Revlon Colorstay Costal Surf Swatch + Review

FIRSTLY, I must address my absence.  I completed my full time student teaching internship last month, graduated college (finally, holy cow), and just got back from a wonderful vacation from Wisconsin!  I miss blogging, so so much. I hope to be able to make more time for it, truthfully my nails get BEAT UP when I'm working and I get too lazy to take care of them. I miss this, I miss y'all and intend on incorporating it back into my routine.  I've seen some adorable Funky Fingers at Five Below.. perhaps I'll have a homecoming giveaway soon ;)

Anyways! On to the polish!  My dear bestie Brittany and I went to an Ulta out her way and I found this beauty on sale for $1.50! WHAT. Not only was it super cheap, it's super amazing. Excellent formula. This is two coats, but I think one thick coat might even be possible.  The color is so summery and perfect.  Also, I'll be without thumb swatches for a while as I broke the joint in my thumb and can't quite bend it yet although I have gained a bunch of mobility back so far.

I tried a new blur technique on photoshop, which I think only will work for cremes since it doesn't affect the color at all.  Shown is two coats of Coastal Surf over Nailtek II Foundation and sealed with OTD. I'm assuming that since this polish was on super clearance that it might be discontinued. I'm not sure, but if you see it..grab it. It's a new fave!

Revlon Nail Art Neon High Voltage Swatch & Review

I saw this at my local Harmon and I was intrigued by them.  I picked this up for $6.29 but was able to use my sister's employee discount, yay!  Anyways, onto the polish..

I choose the one that stood out to me, the bright sunny orange, High Voltage.  Each bottle has two bottles, similar to the French Mix ones that I blogged about previously.  See below;

They look like this.  These are a bit pricey considering the label says you get only .26 fl oz of polish.

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You're supposed paint your nails with the white.  Layering any neon polish over white makes it really POP and brings out the neon a lot better.  So that's the implied method of polishing here.  I used two coats of the white over Orly Bonder and then I used 3 thin coats of High Voltage and sealed with the Pro-FX top coat (available at Walmart in a big 2 fl oz bottle for like $5 or $6).

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The orange needed 3 coats, it was streaky without it.  But this color is super bright, its really florescent looking and made my hands so tan looking too!  The white polish was decent, too.  I'd recommend 2 coats, but to wait until the first coat is really dry so you don't get streaks.

Revlon ColorStay Calla Lily

I am such a sucker for colors like this lately.  I think I hoard them more than I use them because I don't have patience for more than two coats most of the time, but it's so pretty.  I was able to get this for around $2 when they tend to run around $8 or $9. I stacked some coupons and used instant reward bucks from CVS and I'm so glad I did as I have a difficult time paying more than $5 for a drug store polish.

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This is four coats over Orly Bonder and sealed with Brucci Nail Dryer.  Even at four coats, there is very visible nail line, but I actually liked that.  It softened the look of my natural nails and was somewhat of an "instant french".

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Calla Lily is a super sheer white based polish with subtle golden shimmers.  Being my first ColorStay polish from the Revlon line, I was really impressed with the formula.  Even after four coats, it didn't peel - that's rare for me.

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I imagine of opacity was important to you that Revlon Powder Puff would be a really complimentary base color for this.

Revlon French Mix Swatch and Review

I bought this because I liked the glittery end of it, I thought it was pretty and different enough from Starry Pink that it was worth the purchase.  Revlon Nail Art French Mix is meant to be used for making french manicures yet I don't think that is easily accomplished.

I got Moonstruck, the purple one second from the left. My complaint isn't 100% directed at the quality of the polish but the practically of the product.

I was originally drawn to the polish that's on the top. I can't wear chunky glitters but smaller glitters usually work decently for me. Not the case this time around.

The brush is average, no complaints on that. You're seeing the side of the brush here so it may appear skinny but it is average width.

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I did not even attempt a french of any sorts after swatching one layer.  The problem with the shimmery purple (the darker one) is that its incredibly sheer which is OK in itself but not if you're supposed to use it for tips.  It wouldn't lay flat by the time you made it opaque. The formula, aside from being on the sheer side, was alright. It's actually very pretty, too.

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The glitter was a total pain in the ass to apply. It was splotchy, sheer and had lots of bare spots that ended up needing four coats to fix. I was not a fan of the formula, by any means. It was pretty but it was frustrating to apply. All of my other Revlons aren't this complicated - I don't know why this one was. I can't imagine trying to do a french manicure with these, with or without guides.

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If you see a color in one of these you like, then by all means buy it, but don't expect to create stunning french manicures.  I saw a review on Nouveau Cheap that shared similar frustrations. These things aren't marketed right. It should be sold as, "LOOK COMPLIMENTARY COLORS! 2FER1!" instead of "LOOK AT ALL THE FRENCH MANICURE DESIGNS YOU CAN DO!"

Gradient Nails

Soooooooooo I'm not quite sure what is about gradients and my inability to do them nicely, but I pretty much cannot create a subtle effect with multiple colors. Maybe it was my color choice.  After looking at this when I was done, I thought it might've been a better idea to have orange in the middle instead of a pink.  If I did that, maybe the color change would've been more subtle and effective.

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I built this on top of yesterday's Revlon Lemon Fizz manicure - FYI, the bumps are still visible even with all the extra layers of polish.

