Review: Guerlain Color Lacquer #125 Vega

The weather’s been cooling down here lately, and I’m getting excited for the transition to fall/winter fashion. I realized I was short on vampy nail colors, so off to the store I went with Guerlain Vega in mind. I actually spent quite a bit of time looking for a close dupe of this color at local drugstores, but nothing I saw really scratched that particular itch, so I headed over to the local Guerlain counter.

Vega is a brown-based burgundy creme that goes very dark, very quick. It’s easy to see the true color in the bottle and in fairly bright lighting, it can look almost black in some lights. That’s one of the things that attracted me to it, but it’s definitely something to consider before buying. It dries quickly to a glossy finish.

The bottle is compact and a bit hefty for the size. The top is made of sturdy plastic and pops off to reveal a round brush lid. Even though lid covers mean more packaging material than is really necessary, I like them. I think square bottles look nicer and they’re easier to store, but I’m not a fan of having to actually use a square top to hold while I’m painting my nails. You get .33 fl oz/9.76ml, which is about standard for polishes in the price range.

The brush is wide and thick with a slightly rounded tip. I found it a little difficult to get a precise line near my cuticles with it, but it easily makes up for that by covering my entire nail in one or two swipes. It’s really easy to control the spread of the polish by how much pressure you use on the brush. That’s a good thing, because the consistency is very thick. It’s not goopy at all, but it doesn’t spread a lot on its own, so where the polish goes is all up to you (for better or worse). One thick coat will get you nearly-opaque coverage, and two is definitely all you need. Thin coats will help keep the color from edging toward black.

Wear time is really nice. I wore it for five days with no chips and minor tip wear, and only decided to change it when I broke a nail (sad face).

In Short: At the price it’s definitely a splurge, but I’d say it’s one of my must-have colors for fall.

Guerlain Color Lacquer ($23) is available at sephora.com and nordstrom.com