Sometime over the summer -- oh so long ago -- I ordered some Adoree polishes. Someone had mentioned them in the poll about lesser known brands they'd like to see featured on the blog and I had taken it upon myself to track down all the ones I had never tried. Google brought me to Esther's Nail Center and my credit card bought me a small batch of Adoree polishes at $5.50 each. (ENC also does this amazingly cool service for its customers: stroke samples! Ask for samples of particular nail polishes and they'll send them to you on a piece of paper so you can see what the actual polish looks like. Much better than colored dots on a screen.)
After I received my order, I started talking to one of the co-managers of ENC about the line and she proposed the following: for the next few months, ENC would send me four Adoree polishes a month free of charge in exchange for a review that ENC could republish on their own website. In addition, there would also be a Polish or Perish reader perk for purchases made at ENC: a free pink glass nail file with every order with code POPGNF! (Details are in the sidebar.)
So you can expect a monthly Adoree review from me for the next few months at least. This month's is heftier than usual since I've also folded in a couple of the polishes that I ordered during the summer in addition to the ones I requested for October.
Adoree Galaxy Black
I really haven't ever been so disappointed in my camera (and my photography skills) as when I was taking photos of this polish. It's so glittery and attractive in person but it's hard to capture photo or video. In these photos, it looks like what it is: silver glitter in black jelly. IRL though, it sparkles like you would imagine a black glitter to sparkle. This was a NOTD and held up very well with Nubar Diamont: much less tipwear than I usually experience. Three coats.
The major thing that annoyed me about the Adoree polishes was the label: either they didn't have their names (only numbers) or if they had their names, the labels fell off! Sigh. Comparatively unimportant compared to the actual polish quality (which is quite good) but it's annoying to have to tape labels back on. So far, I've been favorably impressed with the brand. Stay tuned for the second half of the polishes!
Close-up of Galaxy Black
You gotta believe me, it looks like it should be made of black glitter.
Adoree Mexicana
Another polish that's ridiculously hard to capture. Mexicana is a rosy-orangey bronze with gold shimmer (not fully duochrome but approaching it) but what makes this exceptional is it's slight purple (!!) flash. That's right, a purple flash overlaid on rose, bronze and gold! I was so surprised by it and took about a fifty photos trying to show it but it didn't come out in any of them. I forget whether this was two or three coats...
Adoree Spring Leaf over Maybelline Banana Puddin'
Not just another neon green: neon green jelly with bright blue (and gold, it looks like) glitter! This one probably cannot be built up to opacity (haven't tried it yet) but works very nicely over an opaque base. In this case, my NOTD was Maybelline Banana Puddin' (I'll post that soon) so I decided to spice it up by layering this blaringly loud green on top of it. Not one for neon greens but the blue glitter gives it an interesting spin.
Adoree Spring Leaf in the bottle
Adoree Wild Inkberry
And what is predictably one of my favorites of the bunch: silver glitter in purple jelly. Need I say more? :D
The major thing that annoyed me about the Adoree polishes was the label: either they didn't have their names (only numbers) or if they had their names, the labels fell off! Sigh. Comparatively unimportant compared to the actual polish quality (which is quite good) but it's annoying to have to tape labels back on. So far, I've been favorably impressed with the brand. Stay tuned for the second half of the polishes!
