One Reviewer’s Opinion:

Perhaps it was too good to be true.  Nail polish for the commitment-challenged…could it really work?

Sula’s new Paint & Peel Nail Polish sounded easy. Just paint two coats to clean nails–and to utilize the peel portion of the promise…leave it at that.  No topcoat.  Then avoid hot water for the first 3 hours.

The idea is to allow wearer to simply peel the polish off when they are finished wearing.  No nail polish remover necessary.

I set out to test this new concept by purchasing Paint & Peel in the color “Dove” at my local Ulta store.  With a price of 9$ — I knew I would expect great things from Sula.

First thoughts.

The color in the bottle was a deep gray–very cool!  I did notice that when it dried on my nails it deepened into almost a light black–but still beautiful.

My first issue with this polish happened as I was applying the second coat.  The polish was so thin that it would try to pool in the low areas of my nail.  Meanwhile I struggled to get full coverage at the peak of the curve of my nail.  I finally achieved decent coverage, but noticed that I could actually see some of my brushstrokes.  It didn’t leave the smooth-as-glass finish I like.

Then came the drying time.

Considering the directions included not exposing newly polished nails to hot water for the first 3 hours…I knew I had to be careful during this time.  Technically the polish dried very quickly, but I could tell it would still easily dent or scratch.  It was more of a soft-dry.

Even after 3 hours of drying time…

Three hours later I began doing my normal activities.  So far so good.  But then it happened…I reached down to scratch my arm and my finger tip felt strange.  Sure enough, just scratching my arm caused the polish to start peeling off the front of my nail.  I had a flap of nail polish hanging.  Not attractive.

Experiment over.

I must say, the removal was so easy!  It peeled as promised.  I probably had all the polish off within a minute or so.

Final thoughts.

I so wanted to like this polish!  Seeing the true limitation of it was disappointing.  But I will say this: Although this product is quite fragile, it may still have some uses.

Travel is a big one.  Who wants to deal with nail polish remover while on vacation?  If you want to rock the dark polish at the nightclub — but then enjoy a natural look on the beach by day…this is an excellent option.  Luckily, dancing and holding onto a drink are low-impact activities for your nails.  So I think this may work.  Enjoy your evening and peel off the evidence in the morning.

However you may decide to use Sula’s Paint & Peel, remember it is a very temporary look.  (Unless you use one of their topcoats… but then it will require removal with chemicals–no easy peel.)  As long as you expect very temporary results and you realize the product is fragile, you won’t be disappointed.

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