Revlon Facets of Fuchsia

Hi everyone! After a long and fun summer, I'm back to blogging. I have a bunch of things saved to post, so keep checking in :)

Before I post this picture, I have an announcement to make.. my nails are no longer this long. After a trip to a (bad) manicurist, I had to cut them all off. She did such a bad job that a few of them started to peel, so I had to cut them all off and start over. ::sigh:: Ah well, they will grow back, it will just take time.

Now, one of my past NOTDs- Revlon Facets of Fuchsia. Please excuse the tip wear ^^;; I had to wait a few days for a sunny enough day for pictures. Usually I hate Revlon's formula, but this one was a WIN. Applied evenly, no pooling or dragging. Amazing black jelly color with fuchsia glitter, I can't stop looking at my finger nails. GREAT dupe for Bad Romance (as everyone probably already knows, though they changed the color name to scandalous now.) Revlon, you are really impressing me lately.

Revlon Facets of Fuchsia, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

VDay Manicure part 3, all finished!

Happy Valentine's Day! Finally, this three part manicure is all finished. If you remember, I didn't intend on making a Valentine's mani, and I originally started with Barry M Buzz Nail Paint. I felt it could use a little something, so I then used the curly heart design on my Salon Express SE18 plate with Konad special white polish, and got this effect:

After realizing this had great potential to be a Vday mani, I topped this manicure with Revlon Blizzard Berry, a Japanese Revlon exclusive. It's a pretty mixed size holo glitter with a pink tinted base. Finally, I put pink and clear stones on the thumb and ring fingers, and sealed it off with Seche Vite. What do you all think?

VDay Manicure part 3, all finished!, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

Revlon, you sly dogs you..

So if you love nail polishes, then you probably know that Revlon has been sneakingly releasing dupes of certain high end brands like Chanel and Deborah Lippmann. The best in my opinion being the dupe for Bad Romance by DL, called Facets of Fuchsia. But.. they have done it again!

A "glitter in the air" dupe called "Whimsical"! Which is kind of a terrible name because it makes me think of this.

The second I saw it posted online, I had to have it. I was going to give in and buy it online (from ebay) but I said hold back..wait.. and I'm glad I did because I found it in Ulta)

Now I know some of you are thinking "gee, for someone who doesn't like Revlon, they sure buy a lot of it" and you're right! Okay, half right. I don't like their formula, its gooey, thick and takes forever and  a day to dry! Now the colors, I love!

But I have noticed that they are getting better. Can I just say that the formula in this one was amazing! Sure it needed to three coats, but if you use a base color, one or two would have been more than enough. I think I'm going to try a base color next time, but I really just wanted to see the true color of this one.

This is 3 coats, it's nice but not enough opaque for me.

Four coats! So much better.

But, I must go for now- tata!

Nail Art!

Remember when I did that flower nail art a few months back? This one. Well I thought, " hey let me try out that fall version that I was talking about at the end of the post. I didn't quite turn out the way I was imagining. I tried something different and I like!

FLASH!

I used a brand called Fresh Paint, which the only store I have seen it in is a store called Five Below.  Ive only been there once, but I fell in love! It had the best selection and I also found Funky Fingers! The color is a really pretty beige with hints of brown and pink and the drying time was under a minute! The I used Burgundy from Revlon. I wanted to use Lincoln Park after Dark, but it was too dark. The for the gold, I used Rochelle from Zoya, it's a beautiful gold! It also looks much more copperish in the bottle. And for the last part, just small dots of pink glitter nail art polish from Kiss.

But when I was finished.. it just felt off. It also almost had a cheetah/leopard look to it, which isn't a bad thing per say, I just wasn't going for that look! I grabbed Nubar 2010, and ta da, flaky goodness:)
When in doubt, go flaky;)

Okay, enough from me, back to work!
Erika

Revlon, you crafty minx you!

Revlon, you are very crafty.. because you made me buy another one of your polishes. Even after many times I said I wouldn't...I have. This time in the form of the Chanel Graphite dupe called Carbonite.

Mind the obvious"I didn't get all the nail polish of my nails thumb look"

Now I don't own the Chanel version, for obvious reasons. (I am po') But when I saw this polish in CVS last week, I decided to throw caution to the wind(as I always do when it comes to the nail polish gods) and buy it.

Last night, looking at my crazy chipped nails from this past weekends manicure, I gave it a go.

The formula, is.. (is Revlon reading this right now because someone is) so much better! I glided on with ease, no bubbles, fast drying time! I am so glad I bought this because it is so much prettier on the nail then in the bottle. On the nail, when you move it around you can see hints of an olive green and black shimmer.  Definitely almost a dupe for the Chanel version at almost 20$ cheaper! I paid 3.29$ for my bottle.

