Revlon Selects 3D Jewel Appliques

Ok,
It's been a while since I did a review of a product sent to me by Revlon. I had bare nails and I didn't want to wait for nail polish to dry, so I reached for my pack of 3D Jewel Appliques. I received the Floral Fatale pattern.

This is a very cute and busy pink/white/black/silver pattern. Flowers and silver geometric shapes. It even has a bit of an iridescent shine to it.

The Review:

First up, I read the instructions - pick the right size, apply, fold over nail edge, file off excess. Just like all the other nail strips out there. Easy as pie!
Then I looked at removal. These are not real nail polish, so for removal, you simply peel them off starting at the cuticle.
My heart sank a bit at that, because I have weak nails, and peeling things off of your nails can really damage them.

I elected to apply a basecoat to help prevent damage.

Application was super easy - peel and stick, smooth down.
The only minus here were the small range of sizes. My index, middle and ring fingers are all pretty much the same size - it was tough getting ones to fit. I ended up using a couple of slightly too-small ones. Also, my thumb was in-between the largest and second largest size, so I had to trim that one down - which is pretty normal.

The excess strip filed away pretty easily, but I encountered a slight hitch ... I had stretched one of them to make it fit, but once I filed the end off, it un-stretched and I had a bare patch at the tip of my nail. It was small and the busy pattern on the applique hid it well, so I figured it was ok.

I wore it, went to bed, woke up and had my shower.
This is when it all started to fall apart. They caught in my hair, shifted and lifted. I'm not sure if this is because I used a basecoat, so your mileage may vary.

I peeled them off afterward and they came off really nicely - it looks like the adhesive is gentle enough that it shouldn't damage your nails. It only lifted the basecoat off of one nail. I'm just wondering if they elected to go for a gentle adhesive rather than staying power.

Verdict: they're cute if you want a cute complex pattern without all the work. Probably only good for a couple of days. I personally wouldn't buy them, but I think they'd be great for a lot of people - especially if they wanted a really fancy manicure for an event.

Reddit Challenge - Yellow

Ok, something simple this week.
I actually have several yellow polishes. This is a bit surprising, because I really am not a big fan of yellow.
They're all different too - pastel creme, scented bright yellow creme, sheer super shimmery yellow and opaque slightly shimmery yellow.

I used my opaque, slightly shimmery yellow for this one - Essence Wanna Be Your Sunshine
Since yellows can be difficult to apply, I started with a coat of Zoya White. After the white was dry, I applied a generous coat of the Essence polish. I really like this one. I probably could have gone with two coats, but one worked.

After the yellow was dry, I topped it off with a coat of China Glaze Whirled Away.
One of the many popular multi-sized black and white matte glitters ("matte glitter meaning it's not metallic - it's still shiny though ...)

I had a bit of an issue with this one. It might have been that I put on Whirled Away too thick, or I put on Out The Door (quick dry topcoat) before everything was dry enough, but I got bubbles. You can see them in the photo.

When I removed the manicure, You could really tell it went all the way through the polish!

The rest of the manicure came off really easily with the foil method.

Glitter Polish and Revlon Selects

First up - my first Revlon Selects review!

I received Revlon's ColorStay Ultimate Suede Lipstick in Backstage - a burgundy shade.
I was happy to receive this colour - It's probably the one I would have bought.

Packaging: The lid is secure and the tube clicks a couple of times when twisting it. I've had a few lipsticks in the past that have popped open in my purse (yuck!) and some that have twisted up and smooshed in the lid, so I'm a fan of both of these features.
I store my lipstick upright in a box, so the clear lid is handy.

The lipstick applied very nicely - smooth and not quite sheer. I was a little worried that I would have to keep reapplying it all night.
After a few minutes, the lipstick set. Some longwear lipsticks dry out so much that you have to keep applying lip balm to prevent your lips from cracking. The Ultimate Suede was a bit dry, but I didn't feel like I had to do anything extra.

I wore it to my company Christmas party and am happy to say that it lasted through the entire night. I think I had it on for about 8 hours (through dinner, drinking, etc).
When I got home and wanted to remove it, I had some lip balm ready to soften it, but wanted to try just a tissue first. I was very surprised when it all came off with just a couple of swipes.

I think this is going to be my go-to lipstick from now on!

Unfortunately, I didn't take any after photos (I was too sleepy to think of it), but I've got another party on Friday, so I'll try to remember then.

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 Now for the nail polish!

Reddit challenge this week was "Glitter"
I decided that I was going to try the white glue basecoat to see how well it works for removal.

Some people put the glue in an old cleaned polish bottle, but I just put some onto a piece of scrap cardboard and painted it onto my nails with a brush. Once it was dry, I added my base colour - OPI Black Onyx - and my glitter - one coat of Wet n' Wild Rest in Pieces.
I really like this polish. I've seen a lot of reviewers put on multiple coats, so you end up with this sort of grey-red mess, but I think one coat over black shows how pretty this one is.

The glue removal method? I'll do it again! It worked so well - just peel the polish off from the cuticle and wash your hands well to remove any residue.

I only did my thumb, because I had to do my nails for my company Christmas party, and I didn't want to do a whole manicure just to take it off.
I'll share that manicure a little later - I've got another challenge and another party - so many manicures!

The next challenge is "Inspired by a Song"

Guest Manicure - Stormy!

This is a super busy week - I'm going to fall behind on my weekly challenge (I have two now - check out the links in the sidebar)

Anyways, to help me out, one of my friends, Manpreet, did a very pretty stormy manicure for my blog!

Without further ado ...

The base is a Sally Hansen black polish, the clouds were done using a Konad stamp (the stamp is actually cranberries), the lightning bolt was free-hand using a yellow OPI polish and the rain was done using an iridescent Wet n Wild glitter polish.

Love it Manpreet!

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In other news ... Here is how the nail strips turned out after a week - not bad! Just nail growth and some tip wear. I could have worn them longer, but I wanted to take them off because the edge that was at my cuticle kept catching on my hair.

I don't know if it was just these particular ones, but oy, what a pain in the butt to remove.
There is a yellow layer, and then a black layer. I held the cotton ball over top of the nail for a minute or two to soften the polish, then I pulled it off. The yellow polish came off, so then I had black squares - after scrubbing for a bit, it finally came off, but I had little black flakes around my fingers, and occasionally a little ball of adhesive.

At the price these things are, I don't know that I'd get them again - they are REALLY cute, but for the price of a bottle or two of polish you get one manicure. For people who are into nail art, but can't / don't want to do their own, they're a great option and I would highly recommend them ... for me? I don't really think so.
(bonus: if you have really short nails, cut the strips in half, and only use one pack - save the second pack for a second manicure later!)

Oh yeah ...

This is why I don't wear glitter polish.

My mani started to chip pretty badly on two fingers (the ones that are bare) - I guess I was right about the polish being too thick on the tips.
Anyways, I decided to remove it completely using the foil method from AllYouDesire's blog. I left it on for 6 minutes. It removed the fine glitter beautifully, the large glitter did not want to budge! I think it's just this specific polish, and I should have left the foil on for the full 8 minutes.

Time to soak some more!

I'll be leaving my nails with just the post trauma nail treatment on for the next few days while I decide what to do next!

I figure it's also worth noting that a co-worker wanted to try the glitter syrup mani, so I brought the polish in to work with me. She's normally not 'creative' with her nails, but she said it was super easy to do, and it looked great!