Wheel M6: Glitters from Revlon, Shades of the Season, Petites, and City Color

At this point, most of my backlog of painted but unposted nail wheels are glitter, so no time like today to keep chipping away at that. This wheel starts with colors from Revlon, which can do nice, if sometimes quite Deborah Lippmann derivative, glitters when they want to, and did do a lot of great ones back in the day in the Street Wear line, though the two here are of the quite, shimmer base variety rather than glitter bombs. The next chunk of colors are from Shades of the Season, a brand I only ever see sold in sets at CVS during Christmas time. For a brand like that, there are some decent colors; the glitter/shimmer combos are especially nice. I filled the rest of the wheel with glitters from Rite Aid, my only source for Petites and City Color, though I haven't seen new shades from either line in a while.



(all have one layer of topcoat over the glitter coats noted below)

1. Revlon Blue Mosaic (4 coats) [seems like I could have stopped at 3 coats since this is not going to build up to full coverage anyway]
2. Revlon Whimsical (3) [remember when lots of us were stalking this one?]
3. Revlon Starry Pink (3)
4. Revlon Sparkling (3)
5. Revlon Top Speed Glitz & Glam (2) [so nice and dense]
6. Revlon Facets of Fuchsia (3)
7. Revlon Street Wear Slip (3)
8. Revlon Street Wear Prince Charming (2)
9. Shades of the Season unlabelled iridescent(3) [needs to be layered over something dark]
10. Shades of the Season unlabelled silver (3)
11. Shades of the Season unlabelled blue (3) [looks like a close cousin of Sinful Colors Hottie]
12. Shades of the Season unlabelled green (3)
13. Shades of the Season unlabelled red (3)
14. Shades of the Season unlabelled rose (3)
15. Shades of the Season unlabelled pink (3)
16. Shades of the Season unlabelled orchid (3) [this appears to be a long lost sister of Orchid Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time]
17. Petites Color Fever Pink Diamond (2) [if you liked Revlon Sparkling but wished it had denser glitter, this is just the thing]
18. Petites Color Fever Galaxy (3) [with a name like Galaxy, I don't think it should be red, but maybe that's what out there in space]
19. Petites Black Amethyst (2)
20. City Color Reddish Purple (3) [yep, that's really what it's called]

Bottles 1 through 6:


7 and 8:


9 through 12:


13 through 16:


17 through 20:

Recent NOTD: Evolution from Naked through Fail to Happiness

Because I am perpetually behind on posting my nails of the day, it's only now that I'm getting to what I wore to my niece's wedding in the middle of June. I mentioned when I got back from that trip that my nails didn't look so great. Since I was not the bride, the state of my manicure was not important, but I was bothered nonetheless.

My naked nails were in pretty decent shape when I started my wedding weekend manicure; that wasn't the problem. I had hints of peeling on some nails, but nothing that a file and buffer couldn't take care of. There was also still some staining remaining on my ring finger, which would be hidden completely since I wasn't planning on wearing anything sheer.



The photo above was taken in natural light coming in the window rather than in my trusty lightbox, which offers a clue about the root cause of one of my problems with this manicure. I hadn't setup my lightbox because I didn't have time. I didn't have time because I'd put off doing my nails until just before I had to get in the car and drive to Chicagoland. Because I'd soon be loading luggage into the trunk and fiddling with car keys and sunglasses and such, chances were high that I'd dent fresh polish, even with a quick dry topcoat, so I turned to the Sally Hansen strips that I've been happy with both the first time and second time I tried them. Quick to do, and no drying time: perfect for this situation. I chose the plain gold ones, called Raise a Glass, as they would complement the busily-patterned flowered dress I was wearing to the wedding and wouldn't be so flashy as to draw criticism from the distant and cranky ex-relatives who'd be there.

The design/color was a good call, but these particular strips didn't apply nearly as nicely as the others I'd used. They felt thinner, which made them more prone to rip and harder to work with in general. I can only imagine that the process which prints the designs, like the flowers or the fishnet, adds a layer of thickness that helps make them more manageable. I did my best, but I still ended up with major bubbles on some of my nails and all my ridges showing.



I think these strips actually highlighted my ridges; here's my right thumb, which looked especially mountainous:



Maybe if I hadn't been rushing it would have gone better, but that wouldn't have made the strips any thicker. Since I'd left it 'til late, I didn't have time to re-do my nails and just had to live with the obvious flaws. No one said anything or even seemed to notice all weekend, but I wasn't pleased with it and kept trying to smooth the bubbles out with no luck.

