A Heavenly way to Ride the Waves

Revlon Heavenly over China Glaze Ride the Waves, sunlight

Here's a manicure that I intended to do a jelly sandwich with. However, I loved the look of the glitter so much that I couldn't bear to put another layer of polish on top of it. It's Revlon Heavenly over 2 coats of China Glaze Ride the Waves, a blue jelly polish. Most polish fanatics know that Revlon Heavenly is a glitter polish that's a dupe of Deborah Lippmann Stairway to Heaven. It features opalescent square glitter and orange flashing hex glitters. I don't know that it would work well with all colors, but Heavenly definitely looks good over dark colors, especially blues and teals.  Here it is in the shade:

Revlon Heavenly over China Glaze Ride the Waves, shade

Join me after the jump for a couple more pictures.

Lazy 15 Day 6- Favorite color, with Orly Spazmatic

Orly Spazmatic over Revlon Royal with flakies

I don't think I'm going to be alone in stating "favorite color- Huh?" As in, favorite color ever, of polish, our favorite polish name-the possibilities are endless. Since my favorite color is turquoise, I went with a look featuring Orly Spazmatic,a turquoise glitter in a clear base. I also decided to include a few of my other favorites in this manicure, so I decided to use a jelly type of polish and to include some flakies, which I also love! I created a jelly sandwich featuring 1 coat of Spazmatic between 2 coats of Revlon Royal, which I recently picked up for $2 at Big Lots. I added a coat of Essie Shine of the times on top. Once all that was done, I wanted the beautiful blue color of turquoise glitter to be showcased a bit more, so I added some glitter tips to the top of my nails with more of Orly Spazmatic. Sorry these sundown pictures are a bit weird looking, I'll be adding some natural light ones later on.

Orly Spazmatic and Essie Shine of the Times over Revlon Royal

Comparison-Wet n Wild On a Trip vs. Revlon Modern Grace

Wet n Wild On a Trip on pointer and ring fingers, Revlon Modern Grace on middle and pinkie fingers

I mentioned the similarities between these two polishes back when I did a post about Revlon Modern Grace. I did 2 coats of each polish for this comparison. Wet n Wild On a Trip is on the pointer and ring fingers and Revlon Modern Grace is on the middle and pinkie fingers.  The 2 purples are extremely close, but Modern Grace is slightly dustier and darker than On a Trip. Also, I mentioned in my other post, the formula for Modern Grace is quite a bit better than the one for On a Trip. You can see that On a Trip is still a bit spotty at 2 coats, while Modern Grace looks good at 2 coats.  However, On a Trip is widely available at most drugstores, but Modern Grace is going to be harder to find. It was a limited edition Revlon Top Speed for last summer, but it's still available at select discounters.

OPI Pirouette My Whistle over Revlon Modern Grace

OPI Pirouette My Whistle over Revlon Modern Grace, sunlight

I just have a quick post for you today. Here is the OPI glitter Pirouette My Whistle over Revlon Modern Grace. Pirouette My Whistle is from the OPI Softshades New York Ballet collection. It's a clear base with white hex glitter and silver microglitter. Revlon Modern Grace is from their top speed line. It's a beautiful creme purple with a great formula. To learn a bit more about these polishes, and to see more pics, join me after the jump.

Revlon Sheer Seafoam= Why Bother?

Bare nail wheel on left, 3 coats of Revlon Sheer Seafoam on right

I understand that they put the word "sheer" in the name, but when a polish is still barely visible at 3 coats, I have to wonder why anyone would bother with it! I saw this polish as part of the Revlon Escapism display at my local Walgreens and was immediately drawn to the color. I happened to have my nail wheel on hand and started polishing. The color was invisible at 1 coat, so much so that I couldn't tell which of the clear nails on my wheel had the polish on it. It didn't get any better after a 2nd or 3rd coat. In case my nail wheel pics don't convince you, here's a few pictures I got of the polish in the bottle. It's too bad because it seems like an amazing color that could've been a great sheer if they'd gotten the formula right. The way it stands, I'd say this polish is a waste of money. Join me after the jump for a few more pictures.


Revlon Sheer Seafoam brush on neck: see the near transparency?

Sinful Colors Cinderella and Revlon Whimsical, matted- a great match!

Sinful Colors Cinderella with Revlon Whimsical and matte topcoat, natural light

Even though I have plenty of polishes I could try out after my trip to Mexico, something about Sinful Colors Cinderella just called to me and I knew I had to wear it. I ended up not only wearing it plain, but doing adding that special "neutral" glitter, Revlon Whimsical and a matte topcoat. Join me for more pictures after the jump!

Revlon Whimsical-OK, fine, I like it....

