Archived Post
The Hit List: Worst Nail Polish
What’s the Worst Nail Polish…?
What brand/product wins this category? Any particular reason it wins?
Explore Temptalia
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Compare Any Two
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
116 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.
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!
Avon nail polish is the worst!blah!
MAC SEASONAL PEACH YUKK WORST FORMULA EVER!!!
indeed ! It NEVER ever looks good on me. Always streaks, goes on all yucky !! That was when I decided I had it with MAC nail polishes (third colour to fail on me) and am never buying their nail polishes again
Good to know cause I have been dying to get a MAC nail polish…now I won’t bother!
I have MAC nail polishes from all different collections and I have to say the cream formulas from this past year have been awesome. Seasonal peach (which I’m wearing right now) is just awful! It’s streaky, doesn’t last, and I’m only wearing it because I love the color so much. Stick to newer cream and metallic/frost shades.
WOW I CAN TRULY SAY IVE NEVER HAD ANY ISSUES WITH ANY OF MY MAC POLISHES….I LOVE 2 USE BASE COATS BECAUSE I HAVE NATURAL NAILS AND I LIKE MY LOOK 2 LAST A BIT…MACS BASE COAT A+, I ALSO LOVE THE ONE BY ORILY CALLED BONDER…BUT IVE FOUND WHEN USE MAC POLISH W/O A BASE COAT U WONT GET A GR8 EFFECT, BUT WITH IT,,,,PURE BEAUTY ON THE HANDS….LOVE IT, U JUST GOTTA WORK IT…I TAKE MY OWN POLISHES 2 NAIL SHOPS…MY HANDS ARENT THAT STEADY AND THEY POLISH SO WELL…. LOVE ALL MAC POLISHES
Wow ! I’m surprised with the comments on MAC polish! I have the grey polish from the Hello Kitty collection and it was some of the best polish ever! Worst polish was the Chinese laundry it was a nice magenta colour. It was flaking off with in hours!
ITA that MAC Seasonal Peach is perhaps the worst polish ever…although I love the color, it turned me off to MAC polishes forever. I am a complete sucker for Chanel, though – which has my wallet screaming (my fingers and toes are happy, though).
I would have to say for the price chanel is was not impressed with their formula!
I agree. My Chanel polishes never stay on. Not even for a day.
Rimmel! Gives a yellowish stain to the nail once removed!
THIS. I bleached, buffed, and tortured my poor nails after I took off a Rimmel polish (orange nonetheless). Never again. I threw it out immediately because even after putting them through all that, there was awful staining left.
RIMMEL!!
The worst brand I have tried recently is Hard Candy! The formula is too thick and goopy to get even coats, especially the lighter colors, and it’s quick to crack and chip.
I must say the Orly ones I have tried haven’t impressed me at all, I found them too thick.
The one Orly that I own stayed on a long time but was thick to apply.
NYC brand!!
I agree! It’s awful!
Sephora Collection nail polish..it chips so easily!!
Amen to that! It’s too bad because I really like Metro Chic but it lasts 24 hours tops before I get a chip even when I’m really careful.
Sephora OPI? Or just regular Sephora?
the regular Sephora, the Sephora by OPI polishes are really good
I’d have to agree, the Sephora by OPI polishes are awful. They chip like crazy even when I put them on properly and carefully. It’s too bad because they have fun colors.
the Sephora opi polishes are good quality…the formula is no different then reg opi…I think they are talking about Sephora brand in the little bottles
Chanel since it’s expensive and chips easily!
i disagree i think their polishes are really good and i think one of the best ones
I’ve had terrible luck with Sinful Colors, which is a shame since I love their range of shades.
I didn’t have great luck with them at first. But now I use them all the time! I wouldn’t give up yet! Worst for me was wet n wild. They chip, flake, ugh. The other one was absolutely alice by OPI. Not only did it chip, but it peeled off my nail in one long strip!
I actually haven’t had trouble with Sinful Colors but I only own one right now.
The Sinful Colors nail polish do work well, but you must have a great base and top coat. I thought the same thing when I tried a neon orange color, but decided to experiment with some other colors and was hooked. I’m trying Sally Hansen’s, New Insta-Grip Fast Dry basecoat, and it seems to be holding up. Your base coat should be stickey to adhere to the polish. Also you have to kind of test the colors. Some are more sheer than others. Also the polishes do dry matte, but after you apply the top coat they are fine. You can avoid that problem by using a white polish first and then applying the color over it. Always top with a good top coat, Seche Vite has a great fast drying one. Hope you give the Sinful Colors another try because they really have some great colors. Good luck :)!!!
