Revlon Saucy

Do you ever buy a polish just for the name? Sometimes I just can’t help myself. When I saw “Saucy” from Revlon, I immediately thought of my grandma (yes, the woman who inspired this blog!). If I was ever misbehaving she broke out this phrase: “Don’t be saucy!” Of course, she meant sassy…but when she said it in that stern voice, it was enough to scare me because she meant BUSINESS!

This color is actually quite gorgeous! It’s a burnt red orange with shimmer and seriously GLOWS on the nail! The formula is great well! It is opaque in two coats and glides onto the nail nicely. This is a great shade for fall! I love Revlon’s nail polish and think it is great for the price!

Zoya Maria Luisa

My obsession with gold polish continues! Maria Luisa is an amber gold flakie style polish. This is actually named after designer Rafael Cennamo’s mother and was created by him for New York Fashion Week earlier this year. Visit this post from Gotham Polish to read more about this shade, and see one of the dresses that inspired the color!

I layered one coat of Maria Luisa over MAC’s Sea Green polish, and I really liked the result! It also went on smoothly and didn’t catch on the nail. This is going to be a gorgeous shade for fall that will transition nicely into the winter season.

Essie Haute As Hello

Since it’s the end of summer, I’m still trying to enjoy those gorgeous peach and coral shades that are so popular this time of year. One of those shades is Haute As Hello from Essie. This is a gorgeous, retro, cantaloupe type shade!

I’ve read a lot of complaints about the formula of this polish, but honestly I didn’t think it was that bad. I did use three coats, and I added a top coat since this dries matte. This is one of those “I can’t stop staring at my nails” colors for sure! This would look especially great on someone who has a more medium skin tone.

What do you think of this shade?

OMG Nail Strips Review – Crows Design

I was contacted by OMG Nail Strips and invited to pick out a set to try. My previous track record with nail strips hasn’t been very good! I like using them for nail art, but because my nail beds are so small, I often have trouble getting a good fit. Since most nail polish strips are much too big for me, I have to spend time trimming them, which often leads to screwing them up royally.

I choose the crows design since I love birds. Looking back, this was probably not the best choice for my tiny nails, because the birds seem a bit sporadic. At the same time, I will probably be able to get three more wears out of these strips, because at times, I used two strips on one nail (a perk of short nails I guess).

OMG Nail Polish strips are very affordable and come in a bunch of cute designs. Right now, they are 4 pairs for $20 on the website, which is a great price considering Sally Hansen polish strips run in the $8-$10 range, and Essie’s strips are $10. You can also get a ten pack of OMG polish strips for $45.

Application Directions

• Soak your hands in warm water for 5 minutes. Dry hands, then gently push back cuticles. Carefully remove any excess skin around the nail bed.
• Moisturize your hands with lotion, and wait 1 minute.
• Using a Q-tip, remove any leftover lotion from the nail bed, paying special attention to the sidewalls, cuticle area and tip of the fingernail.
• Select the appropriate sized nail strip for each nail to ensure the nail will be covered from sidewall to sidewall. Using a nail strip that is too large for a particular nail is not recommended; rather, trim the strip the scissors to the appropriate width.
• Peel off the clear coating, and then carefully remove the nail polish strip from the sticker backing,
• Start by placing whichever end on the nail strip that works better for your nails at the cuticle and  apply it by smoother the strip towards the tip and your nail, smoothing out and bumps and ensuring the strip is tucked neatly into the sidewalls.
• File away any excess nail strip by holding your nail file parallel to the surface you are working on, as filing the nail perpendicularly will cause tearing along the tip.
• After you have applied all ten polish strips, take a cotton ball the has been dipped in polish removed with the excess remover wrung out, and swipe each nail 1-3 times, paying special attention to the sidewalls, tips and cuticle area. This step is especially important, as it melts the strip to your nails, allowing for longer lasting wear.
• Apply a finishing topcoat, and wait 5 minutes for it to dry completely.

What I loved about these is that it is very easy to get them to fit on the nail. At the time, I don’t think these looked so great on my nails due to their unevenness in the growing out stage. That said, I LOVE this design and I love the strips too. The nice thing is that even if I had a hard time getting the strip onto the nail, I was able to easily place it again without ruining the nail polish strip. They are easy to pull and stretch for how you want to use them, which is for me, the biggest selling point of these strips!

I did not wear these for the full 14 days that they claim to last, because I just like changing up my polish too much. I did wear these for five days with no chipping or peeling, and I also followed the directions (which I am notorious for not doing). They were also super easy to remove and didn’t damage my nails. I still have some left, so I will probably work these into some other manicures!

Where to find OMG nail strips:

OMG Nail Strips website
OMG Nail Strips on Facebook

*Product sent for consideration. All opinions are my own.

