Revlon Divine

Whoops, I inadvertently disappeared again. But I am here to, for once, post about an LE in a somewhat-timely fashion! Revlon Divine is part of the Evening Opulence collection for Fall 2013, designed by Gucci Westman.

The collection includes another 3 colors: Rich (which looks just like Carbonite), Elusive (a black/teal glitter that looked AWESOME in the bottle, not so much in swatches), and Seductive (a deep purple jelly). I really wanted to like Elusive, especially since in the bottle, it looks like a teal version of Facets of Fuchsia, but nope. It dries matte, which isn't a big deal, but the base is so opaque that a lot of the glitter gets lost, and the result is just sort of lumpy. Top coat is definitely an improvement, but I think I'd rather franken something similar that would be a better fit to my preferences.

Anyway, Divine! Divine might look familiar to you, as it's quite similar to Germanicure by OPI and my all-time favorite, OPI Royal Rajah Ruby! Here it is in the shade:

Dat shimmer! Here it is in the sun:

And another picture of the shimmer, because why not.

How great is that? I know, once again, not the most unique color on the planet, but I love it anyway. I probably won't have time to do a proper comparison to Royal Rajah Ruby, but I do have a swatch from last fall that I hadn't posted. So, for reference, RRR:

I think I can finally stop obsessing over backups, LOL.

On an entirely unrelated note, who else is preemptively freaking out in anticipation of Breaking Bad!? OMGGGGG. I don't think I've ever hated a fictional character quite as much as Walt. Maybe Schillinger. Or Adebisi. But Oz is chock full of unequivocally horrible people.

Have you tried Divine, or any of the other Gucci Westman colors? Were you as disappointed in Elusive as me?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Revlon Colorstay Nude Beige

Revlon Colorstay Nude Beige is from the Nude Expressions collection released this past Spring. The collection consists of 8 skintoned colors intended to help achieve a "mannequin hands" look. Of the 8, I thought Nude Beige looked closest to me, so I went with that. This is 3 coats, in the shade:

It's definitely not a match, but it's close enough, I guess. I really just got this to wear to work, and it does a good enough job pretending it doesn't exist. The formula is thick but good. It's one of those sort of sheer creme-jelly type polishes, so it needs 3 coats, but it's not streaky, and it's quite glossy alone.

So, not the most exciting color, but if we've got similar skintones and you need something appropriate for a conservative office, I would definitely recommend this.

Have you tried Nude Beige, or any of the other Colorstay Nudes? Thoughts?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

Revlon Chic + Essie As Gold As It Gets

Today I've got for you a layering combo that is a little different, but I'm pretty pleased with how it looks. 2 coats of Revlon Chic, and 1 thin coat of Essie As Gold As It Gets. Chic has a perfect formula, nearly opaque in 1 coat, and very smooth.

I know people tend to layer As Gold As It Gets over darker colors so the gold stands out more, but I personally like it best over mid-toned colors, especially dusty ones like Chic.

No sunlight pics today, because the sun just washed out all the shimmer, so I figured they would be sort of pointless.

I need to dig through my stash for more murky cremes to layer this over. I've definitely got Revlon Guest List and SHCSM Greige Gardens in mind...maybe I'll also try it over a light grey...

What are your favorite bases for As Gold As It Gets?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Revlon Eclectic

Happy Friday! Unfortunately, today I have a huge disappointment to show you. I've been on the hunt for a nice, opaque aqua creme, and I thought Eclectic might do the trick. It's a bit greener than I wanted, but still a nice color. Here it is in the shade:

The formula, however, sucks. A lot. It seemed ok at the first coat, a little sheer, but probably manageable. NOPE. If you don't let it dry completely between coats, it is so freaking streaky. I am disappoint. This result required 4 coats. For a creme.

It also takes a really freaking long time to dry. Womp wompppppp. I usually have great luck with Revlons, especially their cremes, but this is bad. Mine might have been from a bad batch, but still. I do not recommend this at ALL.

So this went right back, and my search for a nice aqua creme continued. I think I've finally found the right one, Essie Where's My Chauffeur! It's a pretty recent release, and hopefully I'll get that one swatched soon.

