ALU’s 365 of Untrieds – The Painted Nail by Nubar Citrus Sparkle
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.As I mentioned in a recent post, I’m in Vegas for Cosmoprof which is an annual trade show where beauty brands, typically professional salon & spa lines, sell their products to distributors & buyers all over the world. It’s pretty amazing and after three years of attending it doesn’t get any less overwhelming or tiring.
Today I met with some great brands including China Glaze, CND, Dashing Diva, Orly and Zoya and I finished out the day with a stop by the Nubar booth to meet Nail Files star Katie Cazorla, owner of The Painted Nail salon. I already adored Katie after speaking with her over the phone and, in person, she’s even more adorable. Affable, hilarious, larger than life and yet totally down-to-earth. No matter what you think of her show or reality TV in general, you can’t help but love Katie. She’s a star and all you have to do is meet her and you can see why TV Guide Network would want to give her a show. Now you know that I went all fangirl over Katie’s gorgeous purple, Legendary Lavender. I’m actually rocking my second pedicure in a row with that color. This is no fling my friends. My love affair is strong. That left me curious to see how some of the other summer collection shades would fare so I decided to try The Painted Nail Citrus Sparkle next. |
Formula & Application: The Painted Nail nail polish is produced by Nubar, therefore it is 4-Free (including formaldehyde resin), free of camphor, which can be an irritant, and cruelty free. The bottle is the signature Nubar shape with the silver caps that appeared on Nubar’s Prisms collection and the same round brush that appears in the regular Nubar line.
As I mentioned in my previous review, the ingredients in The Painted Nail line is the same as Nubar but the texture is different. Katie wanted to make her line as user friendly as possible so there is a noticeable jelly feel to her polishes which in the case of Citrus Sparkle equaled a semi-sheer polish that requires three coats to get opaque. A bit of VNL (visible nail line) shows up in the swatch photos but in person it’s negligible. My macro lens really accentuates things like VNL that the naked eye wouldn’t detect.
Nubar Citrus Sparkle is a tangerine glass fleck polish. The gold and orange irregularly shaped flecks float in the polish like a high end version of pulp in a glass of OJ.
What shocked me about this color is how unique it is. When I first saw it, I imagined finding quite a few twins in my collection. Maybe not finish-wise but certainly in terms of base color matching. Um, WRONG! Citrus Sparkle is really intense without any red or yellow dragging it down. I feel I say this a lot and maybe that means my collection is lacking but I really DON’T have a dupe for this color.
I pulled my two fave orange glass flecks, China Glaze Orange Pacific & Orange Marmalade as well as Zoya Tanzy just to give you an idea of how Citrus Sparkle stands out against the rest.
Bottom Line: This type of bright, frisky orange is perfect for summer. It doesn’t have any pumpkin tones that scream fall, which is always something I worry about with certain oranges. The glass fleck finish is always a win in my book because it gives the luscious sparkle I love about glitter polishes without the pain of removal. Given the originality of the hue, the perfection of the formula and the finish, I don’t see why you wouldn’t love this color as much as I do.
365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: No doubt, this is taking up permanent residence in my STASH.
The Painted Nail Citrus Sparkle and the rest of the Spring/Summer colors are available now at The Painted Nail salon in LA and online RonRobinson.com and Amazon.com. The Painted Nail polishes retail for $12.50/ea for a .5oz bottle.
Are you loving Citrus Sparkle or what? Have you tried any of The Painted Nail polishes yet? Do you have polish at all similar to this? What’s your favorite summery orange?
Disclosure: A product sample was provided by The Painted Nail. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
that is gorgeous!
That is truly beautiful. And I don’t like orange!
I love this! It reminded me of my Zoya’s
OOoooh that’s a beauty all right! Serious want.
