AURA

AURA Like a Pro! Nail Polish [151 - For Gold Times] Review

By Maychiri's Thoughts - August 16, 2023

Certainly the flashier of the two nail polishes for today, this is the AURA Like a Pro! Nail Polish, shade 151/For Gold Times!

This is one nail polish that I had been thinking about since December 2022. It was released then as part of a mini limited edition of holiday-themed product variants; it was all the same products as before, just a few new shades. The Like a Pro! nail polish received some interesting colours, from deep emerald green, to various shades of gold, to glittery silver and such. I couldn’t decide whether I like 151/For Gold Times or 153/Liquid Gold more, but in person they look almost identical. I do like metallic gold nail polishes, especially once December rolls in, so I knew I’d be picking one of the gold shades, not the glitters. You know what? 151/For Gold Times seems really pretty, so let’s go with that one! I also love the name, nice pun! It’s also fitting that I chose 151; as someone who loves Pokémon, #151 holds special meaning (Mew, in case you didn’t figure it out) so of course I’d go with that over, say, 153. So, is this nail polish really as good as pro nail polishes, given the name? And is it fitting for the glitzy holiday season? Let’s see!

 
Packaging: I love the thin rectangular shape! This is a very elegant bottle, and it also feels heavy for its size. The cap is black and closes very, very securely; I really have to try hard to open it sometimes. I like the black text on the gold colour, it really pops! However, the white text in the back isn’t doing it any favours; what’s worse, that’s where the ingredients list is, and I cannot read it to save my life because of how poorly visible the white text is. Seriously, why not use black like in the front? Also, if you weren’t certain, this is a limited colour, the cap spells it out for you just in case!
 
 
 
Source: aura.co.rs
Ingredients: nothing nourishing. Also, nothing harmful (such as DBP, formaldehyde, toluene). The scent is pretty much like any other nail polish. The expiration date is 24 months after opening.

 
 
Brush: relatively short and wide, this is a flat brush that picks up more pigment than you truly need for one nail. It’s just the right size for my nails and is more precise than you might think, which makes it easy to apply polish on the sides of nails without spilling too much onto the skin. It also spreads the polish perfectly evenly, ensuring that you get a flawless finish every time. It’s a phenomenal brush, in short!
 
 
 
 
 
The colour is called ‘For Gold Times’ but it’s not really gold the way you’d think. It is ‘gold’, but it’s a very pale, almost silvery type of gold, not the yellow gold that is commonly associated with the name. Compared to my 14K (I think) gold bracelet, it is noticeably more greenish and pale. In fact, from the very first moment it reminded me more of brass than gold, although it seems to be much closer to ‘gilver’, a mix of silver and gold. It’s honestly a baffling colour when you try and explain it. It looks amazing, though, nevertheless! Whether it is gold or gilver, it still shines like molten metal, beautiful on pale skin (although I am sure it would be even better on either very dark skin or light skin)! Even though it is not truly gold, I still love this colour! It’s perfect for any celebration!
 
 
Omg, the formula! It’s relatively thick but not at all goopy or gelly, it feels so luxurious and creamy! It feels high-end. And because it is so luxuriously soft, it is also extremely easy to use, as it spreads across nails perfectly evenly every single time. It is not at all runny, which makes it even better to use! For some reason, it actually reminds me of molten metal! Yeah, like molten brass or something! Fitting, given the colour and texture, no? Speaking of, the texture is very metallic and shiny. You can see some graininess in the formula but that only makes it shine even more and look even more metallic. It’s not reflective enough to be a mirror, but it is hella metallic! Perfectly opulent for the holidays!
 
 
It’s completely opaque with only one coat, and it looks fairly professional. Talk about a perfectly thick formula! I only applied that one coat as I saw no reason why I should go for another, especially as it already looks so gorgeous and I didn’t want to risk ruining it. 
 

It’s tragic. The formula may look and feel stunning, but the longevity is horrendous. It started chipping off slightly by day 3, and had some tip wear, which would be kinda acceptable if that’s where it stopped. But no, it got so much worse. From the middle of day 3 onward it began to chip off extremely, with larger chunks chipping off easily. And it’s not like I was doing anything particularly extremely damaging, even a slight bump would result in a part of the polish chipping off. It only got worse on day 4, with the nail polish looking atrocious, all chipped off unevenly. So no surprise then, when I say that a hair wash damaged it even further. By the end of day 5 it was in disastrous condition, and really looked horrible.  
 
 
This is such a bloody shame, as the formula seemed to be high quality and thick enough to prevent excess chipping. It all seemed so promising on the first two days, but it all came crashing down suddenly. I cannot even express how immensely disappointed I am. Such a beautiful colour, yet it doesn’t last 3 full days... sigh. What makes it an even bigger problem is that this is a metallic nail polish, so if I apply a top coat, it will just look generic glossy. The only solution is to have a great base coat under it, then.
 
It’s surprisingly easy to remove given that it’s a metallic nail polish. I didn’t have to rub a lot to remove it completely – my nails are thankful for that. It doesn’t leave any residual shimmer or anything, and my nails weren’t stained. 
 
Overall, what seemed like a stunning, high quality nail polish turned out to be just average, sadly. I had such high hopes for it; I mean, I had it on my wishlist for literally 6 months so obviously I was really interested in it. And when I saw how amazingly creamy and luxe the formula is, and how perfectly it looked after just one cost, I was left speechless! I was convinced that this would be the perfect gold nail polish for December! Sadly, that was not meant to be. The polish looks gorgeous, but it has pitiful longevity. It starts chipping within a few days, and once it does, it really does. I am talking huge pieces chipping off, leaving your nails looking ugly and unkempt. This really made me sad, like, for real. It was so promising. Yet it’s just another let-down... sigh. It’s sad to think how close it was to truly being like a professional nail polish, like the name would imply. As it is, though, I simply cannot recommend it, no matter how gorgeous it is. ‘Tis a tragedy, but ah well...
 
 
 
Rating: 5/10
 
 
Would buy again? Sadly, NO


 

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