OPI Down to the Core-al

OPI Down to the Core-al (2 coats)

from the 2014 Neons collection

topped with Revlon Holographic Pearls (1 coat)

Welcome Spring!

Revlon ColorStay in Rich Raspberry

 Revlon ColorStay in Rich Raspberry

2 coats

Sadly, this is from a discontinued line. The ColorStay nail color line has been replaced with the ColorStay Gel Envy line. I picked this up at Big Lots for just $1.50. It applied like a dream- perfect coverage in 2 coats.

Revlon Holographic Pearls

Revlon Holographic Pearls

(1 coat over China Glaze Frosty)

I am such a sucker for a holographic topcoat! Yes, I have China Glaze Fairy Dust, Nicole by OPI Extra Snowflakes Please, and Cover Girl City Lights, but of course when I saw Revlon released a line of Transforming Effects topcoats, I had to have Holographic Pearls.

And I am pleased! I was a bit bored with my China Glaze Frosty main, although it was pretty, so I added a coat of Holographic Pearls and LOVE! Definitely pick this one up if you don't already have a holo topcoat in your collection, or heck, even if you do!

Revlon Brilliant Strength Inflame

 Revlon Brilliant Strength Inflame

2 coats

 

I recently picked up this beauty at Big Lots for just $1.50. I absolutely love the brushes on these- they are the double-barrel brushes and I get such good application with brushes like that. It's a shame this line has been discontinued, but it was nice to score this for such a great price.

 

The formula on this was great- it's meant to be a bit of a jelly, and there is just the slightest amount of visible nail line with two coats, but not enough for me to want to add a third coat.

 

I think this would make a great summer pedi color too. Just gorgeous!

 

Revlon Transforming Effects in Matte Pearl Glaze

 Revlon Transforming Effects in Matte Pearl Glaze

1 coat over red

 

Left: Original red mani      Right: one coat of Matte Pearl Glaze applied

 

Last week I was at Walgreens and saw a display with Revlon's Transforming Effects. Matte Pearl Glaze sparked my interest most out of the group, so I picked it up and yesterday's red mani seemed like a great base to try it over.

 

I LOVE it! It needed just one coat, and it dried super fast. This would be a great polish to have in your stash to re-fresh and change up a day or two-old mani.

 

 

 



Revlon Popular

Revlon Popular

(3 coats)

shade pic

 

Revlon Popular is really pretty- I love the "jelly sandwich" look and love that this one polish takes care of it for me- no need to layer two polishes to get the look.

 

Popular is pretty sheer and I needed 3 coats to get good even coverage. Topped with NYC Grand Central Station, dry time was normal for me- I painted my nails and went to bed about an hour later.

 

 

Wear Test: Revlon ColorStay Gel Envy

Fresh swatch pic:

mani done Thursday night before bed, 

pic taken Friday morning

Revlon ColorStay Gel Envy in Pocket Aces

2 coats topped with ColorStay Gel Envy Diamond Top Coat

Day 6, with 5 full days of wear:
pic taken Tuesday afternoon

note: one small chip, but virtually NO tipwear!

Verdict:

I believe the one chip I got was due to the two days we spent at the local water park and all the sunscreening I did. There is not even a hint of a chip on any of my other 9 nails. And the fact that there is no tipwear is amazing! I can't wait to try other colors in this system.

Have you tried this system yet? Both the colors and topcoat in the ColorStay Gel Envy line retail for approximately $8.

Revlon ColorStay Gel Envy in Pocket Aces

Revlon ColorStay Gel Envy in Pocket Aces

2 coats topped with ColorStay Gel Envy Diamond Top Coat

 



Create salon-quality color in 30 vibrant shades with our revolutionary 2-step system. Brush on the base + color in one, and then finish with the protective ColorStay Gel Envy Diamond Top Coat™ for superior strength. Together, they create vivid color, brilliant shine and gorgeous life-resistant wear.

I am LOVING this line! I am now on day 4 and this mani still looks perfect! I hope to take some pics tomorrow to show the progress. As far as home no-light gel polish goes, this is a front runner for me, along with the L'Oreal Extraordinaire Gel-Lacque system. In last place are CND Vinylux and the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel.