Ugh I agree! Sinful Colors turned my nails yellow, and it took so long to get them back to the normal tone. They were also super thin and peeled off very quickly! It really is a shame though, there is such a nice variety in their colors and they are super cheap too.
My daughter and I used Sinful Colors this summer. Now our nails are in such bad shape. I am going to take my daughter to a dermatologist to see if her nails can be fixed with medication. Plus for anyone who is interested http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php has the info on almost every product out there. You would be surprised at how bad all of this stuff really is.
I figure everyone is going to say MAC since I hear so many complaints about it, but I haven’t had any problems with their formula myself!
I’ve had pretty good luck overall but I recently tried a Calvin Klein polish and it was hard to work with. I also didn’t like Urban Decay’s polish (from years ago) but haven’t had a chance to try them since they brought them back again.
Diamond cosmetics! Absolutely love the colors, many really unique ones!
But it takes no more than half a day before they start to chip 🙁
NYC brand is horrible. There is hardly any colour payoff and it chips in a day.
china glaze for audrey. I don;t know if i get a bad bottle or what, the consistency is sooooooo thick. I can’t apply it soothly. sephora by OPI also has bad nail polishes. they chip very quickly.
I had the exact same experience with China Glaze For Audrey – too thick when I first got it. But I put 2 drops of nail polish thinner and it worked just fine.
AGREED. i love the color, not the texture. its so gross
really? i found it quite nice to apply 🙂
GOSH. Nail polish chips and peels off my nails within 36-48 hours usually, but the GOSH polishes I’ve recently bought literally only lasted 12 hours or so. But because they were glittery, it was almost impossible to remove the rest. 🙁
I like GOSH, it doesn’t chip that quickly for me, but it does get really thick after a while. Moreso than any other polishes I own.
MAC in general
Lately I’m not so lucky with Color Club – the polishes from their last collections are thick but sheer, I need 3 thick coats to make it opaque… And in the end it doen’t look good…
Wow, nail polish is truly a “your mileage may vary” kind of a product, isn’t it? I love GOSH, and have had great luck with MAC too.
The ones I’ve hated most were Orly and Zoya. The three or four bottles of Orly I tried were all goopy, thick, and impossible to work with. The two Zoya ones I tried didn’t dry on me! They just stayed wet forever! Into the swap pile they went!
NYC brand! AWFUL!
Finger Paints! Their formula is a nightmare!
Revlon
I hate the sally hansen insta dri ( the one with the wide brush )
They are horrible!!!
Agreed!! I hate the new Insta dri brushes. It gets so messy around the edges of the nail. I used to LOVE Sally Hansen’s brushes because they were similiar to OPI’s. – nice and wide. Now, they suck and I don’t buy Sally Hansen anymore. 🙁
LOL
I just applied my “Hurry Honey” Insta dry yesterday.
It’s not the best formula but I think they are great when you are on a hurry. And I do love the brush, it’s perfect for my nails.
1 brushstroke, 1 coat, 15 minutes and I’m done
Yeah, I hate the brush more than anything else!
Revlon. Sheer shite! If I need 4 coats and it still ends up looking streaky it gets a big ol F!
The mini Sephora polishes tend to suck also. Their blue one (Curacao I think) stained my nail blue.
I’m not impressed with MAC nail polishes, and some China Glaze polishes are extremely hard to work with. But, I’d have to say Pure Ice is the WORST nail polish ever. Every one of their colors is a frosty metallic with absolutely no color payoff.
Nicole by OPI I think? Awful.
I only really use nails inc, zoya and china glaze and out of those three my least favourite is chona glaze by far.
Yes there colours are lovely but they just take so long to dry, i find if i do my nails 2 hours before bed i still wake up with sheet marks in them which is really annoying.
Caroline New York or something like that. HORRIBLE customer service. I ordered polishes online and was super excited. Waited and waited, gave them quite sometime because online and international orders take a while. Months later I emailed them about my order not showing up thinking it was lost in customs or something and no response. Another few weeks and I email again and got a response saying that they don’t ship to Canada. That’s it, basically one line saying we don’t ship to you. No “sorry” or anything. Then why did you accept my money, not inform me, and not refund me until I asked you to? Once you noticed the order was for Canada you should have informed me and refunded me immediately. Absolutely the worse. What business conducts themselves that way? They’re a company I cannot support.
Rant over.
they went out of business which explains the crappy CS- they probably knew they were goign under & didnt care anymore!
NYX Las Vegas-very sheer and leaves your nails yellow!
