If there's a type of polish colour that I love as much as a funky colour, it's a really good nude/neutral tone that you can just slap on and it goes with everything. Revlon's Cheers from the Top Speed line is one of those colours. As far as describing it, I would call it "band aid" and I mean that in a good way. Actually, it's very similar to Sephora by OPI's Leotard Optional but Cheers has a slightly more satin finish to it with a lot less gloss. That's direct sunlight in the photo so you can see that it's not highly reflective. True to its claim, it dried fast and was opaque in two coats. Bonus for the colour, a chip or nick will go somewhat unnoticed.
Well, another Monday, another fantastic red nail polish to add to my collection! This one is Ignite from Revlon's Top Speed line. This one is a lot more on the orange side and not like the darker or blue based reds that I usually am attracted to but hey, look at it! That is a slick and glossy golden shimmer glowing out of that bottle and I got a lot of compliments on it as well. Yes, you can see a few nicks and some tip wear but that's after four days of wear and the handling of many archival boxes. If you're looking for an inexpensive holiday red with no glitter in it, then this is a great option!
I made it through the first week of my new job in one piece and I can certainly say that for an accounting firm, it's one of the more liveliest places I've worked at in a long time. I'm hoping things keep going well! But since I'm back in an office setting, I've got a nice calm colour to show you and a not so calm colour. First up New York Color's Bryant Park, a muted gold with a nice amount of shimmer.
Now, I know what you're thinking, enough with the New York Color already but, dammit, they make a good product! If a polish allows me to apply it 1/2 an hour before I go to bed, then that's a polish I'll keep buying and using.
I wish I could say the same thing for Grape Fizz by Revlon, yet another scented polish and the second line of scented polishes that they have released this year.
Ok, I have to say it. How awful this this polish? It's not a question, it's a statement! When I saw it in the store I thought "Oh, so pretty! Like a cross between Urban Decay's Toxin & OPI's Merry Midnight." I was not expecting the watery, see through washout you see in that photo. That's three coats and it's full of bald spots thanks to its uneven application. I took twenty two photos and that's the best one I could get with this massive disappointment of a polish. It's possibly the worst polish I've bought in years and I have 436 bottles of nail polish. To say this one's the worst is saying a lot! Grape Fizz is $5 CDN that I could have flushed down the toilet! The best thing I can say about it is that it smells like grape flavour.
I wore that terrible polish when I went to see Hugh Jackman In Concert last night at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. My sister & I took my Mom as a birthday present but to be honest, it was a present for me too! Hugh Jackman has been bunching up my panties for 11 years now (looking at him should be counted as one of my hobbies) and I have sat through some horrible movies (Kate & Leopold, Someone Like You) and a couple of great ones (The Prestige, The Fountain) to gawk at the man that I can officially say is the most gorgeous male I've ever seen with my own two eyes:
That's Not a Good Picture...
That's a Good Picture!
Being the big old Tony Award winning Broadway lover he is, I was expecting that the show would have a significant amount of cheese to it and don't get me wrong, I love musicals and I love cheese but I wasn't expecting Hugh Jackman to mount one of the most entertaining shows I'd seen in years. I am not babbling through a haze of lust to say that the show is fantastic and if there's anyway you could see it, you should! Jackman's energy and enthusiasm is infectious, he's a great singer, he's extremely funny and has a gift for comedic improvisation that had me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe and my Mom can't stop talking about his ass shaking. Yes, Hugh Jackman shaking his ass...
......!!!!
Whoa, sorry about that, I just drifted away in my own mind there for a minute! Within the space of 2 hours Jackman sang numerous medleys of the best of Broadway (including "I Feel Pretty"), did the Readers Digest version of The Boy From Oz (his Tony winning role), told amusing family stories, turned the intro of the Music Man into a rap, chatted up audience members, even dragging up a man from his seat and making the poor guy dance while he sang "Fever" and it was all awesome. But the two real stand outs in the show made my evening for two completely different reasons. Number one is this happened:
When Leia Met Logan!
