NSI Polish Pro- random swatches & reviews

Polish Pro by NSI is one of my new additions to my (growing) collection.

Courtesy of NSI

I bought 3 colors (along with 2 top coats and a base coat) at the Chicago trade show but then I kind of forgot about them. Later on I read a few "not so good" reviews and I just didn't get to testing it.
Just recently I found out that NSI reformulated their base and top coat....

NSI was very kind to send me the reformulated base and top coat AND I also received a thinner ("Renew") that can be used to thin out the thickening polish.
So of course I had to get more colors!

If your base coat/top coat has yellow stickers on the bottom you are the lucky owner of the NEW folrmula :)
Originally I bought: Hot Pink Peony, Espresso and Midnight. Then I bought: Dusty Pink, Scarlett, Pink Cashmere, Fruit Smoothie, Blue Blood, Heirs to The Throne and Desert Sands.

From left to right:

Blue Blood, Midnight, Heirs To The Throne, Hot Pink Peony, Fruit Smoothie, Dusty Pink

From left to right:

Pink Cashmere, Desert Sands, Scarlett, (EMPTY), (EMPTY), Espresso

More about the line:

NSI Polish Pro comes in a somewhat "plain", generic, white bottles. It cures in UV light only (so far). I have tried curing it in LED lamp and the base and color (I used Midnight) cured nicely in LED but the top coat was dull. Well, let me correct myself. The polish "seemed" cured. I'm not a chemist so I can only say that the polish looked cured. Who know how cured it really was...

The NSI wesbite states that:

Rather than simply a blend of gel and polish, Polish Pro is a fusion of many different raw materials that result in the most resilient natural nail manicure or pedicure.  These raw materials include oligomers, monomers, photoinitiators and diluents, among others, all making up what NSI is calling a Poly-Oligomer.

They also state that the Polish Pro is cured in both UV and LED light but according to Jessie Burkhardt,
Director of Marketing & Communications (in response to my post): "Polish Pro is formulated to cure in a UV lamp. It may not cure with [your] LED lamp"

BASE/TOP COAT.

Both go on very nice and even. I haven't used it long enough to see if it thickens up over time. I will update you on this.

COLORS can go on little tricky. You have to make sure that you don't over brush them. When you go back to an area (on the first coat) the polish will streak and pull (esp by the cuticle)

Just place it and move on. If the polish looks little streaky, leave it. The second coat will cover everything.

The colors are on a thicker side. Just roll the bottle in between your palms for a minute so the product warms up and mixes.

SOAK OFF.

The product soaks off beautifully. I think it's one of the best soak offs out there. I used cotton/foil method and Harmony Remover and after 10 min the product curled up and came off in larger chunks. Almost no scraping necessary.

Blue Blood is a vibrant blue turquoise with a beautiful shimmer. The color is less turquoise then Shellac (the name escapes me now) and it has a better coverage. I did notice though that it stained my nails after wearing it for 2 weeks. Nothing that a little buff wouldn't fix. I used it on one of my clients and the color stayed shiny and lasted perfectly for 2 weeks.

Applies perfectly, evenly with no shrinking. Even 1st coat applies evenly.

Midnight. I love this color. Lighter then OPI Russian Navy, it also has more shimmer. I actually prefer the formula of NSI. From far away it still looks blue and not black. Goes on evenly (well, the first coat is tricky like I mentioned before). Lasted very well on my test finger (I usually paint all 10 nails different colors to test a new product). I did have some little staining though. Blues tend to do that.

Heirs To The Throne. This name sounds like an OPI name, doesn't it?

The pictures don't show the true color. In reality the color is more purple, less blue. It has a gorgeous shimmer and it does look WOW. One of my clients picked it right away and the color lasted very well. She came back a month later with couple of her nails chipped. After 4 weeks the color took longer to soak off.

The application was very nice but I think I used an additional, very thin 3rd coat to cover the free edge. Overall a must have.

Hot Pink Peony. Nice jelly pink/red. My client called it "Maraschino Cherry". Looks pink on the first coat but then the second coat makes it look more red. The polish has a clear base so it shows the free edge a little. I recommend it on short nails.

Application little tricky. I have to thin it out a little to see if it helps.

Fruit Smoothie. The picture does not do the color any justice. It's a beautiful hot pink with a very subtle shimmer. The coverage and application are amazing.

Dusty Pink. It's a light/medium pearly pink on a warm side. It has an excellent coverage. It's great for conservative clients. Good addition to Shellac line. Neither OPI or Shellac have similar shade to this.

Pink Cashmere. The color looks gorgeous in the bottle. It looks like it could be a nice french pink, on a warmer side.... but in reality it looks like a smokers nails. Bummer. The color looks like that right after curing so it's not like the yellowing could be due to staining. I don't know, maybe it's just me (I do have some, very minor staining from dark polishes) but I can't wear this color. I haven't tried it on any of my clients either. I'm scared LOL. I'm dying to hear others' opinions about this color.

**Update: I tried this color on one of my African American clients and it looked gorgeous. It looked more like a blush, very nice!

*** Update #2. 2 weeks later. The client came back and the color changed, well.. color. It looked more yellow. Won't use it again. I'm very curious if anyone is using this color with good results...

Desert Sands. Pretty, muted, little rusty orange. Very grown up and conservative on lighter complections. It looks brighter and fresh on darker complections (tan). I used it on couple of my clients. Looks very pretty, esp. on darker complection. I was very impressed how beautiful and fresh it looked.

Scarlett. "A Chinese New Year Red". Creme red on a warmer side. Very nice, application spot on. I have to compare it to OPI Big Apple Red tomorrow at work!

Update: Scarless is warmer then OPI Big Apple Red.

Espresso. Basically NSI's version of the dreaded Fedora (Fedora is a bit darker though). I love the color but the Shellac's formula (of that color) gives me nightmares. It wrinkles like hell. I'm scared to use it. And trust me- I tried many times. I gave up. This one is better but I still have to play with it to see how it works.

Desert Sands