Polish brand survey/poll (for circular swap participants)

Howdy fellow polish addicts ,  Lynda asked me to help make a new thread for a survey/discussion of the brands/high end/drugstore designation.  In the sign up questions thread:

https://www.makeuptalk.com/t/137545/round-four-nail-polish-swap-box-questions-discussion

there had been some discussion about some of the brands and the category they had been put in, here's from that thread:

Quote: Originally Posted by Kyuu /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  I was interested in joining the swap and I think your drugstore/higher end thing is fair to keep the balance, but I feel like the actual brand assignment was pretty arbitrary. I don't want to rock the boat since I'm sure it worked fine last time, but I mean, what makes ChG a "high end" brand and Orly a drugstore brand, when they're both on sale at Sally, and Orly is actually more expensive there? And the difference between Sinful Colors/Wet n' Wild ($2) and N!OPI ($8) is the price of at least a whole new drugstore polish. And about Nailtini, that Ipsy hands out, which says on its website has MSRV of $13, which would make it 'high end'.

I understand there's no way to please everyone, so I'm mostly trying to understand the logic behind the assignments...
Quote: Originally Posted by LyndaV /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Hi Kyuu,
Thanks for the input. The list was kind of hashed out prior to the last round but I'm happy to make changes. To be honest, I put Orly in the drugstore category because I can buy it at my local CVS. I actually struggled a little with what category to put Color Club, NOPI, and Square Hue in. I know there are plenty others I've missed...totally forgot about Bondi!!

Probably the best solution would be to do a quick poll just after signups are finished to get a group consensus about the polish categories, among the people who have signed up. We would love to have you join us, the swaps have been fun and a great group of ladies participate!


From the original sign up thread:

Quote: Originally Posted by LyndaV /img/forum/go_quote.gif

........
7. Premium polishes (may not cover every single polish out there...let us know if we missed one!): Butter London, Deborah Lippmann, OPI, China Glaze, Zoya, Julep, Essie, Indies, The New Black, A-England, Color Club, Illmasqua, Square Hue

8. Drug store polishes(again, may have missed some!): Sally Hansen, Wet n Wild, Barielle, LA Colors, Revlon, Maybelline, L'Oreal, Orly, Borghese, Cherimoya, Confetti, Finger Paints, Kleancolor, Max Factor, Milani, NOPI, SOPI, NYC, Pixi, Sinful Colors, Spoiled, Ulta

And that’s it! If you have any questions, please ask them in the Questions thread or PM to LyndaV as this thread is ONLY for commenting that you’ve signed up.

(I would have made a poll, but I couldn't figure out how to do it!)  So discussion thread it is! /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Please feel free to leave your comments below.

My thoughts- I've always considered China Glaze & Orly to be similar- so both are higher end to me.  Certainly by price anyway.  I'm not sure I would consider Sephora OPI to be drugstore- (before they were discontinued), I couldn't buy them for a drugstore price. And what do we think about when Sephora makes the actual product for other brands (like Kat Von D for ex... not sure if they are doing in house production for Hello Kitty too..) 

And then there's color club too...

What do you all think about foreign brands (Missha, Etude, PeriPera, etc)- sometimes you can get the asian brands really cheap on ebay & other times, you can pay through the nose. /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />    I have an Etude House polish to put in the box, but I don't know how to "classify" it.

Would it be easier to pick a price point and say- anything above is premium and anything below is not?

I think Lynda's original list and price point are a good starting point.  The only polishes that people might disagree about are the ones that fall in the mid-price $6-$10 range.

Here's what I've come up with based on the original list plus discussion in these threads.

The polishes in the "To be discused" column are the ones that people have commented on.  I would personally put Bondi, Nailtini SOPI, and Orly in the High End Column and Sephora Collection and NYX in the Drugstore column..  I'm not familiar with NOPI, Color Club, or Square Hue.

To Be Discussed   High End   Drugstore Bondi   A-England   Borguese Color Club   Butter London   Cherimoya Nailtini   China Glaze   Confetti NOPI   Deborah Lipman   Cover Girl Orly   Essie   Finger Paints SOPI   INDIES   Kleancolor Square Hue   Julep   LA Colors Sephora Collection   Llmasqua   L'Oreal NYX   OPI   Max Factor     The New Black   Maybelline     Zoya   Milani         NYC         Pixi         Revlon         Sally Hansen         Sinful Colors         Spoiled         Ulta         Wet n Wild          

Quote: Originally Posted by feemia /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  I think Lynda's original list and price point are a good starting point.  The only polishes that people might disagree about are the ones that fall in the mid-price $6-$10 range.

Here's what I've come up with based on the original list plus discussion in these threads.

The polishes in the "To be discused" column are the ones that people have commented on.  I would personally put Bondi, Nailtini SOPI, and Orly in the High End Column and Sephora Collection and NYX in the Drugstore column..  I'm not familiar with NOPI, Color Club, or Square Hue.

To Be Discussed   High End   Drugstore Bondi   A-England   Borguese Color Club   Butter London   Cherimoya Nailtini   China Glaze   Confetti NOPI   Deborah Lipman   Cover Girl Orly   Essie   Finger Paints SOPI   INDIES   Kleancolor Square Hue   Julep   LA Colors Sephora Collection   Llmasqua   L'Oreal NYX   OPI   Max Factor     The New Black   Maybelline     Zoya   Milani         NYC         Pixi         Revlon         Sally Hansen         Sinful Colors         Spoiled         Ulta         Wet n Wild          

I personally consider Square Hue an indie since they don't sell their polish anywhere but directly from them, and it's not mass-produced like drugstore brands. NOPI could go either way, but I've only really seen it at Target and Ulta. SOPI I'd normally consider high-end, but this one's tricky since it's now a discontinued brand, so you're likely going to have people who spent full price on some and others who picked it up dirt cheap.

Good points both ladies, /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />   Yes I'd think the same thing about Square Hue too (high end) and also Bondi too.  Granted even though Bondi's gone off the deep end w/ running their sub box service, it also isn't mass-produced anywhere, you can only get it from them and the price point of Bondi's is like $12.50. def high end to me.  I also agree w/ feemia, and would also put Nailtini, SOPI*, and Orly in the High End Column and Sephora Collection and NYX in the Drugstore column based on the price alone. 

NOPI's one of those annoying ones that falls into that dreaded "mid-price $6-$10 range".  It's made by OPI (high end) but I've seen it at target, ulta & cvs- and the price can run anywhere from $4 to $8. 

*- SOPI, technically another "trouble-maker"   -because as dragonchick pointed out, it's tricky now, as some will have paid full price, others the DC'd price.

Color Club's like $8-10, but I've only gotten them through in Birchboxes.  I'm leaning towards high end for my vote...

I think the list breakdown is accurate in terms of high and low end and to be discussed.

In terms of the to be discussed, I'd break it down very similarly to Lily V.

High end: square Hue, Bondi, Nailtini, SOPI, Orly, Color Club.

Low end: NYX, Sephora Collection, NOPI (soft vote- could go either way).

I think NYX is pretty much a drugstore brand (albeit good quality and a bit hard to find), so the nail polish should be considered drugstore too.

I'm not sure about the others. Never tried any of them except for Color Club (thanks, BB). 

I agree with what most of what others have said.

High End: Bondi, Square Hue, Color Club, Nailtini, Orly

Drugstore: NYX, Sephora Collection

I don't know about NOPI and SOPI because I haven't ever tried them.