coat.

Wear of both Gelish and Artistic Color Gloss is quite good. I wouldn't say that it lasts on each and every client 3 weeks (like they advertise). I would say that it lasts on average 2 weeks.
The removal is what turns me off.
More on the colors:
I have several Gelish colors that I bought almost 2 years ago now. I found that after 1 year some of the light colors turned an ugly shade of yellow.
Also, Gelish'es brushes went "wonky" on me. I will try taking a picture and posting it in couple of days.
Couple of the dark purple polishes (Gelish and Artistic) fade a little ending up looking like the nail has a pink patches.
I must say, that NEVER happens with Shellac. Shellac colors are VERY stable.

Well, that's it for today. Tomorrow is another very busy day at the salon. I better get some rest :)

Buenas noches!

In reality the colors look somewhere in between the two pictures. Denim Diva looks little darker in reality.

4/03/2012 UPDATE:
I wore the Entity colors for a week and decided to remove them because I received the new Shellac colors and I just HAD to swatch them. The colors held up perfectly. I used OPI GelColor base and top gloss.
The colors soaked off perfectly in 15 min (w/heating pad). They cam off in chinks and I didn't have to scrape anything.
One thing though... I noticed that Off The Cuff and Denim Diva faded...hm.. how do I explain this.. they went little "patchy". I didn't even bother taking pictures because i don't think it would have shown.
I applied the colors VERY thin, maybe if applied thicker (a little thicker) the patches wouldn't appear.
I remember this happening to one of my clients. She wore ACG "Vogue" on her toes and she said that the color started looking patchy after 2-3 weeks. She is coming for a pedi in few days so I will have a chance to take a look. I will report back :)