Comparison: Maybelline Banana Puddin' and Revlon Sunshine Sparkle

Today I have two pale yellow polishes to compare. Banana Puddin' is a creme, and it's one of those discontinued shades that's fairly easy to find (try Dollar Tree). Sunshine Sparkle is from Revlon's new summer line, and it's a shimmer.



In the bottle, the base colors look quite close (sorry about the crappy bottle pics). Let's look at them on the nail. This is three coats of Banana Puddin' on the pointer and ring fingers, and three coats of Sunshine Sparkle on the middle and pinky fingers. No topcoat on either:



Sunlight:



As you can see, the base colors are not identical. SS is a shade darker and a little more vivid; BP is very pale.

Formula wise, SS wins for me. Yellows are notoriously difficult to apply, and these two were no exception. Even so, SS was completely even in three coats while BP was still a little patchy (you can see it on my pointer finger in the pic above).

If I could only choose one to keep in my stash, it would definitely be Sunshine Sparkle. The shimmer is really pretty and it's a tad easier to apply.

You don't need both. In indoor lighting, the shimmer in SS isn't noticeable unless you're specifically looking for it. I had a dinner to attend the day I swatched these so I painted my left hand with SS and left the right hand as it is in the pics. I couldn't tell the difference between the two in the restaurant.

Do you own either of these? Which do you prefer?

Happy painting!

China Glaze: Sundiver

Today I have China Glaze Sunfire. I have no idea what collection this one was released in. Sunfire is canary yellow with tonal shimmer AND silver glitter. This is two coats, Revlon Colorstay topcoat on top:



As you can see, the silver glitter doesn't show up on the nail, and my camera didn't really pick up the tonal shimmer. What little silver you can see actually just looks grey, but I love it anyway! I love weird, dirty looking polishes and this one fits the bill:



I had to thin this quite a bit, but once thinned and shaken, it applied well, especially for a yellow.

I think this polish is pretty cool. I don't have anything like it and I've never seen anything like it. I do wish the silver glitter actually sparkled on the nail, but oh well.

Happy painting!

Dusty Duds

I've been meaning to do this post for awhile but I got sidetracked. I'm a big fan of dustying (or dusty hunting) for old polishes. I've scored some great ones (OPI Black Tie Optional, China Glaze Grape Crush, etc.), and some duds, which I'll show you today.

When I go dustying, I generally have an idea of what I'm looking for, but I always keep my eye out for other shades. For me, it's not about getting a discontinued polish just to have it; I only buy what I like and would actually wear. I've come across countless old shades but I'm very picky so most of them get left on the shelf. If I do like the shade and I know it's discontinued, I will buy it right then because I know I may never see it again.

The last time I went dustying, I found two old China Glaze polishes...That Look and Crocodile Lounge. That Look is a purple shimmer with what looked to me to be scattered holo. Crocodile Lounge looked to be dupe-y to OPI Creme De Menthe, which is on my wishlist. Unfortunately, both ended up being duds.

First up is That Look...this is two coats, no topcoat:



As you can see, not only is it not holo, it's frosty and brushstroke-y. Gross.


Next up is Crocodile Lounge, which has a mint green base with yellow shimmer. Two coats, no topcoat:



Again, not what I expected. This one is also on the frosty and brushstroke-y side. Blech.

These were super thick when I got them home and opened them, so I added several drops of thinner. I can't speak to the quality of the original formulas, but even after thinning, the formulas were still very hard to work with. I'm willing to add more thinner and revisit these in the future, but the day I swatched them I was so disappointed that I threw them in a box and haven't looked at them since.

This is par for the course with dustying; you win some, you lose some. It's also possible that you may think you have a dud, then one day, you realize you have a treasure (i.e. my experience with ChG Nightfall). The bottom line is that the thrill is in the hunt, and you can't let one or two duds discourage you from finding great old shades.

Happy painting!

Revlon Street Wear: Envy

Today I have an oldie but goodie. Just a sidenote: Don't ever visit Pretty Random. You will be overtaken by lemmings and you will find yourself scouring ebay for Revlon Streetwears and the like. Not that I did that. *ahem* (Seriously, Kaz's blog is awesome! You should definitely check her out.)

Anyway, Envy is a recent purchase of mine and I'm so glad I got her because she's gorgeous. Envy has a light olive green base with silver and gold shimmer (at times I think I even see flashes of pink). Three coats, no topcoat:


Shade:



Sunlight:





Application was like butter. It was a three-coater for me, but it was an easy, thin three coats so I'm not complaining.

It's a gorgeous, sunny Sunday here but I'm going to be spending it in the house writing papers and harassing my professors for recommendation letters. I guess I'll live vicariously through the rest of you as you frolic and paint your nails and whatnot. Enjoy your day, and...

Happy painting!

OPI: DS Extravagance

Imagine my surprise when I walked into Ulta during my trip a few weeks back and saw this and several other DS polishes on the shelf. I was really close to buying them all, but at $12.50 a pop, I showed remarkable restraint and only bought one. This has been a lemming of mine for a long time, so I couldn't be happier. Still, I think about the others and wonder what might have been...

