I primarily use gel nail polish for my fingers these days, but I usually stick with traditional polishes for my toes. I was in Sally Beauty a few months ago and they had the Nina Ultra Pro brand on sale for half off or something like that, so I grabbed two bottles. Previously, I always avoided the brand – can’t actually tell you why, I never heard anything bad about them – I guess I just assumed I wouldn’t care for them.
That was dumb of me.
The consistency of both polishes, I found, was good – neither too thick or too thin, both glided on easily when I swatched them. They dried quickly (within two minutes) and removed cleanly. The brush itself is wide, reminiscent of OPI’s wide brush (do they still offer that across the board?) – I personally loved it, but people not used to working with wider brushes may have a bit of a learning curve when it comes to not getting product on their cuticles or side-walls.
I didn’t get around to using one beyond swatching until relatively recently, though. I slapped two coats of Nina Ultra Pro in Pearly Brights on my toes recently. This neon, pearlescent, matte, coral-pink is legitimately a special snowflake (in a good way); I really have not seen a color like it. Two coals was still vaguely sheer – I believe three would get you to opacity, and a quick search of Google confirmed that other wearers did in fact reach opacity at three coats. Normally, I hate having to go three coats but I am a little more lenient with neons – especially neons that come to a matte finish on their own.
To get a glossy finish and therefore properly appreciate the pearliness of the polish, I topped my two-coat Nina Ultra Pro Pearly Brights toes with a coat of Seche Vite (aka best top-coat ever) and am pleased with the result. So far, it is holding up just as well as any other polish (including ORLY, OPI, and essie) – I’ll update this post if I have any weird issues with it, but I really don’t see that happening at this point.
Like I said earlier, I had no idea why I never bothered with this brand (I’m not a brand snob or anything!) but I’m glad I tried it. It appears as if Nina Ultra Pro is on sale at Sally Beauty this week, see if they have a shade you like if you’re shopping there this week!