Both the colors and topcoat in the ColorStay Gel Envy line retail for approximately $8, but I was able to purchase a color and topcoat at Walgreens during a BOGO 50% off, and I also used two $3 coupons, so I got a fabulous deal.

Revlon Parfumerie in Wintermint

Revlon Parfumerie in Wintermint

2 coats

 

Although I still had a bit of trouble with the handle like I did with China Flower, I thought this shade was gorgeous. I also had much better luck this time when I used my usual topcoat, NYC Grand Central Station, with this one- absolutely no problems at all, and it dried completely smooth.

 

I ended up wearing this for three days, and it wore pretty well. For this pic, I re-did the four fingers in the picture so I'd have fresh application to show. Removal wasn't too bad- I used my scrubby tub and found that I just had to scrub a bit extra to get that last bit of glitter off.

 

The smell, again, was faint, but still cool. By the third day I couldn't smell it at all.

 



lighting: shade

 



Here's a shade pic where you can see the glitter a bit better.

 

 

Revlon Parfumerie in China Flower

Revlon Parfumerie in China Flower

2 coats

 

Before we chat too much about this shade, I want to note that it did not play well with my normal topcoat of choice, NYC Grand Central Station. I did two separate manis with two separate bottles of GCS, and both time the finish was very streaky. Almost like China Flower soaked up some of the top coat in places? So for this mani I applied a coat of another clear polish before I took the pic to even it back out.

 

Also note that the scent only appears when the polish is dry- when it is wet, or when you smell from the bottle, it just smells like regular nail polish. I saw a youtuber remark (while smelling the open bottle) that it was silly that they called these Perfumerie since they don't smell like anything other than stinky nail polish. I guess she hadn't tried it as a mani yet!

 

So the smell was nice- very faint, but if I had my hands up by my face, I could smell it. Fun!

 

As for the color- I LOVE it! It's very Spring and Summer appropriate and I think this would make a great pedi color too.

 

So if you have used this, what topcoat do you recommend? 

 

One more thing- I had a bit of trouble with the design of the brush. Not actually the brush itself, but the handle.... see that big ball? That's what you have to hold while polishing, and it was awkward for me. Maybe after a few more times I'd get used to it, but it just wasn't comfortable and I didn't feel like I had control of the brush like I normally do.

 

 

Revlon Brazilian Beach

 Revlon Brazilian Beach

2 coats

(pic taken in shade because this one in the sun freaked out my camera!)

from the Haute Rocks Pebbled Nail Enamel Collection

 

Today I've got another shade from the Revlon Haute Rocks Pebbled Nail Enamel Collection. Last week I found this collection at my local CVS and chose a few shades to purchase. (Retail price was $5.99 each, but there was an ECB deal on them at the time to make them cheaper.)

 

 

 These Limited Edition Collection shades contains a matte base packed with glitter. The display referred to "3D matte sparkle inspired by exotic pebbled beaches."

 

Although the other two shades I tried from this line had a tinted base that helped me achieve pretty complete coverage in two coats, Brazilian Beach's base is just barely tinted, so my natural nail did show through. One option to remedy this might be to use a nude shade as undies.

 

I did find that this one dried relatively smooth, as did Balinese Bay and Lana'i Lagoon.

 

Here's a macro shot of the glitter- I do think the different sizes of gold and copper glitters are gorgeous.

 



Revlon Balinese Bay

Revlon Balinese Bay

2 coats

from the Haute Rocks Pebbled Nail Enamel Collection

 

Today I've got another shade from the Revlon Haute Rocks Pebbled Nail Enamel Collection. Last week I found this collection at my local CVS and chose a few shades to purchase. (Retail price was $5.99 each, but there was an ECB deal on them to make them cheaper.)

 

These Limited Edition Collection shades contains a matte base packed with glitter. The display referred to "3D matte sparkle inspired by exotic pebbled beaches."

 

Again, I was impressed with the coverage I got in just two coats. As with Lana'i Lagoon, this was actually pretty smooth!

 

shade pic- I think you see the glitter a bit bitter in the shade

macro shot- I LOVE this combo of glitter.

 



Revlon Lana'i Lagoon

Revlon Lana'i Lagoon

2 coats

from the Haute Rocks Pebbled Nail Enamel Collection

 

Last week I found this collection at my local CVS and chose a few shades to purchase. (Retail price was $5.99 each, but there was an ECB deal on them to make them cheaper.)

