Manic.Monday: Loden Green by Isadora

When I visit my family in Sweden I always try to pick up products from Scandinavian brands that I can't easily get hold of in the UK. So usually I leave with a fairly empty suitcase, but coming back it's always filled to the brim with clothes, shoes, makeup, and even some food. You may remember from my Sweden haul, that I stocked up on some makeup from Isadora which is one of the most popular brands in Scandinavia. The brand reminds me a little bit about Maybelline both in terms of price point and range of products which are great value for money and they have a wide variety of shades available. It goes without saying that I got a couple of different nail polishes, and the first one I've tried was from Isadora's Wonder Nail range.

 

The Wonder Nail range seems to want to target all the key selling points for nail polishes; it's extra long lasting, quick drying, hard wearing and also has an extra wide brush - but how good was it really? 

First of all the formula is nice and quite thick without being gloopy, and it works really well with the wide brush. I love wide brushes that you can fan out to cover the whole nail and that's exactly what this one does, and together with the thick formula it gives perfect coverage in one simple sweep very easily, creating an almost perfect opaque finish in one coat. The down side with thick polishes is that it can take a while for them to set and it increases the risk of smudging, but the Isadora polish delivers on this point as well. It's dries quickly and you can apply a second coat if you wish in case you don't find the coverage enough. Another common issue with thick polishes is that if you have more than one coat, it can easily chip and that is exactly what I find with this polish as well. In the photo below I'm wearing two coats and as you can see it's started to chip ever so slightly on the thumb already after a few hrs wear, which is a bit disappointing.

This particular shade is called Loden Green which is an unusual deep bronze olive green with a lovely metallic look and feel to it. Unlike many darker polishes it has a warm undertone to it, and that for me makes it a little bit more wearable and it also works really well to contrast any pastel colors you might wear, particularly pink.  

Loden green

Overall I'm very happy with the Isadora nail polish and I would say that the only point it didn't deliver on for me was in terms of being long lasting. I did try it as well using only one coat and even though it lasted a little bit longer - perhaps 3 days before it started to chip, to me that's pretty standard for a lot of nail polishes and I wouldn't call that extra long lasting. Since I change nail polish very often anyway, the long wear isn't exactly an issue for me and I would still buy other Wonder Nail shades, however I think it's important to be clear on the expectations in case you decide to test it yourself. I do like to wear it and for me Loden Green is an interesting and slightly softer and modern alternative to black nail polish.