Tip Top Nails Review and Swatches

Happy hump day boys and girls! I hope everyone is having a great week so far, if not don't fret we are almost to the end of the week so hang in there! Today I have a whole lot of goodies to show you all. I was recently contacted by the super sweet Joan of Tip Top Nails to see about reviewing. Of course I jumped on the opportunity since these are not found here in the States! I always love showing you guys new and exciting things, I hope I am doing a good job of that so far, so when I received my package last week I was so excited! 

*Note: I apologize in advance that some of these pictures are a bit blurry...I was having a bad picture day, and unfortunately I didn't realize this until after I had already swatched.*

All colors are over 1 coat Tip Top Toughen Up Maxi Growth Base Coat and topped with 1 coat of Tip Top Toughen Up Maxi Growth Top Coat  unless noted otherwise. 

(I will give more info on base and top coats at the end of the color reviews)

 Cha Cha Cha.

All pictures of Cha Cha Cha are 2 coats.

Cha Cha Cha is a creamy mint green. The formula is nice and thick so only 2 coats were required for full opaqueness which is very nice of a pastel color. There was no flooding of my cuticles however there was a bit of dragging with the second coat but it smoothed out with the application of the topcoat. 

I decided to use one of the crackles with this color as well. I will say I am not generally a big fan of crackle polishes. I think that usually it looks sloppy and I am a perfectionist and the sloppy look kind of irks me a little. LOL I also know that while some of you share this opinion and believe the crackle trend has passed, there are still plenty of you polish fiends out there that love this look! So I was happy I received something I was unsure of. I was quite interested to see how I would like the crackles I was sent and how well you all would receive the display of crackles on my blog!  

U Crack Me Up - Silver

These pictures show 2 coats of U Crack Me Up - Silver  over Cha Cha Cha topped with the U Crack Me Up Top Coat. 

I was really surprised at how much I like the way this looks. I think it was the combo of the colors, the shortness of my nails and the fact that it's a glittery shimmery crackle. Application was easy since it doesn't need to be perfect and it was kind of fun watching it transform. I've had some crackles that don't crack a lot, I like that these were nice big cracks to show off the base color.

Bright Spark

All pictures off Bright Spark are 2 coats. 

Bright Spark is a metallic pale bronze. I really liked this color in the bottle, but on me it's not the greatest. It is too close the color of my skin and I had a hard time getting pictures of it because of that. I think on someone who has lighter or even darker skin this would be beautiful, on me it's just washed out. The formula is nice and it went on smooth, again no flooding, no dragging, It was just a tad bit brush strokie (<-- lol) but it's to be expected out of most metallic finishes.  

Mango Tango

All pictures of Mango Tango are 2 coats.

Mango Tango is a bright orange with a touch of golden shimmer. This is a beautiful color, and application was amazing. Smooth, no flooding, pooling or dragging. Perfection! 

U Crack Me Up - Black

These pictures show 2 coats of U Crack Me Up - Black over Mango Tango topped with the U Crack Me Up Top Coat.

This worked just the same as the silver crackle. Application was easy, it separated a little smaller than the silver did, but it isn't a bad thing since the base color shows through still. I like the combo I used, it would have been good for a Halloween mani. Between the 2 I do like the silver better, just my personal preference. 

Surfer Girl

All pictures of Surfer Girl are 2 coats.

Surfer Girl is a lavender creme with a hint of golden shimmer. (Please excuse my dry cuticles I didn't notice how terrible they looked until after I loaded the pictures.) Surfer Girl  has great application, the formula is consistent with Mango Tango and the color is absolutely beautiful. 

Get Ready

All pictures of Get Ready are 2 coats.

Get Ready is a dark pink leaning towards red with a slight purplish/blue duocrome shift. Again application was smooth and easy. I really like this color, especially since it has the purple/blue undertone to it.

I decided that I had to try out the crackles on my longer nails to see if I would like it. So I tried both out on top of Get Ready

I think I prefer them on the shorter nails. What do you think?

I want to say again I used the Tip Top Base and Top Coats for all of these swatches. The dry time was what I was most concerned about since I am an avid  SV user, but there was no difference in dry time at all, except with the topcoat that comes with the U Crack Me Up double ended polishes. That one is tacky for a little extra time, not enough to say that I'd never use it again though. I have only used the Toughen Up Maxi Growth Base and Top Coats for a couple of days now so I can not tell you if they do in fact toughen your nails up. The website claims that they are good for week  and post acrylic nails, so considering I already have very thick nails I don't know if I will see any difference myself, but I will continue to use them and let you all know in a couple of weeks how it works for me. 

I am really pleased, overall, with the quality and all of the beautiful colors Tip Top offers! If you can get your hands on some of these do it! They are great to work with!

Tip Top Nails is based in South Africa, their polish is all vegan and 4 Free; Free of Formaldehyde, Toulene, DBP (Dibuthyl Phthalate) and Camphor. They have a wide variety of shades and treatments. You can find info on Tip Top Nails here. Tip Tops Facebook page (here) is one of the most informative and interactive beauty sights around! They always post helpful tips, latest trends and lots of interesting facts. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any pricing or ordering info at this time but if you are interested in purchasing I would contact TTN on their Facebook or you can email TTN at info@tiptopnails.co.za

(These items were sent to me for review. All opinions are my own and were not influenced by Tip Top Nails in anyway.)