I think I'm starting to warm up back to Revlon, and I have to say their offerings in the past year have been amazing. I hope they release more dupes for this girl on a budget with a slight(MAJOR) nail polish addiction.

PS. Bubblewrapper brought up a good point, this color sucks up shine, so if you really love a shiny nail polish, this one might disappoint. Even with Seche Vite, it still had a muted finish. 
Ta-ta for now!

Revlon Scented Ramune/Gumdrop

This is the ramune scented polish, yes I did wind up getting it. This is not a shimmer like cotton candy, it is a light purple cream. It is essentially the same color as gumdrop (they even used the same cap.. lazy Revlon) and same ole qualityRevlon formula, lol, but in a Japanese package (JP limited bottle, sticker that says ramune.) It does smell a lot like ramune, but I really want to smell both US and JP versions to make sure they didn't fib a little. This one came with a free Revlon nail buffer, which was a nice bonus.

Revlon Scented Ramune/Gumdrop, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

Revlon Scented Cotton Candy (Japanese Version)

So you know the new scented nail polish line that Revlon has? Well, they released Japanese versions. In this set all of the bottles are smaller, and there is an exclusive polish, Ramune (a type of bubble gum-like flavored Japanese soda with a marble inside the top, pronounced ra moo nay), the light purple one in the picture. I need to pick it up:)

ramune image by: gooten.com

The weird thing is, this line and one other line are the only ones with small bottles, all the rest of the Revlon polishes come in the same size bottles as the US has (tho the bigger bottles are a little bit pricier.) One thing I do love is that since Japanese girls are so into nail design, many companies (including Revlon) go so far as to create some nail design ideas to go along with the polishes they release. Pics of that at the bottom!

Revlon Scented Cotton Candy (Japanese Version), a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

This is a really pretty color, I believe it's the same as the US version. It's not actually a pearly pink, but pink with gold shimmer. I tried so hard to get the shimmer to show up in the picture, but no matter how hard I tried it just wouldn't, so it looks like a different color in the photo.

It smells really yummy, and I love the color. I can't stop smelling my nails! However, Erika wasn't kidding about Revlon's formula-the application is only so/so, applies streaky (took 3 coats) and takes ages to dry. It actually dries "soft", so even after it's dried it can still be nicked if you're not careful. I'll still buy more anyway, I like these polishes despite their flaws.

Here are some pictures from revlon.co.jp:

Facets of Fuchsia by Revlon

You know Revlon, as much as your formula bites the big one, you are geniuses for "replicating" expensive nail polish colors, like Graphite and Paradoxol from Chanel. And now, Bad Romance from Deborah Lippman. Facets of Fuchsia is a color you have to see in real life, because it a bitch to photograph! I had to go into the twins I nanny for playroom, to get a decent shot (hence the toys in the background). I definitely think they have a hit on their hands, I obviously do not have Bad Romance to compare (Julie!) but if you go online, there are a million pictures comparing the two.

The formula is a bit better since it's jelly, but you will need three coats because with two you will see the nail bed underneath. I love how it is dense with glitter, seriously the first coat was packed with glitter. That is one thing that I loathe with glitter nail polishes, you get no glitter pay off until the 57th coat. But not this one! It is packed with glitter (it's going to be fun getting it off though, thank you foil for making the process a lot less painful!)

Stock photo from Revlon, no justice whatsoever...

So overall, this polish is amazing! If you can't get the real deal from Deborah, then definitely locate your nearest Target and look for the make-up collection from Gucci Westman (an amazing make-up artist with Revlon). But ta-ta for now!

It's Wednesday, and I'm wearing pink!

Hi everyone, happy Wednesday!! I actually have an older mani and swatch to post, but I thought I'd post this one first since it's Wednesday, and well, I so happen to be wearing pink!

First the good news: The Japanese school that I will be attending isn't just a Japanese school, it isn't even just a language school. They offer all sorts of programs in the arts, which just so happens to include-are you ready for it-classes for Japanese manicures! The best part is- the regular class is about $10, and one class per month FREE for students! What does this all mean? Well I have a chance to become professional in Japanese nail art, SQUEE!

Ok so back to the manicure. Yoshi just got me a book on Japanese manicure tips and tricks (still learning some of the Japanese terms yet for this stuff) and I saw a relatively easy tutorial for marbling (well, much easier than water marbling anyway, and less messy) so I decided to try it.

