Red, Black and Gold Glitter Mani

Now that the summer is over and I've been spending less time in the garden, I managed to get some nail art done! 

The inspiration for this mani all started with me wanting really bright red nails.  After scouring my collection for the brightest reds, I finally settled on Essie's 'Fifth Avenue'.  I then came across Pure Ice 'Studette', a gold glitter polish with small amounts of red glitter mixed in.  I decided to pair the two by making a gold glitter decal in a fun shape, and applying it over the red polish on my ring finger to accent the nail... I really just wanted to do a simple look after not having done a lot of nail art for a couple months!

I decided to go with a thin gold glitter triangle that stretched from the tip to the base of the nail. I executed the design perfectly, and was in awe at the stunning accent! Unfortunately, I would only be able to enjoy the design for a few minutes - while it was drying, I accidentally smudged my nail while reaching for something!  I was so disappointed! I decided to try to salvage what I could, and to take the opportunity to push the design further. 

Luckily, the decal itself wasn't ruined, just the red portion on one side of the decal was smudged. I carefully removed the red polish from that side, and masked the (now dry) unblemished portion of the nail. Then I added a black polish, 'Never Have Too Mani Friends!' from the original OPI 'Hello Kitty' collection. It worked, and looked even better than the original design! I'm glad I didn't give up! Inspired by the new improved accent, I then went on to add more black and gold accents to the rest of the nails to tie everything together. In the end, I am so pleased with how the final look turned out!

The final look reminds me of the face cards in a deck of cards - it's all of the bold geometric shapes and the combination of red, black and gold. This mani would be a great look for a poker tournament! If I wanted to run with the playing card theme, a matte topcoat, and maybe a club, diamond, heart or spade nail stamp on the thumb instead of the gold and black circle would have been a nice touch... Wow, looks like once those creative juices start flowing, they never want to stop - here I am still designing the mani, after it's already complete! 😂  

Above, I have a collage of the polishes used, and below, I have a collage with some additional shots of the manicure.

Christmas Glitter Mani 2021

I fell behind with posting, but I really wanted to get this Christmas Mani up on the blog (even though there are a few older manis that I have yet to post! 😅), as it's becoming a bit of a tradition for me to do this same mani at Christmas-time:

I talked about the first two times that I did this manicure in this post from December 2018. I'm pretty sure that this is actually the fourth time I re-created this mani, as I distinctly remember wearing it during the holidays in 2019, however, it looks like I didn't take any pictures of it that year.

One change that I made from the original version, is that I am using a different gold base polish for my middle finger. In the first two versions I used Orly 'Luxe' as the base coat, which is a bit more of a true gold colour. This year (and I think last year too), I started using OPI 'Dazzling Dew Drop', which is a bit more of a brassy, yellow-toned gold. I think that this shade of gold works a little better with this bright, playful look. For both versions, I used Orly 'Halo' as the glitter topper over the gold polishes.

Once again, I love how it turned out! This manicure was so much fun to wear, as it instantly put me in a festive mood!  

Happy Holidays to all!

Grey, Red and Black Abstract Mani

I wanted to do a fun abstract pattern to go with a black, white and grey tie-dye dress that I wore today. This is what I came up with:

For this manicure, I used Nubar Citadel, a light gray creme polish, as the base for the stamped fingers. I then stamped an abstract texture pattern over it using a dark gray creme polish, OPI's "Liv" in the Gray.  The texture patters used were from ÜberChic Beauty Über Mini plates 'Texture-licious', and 'Texture-licious 3'. The two accent nails are painted red with OPI 'Let Your Love Shine'. I also added some cute red heart decals over my stamped index and pinky fingers, to tie the look together.

I also did a slight modification of the mani on my other hand: 

It's essentially the same design, but I double-stamped the nail stamped fingers with another texture pattern in black - Bundle Monster 'Straight Up Black' stamping polish. The texture pattern I used to top the design was from ÜberChic Beauty Über Mini plates 'Texture-licious' 4. This design more closely resembled the tie-dyed dress that I used as inspiration, but I liked both versions and couldn't bring myself to just pick one! 😄

I really enjoyed creating this manicure! It was a lot of fun to design, and a lot of fun to wear!

