66 Comments

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Callen Avatar

China Glaze for colour selection/value… and honestly Sephora by OPI for wearability. Everyone rags on it but it wears great for me!

Rengirl Avatar

OPI’s Do You Lilac it comes pretty close to perfection for me. I also really love (like most people) China Glaze For Audrey now that I’ve added the right amount of thinner to it making the formula work for me.

Courtney Avatar

I have to give it to China Glaze. Low cost polish with a ton of really fun and unique colors. Generally good quality, maybe not perfect, but when you can find them for $3 a pop they’re worth it.

mkdallas Avatar

For a high-end polish, I swear by Rescue Beauty Lounge. The best drug-store brand I’ve found is Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure. The best mid-range (in my humble opinion) is OPI. That is all!

Cat Avatar

I agree, for the most part. RBL is hands down my favorite luxury brand; most of the colors are opaque in just one coat, and they apply like butter. OPI is my favorite salon bran, and I’d have to say my favorite drugstore brand is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear for the price, fashion-forward color selection and flat, wide brush.

Tiffany Avatar

Rescue Beauty Lounge is the best in my opinion, due to the flawless application and coverage. It also wears very well for me. It sure isn’t cheap, though!

Arantzazu Avatar

I like very much Chanel polishes, basically for their quality and their elegant colours.
Of course I like many other brands (Eyeko, ChinaGlaze, Astor…) but the point is choosen one… Hahaha

Abby Avatar

China Glaze for value, but I feel like too many of their shades are glitter/frost. I LOVE Essie’s palette, but their formula can be hit-or-miss, and those brushes….bah!

Marianne Avatar

Illamasqua. It is a bit pricey but, it applies so smooth and evenly. The colors are vivid; to include the pastels, which tend to run sheer. I can get a week’s worth of wear before the inevitable tip wear starts to show up. I don’t have all of the colors yet, but so far, whack is my favorite. It is such a bright rich orange and it is so pretty it actually pains me a little to take it off.

Dana Avatar

I really like the ranges of OPI (for darks) and Essie (for light/pale). The price is great when on sale (usually buy 2 get 1 free at Ulta) but their wear on me is just OK. Mac polish stays on me the longest, usually almost 5 days which is a long time but their color selection is limited. I have never ventured into Chanel or any other high end brand for polishes, it doesn’t seem worth the extra cash

nicole Avatar

Zoya. i love everything about the brand. the color options are amazing, the brush is perfect for me, and the application is probably one of the easiest i have come across

Mercee Avatar

Nubar, because they’re consistently pigmented, they last without chipping and apply like buttah! Oh, and they’re vegan. I love OPI for colours and quality too.

dana Avatar

I love OPI and they wear by far the longest on me. I did my nails about a week ago and there’s like one chip…and I’m a hair stylist..so my hands are constantly in something. I have Chanel polish and it’s off in a few days.

Kate & Zena Avatar

Illamasqua, hands down. I can’t imagine living without my Illamasqua polishes! They wear so long. They’ve had a consistent formula from the beginning with great packaging and a very nice brush. They aren’t afraid of colors and I personally love the names (Rampage, Boosh, Baptiste, Phallic, DWS). I can’t imagine what my world would be like without Rampage!

Sarah Avatar

NUBAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It NEVER chips, peels, fades or shows any signs of tip-wear on me until at least 5 days (especially when I wrap the tips). There has been more than 1 occasion I was able to wear it for 9 days and other than a slight touch of tip-wear it looked like a brand new mani. You don’t know what you’re missing until you’ve tried Nubar.

Vanesa Avatar

OPI all they way i absolutely love Jade is the new Black and Pandamonium Pink (i thinks thats how its spelled) OPI in my opinion has the best streak free application due to the size of the brush. LOVES IT!!

crlsweetie912 Avatar

China Glaze for me, with Sinful Colors a close second. China Glaze consistently comes out with amazing color selections on a seasonal basis! I find myself wanting them ALL! Sinful colors for their easy availability, price and color range!

