Revlon Selects - Revlon Parfumerie

I actually received a couple of Revlon Selects packages in the last couple of months.
First one was some more of their 3D nail strips. I got two designs. I gave one to a friend to try (I don't believe she's used strips before, so I wanted her take on them), and I kept one for myself to use for my company Christmas party - that's next weekend, so I'll have a review up hopefully next Monday.

The second box had a single polish in it - from their new Parfumerie line.

The bottles are super cute, rectangular with beveled edges, and the lid is small and round - it looks reminiscent of a simple perfume bottle. Obviously what they were going for, and it worked.
The smaller lid was actually pretty easy to work with. It's about the same height as a mini polish lid, but the shape makes it easier to hold than a traditionally shaped lid on a mini bottle.

The scent/shade I received is "Spun Sugar" - a metallic off-silver, almost pewter shade.

This is two coats - I decided to fancy it up by adding a jewel to each nail (pale blue, round; from the Claire's gem wheel). I thought it would give it a bit of a wintery feel.

First coat wasn't quite opaque, but second coat evened it out. You can just barely see some brushstrokes; and I find that's pretty typical of these frosty metallics, so no complaints there

The scent is creamy and sweet. I don't really know how else to describe it.
I just applied it, so we'll see how long the scent lasts :)
While it was drying, the smell reminded me of a new magazine with an unopened perfume sample - weird, but that's where my brain went. Once it fully dries, the sugary scent really comes out.
I did find the scent to be a little on the strong side at first, but my nose has been very sensitive to perfumes lately. I don't know if I'm just used to it now or what, but it has mellowed out to where I can only really smell it if my fingers are about two inches from my nose.

I DID use a topcoat, and the polish passed the test. Once the topcoat was dry, the scent came back, just as strong as before.

The box also contained a brochure with two scent samples
- Autumn Spice:  looks like a beautiful coppery brown shimmery bottle of goodness, and it smells like pumpkin spice, which, well, I am obsessed with.
- Surf Spray: looks like a (metallic?) teal-blue, smell is very typical of "water" scented perfumese (if that makes sense). I don't really know how else to describe it.
There were 16 shades at the time of release, and it looks like there are more now.

If I don't get any of these for Christmas, I will be buying Autumn Spice, and another one I saw in stores called Italian Leather.

Reddit Challenge - Jelly Sandwich

This week's challenge is a "Jelly Sandwich"

Sounds kind of silly, but here is how it works:

You take a sheer pigmented nail polish that goes on without streaks (a "jelly polish"), apply one or two coats. Then you apply a coat of glitter. Apply another coat of the jelly polish over top.

I wanted mine to be a bit more opaque, so I used a creme polish as my first layer. I guess it's not a true jelly sandwich, but it's still pretty.

I started with two coats of my Zoya White.

For the glitter layer, I chose Claire's Scented polish in Sugar Cookie. This is from their holiday set, which I managed to get on sale. Sugar Cookie is a clear yellow tinted polish (not thick enough to be a jelly, but the yellow is strong enough to tint whatever you use as an under coat - I was not expecting this, but it turned out nicely!) with multi-coloured glitter in two different sizes.

For the top jelly layer, I used two coats of Sally Hansen Polar Bare, which is a sheer white. This toned down the yellow, making this manicure a nice creamy colour.

The scent from the glitter coat still comes through the two layers of the jelly polish and the topcoat! I couldn't imagine how strong it would be if I just left it on it's own. It smells a little sweet, which is nice.

Everyone has been comparing this to Easter eggs - I might have to do it again when easter rolls around, but instead, use pastel creme polishes as the base!

Reddit Challenge - Inspired by a Song

I had a really tough time with this one, and I asked people for help.

I asked my husband first. At the time, I was painting my nails black for my company Christmas party, and he just looked at my nails, looked back at me and raised his eyebrows. "Paint it Black" ... I really didn't want to cop-out, but I kept it in my back pocket.

I asked a co-worker. "99 Red Balloons", he suggested and gave me a link to a website with a list of songs that have colours in the title. Very crafty!

I browsed the site and thought "Yellow Submarine!" but since I'm going to be taking it off quickly to do a manicure for another Christmas party, I didn't want to put a lot of time into it.

I started typing in bands, looking for lists of songs, I finally went back to The Beatles, and figured why not just go for their costumes for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

So ... here it is!

Thumb is 3 coats Claire's Scented Banana
Index finger is 2 coats Wet n Wild Lavender
Middle finger is 3 coats Claire's Scented Lime
Ring finger is 2 coats Fascino Blue
Pinkie is 2 coats Wet n Wild Red

Details are done with Claire's and Icing detail polishes in gold and silver.

