Better than crackle!

I introduce you to what should be the newest texture craze: The rubber finish!

"Faux Pas" by Illamasqua is quite possibly the coolest thing that has happened to me since OPI reintroduced crackle.

This is a deep eggplant creme, with a semi-matte finish that gives the end product a rubbery look and texture. Everybody I showed them to today wound up grabbing my hand to touch them!

I can't stop gushing about it. I was even impressed with the brush's extra-long bristles, light touch and easy spread. It was shipped on a nifty bed of shredded black paper, and with this snazzy promotional brochure!

Ratings:

Application: 10 out of 10. The formula is just thick enough to paint on smoothly and easily, witout clumping or streaking. Right after applying I was worried that it would show all of the brush strokes, but after about 30 seconds of dry time it was smooth as...well, rubber! It was like magic! The rubber finish also meant that it had an incredibly short dry time, so I didn't have to stay up too late worrying about the dreaded "sheet-smudge".

Color: 19 out of 10. The egplant color lends really well to the rubber finish, but they also have a black and a red. I would love to see Illmasqua apply this finish to other, less-obvious colors like orange, green, yellow, etc.

Clean-up: 8 out of 10. I know this sounds crazy, especially to you professional polishers who like to leave a gap, but it came away with acetone almost too easily. Even the slightest error with my meganchair clean-up (eye-liner brush and acetone) meant the nail was wiped clean and needed to be redone. I'm sure this would make it ideal for most people, but my OCD insists that the entire nail be covered.

Appearance: 10 out of 10. I just can't express how truely awesome this nail polish is. It will probably be my weekend color for all of october!

Special thanks to Scott Watson, who took my "OMGBUYMETHIS" post on facebook seriously. Thanks Scott!!!

Ulta's Plum Perfect

I went on a nail polish shopping spree today! I hit up basically every store in the entire Polaris area that sells the stuff, and came away with six brand new colors, including today's Plum Perfect by Ulta.

This is a really rich creme, in a dusty violet color (which is much more muted in real life). The color really is lovely. In my opinion, it is straddeling the line between "retro-edgy" and "Grandma's church-goin manicure".

I had some diffuculty with application because this particular formula was kind of streaky. Fortynatly, it dried to a perfect high-gloss finish. No top coat needed!

Ratings:

Application: 7 out of 10. Streaky at first, but did end up looking great.
Color: 8 out of 10. Nice muted fall color, but not something I would wear all the time.
Clean-up: 9 out of 10. Came off easily with acetone free polish remover!
Appearance: 8 out of 10. Very glossy, and it is a lovely color, but I normall lean toward more "out there" colors.

More to come this weekend, including Icing, Orly, Warpaint (by Hot Topic, including a glow-in-the-dark with microglitter!), and pixel.

A tip for everyone in the Columbus area, the Trade Secret in Polaris Fashion Place is going out of business and everything is drastically reduced. OPI is about $6 a bottle, and I bought several OPI lotions for a buck! Happy hunting!

Another dissapointing duo-chrome...

I'm not sure if the nail polish gods hate me, or if there is something in my body chemisty that makes duo-chromes simply fail. I was really excited by the prospect of Zoya's Ki, because it looked great in the bottle and even better on the swatch in the store. But while it was supposed to be a stealy-violet with a shamrock-green flash, this is what I got:

Looks like a pretty kick-ass purple huh? Which is all well and good, but where is my damn green flash!? I tried it under multiple light sources, all to no avail.

I like the color as it is, but I was hoping for a duo-chrome that didn't require me risking skin cancer to see.

Ratings:


Application: 6 out of 10. Kinda clumpy. I also had some issues due to it's transparency. It really needed 3 coats to reach full coverage, but that many coats lead to pooling at my cuticles.
Color: 7 out of 10. Awesome purple, but you might require a professional stage lighting crew to see the flash.
Clean-up: 7 out of 10. Acetone removed the color easily, but I was left with ragged edges where the excess polish had pooled.
Appearance: 8 out of 10. It has a nice shimmer AND shine without a top coat. It also leaves a really smooth surface if you've avoided the clumps carefully enough. Little to no shrinkage.

Overall a cute, trendy color at the moment. Next time I'll be re-visiting the burnt oranges from OPI's Burlesque collection to show off a half-moon manicure!