Revlon Trendy Swatch and Review (Bonus: Rainbow Honey Costa Del Sol)

Welcomes to Tuesday - Cheap Polish Tuesday to be exact - we're in the middle of Rainbow Honey FAB Summer Set feature week but that's OK, WE'LL DO IT LIVE! We're doing it anyway: exploring cheap polishes found for regular price or on sale for $5 or less! Today I've got Revlon Trendy, from the Bubblegum Days Urban Nights spring collection for this year! I found this at Wal-Mart for approximately $3-$4. (Sometimes I can't remember, but it's in that range.)

Revlon Trendy is a teal creme. Originally I picked this up because I am hunting for the perfect DAVIDsTEA teal but this one is not up to snuff! I'll show you my findings in another post, another day. Although I have a severe dislike for Revlon formulas, Trendy ain't so bad - it applied smoothly and covered fully within two coats! My swatch is two coats, with no top coat:







So back to the reason why I bought this - compared to the DAVIDsTEA teal, this is the slightest tad too blue and a little dark. The hunt continues! If you don't own a teal creme and are on a budget, I would say that Revlon Trendy is pretty decent! It wasn't the usual sticky, long drying formula that I am used to from Revlon. Colour me happy.

And of course, what better way to spice up some cheap polish than with Rainbow Honey? Last time I did it with Sally Hansen with Soul Gem - so here's Revlon Trendy with Rainbow Honey Costa Del Sol, which is sold as a part of the FAB Summer Set.





Yeah buddy, doesn't that look gorgeous? I love it.

Just to kick it up a notch even more, here it is using Revlon Matte Top Coat, just keeping in the theme of Cheap Polish Tuesday!







I am absolutely loving the look of this in matte! All the gold flakies really come into the spotlight, all for a very affordable look. Revlon Trendy is a definite hit for me and is an awesome base colour for glitter toppers.

For more information on the Rainbow Honey's FAB Summer Set, visit http://fab.com/designer/rainbow-honey/ - Does anyone else have Trendy or a teal creme like this? Have any of you found the perfect DAVIDsTEA teal? (If so, PLEASE share your findings below in the comments!)

Cherry Blossom Nail Art With Rainbow Honey's FAB Summer Set

You might have seen me mention it on Instagram, but in case you haven't - well, this week is Rainbow Honey week featuring their FAB Summer Set available over at FAB! So first, let me show you the players for the week!

Rainbow Honey has been shipping sets in gorgeous presentable cute boxes since the launch of Sweet Talk earlier this year. They also did the same for the Robot Collection a couple of months ago. Was the FAB Summer Set any different? Nope! Of course not - check out this adorableness:









From Rainbow Honey's press release:

Exclusive to Fab, the Fab Summer Set is as refreshing as a cold sip of freshly squeezed lemonade. This set of three includes a dazzling array of shimmering polishes: kelly green, deep coral, and a sparkly lacquer that glitters with holographic flecks. Paint yourself in a beautiful new light. -fab

tenda is a bright kelly green lacquer with golden shimmer

costa del sol is a shimmery lacquer full of iridescent and holographic glitters ready to add some sun and sparkle to your manicure

schrammi is a deep coral lacquer with golden shimmer

The FAB Summer Set is now available through fab.com for a limited time only. Each set contains 3 full size 15ml nail lacquers designed exclusively for FAB by Rainbow Honey. $25. While supplies last. For more information visit http://fab.com/designer/rainbow-honey/

This is also my first time using Rainbow Honey's mini bottles. These are the new ones and from what I've been hearing - they're a massive improvement from the old short mini bottles. The old mini bottles have a very short brush and some said that it was really hard to get the polish out after a few uses. I'm telling you, I used the absolute crap out of my minis (probably 10+ swatches of each) and I had no issues with being able to collect the polish onto the brush. The new mini bottle uses a full length regular brush which I welcomed with open arms! I'm impressed! I also thought that it would tip over from being so tall, but I had my bottle placed beside my "painting paper" (does anyone else do this? Can't just be me, haha) and again, no problems with tipping.

Note: Just so I don't confuse anyone, my mini FAB set is a press sample, but the FAB set itself is a full sized set. I just wanted to point out the brand spanking new minis that we'll be seeing from now on with Rainbow Honey!

Here's how the mini 4ml mini bottles stacks up against Rainbow Honey's regular 15ml sized bottle:





While I am not a fan of minis (purely because I like having full sized bottles in my Helmer), these are great for those who don't mini buying the odd mini here and there - or for my hoarder friends. (Hi Caitlin!)

Anyway, let's get to business. It's Monday. Nnnnnaail art Monday, you catching my drift? I wanted to do something with Rainbow Honey's FAB Summer Set all week so I figured, hey, they've provided the creme, so I'll make some bread. Or something. I thought back to a nail art that I've always wanted to try from the fabulous Kayla Shevonne, one of my nail heroes from the very beginning: Kayla's Cherry Blossom Nail Art.

For this cherry blossom nail art, I used two coats of Rainbow Honey Tenda as a base colour. For the branches, I used a black nail art striper. For the blossoms, I used a dotting tool with Zoya Snow White and Rainbow Honey Schrammi. To make everything look smooth and even, I used one coat of Seche Vite.





And here is the same Rainbow Honey FAB Summer Set Cherry Blossom nail art matte-ified with GOSH "Matt Effect" top coat!





I'm personally kind of surprised these didn't turn out completely awful and I think the Rainbow Honey FAB Summer Set suits this kind of nail art perfectly.

(And of course Monday wouldn't be complete without Shitty Nail Art Monday, so here's a failed attempted at freehand multi-colour chevrons. Yikes.)



The only pain I have with Rainbow Honey's FAB Summer Set is that it's exclusive to FAB. When I initially tried buying these, they were charging me this (and I quote):

Your Order
Order Subtotal $44
Shipping $27.95
International Surcharge $11.59
Order Total $83.54 (USD)

I was being charged almost as much as the polish just for shipping! I cried. But then I remembered that I have friends in the states. So if you're a Canadian like me, now's about the time to be kind to your American friends! (Or if you don't have the hook ups, then there are also US shipping shopping services as well!) Other than being Canadian and being shafted, I am really enjoying Rainbow Honey's FAB Summer Set. I'll get into detail about individual formulas over the week but this is just a taste!

Have you picked up Rainbow Honey's FAB Summer Set yet? Will you be picking it up, or are there other indie polishes you're looking forward to? I hope all of you have enjoyed the weekend and had some time to relax!

Full disclosure: This sample was provided for an unbiased review.

Different Dimension Orion Nebula Swatch and Review

Hello everyone and TFIF! (That's my acronym for Thank F It's Friday!) I hope all of you had a good week and have some awesome weekend plans in the works. It's finally getting nice here in Vancouver so hopefully I'll be shooting off some film, and of course, wearing some holographic nail polish because damn, if it's not about time! Today, I'm closing off Different Dimension week. I've had so much fun with these polishes - I can't help but picture spam! Anyway, you can get this polish and more over at their Etsy shop here. Check it out because there's a lot more than these guys!

So are you ready? Because here's Different Dimension Orion Nebula.





Taken from Different Dimension's Etsy page:

Orion Nebula has a black jelly base with different sized fuchsia circular glitters (some holographic) in it.

This is not a polish for the faint of heart as it does need work to get some of the bigger holographic fuchsia glitters out. I recommend turning the bottle upside down for a few minutes before polishing your nails and then doing 3 thin coats.



I really appreciate how upfront and honest Missi was when describing this polish. Often a polish like this will be shown off, and first timers with large glitters will encounter frustration for application. I personally find it labour intensive to apply this type of glitter polish so I took the liberty of doing two coats of OPI Black Onyx as a base colour so I just need to focus on glitter placement rather than coverage.

I think this polish would have been way easier with a full bottle rather than a mini because there's more bottle neck to queue up large glitters, but in either case - it's totally doable. My swatch is two coats of OPI Black Onyx, with approximately two and a half coats of Orion Nebula. I made it super glossy and shiny with a thick coat of Seche Vite.









