Archived Post

American Apparel Nail Polish Review, Photos, Swatches (Summer Peach, Butter, L'Esprit, Malibu Green)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
Summer Peach, Butter, L’Esprit, Malibu Green

American Apparel’s Summer Lacquers

Well, four of the five, at least! The lighter shades suffer from some of the same issues that the original shades did–a little streaky at first and need three coats to get a smooth, even look. The other new shade is California Trooper. Each shade retails for $6.

  • Summer Peach is a soft, almost washed out peach. It doesn’t have any pink tones to it–definitely subtle orange tones, but it’s a very, very pale peach. While I found one coat was insanely pigmented, I still ended up with three to smooth everything out, since it was a little on the streaky side.
  • Butter is exactly the color of butter. It is a soft, buttered yellow cream. Two coats here – it was easier to work with than Summer Peach.
  • L’Esprit is pastel lavender cream. Like the other shades in AA’s line-up, it’s quite pigmented in just one coat, but I found two coats were needed to give it a smoother, more even finish.
  • Malibu Green is a deep green-teal cream. This is such a beautiful shade, but it stains like no other. My nails were stained, and I had only worn this for less than a half hour. Just the residue on the cotton round I used for removal stained my other fingers a bit, too. I looked like I killed the Swamp Thing.

If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ! 🙂

  • Product: 26/30
  • Value: 8/10
  • Ease of Use: 4/5
  • Packaging: 4/5

Recommendation: These didn’t quite apply as smoothly or easily as American Apparel’s original debut, and I really wish Malibu Green didn’t stain so much–it’s truly an incredible color! I’m not completely sold on any of these shades.

AvailabilityAmerican Apparel

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
Summer Peach, Butter, L’Esprit, Malibu Green

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
Summer Peach, Butter, L’Esprit, Malibu Green

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel Summer Peach Nail Lacquer (Natural Light)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel Summer Peach Nail Lacquer (Natural Light)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel Summer Peach Nail Lacquer (Natural Light)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel Summer Peach Nail Lacquer (Flash)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel Butter Nail Lacquer (Natural Light)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel Butter Nail Lacquer (Natural Light)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel Butter Nail Lacquer (Natural Light)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel Butter Nail Lacquer (Flash)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel L’Esprit Nail Lacquer (Natural Light)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel L’Esprit Nail Lacquer (Natural Light)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel L’Esprit Nail Lacquer (Natural Light)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel L’Esprit Nail Lacquer (Natural Light)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel Malibu Green Nail Lacquer (Natural Light)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel Malibu Green Nail Lacquer (Natural Light)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel Malibu Green Nail Lacquer (Natural Light)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel Malibu Green Nail Lacquer (Flash)

American Apparel Nail Lacquer
American Apparel Malibu Green Nail Lacquer (Natural Light)

33 Comments

Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!

Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).

We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!

Comments on this post are closed.
Bonnie Avatar

I can find similar colors elsewhere; I don’t care how good the quality of their polish is, AA is a sleazy company. Their ads are sleazy, and Dov Charney is sleazy. I wouldn’t buy anything from the company.

kcrystal Avatar

is AA sleazy? I know i have bought a couple of tees from there. How are they sleazy if you don’t me asking? I know that other places such as Abercrombie, American Eagle, Guess etc … tend to have sleazy advertising .. so how does AA differ?

amy Avatar

I have both Butter and Malibu Green and really like both. I agree that Malibu Green stains like crazy even when I used acetate polish remover.

Samantha Avatar

I bought Malibu Green a few weeks ago and I actually have it on right now! Although I am loving the formula of these AA lacquers, the darker colours do stain! It takes a little rubbing and some nail polish remover to eventually get rid of the stain.

Kat Avatar

The lavender one is super gorgeous. The last time I heard of AA nail polishes, they were having issues with toxins or whatever.

Christine Avatar

They weren’t, actually, having issues with toxins 🙁 It’s really such a shame that the article that first wrote about it headlined their article as they did. AA had issues with the actual packaging – the glass – which was prone to breaking. Nothing to do with the formula.

kelliegonzo Avatar

i just bought some AA polishes for the first time but haven’t used them yet. i got butter as one of them, i like it a lot! malibu is sooo pretty but i feel like the color’s not really unique, maybe china glaze’s four leaf clover is a dupe?

sofia Avatar

ooooh i really dont know which one i like most… maybe butter… but L’Esprit is so cute and malibu green is unique! i really want them all. but i’m not sure if we have this brand in greece:-(

aradhana Avatar

hey christine, excellent timing with your review…
i just went into american apparel this afternoon to pick up tees for my husband, and i was seriously intrigued by these (and other) polishes at the cash… after reading your review and seeing the pics, i’m glad i didn’t pick up any of the pastels!

your nails are beautiful, and as always – so are your pics, but these pastel polishes look kinda liquid paperish. i think the green is beautiful, but since you mention the staining, i think my mind’s made up!

Hannah Avatar

Sally Hansen does a really similar color to Malibu Green… unfortunately it’s in their quick-dry formula which I don’t like, but the color is gorgeous (and doesn’t stain significantly)

lia Avatar

hi, im wondering if anyone can help me find a dupe for malibu green? I’ve been loking for this kind of shade for so looonggggg.. but i dont want my nails to be staineddd…

probably from opi or china glaze or what other brand?

thank you in advance..

Sarah Avatar

Great swatches Christine 🙂 I would have loved to have seen the “Swamp Thing” hands, I like the green polish but not sure I want stained hands…

kcrystal Avatar

$6.00 each for nail polish … is a bit pricey IMO. Personally – I wouldn’t buy nail polish if it costs more than 5.00. That is my limit and im sticking to that. 🙂 Most of the colors are dupeable anyways.

Nicola Avatar

Love butter have been looking for a pale yellow for ages. Does anyone know if any other brands do a simalar or nice yellow?? I’m in New Zealand too which sucks as we dont seem to get as many brands here.

We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!