Scotch Naturals nail polish
Left to right: Scotch Naturals WaterColors shades Blood and Sand, To Hell with Swords & Garter, and Troya; Scotch Naturals Base Coat
Scotch Naturals WaterColors are, according to the brand, free of any of the “chemicals found in typical nail polish,” like “acetone and heavy metals” (for a full list of what the brand excludes from their formula, you can check out their website). The brand offers 41 shades in its Water Colors line, and provided me with three reds for review: Blood and Sand, an “intense sparkling burgundy”; To Hell with Swords & Garter, a “seductive scarlet crème”; and Troya, a “fiery tomato red crème.” The brand also provided me with their Base Coat, which “nourishes nails while providing the perfect foundation for our polishes”; it is supposed to “significantly” extend the length of the WaterColors wear-time, as well as “assisting in adhesion and durability.”
How much of a sucker am I for red nail polish? So much! And I thought these WaterColors shades were really quite pretty: Blood and Sand looks very regal and rich, To Hell with Swords & Garter seems similarly luxe, and Troya looks like the perfect pedicure shade. But from the moment I received these bottles, I was somewhat wary of how thin the formula of the polishes seems in the bottle; they slosh around and had already separated within three or four weeks. Uh oh.
And that wateriness really translated onto my nails, because application of all of these polishes was a nightmare. I have never worked with a more uncooperative set of products. The base coat was crazy-thin, so watery that it pooled around my nails; you would think it would dry quickly, but no, it never seemed to set. Because of that extremely long drying time, when I tried to apply the three polishes, they all dragged, making even coverage quite difficult to achieve. When I had finally lost all patience in my nails ever fully drying down, I went to bed and woke up the next morning to little lines all over my nails (from brushing up against my sheets during the night). And one shower later, every nail was chipped, and huge chunks of polish had flaked off. I actually could grab onto corners of the polish and just rip it off my nails. By the end of the day, it barely looked like I had applied nail polish 24 hours earlier; my nails looked like I had been chipping and neglecting them for weeks.
I in no way, shape, or form can figure out why Scotch Naturals nail polish was such a failure for me, but man, what a bust. Although the shades are pretty, the consistency is far too thin, I couldn’t get even coverage, and the wear-time was utterly ridiculous. I don’t want to say this is a problem of all nontoxic polishes, because I haven’t used enough of them to make that claim, but I can say that Scotch Naturals are some of the most disappointing products I’ve tried all year. I wish it weren’t the case because I appreciate the company’s mission, but I’m never reaching for these polishes again.
VERDICT: D.
AVAILABILITY: $14.99 each for the base coat and polishes at ScotchNaturals.com.
EDITORIAL NOTE: The products featured in this post were provided to Chesapeake Family’s About Face blog by the manufacturer or their public relations company for review. Chesapeake Family’s About Face blog posts are inspired by personal experience and opinion, and are not paid for or influenced by the manufacturer, PR company, or any other organization unless mentioned.
Photos by Roxana Hadadi.
In middle school, Roxana Hadadi was a cosmetics-scorning tomboy; in high school, a glitter eye shadow- and black nail polish-loving trend kid; in college, obsessively committed to dying her hair unruly colors that upset her mom. Now a bit older and a bit more mature, she’s trying to figure out what hair, body and cosmetics products will work for her, you and your family in About Face, Chesapeake Family’s new beauty blog — and she’ll leave the sparkle makeup and neon highlights in the past. Roxana also writes movie reviews for Chesapeake Family’s Popcorn Parents blog.