Also Nubar does not last on me more than one day 🙁
I’m sorry to say, China Glaze! I bought Flipflop Fantasy- it was watery, streaky and not even close to opaque even after FOUR coats! I hope the rest of the line isn’t this bad. I’m sticking with Orly.
You really can ‘t judge a whole company based on a neon nail polish , considerring they ‘re all extremely hard to apply .
Chanel without a doubt!!!
I am definitely not a huge fan of NYC or Revlon polishes (of course there are always diamonds in the rough for both brands)
I absolutely love the range/colors of Zoya, but I can’t get them to dry on me.
The Sally Hansen Insta Dri ones seem to get a TON of bubbles in them.
All in all, I can pretty much work with any polish as long as I have some thinner and a decent base/top coat combo.
Butter London- very expensive and never completely dried. Wound up throwing it away after one use.
nivea and korres…they chip very easily
Mad as a Hatter by OPI… I love the color, but it takes no more than one day before they start to chip and it’s so difficult to remove >.<
i got the mini bottle and the brush was AWFUL! it frayed like crazy and the glitter clumped on it.
-IT WORKS GOOD WHEN YOU PUT ON A TOP COAT AND BASE COAT!!!! mine pilled right off!!!! i didnt have a speck of glitter on my finger!!! =D the packaging was my only concern!
Gonna get flamed to a crisp, but whatever… OPI. Sheer as hell in my experience. Even after multiple coats.
In my experience, it depends on the color. *USUALLY* they’re pretty good after 2 coats. The brush bugs me because it’s so wide and my nails are so small. That’s really not a fault of the company, more like a body defect on my part 😛
I also think it depends on the color…
I have a few and they work well for me. I bought the mini Shrek collection and these small brushes are awful to use.
But then again, I’m completely in love with Red-My Fortune Cookie from the Hongkong collection. 🙂
NYC…They SUCK!
Zoya “Pinta” was thick, goopy, and took forever to dry.
Sinful Colors “San Francisco” chipped badly after two days, and stained my nails yellow.
Lippmann was an awful experience for my nails. Colors were nice but the nailbed suffered dreadfully. It took 6-8 months of babying them before I went to Chanel and have not looked back.
I’ve had no luck with Revlon or Ulta, both wear away pretty fast (don’t really have chipping problem). Love Nubar tho.
Revlon. :\
The formula of Sinful Colors leaves a lot to be desired. It peels and chips and leaves your nail stained. I keep trying because the color selection is really nice, but I am always disappointed. But then again, so does every brand of nail polish that isn’t OPI. They’ve set the bar so high, that everything else is a letdown!!
I am not crazy about Essie at all. Love their colors but their formula is either too sheer, streaky, and then chips off quickly – even using all of their recommended base coat etc.
This! There is one Essie that I love… Sexy Divide. It’s the perfect consistency AND pretty opaque. The rest are so blah. The sheers are too sheer, the pastels are SO gloopy. Most of my Essies are on my swap list now.
I agree! Essie colors are really streaky. Also, China Glaze for Audrey is not that impressive when trying to apply, as well as the Shrek for Opi colors. So goopy!
Totally agree, Essie is not my cup of tea either!
Wet n Wild. Yuck. streaky!
Revlon. Those polishes are SO runny!
Claire’s – comes off is sheets in one day. I’ll never buy it again.
I knew everyone was going to say Sephora by OPI but I love it ! I don ‘t have any problems with it chipping , maybe it ‘s the base / top coat I use ( CHI ) . But even if I did , I usuall don ‘t keep my nails the same long enough for them to chip ;P
Christian Dior. Sh*tty formular and too expensive…..
Orly. I’ve never in my life experienced a nail polish that will peel off my entire nail in ONE piece! I bought the adorable “carnival” themed lavender shade and I woke up one morning with two of my nails completely bare!
I had the same experience with Orly Clear and top coat. You are absolutely correct – it peels of in one piece the day after it is applied. I’ve tried letting it dry between coats, applying over a wet coat and eliminating the top coat. None of these application experiments made any difference. It still peels of in one piece by the next day. I purchased it at a Beauty Supply store, so it wasn’t cheap either!!!
melon of troy is by far the worst polish ive ever used, along with “naked” by china glaze. maybe its just because i cant pull of pinks and i garden a lot (so it chips) but i mean really…they suck! i absolutely ADORE Coach nail polishes, though…theyre to die for
OPI for Sephora. The color was lovely in the bottle, but it went on unevenly and dried into a goopy mess. I sent it to Zoya’s polish exchange.
