Thursday, July 9, 2009

CQ and Petites - Swatch Happy Review

I've been wanting to swatch a collection, so this was my first choice. This is a group of polishes I have that came from WalMart.

CQ and Petites.













They are the same brand and ingredients. Same company, Scherer, Inc., makes them. Petites are "the only" half-size polish. CQ bottles are deep, Petites are wide.

These are extremely affordable. CQ is $1.94 and Petites are about $1 or so. I swatched all of these because I think this is the cheapest brand with the most quality.

Crimson Pearl. A red shimmer. Fine, fine. Excellent application. Two coats.

















The ingredients aren't listed on the bottle and there's no packaging so I emailed the company and they wrote back the next day with a list of ingredients. It says they are DBP FREE 155.

I copied that from the email. Does that mean 3 free? I know I could do more research, but I don't feel like. I will blindly believe DBP FREE 155 is a good thing.

This is Caramel Delight. Also two coats. Light brown with gold shimmer. I thought this would be more difficult for me to carry off, but it looks really nice. (You know my recent candy fetish)















I like the shape of the bottle! You know how important that is.

Silver Taupe. This is actually one of my favorite polishes. A sand color with a dense silver glitter. Subtle and pretty. This is sheer, however, needs at least three coats for opaqueness.
















I like how the name and number is on the front of the bottle.

Another favorite, Shimmering Bark. This is a taupe with a pink flash that acts like a duochrome. A bit sheer, this is three coats.
















Here's a close-up.

This is really sophisticated and interesting. A unique mushroomy girly color.












CQ has a good design team. CQs aren't trendy, but they are current and give a unique spin on some modern shades.

Silver Violet. This is like the OPI lilac shades, but it has a silver and pink shimmer. Quite sheer. This needs four coats to get opaque, but it applies in a thin coat that does not bulk up. I like my pink ring with this!















This next one is just crazy and there's no way to work with it at all, but I love it because it's ornery. First look at the bottle and then at my thumbnail.

Mystique. It looks NOTHING like the bottle!!!! (or the X Woman)


















In the bottle: a swirly golden dust cloud in a regal pink desert.

















On the nail: flat, metallic, ridge-filled despair. My son named it "Dolores."













Yet I took all these pictures. I've worn it. I've done a loving manicure. I've covered it with Seche Vite which fixes everything.....THIS POLISH IS IMPOSSIBLE AND I'M FASCINATED BY ITS TRAINWRECKNESS. I would challenge someone to franken how it looks in the bottle but I'm afraid a hole would be ripped in the universe. I'm exhausted by it.

But hey, it only cost $1.94. No big deal!

The Petites are even cheaper and a little more trendy. Also, they are teeny and cute.

They tend toward the sheer, so are excellent for layering. They build well, but if you have a similar base color that's fairly opaque in one coat you will save some time.

Lime Freeze. Yep, a medium green. Yet, this has bright green shimmer in it and applies looking slightly yellow-pearl. Unique if you get really close. Only you know for sure.
















My application was getting kind of messy because at this point I was racing the setting sun.

Black Rouge. I love this so much! It's a thick red glitter in a sheer black base. This is three coats. It gives the gothy black nail something else to think about besides how nobody understands.















Dare. A vivid blue with pink and silver chunky flakes and my favorite Gorillaz song. The edges don't define very well, so I think I would prefer this layered, but it's very cool. I'll have to swatch it layered and show you.















And, finally,

Bronze Baby. Very mulitcultural. An extremely shimmery pure dark brown. In my mind it's a dupe for OPI At Your Quebec And Call, but that has way more glitter color variety and gold. This looks like the glitter is the same color brown as the polish. Cool.














This brand has my support for many reasons. Quality, Price, Variety, Availability Of Information, Interest, Awareness of Fashion, Respect of Tradition, CRAZY-MAKING.

It has it all! The website copy is kind of sappy, but they sound good-hearted. Scherer, Inc. is the company. I don't know if WalMart everywhere has these, but I've seen them pop up in blogs here and there. I say, trust this brand, and if it doesn't work out, no big deal. It didn't cost that much. Everybody wins!

9 comments:

  1. Wow! What a great multi-swatch post,thanks so much! I haven't had either one of this brand's polishes in years, I'll be on the hunt at my WalMart for some of your colors.
    I keep staring at your rings, I love them!

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  2. Can you believe I just bought Bronze Baby on Wednesday??!!

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  3. What a great bunch of polishes. Very pretty colors. Thanks for swatching all of them. They all look so pretty on you. I like all the brownish shades.

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  4. My rings are just as cheap as my shoes! But thanks so much, I love wearing them. Bronze Baby, yeah! Brownish shades must be what I can deal with as work-appropriate since pink is just completely out of my league.

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  5. My first CQ color is 291 "silver violet" and after that I am hooked on it (ran out & bought 2 more same color; I still may buy more).

    Will be trying other colors from CQ when the colors catches my eye... CQ have great wear. Silver Violet is awesome single sheer or in 3 coats, its lite silver shimmer adds another dimension to this color...

    Plus I get 7 days out of my first wear, 10 days before the need to repaint!

    CQ in silver violet is already super glossy, add a glass finish topcoat.... OMG! Simply glorious! That color is just to die for (looks great day and night) and I am adopting it as my signature nail color.

    Very classy color indeed! And I am in love with CQ!

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  6. I have to say, this is the best nail polish I have ever painted and worn. I recently purchase 461 Pink Flame...goes on light, needs 2 coats, but WOW does it last and last and last. I got a good 7 days wear and I use and abuse my hands in my line of work. FANTASTIC! Going to head to Walmart today and see if I can pick up a few more colors. Thanks for the terrific blog.

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  7. I have a couple of CQ Nail Polishes and I'm not sure if my other one's are like this but I had just purchased the CQ Nail Polish in 236 Rose Topaz not too long ago and it dries on your nail's the second you paint it on. I've never had a nail polish dry in literally a second,it's amazing. Also,all you need is one coat of the nail polish and you're all set. Not to add that the color is GORGEOUS, I LOVE it! I'm going to buy some more to test them out and see if they're all like this.

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  8. I like these polishes too but I am worried about the ingredients. Thanks for verifying they're DBP-free. I love Silver violet, Silver Taupe and petites Black Diamond. they dry fast and last and are super cheap. too good to be true? Worried about the chemicals!

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  9. You are so fortunate to be able to find the Petites. The Walmarts in my area have stopped carrying them and it is VERY FRUSTRATING because have been my favorites for years. Checked the website and A. they are $3.00 each for the tiny bottle--REDICULOUS, and B. apparently they have discontinued one of my favorite colors #426 Crimson Pearl. They do go on better than ANY polish I have ever used and last longer--it is so nice not to have to your nails more than once a week--sometimes longer (I do use a topcoat--my favorite because of it's ease of application, VERY fast drying, and EXTEMELY durable is Revlon #960--IT'S AWESOME!). While working at the Big Orange Box these polishes held up beautifully even through some gruelling work projects as well as protecting my nails from breaking. Received many compliments from customers and fellow associates on my "beautiful" nails.

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