Dior Vernis Nail Lacquer in Saint-Tropez

Phew! Now that I'm done with all of my NYC posts, I can go back to my regularly scheduled program. Which, of course, means nail polish! Before I headed to New York, I stopped by my local Dior counter to check out their newly released Croisette collection for Summer 2012. There are two shades of nail lacquer released with this collection, but only one interested me: Saint-Tropez. It is a re-promoted shade, having been released last summer, but it sold out so fast the first time around that I didn't even have a chance to look at it, much less buy it. Each nail polish comes in Dior's signature clear square bottles with logo embossed silver caps. It contains 10 ml of product in total, and retails for $24.

Saint-Tropez is a is a light-medium aqua-blue with teal undertones in a cream finish. It goes on smoothly and evenly, with no streaking, bubbling, or pulling. It has high pigmentation and goes opaque in one medium-thick coat. Dior's nail lacquers come with a wider, thicker, and more tapered brush, which can be good or bad, depending on your nail size and shape and how you apply your nail polish. Given the easy-to-use formula, I actually find that this brush works really well — it coats my nail bed really smoothly and evenly so there's little room for error. Chanel's Nouvelle Vague is greener and has shimmer, China Glaze's For Audrey is a bit greener, Zoya's Wednesday is lighter and greener, and OCC's Pool Boy is lighter and bluer. Okay, so there are many more dupes now than there were a year ago. If you're like me, and you're a fiend for aqua, blue, teal, or turquoise nail polishes, you'll find Saint-Tropez a welcome addition to your collection.