Have you tried Eclectic? Did you have as much trouble as I did?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

HARE Star Tropics

Now here's a glitter that I am madly in love with. HARE Star Tropics is from Spring 2012, but was a very limited release due to some formula and glitter problems. I have experienced neither of those issues, but last I heard Nikole was reformulating, so hopefully it will be released with a future collection! It is absolutely gorgeous.

Star Tropics consists of 2 sizes of silver square glitter and small silver hex glitter in a blue jelly base. The base is very slightly blurple, but still distinctly blue. It sort of reminds me of Starry Starry Night, but on some hardcore steroids. With that in mind, I layered it over a dark blue. First, I tried it over Ruby Kisses Regaled Out Blue. 3 coats of the Ruby Kisses, 2 coats of Star Tropics, Gelous, and top coat.

I liked the combination, but felt like my base color didn't quite go. It doesn't have the slight indigo tinge to it, so the second time I decided to layer it over Revlon Urban, and that was perfect!

As you can see, I'm a bit rusty on my glitter application, lol. Fear of removal keeps me from wearing these crazy glitters, to be blunt! Since it's a super chunky glitter in a jelly base, it's not surprising that it's pretty thick, but application wasn't bad, and I had no trouble getting the giant squares onto my nails.

In case I haven't told you enough yet, I LOVE SQUARE GLITTER. Here's a closer look, from the first manicure I did:

The depth that the jelly base imparts is just awesome, even if it doesn't quite go.

As far as I know, there aren't any dupes of this out there. I don't know about you, but I'd love to have a glitter mix with these exact sizes and shapes, in a bunch of differently-colored bases. That would be AWESOME. If someone made a light grey creme/jelly (I still refuse to use the word "crelly") with matte, retina-searing hot pink glitter like this, I would be all over that. And aqua and yellow. Dark teal jelly and an antique-ish gold. I always have these ideas floating around in my head but I'm terrified of messing up and wasting money/supplies so I never actually get around to attempting any of them ._. Story of my life.

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

Contrary Polish Purple Smoke + Comparison

Happy Friday!! I am especially stoked today. I just finished my last final (Spanish), and I feel great about it. Today I've got for you a Contrary Polish that isn't necessarily as exciting as the others I've posted so far, but is still quite awesome.

Contrary Polish Purple Smoke is one of the original six colors. When I first saw it, I thought, eh, it's close enough to Paradoxal, Perplex, etc. and if you're not a fan of those greyish/taupe-y/purple colors, it probably is! However, I love them, and am quite pleased with Purple Smoke. It's opaque in 3 thin coats. In the shade:

Like the other Contraries, Purple Smoke is a subtle shimmer, but not at all hidden. Purple Smoke dries pretty matte, so you'll definitely need top coat. In the sun:

The shimmer in Purple Smoke isn't nearly as contrasting as some of the other colors, but I think it's lovely nonetheless. I've also compared it to Revlon Perplex and Barry M Dusky Mauve (an exact dupe for Chanel Paradoxal). I know, Perplex and Dusky Mauve are pretty close, but I chose to compare it with both because to me, Perplex is definitely more purple, and Dusky Mauve is more brown.

So, first up, Purple Smoke vs. Perplex. 2 coats of Perplex on the index and ring fingernails, with top coat.

As you can see, Perplex is darker, warmer, and more purple.

And Purple Smoke vs. Dusky Mauve. 2 coats of Dusky Mauve on the index and ring fingernails, plus top coat.

Like Perplex, Dusky Mauve is warmer and more purple than Purple Smoke, but Dusky Mauve is also a lot more taupe or brown-leaning. Purple Smoke looks blueish in comparison.

All three of these polishes have great formulas, so I'd recommend any of them. Out of these, Perplex will definitely be the easiest to obtain. It has been renamed Naughty, and is now core. Full-sized Contrary Polishes are available on Llarowe, Femme Fatale, and Shoppe Eclectico, but on Fridays, you can also buy minis straight from the Contrary Polish blog. For those of you in the US, Dusky Mauve will be the most troublesome to obtain- I bought mine on Ebay. Harlow and Co. sold Barry M at one point, but I don't see them on the site anymore. You can order directly from Barry M, but I know of someone who had quite a bit of trouble with them, and wouldn't recommend it.