"Carrie Fisher is in the audience tonight!" Jackman announced and being the nerd girls my sister and I are, we jumped out of our seats screaming "OHMYGODWHERE!!!" Fisher is in town with her show, Wishful Drinking (that show's fun as well) so she stood up, they traded quips, hugged and giggled and probably inspired Fan Fiction. Maybe I should write "The Tale of Princess Leia & the Wolverine" myself because I had a huge nerdgasm when all of this happened. Geeks live for these moments!
Secondly, when Jackman and crew broke into Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version of "Over the Rainbow", I cringed. I really dislike that version of the classic tune and I didn't want to hear it again regardless of who was singing it but my attitude changed when two didgeridoo players came down the aisles (I've never heard them played live before) and Jackman was joined onstage by an aboriginal woman singing along in a native aboriginal language. It was amazing, people were crying. The woman was Olive Knight, who was a co-comissioner of the Bringing Them Home Enquiry that was established by the Australian government in response to efforts made by indigenous communities concerned about the lack of awareness of the history of the forcible removal of the Stolen Generation. The work of Knight and her peers helped lead to the Australian Federal Parliament Apology in 2007. It wasn't just a performance, it was an honour to be in the presence of someone like her.
I'd like to take a moment and welcome my new follower, Christina, to my blog! I'm really glad you enjoy my prattle! Thanks so much!
I'm going to leave you with one of my favourite songs of all time, Courtesy of Wolverine!
I thought I'd get festive with some Easter themed skittles for the long weekend,especially since it's still constantly raining in the Toronto area :( Can you guess what colours I've used?
On my thumb, we have China Glaze's Lemon Fizz. If you were ever wondering if LF is a dupe for Essie's Barbuda Banana, I can tell you it's not. I'm planning to post a comparison sometime soon so let's hope my camera cooperates! I like this colour but it's a tough one to pull off. I have the feeling that this colour would look best paired with a extremely dark denim wash. If I had a lighter skin tone, it might look a little washed out. Plus, application was an issue as well. I've got 3 coats on there and, as you can see, it's still a bit streaky. It would definitely take 4 coats to make it smooth but that's a lot of drying time, even with drying drops.
On my index finger, I have Peppermint Patti from MAC. I sure do like a minty green and I'm glad that the trend has been sticking around. But just like yellow polishes, I find that they need at least three coats if you want even coverage. That's just 2 coats in the photo and you can see the bald spots quite clearly.
Next up and on my middle finger is China Glaze's For Audrey. This is one of my favourite polishes of all time. If I had to throw out all but 10 of my polishes FA would definitely be a keeper! This Tiffany (or if you live in Canada, Birks) blue always pops when I'm wearing black or white and I never fail to get compliments when I wear it. There's not as much as an application issue with this colour as I experienced with LF & PP. You can see that there's a little bit of streaking but it's not that noticeable and with 2 coats, that's pretty good. I did find lint in the bottle (as per my usual China Glaze complaint) but I've had this polish for a while so they're probably not at fault.
Purple! I love purple and Done Out in Deco is a pretty good one. Full coverage in 2 coats so, way to go OPI! It's not quite a pastel but I found it goes well with the other polishes I selected. And speaking of pastels:
I don't actually own a pretty pastel pink polish. Try saying that 10 times fast! So I chose Essie's Guilty Pleasures and found it went well with the other polishes. The coverage is good in 2 coats but I had an issue that affected the appearance of GP that had nothing to do with that polish but with one I wore recently. I reviewed Revlon's Scented Polish in Ocean recently and although it's a lovely polish, it stained my nails badly. I had a difficult time removing it and couldn't completely get rid of the staining on my pinkie. It's so stained, that it alters the colour of whatever polish I put on top of it. What a hassle!
I think I might get up early tomorrow morning and head out to see if I can get any marked down chocolate! Hollow bunnies are not my thing but I do love these 2 two candies in particular:
Mmmm...Sticky!
And I love these even more:
Buttercream Center, Bitches!