China Glaze 'Ruby Pumps'

Today I have a swatch of an oldie but goodie, China Glaze 'Ruby Pumps':

'Ruby Pumps' is an amazing ruby red jelly glitter polish that is part of China Glaze's core line. Apparently, the polish was originally released as part of a collection called 'The Wizard of Ooh Ahz' way back in 2001, and then brought back due to popular demand in 2009.  'Dorothy Who?' is another polish that I own, that was originally from the same collection. I previously featured it on the blog in this post. 

In the picture above, the polish looks a lot lighter than it really does in person. However, it does a good job of showing the embedded sparkle from the shimmer particles in the deep red translucent base. The picture below more closely captures the gorgeous true shade of the lacquer. 

I believe that the 'Wizard of Ooh Ahz' collection was released for the holiday season, and I can definitely see how 'Ruby Pumps' in particular would be great for Christmas time. However, it is such a glamorous and glitzy look, that I'll make it work any time of year! 😄

Morgan Taylor - Just One Bite

For St Patrick's day this year, I did a 'Green Plaid Mani' which used 'Mistress of Mayhem', a sparkly dark green polish from Morgan Taylor's Fall 2020 'Disney Villains' collection. Today, I have a swatch of another polish from that 'Disney Villain's' collection. It is a metallic red polish called 'Just One Bite':

'Just One Bite' is the Morgan Taylor 'Disney Villain Collection' polish that was themed around the Evil Queen from 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves'. The name is a reference to the poisoned red apple that the queen offers to Snow White. Fittingly, it is a gorgeous apple red polish with a finely milled shimmer that gives the polish a metallic look. 

I'm partial to metallic reds, so of course I absolutely had to have this polish when I noticed it in the collection! Now that I've tried it, I can say that I really enjoyed wearing it. The colour and finish were beautiful, and worked well with my skin tone. I also think the formula was fairly decent, and the polish was reasonably long-lasting on the nail. Overall, I'm quite happy with this polish!

OPI 'I'm Really an Actress' - OPI Hollywood Collection for Spring 2021

2021 marks the 40th anniversary of OPI's 1981 inception in California, USA. To celebrate this milestone, the company has created a Hollywood collection for Spring 2021. This is actually the second Hollywood collection that OPI has released. The first was for Fall/Winter 1999, the 10th anniversary of their 1989 nail lacquer launch collection. Even though they started running the company in 1981, they only expanded their products to include nail polishes in 1989. They are now one of the most popular brands of nail polish in the world!

That first Hollywood collection introduced one of OPI's most iconic polishes, 'I'm Not Really a Waitress',  which has since become part of their permanent line. The polish has also become one of their best sellers. As a nod to this renowned polish, the 2021 Hollywood collection includes the equally cheekily named 'I'm Really an Actress'. When I first heard about this collection and saw that this polish was part of it, I instantly knew that I had to have it! And so we have the subject of today's post!:

OPI is known for it's red polishes being some of the best in the industry, so it's only fitting that the marquee polish of the Spring 2021 40th Anniversary 'Hollywood' collection would also be a red! 

'I'm really an Actress' is a bright red holographic polish, with slightly cool undertones. This red has a somewhat translucent consistency, which is the perfect base to showcase the fine holographic shimmer particles mixed into the formula. It really does embody the glitz and glamour of Hollywood actresses and red carpets. It also has an excellent formula, and looks quite lovely on the nail.

Now, you may be wondering how 'I'm Really an Actress' compares to it's sister polish 'I'm Not Really a Waitress'. Well, I've got you covered with a handy-dandy comparison swatch below!:

As you can see, both polishes have completely different finishes, and are different shades of red. 'I'm Not Really a Waitress' is a stunning deep red metallic perfectly befitting the Fall/Winter collection that it was originally released in, while 'I'm Really an Actress' is a gorgeous brighter red holo, more suitable for Spring.

As someone who not only loves polish, but also appreciates the nostalgia element of certain polishes, I'm super excited to have 'I'm Really an Actress' in my collection. 

As a side note, I also own another polish that was initially released in the original 1989 Hollywood collection. It is a deep red creme shade called 'Chick Flick Cherry'.  I used this polish in an earlier post on this blog, which you can see here.

