Outrageous Facts I Found Out About Colorbar Arteffects Luxe Nail Laquer (with swatches)

Colorbar Arteffects Nail Laquer in the shades 22 Orange Pop & 23 Lemon Pop

Today I am going to review two shades of polishes from the Colorbar’s range of Arteffects Nail Laquer. Usually I’m not a huge fan of glitter nail polish though, but when I was browsing online stores in early May 2018 for a new haul of nail lacquers, these two babies caught my eyes & it was love at first sight.

I remember, when I was a kid, I’d buy mostly glitter polishes & thought it’d look amazingly stylish but now, as a grown up I’ve always found them to be a bit ‘juvenile’ looking. Okay, no offence to the glitter fans & maybe it’s just my personal view. But these polishes have their own challenges. Those glitters are often hard to remove & I’d have to manually push each particle with another fingernail to get them off.

This severely damages the nail bed & many of you who’ve read my previous post know that currently I’m suffering from onycholysis/ painless detachment of nail from nail bed & although it has only affected only one finger, but it itself is enough to alarm that my nails (atleast one) are already weakened.

So, usually I exercise extreme caution when choosing a nail polish. Anyways, back to the topic. Because of the reasons mentioned above, I usually avoid gel manis & glitter polishes, along with hard to remove nail arts. But this time, browsing the online stores, these two colours caught my eyes such that, despite of purchasing many lighter shades, I couldn’t resist myself buying these two & that’s why I think they are worth a review.

Colorbar launched this Arteffects range as an easy to use option for nail arts, & even only as top coats containing 23 incredible shades in various effects from sandy to shimmery to glitter. I bought 2 from this range:  22-Orange Pop & 23-Lemon Pop.

Honestly, these two colours remind me of those lozenges I used to love as a kid. They look shiny bright & somewhat neon that ignites my nostalgia.

But surprisingly, after application on bare nails/or with a transparent base coat, neither of them look that luscious & only after applying at least 4 coats, they show up a little bit of color. Overall, the effect is shiny & last really long if worn over a base coat (or without it too) & the shine goes on for weeks as well.

But as with other glitter based polishes, it’s incredibly hard to remove. Even if the gel like colour is removed, the glitters will stay there & you’ll have to actually push them to get them off. This gets even harder if the polish is worn without a base coat. The glitter particles tether to the nail so strongly that it is hard to remove them without damaging your nails.

But look wise, the effect is real cool. These two can also be worn as gel top coats, yes they give that gel finish. If worn over a nail polish of the same colour family, like lemon-pop over a neutral to green coloured polish & orange pop over a neutral to yellow-orange polish, it’d give you incredible results & surprisingly, these two also lengthens the life of that polish worn underneath it, just like a top coat does.

To demonstrate the effect, I’ve taken photos of me wearing the orange pop singly on some nails & as top coats on some. With the lemon pop, I’ve worn it on a neutral shimmery pastel coloured polish from Sally Hansen.

Orange Pop worn singly, & also on top of orange nail polish from Kinetic Solar Gel

I don't know why the otherwise greenish Lemon Pop 23 is looking Yellowish here,sorry.

Now, let’s consolidate the judgment on Colorbar Arteffects Nail Laquer:

Pros:

·         Amazing colours & effects. Find any finish you’d possibly imagine in this range. Lemon Pop & Orange pop are technically glitters but I’d call it a ‘muted version’, not too shiny.

·         The two I’ve bought give gel like finish although it’s not mentioned anywhere.

·         Multitasker at its best. They can be worn singly, directly as a nail polish & also as a shiny top coat.

·         Very long lasting & even increases the life of nail polish if it’s worn as a top coat.

·         Muted glitters give a grown up vibe, although It’s just a personal view.

·         It claims that it does not transfer to the nail bed, for which I’d give a big ‘thumbs up’ because currently I am not in a condition to take risk with my already weakened nails. Yes I’ve worn this on my onycholysis affected nail & it hasn’t exaggerated the condition & I’m thankful for that thing.

·         Decently priced at Rs. 325/- but I still haven’t found out why they’ve named it ‘luxe’, the price is not in the luxury range but maybe they claim that it’s formulated in Luxembourg.

·         Long shelf life. Mine was manufactured in December 2016 & is about to expire in November 2019 which is great because most of the time I’m unable to finish a bottle & a lot of product gets wasted simply because it’s passed expiry date.

·         Comes in an interesting cubical bottle with 12 ml product inside (a lot for me).

·         The brush is wide & flat, which effortlessly spreads the product without me having to stain the skin around. Although some people find it hard to work with, but for me it does the job real well.

·         It doesn’t leave nasty yellow stain even after keeping it on for real long, like a few weeks.

·         It claims that it’s non carcinogenic. However, I don’t take each word as ultimate, no matter how big of a name is claiming it, but I’d love it if it’s true.

·         A cruelty free product. Again, another big thumbs up.

Cons:

·         Doesn’t give the ingredients list, which is a big no no for me.

·         As with most glitter polishes, it’s incredibly hard to remove, each particle has to be mobilized with a manual push.

·         Not completely chip-resistant.

·         Poor colour pay-off; takes 4 coats to actually see a hint of colour.

Will I buy it again?

Yes, may be. But if this lasts real long, like a few years, then probably I will not because I get bored with things easily, no matter how much I love them. The muted glitter of Colorbar Arteffects Nail Laquer makes it an easy & accessible option to wear glitter polishes & still look like a mature adult but I’ve seen this brand to mercilessly discontinue many of its good products so I’m not sure it’ll still be there when I’m finished with my 12 ml bottles.

***Please be aware that this is NOT A SPONSORED REVIEW. Anything I’ve written here is completely my personal opinion about a product I bought.

Currently I do not endorse any brand, so my reviews are my honest personal views & I am not promoting anything shown in the photos as well. If I prefer to do so in future, I’d mention them.

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Thank you for reading.

Cheers!!!

Koyel M.