Pretty in Purple: A guide to purple Nail Polish

I recently had a friend ask my advice on finding the perfect purple nail polish. When looking through my nail polish collection (which, if you are interested in seeing my entire nail polish collection, I have a video on it here) I found that I have quite a variety of purple polishes in my collection. Considering purple is my favorite color, I honestly expected to have more! These aren't all my purple polishes, but I thought I would give you all an overview on them. If you're looking for the perfect, inexpensive purple polish, hopefully this will be helpful to you!

1. New York Color In a New York Color Minute nail polish in "Lincoln Square Lavendar"- $2

The top right hand polish is one of my all time favorite Spring polishes. It's a gorgeous pinky-purple shade from NYC called "Lincoln Square Lavendar". It is one of NYC's quick dry formula polishes, and I find that this one dries in under two minutes. Not the fastest of fast dry polish, but still pretty quick! The color is a really gorgeous shade, and I find that while the formula of this polish is a bit thicker than some of the others I will share with you today, that helps with application. This one is pretty much opaque in one coat!

2. Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Nail Polish in the color "No Hard Feelings"- $2

This next polish is more of a true lilac color. I own a lot of Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear polishes, but this is the only straight up "hard as nails" polish that I own, and I like it a lot. The formula is really nice, not too thick of thin. Not streaky. This one takes about two coats to be completely even and opaque. As a general rule, I like all of Sally Hansen nail polishes and this one is no exception.

3. Revlon Nail Polish in the color"Girly"- $5

Revlon's Girly over sally hansen xtreme wear lacey lilac

This polish isn't going to be for everyone, but if you love chunky glitter on your nails as much as I do you will adore Revlon's Girly. It's a sheer pinky-purple base with lots of large hexagonal shaped glitters in various shades of pink and purple. It is absolutely beautiful. I don't recommend wearing this polish on it's own. The base is way too sheer, and I am not sure you would ever be able to get it opaque. But layered on top of another purple polish (I recommend Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Lacey Lilac, which you will hear more about later in this post) It is absolutely beautiful. The formula on this is really good. Glitters can be kind of a pain to work with sometimes, and this one id pretty easy to apply. I think that this is the epitome of girly nail polish, so it's very aptly named in my opinion, and Revlon nail polishes can be found for around 5 dollars at most drugstores.

4. Revlon Top Speed in "Decadence" - $5

This is an absolutely beautiful polish from Revlon's top speed line of polishes. It's a gorgeous deep royal purple with a deep blue shift. From some angles it looks like a nice shiny deep purple, and from others it's a gorgeous blue. I love duochrome polishes, I feel like they are always so unique, and this one is no exception. It applies super easy, dries super fast and costs around 5 dollars. Kind of perfect, if you ask me!

5. Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear nail polish in "Lacey Lilac"- $2

I really love the Xtreme Wear line of nail polishes from Sally Hansen. Especially the cream formula polishes, and this might just be my favorite. It's a super pale beautiful lilac purple. It's such a delicate color, but not at all sheer. It's nice and opaque in one coat, but I use two, just cause that's what I am used to doing. The formula on this, and really all of the Xtreme Wear cream formula polishes is amazing. It just glides effortlessly onto the nail. And the brush isn't too fat or too thin. At just two dollars, these are some of the best polishes in the drugstore! As I mentioned, in my opinion, this is the perfect polish color to be layered underneath Revlon's Girly. But it's also perfection all on it's own!

6. Sinful Colors nail polish in "Dream On"- $2

If you are looking for a purple polish that is bold and makes a statement, look no furthur. Sinful Colors "Dream on" is a gorgeous neon red based purple. It's so beautiful! It's neon, but because it's a deeper color it's not like flourescent in your face neon like some neon pinks or yellows can be. The formula on this polish is pretty good. As a general rule I find Sinful colors polishes to be a bit on the thin side, but this one layers nicely, and in opaque in 3 coats. As with most neons, this does dry matte, but if you aren't into that look, you can always add a top coat for a beautiful shine! I think this color will be perfect in the summertime, especially on the toes. Sinful Colors is a great drugstore brand because their polishes are just 2 dollars and their color selection is amazing!

7. Wet n Wild Megalast Nail Polish in "Through the Grapevine"- $2

Another one of my favorite nail polish lines from the drugstore. The Wet n Wild Megalast Polishes are amazing! Every single one that I have tried has been awesome. The formula is fantastic. I can usually get away with just one coat of polish! This color, through the grapevine, is a gorgeous red based purple. It's a bit darker and more understated than Sinful Colors "Dream On" but it's in the same color family. I just adore this nail polish. It's actually what is on my nails right now. I feel like this is one of those colors that you can wear all year round. It's bright enough for spring and summer, but not so bright that it can't be worn in the fall and winter as well. I highly recommend this one. It's such a unique, beautiful polish with an amazing formula. And the brush on these wet n wild megalast polishes is probably my fave brush ever! It's flat and wider than most nail polishes brushes I have seen from other brands, making it super duper easy to apply the polish with just a swipe or two on each nail!

8. Wet n Wild Megalast Nail Polish in "On a Trip"- $2

I have already raved about the formula of these polishes, and this one is equally amazing. Super easy to apply, and the color on this one is a more blue-based purple. It's one of my favorite shades of purple! All the things I said above about "through the grapevine" apply to this one as well. I just can't say enough good things about the megalast line of polishes from wet n wild!

9. Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in "Purple Potion" -$2

This is one of my the deeper purples in my collection. It's an Xtreme wear polish, which I have already raved about once in this post, so I will spare you the gushing. This color is another puple-blue duochrome polish similar to the Revlon polish above in Decadence, but this one is deeper in color and has a ton of microshimmer. I like this one a lot. It's not my favorite purple, but it looks great in the fall and winter.

10. Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in "Plum Power"- $2

This purple is different than all the other purples I own. It's more of a magenta based plum purple and it has a ton of microshimmer running through it. It's another one that is perfect for the fall and winter. I really like this one a lot. The formula on this one isn't as great as some of the other Xtreme wear polishes, but it's still pretty easy to work with and is opaque in two coats.

So that's it! Hopefully you found this guide to purple polishes helpful! As you can see, all of these polishes retail for 5 dollars or less. There is such a huge variety of purple shades out there, you are bound to find the right one for you! Let me know if you would like to see a guide to any other color polish. Or, if you'd like to see me do posts like these using other products besides polish, cause I would love to do that for you as well! Thanks so much for reading! /