Thursday, April 30, 2015

Essie Capri

 Essie Capri
2 coats


I'm not much of a fashionista when it comes to clothes, but new nail polish collections? I am always in. When I heard that some Essie shades would be included in the Target/Lilly Pulitzer collaboration, I was pretty excited to check them out.

Then I figured out they were just re-releases of existing shades, with just a little Lilly Pulitzer hang tag added. I was disappointed, but decided to pick up one caught my eye that I didn't already have in my collection.

Capri is a great Spring shade, if not at all unique. I got good coverage in two coats, although on some fingers you can see my nail line and I suspect a third coat would have solved that.
 


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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Sephora Formula X Sheer Strength in Wondrous

Sephora Formula X Sheer Strength in Wondrous
3 coats
 
I saw these a few months ago when Karen Falcone swatched them and I was intrigued... they reminded me of the Sally Hansen Smooth and Perfect Color + Care line that came out a few years ago. I really liked those, but I don't have the pink shade called Satin, and I had a credit eating a hole in my pocket at Sephora... so into my cart Wondrous went.
 
Application was pretty much fool-proof and even a muggle could get a great looking mani with this color. I pretty much just slapped it on and didn't even bother to do any clean-up around my cuticles and I still think it looks great.
 
At $12.50, these are more than twice as much as Sally's original version is at $5.50. It looks like the Color + Care line is still available, so if this looks like your cup of tea, I'd go for the more reasonably priced Sally Hansen line myself. 
 



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Saturday, April 18, 2015

Sephora Formula X in A+

Sephora Formula X in A+
(2 coats)
 
At some point, I received this mini-sized bottle of A+, I believe as a 100 point perk. I'm not positive, but I decided to give it a try along with the mini set of The Formula X System I received as a 500 point perk. 
 
 
Side note on this little set: I had this set on my list of thing to try, and I love when I can spend my points on something off my wishlist! I was really surprised when I received my package and realized that all four of the little bottles were just tossed in together with some shredded paper. Luckily, none of them arrived damaged, but this packaging was just asking for trouble.
 
But back to the polish..... I really really like The System! The topcoat was pretty fabulous- self-leveling and fast-drying and just all-around awesome.
 
A+ is a nice shade, but it appears to be discontinued.  The way the Formula X shades are organized makes it pretty hard to navigate and search for an individual shade. If you know the name of the shade, you can use the search box on their website, but if you are just browsing and looking for something pretty to buy, it's cumbersome because you have to go to an individual page for each type of polish- Transformers, Sparklers, Sea Glass etc.
 
 
 

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Friday, April 10, 2015

Dermelect All Decked Out Collection

Dermelect All Decked Out Collection
Spring 2015
 
Dermelect Dune My Thing
(mauve taupe)
2 coats

Dermelect Fant-A-Sea
(peach shimmer)
2 coats

 Dermelect A Shore Thing
(sheer beige)
2 coats
 
Dermelect Lazy Daze
(butter creme)
2 coats
 
The All Decked Out collection was inspired by beaches and the summer sun and is full of calming and cool tones that reminded Elle, the Color Curator for Dermelect, of a sea shell.
 
I found all four shades to apply wonderfully. I think a third of the sheer beige, A Shore Thing, might have added a bit more coverage, but since it's supposed to be sheer, I stopped at two since I liked the look. Lazy Daze was surprisingly opaque in just two coats, and so pretty, but my favorite of the collection is Dune My Thing.
 
Dermelect recommends using the shades without a separate base coat since they have ingredients to help strengthen the nails. They have also recently released a new cuticle oil called Revital-Oil that is peptide infused as well as a topcoat called Memento that can help a mani up to 9 days. I plan on giving these two products a try over the next week. Watch for an upcoming review of these two products.


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Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Avon Gel Finish Roses Are Red: 7 Day Wear Test

Avon Gel Finish Roses Are Red
(2 coats)
picture taken after 1 week of wear
 
left: fresh mani                           right: after 1 week of wear
 
I'm pretty impressed with Avon Gel Finish! It's been a full week, and although there is some tipwear, the finish is still nice and shiny and I actually haven't felt the need to take it off until now.  Avon doesn't promise a specific wear time, but The Daily Varnish had great luck with it and she wore one shade for 7 days with great results too.
 
To review, although it promises to act as a basecoat as well as a topcoat, I went ahead and used my normal combo of NailTek Intensive Therapy II as my basecoat and NYC Grand Central Station as my topcoat. Two coats gave me great coverage, a bit jelly-like, but still opaque in my opinion.

Since this has a super-reasonable price (right now it's $5) and paired well my with normal base and topcoats, I definitely recommend this line. To have the finish look so great after a full week is pretty amazing!
 


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Thursday, April 2, 2015

Avon Gel Finish Roses Are Red

Avon Gel Finish Roses Are Red
(2 coats)
 
With all the recent popularity of the drugstore "gel" polishes, I figured now was a good time to give this Avon Gel Finish shade a try. Avon doesn't promise a specific wear time, but The Daily Varnish had great luck with it and wore one shade for 7 days with great results. 
 
Although it promises to act as a basecoat as well as a topcoat, I went ahead and used my normal combo of NailTek Intensive Therapy II as my basecoat and NYC Grand Central Station as my topcoat. Two coats gave me great coverage, a bit jelly-like, but still opaque in my opinion.
 
I am pretty impressed with this.... enough that I might order some more shades. Right now they are on sale for $3.99, down from the regular price of $7.00.
 


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