Love Animals: A Review

LLrowe recently started carrying the Love Animals line of opaque stamping polishes from Esmaltes da Kelly and I was fortunate enough to order a few.  Ok.  To order a bunch.  I had been saving up to order them from an UK distributor where the prices and shipping are (much) higher so having them available via Llarowe I was really able to splurge!  

I ordered a rainbow of shades along with black, white, and a light grey.

Here I used Flufi, the light BRIGHT pink flamingo.  It's a bit more neon than I am ever able to capture on camera.  As you can see, though, it stamps opaque and with very good detail!  It is full of pigment and dries matte which also means it dries quicker than a regular polish so you need to work fast.  Because of this it was difficult (for me!) to work with on it's own to create a gradient.  Being super opaque, though, this is maybe three dabs of the sponge.

Unlike Mundos these polishes do not smell harsh.  They do have a slightly stronger than average polish smell to them, but none of the chemical mess.  And unlike Mundos they do not separate at ridiculous speeds if you let them sit. 

One of my main concerns about Mundos polishes are that they stain your skin.  They don't just get everywhere because they are so thick, but certain colours stain.  I haven't had that issue with these, although I do mask every time I stamp with a latex product.

They are nicely opaque.  Black covers well and the bright shades cover darker shades easily.  I borrowed this photo from Instagram to show you some swatches.

I had minimal issues with smearing.  Most polishes will smear if you top coat them when they're wet and just like any other stamping polish, it's best to let your design sit a second or two before you fuss.  I use Gem Glam from Dream Polish and it rarely smears anything anyway, so I would recommend that for any nail art you create.

Here I used a base of Join the Party from MDJ Creations and then created a gradient stamped effect using Bee, Cleo, and Chuvisco using the new Bundle Monster Polynesian plate XL-101.  I missed the tip of my nail a bit here, they're getting long to work with.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Are these polishes worth investing in at 8.50$us a bottle?  

I think so.  

They're an easy to work with formula that would be suitable for beginners. Unless Mundos they are not messy or gloopy and don't stink.  They are also seem to be in stock, still, where as Mundos have sold out.  I still recommend the opaques by Just Rica to start with as well, but if you're looking to branch out colour wise these are a good option.