Okay, so I have been obsessed with nail polish lately. And, the Wet N Wild Mega Last polishes have been my favorite drugstore nail polish since they came out. I love the variety of finishes and colors, I even love the packaging and the brush. And who doesn't love the price, right?? These six colors came out with the All Access Beauty summer collection, and I'm still seeing these all over my Walgreens, so hopefully I didn't get this review up too late (I'm so sorry, I wanted to wear each of these to see if they wore differently!) I own about 20 colors from the permanent range and for whatever reason, I've never talked about them before. (This could be because I am horrible at doing nail swatches, apologies in advance.) This collection also includes some bronzer/blush palettes that I've already reviewed here!
FTC DISCLAIMER: These products were purchased by me with my own money. I am not affiliated with Wet N Wild, nor am I sponsored or receiving compensation for this review. As always, all opinions are my own! :)
The Mega Last polishes are $1.99 at most places, but they often go on sale at Walgreens. I haven't seen the All Access Beauty collection in Rite Aid but I've seen it in Walgreens, so I don't know if this collection is only available there, or what? All of these colors are fun, summery colors (although admittedly not insanely original; you might have these shades in your collection already, if you're a polish addict!)Since I've never actually talked about the Mega Last polishes before, here's what WNW has to say:
Sophisticated, classic colors beautifully accent any look. Long-lasting, opaque color provides 5 days of chip-resistant wear. A revolutionary resin polymer system creates exceptional color adhesion to nails. This resilient polish is calcium and mineral fortified to rebalance and prevent nail discoloration. Comes with a unique, full-coverage brush that glides on smooth for one-stroke application. Toluene, phthalate, and formaldehyde free."
I find the brush to be amazing. It's rather large; larger than the Sally Hansen or O.P.I. applicators, and some find it to be cumbersome. For me, it's the perfect size to cover my entire nail, which allows me to be neater and finish a full manicure much faster. That being said, if your nails are smaller, you might find you have some issues with the size.
This polish typically applies nicely and wears for a decent length of time on my nails; the five days is pretty standard for these and I normally get at least a week from these. They even out great as they dry and don't apply too streaky anyway; I don't typically experience bubbling or patchiness with these polishes. Another thing that I LOVE is that these polishes don't dry darker than they look in the bottle. Almost every Essie and O.P.I. polish I own has this issue. :( Overall, I REALLY like the Mega Last polishes and definitely think they're worth checking out!
Four out of the six polishes are traditional cream finishes; one is shimmery (the blue) and one is a matte neon (the green). I wore all of these polishes with the CND Stickey base coat and Seche Vite top coat. I found that the cream finish polishes wore for at least five days; that's pretty standard for the permanent range as well. The shimmery finishes seem to last for a shorter length of time.
"Contact High" is, hands down, the fussiest formula. It's a matte neon and it's incredibly sheer and streaky. I find this to be true with ANY brand and matte neons though, so it's not a "oh, it's a cheap polish" issue, it seems to be a general neon polish issue. The swatch is with four coats and you can still see my nails through the polish. And for whatever reason, it's also hard to photograph! It's a bit darker than a lime green, but it looks very grassy green here and it's not; definitely still a bright highlighter green. This chipped off after two days.
"Coast to Coast" has a shimmery finish, almost more of a pearly purple duochrome, actually. It's a gorgeous color and is my favorite polish from this collection. It applies a bit streaky and needs three coats, but it evens out nicely as it dries and is incredibly true to the color it appears in the bottle. It did chip a bit after three days, but it didn't flake off completely.
"A Venice Day" is a sunny yellow cream finish. It's the fussiest of the remaining four, but I really like the color; it's a bit brighter than a pastel yellow, but it's not a super intense bright highlighter yellow either; it's the Goldilocks yellow for me! That being said, the formula is a bit streaky and it doesn't dry down as evenly as I would prefer. This is the type of polish you would have to baby. I'll probably wear it over a coat of white polish in the future. It wore great for five days.
"Trippin' on the Boardwalk" is a pretty standard polish and color; applies nicely in three coats, dries evenly, and wears for about a week before I notice substantial tip-wear. I just don't think the color is outstandingly original. If you own the Mega Last polish in "On a Trip", you could probably skip this one - the colors are pretty similar; the LE summer polish is a bit warmer, less blue based, but that's about it.
"Beat of a Generation" is a pretty classic pink, nothing to go crazy over, unless you LOVE this formulation or don't own this color. It's in-between a neon pink and a pastel pink. Cream finish, wears great for at least a week. The formula on this polish is great, so you might want to pick it up just for that. If you use a heavy hand, this will be opaque in one coat, no streaks.
"Love Me Some Muscles!" is a slightly muted coral cream. It's bright, don't get me wrong, but it looks a bit more milky in real life. Again, it's midway between a pastel coral and a super neon bright one. It's a bit more orange than a lot of the corals I own. Formula wears for about five days and is pretty opaque in two coats. It applies AND dries streak-free.
I definitely recommend "Coast to Coast", "A Venice Day", and "Love Me Some Muscles!". The purple and pink have lovely formulas; I just don't think the colors are so different. The neon green I would skip out on.
That being stated, let's talk about how much limited edition products suck, in the sense of what happens if you love the color?! If you have a CVS or a Dollar General around you, you might be in luck! CVS sells a range called Spoiled, which is made by Markwins, Wet N Wild's parent company. I own about six of the Spoiled polishes, and they're equally cheap and good quality.
Dollar General has some special colors in the Mega Last range that are, as I understand it, specially for DG. The six Spoiled polishes I own? Identical to colors in the DG Mega Last colors. Not only that, but at least one of the DG polishes is an exact dupe of these LE polishes.
"Lean and Green" on the left, "Contact High" on the right.
So, basically, don't automatically freak out about these polishes being limited edition; there is a very good chance that you'll be able to find the exact same color (and formulation!!) in either the DG Mega Last colors or the CVS Spoiled collection!
