Revlon polishes for Spring/Summer

These are not new colors for Revlon as far as I can tell, I just wanted some bright/interesting colors to add to my collection for the upcoming Spring and Summer season and grabbed these. I already have different versions of each of these colors but Revlon always manages to come up with new twists on them. You can almost always catch these when they are on sale (I picked these up for $2.99 each- what a steal compared with Essie or OPI at $8) and I find Revlon to be the best quality out of all the polishes I've ever tried; plus they dry in record time. (colors from left to right - Siren, Cherries in the Snow, Trendy, and Fashionista).

Siren

I got photobombed! lol

Cherries in the Snow

Trendy

Fashionista

Zoya PixieDust in Godiva

Yikes, it's been forever since I've posted! But a new job + no new products will do that. I have been watching and waiting to try and buy this new Zoya polish and was finally able to find it yesterday. I don't normally do glittery polishes at all since I feel like they tend to look a bit young and are a serious pain to remove, but this one seemed like it might be different since it is described as a matte textured polish.

Zoya PixieDust in Godivia, a shimmery neutral.

For the first PixieDust collection, there are six colors - periwinkle, red, green, grey, black, and the gold/neutral that I purchased. I just read that they will be coming out with brighter colors for summer, so if shimmer is something you like, those might be the thing for you.



By force of habit, I always apply a base coat before I apply the polish. It is not recommended that you use a base coat before applying the PixieDust polishes. They also recommend that you skip the top coat to keep the matte look. I did apply one just because the glitter gives it kind of a rough feel. Nothing bad enough to snag clothing or anything, but it just felt weird to me.

Taken in natural light. Clear base coat + ONE coat of polish. No top coat.

Clear base coat + ONE coat of polish. No top coat.

Base coat + TWO coats of polish. No top coat.

Base coat + TWO coats of polish + one top coat.

 For me, this is the most wearable shade out of the current collection. I tend to stick to more neutral colors to get more wear out of them and I think this is a fun way to do a neutral without it being blah. This polish looks just fine with only one coat, the second coat really just fills in and evens out the shimmer effect. I just used a cheap top coat from Ulta so it didn't really give me a glossed over look and still left them feeling kind of rough. Maybe if you have a thicker or better top coat, it would help with that.

I might venture on to try either the black or grey because I am pleasantly surprised by how this polish looks after applied. It was so hard to tell in the store whether I was going to like it or not since it just looks like another sparkle-y polish in the bottle, but once applied, it really is a unique effect.

UPDATE:  I wore this polish for five days and I have to say it was awesome. Didn't chip or lose any glitter because they are so small (unlike when I did the Ciate sequined manicure and the glitter was coming off in large chunks.) I used acetone nail polish remover to take it off; it did require some muscle but wasn't too tough to get off. After almost a week of wear and tear (and I work in retail so I am really rough on my hands), it still looked great.

Chanel Lilac Sky

I bought this a long time ago before wearing kind of crazy colors became a thing and honestly have only used twice. I was looking through my polishes today and decided that since I paid so much for it, I was going to give it another shot. I normally never pay a lot for nail polish (I think this was $25 - yikes!), but again, this was the first time I had seen an out of the ordinary color being sold. After all this time, it hasn't clumped or turned gooey and still went on perfectly. I have a gold Chanel polish also and find that they dry very fast but don't last nearly as long as most. 

 

 

This turned out to be a very soft pinky-purple with some shimmer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Above you can see my dog's paws as she was looking out the window trying to figure out what was so interesting to me lol)

Ciate Sequined Manicure

This was another awesome Christmas gift that I received. I love this because it's something I never would have bought for myself. I'm a pretty practical person so, while I may have seen this and wanted it, I would probably never actually purchase it. But that's the fun in gifts - sometimes you just get really cool, whimsical things!

 

This is a sequined manicure kit by Ciate. I've never purchased anything from this company but I was familiar with the name because their caviar manicures have recently become very popular and are all over the Sephora website.

It really was as simple to apply as the instructions on the back of the box indicate. I've only used it this one time so far, but I would suggest doing it over a table so that you can easily wipe away any stray glitter. Luckily, the glitter is pretty large so you don't have the problem of trying to clean up that vey fine glitter dust that never seems to really go away. I, however, did this while sitting on the couch...I definitely do not recommend that.

The kit comes with a pot of multi-color glitter, sequin glitter grip polish and a mini brush. All you have to do is:

- Remove any nail polish, including base coat, from your nails

- Apply one coat of the glitter grip polish and let dry

- Working on one nail at a time, apply a second coat of glitter grip and gently roll into the glitter pot

- Gently press down the glitter on your nail and use the mini brush to sweep away any excess

- Apply a final top coat of glitter grip over the nail and allow dry for 15-20 minutes

- Done!

 

 

I just did it on one nail to try it out. I can't yet speak to how easy or hard it will be to remove but the instructions claim that it will be easy. We'll see. I like glitter polish but my only hang-ups are that sometimes it can take forever and lots of work to remove. Because these are bigger pieces of glitter and they are applied on top of polish and not mixed in with polish, I'm optimistic that it won't be a treacherous task.

OPI If You Moust You Moust review



Here is another random discounted polish I picked up the other week. This one is from OPI and is called If You Moust You Moust and is one of four of the Minnie Mouse Collection. I would describe this as a bright pink; not quite a neon but no where near a baby pink. For these pictures I applied one base coat and two coats of color. I found it to be a little thinner in consistency than I normally like and it could probably do with three coats to even out the streaks.

 

 

 

Don't mind my cat in the background lol

 

 

 

 

China Glaze Sweet Hook review

In natural light - clear base coat, two coats of color and clear topcoat.


 

I found this in a discount bin in the beauty store at the mall (you know, that time I attempted Christmas shopping but mostly bought things for myself.) and for $3.50 I couldn't resist. The color is Sweet Hook and is a gorgeous  light lilac color. The consistency of this is very nice - full color, thick formula, and fairly quick drying. If you are in a hurry, you could get away with just one coat but I always apply two just to ensure even coverage. I've read previous reviews where people have complained about streaks or thin consistency but I did not find this to be the case.

This color is part of their Spring 2012 Electropop collection which contains 12 colors in total. I didn't know this when I purchased them since, by that point, they were just thrown into a bargain bin but, unbeknownst to me, I also picked up another color from the collection that I will post later. 


Pastels are pretty hard to accurately photograph so I apologize in advance!

Taken under a flash - clear base coat and two coats of color.

 



Polish obsession - GREEN

I've really been liking all shades of green recently and have been trying out a few ranging all the way from pale to dark and everywhere in between. Emerald has recently been named the color of the season so I must be onto something :)

1 - L'Oreal in Safari Chic
2 - Essie in Absolutely Shore
3 - Zoya in Bevin
4 - Essie in Going Incognito
5 - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Mint Sorbet

I applied two coats of each on top of one base coat. The Essie Absolutely Shore would probably need three coats.



L'Oreal Safari Chic



Essie Absolutely Shore, Zoya Bevin, Essie Goin Incognito, Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet