Milani Dot Com

           I've been dying of curiosity since I bought Milani Dot Com, so I finally gave in this afternoon and tried it out. Depending on what happens this evening (I'm meeting with my study group, and sometimes, we're there until 2am x_x), I may be wearing this tomorrow too. But just in case, I thought I'd take my pictures and post these now, while there's still natural light. 

Dot Com is a greyed-out, red-based purple with lots of gold multi-sized shimmer. I think there's even a little bit of a bronze duochrome thing going on, although that could be my imagination. It's a very unique color. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Shaded sunlight, no flash. This is the bronze thing I was talking about. It's happening in the bottle too. o_o

Natural light, no flash.

     
      Milani makes me laughh, because Dot Com is pretty much Totally Cool's great-grandfather. They look very different from one another...Dot Com is greyer, darker, jelly-less,  and duochrome-less (kind of). But there's definitely a family resemblance between the two. I get it though...Totally Cool generally got good reviews, so why fix what's not broken? Luckily for me, I loved Totally Cool. And I love Dot Com too! It's not what I thought it'd be...the only time I think it really looks metallic is when the shimmer flashes. Besides that, it just looks like a beautiful purple polish with gold flecks. I was expecting more of a purple foil with gold shimmer, but I'm fine with what I have here. lol!
     The formula was good. It went on smoothly. There was no dragging or streaking, and it was fully opaque in three coats. The pictures are with three coats, and one layer of Poshe. 

Milani I'm Online

           Today is a great day! The sun is shining, finals are thisclose to being over, and my nails are looking like something straight out of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Yes, today is surely a glorious day. ^_^

I'm Online is a cool and pale rose-gold foil. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash.

Natural light, no flash.

     I stan for Milani, and I'm Online is a pretty good example of why. It just looks so damn good! Because the finish is disrupted by all the shimmer, it doesn't look like Minx, but it still gives that, "Why yes, I do sprout metal from my fingers" look. I tried to make the gap as small as possible to preserve the illusion, lol! And while I don't know how I feel about the color on me, I can't deny that the overall look of I'm Online is really futuristic and beautiful. 

    About the application, I'm on the fence about that. The good news is that I'm Online is very opaque, as most foils are. These pictures are all with two coats, and one layer of Poshe. I think I could have gotten away with one, but I just did two for security. However, I did have to apply it twice. The first time, it looked horrible and gross. Brushstrokes and baldspots galore. I scraped that off, cleaned up, and then reapplied, because I was not gonna give up on my beloved Milani. The second time, it went on just fine. Smooth and easy, not a brushstroke in sight. The only difference was that the second time, I went more slowly and put more polish on the brush. The formula of this did seem a little...thick too. I wanted to put some thinner in it. 

   But despite the fact that I'm Online apparently has multiple personality disorder, I still think it's a good effort on Milani's part. Like I said before, on me, I'm not 100% sold on it. But I can recognize a pretty polish when I see one. 

And completely unrelated to this color or Milani, has anyone else ordered Nubar 2010? I placed my order on Monday, and they still haven't shipped it. My last order was shipped on the next day, and it was much larger than  the one I placed on Monday, so I'm concerned. Anyone else who has ordered from them, has your bottle come? 

Revlon Grape Icy + Fauxnad

        This is so bad...I have like a million things to do today, but I decided to play with my nails instead. Smh!!

I used BM11, one of the plates that just arrived from Hawaii. The circled pattern is the one that I stamped with.

Natural light, no flash.

The sun was gone by the time I took this. But anyway, Revlon's Grape Icy was the base, and I stamped on the pattern with Color Club Groove Thang. 

Natural light, no flash. 

I did this by cutting a piece of scotch tape into half, and then putting it diagonally over the center of the nail. I stamped the pattern at the cuticle, and the again at the tip, letting it overlap the tape. After a minute, I removed the tape and this is what I got. I was hoping to get more pattern on the nail, but this is okay too.

Indoors, with flash.

The fauxnad plate laid the smackdown on me. :(

     Even though my nails didn't turn out quite as I'd hoped, I still like them. The overall effect is simple and subtle, which is what I was going for. The only sad thing is that even with tape guards, the patterns are still crooked and uneven. LMAO.

Revlon Grape Icy

           Welll, today marks the end of the era of scented nail polish. Today, I'm wearing Grape Icy, the last of my polishes from Revlon's Scents of Summer Collection. I think I'm really gonna miss discreetly trying to sniff my nails in public.

Grape Icy is a shimmery, vibrant, light, red-based shade of purple. It fairly glows. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. This is truest to color. 

Natural light, no flash. 

Indoors with flash. The base color is too deep here, but I like how this one highlights the shimmer, so I'm putting it in.

       Colorwise, Grape Icy is my favorite of the collection. I like that they didn't decide to go with that boring blue-based, mid-range purple that most people think of when they hear grape. And the purple itself is pretty. I can't really describe it very well though....it's glowy and bright. I guess I'd describe it as fuschia's purple cousin. LOL. 

     The application of this was the easiest out of the three, too. It went on smoothly, and I had no trouble with brushstrokes or anything. The only flaw with this polish is that it is watery. It's really watery. The pictures are with five coats, and my nails haven't gotten that thickened look that comes when you put on too much polish. They look like I've only put on my usual three coats, which is actually good. But it does speak to how thin this polish is. Even though that's weird, it won't deter my from wearing this color in the future. I'll just put it over a white base. 

