JOE FRESH is a Canadian clothing and beauty brand sold at the LOBLAWS chain of grocery stores. I believe the founder of this brand is the head behind CLUB MONACO as well. They have a clever marketing strategy – I usually end up with one or two unnecessary beauty items in my grocery cart! The nail polishes are especially hard to resist – as they come packaged in the cutest little chubby bottles.
Colours: They have a great selection of colours including pastels, metallics and more traditional reds and pinks. I picked up a mint green (I think it’s their most popular shade, as it is often out of stock), lavender and hot pink.
Application: I find these polishes VERY easy to apply. The consistency is perfect – thin enough to glide on smoothly, but thick enough to only need 2 coats. The hot pink colour was especially easy to apply – it looked great even with one coat.
Durability: These polishes aren’t super long-lasting, but perform fairly well when used with a topcoat. On my fingernails – without topcoat – the colour lasted 3 days without chipping. On my toenails – WITH topcoat – the colour lasted for a week.
Price: These cost $4 each (or 3 for $10) for a 6ml bottle. Most polishes (such as OPI and Essie) contain 15ml, while this polish would be $10 for 15ml. It’s not really a bargain – but I hardly ever finish a full-size polish anyway, so I’d prefer getting 3 of these JOE minis rather than 1 full-size polish.
Would I buy it again? Definitely! I have my eye on a wine/maroon shade that would be perfect for fall.
QUICK COMPARISON TO CHANEL’S JADE
Ever since Chanel came out with their JADE polish (in Fall 2009), I’ve been obsessed with green nails. It’s not the most flattering shade – especially with my skin tone – but I’m drawn in just the same. I missed the boat on the actual Chanel polish (along with the people who are bidding $200-$500 for it on eBay!!!). I’d rather spend that money on a nice handbag, and wear a dupe instead. Two of the closest dupes are: Milani’s Dress Maker and Claire’s Dream Catcher.
I own Dream Catcher, and have swatched it above (on the left side) along with my mint green JOE polish and Revlon’s Minted. As you can see, Revlon and JOE’s colours are not that similar to Jade – they are pastel, while Dream Catcher is warmer and has subtle shimmer. The JOE colour has aqua undertones – and is reminiscent of Chanel’s Nouvelle Vague and China Glaze’s For Audrey. Of the 3 green polishes, JOE has the best formula. The Revlon one is quite gloopy, and the Claire one took 4 coats!
If you want to see some more swatches of Chanel Jade and Nouvelle Vague (and their dupes), check out the links here and here.
Do you wear green polishes? Have you seen Milani’s Dress Maker in Canada – tell me where – I’d love to try it!
DISCLAIMER: I purchased these items myself and was not paid to review them.
I can't remember ever having tried a pale shade of green like though (though in the past I've used dark green often) I love love love the pink and lavendar you have on and the Claire's green is such a pretty color.
Thanks! I think for my next manicure, I will alternate my 3 green polishes – I really liked how the look together. The Claire's green is my favourite shade of the 3, but sadly – it's nearly finished, and I haven't seen any more in stores recently 🙁 I may just order the Milani shade online – I'm so impatient!
love that mint color its great I absolutely love your blog its so cute New follower hope you can follow !!!
Thanks for following me – I'll definitely check out your blog as well 🙂