NCLA Nail Lacquer in Santa Monica Shore Thing

I haven't heard of NCLA until Monica of Polish Please, an online shop dealing in popular and hard-to-find nail polishes, contacted me and asked if I wanted a bottle. There can only be one answer to that. ;)

NCLA is a fairly new brand off Los Angeles that first became famous for their no-heat DIY nail wraps (or stickers). They decided to expand to nail polishes, and right now they have 24 drool-worthy colors like Santa Monica Shore Thing.

Santa Monica Shore Thing is a tiffany green shade that's ultra posh. It has a lovely, opaque creme finish with a smooth texture. It dries pretty quickly - 20 minutes - and stayed on for three days without chipping. That may be due to the new topcoat I'm using though! See these swatches? I have actually been wearing this color for three days already. It still looks fresh no?

NCLA polishes aren't cheap, however. They retail for P650 at Polish Please, shipping not included. They sell for $16 in the US which when converted comes down to P657. I love that our local reseller didn't pad the price! It's even slightly cheaper here, even if it's only by P7. :P

I was at a dinner with beauty bloggers the other day and Kumi was wearing a similar shade to mine. It's the Orly polish in Gumdrops, the "save" dupe of NCLA Santa Monica Shore Thing! Orly retails for P350 here, certainly not cheap for a nail polish, but it's almost half the price of NCLA. Go get Gumdrops if you're hesitant to spend almost P700 on one nail polish. However, I do have to mention that Orly takes forever to dry and falls apart in a day or two. NCLA is more convenient to use, tougher too.

Top: Santa Monica Shore Thing / Bottom: Orly in Gumdrops

So there you go. Check out NCLA at Polish Please - you'll love the colors! I had a difficult time choosing just one myself. ;)