Have you tried any of these? What did you think? Are you as much of a sucker for greyish purples as I seem to be?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

Revlon Gold Coin + Orly Halo

Yaaaaay, I am free! My cast was originally supposed to come off four weeks ago, but my wrist was definitely not healed enough at that point, so I got a new one. Watch out for those skateboarders, y'all. I still have a bit of trouble with my right knee. :|

Picking up where I left off, here's Orly Halo. It's an awesome, flashy metallic glitter from the Naughty or Nice Collection that was released last winter. When I tested this on a single nail, I realized it's sheer as hell, so I opted to layer it over a cool gold foil: Revlon Gold Coin. I know I said I wasn't going to buy Gold Coin, but I didn't! I discovered it in my mom's stash. Apparently we both have weaknesses for gold and copper. :'D

Luckily, Gold Coin is really freaking opaque, so I only needed to use one coat for a base. Here it is with 3 coats of Halo on top. I did use top coat, but Halo is surprisingly smooth on its own.

And in the sun:

Yay! Sparkly metallic glittery awesomeness. This is a pretty flashy manicure, and I got several compliments on it from people, which was nice. Let's take a closer look:

Ok, well, you can't really see that much because it's so busy...but it's comprised of small silver hexes mixed with tiny cool gold glitters, and flecks of Gold Coin peeking out through the glitter. I should also note that the wear on this mani was great. 5 days, still super blingy, no chips or tipwear.

As far as dupes go, I can't think of any that I would consider exact, but OPI Spark de Triomphe seems pretty close. I think it has a veeeeery slight greenish tinge, but the glitter composition seems similar. I actually bought Halo to kill my Spark de Triomphe lemming, and it's close enough to suit my purposes.

Have you tried Halo, or any of the other Holiday Orlys? What did you think?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Revlon Urban + Heavenly

Happy Friday!!! Today I have 2 fabulous polishes from Revlon to show you. Both Urban and Heavenly are from the Bubblegum Days/Urban Nights collection that was recently released by Revlon. I believe the colors are all still available in stores. By far, the most popular color from that collection seems to be Girly, a milky glitter that seems vaguely reminiscent of HARE Rad Cloud and Magic Mist, but to be blunt....I don't like it. It looks kind of messy and chaotic to me. I did pick up a third color from this collection, Eclectic, and you will hopefully be seeing that in a few weeks. Spoiler alert: it sucked. A lot.

Urban and Heavenly, however, do not suck! At all. Let's start with Urban. Urban is a lovely navy creme with purple-ish undertones, which is a nice contrast to the green-tinged dark blues I've been seeing lately. It's solid in 2 coats, not streaky, and dries nice and glossy on its own. In the shade:

Sorry about the dry hands. I did moisturize before taking these photos, I promise, but it's not doing me much good right now. Silly winter weather, making things difficult. In the sun:

Isn't it awesome? So rich and glossy. I didn't use top coat before taking these pictures, by the way. To this manicure, I added one coat of Revlon Heavenly.

Since Urban is dark, the glitter in Heavenly really pops over that base. And I think it's a fun change to layer iridescents over dark blue instead of black. I get bored of layering over black...

Heavenly suspends the glitter in a slightly milky base, but it doesn't interfere with the layering at all. I do think the glitter mix seems...unbalanced, somehow? But it's a fun combination.

Dat color shift. And, as you know by now, I love squares....I also love green-blue iridescent glitter...not quite as much as blue-purple, but it is still awesome.

Now, Heavenly is the latest in Revlon's series of high-end dupes and approximations, and this is apparently a dead-on dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Stairway to Heaven. Based on swatches, Urban looks similar to China Glaze Calypso Blue, but because swatches of the latter vary so much, it's hard to tell. I've never seen Calypso Blue in person though, since it was released before I became a polish addict, so take it with a gigantic grain of salt.

