Review: Innisfree Eco Nail Colour 1: 100, 101, 124, 121

100, 101, 121, 124

From left to right:
100 블루베리 제리 (Blueberry Jelly),
101 소녀의 땡땡이 스커트 (Girl's Polka Dot Skirt),
124 해피 바이러스 (Happy Virus),
121 빙글빙글 희전목마 (Round & Round the Merry-go-round).
I directly translated the Korean names so the english names are not the official names, but just what I translated with my super basic Korean. I'm most unsure about 121 so it's probably all wrong.

These are photos of the Innisfree nail polishes I bought from Korea earlier this year. SO PRETTY AREN'T THEY!! So chockful of glitter. These were really inexpensive. Innisfree Eco Nail colours are all 2,500 won each, for 10ml.

1) 100 블루베리 제리 (Blueberry Jelly)

The flakies are bronze/green, which are really pretty with the blue base. The flakies aren't very obvious. I do 3 thin coats for full opacity, but you can get away with 2. Great formula, no pooling, no uneven flakies or bald patches.


2) 101 소녀의 땡땡이 스커트 (Girl's Polka Dot Skirt) (aka dupe of Deborah Lippmann's Mermaid Dreams)

lol. I don't know if I slaughtered the name with my translation but isn't that what it is? Anyone with better korean skills please correct me if I'm wrong! I just think the name is a little weird because I don't see any association with a girl's polka dot skirt. Anyway, any nail polish lover will probably immediately think of Deborah Lippmann's Mermaid Dreams when you see this. I don't own that, but I've seen photos of them online and they are practically dupes! And this is only one-tenth of the price of a Deborah Lippmann. I almost didn't want to get this because my sis was already getting a bottle. But she asked me why wasn't I getting it, and she convinced me to get another bottle! Well, it is pretty inexpensive so that's okay. I don't wear glitters that often but I really like this after wearing it on my nails. This polish is from the Poem Nail collection.

Formula wise: Great. I'm beginning to love the formula of these Innisfree nail polishes. These are my firsts. The glitters aren't big, so you won't have problem getting them evenly on your nails. Just like before, 3 thin coats for full opacity, but 2 coats is good enough!


3) 124 해피 바이러스 (Happy Virus)



I was probably most excited to get this when I first got to the nail polish counter. Blue is still my favourite nail colour. These have purple square glitters, silver hexagon glitters, smaller white hexagons, and tiny white dots. The glitters are harder to get on the nail, probably because they are bigger. You'll need to dab them on. I had trouble getting them evenly on all nails. Some nails I dabbed more, some less... but overall I still love this polish! Application-wise, it isn't my favourite out of these 4, but this is my favourite polish out of these 4 and I'm probably more likely to wear this more often.


4) 121 빙글빙글 희전목마 (Round & Round the Merry-go-round)

I love this! I mentioned before that I don't like glitter polishes that much, unless it is in a opaque base. I like how the layers of polish semi-cover the glitters in the previous layer. There are square glitters, hexagon glitters, and tiny glitters in a milky base. I like the combination of colours in this polish. The big glitters are harder to apply and you need to use the dabbing method to get more glitter and get them even. (but it isn't as bad as 124) The base isn't very opaque, so this needs 3 coats. I dab a little more at the nail line to cover it. You could probably first cover your nail line with a layer of white polish first. 

And... another photo, just because: 

Swatches on nail wheel: 

These are without topcoat.

As you can tell, the flakies on 100 isn't that obvious, but I also can't seem to capture it properly on camera. It is more obvious in real life than in these photos though.

--

Overall, for the price, I think they are really good polishes to own. Probably my favourite korean brand for nail polishes right now. They also have a selection of gel nail polishes. My mom actually has one but I've yet to borrow to try. I forgot to take a photo of the brush, but they are comparable to the size of OPI.

Innisfree Eco Nail colours are 4 free: DBP-free, DFHP-free, Toluene-free, Formaldehyde-free. I'm not sure if all colours are 4-free because it isn't stated on all the pages... You can read more about toxic ingredients in nail polishes here by googling DBP, Toluene and Formaldehyde in nail polishes.

