Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Wet N Wild Fast Dry Polish in Waves of Enchantment (from the Mermaid's Cove Collection) Review and Swatches

I'd seen swatches of this polish at the beginning of the summer, but didn't see the limited edition collection anywhere in my area, so figured I would have to live without it.  When I was in DC, I happened to look at a completely non-makeup-related shelf in CVS, and was simply overjoyed to see a few bottles of various polishes from the Mermaid's Cove collection.  I ended up only buying one, Waves of Enchantment, because I knew I would have to fit anything I bought in my quart-size bag, and it was the only one that really caught my eye.
Waves of Enchantment; you can see the base color better in the left picture, but the right shows the gold shimmer and resulting peachiness better
I fear this does not even begin to capture the beauty that is WoE; it's really, truly breathtaking.  The gold catches the light in the best possible way (Candide!), and the base color changes depending on the light, which makes me feel like I'm wearing glowing pink embers on my fingers (without the risk of getting burned!).  It's surprisingly opaque, and I felt fine with the pigmentation after 2 coats, though my nails are so short right now that I don't even have a nail line to be visible, so it may take 3 coats to eliminate VNL.  Note: enlarge the pictures to show the sparklies better!
2 coats in angled sunlight, oh fer pretty

2 coats in sunlight

2 coats in sunlight, angled away; this shows the base color really well, and how the sparkle, even when not directly in light, still has a glow

out of focus to show the sparkly goodness!

The formula is strangely watery and runny, like some sparkly polishes can be (WNW Silvivor, for example), so I took care in removing most of the excess polish before applying.  It dries pretty quickly, and after 3 or 4 minutes is touch-dry, though it can still be dented and such.

It's gorgeous on fingers, and I think it would be lovely on toes, too.  It's just such a happy, summery color, and I'm so glad to have come across it!  I don't know how many stores still have Mermaid's Cove, but I suspect there's not many, so your best bet is just to hope you magically come across it.  I know it's a little mean to show you a polish you probably can't find, but it's so beautiful I couldn't help myself!

Overview
$1.99 for 0.46 oz, possibly still at drugstores

Quality: 8
Effectiveness: 4.5 (not as fast drying as it could be)
Ease of Use: 4
Senses: 5 (completely smooth with top coat)
Pigmentation: 4.5
Duration: 4.5 (I'm assuming it will last as long as my other Fast Dry polishes, 5 days without chipping with minimal tip wear)
Consistency: 4
Price: 4.5
Value: 5
Grade: B+


The color is so gorgeous as to make the watery formula totally worth the trouble.  I can definitely see this becoming one of my go-to happy polishes, because the pink and gold glitter combo just makes me smile!

What do you think of Waves of Enchantment?  Did you get any polishes from the Mermaid's Cove collection?
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