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. “They call me Mellow Yellow, quite rightly. They call me Mellow Yellow, quite rightly. They call me Mellow Yellow.” -lyrics from Mellow Yellow by Donovan The day after our annual trip to Put-In-Bay I’m usually in recovery mode. Staying up til 4am every night, consuming a wee too much alcohol and indulging in all the delicious treats that accompany backyard barbecues take a lot out of a girl. So the last thing I wanted was a bright or vampy nail polish. I looked to my untrieds stash for something soothing and calming and came up with American Apparel Butter. I know it’s been said that yellow is actually a hostile color. That more fights will occur in kitchens painted yellow than blue or green but I can’t imagine anyone getting stabby over a color that looks like it was made from the fuzz of baby chicks.

Formula & Application: American Apparel nail polishes are 4-Free (including formaldehyde resin). The tall rectangular bottles come topped with a short, round cap an average length round brush at the base of a very long stem. The stem collects a lot of polish so make sure you wipe it well to avoid drips. The brush is nice and flexible so it fans out easily to cover the nail however, the consistency of this particular polish doesn’t quite work with a fanned out brush.

The lacquer itself is a bit thick and goopy but well pigmented and it does level itself out. Of course, like most yellows streaking can be an issue. That’s why I suggest not pressing too hard to fan out the brush. Doing so will increase streaking. So while I am normally an advocate of really thin coats, to make Butter look better, two medium coats of polish works best. Though how impressive is it that after two coats it’s opaque? For a pale yellow, that’s damn near magical. With the exception of a slight bit of dragging near the cuticle, barely perceptible to the eye, it looks flawless.

American Apparel Butter is a pale yellow creme. What sets it apart from the majority of the light yellows is the somewhat beige undertone that makes it more creamy, like frozen custard. When I was little we kept our boat in Marblehead, OH and there was this little frozen custard stand called Colonel Mustards Custard and I remember being freaked out by the odd yellow tint that looked exactly like this nail polish. Of course, one bite of that fantastic frozen treat and I no longer cared what color it was. It was DEEE-licious.

I looked for dupes to this color and came up short. All the pale yellows I own, China Glaze Lemon Fizz, Orly Lemonade, OPI Banana Bandanna, Hello Kitty Banana Cream, are too yellow/golden to be any sort of match.

Bottom Line: If lemon yellows aren’t your thing and you want something a bit more creamy, take a closer look at Butter. It’s a pretty unique color and the pigmentation is almost spot on. I’ve been wowed by American Apparel nail polishes in general (see my previous review) and this is just another in a long line of winning colors from the brand.

365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: Why wouldn’t I STASH it?

American Apparel Butter is available at AA stores nationwide and online at AmericanApparel.com. Nail polishes retail for $6/ea for a .5oz bottle. Buy them in a set of 3 for $15 or 7 for $32 and save.

Have you tried American Apparel nail polish before? What are you favorite colors from the line? Thoughts on Butter? Do you prefer creamy yellows like this or more lemony shades like China Glaze Lemon Fizz?

Disclosure: A product sample was provided by American Apparel. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

Much like wrapping the perfect present, a flawless, long lasting manicure requires a little wrapping of its own.  Wrapping the free edge of your nail with polish helps extend the wear of your manicure and should become an essential step in your routine. I’m sure most professional nail techs consider this part of their everyday manicure service but it’s not as well known in the consumer world.  Since we discussed this technique in the comments of my Quirius review, and there were multiple requests for details, I figured a quick tutorial was in order. Read on to see my step-by-step guide to wrapping your tips and get a look at one of American Apparel’s latest nail polish releases. It’s GREEN!

Apparently I can’t get enough of teal, turquoise and aqua at the moment.  As much as I try not to latch onto trends, you can only see so many gorg blue-green brights before getting sucked in.  There are so many in my office right now that you’d swear I’m adopting a Caribbean theme.  One of the shades I’ve been dying to try is from American Apparel’s Summer Collection called Malibu Green so I decided to use it for this tutorial.

Wrap Your Nail Edge

Step 1 – Apply base coat and first layer of nail polish as usual.  Allow the lacquer to dry.

