The PJ Chronicles: Forever 21 Nail Color

Forever 21 Love & Beauty Nail Color, $2.80 each

Forever 21 is good for alot of things. Fast & affordable fashions, cute shoes (that aren't necessarily comfortable but cute nonetheless) and now...beauty products! I may be the last person on earth to realize that they actually sell beauty items like nail polish but I felt I had to share my experience with you all. For just under $3, they offer bright & vibrant colors that surprisingly have staying power if you employ the right techniques. Here's what I did...

STEP 1. Gather your product arsenal.

My Product Arsenal

From left: Emery board, Zoya Basecoat, CVS polish remover, Zoya Topcoat, Sally Hansen French White, Forever21 Love & Beauty Nail Polish.

Listed above are all the products I started out with. I know you're probably wondering why I included the Sally Hansen French White in my arsenal. See, "what had happened was..", I was attempting to do some really sick polka dot design on my nails, but that ended up being a fail. You'll see what I'm talking about below.

STEP 2. Remove old polish

Contrary to popular belief, you don't need some super expensive polish remover to do the trick. I buy pharmacy brand and it works just fine. Just be sure to get all the old color off your nails before filing and reapplying color. 

STEP 3. Apply base coat.

Zoya Basecoat

The best way to make sure the color adheres to your nails, and to make sure your nails are protected (and don't end  up stained) is to use a good quality base coat. My nail color lasts twice as long when I include this step. 

STEP 4. Apply 2 coats of polish.

Forever 21 Love & Beauty Nail Color in Olive Juice, $2.80

Clearly I'm not a master of technique when it comes to applying nail color. I just make sure to apply two strong coats, along each coat ample drying time. Hint: Dark colors tend to camouflage mistakes & mishaps much better than lighter colors. That's why deep greens, navy blues & blacks are my best friend. In the spring time, I opt for a salon mani!

STEP 5. Experiment...or not.

So this is the part where I tried to get jazzy and experiment with polka dots. Needless to say it didn't look as fab as I originally imagined, so I nixed the idea and stuck with solid color. Hint: If you don't allow the "mistakes" to dry, there's still time to recover! Use cotton balls or Q-tips to wipe away your mistake before it dries, and apply another coat of color for a quick fix.

STEP 6. Apply Topcoat to seal color.

Zoya Topcoat

All in all I was very pleased with the outcome. I automatically assumed since the polish was under $3 that the color quality would be horrible, but I was pleasantly surprised. With only 2 coats I achieved great results. This Olive Juice color from Forever 21 actually reminds me of Ginger & Liz "Blowin' Money Fast" from [THIS] post. That's one of the reasons I picked it up. Not bad for 3 bucks!