Revlon Peach Smoothie

            Today, I'm wearing Revlon Peach Smoothie, from the Scents of Summer Collection. I'd like to get these documented and out of the way, so I plan on wearing all the ones that I own consecutively. I decided to start with Peach Smoothie, because I was really curious about what it looked like on the nail, and because it's a nude, which I wouldn't be caught dead in unless there was no other choice. Today is Sunday, and I'm staying in all day to study and pack, so no one will ever know. No offense to nude lovers, but man....I don't like most nudes. Naked Ambition was cool beans though. Okay, enough rambling.

Peach Shimmer is a pale peach creme, with subtle gold micro-shimmer. The color here isn't accurate...this is too dark. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. This picture is more true to color, in my opinion. In the bottle, it was a pretty even-keel peach...equal parts white, orange, and pink. But on me, it starts to tilt just a little more to the pink side, which I don't mind.

Natural light, no flash. The lack of sun really washes it out.

Sunlight, no flash. This shows more of the sparkle.

This is what made me so excited to wear this. At the top of the bottle, there's lots of shimmer, and then in the bottom, there are all these little iridescent flakes. They don't show up so well on the nail though.

       Peach Smoothie is an okay color. It's not ugly, but it is very...middle of the road. There's nothing very special about it, except for the fact that it smells like peaches. The smell itself is pretty good! Of course, it's going to smell artificial (it's nail polish), but it lasts a long time, and is recognizable as peach.

      But while the color is nice, the application was sad. It was fairly opaque in two coats, but it went on streaky and gross. Some of my nails have three coats, and some have four, just because I was trying to get the finish even and smooth. The topcoat helped smooth it out alot, but when I look at my right hand, there are still spots where brushstrokes and bald spots are visible. No bueno.

    So while I like Peach Smoothie, and think that it may come in handy for situations when I can't have fun with my nails, I'm glad that I didn't have to trouble myself to get it. My Walgreens is in easy walking distance from my school, and it's right on my way to work, so it was easy to get this. If I had to get on the bus or train to get to the Walgreens, I would have been too mad. Because Peach Smoothie is nice, but in all honesty, it's not really worth the fare or the trouble. 

    

   

Borghese Stellare Notte

           Today, I'm wearing Borghese Stellare Notte. I was going to try to wear my polishes from the Rock Star Collection consecutively, but I'm just going to put them aside and swatch them come summer break. Which is soon! But anyway, I was looking through my spreadsheet and I noticed that I only had one more Borghese to try before I was done with that brand. So I slapped it on.

Stellare Notte is a shimmery charcoal black duochrome. The shimmer flashes from pink to teal. This picture shows more of the pink. And it was taken indoors..the ones I took in the sunlight came out plain black. But more on that later.

Sunlight, no flash.

Shaded natural light, no flash. This shows a little bit of the teal.

Natural light, no flash.

Indoors, flash. This shows more of the teal.

This is what made me pick up this foolish polish in the first place. 

    Why do I call this polish foolish? Because it is! 

    Stellare Notte looks great in the bottle, but on the nail, it's not even trying to do much of anything. Granted, my pictures of this aren't very good, nor do they adequately convey what this polish does, but even in real life, it's just not very impressive. And I'm not sure why. I like the base color, and the color change on the shimmer is noticeable. When I lift my hand up at the wrist, I get teal. And when I lay it back down, I get pink. But I don't know....I'm just not very impressed by this. And for eight dollars, that's a shame. Scherer Blue Sky, Brucci Black Emerald, and Savina Black Pearl ($2.99, $2.79, and $2.50, respectively) all blow Stellare Notte out of zee waterz. I'm kind of bummed too, because this is a great day to take pictures...the sun is shining and there's not a cloud in the sky. I feel like I wasted it on this polish. smh!

  On the upside, the formula for Stellare Notte was good. It applied smoothly and easily, and dried in good time. These pictures are all three thin coats with one layer of Poshe on top. 

NOTD: Nicole by OPI Party at 3AM! + Fauxnad

            Today, I'm wearing Nicole by OPI Party at 3AM! The exclamation point is their's, not mine. This is a pretty polish to be sure, but it's not thaaat pretty to where I'll be exclaiming over it every time I write its name. But it was lots of fun to photograph, so there are going to be tons of pictures.

Party at 3AM! follows the trend of the past two NOPI's  that I've shown on this blog. It's a black creme base, packed with shimmer. In this case, the shimmer is violet most of the time, but will occasionally show blue. 

Sunlight, no flash. We already know the deal with the bottle. There it is lurking in the corner.

I just need to post this bottle shot. Too bad it's not doing all this on the nail. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

Artificial light, no flash.

Sunlight, and flash. The picture is washed out, but this was the only light that would let me capture the color change. 

Sunlight, no flash.

        Party at 3AM! is beautiful. Full stop. 

        Although it does that annoying thing where it just looks black indoors, when the light hits it right, the violet shimmer pops right out. Sometimes, it even makes me feel like the base color is really dark purple and not black. But no, it is black.Anyway, if I was going to be indoors for the most part of the time, I wouldn't wear this. It's paradoxical, because this is not a summer shade, but really, that's the only time that its beauty can really be appreciated.

         The formula was great. No dragging or streaking, not too thick or too runny....it went on like butta. This is three coats, with a healthy dose of Poshe on top. The topcoat is really necessary to get it looking its best, because without it, the sparkle isn't that cute. 

       

    Then, I made a design over it with my B14 fauxnad plate:

I used the pattern right below my middle finger, in between the doggy and four flowers.

I stamped the pattern at my cuticle with Sally Hansen White On, and then I covered the whole thing with one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust. I need to learn to leave well enough alone though, because I think I liked it better sans Fairy Dust.

NOTD: Nicole by OPI Blues In The Night

           Today, I'm wearing Nicole by OPI Blues in the Night. I tried to steer clear of Nicole by OPI colors because I hated the bottles, but some were on sale at TJ Maxx, 2 for $6.99. You can't beat that with a stick, plus some of the colors stole my little heart away, so I scooped them up. There was some drama at checkout (a clerk thought I had stolen something O_O), but inevitably, I brought my babies home. Depending on the weather (I try to save blackened glitter for sunny days) I should have pictures of the rest. But here's Blues in The Night:

Close look at Blues In The Night. The base is black and the shimmer is ostensibly teal. But in certain lights and if you look close, it does flash purple at times. If you look at the other side of the picture, you can see where the purple shows up in the bottle. 

Natural light, no flash.

Natural light, no flash

Bottle shot. The color-changing effect is way more obvious in the bottle (boo!). The shimmer closer to the neck is how it looks most of the time, but the purple and touch of gold at the bottom is what it looks like during those rare flashes. 

  Although I like this color, and had no issues with application, I was so mad! I hate when polishes don't live up to what you see in the bottle. Oh, the deception. ;_;