ALU’s 365 of Untrieds – Inglot Pastels 969 & 970 for Easter
365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to.
Happy Easter! Happy Sunday to those who don’t celebrate. I hope you all had a lovely weekend. In spite of the gloomy weather we had a yummy Easter brunch with my parents which left me in a food coma for the rest of the day. Though in spite of the day’s festivities I was up bright and early to make sure my digits donned their Easter finest. After I posted my less-than-impressed review of one of Inglot’s O2M nail polishes, a reader suggested I give the pastels from their regular line a try. I quickly placed an order and they ended up being the perfect ingredients for my Easter themed manicure. Take a look! |
Formula & Application: Based on an image found online, Inglot Nail Enamel is 4-Free (including formaldehyde resin) and excludes camphor which can be an irritant. The square glass bottles are a little shorter and fatter than Essie’s and are topped with a thin, smooth cap. The brush is round, fat and medium in length with flexible bristles that, in spite of their malleability, don’t fan out very wide. My guess is it’s due to the denseness of the bristles.
I have to say that for pastels, these colors are well pigmented and smooth. Much smoother than I anticipated. The only reason I found myself using three coats is due to the brush. It’s the same issue I have with most MAC polishes. The brush inhibits coverage by causing dragging. I suggest a very light touch when applying the pastels.
To start, I alternated Inglot 969 and Inglot 970 on each hand so that the corresponding fingers on each hand had the opposite color. Inglot 969 is a gorgeous creme de menthe hue with silver micro-shimmer. One might call it a pearl but don’t take that to mean frosty. The shimmer does more than add depth, it’s definitely noticeable. The same goes for robin’s egg blue, Inglot 970. They are similar in finish, application and depth. Both are stunning and a little darker than the average pale pastel. They have a subtle intensity.
Even though I’m not big on the whole nail art thing I decided to add a little somethin’ somethin’ to my manicure. “Jazz hands” if you will. Inspired by a manicure I reblogged on my Tumblr page (yes I’m on Tumblr now too), I added diagonal strips of polka dots using a dotting tool and another one of my untrieds, Hello Kitty Banana Cream. As you can see, my dots got better as I moved from my pinkie towards my middle finger. It takes practice. My pal Steph from Steph’s Closet got me hooked on the dotting tool and she gave me a great tip for using it.
Dotting Tip: Pour a bit of polish on a piece of aluminum foil and let it sit for a few seconds to thicken. It makes creating dots easier. Just make sure you work fast and add more polish between every other finger or it will become too thick and stringy.
Bottom Line: I like to call colors like 969 & 970 “strong pastels” as they aren’t that watered down version of blue, green, yellow, etc that the term tends to invoke. They’re more statement making and with the understated but apparent shimmer they bring to the party, I’m all in on these colors. In fact, I’m regretting not buying the whole collection but I was understandably gun-shy after my first Inglot bubbling experience. I’ve VERY happy to report that no such bubbling occurred with these.
365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: Thanks to ALU reader Abbey for recommending the pastels and changing my mind about Inglot. If I didn’t STASH these, I would seriously lament it.
Inglot 969 & 970 are available at the Inglot stores in Las Vegas, Miami, New Jersey, NYC and Newport Beach or online at InglotUSA.com. Inglot Nail Enamels retail for $10/ea for a .51oz bottle.
Did you do a special manicure for Easter? Thoughts on the Inglot pastels? Has there ever been a brand that you initially hated but ended up loving due to a specific polish? What do you think of my attempt at polka dots? Any suggestions for improving my technique?
Disclosure: I purchased all the polishes used in this post. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.
Lisa N.
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This is so cute! I’ll have to try your polka dots technique.
Very cute manicure, those colors are gorgeous!
Love the dots!
Love the dots! Do you think they would work better or worse with a matte polish?
I did a special mani for Easter, in fact!