But you know which Easter treat I'll never eat? Marshmallow Peeps!
They look just like my canary, Patches! I couldn't shove my little personal peep into my mouth, ewwww!
From Left to Right: Not So Blue-Berry, Grape Icy, Passionate Fruit, Mon Cherry & on Thumb, Beach
Since I didn't have this blog when I first bought these polishes, I figured I might as well slap on some skittles and give my two cents on Revlon's Scented line.
Beach is from my sisters stash and it's a light yellow/green shimmer with a vaguely fruity scent. That's two coats of my thumb but I would doubt if a third coat would bring it closer to the bottle colour. However, two coats gave very good coverage for a fairly sheer colour.
Not So Blue-Berry is a medium blue shimmer with an undertone of pink to it (that doesn't pick up in my photos). I really like this colour a lot, (it reminds me of Zoya's Crystal without the gold sparkle) even though it does look a little washed out on my fingers. My problem with it is the smell: It stinks!!! It's so cloying and heavy that if I painted all ten of my digits I'd choke! Even on just one finger, its smell completely overwhelms the other scents of my skittles. Barf!!! Top coat required for this one.
Grape Icy was also a real disappointment for me. I like this cool toned purple and the scent (grape flavour is my favourite of artificial flavours) but something about the formula just makes it bubble. It bubbled when I tried it last summer but as people who polish know, sometimes weather conditions can affect the application. That's not the case with GI and it still bubbled like boiling water. However, since this is most likely a new batch, it might not have the same problem as I've experienced.
Passionate Fruit is one of those colours that floats between purple and pink to the point that sometimes I'm not sure what to call it. It's scent is a bit similar to NSBB but it's not overwhelming and much more tolerable than that blueberry hell. It could use a third coat to make a nice and even application.
Last but not least is Mon Cherry. It's probably my favourite out of the whole bunch: It's a classic colour (pinkish red) and the scent, although not exactly cherry isn't overtly sweet either. This good in two coats.
I'm curious as to how the practise of painting your nails a different colour got called "skittles". It seems very appropriate. I haven't eaten a skittle for years and don't plan to anytime soon. They aren't my kind of thing and their commercials portraying people who have awful skittle afflictions rub me the wrong way:
That's actress Beth Grant as an inconsiderate mom. I know her best for her role as crazy-ass Kitty Farmer in Donnie Darko. She seems so enthusiastic about her son's unfortunate circumstances that I'm beginning to doubt her commitment to Sparkle Motion!
Scented nail polish is not exactly an innovation but it certainly seems like a gimmick that could make you love or regret the polish you choose. When Revlon released a line of scented polishes last year, I picked up Not So Blue-berry, Mon Cherry, Passionate Fruit & Grape Icy: I liked how NSBB looked but hated the smell (at least a top coat can cover that up). MC& PF was perfectly acceptable in both scent, quality & appearance and I liked the smell of GI but the polish was of terrible quality (severe bubbling with one coat!). It was a very hit and miss collection for me but the company has brought them back for Summer 2011. In fact, they're brought back the exact same colours! I would love to know if this reflects whether the polishes were really popular or if they were just left with a ton of overstock (but if that were the case, I suppose the leftovers most likely would have ended up at a discount retailer, plus the bottle design is different ).
Being a sucker for blue polish, I picked up Ocean Breeze. Since it's simple to call a polish Bubble Gum and make that scent match, I was curious as to what kind of smell they would associate with the ocean. Turns out it smells like soap and the smell actually dissipated in less that 24 hours of application. At least the application was pretty good, not too streaky considering that Revlon has some of the smaller brushes on the market. The polish itself doesn't seem to photograph accurately. I tried everything but direct sunlight (we have had very few sunny days in T.O. recently) and this was the best I could do. In reality, OC has a green undertone to it that's quite flashy but in my photo, it just doesn't show.
Because this has everything to do with nail polish, today is actor Taylor Kitsch's birthday, In case you are not familar his work, here are some pictures of this talented young man...