Oh well. Love the one you're with, right? :-) You've all seen this before. Unfortunately, I failed to capture the awesomeness of the holo, but trust me, it's amazing in real life. Two coats, no topcoat.





The formula was classic OPI; I had no problems whatsoever. I was so excited about this one that I got back to my hotel room, slapped two coats on top of whatever I was wearing, and proceeded to wear it for the next three days. I couldn't stop staring at my hands.

So, lemming satisfied. It feels pretty darn good.

Happy painting!

OPI Maine-iac Mauve

Maine-iac Mauve was released with the 1998 New England Colors collection. It has a fairly standard mauve base and lots of gorgeous gold shimmer. I think this polish is absolutely stunning. Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't seem like OPI makes shades like this anymore. I wish they would, because when they get it right, they really get it right.

Four coats, no topcoat.

Sunlight:





Natural light:


The formula was standard OPI; I had no problems. The polish was opaque in three coats, but I added a fourth for reasons I'll explain below.

I love this color. Absolutely love. But I don't love it on me. I added a fourth coat because I think I was holding onto the vain hope that it would get darker or more intense. Clearly, that didn't happen. This shade is just too close to my skintone and it washes me out. I think it would look beautiful on darker or lighter skin, but I'm too middle of the road for it.

Sigh.

Happy painting!

China Glaze Dusk-Repost

I'm reposting this because my initial set of pictures was pretty sucky (due to my old camera being sucky) and didn't fully capture the essence of this polish. I'm just anal like that, I guess. :-)

This polish is really old. I had to dig a little, but I finally found out it's from the China Glaze Platinum Series Collection, year unknown.

I think ChG Dusk is very close to Chanel Paradoxal, Revlon Perplex, and Barry M Dusky Mauve, but I would need to see them side-by-side to compare. Like the aforementioned shades, Dusk is a dusty purple with light purple shimmer.

Two coats, no topcoat.

Sunlight:






Natural light:


With flash


The formula was fine. It was a tad on the thick side, but a few drops of thinner and a few shakes solved that problem. This polish is not Big 3 free, but I would have known that even if I hadn't read the label. The smell was quite pungent.

None of that mattered, though. This polish was worth it, and then some.

Happy painting!

China Glaze Nightfall

Warning: lots of pictures, and gushing, in this post.

I picked up China Glaze Nightfall at a nail salon awhile back. I have no idea what collection it's from, but it's pretty old. It was almost completely dried out. I thinned it and swatched it, but I wasn't impressed at all. It looked near black and I was totally meh about it.

Well, I was going through my stash last night and decided to give it another chance. I thought maybe I had missed something. Boy, was I ever right. This polish is gorgeous. The base is eggplant, and it's packed with lots of purple and gold shimmer, with little bits of blue scattered sparsely throughout.

Two coats, Seche Vite on top.

Indoors, it's pretty and vampy, but nothing special.







In the sunlight, you can see her in her full glory




You can see the flashes of gold here


And she even has a smoky, dusky side




Formula wise, it was thick and gloopy, but that's due to age. Pigment-wise, it's a one coater. Love, love, LOVE this polish.

What polishes were you initially meh about, but fell in love with later on?

Happy painting!

China Glaze Grape Crush

This beauty is from the Platinum Series Collection. I have no idea what year it was released. It's a dark purple with lots of multi-colored microglitter.

Two coats, no topcoat.






Check out the glitter (sorry these are blurry, but my macro setting sucks)



With flash


This is another polish I purchased from the display shelf of a nail salon. It was thick and gloopy at first, but once I thinned it, the formula was great. It was opaque in one coat. It dries to a sheen, but it's definitely not shiny without a topcoat, and it feels rough to the touch. Still, I have no complaints about this one. I feel like I found a buried treasure. :-)

Happy painting!

OPI Changing of the Garnet

I've said before that I don't like most reds on me. So why do I have so many of them in my stash? Weird.

Anyway, this is OPI Changing of the Garnet. This shade was part of the 2002 European Collection. It's a deep, wine colored red with gold shimmer.

Two coats, no topcoat.





The gold shimmer gives this polish kind of a glowing ember effect. That said, I don't like it. It does nothing for me and I find it more interesting looking than pretty. This one is definitely in my bottom 5 OPI polishes.

Formula-wise, it was ok. I had to thin it because of its age (I snagged it from a nail salon), but the opacity was fine.

What polishes are in your bottom 5?

OPI NYPD Beet

This shade is from the 2000 New York City Colors collection. It's aptly named, as the base is beet colored. I don't know about you, but beets were never my favorite food or color. What makes this polish gorgeous is the pink shimmer.

Three coats, no topcoat.




With flash


The formula was near perfect (after thinning, of course). I could have gotten away with two coats, but I detected some light spots so I did a third for good measure. This is one of the polishes I got on my nail salon ambush, and it was well worth the haggling.

Happy painting!