Laura Avatar

Rescue Beauty Lounge or Deborah Lippmann. RBL great cremes and really, really great quality, but Lippmann makes AMAZING glitters.

Becca Avatar

I’d have to say a tie between OPI and China Glaze

OPI because of the wide selection and quality,
China Glaze because of its unique, fun colours

Megan Avatar

China glaze! I love the selection.
By the way…I found 2 bottles of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure at Walgreens today. If your still lusting over it don’t give up hope!

Heidi Avatar

Deborah Lippman Collection hands down! Worth every penny and the colors are gorgeous…my nails stay perfect for weeks. Favorite colors are Nefertiti and Whatever Lola Wants

Pearl Avatar

Chanel. They have such classy colors and their polishes dry quick. With the right top coat, Chanel polishes do not chip any faster than OPI. I used to use OPI but their polishes took forever to dry. I hate spending too much time doing my mani/pedicure 😛

Linnea Avatar

Right now, L’oreal nail polish, just because I’ve found a couple of colors that I LOVE, and I love the bottle/applicator.
But I really really want to splurge on some Butter Londons. Beautiful colors, and sounds like they’re amazing! Anyone tried them?

Stella Avatar

I love China Glaze for the color selection. My nails are very brittle, and Deborah Lippmann makes an amazing base coat (Hard Rock) that’s helped my nails grow out more than they ever have!

ruthk Avatar

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure is the best I have ever used. Although I don’t go for the “complete” bit, I still use base and top coat with it. I have one Butter London, it chips first day and peels off in sheets. Chanel I love for the colors but they chip on me on the second day. I was an OPI lover until i discovered that the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure is longer lasting and easier to apply and has the best brush i have ever used.

Mari Alonso (Nail Addicts Anonymous) Avatar

Coming from a nail blogger, this is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to answer. *thinking* OPI has a great brush, yet China Glaze has a better range of colors. Zoya makes amazing glass flecked shades and comes out with great collections. Nubar has really interesting colors also, like Indigo Illusion. Nfu-Oh has flakies, and who doesn’t like those? If you’re in the mood for a holo, Nfu-Oh’s 63 is to die for. Orly has a great formula and some shades are even one-coaters. Color Club has a great range as well and Misa’s brush is heavy and gives a steady hand to polishing. I couldn’t even narrow this question down to my top 5 shades…. 🙂

I’ll give it more thought.

marielouise Avatar

China Glaze!!! Can’t get it where I live, and can’t wear it at work since I work for MAC, but I love the range of colours and the texture….on 2nd place it’s OPI 😀

Katy Avatar

China Glaze, for the huge range of colors.

And props to the person above who also mentioned Color Club’s color range. What other brand could help me stock up on neon purples so?

Cat Avatar

I know, isn’t Color Club Pucci-licious the funnest purple ever? Their formula is great, and their price point is not prohibitive for anyone. Plus, people find full sets of their collections at Ross for $7!

alexxxxxxxxxx Avatar

Savina is actually pretty good! (@ Nordstrom Rack)It’s like $4. Wet n’ Wild is okay for its price. ($1) OPI ($9?) has REALLY pretty colors, but it’s actually kind of a pain to apply, for me. I REALLY like Sally Hansen’s Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear. It’s cheap ($2-$3) and it doesn’t chip on me, even if I don’t wear a base or top coat!

BooksPolishSuperheroes Avatar

In my opinion China Glaze has a great range at great value for a reasonable price ($5-6). Zoya ($8-9)has some amazing polishes that are great quality as well (Charla from the Sparkle collection is absolutely GORGEOUS!). Essie ($9-10) is up there as well as it has some of the best creme selection in really cute colors at a great value. And of course there’s OPI ($9-12), their brushes, bottle size,colors, names, quality and long wearability has, for good reason, been a favorite amoung nail polish lovers worldwide. So ya those four brands are at the top of my list. Though I can’t say anything for the more pricey brands such as Deborah Lippmann or Butter London as I haven’t tried those so….*shrug* maybe one day.

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