Olive & June Nail Polish Review
Olive & June Nail Polish Bottles from L to R - Nail Primer, TT, Fierce & Loving, The Top Coat on pink marble surface
Updated 2022.05.09. This page contains affiliate links and this site earns from qualifying purchases made through these sponsored links.
They are a 7-free nail polish brand, meaning their formulas are free of these chemicals: dibutyl phthalate (DBP), toluene, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, camphor, Ethyl Tosylamide and xylene.
Their formulas are also vegan and cruelty free, meaning no animal products are in the formulas (vegan) and no animal testing is performed on the products (cruelty free).
The bottles include 13.5 ml / 0.46 fl oz of polish, which is the same amount as essie bottles. The bottles are petite and very comfortable to hold if you have small hands.
A unique thing about this brand is that the bottles have an included wide fan brush (some brands charge extra) which allows the lacquer to go on more easily, in fewer coats.
The fewer coats you have to do on the nail, the fewer chances you have of messing up the strokes - so wider brushes can be coveted for this reason.
A second thing that is unique about this brand, is the Olive & June base coat is a solvent-like primer called Nail Primer, rather than a lacquer-like base coat.
Many nail polish brands you see out there offer a base coat as a lacquer, not a solvent.
Primers, which are usually also drying agents, are usually a final pre-manicure step that can help dehydrate the nail which can prevent nail polish bubbling. They also remove any debris and oil from the nail, which can lengthen the staying power of your manicured nails.
To that truth, in our testing we found the Olive & June Polishes to last 4-5 days without chips and any additional re-ups of top coat, which is pretty amazing.
This means you can do your nails for the week on Sunday night, and you don’t have to worry about your manicure until Friday - which is a great day for fresh nails.
If you want a longer wear, consider reading the tips in this article: How To Get A Manicure To Last Longer.
Olive & June Nail Primer (gold bottle) and The Top Coat (silver bottle) on pink marble
What this means is when you are pulling out your manicure supplies from a drawer, or by looking at them from above, you can immediately spot what bottles you need to grab without too much investigative work.
You may be familiar with the process of picking out different bottles for your manicure, is it this one I need? No… what about this one? That’s gone from the Olive & June system.
This is a really subtle but meaningful difference from many other brands, which differentiate their bottles and caps by which line it comes from, not by which product type it is.
Having the base, top coat, and color bottled with different colored caps really helps you easily find in your stash what you need to get started manicuring.
Okay, so let’s look at the two colors tested for this review:
Olive & June colors TT and Fierce & Loving in bottles with Nail Primer and Top Coat in rear on pink marble
TT
TT, below, is described as an “almost pastel lavender,” that to us is a soft, light purple nail polish that leans light gray. It’s a very subtle shade that applies easily. If you like gray but also like a touch of color, you’ll want to add this to your collection.
It was just featured in this article on Light Purple Nails and it is shown in these photos in three coats of color, but you could get away with two coats of it if needed.
Olive & June, TT swatch, bottle in hand, on pink marble background
Olive & June, TT swatch on pink marble background
Fierce & Loving
Fierce & Loving, below, is described as a “fresh lilac,” that to us is a bright pink bordering on violet, shown in two coats. It’s a purple that’s got a playful, fun vibe. This shade is weekend ready - it makes us smile when we look at it.
It applies easily and dries quickly. Comparatively, it looks a lot like Orly’s Kaleidoscope Eyes, but perhaps just a touch softer.
Olive & June, Fierce & Loving swatch, bottle in hand, on pink marble background
Olive & June, Fierce & Loving swatch on pink marble background
So to recap:
Olive & June includes a wider brush in their bottles at no extra charge, making polish application fast and easy
The Olive & June base coat is a Nail Primer solvent, in many other brands it is a lacquer-like base
Olive & June bottles are differentiated by color as to which product type it is, making it easier to spot what you need when getting out your manicure supplies
We tested 3-4 manicures and for us, they lasted 4-5 days with no chips, additional work or top coat reapplication
Finally, the one thing we didn’t mention yet.
So in this editor's opinion, it is worth the spend to try this particular top coat - which is in the silver bottle. It’s the only top coat the brand currently makes so you can’t miss it.
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