Ruby Rush By Sally Hansen & Layla Graffiti Effect

I recently picked up Ruby Rush, one of the Fall 2011 colours from the Insta-Dri Line from what was a pretty full display at my local Pharmaplus.  I don't know if shoppers are not into the usual fall "go to" colours that always come out at this time of year or if it was the fact that the display was tucked away on a bottom shelf.  Maybe they're just looking for something different in terms of polish.

If you're looking for something different, you won't find it in this colour but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  This types of wine coloured shimmer polishes are usually a core type of colour.  Like a pure red or a nice clean nude polish, you should expect to find at least one colour like this in every polish lovers collection.

There were no issues with application and it did dry quickly as advertised but the formula was a bit thin.  It ended up chipping by the end of the first day of wear, so if your looking for something that will last more than a couple of days, then Ruby Rush is not for you.

As for polish buyers wanting something new, I can't help but wonder if we're reaching the end of the crackle craze.  While at the same Pharmaplus, I found a completely full display for a polish line called Layla.  Their take on crackle nail polish is called a Graffiti Effect topcoat but it just adds up to the same thing.  I decided to give the purple colour (the polish didn't have a name) I bought a try on top of Ruby Rush right before I removed it.

If you look closely, you can the problem with the polish right away.  When I polish my nails, I start with the pinkie and work my way over to my thumb.  That way I don't accidently bump or smear a wet nail so you can see that while the polish is cracklingly very well on my pinkie but by the time I got to my thumb, it wasn't doing so well.  If you're wondering, I dipped the brush for a new sweep of polish for each nail.  I guess I can't grumble since it was under $4 CDN but that was the mark down price:  It was originally priced at $15 CDN!  So if you live in the GTA and you want to try out a crackle polish, $4 is fairly reasonable.

Rally Pretty Pink By OPI

I've made no secret of my dislike of the crackle trend that's been dominating the polish world for the last few months.  It seems as if every company and it's mother have released some kind of variation of crackle polish, invading salons and drugstores and making me wonder if it will ever go away.  I also didn't like was how the Serena Williams polishes from OPI are packaged with a more traditional polish finish and paired with a shatter polish that I didn't really want (but if I showed patience, I could have waited until a retailer removed the pairs from their boxes in order to sell them separately).  Well, for the sake of review purposes, I didn't wait to pick up the Rally Pretty Pink set with Red Shatter.  And to my surprise, I don't hate it!  Let's take a look at RPP without the shatter top coat:

It's a lovely golden, glass flecked finish, but it's awfully similar to Zoya's Faye from Zoya's Sunshine Collection, with the difference of Faye being more pigmented and looking more purple than pink.  You can see visible nail lines but once you apply the shatter top coat, it's not noticeable. Application was good, no stray lint in the bottles, good dry time but applying the shatter top coat is still a little tricky since it dries very quickly. So despite my shatter fatigue, I did like this colour combination quite a bit, even though from a distance, you might look like you're back from an extended stay at Buffalo Bill's Nails & Spa:

It rubs the lotion on its skin.  It does this whenever it is told.

Well, OK but I've been waiting over and hour for my manicure.  Could you send down some Red Shatter?

That's funny, that's the same polish the last girl asked for....

SO TRENDY!!! AAAAAHHHHHHAAA!!!!

Goodbye Horses!!!