Revlon Whimsical over Color Club Factory Girl, sunlight

So my strong desire to get Revlon's Whimsical, the Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air dupe, was not a rational one. Basically, if there's an affordable Lippmann dupe out there, I want it. However, in all the swatches I had seen of Glitter in the Air, I had never been totally into the polish. It was a little too subdued for my taste, I think. I also didn't like how translucent it was, and the idea of having to wear a base color underneath.  I have to say, now that I've worn and swatched Whimsical over a few colors, I can see why the color was such a highly coveted one! Join me after the jump to see Whimsical over a variety of blues and other colors.

Comparison-Revlon Top Speed Jaded vs. China Glaze Refresh Mint

Here is absolute proof that I am always drawn to the same kinds of colors:More pictures after the jump.

China Glaze Re-fresh Mint on left, Revlon Jaded on right, sunlight

Fell on my face, fell off the wagon

My no-buy lasted a total of 36 hours :( But it's due to circumstances out of my control. Yesterday I tripped and landed on my face pretty hard, and I needed something to make me feel better. I went into Ulta and found that they had Revlon's Whimsical and that they currently have a BOGO 1/2 off sale. I bought it, Starry Night, and an Ulta color that was on clearance for a dollar. (Also, the ULTA still had plenty of the Glitterati set, which I already own because it's got 3 Lippmann dupes.) My face looks like I went 12 rounds with Laila Ali, but now I have two more lemmings off my list!

Weekly(?) blog roundup

So I"m doing this post to share what I consider to be good information or nail art for the nail loving community. I may not have enough material to keep doing it weekly, but I certainly found lots of interesting stuff this week:

-Dupe Alert! Revlon has created a dupe for Deborah Lippmann's Glitter in the Air. Read a blog posting that compares the two here. http://hotpinkaurora.blogspot.com/2011/11/more-on-revlon-dupes-deborah-lippmann.html (For those few non-nail lovers reading this, Deborah Lippmann is a brand of polish whose polishes are often unique, but run $18-$20 per bottle [!]) Revlon's dupe is called called Whimsical and it is appearing with the new Revlon displays. It looks like this display also may contain dupes for the Chanel Jeans collection.  Read more about it in Nouveau Cheap, which does its own comparison in the post. http://nouveaucheap.blogspot.com/2011/12/revlon-whimsical-deborah-lippmann.html

-Dupe Alert, part 2! Ulta is currently selling a 4 pack that contains dupes for the following popular Lippmann shades :Bad Romance, Ruby Red Slippers, Dancing in the Dark(part of the recent collection, which you can read about here: http://www.thepolishaholic.com/2011/11/deborah-lippmann-dance-music-holiday.html) AND....Across the Universe!!! That last one is the one I'm most excited about, this is my all time most coveted Lippmann and I have been searching for a good dupe of it for a while.Read about it and see the swatches here: http://adventuresinacetone.blogspot.com/2011/12/ulta-glitterati-minisaka-deborah.html

-Layering awesomeness alert: Watch two beautiful polishes transform into something even more gorgeous at Swatch and Learn: http://www.swatchandlearn.com/cult-nails-hypnotize-me-layered-over-cult-nails-iconic-swatches-review/  Like I mentioned in a prior post, seeing this post inspired me to layer more!

-A beautiful winter mani at LadyLuck Beauty Blog: http://ladyluckbeauty.blogspot.com/2011/12/winter-nail-art.html  I think it's simple enough to do with just a toothpick, no special tools/polishes necessary. I plan to test this theory and imitate the design later in the season, though I'm going to do Christmas specific ones in the meantime.  

-Rebecca over at Rebecca Likes Nails shares some flakie awesomeness with us with her swatches of Nfu-Oh 50. Maybe this is only important to me because of my huge love of flakies?  Hmmm....http://rebeccalikesnails.blogspot.com/2011/12/nfu-oh-50.html

-Nouveau Cheap posted another update about the Spoiled collection from Wet n Wild. http://nouveaucheap.blogspot.com/2011/12/quick-update-on-new-wet-n-wild-spoiled.html  The good news is, it will be permanent. The bad news: I've been to 4 different CVS and have yet to find them! Maybe it's being rolled out slowly and California is last on the list?

-I've been to a few Big Lots! recently for non-polish reasons and checked out the beauty section. At the two I visited, there were still some Revlon Carbonite polishes to be had for $1.50. (Carbonite is a very near dupe of a Chanel shade called Graphite) Some were in the generic bucket of beauty products on the bottom shelf, and in both stores, there were only 5 or so left. Visit your local Big Lots quick if you want to pick up this beauty on the cheap! 

-Finally, I'm sure I'm not the only one who is happy to hear that Michelle from All Lacquered Up posted an explanation of her absence. http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2011/12/dawn-day.html I'm sad to hear about her recent problems, since I've also battled depression in the past and can relate. Luckily, things are looking up and she says she'll be back to posting regularly. Even if she never posted again, her blog is invaluable resource.  I wish her the best, in blogging but more importantly, in life!