  And of course, I have to comment on the scent. Just like the other two, Grape Icy's scent is pretty long-lived. Unfortunately, it's not quite as recognizable as grape, as the others are of their respective scents. Like, if someone held this up to my nose and asked me what it was, I would know that it was sweet and nice. But I probably wouldn't be like...OH IT'S GRAPE. But that said, like the polish, the scent is pretty thin. But a good thin. It's the thin grape scent of Kool-Aid and Marino Italian Ices, which were both staples of my childhood summers. So I like the scent.

   Overall, I'm happy with the polishes that I have from this collection. They're all pretty, wearable colors, even if they aren't so flashy. And two of them actually do remind me of summer, when I was a kid. And those were the best summers ever. LOL. 

NOTD: Revlon Bubble Gum + Fauxnad

       I'm not wearing Grape Icy today, like I originally planned. I had two finals scheduled for today, so I opted to jazz up Bubble Gum instead of trying to put on an entire new color. 

I used the necklace-like pattern on the M30 fauxnad plate. This one came from Hong Kong.

I stamped on the pattern with Brucci TJ's Blue Suede Shoes, and then I added a pale pink rhinestone to each nail, to hide the fact that some of the flowers looked more like little blobs. I really love the combination of navy blue and hot pink. It's a fun twist on the old pink and blue color pair.

 Sorry for the bubble and the busted spot near the gem. My Poshe is starting to thicken up and act a fool. 

Sunlight, no flash.

Sunlight, no flash. This picture is truest to color, in regards to Bubble Gum.

      Lol, some of the patterns are crooked (especially the pinky, which is completely doing its own thing), but I've accepted the fact that I will probably never position a Konad pattern straight on my nail. And despite the crookedness, I've gotten a few compliments on this look already. I almost don't want to take it off, but due to my nail ADD, it'll be gone by tonight. 

     That's all for today, so I'm going to go study for my other final today. I can't wait for this week to be ovah. :(

More Fauxnads!!

           lol, yes...I ordered more fauxnads. I can't help it...I like to have options. ^_^
           This set came from Hawaii, and I got it from the ebay seller BundleMonster. Ebay has since yanked the listing, but they can still be found on Amazon, here. It's a good deal, $17.99 for 21 plates, and even though I haven't tried them, the quality appears to be higher than the other fauxnads that I've bought from Hong Kong. And by that, I mean that the patterns appear crisper, and the plates feel a little sturdier too. Not as sturdy as legit Konad, nor as crisp. But still. 

These are some of the full nail designs. I'm an overjoyed camper, because I love them all! Especially the houndstooth! I like full nail designs because they give maximum impact with minimal work, provided that there's no double stamping needed to cover the nail.

I got an extra BM04 plate. I don't know if that was an accident or what.

Some more bigger patterns.

The dreaded french tip plates. I do like the patterns on BM17 though.

Look at the peacock!!

    When I opened this package up, my face was like the Kool Aid man's. I was so happy! lol! The shipping time was almost scary fast too. I guess they knew the popo was coming to shut them down. I ordered around 3 am on the 29th, after a long and hard deliberation. They shipped it the same day, and it arrived today. I'm really happy with the service that I received, so I'm sad that I can't leave feedback about it on ebay.

   I also won't be buying any more fauxnads for a long time. I have more than enough to play with at the moment. Instead, I have to figure out how in the world I'm going to store these things, because these did not come individually wrapped either. I'm not upset about that because heyy, less plastic being used. But now I have to find some kind of...wallet or mini-disc book that will hold all my plates and protect them from scratches or from being bent. Hm.

Revlon Bubble Gum

           Even though there isn't a drop of sunlight outside, it's sweltering hot. So I suppose it's fitting that I'm wearing Bubble Gum, from the Scents of Summer Collection today. It's a perfect color for warm weather, and a great antidote to a gloomy day. And luckily for me, today is both. *rolls eyes*

Bubble Gum is a deep, saturated hot pink creme. I'd consider it a grown up Barbie pink.

Natural light, no flash. 

Natural light, no flash.

     Pictures are extra crap-tastic today, because of the light. or lack thereof. I'll probably be retaking these on a brighter, sunnier day, because none of these are quite as vibrant as Bubble Gum looks on the nail. As far as the color of the polish goes, I like it! It's cheery and bright. And it doesn't make me feel like I'm twelve. While I'll never be too old for glitter, I do feel like a little kid in certain shades of pink. Thankfully, this one manages to miss that mark.
  Also, I like the smell on this one.It reminds me of the summer when I was eight and had just finished reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. For some inexplicable reason, I wanted to be like Violet Beauregarde, so for the rest of the summer, I used up all my allowance on bubble gum flavored bubble gum. I lived in a bubble gum-scented cloud for three straight months, until I fell asleep on the couch with a huge ball of gum in my mouth. It fell out, and I'm a wild sleeper, so I rolled all over it. When I woke up from my nap, I had gum in my hair, on my face, on my clothes, on the couch....just everywhere. My mom had to use half a jar of Vaseline to get it off, and she was so pissed that she stopped giving me allowance. And I couldn't have any gum for the rest of the year. Not even a Chiclet or stick of Juicy Fruit. I was so sad, lmao! So basically, sniffing this polish makes me laugh right out loud.
   And the application of this is much easier than Peach Smoothie. I didn't have trouble with streaks or dragging. I wouldn't say that my nails painted themselves, but it wasn't bad. The pictures are all with three coats, and one layer of Poshe.