I started with a creme very light blue, and finished it off with 10 different very light and transparent colors, one on each nail (mainly good only for top coats) like translucent lilac, golden light yellow, interference light green, translucent pink, transparent mauve and similar…
the final resul is definitely nice!!
ohhh, that sounds really pretty. i love the idea of using different effect-type polishes on each nail with the same base coat. Great idea!
Where can I buy these in CA? I must have!!
In California, they have a store in Newport Beach otherwise, you have to order online. InglotUSA.com
Oh, you’re on tumbrl. Instant follow!
The colors look really cute, especially with the yellow dots. I’m still wearing China Glaze – Sea Spray
This is a super cute easter mani! I like these pastels too, they seem to have a little more oomph than normal. I might have to check them out!
AHHH!! You fabulous woman you! Imagine my surprise when I jumped on for my daily fix and saw this!! I was ridiculously excited to see you try these, and of course you tried the two favourites of mine out of the collection
If you are still lemming, I would recommend the purple, which is easily as gorgeous as those two. The yellow is very very pretty (but just doesn’t suit my skin tone, and I would guess most others) and the pink, while some might get it purely for the shimmer (which is lovely), you would probably have a dupe in your stash.
THANK YOU a million times over for trying these and I am ecstatic that you liked them as much as I did
……I might have to go put 969 on now….8D
P.S – from one green girl to another, 320 & 321! DO IT!!
HAD to order these – and the lavender – YAY! Thank you, and thanks to the reader who suggested the pastels!
I’m glad you gave Inglot another chance. I’ve always liked their products!
Very pretty! I did something similar but I used five different colors (Essie Lilacism, China Glaze For Audrey, Sinful Colors Pink Power and Innocent, and OPI What’s With the Cattitude?) and did skittles then polka dotted all of the with a white Striperite.
I love the colors! I’ll have to add some of those to my wish list.
I didn’t do anything super fancy for Easter – just some bright purple. I did dress up a little bit and wear my bunny ears, though!
So what’s the dot tool? I have only made dots with a brush. And yes, I did an Easter mani – with Essie Lapis of Luxury base and Essie dots formed into two diagonal lines, then on each thumb, a handled basket done with Essie French Affair. I did some tiny dots inside the thumb baskets in Essie Splash of Grenadine to look like eggs – those dots were of a more oval egg shape. I needed to keep it in two color shades only so it was not over the top – just my taste. Came out cute.
It’s basically a tiny metal ball on the end of a stick. They come in various sizes but mine is pretty small. You can see an example on the Sally Beauty website and zoom in to see the dotting side of the tool.
Your mani sounds adorable. A basket? Impressive
Those are beautiful polishes- and I don’t even like pastels all that much!
INGLOT, if you’re reading this- open your next US shop in the Midwest, PLEASE!
Does anyone know of a dupe (or close) for 969? I just can’t bring myself to spend $7 in shipping for one bottle. Thanks!
Yay! Alternating colors is how I do my manicure every day, just to give a sense of movement and to give the colors something to play off of. These two are LOVELY pastels. But I do have the same problem with the Inglot brushes and do not use the brand regularly.
I love that Inglot stores are in a bunch of major cities and then in the town of paramus, NJ. Kind of odd, but super convenient for me!
That manicure is absolutely adorable! I wanna grow my nails out again and try that.
Gasp! An Easter brunch? And I wasn’t there?!! LOL. I like your mani. I didn’t do anything special on my nails on Sunday. I only swatched some Revlon polishes for my blog. Matte Suede in Emerald City, Star, Galaxy, & Slipper top coats.
I’ve been interested in dotting tools, but I can never find them! Where did you buy yours?
I have one I got from Sally Beauty and another one I got at a trade show but there isn’t a brand name on it so I don’t know who makes it. Here’s a link to the one I got from Sally’s http://www.sallybeauty.com/nail-art-brush/SBS-698250,default,pd.html?cm_vc=SEARCH. Online, TransDesign.com and Head2ToeBeauty.com both sell dotting tools.
Love, Love, Love the creative dots!! Look at you, you’re becoming a Pro!