For korean nail polishes, I find it a bit harder to find out whether they are 3-free. At least it is stated on Innisfree's page. That makes me more self-assured. Sometimes I wanna ask the sales assistants in store, but I'm not sure if they will be aware... I'll probably ask the next time I remember....

I've got more Innisfree nail polishes to review soon. Meanwhile, if you've got any favourite korean nail polish brand, leave a comment & share! :)

Review: Innisfree Beads Nail Kit

I got the Innisfree Beads Nail Kit (#1) on my Gmarket haul from Korea. I got to try it recently and I'm quite impressed by it!!

Innisfree Beads Nail Kit #1

The retail price is 10,000 won, but I got it on sale at 8,000 won. The other regular eco nail polishes were on sale for half price at 1,250 won and this seemed expensive and I almost didn't order it until my sis asked why I wasn't getting it. Then I realised 8,000 won for this kit was actually a good price! Thank goodness I got it, it was really worth the price! :)

Instructions

They also have instructions on how to apply the nail beads. Although I took Korean lessons in uni, I'm not at the level to be able to understand the instructions.... Ha. The illustrations are quite self-explantory except for the last step. It says something like after 10-15 minutes... something something top coat. haha. I guess that means after 10-15 minutes, apply top coat? But the after applying the top coat, the colour of the beads faded a little. But that's okay, because it only makes it look more pastel.

*Purple is slightly more pink than pictured

What you get in the kit! 10g of nail polish, and 6g of nail beads. How pretty are the beads!!!! The kit comes with a little plastic funnel. It's thinner than I imagined, but it serves its purpose anyway!!

Oh yes, I didn't take a photo, but the opening of the beads bottle is the same as the nail polish. Don't worry about the beads all spilling out when you are applying. The beads only come out in small quantities when I tap the bottle, so there wasn't really much to clean up. What I did was to pick up the extra beads with my fingertip and scraped my finger against the edge of the funnel. It was a lot of fun re-bottling the excess beads.

Awesome close up of the beads

Blue, purple and pink! I like the combination. They also had another kit with blue base and blue beads. Usually, I would pick blue over purple, but I like the colours of the purple beads more.

The beads are slightly bigger than other brands that I've seen, like Ciate & Catrice. They are not as tiny as the caviar nails.

Bottle label. Made in Korea. PVC beads.

Application: 

The purple base nail polish had a great formula -- pigmented and smooth. It wasn't particularly glossy on its own. The beads were easy to apply; it didn't take a long time. I did other things before applying the top coat and the beads were falling off. The top coat definitely helps to hold the beads together. I would recommend using a top coat that's less thick and more watery, just so that the texture of the beads will not be covered. I also dabbed the sides of the beads with some topcoat so that they would be less likely to drop off. 

Removal: 

After several days of wear, I picked at the sides of the beads and they came off pretty easily because the top coat still held the beads together. 

Here are some additional photos I took with my phone: 

The purple is closer to this shade. It is more pink than it is blue. 

 Swatch: 

And... Swatches on my hand. I wasn't planning to post these because my nails were in a bad shape after using a particular nail polish from another korean brand which I'll be ranting about soon.... or never. I planned to apply the beads on 2 nails, but I was unsure whether the beads would stay on well... and I was lazy to have to "tend" to the beads. But my worries were unfounded. 

Side note: I think these beads are best only applied on 2 nails. I think its a little too much to have them on all nails. Like I mentioned, the beads are slightly bigger than the usual caviar nails. I would wear the beads on my middle & ring finger. 

AND. A super blurry photo (which I wasn't planning to post too) to show the wear. I actually wore this mani over the holidays and I did A LOT of spring cleaning with these nails. I was lifting my heavy mattress, vacuuming, moving things around and I also washed my hair (which I thought for sure the beads will drop out), but NOPE. By the end of 5 days, 99% of the beads were still on. I only had 3 or 4 missing beads. AND. Even the nails with no beads had no chip/wear. Cheap and good. sigh. 

To end off, here's the link to the product page. There are more photos and (I just realised) a video on application. Here's also someone's pictures & review on the blue version. I also tried to read the reviews on the product page and it seems like they are negative reviews! But alas, my limited korean vocabulary.... 

(*if you are viewing on mobile, you may have to change to the desktop version to see the links)