Step 2 – Wipe off your brush really well leaving a minimal amount polish on the bristles.  Gently swipe the brush along the free edge of your nail getting a bit of polish just underneath the tip.  You can hold the brush at a lower angle than seen here but because I don’t have three arms that was impossible to show.

You will end up with a small bead of polish along your edge (mine is exaggerated) but we will cover that up in Step 3.

Step 3 – Apply a second coat of polish while the bead is still wet so that it all blends together leaving a smooth surface.  Some people may prefer to paint the free edge while the first layer is still wet but this is my preferred method.

If done correctly  you will see a bit of polish under your nail.  Again, mine is exaggerated in this example.  You want to paint a very fine line on the edge using as little polish as possible.

Step 4 – Wrap your tip with top coat.  Paint a thin line of top coat along the free edge first and then apply a layer to the entire nail.

Tip: When working with dark polishes, you should wrap your edge with base coat to prevent staining.

There you have it folks. A quick and easy trick you can add to your manicure routine to help extend polish wear.

Was this helpful? How many of you already wrap your nails? Do you even bother if you only plan to wear the color for a few days? Do you have any additional tips to add?

The American Apparel Summer colors are on sale now at AmericanApparel.com and I’ll be doing a full review of them soon.

Disclosure: A sample bottle of Malibu Green was furnished to me by American Apparel.  For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

Say what you will about American Apparel clothes or ad campaigns but where nail polish is involved they hit a home run.  Last winter the brand introduced their collection of Nail Lacquers and they certainly didn’t play it safe.  Any brand that kicks off with multiple blues and greens automatically scores points in my book. As I reported, there was a recall due to a bottle issue but to AA’s credit they rectified the situation in a timely manner.  Prior to that I was sent a few polishes by the brand for review but I was only into one of the colors. I’ve been meaning to hop over to my local American Apparel store to pick up the more “me” shades but I really hate the parking sitch in that area so I couldn’t drag myself over there just for polish until recently.  I know that makes me a bad polish fanatic and believe me, I’m totally kicking myself for waiting so long.  See why after the jump!

I picked up all the colors in this review except Dynasty at my local American Apparel store and when the sales clerk saw my choices she said, “You picked all the best ones.” Obviously she has great taste!

Dynasty is a mid-tone mauve creme. I know a lot of people think of mauve as an old lady color, I used to be one of them but, for some odd reason they’ve grown on me.  While I don’t like how red based purples look on me, I love how mauves compliment my skin tone.  Riddle me that!  This was a three coater for me.  It went on a bit watery leaving a few patches which is why the third coat was necessary.

Hunter is the perfect name for this deep green dream that applies flawlessly in two coats.  It totally captures that aristocrats hunting in the woods vibe.  I love that it’s dark without reaching “almost black” territory.  It’s actually a very close dupe for Orly Enchanted Forest.  It would take a very savvy Fanatic to tell them apart.

Mount Royal is not at all what I think of when I hear the word royal.  This blue is darker, slightly grayed with a hint of purple undertone.  As excited as I was about Hunter, I ended up falling harder for Mount Royal.  It dries much darker than the bottle color suggests and I totally dig that. Plus while I have some lighter grayed blues, I don’t have any quite like this.  Mount Royal is another two coat wonder.

Mouse is a pretty blah taupe-ish neutral.  It seems to be toeing the line between a true taupe and beige.  It’s not warm enough to be a cafe au lait and on me it just falls flat.  There’s a reason “mousy” is associated with lackluster brown hair and blasé blah people so AA was really setting itself up for a fail in naming this color.  The fact that I needed three coats doesn’t support its case.

I really wanted Office to be a winner.  With the popularity of mint green and so many of them being LE, I was excited to see this as a perm shade in the AA line.  The problem… application.  It’s a total streak-fest.  What you see below is three coats and even though it doesn’t show, there is major cuticle pull and patchiness.  I would have needed a fourth coat to make this one look perfect and I wasn’t giving in.

