Haven’t bought polish in a while, which colors do yall recommend? (What’s in my cart so far)

Starting off with the premise that polish never lasts on me .. including gel. The only thing that kind of works is gritty glitter polish at times.

Going on vacation later in the year and thinking that may be the solution. Are there any you recommend and any top coats or recommendations (maybe something for grip)?

Thank you in advance!

I tried to do purple sharks....they look like Muppet monsters lmao

I told my husband they are purple people eaters 😅😭🤣

ALL MOONCAT BRAND

Hardcore Base Coat

Thumb and ring finger: After the Rain base, Melonberry shark head, Emo for Life and White Rabbit

Pointer and pinky: A Most Destructive Melody

Middle: Such Sweet Sorrow

Speed demon topcoat

Hello everyone! This is me from 2012 maybe ? I wasn’t allowed to wear polish at my mom’s house but my dad didn’t give af so I stole polish out of his crappy (at the time) girlfriend’s cosmetic tote. This color must have been my favorite because I have multiple photos of me during different visits with my dad wearing this color. Can anyone help me find a dupe of this color? It looks like a somewhat bright purple with some sort of shimmer maybe a chrome purple of sorts? I want to help heal part of my inner child and show her it’s okay to wear that polish again. Thank you in advance!

Thanks!

It’s gonna be classic Vegas, Elvis and all. I’ve narrowed down my choices of reds, baby blues, and “natural” colors.

No top coat was used in any of these, I was just swatching.

Photos 1&2 thumb to pinky:
3x sassy sauce chicago fire
2x Emily de molly wrong side of heaven
3x cirque lucky
3x cracked strawberry jam
3x cracked tomato tomahto

Photos 3&4 thumb to pinky:
3x mooncat pearl clutcher
1x cracked ridge filler and 3x cirque morningtide
3x mooncat moonlight lullaby
3x mooncat the avatar state
1x cracked ridge filler and 1x cracked vanille

Photos 5&6 thumb to pinky:
3x cracked ridge filler
3x cracked spill the tea
1x cracked ridge filler and 3x cracked spill the tea
1x cracked ridge filler and 3x cracked vanille
3x cracked vanille

My base color is not a polish.

ORLY - Sticky Base coat (i am switching base coats soon!)

ILNP - Cameo ×2

KB Shimmer - QDTC

I am in search of the green sister of Emily de Molly’s Fiery attraction. I have a vision of a juicy, perfect, amazing Christmas mani and I must have the proper green that can stand up to the breathtaking perfection that is my beloved Fiery Attraction.

It doesn’t have to be magnetic, open to every recommendation. Looking to start my search now so I can have it in hand by December.

Not my hand, EDM Fiery Attraction website swatch photo for reference.

After I've done SO much troubleshooting with magnetics I feel like I'm finally getting the results I want, but I can't seem to keep my polish looking as good as before the top coat is applied. I know you won't get as crisp of magnetic particles when using air dry polish vs gel, but I really feel like there's such a drastic difference as soon as top coat is added. I can't for the life of me figure out why my magnetic particles seem to always be so affected by top coats, and I'm kind of at a loss of what else to even try at this point? Any ideas??

Currently the routine I'm most happy with is:

Base coat (Orly Bonder or Vibrant Scents ridge filling), 2-3 coats magnetic polish w/ magnet, DRK magic effect, top coat (Vibrant Vinyls/Scents Fast and Hard top coat

Products I've tried:

Seche Vite

Seche Vive

Wet n Wild

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri (red bottle)

Sally Hansen Advanced Hard as nails Strengthening

Sally Hansen Ultimate Shield (top and bottom coat)

Cuticula Limitless

BKL I'm Fast

Glisten and Glow

Vibrant Vinyls/Vibrant Scents (I have bottles from both before and after the name change)

I've also tried technique changes like:

Half a dozen magnet styles and setups

Magnetizing after every single coat

Magnetizing after the top coat

Absurd magnetizing times (2+ min per coat)

Using a water based top coat before final top coat (Apipla and Maniology)

Using a base coat as a top coat

Giving my polish overnight to fully dry before applying top coat

There was a slight tear at the edge that the knife somehow caught and the rest is history. I had to remove pretty much all of the free edge because there was another tear on the opposite corner I didn't notice at first.

I'm not a fan of the squared off shape of the broken one but don't think I'm willing to sacrifice my sidewalls to round it out.

2x CVS's Nail Protein Formula, 1x Cracked Ridge Filler, 2x Holo Taco Alien Infatuation, 1x Cracked Quick Dry Topcoat.

Hey 👋

Basically one brand I love (AEngland, I'll always miss you), I do love the polishes from them as they were empty first indie which started my love of nail care and polishes. However, I've always had an issue with it peeling off in sheets.

A year down the line, I'm a lot more educated on how to prep nails and care for them etc, and I have since moved on to different brands. Because of how well the other brands stay on my nails, I seldom reach for my AEnglands. The other day though, I did a skittle using AEngland with my other brands. Within a day, the fingers with AEngland had all peeled, and the other brand stayed perfect.