 

These Limited Edition Collection shades contains a matte base packed with glitter. The display referred to "3D matte sparkle inspired by exotic pebbled beaches."

 

I was impressed with the coverage I got in just two coats. And although I totally expected this to leave a rough texture, it was actually pretty smooth!

 

shade pic- I think you see the glitter a bit bitter in the shade

macro shot- isn't that glitter gorgeous?

 



Revlon Colorstay in Rich Raspberry

A few weeks ago I started stalking my Big Lots because I heard there were Sephora by OPI shades there. I got lucky and found a few, but I also found two Revlon Colorstay shades, both in their core collection, on sale for just $1.50 each. Today I'll show you Rich Raspberry.

 

Revlon Colorstay in Rich Raspberry

2 coats

 



Isn't this pretty? It applied like a dream! At just $1.50 I think I need to go back and look for some more colors.

Revlon Colorstay in Rain Forest

A few weeks ago I started stalking my Big Lots because I heard there were Sephora by OPI shades there. I got lucky and found a few, but I also found two Revlon Colorstay shades, both in their core collection, on sale for just $1.50 each. Today I'll show you Rain Forest.

 

Revlon Colorstay in Rain Forest

2 coats

 



Isn't this pretty? I really love how it looks in the sun. And just $1.50? I think I need to go back and look for some more!

NOTD: Revlon ColorStay in Red Carpet

Revlon ColorStay in Red Carpet

2 coats

I'm not sure how long I'd had this one..... at some point I believe I purchased it at CVS, most likely during an ECB deal or sale.

It's really a pretty jelly- and I got good coverage in just two coats. I have a bad habit of on wrapping the tips only on my swatching photo hand, and the hand that I did *not* wrap the tips on had major shrinkage over night. (I used NYC Grand Central Station.) The hand with wrapped tips still looked nice this morning though.

NOTD: Revlon Top Speed in Charmed

Revlon Top Speed in Charmed

Saturday we traveled down to our alma mater, where Mr. Sasha and the football team he played on in college were recognized since it was the 20th anniversary of the year they won the National Championship. I painted my nails orange in honor of the Tigers!

Charmed has great application- the above shot shows two coats, and topped with NYC Grand Central Station, it dried pretty much instantly. I painted this mani on Friday night and am still wearing it today (Monday morning) and it still looks great.

NOTD: Revlon Top Speed Hearts of Gold FX

 

Essie Sunday Funday (3 coats)

topped with

Revlon Top Speed Hearts of Gold FX (2 coats)

 

 



shade pic

 

Hearts of Gold FX is a clear base with small gold glitter and larger holo pieces of heart glitter.

 

Just like my opinion of Celestial FX, I do not like Heart of Gold FX.

 

It's also so pretty in the bottle. But it also is very watery and again I had to absolutely go on a fishing expedition to get that lone large glitter on each finger. A second coat did not help at all. Such a disappointment.

 

NOTD: Revlon Top Speed in Celestial FX

Revlon Top Speed in Celestial FX (2 coats)

over SinfulColors SinfulShine in Picante

Celestial FX is a clear base with small silver holo glitter and larger holo pieces of diamond, moon, and star glitter.
 

I do not like Celestial FX.

 

At all.

 

In the bottle it's so pretty! But it is very watery and I had to absolutely go on a fishing expedition to get that lone large glitter on each finger. A second coat did not help at all. Such a disappointment.

 

 

Paradoxal vs. Amethyst vs. Perplex vs. Perplexed Purple

Monday was a gorgeous day and I was home with my daughter, who wasn't feeling well. During a third viewing (in as many days) of Beethoven's 5th, I decided I'd do some swatching of four shades I had set aside to compare.

Left to right:

Chanel Paradoxal

Covergirl Outlast Amethyst

Revlon Perplex

Avon Perplexed Purple



Left to right: (2 coats of each)

Chanel Paradoxal

Covergirl Outlast Amethyst

Revlon Perplex

Avon Perplexed Purple


The first three are so very close! If you missed out on 2010's Chanel Paradoxal and 2011's Revlon Perplex, Covergirl Amethyst, currently in stores, is a must-get. Avon's Perplexed Purple is actually quite different, but still so pretty.