Sally Hansen Rent the Runway Limited Edition Swatches for Fall 2013

Hey there! Long time no see, at least in the internet world, right? A few days is like ten years in virtual time! I am really excited about the swatches I’m sharing today. They are from Sally Hansen’s Rent the Runway collaborations for Fall 2013, all in the Complete Salon Manicure variety. I purchased three shades over the weekend, which I spent with my sister!

First up is New Wave Blue (Tracy Reese at New York Fashion Week). I was going to pass this up thinking it wasn’t that special, but once I got it on the nail I changed my mind. My sister is the one who told me to get this one, and I am so glad that I did! It is very opaque and I wore it for three days and had just some tip wear.

Perfectly Poppy (also Tracy Reese) is a very bright, sheer red. It is not a jelly; the formula reminds me a bit of Essie’s Geranium, only this is more of a true, blue-based red and Geranium is warmer. I skipped over this the first time I saw the display, but I kept thinking about it and am glad I went back for it, because it is so pretty! I recommend using a ridge filler as a base coat with this if you want to avoid visible nail line.

Now for my guess as to what will be the huge hit of the collection since this color is having a moment, is Gold Roses (Rodarte for NY Fashion Week). This is a gorgeous rose gold shade, and what I love about it is that it is more pink compared to some of the traditional coppery rose gold shades around. Definitely pick this one up!

Of the three polishes, New Wave Blue seemed to have the best formula. Perfectly Poppy was a bit runny, but nothing that can’t be dealt with. Gold Roses has a nice consistency and a very smooth formula. I’m really happy with these shades! Have you spotted this line yet?

MAC Sinfully Sweet!

MAC Sinfully Sweet is a new polish from the Indulge collection. Described as “sparkling champagne with gold pearl”, it is shiny and sparkling! I love this color. Interestingly, I found that it looks different than Temptalia’s swatches. Hers looks more gray/taupe, whereas I felt the gold really shined through on my polish. Maybe it’s the lighting?

Anyway, this polish is so gorgeous and it applies nicely as well. It definitely has a bit of sparkle to it, and actually reminds me a bit of one of my favorite OPI polishes, Designer de Better, but more gold. I think I am going to do a comparison post with this polish to see what might be similar.

The formula is smooth and I used three thin coats. I know MAC nail polish often has a bad reputation, but their wear time is amazing on my nails compared to other brands. This is a limited edition polish and available now on MAC’s website.

Wet ‘n’ Wild Fergie Summer Spritzer Glitter

A couple weekends ago I was on my way home from visiting my aunt, and randomly stopped at Rite Aid in a town on my way home. I was glad I did because I not only found a huge steal on my contact solution (I know, so boring), I also found a limited edition nail polish display for summer from the Wet ‘n’ Wild Fergie line. The only polish that caught my eye is this gorgeous glitter, Summer Spritzer!

I layered it over Zoya Micky and added a matte top coat. I love matte glitter! Summer Spritzer is a mix of pink, green, and gold hex glitter in a clear base. I like it, but the enormous brush on these polishes make it a little difficult to apply the glitter, so it requires some maneuvering to get the glitter just right.

Revlon Mai Tai Ask? + Picture Polish Majesty

I have been really into orange this summer. Mai Tai Ask? is a shade that was out in Revlon’s summer line. I decided to layer it with Picture Polish Majesty, and I really like how it turned out!
Mai Tai Ask? is a bright, tangerine orange color. I like the formula of Revlon polishes. They are usually opaque in two coats (I used two here), and they go on the nail smoothly. Majesty is a gorgeous antique champagne beige gold shade. It’s a difficult polish to describe, because it seems to change in different lighting due to the HOLO PARTICLES! 🙂 Because of that, I find it quite unique! It is very sheer, so I think this will be a layering polish for me. I want to try it with some other polishes, especially some nude shades that will bring out the sparkle even more.

Models Own Ibiza Mix

Hello! I have an awesome glitter to show you today. I LOVE this glitter. It is one of the prettier and more unique mixes of glitter that I have seen. Ibiza Mix is from the Models Own Hed Kandi collection. Hed Kandi is a UK based record label.

This glitter contains a lot of lighter colors, like gold, pink, blue, and orange. The glitter is a mix of small and large round glitter. I like how well this applies. I can’t stand having to fish out glitter, and you definitely don’t need to do that with this one! I layered Ibiza Mix over Essie Maximillian Strasse-Her.

Even though this is a UK brand, you can find Models Own in the US on websites like Ninja Polish and Llarowe!

L’Oreal Jolly Lolly

This is an older manicure with that pesky broken middle finger, but I couldn’t help but show the gorgeousness of L’Oreal Jolly Lolly! This is a limited edition shade from the Miss Candy collection. I’m still seeing this in stores, so you may be able to pick it up. The polish range is a collection of jellies! Jolly Lolly is cherry red.

This polish is so amazing! It’s decently opaque for a jelly; it looks so glossy and juicy on the nail! It’s pretty with two coats, but I used three for maximum squishiness. I still need to use this for a jelly sandwich manicure!

Did you get any shades from this collection?