Last week, I reviewed OPI Nic’s Sticks – Paint & Go Nail Laquer (read review). I loved the shade, but didn’t really love the polish. So I and wondered whether I could find the same shade in a regular polish. Off to Ulta I went, where I matched my Nic’s Stick to the OPI shade Elephantastic Pink. Below are the side by side results:

The shades were pretty darn close, although I still like the Nic’s Stick shade a bit more.  I tested the OPI polish out at work and when I chipped it typing (something I regularly do to all polishes), I used the Nic’s Stick to fill it in.

It worked pretty well, as long as I filled in the chip and then went back over the entire nail with the Nic’s stick polish. The Nic’s Stick lacquer is sheer enough that a perfect match was not needed, but it does need that extra full coat to cover a chip.

Together, they are a pretty good pair! I might try this with other shades.

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OPI Nic’s Sticks – Paint & Go Nail Laquer are easy to use quick dry nail polish “pens.”  Basically it is a tube with a built in brush that the polish is clicked up into, making it easy to carry and apply polish just about anywhere.

The downside of these polish pens is that they tend to have lower quality brushes and the polish just doesn’t come out as nice. This makes sense if you think about it: Anyone wanting a top notch manicure will do one with a full base coat, good lacquer, and a top coat. The pens really are more aimed at on the go easy nails, so they often lack the finesse of a really good manicure.

Sally Hansen makes a similar product that I was not overly impressed with, but I decided to give OPI Nic’s sticks a try. I got the shade Express-ion of Love and adored the color.

Overall, this line has very nice shades. The color is also fairly sheer, but will become opaque with a couple of layers. However, when it dried, I found that the polish looked a bit dull, so I had to add a glossy top coat. At that point, I might as well have done a regular manicure. But having the pen does make for easy touch ups. When I chipped my polish at work, I just grabbed the pen from my purse and touched it up. The polish dries very quickly, so smudges are no concern. The Nic’s sticks polish tended to last not quite as long as regular polish would and it also chipped a bit easier.

On the whole, this is a decent item for when you really need simplicity, or the ability to do quick touch ups. Otherwise, I suggest sticking with regular nail polish. It also got me wondering if I could find the same shade in a regular OPI polish so that I could do a normal manicure and then use the Nic’s sticks for touch ups. More on that next week!

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