Fluoro Fun! Review: Colour by TBN

Oh my gosh look at the colour!
Our work Melbourne Cup ‘do’ has the theme ‘Colour’ this year and I had skipped off to the chemist to see if I could get a vibrant shade of orange to go with the pigments I’d picked out for a naily rainbow. This particular chemist doesn’t see a lot of traffic (I live here….)

Ma home

…so the choices were a few dull colours that had either seperated or congealed in their bottles in a clearance bin.

I was about to leave when I noticed a new gift pack stand. With bath bombs and soaps and lip gloss…..and polish!!!

And oh the colours! As it’s heading into summer all the collections are quite vibrant anyway. There was a ‘Tropicana’ set, ‘Summer Princess Glitters’, something else I can’t remember (but managed to twist ‘french manicure’ into something summery) and this. Fluoro.

How much more colourful can you get than neon?! A 5 pack for just shy of $10 – not too shabby! Get on my nails!

All the way home I started planning this mani. A white base to make it pop – should I watermarble or flat colour? Should I go all out with crazy patterns or let the colour speak for itself? Should I swatch each one at a time first??

So many questions! First let’s review.

The first thing I wanted to notice was the opacity. However the first thing I did notice was the smell. No, sorry, the stench. If you are pregnant stay faaaar away from my nails. I think it could be an agent used for quick drying as they do dry fairly quickly (or that could’ve been then crazy heat yesterday). One thing is for certain – I’ve had sinusitis for 2 weeks and barely able to smell a thing. That stuff literally opened my sinuses it was that strong!

I did a quick experiment on the box with each of the colours and they were indeed fluoro! The opacity seemed pretty good – quite creamy. Time would tell.

First however, I tried a watermarble with a press on.

The colours spread pretty well on the water. However as I said, it appears to dry quickly so I had to move pretty fast.

I found however that with the spreading and mixing of the colours they lost some of their fluoro appeal. That made the decision for me for my Melbourne Cup mani.

So I oiled up my nails…slapped on a white base…

And fluoro-ed me up!

Next to an open window of course.

Colours here are (from thumb to pinky):
Guten-Morgan!
Mrs Henderson
Parfait
Hot for Yellow
Maz Arati

The coverage was pretty good. They all were streaklessly opaque after 2 coats – Guten-Morgan! needed a thick second coat as the first was quite streaky compared to the others. It still appears streaky under a black light, but that’s not an issue for me….

This morning (8 hours after application) there was a slight hint of the smell left on my nails but I’ve just oiled up with Two Birds Lacquer’s cuticle oil in ylang ylang and now my nails smell divine.  No pungent smell is peeking through which is a relief (though I could’ve used them to clear the candy bar at the Melbourne Cup event….boo).

So my verdict?
If you *need* the colours and can bear the smell briefly, go for it. Just use them in a well-ventilated area (I’m serious! Those fumes can’t be good for you). If you don’t need the colours, well there are other chemist cheapies that give just as good coverage for the same price. I’d choose Ulta3 over Colour by TBN again. Unless I am congested.

update: I added a matte topcoat and I’m loving the powdery effect!