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I did a layer of Orly Basket Case (one of my favorites!) and then for the darkest color, I used China Glaze Ahoy! Like I said before, I think it would've been more gradual had I done an orange and then maybe Basket Case.  It's a visually rough transition from pink to yellow.

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I added a layer of Sally Hansen Diamonds for extra sparkle and sealed with Brucci Nail Dryer. I mentioned in a previous post that Brucci Nail Dryer is their version of a QDTC but it's not spectacular enough for the $5 price tag. However, I've got it so I'm trying to use it up.

Flash

Don't Paint Your Nails With the A/C Running.

I know it's bad news but I did it anyways. And now they're a mess and I've got to redo them.

This is three coats of Revlon Sunshine Sparkle over Orly Bonder and sealed with Out the Door. I thought it dried OK at first but oh it's a hot mess.  I got lobster hands too, but not in real life.. only in photos.

They aren't supposed to be textured!! Bubbles, bubbles everywhere! I sit about 3 feet from my window A/C unit, I should've known better. I don't know why I painted them anyways, I could've turned it off. Pssh.

Revlon Royal & Blue Mosaic

Not much to say about this except it wore really well on me and was almost too shiny to photograph.

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This is two coats of Royal with one coat of Blue Mosaic over Orly Bonder and sealed with OTD.

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See? I don't know how to photograph glitters. Blue Mosaic is really pretty but didn't translate well.

Revlon Royal & KleanColor Chunky Holo Bluebell

I've had these KleanColors forever and finally tested them out - about time!  I also have an upcoming post with a different Chunky Holo so keep an eye out for that, too.

I went food shopping and spotted Revlon Royal.  I don't know how many times I've passed it up but I ended up picking it up at Wegman's of all places, it was time for me to own this stunning blue jelly after dodging it for ages and I'm very glad I finally got it!

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This is two coats of Royal (it's surprisingly very opaque for a jelly!) with one coat of Chunky Holo Bluebell over CND Stickey and sealed with OTD. The whole combination was so shiny and eye catching.  The KC is a bit subtle over this color but when the light hit it right, it was stunning.

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I did have a little bit of trouble trying to catch the essence of this combo due to the shiny glare from my lamp, but you can get a pretty good idea of what it looks like if you click to enlarge.

Thanks for reading! (=

More On Revlon Dupes Deborah Lippmann Glitter In The Air + Swatch Comparison

Holy pageviews on my previous post batman!  I went back to Harmon's today to pick up the Revlon Dupe of DL GitA to do swatch comparisons.  They are very very very similar.  Revlon is slightly more opaque, which I think was what people wanted in GitA to begin with.  The difference isn't really noticeable until the 3rd coat.

Side by side bottle comparison - identical, right?

One Coat

Two Coats

Three Coats

For those interested and on the prowl for Whimsical, I took two more pictures of the display.

I hope this was helpful!

Halloween Dotticure

Some of my favorite holiday inspired manicures have more to do with color themes than more literal designs.  I love colors and I love playing with colors, so I decided to make somewhat of a Halloween dotticure for the occasion.

It's not deliberate in your face Halloween, but I think the colors give a nice nod to the holiday!  I started out with two coats of Revlon Royal Cloak. Such a pretty color, I really do think it could place in my Top 20.

Two coats of Royal Cloak, OTD TC.

I wore RC for a day before I added the dots, so there is a bit of tipwear.

For the white pattern, I used BM209 with Konad Special White.  After it dried, I used 3 additional colors and covered up some of the white dots.  I used Orly Green Apple, Orly Liquid Vinyl and OPI A Good Man-darin is Hard to Find for the dots.  Then I added another coat of OTD TC. I love my dotting tools. So much.

Revlon Facets of Fucshia and a FAIL

This manicure started of so unsuspecting!  It was pretty and had depth, it was fun to look at. Sometimes my creative juices get flowing in the wrong direction.  I have a wonderfully fabulous "WTFAIL" manicure for you a little further down.

Three Coats of FoF

I'm pretty sure it's three coats, at least!  If it's not three, its two.  I cant remember as I did it about a week ago.  I need to take notes when doing them, because I never remember )=

Lovely!

It's a much less obvious Halloween polish.  Black and purple certainly can create an eerie feel.  I didn't like this one and had passed on it a ton.  Finally I saw it and just couldn't resist.  I've seen hundreds of wonderful swatches and I caved. They're all enablers. YOU HEAR THAT? YOU'RE AN ENABLER.

It only cost me $3.59 at Harmon so, I didn't pay full drugstore price (around $6) for it. Application was surprisingly easy.  Love this one, definitely recommend.  This one is from the same collection as Starry Pink.  They're both in the Expressionist Collection.  There is one more I need to wear, Blue Mosaic. Oh its gorgeous, too.

ANYWAYS.. ONTO THE ANOMALY.

What's that kitty? You sense fail? OH NOOOOO.

Let me start by explaining what I wanted to do, what my vision was.  I wanted to make a jelly sandwich sorta. I wanted FoF to be on the bottom, and then use a different jelly over top. But I wanted to sanwich some konading in between the layers. Well, it didn't work so well. And it didn't look so hot. But here it is:

Started off by stamping.

Then I put 2 coats of a blue franken jelly. And one coat of
a GitD Pumpkin glitter polish. It got ugly fast, didn't it?

Blarghork.

Happy Halloween time!