Whoa, that is a very pretty orange glass fleck! I do have Orange Marmelade from China Glaze which I like a lot, but this one looks so fresh and shiny (I’d prefer it to Zoya Tanzy, though I haven’t seen it in person). OK, heading over to Amazon to try to find this polish! Hope the etailers ship to Europe
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Great call on stash. This is really a great shade. I have Zoya Tanzy on my toes right now and it’s got a bit too much sparkly gold. This Painted Lady is amazing. Cannot believe you had this in your untries. I would have had this on the second I got it!
Amazing color! Can’t wait to hear about Cosmoprof!
I am loving this shade! It would make a great pedicure color.
Very different! This color reminds me of Halloween…in a good way! It is obviously so great for summer, too.
G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S! Now this is one orange I’m dying to have! I do have a question about her line: Are they all either glitter or glass fleck polishes? Does she have any cremes?
Yeah she does. I own two of them myself, Miz Biz and Beware of You. I know Betty is one of her other cremes, but I can’t remember any of the others off the top of my head.
It looks to me like Tanzy is very similar to this, which I already have. But none-the-less it is a lovely orange that is perfect for summer. I need to do more orange before it no longer matches. lol
This looks like a dead on dupe for one of my favorites, Zoya Sienna. Lovely color!
OMG love this! so wish you could buy Nubar in Canada. The shipping is just too expensive! *Wah*
Gorgeous colour, looks so lovely! Especially for the summer. I’ve haven’t tried this brand yet, but I’d definitely like too. I currently have an Eyeko coral polish that I love.
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I totally love this color. Because I can’t afford the price tag at the moment, I was hunting for the closest dupe of it I could. Have you seen the new scented “Fizz” Revlon polishes? I picked up Orange Fizz yesterday after seeing pictures of it on Nightly Nails. I’m wearing it right now and I daresay it looks very similar to Citrus Sparkle. The major difference I note is that Orange Fizz has very large flecks in it, bordering on flakies. I don’t think they’re dupes by any means, and I definitely still plan on picking up Citrus Sparkle, but if you happen to have or spot Orange Fizz maybe it’d be worth another comparison?
Citrus sparkle looks awesome! I definitely want to try this polish… it has so much glam.
Wow… Another homerun.
My favorite summery orange is $OPI Note to Self! It’s sheer and has a little bit of a pumpkin vibe, but I am very fond of it. Favorite non-shimmer would be China Glaze Sun Worshipper,\.
This color reminded me a ton of Wet n Wild 9021 orange but I’m pretty sure Citrus Sparkle is brighter and lighter. I love this! =)
Fun color, but on my screen it looks like an exact match to Tanzy (in the bottle and on the nail). I’m guessing CS is more intense in person.
have never tried an orange, but this review is encouraging! that purple you love on your pedi is definitely HOT, no wonder you’re in a serious relationship with it. we all need that kind of love, right?!
have a great show, thanks for the fantastic scoop and swatch! plan on looking at her site right after…this.
I love how the gold glass fleck finish makes the polish appear to glow. This also looks a lot like Sephora by OPI’s Once a Cheetah, Always a Cheetah from the recent Safari Luxe collection.
I don’t really care for orange as a color (second-least favorite, before brown, and I just think it’s so…weird), but this is GORGEOUS. I love it.
Beautiful colors, looks so nice! Especially in summer. I have not tried this brand yet, but I would love too.
I chose this when they had the manicure event at the mall and HAD to buy it afterwards. It is sooo gorgeous…seriously. I would love to have some of the other ones also.
Such a pretty and vibrant orange! Love it
It looks like it could be close to (if not a dupe for) Wet N Wild’s 9.0.2.1.Orange.
The sparkle and shine in this polish is INSANE!
Haven’t tried them…they are waaaaay to expensive. Plus I watched the show once and found Katie annoying. Prefer SOPI note to self.
I love the colors. Even the slightest shades are so… unique. I would love to try this brand, but, as you said, in the summer.
what about OPI Take the stage? On my computer, it looks a little darker than Citrus Sparkle…
Both colours are really gorgeous!