Have you tried any of the Bubblegum Days/Urban Nights polishes? What did you think?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

Revlon After Party + L.A. Girls Uninhibited

Today's manicure is one that I'm feeling pretty "meh" about. 3 coats of After Party, 1 coat of Uninhibited, 1 coat of Gelous, which clearly wasn't enough to smooth it out.

I think the glitter is cool, I just chose the wrong base for it. Or maybe it needs to be matte.

Thoughts? Feelings? Any recent manicures that just didn't do it for you?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

Top 30 of 2012! (part 1)

So, about a year ago I showed you my all-time favorites. I was going to do it again on the same day, but obviously that didn't happen because I am lame. I was also going to show you how my all-time favorites have changed in the last year, but I don't think they've changed a whole lot, so instead I will show you three lists over the next three days: my ten favorite polishes released this year, my ten favorite indies, and my ten favorites for layering (both base colors and layering polishes).

Several of them, I have not yet blogged about, so you'll be getting a sneak peek of some upcoming posts. And there are a few polishes for which I've not even taken photos, so you'll get a few bottle photos here and there. So, let's get started!

OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh?

This year, I tried nude cremes! I'm still overwhelmed by all the combinations of hue, undertone, etc. but this one kinda works! It's greyish and cool-toned, but I think it has enough yellow in it that it sort of works. Regardless of my skintone weirdness, this is a great color with a great formula.

Revlon Urban

LOVE. Shiny, squishy dark blue creme with slight purple undertones. Great formula.

Essie Penny Talk

I've told you of my weakness for coppers, and this pretty much epitomizes it. One of the worst formulas I've ever worked with, but I can't resist the color! I'm even willing to forgive some brushstrokes for it.

Illamasqua Charisma

As you probably know, I'm not a pink fan. But this dark berry has some reddish undertones, and that shimmer. I just love it. Great pedicure color, too.

OPI I Have a Herring Problem

This is definitely one of OPI's better names, and one of their better colors too. Despite the sheerness, I love the finish and color, and the application is great.

Essie Ole Caliente

Coral is not really my thing but this is so pretty. It's reddish enough that I don't feel that weird wearing it, and Ole Caliente makes for an awesome summery pedicure.

Deborah Lippmann Cleopatra in New York

I'm not sure how she does it, but Deborah Lippmann really nails the balance of base color to glitter. The black base is opaque, but the gold still shines through, and the end result has so much depth. Plus, you can't go wrong with black and gold. (cue Sam Sparro playing in the background)

Essence Walk on the Wild Side

Really, I could have put all four of the new Colour & Go's on this list, but since I only left space for one, I chose this. Formula could be better, but the finish is great.

Nails Inc. Baker Street

I bet no one was expecting this. /sarcasm
Seriously though, how can you resist such a bold blue?

Revlon Guest List

In addition to nude cremes, I also tried an olive green for the first time this year. The formula is less than stellar, but I really like this.

Thoughts? Do we have any mainstream/mass-produced favorites in common? Tell me about yours!

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week! 

Reswatch: Revlon Devil's Candy

Devil's Candy is my favorite red jelly, so I figured I'd reswatch because...yeah. Why not.

2 coats, super smooth formula, lots of general awesomeness. In the sun:

This was a limited edition polish from last fall, but I think the core color Fearless is quite close. I've already got too many red jellies, so I didn't get that one, but in the bottle it looks pretty close. I keep meaning to do a comparison between some of my reds, but it hasn't happened yet. Someday...

Thoughts? Feelings? Are you a red jelly addict like me?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great weekend!

Revlon After Party + Comparison

Hey y'all! Today I'm going to show you Revlon After Party. It's from the same collection as Guest List, which I posted last week. After Party is fabulous. It's a dusty teal creme. Here it is in the shade:

And in the sun:

Unfortunately, it has the exact same formula as Guest List, meaning that you will probably have to let the coats dry completely in between to prevent streaking, and it will most likely need 2-3 coats to even out anyway. Oh, and ignore the TOP SPEED labels because I'm pretty sure these take longer to dry than regular polish. 