First, here's a swatch of NYC Long Wearing Polyester Pink Creme #108A. Just like the other NYC polishes, it took four coats to get an even color, but it is a nice shade:

Now the mani. This is my first attempt at a marble manicure, so forgive me if it isn't super-awesome :p

First Marble Mani, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.
For the base color I used NYC Long Wearing Polyester Pink Creme #108A. I used Visee Glamorous Sparkle #10(I still can't find my fine brush, so I used a toothpick..) for the glitter half moons on my nails. Half moons are really big here. For the actual marbling, I used NYC Long Wearing French White Tip #134 and Revlon Limited Edition Diamonds Are Forever. I topped it off with Coffret D'or gel topcoat.

Thanks for reading!

Who remembers Street Wear?

Good morning everyone!

Sorry to be late in posting my latest mani, everything has been a bit hectic here. In addition to Thursday being one month since surgery and me having stress that I still can't bend my toe whatsoever, I just got news the other day that we have to move to Osaka. Yes, we have to move YET again, despite that I can't walk. Awesome huh?

Well, here's the belated manicure in question!

I LOVE Street Wear. Remember how it was promoted in Josie's hotel room in Josie and the Pussycats? Can't get enough of it! Erika gave me this one, the color's name is Slip and it's such a pretty color. To give this mani a rustic, antique-y, burgundy look, I applied base coat, then a coat of red nail polish, three coats of Slip, then clear coat on top to finish it off. It looks great, and would actually be an awesome autumn manicure.

New Polishes ☠Warning naked nails and crap cuticules!☠

But before I show you the new polishes that I got, avert your eyes if you have to...

 

I decided to give my nails(following Julie's example) a breather. I have to say it did feel nice, but by Thursday I was ready to get to polishing again!

Luckily the very same day, I received a package from ebay(coughevilbay) from a seller in NY. I purchased a few polishes( but had to stop myself!) I also wanted to use my ebay bucks before they expired! I got three colors that really caught my eyes!

I remember seeing these in Ulta a few years ago and for some reason I didn't get them. I think I may have been Christmas shopping and had the "Nothing for you, Erika.."mantra You know that little voice in the back of your head that never shuts up during the Christmas season? But now that I found it on ebay, I had to get it! It is so pretty in real life.

I had never heard of these polishes before.. I googled them, and holy rollers, these are amazing halo's! I got mystical mandarin. I am on the look out of the blue version (which names escapes me at the moment..)Blech those cuticles. I swear.

Ahh another Sally.. I always wanted to try the nail prisms, but I never picked one up. I saw this and thought "Hmm I wonder if it would be a nice kindasortaperhaps dupe for Clarins 230". It almost is..almost. But this has more red in it then blue. It still is an amazing color non the less.

And last but not least,  my attempt at a purty manicure. BEHOLD! I tried to get to do a tweed look. It was fun trying, even if it was not exactly what I was going for.

Just some nail of the week(Erika)

Sorry about my lack of posts... Sadly I have no reason, but lots of school work and sleeping. I spent the past weekend (well part of the weekend) visiting Julie. We have to make plans about a year in advance because shes a busy gal, and im sorta kinda busy(work, work, work).

We broke out the nail polishes, including the ones that she got for me at Ulta:) And I used her Barry M Indigo that I top coated with Nubar 2010.

This was taken a few days after I painted them, so excuse the tip wear and chipage. I also didnt realize that it could have used another coat, damn you sunlight.
I need to get, yes need, to get Indigo by Barry M. I came close to getting a dupe, Royal by Revlon.

 

 But as you can see, Barry M is more purple, so as order must be placed because this color is just amazing. The end. Tomorrow I shall post my VDAY manicure. It needs some, ahem, fixing. Lets just say, taking a shower after you paint your nails is not a good idea.


Here is the Barry M website:
http://www.barrym.com/

Revlon-Perplex (Erika)

So... I decided to revisit Revlon nail polishes when I found a bottle of the coveted Perplex. Revlon released this a few months ago, with no mention from them, that it was an obvious copy of Paradoxal from Chanel. I do have to say, Revlon you sneaky bastards.. you did it! It is an almost dupe for Chanel's. The only qualm is that this seems to have a bit more of a shimmer in Perplex. But that's about it.

Now, this is a gorgeous color.. no doubt. But, One question directed towards Revlon: What the hell is up with your formula?

I swear, I waited between coats and air dried for almost an hour and it still smudged. After an hour. Also, bubbles.. is their a reason that every time I use Revlon NP, it bubbles?

This polish is a keeper, but I think I'm going to add some kind of thinner to see if I get better results.
Here are comparisons between Perplex and Paradoxal:

Now, the stock photo of Paradoxal isn't much of a help, and seeing as I don't own my own bottle of it(hello, why do you think I got the cheaper version?) Now If you look closer at the picture of the Revlon, you can see the bubbling. Ugh. I no likey. I even tried a glitter topcoat..and it just did not help at all. Oh.. Revlon, what am I going to do with you?

Next blog: Nail polish wants of the moment!