When I got back home, I was busy catching up from being gone so didn't want to take the time to do a new mani. Instead, I turned to my good friend, glitter, which fixed things right up and put a smile on my face. Two coats of Petites Color Fever Pink Diamond over the disappointing strips made it all better.







I'll keep using the patterned Sally Hansen strips, but I'm not buying these plain ones again. Sure, I could use base coat underneath to deal with the ridges issue, and I bet if I worked very slowly and carefully I could avoid the ripping and bubbles, but if I have the time to do that, I might as well use regular polish and save some money.

Spring Displays, Round 2

Spring weather still hasn't settled in around here, but more and more spring-colored polishes are showing up in stores. Since my last display post, I've seen a bunch more. A big bunch, so grab your favorite beverage and maybe a snack as well to fortify yourself to get through this post.

The first one in this batch to show up was City Colors, which I've only seen at Rite Aid. These bottles don't seem to have color names on them; there's hot pink, yellow, mint, light pink, light but a touch more purpley pink, and coral. I haven't bought any of these (yet, anyway), though I have had the mint (it's a shimmer) in my hand and put it back in the display more than once. The chunky caps do come off to reveal a slimmer cap underneath, just like the pricey brands where I first saw that feature.



Rite Aid is also the only place around here that carries CQ and Petites, both from Scherer. I've not seen table displays for these brands before, but there are some out now. These don't say "limited edition" on them, and some are core colors I've seen before; I'm assuming there's no rush to buy these, so I haven't. The CQ display holds these shades (left to right, front to back): Pink Candy, Coral Pink, Candy Grape, Purple Passion, Tahitian Green, Golden Green, Rustic Dream, Slate, Peachy Keen, and Mystical. The Petites one has these: Daze, Pink Diamond, Peach Blush, 24K Gold, Figi, Cream Rose, Periwinkle, Solar, Vintage Gray, and Electric Indigo (which is neither).





I don't recall seeing table displays from NYC (New York Color) before, either. The limited edition Expert Last display has fourteen shades (left to right, front to back): Timeless Tangerine, Teal Til the End, Long Time Lavender, Perpetual Peony, Midnight Amethyst, Late Night Lilac, Hint of Mint, I Heart New York, Cotton Candy, Lingering Lingerie, Platinum Card, Gramercy Glitz, Persistent Putty, and Lemon Cream.



Wet 'n' Wild has limited edition Wild Shine and MegaLast polishes on offer. The Wild Shine collection is called Sweet Spot and has candy-named colors similar to last year's offering. Only six shades this year, though: Toss Me a Lifesavers (lime), Easy Peasy Lemonhead Squeezy (yellow),
Nerds Need Love Too (blue), Don't Be a Dum Dum (teal), Made from 100% Cotton Candy (pink), and Candy Corn on the Cob (orange). I don't think any of these are exact dupes of core line colors, though some are really close, like Don't Be a Dum Dum which is a slightly more blue version of Caribbean Frost. I got a few of these (but not the pink, I'm on a no-buy for pinks and reds right now) because at 99 cents I won't feel bad if they end up being dupes for things I already have.



The MegaLast collection is called Bloom, and consists of six pastels: Laughing Lilac (purple), Sunburst (orange), Collecting Pollen (yellow), Garden Hose (green), Bird Bath (blue), and Cherry Blossom (pink, not shown below, as it was sold out of that display and replaced with more yellow). I got a few of these, too (amazingly, I left the purple there).



But wait, there are more limited edition MegaLasts, sold in two sets of five colors each. Since one has some pinks in it and one has some reds, I could not get these under the terms of my current no-buy agreement with myself.



Meijer had some cute Easter polishes last year, round bottles from Blue Cross with eggs, flowers, chicks, and those sorts of things printed on them. This year they've got Egg Hunt polishes from Hoof Hands: mini nail polishes packaged in see-through plastic eggs. Six colors here: Fields of Green (lime), Crystal Seas (turquoise blue), Ditty Dottin (coral), Butterfly Flutter (purple), a yellow whose name I did not note down, and Lovely Ladybug (medium pink). So far I've held strong against these, too. I'm pretty sure that won't last, though, because they have designs printed on the caps, and I am a sucker for details like that.