I am really into how all the glitters were circular and the colour changing holo-ish nature of the larger circle glitters. If you can stand a bit of a fussy application, the end result is mesmerizing.

Again you can get this polish and more over at Different Dimension's Etsy shop. What do you think about large glitter polishes like this? Too frustrating for the application? Worth it?

Full disclosure: This sample was provided for an unbiased review.

Different Dimension Orbital Swatch and Review

Different Dimension week continues on Claw of Cthulhu and I am absolutely so stoked about all these polishes. I hope all of you are tackling the week with ease and have something awesome on the weekend but hey let's save the weekend talk for tomorrow. I'll be doing a rare Friday appearance so let's go full steam forward with Different Dimension Orbital.



From Different Dimensions' Etsy store page:

Orbital named after orbital spaceflights, which are spacecraft that remain on a trajectory where it could remain in space for at least one orbit. This polish has a black jelly base with blue, purple and pink holographic glitters in multiple sizes scattered throughout!



Different Dimension Orbital was one of the first that caught my attention out of my sample minis because of the beautiful and sleek glitter mix. As a big space galaxy aesthetic fangirl (I've got galaxy leggings and skirt that I wear always), this just paired up with my style PERFECTLY!





The formula for Different Dimension Orbital was great and I had no problems with glitters being pulled to the tips. The black jelly is opaque enough to not have to do so many coats, and it's sheer enough to really give the layers their own depth. I love that the glitters look like little stars on my nails. Just. Gorgeous. The holographic glitters give it an extra push for that little extra galaxy swag. (Did I just say swag in a nail polish review? Oh God I did.) My swatch is 3 coats, with Seche Vite top coat for a nice shiny finish:







Although my macro photo above shows the glitters pressed up the side of the bottle, it's definitely not an indicator how the pretty the potential depth you get by layering the glitters. These match my space clothes perfectly.

You can check out this polish and more over at Different Dimension's Etsy shop. Have you guys hopped on the Black Milk galaxy leggings train? I am sure my girl Chantal might love their Lord of the Rings line, hehe.

Full disclosure: This sample was provided for an unbiased review.

Different Dimension Excelsior! Swatch and Review

Hello old friend, haven't blogged here during this hour but there's always a first for everything, so hello to everyone in Australia and the UK! You're the first to know that this week is a special week. I'll be highlighting Different Dimension, an indie polish for all the sci-fi space cowgirls out there! This morning I received a handful of samples - Orion Nebula, Excelsior!, and Orbital.







These are my very first minis EVER! So obviously, I AWWW'd and coo'd over seeing them fit in the palm of my hand.

Up first on deck is Different Dimension Excelsior!



Taken from Different Dimension's Etsy page:

Excelsior is a white(ish) light grey holographic polish with hints of different colors reflected in the light.

Excelsior translates from Latin:

Adjective

excelsior (not comparable)
1.(archaic) Loftier, yet higher; ever upward



Of course, all I could think of was Stan Lee yelling Excelsior! when I was fortunate to attend FanExpo here in Vancouver. (Man that guy has so much pizazz to him, I love it!) So every time I grabbed this bottle, I pretty much thought about Stan Lee. Or Bradley Cooper from Silver Linings Playbook.

Just as Different Dimension described, Excelsior! is a cool icy white with holographic properties. Of course in my light box, it unfortunately doesn't show too much, but I tried my best with a different camera to showcase the holo magic. (Because it does exist!) Vancouver hasn't been the sunniest lately so I'm prompted to pull a MacGyver.









Different Dimension Excelsior! formula was very decent and smooth. There were no problems at all with pulling, patchiness, nothing. CTHULHU IS PLEASED. My swatch is two and a half coats, with no top coat.

And because I promised, here's an alternate photo that highlights the holo magical-ness! It's even more bold and pretty in the sun! I'm definitely going to wear this again once Vancouver decides to cheer up a little.



You can check out this polish and other Different Dimension polishes over at the Etsy shop here. Have you tried any polishes from Different Dimension? So far, colour me impressed!!! Also - does "Excelsior!" remind you of Stan Lee? Or is that just some weird "special" thing my brain is doing?

