Lacquer with a plant-based formula.

The moment I finally grew out my gnawed fingernails, I knew it was time: NOTD time! I didn't want to feature these polishes on my gnawed short fingernails so sorry for the delay! But I'm back for the time being, me and my newly grown nails. (Just pray I won't succumb again to my bad habit of gnawing my newly grown nails or back to hiatus I go.)

Anyway, I've been wanting to feature this polish here in blog for months now because it's my first time trying and wearing a polish from this brand. I have here a polish from Hype. I got this polish about 3, 4-ish months ago in Duty Free. Since it was on sale, I thought I'd pick up a bottle to try out.

Now before I go into product details, let me share a few brand details first. Hype is a Florida-based brand that prides itself for providing high quality products that have an 85% plant-based formula as well as being free from the big 5 (Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate, Formaldehyde, Tosylamide and Camphor). Their products aren't tested on animals, too.

Sheer Ballerina is one of the 6 products in the Sheer category. I chose this color because it gives off this "ladylike-lady-boss-who-has-their-shit-together" kinda vibe or something like that. Plus, I don't have a sheer polish in my collection so I thought it'd be good to at least have one. Sheer Ballerina has a really light nude color that up close has these ultra fine shimmers that lend that pinkish undertone to it. The color has this clean, simple vibe that I thought I'd hate but to be honest, it grew on me the instant I wore it.

Not gonna lie, the application is a tricky chap. I love that the formula is fluid, it's not thick or gloopy at all, but I suppose it gets too fluid upon application. Applying it thickly will end badly for you, my friend, because it tends to pool in dark, ugly places and sometimes it creates these negative spaces on your nails (check the polish on my middle finger nail. Notice the dark holes/voids? Yeah, that's the result of thick application.). The best way to apply this is be making sure you have a thin coat per layer, thinner that you're used to. Remember that it's supposed to be sheer. I personally tend to overload polish because I'm used to having opaque coats so my first few tries were a bust but I eventually found my (polish) groove.

Sheer Ballerina is now my go to polish when I like something simple and clean. I'm still practicing control every time I use it but I'll get there, ha! I also appreciate the big brush that comes with it and its bristles that aren't stiff or scratchy. Overall, not a bad first product for me from Hype.