Asami is 23 and lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and cat. She enjoys painting watercolors, LOST, coffee and semicolons.
Taking a little break from Halloween looks, I wanted to show you something that I think is really cool, Claire's Mood Polishes.
They are temperature-responsive nail polishes that either switch between two colors depending on the temperature of your nails, or if your nails are long enough they will settle into an effortless gradient.
I bought two to test them out, and I liked them so much I stopped by a different Claire's and picked up several more. They are $5 each, but at both Claire's I went to they were buy-one-get-one-half-off so they didn't actually end up costing full price.
Every single one of the swatches in this post is three coats; these polishes are not opaque enough to get away with two. These polishes have a satin-matte finish and behave as such, meaning they dry very quickly and can be a bit on the thick side as mattes usually are. All pictured swatches have topcoat over to make them fully glossy.
The first one, "Flirty/Shy" is my favorite because I really love blue nail polishes and I thought the color difference on this one showed up well. In a hot bath or holding a hot cup of coffee, my nails were the lighter blue shade you see near my cuticles. Walking outside in the morning or feeling chilly, my nails were the deep navy blue you see on my tips.
Because my nails have length that extends past my fingertips, this is how the polish would appear most of the time and it's the way I like it best. I love gradient manicures but I can't stand the feel of five or six layers of polish on the tips of my nails just to build up to a different color; that's why I enjoy Claire's Mood polishes so much. It's the easiest gradient look in the world and it requires no effort on your part.
This one is "Awesome/Silly" and it's a sweet pink with a nice tip color. I trimmed my nails a bit for this one so you could see that even if your nails aren't drastically long, you can still get enough tip-color change that it's noticeable. Basically whatever length extends past your fingertips is the amount of gradient you will get.
I'm absolutely smitten with these polishes. I hope Claire's makes more because it's definitely the coolest nail-related product I've come across in a long time.
Double swatches now. My pinky and index are "Happy/Earthy" which is a bright, neon green. It's quite like a highlighter green and it would definitely catch a lot of attention. As you can see, the warm color near my cuticles is much more yellow and intense than the sticker label on the bottle appears.
My middle and index fingers are "Peaceful/Confident" which is a gorgeous teal that I really like.
My pinky and index here are "Fabulous/Funky" and this one is my least favorite of the bunch. It's a fun, bright hot pink but there was barely any color difference at all. Still a lovely color of course, but I was hoping for more. If you are in the market for a couple of these, I would recommend passing on "Fabulous/Funky" and getting one of the more interesting shades instead.
My middle and index are "Excited/Bored" and this one surprised me. From the dull label sticker I thought I'd dislike the warm color, (it looks like a pale putty,) but on it's actually a lovely peach. The sticker of this color is the most misleading of all the polishes. This one is my second favorite so don't let the label scare you away.
"Calm/Wild" is the only shimmer of the current Mood collection. The best thing about this one is that unlike all the other shades which change between a light and dark version of the same color, this one actually changes between two separate colors, pink and purple.
I believe this one is the most popular as I've seen it swatched most frequently.
Now, about the polishes as a whole. I think they are amazing and really interesting; I love the easy gradient effect, but the downside to that is you must have nails of a certain length in order to achieve the look. They are still fun to wear if you have short nails, as you will see the color change back and forth throughout the day but I think the best thing about them is the way they can settle into two colors on the nail.
Formula wise, they are Claire's house brand. Meaning it's not OPI, Essie, China Glaze, Orly, or Zoya quality nail polish. You must absolutely wear a good basecoat and topcoat with these or they will chip on you surprisingly quickly.
The good news is that with a basecoat and topcoat, I was able to wear these for three days with no chips so they're not unworkable; I'm just letting you know that basecoat and topcoat are not optional by any means.
They behave as mattes so as I said earlier in this post, they can be a bit thick and they dry very quickly. At two coats you will still have a few sheer spots so three coats is necessary. All that aside, I am totally and completely willing to look past formula issues because I think the concept is fascinating and I love the look. It's fun to see your nails change color when you step outside or hold a hot drink and the buy-one-get-one-half-off deal was a pleasant surprise as I definitely still would have bought these at full price.
More please, Claire's. I will buy them.