Zoya 'Carmen'

 This gorgeous polish is Zoya's 'Carmen':

Zoya's website describes Carmen like this: "a bright, clean medium true red in a glossy creme finish. You can't go wrong with this classic red." The polish has a slightly translucent, crelly(ish) formula. My lighting in the photo above makes this swatch look a lot brighter, and more of a 'poppy red' than it actually is. It really is a true, neutral red as the website describes. My thumbnail in the label shot photo below is a much closer representation of how this shade looks in real life.

Fun Fact: You'll notice in the label shot picture that Carmen has the distinction of being colour ZP001 - polish number one in Zoya's numbering system. I couldn't find an official source for this info, but the rumours on line suggest that this was possibly Zoya's first polish, or perhaps we can speculate that it was at least released in it's initial launch? Anyhow, as someone who loves the odd bit of polish history, I found this interesting!

Revlon 'Red Affair'

Today I have another red mani to share. This bright, true red creme polish is by Revlon, and is called 'Red Affair':

I've really been fancying a lot of red polishes lately. This shade of red is such a fun pop of colour on the nail, while also being a timeless classic! This polish is relatively new to my collection, so I didn't have it at the time that I did my Revlon Red Polish Comparison, featuring the 10 Revlon red polishes that I owned at that point. 

For some reason, I can't find very much information on-line about this particular polish. Even on Revlon's website... I'm fairly certain that it is a newer addition to the 'Super Lustrous Nail Enamel' line. I think I first noticed it on a shop shelf around just over a year ago in either late 2019, or perhaps early 2020 - sometime prior to everything shutting down. I ended up buying it online in summer 2020.

All in all, I really like the polish. It's not the most unique shade in the world, but it has a very nice formula, and it's a lovely shade that gives an effortless 'put-together' look when worn.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 'Pucker Up'

 Today, I have a swatch of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 'Pucker Up':

This is a bright, poppy red polish, with a jelly-like consistency and shiny, slightly translucent finish. It is very intensely pigmented, and covers quite well even after one coat. I enjoyed wearing this polish - it's bold and fun, yet classic and elegant at the same time!

Essie A-List... Possibly My Perfect Shade of Red?!

 I'm not quite certain, but I think I may possibly have found a strong contender for my perfect shade of red! The polish is Essie 'A-List', and she's a real beauty:

Essie's web-site describes the A-List as an "award-winning, classic creamy red polish". The polish is a cool-toned, slightly deep shade of red that will likely flatter a variety of skin tones. It also applies really well, and dries to smooth, shiny finish.

I find 'A-List' to be really chic and elegant, and I could see myself using this as kind of a manicure wardrobe staple for those times when you want to look polished, and put together, without too much fuss. What I really love about the polish is that I'm always looking for deeper reds that read as red (as opposed to burgundy), and don't give off brown undertones - so far, A-List seems to fit the bill! The real test is seeing how it looks under fluorescent lighting, but I haven't gotten a chance to do that yet.

All in all, I'm completely smitten with this polish, and look forward to using it again!

Swatch: Orly 'Torrid'

 

Orly 'Torrid' is truly one of the most gorgeous red polishes that I own! It is the perfectshade of ruby red, with a finely milled shimmer that makes the polish appear to glow from within. This polish is a classic, and can be worn year-round. During the holidays it can be quite festive, however, during the rest of the year it gives such a sophisticated, yet subtly edgy look to a manicure. 

As you can see from the metallic red comparison swatches below, 'Torrid' (#6) is very similar to CoverGirl 'Forever Festive' (#5), and A England 'Perceval' (#7). Perceval is actually a tad cooler toned, but they are still quite close. 

Overall, I would have to say this is an excellent nail polish. The shade is gorgeous, the finish is mesmerizing, and it performs quite well in terms of application and dry-time. I absolutely adore it!

Essie 'Red Nouveau'

Today I have a swatch of Essie's 'Red Nouveau', a bright crimson red creme polish. This is a classic, summery red shade with a warm, orange undertone. In the swatch, I've used two coats of the polish. 

It's such a classic look that there's not really much to say about it other than: if you are in the mood for red nails - this is a wonderful candidate!

Swatch: Rimmel 'Celebrity Bash'

Today I have a swatch of Rimmel's 'Celebrity Bash' to share. In the bottle, and in sunlight, it is  a vampy deep red shade. However, I notice that when applied to the nails, under most indoor lighting conditions it looks more burgundy, taking on a more brownish undertone. 