Fast and cute!

Reddit Challenge - Rainbow

I've wanted to do a rainbow water marble for a while, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity.

Except, I didn't want to do it on every finger. I thought, why not do water marble tips?

A few tries and lots of nail polish remover later ...

2 coats OPI Black Onyx on each finger, except my ring finger. Then I taped off the tip and painted on a coat of Zoya White.

2 coats Zoya White on my ring finger.

Water marble: 

1 drop Zoya White, 

1 drop Wet'n'Wild Red, 

1 drop Sally Hansen Sun Kissed

1 drop Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow

1 drop Claire's Scented Lime

1 drop Ardene's Electrified

1 drop Essence Break Through

Swirl and dip!

For my ring fingers, I taped off around the edge of my nail to help cleanup and dipped the whole thing.

While my other fingers were still taped from the white, I dipped them 2 fingers at a time (to save time and polish). I did my index and middle finger, then my thumb and pinkie. 

I did not wrap the tape all the way around, so there was a LOT of clean up on those ones.

The photo shows some spots that I missed on cleanup - darn it - there was nail polish all over my hands.

I think it looks really neat! I don't think I'd do it again with that many colours, but if I was to do a water marble with 3 or 4 colours, just doing the tips would work really well.

52 Week Challenge - Cupcake Manicure

I wanted to try a couple of things with this manicure ...

I managed to find a bottle of Sinful Colors Mint Apple, and Sinful Colors was on sale. I cannot believe that this polish is $6 in Canada and $2 in the US. (I paid $3 for this bottle). I know things are usually more expensive up here, but 3 times the price is a bit silly.
Aaanyways ... this is a gorgeous mint green with a lovely shimmer to it. I immediately thought of it when I saw the cupcake manicure theme.

I also wanted to try out a glitter sandwich - it's where you do a sheer or "jelly" polish, add a layer of glitter, then another layer of the jelly polish.

So, here goes (please pardon my fingers - with the heat, my skin has been acting up, plus I cut my pinkie while I was making dinner last weekend):

I used Sinful Colors Mint Apple on my thumb, index, ring and half my middle fingers. 2 coats.
Once that was dry, on my thumb and middle fingers, I added some vertical stripes with Claire's Scented polish - Turquoise/Fruit Punch.

On my pinky, I used Sally Hansen Polar Bare - 2 coats. I did the same in a half-circle on my middle finger.
This is a super, super sheer white - after 1 coat, you couldn't really tell there was any colour to it, but 2 coats, and the white started to show.
After the white was dry, I added some blue/green/purple glitter polish from the Claire's Precious Metals collection.
Once that was dry, I topped it off with another coat of Polar Bare.

To top off the cupcake, I added a dot of OPI Comet Loves Cupid - I have a mini bottle from one of their mini box sets.

Topcoat, and done!
It's kinda cute!

52 Week Nail Challenge - Fruit Manicure

I got all of my stamp plates on Friday.

I played around with them for a bit over the weekend and I decided that I wanted to use them for this week's manicure.

Please pardon the flash as always. If I remember, I'll bring my camera to work tomorrow to see if I can get a non-flash photo.

I picked up a pack of Claire's Sweet Scents - 5 scented nail polishes

Strawberry (pink), Orange (orange), Banana (yellow), Lime (green) Fruit Punch (turquoise)
I didn't want to choose just one, so I decided to do a skittles manicure.

Back when I worked at Claire's, their nail polishes weren't the best, so I was expecting to have to do multiple coats - these aren't too bad! Neon colours, dries matte, and dries quickly.

2 coats for each, except the yellow - it required 3, and it was kind of gloopy. :( I think if I want to use the yellow again, I'll do a basecoat with another yellow polish first.

Scent-wise, they're pretty standard artificial scents. The orange and lime were pretty 'cleaning supply' scented at first, but then they mellowed out.

Once they were on and dry, I went in with OPI Black Onyx to add the designs.

A strawberry on my thumb, orange slices on my index finger, bananas on my middle finger, a lime on my ring finger and a pineapple on my pinky.
Some of them are off-centre ... I'm still trying to figure out how to position the stamp.

I applied a topcoat to protect everything, which I figured would kill the fruit scent - I am surprised to say that it did not!

Next week is a Splatter Mani - remember splatter painting with straws from when you were a kid - yeah, picture that with nail polish. If it's nice next weekend, I'll do my nails outside. Must remember to keep a couple of straws this week.