Who Showed Great Range In Friday Night Lights...
A Master of the Art of Acting..
And Was Really Great in the Other Stuff I Saw Him In...
And Who am I Kidding? He's a Hot Piece. I'll Be in My Room!
Pictured: What My Infected Ear Would Say: If Only It Could Scream.
Lucky Me! Not only did our new building superintendent make good on her promise to fix our collapsing bathroom and spray our apartment for bugs, she made it happen within the same three days. So now, I have pretty much a day and a half to pack up a 2 bedroom apartment as if for a move with the dizzying pain of an ear infection to slow me down just enough to make me pray for death... Don't get me wrong, my new super is awesome!!! She makes things happen! If those things happened a few days apart from one another, that would make me fell physically better. The contractors drills and hammers are making my ear twitch in pain. But in the long run, we'll have a better pad to live in and that's what counts.
When the contractors went on their break, my good ear picked up on the sound of this little guy shouting it out from the treetops at my window:
Wassup Mama!
Hello to you too Little Red Guy! Look at him singing and standing out against this crummy grey day. With all this grey clouds in the air, its time to share a little colour. Namely, Madison Avenue from the NYC Quick Dry line. It's an older colour but a good, simple red never goes out of style.
I can't speak for other nail bloggers, but I am getter increasingly fond of NYC's quick dry polishes and personally, NYC beats Revlon's Top Speed hands down because NYC just chips less in my experience. It's just that simple. Yeah, their core colours are a bit limited, but they have been branching out with seasonal collections lately, so that will keep me coming back again. And now, back to packing!
I've been knocked out by an ear infection that just won't stop kicking me in the head and has me exhausted. It's really slowed me down, not just with posting, but with everything else in my life. So all I've been able to manage by way of polish in the last few days is Metallic from Revlon's Top Speed line. It does dry quickly, although not in 60 seconds as they like to claim, but it's fast enough that I didn't need to rely on quick dry solutions or top coats. I don't know why, but I always like a silver foil finish. Along with Gold and Bronze, Silver is a colour that says "summer" to me and considering how sickly I feel and the fact that Winter just won't go away, I'm really looking forward to warmer days!
Silver & Summer!
I'd also like to take a moment to say "hi" to my new follower, Zorafi! Thanks so much!
If there is anyone from the US or around the world that have stumbled on my humble blog, Joe Fresh is a Canadian clothing line that retails in select stores in the Loblaws chain of supermarkets here in Canada. Joe Fresh clothing is reasonably priced and actually looks pretty good, considering the prices. They recently branched out into cosmetics and bath products. Although I sort of dragged my feet to go and try their stuff out, I finally picked up a holiday nail polish set, mainly after I sawMidas in one of the packages:
I've got quite a few gold polishes but I find that it is darker than most gold polishes and has a more antique gold look to it that I haven't often seen. I think it's gorgeous and I wasn't let down by the quality either. Although the bottles are smaller than most (6 ml) I wouldn't complain about it since I rarely finish a bottle of nail polish. The brush was surprisingly wide when you consider the size of the bottle but the big white cap is a little difficult to hold. It dried very quickly and looked good in two coats and there is no sign of chips 2 days into its wearing. The other colours in the set are a deep purple shimmer and a white shimmer which I expect to be using soon.
I wanted to take break from dark polish again but I also didn't have much time to change my polish if it got chipped. I also wanted to try something that would make nicks and chips less noticeable. My sister suggested that I try one of two of her polishes from her collection and I ended up layering them to make something I never wore before:
Crystalline Pure Nude & Goldeneye
These Revlon Polishes are somewhat old. Goldeneye was actually part of a movie tie - in for the 1995 James Bond film Goldeneye so that polish is 15 years old and is a sheer light yellow with gold glitter. (Update: My sister says that Goldeneye was part of a James Bond Tie In but it was for Die Another Day . That film came out in 2002, so it's an eight year old polish.) Crystalline Pure Nude is probably even older than that but my sister doesn't remember when she bought it, but I wouldn't remember that either! It's a very sheer, pale nude shade and despite the look of the bottle, it's not a matte finish. Here's how it turned out:
It's like a light honey colour with a little bit of glitter to it. As you can see, both of these polishes are very, very sheer. That's two coats of the sheer nude with one coat of sheer glitter. If I wanted opacity, I'd probably have to apply five coats of polish combined. It's not the flashiest polishes I've even wore, but the nicks and chips I got during the week I wore it were not easily noticed. I'd try this combination again if I knew I wouldn't have time to tend to my nails.