Full disclosure: This sample was provided for an unbiased review.

Hard Candy Sweet Tooth Swatch and Review

Hey guys I hope you guys had an awesome weekend (long weekend if you are up north). Back on track with Cheap Polish Tuesday with Hard Candy - a brand that I could only find in Wal-Mart up here in Canada. It caused a lot of excitement on Instagram when they were first introduced because Hard Candy offers quite a vast selection of popular and trendy shades such as metallics and glitter bombs. I personally have been trying to find Black Tie Optional but no dice unfortunately. I believe I found this polish for under $4.

While I didn't find Black Tie Optional, I opted to get Sweet Tooth, which is one of the more unpopular, less coveted polishes in the line but I wanted to give it a shot. Hard Candy Sweet Tooth is a pale pale baby blue jelly with ordinary sized blue, pink and silver glitter. Application was OK, the jelly went on even and the glitters were not fussy. I used two coats for my application, with no top coat:





While the polish formula is OK, I just don't find this type of polish very appealing. Same sized glitter just seems cheap to me - there aren't any variations to make it stylized or interesting. I feel like asides being a cheaply priced polish, it's just a cheap looking polish with not a lot of class.

I love the prices of the Hard Candy polishes but it's about the same price as a bottle of OPI when you do the math with how much polish you actually get. While I'm not hating on Hard Candy - obviously I am still hunting down Black Tie Optional! - I just don't find the line very appealing.

Also I apologize for that mis-shaped index finger. I had to cut the callous off and now the nail looks kind of weird. Oh well.

As a note - I am dealing with some personal matters and won't be able to catch up with all your lovely blog posts for a couple of days while I am away. I promise I'll check everything out soon and leave my verbose comments of love when I'm back. In the meantime, what do you think about the Hard Candy polishes? Have you tried any? Won't step into a Wal-Mart (haha)?

Daily Lacquer Fluffy Cotton Candy Swatch and Review

It's "Friday" over at Claw of Cthulhu, which means it's the last post of the week! It's also a long weekend so I may be back on Tuesday rather than Monday but not that little ol' me matters too much, right? Tonight I am checking out Star Trek Into Darkness so hopefully it'll be awesome and I'll get to drool over Zachary Quinto again, ha! Anyhow, let's get back to business.



Today I've got another one from Daily Lacquer called Fluffy Cotton Candy from the Circus collection released earlier this year. I missed out on the whole "Floam" fad so obviously I wanted to get in on this when I saw it. Daily Lacquer Fluffy Cotton Candy is a clear suspension base PACKED with hot vibrant solid pink and blue microglitters. You can build it up on its own (albeit it takes a few coats), or layer it on a base colour. The formula is good for what it is - it's definitely hard to create a polish with such glitter density however Daily Lacquer nails it and goes on smoothly and I had nearly full coverage after 3 coats. Here's how Daily Lacquer builds up:

One coat (already fairly packed!):



Two coats (we're getting there!):



And lastly, here's three coats of Daily Lacquer Fluffy Cotton Candy with a high gloss Seche Vite finish:







Super fun stuff.



Removal was also OK for a glitter. It's a little messy, so I would still suggest to use the foil method. I find with glitters like this, it's easy for removal but sometimes tricky to get all the little glitters completely off of your fingers.

And for funsies, here's Daily Lacquer Fluffy Cotton Candy over a base colour. (I'll apologize in advance, these are nubs and current length. I've been having problems keeping the length since I broke my index and pinky nail far into the nail bed.) Here's two coats of Fluffy Cotton Candy over Essie In The Cab-Ana:









I like that a base colour really provides the extra coverage so you can't see where the nail's free edge starts, but I still love Daily Lacquer Fluffy Cotton Candy on its own. The saturation of the microglitters is really bang on for me.

Check out Mag's store over at Daily Lacquer! I la-la-la-LOVE those bows on the bottles! So adorable.

Did any of you get on the Floam boat? Is there anyone else who cares about Star Trek Into Darkness, or is it just me?! LOL. I hope all of you enjoy the weekend and I'll be back next week.