Lemony Lemons

On my birthday this year, I went to Amsterdam to meet up with my aunts :) They wanted to go shopping and meet me on the day so I figured why not meet up in Amsterdam (Rotterdam is farther from where they came and I think they prefer Amsterdam because it has more designer brand stores)

After we had lunch, we went to a small parfumerie and I was so close to buying Chanel June nail polish as a present for myself ^^ but then I went to the Mavala counter and browsed through their collection and found... their Delicious Collection! I ended up buying Lemon Cream and Fresh Melon, and also Cyclades Blue from their Art Colour collection. I think Fresh Melon is close enough to be a Chanel June dupe, and it's like 20 € less! 

This is what I ended up buying; Lemon Cream, Cyclades Blue and Fresh Melon. I think after this I would go out and buy the rest of the Delicious collection.

Mavala nail polishes retail for € 4.95 for 5 ml. Which is quite small compared to OPI polishes (€ 13.95 for 15 ml). In a way it's good because, honestly, not all of my OPI polishes are finished to the bottom of the bottle. A good way to try a new color for cheaper price, instead of belting out three times of the amount for a single color you won't finish. But in a way, I think it's reasonable priced for one third amount of product. 

Before I continue to the swatches, I need to mention that in here I used OPI Nail Envy, two coats of Lemon Cream (that sounds funny to me *giggles*) and an Essence fruity top coat. I ran out of my Seche Vite so Essence top coat just had to make do for this swatch. It smells really yummy but it doesn't do a good job for a top coat. It brought me back to my Revlon top coat old days... How I don't miss the horrible bubbles on my nails. Please excuse the bubbles, I couldn't wait to show these swatches *tee hee* and believe me, it's not the Lemon Cream's fault, of course.

Lemon Cream is a soft yellow polish with créme finish. It is opaque in two coats, one might be quite good but might be streaky at first, so I needed the second coat to even everything out. I didn't take a picture of it but the I am surprisingly pleased with Mavala polish's brush. It's not as wide as OPI's but it's thicker than usual so it's splayed wider. More control while taking care of small edges, but wide enough to cover the whole nail quickly. 

Back to the shade, however, I thought it would be a close dupe to OPI Fierce-ly Fiona, but based on the swatch I saw here, I think Fiona's way greener. I also had a period when I was obsessed with Hello Kitty Banana Cream, and I think this is quite close to it. Banana is just a touch lighter than Lemon, which is also true in real life ;) 

With a stinkin' top coat, this one still stays nicely, usually without a good top coat, my polishes got slashes very easily. I think it can speak at least a little about Lemon Cream's staying power. 

This is my first batch of Mavala polishes and Lemon Cream made a good first impression! Cute color, good formula that's easy to apply, comfortable brush and handle, and so far decent staying power. I believe I will buy the rest of the Delicious collection later today, maybe along with top coat to try and replace my Seche for a while :) 

A little more note about lemons, I accidentally got quite many lemons on my birthday this year. I got my €10 birthday discount at The Body Shop and I grabbed the mini Sweet Lemon set last Sunday. I got a little pouch filled with mini body butter, body scrub, shower gel and a yellow loofah. When I got home from Amsterdam I just realized I have sweet lemon and lemon cream together :) I just had to take a pic lol.

Here's for some peachy lemony sweetness for the day! Cheers!

"When life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade... 

and try to find someone whose life has given them vodka, and have a party."

Ron White