Peacock is gorgeous teal cream that applies like a dream in two medium thick coats.  The hue falls somewhere between two of my fave teals, Illamasqua Muse and Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal.  Muse looks muted and slightly grayed next to Peacock.  I really hoped they were dupes as so many people love the look of Muse but hate its price tag.  Though I think that Peacock will satiate your craving for half the price.  I know turquoise is the hot color of the season but I’m rocking Peacock this weekend when our friends come to town.  It’s the hotness!

Way back when I initially received Dynasty I did a wear test that ended up lasting six days instead of my regular five because I really like the color.  I wore Dynasty with Nubar Foundation Base Coat and Olan Labs Quick & Slick and I ended up with quite a bit of tip wear and one noticeable chip on my index finger.  The picture below was taken under artificial light so the color is not accurate.

Application and Formula: For the majority of the colors in this line, the magic number is three. Three coats that is. The formula itself is a joy to work with, thin and smooth, though a bit on the sheer side until you get into the darker shades which are perfectly pigmented. The polishes are 3-Free and do not include Formaldehyde Resin.

Due to the tall bottles the brush handles are pretty long so you have make sure you wipe them well as you pull out the brush or else you’ll end up with globs of polish falling on your nails. The brush itself is long, thin and very pliable. At first I was put off by the lack of resistance from the bristles but then I realized that it made it easy to create a smooth, sweeping line along my cuticles. The downside is that it doesn’t spread out well so a three stroke application is out of the question for me.

Bottom Line: If you know what’s good for you, you’ll snag bottles of Peacock and Mount Royal.  If you never got Orly Enchanted Forest, add Hunter to your shopping list.  Office is a total pigmentation fail and gets a “pass” from me.  If you’re into “old lady mauves” like me, you’ll dig Dynasty and unless you get a case of the blahs, leave Mouse on the display.

American Apparel Nail Lacquer is available at American Apparel stores nationwide and online at AmericanApparel.com.  Polishes retail for $6/ea or you can purchase 3-packs for $15.

Have you tried AA polish yet? What are your favorite colors? Are you happy with the formula and brush?

Disclosure: Dynasty was furnished to me by American Apparel for editorial consideration. The rest were purchased by me. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.

I don’t know how many of you read Jezebel on the regular (I have it in my Google reader) but today they published an article titled Does American Apparel’s New Nail Polish Contain Hazardous Material? that I feel the need to address.

First, many of you have emailed me asking about this line and if I will be reviewing it.  As you know, the polish has been back-ordered on the site so it wasn’t easy for me to obtain.  I did receive a few sample bottles from their PR reps and have been testing the formula for review since I don’t like to write about new brands without some kind of wear test.  So that’s why you haven’t seen mention of the line on ALU yet.

Second, I think it’s irresponsible of Jezebel to title their post in such a way.  Yes, it gets eyeballs but considering that most people just skim nowadays, it can potentially be harmful to the brand and scary to the public.  Here’s what you need to know…

* There is an issue with the “quality” of the bottles and from what I’ve heard, some people have received broken bottles in the mail.  Then again, that’s happened to me with non-American Apparel polish.

* All nail polish is deemed a “hazardous material” by the USPS which is why it is required to be shipped ground.  They even reference needing special measures for disposal but that is true for all nail polish.  I’m assuming American Apparel was using an air method for shipping their packages which is why they can’t ship that way anymore.  Heck with FedEx, I have to sign for nail polish packages because polish is so “dangerous.”

ps. I know plenty of you swappers/e-tailers out there use non-ground methods but you do so at your own risk.  Say it with me Fanatics, “Does this parcel contain anything fragile, liquid, perishable, or potentially hazardous?”

* American Apparel polish is being pulled from the shelves but not being recalled. So you don’t have to pitch your bottle for fear of using a lethal product. The bottle is obviously weak so I wouldn’t suggest playing catch with it.

Here’s what’s going to happen. According to the document obtained by Jezebel, American Apparel is working with their supplier to improve the quality of the bottles and will restock in the next week or so.  So those of you still dying to get your hands on these new colors, the wait won’t be that long.

In the meantime, look for my review of the formula and colors I received soon!