I've got two colours for you today from Sally Hansen and Revlon. First up is Lovely Lilac and it's from the Sally Hansen Insta - Dri line. My sister and I are pretty fond of this line since because a wide brush, they apply easily, dry quickly and are more durable than a lot of other quick dry polishes. The only thing I don't like about this line is the bottle. I store my polish in a linear fashion and it's three sides of allows for a little less symmetry, but that's just me. If you like lilac/lavender polishes, then this one is probably for you!
Second up is Emerald City by Revlon. This polish is part of Revlon's current Fall line that includes a polish that I have already reviewed,RubyRibbon. Despite it's name, I don't think that they were aiming for a Wizard of Oz theme since the other names didn't reaaly follow suit. At first, I thought that this forest type green might look a little "christmasy" but I shouldn't have worried. It's gorgeous! It's green without having to scream "Look at me!!! I am GREEEEEN!" The application was quick drying and it didn't chip as quickly as Ruby Ribbon did, so that was a plus. I don't know how this compares to OPI'sHere Today, Aragon Tomorrow suede but if I find myself in the situation, I'll swatch and see.
Oh boy! I really, really like how this polish looks. This is Revlon's Matte Suede line in Ruby Ribbon and I love how it looks on my fingers! It is such a Fall wine colour and the texture is smooth, not bumpy at all. Being a Matte/Suede it dries very quickly but chips just as easily too. I had a big chip on my right hand the very next day but I was able to cover it up fairly well. Actually, when it comes to Matte/Suede polishes I would rather pick up a drug store brand at half the price of a salon brand since the wear time is so short. But that's just me.
Even though summer is soon coming to an end and I'm busting out the Fall shades, my sister busted out Plum Seduction by Revlon for her latest manicure. Even though it's got plum in the name it's much more of a pink than a plum. It's a pretty colour and she didn't seem to have the application issued that I have been having with Revlon polishes lately, so that's a good thing! I'm going to hang on to this one. This was one of their summer colours from 2009 so there probably isn't that many of them floating around at this time.
Stash It/Pass It: Stash It!
Now that I have posted a pinkish polish, I can now post the photo of the hideous boots/sneakers that I saw in the clearance aisle at Winners a few weeks ago:
What the Hell?
Behold Beyonce's House of Dereon movie tie in for the 2009 Blockbusted film Obsessed! These rubber and plastic monstrosities were still sitting in the store, gathering dust and generating peels of laughter from teenage girls who scoffed at the fact that these shoes were trying to promote a movie. Even at $16.00 CAN, nobody wanted the bubblegum and gold clodhoppers and frankly, the only way Winners could get rid of these things would be to remove the security tag and pray that somebody steals them! Although, they look like they would give great ankle support.
Aww, man! Guava Gleam from Revlon was one of 2009 summer colours and although it's such a pretty, light and warm weather shade, it's problems are obvious. The application was a pain. This is two coats of streaky, bubbly inconsistency made more difficult by a very thin brush that hampered it's application.
I'm a consumer, not a beauty insider so I don't know for sure if Revlon has changed their formula in the past few years. It just seems to me that their quality has changed and not for the better. I've been buying Revlon cosmetics for over 25 years and they used to be my go to pharmacy brand. But that's changed for me in the last few years, as far as their nail products go. Their quick dry seems to be no longer available in Canada and most of the polishes that I have recently bought, particularly the shimmers, bubble when I put them on. I think it's pretty clear what my decision is going to be on this polish, I hate to say!