I’m hoping I just got a bad or old bottle or that the poor quality is limited to this shade, but Rescue Beauty Lounge’s Lulu was a nightmare. Thick and goopy, but streaky at the same time. I needed 3 coats and struggled to apply each one. I have another shade and hope that I’ll have a different experience with that.
Essie! Ack. I don’t really think they are the worst, but definitely not worth the money. They have a stinky little brush and always come out streaky for me.
ESSIE! I have a bunch of their colours and all of them SUCK. I did 2 coats with each shade and between coats I waited I think 15 minutes bc I was on the computer at the same time. So you’d assume that it would dry quickly with all the heat and time. Even after 45 minutes after I applied the first coat, I would go take a shower and the entire thing with just smudge and shift. Its so disgusting. I vowed never to buy Essie again.
Urban Outfitters, it require about 6 to 7 to work, craziness!!!!!
skin food nail polishes! i typically love that Korean brand, but their polishes smell so odd, even for a nail polish, and are either too thin or too goopy. yuck! not to mention they also chip within a day if you’re not using a decent base/top coat. they do have a line of “toe nail polishes” which actually are a lot better! i would think your fingernails deserve better than your toenails… ha! 😛
china glaze! the smell literally made me GAG!
MAC and NYC.
Sinful Colors. 4 out of 5 have come out so thick and tacky they clump on my nails….Awesome colors, terrible consistency
Essie. Way too thick and takes forever to dry. Even if I use thinner, it never thins, and never dries when I use Seche Vite.
Really? I use 3 coats of Essie with Seche Vite all the time and I’m good to go within 15 minutes of the top coat!
My only complaint with Essie is the miniscule size of their brush– good for pinkies and some toenails, but a complete chore to use on thumbs.
Im a nail polish addict and had tried so many brands…so far im not really that impressed w/ channel..its expensive and i find the formula not too good…i got the color RIVIERA w/c is a hot pink, looks very nice but it streaks and the brush is too small…i like Sinful color nail polish, never had a problem w/ it but i find its quite hard to remove
Definitely Essie! I don’t get the hype about Essie, I think the texture is awful; thin and streaky and I always need 3 coats!
I really don’t like OPI for some reason…in all my experience, the colors just chip in less than a day, and I don’t even work with me hands! I love Zoya though; great colors and they last pretty long if you apply Nail Tek over them everday.
I have a really hard time with NARS Orgasm.. I can’t get a solid coat without a million layers and even then it wasn’t opaque. Also, I found it to look.. well, old lady-ish. Not the beautiful shade that you’d expect. SAD!
I think MAC nail polish is the worst i’ve ever used. I love Zoya, Chanel, Orly, Essie, and OPI when they don’t threaten to sue bloggers 🙂
Honestly, every brand has a few colors that suck major ass so I can’t say a specific brand is horrible, just that certain polish sucks. After reading many of the responses, they surprised me, I have good luck with all of the “hated” brands lol. However, the only polish that has even been sucky on me, even though I ADORE it, is OPI My Private Jet (the original release), it chips within a couple of hours and I’ve tried so many different bases under it 🙁
I find Mac nail polish to be runny and thin. I also despise any Sally Hansen nail polish because they are thin and chip within 48 hours. Plus, I find both Mac and Hansen to lose the “shine” within a few days.
OPI and Anna Sui (loves the rosey scent) all the way for me! *hugs*
I am so sad to say that I hate Mac’s nailpolishes.It is such a pity cause I really love the colors,especially the limited ones,but after seven attempts I honestly give up!!!!They chip sooooo bad.It is crazy
Charlotte Russe! I know that store is mainly for clothes and all but there small makeup line is for the birds. What looked like a gorgeous purply gray in the bottle was a flat icky color. Took 4 coats to get it opaque enough and it chipped the next day with a base and top coat!
MAC polishes are the worst!! essie formulas can be a little streaky but not as bad as MAC suprisingly, I’ve been having lots of luck with china glaze and sephoraby OPI too especially their creamy formulas.
Definitely Tip to Toe from Old Navy. Worst stuff ever! I guess you get what you pay for because it was real cheap.
miliani nail polish, i applied it to my toes and it began to start rubbing off at work without a top coat.
Not loving Claire’s.
I’m not a fan of Essie polishes! I love the color selection that they have and I am a huge fan of Cream colors but because Essie is SO sheer and thin you have to apply so many coats and it can tend to not only take forever to do a manicure but the polish will peel! yuck! but alas, I still purchase them…womp.
Claire’s. Chips like crazy!
Essie! Blech. I painted my nails 2 hours after going to sleep, woke up with sheet marks and 3 hours after waking up, my nail got stuck to a piece of tape and the polish came off. YUCKY!