BUT. I do quite like this color, as evidenced by the fact that I've also got Revlon Chic...let's compare the two, shall we? 2 coats of Chic versus 3 coats of After Party, with top coat. In the shade:

And in the sun:

They're not thaaaaat similar right? RIGHT??? Oh well, it's ok, they are both great colors.

On a side note, the end of the semester is quickly approaching and it's going to be killer, so I'm going to go on hiatus for a bit. I will hopefully resume posting towards the end of December.

Anyway, talk to me about dusty blues! What are your favorites? Do you have Chic or After Party? Do you have a weakness for dusty blues like me?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week!

Revlon Guest List

Revlon Guest List is one of the LE Top Speeds from this fall, so it should still be available. The collection seemed to be party-themed, or something. Guest List is a murky olive green creme, and the first color of this sort that I've ever tried. I worried about my hands looking dirty or turning into lobster claws with olives, but I'm pleasantly surprised by this one! In the shade:

In warmer lighting (since the sun was nowhere to be found). This is a more accurate depiction of how it looks most of the time.

So, let's talk formula. I don't think Top Speeds and I get along very well. Apparently I can never seem to wait long enough between coats to prevent bald spots, which is weird because I wait several minutes, and that works just fine for non-quick dry polishes....So, because of the streaking, Guest List is a definite 3-coater. It could be solid in 2 if you can prevent the streaking.

As for dupes...I'm really not familiar with olive greens, as I had always ignored them because I figured they would look horrible. However, I could never really shake the Chanel Khaki Vert lemming until now. I think this is like a more flattering version of Khaki Vert (which is grayer, and a bit browner). For reference, check out theasiangirl's swatch on Tumblr. She and I have very similar skintones, so I know I can rely on her swatches.

Have you ever tried an olive green polish? Did you wind up liking it, or hating it?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you're having a great week! And for my American readers, have a great Thanksgiving! 

Revlon Royal

Revlon Royal is a medium blue jelly with a horrendous formula. Despite being part of the Top Speed line, it dries very slowly, is runny and watery, and bubbles. And it smells awful. I know this color is quite popular amongst online polish addicts, but I am not impressed. 3 coats, no top coat.

You can see some of the bubbling on my middle fingernail. I love how vivid the color is, but it's such a pain to work with. It's getting purged for sure. The only way I can use this without myriad bubbles is in a jelly sandwich. In the sun:

Yayyy more bubbles. >:| Luckily, I don't think this color is all that unique. Essence Cool and the Gang looks pretty similar, and plenty of brands have put out vivid medium blues recently. Orly Royal Navy is also close, but has shimmer. I've heard that the shimmer in Royal Navy has a tendency to settle so if you let that happen and then polish from the top of the bottle, you should be able to get a pretty similar effect. I believe RBL IKB:2012 is similar, but has a slight purple/indigo tinge to it that the others lack. It's also much more expensive and more difficult to get ahold of, so I'd suggest the Orly over the others.

Have you tried Royal? Was it as much of a disappointment for you as it was for me?

Thanks for looking & commenting, and happy Friday!! Have a great weekend.

Devil's Blood, or Tiger's Candy? A Red Jelly Sandwich

Good morning! Today's manicure is one that I came up with while swatching endless layering combinations of jellies and glitters on my nail wheels. I initially thought that Revlon Devil's Candy would be way too opaque for a jelly sandwich, since it is solid in 2 coats, but turns out it does work alright if you use a thin coat! This is 2 coats of Devil's Candy and 1 coat of Icing Tiger's Blood, topped off with a final coat of Devil's Candy. I did use top coat in these photos.

It doesn't have as much depth as a regular jelly sandwich, but it does vaguely remind me of what I was hoping RBL Poppy would be. I saw the bottle shots and was ooooohing and aaaahing over the shimmer flecks, but it doesn't often translate onto the nail that way...Poppy is no exception.

Here you can see the glitter a bit better. It's definitely different from what I'm used to, but I don't think it was an entirely unsuccessful experiment. Just more bold than I'm used to, haha.

Thoughts? Have you ever tried a jelly sandwich?

Thanks for looking and commenting, and have a great week!