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Geeky,
Polish Swatches
OMG this is sooooo cool!!
i <3 the flirty/shy and calm/wild!
i honestly don't even remember the last time i went into a claire's store (im not an accesory person)... im definitely forcing the bf to drive me this weekend to claire's just for these... im sooo excited ahhhh lol
I looked at these the other day! After seeing this I'm definitely gonna buy some!
I was just thinking about these nail polishes the other day! I haven't seen them for about 10 years! I loved them. Good to know Claire's sells them now. and it is NOT FAIR that you have such nice long nail beds!! Seriously - you have perfect nails! Mine are just little stumps that are only good for short dark nails. :(
I want Awesome/Silly!!!!!!!!! :( I have 2 of them and when I have it on my nail I can't stop playing with them. :D Interesting!!! :) Love them!
These are so cute, I'd never have thought of them being good for a gradient manicure, but they look great (and no effort required!)
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These are too cool!!
I love these as well! I have four of them, some I haven't worn yet. I may have to do that for my next mani now, haha. I agree, they should make some more, I would definitely buy them!
I love these! I have Calm/Wild and Daring/Innocent, which is a grey that changes to yellow. I've seen similar polishes at Forever 21 (the exact same colors, actually), for about $3. Their bottles also have more product. I don't know how their quality compares to the Claire's polishes, but I've been meaning to go check them out.
I must say - girl you have the prettiest nails I've ever seen in my life! perfect shaped, perfect length! I've also tried bored/excited and absolutely adore it! Thanks for the swatches, I am going to pick up calm/wild and flirty/shy!
They are all so awesome, I'm going to have to pick some up! Thanks for sharing!
I reeally want to get these! They look so cool! Must remember to look for them next time I go to claire's :)
love these! i have the whole collection so far, only worn about half of them though. I'm looking forward to new colours if they release any more, black to white would be soooo cool!
I want them all!
I have these polishes as well and i love them, your pics are flawless! nice post
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I'm wearing my flirty/shy blue right now and I added a thin coat of China Glaze "Fairy Dust" to make it shimmer. Love it!
these are so awesome! i have a few of them in my collection..but i havent tried em out yet. =P
wow, so beautiful! I love this colors!
The are so cute nailpolishes ! No I feel like that I wanna bo gradient nail desing to my self :)
(I'm sorry if theres some misspellings in my text, because my morher language is not English, it''s Finland :) )
-Mirka-
Amazing post!
love all of them !!
I love those. I haven't got any yet but they will be in my collection soon : )
These all look great! My favorites are Happy/Earthy and Flirty/Shy.
Wow thank you for posting this!!! I've always strayed away from Claire's polishes but I've been wanting something to use for gradients and I think this might be it. :)
I seriously love these polishes, unfortunately I only own the first 5 due to a swap since they aren't even sold in the Claire's in The Netherlands! Grrr. Great pics. Long nails really do the trick with these mood polishes :-)
WOW! these look totally amazing and I cant believe I'd never heard of them before now! I dont know if I could choose a favourite but both the blue and pink look great on you. Cant wait to try these out :)
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you have my dream nail, the perfect length, the perfectshape <3<3<3<3
Amazing nail polish! I hope I can find them here in Perth. ;)
Oh awesome product review and I love the colors! I'm going to drop by Claires to check them out!
I saw something similar to this while I was at hot topic.. and I didn't think much of it until I saw this post! O_o
They look amazing! Makes me want to go get a few haha :P
You always make me want to buy everything you have, Asami! :P
these are all so cool! wish they sold them here! <3
Calm/Wild looks so awesome. I also love these bottles; they are adorable.
Wouw...I want them too but unfortunatelly cant found in Holland
Had I not seen swatches, I would have thought it was super gimmicky, however, seeing it on you, I really like the subtle ombre effect!
Not to mention it would be fun seeing your nail polish change throughout the day!
Great post!
xx
I would like to buy them, How can I buy this beautiful polish nails???
Anonymous, unfortunately they are only currently sold at Claire's stores, but I have heard of some people resorting to eBay or doing swaps. Sorry to start a lemming for you! I know it's a bummer when it's hard to find a polish you want.
is the first time when i see this ,im from romania but here i dont see it...is great take care and thanx fot this blog :)))