I really like the look of the polish in sunlight, but since I spend most of my time indoors, I don't really enjoy using this polish as a manicure. Going forward, I've decided to use this polish as my pedicure shade, until the bottle is used up. I recently finished my previous pedicure shade, Rimmel's 'Pulsating'.

Essie 'Bordeaux'

Today's manicure is a classic polish - Essie's 'Bordeaux'.  Fun fact: this polish was part of the original release of 12 polishes when the Essie brand was launched in 1981! It is a deep red wine jelly polish, that gives a vampy, sophisticated look on the nails. I think this polish is absolutely gorgeous. Next to metallic reds, I would say that jelly reds are probably my next favourite way to wear red nails. 

I really like my deep reds to read as red, as opposed to brown, so I like using as few coats as possible to keep the polish as light as possible. On the swatch above, I used only one coat of bordeaux, and one coat of glossy top coat to amplify the shine. However, the nails appear somewhat lighter in the photo than they do in real life, due to the strong lights I use for my pictures. 

Essie Gel Couture 'Rock the Runway'

Today, I wanted to share a swatch of my current manicure, Essie Gel Couture 'Rock the Runway'. I recently purchased this polish after being mesmerized with the bright, cheerful shade while passing it by on a few occasions in the drug store!  I was pretty certain that I didn't really need another red polish, until I realized that everytime I saw this particular shade in the bottle in the store, I was instantly drawn to it!

I finally gave in, and purchased it on-line about a week ago. 'Rock the Runway' is a classic, true red creme polish with neutral undertones. Essie describes it on their website like this:

"gorgeous. striking. untamed. the pulsing beat of this longwear, fierce scarlet red creates instant fashion pandemonium"

LOVE!!! They hit the nail on the head with that description - the polish truly is gorgeous and striking! Now, I change my nails way too frequently to typically ever be concerned about long wear, but I can definitely vouch for how beautiful the colour is!  

The swatch above is 2 coats of the polish followed by a coat of quick-drying glossy top coat. The finish of the polish was quite shiny on its own, but I smudged my nails and had to salvage the mani with top-coat!

Revlon Red Polish Comparison

Today I have a mega-comparison post to share, featuring my Revlon red nail polishes. For now, this will probably be the last of the Revlon series of posts that I've been doing for the last little while.

Altogether I have 10 Revlon red polishes: 4 metallic/shimmers, and 6 cremes. Technically, one of the cremes, Revlon 'Valentine', is actually more of a crelly.  In the collage above, I have swatched each polish on a different nail. As you can see, there is a wide range of shades and finishes of red in the set of polishes from the brightest red creme (Revlon Red), to the vampiest, deep burgundy metallic (Divine).

There are two pairs of polishes that are very similar to each other. The first pair is 'Get Reddy', and 'Frankly Scarlet'. They are both mid-tone red shimmer polishes with gold shimmer particles, but 'Frankly Scarlet' has slightly warmer undertones, while 'Get Reddy' has slightly more blue-based undertones.  The next pair of similar shades is 'Bewitching' and 'Raven Red'. Both shades are deeper burgundy-reds, but 'Bewitching' which Revlon's website describes as a "glossy cranberry-red" has cooler undertones, while 'Raven Red', described as a "glossy red-burgundy" is slightly warmer. I will just quickly cite now that from this point on in the post, any descriptions in quotes are quoted directly from Revlon's website.

I've already done individual swatch posts on 'Cherries in the Snow', a "glossy red-pink"; 'Raven Red', and 'Valentine', a "glossy brown-red".  I have also used a lot of the other shades in nail art posts I made previously: 'Revlon Red', a "glossy strawberry-red" was used in my 'Red, Yellow, Green and Black Plaid Nails' post. 'Spidey Sense', a limited edition shade released in 2014 as part of Revlon's 'Electric Chrome Spiderman Collection' that was a cross-promotion with the movie 'The Amazing Spiderman 2', was used in my '60's Print Mani Version 2.0'. 'Frankly Scarlet' was used in my 'Autumn Leaves Mani using China Glaze Aut-umm I Need That'. 'Divine' a "glossy shimmering burgundy" was used in my 'Burgundy and Silver Halloween Manicure'. 'Bewitching' was used in 2 posts: The 'Christmas Splotch Test Mini Post', as well as my 'Christmas Skittles Mani'.

