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!

Essence: Underwater...Repost

ETA: Two of my awesome readers brought it to my attention that Underwater looks grey in my pics. I wanted to repost with some indoor pics of this, because I think the sun may have washed out the blue in my sunlight pics. I didn't realize the difference was so pronounced. Here are a couple of indoor pics. Two coats, Revlon topcoat:






Original post:

Today I have Essence Underwater, not to be confused with...Essence Underwater. Nihrida discussed the difference in the two polishes here. Apparently I have the second version.

At any rate, Underwater is simply stunning. It's a dusty blue cream with subtle shimmer. The thing about the shimmer is that when you do see it, it looks like it's glowing from deep below the layers of polish, which is exactly how light looks under water. It's pretty damn cool. It didn't even need the shimmer to be beautiful though, because the base is dusty and sexy. Can you tell I love this polish? I don't have anything else like it.

The best part to me is that it only cost $.99 at Ulta. I got this and several others when I was in Cincinatti. You have to love cheap polishes that deliver like this. Two coats, Revlon topcoat.




I didn't capture the shimmer very well, but you can see it a little here:



Application on this was just fine. It's very nicely pigmented and probably could have been a one-coater if I had better skills.


And just because, this is my daughter's NOTD. One coat of China Glaze Classic Camel with two coats of Fairy Dust on top.



Happy painting!

Zoya Creamy

I'm ready for spring! It was 70 degrees and beautiful here over the weekend. Unfortunately, it's now 50 degrees, grey, and rainy. And dreary. What a way to start the week. Mondays are already bad enough.

Zoya Creamy is the exact opposite of dreary. It's a bright, sunny yellow creme.

Three coats, no topcoat.

Natural light:





Indoors:


I had issues with the formula, but I expected that with a color like this. It was thick, yet streaky. I made it work, but I think it looks rather lumpy. I'm sure I can master the application with a little practice, which I definitely plan to do because I love the color. This is actually my very first yellow polish, and I can't wait to wear it this spring/summer. It's bright enough that it catches your attention, but it's not neon or loud. In other words, it's very wearable.

Happy painting!