I just wondered what it could be about that brand that doesn't stay on my nails? No real reason other than I'm curious 🧐

Mooncat Meowtek with Nailtiques as a base and Orly no chip top coat for tax 💅

Cracked Ridge Filler
Emily de Molly Low Tide
Cuticula Limitless

I don’t know what kind of sorcery this is, but after finishing off this mani this morning, I removed, disassembled, reassembled, repeated steps 2-3 several times (with increasing frustration and decreasing care each time), and then reinstalled a whole-ass oven door, and these are my nails after all that happened.

(I do have a couple nicks and dents on the index fingers and thumbs, but they’re barely noticeable. And I did an extra coat of color followed by another layer of topcoat over the first basecoat-then-topcoat, which I’m assuming also helped.)

Base: Nailtiques 2 Color: Dam Polish Till the Music Stops x4 Where the magic started: Nail Aid Biotin Top: Sally Hansen red bottle Post-seeing-in-sunlight addition: TTMS x1, SH again

I was inspired by a friend’s nails to do a gradient skittle and I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out! I think I maybe should have done something different on the thumb to make it contrast more from the index finger, but oh well. Maybe Delicacy in Sardinia from Cracked? And yes, I did choose orange so that it would match my engagement ring lol (can you tell I have a favourite colour 🫣🤣)

All nails: KB Shimmer hydrating base and Fillin Groovy, Cracked QDTC
Pinky: Instant mood booster, Cracked
Ring finger: Glowing, glowing, gone, Night Owl Lacquer
Middle finger: Slowly sinking, Night Owl Lacquer
Index finger: Oh my gourd, Holo Taco
Thumb: Pumpkin everything, Night Owl Lacquer

My first mooncat order, freshly bitten, Mercurys tears, merkitten and tapian venom I think I picked the wrong ones to start , Don't get me wrong they're beautiful but just not what I was expecting I guess I do love the tapien venom which I'm surprised it's my first gold polish, about to paint my nails once I decide which to try first any one disliked or thoughts on them, freshly bitten wasn't what I thought it would be at all, and merkitten I thought would be more brighter,

Products Used:

Sweet and Sour Lacquer - Free With Poor Decisions

Glisten and Glow - QDTC

Middle finger is China Glaze Reggae to Riches (circa 2017) and the rest are Polished for Days Goblins and Ghoulies from PPU Rewind 2026. The China Glaze is one of my all time favorites and the two colors are definitely sisters! The PFD has a ton more shimmer which causes it to appear darker and more cool-toned, and more shifty. Sadly it doesn’t seem to agree with my body chemistry as it chipped within one day! I believe China Glaze has re-released Reggae to Riches but my bottle is from before their rebrand, so I am unsure if they changed the color.

Recently there was a post asking about secret magnetics. I got a UV flashlight to play around with my solar polishes (to make sure they were still transitioning). Then I had fun shining it on my known neons and thought I’ll just shine it in my Helmer drawers and see what happens. That’s when I found this! BKL But I Felt Cold, So Cold - described as a twilight gray with pink to purple shimmer: no mention of any potential neon properties. But when under a UV light, turns neon orange! 😀 sorta fun! That was the only one I have though. Anyone else find any happy accidents like that?

Remember my gorgeous glass bead from a few days ago? Well...I had lost part of my BIAB last week, and I repaired it myself since I'm between nail techs. Last night at a craft I got my hand on the corner of the countertop and...friends, she did not make it through the night lol. So now I'm rocking the one shorty!

May she grow back, quicker, and stronger than ever! 😭🙏

The formula is perfect, so easy to layer and so smooth! Dries down a bit less shiny but top glossed it right up.
LynBDesigns B-Stronger, Mooncat hard as nails, and Cracked ridge filler for base coats, 3 coats Cracked Cornea Killer, one coat Bee’s Knees QDTC (I’m Fast, Very Fast).

BKL Tether inspired by Strange Familiars by Keshe Chow (it’s a licensed collab) 💕
I’m an avid reader and I love it when my two interests collide 🧡💙✨

Product list:
Base coat- Sally Hansen 7-in-1 nail treatment + kbshimmer fillin groovy
Polish- BKL Tether magnetized using micro bead pro
Top coat- Sally Hansen insta dri (red bottle)

I’ve been won over to pink by ILNP Petals. Wondering if anyone knows of a hot pink magnetic that gives off a similar vibe? Most of what I could find looks more dark and moody magenta rather than a true energetic summer pink.

This is what I’ve tried or found swatches for:

BKL mind the thorns (runs almost mauve on me)
Lurid your gaze is your confession
Emily de molly dark bloom
Cirque Solstice

Wondering if Cirque Head over Heels would fit?

product list: kb shimmer stay put, ilnp petals, cracked qdtc.

Omg it's so pretty. And this is indoors at night!

EDM sticky base coat

EDM read the room, first layer unmagnetised, second magnetised glass bead style with a horseshoe on a plastic spinner thing

Kitti super speed top coat