'Vixen', and 'Get Reddy' appear to be the only two shades that I haven't previously blogged about. 'Vixen' is a deep, vampy, burgundy creme polish which Revlon describes as a "glossy brown-plum", and 'Get Reddy', which was mentioned earlier in this post, was already described above. 

Overall I think this is a pretty great range - there's a red for pretty much every mood. Also, all of the polishes have pretty good formulas with excellent coverage, and a high-shine finish. My favourites are probably the red shimmer/metallic shades 'Frankly Scarlet', 'Get Reddy', and 'Spidey Sense', as I typically prefer wearing metallic reds over cremes. My least favourites are probably 'Divine' and 'Vixen' only because I tend to not like wearing dark colours on my nails.

I just did a quick check of Revlon's website, and it looks like 7 of these 10 shades are currently still on the market: all but 'Frankly Scarlet', 'Get Reddy', and 'Spidey Sense'. Hopefully this comparison post will be of assistance to anyone interested in any of these shades.

Revlon's 'Cherries in the Snow'

Continuing with swatches from my Revlon collection, today's swatch is of the iconic 'Cherries in the Snow'. This shade was originally released way back in 1953! It's a gorgeous pink-toned red creme nail polish, with a glossy finish.  

I find this polish to be a bit of a chameleon. Based on the lighting and angles, sometimes it looks more pink, and at others, it looks more red. You can see this even in the 2 pictures in this post. The picture above had more direct lighting, and the polish appears more pink. Meanwhile, in the picture below, when the lighting is concentrated more on the label as opposed to the nails, the polish appears more red.

Revlon 'Raven Red'

As promised, for today's post I am continuing with a Revlon swatch. From what I've gathered on-line, it seems that today's swatch, Revlon's 'Raven Red' may possibly be the oldest Revlon shade still available today.  Apparently, the shade debuted in 1945! If so, that would make 2020 the 75th anniversary of the shade! It truly boggles my mind that women around the world have been enjoying the exact same nail polish shade for 3 quarters of a century - I guess if it ain't broke, there's no need to fix it!

The polish is a warm-toned red creme, with a nice glossy finish. It is a classic, easy-to-wear colour that would suit a variety of skin tones. I purchased this polish fairly recently, so this is only the first time that I've worn it. Overall, I enjoyed wearing this shade, and I'm glad that it has joined my collection!

It's funny, but I don't really recall ever seeing this shade in stores, however, I did find it to be readily available with major on-line retailers. I suppose that the displays in the stores only stock a limited amount of shades due to space constraints.

Revlon 'Valentine'

Today I have a quick post featuring a hastily done swatch of Revlon 'Valentine'.  It's a gorgeous deep red polish with a slightly transparent finish.  I've had this bottle for years, and it has held up quite well! Recently I've been rediscovering the Revlon shades in my collection, inspired by some information that I came across on vintage nail polish and lipstick shades that are still available today.

Revlon was founded in 1932, so they have been making nail polish for almost 90 years! In a cosmetics landscape currently full of limited edition releases and hoopla surrounding 'the next new thing', sometimes it's nice to take a break from all of that. It's so wonderful to indulge in tried and true classics that are not only loved by thousands of women across the world, but have also been loved by thousands of women across the ages!

Over the next few posts, I'll be swatching some more of my Revlon shades...  Stay tuned!

Glitter Mani: 'Cherries in the Snow' and 'Flashing Lights'

Today I have a quick post to share. It's a simple glitter manicure using Revlon's 'Cherries in the Snow', and Claire's Cosmetics Splatter 'Flashing Lights'.  I've been struggling to find base polishes that would look good with this glitter topper from my 'Project Polish'.  I think that this red, white and blue combo worked out quite nicely! 

Truthfully, I am really over this glitter topper... I don't really enjoy glitter polishes as much as I used to, and this one in particular has a very limiting colourway, so there's not as many polishes that it can be used with. I'm really not sure if I'm going to be able to finish the entire bottle - this polish is most likely bound for the giveaway pile.