I’m not normally a fan of MAC polishes-I’ve only bought them once before and was way underwhelmed by the formula AND the price point.  But since finding the perfect nude nail polish shade is still a personal quest, I felt like I had to try Hangin’ Loose from the new Surf, Baby! Collection.

Hangin’ Loose is described by MAC as a dirty pink, but from other swatches I had the feeling that it might be a good match for my skin.  The MAC bottle is a tall skinny shape that flares out at the top, and it makes me nervous when I use it–it seems like it is just built to tip over.  I also dislike the cap, which is kind of wide due to the flare, and doesn’t detach to reveal a smaller cap to hold during application.  To me it feels clumsy to hold and just further enhances the feeling that I’m going to knock stuff over.  Not a big fan of the brush either-it seems kind of too bendy to me, or maybe too long.

Anyway, in the bottle Hangin’ Loose looks pretty much like foundation-it’s not as pink or grey as the little color box on the MAC website would suggest.  I had to use three coats that went on just sort of okay, and it’s still a bit sheerer than I was hoping for.  But I think this may be the best nude polish for my skin that I have yet tried!  It’s more pink than Deborah Lippmann’s Naked, my other success in this area.  Since it has a little more pink it blends with my skin really well, but still has a bit of peachy-beige skin tone on the nail, too.  In fact, I think that the peach tones are much stronger than the pink tones overall, so I wouldn’t really call it a pink.  I like that it’s more opaque than Lippmann’s Naked, and I had less visible nail line with Hangin’ Loose.  It also has white shimmer that you can see in the bottle, but that pretty much disappears when it’s painted on.  I like that the shimmer isn’t that apparent, since I’m looking for a fleshy, nude shade and I think too much shimmer  would mess up the effect.

So, I think this may be my current top nude shade; it’s a great color.  It’s a nice match for my skin and is muted enough to really give a mannequin hands effect.  For some reason though, as I’m writing this, I’ve noticed that I feel kind of grudging about it.  I’m not feeling as in love with it as the color warrants-maybe it’s the formula, which is a little streaky and thin, or maybe it’s the bottle, just not great.  I don’t know.  Weird.