Spoiled by Wet 'n' Wild Designated Driver Nail Lacquer Review, Photos, Swatches

Christine — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 18:03:18 +0000

Spoiled by Wet ‘n’ Wild Designated Driver Nail Lacquer

Spoiled by Wet ‘n’ Wild Designated Driver Nail Lacquer

Spoiled by Wet ‘n’ Wild Designated Driver Nail Lacquer ($1.99 for 0.50 fl. oz.) is a bright sunshine yellow with slight orange tones and a cream finish. I think the color is so appropriate for the upcoming summer season, but you will need to be a little patient. The polish has a tendency to pull if you do not wait for each coat to completely dry before putting on another coat. Some polishes are more forgiving in this aspect, but with this one, you’ll be waiting about five to ten minutes between coats before you can go for the second. The color coverage is nearly opaque in two coats, but you can see a hint of visible nail line. The consistency wasn’t too thick or too thin, so I think you should be able to do a third coat to get totally opaque color and help hide any application issues.

Yellows are known for being notoriously difficult to apply–it’s hard to find a really excellent yellow that doesn’t suffer from at least some streaking or lack of pigmentation. For instance, MAC Al Fredo and Deborah Lippmann Yellow Brick Road are both sheerer, more jelly-like yellows (and both are less orange-based compared to this shade). The best yellow I’ve come across has been Rescue Beauty Lounge Yellow Fever, which is just a little streaky on the initial coat, but the second coat goes on beautifully–it is very similar in color to Designated Driver except it does have subtle shimmer.

I actually used Designated Driver as one of the shades to test from this formula for wear, since I have never used this brand before. I can’t really think of a formula that does chip on me, with the exception of matte polishes without a top coat, and Spoiled’s formula held up for a week with minor tip wear but no chipping. Despite using a base coat, there was some very subtle staining after those seven days (not totally unexpected for a yellow hue).