Revlon Orchid

Inspired by Kat's snowed-in dotting manis (which she might put up in a later post), I decided to give my heart accent nail another try using dots this time.  I wanted to stick to drugstore polishes that are still available - unlike the older ones I was wearing this week - so I went back into my Revlon drawer for some Top Speeds.

I used two coats of the very opaque Revlon Top Speed Orchid. I probably could have gotten away with one coat, but applied two to smooth over initial brush strokes. This is a mauve-pink foil-like shade. It has some silver microglitter and pink microshimmer in it, but it acts like a foil in application and removal. This polish dries fast to the touch, but stayed dentable on me for awhile, even with a Seche Vite top coat. I'm not sure if it was the Revlon, the Seche Vite, or the two of them together that was to blame, but it was definitely odd given both are fast dry.

I used a dotting tool to dot on my accent hearts. I used two otherTop Speeds - Cloud and Modern Grace.

Cloud, Orchid, Modern Grace

Orchid is still completely available wherever Revlon polishes are sold. Cloud, a light purple creme, might be a little harder to find, but you can still find it online like Amazon.

Modern Grace, a purple-periwinkle creme, was a limited edition release in Spring/Summer 2011, but there are other similar shades out there if you like this color. If you want to stay drugstore, try out Wet 'n Wild Megalast's On A Trip. If you want to go a little "higher end," Zoya Caitlin is a greyed out cousin.

My little dotted hearts were a lot more appreciated than my previous glitter hearts, but now I'm in the mood for more glitter. What would be a good glitterful Valentine's mani?...

Revlon Copper Penny

It's not Mother's Day yet, but if my mom can't wait to give me my Easter polishes, I'm not waiting until May to declare how cool she is.

I was a drugstore polish girl until college and Revlon was my favorite with their limited edition collections and easy-to-use brushes (yeah, I'm looking at you, Maybelline - fix your brushes!!).  I've always been more of a saver than a spender, though, so I wouldn't buy them for myself unless there was a sale or a coupon because $4 a bottle was a lot back then. Mom to the rescue! For years, she's been slipping those Revlons in my Easter basket and Christmas stocking. 

Old habits die hard and my mom has hit up the Revlon racks for me again to get me some of their newer shades. Since I'm still loving all the sunshine (I never hate sunshine but I don't like it as much when it's over 110 in the summer - but hey, it's a dry heat... till monsoon...), and sparkly polishes look fabulous in the sunshine, I wore one of our mutual favorites first - Copper Penny!

Revlon Copper Penny is from the Heavenly Metal collection. It's a "New Shade," but I don't think it's Limited Edition.  Copper Penny is a copper foil with a deep copper metallic base lightened and brightened with lots of fine silver and light gold sparkles. I know it says "Metallic" on the bottle, but I think a true metallic polish has a smoother, reflective, more metal-like finish (i.e. the China Glaze Chromes). Copper Penny has that sparkly, glittery-yet-smooth finish of a foil.  

Sunlight - Smooth & Sparkly

Shade - The Silver Glitter is More Visible

If you look at the copper down the middle of the nail,
it matches almost perfectly to the shade of a new penny.

Copper Penny went on almost completely opaque in one coat, but two coats were needed for a smooth finish. Metallic colors love to hug every ridge on the nail in the first coat. 

The closest color I have to this polish is OPI Legs Celebrate, but Copper Penny is lighter and doesn't have as much orange. This polish looks understated indoors because it's a bit similar to my skin tone and then it's "Wham! Sparkly!!" as soon the sunlight hits it. 

Thanks for the awesome polish, Mom!!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Purple Gala

What to wear for Mardi Gras?  Something purple, something gold, something festive & sparkly... time for Purple Gala!!

This is a limited edition polish from the Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear line. The display didn't specify a season and it started popping up in July and August, so I'll say it's from their Fall 2010 collection.

Purple Gala is a sparkly foil with purple, silver, and gold glitter in a smoky purple base overlaid with lots of larger gold glitter pieces. You'll see more purple versus more gold depending on the lighting. This polish was opaque in 2 coats, but I put on a third coat for a little more depth.

This was a challenging polish to find even after it was recently released. Since that was almost a year ago and this is a limited edition shade, it might be near impossible to get Purple Gala now.  But never fear! If you like the look of Purple Gala, I recommend picking up Hard Candy's Mr. Wrong, which is close enough in color and finish to be a dupe to the casual observer.

China Glaze Blue Island Iced Tea

Some of my favorite blues are from the China Glaze Bahama Blues collection, so I decided to wear some of my others ones this week.  Here is Blue Island Iced Tea!

I like this polish in the sunlight... 

 but it's pretty cool in the shade, too.

Is this a bluish silver or a silvery blue?  Is this a metallic, a microglitter, a shimmer, or a foil? 

Blue Island Iced Tea is hard to describe because it changes in almost every lighting. This is my interpretation of its description: a silver-based light blue foil.  It's got the sparkle and bling of a glitter with the smooth finish of a fol.  It's on the sheer, thin side, so it needs 3 coats.

What I really like about this polish is that it's a great polish to wear all year.  It feels icy when there's snow outside, it feels like sun off the waves in when it's summer time, it brightens up a cloudy day, it blings out on a sunny day. It looks different whenever you look at it.  Is that a jelly base? Is that a hint of turquoise glitter? It just keeps on sparkling.