Also at Meijer, I spotted an Easter Studio M display. It's got some shades I recognize from the core display, some that look like re-releases from prior seasonal display, and some that might actually be new (but are likely Color Club dupes). Left to right, top to bottom: Who's That Girl, Hoppin' Hot, Neon Caution, Jade, Spring Is In the Air, Shy Girl, Sweet Dreams, Painted Eggs, On the Hunt, Total Wow, Punked, Vintage Couture, Cute Chick, Kind of Fluffy, Tru Passion, Plum Perfection, Jelly Bean Dream, Boom-Boom-Boom, Basket Case, For Love or Bunny, Pink Glitter, Frenzy (two slots for this one, guess they're way overstocked on this color), and Plum Dazzle. I picked up a couple of the greens and blues that looked new to me, as well as a couple of the purples (I am nowhere near ready to declare a no-buy on purples). I was happy to see Who's That Girl grammatically correct on the display, even though the bottle labels haven't been fixed.





The only new Borghese display I've seen recently has limited edition Rapido polishes in six colors: Romanzo Pink, Capriccio Blue, Castello Blue (which has a touch of grey in it), Fantastico Lime, Felice Tangerine, and Incantato Purple. I grabbed a coupon off the display and bought Castsello Blue but am waiting for a sale to buy any more of these.



Maybelline has soft shades for spring. There are eight pastels in the all-polish display—Lilac Luster, Firefly (with a name like that I'd expect greenish yellow but it's peachy) , Sunlight, Pink Halo, Blue Brilliance, and Pink Glimpse—and two neutrals in the makeup display—a white and a pale peach. (Edited 15-Apr-2011 to add: the white is called Brilliant Sparkle and the peach is Pink Prism.) I bought the blue and purple, of course. I've seen these at Walgreens, Rite Aid, Meijer, and Ulta.





I'm anxiously awaiting the new Sally Hansen Complete Salon colors, but in the meantime, she's trying to distract me with limited edition Insta Dri colors: Peachy Breeze, Fuchsia Flare, Chartreuse Chase, Jade Jump, Blue-Away, Snappy Sprinkles, Raspberry Race, and Pink Blink. I had to get Snappy Sprinkles because a) glitter and b) I am very, very curious to see how the combination of rose pink and lime works on the nail.



My Ulta has Zoya Intimate, but it took them so long to put it out that I'd already ordered the colors I wanted direct from Zoya. Six colors here: Dannii, Jules, Gemma, Caitlin, Dove, and Marley. I got, um, all of them.



Finally, not a new display, but one that amused me quite a lot. Back when the Katy Perry OPIs first came out, I never ever managed to see a display with Black Shatter in it. All the other colors, sure, but no crack. Last time I was at Ulta, it was exactly the reverse, and I had to laugh. If I'd known this would happen, I wouldn't have scrambled to swap for it—I tried a couple dead ends before a friend came through for me. Faced with this bounty, how could I not pick up a couple bottles to pay it forward?



If you made it all the way down here, I salute your stamina and thank you very much for reading!

Hip Huggers and Friends

The Maybelline denims have been showing up again at Dollar Trees around here; I thought they were all gone months ago, but evidently more turned up in a warehouse somewhere or something, because the store that's on my Claire's-Meijer-Ulta-Sally's route near work just got a bunch more. I sure wish the same would happen with the Sally Hansen glitters, which I never saw in the first place. Ah well, if I'm meant to have them, they will come to me. The reappearance of the denims inspired me to pull out one of my favorites, Hip Huggers, a beautiful blue violet creme. A couple months ago, I did a comparison post on MUA with it and a CHI that had recently come out; since then I've also picked up a Petites Color Fever that someone mentioned was a dupe for the CHI, so today I have a three-polish comparison post.



Left to right: Petites Color Fever Periwinkle, Maybelline Express Finish Hip Huggers, CHI In Between the Sheets.

Here they are on the nail in the glare of my lightbox:



Top to bottom: Hip Huggers, Periwinkle, Hip Huggers, In Between the Sheets.

I used three coats of all of these, over a base of Nail Tek Foundation II (which doesn't seem to work well for me in my regular manis, so I'm using it up swatching). The person who said the Petites was a dupe for In Between the Sheets was right; I had to keep checking my notes when I was putting them on because I could not tell which was which. They're both a bit lighter than Hip Huggers and tend a tiny bit more toward the blue in blue violet, but are as close to Hip Huggers as anything I've found so far. In regular room light, the differences are even less noticeable than in the lightbox:



I think either the CHI or the Petites would make a great substitute if you're wanting Hip Huggers and haven't been able to find it. I think the CHI is a limited edition, though I have seen a few at Ulta recently.