Colors by Llarowe Bananas and Krispy Kremes are Better Than HBO

Colors by Llarowe Bananas and Krispy Kremes are Better Than HBO is a bright almost neon green/yellow holographic with yellow and green flame. The formula is pretty nice, and the brush wasn't as bad as in Hot Buttered Rum so the application was more or less easy. This polish dries fast and semi matte. I suggest using a top coat, if you prefer glossy polishes. Bananas and Krispy Kremes are Better Than HBO is completely opaque in two coats but it's possible to apply it in just one coat, if you nails are thin and/or short.

This color is stunning! This polish would stay in my collection, even if it stained my nails and the formula was awful. I love yellow-toned greens very much but I don't have a lot of them in my collection.

Colors by Llarowe Last Harvest

Last Harvest is an emerald green linear holo. The formula is pretty nice, the application was super-easy. It's also non-staining which was a relief after the Gemini Rising experience. The polish is completely opaque in two coats. You can probably get away with one thicker coat but the color won't be as vivid then.

I really liked Last Harvest. It wasn't as thick as Hot Buttered Rum so I had no issues at all. The brush in Last Harvest was also fine unlike brushes in some CbL polishes I owned. I had to de-stash those polishes without trying them out because the brush was an unmitigated disaster. I feel that the overall quality of Colors by Llarowe polishes is somewhat irregular. I adore the colors but not knowing what to expect is a big no for me. I have five CbL polishes now and I don't think this number will grow anytime soon.

My camera still objects to working properly and I'm trying to make it work. In the meantime, I'll be mostly posting just one photo per post. 

Colors by Llarowe Hot Buttered Rum

Hot Buttered Rum is a nude scattered glow holo with golden yellow flame. The formula was extremely thick. Maybe, I was just unlucky because I've seen reviews mentioning three thin coats. Well, with Hot Buttered Rum that I received you won't be able to manage that. The application was hell. The brush was bigger than my nails with all the polish stuck in it. One coat is more than enough because the polish is just so thick. It's also pretty lumpy and doesn't even out. Orly Sec'n Dry, the top coat I use, helped a lot because of its hard brush that sort of goes through the upper layer of the polish and forces it apart. This can be annoying with jellies like last week's Gothic Veil but with metallic or thick polishes it can be an amazing tool.

The polish took a very long time to become completely dry. That is also because of its thickness. Not a very flattering color for me also. In the white electric lights as seen on the left photo it looks nice but in a darker or warmer environment it looks dirty. This whole polish is so frustrating. I own a total of seven different CbL polishes, I've tried two of them so far. I think I'm done with this brand, it's obviously not a very good choice for me. I'll review the other five polishes, of course.

The photo in the right is a macro that I've taken with my phone and a clip-on lens. I do not have a DSLR camera, so I couldn't take those beautiful close-up photos where you can see all the glitters. The camera I have is very simple, it just doesn't do that. Thankfully, you can buy a set of clip-on lenses for your phone that more or less work. I'm pretty happy with this first macro tryout~

Colors by Llarowe Gemini Rising

Gemini Rising is a very bright green linear holo. The color is stunning, amazing, gorgeous, and all those other similar adjectives you can find with the help of thesaurus. Definitely the best green color in my collection. The formula is thick but manageable and it is possible to apply this polish in just one coat. I've applied two coats for extra saturation. I wore this polish for a week, and nothing happened to it at all. I mean, literally nothing, it stayed where it was. That's an impressive durability for a holographic polish.

So where's the catch? Gemini Rising stains like hell. The stains are bright yellow and they stay with you. I've tried a nail polish remover without acetone, then the polish remover with acetone. I've tried citric acid. I've tried toothpaste just for the sake of it. Awful. My nails are yellow on their own because I always use colored nail polish. But never have I ever gotten such vivid stains.

The Colors by Llarowe brush is another point worth mentioning. As for me, it's even more terrifying that those lemony stains. The brush is gigantic, and my nails are pretty small and curved. The brush in Gemini Rising was more or less okay, but in my other CbL... well, I wouldn't call it a brush. Witch's broom, that's what it was. Perfectly round brush with a diameter of more than a half cm. That's bigger than my thumb nail!

As usual, press 'read more' for more photos~